they have all earlier sessions recorded and available on the page, youtube is happening as we speak,
i am downloading as i go and recording on audiotape
yeah, He is quietly sitting there with his translator, whom he hardly uses, busy explaining the framework required to build a case to take a lot of very powerful people to International Court, and then continues to lay out the best way to make it happen.
It was an incredible first day. The quality of the speakers is well balanced with the considered time they each get to present. The long Q&A sessions from the panel and the audience, including on line contributions, are already showing their worth.
Standard, please get the Weekend column up earlier, we want to discuss gardening and such like with my RWNJ annd LWNJ horticultural mates. Plus the rugger head stuff.
I want to ask that someone who has a lead into what sounds like an awesome firework display for tonight in Auckland to post it, in the Weekend fun column.
I will be playing on my cycle in the countryside from this evening and have no desire to participate in watching a minority sport developed at a public (toff’s) school, by people who couldn’t play proper football, played by colonial nations and appealing to farmers and red necks.
I will be playing on my cycle in the countryside from this evening and have no desire to participate in watching a minority sport developed at a public (toff’s) school, by people who couldn’t play proper football, played by colonial nations and appealing to farmers and red necks.
I shall be doing my level best to avoid it, but man it’s difficult! Some person has decided that Mt Albert (where I have the misfortune to live) has “adopted” the USA as “our team” and the suburb is festooned with the flag I least like to see… There are a million questions – not least, who decided that “we” care?
Our good friend Ianupnorth clambered up high on his high horse, looked down on the plebs (he sneeringly dismisses them as “red necks”) and disdainfully opined that rugby football is “played by colonial nations and appealing to farmers and red necks.”
It’s really just too silly and pathetic to merit much comment, but one thing in Ian’s Olympian dismissal of the game demands clarification: in what way is France a colonial nation?
I am interested in the treatment of “Taugate” by the left and the right.
On the left a few comments, no posts in any of the major left blogs that I know of and a couple of tweets.
On the right an attack by the slithery one on the complainant backed up by one of those echo posts by Farrar, you know the ones where Slater does the disgusting stuff and Farrar “only” reports that Slater has reported it.
Is this that different to the speeding cop car that Helen was not actually driving but which provided RWNJs with years of abuse and conspiracy theories on here?
Does the left actually weigh up the seriousness of an incident before commenting whereas the right just relish the opportunity to attack?
There’s been a mixture of attacks and support for Henare on KB.
And if you think “the left actually weigh up the seriousness of an incident before commenting” then you mustn’t actually read anything in posts or comments here, or you must suffer from severe blinkeritis..
In my own narrow experience here I’ve been attacked by numerous people sometimes based only on the presumption I must be bad because I’ve been active on “bad” blogs, or as someone admitted recently, based on attacks on me they’ve seen by people like you.
Did you weigh up anything before accusing me of working for CT or the Beehive?
Did you weigh up anything before accusing me of working for CT or the Beehive?
Have I ever done that? I thought from the start you were a fan of the coiffured one rather than a CT clone. The attacks on you are a response to the quality of your comments more than anything else.
Ehm in one of them I accused Herodotus of having the CT songbook out. I accused you of linkwhoring, not understanding the country’s financial state, taking the piss, trolling, being a waste of bandwidth, walking around with your wyes deliberately closed, and always insisting on having the last word.
In the other one I asked if you had “[b]een going to “how to muck up a thread” lessons with CT?” because you show an unusual ability to do so.
Not really. Your search is quite inefficient use – @author. It shows Mickey using it occasionally with long intervals between. Your search in it’s first page went back to mid 2010. If you looked at the squirrel in his several identities and ran queries on moderate or balance or centre you’d find he was eternally repetitive on those in the short time he has been here.
And that is back to mid 2010 on about half the total number of comments..
Basically you can get largish numbers of the same phrase for anyone who leaves large numbers of comments. If you left more then I could analyze your phrases as well. I suppose I could look at the IPs….
Essentially you’re just being a bit of irritating dickhead – roughly the intelligence level of the drunken ugly rugby louts staggering somewhere outside my house. Noisy, loud and stupid…
Snippet in Business news on RNZ this morning about building consents at their lowest since World War 2. This is doing a time of major housing crisis and a year after of major earthquakes. Of course not picked up as a story to investigate (let alone asking the minister for some accountability).
A month of BBC and Al J me thinks. NZ media now inhabits a parralell universe where nothing but a bunch of gladiators running round a paddock after a ball exists.
Yep, noticed that. In fact a closer inspection would reveal that there is less building going on than any time since the 1970s. Down 24% on last year – that is a colossal drop.
That is really something major. It tells a big story about what the people of NZ are doing at the moment.
It is also worth noting another example in tourism. On the west coast this year numbers are down well below 50% of last years. And last years were dismally down on the previous too.
It is like we have run off a cliff like a road runner cartoon and are currently suspended in mid-air in realisation of the drop about to occur …..
National are not a business party with the interests of NZ business at heart.
They are second hand salesman, they talk up and then sell cheap.
They reflect the NZ economy and culture. If you can do it now for
next to nothing then best get it done because there’s no come back,
and everyone is doing it so where would they start with anyway.
If you want a world class economy we need a world class parliament.
Limiting our nation to 100 MPs and no upper chamber, is the bottle
neck. If you want better policy you need to pay for more people to
produce better policy.
A month ago there was a little bit of media coverage concerning the wage difference between males and females in New Zealand. The impetus for that reporting was to highlight the defunct thought process of Alasdair Thompson who was dismissed from the EMA for his sexist remarks. Although slowly declining, wage inequality is still a problem that disproportionately attributes wealth based on a male dominated hierarchical system…
It may pay for Goff to refrain from commenting on what should be happenning in Christchurch until such time as he and Labour have worked out what they think should be happenning in Christchurch.
Labour has completely failed in not coming up with a Christchurch policy. Speaking about it merely highlights that lack of policy. Is this not simple politics?
I think they’re in a position where they don’t want to make any promises, especially anything that National could rake them over the coals with (which they surely would).
Pete, it’s pretty obvious that Labour will win this election on policies, not personality. So the timing of policy releases is pretty important and I would say there is very little point releasing anything till the thugby finishes, because it’ll be swamped by the RWC coverage. In short, expect a short, sharp campaign from Labour starting immediately after the final, with actual policies and plans for the future.
And, anyway, isn’t a policy free zone like United Future a strange place to be complaining from? The last 4 elections, UF’s only go has been to grovel for a job from whoever is best placed to form a Government.
Pete, it’s pretty obvious that Labour will win this election on policies, not personality.
Labour stalwarts seem to be convinced of that, but few give them a show.
UnitedFuture have openly published a wide range of policies so people have a chance to check them out in plenty of time rather than trying a risky last minute last hope onslaught.
Gee, sorry if I wasn’t clear, Pete. Despite being in various parties and Governments for what feels like forever, Dunne has failed to implement anything other than his vision of himself sitting in the back seat of a ministerial limo. Is that better?
You are dead right that UF have a website with ‘policy’ on it. So did that party you were a member of a month ago, as I recall. It’s the ability to translate that policy into action that counts and Dunne has failed miserably to achieve anything other than personal enrichment and regular hair, scalp and ego massaging.
Also on the United Future website is the Successes section. The only “success” (sic) listed over the last three years appears to be signing a confidence and supply agreement with National. Whoopee!
So, TVOR, if Labour lose the election, it will be because the Nats personality won, not a rejection of Labours policies? And as soon as the public stops falling for ther JK smile and wave act all will be right (well, left) because the current polling has absolutly nothing to do with Labours policies and all with JK!?!?!?!?
Know where you’re coming from Sweetd, but it would be fair to say that Labour cannot win a personality contest, so it has to be superior policies that get them over the line. And I don’t think the public has rejected Labour’s previous policies, anyway. National simply adopted them and put up a fresh face to spruik for them.
This time around though, there will be a more substantial difference between the left and right and I hope that the debate will be about which direction NZ goes in, not who’d be more fun at a BBQ.
Agreed, its MMP applied; that is the main parties fight for the middle ground, and whoever holds the middle ground becomes govt, therefore the main parties end up looking very similar in terms of policies.
So just what are the National / ACT policies, Pete George?
Further up there is talk about building consents being at a record low – is that consistent with getting Christchurch going again? Or have all the builders left to help out Queensland after their floods?
What is National / ACT doing about the building sector?
I think I might jump in and mention that the South African Rugby Board offered to have neutral referees in the 1976 series but the NZ Rugby Union declined. Apparently ‘Pole’ Whiting retired on the spot when he was told that.
Anything has to be an improvement on the Nats policy- demolish the CBD and two suburbs, bleed the EQC dry, blame everything on the earthquake….
There is plenty to criticize in this shameful display of disaster politics and no reason to be quiet about it.
Just read over on Red Alert on the question of unemployment, “They told us there was to be absolutely no discussion of anything to the media. If anyone spoke to the media it could be a code of conduct issue,” an employee told the Taranaki Daily News on condition of anonymity. Penalties for breaching the code of conduct could include being sacked, they said.
Could this be true? Ominous. Reminds me of the news blackout during the wharfies strike in the 50s.
I wish that Owen Glenn would just piss off – nakedly partisan PR bullshit puffery and the dirty money that he is trying to bribe the country with has no place in NZ Politics
where would national be? and labour and the whole lot of them
its the richest who decide elections cos they harp on and on and on re their spin until people believe it and they have the $ to back em up
The elections of old are long gone
this election like the last one esp in nationals case is that clown key is the only thing they have apart from brash hahahahha
this is about image rather than substance or policies
wot an eyesore the rwc is and then election following behind it full of smile and mince
Owen had a couple of things that drove him. He wanted respect, ergo the desire to have a diplomatic passport and be a mover and shaker, and he just wanted to be loved.
In some respects he is a very simple man. Give someone like this a few billion dollars and this is what you get.
yeah pity people like him didnt actually stay in the country and invest those few billion and create a few jobs BUT NO………………………
but nah
frakers like him, seem to think we owe them something cos they’re rich??
C L – On Owen Glenn – Might have been better to give him the consul’s job that he so wanted – get him out of our hair. He might have used up his money at European casinos instead of playing roulette wheel with us.
Capill was released weeks ago. I saw him walking through the underpass between the Beehive and Bowen House. Question is, who in government was he visiting?
On the Stuff news web site yesterday there was an intriguing story headed “NZDF may have covered up abuse allegations- Ferguson.” It was from an interveiw with former head of the NZDF, Bruce Ferguson screened on Media 7 last night. Ferguson had admitted that whistleblowing by Kiwi soldiers about the prisoner abuse in Afghanistan could have been covered up by their superiors on his watch.
In the light of Hagar’s revelations, I made a point of watching the interview. I heard no such admission. In case I missed it, I also watched it online a short time later. Now, one of two things must have happened:
a) my cognitive abilities were not the best at the time (?) or
b) the segment containing that admission was removed before it went on air.
If it was the latter, then it has to be concluded that an instruction was sent to TVNZ (probably from the PM’s Office) to remove the segment from the interview. Surely politicians – or an official on their behalf – are not allowed to interfere with day to day programming like that?
The Stuff item was still online an hour or so ago.
The Stuff story gave the impression it was included in the on air interview.
I had a few dealings with Bruce Ferguson back in the days when he was a RNZAF Squadron Leader. He came across to me as a well rounded, highly intelligent and astute person. I have no qualms in believing him when he says he knew nothing about the mistreatment of the prisoners for example. In fact, he was a very good choice by the Labour Govt. to lead the Defence Forces during that period.
It’s bullshit that the CHch rebuild will give a boost to the building industry. Even if as many as 30,000 houses are to be rebuilt at say 6000 a year ( conservative ) it will still not take the number a houses built in the country to anywhere near the average starts per annum for the last 20 years. We don’t need imported labour from Ireland or anywhere else for that matter. Why was this fuckwit idea floated, because indentured labour is strike proof and can be easily ripped and if you complain about anything you’re on the next plane out of here. Wasn’t the Irish building boom built by Poles and Czechs ?
One of New Zealand’s richest families have denied they are profiting from the elderly in a move which could net them more than $5 million.
A group of pensioners at Perrinpark near Hamilton are fighting the Perry Foundation, a charitable trust and owner of Te Kowhai retirement village, over freeholding of land.
and
If the Perrys collected an average $75,000 for each section, the trust would be $5.4 million richer, she said. “I wonder where they are taking all the money they’re getting from the village?”
An idea. May have been proposed before on The Standard, I don’t know.
Among the various resources we squander in New Zealand is “waste”.
In most cities, shit not only undergoes an expensive treatment process to render it benign but is discarded by pumping the filtered sewage into the sea. (A few places try to recycle: I believe they do or did create biogas for council vehicles at the Chch sewage works.) This is a crazy waste of money and of a valuable resource. People in China, Africa, and other places, would simply shake their heads and wonder why we do all this.
The alternative system would be for each home – where practical – to have a small biogas plant. Essentially a biogas digestor would be similar to the old-school septic tank, but have several side-benefits: producing gas for heating and cooking, and compost for the garden.
In this way, we would (a) save society sewage treatment costs; (b) save households on energy costs; (c) make households more food self-sufficient; (d) avoid the need for industrial gas extraction like “fracking” (banned in the EU, but coming to a NZ town near you, real soon!).
Thanks Ianupnorth. Sounds like an excellent scheme, although it still involves expensive centralised infrastructure. Here are some pull quotes from the link:
“If successful, a full-scale plant in Rotorua could initially remove thousands of tonnes of biosolid waste going to landfill each year, and ultimately achieve cost reduction and value creation of around $4 million per year for the council and community,” says Rotorua District Council chief executive Peter Guerin.
…
The technology has applications beyond sewage biosolids… “The growing waste streams from expanding industries such as pulp and paper, agriculture, dairy, meat and fruit processing represent a tremendous potential resource for New Zealand that can be tapped into by environmental technologies like those developed through the Waste 2 Gold biosolids research programme.
“Also, greenhouse gas emissions and the risk of contaminating leachates arising from organic wastes will be substantially reduced,” says Dr Parker.
It has been noted on this site recently that as you scan Fairfax’s media offerings the widespread use of comments is always more interesting for what articles qualify for the opportunity of public response and which fall short. No prizes this weekend if guessing which topics are muted. There are over a dozen well aligned 9/11 articles on Stuff this weekend but only the riveting Gwenyth Paltrow piece has comments switched on, and that single article has not been updated since Thursday.
Just saying is all
NZ times for Toronto Hearings Day2 (note: schedule was accurate on Day One)
10/09/11 nzt
01:00 – 01:15 Moderators: Overview of the Day’s Testimony
01:15 – 02:30 Jay Kolar: The Alleged 9/11 Hijackers
02:45 – 04:00 Paul Zarembka: Evidence of Insider Trading Before 9/11
04:00 – 04:35 Barbara Honegger:
Eyewitnesses and Evidence of Explosions at the Pentagon
4:35 – 6:10 Richard Gage: Evidence of the Demolition of WTC:
An Overview
06:30 – 07:45 Michel Chossudovsky: Global Consequences of 9/11
07:45 – 08:25 Cynthia McKinney: Attempts to Raise Questions about 9/11
08:45 – 9:30 Audience Question and Answer
Good luck if we’re in the finals 😀 This symbolically is like the practice run just as it was for the ABs tonight, the more serious stuff has yet to come.
It’s a big exciting event so going beyond capacity of public services is too be expected for the latecomers etc, but it’s pretty shitty how they are getting all draconian now and advising people not to join the party in whatever area. I remember being in London and no matter how busy public transport got ‘from people excited about some sporting/whatever thing’ but the public servants never really tried to put the dampners on it in real time like this, we’d simply get neutral reports and updates on the delays to expect using whatever forms of public transport, and let people make decisions for themselves, like adults do.
Is subliminal advertising illegal or legal in New Zealand?
I nearly choked on my tea the other day. The leery face of John Key popped out at me, taking up most of the television screen. He added nothing to the item I was watching and therefore fulfilled the criteria of subliminal advertising. It happened again tonight. A split second.
Everyone is commenting that whenever they turn on the tv all they get is John Key. Is this the new criminal activity that NAct is indulging in without using campaign monies.
John Key may find that this sort of behaviour may achieve the opposite result.
Next year is an election year, and Labour needs money to fund its campaign. So naturally, they're selling access:Labour is charging wealthy business figures $1500-a-head to lunch with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at its annual conference later this month. [...] On the weekend beginning November 29th, around 800 delegates will ...
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Green MP Gareth Hughes has announced he will retire at the election. Its understandable - he's been there ten years, and wants to actually see his children grow up rather than miss it while drowning in the toxic parliamentary sewer. But his departure is also a huge loss for the ...
Words and images by Jacqui GibsonGone are Auckland Museum’s days of doing science using a museum-centric academic approach, after Māori land rights holders Ngāti Kuri gave the museum an ultimatum.Tom Trnski holding a fossilised whale tooth from the Far North.Aussie-born Head of Natural Sciences at Auckland Museum ...
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Some readers may remember that I mentioned last year that I was applying for NZ citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and had my original citizenship interview in February. Everything went well until they discovered that, because I had spent five months in the US in 2017, I had not ...
by Deirdre O’Neill It is becoming quite acceptable for certain sections of the left to declare that people like me – women who are ‘gender critical’ – should not be allowed in leftist or anarchist spaces. Leaving aside the arrogance and implicit authoritarianism of this claim, its lack of critical ...
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. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...
The Committee of Disobedient Women has intercepted an email from Dr Emma Eejut, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Massey University to the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Jan Thomas. Dear Jan, Thank you for your courageous move. I think 10 pages of blether** should tie any of the students game enough to try holding ...
That's the only response to the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation into LGOIMA practices at the Christchurch City Council:My investigation identified serious concerns about the Council’s leadership and culture, and its commitment to openness and transparency. In particular, Council staff raised concerns with me about various methods employed by some ...
NZ First seems to be nakedly trying to enrich itself from public office:A powerful New Zealand First figure helped establish a forestry company that then pushed for money from two key funding streams controlled by a New Zealand First Minister. An RNZ investigation has found Brian Henry, lawyer for Winston ...
Behrouz Boochani is an award winning author and journalist. He is also a refugee, who for the past six years has been detained in Australia's offshore gulag on Manus Island, and in Papua New Guinea. But last night, with the cooperation of the WORD Christchurch festival and Amnesty International, he ...
Different Strokes: If a multicultural immigration policy imposes no obligation on immigrant communities to acknowledge and ultimately embrace their host nation’s most cherished traditions and values, then how is that nation to prevent itself from being reduced to a collection of inward-looking and self-replicating ethnic and cultural enclaves?THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S ...
Protective Zone: Reading the rules and guidelines released by Massey University, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that its governing body considers the whole concept of free speech a disruptive threat to the orderly imparting of orthodox academic knowledge.IN TRUE ORWELLIAN fashion, Massey University has announced its commitment to ...
Farmers held a hate-march on Parliament today, complete with MAGA hats, gun-nut signs, and gendered insults. While supposedly about a grab-bag of issues - including, weirdly, mental health - it was clear that the protest was about one thing, and one thing only: climate change. And specifically, forestry "destroying" rural ...
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security released their annual report today, and I've been busy reading through it. In amongst the usual review of what they've been doing all year, there's a few interesting bits. For example, a discussion on "agency retention and disposal of information", which points out that ...
Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...
by Deirdre O’Neill Under Thatcher and then Blair and continuing up until our contemporary moment, the working class has seen its culture slowly and progressively destroyed. The change from an industrial society to a service society produced a marked shift in focus from the working class as the backbone of ...
Since 2013, the Australian government has detained refugees without trial in Pacific gulags, where they are abused, tortured, and driven to suicide. The policy is not just an abuse of human rights and possible crime against humanity; it has also had a corrosive effect on the states Australia uses as ...
It seems fair to say that we currently live in a problematic political moment in world history. Democracies are in decline and dictatorships are on the rise. Primordial, sectarian and post-modern divisions have re-emerged, are on the rise or have been accentuated by political evolutions of the moment such as ...
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Today is a Member's Day, probably the second-to-last one of the year, and its a big one, with the Third Reading of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. last Member's Day it was reported back from committee, after MPs voted narrowly to make it subject to a (rules TBA) ...
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by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...
by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
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A passing comment in a post the other day about the labour force participation rates of older people prompted me to pull down the fuller data and see what we could see about various participation rates over the decades since the HLFS began in 1986. As it happens, the ...
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by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Last year, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security reported on significant problems with the intelligence warrant system. While they were unwilling to declare any warrant "irregular" (meaning unlawful) due to the recent law change, they were also not willing to give the system a clean bill of health. Now, they've ...
The National Party has come out in support of encouraging greater vaccination uptake. But it sure isn’t the way I’d do it. National’s suggested docking the benefits of those on benefit whose kids aren’t keeping up with their vaccinations. Some in National have suggested extending that to payments under Working ...
Feeding The Flames: It is simply not enough to demand an end to “corruption”, or “inequality”, or the overbearing influence of the authorities in Beijing. These are just “lowest common denominator” demands: the sort of slogans that pull people onto the streets. They are not a plan.WHERE’S THE PLAN? Across ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has risen to 4.2%. There are 115,000 unemployed - 11,000 fewer than when Labour took office. In that time the minimum wage has gone up by $2 an hour, which shows that the right's fears about increases causing unemployment are simply ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has called for submissions on Andrew Little's tyrannicalTerrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill. Normally I encourage participation in the democratic process. I am not doing so in this case. Instead, I encourage all of you to boycott this submissions process, and to post ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIf tiny concentrations of carbon dioxide can hold enough heat ...
Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and within it, one of the fastest sources is elite travel: billionaires flitting around the world in their private jets, spewing excessive pollution into the atmosphere just so they can avoid mixing with us dirty peasants. But in ...
That's what we face if we don't stop climate change, according to a warning from 11,000 scientists:The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists. “We declare clearly and unequivocally ...
by Phil Duncan Here’s just a few of the kind of threats issued day in and day out against gender-critical women – feminists, marxists, etc – overwhelmingly by MEN (albeit men identifying as women). “Kill all Terfs”. “Shoot a Terf today”. “All terfs deserve to be shot in the head”. ...
This is the third of the synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Unlike the humble cup of coffee and t-shirt that we looked at in ...
Tom MooreTraditionally a food source and cutting tool, freshwater mussels/kākahi are now widely valued as water filters that help clean our waterbodies and maintain ecosystem health throughout Aotearoa. The improvement they provide in water quality can make it easier for other animals to live in streams and rivers, as ...
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…Installation complete: this was nothing ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is back in the House today for its second reading. While this isn't the final stage, its still effectively D-Day for the bill. Because today, at around 5pm, is when we're going to find out if it has a majority, whether National will support it or ...
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters met with Korea Racing Authority Chairperson Nak Soon Kim in Seoul today to discuss closer cooperation between the New Zealand and Korean horse racing industries. As part of the visit to the Seoul Racecourse, Mr Peters witnessed ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $10 million to establish Otago as the centre of New Zealand’s creative digital industry over the next ten years, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “The initiative will bring us closer to the vision of ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)’s skills and employment programme will help young Otago people into long-term forestry careers, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Te Ara Mahi will invest $63,000 in the 2020 school year to support eight 17 and 18 ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will support local plans to revitalise and stimulate economic development opportunities in Otago, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The four Regional Economic Development Ministers have approved an in-principle investment of $19.9 million towards the region’s ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is pleased to have received the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) report on the Coalition Government’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication efforts, which shows significant progress in the fight against the disease. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, says the report’s findings ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon David Parker, Minister for Trade and Export Growth The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing to support economic growth opportunities for Otago’s engineering and manufacturing sectors, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Trade and Export Minister David Parker announced today. Almost $20 million ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, discussed in Seoul today opportunities to work more closely in the Pacific and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Mr Peters and Minister Kang confirmed New Zealand and the ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Minister for Māori Development The three marae in the historic Parihaka Pa complex in Taranaki have been upgraded to high speed broadband with the support of the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Connecting the ...
Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins today introduced into Parliament a Bill that will make it easier for the public service to tackle the biggest challenges facing Governments. The Bill represents the most significant change in the public service in 30 years. The State Sector Act 1988 will be repealed ...
The families of more than 416,000 students will be better off next year as their schools have signed up to the Government’s donations scheme, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. The scheme will see almost $62.5 million in additional Government funding go to schools nationwide next year. “I’m really pleased ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced further support as the Government of Samoa responds to a serious measles outbreak. “New Zealand will deploy a further 18 vaccination nurses, bringing the total to 30 working in Samoa over the next four weeks,” Mr Peters said. “A New Zealand Medical Assistance ...
Fa’atalofa atu, malo e lelei, Kia ora koutou katoa Thank you to the Child Poverty Action Group for asking me to be here today to provide an update on some of the things that have been happening across my the social development portfolio. Can I firstly acknowledge the vast ...
***Please check against delivery*** Good morning everyone. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning to open this year’s New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Conference and AGM. Firstly, thank you Dr Alan Jackson, NZTR Chair for your introduction. And let us acknowledge also: The NZTR Board; Dean McKenzie, Chair ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
A marine conservation milestone - the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve - is being celebrated today at a community event in Tairāwhiti/East Coast attended by the Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “The creation of this marine reserve in November 1999 was a game ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
Nelson’s Salisbury School is to be rebuilt, creating a modern and suitable learning environment for students at the residential special school, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The school for girls aged 8-15, in Richmond, was earmarked for closure by National until the process ...
The panel undertaking a comprehensive review of the Resource Management Act has identified the main issues to be addressed and options for reform and is calling for feedback to inform its final report. In July the Government announced the comprehensive review of the resource management system, including the RMA - ...
An important safety valve has been added to New Zealand’s criminal justice system with the third reading of the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill today. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) will investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “We’ve seen how our justice system can very occasionally get things spectacularly wrong, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters welcomes the tabling of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) 2019 Annual Report in Parliament today. He says the 2019 Annual Report marks the point when New Zealand’s racing industry’s decline was arrested and a turnaround started. RITA’s 2019 Annual Report recorded an industry net profit ...
The New Zealand Government is today sending 21 firefighters to help fight the ongoing catastrophic Australian bushfires. “The fires in Australia are in some of the toughest, most challenging conditions ever,” says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “As of yesterday morning, there were 100 active bushfire-related incidents across Queensland and ...
More frontline support for schools through a new education agency, as part of a redesigned Ministry of Education More support for principals and school boards including through a new centre of leadership and local leadership advisor roles New independent disputes panels for parents and students Management of school property ...
The Government’s reform of the Tomorrow’s Schools system is a watershed moment in education and an opportunity to create meaningful change for ākonga Māori and their whānau, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis said today. “Last year through Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation, Māori teachers, parents, ākonga, whānau, hapū and iwi ...
Infrastructure Minister is welcoming the first of many updated project pipelines from the newly established New Zealand Infrastructure Commission today. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, has released an expanded pipeline of major capital projects – another crucial step towards delivering better infrastructure outcomes. “The first iteration of the ...
Tougher gun laws designed to improve public safety through firearms prohibition orders are proposed in a new document released for public input. Police Minister Stuart Nash says firearms prohibition orders (FPOs) would give new powers to Police to ensure high-risk individuals come nowhere near firearms. “We have already prohibited the ...
Andy Coupe has been confirmed as TVNZ’s new Board Chair. “Mr Coupe has strong commercial and capital markets experience and TVNZ has benefited from his technical knowledge of business and finance, as well as his extensive governance experience,” the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi said. Andy ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today officially opened a separated pathway, following the completion of the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge, which will improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians along Hutt Road. The $6.8m Hutt Road project provides a separated path for cycling and pedestrians, the replacement of informal parking ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of career diplomat Si’alei van Toor as New Zealand’s next Ambassador to Russia. “I’m pleased to appoint Ms van Toor to this position. She brings a wealth of experience to the role having previously served as Senior Trade Adviser to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janet Stanley, Associate professor/Principal Research Fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne It’s hard to comprehend why someone would deliberately light a bushfire. Yet this behaviour regularly occurs in Australia and other countries. We would go a long way to preventing ...
There are 540,000 dwellings in Auckland and 580,000 households. The result is misery no matter how you try to square things through tenancy regulation. ...
The PM says she's set a very clear expectation that the clearing of firing ranges in Afghanistan will be sped up, but says it's not possible to conclude NZ is responsible for civilian deaths. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Former prime minister Paul Keating has launched a scathing attack on the Australian media for its coverage of China, denouncing “the nominally pious belchings of ‘do-gooder’ journalists” who live on leaks from security agencies. Keating ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University A parasite is an organism that lives in or on an organism of another species. Three main classes of parasites can cause disease in humans: protozoa, helminths, and ectoparasites. Protozoa and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Lilburn, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Melbourne You’re driving down an unfamiliar street on a clear spring evening. You’ve been invited to a friend of a friend’s party, at a house you’ve never been to before. Tracking the street numbers, you ...
Crimestoppers New Zealand launched its updated website www.crimestoppers-nz.org today. As well as catering for traditional anonymous reports the site now supports mobile users and allows files and images to be attached. The changes support people of all ...
Prince Andrew has spoken for the first time in public about his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. What did he say to create such a media storm, and how did he get into this mess in the first place? First thing’s first: who is Prince Andrew? Prince Andrew, Duke ...
Sam Brooks interviews the three guest curators of the New Zealand Festival of Arts: Bret McKenzie, Laurie Anderson and Lemi Ponifasio.An Oscar-winning Conchord, the world’s most beloved multimedia artist, and a world-renowned director and choreographer with an attitude. Three weeks, three unique visions of what a festival can and should ...
Plans are being put in place to increase methyl bromide monitoring following a theoretical modelling report about how the log fumigant disperses into the environment after use. ...
It’s the most beautiful time of the year! Comedian Sera Devcich joins Emily Writes to share the joy and investigate the top 10 toys your ungrateful kids will want this Christmas.It’s November which means it’s officially time for your kids to start bugging you day in and day out about ...
Proposed changes to tenancy rights are trickle down, not transformational, change says the Manawatu Tenants’ Union (MTU). There are however improvements for renters, and these efforts must be commended according to the MTU. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Stokes, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Deakin University “To be dead,” wrote the 20th century French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, “is to be a prey for the living.” Even Sartre, though, would have struggled to imagine casting James Dean in a movie 64 ...
The Good Citizen podcast focuses on the way good design – and good people – can change cities for the better. In this episode, Jeremy Hansen talks to architect Richard Goldie about his bold idea for a partially submerged stadium on Auckland’s waterfront, a project that’s now a finalist in ...
Former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC has published two books with Andrew Butler calling for a written, codified constitution that sets out ‘in an accessible form and a single document the fundamental rules and principles under which New Zealand is to be governed’. A road trip and consultation attracted ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Housing Luke Malpass and Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government hikes claims thresholds for bad landlords, increases ...
People with intellectual disabilities and their families are struggling to access support more than ever before, as the disability sector faces a now $574 million annual funding shortfall, says IHC. ...
The Labour-led coalition may have to generate a second wave of Jacindamania if it is to win another term in the Beehive. Re-election is not an impossible dream, despite the failure of Labour to deliver what many of those who voted for it in 2017 expected. Retiring Green MP Gareth Hughes ...
A corporate undertaker talks top tips for making sure you get paid, reining in rogue liquidators, and having a heart for those who’ve lost money.PwC’s John Fisk has handled high profile company failures from Pike River to Lombard Finance and the Ross Asset Management Ponzi scheme. He also chairs the ...
Armed police represent a serious cause for concern, especially for the most vulnerable, writes the chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation.The Mental Health Foundation has publicly condemned the police trial of special armed response teams patrolling three districts around New Zealand. We’re extremely worried these trials will result in ...
International crime rings are increasingly targeting New Zealanders’ bank accounts to launder proceeds from scams and fraud. Bronwyn Groot, Fraud Education Manager at the Commission for Financial Capability (CFFC) is highlighting the rising incidence ...
A just-released report shows that the food industry wants to stay in a business-as-usual mode with a few minor tweaks around the edges. In response, the New Zealand Government appeared comfortable with that approach, and provided no Government plans for comprehensive ...
New Zealand consumers will be left in the dark about foods grown in Australia that have been created using gene editing techniques. On the 13 November the Australian Senator Rice put up a motion to disallow, or overturn, the recently passed Gene Technology ...
As Aotearoa plans for festive season celebrations, The Salvation Army is preparing to make its house a home to hundreds of men, women and children who have nowhere else to stay. ...
Landlords say they feel under siege with the government planning to make it tougher for them to boot out troublesome tenants; and skilled immigrants waiting for a residents visa say its unfair officials are fast tracking applications for those on salaries over $105,000. ...
Standing with the farmers, New Conservative is committed to pushing back against the lunacy of the ETS and Carbon Zero commitments by this government. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tomas Trescak, Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Systems, Western Sydney University Just a few years ago, virtual reality (VR) was being showered with very real money. The industry raised an estimated US$900 million in venture capital in 2016, but by 2018 that figure ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rowena Maguire, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology Over the past two weeks, bushfires have raged across New South Wales and Queensland. While the narrative appears focused on potential causes and political point-scoring, what’s lost ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Davis, Chair of Women’s Health, Monash University At menopause, a woman’s ovaries lose their reproductive function. Eggs are no longer released and the production of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone falls. It’s the lowered levels of oestrogen after menopause that gives ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Bolleter, Deputy Director, Australian Urban Design Research Centre, University of Western Australia Around the world, the vast majority of people are flocking to cities not to dwell in their centres but to live in the new suburbs expanding their outer limits. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Natalya Saldanha, Academic, RMIT University Like any eight-year-old, Ryan Kaji loves to play with toys. But when Ryan plays, millions watch. Since the age of four he’s been the star of his own YouTube channel. All up his videos have gained ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kieran Wong, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Indigenous voices are finally being acknowledged as important voices in Australian galleries and museums. Since 2014, I have worked as an advisor to Western Australia’s New Museum, a A$450 million project and one of ...
Retiring Green MP Gareth Hughes says the pace of change in the current Government is not fast enough for his liking but that is not the reason he is quitting politics. ...
The Superdiversity Institute for Law, Policy and Business is releasing its latest report today on Culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse parties in the Courts: A Chinese case study . The Report’s author, Mai Chen, Chair of the Superdiversity ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Doubts emerge about Auckland port move, NZDF leaves death-causing material behind in Afghanistan, and laws around renting to be shaken up.Over the last week, the ramifications of moving most of the operations of Auckland’s port north to Whangarei have been ...
An ambitious new partnership between Sky Sports and more than 50 sports promises more free sport for Kiwis. Suzanne McFadden looks at how it will change the way we see female athletes ...
Catriona MacLennan helped conduct a survey of the top NZ companies to establish the ethnicity of their directors. The results were not surprising, but also far from encouraging. ...
Episode 1 in a series on the trials of injured animals as they’re rescued, rehabilitated and released back into the wild follows the rescue of a yellow-eyed penguin. ...
New Zealand Defence Force's failed to clean up properly after itself in Afghanistan - with the result that seven children have been killed and another 10 civilians injured. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Chinese embassy has lashed out at two Liberal members of parliament, Andrew Hastie and James Paterson, saying they would need to “repent and redress their mistakes” before they would be welcome in China. The ...
Tim Costley National’s new candidate in Otaki Local party members have selected Tim Costley as National’s candidate in Ōtaki for the 2020 General Election. Mr Costley is replacing retiring MP Nathan Guy, who is standing down after five terms. ...
“Compelling research out of the UK reaffirms vaping’s life-saving role. Here’s hoping our Government’s pending legislation reflects vaping’s increasingly documented health benefits for smokers,” say Ben Pryor, co-owner of the largest Kiwi-owned ...
Government has announced a raft of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act. The Minister has said he does not want to be seen to unduly punishing landlords. These changes do more than punish landlords however. They will punish anyone living next ...
Democracy under Fire on Firearms Law Reform - COLFO SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2019 The Government supposedly wants to “hear from all New Zealanders” about firearms law reform – unless you happen to be a licenced firearms owner. ...
From Monday 18 November New Zealand women are working for free until the end of the year because of the gender pay imbalance between men and women. ...
Award-winning investigative team Stuff Circuit is releasing its most hard-hitting documentary yet, exposing a secret the NZ Defence Force doesn’t want Kiwis to know. ...
The government has announced a suite of practical changes to the Residential Tenancies Act in its bid to make renting fairer and more secure. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happening?A number of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) has just been announced by associate minister of housing Kris ...
US Trumpian Inspired Rhetoric From Anti-Trans Group Not a Good Fit with Nz Society Trans-rights support groups around the country have been dismayed by recent divisive and repellent comments by Stand Up For Women (SUFW), a group calling itself feminist ...
Sam Brooks reviews the third season of The Crown, a show that can’t decide whether it wants to humanise the monarchy or tear it all down.This review contains very mild spoilers for world history, 1964-1977.Three seasons in, there’s no doubt that The Crown is the, well, crown jewel in Netflix’s ...
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http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thetorontohearings
Todays remaining sessions at the Toronto Hearings in NZ time
05:00-06:30 David Ray Griffin: Inadequacies of the 9/11 Commission’s Report
06:30-08:30 Kevin Ryan: Inadequacies of the Reports by the National
Institute of Standards and Technology
08:15-09:00 Audience Question and Answer
Cheers, You beat me to it!!! LOL
For those of you wanting to hear earlier testimonies they are posted on the same page.
Are you recording? I missed the first hours and would love to see them. I’ll send you my Skype contact!
they have all earlier sessions recorded and available on the page, youtube is happening as we speak,
i am downloading as i go and recording on audiotape
Ferdinando Imposimato calling for an International Tribunal to investigate 9/11 was astounding
The Italian judge?
yeah, He is quietly sitting there with his translator, whom he hardly uses, busy explaining the framework required to build a case to take a lot of very powerful people to International Court, and then continues to lay out the best way to make it happen.
It was an incredible first day. The quality of the speakers is well balanced with the considered time they each get to present. The long Q&A sessions from the panel and the audience, including on line contributions, are already showing their worth.
Day two starts 1am tomorrow nzt
“The Italian judge?”
Yes and the honest one know-doubt!
Kevin Ryan discussing NIST report ‘innaccuracies’ till 8:30am NZT
Standard, please get the Weekend column up earlier, we want to discuss gardening and such like with my RWNJ annd LWNJ horticultural mates. Plus the rugger head stuff.
LOL,That sounds soo cute!
I want to ask that someone who has a lead into what sounds like an awesome firework display for tonight in Auckland to post it, in the Weekend fun column.
I will be playing on my cycle in the countryside from this evening and have no desire to participate in watching a minority sport developed at a public (toff’s) school, by people who couldn’t play proper football, played by colonial nations and appealing to farmers and red necks.
There, got that off my chest!
🙂
I shall be doing my level best to avoid it, but man it’s difficult! Some person has decided that Mt Albert (where I have the misfortune to live) has “adopted” the USA as “our team” and the suburb is festooned with the flag I least like to see… There are a million questions – not least, who decided that “we” care?
Our good friend Ianupnorth clambered up high on his high horse, looked down on the plebs (he sneeringly dismisses them as “red necks”) and disdainfully opined that rugby football is “played by colonial nations and appealing to farmers and red necks.”
It’s really just too silly and pathetic to merit much comment, but one thing in Ian’s Olympian dismissal of the game demands clarification: in what way is France a colonial nation?
I am interested in the treatment of “Taugate” by the left and the right.
On the left a few comments, no posts in any of the major left blogs that I know of and a couple of tweets.
On the right an attack by the slithery one on the complainant backed up by one of those echo posts by Farrar, you know the ones where Slater does the disgusting stuff and Farrar “only” reports that Slater has reported it.
Is this that different to the speeding cop car that Helen was not actually driving but which provided RWNJs with years of abuse and conspiracy theories on here?
Does the left actually weigh up the seriousness of an incident before commenting whereas the right just relish the opportunity to attack?
You must ne kidding.
There’s been a mixture of attacks and support for Henare on KB.
And if you think “the left actually weigh up the seriousness of an incident before commenting” then you mustn’t actually read anything in posts or comments here, or you must suffer from severe blinkeritis..
In my own narrow experience here I’ve been attacked by numerous people sometimes based only on the presumption I must be bad because I’ve been active on “bad” blogs, or as someone admitted recently, based on attacks on me they’ve seen by people like you.
Did you weigh up anything before accusing me of working for CT or the Beehive?
“Did you weigh up anything before accusing me of working for CT or the Beehive?”
I personally find these sorts of allegations, no matter who they’re levelled at, pretty pathetic.
It’s like the worst thing in the world a primary school kid can come up with: “I’m going to tell my mum on you!”.
Did you weigh up anything before accusing me of working for CT or the Beehive?
Have I ever done that? I thought from the start you were a fan of the coiffured one rather than a CT clone. The attacks on you are a response to the quality of your comments more than anything else.
You frequently throw the CT squeak here MS. Eg:
Ehm in one of them I accused Herodotus of having the CT songbook out. I accused you of linkwhoring, not understanding the country’s financial state, taking the piss, trolling, being a waste of bandwidth, walking around with your wyes deliberately closed, and always insisting on having the last word.
In the other one I asked if you had “[b]een going to “how to muck up a thread” lessons with CT?” because you show an unusual ability to do so.
Which, BTW, you are doing right now.
herm… /?s=mickysavage+CT&isopen=none&search_posts=true&search_comments=true&search_sortby=date
Case closed.
Not really. Your search is quite inefficient use – @author. It shows Mickey using it occasionally with long intervals between. Your search in it’s first page went back to mid 2010. If you looked at the squirrel in his several identities and ran queries on moderate or balance or centre you’d find he was eternally repetitive on those in the short time he has been here.
but I also looked for myself using an occasional phrase of jerk…
/?s=Centre+%40Author%22Pete+George%22&isopen=none&search_posts=true&search_comments=true&search_sortby=date
And that is back to mid 2010 on about half the total number of comments..
Basically you can get largish numbers of the same phrase for anyone who leaves large numbers of comments. If you left more then I could analyze your phrases as well. I suppose I could look at the IPs….
Essentially you’re just being a bit of irritating dickhead – roughly the intelligence level of the drunken ugly rugby louts staggering somewhere outside my house. Noisy, loud and stupid…
Snippet in Business news on RNZ this morning about building consents at their lowest since World War 2. This is doing a time of major housing crisis and a year after of major earthquakes. Of course not picked up as a story to investigate (let alone asking the minister for some accountability).
I must of missed it in between all the news about RWC. This is going to drive me to distraction …
+1
A month of BBC and Al J me thinks. NZ media now inhabits a parralell universe where nothing but a bunch of gladiators running round a paddock after a ball exists.
Ahhhhhhh!!!!
Yep, noticed that. In fact a closer inspection would reveal that there is less building going on than any time since the 1970s. Down 24% on last year – that is a colossal drop.
That is really something major. It tells a big story about what the people of NZ are doing at the moment.
It is also worth noting another example in tourism. On the west coast this year numbers are down well below 50% of last years. And last years were dismally down on the previous too.
It is like we have run off a cliff like a road runner cartoon and are currently suspended in mid-air in realisation of the drop about to occur …..
Never fear. A Mighty Minister Of Tourism is here!
National are not a business party with the interests of NZ business at heart.
They are second hand salesman, they talk up and then sell cheap.
They reflect the NZ economy and culture. If you can do it now for
next to nothing then best get it done because there’s no come back,
and everyone is doing it so where would they start with anyway.
If you want a world class economy we need a world class parliament.
Limiting our nation to 100 MPs and no upper chamber, is the bottle
neck. If you want better policy you need to pay for more people to
produce better policy.
Addressing the Imbalance
A month ago there was a little bit of media coverage concerning the wage difference between males and females in New Zealand. The impetus for that reporting was to highlight the defunct thought process of Alasdair Thompson who was dismissed from the EMA for his sexist remarks. Although slowly declining, wage inequality is still a problem that disproportionately attributes wealth based on a male dominated hierarchical system…
It may pay for Goff to refrain from commenting on what should be happenning in Christchurch until such time as he and Labour have worked out what they think should be happenning in Christchurch.
Labour has completely failed in not coming up with a Christchurch policy. Speaking about it merely highlights that lack of policy. Is this not simple politics?
I think they’re in a position where they don’t want to make any promises, especially anything that National could rake them over the coals with (which they surely would).
Afraid to mention policies?
If they had confidence in their policies they would put them out there.
Pete, it’s pretty obvious that Labour will win this election on policies, not personality. So the timing of policy releases is pretty important and I would say there is very little point releasing anything till the thugby finishes, because it’ll be swamped by the RWC coverage. In short, expect a short, sharp campaign from Labour starting immediately after the final, with actual policies and plans for the future.
And, anyway, isn’t a policy free zone like United Future a strange place to be complaining from? The last 4 elections, UF’s only go has been to grovel for a job from whoever is best placed to form a Government.
Pete, it’s pretty obvious that Labour will win this election on policies, not personality.
Labour stalwarts seem to be convinced of that, but few give them a show.
UnitedFuture have openly published a wide range of policies so people have a chance to check them out in plenty of time rather than trying a risky last minute last hope onslaught.
VoR, you won’t look because you’e just trying to spread lies, but there’s plenty here: http://www.unitedfuture.org.nz/our-policies/
Gee, sorry if I wasn’t clear, Pete. Despite being in various parties and Governments for what feels like forever, Dunne has failed to implement anything other than his vision of himself sitting in the back seat of a ministerial limo. Is that better?
You are dead right that UF have a website with ‘policy’ on it. So did that party you were a member of a month ago, as I recall. It’s the ability to translate that policy into action that counts and Dunne has failed miserably to achieve anything other than personal enrichment and regular hair, scalp and ego massaging.
Also, UF “policy” seemed to me to be more a collection of banal platitudes that could bend any way in any weather.
Hardly a declaration of goals.
Also on the United Future website is the Successes section. The only “success” (sic) listed over the last three years appears to be signing a confidence and supply agreement with National. Whoopee!
And which one has he even pushed in the years of sucking on the public teat??? Oh yes the so called Kronic law. What else??? big hair day?
So, TVOR, if Labour lose the election, it will be because the Nats personality won, not a rejection of Labours policies? And as soon as the public stops falling for ther JK smile and wave act all will be right (well, left) because the current polling has absolutly nothing to do with Labours policies and all with JK!?!?!?!?
Know where you’re coming from Sweetd, but it would be fair to say that Labour cannot win a personality contest, so it has to be superior policies that get them over the line. And I don’t think the public has rejected Labour’s previous policies, anyway. National simply adopted them and put up a fresh face to spruik for them.
This time around though, there will be a more substantial difference between the left and right and I hope that the debate will be about which direction NZ goes in, not who’d be more fun at a BBQ.
Agreed, its MMP applied; that is the main parties fight for the middle ground, and whoever holds the middle ground becomes govt, therefore the main parties end up looking very similar in terms of policies.
So which way is Dunne the wig gonna jump this election Pete?
Pete Dunno, kris.
So just what are the National / ACT policies, Pete George?
Further up there is talk about building consents being at a record low – is that consistent with getting Christchurch going again? Or have all the builders left to help out Queensland after their floods?
What is National / ACT doing about the building sector?
You could ask someone from National and ACt, or look at their websites, they both have some policies last time I looked.
If i was a super rich saffa who wanted to win the rubber wool cup. I’d pay a dodgy Tongan hit man to hobble Carter and McCaw…
…wouldn’t put it past those dodgy muthafuckas. Tongans and Saffas 🙂
yep, in fact if we get through this tournament without at least one controversial cheating incident then I will eat my chocolate hat.
saffa’s for sure. think ’76 referees in their pockets. think food poisoning in ’95.
there aint no rules.
I think I might jump in and mention that the South African Rugby Board offered to have neutral referees in the 1976 series but the NZ Rugby Union declined. Apparently ‘Pole’ Whiting retired on the spot when he was told that.
Chroist Porly, stop givin them oidears…finis and klaar.
Anything has to be an improvement on the Nats policy- demolish the CBD and two suburbs, bleed the EQC dry, blame everything on the earthquake….
There is plenty to criticize in this shameful display of disaster politics and no reason to be quiet about it.
Just read over on Red Alert on the question of unemployment, “They told us there was to be absolutely no discussion of anything to the media. If anyone spoke to the media it could be a code of conduct issue,” an employee told the Taranaki Daily News on condition of anonymity. Penalties for breaching the code of conduct could include being sacked, they said.
Could this be true? Ominous. Reminds me of the news blackout during the wharfies strike in the 50s.
I wish that Owen Glenn would just piss off – nakedly partisan PR bullshit puffery and the dirty money that he is trying to bribe the country with has no place in NZ Politics
+1
but then political parties be broke as us lol
where would national be? and labour and the whole lot of them
its the richest who decide elections cos they harp on and on and on re their spin until people believe it and they have the $ to back em up
The elections of old are long gone
this election like the last one esp in nationals case is that clown key is the only thing they have apart from brash hahahahha
this is about image rather than substance or policies
wot an eyesore the rwc is and then election following behind it full of smile and mince
pass
Owen had a couple of things that drove him. He wanted respect, ergo the desire to have a diplomatic passport and be a mover and shaker, and he just wanted to be loved.
In some respects he is a very simple man. Give someone like this a few billion dollars and this is what you get.
yeah pity people like him didnt actually stay in the country and invest those few billion and create a few jobs BUT NO………………………
but nah
frakers like him, seem to think we owe them something cos they’re rich??
C L – On Owen Glenn – Might have been better to give him the consul’s job that he so wanted – get him out of our hair. He might have used up his money at European casinos instead of playing roulette wheel with us.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5592034/Graham-Capill-out-on-parole
Capill was released weeks ago. I saw him walking through the underpass between the Beehive and Bowen House. Question is, who in government was he visiting?
that **ucking ahole should not have been released
i do not like kid **ukers and society has no place for em
Surly he doesnt expect to have any Government job?
New rugby world cup mascot ?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/5593291/Seemingly-drunk-moose-found-stuck-in-tree
Tuis are known to get drunk on fermenting fruit. Saw a photo once of four tuis hanging in a row upside down on the branch of a tree.
Oh glorious! That really made me smile… 😀
“Johansson said the moose appeared to be sick, drunk or half-stupid.”
I wonder if the moose is available to stand in for John Key in question time?
Lol
Apparently not as he’s recently been seconded to the labour campaign strategy team.
On the Stuff news web site yesterday there was an intriguing story headed “NZDF may have covered up abuse allegations- Ferguson.” It was from an interveiw with former head of the NZDF, Bruce Ferguson screened on Media 7 last night. Ferguson had admitted that whistleblowing by Kiwi soldiers about the prisoner abuse in Afghanistan could have been covered up by their superiors on his watch.
In the light of Hagar’s revelations, I made a point of watching the interview. I heard no such admission. In case I missed it, I also watched it online a short time later. Now, one of two things must have happened:
a) my cognitive abilities were not the best at the time (?) or
b) the segment containing that admission was removed before it went on air.
If it was the latter, then it has to be concluded that an instruction was sent to TVNZ (probably from the PM’s Office) to remove the segment from the interview. Surely politicians – or an official on their behalf – are not allowed to interfere with day to day programming like that?
The Stuff item was still online an hour or so ago.
sorry, should have included link
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5590432/NZDF-may-have-covered-up-abuse-allegations-Ferguson
Anne, the comments were made in an after show discussion, thankfully recorded though. Details here:
http://publicaddress.net/hardnews/towards-the-truth/
Aha… thanks for that Pb. Gripping stuff!
The Stuff story gave the impression it was included in the on air interview.
I had a few dealings with Bruce Ferguson back in the days when he was a RNZAF Squadron Leader. He came across to me as a well rounded, highly intelligent and astute person. I have no qualms in believing him when he says he knew nothing about the mistreatment of the prisoners for example. In fact, he was a very good choice by the Labour Govt. to lead the Defence Forces during that period.
It’s bullshit that the CHch rebuild will give a boost to the building industry. Even if as many as 30,000 houses are to be rebuilt at say 6000 a year ( conservative ) it will still not take the number a houses built in the country to anywhere near the average starts per annum for the last 20 years. We don’t need imported labour from Ireland or anywhere else for that matter. Why was this fuckwit idea floated, because indentured labour is strike proof and can be easily ripped and if you complain about anything you’re on the next plane out of here. Wasn’t the Irish building boom built by Poles and Czechs ?
More rich listers ripping off the less fortunate
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10750402
and
35,000 are out on strike and marching in Sydney, due to NSW State Public Service cuts:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/this-is-just-the-start-strikers-warn-ofarrell-20110908-1jzz1.html
An idea. May have been proposed before on The Standard, I don’t know.
Among the various resources we squander in New Zealand is “waste”.
In most cities, shit not only undergoes an expensive treatment process to render it benign but is discarded by pumping the filtered sewage into the sea. (A few places try to recycle: I believe they do or did create biogas for council vehicles at the Chch sewage works.) This is a crazy waste of money and of a valuable resource. People in China, Africa, and other places, would simply shake their heads and wonder why we do all this.
The alternative system would be for each home – where practical – to have a small biogas plant. Essentially a biogas digestor would be similar to the old-school septic tank, but have several side-benefits: producing gas for heating and cooking, and compost for the garden.
In this way, we would (a) save society sewage treatment costs; (b) save households on energy costs; (c) make households more food self-sufficient; (d) avoid the need for industrial gas extraction like “fracking” (banned in the EU, but coming to a NZ town near you, real soon!).
There is work being done on this in Rotorua; they already make compost form poo and they are looking at some form of oil (http://www.rdc.govt.nz/YourCouncil/LatestNews/Innovative-technology-piloted-at-Rotorua.aspx)
Thanks Ianupnorth. Sounds like an excellent scheme, although it still involves expensive centralised infrastructure. Here are some pull quotes from the link:
So, you lose 44% of the companies value and get the biggest pay cheque ever ($5.2 million per annum, or $100K per week) because you have met short term and long term objectives? Go figure
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10750548
Can I get a job like that?
It has been noted on this site recently that as you scan Fairfax’s media offerings the widespread use of comments is always more interesting for what articles qualify for the opportunity of public response and which fall short. No prizes this weekend if guessing which topics are muted. There are over a dozen well aligned 9/11 articles on Stuff this weekend but only the riveting Gwenyth Paltrow piece has comments switched on, and that single article has not been updated since Thursday.
Just saying is all
torontohearings.org
live stream Day Two/ videos of Day One here
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thetorontohearings
NZ times for Toronto Hearings Day2 (note: schedule was accurate on Day One)
10/09/11 nzt
01:00 – 01:15 Moderators: Overview of the Day’s Testimony
01:15 – 02:30 Jay Kolar: The Alleged 9/11 Hijackers
02:45 – 04:00 Paul Zarembka: Evidence of Insider Trading Before 9/11
04:00 – 04:35 Barbara Honegger:
Eyewitnesses and Evidence of Explosions at the Pentagon
4:35 – 6:10 Richard Gage: Evidence of the Demolition of WTC:
An Overview
06:30 – 07:45 Michel Chossudovsky: Global Consequences of 9/11
07:45 – 08:25 Cynthia McKinney: Attempts to Raise Questions about 9/11
08:45 – 9:30 Audience Question and Answer
Then there’s this
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10750653
Good on her for being brave enough to stick up for herself against a dodgy employer.
And thanks to Helen Clark for jacking up the world cup.
Onya mate.
Auckland’s large scale event management plans fail:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/fan-central/5598538/Police-tell-rugby-fans-to-stay-out-of-CBD
Good luck if we’re in the finals 😀 This symbolically is like the practice run just as it was for the ABs tonight, the more serious stuff has yet to come.
It’s a big exciting event so going beyond capacity of public services is too be expected for the latecomers etc, but it’s pretty shitty how they are getting all draconian now and advising people not to join the party in whatever area. I remember being in London and no matter how busy public transport got ‘from people excited about some sporting/whatever thing’ but the public servants never really tried to put the dampners on it in real time like this, we’d simply get neutral reports and updates on the delays to expect using whatever forms of public transport, and let people make decisions for themselves, like adults do.
Is subliminal advertising illegal or legal in New Zealand?
I nearly choked on my tea the other day. The leery face of John Key popped out at me, taking up most of the television screen. He added nothing to the item I was watching and therefore fulfilled the criteria of subliminal advertising. It happened again tonight. A split second.
Everyone is commenting that whenever they turn on the tv all they get is John Key. Is this the new criminal activity that NAct is indulging in without using campaign monies.
John Key may find that this sort of behaviour may achieve the opposite result.