UNRWA is mandated by the UN to serve Palestinian refugees whom are uniquely defined by the UN. Under UNRWA, a Palestinian refugee is defined as any person whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and lost both home and livelihood through the 1948 conflict including descendents of fathers. From this we get the 6 million Palestinians that have right of return. These statements by the UN, enshrined in UNWRA are not only their survival safety net but also their last tenuous link to their land. It is their equivalent to our Te Tiriti and it is ultimately the destruction of this that Israel desires.
We and all the settler colonial societies of the West are engaged in supporting the destruction of another indigenous people and agency that safeguards their rights to their land.
Where is China on this. Why do they not fund the UNRWA? They could do it in their sleep. This is a continually unfolding tradgedy and if the UNRWA is lost it will add to the desperation of this genocide
"Chris Gunness, a former UNRWA spokesman, said the UN agency has weeks only before it runs out of money for its crucial aid work to save Palestinian lives in Gaza. More than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its offensive on October 7.
“My message to the Arab world, particularly to the Gulf, is where are you? Because they’re making billions each day on oil revenues. A tiny fraction of those oil revenues would see UNRWA’s financial problems disappear overnight. This unconscionable gap inflicted by these Western countries would be filled very quickly,” Gunness told Al Jazeera.
“Some of the most desperate people in the Middle East are now facing starvation, they’re facing famine, and the Arab states need to step up to the plate.”"
Absolutely and good to see pressure being applied to all those previously shirking. If the US could manage $300M even with such a strong Israel lobby then it should be an easy thing for the rest of the world to replace.
I don't think the Arab world particularly wants to fund, beyond what they already do, an agency which exists because of Israel's illegal occupation.
UNRWA is a mechanism under which Israel is allowed to continue its supremacist program of ethnocide (and now genocide).
Those countries who created Israel, and support it carrying out its ethnic cleansing manifesto are the ones who are duty bound to most fund UNRWA which is tasked with picking up the pieces of such a flawed apartheid state.
The Arab world would like to see a permanent resolution, a Palestinian state, and fully funding the agency which is a function of the status quo runs counter to that. They’d basically be endorsing and subsidising US and Israeli hegemony.
There are some in the Arab world for whom a permanent solution is the end of the Israeli nation. The people of Gaza elected a government with those aims. Doctrine of Hamas | Wilson Center
There are others in the Arab world who appear to view the Palestinian cause with, at best, indifference, and at times prefer Israel. Here's one example:
"The Palestinian cause is no longer an Arab concern. We fund the Palestinians, and they respond by cursing us and behaving badly. The Arabs and Muslims no longer applaud the Palestinians. We should not be ashamed to establish relations with Israel."
I hope you don't mind if I did a very small amount of research.
In the Wilson Centre article, at the start of the third paragraph I read this and felt I didn't need to go further:
Hamas was founded—in the early days of the first Intifada uprising—amid growing Palestinian fury over the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
And, the Gatestone Institute is an anti-muslim right wing think tank founded by wealthy American, and Israeli supremacist, Nina Rosenwald:
Her family fund has given financial support to two institutions located in settlements on the West Bank: the Beit El yeshiva, which counsels its students to defy government orders to evacuate illegal outposts, and Ariel University. It also donates to the Central Fund of Israel, a New-York-based NGO which reportedly serves as a major vehicle for the transfer of American donations to "hard-core" settlements on the West Bank.
"In the Wilson Centre article, at the start of the third paragraph I read this and felt I didn't need to go further:"
Well you should have, because my comment was about the people of Gaza electing Hamas to government. Forming a terrorist organisation is one thing, electing it as your government is another thing all together. (BTW, the formation of Hamas is debatable. For example, "Hasan and Sayedahmed (2018) cite multiple sources that say that Hamas was founded in the late 1970s as a religious counterweight to the secular Fatah. "History of Hamas – Wikipedia
"is an anti-muslim right wing think tank founded by"
You must have missed the fact that Gatestone was a source for the quote from Ahmad al-Jaralah, the Kuwaiti journalist. It does pay to read on.
In the 1940s, long before Palestinian resistance groups like Hamas picked up arms against the Israeli occupation, a plethora of Jewish militias were bombing and shooting dead British officials and Palestinian Arabs.
The Jewish groups including Haganah to Irgun, and the Stern Gang (Lehi) actively used terrorism against the British mandate over Palestine and to create fear among the Arab citizens.
In Western popular discourse the term terrorism has long been associated with the Middle East, but particularly with the activities of Palestinian Arab groups, which have dominated the news for the past forty years. But sixty years ago, it was the actions of Jewish terrorists in Palestine that grabbed headlines around the world. Although this campaign is not as well-known today, it raises an important question: is the modern Middle East conflict, in which terrorism plays a prominent role, itself a product of a terrorist campaign?
"How strange that this is never mentioned in the Israel-Palestine rhetoric, nor the fact that over half a million Jews had legally immigrated at the invitation of Palestinian mayors of an array of cities, and also joining with that existing massive Jewish population in the Land. These Jews all 100% purchased their homes. They did not steal one centimeter of land, nor houses. This was all before 1948. So why had der Grossmufti von Jerusalem – Hajj “Amin” Al-Husseini – and his terrorist gangs been massacring Jews for three decades prior to that? It certainly wasn’t because of land theft. It sure wasn’t about “freedom fighting.” It was about hatred of the Jewish People."
Arab violence against Jews is often alleged to have begun with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 or as a result of Israel’s capture in 1967 of territories occupied by Jordan. But even before the Mandate for Palestine was assigned to Great Britain by the Allies at the San Remo Conference (April 1920) and endorsed by the League of Nations (July 1922), Palestinian Arabs were carrying out organized attacks against Jewish communities in Palestine. Systematic violence began in early 1920 with murderous assaults by groups of local Arabs against settlements in the north and by Muslim pilgrims against Jerusalem’s Jews. Again in 1921, Arab rioters attacked Jews in Jaffa and its environs.
The Times of Israel article seemed a bit unhinged but that is understandable just days after the Hamas mission. But then I looked at his website, yikes!
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America is an American non-profit pro-Israel media-monitoring, research and membership organisation.
Critics of CAMERA claim that it is an ‘extreme Israel advocacy group’, aligned with hawkish rightwing viewpoints; that it pays stipended fellows to write anti-Palestinian articles; and that it employs smear and intimidation tactics, routinely targeting media and journalists critical of Israel and pro-Palestinian activists on campuses.
“Critics of CAMERA” will make all sorts of claims, as have you. And so we can bounce around questioning each others sources, but in the end Israeli’s are murdering Palestinians and Palestinians are murdering Israeli’s. Your views are too entrenched to be helpful.
Unlike the IDF, Hamas (and their supporters?) have little interest in protecting the civilian population of Gaza. That IDF munitions have killed tens of thousands of Gazans in under 4 months becomes less problematic when Gazans are characterised as supporters of terrorism, although there's still the inconvenient truth of 10,000 dead children to consider.
History will be the judge of which 'side' behaved most monsterously.
Know their names
Palestinian children killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza
The Gaza Strip is a graveyard for thousands of children, the United Nations has said. Since October 7, Israeli attacks have killed at least 10,000 children, according to Palestinian officials. That is one Palestinian child killed every 15 minutes, or about one out of every 100 children in the Gaza Strip.
It’s a time for choosing [23 Oct 2023] The humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza requires each of us to make a choice.
Which leads me, finally, to the choice the mostly unrepentant keyboard cavalry who are happily saddling up once more – in derivative columns and hyperbolic appearances on TV – made to side with their home team’s, by now, familiar mantra: Kill first, think later.
Unlike the IDF, Hamas (and their supporters?) have little interest in protecting the civilian population of Gaza.
It’s even worse than that. Hamas put civilians in harms way by design.
That IDF munitions have killed tens of thousands of Gazans in under 4 months becomes less problematic when Gazans are characterised as supporters of terrorism,
Who knows – meantime, why not work with the names we do know?
“An atrocities-filled rampage” vs colateral damage of 10,000 dead children, and counting.
Ignore their attempts at reputation laundering and ongoing tease about some kind of rapprochement with Israel (on their terms and only if daddy US gives them a big enough bribe), the oil states in the Middle East are not nice people pursuing not nice foreign policy objectives.
They're either dour religious fanatics (Saudi) playing a long game against other dour religious fanatics (Iran), or cynical dictators/absolute monarchs that rely on American military aid for security on one hand, and ongoing western/UN involvement in the region as a rallying cry to keep a lid on domestic discontent.
Participating in the UN relief effort would lead to these states either a) being seen as western stooges or b) actually helping relieve a situation that is so much to their advantage.
Better to stay outside the tent and throw money at the occasional hospital or university to look generous and keep the Palestinians onside. All while the Israelis blunder around committing war crimes and bleeding support in the West.
The Balfour Declaration recognised the obvious rights of those in Palestine, most not Jews – while the UK wanted to facilitate a Jewish homeland and enable migration, they did not deny there was a local population that was Arab with their own rights.
For mine whatever one thinks of the UN decision in 1947 to have two states (given the Arabs, neither local nor regional, consented to a separate Jewish state), there was first a UK (who received the League of Nations Palestine mandate) and then subsequent UN acceptance of the rights of the Arab population.
Thus it is reasonable to see it as their Treaty guarantee, despite a Jewish homeland for settlement state. The UN sees it in that light with it being their responsibility rather than that of the UK.
Thus the UNRWA was established after the 1948 war and the departure of and denial of return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
As per the refugees and the UNRWA role, one can quibble about how many of the 6 million or so are now "refugees".
2 million have citizenship in Jordan, etc as a group like UN Watch would note
Whatever the number now, one can then note that one of Israel's prime goals includes ending UNRWA and have the other Arab states follow the example of Jordan.
Which raises the question are those nations cutting funding to UNRWA proposing taking in the Palestinian refugees and if not what are they going to do next?
What is going on now is akin to the settler majority re-writing the principles of the Treaty (one assimilated people etc) and telling Maori to go live in Oz, if they do not like it.
“Mr Robinson was one of five hopefuls for the Rodney selection in 2011, eventually won by Mark Mitchell, who went on to become MP.
Dirty Politics, based on emails stolen from Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater, appears to show Mr Slater collaborating with political strategist Simon Lusk to push for Mr Mitchell.
Emails between Mr Slater and Mr Lusk appear to show they wanted him to win, and discussed payments from him; Mr Mitchell has emphatically denied ever paying either of them.”
After destroying Robinson's reputation, Cameron Slater and co. then went on to destroy the reputations of the other candidates. And soon there was only their preferred candidate left. But out intrepid new Police minister didn’t know about any of it. 🙄
So that is the level of propriety (or the lack of it) now considered acceptable for a police minister.
Well done Anne to remind us of the calibre of some of these Govt. Ministers. “I know nothink…” yeah right…
Mrs “give it back double” Collins did not come out of “Dirty politics” well either and she is…wait, what… Attorney-General, Minister of Defence, Minister for Digitising Government, Minister Responsible for the GCSB, Minister Responsible for the NZSIS, Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, and Minister for Space!
Well, there is always the hope that some filthy rich adventurer will take her on a ride into space from whence they disappear… never to be heard of again. 😉
Yes TM, and Anne, bloody amazing. I often wonder what it is that protects her? From Key's wrath, a failed leadership, and now with a fist in the judiciary pie, and he side kick Minister of Police. Guess the Fraud Squad will get big cuts???
I was quite chuffed that the tweet had 19,000 impressions, 1,120 engagements and 475 likes and 118, mostly favourable comments.
However, my tweet seemed to disturb the equilibrium of your columnist who called my tweet: “hair-raising”, “jaw-dropping”, “excitable”, full of “egregious errors”, and making “loud alarums” (I had to look up the dictionary for that one) and “inflammatory claims”. Chris quotes one of the two joint statements released by the US on 11 January that names the 6 nations that were physically involved in the military attacks on the Houthis and Yemen but ignores the “on behalf of statement” of the same date (referred to above) that names NZ as a willing coalition partner.
There is a saying on twitter that a tweet doesn’t age well. However, it seems that mine did. On 22 January 2024 following the first cabinet meeting of the year, the PM, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence in a somewhat bizarre post cabinet standup confirmed that not only was NZ part of the coalition at war with the Houthis, but also that NZ would now be “deploying a Defence Force team of six “highly trained” people to the Middle East to help provide maritime security in the Red Sea”.
In my view if NZ is part of a military coalition and has made a deployment to this coalition, then NZ is at war as my tweet stated. Interestingly respected Otago University academic Robert Patman, 36th Parallel director, Paul Buchanan, and a number of others have come to similar conclusions or at least expressed similar concerns.
To war, or not to war, that is the question. The answer is that it depends where you look. If you look at the govt, you see a stance of helping the warriors without actually being one. A helping stance is useful due to plausible moral justification for doing what's right in any situation – even a marginal influence may steer the thing so as to produce a suitable outcome. The trick is not to define the thing.
In terms of physics, making something definite collapses the wave function. In situations where flow of the whole is the key operational context to use, you adapt using a fluid stance to guide your tactics & strategy. Tacit works better than explicit.
Reid & Trotter are feeling different parts of the elephant, to jump the metaphor shark, and complicity in warfare is happening without the govt being at war in actuality. Note there's only 6 helpers being sent: the govt sadly missed out on the prospect of magical influence by not including a seventh helper…
Might be time for Mr Trotter to turn off the MacBook for a while, when you get down to the level of criticising a working class stalwart such as Robert Reid it is obvious he is not just erratic and vacillating, but joined the ranks of right opportunists. Sad, knew Chris well during his union days with the Distribution Workers Federation and others, but he has clearly been unhappy for a while and if he has thrown his lot in with reactionaries best he admit it rather than playing all sides as he has done for years with his columns.
Years back in the ’80s CT got opprobrium from many unionists when he started writing for the National Business Review which was a big deal back in pre digital times. “Positive engagement” the apologists said, but people’s class position runs deep and not too many jump the fence, ironically Robert Reid did, as he was very briefly, a young Nat! but against CMT (Compulsory Military Training) which he and others campaigned successfully against.
Robert has been a Marxist internationalist for many decades, known around Asia Pacific in particular in such circles. From car industry struggles to TUF to building unions in the Pacific, running First Union, on the WEAG review, he has done more than most NZ online pundits could imagine.
This country had no hardware to smash into one of the poorest countries on the planet along with the heroic poms and yanks–but–we are fully complicit thanks to 5 Eyes connections. Our involvement will help target people to be killed–sounds like participation in armed conflict to me. US Imperialism always wants cover, the “willing” and it is shameful indeed that this Govt. has given it to them during one of the worst examples of vindictive genocide since the WWII Warsaw Ghetto.
I think he's corrupt and has corrupted himself. There's a clear abandonment of left values as described by SPC just below @3.1.2.1.2.2. I believe you were also shocked at his call to arms against Maori the other day.
He's corrupted because this slide to the privileged, authoritarian right has coincided with a move to platforms such as, er, The Platform and various astroturfing outfits like New Zealand Centre for Political Research as described below by Reality @7.
What do they say? You are the company you keep.
I also know you are interested in this as it pertains to your idea that left/right boundaries are becoming less relevant as people find themselves at odds with the political values of the people they normally identify with. This can be true in for single issues maybe (I was against Seymour’s legalised murder legislation but a lot of lefties voted for it), but when the weight of ideals you hold has shifted so far to the right then you’re in trouble.
I could be wrong here because I don't keep up to date with the machinations of the MSM sites as such, but it does seem to me he is no longer among the 'go to' journalists and commentators – at least not in the way he used to be. That would have damaged his ego no end, and could be the reason he's turned to the right wing platforms you mentioned. It gives him the opportunity to remain relevant in the competitive world of political and social commentary.
His opposition to a CGT, because those of his demographic (older people who owned their home) did not support it, is class based – just not left wing or working class.
His narrative that Maori are a threat to democracy makes him part of the Brash/Seymour ilk, the Maori/Treaty etc as a block on global market supremacy over the nation state political society and economy to be removed.
It's a counter-point to transforming what is left of government into a funder of external delivery providers and ending any expectation of government having any role in making society better for the majority. Why, because the many of the next generation might not be property owners in their own land (and that was once seen as the basis for participation in democratic government decision-making) and so they are supposed to settle for worker class wage to pay "occupation" rent until they are too old to work.
His blindness to that and the influence of his peer group 1950's boomer assimilation era New Zealander with property ownership makes him useless to the 21st C left (he'd probably stand on his own grave declaring no estate tax).
If anyone can read the tealeaves of Biden's silence on the response to 3 US soldiers dead and 50 wounded from the missile attack, for a response "at a time of their choosing", resisting all those FoxNews and Republican chickenhawk revenge fantasies for launching attacks directly on Iran, well 'warmongering' isn't the term that springs to mind.
It was only yesterday that the US, Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia were outlining an interim post-Gaza fighting peace deal. So the US should expect further terrorist provocation like rocket attacks to derail that.
What is on the table from Saudi Arabia and Egypt is a pathway toward a Palestinian state in return for Saudi recognition of Israel. In turn this is the most efficient way to block Iran growing its proxy base.
Biden appears to be holding his nerve better than leaders in Lebanon, Israel, Iran. We need neither peacenik non-interventionists nor warmongers. We need results from hard bargaining.
Hard bargaining from Biden?? Not even a hiccup in the supply of weapons to rain down on Gaza as far as I can see. Only continual reinforcement of US support for Israel and by implication, its active genocide in Gaza. It would be far simpler to make a case for active encouragement than for any kind of "hard bargaining"
I agree that Biden is not using the military supply leveraging that he could. But let's never suggest this is a US problem. The US has no interests to defend in Gaza, socially, economically or militarily.
Biden will never order a "boots on the ground" peace-enforcing role for US troops – ever. So his instruments are diplomacy and missiles in combination.
The more each front opens up, the less possible specific country peace deals become possible. At least not until Netanyahu gets real domestic pressure himself, or Saudi Arabia offers something very, very sweet to him.
You need to read Trotter's "No Right Turn" book again. He documents the key moments that actively conspired against the left from the entire previous century. He did that better than Jesson or anyone else.
However the left evolves in this Parliamentary term, it's probably only Trotter that can show the left how we got here.
I never read it – I never found his writing in his political review journal to be particularly impressive altho some of his essays in recent years have been positive contributions and insightful. Never saw him even attempt to explain why & how the NLP performed so poorly and he's had 30 years or so to get that job done.
Similarly for Jesson although always worth reading and did a good job in his mirror-glass book which I did buy! Tony Simpson was better than both, discerning relevant power dynamics in our historical contexts & an excellent storyteller too.
Simpson was a socialist romantic; fine for the Sugarbag Years and not much chop after WW2.
With Easton's The Economic History of New Zealand that came out late 2022, the gap we have is someone to write The Millennial Political Economy of New Zealand .
Slavish adherence to British precedence, yet the neolib hegemony teeters on this slippery demographic slope:
According to a report published in July by the rightwing thinktank the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA), younger Britons have taken a decidedly leftwing turn. Nearly 80% blame capitalism for the housing crisis, while 75% believe the climate emergency is “specifically a capitalist problem” and 72% back sweeping nationalisation. All in all, 67% want to live under a socialist economic system. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/sep/20/eat-the-rich-why-millennials-and-generation-z-have-turned-their-backs-on-capitalism
Likely the Tory govt has consolidated the effect in the 2.5 years since that was published. Cue Starmer, headed in on a landslide apparently.
Most people still see him in that category though. I agree that testimony of personal values doesn't feature much in his style. Who do you rate as a leftist opinionator?
He is an atheist but says he is becoming "more Jewish".
If he feels that fickle finger of god tapping on his shoulder, could be the tidal pull of normalcy.
Cohen criticised Ecuador for granting political asylum to Julian Assange and called Ecuador a "petro-socialist authoritarian state". He has also been critical of the CANZUK agreement, calling it "an Anglo-Saxon Narnia".
As if that were a negative thing! Not clever at all. However Maduro's petrosocialist authoritarianism is an enduring style, so he got that right.
I know its not my normal email but I can't seem to post under my proper one?
[lprent: That is because you have a permanent ban for your previous behaviour. Basically being a dim-witted fatuous troll who won’t listen to moderators telling you repeatably to lift your standard of commenting carries consequences. We don’t mind debate here. But it has to actually carry some information, if only about your opinions and the reasons behind them. Just being a brainless parrot trying to be funny doesn’t reach the standard. Try the ever diminishing X or something even more brainless.
A permanent ban means that we don’t allow your comments on this site because you waste the time of our moderators and add nothing to debate.
Eventually I get around to releasing bans even permanent ones. It happens about once every 3-5 years when I think that the size of the banned list is starting to slow the site. Also I have enough faith that eventually even brainless trolls grow up and join humanity.
Johnr – because LPrent owns the standard he considers it gives him absolute license to be abusive and small minded and be a bully to people on here, which is totally against the rules here.
however, none of the mods pull him up against it no matter how much they tell other commentators not to bully or use diminishing words against others.
I don’t particularly pay any attention to what Lynn says because he’s just a grumpy old fuck that thinks because the standard is “his site” he can go ahead and abuse others with impunity.
but between him, advantage, and weka, the standard has become far less enjoyable as a forum for a free exchange of ideas with differences of opinions being thrashed out openly using education, exploration, and elimination.
it’s a crying shame really. From the valuable asset it was in 2008 when a free exchange of ideas was allowed whereas on red alert it was shut down, to weka’s indiscriminate bans on everybody interesting because they didn’t link to stuff/nzh, the standard has become a place of groupthink where only happy ideas can be raised.
wrong – there is plenty of diverse opinion around here. bans are generally handed out after a pattern of repeated antisocial behaviour – some things cause discussion to break down
of course it aint perfect because there are humans involved
'groupthink'; 'grumpy' – well yeah it's a left-wing forum facing a right wing government that is hell-bent on demolishing the social fabric and inciting racial divisions
some examples would be nice… there was some strife during Covid when one (ex)-moderator went anti-vax and got frustrated with everyone constantly rebutting his ‘facts’ so he’s not around much anymore…
Nancy Pelosi being a deranged vicious thug calling Palestine supporters paid Russian agents and demanding the Fbi investigate the Guardian article for reference.
Ever since the democrats lost 2016 the media and public have allowed with no push back for the democrats to blame everything they don't like on Russia.
If you disagree with the democrats you're guilty of treason and the boot of the state should crush your neck according to the democrats.
68% of Americans want a cease fire, including 50% of 2020 democrats (30% are unsure) the whole country and democratic party according to establishment dems are Russian agents.
Pelosi, Biden, Schumer and all these paid corporate war mongering geriatrics are so out of touch they forget they have to actually win elections to stay in power and when they lose it it's not their fault it's china's, it's Russias, it's nazis, anyone but their own unelectable selves.
The 2024 usa election is a grudge match between mask off war mongering, corporate senile geriatric hard right wing authoritarians who like gays and girl bosses
VS mask off xenophobic authoritarian isolationists who don't believe in the constitution.
As someone who spends a lot of time in the states, the latter is far more popular, even among gays, Latinos and African Americans in New York city.
Pelosi, Biden, Schiff, Schumer et all are lunatics.
Its all about money, which which quite normal in USA.
Zionist and other hard line Israeli supporters still have considerable clout in US banking and finance so the Democrats are not likely to give anything but the most lukewarm support to their Palestinian enemies and risk their donations coming to a halt.
Roy Morgan polling reports that a December 2023 political poll shows the NACTZ coalition down 6.5 points from the last poll compared to the Labour-Greens-Te Pati Maori bloc. All three of the triumvirate are down in support.
A relevant quote from the film "Spaceballs".
"I hope it's going to be a long ceremony because it's going to be a short honeymoon…"
How true.
Well, well, well. In today's Post was an insert printed and distributed by the New Zealand Centre for Political Research "The Treaty of Waitangi an Explanation Te Tiriti O Waitangi" by the Hon Sir Apirana Ngata. On looking up the website of this outfit, listed as writing regular articles are Karl du Fresne, Owen Jennings, Chris Trotter, Muriel Newman, Roger Douglas, Michael Bassett.
Seems like the start of a political campaign to influence the public over David Seymour's intentions re the Treaty. Obviously some heavy hitters hard at work behind the scenes.
NZCPR are full-blown climate change and indigenous rights deniers, one of the most malfeasant institutions in the country. For Stuff to take their ad money (and for Newstalk ZB to give founder Muriel Newman a premium platform) is a catastrophic moral failure
Notice how he carefully avoided blaming a junior staffer:
The Herald requested a statement from Hipkins and Labour’s Māori caucus. A Labour spokeswoman only provided a statement from Māori caucus co-chair Willie Jackson, who said the inclusion of the Tate GIF was “clearly an error” and was removed as soon as it was recognised.
Is this adroit or what!!? Just when everyone has been conditioned to expect Labour to always copy National, they don't! I have to give Willie 8/10 for such expertise.
Labour has admitted to an error in using a GIF of divisive influencer Andrew Tate – a man charged with rape and human trafficking – to endorse a post on one of the party’s Instagram accounts. The post, a reel, was put up on the Labour Māori caucus’ account last week. It featured a screenshot of a 1News article about Labour leader Chris Hipkins’ comments at Rātana.
It was complemented with a GIF, an animated image, of Tate accompanied by the word “Correct!”.
Great minds think alike!! Yet inexplicably Labour's pr machine has failed to use this conventional explanation. They just lack the common touch.
Do you really have to ask? Surely you can imagine the desperation within Labour if he were to play the pied piper & lead the Labour Maori off to join the Maori Party.
Not that he's likely to do so currently whilst they present as radicals. Labour's mishandling of co-governance masked good intent: rectifying the official shambles. So Willie will remain within, to respect Labour's marginal grasp on authenticity. You can see the ole good cop analogy for their role in Labour (TMP bad).
On the Police numbers saga, it feels like Mitchell went to Willis and asked for the money required to fund 500 new cops in two years and/or be exempt from the 6.5-7.5% public service cuts…and Willis said no.
So Mark gets up in parliament and lays this bare as if to say, 'I wanted two years but she wouldn't let me'. Now Egg-head has had to flop flop, Mitchell forced to correct, and the cops will come in two, despite the cuts everyone else has to make.
Canny from Mitchell, looks like he called Willis' bluff and got his way:
Sex is not defined by chromosomes, nor by anatomy, nor by psychology or sociology, nor by personal inclination, nor by “assignment at birth”, but by gamete size. It happens to be embryologically DETERMINED by chromosomes in mammals and (in the opposite direction) birds, by temperature in some reptiles, by social factors in some fish. But it is universally DEFINED by the binary distinction between sperms and eggs.
You may argue about “gender” if you wish (biologists have better things to do) but sex is a true binary, one of rather few in biology.
There's a lot of underhanded shit going on – David Seymour spearheading most of it – and people like Josh Drummond are doing important work exposing it.
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Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
“Instead of following along countries that are investing in death and better ways of killing people faster, we need to invest in life and in making Aotearoa a fair, just and equitable place where everyone has what they need for a dignified life.” ...
MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI, TPM MP FOR TAI TOKERAU This Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori. CHRISTOPHER LUXON Oh well look you know I don’t think that hard-working Kiwis want to hear language like that. It’s just really unhelpful rhetoric. My Government is genuinely committed to advancing outcomes ...
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UNRWA is mandated by the UN to serve Palestinian refugees whom are uniquely defined by the UN. Under UNRWA, a Palestinian refugee is defined as any person whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and lost both home and livelihood through the 1948 conflict including descendents of fathers. From this we get the 6 million Palestinians that have right of return. These statements by the UN, enshrined in UNWRA are not only their survival safety net but also their last tenuous link to their land. It is their equivalent to our Te Tiriti and it is ultimately the destruction of this that Israel desires.
We and all the settler colonial societies of the West are engaged in supporting the destruction of another indigenous people and agency that safeguards their rights to their land.
Where is China on this. Why do they not fund the UNRWA? They could do it in their sleep. This is a continually unfolding tradgedy and if the UNRWA is lost it will add to the desperation of this genocide
Not only China.
"Chris Gunness, a former UNRWA spokesman, said the UN agency has weeks only before it runs out of money for its crucial aid work to save Palestinian lives in Gaza. More than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its offensive on October 7.
“My message to the Arab world, particularly to the Gulf, is where are you? Because they’re making billions each day on oil revenues. A tiny fraction of those oil revenues would see UNRWA’s financial problems disappear overnight. This unconscionable gap inflicted by these Western countries would be filled very quickly,” Gunness told Al Jazeera.
“Some of the most desperate people in the Middle East are now facing starvation, they’re facing famine, and the Arab states need to step up to the plate.”"
Which countries have cut funding to UNRWA, and why? | News | Al Jazeera
Absolutely and good to see pressure being applied to all those previously shirking. If the US could manage $300M even with such a strong Israel lobby then it should be an easy thing for the rest of the world to replace.
Perhaps take it out of the UN mandate? I mean between raping children in the Congo (UN peacekeepers in Congo hold record for rape, sex abuse | AP News) and bringing Cholera to Haiti (UN admits for first time that peacekeepers brought cholera to Haiti | Global health | The Guardian), maybe there are other agencies /NGO's that have more credibility?
The UN is a deeply flawed institution by design. And yeah, it fails to live up to a bunch of it's aspirations.
That said, even a deeply flawed multilateral institution dedicated to peace and the rule of international law is better than nothing.
Of course. The work has to be done, but is the UN, and UNRWA specifically, the best vehicle for that now, or is it damaged beyond repair?
I don't think the Arab world particularly wants to fund, beyond what they already do, an agency which exists because of Israel's illegal occupation.
UNRWA is a mechanism under which Israel is allowed to continue its supremacist program of ethnocide (and now genocide).
Those countries who created Israel, and support it carrying out its ethnic cleansing manifesto are the ones who are duty bound to most fund UNRWA which is tasked with picking up the pieces of such a flawed apartheid state.
The Arab world would like to see a permanent resolution, a Palestinian state, and fully funding the agency which is a function of the status quo runs counter to that. They’d basically be endorsing and subsidising US and Israeli hegemony.
There are some in the Arab world for whom a permanent solution is the end of the Israeli nation. The people of Gaza elected a government with those aims. Doctrine of Hamas | Wilson Center
There are others in the Arab world who appear to view the Palestinian cause with, at best, indifference, and at times prefer Israel. Here's one example:
"The Palestinian cause is no longer an Arab concern. We fund the Palestinians, and they respond by cursing us and behaving badly. The Arabs and Muslims no longer applaud the Palestinians. We should not be ashamed to establish relations with Israel."
Ahmad al-Jaralah (quoted at Why Arabs Hate Palestinians :: Gatestone Institute
I see no solution to this conflict while the hatred and barbarism continues on both sides.
I hope you don't mind if I did a very small amount of research.
In the Wilson Centre article, at the start of the third paragraph I read this and felt I didn't need to go further:
And, the Gatestone Institute is an anti-muslim right wing think tank founded by wealthy American, and Israeli supremacist, Nina Rosenwald:
"In the Wilson Centre article, at the start of the third paragraph I read this and felt I didn't need to go further:"
Well you should have, because my comment was about the people of Gaza electing Hamas to government. Forming a terrorist organisation is one thing, electing it as your government is another thing all together. (BTW, the formation of Hamas is debatable. For example, "Hasan and Sayedahmed (2018) cite multiple sources that say that Hamas was founded in the late 1970s as a religious counterweight to the secular Fatah. " History of Hamas – Wikipedia
"is an anti-muslim right wing think tank founded by"
You must have missed the fact that Gatestone was a source for the quote from Ahmad al-Jaralah, the Kuwaiti journalist. It does pay to read on.
Since you are apparently keen on a good read:
https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/a-lookback-at-the-zionist-terrorism-that-led-to-israels-creation-15767166
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/10538/11136
And, just three generations ago, does this sound familiar?
It's never been one sided.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936%E2%80%931939_Arab_revolt_in_Palestine
Exactly.
"How strange that this is never mentioned in the Israel-Palestine rhetoric, nor the fact that over half a million Jews had legally immigrated at the invitation of Palestinian mayors of an array of cities, and also joining with that existing massive Jewish population in the Land. These Jews all 100% purchased their homes. They did not steal one centimeter of land, nor houses. This was all before 1948. So why had der Grossmufti von Jerusalem – Hajj “Amin” Al-Husseini – and his terrorist gangs been massacring Jews for three decades prior to that? It certainly wasn’t because of land theft. It sure wasn’t about “freedom fighting.” It was about hatred of the Jewish People."
Palestinian pogroms before 1948 prove that attacking Jews was never about Israel | Micah Ben David Naziri | The Blogs (timesofisrael.com)
Arab violence against Jews is often alleged to have begun with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 or as a result of Israel’s capture in 1967 of territories occupied by Jordan. But even before the Mandate for Palestine was assigned to Great Britain by the Allies at the San Remo Conference (April 1920) and endorsed by the League of Nations (July 1922), Palestinian Arabs were carrying out organized attacks against Jewish communities in Palestine. Systematic violence began in early 1920 with murderous assaults by groups of local Arabs against settlements in the north and by Muslim pilgrims against Jerusalem’s Jews. Again in 1921, Arab rioters attacked Jews in Jaffa and its environs.
Anti-Jewish Violence in Pre-State Palestine/1929 Massacres | CAMERA
You see muttonbird, this is never simple.
The Times of Israel article seemed a bit unhinged but that is understandable just days after the Hamas mission. But then I looked at his website, yikes!
Just so everyone knows, CAMERA is:
“Critics of CAMERA” will make all sorts of claims, as have you. And so we can bounce around questioning each others sources, but in the end Israeli’s are murdering Palestinians and Palestinians are murdering Israeli’s. Your views are too entrenched to be helpful.
Only one people are occupying the other.
Either a majority of Gazan voters were/are supporters of a terrorist organisation, or they were/are desperate (god know why) – possibly both.
https://www.globalr2p.org/countries/israel-and-the-occupied-palestinian-territory/
Unlike the IDF, Hamas (and their supporters?) have little interest in protecting the civilian population of Gaza. That IDF munitions have killed tens of thousands of Gazans in under 4 months becomes less problematic when Gazans are characterised as supporters of terrorism, although there's still the inconvenient truth of 10,000 dead children to consider.
History will be the judge of which 'side' behaved most monsterously.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Israel%E2%80%93Hamas_war#Death_toll
Unlike the IDF, Hamas (and their supporters?) have little interest in protecting the civilian population of Gaza.
It’s even worse than that. Hamas put civilians in harms way by design.
That IDF munitions have killed tens of thousands of Gazans in under 4 months becomes less problematic when Gazans are characterised as supporters of terrorism,
Not really. They had one election and then, well “Hamas generally governs in an authoritarian manner, actively suppressing criticism of its rule.” https://freedomhouse.org/country/gaza-strip/freedom-world/2023
Finally:
https://apnews.com/article/sexual-assault-hamas-oct-7-attack-rape-bb06b950bb6794affb8d468cd283bc51
Will we ever know their names?
Who knows – meantime, why not work with the names we do know?
“An atrocities-filled rampage” vs colateral damage of 10,000 dead children, and counting.
The great tragedy is we don’t know their names either.
Agreed! Absolutely shocking that the rich oil nations are not funding unrwa or stepping into fill the gap.
But why would they, though?
Ignore their attempts at reputation laundering and ongoing tease about some kind of rapprochement with Israel (on their terms and only if daddy US gives them a big enough bribe), the oil states in the Middle East are not nice people pursuing not nice foreign policy objectives.
They're either dour religious fanatics (Saudi) playing a long game against other dour religious fanatics (Iran), or cynical dictators/absolute monarchs that rely on American military aid for security on one hand, and ongoing western/UN involvement in the region as a rallying cry to keep a lid on domestic discontent.
Participating in the UN relief effort would lead to these states either a) being seen as western stooges or b) actually helping relieve a situation that is so much to their advantage.
Better to stay outside the tent and throw money at the occasional hospital or university to look generous and keep the Palestinians onside. All while the Israelis blunder around committing war crimes and bleeding support in the West.
Realpolitik is a bitch.
The Balfour Declaration recognised the obvious rights of those in Palestine, most not Jews – while the UK wanted to facilitate a Jewish homeland and enable migration, they did not deny there was a local population that was Arab with their own rights.
For mine whatever one thinks of the UN decision in 1947 to have two states (given the Arabs, neither local nor regional, consented to a separate Jewish state), there was first a UK (who received the League of Nations Palestine mandate) and then subsequent UN acceptance of the rights of the Arab population.
Thus it is reasonable to see it as their Treaty guarantee, despite a Jewish homeland for settlement state. The UN sees it in that light with it being their responsibility rather than that of the UK.
Thus the UNRWA was established after the 1948 war and the departure of and denial of return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
As per the refugees and the UNRWA role, one can quibble about how many of the 6 million or so are now "refugees".
2 million have citizenship in Jordan, etc as a group like UN Watch would note
https://unwatch.org/item-7/claim/claim-5-palestinian-refugees-have-a-right-of-return/
Whatever the number now, one can then note that one of Israel's prime goals includes ending UNRWA and have the other Arab states follow the example of Jordan.
Which raises the question are those nations cutting funding to UNRWA proposing taking in the Palestinian refugees and if not what are they going to do next?
What is going on now is akin to the settler majority re-writing the principles of the Treaty (one assimilated people etc) and telling Maori to go live in Oz, if they do not like it.
A really balanced and thought provoking post, SPC.
Another day, another "clarification". This time it's Mark Mitchell.
PM says Police Minister Mark Mitchell was wrong on coalition commitment backdown – NZ Herald
The government's best weeks were Christmas/New Year, when politics was on holiday. The public happily ignored them.
But now Parliament is back and political questions are back, and the simple task of saying "our policy is A not B" is too challenging for them.
From that link: “Discussions occurred between the coalition parties’ chiefs of staff overnight and reaffirmed the original deadline.”
So they had to have “discussions” to clarify what they already wrote down in the coalition document!
Always good to be reminded of how Mitchell entered parliament in the first place:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/disclosures-disgust-defeated-candidate/L2WCON5XJLS6VL4VYKBP7SHV44/
After destroying Robinson's reputation, Cameron Slater and co. then went on to destroy the reputations of the other candidates. And soon there was only their preferred candidate left. But out intrepid new Police minister didn’t know about any of it. 🙄
So that is the level of propriety (or the lack of it) now considered acceptable for a police minister.
Well done Anne to remind us of the calibre of some of these Govt. Ministers. “I know nothink…” yeah right…
Mrs “give it back double” Collins did not come out of “Dirty politics” well either and she is…wait, what… Attorney-General, Minister of Defence, Minister for Digitising Government, Minister Responsible for the GCSB, Minister Responsible for the NZSIS, Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, and Minister for Space!
Well, there is always the hope that some filthy rich adventurer will take her on a ride into space from whence they disappear… never to be heard of again. 😉
Lol, Elon might have a flight for her…watch out for the eyebrows…
It is hard to believe she is in office again, casually knifing people (politically) with gay abandon…
Yes TM, and Anne, bloody amazing. I often wonder what it is that protects her? From Key's wrath, a failed leadership, and now with a fist in the judiciary pie, and he side kick Minister of Police. Guess the Fraud Squad will get big cuts???
[deleted]
[You must respond to your Mod note (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20-01-2024/#comment-1985677) before commenting – Incognito]
Mod note
A public spat between prominent leftists is always interesting, huh? https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2024/01/31/mediawatch-robert-reid-launches-devastating-strike-against-chris-trotter/
To war, or not to war, that is the question. The answer is that it depends where you look. If you look at the govt, you see a stance of helping the warriors without actually being one. A helping stance is useful due to plausible moral justification for doing what's right in any situation – even a marginal influence may steer the thing so as to produce a suitable outcome. The trick is not to define the thing.
In terms of physics, making something definite collapses the wave function. In situations where flow of the whole is the key operational context to use, you adapt using a fluid stance to guide your tactics & strategy. Tacit works better than explicit.
Reid & Trotter are feeling different parts of the elephant, to jump the metaphor shark, and complicity in warfare is happening without the govt being at war in actuality. Note there's only 6 helpers being sent: the govt sadly missed out on the prospect of magical influence by not including a seventh helper…
Trotter is not a leftist.
Might be time for Mr Trotter to turn off the MacBook for a while, when you get down to the level of criticising a working class stalwart such as Robert Reid it is obvious he is not just erratic and vacillating, but joined the ranks of right opportunists. Sad, knew Chris well during his union days with the Distribution Workers Federation and others, but he has clearly been unhappy for a while and if he has thrown his lot in with reactionaries best he admit it rather than playing all sides as he has done for years with his columns.
Years back in the ’80s CT got opprobrium from many unionists when he started writing for the National Business Review which was a big deal back in pre digital times. “Positive engagement” the apologists said, but people’s class position runs deep and not too many jump the fence, ironically Robert Reid did, as he was very briefly, a young Nat! but against CMT (Compulsory Military Training) which he and others campaigned successfully against.
Robert has been a Marxist internationalist for many decades, known around Asia Pacific in particular in such circles. From car industry struggles to TUF to building unions in the Pacific, running First Union, on the WEAG review, he has done more than most NZ online pundits could imagine.
This country had no hardware to smash into one of the poorest countries on the planet along with the heroic poms and yanks–but–we are fully complicit thanks to 5 Eyes connections. Our involvement will help target people to be killed–sounds like participation in armed conflict to me. US Imperialism always wants cover, the “willing” and it is shameful indeed that this Govt. has given it to them during one of the worst examples of vindictive genocide since the WWII Warsaw Ghetto.
Compared to what?
The right look for partnerships, the left look for traitors.
Compared to Robert Reid, for one.
If the left look for traitors, it looks like they found one in Chris Trotter.
Muttonbird.
Trotter is the most-read and most-popular left columnist New Zealand has.
This is not a moment to encourage the left to fall out with each other.
Stop describing Chris Trotter as left. Just stop it, he's not.
what is he then?
A self appointed critic.
plenty of those that are lw 😉
I think he's corrupt and has corrupted himself. There's a clear abandonment of left values as described by SPC just below @3.1.2.1.2.2. I believe you were also shocked at his call to arms against Maori the other day.
He's corrupted because this slide to the privileged, authoritarian right has coincided with a move to platforms such as, er, The Platform and various astroturfing outfits like New Zealand Centre for Political Research as described below by Reality @7.
What do they say? You are the company you keep.
I also know you are interested in this as it pertains to your idea that left/right boundaries are becoming less relevant as people find themselves at odds with the political values of the people they normally identify with. This can be true in for single issues maybe (I was against Seymour’s legalised murder legislation but a lot of lefties voted for it), but when the weight of ideals you hold has shifted so far to the right then you’re in trouble.
I could be wrong here because I don't keep up to date with the machinations of the MSM sites as such, but it does seem to me he is no longer among the 'go to' journalists and commentators – at least not in the way he used to be. That would have damaged his ego no end, and could be the reason he's turned to the right wing platforms you mentioned. It gives him the opportunity to remain relevant in the competitive world of political and social commentary.
His opposition to a CGT, because those of his demographic (older people who owned their home) did not support it, is class based – just not left wing or working class.
His narrative that Maori are a threat to democracy makes him part of the Brash/Seymour ilk, the Maori/Treaty etc as a block on global market supremacy over the nation state political society and economy to be removed.
It's a counter-point to transforming what is left of government into a funder of external delivery providers and ending any expectation of government having any role in making society better for the majority. Why, because the many of the next generation might not be property owners in their own land (and that was once seen as the basis for participation in democratic government decision-making) and so they are supposed to settle for worker class wage to pay "occupation" rent until they are too old to work.
His blindness to that and the influence of his peer group 1950's boomer assimilation era New Zealander with property ownership makes him useless to the 21st C left (he'd probably stand on his own grave declaring no estate tax).
💯% SPC … Trotter's "class" analysis only applies to people like himself; he's turned into a grumpy old reactionary
Muttonbird.
We will get the results of the Australia-New Zealand Defence+Foreign Affairs summit by Monday.
It likely takes us a long way into commitment deeper than 6 intelligence staff.
What do you mean “we” Ad man?
Sounds like a 5 Eyes obligation to me–further linking this country to more totally unnecessary warmongering via AUKUS.
Warmongering? Please.
If anyone can read the tealeaves of Biden's silence on the response to 3 US soldiers dead and 50 wounded from the missile attack, for a response "at a time of their choosing", resisting all those FoxNews and Republican chickenhawk revenge fantasies for launching attacks directly on Iran, well 'warmongering' isn't the term that springs to mind.
It was only yesterday that the US, Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia were outlining an interim post-Gaza fighting peace deal. So the US should expect further terrorist provocation like rocket attacks to derail that.
What is on the table from Saudi Arabia and Egypt is a pathway toward a Palestinian state in return for Saudi recognition of Israel. In turn this is the most efficient way to block Iran growing its proxy base.
Biden appears to be holding his nerve better than leaders in Lebanon, Israel, Iran. We need neither peacenik non-interventionists nor warmongers. We need results from hard bargaining.
Hard bargaining from Biden?? Not even a hiccup in the supply of weapons to rain down on Gaza as far as I can see. Only continual reinforcement of US support for Israel and by implication, its active genocide in Gaza. It would be far simpler to make a case for active encouragement than for any kind of "hard bargaining"
I agree that Biden is not using the military supply leveraging that he could. But let's never suggest this is a US problem. The US has no interests to defend in Gaza, socially, economically or militarily.
Biden will never order a "boots on the ground" peace-enforcing role for US troops – ever. So his instruments are diplomacy and missiles in combination.
The more each front opens up, the less possible specific country peace deals become possible. At least not until Netanyahu gets real domestic pressure himself, or Saudi Arabia offers something very, very sweet to him.
You need to read Trotter's "No Right Turn" book again. He documents the key moments that actively conspired against the left from the entire previous century. He did that better than Jesson or anyone else.
However the left evolves in this Parliamentary term, it's probably only Trotter that can show the left how we got here.
I never read it – I never found his writing in his political review journal to be particularly impressive altho some of his essays in recent years have been positive contributions and insightful. Never saw him even attempt to explain why & how the NLP performed so poorly and he's had 30 years or so to get that job done.
Similarly for Jesson although always worth reading and did a good job in his mirror-glass book which I did buy! Tony Simpson was better than both, discerning relevant power dynamics in our historical contexts & an excellent storyteller too.
Simpson was a socialist romantic; fine for the Sugarbag Years and not much chop after WW2.
With Easton's The Economic History of New Zealand that came out late 2022, the gap we have is someone to write The Millennial Political Economy of New Zealand .
Slavish adherence to British precedence, yet the neolib hegemony teeters on this slippery demographic slope:
Likely the Tory govt has consolidated the effect in the 2.5 years since that was published. Cue Starmer, headed in on a landslide apparently.
C'mon Dennis – since when has Chris Trotter been remotely leftist. I gave up on Bowalley Road (and the Daily Blog also) a few years ago now.
Most people still see him in that category though. I agree that testimony of personal values doesn't feature much in his style. Who do you rate as a leftist opinionator?
Some years back I bought & read What's Left: https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Left-How-Lost-its/dp/0007229704
It was actually worthwhile. A younger generational view too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Cohen
If he feels that fickle finger of god tapping on his shoulder, could be the tidal pull of normalcy.
As if that were a negative thing! Not clever at all. However Maduro's petrosocialist authoritarianism is an enduring style, so he got that right.
I don't read Trotter much, but he is old school left (centre left if you like).
I know its not my normal email but I can't seem to post under my proper one?
[lprent: That is because you have a permanent ban for your previous behaviour. Basically being a dim-witted fatuous troll who won’t listen to moderators telling you repeatably to lift your standard of commenting carries consequences. We don’t mind debate here. But it has to actually carry some information, if only about your opinions and the reasons behind them. Just being a brainless parrot trying to be funny doesn’t reach the standard. Try the ever diminishing X or something even more brainless.
A permanent ban means that we don’t allow your comments on this site because you waste the time of our moderators and add nothing to debate.
Eventually I get around to releasing bans even permanent ones. It happens about once every 3-5 years when I think that the size of the banned list is starting to slow the site. Also I have enough faith that eventually even brainless trolls grow up and join humanity.
I have added this ‘e-mail’ to your ban record. ]
Rosemary, your ban mod note is here,
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06-01-2024/#comment-1983574
When you come back, I'm open to having a conversation about what the problem is. But the upshot is wasting moderator time, we just can't sustain it.
Good God Lprent. I thought personal abuse was verboten. We live and learn
Johnr – because LPrent owns the standard he considers it gives him absolute license to be abusive and small minded and be a bully to people on here, which is totally against the rules here.
however, none of the mods pull him up against it no matter how much they tell other commentators not to bully or use diminishing words against others.
I don’t particularly pay any attention to what Lynn says because he’s just a grumpy old fuck that thinks because the standard is “his site” he can go ahead and abuse others with impunity.
but between him, advantage, and weka, the standard has become far less enjoyable as a forum for a free exchange of ideas with differences of opinions being thrashed out openly using education, exploration, and elimination.
it’s a crying shame really. From the valuable asset it was in 2008 when a free exchange of ideas was allowed whereas on red alert it was shut down, to weka’s indiscriminate bans on everybody interesting because they didn’t link to stuff/nzh, the standard has become a place of groupthink where only happy ideas can be raised.
wrong – there is plenty of diverse opinion around here. bans are generally handed out after a pattern of repeated antisocial behaviour – some things cause discussion to break down
of course it aint perfect because there are humans involved
'groupthink'; 'grumpy' – well yeah it's a left-wing forum facing a right wing government that is hell-bent on demolishing the social fabric and inciting racial divisions
some examples would be nice… there was some strife during Covid when one (ex)-moderator went anti-vax and got frustrated with everyone constantly rebutting his ‘facts’ so he’s not around much anymore…
Nancy Pelosi being a deranged vicious thug calling Palestine supporters paid Russian agents and demanding the Fbi investigate the Guardian article for reference.
Ever since the democrats lost 2016 the media and public have allowed with no push back for the democrats to blame everything they don't like on Russia.
If you disagree with the democrats you're guilty of treason and the boot of the state should crush your neck according to the democrats.
68% of Americans want a cease fire, including 50% of 2020 democrats (30% are unsure) the whole country and democratic party according to establishment dems are Russian agents.
Pelosi, Biden, Schumer and all these paid corporate war mongering geriatrics are so out of touch they forget they have to actually win elections to stay in power and when they lose it it's not their fault it's china's, it's Russias, it's nazis, anyone but their own unelectable selves.
The 2024 usa election is a grudge match between mask off war mongering, corporate senile geriatric hard right wing authoritarians who like gays and girl bosses
VS mask off xenophobic authoritarian isolationists who don't believe in the constitution.
As someone who spends a lot of time in the states, the latter is far more popular, even among gays, Latinos and African Americans in New York city.
Pelosi, Biden, Schiff, Schumer et all are lunatics.
[deleted]
[You must respond to your Mod note (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20-01-2024/#comment-1985677) before commenting – Incognito]
Mod note
Its all about money, which which quite normal in USA.
Zionist and other hard line Israeli supporters still have considerable clout in US banking and finance so the Democrats are not likely to give anything but the most lukewarm support to their Palestinian enemies and risk their donations coming to a halt.
Roy Morgan polling reports that a December 2023 political poll shows the NACTZ coalition down 6.5 points from the last poll compared to the Labour-Greens-Te Pati Maori bloc. All three of the triumvirate are down in support.
A relevant quote from the film "Spaceballs".
"I hope it's going to be a long ceremony because it's going to be a short honeymoon…"
How true.
Is there any explanation over why it's taken so long to be released? It's virtually a month out of date, by now.
No explanation given.
Perhaps it is due to the Christmas/New Year break.
Well, well, well. In today's Post was an insert printed and distributed by the New Zealand Centre for Political Research "The Treaty of Waitangi an Explanation Te Tiriti O Waitangi" by the Hon Sir Apirana Ngata. On looking up the website of this outfit, listed as writing regular articles are Karl du Fresne, Owen Jennings, Chris Trotter, Muriel Newman, Roger Douglas, Michael Bassett.
Seems like the start of a political campaign to influence the public over David Seymour's intentions re the Treaty. Obviously some heavy hitters hard at work behind the scenes.
A glimpse behind the mask.
@joshuadrummond.cynics.guide:
@dejanajuk.bsky.social:
Moana Maniapoto wrote an excellent analysis back in 2016
Māori bashers and the morality of the media who empower them | E-Tangata
Labour was promoting this macho dude online but Willie calls it an error:
Notice how he carefully avoided blaming a junior staffer:
Is this adroit or what!!? Just when everyone has been conditioned to expect Labour to always copy National, they don't! I have to give Willie 8/10 for such expertise.
Great minds think alike!! Yet inexplicably Labour's pr machine has failed to use this conventional explanation. They just lack the common touch.
"he carefully avoided blaming a junior staffer"
I thought that Willie was a junior staffer these days. Does he really have any influence on the Caucus?
Do you really have to ask? Surely you can imagine the desperation within Labour if he were to play the pied piper & lead the Labour Maori off to join the Maori Party.
Not that he's likely to do so currently whilst they present as radicals. Labour's mishandling of co-governance masked good intent: rectifying the official shambles. So Willie will remain within, to respect Labour's marginal grasp on authenticity. You can see the ole good cop analogy for their role in Labour (TMP bad).
On the Police numbers saga, it feels like Mitchell went to Willis and asked for the money required to fund 500 new cops in two years and/or be exempt from the 6.5-7.5% public service cuts…and Willis said no.
So Mark gets up in parliament and lays this bare as if to say, 'I wanted two years but she wouldn't let me'. Now Egg-head has had to flop flop, Mitchell forced to correct, and the cops will come in two, despite the cuts everyone else has to make.
Canny from Mitchell, looks like he called Willis' bluff and got his way:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2024/01/mark-mitchell-formally-corrects-record-in-parliament-over-police-numbers-mistake.html
If I were a journalist (and I should be), I’d be asking these questions.
Speak Up For Women's briefings to incoming ministers.
https://www.speakupforwomen.nz/bims
Very nice but I think SUFW overestimates the intellect of your average National MP – need to dumb down those briefings 😛
Richard Dawkins on the subject of biological sex:
A much-needed new blog exploring the machinations of right wing networks operating in Aotearoa
astroturfing.nz — also on bluesky
There's a lot of underhanded shit going on – David Seymour spearheading most of it – and people like Josh Drummond are doing important work exposing it.
Thanks roblogic will follow this, good to have info on back channel dirty stuff corralled in an easy to find spot.