I want to pose a problem for a Sunday to commentators on the Standard.
We need a philosophy and a political ideology which will take us into the 21st century and hopefully cope with the enormous problems facing mankind.
George Monboit hinted in a lecture that some sort of idea was being formulated and will be broadcast next year. Until that happens – some thoughts:
Neoliberalism is discredited and dead.
Socialism may be able to take its place, but we cannot have infinite growth in a finite world.
So any ideology will have to aim at equality without growth, economic justice without any skewering of the rewards. Such a philosophy must allow for human initiative and endeavour without the financial payment.
Such a philosophy must motivate people to make the potentially enormous sacrifices which will be required if we are to combat climate change; must eliminate greed at a motivating force, yet encourage entrepreneurship!
I can’t get my head round all the parameters of such a philosophy, except to be convinced that we are in desperate need of something political to believe in!
That hasn’t really helped scientists who feel like they will lose their jobs if they speak out. Or that flag thingy. Or health boards beings sacked. Or CERA or NZTA. Or TVNZ7 or Campbell.
Participatory Democracy is great.
We don’t have that any more now.
We have corporatocracy.
Lobbyists for the elite run the show.
And that is not the best.
I’m not trying to be annoying, but you would have to admit to current capitalism’s successes – as well as its failures – first off. Ain’t no refugee boats heading from Italy to Libya. Our current form of capitalisms’ capacity for wealth acceleration has been better for more of the world’s people than democracy.
Capitalism also generates its own crises through its own accumulative speed and consuming volumes. Also, unemployment, pollution, extreme inequalities, and world environmental destruction.
After that, a successor system theory would need a few things before you could really imagine something completely outside what we have:
– It should be concrete enough to see how it might work in practice
– It should be able to look back, learning from gains and errors of other earlier efforts
– It should illuminate the features and limitations of current reform movements and party platforms
– It should outline transitional strategies to get from ‘here’ to ‘there’.
That’s not a philosophy. But it’s the jungle-gym you’d need to start something.
I’m not trying to be annoying, but you would have to admit to current capitalism’s successes – as well as its failures – first off.
Ah, but were those successes due to capitalism or socialism?
I think you’ll find that it has more to do with the socialism after WWII than with capitalism. The capitalism of the 19th century increased poverty and we’re seeing the same thing happening again now that similar laissez-faire policies are being re-enacted.
And then there’s the fact that people like being challenged, like creating new tools and generally making the world a better place. Capitalism actually needs that desire of people so that it can be exploited by the bludgers – the capitalists.
Put in place the necessary support systems (education, resources) and I’m sure that we’ll get the same, if not better, development and we’ll do it without rich people and the poverty that they bring about.
The mantra upon which neo-liberal ‘Rogernomic$’ was based, is ‘public is bad – private is good’.
There was no evidence provided to substantiate this myth, either before this neo-liberal model was forced upon us – or since.
In my considered opinion, this ‘commercialise – corporatise – PRIVATISE’ model has been the root cause of significant ‘grand’ corruption, locally, nationally and internationally.
In my view, the only ones who have benefited from local and central government services being run in a more ‘business-like’ way, are those businesses which have been awarded the contracts.
In my view, it is the public majority – not the corporate minority, who should benefit from tax and rate payers’ public monies.
The first step?
OPEN THE BOOKS!
Everywhere that local and central government uses private sector consultants and contractors – ensure the Public Records Act 2005 is implemented and enforced, and the following information is made available for public scrutiny:
The unique contract number.
The name of the consultant / contractor.
A brief description of the scope of the contract.
The contract start and finish dates.
The exact dollar value of every contract including those sub-contracted.
How the contract was awarded – by direct appointment or public tender.
Make this information publicly accessible under ‘Procurement – Awarded Contracts’ on the front page of each and every local government / CCO / central government / SOE / Crown Entity that spends public money on private sector consultants and contractors.
Bloody good question Tony. Can I put that up as a post?
For me the philosophy (philosophies) already exist. I see them in Green politics, not so much the front end stuff that we see in something like the NZ Green Party that has to operate pragmatically within a neoliberal/patriarchal dominated culture, but in the deeper aspects. I can see it in the kauapa of the Greens (eg in their charter) and trace lines back to the Values Party work done in the 70s where sustainability and social justice were married (it also goes back much further than that). I also see lines coming from many other philosophies esp for me the understandings that come out of indigenous cultures where you also see a similar marriage of valuing people and valuing the land.
Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster) 1.4.1
It seems to me that we are all searching for a political philosophy or ideology which will address the issues facing us all. Sure as hell capitalism is not the answer. Socialism may be (my preference) but how to sell it is the problem. And how to sustain it in the face of some determined (monied) opposition – well!
What I had hoped for from my original comment was some ideas, some concepts, some suggestions, but the original idea, apart from a couple of comments, got sidetracked.
So a major post exploring ideas on which we can hang some unifying concepts and philosophies would, I think, be welcome.
NeoLiberalism may well be discredited, and maybe it smells dead, but you would be foolish to believe that it actually was dead.
Mrs Clinton is about to try and ride it around the block at least one more time, and her big bankers dont seem to have heard of this “death” which you mentioned.
Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster) 1.5.1
Its worth taking a look at Tim Jackson’s book “Prosperity without Growth – ecomomics for a finite planet” if you are interested in alternatives to the current recipe for disaster that dominates Western (and more recently, Chinese) contemporary political-economic thinking.
Monbiot is on the right track, of course but Jackson takes the argument a lot further.
” just after World War Two”
God how fast time seems to pass. At this distance it probably does seem to be “just after”.
It was in fact about fifteen and a half years after the end of WW2, as the speech was made on 17January 1961, just before he ceased to be President.
Great speech though, given by the most underrated President of the 20th century. It is still worth reading and still relevant. http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html
One of the biggest pains in the ass is this idea of “revolution”. I can almost guarantee that the coup would have worked in Turkey if they hand’t bombed Parliament.
Bernie Sanders used the word like it was a colonic. He didn’t want to define it; it was simply a verbal stand-in for ‘huge change fast’. Better known as ‘Magic Fairy Dust’.
The old leftie idea form the 20th century of military insurrection should be taken out the back and buried in the offal pit. Democracy itself is going backwards fairly fast – that’s what reformist movements need to defend if they’re going for structural change.
Again, I know this is more instrumental thinking rather than end-goal fresh ideology, but it’s a biggie that needs permanently squelching.
Bernie Sanders used the word like it was a colonic. He didn’t want to define it; it was simply a verbal stand-in for ‘huge change fast’… Well, that is one of the ways in which the word “revolution” is used – the introduction of Thatcherism has also been described in such terms. Bernie has often said “we need to get the public good back to the centre of politics” which is what he seemed to have in mind in his use of the word.
You use the term “capitalism” in a rather general way yourself, when what people are mostly concerned about is capitalism in its current form. I see it as an analogous to soviet communism. In the soviet case, a bunch of statist bureaucrats determined that things had to be organised so that capitalism could not get a foothold. In post-Thatcher capitalism a bunch of financiers, speculators and managers have sought to organise things so that socialism cannot get a foothold. Both involve a segment of society deciding that their interests trump those of everyone else, a state of affairs which is not conducive to the broader public good. It may take something like a counter-revolution to Thatcher/Reagan/Douglas’s one in order to address the many problems that their revolution has generated.
And all done with a funding stranglehold Sabine. Maybe it is a plot to force National Radio to become funded by advertising. National have said that this should happen, so they force RNZ to its fiscal knees.
The headline on that story is wrong*. It’s impossible to say it’s a ratings resurgence. It’s the first time in 17 years that RNZ has been included in that survey.
This will feed the perception that the shift to a more commercial model has widened the audience. And that it can continue to be starved of funding by the RNZ-loathing National Party.
Personally there are things I quite like about the commercial tone such as the shift to more aggressive interviewing, and things that aren’t good, such as making a leading science journalist redundant.
There is major change afoot at a public broadcaster with no public consultation, no transparency, and a pretence that because ”platforms” are changing, the ”content” must also change. Only in New Zealand.
*Media consultant Tim Murphy said commercial stations probably always knew RNZ had a larger audience.
Yep, among other things regional coverage at Fairfax was decimated under his watch.
And this morning on MediaWatch he kept referring to the ”media eco-system”.
To clarify my comment above, I certainly don’t see ”aggressive interviewing” as the province of commercial media, but RNZ had become staid and uncertain. I’m enjoying its sense of purpose and advocacy in political and social coverage.
While Guyon Espiner is too quick to make his mind up about particular stories, his style and grasp of facts is good and has really helped Morning Report.
True about Guyon but I have no time for Sleazey Fergusson. Thank goodness for John Campbell – he has injected some life back into Natrad in the afternoon/evening.
Oh i dunno cambell comes accross as too damn friendly to me when he interviews someone and its a serious issue he sounds like hes gonna give them a big slobbery kiss !! Better than mary sure ..her greatest problem was she never seemed to vary her go for the jugular style wouldnt have mattered if it was attilla the hun she was interviewing or mother teresa .
I sure you can point me to many links showing how the left are extremely happy with the democratic process they are running in the UK Leadership race?
The Corbyn activist have been treated extremely fairly and the party have done everything possible to ensure that it is a fair and even contest right?.
So in direct contradiction to your original smear that “the Left” “aren’t big on democracy”, you now seem to be saying that “the Left” is fighting for democracy…
When you have a coherent narrative, you won’t be a right winger any more.
“The Opposition tried to paint the political failings of the minister into a story about the failure of the Government to take the threats of a trade war seriously. But the facts did not support the claim. Mr Key had been kept in the dark by Mr McClay.” – Audrey Young
&
“Trade Minister Todd McClay initially denied any knowledge of such threats as did Prime Minister John Key. But then Mr McClay “remembered”, after “checking overnight”, that he had been briefed by his officials about it the previous week, while he was in China. Now we are told officials have been looking into it for months, & the Prime Ministers department knew of it but despite its importance, didn’t brief Mr Key (yeah right!)” – CIVIS.
😎 😎 😎 Suggests you’re a bit of a charismatic, silver-tongued lothario, CV 😎 😎 😎
I appear to have James Madison tendencies (albeit on just 3 of the 5 dimensions, I notice). I like to think I’m also just a little bit Woodrow Wilson, a little bit Dwight D Eisenhower and a whole lot Ulysses S Grant.
Of course, to take your isidewith test seriously, Ad, we’d all have to assume that Clinton’s policy programme really will turn out, in reality, to be virtually synonymous with Stein’s. That, for example, Hillary really is genuinely opposed to TPP.
Oh come now Swordfish, Clinton may have had a genuine ‘road to Damascus’ moment just before the DNC Convention, like so many seem to want her to have had.
I don’t normally recommend books to other people as we all have our own reading tastes. However if you want to read how a down and out got himself up off the ground I suggest reading “A Street Cat Named Bob” by James Bowen and the assistance he got from an unexpected source.
The bit that got to me was, he was describing all the different unfortunates trying to eek a living on the streets of London outside The Angel Islington Tube Station. Funny that I thought, as it reminded me of a book I had many years ago written by Henry Mayhew in the 1800’s describing all the different characters trying to live off the streets of London.
We have definitely gone back at least a 100 years in our care and welfare as a society, after reading how this unfortunate became as he said “a non person” It also has hope for the future, and as much as Thatcher said “there was no such thing as society” there is, with a lot of caring people out there from all walks of life.
When the next opinion poll shows support for National is over 50% will that be considered yet another rogue poll? How high will the figure have to go till the penny drops that most people are happy.
Are you able to discuss policy?
Or do just discuss polls?
Many people are not happy about the cost of housing.
It’s just they aren’t voting at all.
Only 33% of the adult population voted National.
And even of these 33%, not all are happy.
Here are the polls that really matter. As long as the right direction remains over 50% there is no mood for change. No one is talking about income equality, universal basic incomes or the other whacky ideas of the Left. Houses are very affordable in over 90% of New Zealand (ex Auckland and Queenstown)
“Based on this official work, it seems to have become accepted that a median multiple of 3.0 times or less is a very good marker for housing affordability.”
NZ total 5.83
Tauranga 6.90
Nelson 5.80
Wellington 5.61
Christchurch 5.35
and historic low interest rates to boot……you are of course incorrect again and nothing if not consistent.
Affordable house prices are around 3 to 4 times median household income. Most of that list was above 4 times median household income, i.e, into the unaffordable. 14 out of 29 was above 5 times median household income, i.e, well into the unaffordable.
Buzz from the Beehive Auckland was wiped off the map, when Education Minister Jan Tinetti delivered her speech of welcome as host of the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers “here in Tāmaki Makaurau”. But – fair to say – a reference was made later in the speech to a ...
Morning mate, how you going?Well, I was watching the news last night and they announced this scientific report on Climate Change. But before they got to it they had a story about the new All Blacks coach.Sounds like important news. It’s a bit of a worry really.Yeah, they were talking ...
Always a bailout: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Government would fully guarantee all savers in all smaller US banks if needed. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: No wonder an entire generation of investors are used to ‘buying the dip’ and ‘holding on for dear life’. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ...
Wealthy vested interests have an oversized influence on political decisions in New Zealand. Partly that’s due to their use of corporate lobbyists. Fortunately, the influence lobbyists can have on decisions made by politicians is currently under scrutiny in Guyon Espiner’s in-depth series published by RNZ. Two of Espiner’s research exposés ...
Yesterday afternoon it rained and traffic around the region ground to a halt, once again highlighting why it is so important that our city gets on with improving the alternatives to driving. For additional irony, this happened on the same day the IPCC synthesis report landed, putting the focus on ...
The Beginning: Anti-Co-Governance agitator, Julian Batchelor, addresses the Dargaville stop of his travelling roadshow across New Zealand . Fascism almost always starts small. Sadly, it doesn’t always stay that way. Especially when the Left helps it to grow.THERE IS A DREADFUL LOGIC to the growth of fascism. To begin with, it ...
Hi,From an incredibly rainy day in Los Angeles, I just wanted to check in. I guess this is the day Trump may or may not end up in cuffs? I’m attempting a somewhat slower, less frenzied week. I’ve had Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new record on non-stop, and it’s been a ...
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 ...
RNZ has been shining their torch into corners where lobbyists lurk and asking such questions as: Do we like the look of this?and Is this as democratic as it could be?These are most certainly questions worth asking, and every bit as valid as, say:Are weshortchanged democratically by the way ...
RNZ has continued its look at the role of lobbyists by taking a closer look at the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Andrew Kirton. He used to work for liquor companies, opposing (among other things) a container refund scheme which would have required them to take responsibility for their own ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has left for Beijing for the first ministerial visit to China since 2019. Mahuta is to meet China’s new foreign minister Qin Gang where she might have to call on all the diplomatic skills at her command. Almost certainly she will face questions on what role ...
TL;DR:The Opportunities Party’s Leader Raf Manji is hopeful the party’s new Teal Card, a type of Gold card for under 30s, will be popular with students, and not just in his Ilam electorate where students make up more than a quarter of the voters and where Manji is confident ...
When I was a kid New Zealand was actually pretty green. We didn’t really have plastic. The fruit and veges came in a cardboard box, the meat was wrapped in paper, milk came in a glass bottle, and even rubbish sacks were made of paper. Today if you sit down ...
Looking back through the names of our Police Ministers down the years, the job has either been done by once or future party Bigfoots – Syd Holland, Richard Prebble, Juduth Collins, Chris Hipkins – or by far lesser lights like Keith Allen, Frank Gill, Ben Couch, Allen McCready, Clem Simich, ...
Chris Trotter writes – The Crown is a fickle friend. Any political movement deemed to be colourful but inconsequential is generally permitted to go about its business unmolested. The Crown’s media, RNZ and TVNZ, may even “celebrate” its existence (presumably as proof of Democracy’s broad-minded acceptance of diversity). ...
Four out of the five people who have held the top role of Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff since 2017 have been lobbyists. That’s a fact that should worry anyone who believes vested interests shouldn’t have a place at the centre of decision making. Chris Hipkins’ newly appointed Chief of ...
Feedback on Auckland Council’s draft 2023/24 budget closes on March 28th. You can read the consultation document here, and provide feedback here. Auckland Council is currently consulting on what is one of its most important ever Annual Plans – the ‘budget’ of what it will spend money on between July ...
by Molten Moira from Motueka If you want to be a woman let me tell you what to do Get a piece of paper and a biro tooWrite down your new identification And boom! You’re now a woman of this nationSpelled W O M A Na real trans woman that isAs opposed ...
Buzz from the Beehive New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti is hosting the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers for three days from today, welcoming Education Ministers and senior officials from 18 Pacific Island countries and territories, and from Australia. Here’s hoping they have brought translators with them – or ...
Let’s say you’ve come all the way from His Majesty’s United Kingdom to share with the folk of Australia and New Zealand your antipathy towards certain other human beings. And let’s say you call yourself a women’s rights activist.And let’s say 99 out of 100 people who listen to you ...
James Shaw gave the Green party's annual "state of the planet" address over the weekend, in which he expressed frustration with Labour for not doing enough on climate change. His solution is to elect more Green MPs, so they have more power within any government arrangement, and can hold Labour ...
RNZ this morning has the first story another investigative series by Guyon Espiner, this time into political lobbying. The first story focuses on lobbying by government agencies, specifically transpower, Pharmac, and assorted universities, and how they use lobbyists to manipulate public opinion and gather intelligence on the Ministers who oversee ...
Nick Matzke writes – Dear NZ Herald, I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. I teach evolutionary biology, but I also have long experience in science education and (especially) political attempts to insert pseudoscience into science curricula in ...
James Shaw has again said the Greens would be better ‘in the tent’ with Labour than out, despite Labour’s policy bonfire last week torching much of what the Government was doing to reduce emissions. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Green Party has never been more popular than in some ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler Poor air quality is a long-standing problem in Los Angeles, where the first major outbreak of smog during World War II was so intense that some residents thought the city had been attacked by chemical weapons. Cars were eventually discovered ...
Yesterday I was reading an excellent newsletter from David Slack, and I started writing a comment “Sounds like some excellent genetic heritage…” and then I stopped.There was something about the phrase genetic heritage that stopped me in tracks. Is that a phrase I want to be saying? It’s kind of ...
Brian Easton writes – Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go ...
This week marks the twentieth anniversary of the Iraq War. While it strongly opposed the US-led invasion, New Zealand’s then Labour-led government led by Prime Minister Helen Clark did deploy military engineers to try to help rebuild Iraq in mid-2003. With violence soaring, their 12-month deployment ended without being renewed ...
After seventy years, Auckland’s motorway network is finally finished. In July 1953 the first section of motorway in Auckland was opened between Ellerslie-Panmure Highway and Mt Wellington Highway. The final stage opens to traffic this week with the completion of the motorway part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project. Aucklanders ...
National’s appointment of Todd McClay as Agriculture spokesperson clearly signals that the party is in trouble with the farming vote. McClay was not an obvious choice, but he does have a record as a political scrapper. The party needs that because sources say it has been shedding farming votes ...
Rays of white light come flooding into my lounge, into my face from over the top of my neighbour’s hedge. I have to look away as the window of the conservatory is awash in light, as if you were driving towards the sun after a rain shower and suddenly blinded. ...
The columnists in Private Eye take pen names, so I have not the least idea who any of them are. But I greatly appreciate their expert insight, especially MD, who writes the medical column, offering informed and often damning critique of the UK health system and the politicians who keep ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Mar 12, 2023 thru Sat, Mar 18, 2023. Story of the Week Guest post: What 13,500 citations reveal about the IPCC’s climate science report IPCC WG1 AR6 SPM Report Cover - Changing ...
Buzz from the Beehive The building of financial capability was brought into our considerations when Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced she had dipped into the government’s coffers for $3 million for “providers” to help people and families access community-based Building Financial Capability services. That wording suggests some ...
Do you ever come across something that makes you go Hmmmm?You mean like the song?No, I wasn’t thinking of the song, but I am now - thanks for that. I was thinking of things you read or hear that make you stop and go Hmmmm.Yeah, I know what you mean, ...
By the end of the week, the dramas over Stuart Nash overshadowed Hipkins’ policy bonfire. File photo: Lynn GrieveasonTLDR: This week’s news in geopolitics and the political economy covered on The Kākā included:PM Chris Hipkins’ announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but ...
When word went out that Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would be making an announcement about Stuart Nash on the tiles at parliament at 2:45pm yesterday, the assumption was that it was over. That we had reached tipping point for Nash’s time as minister. But by 3pm - when, coincidentally, the ...
Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go on to attack physics by citing Newton.So ...
Photo by Walker Fenton on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on Riverside (we’ve moved from Zoom) for our chat about the week’s news with ...
In a nice bit of news, my 2550-word deindustrial science-fiction piece, The Dream of Florian Neame, has been accepted for publication at New Maps Magazine (https://www.new-maps.com/). I have published there before, of course, with Of Tin and Tintagel coming out last year. While I still await the ...
And so this is Friday, and what have we learned?It was a week with all the usual luggage: minister brags and then he quits, Hollywood red carpet is full of twits. And all the while, hanging over the trivial stuff: existential dread, and portents of doom.Depending on who you read ...
When I changed the name of this newsletter from The Daily Read to Nick’s Kōrero I was a bit worried whether people would know what Kōrero meant or not. I added a definition when I announced the change and kind of assumed people who weren’t familiar with it would get ...
There was a time when a political party’s publicity people would counsel against promoting a candidate as queer. No matter which of two dictionary meanings the voting public might choose to apply – the old meaning of odd, strange, weird, or aberrant, or the more recent meaning of gay, homosexual ...
Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for the next hour, including:PM Chris Hipkins announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but which blew up ...
Even though concern over the climate change threat is becoming more mainstream, our governments continue to opt out of the difficult decisions at the expense of time, and cost for future generations. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Now we have a climate liability number to measure the potential failure of the ...
Thomas Cranmer writesLike it or not, the culture wars have entered New Zealand politics and look set to broaden and intensify. The culture wars are often viewed as an exclusively American phenomenon, but the reality is that they are becoming increasingly prominent in countries around the world, ...
Here’s an analogy for the Stuart Nash saga. If people are to be forgiven for their sins,Catholic dogma requires two factors to be present. There has to be a sincere act of confession about what has been done, but also a sincere act of contrition, which signals a painful ...
Here’s an analogy for the Stuart Nash saga. If people are to be forgiven for their sins,Catholic dogma requires two factors to be present. There has to be a sincere act of confession about what has been done, but also a sincere act of contrition, which signals a painful ...
Human Destabilisers: Russia now has a new strategic weapon – migratory waves of unwelcome human-beings. Desperate people with different coloured skins and different religious beliefs arriving at, or actually breaching, the national borders of Russia’s enemies can wreak as much havoc, culturally and politically, as a hypersonic missile exploding in the ...
Hi,After Webworm contributor Hayden Donnell wrote his latest piece, ‘RIP to Millennials Killing Everything’, he delivered this exciting and important bonus content.It will make more sense if you’ve read his piece.David. Read more ...
Hi,Before we get to Hayden’s column — RIP to Millennials Killing Everything — a quick observation.There was a day last week where it had suddenly reached 10pm and I hadn’t eaten all day. Hunger had suddenly gripped me with a panicky all-consuming force, so I jumped onto Uber Eats and ...
We add some of the CMIP6 models to the updateable MSU comparisons. After my annual update, I was pointed to some MSU-related diagnostics for many of the CMIP6 models (24 of them at least) from Po-Chedley et al. (2022) courtesy of Ben Santer. These are slightly different to what ...
In a memorable Pulp Fiction scene, Vincent inadvertently shoots their backseat passenger in the head. This leads our heroes Jules and Vincent to express alarm about their predicament.We're on a city street in broad daylight here!says Vincent. We gotta get this car off the roads. You know cops tend to ...
Primary, secondary and kindergarten teachers are all on strike today, demanding higher pay and an end to systematic understaffing. While the former is important - wages should at least keep up with inflation - its the latter which is the real issue. As with the health system, teachers have been ...
So the teachers are on strike, marching across Aotearoa today to press their demands for better pay and working conditions.Children remained in bed this brisk morning, many no doubt quite pleased about a day off school. Parents perhaps taking the day off to look after the kids, or working from ...
After the Cold War the consensus among Western military strategists was that the era of Big Wars, defined as peer conflict between large states with full spectrum military technologies, was at an end, at least for the foreseeable future. The … Continue reading → ...
Dairy giant Fonterra has posted a 50% lift in net profit to $546m, doubled its interim dividend, and is proposing a return of capital of 50c a share, injecting a note of optimism into the nation’s dairy industry. Fonterra’s strong performance is against a backdrop of market volatility. It ...
Buzz from the Beehive The bothersome economic news today is that New Zealand’s GDP fell by 0.6% in the December quarter, weaker than market forecasts of a fall of around 0.2% and much weaker than the Reserve Bank’s assumption of a 0.7% rise. This followed the even-more-bothersome news yesterday that ...
Ouch: Hipkins’ policy bonfire has resulted in an expensive self-administered removal of a Budgetary foot with an explosive device. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Bonfires can be dangerous things when they get out of control. They also create a lot of smoke and heat and burn the grass. ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes – I teach a first-year course at Victoria University of Wellington about government and the political process in New Zealand. In “Introduction to Government and Law”, students learn there are rules preventing senior public servants from getting involved in big political debates – as we ...
I teach a first year course at Victoria University of Wellington about government and the political process in New Zealand. In “Introduction to Government and Law”, students learn there are rules preventing senior public servants from getting involved in big political debates – as we have recently witnessed with Rob ...
An issue of integrity has claimed the first ministerial scalp in Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ premiership. Police Minister Stuart Nash lasted mere weeks in the role after admitting in a radio interview this morning that he had called Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to ask him if police were going to ...
For some time now we’ve known that the cost and completion timeframe for the City Rail Link would increase. Yesterday we finally learned by just how much. Costs City Rail Link Ltd (CRL Ltd) today confirms it has submitted a formal funding request to its Sponsors – the Crown and ...
The Government’s decision to back peddle on lowering speed limits is hitting potholes. At this stage, although it is part of the Government’s reprioritisation efforts to free up money to alleviate cost of living increases, the speed limit change looks unlikely to do that. And it appears that it ...
The University of Otago – the oldest university in New Zealand – towers over my home city of Dunedin. When classes are on, something like a fifth of Dunedin’s population are university students. It is also the largest employer in the South Island. To say that this is a ...
Last weekend brought the latest instalment in Stuff’s bravura satirical series Of course you can afford a house! Just dig deeper!I love how much their appreciation of humour has evolved in just a few short years since the days when I would get to produce, for a few meagre dollars, ...
Australia’s move to strengthen its defence capability with five nuclear-powered attack submarines underlines how relatively defenceless New Zealand is in the Pacific. Kiwis may gasp that the Labor government in Australia recognises it must outlay $400bn on the nuclear subs, but this ensures that Australia is not exposed ...
Ironically, a repurposed Auckland Ratepayers Alliance placard (with a demand for climate action on the front) featured at the recent climate march. Voting ratepayers don’t want ‘bureaucrats in cushy council jobs’ borrowing or increasing rates, even when the need for investment is becoming increasingly obvious. So is council cost-cutting a ...
The quarterly ETS auction was held today. In the past, these have seen collusion by big players to game the price and force a dump of extra credits from the cost-containment reserve (essentially, trying to pick stuff up cheap now in the belief that it will be more valuable later). ...
Buzz from the Beehive Exempting bikes, electric bikes and scooters from fringe benefit tax looked like something of a sop for a Green Party that had good grounds to grumble after a bunch of climate change measures was tossed on to the PM’s policy bonfire. The combustibles included the clean car ...
Today is a Member's Day, the first of the year. Unfortunately it also looks to be a boring one. First, there's a two hour debate on the budget policy statement (somehow inexplicably "member's business", despite it being fundamentally a government thing). Then there's a couple of "private bills" - people ...
Most days, Chris Hipkins and James Shaw seem a bit like the Seals and Crofts of the centre-left: Earnest, inoffensive, and capable of quite nice harmonies at times. They blow gently through the jasmine in your mind, but you know they’re never going to rock your world. Back in 2020, ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised in their State of the Planet speech today. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party after the election must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised today. ...
You will never truly understand, from the pictures you’ve seen in the newspapers or on the six o-clock news, the sheer scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle. ...
We’re boosting incomes and helping ease cost of living pressures on Kiwis through a range of bread and butter support measures that will see pensioners, students, families, and those on main benefits better off from the start of next month. ...
The error Labour Ministers made by stopping work on a beverage container return scheme will be reversed by the Greens at the earliest opportunity as part of the next Government. ...
“Cabinet needs to do better - and today has shown exactly why we need Green Ministers in cabinet, so we can prioritise action to cut climate pollution and support people to make ends meet,” says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. ...
Biggest increase in food prices for over three decades shows the need for an excess profit tax on corporations to help people put food on the table. ...
The Green Party has today launched a submission guide to help Aucklanders give crucial input and prevent potentially disastrous Auckland Council budget proposals. ...
With calls growing for inquiries and action on bank profits, the Greens say the Government has all the information it needs to act now and put a levy on banks. ...
As large parts of Aotearoa recover from two of the worst climate disasters we have ever experienced, it would be a huge mistake for the Government to deprioritise climate action from future transport investments, the Green Party says. ...
The Green Party is celebrating the signing of a historic United Nations Ocean Treaty, and calls on the new Oceans and Fisheries Minister to urgently step up protection for Aotearoa’s oceans. ...
This year has seen a series of extreme weather events, unparalleled in New Zealand’s recent history. From Cape Reinga in the far north down to the Tararua Ranges, families and businesses across the country have suffered enormous loss and hardship. While the severe weather hasn’t directly affected every part of ...
E te huia kaimanawa, ko Ngāpuhi e whakahari ana i tau aupikinga ki te tihi o te maunga. Ko te Ao Māori hoki e whakanui ana i a koe te whakaihu waka o te reo Māori i roto i te Ao Ture. (To the prized treasure, it is Ngāpuhi who ...
113,400 exits into work in the year to June 2022 Young people are moving off Benefit faster than after the Global Financial Crisis Two reports released today by the Ministry of Social Development show the Government’s investment in the COVID-19 response helped drive record numbers of people off Benefits and ...
The Government’s priority to keep New Zealand at the cutting edge of food production and lift our sustainability credentials continues by backing the next steps of a hi-tech vertical farming venture that uses up to 95 per cent less water, is climate resilient, and pesticide-free. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visited ...
E nga mana, e nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga hau e wha, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou kātoa. Warm Pacific greetings to all. It is an honour to host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Aotearoa is delighted to be hosting you ...
The new renal unit at Taranaki Base Hospital has been officially opened by the Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall this afternoon. Te Huhi Raupō received around $13 million in government funding as part of Project Maunga Stage 2, the redevelopment of the Taranaki Base Hospital campus. “It’s an honour ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little has marked the arrival of the country’s second P-8A Poseidon aircraft alongside personnel at the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Base at Ohakea today. “With two of the four P-8A Poseidons now on home soil this marks another significant milestone in the Government’s historic investment in ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will provide further humanitarian support to those seriously affected by last month’s deadly earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, says Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. “The 6 February earthquakes have had devastating consequences, with almost 18 million people affected. More than 53,000 people have died and tens of thousands more ...
Migrant communities across New Zealand are represented in the new Migrant Community Reference Group that will help shape immigration policy going forward, Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced today. “Since becoming Minister, a reoccurring message I have heard from migrants is the feeling their voice has often been missing around policy ...
Construction has begun on major works that will deliver significant safety improvements on State Highway 3 from Waitara to Bell Block, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan announced today. “This is an important route for communities, freight and visitors to Taranaki but too many people have lost their lives or ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has today appointed Ginny Andersen as Minister of Police. “Ginny Andersen has a strong and relevant background in this important portfolio,” Chris Hipkins said. “Ginny Andersen worked for the Police as a non-sworn staff member for around 10 years and has more recently been chair of ...
Six further bailey bridge sites confirmed Four additional bridge sites under consideration 91 per cent of damaged state highways reopened Recovery Dashboards for impacted regions released The Government has responded quickly to restore lifeline routes after Cyclone Gabrielle and can today confirm that an additional six bailey bridges will ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for China tomorrow, where she will meet with her counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in Beijing. This will be the first visit by a New Zealand Minister to China since 2019, and follows the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions between New Zealand and China. ...
Education Ministers from across the Pacific will gather in Tāmaki Makaurau this week to share their collective knowledge and strategic vision, for the benefit of ākonga across the region. New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti will host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) for three days from today, ...
A vital transport link for communities and local businesses has been restored following Cyclone Gabrielle with the reopening of State Highway 5 (SH5) between Napier and Taupō, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan says. SH5 reopened to all traffic between 7am and 7pm from today, with closure points at SH2 (Kaimata ...
Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds has thanked generous New Zealanders who took part in the special Lotto draw for communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Held on Saturday night, the draw raised $11.7 million with half of all ticket sales going towards recovery efforts. “In a time of need, New Zealanders ...
The Government has announced funding of $3 million for providers to help people, and whānau access community-based Building Financial Capability services. “Demand for Financial Capability Services is growing as people face cost of living pressures. Those pressures are increasing further in areas affected by flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle,” Minister for ...
Minister of Education, Hon Jan Tinetti, has announced appointments to the Board of Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao. Tracey Bridges is joining the Board as the new Chair and Dr Therese Arseneau will be a new member. Current members Dr Linda Sissons CNZM and Daniel Wilson have ...
Fifteen ākonga Māori from across Aotearoa have been awarded the prestigious Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships and Awards for 2023, Associate Education Minister and Ngarimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today. The recipients include doctoral, masters’ and undergraduate students. Three vocational training students and five wharekura students, ...
High Court Judge Jillian Maree Mallon has been appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal, and District Court Judge Andrew John Becroft QSO has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Mallon graduated from Otago University in 1988 with an LLB (Hons), and with ...
The economy has continued to show its resilience despite today’s GDP figures showing a modest decline in the December quarter, leaving the Government well positioned to help New Zealanders face cost of living pressures in a challenging global environment. “The economy had grown strongly in the two quarters before this ...
Aucklanders now have more ways to get around as Transport Minister Michael Wood opened the direct State Highway 1 (SH1) to State Highway 18 (SH18) underpass today, marking the completion of the 48-kilometre Western Ring Route (WRR). “The Government is upgrading New Zealand’s transport system to make it safer, more ...
This section contains briefings received by incoming ministers following changes to Cabinet in January. Some information may have been withheld in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982. Where information has been withheld that is indicated within the document. ...
Aotearoa New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta reaffirmed her commitment to working together with the new Government of Fiji on issues of shared importance, including on the prioritisation of climate change and sustainability, at a meeting today, in Nadi. Fiji and Aotearoa New Zealand’s close relationship is underpinned by the Duavata ...
The Government is delivering a coastal shipping lifeline for businesses, residents and the primary sector in the cyclone-stricken regions of Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhiti, Regional Development Minister Kiri Allan announced today. The Rangitata vessel has been chartered for an emergency coastal shipping route between Gisborne and Napier, with potential for ...
The Government will progress to the next stage of the NZ Battery Project, looking at the viability of pumped hydro as well as an alternative, multi-technology approach as part of the Government’s long term-plan to build a resilient, affordable, secure and decarbonised energy system in New Zealand, Energy and Resources ...
This morning I was made aware of a media interview in which Minister Stuart Nash criticised a decision of the Court and said he had contacted the Police Commissioner to suggest the Police appeal the decision. The phone call took place in 2021 when he was not the Police Minister. ...
The Government’s sharp focus on trade continues with Aotearoa New Zealand set to host Trade Ministers and delegations from 10 Asia Pacific economies at a meeting of Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Commission members in July, Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor announced today. “New Zealand ...
$25 million boost to support more businesses with clean-up in cyclone affected regions, taking total business support to more than $50 million Demand for grants has been strong, with estimates showing applications will exceed the initial $25 million business support package Grants of up to a maximum of $40,000 per ...
80 per cent of 2021 Resident Visas applications have been processed – three months ahead of schedule Residence granted to 160,000 people 84,000 of 85,000 applications have been approved Over 160,000 people have become New Zealand residents now that 80 per cent of 2021 Resident Visa (2021RV) applications have been ...
The Government continues to invest in New Zealand’s burgeoning space industry, today announcing five scholarships for Kiwi Students to undertake internships at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash congratulated Michaela Dobson (University of Auckland), Leah Albrow (University of Canterbury) and Jack Naish, Celine Jane ...
The Lead Coordination Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal Commission’s Report into the Terrorist Attack on the Christchurch Mosques travels to Melbourne, Australia today to represent New Zealand at the fourth Sub-Regional Meeting on Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Security. “The Government is committed to reducing the threat of terrorism ...
The health and safety practices at our nation’s ports will be improved as part of a new industry-wide action plan, Workplace Relations and Safety, and Transport Minister Michael Wood has announced. “Following the tragic death of two port workers in Auckland and Lyttelton last year, I asked the Port Health ...
Bikes, electric bikes and scooters will be added to the types of transport exempted from fringe benefit tax under changes proposed today. Revenue Minister David Parker said the change would allow bicycles, electric bicycles, scooters, electric scooters, and micro-mobility share services to be exempt from fringe benefit tax where they ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta will hold bilateral meetings with Fiji this week. The visit will be her first to the country since the election of the new coalition Government led by Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sitiveni Rabuka. The visit will be an opportunity to meet kanohi ki ...
The Government is introducing the Severe Weather Emergency Legislation Bill to ensure the recovery and rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle is streamlined and efficient with unnecessary red tape removed. The legislation is similar to legislation passed following the Christchurch and Kaikōura earthquakes that modifies existing legislation in order to remove constraints ...
Approximately 1.4 million people will benefit from increases to rates and thresholds for social assistance to help with the cost of living Superannuation to increase by over $100 a pay for a couple Main benefits to increase by the rate of inflation, meaning a family on a benefit with children ...
$1 billion in savings which will be reallocated to support New Zealanders with the cost of living A range of transport programmes deferred so Waka Kotahi can focus on post Cyclone road recovery Speed limit reduction programme significantly narrowed to focus on the most dangerous one per cent of state ...
The remaining state of national emergency over the Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay regions will end on Tuesday 14 March, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. Minister McAnulty gave notice of a national transition period over these regions, which will come into effect immediately following the end of the ...
The Government is today delivering on one of its commitments as part of the New Zealand Government’s Dawn Raids apology, welcoming a cohort of emerging Pacific leaders to Aotearoa New Zealand participating in the He Manawa Tītī Scholarship Programme. This cohort will participate in a bespoke leadership training programme that ...
Industry Transformation Plan to transform advanced manufacturing through increased productivity and higher-skilled, higher-wage jobs into a globally-competitive low-emissions sector. Co-created and co-owned by business, unions and workers, government, Māori, Pacific peoples and wider stakeholders. A plan to accelerate the growth and transformation of New Zealand’s advanced manufacturing sector was launched ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Breen, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Getty Images There might have been pragmatic political reasons behind the government throwing voting-age legislation onto its recent policy bonfire, but it remains a sadly wasted opportunity. The announcement reversed former ...
ANALYSIS:By Bevin Veale, Massey University The impending arrival of Kelly-Jean Keen-Minshull — aka Posie Parker — has put the spotlight on the tension between free speech and protecting vulnerable communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. In particular, it raises questions about Immigration New Zealand’s role in limiting who can visit ...
Wairoa has ready-to-go projects that could be accelerated to quickly get people back into homes following Cyclone Gabrielle, Minister Willie Jackson was told on a visit to Wairoa today. Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa is seeking a Government commitment ...
A new report published by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union exposes the bad decision-making that led to a 61% cost blowout in Auckland’s City Rail Link and shows that the costs of the project now significantly outweigh any benefits. ‘The City Rail Link: ...
Immigration NZ has today confirmed that the controversial anti-trans campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull will be allowed into New Zealand for her speaking events this week. You can read our report here – and the full statement from Immigration NZ’s Richard Owen to the media is below: “I can confirm that ...
Immigration NZ says it knows some people will be unhappy, but ultimately the threshold to bar Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull from New Zealand hasn’t been reached.The British anti-transgender campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, will be allowed into New Zealand this weekend, Immigration NZ has confirmed.Keen-Minshull’s ability to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Stevens, Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Adelaide Antarctica is an icy place today, but the ice extended even further during past ice ages. The question of how and where life survived on land in the icy continent, through the ages, has ...
Like a Tongan Cool Runnings, with trumpets instead of bobsleds, Red, White & Brass is a feel-good movie based on an incredible true story. First-time film producer Halaifonua Finau tells Sela Jane Hopgood how he got it made.In 2016, promising new Tongan producer Halaifonua Finau was sitting in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Thomas Gleeson, Doctoral Candidate, Australian National University Luz Rovira / Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND In the 19th century, Charles Darwin was one of the first to notice something interesting about domesticated animals: different species often developed similar changes when compared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katharine Kemp, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney New research reveals serious privacy flaws in fertility apps used by Australian consumers – emphasising the need for urgent reform of the Privacy Act. Fertility apps provide a number ...
The Fiji Times “The University of the South Pacific (USP) has been and continues to be a bedrock for regionalism. A resource owned by the region; for the region and a precious institution that needs to be protected in line with the vision of our forebearers.” This was the message ...
By Claudia Tally in Port Moresby A Papua New Guinean family who have been renting a property from the National Housing Corporation for the past 46 years have been served with a 24-hour eviction notice by a different owner who had obtained an eviction notice from the Port Moresby District ...
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown’s plans to cut back on spending could see the council quit Local Government NZ, the group that represents councils across the country. Stuff’s Todd Niall has reported that $400,000 would be saved by the move, with mayor Brown reportedly wanting to direct that money into other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frederic Gachon, Associate Professor, Physiology of Circadian Rhythms, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland Gregory Pappas/Unsplash Some of us love to be tucked up in bed by a particular time every night, ensuring a certain number of hours ...
The government has launched campaign to help young people navigate break-ups with the long-term aim of preventing family violence, believed to be the first of its kind. ...
Sports can be hugely beneficial for children but there are still many barriers for trans kids wanting to play, writes researcher Julia de Bres.There’s been a lot of talk recently about trans athletes in high performance sport, much of which derives from a broader anti-trans project rather than a ...
A new documentary follows Amber Clyde, skateboarder and founder of Girls Skate NZ, as she works to rebuild her confidence in the sport while juggling solo motherhood.Amber Clyde remembers being bullied as the only girl at the skate park in Birkenhead – but these days all the same bullies ...
After dedicating years to helping young women find their confidence in skateboarding, Amber Clyde must teach herself how to get back on the board after the birth of her second child. But balancing the realities of being a solo Mum with running her own business means that her time is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arthur Immanuel Crichton, PhD candidate, Flinders University Relative of _Chunia pledgei_ named _Ektopodon serratus_ (top left), with _Wakaleo oldfieldi_.Reconstruction of the early Miocene Kutjumarpu faunal assemblage by Peter Schouten, CC BY-SA Imagine a vast, lush forest dominated by giant flightless birds ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is urging its 27,000 members and subscribers to have a say on Auckland Council’s proposed 2022/23 annual budget. Last week, the Ratepayers’ Alliance launched a new website to encourage public feedback. Backtobasics.co.nz ...
New Zealand distance runner Zane Robertson has been banned from all sport for eight years due to doping. Robertson, who is the holder of six national distance running records and a Commonwealth Games bronze medal, was tested at the UK’s Great Manchester Run in May last year. His sample returned ...
Alex Casey asks a psychologist why she was too chicken shit to wear a mask during the flight that probably gave her Covid-19. In the live action replay in my head, I can basically see, frame by frame, the moment that one of those puny little Covid-19 Koosh balls did ...
Social services and health & disability provider Presbyterian Support Northern (PSN) has appointed Joe Waru as its new Kaitohu Matua (General Manager Māori). The appointment will provide PSN with strategic leadership and advice as it seeks to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin Veale, Lecturer in Media Studies, part of the Digital Cultures Laboratory in the School of Humanities, Media, and Creative Communication, Massey University Getty Images The impending arrival of Kelly-Jean Keen-Minshull – aka Posie Parker – has put the spotlight ...
Deputy Public Service Commissioner Ms Heather Baggott has today announced the appointment of Mr Andrew Hampton to the position of Director-General of Security and Chief Executive, New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS). The role of the NZSIS is to understand ...
Money isn’t everything. But for most of us, it’s easier to deal with anything else in our lives if we know the bills are getting paid. So when household budgets come under pressure from cost of living increases – especially when that includes the mortgage that keeps a roof over ...
The National Party will announce the first part of its new education policy tomorrow in the prime minister’s own stomping ground of the Hutt. Leader Christopher Luxon said the “Teaching the Basics Brilliantly” policy will see the curriculum totally overhauled, with a direct focus on reading, writing, maths and science. ...
In conjunction with Curia Market Research, the Free Speech Union has distributed a survey on academic freedom to academics across each of the eight universities in New Zealand. Respect for academic freedom is a statutory responsibility for universities, ...
Thirty years ago, after a marathon Parliamentary sitting, the Bolger National government passed the Maritime Transport Act which deregulated coastal shipping by abolishing cabotage. Cabotage was the practice which restricted the operation of sea, air, or ...
New reports out from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) this morning show that in the year to June 2022, 113,400 people came off a benefit, the highest number since electronic records began in 1996. From early 2020, at the start of the pandemic, there was a large increase in the ...
A recent court action by Australia’s financial regulator suggests ‘greenwashing’ claims can expect far greater scrutiny – a situation likely to happen here soon enough, writes Steven Moe.Coal mining can seem like yesterday’s fuel – a relic of the last century, in the coming age of wind farms and ...
Grammy-winning pop star Lizzo will return to New Zealand in July for her first solo show on our shores. The singer, rapper and flautist (yes) will play Spark Arena on July 26 as part of her Special Tour. The last time she was in New Zealand, Lizzo was a festival ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trevor Ireland, Professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland MASCOT / DLR / JAXA How did life come about? The answer to this question goes to the very heart of our existence on planet Earth. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Unsplash/Olga Guryanova, CC BY Disturbing reports about botched cosmetic surgeries and injuries in Australia – from breast augmentations causing chronic pain to liposuction leaving patients with lifelong injuries – have sparked concerns in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Zylstra, Adjunct Associate Professor at Curtin University, Research Associate at University of New South Wales, Curtin University Shutterstock Fire management in Australia is approaching crisis point. Seasons such as the Black Summer three years ago showed how our best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Geary, PhD Student, Deakin University Once abundant, woylies – or brush-tailed bettongs – are now critically endangered. John Gould, CC BY-SA Conserving native wildlife is a challenging task and Australia’s unenviable extinction record shows us we urgently need more sophisticated ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pi-Shen Seet, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Edith Cowan University ThisIsEngineering/Pexels , CC BY-NC Australia continues to grapple with acute skills shortages. Businesses are struggling to find workers with the skills they need. Meanwhile, workers struggle to get jobs because ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robin Eames, History PhD candidate, University of Sydney Portrait of De Lacy Evans and his wife (1870)State Library VictoriaThis article contains references to anti-trans, colonial and institutional violence, and includes information about an Aboriginal person who died in the early ...
The new police minister has defended the government’s approach to dealing with crime, as new figures show just 32% of charges laid against young people last year actually resulted in a sentence. Ginny Andersen was promoted into the police portfolio on Monday after Stuart Nash was sent falling to the ...
The final IPCC report was unequivocal in its call to reduce emissions immediately but the government has no further news on how agricultural emissions charging will work, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Greens say climate change will be integral to the big decision this year. Toby Manhire explores the data. Devastating, global-warming-exacerbatedstorms. A new IPCC report laying outthe calamitous fireball hurtling our way. And a prime minister jettisoninga host of climate-aligned policies. There is plenty of material for James ...
Medsafe has approved applications for Ozempic to be used in New Zealand. How does this new drug work and why is everyone talking about it? What just happened? Last Thursday, New Zealand’s medical regulatory body Medsafe gave consent for Ozempic to be prescribed in New Zealand. The approval is for ...
An author on the death of a baby and "a calm respectful grace" The normal world was out there. The clocks and the jobs and the traffic and the mortgages and the death. Especially the death. Death in suburbia means funerals with piped fake Celtic music despite the fact ...
One of New Zealand’s brightest young netball talents, Paris Lokotui has returned to the court 10 months after a knee reconstruction. Now she hopes her tough journey back paves a better way for other Māori and Pasifika players. Paris Lokotui remembers the moment time stood still. The 21-year-old was playing ...
A month on from Cyclone Gabrielle, many residents in Muriwai are still living in limbo, unable to return to their homes "I can't look back because it's too sad. I can't look forward because it is too daunting." Kat Corbett's Muriwai home remains out-of-bounds more than a month after ...
The Climate Change Commission's chair says the Government's decisions to ignore its advice could weaken the country's most important climate policy. ...
Coconut plantations are far from being ‘natural’ environments, coconut oil is high in saturated fats, and, despite the advertising, most of the global supply of coconut oil doesn’t come from the Pacific Islands eitherOpinion: Coconut oil has gained a halo as a natural health product, with claims it can ...
Loading...(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. ...
By Hamish Cardwell, RNZ News senior journalist There is “is much to win by trying” to take action on climate change — that is a key finding in a major new international climate report the UN chief is calling a “survival guide for humanity”. It is something of a mic ...
A pōwhiri, a pie, and a grilling from primary school kids: Today was the day the boy from the Hutt who grew up to be prime minister went home for a visit. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Australia’s decision to buy three nuclear-powered submarines and build another eight is so expensive that, for the A$268 billion to $368 billion price tag, we could give a million dollars ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Denniss, Adjunct Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Australia has 116 new coal, oil and gas projects in the pipeline. If they all proceed as planned, an extra 1.4 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases would be released into ...
Figures unearthed by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union reveal that the growth in public sector managers is almost twice that of frontline social, health and education workers. Since 2017, the frontline workforce for social services, health and education ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic O’Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University A referendum will be held later this year to enshrine a First Nations’ Voice to Parliament into the Australian constitution. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Haoyang Zhai, PhD Candidate, The University of Melbourne Alexander Schimmeck/Unsplash Since its inception in 1921, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has officially promoted an atheist and materialist ideology. But belief systems in China are making a comeback – and ...
Scott Robertson has been announced successor to Ian Foster as head coach of the All Blacks, completing a controversial and highly idiosyncratic appointment process. He will assume the role in 2024, following the world cup at the end of this year. The contract for the breakdancing current coach of the ...
Multicultural New Zealand (MNZ) has expressed concern about events scheduled to take place in Auckland and Wellington on March 25th and 26th, respectively. The events will feature British anti-transgender activist, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull. MNZ is ...
Race Relations Day is celebrated annually in New Zealand on March 21st to promote and celebrate diversity, inclusivity, and harmony among different cultural, ethnic, and religious groups. As part of Race Relations Day 2023, Multicultural New Zealand ...
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s suggestion to make council budget cuts by reducing staffing hours and replacing librarians and library assistants with volunteers is concerning says New Zealand’s library association. “Limiting access to the valued ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohiuddin Ahmed, Senior Lecturer in Cyber Security, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock Google and Microsoft are on a mission to remove the drudgery from computing, by bringing next-generation AI tools as add-ons to existing services. On March 16, Microsoft announced an ...
The Auckland mayor’s decision to keep the media at arm’s length makes every interview he does grant a rare and exciting event, like a new Avatar movie. Stewart Sowman-Lund ranks them all from least to most exciting.Wayne Brown has a well-reported lack of affection for the media. In his ...
Tabloid Jubi in Jayapura The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) has called on the international community to “pay serious attention” to the escalated violence happening in West Papua. Head of ULMWP’s legal and human rights bureau, Daniel Randongkir, said that since the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) ...
ANALYSIS:By Bronwyn Hayward, University of Canterbury This decade is the critical moment for making deep, rapid cuts to emissions, and acting to protect people from dangerous climate impacts we can no longer avoid, according to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The synthesis report ...
Across five of the latest polls for which results are published, Labour now has an edge over National. A new Talbot Mills poll, as reported by the Herald, has Labour up four points to 37%, with National down two points to 34%. The results, which draw on fieldwork across the first ...
Statement from Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb, WWF-New Zealand CEO Today's IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Synthesis Report (AR6) highlights that an accelerated phase-out of fossil fuels is the best way to avoid the planet overshooting 1.5°C and risking total climate ...
I want to pose a problem for a Sunday to commentators on the Standard.
We need a philosophy and a political ideology which will take us into the 21st century and hopefully cope with the enormous problems facing mankind.
George Monboit hinted in a lecture that some sort of idea was being formulated and will be broadcast next year. Until that happens – some thoughts:
Neoliberalism is discredited and dead.
Socialism may be able to take its place, but we cannot have infinite growth in a finite world.
So any ideology will have to aim at equality without growth, economic justice without any skewering of the rewards. Such a philosophy must allow for human initiative and endeavour without the financial payment.
Such a philosophy must motivate people to make the potentially enormous sacrifices which will be required if we are to combat climate change; must eliminate greed at a motivating force, yet encourage entrepreneurship!
I can’t get my head round all the parameters of such a philosophy, except to be convinced that we are in desperate need of something political to believe in!
Your thoughts?
A dictatorship is what we’re after.
A dictatorship is what you’re after.
A bankster dictatorship is what we have.
Perhaps – is there such a beast as a benevolent dictatorship?
That would be the best option
I think I’d be great as the world’s first velvet gloved dictator.
My billboard will be.
Don’t vote for waghorn ,kneel before him now or else , please and thankyou.
Sorry, should have added /sarc.
Right there – “benevolent dictator” and “beast” in the same sentence!
What makes you think we haven’t already got a dictatorship?
MMP
That hasn’t really helped scientists who feel like they will lose their jobs if they speak out. Or that flag thingy. Or health boards beings sacked. Or CERA or NZTA. Or TVNZ7 or Campbell.
🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄
You already have a dictatorship under the national party.
Was it a dictatorship between 1999 -2008?
Words that describe western ‘democracy’ better.
Plutocracy.
Corporatocracy.
It’s currently the best system by far, great thing about democracy is that it has the ability to evolve.
Not in the case of the Key government – they’re so unevolved they drink paint stripper.
Participatory Democracy is great.
We don’t have that any more now.
We have corporatocracy.
Lobbyists for the elite run the show.
And that is not the best.
I’m not trying to be annoying, but you would have to admit to current capitalism’s successes – as well as its failures – first off. Ain’t no refugee boats heading from Italy to Libya. Our current form of capitalisms’ capacity for wealth acceleration has been better for more of the world’s people than democracy.
Capitalism also generates its own crises through its own accumulative speed and consuming volumes. Also, unemployment, pollution, extreme inequalities, and world environmental destruction.
After that, a successor system theory would need a few things before you could really imagine something completely outside what we have:
– It should be concrete enough to see how it might work in practice
– It should be able to look back, learning from gains and errors of other earlier efforts
– It should illuminate the features and limitations of current reform movements and party platforms
– It should outline transitional strategies to get from ‘here’ to ‘there’.
That’s not a philosophy. But it’s the jungle-gym you’d need to start something.
That’s because capitalism destroyed Libya.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-destruction-of-libya-the-destabilization-of-a-nation-us-nato-crimes-against-humanity/5437027
Paul Mason. Post capitalism.
Paul Mason’s book is not a bad place to start on this field.
Has a bit more oomph than ‘why can’t we all just be good people?’
The last chapters have some sketchy ideas on where it could go – far more helpful than that little milquetoast Monbiot.
Ad – “capitalisms’ capacity for wealth acceleration” .v. ” world environmental destruction.”
Y’gotta take a balanced view, eh!
Stretch your legs and have a go at the original question.
Maybe something in those little binaries.
I didn’t see a question, Ad. A problem was described. In any case, animism.
Ah, but were those successes due to capitalism or socialism?
I think you’ll find that it has more to do with the socialism after WWII than with capitalism. The capitalism of the 19th century increased poverty and we’re seeing the same thing happening again now that similar laissez-faire policies are being re-enacted.
And then there’s the fact that people like being challenged, like creating new tools and generally making the world a better place. Capitalism actually needs that desire of people so that it can be exploited by the bludgers – the capitalists.
Put in place the necessary support systems (education, resources) and I’m sure that we’ll get the same, if not better, development and we’ll do it without rich people and the poverty that they bring about.
‘Roll back Rogernomic$’.
The mantra upon which neo-liberal ‘Rogernomic$’ was based, is ‘public is bad – private is good’.
There was no evidence provided to substantiate this myth, either before this neo-liberal model was forced upon us – or since.
In my considered opinion, this ‘commercialise – corporatise – PRIVATISE’ model has been the root cause of significant ‘grand’ corruption, locally, nationally and internationally.
In my view, the only ones who have benefited from local and central government services being run in a more ‘business-like’ way, are those businesses which have been awarded the contracts.
In my view, it is the public majority – not the corporate minority, who should benefit from tax and rate payers’ public monies.
The first step?
OPEN THE BOOKS!
Everywhere that local and central government uses private sector consultants and contractors – ensure the Public Records Act 2005 is implemented and enforced, and the following information is made available for public scrutiny:
The unique contract number.
The name of the consultant / contractor.
A brief description of the scope of the contract.
The contract start and finish dates.
The exact dollar value of every contract including those sub-contracted.
How the contract was awarded – by direct appointment or public tender.
Make this information publicly accessible under ‘Procurement – Awarded Contracts’ on the front page of each and every local government / CCO / central government / SOE / Crown Entity that spends public money on private sector consultants and contractors.
That is STEP ONE…..
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Bloody good question Tony. Can I put that up as a post?
For me the philosophy (philosophies) already exist. I see them in Green politics, not so much the front end stuff that we see in something like the NZ Green Party that has to operate pragmatically within a neoliberal/patriarchal dominated culture, but in the deeper aspects. I can see it in the kauapa of the Greens (eg in their charter) and trace lines back to the Values Party work done in the 70s where sustainability and social justice were married (it also goes back much further than that). I also see lines coming from many other philosophies esp for me the understandings that come out of indigenous cultures where you also see a similar marriage of valuing people and valuing the land.
Feel free.
It seems to me that we are all searching for a political philosophy or ideology which will address the issues facing us all. Sure as hell capitalism is not the answer. Socialism may be (my preference) but how to sell it is the problem. And how to sustain it in the face of some determined (monied) opposition – well!
What I had hoped for from my original comment was some ideas, some concepts, some suggestions, but the original idea, apart from a couple of comments, got sidetracked.
So a major post exploring ideas on which we can hang some unifying concepts and philosophies would, I think, be welcome.
given the nature of the challenges we will have to confront from hereon in I suspect the only practical option will be some form of technocracy
NeoLiberalism may well be discredited, and maybe it smells dead, but you would be foolish to believe that it actually was dead.
Mrs Clinton is about to try and ride it around the block at least one more time, and her big bankers dont seem to have heard of this “death” which you mentioned.
Yes, there’s many a kick in the corpse yet, as we shall find to our cost if HRC gets to be POTUS!
Tony:
Its worth taking a look at Tim Jackson’s book “Prosperity without Growth – ecomomics for a finite planet” if you are interested in alternatives to the current recipe for disaster that dominates Western (and more recently, Chinese) contemporary political-economic thinking.
Monbiot is on the right track, of course but Jackson takes the argument a lot further.
FYI
I’ve just spent 26 minutes listening to this expose of the revolving door between the Pentagon and USA ‘military/ industrial complex’.
Names are named – it’s ‘political dynamite’!
PLEASE SHARE.
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
I think Eisenhower beat you to it, just after World War Two.
Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wxJlMH3jZA
Seems that Eisenhower was dead damn right – the information in this You Tube clip is a bit more recent.
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
” just after World War Two”
God how fast time seems to pass. At this distance it probably does seem to be “just after”.
It was in fact about fifteen and a half years after the end of WW2, as the speech was made on 17January 1961, just before he ceased to be President.
Great speech though, given by the most underrated President of the 20th century. It is still worth reading and still relevant.
http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html
One of the biggest pains in the ass is this idea of “revolution”. I can almost guarantee that the coup would have worked in Turkey if they hand’t bombed Parliament.
Bernie Sanders used the word like it was a colonic. He didn’t want to define it; it was simply a verbal stand-in for ‘huge change fast’. Better known as ‘Magic Fairy Dust’.
The old leftie idea form the 20th century of military insurrection should be taken out the back and buried in the offal pit. Democracy itself is going backwards fairly fast – that’s what reformist movements need to defend if they’re going for structural change.
Again, I know this is more instrumental thinking rather than end-goal fresh ideology, but it’s a biggie that needs permanently squelching.
Bernie Sanders used the word like it was a colonic. He didn’t want to define it; it was simply a verbal stand-in for ‘huge change fast’… Well, that is one of the ways in which the word “revolution” is used – the introduction of Thatcherism has also been described in such terms. Bernie has often said “we need to get the public good back to the centre of politics” which is what he seemed to have in mind in his use of the word.
You use the term “capitalism” in a rather general way yourself, when what people are mostly concerned about is capitalism in its current form. I see it as an analogous to soviet communism. In the soviet case, a bunch of statist bureaucrats determined that things had to be organised so that capitalism could not get a foothold. In post-Thatcher capitalism a bunch of financiers, speculators and managers have sought to organise things so that socialism cannot get a foothold. Both involve a segment of society deciding that their interests trump those of everyone else, a state of affairs which is not conducive to the broader public good. It may take something like a counter-revolution to Thatcher/Reagan/Douglas’s one in order to address the many problems that their revolution has generated.
ahhhh say it ain’t so cries Mike Hoskins
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/82627601/Bloody-marvellous-John-Campbell-and-Morning-Report-lead-RNZ-to-a-ratings-resurgence
And all done with a funding stranglehold Sabine. Maybe it is a plot to force National Radio to become funded by advertising. National have said that this should happen, so they force RNZ to its fiscal knees.
The headline on that story is wrong*. It’s impossible to say it’s a ratings resurgence. It’s the first time in 17 years that RNZ has been included in that survey.
This will feed the perception that the shift to a more commercial model has widened the audience. And that it can continue to be starved of funding by the RNZ-loathing National Party.
Personally there are things I quite like about the commercial tone such as the shift to more aggressive interviewing, and things that aren’t good, such as making a leading science journalist redundant.
There is major change afoot at a public broadcaster with no public consultation, no transparency, and a pretence that because ”platforms” are changing, the ”content” must also change. Only in New Zealand.
*Media consultant Tim Murphy said commercial stations probably always knew RNZ had a larger audience.
To put it mildly ,Paul Thompson is no left winger, going by his record at Fairfax.
Yep, among other things regional coverage at Fairfax was decimated under his watch.
And this morning on MediaWatch he kept referring to the ”media eco-system”.
To clarify my comment above, I certainly don’t see ”aggressive interviewing” as the province of commercial media, but RNZ had become staid and uncertain. I’m enjoying its sense of purpose and advocacy in political and social coverage.
While Guyon Espiner is too quick to make his mind up about particular stories, his style and grasp of facts is good and has really helped Morning Report.
True about Guyon but I have no time for Sleazey Fergusson. Thank goodness for John Campbell – he has injected some life back into Natrad in the afternoon/evening.
Oh i dunno cambell comes accross as too damn friendly to me when he interviews someone and its a serious issue he sounds like hes gonna give them a big slobbery kiss !! Better than mary sure ..her greatest problem was she never seemed to vary her go for the jugular style wouldnt have mattered if it was attilla the hun she was interviewing or mother teresa .
Gee the left wing in the UK arnt big on democracy are they. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/anti-corbyn-mps-accused-of-trying-to-subvert-labour-leadership-election-a7163846.html
“Left wing”? Don’t make me laugh.
I note that you are citing the reported opinions of a sub-set of anti-Corbyn UKLP MPs and pretending the Left is a hive mind. Projecting much?
Meanwhile in NZ under a right wing Govt http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/79934298/Beehive-extends-Southern-District-Health-Board-commissioner-team-to-2019 no democracy for us in the south, how far does your concern go James?
According to one of the comments Labour voted for this extension.
Democracy in action
“Labour did it tooooooooooooooooooo” want some crackers with that wine? National are the Govt of the day, so own it.
No – what he is saying is that Labour voted the same was as National on this at the same time. Something that you were saying was undemocratic.
What BM was pointing out is that this is democracy in action.
But given the Dem in the US and Labour in the Uk – I can see how a leftie can be getting confused about what a democratic process is.
Anyway – do you have anything to add to the discussion on the link I posted ?
[citation needed]
And, no, that’s not how democracy works. Democracy works when everyone has a say rather than just a few at the top of the pile.
Hansard confirms it. They tried to get an amendment writing the actual date of the election into the bill. National voted it down.
You will never see a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
I sure you can point me to many links showing how the left are extremely happy with the democratic process they are running in the UK Leadership race?
The Corbyn activist have been treated extremely fairly and the party have done everything possible to ensure that it is a fair and even contest right?.
So in direct contradiction to your original smear that “the Left” “aren’t big on democracy”, you now seem to be saying that “the Left” is fighting for democracy…
When you have a coherent narrative, you won’t be a right winger any more.
The Blairites are right wing.
I thought you would have known that.
The Blairites are about as Left-wing as John Key.
https://twitter.com/liamyoung/status/759391232720240640
The establishment doesn’t needs crowds.
It requires a compliant media that feeds the ‘consumers’ of mainstream ‘news’
Yes which is very Left indeed!
John Key is hard right-wing as you well know. You’re just even further into the delusional space that is RWNJ.
He’s not really right – he’s just dishonest. He’s closer to Mugabe (left dishonest) than Churchill (right honest)
As I say. The right-wing have to lie because their policies never meet reality.
2 views in yesterdays ODT…
Regarding Todd McClay –
“The Opposition tried to paint the political failings of the minister into a story about the failure of the Government to take the threats of a trade war seriously. But the facts did not support the claim. Mr Key had been kept in the dark by Mr McClay.” – Audrey Young
&
“Trade Minister Todd McClay initially denied any knowledge of such threats as did Prime Minister John Key. But then Mr McClay “remembered”, after “checking overnight”, that he had been briefed by his officials about it the previous week, while he was in China. Now we are told officials have been looking into it for months, & the Prime Ministers department knew of it but despite its importance, didn’t brief Mr Key (yeah right!)” – CIVIS.
CIVIS is continuously excellent in the ODT.
Audrey Young is a great spinner for Key. Must be her next career move but she better be quick. Key will be out by end of 2017
History will not judge her I’ll kindly.
At least you get the two versions in the ODT. The rest of the country only gets the first version via APN and Fairfax.
Yesterdays editorial, which lays bare the Govt ‘pest free’ announcement.
http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/editorial/392036/war-pests-or-grandstanding
shouldnt the date in the heading be 31st?
Fixed. Ta, Chooky.
A test for you:
http://www.isidewith.com/political-quiz
Note there are options to complete many more questions, in the lower tab on each section.
I came out preferring Hillary, but Stein was a close run thing.
I got Donald Trump and I was a bit of this, bit of that, policy wise.
http://www.isidewith.com/elections/2016-presidential/2480200662
This site could be a bit of a vote winner for Trump
Came out 95% Stein and Clinton.
Should try the reverse psychology thing of choosing the opposite of what I actually think!
94% for Stein and Clinton. 20% for Trump – should have been zero. 😮
Stein for me but it gave 96% for her and Clinton
98% Stein.
Try this … http://www.celebritytypes.com/personality-tests.php
Take the Political Test to find your ideological co-ordinates
Take the Presidential Test to discover, crucially, which former US President your personality most resembles.
Sigh…I came up with frickin Obama
😎 😎 😎 Suggests you’re a bit of a charismatic, silver-tongued lothario, CV 😎 😎 😎
I appear to have James Madison tendencies (albeit on just 3 of the 5 dimensions, I notice). I like to think I’m also just a little bit Woodrow Wilson, a little bit Dwight D Eisenhower and a whole lot Ulysses S Grant.
I appear to have James Madison tendencies.
Me too. Have to do a google and find out more about him.
I did the morality test6 on that page.
Cheers, Draco. I have very similar scores to you on 4 of the 6 dimensions.
On that political one, I was between Obama and Bill Clinton.
On the Presidential one, I was very similar to Obama.
Of course, to take your isidewith test seriously, Ad, we’d all have to assume that Clinton’s policy programme really will turn out, in reality, to be virtually synonymous with Stein’s. That, for example, Hillary really is genuinely opposed to TPP.
Seems, you know, just a little unlikely …
Oh come now Swordfish, Clinton may have had a genuine ‘road to Damascus’ moment just before the DNC Convention, like so many seem to want her to have had.
Ahem.
Indeed
With the list of paid bribes taken directly and indirectly by Hillary and Bill, there is slim to no chance of Hillary being opposed to the TPP
Still, there are many who enjoy being lied to, made hypocrites of being ‘anti TPP’ while at the same time ‘pro Hillary’
Pathological liars are not to be trusted
98% Stein, now there’s a surprise 😉
I don’t normally recommend books to other people as we all have our own reading tastes. However if you want to read how a down and out got himself up off the ground I suggest reading “A Street Cat Named Bob” by James Bowen and the assistance he got from an unexpected source.
The bit that got to me was, he was describing all the different unfortunates trying to eek a living on the streets of London outside The Angel Islington Tube Station. Funny that I thought, as it reminded me of a book I had many years ago written by Henry Mayhew in the 1800’s describing all the different characters trying to live off the streets of London.
We have definitely gone back at least a 100 years in our care and welfare as a society, after reading how this unfortunate became as he said “a non person” It also has hope for the future, and as much as Thatcher said “there was no such thing as society” there is, with a lot of caring people out there from all walks of life.
And rapidly heading further back under the neo-liberal paradigm. If we continue we will be full on feudal within a few decades.
A few weeks ago (search is broken so I can’t find it) I made a comment about farming being a sunset industry.
More evidence: http://www.newshub.co.nz/environmentsci/beef-substitute-set-to-take-on-meat-industry-2016073017#axzz4FsEWyvFn
I hope h.r.c can keep the voter suppression and fraud going. She is going to need it.
Hillary massively jumps over Trump due to Reuters/IPSOS poll question change.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-30/clinton-lead-over-trump-surges-after-reuters-tweaks-poll
Excellent opinion piece from Jeremy Corbyn in the Grauniad today, on strengthening worker’s rights.
A lot of the problems he describes are entrenched in NZ. I hope he becomes Britain’s next PM – could set a good example for New Zealand to follow.
When the next opinion poll shows support for National is over 50% will that be considered yet another rogue poll? How high will the figure have to go till the penny drops that most people are happy.
Are you able to discuss policy?
Or do just discuss polls?
Many people are not happy about the cost of housing.
It’s just they aren’t voting at all.
Only 33% of the adult population voted National.
And even of these 33%, not all are happy.
I wouldn’t do the 33% thing because it means 20% voted for Labour and 7% voted for Greens.
Better to be honest about it. Polls should have to include the non-vote.
Seats in parliament aren’t allocated based on the portion of the population that vote.
Would be interesting if only 80 of the 120 seats were filled, though.
Bronagh will prob do the next one
Rank stupidity from The Fizzy One so hopelessly devoted to The Effete Giggling One.
http://www.roymorgan.com/morganpoll/new-zealand/nz-government-confidence
Here are the polls that really matter. As long as the right direction remains over 50% there is no mood for change. No one is talking about income equality, universal basic incomes or the other whacky ideas of the Left. Houses are very affordable in over 90% of New Zealand (ex Auckland and Queenstown)
“Houses are very affordable in over 90% of New Zealand (ex Auckland and Queenstown)”
Your idea of “very affordable” would appear to be at odds with accepted measures
http://www.interest.co.nz/property/house-price-income-multiples
Not at 4.0-4.5 which is the norm ex Auckland and Queenstown as per the figures you quote
might pay to read the attached link fisi….
“Based on this official work, it seems to have become accepted that a median multiple of 3.0 times or less is a very good marker for housing affordability.”
NZ total 5.83
Tauranga 6.90
Nelson 5.80
Wellington 5.61
Christchurch 5.35
and historic low interest rates to boot……you are of course incorrect again and nothing if not consistent.
“Houses are very affordable in over 90% of New Zealand (ex Auckland and Queenstown)”
Given that 32% of the population live in those two districts, your 90% figure is deliberately misleading.
“in” indicates geography. I am of course correct yet again.
No, you’re lying by numbers yet again.
And house prices are rising in the regions becoming unaffordable in relation to local wages there as well.
Wrong again.
http://www.interest.co.nz/property/house-price-income-multiples
“Very affordable” indicates a household income multiple of 3 or under. That would be Invercargill or Wanganui.
4 starts to become a stretch and 5 is on the very limit.
6 is an impractical debt burden for most families.
No, you’re wrong again.
Affordable house prices are around 3 to 4 times median household income. Most of that list was above 4 times median household income, i.e, into the unaffordable. 14 out of 29 was above 5 times median household income, i.e, well into the unaffordable.
I said you use of the 90% figure was deliberately misleading. I didn’t say it was incorrect.