Trotter hallucinates revolting natives: "It is always dangerous to remind the colonisers of the world they have extinguished. To offer them a glimpse of that world is more perilous still. It proves that the culture they conquered and left for dead can be brought back to life. Ihumatao has smouldered for 156 years. The effect of the mass occupation of the past week has gifted it a sudden inrush of oxygen. Now there are flames amongst the fern."
Why? Not enough racism in the media yet, apparently. "Those flames glitter in the narrowed eyes of the watchers. From the ill-educated and ill-disciplined the responses are already forthcoming. Angry posts on Facebook and Twitter, filled with the raw racism of those for whom the possession of a white skin constitutes their sole claim to superiority. Reading these, it is difficult to decide who they hate the most: Maori, or the Pakeha who support them?" http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2019/07/ihumatao-watched-by-unfriendly-eyes.html
Best way to fan the flames of hostility is to play the racism card, particularly when it has already been over-played. Yeah, I know it makes no sense, I'm just illuminating the thought processes that drive his florid prose. Can't have a media career unless you beat up controversy…
with the rise of (indistinguishable from the 'real thing') meats and cheeses – the reasons to eat for flavor/texture etc. will be soon long gone..
and those who will still insist on 'the real thing' will just be insisting on a subtext/sauce of wholesale cruelty to animals/destruction of the environment..with their food..
when the issue is boiled down to just that – the 'real thing' will become less and less palatable to many/most..
this is when we will see the sea-change from animal/cruelty-based foods – to the healthier/better for the planet – plant-based foods..
Will we have the decency not to allow the animals we have farmed not to go extinct or will we toss them aside and breed more humans to fill the spaces they leave.
i think there is little chance of that happening – on the other hand there are all the species that are being/have been made extinct – by the farming of animals/growing of soy etc. to feed them…
They'd certainly have to pry the fancy cheese from my cold, dead hands! Take away camembert, blue brie, feta, parmigiano, maasdam etc and only alcohol, sex and chocolate are left.
Periodically some fucking hippie manages to persuade me to try some hyper-expensive dross that is "indistinguishable from the real thing". always bollocks.
The closest they've managed so far is "indistinguishable from a particularly shite and cheap attempt to sell something as the real thing".
If it was indistinguishable, it would drive the "real thing" into a niche market.
It will certainly have to get close to the taste and texture, regardless of how cheap it becomes. At the moment it's a fail on all counts.
My kid turned veggonaut, and the other day I got ripped for nine bucks for three hundred grams of quorn mince. I made a meal and it was effing gross. Ended up binning mine. Thought I couldn't go wrong with a fake sausage. I was wrong. No matter how much sauce I put on my pretend banger it just tasted wrong.
lol so when you say stuff is indistinguishable from the real thing, you mean indistinguishable from your 30y.o. recollection of what the real thing once tasted like.
Recently been eating a lot of self caught, free range rabbit, though, so a good casserole and hearty pie later, the only sour taste left became a bitter afterthought.
nah..i am going on the blind taste-tests done @ fiekd days in hamilton..where tasters couldn't tell the difference – with many preferring the plant-based..
i am going on the burger chains in u.s. being early adopters – and the punters loving them..
i am going on the factories for both the leading brands being unable to keep up with orders..
i am going on the first of those companies to float on u.s. stockmarket – and being heavily over-subscribed..
i am not going on my 30+ yrs memories..
and hey..!..while you weren't watching/paying attention – most breads in supermarkets have gone vegan…
i used to be only able to buy one or two – now i can buy most..
betcha didn't know all that…eh..?
best you put down that slice of bread – and step well back..eh..?
.where tasters couldn't tell the difference – with many preferring the plant-based..
Unless it's 50/50, they could tell the difference.
Bread is a good example of a cost-effective substitute "indistinguishable from the real thing". Margarine vs butter is another. But milk is still milk, and the meat aisles are still meat aisles (except for sausages, which are anything from "meat and random herbs" to "meat but mostly sawdust, and you don't want to know which bits of animals constitute the meat").
but seriously there – p.m…i continue to be surprised by how many people who self-regard as progressive – are so reactionary on this issue…
especially in light of the indeniable health/environment issues from the farming/eating of animals – (need i remind you of the bowel-cancer equation?..that nz has worlds' highest rates of bowel-cancer + world-beating rates of consumption of animal-flesh/bye-products + red-meat/bacon being proven cause of bowel-cancer..
how much more information do you need…..to drive any change in yr dietary practices..?
and of course this reactionary attitude from many progressives has echoes in the abolition of human slavery (in the west)..
many progressives/suffragettes from that era are on the record as being emphatic on the inferiority of the darker races..of being totally reactionary on the question of race..
and so it is now on the question of animal-slavery/eatimg..eh..?
Philip Ure I suspect that the truly ethical position on meat-eating is to eat ourselves, no other animal to be hurt in this process.
As we have been making a living from feeding and growing animals for so long – it is hard to make the change to plant-first-and-only diets. But as you say our bowel cancer is high on the charts in a bad way, less meat is better.
Why not put up a couple of recipes for your favourite flavoured meals on Sunday's How to Get There – but please don't swamp us with your sales pitch – you can get carried away. Antagonism and stress is bad for the digestion of any food, keep it simple and sweet will you.
Oh forget I ever said anything PU. I am sick of people who can't think anything through and just react to life and everything that is said to them with their favourite obsession or interest blocking their vision. I will take no further interest in you or anything you say.
I agree greywarshark. This debate driven by Philip Ure has already happened some years ago when I had only just discovered the benefits of reading TS.
To be honest, I do not look forward to a repeat of that long and turgid debate, in which I seem to remember James making rather a pig of himself by over-indulgence in barbeques.
The coalition has set the terms for the two referenda at the next election, but with a sunset clause. NRT questions the wisdom of the clause. Winston was once real big on citizens-initiated referenda, so I'm surprised he has endorsed the sunset strategy.
Could it be that realpolitik has prevailed over populism in his mind? Those who object to people power usually cite the madness of crowds (just as likely as wisdom). I wonder if he has had a conversion experience.
What a joke – and not funny at all. How long are we going to put up with this bullshit?
Debating oil and gas drilling without mentioning climate change has been labelled as like ''fighting a fire without water'' during a Dunedin hearing into an Austrian company's Otago plans.
Environmental Protection Authority hearings started yesterday relating to OMV's intentions to drill an oil and gas exploration well costing about $80million in the Great South Basin this summer.
It is required by its permit to do so before July 2021.
The hearing was called a ''farce'' by environmentalists, including Oil Free Otago spokesman Adam Currie, as the topic of climate change was barred from being considered.
About 40 protesters gathered outside the building in the late morning holding signs and singing songs.
OMV New Zealand said it respected their democratic right to express points of view, but asked them to do so lawfully.
Hearing consideration was limited to the effects of a small potential discharge of harmful substances from the drill rig's deck drains.
Pathetic. What a rig-up against the planet – there are more possibilities of oil spill than from deck drains. And the fact that climate change is happening but must not be acknowledged though it is a scientific fact – can't be accepted by people who draw on their own preferred facts to make their case for doing business. Let's settle this with a duel you could say instead of having an expensive legal hearing with counsel being paid in mega-dollars. Come outside the two protagonists could say, choose your weapons, and let's see who has the best facts.
On the brightside the consensus forecasts suggest a significant deepening (strictly negative) of the antarctic oscillation and increased probability of significant southerly regimes for the next couple of weeks.
Interesting graphs Poission. I think I saw that the temp will not stay at -4 for long but will likely be below freezing for the 14-day period with this oscillation which will please the ski fields hearts mightily.
I hope they have been able to get their staff okay. They were saying that new measures the Immigration Impairment have introduced meant that what used to be straightforward and timely had extra time-consuming layers. That made it difficult for the special people required to get their paperwork, and their travel etc. arrangements done. They could miss the snow completely the way it worked (not). I think it is so wrong to allow individuals to get on top of a heap that they fashion into a shape of their own design.
This is intersting and good to hear. Good on them. We all can do something – besides writing here, which is useful itself because we need to have discussion and thinking about our country and its problems and what sort of road blocks we need against continuing bad systems and what we need to remove.
OPINION: Your fingerprint is uniquely your own, tied to your identity for your entire life. It is for this very reason that technology is advancing the usefulness of biometric data like fingerprints, making it much harder for people to keep their identity and history private. These technological advances are everywhere – from DNA technology allowing police to solve cold cases to everyday people unlocking their phone with a scan of their face…
Take the recent Australian Fair Work Commission decision involving Queensland sawmill worker Jeremy Lee and his employer, Superior Wood.
Lee refused to give his fingerprints to his employer as part of a new work sign-in system. After a period of some months involving discussions and then warnings, Lee was sacked for his persistent refusals.
Lee wasn’t just thinking about privacy, he declared: “It’s my biometric data. It’s not appropriate for them to have it”.
(Question: Why should an employer have the right to take samples of your body, readings of your functions, skin details? Are we things bought and sold, like animals at a saleyard, teeth, eyes, hooves checked? Isn’t this just the same – an invasion of our individual rights becoming normalised?)
Overseas: https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1892471/rise-face-and-fingerprint-recognition-technology-just-how Face recognition technology to help “tag” friends in photographs, fingerprint recognition to unlock smartphones, and fingerprint door locks are just some of the ways in which biometric data has been used in recent years. In Asia, developments include palm vein authentication technology for payments and mobile terminals, or “biocarts” that take photos and fingerprints of passengers for immigration processing in Japan; fingerprint authentication for ATMs in Vietnam; and facial recognition technology . Is this the end of long passwords and complex authentication systems?
These lasers Hong Kong protesters are pointing at riot police through billowing tear gas, it's like something out of a sci-fi movie. #AntiELABpic.twitter.com/noTllDuc09
HONG KONG — The police officers wrestled with Colin Cheung in an unmarked car. They needed his face.
They grabbed his jaw to force his head in front of his iPhone. They slapped his face. They shouted, “Wake up!” They pried open his eyes. It all failed: Mr. Cheung had disabled his phone’s facial-recognition login with a quick button mash as soon as they grabbed him.
As Hong Kong convulses amid weeks of protests, demonstrators and the police have turned identity into a weapon. The authorities are tracking protest leaders online and seeking their phones. Many protesters now cover their faces, and they fear that the police are using cameras and possibly other tools to single out targets for arrest.
Good to check what's been happening down there imo
A Government appointed watchdog could soon monitor the troubled Westland District Council.
Stuff understands Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta recently wrote to the council's chief executive, Simon Bastion, outlining her intention to put in place a Crown observer.
… The Westland District Council, according to a March briefing to Mahuta, has a history of issues relating to dysfunctional governance and management, inadequate procurement and process, and non compliance with statutory obligations.
I think that the Mayor felt that urgent attention was needed and did the commonsense thing with the stopbank. But then probably that is normal behaviour for that area, a hearty, quick decision-making of we'll fix that -without proper planning which looked at the bigger issues, and long-term needs and what the latest 'best practice' is, if only to decide to ignore it – it not always being reasonable and cost-efficient.
Wonder if maureen pugh wishes to comment? Probably not she was busy sending out a presser to local news outlets yesterday announcing that she had a cake to celebrate 3 yrs in parliament. True story.
Anger over the deportation of New Zealand citizens from Australia is likely to intensify, with Canberra set to introduce even tighter visa requirements.
Lecturing a bunch of Bible-thumping white racists that their immigration policies are shitty has backfired in spectacular fashion, and Kiwis will pay the price.
The poor Ockers aren't a happy bunch right now shaggy, their economy is going off the cliff and that bunch of muppets across the Tasman are steaming ahead. Their dollar has fallen from it's customary level of over NZ$1.20 to only just buying one NZ$ (today's cash rate) And I can't see it changing any time soon.
Good point, Pat. Back in the late 80s we invented lots of dodgy private tertiary institutes so that our young unemployed would become students gaining worthless qualifications, instead of featuring in unemployment stats.
Didn't work, because a few years later they still had no jobs.
Australia gets rid of the actual person – much more efficient.
Don't know if I'd vote New Conservative (unless Jude became leader then obviously I would) but this is better then what Labour have done, its more thought out, fairer and will actually address some of the issues
New Conservative party
New Conservative takes constructive feedback on our policies very seriously. Here is our latest on Firearms:
Lots of stuff to unpack there, even if they weren't a bunch of fucking numpties.
Still, better without the poetry.
edit: what about tourist hunters?
mandatory minimums, wtf?
Do they want the chchfuck’s live stream uncensored? Why? And that’s not a govt issue, that’s the censor’s office. Like any court suppression issues. Or do they want all the fiveeyes stuff made public too?
I guess Republicans have been right all along, they are the party of Reagan.
The day after the United Nations voted to recognize the People’s Republic of China, then–California Governor Ronald Reagan phoned President Richard Nixon at the White House and vented his frustration at the delegates who had sided against the United States. “Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did,” Reagan said. “Yeah,” Nixon interjected. Reagan forged ahead with his complaint: “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” Nixon gave a huge laugh.
[…]
The past month has brought presidential racism back into the headlines. This October 1971 exchange between current and future presidents is a reminder that other presidents have subscribed to the racist belief that Africans or African Americans are somehow inferior. The most novel aspect of President Donald Trump’s racist gibes isn’t that he said them, but that he said them in public.
The exchange was taped by Nixon, and then later became the responsibility of the Nixon Presidential Library, which I directed from 2007 to 2011. When the National Archives originally released the tape of this conversation, in 2000, the racist portion was apparently withheld to protect Reagan’s privacy. A court order stipulated that the tapes be reviewed chronologically; the chronological review was completed in 2013. Not until 2017 or 2018 did the National Archives begin a general rereview of the earliest Nixon tapes. Reagan’s death, in 2004, eliminated the privacy concerns. Last year, as a researcher, I requested that the conversations involving Ronald Reagan be rereviewed, and two weeks ago, the National Archives released complete versions of the October 1971 conversations involving Reagan online.
If you know anyone with ME/CFS/Tapanui 'Flu that is being put through CBT and graduated exercise PLEASE send them and most importantly their doctor to the link below. There are many inside the DHBs who are wasting health $ abusing clients with these treatments on the basis of this PACE study – It’s not even science 🙁
Hipkins says the Government was doing “too much too fast”. Now it’s praying clearing the decks will also clear the way to a better election result. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: He’s done it. New PM Chris Hipkins has ‘cleared the decks’ of all manner of flotsam and ...
A deeply-statistically-flawed poll the other day reported that 43.8 percent do not trust the National Party leader. I say deeply-statistically-flawed because it can be empirically proven that this data is non-correct.Let me show my working.The Newshub-Reid Research poll asks 1,000 random New Zealanders what they reckon. Thus we can infer ...
Hipkins held his expected bonfire of the policies today, ditching the RNZ/TVNZ merger, punting hate speech legislation to the Law Commission (which basicly means it will never happen), and dumping the "bougie dole" social insurance scheme. But along the way, he also shitcanned a key part of the government's emissions ...
Fonterra’s farmers will be relieved that prices in the Global Dairy Trade auction this week have rebounded – up 3.2% across the board. It is the first rise since December 6 The index had fallen 2.8% on January 3 and 0.1% on January 17, to kick off 2023 on a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Announcements on the provision of aid – to Auckland, Turkey and Syria – are recorded on the Beehive website today along with a statement from the PM about his flying visit to Australia. This was Chris Hipkins’ first overseas visit since he took office, enabling him ...
There’s a 19th century flavour to National’s “social investment” strategy, in that it aims to seek capital from philanthropists and charitable organisations – some of them having their own religious agendas- to fund and deliver the provision of social services. Beyond that point, the details are remarkably scarce. Regardless, “social ...
Karl du Fresne writes – The jury has returned its verdict, and it’s emphatic. New Zealanders want the country’s name left as it is. In a Newshub-Reid Research poll, respondents were asked what they thought New Zealand should be known as. Fifty-two percent wanted the country to be ...
Poorly-managed diabetes results in amputations and other expensive hospital treatments – an example of how charging patients to access their medication ends up costing more in the long run. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The phrase ‘penny wise and pound foolish’ is one that applies across much of the Government’s approach to ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes- In recent decades the Labour Party has lost its traditional connection with working-class voters, becoming more of a middle-class party of liberalism. This is especially true of Labour’s historic connection with working-class Māori. This is a constituency that the party used to monopolise. ...
In recent decades the Labour Party has lost its traditional connection with working class voters, becoming more of a middle class party of liberalism. This is especially true of Labour’s historic connection with working class Māori. This is a constituency that the party used to monopolise. But ever since the ...
Hi,I wanted to thank everyone who responded to A New Day, a New Cease & Desistover the last five days or so. So many readers have brushed up against MLMs — and they’re something I want to push further into. Did I hear from good old Jonathan Callinan, the ...
As the planet continues to cook, extreme weather events like those we experienced over the last two weeks are set to become more frequent. How we plan our cities to mitigate the risks of climate change will inevitably be more salient going forward, and that will only increase over time. ...
TLDR: For paying subscribers, here’s the key scoops, breaking news and key links I’ve picked up this morning, as at 6.40 am, including:the Reserve Bank of Australia hiked its official cash rate to a 10-year high and warned of more hikes to come, which was more hawkish than expected; RBABP ...
A year ago this week we saw the headline “Mask-wearing 17-year-old egged by aggressive convoy protesters”. As the protestors settled in for their long campout in opposition to vaccination requirements they demonstrated their commitment to standing up for the rights of the individual by verbally abusing, and throwing eggs at, ...
Chris Hipkins has become New Zealand’s 41st prime minister following Ardern’s unexpected resignation—perhaps the bold and unpredictable move Labour needed to improve its election chances. Just six days into his premiership and Labour had its first lead over National in thirteen weeks. National has had a largely uninterrupted run of ...
Good people can come into your life imperceptibly. It can seem they’re just there one day being remarkable. Nat Torkington, for instance.We were both online from the early days, I’m assuming that’s where we first connected; maybe in the UseNet newsgroups, or maybe later through Public Address.But it was when ...
One of New Zealand’s biggest electricity generators, Genesis Energy, has given the go-ahead for a large solar farm near Lauriston on the Canterbury Plains, an hour’s drive south of Christchurch. It is part of Genesis’ strategy of replacing thermal baseload with renewable generation – a mix of wind and solar. ...
Buzz from the Beehive We found just one fresh announcement on the Beehive website this morning, when we made our first visit since 4 February. It was posted in the name of Nanaia Mahuta, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, and explained why she was not at Waitangi at the weekend. ...
Hipkins is doing the right thing for New Zealanders already living in Australia, but there’s now a growing risk of a fresh surge of net emigration of frustrated young Kiwis across the Tasman. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Employers here in Aotearoa are desperate to keep their best-trained, most-productive ...
This post contains two guest posts from readers, both of which were sent to us after the flooding on Friday 27 January, both of which discuss how we handle our stormwater. This is a guest post from Ed Clayton, who’s written for us before about Auckland’s relationship with freshwater, ...
TLDR: For paying subscribers, here’s the key breaking news, scoops and links I’ve found since 4 am this morning, as of 7 am, including:A 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,200 in Turkey near its border with Syria; ReutersMetService has warned a new cyclone is forming north of Aotearoa that ...
The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. There is a new wave of Maori activism, which sees the Treaty as a living ...
Originally published by The Hill After decades of failure to pass major federal climate legislation, Congress finally broke through last year with the Inflation Reduction Act and its close to $400 billion in clean energy investments. Energy modeling experts estimated that these provisions would help the U.S. cut its carbon pollution ...
Apology Accepted? “I dropped the ball on Friday, I was too slow to be seen …The communications weren’t fast enough – including mine. I’m sorry for that.”–Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.HOW OFTEN do politicians apologise? Sincerely apologise? Not offer voters the weasel words: “If my actions have offended anyone, then I ...
At first blush, Christopher Luxon’s comment at the parliamentary powhiri at Waitangi this year sounded tone deaf. The Leader of the Opposition in talking about the Treaty of Waitangi described New Zealand as “a little experiment”. It seemed to diminish the treaty and the very idea of our nation. Yet ...
THE (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding. BRIAN EASTON writes: Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It ...
A brief postscript to yesterday’s newsletter…Watching the predawn speeches just now, the reverence of those speaking and the respectful nature of those listening under umbrellas in the dark. I felt a great sadness at the words from Christopher Luxon last evening still in my head. The singing in the dark accompanied ...
by Don Franks While on holiday,I stayed a few days in Scotland with a friend who showed me one of the country’s great working-class achievements. It was a few miles out of central Edinburgh, a huge cantilever bridge across the river Forth. The Forth Bridge was the first major structure ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic and ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 29, 2023 thru Sat, Feb 4, 2023. Story of the Week Social change more important than physical tipping points1.5-degree Goal not plausible Photo: CLICCS / Universität Hamburg Limiting global ...
So Long - And Thanks For All The Fish: In the two-and-a-bit years since Jacinda Ardern’s electoral triumph of 2020, virtually every decision she made had gone politically awry. In the minds of many thousands of voters a chilling metamorphosis had taken place. The Faerie Queen had become the Wicked ...
Look at us here on our beautiful islands in the South Pacific at the start of 2023, we have come so far.Ten days ago we saw a Māori Governor General swearing in our new PM and our first Pasifika Deputy PM, ahead of this year’s parliament where they will be ...
The Herald’s headline writers are at it again! A sensible and balanced piece by Liam Dann on the battle against inflation carries a headline that suggests that NZ is doing worse than the rest of the world. Check it out and see for yourself if I am right. Is this ...
Photo by Anna Demianenko on UnsplashTLDR: Here’s my longer reads and listens for the weekend for sharing with The Kaka’s paying subscribers. I’ve opened this one up for all to give everyone a taste of the sorts of extras you get as a full paying subscriber.Subscribe nowDeeper reads and listens ...
Hello from the middle of a long weekend where I’m letting the last few days unspool, not ready, not yet, to give words to the hardest of what we heard.Instead, today, here are some good words from other people.Mother CourageWhen I wrote last year about Mum and Dad’s move to ...
Workers Now is a new slate of candidates contesting this year’s general election. James Robb and Don Franks are the people behind this initiative and they are hoping to put the spotlight on working people’s interests. Both are seasoned activists who have campaigned for workers’ rights over many decades. Here is ...
Buzz from the Beehive Politicians keen to curry favour with Māori tribal leaders have headed north for Waitangi weekend. More than a few million dollars of public funding are headed north, too. Not all of this money is being trumpeted on the Beehive website, the Government’s official website. ...
Insurers face claims of over $500 million for cars, homes and property damaged in the floods. They are already putting up premiums and pulling insurance from properties deemed at high risk of flooding. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: This week in the podcast of our weekly hoon webinar for paying subscribers, ...
Our Cranky Uncle Game can already be played in eight languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. About 15 more languages are in the works at various stages of completion or have been offered to be done. To kick off the new year, we checked with how ...
The (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding.Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It refers to ‘government’ on ...
It’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump on this link for our chat about the week’s news with special guests Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick and Auckland City Councillor Julie Fairey, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which ...
In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
This month’s open thread for climate related topics. Please be constructive, polite, and succinct. The post Unforced variations: Feb 2023 first appeared on RealClimate. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
A couple of weeks ago, after NCEA results came out, my son’s enrolment at Auckland Uni for this year was confirmed - he is doing a BSc majoring in Statistics. Well that is the plan now, who knows what will take his interest once he starts.I spent a bit of ...
Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has undergone a stern baptisim of fire in his first week in his new job, but it doesn’t get any easier. Next week, he has a vital meeting in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, where he has to establish ...
As PM Chris Hipkins says, it’s a “no brainer” to extend the fuel tax cut, half price public subsidy and the cut to the road user levy until mid-year. A no braoner if the prime purpose is to ease the burden on people struggling to cope with the cost of ...
Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Kia ora e te whānau. Today, we mark the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi - and our commitment to working in partnership with Māori to deliver better outcomes and tackle the big issues, together. ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
Work on the TVNZ/RNZ public media entity to stop; Radio NZ and NZ on Air to receive additional funding Social insurance scheme will not proceed this term The Human Rights (Incitement on Ground of Religious Belief) Amendment Bill to be withdrawn and not progressed this term. The matter to be ...
The Government is providing a $5 million package of emergency support to help businesses significantly affected by the recent flooding in Auckland. This includes: $3 million for flood recovery payments to help significantly affected businesses $1 million for mental wellbeing support through a boost to the First Steps programme $1 ...
The Government’s Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated to support people displaced by the severe flooding and landslips in the Auckland region, Housing Minister Megan Woods says. “TAS is now accepting registrations for people who cannot return to their homes and need assistance finding temporary accommodation. The team will work ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today held their first bilateral meeting in Canberra. It was Chris Hipkins’ first overseas visit since he took office, reflecting the close relationship between New Zealand and Australia. “New Zealand has no closer partner than Australia. I was pleased to ...
New Zealand will immediately provide humanitarian support to those affected by the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “Aotearoa New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by these earthquakes. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones affected,” ...
An historic Northland pā site with links to Ngāpuhi chief Hongi Hika is to be handed back to iwi, after collaboration by government, private landowners and local hapū. “It is fitting that the ceremony for the return of the Pākinga Pā site is during Waitangi weekend,” said Regional Development Minister ...
The Government is investing in a suite of initiatives to unlock Māori and Pacific resources, talent and knowledge across the science and research sector, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Two new funds – He tipu ka hua and He aka ka toro – set to ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for India tomorrow as she continues to reconnect Aotearoa New Zealand to the world. The visit will begin in New Delhi where the Foreign Minister will meet with the Vice President Hon Jagdeep Dhankar and her Indian Government counterparts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
The Government is supporting one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most significant historic sites, the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, as it continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. “The Waitangi Treaty Grounds are a taonga that we should protect and look after. This additional support will mean people can continue to ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
There’s a storm a’brewing on Treasure Island, and Alex and Jane are here to break it all down. The fans are rocked by a new team member, and the faves face the consequences of their Dame’s early morning strolls. Matty McLean is playing his heart out, Susan’s eyelids are inverted ...
It’s only week two, but already our fans and faves are feeling the strain. Tara Ward power ranks. Like a pair of Josh Kronfeld’s undies sent out to sea, our Treasure Island castaways have found themselves bobbing around on choppy waters. This was a tense week that saw one contestant ...
Chris Hipkins’ policy purge gives far more insight into how he will govern than the reshuffle he announced last week. Hate speech, biofuels, media mergers and social insurance have been dumped in the worthy, but not important bin, writes political editor Jo Moir. The front bench under Chris Hipkins’ leadership ...
You might be able to solve a delivery problem by cutting the number of packages you send. But is that enough, wonders Toby Manhire. If there’s one thing Chris Hipkins isn’t afraid of, it’s repeating himself to make the point. The first three sentences of his statement unveiling the policy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sathana Dushyanthen, Academic Specialist & Lecturer in Cancer Sciences & Digital Health| Superstar of STEM| Science Communicator, The University of Melbourne CDC/Unsplash Australians aged 18 and over will be eligible for a COVID booster from February 20 if they have ...
The state-owned radio broadcaster will keep its independence and get a cash injection after the Government scrapped the proposal to merge it with TVNZ Normal transmission has resumed for the country’s media industry. RNZ and TVNZ will remain as separate entities and the bogeyman of a monolithic public media entity ...
The EMA is relieved the Government has dedicated $5m to support Auckland businesses impacted by the recent flooding. Chief Executive Brett O’Riley says that is consistent with discussions the EMA and the Auckland Business Roundtable had been having with ...
The prime minister has unveiled what he calls a ‘new direction’ for the Labour government, and it involves launching a wrecking ball into Jacinda Ardern’s extensive policy programme. Stewart Sowman-Lund reports from parliament.We knew something was coming, but we perhaps weren’t expecting quite so much policy carnage at parliament ...
Organisations directly affected by this afternoon’s announcement that the media merger will not go ahead have issued statements in response, with a common thread of welcoming clarity after months of uncertainty and speculation. RNZ chair Jim Mather said: “Media in New Zealand is being challenged by rapidly changing commercial models, the ...
The decision to halt legislation that would bring religious grounds into existing hate speech rules, pending a referral to the Law Commission, has been rebuked by Amnesty International NZ. “We are deeply disappointed and frustrated that the government is taking so long to strengthen the country’s legislation against incitement to ...
The biggest private sector union in Aotearoa New Zealand, E tū, is concerned by the Prime Minister’s announcement today that the New Zealand Income Insurance Scheme (NZIIS) will be delayed indefinitely. The announcement was part of the new Prime ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has welcomed the Government’s decision to take the proposed social insurance scheme off the table for the rest of this parliament but has warned against bringing back similar proposals in future. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, ...
NZ On Air welcomes the decision from Cabinet today providing certainty for the public media sector. “Our funding strategy is flexible and future-focused, and we are able to quickly respond both to audience and media environment changes, without being ...
In an email to staff distributed shortly after Chris Hipkins’ announcement that the media merger will be scrapped, RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson has said: “It is good to have clarity after recent uncertainty.” The boost in funding for RNZ, details of which are to be determined, was “an endorsement ...
Pāmu is committed to reducing its climate impact through emissions reduction and strengthening climate resilience through adaption. Doubling down on its commitment , the state-owned enterprise has now signed a second sustainability-linked loan, ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is delighted at the news that the TVNZ/RNZ media merger is to be scrapped. Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said: “Our former Chairman, a former TVNZ board member, Barrie Saunders was among the first ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin O’Connor, Professor of Cultural Economy, University of South Australia Federal Labor is engaged in urgent reform, making up for the “lost decade” under the Coalition. The Voice, industrial relations, climate change, universities, health, Asian-Pacific diplomacy, research and development are all undergoing ...
Prime minister Chris Hipkins has announced the end of the planned merger of TVNZ and RNZ. It’s been in the works for more than three years and was set to be up and running this year. However, speaking at a post-cabinet press conference this afternoon, Hipkins confirmed it would not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julia Talbot-Jones, Senior lecturer, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Shutterstock/Dr Ajay Kumar Singh As New Zealand’s new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins embarks on reprioritising policies to focus on “bread and butter issues”, the details of the contentious ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: Labour’s reorientation to working class MāoriPolitical scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. In recent decades the Labour Party has lost its traditional connection with working class voters, becoming more of a middle class party of liberalism. This is especially true of Labour’s historic connection with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Uri Gal, Professor in Business Information Systems, University of Sydney Shutterstock ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. Within two months of its release it reached 100 million active users, making it the fastest-growing consumer application ever launched. Users are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bill Madden, Adjunct Professor, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, School of Law, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock This week’s ABC Four Corners investigation revealed the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), or tribunals determining such complaints, allowed a number ...
It appears the proposed merger of TVNZ and RNZ will indeed be scrapped in under an hour’s time. A source from within the media industry has told Te Ao Māori News that the planned entity has been abandoned by the government as new prime minister Chris Hipkins attempts to reign ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University Bianca de Marchi/AAP The New South Wales government has embraced a sweeping set of reforms to the state’s massive poker machine business. These reforms are centred on ...
At a magnitude of 7.8, this week’s horrific earthquake near the Turkish border was 177 times stronger than Christchurch’s in 2011. This week an extremely large earthquake occurred in the southeast of Turkey, near the border with Syria. Data from seismometers which measure shaking of the ground caused by ...
In the life-cycle of a reader we bet it’s the childhood reading memories that matter most. Here are Unity’s bestselling books for January.AUCKLAND1 Sleepy Kiwi by Kat Quin (Tikitibu, $20, babies) A bold, black and white board book for newborns and up.2 Midnight Adventures of Ruru and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hal Pawson, Professor of Housing Research and Policy, and Associate Director, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock The Albanese government’s housing package moved a step closer to delivery with the recent release of draft legislation. The bills are expected ...
It’s Wednesday, February 8 and welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates – coming to you today from Wellington. I’m Stewart Sowman-Lund, reach me on [email protected] What you need to know Chris Hipkins will chair the first meeting of his new cabinet. He will front a post-cabinet press ...
It’s been a rough ride since Louisa Opeteia hopped out of bed to find herself standing in a rising tide, but she’s grateful for the little things: a hot meal and the helping hands of friends, family and kind strangers.Friday morning, January 27. Louisa Opetaia of Māngere noticed the ...
Paved-over rivers, covered-up shorelines and filled-in wetlands reemerged during Auckland’s devastating deluge – taking the city 200 years back into the past.Tāmaki Makaurau’s recent flooding has stirred up plenty of kōrero about our biggest city. Architecture and urban planning professor Timothy Welch reminded us that we built Auckland in ...
PM Chris Hipkins is back in Wellington after his big day in Canberra. He’s chairing the first meeting of his new cabinet after last week’s reshuffle. That reshuffle saw ministers like Andrew Little and Peeni Henare demoted, while newer players like Ayesha Verrall soared up the ranks. According to the ...
Whittaker’s are putting five special “Ed-ition” blocks of their classic milk chocolate on Trade Me, with all proceeds going to help the Auckland flood relief. What makes it a special Ed-ition? The fact that pop star Ed Sheeran has come onboard, providing a selfie for the packaging and signing the ...
In the digital age, online activity can be a conduit for abusive behaviours. But secure digital tools can also offer a lifeline for victims. It’s no secret that New Zealand has a family violence epidemic, with one third of women physically or sexually assaulted by a partner over their lifetimes. ...
Thousands of people mistakenly paid the government’s cost of living payment have chosen not to repay it. And while the department responsible for sending out that money won’t say whether it’s disappointed by the lack of repayments, the prime minister was happy to express his views. Stuff has today revealed ...
A pair of Auckland councillors have leveraged the city’s flood disaster to protest government’s legislation enabling more medium density housing. Hayden Donnell says our elected representatives would be better off pointing the finger at themselves. As residents across her ward worked to clean out their waterlogged houses, Mt Eden-Puketāpapa councillor ...
Researchers from the University of Otago are “strongly” recommending the $5 fee to get a prescription filled be removed as a “simple way to reduce health inequities”. A new study has found removing the fee could significantly reduce the number of hospital admissions and length of hospital stays. The findings, published ...
We’ve known since the earliest moments of Chris Hipkins’ premiership that some of the unwieldy policy agenda of Jacinda Ardern was up for the chop. And now, about two weeks since being sworn in, the prime minister has confirmed the chopping block will be on display at today’s 3pm post-cabinet ...
The death toll for the quake that hit Turkey and Northern Syria may reach 20,000. For Syrians, the quake has struck a population already overwhelmed by the impacts of war, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full ...
Norton, a leading Cyber Safety brand of Gen, today published the New Zealand findings from a global study about online dating, associated scams, and attitudes about online stalking. The 2023 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report (NCSIR), conducted online ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University The United States’ shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina over the weekend points to international security affairs being on a knife edge. It follows ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Liknaitzky, Head of Clinical Psychedelic Research, Monash University Collaborative care teams will need to be established for safe treatment.Author provided A few days ago, the Australian drug regulator – the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) – surprised experts around the world ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kimberley Crofts, Doctoral Student, School of Design, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock The decline of the coal industry means 17 mines in the New South Wales Hunter Valley will close over the next two decades. More than 130,000 hectares of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Jefferson, Senior Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock The first signs were the half-eaten lunches coming home from high school. This was in stark contrast to the primary school years, where the box looked as if a demolition ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Sparkes, Senior Lecturer (Media Studies and Production), University of Southern Queensland Disney When it was released 25 years ago, James Cameron’s Titanic was enormous. It made stars of its two leads, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Reviews overwhelmingly heaped ...
AI writing tools are free, easy to use and already everywhere. But is it cheating to use them to help write an essay? Shanti Mathias spoke to New Zealand academics about AI’s place in education.When California company Open AI released its ChatGPT tool to the public last November, social ...
Chris Hipkins’ first overseas trip as prime minister heralded few surprises. But, as Stewart Sowman-Lund reports from Canberra, that’s exactly what he will have wanted. It’s been just two weeks since Chris Hipkins was sworn in as prime minister, a fortnight that has seen him deal with devastating flooding, formalise ...
The Green Party wants the government to double the maximum amount it is paying out to flood-affected Aucklanders, through the Civil Defence payments. ...
Felicity Goodyear-Smith looks back at just how political the issue of abortion was in New Zealand On Wednesday March 25, 2020 New Zealand moved to nationwide self-isolation in response to the Covid 19 pandemic. Unless essential, there were to be no face-to-face primary care consultations. I work full-time as a professor of general ...
From purging possums and saving kiwi, to leading the Tui and turning out for the Blues, rugby record breaker Krysten Cottrell has a fascinating combination of careers, Suzanne McFadden discovers. Krysten Cottrell spends her week deep in the bush of the Kaweka Range, searching for dead rats and possums - and then ...
The money the health system has to fight Covid-19 in the first half of 2023 is less than half of what it had in the second half of 2022, Marc Daalder reports Staff on the Covid-19 response have been terminated or quietly reassigned to other health issues as funding to ...
Bow and arrow hunting There was a certain time of year I really used to live for: camping over the Christmas break. I was 15 in the Christmas of 1976 and up to that point I'd shot a heap of goats and smaller game, but the thought of maybe getting ...
International education used to be a massive earner for New Zealand. With the borders finally open, are foreign students returning? Macleans College in East Auckland used to have more international students than any other school in the country. Then, the pandemic hit and turned it upside down. Principal Steve Hargreaves doesn't ...
Meg Parsons and Iresh Jayawardena explain why managing climate risk is a complex social justice issue Commentary and coverage of the floods in Auckland has so far focused on the severity of the flood, loss of life and injuries, damage to buildings, homes, roads and other infrastructure, on the number of people ...
A successful Minister for Auckland could foreshadow a substantially revised Cities and Regions government focusOpinion: There’s little doubt Auckland is in need of substantial ministering. It’s not just the biblical-scale deluge and resulting significant damage the region has experienced. It’s the historical sins of omission and some of commission ...
Chris Hipkins’ first offshore trip as leader went without a hitch, albeit with a low bar to clear. The challenge now is ensuring that Australian rhetoric around expat rights becomes reality, while Hipkins himself needs to figure out his own foreign policy agenda. Sam Sachdeva reports, in Canberra. Given the ...
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By Ian Chute in Suva Fijian Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) board chairman Ajay Bhai Amrit says he has receipts to prove former FBC chief executive officer Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum received an annual package of $387,790 including benefits and entitlements. He said this worked out to $32,315 a month and that the board ...
PNG Post-Courier PNG Defence Force Commander Major-General Mark Goina says “appropriate force” will be dealt to the gunmen who ambushed and wounded two soldiers in Saugurap, Enga Province, last week. In a statement Major-General Goina said: “A section from the PNGDF contingent deployed in Enga Province were on routine duty, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation’s politics team. In this podcast Michelle and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe.Lukas Coch/AAP Australia’s cash rate has hit 3.35%, after the Reserve Bank raised interest rates for the ninth time in a row – and signalled ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Della Bosca, PhD Candidate and Research Assistant at Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney Shutterstock While the days of overt climate denial are mostly over, there’s a distinct form of denial emerging in its stead. You may have experienced ...
A potential cyclone that could bring more severe wet weather to the upper North Island is now forecast to form a day earlier, Stuff reports. Due to ideal cyclone-formation conditions over the Coral Sea, a low south of the Solomon Islands has a high chance of turning into a cyclone ...
Trotter hallucinates revolting natives: "It is always dangerous to remind the colonisers of the world they have extinguished. To offer them a glimpse of that world is more perilous still. It proves that the culture they conquered and left for dead can be brought back to life. Ihumatao has smouldered for 156 years. The effect of the mass occupation of the past week has gifted it a sudden inrush of oxygen. Now there are flames amongst the fern."
Why? Not enough racism in the media yet, apparently. "Those flames glitter in the narrowed eyes of the watchers. From the ill-educated and ill-disciplined the responses are already forthcoming. Angry posts on Facebook and Twitter, filled with the raw racism of those for whom the possession of a white skin constitutes their sole claim to superiority. Reading these, it is difficult to decide who they hate the most: Maori, or the Pakeha who support them?" http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2019/07/ihumatao-watched-by-unfriendly-eyes.html
Best way to fan the flames of hostility is to play the racism card, particularly when it has already been over-played. Yeah, I know it makes no sense, I'm just illuminating the thought processes that drive his florid prose. Can't have a media career unless you beat up controversy…
one for the flesh-eaters to chew over…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/30/dairy-scary-public-farming-calves-pens-alternatives
with the rise of (indistinguishable from the 'real thing') meats and cheeses – the reasons to eat for flavor/texture etc. will be soon long gone..
and those who will still insist on 'the real thing' will just be insisting on a subtext/sauce of wholesale cruelty to animals/destruction of the environment..with their food..
when the issue is boiled down to just that – the 'real thing' will become less and less palatable to many/most..
this is when we will see the sea-change from animal/cruelty-based foods – to the healthier/better for the planet – plant-based foods..
Will we have the decency not to allow the animals we have farmed not to go extinct or will we toss them aside and breed more humans to fill the spaces they leave.
i think there is little chance of that happening – on the other hand there are all the species that are being/have been made extinct – by the farming of animals/growing of soy etc. to feed them…
Phew, good job we're not getting our milk from Britain, eh?
heh..!..that's all you've got there..?..p.m..?
and will they be tearing the (animal)-flesh from yer dead/cold hands…..heh..!
They'd certainly have to pry the fancy cheese from my cold, dead hands! Take away camembert, blue brie, feta, parmigiano, maasdam etc and only alcohol, sex and chocolate are left.
you clearly need to go to a vegan-cheese tasting – p.m – 'cos (as i noted) there are now plant-based versions indistinguishable from the real thing..
so you can still have yr camambert/blue-brie etc..tastes/textures you so love..
without the soupcon of animal-suffering/environmental damage..?..eh..?
what's wrong with that picture..?
Periodically some fucking hippie manages to persuade me to try some hyper-expensive dross that is "indistinguishable from the real thing". always bollocks.
The closest they've managed so far is "indistinguishable from a particularly shite and cheap attempt to sell something as the real thing".
If it was indistinguishable, it would drive the "real thing" into a niche market.
We were told these frankemeats were going to replace the good stuff four or five years ago. It just didn't happen.
As soon as they're broadly equivalent in price and quality, they'll start taking over.
Until then, phil's fooling only himself.
It will certainly have to get close to the taste and texture, regardless of how cheap it becomes. At the moment it's a fail on all counts.
My kid turned veggonaut, and the other day I got ripped for nine bucks for three hundred grams of quorn mince. I made a meal and it was effing gross. Ended up binning mine. Thought I couldn't go wrong with a fake sausage. I was wrong. No matter how much sauce I put on my pretend banger it just tasted wrong.
poor bugger.
i agree that the first attempts were pretty vile – i don't eat them – but the next generation is something different..
but once again – i won't be eating them – i haven't eaten animal flesh for over 30 yrs..
it is not a taste/texture sensation i want..
too much like the real thing – for my tastes..
they are like methadone for flesh-eaters/addicts..
they'll help ya..!
lol so when you say stuff is indistinguishable from the real thing, you mean indistinguishable from your 30y.o. recollection of what the real thing once tasted like.
Explains a lot.
Funny how vegans so often come across as delusional.
Must be a lack of protein.
I reckon lol
Recently been eating a lot of self caught, free range rabbit, though, so a good casserole and hearty pie later, the only sour taste left became a bitter afterthought.
nah..i am going on the blind taste-tests done @ fiekd days in hamilton..where tasters couldn't tell the difference – with many preferring the plant-based..
i am going on the burger chains in u.s. being early adopters – and the punters loving them..
i am going on the factories for both the leading brands being unable to keep up with orders..
i am going on the first of those companies to float on u.s. stockmarket – and being heavily over-subscribed..
i am not going on my 30+ yrs memories..
and hey..!..while you weren't watching/paying attention – most breads in supermarkets have gone vegan…
i used to be only able to buy one or two – now i can buy most..
betcha didn't know all that…eh..?
best you put down that slice of bread – and step well back..eh..?
Unless it's 50/50, they could tell the difference.
Bread is a good example of a cost-effective substitute "indistinguishable from the real thing". Margarine vs butter is another. But milk is still milk, and the meat aisles are still meat aisles (except for sausages, which are anything from "meat and random herbs" to "meat but mostly sawdust, and you don't want to know which bits of animals constitute the meat").
If 'fermented curd' were gone, then such gems as the Cheese Shop skit from Monty Python would have no meaning.
heh..!
but seriously there – p.m…i continue to be surprised by how many people who self-regard as progressive – are so reactionary on this issue…
especially in light of the indeniable health/environment issues from the farming/eating of animals – (need i remind you of the bowel-cancer equation?..that nz has worlds' highest rates of bowel-cancer + world-beating rates of consumption of animal-flesh/bye-products + red-meat/bacon being proven cause of bowel-cancer..
how much more information do you need…..to drive any change in yr dietary practices..?
and of course this reactionary attitude from many progressives has echoes in the abolition of human slavery (in the west)..
many progressives/suffragettes from that era are on the record as being emphatic on the inferiority of the darker races..of being totally reactionary on the question of race..
and so it is now on the question of animal-slavery/eatimg..eh..?
Philip Ure I suspect that the truly ethical position on meat-eating is to eat ourselves, no other animal to be hurt in this process.
As we have been making a living from feeding and growing animals for so long – it is hard to make the change to plant-first-and-only diets. But as you say our bowel cancer is high on the charts in a bad way, less meat is better.
Why not put up a couple of recipes for your favourite flavoured meals on Sunday's How to Get There – but please don't swamp us with your sales pitch – you can get carried away. Antagonism and stress is bad for the digestion of any food, keep it simple and sweet will you.
how have i been in the slightest way 'antagonistic'..?
(perhaps you are discomfited by these uncomfortable truths..?..'tis different..eh..?..)
and 'swamping you with a sales pitch'..?
really..?
i am arguing a fundamental moral/environmental-issue of our times..hardly a 'sales-pitch'…
and one that doesn't get a huge hearing in this forum..eh..?
so..hardly 'swamped'…
and you are presenting the same economic arguments that were presented to defend the continuation of human slavery..
ie: 'we've been doing it for so long..'..'we make a living from it'..
those arguments didn't stand then..and don't stand here/now..
Oh forget I ever said anything PU. I am sick of people who can't think anything through and just react to life and everything that is said to them with their favourite obsession or interest blocking their vision. I will take no further interest in you or anything you say.
I agree greywarshark. This debate driven by Philip Ure has already happened some years ago when I had only just discovered the benefits of reading TS.
To be honest, I do not look forward to a repeat of that long and turgid debate, in which I seem to remember James making rather a pig of himself by over-indulgence in barbeques.
Yes we seemed to get down in the mosh pit when we want to keep on the stage demonstrating what great debaters we are.
you will always lose this particular debate – 'cos no matter how much the bluster..
the plant-based foods/arguments have science and history on their side..
animal-extraction industries are sunset industries…
well yes – i have been making these arguments for some 20 yrs..unsure how that invalidates them..
and the truth/facts of the matter are just that..indisputable..
and isn't it all going rather well..?
especially compared with 20 yrs ago.
you can't go anywhere these days – without falling over a vegan..
Don't get me started, Phil! Already blathered on about it at length yesterday and again today on threads about National's cancer announcement.
Interesting technical point here from NRT: http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-referendum-bill.html
The coalition has set the terms for the two referenda at the next election, but with a sunset clause. NRT questions the wisdom of the clause. Winston was once real big on citizens-initiated referenda, so I'm surprised he has endorsed the sunset strategy.
Could it be that realpolitik has prevailed over populism in his mind? Those who object to people power usually cite the madness of crowds (just as likely as wisdom). I wonder if he has had a conversion experience.
What a joke – and not funny at all. How long are we going to put up with this bullshit?
Pathetic. What a rig-up against the planet – there are more possibilities of oil spill than from deck drains. And the fact that climate change is happening but must not be acknowledged though it is a scientific fact – can't be accepted by people who draw on their own preferred facts to make their case for doing business. Let's settle this with a duel you could say instead of having an expensive legal hearing with counsel being paid in mega-dollars. Come outside the two protagonists could say, choose your weapons, and let's see who has the best facts.
On the brightside the consensus forecasts suggest a significant deepening (strictly negative) of the antarctic oscillation and increased probability of significant southerly regimes for the next couple of weeks.
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/daily_ao_index/aao/new.aao_index_ensm.html
Interesting graphs Poission. I think I saw that the temp will not stay at -4 for long but will likely be below freezing for the 14-day period with this oscillation which will please the ski fields hearts mightily.
I hope they have been able to get their staff okay. They were saying that new measures the Immigration Impairment have introduced meant that what used to be straightforward and timely had extra time-consuming layers. That made it difficult for the special people required to get their paperwork, and their travel etc. arrangements done. They could miss the snow completely the way it worked (not). I think it is so wrong to allow individuals to get on top of a heap that they fashion into a shape of their own design.
This is intersting and good to hear. Good on them. We all can do something – besides writing here, which is useful itself because we need to have discussion and thinking about our country and its problems and what sort of road blocks we need against continuing bad systems and what we need to remove.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018706229/raglan-s-waste-free-goal
This was a new direction that will help in managing down plastic use.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018706549/are-bio-plastics-the-answer
Intelligent regulation and standard setting assisting the building trade.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018706547/calls-for-national-register-for-building-materials
News this morning. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/114611592/biometric-data-can-be-a-useful-tool-for-employers-but-what-about-your-privacy by Employment Lawyer Peter Cullen 31/7/2019
OPINION: Your fingerprint is uniquely your own, tied to your identity for your entire life. It is for this very reason that technology is advancing the usefulness of biometric data like fingerprints, making it much harder for people to keep their identity and history private.
These technological advances are everywhere – from DNA technology allowing police to solve cold cases to everyday people unlocking their phone with a scan of their face…
Take the recent Australian Fair Work Commission decision involving Queensland sawmill worker Jeremy Lee and his employer, Superior Wood.
Lee refused to give his fingerprints to his employer as part of a new work sign-in system. After a period of some months involving discussions and then warnings, Lee was sacked for his persistent refusals.
Lee wasn’t just thinking about privacy, he declared: “It’s my biometric data. It’s not appropriate for them to have it”.
(Question: Why should an employer have the right to take samples of your body, readings of your functions, skin details? Are we things bought and sold, like animals at a saleyard, teeth, eyes, hooves checked? Isn’t this just the same – an invasion of our individual rights becoming normalised?)
Overseas: https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1892471/rise-face-and-fingerprint-recognition-technology-just-how
Face recognition technology to help “tag” friends in photographs, fingerprint recognition to unlock smartphones, and fingerprint door locks are just some of the ways in which biometric data has been used in recent years. In Asia, developments include palm vein authentication technology for payments and mobile terminals, or “biocarts” that take photos and fingerprints of passengers for immigration processing in Japan; fingerprint authentication for ATMs in Vietnam; and facial recognition technology
. Is this the end of long passwords and complex authentication systems?
Overseas – Australia: https://www.biometricupdate.com/201907/australian-intelligence-community-seeks-new-biometric-access-control-system Australia National Intelligence Community (NIC) has issued a tender for a new common access card system, preferably featuring biometric identity verification, to control access to buildings of all 10 of the country’s security and intelligence agencies, which make up the group, reports
Interestingly enough the placement of a persons ears are up there with fingerprints for identifying people.
https://www.wired.com/2010/11/ears-biometric-identification/
A method to the madness?
HONG KONG — The police officers wrestled with Colin Cheung in an unmarked car. They needed his face.
They grabbed his jaw to force his head in front of his iPhone. They slapped his face. They shouted, “Wake up!” They pried open his eyes. It all failed: Mr. Cheung had disabled his phone’s facial-recognition login with a quick button mash as soon as they grabbed him.
As Hong Kong convulses amid weeks of protests, demonstrators and the police have turned identity into a weapon. The authorities are tracking protest leaders online and seeking their phones. Many protesters now cover their faces, and they fear that the police are using cameras and possibly other tools to single out targets for arrest.
http://archive.li/uQZx3
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/technology/hong-kong-protests-facial-recognition-surveillance.html
Good to check what's been happening down there imo
I think that the Mayor felt that urgent attention was needed and did the commonsense thing with the stopbank. But then probably that is normal behaviour for that area, a hearty, quick decision-making of we'll fix that -without proper planning which looked at the bigger issues, and long-term needs and what the latest 'best practice' is, if only to decide to ignore it – it not always being reasonable and cost-efficient.
Now that's excellent news.
Wonder if maureen pugh wishes to comment? Probably not she was busy sending out a presser to local news outlets yesterday announcing that she had a cake to celebrate 3 yrs in parliament. True story.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/395585/australia-looks-to-further-tighten-visa-requirements
Anger over the deportation of New Zealand citizens from Australia is likely to intensify, with Canberra set to introduce even tighter visa requirements.
Nice work, Jacinda. Heckuva job.
Did she call Peda Duddin a fuckknuckle again shggy?
Lecturing a bunch of Bible-thumping white racists that their immigration policies are shitty has backfired in spectacular fashion, and Kiwis will pay the price.
The poor Ockers aren't a happy bunch right now shaggy, their economy is going off the cliff and that bunch of muppets across the Tasman are steaming ahead. Their dollar has fallen from it's customary level of over NZ$1.20 to only just buying one NZ$ (today's cash rate) And I can't see it changing any time soon.
What does this have to do with either country's economy?
it allows them to export their unemployment stats
Good point, Pat. Back in the late 80s we invented lots of dodgy private tertiary institutes so that our young unemployed would become students gaining worthless qualifications, instead of featuring in unemployment stats.
Didn't work, because a few years later they still had no jobs.
Australia gets rid of the actual person – much more efficient.
What better system have you got shag?
Don't know if I'd vote New Conservative (unless Jude became leader then obviously I would) but this is better then what Labour have done, its more thought out, fairer and will actually address some of the issues
New Conservative party
New Conservative takes constructive feedback on our policies very seriously. Here is our latest on Firearms:
FIREARMS POLICY
[Deleted and replaced with one simple link; https://www.newconservative.org.nz/firearms-policy ]
Lots of stuff to unpack there, even if they weren't a bunch of fucking numpties.
Still, better without the poetry.
edit: what about tourist hunters?
mandatory minimums, wtf?
Do they want the chchfuck’s live stream uncensored? Why? And that’s not a govt issue, that’s the censor’s office. Like any court suppression issues. Or do they want all the fiveeyes stuff made public too?
Seriously, what are they on?
I guess Republicans have been right all along, they are the party of Reagan.
The day after the United Nations voted to recognize the People’s Republic of China, then–California Governor Ronald Reagan phoned President Richard Nixon at the White House and vented his frustration at the delegates who had sided against the United States. “Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did,” Reagan said. “Yeah,” Nixon interjected. Reagan forged ahead with his complaint: “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” Nixon gave a huge laugh.
[…]
The past month has brought presidential racism back into the headlines. This October 1971 exchange between current and future presidents is a reminder that other presidents have subscribed to the racist belief that Africans or African Americans are somehow inferior. The most novel aspect of President Donald Trump’s racist gibes isn’t that he said them, but that he said them in public.
The exchange was taped by Nixon, and then later became the responsibility of the Nixon Presidential Library, which I directed from 2007 to 2011. When the National Archives originally released the tape of this conversation, in 2000, the racist portion was apparently withheld to protect Reagan’s privacy. A court order stipulated that the tapes be reviewed chronologically; the chronological review was completed in 2013. Not until 2017 or 2018 did the National Archives begin a general rereview of the earliest Nixon tapes. Reagan’s death, in 2004, eliminated the privacy concerns. Last year, as a researcher, I requested that the conversations involving Ronald Reagan be rereviewed, and two weeks ago, the National Archives released complete versions of the October 1971 conversations involving Reagan online.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/ronald-reagans-racist-conversation-richard-nixon/595102/
Well, they do now admit that Reagan had dementia. Does Trump by any chance have anything in common with Reagan?
If you know anyone with ME/CFS/Tapanui 'Flu that is being put through CBT and graduated exercise PLEASE send them and most importantly their doctor to the link below. There are many inside the DHBs who are wasting health $ abusing clients with these treatments on the basis of this PACE study – It’s not even science 🙁
Weird shit happening at our Universities:
AUT scraps Tiananmen Square event
Female activist knocked to the ground as Hong Kong/China tensions spill over at University of Auckland
Beijing supporters plan anti-Hong Kong protest at Auckland Uni