Geophysics is one of the subjects to go under the knife at Victoria Uni of Wellington (Latin, Italian and secondary teaching are others). I get their thinking; all the necessary research must be complete now after the Christchurch earthquakes, so no need ...
According to Harry Day, the Royal Flying Corps First World War fighter ace, "rules are for the obeyance of fools, and the guidance of wise men." Wood should have heeded such advice and got his affairs in order in line with the Cabinet Manual. There may be ...
Ayesha Verrall's Beehive press release, 17 Nov 2022, states that Maori daily smoking rates for 2021/22 were almost 20% for Maori, and a little more than 18% for Pacific people. Europeans came in at 7.2% and Asian people 2.6%.
Treatment under our health system must be colour blind, like our justice system is meant to be.
I agree that NZ universities seem to see education as a numbers game. I suppose the need to get fee income dominates their thinking. There have also been some weird activities, such as the spending controversy on the Otago Uni logo. A young friend of mine ...
Three years limits the damage they do. Gotta keep 'em on a short lead.
It's a great chance to create more jobs of the bureaucratic sort. Labour should set up a government department whose task it is to proof-read all legislation before it is passed by Parliament, checking that a select committee's changes are made as required...
Labour ministers seem to be doing a great job of not winning votes: Stuart Nash, Jan Tinetti, Michael Wood ... Chris Hipkins must be fearful that more bumblers will emerge pre-election.
Memo to the Cabinet Office: when dealing with a minister who won't get off his or her backside and deal with a problem such as conflict of interest, just ask: "How would it look if the media learned of this?" That will get some prompt action.
There must be former Air NZ staff still alive who saw exactly what went on in the aftermath of the disaster. Who got the job of destroying the personal notes made by Capt Collins at the pre-flight briefing about the path his aircraft would take? Collins's ...
The music stops analogy was used in the movie "Margin Call". Jeremy Irons played a great role as head of the investment company shafting its customers ("Standing here tonight I don't hear a thing"). Take a look at it on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/...
Keep the signs we already have, and put up separate signs in Maori for those who want them. Take the funds to do this from the Maori Affairs vote in the annual budget. Problem solved.
It would be interesting to see what happened if NZ Super was made optional at 65 years of age, so if you carried on working you put off getting the government's largesse. Some people might like to keep on with their jobs for a year or two; others would be ...
Labour never campaigned on the issue of co-governance, so it is little wonder many people are objecting to the government's efforts to implement it in the new water legislation and the revised RMA rules. It really amounts to a covert attack on democracy. ...
Given the colossal amount of plastic shit dominating our lives, it is hard to remain optimistic that our grandchildren will get a clean environment. One man trying to do something about it is Boyan Slat, whose organisation is tackling the Great Pacific ...
Looks like the oceans are the main drivers of weather patterns and we are in a downward spiral that will be hard to arrest. Recent news items showed forest fires in Alberta forcing thousands to evacuate, while northern Italy has suffered extensive flooding...
Too right about the wasteful spending issue. National really has taken a wrong turn here, 'cos on Thursday a man called Robertson who does Finance Minister impressions will reveal all on proposed government revenues and outlays.
The first sentence is correct. As for the rest of the comments, some academics have only themselves to blame for the loss of trust. Take as an example the witch hunt a group at Auckland University mounted against the Listener 7 in 2021.
Our PM clearly thinks he can accommodate TPM's aspirations along with those of the Maori element in caucus. Just as the German industrial barons thought they could control Hitler in the 1930s.
Odd that he wears a cowboy hat (I assume it is) when those hats were worn by the gunslingers who helped "win the West", forcing out the American Indian tribes. Perhaps he just thinks he looks cool.
As political journalist the late John Armstrong said: “Never forget that politics boils down to power – winning it and, just as importantly, retaining it. “The fascination comes in watching how politicians play the game.” All politicians want to get their ...
How strange for Luxon to be so decisive. Maybe there was no fence available for him to sit on?
Very good point - it is impossible to get general agreement on what a NZ constitution should include. We should also be wary of constitutional change that allows greater powers to the judiciary. In the USA the Supreme Court can declare a law to be ...
I wonder if the referee's rulings will be crucial - he's already made one dodgy decision concerning Meka Whaitiri.
Looking at the bigger picture, the Meka Whaitiri business is just another bend in the long road leading to the Maori Party's objective - the implementation of He Puapua.
CGT on the family home - that sacred cow - might be a hard sell for the pollies. There is another side to the coin - the tax equation must include capital losses (house prices are currently falling). The final report of the Tax Working Group is worth ...
... do the fighting. Possibly WW II could have been averted had...
In 2019 a USA website called Circle of Blue carried an article "New Zealand Waterways Fouled by Farm Runoff, Tourist Waste" (https://www.circleofblue.org/2019/pacific/new-zealand-waterways-fouled-by-farm-runoff-tourist-waste/) True to form, a dairy ...
Good idea to have "Debate of the Day" format. If the advertising by Fonterra and the others in farming sector were true there would be no need for regulation at all. Farmers definitely need to be regulated for the greater good (just as there are speed ...
Brian Easton has given a clear analysis of the Three Waters debacle. His comments on co-governance (also on Pundit) are well worth reading. I laughed when the PM said Three Waters had not been accepted by many because the reasons for it had not been ...
Looks like it's all part of the PM's strategy to run a hip-pocket election campaign designed to obscure the real objectives you have pointed out - power and control.
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