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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Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
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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.
🙂 Certainly eye catching! And don’t get me started on affordability of dental treatment in NZ.
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.