Covid death rate of 8 per million compared to Australia’s 76, Japan’s 146, Germany’s 1,191, the UK’s 2,146 and America’s 2,316?
Covid infection rate of 200 per hundred thousand compared to Australia’s 777, Japan’s 1,372, Germany’s 6,457, the US’s 14,327 and the UK’s 14,677?
A vaccination rate of 145 doses per hundred residents, behind the UK at 167, Japan at 156 and Australia at 150 but ahead of the US at 135 and Germany at 142?
Debt to GDP ratio of 28% compared to 41% for Australia, Germany 57%, the UK 86%, the US’s 107% and Japan’s 238%?
An unemployment rate of 3.4% compared to Australia’s 5.6%, the UK’s 4.4%, the US’s 4.4% although Japan’s rate is 2.9%?
It seems to me we should continue to have a woman in charge although not Judith.
Shades of whatever have the Romans ever done for us.
Well even given the infrequent polls, it still seems that roughly 70% over 30% favour the Govt. handling of this awful COVID scenario.
Auckland business bleating again on RNZ this morning. Whinged about lockdowns, now lockdowns are being phased out Service Industry and petit bourgeoisie are whingeing about the non lock down regime!
I at least have some good news for some of these brats and poseurs–will be wearing a mask in public and avoiding cafes and crowds for some time to come. Have a nice day.
Power an it indicates misogyny is alive and well. Women are far more likely to receive abuse, threats and pornographic imagery than others. Sorry no reference there, but have read it many times. If you have evidence to the contrary far enough.. in the words of Germaine Greer, women don’t realise how much men hate them…..I know, I know Not all men……..I am happily married to one of the best, just to set the record straight
During my 24 years in a Public Service agency, dominated by men at the time, here are my experiences:
Initially refused permission to upgrade my qualifications on the grounds that I would marry and have babies and so it would be a waste of time.
Continued to refuse permission to upgrade etc. on the grounds I would never be able to pass the exams. I eventually passed with pleasing results.
Frequent attempts to harass and bully me for trumped up misdemeanours I never committed.
Attempted to discredit my work by changing a vital calculation. Fell flat on their faces because they forgot it was my job to send a copy to Wellington H.0. which was correct. Interfered with my computer in an attempt to prove incompetency. I was ahead of them on that one so it failed.
Arranged for colleagues to report any [supposed] misstep that could be used to dismiss me. None eventuated. I was told about that one by a former colleague – who had refused to cooperate – some time after it happened.
The basis of their hostility was political. I was a member of the Labour Party and after the Lange government came to power they convinced themselves I was spying on them and reporting their activity back to my 'handlers' in the Party – whoever they were supposed to be. Hard to believe but it was true. I had dropped out of politics about two years previously but these idiots knew better.
Shades of rabbit holes and false conspiracies. đ
2015? six years ago? Our son on Gold Coast has had their property go from S480 000 to $700 000 in one year. So Australia and several other countries assets have sharply revalued because of governments' cheap capital. This now changing back to more normal interest rates.
So in the midst of a housing affordability crises a government we elected to fix; average house prices went from $490k to $930k and the government did nothing extra?
The flu kills 500-600 people each year in NZ. I’m not sure that focusing on one virus while ignoring the other is good policy.
Of course any health policy’s effect on life expectancy and quality of life are factors which need to be taken into account. Our life expectancy has been somewhat lower than that of Australians. That seems set to continue.
The flu kills 500-600 people each year in NZ. I’m not sure that focusing on one virus while ignoring the other is good policy.
We have a vaccination programme for seasonal flu that targets at risk people. That's not ignoring. You're argument would hold more water if you put up some strategy ideas of lowering the flu rate.
As far as I can tell the covid response has lessen spread of influenza. Haven't seen the figures on flu deaths in NZ in past year though, does anyone know?
Of course any health policy’s effect on life expectancy and quality of life are factors which need to be taken into account. Our life expectancy has been somewhat lower than that of Australians. That seems set to continue.
So? From your first link,
Healthy life expectancy in Australia and New Zealand – the number of years a person can expect to live in good health – has increased steadily over the past three decades to 70 years in Australia and 69.4 in New Zealand, according to new research, but has not risen as much as overall life expectancy(82.9 and 81.8, respectively), indicating that people are living more years in poor health.
We have a vaccine available for the flu, a vaccine that many health professionals including doctors and nurses don’t use. What we don’t have is those professionals losing their jobs over their reasonable decision not to be vaccinated. That is very different to the vaccination programme for Covid.
Also the Government doesn’t borrow billions of dollars each flu season as such largesse would be unsustainable. We realise that people will die from the flu but the at-risk can get vaccinated if they wish. We don’t have restrictions imposed despite the possibility of harm including death.
It’s been predicted that lockdowns will have a negative effect on life expectancy. As I explained, we already have a lower life expectancy than those living in Australia. I suspect that gap will widen given our Government’s short-sighted decision to lockdown, a policy failure that will be felt for years to come.
I have to listen to loud old pale stale males everyday at work in a large smoko room.
It annoys me, to have these blockheads spouting off about Jacinda Ardern and many other woman MP's just to get laughs from other blockheads. Pretty sickening really.
I could say something but misogynists are so widespread in the community that it is futile and would get me offside with so many. I can't be bothered with most men, fullstop. No wonder there is so much family violence in Aotearoa.
Having said that, there are a lot of situations that women are best kept away from, for their own safety. Toxic aggressive male company is very prevalent in work and social settings. Once again, the older males are the most common, and their misogynist beliefs are being passed down to their young. It needs to stop.
I call it the little willy syndrome. These people desperately need to grow up.
Like a space time warp, some of these shit for brains seem to operate as if it is 1921 not 2021! Pathetic bravado in many cases. But silence is condoning…
I am a man and no problem with that personally, but I disown fully half of the others. Can’t stand them in my personal space, much prefer womenâs company and insight.
The fucking horrendous violent intimidation & extreme anti-social behaviour over the past 4 years in my parents' street (& their wider neighbourhood) is 100% Underclass Male MÄori … middle-aged & older Pakeha (both men & women, but particularly men) are the ones who have intervened to try & stop Male MÄori violence against both women & men.
No wonder there is so much family violence in Aotearoa.
Once again, disproportionately MÄori … around 5X the average [& to a somewhat lesser extent, Pasifika]
If that cold hard reality doesn't dovetail with your Woke dogma … then tough shit.
The patriarchal system fucks men over too, and allows everyone else to be fucked over, including your parents. Although I'd point to neoliberalism there, because wtaf that the various agencies can't sort that and other situations out, it's not rocket science.
Was the reason because they'd disconnected their heads from their hearts?
This is a lovely train of thought. We can see that in hunter/gatherer societies men do/did have hearts connected to their heads. Think aroha, manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga concepts in MÄori cultures.
Our long evolution from apes to Homo sapiens to Homo destructicus included tribe/whÄnau as the primary unit of existence ie connection. How men become disconnected from that is worth exploring. Women remained more connected because having babies does that. It's not hard to draw a line from that to why women leaders have managed covid better (although I think the reasons are multiple and complex).
Evolution in humans clearly is an interaction of the biological, environmental and social. Female humans evolving the menstrual cycle and menopause are obvious ones. Might be good if men worked out how those interactions work for them and fit into the picture, eh (I'm sure there are men that have figured this out).
no. I've thought about it (for a very long time) and yes there are obviously reasons why male and female humans evolved differently in relation to size and strength.
for some strange reason Red has this idea that we were all biology and evolutionary denialists.
that there are evolutionary reasons why female and male humans evolved differently with regards to strength and size (that's why I said obviously, because it's obvious and I get why this is even a question).
So why would one sex evolve to occupy the role of being more aggressive, more exposed to physical risk and to be more disposable? What benefit does have for them?
And why does all the research on this theme tell us that women sexually select for men who are taller, more physically powerful, more socially capable and self-confident – almost every single time? What benefit would this have for them?
As you seem to have noticed recently – biology matters.
"So why would one sex evolve to occupy the role of being more aggressive, more exposed to physical risk and to be more disposable? What benefit does have for them?"
Alternately, why would one sex evolve to occupy the role of being less aggressive, less exposed to physical risk and to be less disposable?
No, let's be clear … the common denominator in my parents neighbourhood … & it seems in most of the other cases that are beginning to finally see daylight around New Zealand … as hard as it may be for a self-interested socially-detached Woke to hear .. is Underclass MÄori Men (in terms of violent intimidation) … & Underclass MÄori of both sexes (in terms of anti-social behaviour … including both lower level intimidation & inflicting severe sleep deprivation throughout the night on neighbours).
We're talking about a policy in which the most hardcore anti-socials are casually dumped on unsuspecting neighbourhoods. Many, but by no means all, are gang-affiliated.
If we're going to head down this increasingly dangerous road of hyper-racial awareness demanded by CRT dogmatists … then I will certainly be naming the precise demographic the perpetrators of this violence belong to … Sunlight's always the best infectant.
Meanwhile, as I've suggested, the middle-aged & older Pakeha of the neighbourhood (esp men) have intervened at certain points to try to end the on-going violence … including (to take just one example) trying to stop one these guys from forcing a woman into a car just outside my Parents' house … she was terrified & screaming … everyone (including my elderly parents) rushed out to help … the MÄori guy was violently swearing his head off at everyone & threatening two of the (Pakeha male) neighbours with violence if they tried to intervene … "Fucking come here, you little fuck !!!" etc … courageously they persisted to help the woman … and it certainly takes real courage.
Not putting up with the Woke Fantasy World anymore. Bears precisely zero resemblance to cold hard reality … just an Upper-Middle Vanity Project … where those on lower incomes are systematically scapegoated in the most brutal way (by the very people who disproportionately inherited the wealth from Colonisation) … essentially the antithesis of the genuine trad Left … Zero patience with the rank cowards, covert sadists & morally posturing hypocrites who casually throw others to the wolves for their own prestige enhancement among their little clique (and that includes the more dogmatic Woke minority on this site … though, I hasten to add, most people here are more than decent).
I was pointing to the common denominator in your situation and Greenbus's situation. In both case there are men behaving badly, in quite different ways. I'm suggesting that how men are socialised is part of that.
But also, obviously in your parents's neighbourhood, class is a major factor. You put any group of men into the lives those men are leading and many will turn out like that.
I don't have a problem with you naming them as MÄori underclass men, so long as Greenbus can point to the descriptors in their situation as well. It's what meaning we attach to that that determines the politics.
Swordfish I completely feel for you and your parents and feel outraged by this situation. Bet if this was happening to a politician the rules would change by lunchtime. Boot out the anti social tenants and let someone else on the waiting list have a home.
read that Kai Orangi were offering tenants in this situation a security guard and counselling ffs
Read between the lines mate. Some things are best left unspoken. As for old whities, many many are terrible racists and misogynists and if you don't know that then you need to get out more.
All of the people I'm talking about are in management positions from bottom to top. They are the real scum of society. I hang out with battlers, shun most of the men that are being dicks and associate with the young people – who don't display this dimwit behaviour.
Many friends have said "We have to learn to live with it." At first I, like many others resisted that idea, and would come back with "Die with it more like".
After reading listening and discussing the fact that Delta is not able to be eradicated, I like many now see vaccination plus masks social distancing and good hand washing practice as necessary methods of minimising the transmission of this now endemic disease.
We have completely changed how we do certain things. We follow the numbers every day flinching when they are over 200. We no longer "pop" to see friends, we now call and set times for visits. Shopping has changed with a great deal of online click and collect or delivery to the door by masked staff. After reading up on effective hand cleaning we went back to our cakes of soap. We have always aired our home, but we are much more aware of access to and use of fresh air when visitors come, now the gardens is full of roses and the weather more settled.
We have Auckland family we have not seen for twelve months since we lunched on the Lakeland Queen for my 79th birthday, and sadly that tourist business has folded. Our eldest son was over for a day visit as soon as their lockdown ended, as he like us was at home almost full time.
I don't know if the management of these challenges were improved by the current PM, but all countries led by women appeared to do well initially, though Germany looks very scary now. Our PM manages crises well rising to all the challenges of covid.
Let's use the guides to the new system with sensitivity, and stay safe in a covid world.
You might not want to celebrate the day before night has fallen.
Maybe you want to wait until say, December 29th before writing such celebratory nonsense in regards to Covid – which would be about three weeks after Freedom Day.
While I don't think we will ever get to the unbelievable death rates of the UK and the US, in many ways we are only just about to start living the way they have been since March 2020. Living with the virus becomes our reality on Freedom Day and as a consequence of that we will see deaths on an almost daily basis from Christmas onwards.
Those who keep back slapping our current rates remind me of George Bush and his infamous Mission Accomplished speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Thankfully our government isn't really like that, but some of its cheerleaders certainly are.
The test isn't whether we end up in a mess, but whether we end up in as bad a mess as other countries whose leaders have taken a less compassion stance.
Labour were always going to have to go back to being economics focused at some point. The question here is how much the compassion and feminism will mitigate that.
so being a mess as a country is acceptable if the responses of other countries led to more of a mess? the cult of managerialism is strong in that answer.
What you've said, as I read it, is akin to "there is no point doing anything about climate change in NZ as india and china still use coal"
Why can't we just be good? or great? instead of the relavatism of "better" relying on the worsening of our fellow countries for us to achieve anything
Also, you missed my point. Sabine is pointing to the problem of letting covid out into the rest of NZ. I'm saying this is Labour, it was inevitable given delta, and the measuring stick isn't whether it's bad or not (people are doing to die, people are going to be disabled), it's whether it's a shitshow or whether we are able to mitigate the worst of it.
Kind of like climate change. We missed the boat on EVs saving the day, by some decades. There are still many critical things we need to do, but let's not pretend we're going to prevent catastrophe. What's on the table now is how much we can save and how much damage we can limit.
If we want to achieve some further maturity, acceptance, forgiveness, communication etc etc in NZ society (needed) discussions and debates, little digs like that (as seen in our Parliament?) need to be removed, it only pulls us all down to further immaturity. When it seems we actually need and want more maturity in NZ. let’s raise the level, just a little at a time at least
Some of us pale, male, stales manage to criticise a politician for their policies. I would happily mock Collins any day of the week, and yet somehow manage not to make it about her gender. It's not hard, is it?
I'd wager that to a Collins supporter your mockery of her would look just like 'misogyny'.
But then like 'racism' it's become one of those emotionally laden words that's been so twisted and stretched out of shape to have become virtually useless in any meaningful discussion.
It's a straightforward test. "Ardern = communist" is wrong, in my subjective opinion. "Ardern = pretty little communist" is gendered, in objective fact.
But you know this already, unless you carefully avert your eyes from all coverage of the anti-Ardern protests.
Collins is one of the women allowed into the boys' club because she agrees to play the game the way that the boys want it*. Probably agrees with that too. It's no uncommon for this to happen, think Shipley, Richardson, Thatcher. Or Clark for that matter. The women who want to change that system have tended to get out. Ardern has stayed and make some positive changes (I think the strong MÄori caucus is part of this too).
Women as a class are better leaders at this time on covid response, for a range of reasons. This doesn't mean all women are good leaders, it just means that as a group there is something that women are doing that is different from men. And it also means that some women would be just as bad as say Trump or Boris Johnson.
*for people having a reaction to that, understand that the boys club refers to the patriarchy, a system based on privileging men (and wealth, Caucasian ethnicity, male, fit body norms, etc). It doesn't mean that men are bad.
The real giveaway here is 'thinking time'. Not that much thinking goes on.
In conversation, somebody might mutter "stupid little woman" or some such, because in real time we all say things instantly and then regret them.
But these anti-Ardern signs are prepared. They have thought "What shall I write?" and then they have decided. And there's a little light bulb in our heads that should say "Good idea … no, maybe not." So we don't add swastikas and other idiocy because the light bulb suggests it's not a good idea. Not these guys.
What's more, after they've taken the time and trouble to make the sign about the "mad cow" or "horse face" or whatever, they've met up with their friends and their little light bulbsaren't working either. They haven't had pushback from fellow protesters saying "Do you really want that message? Isn't this about water or utes?" etc. After all, you can only hold up one placard at a time.
Think about the group mentality that says misogyny is not only acceptable, it's clever. With all of that thinking time … they still go ahead and make it their preferred message. Those are people (men) with major issues.
Those people making sexist hateful vicious attacks are envious of Arderns success.They can't beat her at virtually any level in honest debates.So are resorting to lowdown Dirty tactics/politics.
when was the last time we had a man in charge? I would suggest ,maybe mike moore, geoffrey palmer . key was NOT in charge, who has he ALWAYS worked for???.bolger was led by ruthless, then winston, then whatshername. maybe you could argue that the last time we had a man in charge was muldoon, and what a phuckup that was-is.
Our woman in charge did a good job in Parliament question time yesterday over their woman in charge. The PM was in charge of information and the issues as raised.
The best bit for me came when having just asked a question about what restrictions would take place at what level, the Leader of the Opposition asked a question about a particular instance,
Ardern cheerfully pointed out that the question showed that Collins already had a good understanding of the covid restrictions and her previous question was somewhat unnecessary.
For those questioning Ardern's leadership she showed in these exchanges a grasp of detail and a quick mind and wit, a command presence and a passion, logical thinking and clear expression.
On the other hand, Collins was asked to ask a question again when she could not control her feelings- "what the hell" was the phrase used.
Ardern very clearly told Cameron from ACT who asked why she did not talk to Groundswell that she spoke to a series of farmer and rural groups and listed them.
She also listed for Collins the good results we have had in NZ in a series of areas in these Covid times. It was very reminiscent of what the Romans have done for us-oiur version has low death rates, high business resilience, low unemployment, low infection rates, low hospitalisation rates.
I think Ardern is a great leader. Her response to Chch massacre and 1st round of covid outstanding.
re sacking people….David Clark, she rightly said she couldn’t sack in a pandemic, but did when the situation was less critical and second misdemeanour. Lees-Galloway gone by lunchtime as minister for work place relations. In interviews and question time mostly Ardern is quick witted and we’ll informed. She has seemed tired and under the weather this year, understandable for all she has had to deal with……….I think she is great, even though I have turned away from Labour and will not be voting for them next time
I think the guys who hold up these sexist signs, make themselves look so ridiculous that I can’t really take seriously. It is the men who threaten women, eg the likes of JK Rowling with rape and death threats that are dangerous and misogynistic
Ardern appeared to come out of nowhere in 2017. But her origin sits within the tight circle of Hipkins, King, and Robertson. King in particular worked caucus very hard to ensure that the transition from King to Ardern in the Deputy position was totally unanimous.
That's the positioning, ready for Shearer and then Little to fall.
That doesn't deny Ardern her own agency. The construction of the digital infrastructure with the "Burns Unit" was critical within the public campaign. Nor does it deny her popularity.
But the positioning had been occurring for years beforehand, and Robertson was not only key then, he now holds all the budget power.
Robertson is an intelligent, centrist, neoliberal with zero personality. Ardern is an intelligent, centrist, neoliberal with recognised empathetic personality. If JA decides to leave, or is pushed and Robertson takes over, it's hard to see any glimmer of anything mildly progressive on the agenda and even a depressed and chaotic oppositon looking well placed to do well in the next NZ GE.
I prefer Robertson since he is by a long way the most interventionist Minister of Finance we've had since Muldoon.
Labour's progressive agenda is primarily in the hands of this one Minister: all those big ticket items like Minimum Wage, Living Wage, $55b wage guarantee that kept unemployment under 4%, PGF, industry loans, sectoral wage increases, choking the banks, joining up ACC NZSuper and Govt Super funds together, increasing welfare, increasing tax on the very rich – that's on Robertson like no other.
No, that is not accurate Ad. "That's how she got there'.
Robertson chose her as his running mate in the Labour Party Election of a new Leader. Andrew Little won that and worked with the advice of Annette King, who suggested they train up Ardern as his deputy as Annette was retiring. When Andrew Little realised he lacked that special spark of "cut through" he nominated Jacinda Ardern to take the Party into the election, believing they would lose less seats that way. She was nominated by Little and was elected unanimously 6 weeks out from the election.
Ardern brought sparkle and wit to the campaign, and showed NZ a different political style. Her first test were the negotiations with Winston Peters. Bill English was a staid person and Winston accepted Jacinda Ardern as the PM, Winston as Deputy and Grant Robertson as Treasurer plus Jacinda gave Andrew Little a front row role and trust. He swallowed his pride and has served NZ well ever since as she knew he would.
She led the Labour Party to an historic second term win in an MMP Election and replaced a losing Winston with Grant Robertson as her Deputy. She has had loyalty from the 6th Labour Government consisting of 65 members. Real men are not threatened by her qualities.
Afraid not Patricia. Not going green. Huge family connection to the Labour Party, always voted Labour. Possibly won’t vote next year.
i have lost my respect for the party due to allowing themselves to be captured by gender ideology, the Greens more so. As well as this, both parties have attempted to bring in changes to laws by stealth. No mention of self ID in Labours election manifesto nor as a party member was I ever surveyed about it. I watched many submissions for SOP 59 and the Conversion Practices Bill and felt disgusted by the labour MPs and Dr E Kerekere’s behaviour.
Greens are even more ideologically driven and put ideology above evidence.
I do admire Labours Covid strategy and I think they have sincerely meant to address housing, poverty etc, but they haven’t achieved much there.
I can’t vote for a party who I believe are throwing women and girls under a bus. Not to mention all children who have been taught it is possible to change your sex and had medical transitioning enabled by the adults in their lives
i think its too early for congratulations….when Auckland/nth island hits the country i expect to see a surge in cases…just how high/how bad that will get is the question and what will more coming waves bring us? we have fared well through good govt and team play mostly and one can hope that we will be spared the mayhem that occurred overseas with opening up….the best of luck to us all.
Seems like Morgan Godfery (writing* an opinion piece in the Guardian) agrees with you, Micky. He's not usually that complimentary. I'm in Queensland, where the Premier is a woman. The Covid response (unlike JA the only crisis that Annastacia Palaszczuk has had to deal with) has been exemplary so far, with only 7 deaths, and each small Delta outbreak comeptently squashed. No real male/female pattern here, though. Gladys Berejiklian pursued a dangerous strategy in NSW, while Dan Andrews in Victoria did his best with Delta. All other states and territories have done a relatively good job – as good as Queensland all with male Premiers/First Ministers, Labor and Tory. Maybe the women worldwide who do make it to the top job are all by necessity exemplary, but not necessarily empathetic (Thatcher?)
Climate change is a rolling crisis that will require real time actions and long term plans.
Covid also will be a rolling crisis in the same manner, affecting all humanity.
We will seldom be free of this pressure now, as weather bombs rivers in the sky cyclones and easterly swells bring problems compounded with supply shortages caused by covid waves in our trading partners. Insurrection will be common, and as we have seen strange beliefs common. Security will be precious.
Insurance underwriters will have nightmares, policy planners need to be flexible and ready to meet the challenge of changing conditions.
Humans have caused such damage that we are all on runaway systems which could fail at any time. NZ has never faced food security challenges, how lucky are we, but with all these problems shopping online from overseas will get more difficult, and many treats may not be available.
Think that I am exaggerating? The second hand car market has been affected, building and construction also. Risk and reward behaviours will impact, as people live in denial. Jacinda Ardern has been honed by all these crises.
Hmm – if only it were that simple. I remember when Shipley was in charge – they were not halcyon days, and were Judith Collins in power I suspect the qualities of gynocracy might garner a much less sympathetic hearing.
It might be something to do with being a mature and decent human being – qualities that it seems parliament does not reliably cultivate. Then again our whole society has pretty much dropped the ball on that.
Against all odds, I still cherish the ideal of an enlightened society. It doesn't seem particularly realistic, nor does there seem to be much support for one. Nevertheless, I persist, because, although pessimists are always right, optimists have more fun.
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 ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes –Â Itâs been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its âFirst 100 Day programmeâ. During this period thereâs been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.âSomebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
Itâs been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its âFirst 100 Day programmeâ. During this period thereâs been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news â packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions â worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writersâ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate â to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlanâs article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlanâs article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Hereâs hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and â perhaps â some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from Chinaâs perspective, this weekâs visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from Chinaâs perspective, this weekâs visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Governmentâs key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
âIt hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.âTHUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology â the Internet â is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the âglory daysâ of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching todayâŚ? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trumpâs hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the partyâs decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for âFutures Exchangeâ) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:Â We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This weekâs government bailout â the fifth in the last eighteen months â of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The governmentâs stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes –Â That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labourâs caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
 Buzz from the Beehive  The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the governmentâs official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes –Â Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? Thatâs the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Governmentâs removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes –Â Â The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ârock solidâ $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The MÄori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labourâs change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te PÄti MÄori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. âIâm calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jonesâ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Governmentâs fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Governmentâs miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesnât act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own â and itâs hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own â and itâs hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money â but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Governmentâs proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm". He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,â Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand â European ...
New Zealandâs social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. âI want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealandâs social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. âTo coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that todayâs opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. âIt was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealandâs relationship with China, including trade, ...
KÄinga Ora â Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. âEarlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of KÄinga Ora. ...
TÄna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealandâs indispensable strategic partnerships. Â Â Â âSingapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening MĹrena, ngÄ mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, itâs a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. âMarch 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,â Mr Luxon says. âToday we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. Itâs a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asiaâs most populous country. Â âWe are in Jakarta so early in our new governmentâs term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. âWe look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealandâs ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. âThe recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Aucklandâs rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. âOver the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023â24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. âThe Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).âAs it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. âParts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. âA $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.  âWe have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Governmentâs priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,â says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Governmentâs commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says itâs a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Governmentâs commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says itâs a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Governmentâs plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. âThe SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Governmentâs plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. âThe SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. âLower fruit and vege ...
TÄnÄ koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
TÄnÄ koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. âFarmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and itâs vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,â ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.  Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. âThe Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. âCurrently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliamentâs Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023â24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. âOne of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. اŮŘłŮŮŮŮا٠ؚŮŮŮŮ In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. Itâs a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. âSimon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. âHelp is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Governmentâs restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,â says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. âNew Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gazaâs al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. âThe occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places theyâre ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queenslandâs chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It canât be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet ChlĂśe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. âOn her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Itâs been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its âFirst 100 Day programmeâ. During this period thereâs been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and canât be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as âTransport for Allâ, is actively opposing the governmentâs transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Councilâs various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his âmisguided political viewsâ. âI get knocked down, but I get up again,â blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guineaâs Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last monthâs massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFLâs 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parentsâ (or grandparentsâ) lives were like prior to moving â for kids in particular, theyâre too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge âIf you donât know who your mob are, you donât know who you are,â Detective Andrea âAndieâ Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University Itâs commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their partiesâ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yiâs visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit â including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in TÄmaki Makaurau. Itâs one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
Thereâs ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealandâs ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: âHis Excellencyâs speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayersâ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to âno new taxesâ as part of Budget 2024. âMr Luxonâs refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the âno new taxesâ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Governmentâs Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that thereâs a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown thatâs difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, thereâs nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australiaâs political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode â and how theyâre making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: PÄkehÄ Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversationâs series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that thereâs a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the governmentâs campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoffâs ...
KÄinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
KÄinga Ora is New Zealandâs biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime KÄinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and whatâs the real reason our skin is suffering?Itâs one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981âs underarm incident. Weâre quick to tell international travellers that the worldâs pollution led to the ...
Bobâs relationship with certain members of Lincolnâs academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clarkâs 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGPâs races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global seriesâ return to New Zealand have left this past yearâs controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflixâs 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflixâs 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Allan Simmons, partner of Sue Grey, an organiser of this rally is heard to call our PM "a silly girl". what does that indicate?
that's he's sexist and possibly misogynist.
Well even given the infrequent polls, it still seems that roughly 70% over 30% favour the Govt. handling of this awful COVID scenario.
Auckland business bleating again on RNZ this morning. Whinged about lockdowns, now lockdowns are being phased out Service Industry and petit bourgeoisie are whingeing about the non lock down regime!
I at least have some good news for some of these brats and poseurs–will be wearing a mask in public and avoiding cafes and crowds for some time to come. Have a nice day.
Yes women do cop it, remember Judith Collins’ husband posting some pretty awful images of Jacinda Ardern on social media? He seemed to get off that pretty lightly. Have linked to a milder post of Wong-Tung’s here, others had “Porn Hub” associations.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/424885/judith-collins-husband-shares-anti-ardern-facebook-posts
Germaine was right too.
Yes, women do cop it TM.
During my 24 years in a Public Service agency, dominated by men at the time, here are my experiences:
Initially refused permission to upgrade my qualifications on the grounds that I would marry and have babies and so it would be a waste of time.
Continued to refuse permission to upgrade etc. on the grounds I would never be able to pass the exams. I eventually passed with pleasing results.
Frequent attempts to harass and bully me for trumped up misdemeanours I never committed.
Attempted to discredit my work by changing a vital calculation. Fell flat on their faces because they forgot it was my job to send a copy to Wellington H.0. which was correct. Interfered with my computer in an attempt to prove incompetency. I was ahead of them on that one so it failed.
Arranged for colleagues to report any [supposed] misstep that could be used to dismiss me. None eventuated. I was told about that one by a former colleague – who had refused to cooperate – some time after it happened.
The basis of their hostility was political. I was a member of the Labour Party and after the Lange government came to power they convinced themselves I was spying on them and reporting their activity back to my 'handlers' in the Party – whoever they were supposed to be. Hard to believe but it was true. I had dropped out of politics about two years previously but these idiots knew better.
Shades of rabbit holes and false conspiracies. đ
Same here Anker. Him indoors snorted at some comments and called them "The trouser brigade"lol.
That's great, but Labour still gets a big fail for this
https://twitter.com/zbigdu/status/1463057058878529538?s=20
2015? six years ago? Our son on Gold Coast has had their property go from S480 000 to $700 000 in one year. So Australia and several other countries assets have sharply revalued because of governments' cheap capital. This now changing back to more normal interest rates.
Imagine how bad it is now after 40% house price growth since 2018
That was 46% this year DukeEll.
So in the midst of a housing affordability crises a government we elected to fix; average house prices went from $490k to $930k and the government did nothing extra?
that’s crazy
Covid death rate of 8 per million
The flu kills 500-600 people each year in NZ. I’m not sure that focusing on one virus while ignoring the other is good policy.
Of course any health policy’s effect on life expectancy and quality of life are factors which need to be taken into account. Our life expectancy has been somewhat lower than that of Australians. That seems set to continue.
https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/14388
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10834804/
https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/life-expectancy-across-australia-and-nz-on-the-rise-as-latest-global-disease-estimates-revealed
"I’m not sure that focusing on one virus while ignoring the other is good policy."
Hmmm.
I think you missed the point.
The focus is on the POTENTIAL of the virus if let loose like the common cold.
Compare apples with apples and you may just get it.
ps. The FLU is NOT ignored, by the way.
We have a vaccination programme for seasonal flu that targets at risk people. That's not ignoring. You're argument would hold more water if you put up some strategy ideas of lowering the flu rate.
As far as I can tell the covid response has lessen spread of influenza. Haven't seen the figures on flu deaths in NZ in past year though, does anyone know?
So? From your first link,
my bold.
Weka
We have a vaccine available for the flu, a vaccine that many health professionals including doctors and nurses don’t use. What we don’t have is those professionals losing their jobs over their reasonable decision not to be vaccinated. That is very different to the vaccination programme for Covid.
Also the Government doesn’t borrow billions of dollars each flu season as such largesse would be unsustainable. We realise that people will die from the flu but the at-risk can get vaccinated if they wish. We don’t have restrictions imposed despite the possibility of harm including death.
It’s been predicted that lockdowns will have a negative effect on life expectancy. As I explained, we already have a lower life expectancy than those living in Australia. I suspect that gap will widen given our Government’s short-sighted decision to lockdown, a policy failure that will be felt for years to come.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13571516.2021.1976051?journalCode=cijb20
Ross the Aboriginal % of the Australian population is is between 1 and 3%, Their life expectancy is very low. 45% have died by 40, 70% have died by65.
So Australia's figures are hardly influenced by that small %
NZ has 16.5 % Maori.
Come on, if we had The Man in charge then NZ would be getting global coverage from the BBC and New York Times …
The good old days, when men were men and hair was nervous
That guys an avid standard reader then?
I have to listen to loud old pale stale males everyday at work in a large smoko room.
It annoys me, to have these blockheads spouting off about Jacinda Ardern and many other woman MP's just to get laughs from other blockheads. Pretty sickening really.
I could say something but misogynists are so widespread in the community that it is futile and would get me offside with so many. I can't be bothered with most men, fullstop. No wonder there is so much family violence in Aotearoa.
Having said that, there are a lot of situations that women are best kept away from, for their own safety. Toxic aggressive male company is very prevalent in work and social settings. Once again, the older males are the most common, and their misogynist beliefs are being passed down to their young. It needs to stop.
I call it the little willy syndrome. These people desperately need to grow up.
Like a space time warp, some of these shit for brains seem to operate as if it is 1921 not 2021! Pathetic bravado in many cases. But silence is condoning…
I am a man and no problem with that personally, but I disown fully half of the others. Can’t stand them in my personal space, much prefer womenâs company and insight.
.
The fucking horrendous violent intimidation & extreme anti-social behaviour over the past 4 years in my parents' street (& their wider neighbourhood) is 100% Underclass Male MÄori … middle-aged & older Pakeha (both men & women, but particularly men) are the ones who have intervened to try & stop Male MÄori violence against both women & men.
Once again, disproportionately MÄori … around 5X the average [& to a somewhat lesser extent, Pasifika]
If that cold hard reality doesn't dovetail with your Woke dogma … then tough shit.
maybe the common denominator there is men.
The patriarchal system fucks men over too, and allows everyone else to be fucked over, including your parents. Although I'd point to neoliberalism there, because wtaf that the various agencies can't sort that and other situations out, it's not rocket science.
maybe the common denominator there is men.
Did it never occur to you that men evolved to be bigger, stronger and meaner for a reason?
Was the reason because they'd disconnected their heads from their hearts?
What purpose would that serve? From an evolutionary pov that is.
None that's useful – us blokes panicked, lost faith in our women and bulked-up.
Big mistake.
Can be fixed though đ
How?
Perhaps, brothers, we could pay more attention to the guidance offered to us by…women?
In my experience most women despise men who lack agency. Besides what would women know about being male?
And where does this fit in with the question I asked?
Agency? A person or thing through which power is exerted or an end is achieved ?
Something like that.
As to what women know about being male; gestation, birth, infancy, puberty…you know, those motherly-things.
So, a considerable amount.
What do males know about being male?
Interesting how you left fathers out of that.
Please go into bat for the fathers. Are we helping or hindering?
One of the single biggest predictors of being in prison, is not having a stable father in your life.
But still you seem determined not to answer my original question – so I'll leave it here.
This question "Did it never occur to you that men evolved to be bigger, stronger and meaner for a reason?"
No, it did not never occur to me.
This is a lovely train of thought. We can see that in hunter/gatherer societies men do/did have hearts connected to their heads. Think aroha, manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga concepts in MÄori cultures.
Our long evolution from apes to Homo sapiens to Homo destructicus included tribe/whÄnau as the primary unit of existence ie connection. How men become disconnected from that is worth exploring. Women remained more connected because having babies does that. It's not hard to draw a line from that to why women leaders have managed covid better (although I think the reasons are multiple and complex).
Evolution in humans clearly is an interaction of the biological, environmental and social. Female humans evolving the menstrual cycle and menopause are obvious ones. Might be good if men worked out how those interactions work for them and fit into the picture, eh (I'm sure there are men that have figured this out).
Sexual dimorphism is extremely common across many species – which I think more or less rules out Robert's somewhat fanciful explanation.
most other animals haven't evolved such large brains or had such difficulty managing that.
Sexual dimorphism lends support to Robert's idea (other wise he would have said humans not men).
yes, obviously.
?
Yes, it never occurred to you to ask?
no. I've thought about it (for a very long time) and yes there are obviously reasons why male and female humans evolved differently in relation to size and strength.
for some strange reason Red has this idea that we were all biology and evolutionary denialists.
4 weka: https://www.facebook.com/shesmagicandmidnightlace/photos/a.1585050185113419/3072317476386675/
đ You got it đ
I mean, look at the progression of Le Guin's Earthsea series, and most of the books with dragons written by men. It's all there.
And the answer you arrived at was?
that there are evolutionary reasons why female and male humans evolved differently with regards to strength and size (that's why I said obviously, because it's obvious and I get why this is even a question).
So why would one sex evolve to occupy the role of being more aggressive, more exposed to physical risk and to be more disposable? What benefit does have for them?
And why does all the research on this theme tell us that women sexually select for men who are taller, more physically powerful, more socially capable and self-confident – almost every single time? What benefit would this have for them?
As you seem to have noticed recently – biology matters.
"So why would one sex evolve to occupy the role of being more aggressive, more exposed to physical risk and to be more disposable? What benefit does have for them?"
Alternately, why would one sex evolve to occupy the role of being less aggressive, less exposed to physical risk and to be less disposable?
That is: women.
don't know what you are on about mate, why not just get to the point.
.
No, let's be clear … the common denominator in my parents neighbourhood … & it seems in most of the other cases that are beginning to finally see daylight around New Zealand … as hard as it may be for a self-interested socially-detached Woke to hear .. is Underclass MÄori Men (in terms of violent intimidation) … & Underclass MÄori of both sexes (in terms of anti-social behaviour … including both lower level intimidation & inflicting severe sleep deprivation throughout the night on neighbours).
We're talking about a policy in which the most hardcore anti-socials are casually dumped on unsuspecting neighbourhoods. Many, but by no means all, are gang-affiliated.
If we're going to head down this increasingly dangerous road of hyper-racial awareness demanded by CRT dogmatists … then I will certainly be naming the precise demographic the perpetrators of this violence belong to … Sunlight's always the best infectant.
Meanwhile, as I've suggested, the middle-aged & older Pakeha of the neighbourhood (esp men) have intervened at certain points to try to end the on-going violence … including (to take just one example) trying to stop one these guys from forcing a woman into a car just outside my Parents' house … she was terrified & screaming … everyone (including my elderly parents) rushed out to help … the MÄori guy was violently swearing his head off at everyone & threatening two of the (Pakeha male) neighbours with violence if they tried to intervene … "Fucking come here, you little fuck !!!" etc … courageously they persisted to help the woman … and it certainly takes real courage.
Not putting up with the Woke Fantasy World anymore. Bears precisely zero resemblance to cold hard reality … just an Upper-Middle Vanity Project … where those on lower incomes are systematically scapegoated in the most brutal way (by the very people who disproportionately inherited the wealth from Colonisation) … essentially the antithesis of the genuine trad Left … Zero patience with the rank cowards, covert sadists & morally posturing hypocrites who casually throw others to the wolves for their own prestige enhancement among their little clique (and that includes the more dogmatic Woke minority on this site … though, I hasten to add, most people here are more than decent).
I was pointing to the common denominator in your situation and Greenbus's situation. In both case there are men behaving badly, in quite different ways. I'm suggesting that how men are socialised is part of that.
But also, obviously in your parents's neighbourhood, class is a major factor. You put any group of men into the lives those men are leading and many will turn out like that.
I don't have a problem with you naming them as MÄori underclass men, so long as Greenbus can point to the descriptors in their situation as well. It's what meaning we attach to that that determines the politics.
read that Kai Orangi were offering tenants in this situation a security guard and counselling ffs
Cheers, Anker … appreciate the support.
Read between the lines mate. Some things are best left unspoken. As for old whities, many many are terrible racists and misogynists and if you don't know that then you need to get out more.
Maybe you need to keep better company rather than making generic claims about people based on their skin colour.
All of the people I'm talking about are in management positions from bottom to top. They are the real scum of society. I hang out with battlers, shun most of the men that are being dicks and associate with the young people – who don't display this dimwit behaviour.
As they say Micky, "So far so good"
Many friends have said "We have to learn to live with it." At first I, like many others resisted that idea, and would come back with "Die with it more like".
After reading listening and discussing the fact that Delta is not able to be eradicated, I like many now see vaccination plus masks social distancing and good hand washing practice as necessary methods of minimising the transmission of this now endemic disease.
We have completely changed how we do certain things. We follow the numbers every day flinching when they are over 200. We no longer "pop" to see friends, we now call and set times for visits. Shopping has changed with a great deal of online click and collect or delivery to the door by masked staff. After reading up on effective hand cleaning we went back to our cakes of soap. We have always aired our home, but we are much more aware of access to and use of fresh air when visitors come, now the gardens is full of roses and the weather more settled.
We have Auckland family we have not seen for twelve months since we lunched on the Lakeland Queen for my 79th birthday, and sadly that tourist business has folded. Our eldest son was over for a day visit as soon as their lockdown ended, as he like us was at home almost full time.
I don't know if the management of these challenges were improved by the current PM, but all countries led by women appeared to do well initially, though Germany looks very scary now. Our PM manages crises well rising to all the challenges of covid.
Let's use the guides to the new system with sensitivity, and stay safe in a covid world.
You might not want to celebrate the day before night has fallen.
Maybe you want to wait until say, December 29th before writing such celebratory nonsense in regards to Covid – which would be about three weeks after Freedom Day.
Show where I was "celebrating covid" ??? Or are you speaking to Micky???
Indeed.
While I don't think we will ever get to the unbelievable death rates of the UK and the US, in many ways we are only just about to start living the way they have been since March 2020. Living with the virus becomes our reality on Freedom Day and as a consequence of that we will see deaths on an almost daily basis from Christmas onwards.
Those who keep back slapping our current rates remind me of George Bush and his infamous Mission Accomplished speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Thankfully our government isn't really like that, but some of its cheerleaders certainly are.
The test isn't whether we end up in a mess, but whether we end up in as bad a mess as other countries whose leaders have taken a less compassion stance.
Labour were always going to have to go back to being economics focused at some point. The question here is how much the compassion and feminism will mitigate that.
so being a mess as a country is acceptable if the responses of other countries led to more of a mess? the cult of managerialism is strong in that answer.
What you've said, as I read it, is akin to "there is no point doing anything about climate change in NZ as india and china still use coal"
Why can't we just be good? or great? instead of the relavatism of "better" relying on the worsening of our fellow countries for us to achieve anything
Don't look at me, I don't vote the neolibs in.
Also, you missed my point. Sabine is pointing to the problem of letting covid out into the rest of NZ. I'm saying this is Labour, it was inevitable given delta, and the measuring stick isn't whether it's bad or not (people are doing to die, people are going to be disabled), it's whether it's a shitshow or whether we are able to mitigate the worst of it.
Kind of like climate change. We missed the boat on EVs saving the day, by some decades. There are still many critical things we need to do, but let's not pretend we're going to prevent catastrophe. What's on the table now is how much we can save and how much damage we can limit.
The last line speaks volumes to the article: "It seems to me we should continue to have a woman in charge although not Judith".
Just not any woman? Because its NOT JUST ABOUT male vs female. Come on humans, get over this!
Lighten up, it's just mocking the misogynist protest signs (see image in OP).
Simply removed the veil.
If we want to achieve some further maturity, acceptance, forgiveness, communication etc etc in NZ society (needed) discussions and debates, little digs like that (as seen in our Parliament?) need to be removed, it only pulls us all down to further immaturity. When it seems we actually need and want more maturity in NZ. let’s raise the level, just a little at a time at least
The OP is not about women – it's about signaling the original sin of "pale, male, stales."
It's really not.
Some of us pale, male, stales manage to criticise a politician for their policies. I would happily mock Collins any day of the week, and yet somehow manage not to make it about her gender. It's not hard, is it?
I'd wager that to a Collins supporter your mockery of her would look just like 'misogyny'.
But then like 'racism' it's become one of those emotionally laden words that's been so twisted and stretched out of shape to have become virtually useless in any meaningful discussion.
Rubbish.
It's a straightforward test. "Ardern = communist" is wrong, in my subjective opinion. "Ardern = pretty little communist" is gendered, in objective fact.
But you know this already, unless you carefully avert your eyes from all coverage of the anti-Ardern protests.
For the political tribalist everything is very straightforward.
You're not engaging with anything here, just shoehorning in preconceived lines.
Is it possible to criticise Collins without misogyny, yes or no?
Have you seen plenty of misogyny on the anti-Ardern signs, yes or no?
Collins is one of the women allowed into the boys' club because she agrees to play the game the way that the boys want it*. Probably agrees with that too. It's no uncommon for this to happen, think Shipley, Richardson, Thatcher. Or Clark for that matter. The women who want to change that system have tended to get out. Ardern has stayed and make some positive changes (I think the strong MÄori caucus is part of this too).
Women as a class are better leaders at this time on covid response, for a range of reasons. This doesn't mean all women are good leaders, it just means that as a group there is something that women are doing that is different from men. And it also means that some women would be just as bad as say Trump or Boris Johnson.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/18/female-led-countries-handled-coronavirus-better-study-jacinda-ardern-angela-merkel
*for people having a reaction to that, understand that the boys club refers to the patriarchy, a system based on privileging men (and wealth, Caucasian ethnicity, male, fit body norms, etc). It doesn't mean that men are bad.
The amen beyond the prayer.
Actually, women and men do tend to organise things differently.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/18/female-led-countries-handled-coronavirus-better-study-jacinda-ardern-angela-merkel
The real giveaway here is 'thinking time'. Not that much thinking goes on.
In conversation, somebody might mutter "stupid little woman" or some such, because in real time we all say things instantly and then regret them.
But these anti-Ardern signs are prepared. They have thought "What shall I write?" and then they have decided. And there's a little light bulb in our heads that should say "Good idea … no, maybe not." So we don't add swastikas and other idiocy because the light bulb suggests it's not a good idea. Not these guys.
What's more, after they've taken the time and trouble to make the sign about the "mad cow" or "horse face" or whatever, they've met up with their friends and their little light bulbs aren't working either. They haven't had pushback from fellow protesters saying "Do you really want that message? Isn't this about water or utes?" etc. After all, you can only hold up one placard at a time.
Think about the group mentality that says misogyny is not only acceptable, it's clever. With all of that thinking time … they still go ahead and make it their preferred message. Those are people (men) with major issues.
Those people making sexist hateful vicious attacks are envious of Arderns success.They can't beat her at virtually any level in honest debates.So are resorting to lowdown Dirty tactics/politics.
when was the last time we had a man in charge? I would suggest ,maybe mike moore, geoffrey palmer . key was NOT in charge, who has he ALWAYS worked for???.bolger was led by ruthless, then winston, then whatshername. maybe you could argue that the last time we had a man in charge was muldoon, and what a phuckup that was-is.
Our woman in charge did a good job in Parliament question time yesterday over their woman in charge. The PM was in charge of information and the issues as raised.
The best bit for me came when having just asked a question about what restrictions would take place at what level, the Leader of the Opposition asked a question about a particular instance,
Ardern cheerfully pointed out that the question showed that Collins already had a good understanding of the covid restrictions and her previous question was somewhat unnecessary.
For those questioning Ardern's leadership she showed in these exchanges a grasp of detail and a quick mind and wit, a command presence and a passion, logical thinking and clear expression.
On the other hand, Collins was asked to ask a question again when she could not control her feelings- "what the hell" was the phrase used.
Ardern very clearly told Cameron from ACT who asked why she did not talk to Groundswell that she spoke to a series of farmer and rural groups and listed them.
She also listed for Collins the good results we have had in NZ in a series of areas in these Covid times. It was very reminiscent of what the Romans have done for us-oiur version has low death rates, high business resilience, low unemployment, low infection rates, low hospitalisation rates.
Anker going Green?
They definitely are not women – and as far as I'm concerned they aren't men either.
Looks more like Robertson is in charge and Ardern communicates.
It's how she got there.
Oh Ad…….that's a big claim. What's your evidence?
Because if you don't have any, you do realize that this makes you look a tiny bit sexist?
How tiresome.
Ardern appeared to come out of nowhere in 2017. But her origin sits within the tight circle of Hipkins, King, and Robertson. King in particular worked caucus very hard to ensure that the transition from King to Ardern in the Deputy position was totally unanimous.
That's the positioning, ready for Shearer and then Little to fall.
That doesn't deny Ardern her own agency. The construction of the digital infrastructure with the "Burns Unit" was critical within the public campaign. Nor does it deny her popularity.
But the positioning had been occurring for years beforehand, and Robertson was not only key then, he now holds all the budget power.
And in turn is perfectly positioned himself.
Robertson is an intelligent, centrist, neoliberal with zero personality. Ardern is an intelligent, centrist, neoliberal with recognised empathetic personality. If JA decides to leave, or is pushed and Robertson takes over, it's hard to see any glimmer of anything mildly progressive on the agenda and even a depressed and chaotic oppositon looking well placed to do well in the next NZ GE.
Each to their own.
I prefer Robertson since he is by a long way the most interventionist Minister of Finance we've had since Muldoon.
Labour's progressive agenda is primarily in the hands of this one Minister: all those big ticket items like Minimum Wage, Living Wage, $55b wage guarantee that kept unemployment under 4%, PGF, industry loans, sectoral wage increases, choking the banks, joining up ACC NZSuper and Govt Super funds together, increasing welfare, increasing tax on the very rich – that's on Robertson like no other.
I am sure it is very tiresome for you Ad to be challenged.
I'll let you know.
No, that is not accurate Ad. "That's how she got there'.
Robertson chose her as his running mate in the Labour Party Election of a new Leader. Andrew Little won that and worked with the advice of Annette King, who suggested they train up Ardern as his deputy as Annette was retiring. When Andrew Little realised he lacked that special spark of "cut through" he nominated Jacinda Ardern to take the Party into the election, believing they would lose less seats that way. She was nominated by Little and was elected unanimously 6 weeks out from the election.
Ardern brought sparkle and wit to the campaign, and showed NZ a different political style. Her first test were the negotiations with Winston Peters. Bill English was a staid person and Winston accepted Jacinda Ardern as the PM, Winston as Deputy and Grant Robertson as Treasurer plus Jacinda gave Andrew Little a front row role and trust. He swallowed his pride and has served NZ well ever since as she knew he would.
She led the Labour Party to an historic second term win in an MMP Election and replaced a losing Winston with Grant Robertson as her Deputy. She has had loyalty from the 6th Labour Government consisting of 65 members. Real men are not threatened by her qualities.
You've only added minor colouring on my description of her reliance on Robertson and King from the outset.
There's plenty of books and articles describing the same thing in more detail.
Reliance? Ability to work with others?
I can’t vote for a party who I believe are throwing women and girls under a bus. Not to mention all children who have been taught it is possible to change your sex and had medical transitioning enabled by the adults in their lives
Anker, I am sorry that has caused you to consider cutting ties. All the best.
Have you looked into Social Credit?
They will probably never get in but their policies are all good. They've been around a long long time
i think its too early for congratulations….when Auckland/nth island hits the country i expect to see a surge in cases…just how high/how bad that will get is the question and what will more coming waves bring us? we have fared well through good govt and team play mostly and one can hope that we will be spared the mayhem that occurred overseas with opening up….the best of luck to us all.
Indeed – all beginning to sound like deliberate infection of the South for political gain in the North?
Seems like Morgan Godfery (writing* an opinion piece in the Guardian) agrees with you, Micky. He's not usually that complimentary. I'm in Queensland, where the Premier is a woman. The Covid response (unlike JA the only crisis that Annastacia Palaszczuk has had to deal with) has been exemplary so far, with only 7 deaths, and each small Delta outbreak comeptently squashed. No real male/female pattern here, though. Gladys Berejiklian pursued a dangerous strategy in NSW, while Dan Andrews in Victoria did his best with Delta. All other states and territories have done a relatively good job – as good as Queensland all with male Premiers/First Ministers, Labor and Tory. Maybe the women worldwide who do make it to the top job are all by necessity exemplary, but not necessarily empathetic (Thatcher?)
* https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2021/nov/24/in-a-crisis-you-want-jacinda-ardern-thats-why-her-poll-numbers-will-remain-robust
Labour and Ardern will probably get their third term just on crisis management.
At some point the country will realise we need a wee bit more than crisis management.
Crisis is where we are at!
Climate change is a rolling crisis that will require real time actions and long term plans.
Covid also will be a rolling crisis in the same manner, affecting all humanity.
We will seldom be free of this pressure now, as weather bombs rivers in the sky cyclones and easterly swells bring problems compounded with supply shortages caused by covid waves in our trading partners. Insurrection will be common, and as we have seen strange beliefs common. Security will be precious.
Insurance underwriters will have nightmares, policy planners need to be flexible and ready to meet the challenge of changing conditions.
Humans have caused such damage that we are all on runaway systems which could fail at any time. NZ has never faced food security challenges, how lucky are we, but with all these problems shopping online from overseas will get more difficult, and many treats may not be available.
Think that I am exaggerating? The second hand car market has been affected, building and construction also. Risk and reward behaviours will impact, as people live in denial. Jacinda Ardern has been honed by all these crises.
Good comment. I should have gotten to saying something similar myself – this narrative of man bad, women good skates on some pretty thin ice.
Don't worry. Chris Hipkins has just blown a massive hole in the first two points.
Hmm – if only it were that simple. I remember when Shipley was in charge – they were not halcyon days, and were Judith Collins in power I suspect the qualities of gynocracy might garner a much less sympathetic hearing.
It might be something to do with being a mature and decent human being – qualities that it seems parliament does not reliably cultivate. Then again our whole society has pretty much dropped the ball on that.
What?…logic!…are you lost?
Against all odds, I still cherish the ideal of an enlightened society. It doesn't seem particularly realistic, nor does there seem to be much support for one. Nevertheless, I persist, because, although pessimists are always right, optimists have more fun.
lol…or believe they do
Every day you're still alive is a good day, every meal – a feast, every paycheck – a fortune.
And every asshole is just another obstacle to level up overcoming.
A great sci-fi/horror/action movie with both a strong feminist and family values message
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woB1zvaSXag
Every formation – a parade.
One of the rare instances where Hollywood did a bit of research on military culture – worked for Avatar too, though not as well.
I really don't get how you go from Aliens to Avatar…I thought Alita was a decent little movie, well worth a sequel I'd have thought
Marines PR – Aliens & Avatar had a bunch of them and their sassy banter.
Fear not, Alita is returning. Let's hope they do not make of it what the fans are saying about Cowboy Bebop.
Not going to watch it, I'll stick with the original
We need more women: https://imgur.com/gallery/P0jYWyt
Sweden's first female PM resigns hours after getting the job.
Sweden's first female PM resigns, hours after getting the job | Stuff.co.nz
What happens when you put a women in charge who can't count.
Yup . Our blessed Mickey's luck ran out with his timing on this one.