Get ready for an almighty surge of patriotism.
We are likely to win the America’s Cup.
It’s the grand alliance of media, corporates and government on an even more intense scale than Rugby World Cup.
This, together with the Convention Centre build starting late 2014, has a good chance of tilting the Auckland electorates harder towards National. Key will surf this.
The left needs to start debating how to counter this.
Aren’t Labour in favour of increasing R&D in order to stimulate NZ businesses? Squealing about the cost now; when the investment looks like paying off, seems to be inadvisable. It’s a better spend than the smelter deal – that’s for sure.
If Team NZ does win the cup then that’ll mean a need to prepare for the challenge in a few years time. The left needs to develop a plan for improving the transport infrastructure in Auckland to cope with that (remember the RWC chaos). Labour may be busy with the Leadership contest at the moment, but this should be a priority for the winner.
I’m not disputing that $1b figure Populexicle – but since you’ve put it forward, could you give details as to where, when and how that $1b is arrived at?
I fully support it as well. It may well support billionaires, but it also supports highly skilled tradies who could easily otherwise have become bog standard chippies and panelbeaters earning $30 an hour rather than $80.
But can Labour look straight into a tv camera and find a way of praising the America’s Cup in a manner strikingly different to National?
The new Labour leader has until Monday morning to find out.
but it also supports highly skilled tradies who could easily otherwise have become bog standard chippies and panelbeaters earning $30 an hour rather than $80.
Whatever makes you think that chippies and panlebeaters aren’t highly skilled?
Im no Mallard fan, but this $40m falls into economic development rather than expenditure on elite sport and I suspect if Labour had not put the money in from the start, then Team NZ wouldn’t have got off the ground.
On balance this is money well spent, yes the rich pricks get to party but Im sure that this will be a good investment for our boat building industry, which is a good employer and seems to be one of our few strengths. I havent seen any analysis but my guess: Money well spent on growing kiwi jobs.
i can’t see either figuring much come November 2014, concrete block edifices such as the convention center are hardly going to figure in the minds of the wider Auckland electorate, house affordability and availability will be more to the fore and if the audience for ‘the vote’ was an indicative cross section of voters the other night then i would suggest that National are in big big trouble on that issue,
Wrong year for the boat race too i would suggest, the hoopla will have died down from the win by November next year and it will be back to sleep until the next one which might give whoever is the Government at 2017 some brownie point from the feel good factor,
Lolz, the ‘Cup’ has even got me succumbing to turning on the tv at 8 in the morning, it looks like the Yanks have spent 200 million on a lemon and the crew aren’t quite up to it either,
New Zealand has the faster boat in the bigger air and the better crew in the lighter stuff when it comes down to a ‘tacking duel’, plus 1 for kiwi-engineering…
Unfortunately the media don’t give a flying fig about the huddled masses of the wider Auckland electorate.
The media care about their sponsors, and about turning everything, including politics, into a competitive sport. We can weep about that, or figure it out.
The narrow question is how to penetrate the mdeia cycle when now so much of airtime especially newstime will be given over to corporate-sport concerns.
There are wider policy and policy-retail questions to answer, but that’s the big one coming up.
Doesn’t matter if you think it’s the wrong year for anything; it’s happening.
The left have the policies, what they’ve needed is a leader that is capable of communicating them with conviction. Norman, Turei, and Harawira have stepped up to fill the vacuum left by Shearer in the last 20 months. After this weekend, I hope that Labour will be back in the contest with Cunliffe at the helm as leader of the opposition.
So against his ministers advice John Key just picked up the phone and promised Sandeep Biswas the CEO of Pacific smelter ltd $30 million of taxpayers money? No wonder the queen, who after all is the major shareholder of Rio Tinto which owns the smelter, invites John Key to Balmoral. He’s been a very good boy!
It seems the centre-left across the Anglosphere is moving away from third way politics and back to the politics of redistribution, and for similar reasons.
Oh and I support funding the America’s cup for three reasons:
1/ The feel good factor. What price on feeling pleased with ourselves?
2/ A new narrative of a New Zealand that is a first world with high technology industries that create high paying jobs instead of being a bunch of inoffensive and cuddly hobbits in a bucolic shire here to serve our visitors in low paying service sector jobs is well over due.
3/ If the government contribution is of the order of $40-50 millions then the economic return will exceed that easily.
lol @ “inoffensive and cuddly hobbits in a bucolic shire here to serve our visitors in low paying service sector jobs” although it seems reasonably accurate
don’t forget our 100% pure environment and crime free, peaceful non racist society
Jordan Williams was campaign manager for (Jim Mora’s good friend) Stephen Franks when the latter was National Party candidate for Wellington Central in the 2008 general election. That was the first time Grant Robertson stood for Labour in that seat. Their paths would have crossed a few times since in this city, and I expect Jordan has a grudging respect for him.
Grant Robertson’s point of imposing rent controls in Christchurch was a bit of an eye opener for many showing that when faced with the evidence of the rack-renting of the wrecks down there He most certainly would intervene in the market,
With the abysmal Brownlee and the equally abysmal National in control of Christchurch at the moment the name of the game is ‘Opportunity’,
Christchurch should have been declared a special economic zone with a Commission put in place to ensure that all business activity was conducted within the bounds of fair market prices,
The State with all the resources it has, should have by now had a factory built in Christchurch capable of prefabricating multiple houses weekly, National of course will rebuild the State housing estate from within the confines of Rolleston Prison, all good for teaching prisoners some skills, but, creating a huge shortage of affordable rentals in Christchurch for the foreseeable future…
Oh I know! I was told one year ago that I needed a filling, pronto, but other living expenses have gone on the credit card. What started out as a minimum $250 quote is now probably a whole lot more.
One thing to add to the incredibly long wish list of health policy in NZ is universal dental care. But I digress………….Got to get Key booted out and Labour under Cunliffe in first up. Socialised dental care would be at the bottom of the “TO DO” list. A project for another time perhaps.
Nice idea Phillip. I agree it may be do-able but I also wonder about the expectations placed upon a new government given the mess we find ourselves in. Mind you, if the goal of a new govt is for the citizens right to a healthy happy life, maybe it wouldn’t be a low priority. I have a vague memory of Jim Anderton saying we need universal dental care in NZ. I could likely be wrong. It was ages ago if he did say it.
Maybe dentistry services could be part of a review of all health services, investigating what areas need attention and resources. I would add to the wish list suicide prevention, elder care and housing, increased funding for medical research, returning free accessible health services to all especially those who live in smaller towns and rural areas who have lost their services in recent years.I’d also add a free counselling service for people of all ages. Introducing free counselling, as well as helping to restore peace of mind may prevent further stress related illness such as heart problems, digestive problems, anxiety and depression to name a few, therefore reducing the need for more expensive and invasive treatment at a later date. There’s so much to do to expand the services within our public health sector, just IMO.
Big ups to the amazing health professionals who do do an amazing job of looking after us with diminishing resources.
Jim Anderton campaigned actively on this for several elections and it has been Labour policy in the past. Not sure about the last election though. It would make a big difference to the dental health of many adults who currently can’t afford dental care.
Bad dental condition seems to be implicated in bad health for the individual overall. I don’t know the sources to refer to but I have heard or read this in a source that I considered reliable.
I don’t have a link to the essence of your statement either Greywarbler but I have seen the topic discussed on a doco and have heard it directly from my dentist. A chronic infection in the tooth or jaw bone can suppress the immune system as well as create problems for the heart. I had a chronic infection in my jaw for a couple of years, knew something was wrong but couldn’t afford to attend to it. During that time I was diagnosed with glandular fever. The dentist said that it was most likely that my slow recovery was due to the untreated infected jaw.
Might see if I can find a link to back that up…………….
I agree with DTB that socialised dental care should be started immediately. However it ain’t gonna happen under this government and I have my reservations about the likelihood if it happening under a new government. I’d like to be proven wrong.
Thanks Rosie and Murray and Pasupial (Hope Masupial recovered in quick time – though the disappointment at having the wrong one done wouldn’t help.) It could be a good idea to have a little map with arrows and a statement of what has to be done pinned to your shoulder. Just make sure that the map/plan shows exactly where it is as your right and the dentist/surgeon’s right are on opposite sides.
I know the teeth are a major source of infections. Before any transplant or semi-major surgery, they like you to get your mouth looked at. This mainly seems to empty the wallet.
Down in Dunedin we do have the option of the Dental School – which is cheaper, though you do have to wait a while (months when not in term-time) if it’s not agonisingly urgent. But then, last time Masupial went in for a wisdom tooth extraction they did end up ripping out the wrong (healthy) tooth…
Rosie, thanks for the concern. But the supervisor caught it before it had been out of her mouth for 10 minutes, and hopefully the re-insertion will take. If not, they said they’d do her a free implant (though we’re yet to get that in writing). She didn’t enjoy the root canal they had to give her though!
@ Rosie and others …re TEETH…….look up Xylitol ( very good preventative dentistry? ) on the internet…you can buy it from a health shop in expensive tablets or cheaply by the bag in sugar form from Whangarei…(Xylitol Products)…may help?…I use it last thing at night after cleaning teeth… ( by the quarter teaspoon).
Whilst “we” (NZ as represented by some corporate rich pricks and foreign corporate sponsors in a boat) happily jump and celebrate like marionettes on the medias strings for beating “them” (the USA as represented by some corporate rich pricks and foreign corporate sponsors in a boat)….bad things happen.
In effect some NZ corporate farm interests featuring some now very rich people have sold off a chunk of NZ to foreign owners. The new owners will take title, and keep farming as a corporate farm, and send profits offshore. We slip into the latifundia system of ancient Rome, the hacienda system of Spanish America where slaves and serfs man the fields, and the profit goes to the centre of Empire. What a sad and easily hoodwinked little crowd we really are.
NZ was built on land speculation since the first. The early settlers had to be restrained in their understandable hunger to get land and a living. My gt-gt-grandfather made a deal and paid Auckland Maori then had to go to court to get some back which he then paid for again. It was probably his fault as there was an attempt by the early colonial government to get some money to provide amenities and that was to come off a land tax which gt gt Gr circumvented. Many people landed around NZ with solemn promises of land ready and available in their ears and found they had been scammed.
Now the disgraceful thing of Maori losing access to what they should have as their proprietary or control right on a lovely Whangarei spring. An irrigation company has been given maximum rights of 35 years to use this and regard it as their right to not have to apply every 10 years so they can build businesses on its use, any attempt to control it is taking Their Rights away. Maori would probably agree to limited use and to continue supplying some water to Whangarei city.
Water controls should have been introduced decades ago, the central governments have not faced up to this difficult situation with its vocal demanding lobbyists, and the demand has just ballooned. It is very bad policy. We’re being sucked dry, the country will change beyond just having less obvious water in the rivers.
True P – and these maps show the loss in Te Ika a Maui. But it only tells a bit of the story really because along with the loss of the land was the loss of so much else, such as economic ability, social organisation, cultural practices and so on. It would be interesting to extrapolate from today into the future and factor in all of those losses too – probably wouldn’t recognise the place after 173 years.
Pasupial, you make a strong point there. You may be very prescient in your comment that the tangata whenua experience will be echoed in that of all NZers.
Perhaps when we become the blend that is simply NZers, and all of us are tangata whenua , we can all be serfs together. We will have allowed yet another version of colonisation to occur, with the same old imperial drivers of extracting wealth from the subservient subdued colonised locals. Or perhaps we could show the unity of common cause.
Completely agree. It is an absolute unadulterated disgrace.. Dollars to donuts that the media won’t make a big deal out of this as they can’t spin it into some bullshit anti-Asian xenophobia…
This opinion piece by Putin is a rather interesting read. I especially liked this bit at the end:
My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.
Don’t forget Putin’s last, brilliant sentiment in the op-ed. We are all equal in the eyes of God. Brilliant framing for the US political establishment.
dobro pozhalovat (welcome) to the new arrivals in Christchurch, the godwits all the way from Russia. Aren’t they amazing.
Hundreds of Godwits return about this time every year after a journey of 11,000km.
One way I think they fly all the way without a stop. But I can’t believe I have got that right actually.
Godwit chatter – It’s nice to go to the South Pacific for their summer isn’t it? Sqawk in Russian was the reply.
The Russian connection of following DTB’s comment is entirely coincidental – strange that.
It is apparently the case. They go north in stages from New Zealand to Alaska, stopping to feed along the way in New Guinea, Korea and Russia. They obviusly don’t like Korea or Russia very much and go on to greet Sarah Palin in Alaska (there – isn’t she a horrible memory?)
Their return is apparently a direct flight from Alaska to New Zealand, the longest non-stop flight of any bird.
There is a map of the route at http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/map/9184/bar-tailed-godwits-migration-route
Amazing isn’t it?
Yes they are amazing birds – the journey down from the yukon takes 8 – whatever days, no stopping, no sleeping, no eating, if blown off course they come back to the same sky trail. Kuaka are beautiful too especially just before they go, when they often have a brick red breeding plumage on their breast. I’m pleased we don’t eat them anymore – they are pretty fat just before they fly off and they mainly eat worms of various sorts in our wonderful wetland areas.
Over on the “Bryce Edwards need to find a clue” post Bryce Edwards is taken to task for misrepresenting the partisanship of TS blogger comrade X.
The comments are closed so I’m posting this on Open Mike.
Edward’s attack on TS blogger comrade X is really just to fuel his very superficial view of the internal dissension inside Labour. He reduces it to personalities and media bullshit.
For a Marxist Edwards skates over the surface lightly, more than once…
Here is a real Marxist analysis.
There is a contradiction inside Labour between working class membership and its bureaucratic leadership promoting a neo-liberal lite capitalist program. The right fears the left taking control back from the ABC hacks, and their champion comrade Y, and dumping their centrist program. It is this contradiction that has surfaced for the first time since 1989 when the left went into the wilderness behind comrade A. The media didnt make it up they just smelled it out.
With its nose firmly sunk in the mire of blood and muck the media fears that if the left wins, behind its champion comrade Z, the working class will once again have some honest faithful representation in parliament, and that the corporate media acting like mogul muppets will no longer be able to profit from pushing its crap down our unwilling throats.
Whether comrade Z wins or not the class contradiction in the Labour Party is out in the open for all to see. Let’s not mistake this for personality clashes and media promotions. The global crisis and NZ’s slide to bankruptcy has forced all the old shit to the surface.
There you go, a couple of hundred words is enough, and no links to all the left-right-centre unintelligentsia necessary. One doesnt even have to mention personalities.
Still annoyed. It’s a pity comments have been closed on the Edwards post, because his Herald article is still claiming that the Standard is now behind Cunliffe*.
There is always a diversity of opinion here, but I challenge Edwards to find a single day since Goff’s departure when the majority of bloggers and commenters here didn’t favour Cunliffe. It’s got something to do with this being a left wing site. If he can’t find a single day that supports his hypothesis he should withdraw and apologise.
But it suits his purpose to claim that we are suddenly changing our collective tune. He has repeatedly misrepresented us to suit his pet theories.
I doubt he will read this. Anyone who reads his column knows that when he comes here it is to just to quickly skim and cherry-pick “evidence” that fit with his beliefs. If he actually read the Standard he would be embarassed by his regular public errors, and (surely) as an academic feel obliged to write the truth.
*Still not wild about Cunliffe, myself. Just the best of a bad bunch as far as I’m concerned, and the only one of the three who might, possibly, actually have some leftish leanings. Time will tell.
I hope R0b got an apology for that defamatory rave that was removed.
Don’t confuse Cunliffe’s fearless analysis and will to intervene with actual Labour policy. That set of contradictions has yet to play out. There Will Be Blood, as of Sunday 2pm.
No matter how conciliatory the new leader (whomever) appears to be.
Nor presume there’s a black-wite distinction between a so-called proletariat membership and comprador-bourgeiosie caucus. Too sad.
And if you think there’s another glorious crisis that will revive the Deep Left from its torpor, well, exhibit A: 9/11. Exhibit B: GFC. Exhibit C: Arab Spring.
“Don’t confuse Cunliffe’s fearless analysis and will to intervene with actual Labour policy. That set of contradictions has yet to play out. There Will Be Blood, as of Sunday 2pm.”
“No matter how conciliatory the new leader (whomever) appears to be.”
As I said comrade Z is propelled by much stronger forces than courage, will or diplomacy. Although these personal attributes are necessary in a leader.
“Nor presume there’s a black-wite distinction between a so-called proletariat membership and comprador-bourgeiosie caucus. Too sad.”
As a dialectician I abhor “black-wite distinctions”. I call the proletariat by its correct name, consisting of those who live by selling their labour power to a capitalist employer. That is the big majority of NZers.
I do not distinguish the proletariat from the “comprador-bourgeiosie caucus”. For one thing the caucus majority called ABC is not bourgeois but bureaucratic. These are not the same. The Labour Party is the party of the labour bureaucracy which is inside the proletariat not part of the bourgeoisie. It mediates between these two classes since it shares the bourgeois ideology that classes are historical aberrations and can be legislated out of existence. Historically the Labour Party sought to reconcile the proletariat with working farmers in a political compact with NZ manufacturers protected within an economic nationalist polity. This was its rationale against the National Party and its forerunners that stood for the dominant bourgeois fraction of bankers, importers and farmers.
“And if you think there’s another glorious crisis that will revive the Deep Left from its torpor, well, exhibit A: 9/11. Exhibit B: GFC. Exhibit C: Arab Spring.” “Catastrophic non-revivals for progressive memes.”
Here I think you are expressing you own deep pessimism about the prospects of the proletariat organising to take on and defeat capitalism.
You see 9/11, GFC and the Arab Spring as “catastrophic non-revivals” of the “deep left”.
Dialectically speaking these are not revivals of the ‘deep left’, if you mean the revolutionary left, but they are revivals of the wider left, meaning the proletariat in general, resisting all the repressive forces of capitalism. The forms of resistance will change as the proletariat develops its consciousness and capacity.
In the context of a global crisis of capitalism kicked off by the GCF they signify the failure of capitalism to regenerate itself by means of neo-liberalism, by victory over “communism”, by wars and occupations of oppressed countries, and by almost total surveillance and social repression against the masses resisting austerity.
Far from being “catastrophic” for the left, these are expressions of the “catastrophe” of capitalism entering its terminal destructive phase in which it will destroy humanity and nature unless stopped.
As we say in the business, for the proletariat to live capitalism must die!
In Aotearoa, once the proletariat wakes up to a Labour Party that responds to its needs, then it is at least on its feet and prepared for battle.
But that is only the start of the battle. Let’s see which side you are on.
@ McFlock….kool-aid never!….too much wine a possibility
I am an optimist about Labour with Cunliffe leading!……I expect great things with Labour now and the Greens in partnership ….and Winnie as Minister of Foreign Affairs….brilliant!!!!!!
Personally, I think that Parliament is better off with Winston in it. Hopefully as a sitting party come 2014, they will also get a much better class of list candidate this time around. They need it.
The NATs have no vision or purpose left. And Winston will be legacy shopping. There is a strong chance that the 2014-2017 term will be his last or second to last (he’ll be 72 at its conclusion).
Labour/Greens can get Peters excited about projects and ideas that National would never entertain.
It’s probably the difference between you being a Labour voter and me being a GP voter, but given how Labour have treated the GP in the past when Peters is in the picture, I don’t see him as the asset to NZ politics that you do. I also don’t trust him, at all. I don’t really trust Labour either in this regard, so can understand why the GP are going after two ticks wherever they can.
“Labour/Greens can get Peters excited about projects and ideas that National would never entertain.”
Good morgan good morgan good morgan New Zealand, and a happy friday the thirteenth to all our wee tory brothers and sisters.
Today in history we recall that the last time Labour couldn’t be ignored by the media – the Goffy blip – the same thing happened. And if only an astute Standard commenter who promoted a joint leadership/primary had been heeded, the same effect may have been enjoyed for the past twelve months and more.
And let’s recall too that old “left-wing intellectual’ darling of the kiwibog sump, Brycie Edwards: the young man who brought us “the EPMU runs the standard” and went on to become a herald scribe: currently running saturation coverage and repetition of today’s classic, “Division Left” with the customary few fibby wibbies thrown in.
But enough from your old auntie with such a warm red glow shining up our back passages this glorious spring day, let’s recall and bask in that other historic lesson that we must all never forget and learn from, and play that old favourite from 1999, “When Helen hugged Jim”.
And I see slippery is worried about the coverage the Labour leadership contest has been getting, so he’s aiming to be in the House Tuesday, so he can slip his hand onto the new Labour leader’s cup when it is awarded – and get a 3-way handshake photo op?
Mr Key announced plans to travel to Britain at his press conference on Monday, saying he had ensured his travel schedule would allow him to face the new Labour leader at their first parliamentary question time next Tuesday.
We would point out that his schedule, circulated to journalists on August 12, showed he wasn’t leaving New Zealand till late Tuesday, well after question time ends. Former Labour leader David Shearer didn’t resign until August 22.
@ak
Are you channelling Aunt Daisy or Dame Edna or both? Thinking about Aunt Daisy, Labour could develop a recipe for Labour Party biscuits that could be sold from door to door, along with printed information around the biscuits of Labour’s hopes and visions for the everybodies. So what about it – has Aunt Daisy got something special, with a red tinge (raspberry jelly crystals) in her recipe book?
On second thoughts the food n.z.s in local government would probably find a way to stop selling biscuits. They seem to have tightened up on the way that ordinary folks can make money for themselves or raise it for others, on the basis of local by-laws the prissy stinkers. It used to be recognised that few bugs would be hiding out in biscuits, cakes, pickles etc. I think that the commercial bakers want a monopoly. They don’t want people to have any way of helping themselves using good old hard work and personal initiative.
Oh gawsh! (Tree Newz tunoit). Willie is traumatised and emotional about the plight of Rhinos in some place called A freak Ah!
Apprently they should have learned (had learnings) about how at risk they are – perhaps a talking point for a shyster trying to impress a Liz.
Fair enough! It’s just a shame that the same concern doesn’t the worry the Willie – nor a shyster that’s about to lead an enterage soon to try and impress Her (in doors) Mejistee.
They’ll soon be wondering why another Republic emerges from a Britissss Empire.
Bloody Hell, gawsh and rhubarb – how utterly stupid it was give those bloody slanty-eyed chinks back the Korng Horng what!
And don’t get me started on those damnable Ghanaians!
Why for Gawds sake! they’ve even got cheaper cellphone charges than out own bloody savages
Much rapture about Jones connecting with Labours true base.
David Cunliffe’s version of unity has been to double down on the policies that have been unsuccessful in the last two elections in the hope that a more assertive defense of them will convince more people to support Labour.
What Jones is doing is more interesting. He says if Labour is unpopular it’s because we are not being true to our values. Voters actually like our values and our principle that anyone no matter what family you’re born into, should have access to the same opportunities. Labour is only unpopular when it takes entrenched positions that are unfaithful to its core principles.
[…]
Cunliffe buckled under the pressure and fired her, indicating that he thinks unity is achieved by silence rather than argument
Jones called Claire Curren out.
So no mention of Jones own heterosexism or misogyny then?
Go Josie! Good to see she knows how to spell Labour MPs’ names too.
The fact Josie Pagani apparently has no fucking idea what policies Labour put forward in the previous two elections, no why Labour lost, are just more straws on top of the poor overburdened camel named “reasons no one should give a fuck what Josie Pagani thinks about anything”.
So no mention of Jones own heterosexism or misogyny then?
Add to that his obscene inferences. She doesn’t regard that as distasteful in a leader? Can you imagine her horror if it had been Cunliffe who had exhibited such traits.
From the link:
Cunliffe buckled under the pressure and fired her, indicating that he thinks unity is achieved by silence rather than argument.
She has exposed her own political illiteracy by interpreting Cunliffe’s action in such a way.
And finally we have this:
if Labour is to appeal to middle New Zealand, then it can’t say ‘we want your vote but not your values.’
To all those commentators who sneered at Shane’s style, who do they think the Labour party represents? If the party is not appealing to those in the RSAs, marae, pubs and to those browsing in Mitre 10 at the weekend, it isn’t a Labour party.
Well that reads like a contradiction in terms. She’s talking gobbledygook.
Definitely conflicting values – a muddle. On the one hand she defends Jenny Michie as not being homophobic, therefore should still be on Cunliffe’s team. Then she talks about Jones’ values as solid Labour ones.
BTW, I have been known to visit RSAs, pubs, marae and Mitre 10. What does that make me?
“BTW, I have been known to visit RSAs, pubs, marae and Mitre 10. What does that make me?”
An outlier? Confusing for her, Karol. She can only read people as market segments.
Deeply conflicted as well, in her statement “he thinks unity is achieved by silence rather than argument”… Rightly or wrongly, this is exactly what the ABCers demanded not too many months ago.
I won’t read anything she writes on the otherwise awesome pundit.
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In February 2025, John Cook gave two webinars for republicEN explaining the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change. 20 February 2025: republicEN webinar part 1 - BUST or TRUST? The scientific consensus on climate change In the first webinar, Cook explained the history of the 20-year scientific consensus on climate change. How do ...
After three decades of record-breaking growth, at about the same time as Xi Jinping rose to power in 2012, China’s economy started the long decline to its current state of stagnation. The Chinese Communist Party ...
The Pike River Coal mine was a ticking time bomb.Ventilation systems designed to prevent methane buildup were incomplete or neglected.Gas detectors that might warn of danger were absent or broken.Rock bolting was skipped, old tunnels left unsealed, communication systems failed during emergencies.Employees and engineers kept warning management about the … ...
Regional hegemons come in different shapes and sizes. Australia needs to think about what kind of hegemon China would be, and become, should it succeed in displacing the United States in Asia. It’s time to ...
RNZ has a story this morning about the expansion of solar farms in Aotearoa, driven by today's ground-breaking ceremony at the Tauhei solar farm in Te Aroha: From starting out as a tiny player in the electricity system, solar power generated more electricity than coal and gas combined for ...
After the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, and almost a year before the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991, US President George H W Bush proclaimed a ‘new world order’. Now, just two months ...
Warning: Some images may be distressing. Thank you for those who support my work. It means a lot.A shopfront in Australia shows Liberal leader Peter Dutton and mining magnate Gina Rinehart depicted with Nazi imageryUS Government Seeks Death Penalty for Luigi MangioneMangione was publicly walked in front of media in ...
Aged care workers rallying against potential roster changes say Bupa, which runs retirement homes across the country, needs to focus on care instead of money. More than half of New Zealand workers wish they had chosen a different career according to a new survey. Consumers are likely to see a ...
The scurrilous attacks on Benjamin Doyle, a list Green MP, over his supposed inappropriate behaviour towards children has dominated headlines and social media this past week, led by frothing Rightwing agitators clutching their pearls and fanning the flames of moral panic over pedophiles and and perverts. Winston Peter decided that ...
Twilight Time Lighthouse Cuba, Wigan Street, Wellington, Sunday 6 April, 5:30pm for 6pm start. Twilight Time looks at the life and work of Desmond Ball, (1947-2016), a barefooted academic from ‘down under’ who was hailed by Jimmy Carter as “the man who saved the world”, as he proved the fallacy ...
The landedAnd the wealthyAnd the piousAnd the healthyAnd the straight onesAnd the pale onesAnd we only mean the male ones!If you're all of the above, then you're ok!As we build a new tomorrow here today!Lyrics Glenn Slater and Allan Menken.Ah, Democracy - can you smell it?It's presently a sulphurous odour, ...
US President Donald Trump’s unconventional methods of conducting international relations will compel the next federal government to reassess whether the United States’ presence in the region and its security assurances provide a reliable basis for ...
Things seem to be at a pretty low ebb in and around the Reserve Bank. There was, in particular, the mysterious, sudden, and as-yet unexplained resignation of the Governor (we’ve had four Governors since the Bank was given its operational autonomy 35 years ago, and only two have completed their ...
Long story short:PMChristopher Luxon said in January his Government was ‘going for growth’ and he wanted New Zealanders to develop a ‘culture of yes.’ Yet his own Government is constantly saying no, or not yet, to anchor investments that would unleash real private business investment and GDP growth. ...
Long story short:PMChristopher Luxon said in January his Government was ‘going for growth’ and he wanted New Zealanders to develop a ‘culture of yes.’ Yet his own Government is constantly saying no, or not yet, to anchor investments that would unleash real private business investment and GDP growth. ...
For decades, Britain and Australia had much the same process for regulating media handling of defence secrets. It was the D-notice system, under which media would be asked not to publish. The two countries diverged ...
For decades, Britain and Australia had much the same process for regulating media handling of defence secrets. It was the D-notice system, under which media would be asked not to publish. The two countries diverged ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article, I make a not-entirely-serious case for ripping out Spaghetti Junction in Auckland, replacing it with a motorway tunnel, and redeveloping new city streets and neighbourhoods above it instead. What’s ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article, I make a not-entirely-serious case for ripping out Spaghetti Junction in Auckland, replacing it with a motorway tunnel, and redeveloping new city streets and neighbourhoods above it instead. What’s ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital crisis revealed by 1News’Jessica Roden dominates the political agenda today. Yet again, population growth wasn’t planned for, or funded.Kāinga Ora is planning up to 900 house sales, including new ones, Jonathan Milne reports for Newsroom.One of New Zealand’s biggest ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital crisis revealed by 1News’Jessica Roden dominates the political agenda today. Yet again, population growth wasn’t planned for, or funded.Kāinga Ora is planning up to 900 house sales, including new ones, Jonathan Milne reports for Newsroom.One of New Zealand’s biggest ...
The war between Russia and Ukraine continues unabated. Neither side is in a position to achieve its stated objectives through military force. But now there is significant diplomatic activity as well. Ukraine has agreed to ...
One of the first aims of the United States’ new Department of Government Efficiency was shutting down USAID. By 6 February, the agency was functionally dissolved, its seal missing from its Washington headquarters. Amid the ...
If our strategic position was already challenging, it just got worse. Reliability of the US as an ally is in question, amid such actions by the Trump administration as calling for annexation of Canada, threating ...
Small businesses will be exempt from complying with some of the requirements of health and safety legislation under new reforms proposed by the Government. The living wage will be increased to $28.95 per hour from September, a $1.15 increase from the current $27.80. A poll has shown large opposition to ...
Summary A group of senior doctors in Nelson have spoken up, specifically stating that hospitals have never been as bad as in the last year.Patients are waiting up to 50 hours and 1 death is directly attributable to the situation: "I've never seen that number of patients waiting to be ...
Although semiconductor chips are ubiquitous nowadays, their production is concentrated in just a few countries, and this has left the US economy and military highly vulnerable at a time of rising geopolitical tensions. While the ...
Health and Safety changes driven by ACT party ideology, not evidence said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff. Changes to health and safety legislation proposed by the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden today comply with ACT party ideology, ignores the evidence, and will compound New ...
In short in our political economy this morning:Fletcher Building is closing its pre-fabricated house-building factory in Auckland due to a lack of demand, particularly from the Government.Health NZ is sending a crisis management team to Nelson Hospital after a 1News investigation exposed doctors’ fears that nearly 500 patients are overdue ...
Exactly 10 years ago, the then minister for defence, Kevin Andrews, released the First Principles Review: Creating One Defence (FPR). With increasing talk about the rising possibility of major power-conflict, calls for Defence funding to ...
In events eerily similar to what happened in the USA last week, Greater Auckland was recently accidentally added to a group chat between government ministers on the topic of transport.We have no idea how it happened, but luckily we managed to transcribe most of what transpired. We share it ...
Hi,When I look back at my history with Dylan Reeve, it’s pretty unusual. We first met in the pool at Kim Dotcom’s mansion, as helicopters buzzed overhead and secret service agents flung themselves off the side of his house, abseiling to the ground with guns drawn.Kim Dotcom was a German ...
Come around for teaDance me round and round the kitchenBy the light of my T.VOn the night of the electionAncient stars will fall into the seaAnd the ocean floor sings her sympathySongwriter: Bic Runga.The Prime Minister stared into the camera, hot and flustered despite the predawn chill. He looked sadly ...
Has Winston Peters got a ferries deal for you! (Buyer caution advised.) Unfortunately, the vision that Peters has been busily peddling for the past 24 hours – of several shipyards bidding down the price of us getting smaller, narrower, rail-enabled ferries – looks more like a science fiction fantasy. One ...
Completed reads for March: The Heart of the Antarctic [1907-1909], by Ernest Shackleton South [1914-1917], by Ernest Shackleton Aurora Australis (collection), edited by Ernest Shackleton The Book of Urizen (poem), by William Blake The Book of Ahania (poem), by William Blake The Book of Los (poem), by William Blake ...
First - A ReminderBenjamin Doyle Doesn’t Deserve ThisI’ve been following posts regarding Green MP Benjamin Doyle over the last few days, but didn’t want to amplify the abject nonsense.This morning, Winston Peters, New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister, answered the alt-right’s prayers - guaranteeing amplification of the topic, by going on ...
US President Donald Trump has shown a callous disregard for the checks and balances that have long protected American democracy. As the self-described ‘king’ makes a momentous power grab, much of the world watches anxiously, ...
They can be the very same words. And yet their meaning can vary very much.You can say I'll kill him about your colleague who accidentally deleted your presentation the day before a big meeting.You can say I'll kill him to — or, for that matter, about — Tony Soprano.They’re the ...
Back in 2020, the then-Labour government signed contracted for the construction and purchase of two new rail-enabled Cook Strait ferries, to be operational from 2026. But when National took power in 2023, they cancelled them in a desperate effort to make the books look good for a year. And now ...
The fragmentation of cyber regulation in the Indo-Pacific is not just inconvenient; it is a strategic vulnerability. In recent years, governments across the Indo-Pacific, including Australia, have moved to reform their regulatory frameworks for cyber ...
Welcome to the March 2025 Economic Bulletin. The feature article examines what public private partnerships (PPPs) are. PPPs have been a hot topic recently, with the coalition government signalling it wants to use them to deliver infrastructure. However, experience with PPPs, both here and overseas, indicates we should be wary. ...
Willis announces more plans of plans for supermarketsYesterday’s much touted supermarket competition announcement by Nicola Willis amounted to her telling us she was issuing a 6 week RFI1 that will solicit advice from supermarket players.In short, it was an announcement of a plan - but better than her Kiwirail Interislander ...
This was the post I was planning to write this morning to mark Orr’s final day. That said, if the underlying events – deliberate attempts to mislead Parliament – were Orr’s doing, the post is more about the apparent uselessness of Parliament (specifically the Finance and Expenditure Committee) in holding ...
Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC’s plan to build a plant in the United States looks like a move made at the behest of local officials to solidify US support for Taiwan. However, it may eventually lessen ...
This is a Guest Post by Transport Planner Bevan Woodward from the charitable trust Movement, which has lodged an application for a judicial review of the Governments Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024 Auckland is at grave risk of having its safer speed limits on approx. 1,500 local streets ...
We're just talkin' 'bout the futureForget about the pastIt'll always be with usIt's never gonna die, never gonna dieSongwriters: Brian Johnson / Angus Young / Malcolm YoungMorena, all you lovely people, it’s good to be back, and I have news from the heartland. Now brace yourself for this: depending on ...
Today is the last day in office for the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Adrian Orr. Of course, he hasn’t been in the office since 5 March when, on the eve of his major international conference, his resignation was announced and he stormed off with no (effective) notice and no ...
Treasury and Cabinet have finally agreed to a Crown guarantee for a non-Government lending agency for Community Housing Providers (CHPs), which could unlock billions worth of loans and investments by pension funds and banks to build thousands of more affordable social homes. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories shortest:Chris Bishop ...
Australia has plenty of room to spend more on defence. History shows that 2.9 percent of GDP is no great burden in ordinary times, so pushing spending to 3.0 percent in dangerous times is very ...
In short this morning in our political economy:Winston Peters will announce later today whether two new ferries are rail ‘compatible’, requiring time-consuming container shuffling, or the more efficient and expensive rail ‘enabled,’ where wagons can roll straight on and off.Nicola Willisthreatened yesterday to break up the supermarket duopoly with ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 23, 2025 thru Sat, March 29, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
For prospective writers out there, Inspired Quill, the publisher of my novel(s) is putting together a short story anthology (pieces up to 10,000 words). The open submission window is 29th March to 29th April. https://www.inspired-quill.com/anthology-submissions/ The theme?This anthology will bring together diverse voices exploring themes of hope, resistance, and human ...
Prime minister Kevin Rudd released the 2009 defence white paper in May of that year. It is today remembered mostly for what it said about the strategic implications of China’s rise; its plan to double ...
In short this morning in our political economy:Voters want the Government to retain the living wage for cleaners, a poll shows.The Government’s move to provide a Crown guarantee to banks and the private sector for social housing is described a watershed moment and welcomed by Community Housing Providers.Nicola Willis is ...
The recent attacks in the Congo by Rwandan backed militias has led to worldwide condemnation of the Rwandan regime of Paul Kagame. Following up on the recent Fabian Zoom with Mikela Wrong and Maria Amoudian, Dr Rudaswinga will give a complete picture of Kagame’s regime and discuss the potential ...
New Zealand’s economic development has always been a partnership between the public and private sectors.Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) have become fashionable again, partly because of the government’s ambitions to accelerate infrastructural development. There is, of course, an ideological element too, while some of the opposition to them is also ideological.PPPs come in ...
How Australia funds development and defence was front of mind before Tuesday’s federal budget. US President Donald Trump’s demands for a dramatic lift in allied military spending and brutal cuts to US foreign assistance meant ...
Questions 1. Where and what is this protest?a. Hamilton, angry crowd yelling What kind of food do you call this Seymour?b.Dunedin, angry crowd yelling Still waiting, Simeon, still waitingc. Wellington, angry crowd yelling You’re trashing everything you idiotsd. Istanbul, angry crowd yelling Give us our democracy back, give it ...
Two blueprints that could redefine the Northern Territory’s economic future were launched last week. The first was a government-led economic strategy and the other an industry-driven economic roadmap. Both highlight that supporting the Northern Territory ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to scrap proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, after attending a petition calling for the Government to ‘Put tamariki at the heart of decisions about ECE’. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill today that will remove the power of MPs conscience votes and ensure mandatory national referendums are held before any conscience issues are passed into law. “We are giving democracy and power back to the people”, says New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters. ...
Welcome to members of the diplomatic corp, fellow members of parliament, the fourth estate, foreign affairs experts, trade tragics, ladies and gentlemen. ...
In recent weeks, disturbing instances of state-sanctioned violence against Māori have shed light on the systemic racism permeating our institutions. An 11-year-old autistic Māori child was forcibly medicated at the Henry Bennett Centre, a 15-year-old had his jaw broken by police in Napier, kaumātua Dean Wickliffe went on a hunger ...
Confidence in the job market has continued to drop to its lowest level in five years as more New Zealanders feel uncertain about finding work, keeping their jobs, and getting decent pay, according to the latest Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index. ...
The Greens are calling on the Government to follow through on their vague promises of environmental protection in their Resource Management Act (RMA) reform. ...
“Make New Zealand First Again” Ladies and gentlemen, First of all, thank you for being here today. We know your lives are busy and you are working harder and longer than you ever have, and there are many calls on your time, so thank you for the chance to speak ...
Hundreds more Palestinians have died in recent days as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, is blocked. ...
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...
At 2.30am local time, Israel launched a treacherous attack on Gaza killing more than 300 defenceless civilians while they slept. Many of them were children. This followed a more than 2 week-long blockade by Israel on the entry of all goods and aid into Gaza. Israel deliberately targeted densely populated ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...
The Government’s new planning legislation to replace the Resource Management Act will make it easier to get things done while protecting the environment, say Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court. “The RMA is broken and everyone knows it. It makes it too hard to build ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay has today launched a public consultation on New Zealand and India’s negotiations of a formal comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. “Negotiations are getting underway, and the Public’s views will better inform us in the early parts of this important negotiation,” Mr McClay says. We are ...
More than 900 thousand superannuitants and almost five thousand veterans are among the New Zealanders set to receive a significant financial boost from next week, an uplift Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says will help support them through cost-of-living challenges. “I am pleased to confirm that from 1 ...
Progressing a holistic strategy to unlock the potential of New Zealand’s geothermal resources, possibly in applications beyond energy generation, is at the centre of discussions with mana whenua at a hui in Rotorua today, Resources and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is in the early stages ...
New annual data has exposed the staggering cost of delays previously hidden in the building consent system, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I directed Building Consent Authorities to begin providing quarterly data last year to improve transparency, following repeated complaints from tradespeople waiting far longer than the statutory ...
Increases in water charges for Auckland consumers this year will be halved under the Watercare Charter which has now been passed into law, Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Auckland Minister Simeon Brown say. The charter is part of the financial arrangement for Watercare developed last year by Auckland Council ...
There is wide public support for the Government’s work to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity protections, says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. “The Ministry for Primary Industries recently completed public consultation on proposed amendments to the Biosecurity Act and the submissions show that people understand the importance of having a strong biosecurity ...
A new independent review function will enable individuals and organisations to seek an expert independent review of specified civil aviation regulatory decisions made by, or on behalf of, the Director of Civil Aviation, Acting Transport Minister James Meager has announced today. “Today we are making it easier and more affordable ...
The Government will invest in an enhanced overnight urgent care service for the Napier community as part of our focus on ensuring access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown has today confirmed. “I am delighted that a solution has been found to ensure Napier residents will continue to ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey attended a sod turning today to officially mark the start of construction on a new mental health facility at Hillmorton Campus. “This represents a significant step in modernising mental health services in Canterbury,” Mr Brown says. “Improving health infrastructure is ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has welcomed confirmation the economy has turned the corner. Stats NZ reported today that gross domestic product grew 0.7 per cent in the three months to December following falls in the June and September quarters. “We know many families and businesses are still suffering the after-effects ...
The sealing of a 12-kilometre stretch of State Highway 43 (SH43) through the Tangarakau Gorge – one of the last remaining sections of unsealed state highway in the country – has been completed this week as part of a wider programme of work aimed at improving the safety and resilience ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters says relations between New Zealand and the United States are on a strong footing, as he concludes a week-long visit to New York and Washington DC today. “We came to the United States to ask the new Administration what it wants from ...
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has welcomed changes to international anti-money laundering standards which closely align with the Government’s reforms. “The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) last month adopted revised standards for tackling money laundering and the financing of terrorism to allow for simplified regulatory measures for businesses, organisations and sectors ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour says he welcomes Medsafe’s decision to approve an electronic controlled drug register for use in New Zealand pharmacies, allowing pharmacies to replace their physical paper-based register. “The register, developed by Kiwi brand Toniq Limited, is the first of its kind to be approved in New ...
The Coalition Government’s drive for regional economic growth through the $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund is on track with more than $550 million in funding so far committed to key infrastructure projects, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. “To date, the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) has received more than 250 ...
[Comments following the bilateral meeting with United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; United States State Department, Washington D.C.] * We’re very pleased with our meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this afternoon. * We came here to listen to the new Administration and to be clear about what ...
The intersection of State Highway 2 (SH2) and Wainui Road in the Eastern Bay of Plenty will be made safer and more efficient for vehicles and freight with the construction of a new and long-awaited roundabout, says Transport Minister Chris Bishop. “The current intersection of SH2 and Wainui Road is ...
The Ocean Race will return to the City of Sails in 2027 following the Government’s decision to invest up to $4 million from the Major Events Fund into the international event, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown says. “New Zealand is a proud sailing nation, and Auckland is well-known internationally as the ...
Improving access to mental health and addiction support took a significant step forward today with Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announcing that the University of Canterbury have been the first to be selected to develop the Government’s new associate psychologist training programme. “I am thrilled that the University of Canterbury ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened the new East Building expansion at Manukau Health Park. “This is a significant milestone and the first stage of the Grow Manukau programme, which will double the footprint of the Manukau Health Park to around 30,000m2 once complete,” Mr Brown says. “Home ...
The Government will boost anti-crime measures across central Auckland with $1.3 million of funding as a result of the Proceeds of Crime Fund, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee say. “In recent years there has been increased antisocial and criminal behaviour in our CBD. The Government ...
The Government is moving to strengthen rules for feeding food waste to pigs to protect New Zealand from exotic animal diseases like foot and mouth disease (FMD), says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. ‘Feeding untreated meat waste, often known as "swill", to pigs could introduce serious animal diseases like FMD and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held productive talks in New Delhi today. Fresh off announcing that New Zealand and India would commence negotiations towards a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, the two Prime Ministers released a joint statement detailing plans for further cooperation between the two countries across ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the forestry sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the horticulture sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new Family Court Judges. The new Judges will take up their roles in April and May and fill Family Court vacancies at the Auckland and Manukau courts. Annette Gray Ms Gray completed her law degree at Victoria University before joining Phillips ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened Wellington Regional Hospital’s first High Dependency Unit (HDU). “This unit will boost critical care services in the lower North Island, providing extra capacity and relieving pressure on the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and emergency department. “Wellington Regional Hospital has previously relied ...
Namaskar, Sat Sri Akal, kia ora and good afternoon everyone. What an honour it is to stand on this stage - to inaugurate this august Dialogue - with none other than the Honourable Narendra Modi. My good friend, thank you for so generously welcoming me to India and for our ...
Nearly 25 years after the "corngate" saga, the debate on genetic modification is back thanks to the Gene Technology Bill currently in select committee. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephanie Brodie, Research Scientist in Marine Ecology, CSIRO jittawit21, Shutterstock Picture this: you’re lounging on a beautiful beach, soaking up the sun and listening to the soothing sound of the waves. You run your hands through the warm sand, only to ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Although New Zealand and Australia seem to have escaped the worst of Donald Trump’s latest tariffs, some Pacific Islands stand to be hit hard — including a few that aren’t even “countries”. The US will impose a base tariff of 10 percent on all ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton both agree Australia should react to US President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff regime by continuing to seek a special deal. They just disagree about which of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher, Digital Literacy and Digital Wellbeing, Western Sydney University UK Prime Minster Keir Starmer met with Adolescence writer Jack Thorne to discuss adolescent safety at Downing Street on Monday. Jack Taylor/ GettyImages Netflix’s Adolescence has ignited global debate. ...
By Anneke Smith,RNZ News political reporter A stoush between the Chief Human Rights Commissioner and a Jewish community leader has flared up following a showdown at Parliament. Appearing before a parliamentary select committee today, Dr Stephen Rainbow was asked about his recent apology for incorrect comments he made about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rakesh Gupta, Associate Professor of Accounting & Finance, Charles Darwin University US President Donald Trump’s new trade war will not only send shockwaves through the global economy – it also upsets efforts to tackle the urgent issue of climate change. Trump has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Toohey, Professor of Law, UNSW Sydney It had the hallmarks of a reality TV cliffhanger. Until recently, many people had never even heard of tariffs. Now, there’s been rolling live international coverage of so-called “Liberation Day”, as US President Donald Trump ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Fuller, Clinical Trials Director, Department of Endocrinology, RPA Hospital, University of Sydney mavo/Shutterstock In the ever-changing wellness industry, one diet obsession has captured and held TikTok’s attention: protein. Whether it’s sharing snaps of protein-packed meals or giving tutorials to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sebastian Maslow, Associate Professor, International Relations, University of Tokyo Two months into US President Donald Trump’s second term, the liberal international order is on life support. Alliances and multilateral institutions are now seen by the United States as burdens. Europe and ...
Starving public services of resources, gutting the workforce and then proposing private market solutions has been a key strategy of this government, says Vanessa Cole, spokesperson for Public Housing Futures. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hayley Geyle, Ecologist, Charles Darwin University Sarah Maclagan/Author provided The greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis) is one of Australia’s most iconic yet at-risk animals — and the last surviving bilby species. Once found across 70% of Australia, its range has contracted by ...
The government’s own Regulatory Impact Statement acknowledges that organic producers will bear the financial burden of adapting to the risks posed by GMO expansion. ...
The committee has "rammed it through with outrageous haste", with a report now expected tomorrow, but excluding thousands of submissions, Duncan Webb says. ...
The US president’s sweeping programme of global tariffs will hit every country abroad, including New Zealand, and dramatically raise prices at home. This is an excerpt from The World Bulletin, our weekly global current affairs newsletter exclusively for Spinoff Members. Sign up here.In a dramatic, flag-draped address from the White ...
Alex Casey talks to Bariz Shah and Saba Afrasyabi, the couple who launched a project to change 51 lives in honour of those lost in the Christchurch mosque attacks. When Bariz Shah and Saba Afrasyabi walked into Naeem’s house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, they knew immediately that he needed their help. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Deane, Professor of Trade Law, Taxation and Climate Change, Queensland University of Technology US President Donald Trump has imposed a range of tariffs on all products entering the US market, with Australian exports set to face a 10% tariff, effective April ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra US President Donald Trump singled out Australia’s beef trade for special mention in his announcement that the United States would impose a 10% global tariff as well as “reciprocal tariffs” on many countries. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hayley Geyle, Ecologist, Charles Darwin University Sarah Maclagan/Author provided The greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis) is one of Australia’s most iconic yet at-risk animals — and the last surviving bilby species. Once found across 70% of Australia, its range has contracted by ...
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Get ready for an almighty surge of patriotism.
We are likely to win the America’s Cup.
It’s the grand alliance of media, corporates and government on an even more intense scale than Rugby World Cup.
This, together with the Convention Centre build starting late 2014, has a good chance of tilting the Auckland electorates harder towards National. Key will surf this.
The left needs to start debating how to counter this.
party pooper.
$40 million(nz.govt contribution) was a good investment in our boatbuilding industry, waterfront development, and tourism.
not to mention that the racing is very popular so it would be political stupidity to oppose it.
Excellent illustration of the Left’s bind.
The point is to win with greatly decreased media oxygen to grow.
How?
Remember, America’s Cup parade likely to be down Auckland’s Queen Street within10 days.
The game just shifted, esp for ak electorate.
Aren’t Labour in favour of increasing R&D in order to stimulate NZ businesses? Squealing about the cost now; when the investment looks like paying off, seems to be inadvisable. It’s a better spend than the smelter deal – that’s for sure.
If Team NZ does win the cup then that’ll mean a need to prepare for the challenge in a few years time. The left needs to develop a plan for improving the transport infrastructure in Auckland to cope with that (remember the RWC chaos). Labour may be busy with the Leadership contest at the moment, but this should be a priority for the winner.
The campaign should really begin now, because next week the flag wavers will be out in full voice.
No more taxpayers money for a billionaires piss-up on the water.
If is going to bring in so much money let the arsehole rich pricks pay for it.
Ya reckon that’s going to be a popular policy?
Do you support $40M being spent on this sham of a sport?
Given our boat building industry is worth about $1 billion, hell yes I do. Don’t be such a wowser.
I’m not disputing that $1b figure Populexicle – but since you’ve put it forward, could you give details as to where, when and how that $1b is arrived at?
I fully support it as well. It may well support billionaires, but it also supports highly skilled tradies who could easily otherwise have become bog standard chippies and panelbeaters earning $30 an hour rather than $80.
But can Labour look straight into a tv camera and find a way of praising the America’s Cup in a manner strikingly different to National?
The new Labour leader has until Monday morning to find out.
Whatever makes you think that chippies and panlebeaters aren’t highly skilled?
I’m sure Trevor is hatching a cunning plan.
Im no Mallard fan, but this $40m falls into economic development rather than expenditure on elite sport and I suspect if Labour had not put the money in from the start, then Team NZ wouldn’t have got off the ground.
On balance this is money well spent, yes the rich pricks get to party but Im sure that this will be a good investment for our boat building industry, which is a good employer and seems to be one of our few strengths. I havent seen any analysis but my guess: Money well spent on growing kiwi jobs.
i can’t see either figuring much come November 2014, concrete block edifices such as the convention center are hardly going to figure in the minds of the wider Auckland electorate, house affordability and availability will be more to the fore and if the audience for ‘the vote’ was an indicative cross section of voters the other night then i would suggest that National are in big big trouble on that issue,
Wrong year for the boat race too i would suggest, the hoopla will have died down from the win by November next year and it will be back to sleep until the next one which might give whoever is the Government at 2017 some brownie point from the feel good factor,
Lolz, the ‘Cup’ has even got me succumbing to turning on the tv at 8 in the morning, it looks like the Yanks have spent 200 million on a lemon and the crew aren’t quite up to it either,
New Zealand has the faster boat in the bigger air and the better crew in the lighter stuff when it comes down to a ‘tacking duel’, plus 1 for kiwi-engineering…
Unfortunately the media don’t give a flying fig about the huddled masses of the wider Auckland electorate.
The media care about their sponsors, and about turning everything, including politics, into a competitive sport. We can weep about that, or figure it out.
The narrow question is how to penetrate the mdeia cycle when now so much of airtime especially newstime will be given over to corporate-sport concerns.
There are wider policy and policy-retail questions to answer, but that’s the big one coming up.
Doesn’t matter if you think it’s the wrong year for anything; it’s happening.
“The left needs to start debating how to counter this.” Be appealing to the voter, have policies that people want to vote for.
Blue
The left have the policies, what they’ve needed is a leader that is capable of communicating them with conviction. Norman, Turei, and Harawira have stepped up to fill the vacuum left by Shearer in the last 20 months. After this weekend, I hope that Labour will be back in the contest with Cunliffe at the helm as leader of the opposition.
And also stop moralising to the working classes and indulging in negative bitchy politics.
So against his ministers advice John Key just picked up the phone and promised Sandeep Biswas the CEO of Pacific smelter ltd $30 million of taxpayers money? No wonder the queen, who after all is the major shareholder of Rio Tinto which owns the smelter, invites John Key to Balmoral. He’s been a very good boy!
A great article on the rise of a new, more economically focused left in the USA
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/12/the-rise-of-the-new-new-left.html
It seems the centre-left across the Anglosphere is moving away from third way politics and back to the politics of redistribution, and for similar reasons.
Oh and I support funding the America’s cup for three reasons:
1/ The feel good factor. What price on feeling pleased with ourselves?
2/ A new narrative of a New Zealand that is a first world with high technology industries that create high paying jobs instead of being a bunch of inoffensive and cuddly hobbits in a bucolic shire here to serve our visitors in low paying service sector jobs is well over due.
3/ If the government contribution is of the order of $40-50 millions then the economic return will exceed that easily.
lol @ “inoffensive and cuddly hobbits in a bucolic shire here to serve our visitors in low paying service sector jobs” although it seems reasonably accurate
don’t forget our 100% pure environment and crime free, peaceful non racist society
+1,
and this success will be justification to up the tax rates on the top tax brackets.
Jordan williams on the panel yesterday described robertson as his very good friend. Was his tongue in his ckeek?
i would have suggested His tongue was firmly wedged in another orifice, but, it is Friday the 13th and i might get bit if i did…
One of those ‘open relationships’ then huh?
Rimmington Rand – I was so impressed – I bought the company!
Jordan Williams was campaign manager for (Jim Mora’s good friend) Stephen Franks when the latter was National Party candidate for Wellington Central in the 2008 general election. That was the first time Grant Robertson stood for Labour in that seat. Their paths would have crossed a few times since in this city, and I expect Jordan has a grudging respect for him.
Lol
Grant Robertson’s point of imposing rent controls in Christchurch was a bit of an eye opener for many showing that when faced with the evidence of the rack-renting of the wrecks down there He most certainly would intervene in the market,
With the abysmal Brownlee and the equally abysmal National in control of Christchurch at the moment the name of the game is ‘Opportunity’,
Christchurch should have been declared a special economic zone with a Commission put in place to ensure that all business activity was conducted within the bounds of fair market prices,
The State with all the resources it has, should have by now had a factory built in Christchurch capable of prefabricating multiple houses weekly, National of course will rebuild the State housing estate from within the confines of Rolleston Prison, all good for teaching prisoners some skills, but, creating a huge shortage of affordable rentals in Christchurch for the foreseeable future…
Yep bad12, free market rules, but only for those at the bottom end of town.
Those at the top end of town get their inner city property values backed by government intervention.
Fucking arseholes
Whoah! That new image for Open Mike reminds me I’m waaay over due to go to the dentist.
Oh I know! I was told one year ago that I needed a filling, pronto, but other living expenses have gone on the credit card. What started out as a minimum $250 quote is now probably a whole lot more.
One thing to add to the incredibly long wish list of health policy in NZ is universal dental care. But I digress………….Got to get Key booted out and Labour under Cunliffe in first up. Socialised dental care would be at the bottom of the “TO DO” list. A project for another time perhaps.
“..Socialised dental care would be at the bottom of the “TO DO” list. ..”
..i think this would be do-able..especially starting with those least able to afford dental-care..
..why not develop a plan to subsidise the last couple of yrs of a dental-students’ expenses..
..in return for a promise from them to bond for a set period of time..to work in clinics focusing on fixing this major-problem..
..(the new stigma/’mark’ of the (often working) poor..is the gap-toothed smile..eh..? …)
..and in any serious program to fix what has ailed us for the last three decades..
..surely we could/should have removing that stigmata much much higher on that ‘to-do’ list..?
..eh..?
..and (i would emphasise)..starting with those most in need being the highest priority in any such program..
..phillip ure..
Nice idea Phillip. I agree it may be do-able but I also wonder about the expectations placed upon a new government given the mess we find ourselves in. Mind you, if the goal of a new govt is for the citizens right to a healthy happy life, maybe it wouldn’t be a low priority. I have a vague memory of Jim Anderton saying we need universal dental care in NZ. I could likely be wrong. It was ages ago if he did say it.
Maybe dentistry services could be part of a review of all health services, investigating what areas need attention and resources. I would add to the wish list suicide prevention, elder care and housing, increased funding for medical research, returning free accessible health services to all especially those who live in smaller towns and rural areas who have lost their services in recent years.I’d also add a free counselling service for people of all ages. Introducing free counselling, as well as helping to restore peace of mind may prevent further stress related illness such as heart problems, digestive problems, anxiety and depression to name a few, therefore reducing the need for more expensive and invasive treatment at a later date. There’s so much to do to expand the services within our public health sector, just IMO.
Big ups to the amazing health professionals who do do an amazing job of looking after us with diminishing resources.
Jim Anderton campaigned actively on this for several elections and it has been Labour policy in the past. Not sure about the last election though. It would make a big difference to the dental health of many adults who currently can’t afford dental care.
Nope, something that needs to be started immediately. It’d take time to get it up and running fully but it needs to be started now.
Bad dental condition seems to be implicated in bad health for the individual overall. I don’t know the sources to refer to but I have heard or read this in a source that I considered reliable.
I don’t have a link to the essence of your statement either Greywarbler but I have seen the topic discussed on a doco and have heard it directly from my dentist. A chronic infection in the tooth or jaw bone can suppress the immune system as well as create problems for the heart. I had a chronic infection in my jaw for a couple of years, knew something was wrong but couldn’t afford to attend to it. During that time I was diagnosed with glandular fever. The dentist said that it was most likely that my slow recovery was due to the untreated infected jaw.
Might see if I can find a link to back that up…………….
I agree with DTB that socialised dental care should be started immediately. However it ain’t gonna happen under this government and I have my reservations about the likelihood if it happening under a new government. I’d like to be proven wrong.
Fourth search in on Google, the link between over all health and poor dental health.
http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/features/oral-health-the-mouth-body-connection
Thanks Rosie and Murray and Pasupial (Hope Masupial recovered in quick time – though the disappointment at having the wrong one done wouldn’t help.) It could be a good idea to have a little map with arrows and a statement of what has to be done pinned to your shoulder. Just make sure that the map/plan shows exactly where it is as your right and the dentist/surgeon’s right are on opposite sides.
I know the teeth are a major source of infections. Before any transplant or semi-major surgery, they like you to get your mouth looked at. This mainly seems to empty the wallet.
Down in Dunedin we do have the option of the Dental School – which is cheaper, though you do have to wait a while (months when not in term-time) if it’s not agonisingly urgent. But then, last time Masupial went in for a wisdom tooth extraction they did end up ripping out the wrong (healthy) tooth…
Great that you have access to that service Pasupial but er, sorry about the incorrect extraction………
Rosie, thanks for the concern. But the supervisor caught it before it had been out of her mouth for 10 minutes, and hopefully the re-insertion will take. If not, they said they’d do her a free implant (though we’re yet to get that in writing). She didn’t enjoy the root canal they had to give her though!
that new logo brings to mind one tony ryall..(photoshop..!..plse..!..)
..phillip ure
@ Rosie and others …re TEETH…….look up Xylitol ( very good preventative dentistry? ) on the internet…you can buy it from a health shop in expensive tablets or cheaply by the bag in sugar form from Whangarei…(Xylitol Products)…may help?…I use it last thing at night after cleaning teeth… ( by the quarter teaspoon).
Now, down to business ..
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/business/energy-environment/in-a-natural-gas-glut-big-winners-and-losers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=3&.
.. after the boom in natural gas
http://grist.org/news/frackers-struggle-while-financiers-make-millions-sounds-familiar/
http://shalebubble.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/SWS-report-FINAL.pdf
And this benefits who ?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/9161499/US-investors-snap-up-large-Canterbury-farm
High capital values benefit nobody but banks and people opting out of society.
Useless
Business as usual for the Overseas Investment Office – http://www.linz.govt.nz/overseas-investment/decisions/
We need to ban foreign ownership of anything in NZ as it really is turning us back into serfs.
Whilst “we” (NZ as represented by some corporate rich pricks and foreign corporate sponsors in a boat) happily jump and celebrate like marionettes on the medias strings for beating “them” (the USA as represented by some corporate rich pricks and foreign corporate sponsors in a boat)….bad things happen.
During our distraction, as we reveled in faux nationalism our nations wealth got further plundered. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/9161499/US-investors-snap-up-large-Canterbury-farm
In effect some NZ corporate farm interests featuring some now very rich people have sold off a chunk of NZ to foreign owners. The new owners will take title, and keep farming as a corporate farm, and send profits offshore. We slip into the latifundia system of ancient Rome, the hacienda system of Spanish America where slaves and serfs man the fields, and the profit goes to the centre of Empire. What a sad and easily hoodwinked little crowd we really are.
Ennui
Maori have had 173 years of that shit already. If you want to see your descendent’s future just look at the tangata whenua of Aotearoa today.
NZ was built on land speculation since the first. The early settlers had to be restrained in their understandable hunger to get land and a living. My gt-gt-grandfather made a deal and paid Auckland Maori then had to go to court to get some back which he then paid for again. It was probably his fault as there was an attempt by the early colonial government to get some money to provide amenities and that was to come off a land tax which gt gt Gr circumvented. Many people landed around NZ with solemn promises of land ready and available in their ears and found they had been scammed.
Now the disgraceful thing of Maori losing access to what they should have as their proprietary or control right on a lovely Whangarei spring. An irrigation company has been given maximum rights of 35 years to use this and regard it as their right to not have to apply every 10 years so they can build businesses on its use, any attempt to control it is taking Their Rights away. Maori would probably agree to limited use and to continue supplying some water to Whangarei city.
Water controls should have been introduced decades ago, the central governments have not faced up to this difficult situation with its vocal demanding lobbyists, and the demand has just ballooned. It is very bad policy. We’re being sucked dry, the country will change beyond just having less obvious water in the rivers.
True P – and these maps show the loss in Te Ika a Maui. But it only tells a bit of the story really because along with the loss of the land was the loss of so much else, such as economic ability, social organisation, cultural practices and so on. It would be interesting to extrapolate from today into the future and factor in all of those losses too – probably wouldn’t recognise the place after 173 years.
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/interactive/maori-land-1860-2000
Pasupial, you make a strong point there. You may be very prescient in your comment that the tangata whenua experience will be echoed in that of all NZers.
Perhaps when we become the blend that is simply NZers, and all of us are tangata whenua , we can all be serfs together. We will have allowed yet another version of colonisation to occur, with the same old imperial drivers of extracting wealth from the subservient subdued colonised locals. Or perhaps we could show the unity of common cause.
“and all of us are tangata whenua”
Do you mean we are all Māori?
I thought this research was interesting and echos our whānau experience but we’re from the deep south so not really a surprise when you’ve lived it.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9126070/Maori-and-Pakeha-united-through-love
Exactly and yet people fail to see that simple reality.
Completely agree. It is an absolute unadulterated disgrace.. Dollars to donuts that the media won’t make a big deal out of this as they can’t spin it into some bullshit anti-Asian xenophobia…
+1
Bokke by 17 tomorrow night
Cunners in a canter
This opinion piece by Putin is a rather interesting read. I especially liked this bit at the end:
My bold.
Great PR.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/ketchum-placed-controversial-putin-op-ed
http://www.propublica.org/article/from-russia-with-pr-ketchum-cnbc
Don’t forget Putin’s last, brilliant sentiment in the op-ed. We are all equal in the eyes of God. Brilliant framing for the US political establishment.
The Daily Blog had a great way of putting it yesterday …
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/09/12/obama-vs-putin/
@ CV…..and the Jewish
Written while standing with one boot on Obama’s throat.
Putin the great internationalist, with global moral sentiment on his side.
Pity Obama is paying for the sins of both Bush presidencies.
Then again, someone had to.
dobro pozhalovat (welcome) to the new arrivals in Christchurch, the godwits all the way from Russia. Aren’t they amazing.
Hundreds of Godwits return about this time every year after a journey of 11,000km.
One way I think they fly all the way without a stop. But I can’t believe I have got that right actually.
Godwit chatter – It’s nice to go to the South Pacific for their summer isn’t it? Sqawk in Russian was the reply.
The Russian connection of following DTB’s comment is entirely coincidental – strange that.
It is apparently the case. They go north in stages from New Zealand to Alaska, stopping to feed along the way in New Guinea, Korea and Russia. They obviusly don’t like Korea or Russia very much and go on to greet Sarah Palin in Alaska (there – isn’t she a horrible memory?)
Their return is apparently a direct flight from Alaska to New Zealand, the longest non-stop flight of any bird.
There is a map of the route at
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/map/9184/bar-tailed-godwits-migration-route
Amazing isn’t it?
Yes they are amazing birds – the journey down from the yukon takes 8 – whatever days, no stopping, no sleeping, no eating, if blown off course they come back to the same sky trail. Kuaka are beautiful too especially just before they go, when they often have a brick red breeding plumage on their breast. I’m pleased we don’t eat them anymore – they are pretty fat just before they fly off and they mainly eat worms of various sorts in our wonderful wetland areas.
Is there a reason why today’s Open mike stresses that today is Friday 13th?
Is Key’s government planning something extra bad, or is it actually a sign of good fortune for all?
Why Karol surely you know it’s Black Friday.
I like having an excuse to make a day a little different. Well worth the little change-up pic to get a link to some very good music too!
Over on the “Bryce Edwards need to find a clue” post Bryce Edwards is taken to task for misrepresenting the partisanship of TS blogger comrade X.
The comments are closed so I’m posting this on Open Mike.
Edward’s attack on TS blogger comrade X is really just to fuel his very superficial view of the internal dissension inside Labour. He reduces it to personalities and media bullshit.
For a Marxist Edwards skates over the surface lightly, more than once…
Here is a real Marxist analysis.
There is a contradiction inside Labour between working class membership and its bureaucratic leadership promoting a neo-liberal lite capitalist program. The right fears the left taking control back from the ABC hacks, and their champion comrade Y, and dumping their centrist program. It is this contradiction that has surfaced for the first time since 1989 when the left went into the wilderness behind comrade A. The media didnt make it up they just smelled it out.
With its nose firmly sunk in the mire of blood and muck the media fears that if the left wins, behind its champion comrade Z, the working class will once again have some honest faithful representation in parliament, and that the corporate media acting like mogul muppets will no longer be able to profit from pushing its crap down our unwilling throats.
Whether comrade Z wins or not the class contradiction in the Labour Party is out in the open for all to see. Let’s not mistake this for personality clashes and media promotions. The global crisis and NZ’s slide to bankruptcy has forced all the old shit to the surface.
There you go, a couple of hundred words is enough, and no links to all the left-right-centre unintelligentsia necessary. One doesnt even have to mention personalities.
‘
Bravo!
Well done.
You can replace that bloke for that job at university.
+1
Still annoyed. It’s a pity comments have been closed on the Edwards post, because his Herald article is still claiming that the Standard is now behind Cunliffe*.
There is always a diversity of opinion here, but I challenge Edwards to find a single day since Goff’s departure when the majority of bloggers and commenters here didn’t favour Cunliffe. It’s got something to do with this being a left wing site. If he can’t find a single day that supports his hypothesis he should withdraw and apologise.
But it suits his purpose to claim that we are suddenly changing our collective tune. He has repeatedly misrepresented us to suit his pet theories.
I doubt he will read this. Anyone who reads his column knows that when he comes here it is to just to quickly skim and cherry-pick “evidence” that fit with his beliefs. If he actually read the Standard he would be embarassed by his regular public errors, and (surely) as an academic feel obliged to write the truth.
*Still not wild about Cunliffe, myself. Just the best of a bad bunch as far as I’m concerned, and the only one of the three who might, possibly, actually have some leftish leanings. Time will tell.
I hope R0b got an apology for that defamatory rave that was removed.
Don’t confuse Cunliffe’s fearless analysis and will to intervene with actual Labour policy. That set of contradictions has yet to play out. There Will Be Blood, as of Sunday 2pm.
No matter how conciliatory the new leader (whomever) appears to be.
Nor presume there’s a black-wite distinction between a so-called proletariat membership and comprador-bourgeiosie caucus. Too sad.
And if you think there’s another glorious crisis that will revive the Deep Left from its torpor, well, exhibit A: 9/11. Exhibit B: GFC. Exhibit C: Arab Spring.
Catastrophic non-revivals for progressive memes.
Give it another go pal you’re not even close.
@Ad
“Don’t confuse Cunliffe’s fearless analysis and will to intervene with actual Labour policy. That set of contradictions has yet to play out. There Will Be Blood, as of Sunday 2pm.”
“No matter how conciliatory the new leader (whomever) appears to be.”
As I said comrade Z is propelled by much stronger forces than courage, will or diplomacy. Although these personal attributes are necessary in a leader.
“Nor presume there’s a black-wite distinction between a so-called proletariat membership and comprador-bourgeiosie caucus. Too sad.”
As a dialectician I abhor “black-wite distinctions”. I call the proletariat by its correct name, consisting of those who live by selling their labour power to a capitalist employer. That is the big majority of NZers.
I do not distinguish the proletariat from the “comprador-bourgeiosie caucus”. For one thing the caucus majority called ABC is not bourgeois but bureaucratic. These are not the same. The Labour Party is the party of the labour bureaucracy which is inside the proletariat not part of the bourgeoisie. It mediates between these two classes since it shares the bourgeois ideology that classes are historical aberrations and can be legislated out of existence. Historically the Labour Party sought to reconcile the proletariat with working farmers in a political compact with NZ manufacturers protected within an economic nationalist polity. This was its rationale against the National Party and its forerunners that stood for the dominant bourgeois fraction of bankers, importers and farmers.
“And if you think there’s another glorious crisis that will revive the Deep Left from its torpor, well, exhibit A: 9/11. Exhibit B: GFC. Exhibit C: Arab Spring.” “Catastrophic non-revivals for progressive memes.”
Here I think you are expressing you own deep pessimism about the prospects of the proletariat organising to take on and defeat capitalism.
You see 9/11, GFC and the Arab Spring as “catastrophic non-revivals” of the “deep left”.
Dialectically speaking these are not revivals of the ‘deep left’, if you mean the revolutionary left, but they are revivals of the wider left, meaning the proletariat in general, resisting all the repressive forces of capitalism. The forms of resistance will change as the proletariat develops its consciousness and capacity.
In the context of a global crisis of capitalism kicked off by the GCF they signify the failure of capitalism to regenerate itself by means of neo-liberalism, by victory over “communism”, by wars and occupations of oppressed countries, and by almost total surveillance and social repression against the masses resisting austerity.
Far from being “catastrophic” for the left, these are expressions of the “catastrophe” of capitalism entering its terminal destructive phase in which it will destroy humanity and nature unless stopped.
As we say in the business, for the proletariat to live capitalism must die!
In Aotearoa, once the proletariat wakes up to a Labour Party that responds to its needs, then it is at least on its feet and prepared for battle.
But that is only the start of the battle. Let’s see which side you are on.
Fresh poll:
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/5167-new-zealand-voting-intention-september-13-2013-201309130404
Latest Roy Morgan is out.
The Greens are up to 15% and Labour is up to 47.5%.
National is down to 41%.
Good trend …
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/5167-new-zealand-voting-intention-september-13-2013-201309130404
EDIT: Pb bet me by a whisker!
lol
Labour’s up to 32, LABGRN is 47.5%
getting me hopes up, there…
Oops I was obviously thinking of a post leadership contest poll …
@ McFlock….give it time with Cunliffe as Leader….and the people get used to a new Labour Party
A labgrn vote approaching 60-65%?
It would be great, but I think you’ve been drinking the kool-aid. No MMP coalition has broken the mid-fifties, as far as I can see.
@ McFlock….kool-aid never!….too much wine a possibility
I am an optimist about Labour with Cunliffe leading!……I expect great things with Labour now and the Greens in partnership ….and Winnie as Minister of Foreign Affairs….brilliant!!!!!!
….(stone cold sober)
lol Winnie as MoF again. That was pretty embarrassing the first time.
Well, you will piss around with commentary.
And I stuffed it up
“If a National Election were held now the latest NZ Roy Morgan Poll shows that a Labour/ Greens alliance would win easily.”
I haven’t done the MMP maths, but it looks like NACT/NZF/MP have a higher percentage than L/GP/Mana
Fact of the matter is Labour has to be prepared to deal with NZ1 and MP.
Unless we get really lucky and NZF doesn’t make 5%
Personally, I think that Parliament is better off with Winston in it. Hopefully as a sitting party come 2014, they will also get a much better class of list candidate this time around. They need it.
CV+1 to Winston, he is a fighter …..and getting a “much better class of list candidate this time around”
How do you see a govt being formed if NZF get over the threshhold?
The NATs have no vision or purpose left. And Winston will be legacy shopping. There is a strong chance that the 2014-2017 term will be his last or second to last (he’ll be 72 at its conclusion).
Labour/Greens can get Peters excited about projects and ideas that National would never entertain.
It’s probably the difference between you being a Labour voter and me being a GP voter, but given how Labour have treated the GP in the past when Peters is in the picture, I don’t see him as the asset to NZ politics that you do. I also don’t trust him, at all. I don’t really trust Labour either in this regard, so can understand why the GP are going after two ticks wherever they can.
“Labour/Greens can get Peters excited about projects and ideas that National would never entertain.”
I’m not sure that answers my question exactly.
@ Weka….if he gets in he could be lured with Minister of Foreign Affairs?…He would probably ignore the Greens if given that post.?….and vice versa
I guess. Still don’t trust him (and ignoring a coaltion partner is not GP style). Or Labour until the deal is done.
Good morgan good morgan good morgan New Zealand, and a happy friday the thirteenth to all our wee tory brothers and sisters.
Today in history we recall that the last time Labour couldn’t be ignored by the media – the Goffy blip – the same thing happened. And if only an astute Standard commenter who promoted a joint leadership/primary had been heeded, the same effect may have been enjoyed for the past twelve months and more.
And let’s recall too that old “left-wing intellectual’ darling of the kiwibog sump, Brycie Edwards: the young man who brought us “the EPMU runs the standard” and went on to become a herald scribe: currently running saturation coverage and repetition of today’s classic, “Division Left” with the customary few fibby wibbies thrown in.
But enough from your old auntie with such a warm red glow shining up our back passages this glorious spring day, let’s recall and bask in that other historic lesson that we must all never forget and learn from, and play that old favourite from 1999, “When Helen hugged Jim”.
……..sorry listeners….just when you’re ready David
And I see slippery is worried about the coverage the Labour leadership contest has been getting, so he’s aiming to be in the House Tuesday, so he can slip his hand onto the new Labour leader’s cup when it is awarded – and get a 3-way handshake photo op?
Nah he’s lying about that as well. his schedule was published before Shearer stepped down and it always had him leaving after QT.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9154622/Today-in-politics-Thursday-September-12
Mr Key announced plans to travel to Britain at his press conference on Monday, saying he had ensured his travel schedule would allow him to face the new Labour leader at their first parliamentary question time next Tuesday.
We would point out that his schedule, circulated to journalists on August 12, showed he wasn’t leaving New Zealand till late Tuesday, well after question time ends. Former Labour leader David Shearer didn’t resign until August 22.
Really.
He just cannot help himself.
John Key is simply an untrustworthy compulsive liar.
liar
liar
liar
‘
Oooh . . . missed that one. Link to travel plan prior to Shearer’s resignation, plox.
I dunno “circulated to journalists on August 12”.
is there a diary on line somewhere?
https://fyi.org.nz/
Make an OIA request.
@ak
Are you channelling Aunt Daisy or Dame Edna or both? Thinking about Aunt Daisy, Labour could develop a recipe for Labour Party biscuits that could be sold from door to door, along with printed information around the biscuits of Labour’s hopes and visions for the everybodies. So what about it – has Aunt Daisy got something special, with a red tinge (raspberry jelly crystals) in her recipe book?
On second thoughts the food n.z.s in local government would probably find a way to stop selling biscuits. They seem to have tightened up on the way that ordinary folks can make money for themselves or raise it for others, on the basis of local by-laws the prissy stinkers. It used to be recognised that few bugs would be hiding out in biscuits, cakes, pickles etc. I think that the commercial bakers want a monopoly. They don’t want people to have any way of helping themselves using good old hard work and personal initiative.
Oh gawsh! (Tree Newz tunoit). Willie is traumatised and emotional about the plight of Rhinos in some place called A freak Ah!
Apprently they should have learned (had learnings) about how at risk they are – perhaps a talking point for a shyster trying to impress a Liz.
Fair enough! It’s just a shame that the same concern doesn’t the worry the Willie – nor a shyster that’s about to lead an enterage soon to try and impress Her (in doors) Mejistee.
They’ll soon be wondering why another Republic emerges from a Britissss Empire.
Bloody Hell, gawsh and rhubarb – how utterly stupid it was give those bloody slanty-eyed chinks back the Korng Horng what!
And don’t get me started on those damnable Ghanaians!
Why for Gawds sake! they’ve even got cheaper cellphone charges than out own bloody savages
Josie Pagani: Why I voted Shane Jones……
Much rapture about Jones connecting with Labours true base.
So no mention of Jones own heterosexism or misogyny then?
Go Josie! Good to see she knows how to spell Labour MPs’ names too.
Josie’s second-round gift to Cunliffe’s cumulative total. I like thick voters.
The fact Josie Pagani apparently has no fucking idea what policies Labour put forward in the previous two elections, no why Labour lost, are just more straws on top of the poor overburdened camel named “reasons no one should give a fuck what Josie Pagani thinks about anything”.
Apparently, according to the MSM, she is an excellent, representative, left-wing commentator.
Add to that his obscene inferences. She doesn’t regard that as distasteful in a leader? Can you imagine her horror if it had been Cunliffe who had exhibited such traits.
From the link:
She has exposed her own political illiteracy by interpreting Cunliffe’s action in such a way.
And finally we have this:
Well that reads like a contradiction in terms. She’s talking gobbledygook.
Definitely conflicting values – a muddle. On the one hand she defends Jenny Michie as not being homophobic, therefore should still be on Cunliffe’s team. Then she talks about Jones’ values as solid Labour ones.
BTW, I have been known to visit RSAs, pubs, marae and Mitre 10. What does that make me?
Very cosmopolitan?
I fucking love going to Mitre 10.
Bunnings creams them for service and price.
“BTW, I have been known to visit RSAs, pubs, marae and Mitre 10. What does that make me?”
An outlier? Confusing for her, Karol. She can only read people as market segments.
Deeply conflicted as well, in her statement “he thinks unity is achieved by silence rather than argument”… Rightly or wrongly, this is exactly what the ABCers demanded not too many months ago.
I won’t read anything she writes on the otherwise awesome pundit.
Oh my Gizzle why has David Cunliffe failed to win over the Mitre 10 crowd. Paddy Gower get down there quick and poll the hell out of then!
This article is interesting not so much for the poll results but the telling comments from disgruntled red necks.
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/18915617/labour-greens-would-win-election-poll/
Jesus those teeth are awful.
Sable…….you mean the Unctuous Fuck’s down to 41% ? Interesting.