The problem with keyboard warriors and media commentators

Written By: - Date published: 8:29 am, May 29th, 2022 - 178 comments
Categories: internet, jacinda ardern, Media - Tags:

photo Kris Snibbe/Harvard Gazette

Internationally Jacinda Ardern’s speech to the Harvard graduating class has been well received.

The Guardian has said this:

Jacinda Ardern has spoken out against the online “scourge of disinformation” in an address at Harvard University, in which she also won standing ovations for her government’s gun control laws, diversity and decriminalisation of abortion.

“The New Zealand prime minister was honoured by the American university , making the annual commencement addressto more than a thousand students on Thursday from the same stage as figures such as Winston Churchill, Angela Merkel, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey.

Ardern’s addresswas built around the need for democratic systems and informed debate, invoking the same plea from the late Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who underscored the “fragility” of democracy in her own address to the university in 1989.

But, with the United States reeling from the Texas school massacre and paralysed over how to stop the violence, she won loud cheers and a standing ovation when she spoke about how her government cracked down on gun ownership in the wake of the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks.

“We knew we needed significant gun reform, and so that is what we did,” she said. “But we also knew that if we wanted genuine solutions to the issue of violent extremism online, it would take government, civil society and the tech companies themselves to change the landscape.””

The Harvard Gazette drew comparisons between her speech and earlier speeches by Benjamin Franklin and Benazir Bhutto:

After the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked whether the U.S. would be a monarchy or a republic. “A republic, if you can keep it,” was his response. Two centuries later, at Harvard’s 1989 Commencement, Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto echoed Franklin’s warning: “We must realize that democracy … can be fragile.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern offered a similar reminder at Commencement on Thursday, updating the theme for our times. When facts and fiction have become a matter of opinion and the trust that underlies democracies is being eroded, blind faith in the resilience of democratic governance is shortsighted, she said.

The subject is vitally important for the future of the world’s democracies and the topic demands further discussion.

How was the local media cover?

Not so good.

Newstalk ZB described Ardern as having a swipe at keyboard warriors.

And on Newshub they interviewed the self appointed spokesperson for the left Josie Pagani who came up with this baffling take:

Political commentator Josie Pagani noticed a ‘jarring’ description of keyboard warriors in the Prime Minister’s speech and questioned whether it is time for the “be kind” message to run its course.

Ardern said: “In my mind, when I read something especially horrific on my feed, I imagine it’s written by a lone person unacquainted with personal hygiene practices, dressed in a poorly fitted superhero costume – one that is baggy in all the wrong places.”

Pagani said she thought “this is not very kind.”

“She attacked the keyboard warrior in a slightly sneering way,” Pagani said.

Pagani is used regularly and was nominally described as a left wing commentator. I am not sure why. I cannot think of anything she has said over a number of years where I agreed with her.

Her particular form of contrarianism always irks.  She seems to be brought out so that a supposedly supportive left wing voice criticizes the left.  On the right Matthew Hooton, while occasionally critical of his party, nevertheless manages to manufacture an anti Labour message out of the most benign of events.  I cannot recall Pagani ever getting stuck into National.

As for Pagani criticizing Ardern for not being very kind I don’t know where she has been for the past five years but Ardern has been subject to the most appalling attacks on social media that I have ever seen.  Her criticisms of the people who spew hate at her daily was pretty gentle and when you consider what she has to put up with they were remarkably restrained.

The media should be concentrating on the issues raised in the speech like this passage which I thought was outstanding:

Social media platforms were born offering the promise of connection and reconnection. We logged on in our billions, forming tribes and sub tribes. We published our thoughts, feelings and ideas freely. We found a place to share information, facts, fiction dressed up as facts, memes, and more cat videos than you ever thought possible.

We found a place to experience new ways of thinking and to celebrate our difference.

But increasingly, we use it to do neither of those things.

I doubt anyone has ever created a group titled “political views I disagree with, but choose to enter into respectful dialogue with to better understand alternative perspectives.”

As humans, we are naturally predisposed to reinforce our own views, to gather with people like us and avoid the dreaded sense of cognitive dissonance.  We seek validation, confirmation, reinforcement. And increasingly with the help of algorithms, what we seek, we are served, sometimes before we even know we’re looking.

Now I am not here to argue that social media is good, nor bad. It’s a tool. And as with anything, it’s the rules of the game and the way we engage with it that matters.

But social media matters a lot. And perhaps, much more than we thought.

The destabilizing effect that social media has had on various democracies has been well documented.  Just read about Donald Trump’s election or how the Australian Liberal Government somehow with the help of the Murdoch Press survived.  Or how Boris Johnson prevails in the UK.

The hyper parochialism engendered by social media is a problem especially for the ultra right who have used it to radicalize Murdoch reading Fox News watching conservatives.  And the disruption caused by the anti vaccination movement is evident.

This is a significant issue faced by all democracies.  It needs unpicking so that the quality of our democracies can approve.  It is a shame that the media and in particular media commentator Josie Pagani are not able to contribute to what is a vitally important discussion.

178 comments on “The problem with keyboard warriors and media commentators ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. weka 1
    29 May 2022 at 9:02 am

    It was an outstanding, moving, very well written speech.

    the keyboard warriors bit was the only bum mote, and it jarred. I don’t know what the point of the loner slob description was, but it was a free pass to the right. No politician should be using language like that about citizens.

    • SPC 1.1
      29 May 2022 at 9:16 am

      Pagani was not wrong, it was akin to the deplorables line used by Clinton.

      And given the red MAGA cap fits almost anyone who regards Trump as a super hero …

      The reason that line is used is of course because it portrays critics as the unwashed at home in comfortable clothes without any status in public society. Yet when the right calls the underclass bottom feeders (the narrative of those of white race and identity prosperity religion about those the secular left champion) ….

      It just creates the impression of a lack of respect among neo-liberals for the common folk.

      • Ross 1.1.1
        29 May 2022 at 10:04 am

        It begs the question as to whether the PM wrote her speech or whether it was written by Andrew Campbell or perhaps a combination of writers.

      • weka 1.1.2
        29 May 2022 at 10:18 am

        she got 1/4 of a sentence right (to her the problem with the slob bit is that it's empty, not that it slurs citizens) but she is wholly wrong in what she is intending to convey: that 'kindness' is a political tool whose time has passed.

        At least Shub didn't call her a left wing political commentator.

        The dude she is talking to was more interesting, esp where he talks about Ardern's charm, and how it would go down to a NZ audience made at home. He also 'primed' Pagani, lol. (tbf, she did name the problem, which is that kindness hasn't translated at home, but she gives the experience of returning Kiwis at the border, not people living in poverty. Ever the centrist, BAU middle class)

      • weka 1.1.3
        29 May 2022 at 10:25 am

        Re the problem with the slob paragraph, I agree. It reads like it was copy and pasted in as an after thought, or someone ran out of time to finesse it.

        Deplorables, painter on the roof, stream of filth, Chinese sounding names, loner slob memes… sometimes the parliamentary left just loses the plot entirely.

        Not that it's a surprise, Ardern made it very clear during the vax part of the pandemic that she believes in two New Zealands. The question becomes how far that extends into other areas.

        I don't think it denies how good the rest of the speech is, but I really wish at the least, for such a good comms team, they wouldn't drop these clangers. What was she even trying to say?

        • Populuxe1 1.1.3.1
          29 May 2022 at 12:50 pm

          That is a particularly egregious bad faith reading. In context she's clearly making a tepid mum joke about the tsunami of rabid misogynistic bilge, deeply nasty ad hominem about her appearance and gender, and conspiracy nonsense she gets daily.

          • weka 1.1.3.1.1
            29 May 2022 at 1:02 pm

            that's right, a tepid mum joke that jars because it demeans people. In context.

            She's trying to name a problem, it's how she did that's at issue. Or maybe not, maybe she really does believe that it's ok to marginalise citizens, in which case it's her politics that are the problem.

            • Populuxe1 1.1.3.1.1.1
              29 May 2022 at 1:09 pm

              Those people demeaned themselves for all to see the moment their fingers hit the keyboard.

              • weka …
                29 May 2022 at 1:15 pm

                yes. You think the problem will somehow be solved by ostracising them (would love to know how that works). I think ostracising them will make them stronger and worse.

                To make it clear, I completely support going hard against people doing hard core online abuse. I’m talking strategy here. Many of those people can’t be called in. Their family and friends probably still can be.

                • Populuxe1 …
                  29 May 2022 at 1:22 pm

                  How exactly does one ostracise an anonymous troll account? Most of these people aren't thick enough to spew that kind of bile under their own name where their friends, family and employers can see it.

                  They're not looking for excuses, they already have them.

                  • weka …
                    29 May 2022 at 1:32 pm

                    lol, looking at your comment you already now how.

                    I said,

                    Many of those people can’t be called in. Their family and friends probably still can be.

                    Maybe slow down and try and see what I am saying.

          • weka 1.1.3.1.2
            29 May 2022 at 1:03 pm

            tell me, what did you think of Clinton's deplorables comment?

            • Populuxe1 1.1.3.1.2.1
              29 May 2022 at 1:14 pm

              If you think that's the main thing that lost her the election I have a bridge in Auckland Harbour to sell you as scrap. Given the storming of the Capitol and the attempt to overthrow the last election it was prophetic and polite.

              • weka …
                29 May 2022 at 1:17 pm

                I don't think that, that's something you just made up in your head. Does tell me you don't understand my argument though.

                • Populuxe1 …
                  29 May 2022 at 1:22 pm

                  Then why bring it up in this context?

                  • weka …
                    29 May 2022 at 1:31 pm

                    Because it's an example of the (centre) left using pejoratives that create divisive narratives. I gave other examples. It's a strategic mistake as well as being naff politically and socially.

    • Kiwijoker 1.2
      29 May 2022 at 10:42 am

      Good on her! The comments she made were in the context of her speech and when you consider the unmitigated crap, vile comments, lies and misogyny directed at her from the unhinged, a tongue in cheek rebuke is understandable. Besides, the PMs mental imagery seems to describe someone who has made a career out of being a keyboard ass. Her kindness was shown in calling he, she, it a warrior.

    • Frank 1.3
      1 June 2022 at 9:54 am

      Her speech was nonsense. The NZ government gave out misinformation in the 2 Covid years and the 'Fact Checkers' were so often proven wrong. What Ardern does not like is open debate and any challenges to her. She is after all in her own words 'the only source of information people need'. Interestingly,the know-it-all has never asked where Covid came from, surely the biggest question of all, and who has patents on the virus

  2. mac1 2
    29 May 2022 at 9:19 am

    "In my mind, when I read something especially horrific on my feed, I imagine it’s written by a lone person unacquainted with personal hygiene practices, dressed in a poorly fitted superhero costume – one that is baggy in all the wrong places.”

    Better to do this than to do the other thing we are advised when being berated by somebody- to imagine them naked…… then we'd see the cause of the bagginess in all the wrong places!

  3. Jenny how to get there 3
    29 May 2022 at 9:28 am

    When it comes to Keyboard Warriors and Ukraine. My advice to them. Forgo the virtual for the real, at least for one day. Get up from your couch, leave your device at home, or in your pocket, and go and hear what the Ukrainian ex-pats. here are saying. Listen to their account of what is happening in their country.
    Engage is some honest face to face dialogue. Ask questions.

    Will any of our resident Keyboard Warriors have the courage to do that?

    Now's their chance.

    Maybe they could report back to us on how it went?

  4. Ross 4
    29 May 2022 at 9:30 am

    I cannot recall Pagani ever getting stuck into National.

    Your memory ain’t what it used to be. She criticised National two months ago. Admittedly it was a hamfisted attempt, saying that tax cuts should be focused on those who need them. She was ignorant of the fact National’s policy of adjusting tax brackets would give everyone earning more than $14,000 more disposable income.

    https://i.stuff.co.nz/opinion/128004033/dont-give-tax-cuts-to-those-who-dont-need-them

    • Bearded Git 4.1
      29 May 2022 at 10:24 am

      Ross-that is pretty hamfisted….as you well know the rich will benefit far more than the less well off from the tax changes 7-houses is proposing.

      • Ross 4.1.1
        29 May 2022 at 11:42 am

        If you meant to say that those on the Minimum wage won’t be pushed into a higher tax bracket, you are correct. In percentage terms, those benefitting the most will be those earning $60/70k. That’s not the rich.

        [Fix those 2 typos in your e-mail address in your next comment – Incognito]

        • Incognito 4.1.1.1
          29 May 2022 at 11:48 am

          Mod note

        • KJT 4.1.1.2
          29 May 2022 at 12:00 pm

          Good bit of obfuscation there. Congratulations.

          "On percentage terms".

          In actual money terms, $115 a year to lower income earners. About $800 for middle incomes. Vs tens of thousands for high income earners..

          Of course that will rapidly disappear, as National cuts wages, and adds a whole lot more expenses, as they cut services and import another million people.

          • Belladonna 4.1.1.2.1
            29 May 2022 at 12:02 pm

            Of course that will rapidly disappear, as National cuts wages, and adds a whole lot more expenses as they cut services and import another million people.

            Is that just a piece of hyperbole? Or can you link to National and/or ACT policy to cut wages, increase expenses and import another million people?

            • KJT 4.1.1.2.1.1
              29 May 2022 at 12:08 pm

              Already announced.

              On their policy website

              Also. If you think they can cut Government income by billions, without corresponding cuts.

              I have a Bridge to sell you!

              • Belladonna …
                29 May 2022 at 12:25 pm

                Umm. No still not seeing it.
                Specific links to specific policies please.

                For example on the National site, their immigration policy refers to 3 specifics:

                * Deal with the residency backlog: Note, this doesn't mean that they all get residency, just that the applications are dealt with in a timely fashion.

                * Pathway to residency for skilled migrants already in NZ.

                *Decouple visas to a specific employer to prevent exploitation.

                Not seeing anything here about opening the floodgates and/or importing another million people.

                https://www.national.org.nz/nationals-plan-to-fix-the-immigration-crisis

              • Belladonna …
                29 May 2022 at 12:27 pm

                This is not to say that I support the National programme. But I do think they are right about the tax bracket creep.
                It needs to be addressed.

                And, to avoid politicising this in the future, it should be indexed to the national average wage (just as super is).

                • KJT …
                  29 May 2022 at 1:28 pm

                  am in agreement with getting rid of bracket creep, at the bottom end!. Said that many times on here.

                  We should also remove the downward creep of tax paid, at the top end.

                  In fact we should get rid of National's paperboy tax and have a tax free threshold, and remove the the extremely regressive GST. Increasing that and borrowing to pay for for tax cuts at the top, was one of the Key Governments "highlights" along with their other sneaky taxes, sorry charges, on lower income earners.

                  That is not what National propose however.

                  Have no issue with indexing. Need a discussion on what to index it to.

                  I understand there is momentum to address this by both Labour and Greens.
                  National doing what they excel at? Pretending what is likely to happen anyway, is their idea.

          • Bearded Git 4.1.1.2.2
            29 May 2022 at 12:04 pm

            Nice one KJT….Ross and his friends in ACT/Nats will keep up the ridiculous pretence that their proposed tax cuts are fair.

            This needs to be called out at the election as you have done.

  5. mac1 5
    29 May 2022 at 9:38 am

    There's another view of this characterisation by the PM. That is, pity is a human emotion that often precedes kindness.

    I can also detect the use of 'personification' in this as well, where the nature of the material is given a human form.

    Better than the form of personification more often used by commenters here- "What a piece of shit you write"- and far more literary.

  6. Ad 6
    29 May 2022 at 10:08 am

    Well I've just sent you an alternative view.

  7. Anne 7
    29 May 2022 at 10:29 am

    Ardern said: “In my mind, when I read something especially horrific on my feed, I imagine it’s written by a lone person unacquainted with personal hygiene practices, dressed in a poorly fitted superhero costume – one that is baggy in all the wrong places.”

    Jacinda's Keyboard Warrior comment was aimed at online extremists and had nothing to do with the vast majority of people who use the internet for legitimate purposes. After all, the basis of most of her speech was the world-wide phenomenon of online disinformation and radicalisation by extreme right wing keyboard warriors.

    J Pagani is being mischievous. Bear in mind she was dumped by the Labour Party around 10 years ago. She's been conducting a campaign of revenge pretty much since. Her "left wing" credentials are largely fake, but it suits some news outlets to go along with it.

    • SPC 7.1
      29 May 2022 at 10:42 am

      Some if not most of the online extremists who attack the PM on her feeds are probably married family men (and women) who are self employed/own their businesses (thus not beholden to anyone for their social media activity).

      • Anne 7.1.1
        29 May 2022 at 10:55 am

        Anyone who indulges in hate speech, disinformation designed to radicalise and cause outbreaks of extreme violence is beholden to the rest of society regardless of their personal status. That they do it online and often anonymously is extremely concerning and requires strong responses from government and civic agencies.

        • SPC 7.1.1.1
          29 May 2022 at 11:01 am

          And yet this is exactly the response they want from government – so they can claim a threat to free speech.

        • weka 7.1.1.2
          29 May 2022 at 11:06 am

          yes it does. Which is why making a lazy slur in a major speech that is seen internationally was a such a stupid thing to do. Address the behaviour instead.

          • Anne 7.1.1.2.1
            29 May 2022 at 12:06 pm

            Describing it as a "lazy slur" is imo a wrong interpretation of her intention. Indeed I would claim it is playing into the hands of the very people who spread misinformation and disinformation online and elsewhere.

            It was clearly a 'tongue in cheek' observation introducing humour into an otherwise deeply profound problem. And it was much appreciated by audience. When you consider the majority of people, including me, have thought and vocalised similar observations (if they are being honest) then the so-called misdemeanour can be placed well down the scale of importance with the over-all speech.

            • weka 7.1.1.2.1.1
              29 May 2022 at 12:30 pm

              I don't know what she meant. I understood everything else she said, but that bit was just weird. Maybe she meant it to be humorous, maybe she meant it to be an explanation of how she manages the intense online abuse she gets (given she does her own social media), or maybe she meant something else. Who knows? (and let's bear in mind that the teleprompter was malfunctioning so maybe what she said isn't exactly what was written)

              It doesn't matter though, what you and I think she intended. People will interpret speeches (and posts, and comments) in lots of different ways. And this was the Prime Minister standing up on an international stage slurring keyboard warriors as grubby loners. It's not a misdemeanour, it's another in a line of faux pas, or maybe it's actually intentional othering, that adds to the division and muddies the kindness messaging. Let's be kind, but not you filthy people over there, you are to be condemned.

              Play the ball not the man. Point a finger at the behaviour and address that, don't marginalise citizens as you do that, not if you want social cohesion and to call in people who are being radicalised away from the left or even the centre.

              In case you think I'm concerned about the people online abusing others, I'm not. I'm concerned about society and the people on the fence being radicalised and how this is going to play out if we keep ostracising those people instead of calling them in.

              • Anne …
                29 May 2022 at 12:48 pm

                She was trying to give her audience something to laugh about. They were reeling from yet another terrible massacre brought on no doubt by yet another person who has been radicalised online by (unwashed) evil creeps who stalk the internet targeting vulnerable individuals.

                She has not marginalised citizens. Indeed she talks of being "inclusive" of those who have chosen to take a different viewpoint. As far as NZ is concerned, VFF is likely the movement she was referring to.

                • weka …
                  29 May 2022 at 1:06 pm

                  Do you not think of VFF people as citizens Anne?

                  • Patricia Bremner …
                    29 May 2022 at 2:04 pm

                    The question is "Do they want to be citizens?" No amount of calling in works with those determined to be obnoxious.

                    I personally see Hosking as one of those. If that is othering, and we are meant to continually be kind…sorry, Jacinda gave him a great deal of her time and he just became more rude. I stopped listening.

                    What was the intent of the comment? Being kind does not mean endlessly accepting rubbish or an ever changing point of view or cruel lies. So to protect her psyche she pictures a lone wolf try hard who has been there for too long and is nothing like the keyboard warrior they think they are.

                    Perhaps like many I am over stating it but that was my understanding. Protecting her psyche from the attacks. Just her method to cope.

                    • weka …
                      29 May 2022 at 2:36 pm

                      I have no problem her protecting her psyche by imagining that. I have a big problem with her using the imagery in a major international speech.

                      No amount of calling in works with those determined to be obnoxious.

                      you're missing the point (so are many others). It's the people not yet radicalised or obnoxious or those willing to change that we need to call in. It's the family and friends. It's the people who get a sense of belonging from VFF or the parliament protests and who know that a large chunk of the left thinks they are deplorables so they're shifting away from the Labour government. The people I know aren't online abusers, they're the people we urgently need to build bridges with instead of writing them off.

                      I really don't know why this is not obvious. It's a similar dynamic as radicalisation of Muslims pre-9/11. We made that mistake and haven't seemed to learn from it. If you treat people like shit they will go where they get treated better, it's just basic human need.

                  • Anne …
                    29 May 2022 at 4:47 pm

                    Now you're talking in riddles weka.

                    I don't like their messages which are based on mis and disinformation and I certainly don't approve of their modus operandi and am happy to say so. But I have never envisaged them as being anything other than NZ citizens like the rest of us.

                • weka …
                  29 May 2022 at 1:14 pm

                  She was trying to give her audience something to laugh about. They were reeling from yet another terrible massacre brought on no doubt by yet another person who has been radicalised online by (unwashed) evil creeps who stalk the internet targeting vulnerable individuals.

                  Here's what you say then: mass shootings are a problem of male culture. the men who do them are almost always also men who abuse women in their lives. Men aren't evil or bad, they get socialised into appalling behaviours in many ways: poverty, racism, physical, mental and sexual abuse, capitalism telling them they are worthless unless they make lots of money, pull themselves up by their bootstraps, focus on individual attainment, the patriarchy telling them they are useless unless they are macho and aggressive, and now also a massive problematic technology that is being run by tech bros with no social conscience and/or little social intelligence and who allow the worst of our societies to silo themselves off and foment discord and violence.

                  But she's not going to say that is she, because that would open the door to poverty in NZ and how this perpetuates male violence.

                  You want 'them' to disappear Anne, but the evidence is clear that if you don't call people in, if you don't give them a place to belong, they will go somewhere else to get those things.

                  This is happening as we speak. Not just men, but men are the ones that end up doing the shooting and much of the online abuse that Ardern gets.

                  • Anne …
                    29 May 2022 at 5:02 pm

                    Now you have gone completely over the top and totally off-topic too.

                    I'm not saying any of that rant at all. Perhaps you might like to apologise and I will forget it happened.

                    • weka …
                      29 May 2022 at 8:12 pm

                      there's a lot of miscommunication today Anne. Please reread what I wrote and substitute "Here's what you say then" with "Here's what one says then". I wasn't meaning *you, I was meaning this is what could be said instead.

            • SPC 7.1.1.2.1.2
              29 May 2022 at 1:32 pm

              The receptive audience for such comments represents the division in their neo-liberal ruled society. One side looks down on the red MAGA cap wearers and the other exploits them for votes.

          • mickysavage 7.1.1.2.2
            29 May 2022 at 7:46 pm

            "lazy slur"

            I have to disagree with you Weka. From what I see day after day Ardern gets hounded by some pretty egregious stuff. The Herald and Kiwiblog have had to moderate pretty intensively to deal with it. Hoping there will be some sort of accommodation with these people is like thinking that talking to Trump will change his ways.

            • weka 7.1.1.2.2.1
              29 May 2022 at 8:07 pm

              not sure what you mean micky. Obviously Ardern is subjected to heavy duty abuse and I'm sure we don't see the worst of it. This is bog standard stuff for high profile feminists online.

              The lazy slur isn't denying that, it's pointing out that how she talked about keyboard warriors including the stereotype of loner slob. I thought that stereotype was a lazy slur.

    • weka 7.2
      29 May 2022 at 11:00 am

      it was classic 'us vs them' narrative. Two New Zealands. Doesn't matter how you took it, or what Ardern meant (who knows?), what matters is the increasing number of people in NZ who will see that as a poke at them. Think the VFF crowd especially. The more we ostracise them the stronger they become.

      No politician should talk about citizens like this. She's an expert communicator and this was just stupid framing. She could easily have pointed to people using the internet to promote extremism (if that's what she meant) without resorting to lazy memes that are going to be misconstrued and that create more division.

      • Anne 7.2.1
        29 May 2022 at 12:17 pm

        It was all about the vile, sinister creeps who wander the internet dispensing hatred and violent calls to arms – not a bunch of gullible fools like the VFF crowd.

        • weka 7.2.1.1
          29 May 2022 at 12:42 pm

          Pity she didn't say that then, but even there play the ball not the man. You cannot in a few sentences convey that nuance and get people to understand it.

          How many of the filthy people do you think are Harvard grads? Quite a few I would guess.

      • Populuxe1 7.2.2
        29 May 2022 at 12:54 pm

        I'm quite content for the wounded male egos who think horse jokes are funny to be a "them" rather than an "us". Ta.

        • weka 7.2.2.1
          29 May 2022 at 1:05 pm

          fine. Just don't complain as this gets worse and those movements grow.

          I on the other hand, as a woman, don't want that stuff getting worse. I don't want more men in my community or online to think that treating people this way is ok, nor do I want more people in my community abandoning the left.

          • Populuxe1 7.2.2.1.1
            29 May 2022 at 1:33 pm

            The PM is also a woman and you haven't once acknowledged how a good deal of the vitriol directed at her is largely motivated by that fact. If you don't want more men in your community or online to think that treating people this way is ok, don't white knight for them just because the PM made a weaksauce mum joke that you seem intent on spinning out of all proportion. And please, anyone carrying on like this abandoned the left long ago.

            • weka 7.2.2.1.1.1
              29 May 2022 at 1:40 pm

              The PM is also a woman and you haven't once acknowledged how a good deal of the vitriol directed at her is largely motivated by that fact.

              Because it's such an obviousness it doesn't need explaining here. I've written posts about male violence, shooting, what gets directed at women, so please don't splain me.

              If you don't want more men in your community or online to think that treating people this way is ok, don't white knight for them just because the PM made a weaksauce mum joke that you seem intent on spinning out of all proportion.

              so now it's starting to piss me off, that you still don't get what I am saying. I'm not supporting online abusers, I'm pointing to the social dynamics about why they exist and what our options are for changing that behaviour. If you can 't be arsed getting my point, then at least please stop talking to me as if I mean something else.

              And please, anyone carrying on like this abandoned the left long ago.

              You really have no idea what is going on. I'm seeing people who voted left in 2020 now arguing against the Labour government.

              • Belladonna …
                29 May 2022 at 1:47 pm

                "You really have no idea what is going on. I'm seeing people who voted left in 2020 now arguing against the Labour government."

                Worse, I'm seeing/hearing people who voted Labour in 2017 (when it was almost a lost cause – no one thought they'd really get in), arguing against the Labour Government.

                2020 was almost entirely a referendum on Jacinda's leadership throughout Covid. Many centre and centrist, and even right of centre voters, voted 'Jacinda' – without buying into the Labour policy platform.

                But for the 2017 voters to be questioning the government, means that they're starting to lose some of their core support.

                • weka …
                  29 May 2022 at 1:55 pm

                  that's concerning. Labour will be aware of this and it does explain some of what they do (including pandemic response).

              • Populuxe1 …
                29 May 2022 at 2:09 pm

                Because it's such an obviousness it doesn't need explaining here. I've written posts about male violence, shooting, what gets directed at women, so please don't splain me.

                Probably because it's completely baffling as to how you are able to be simultaneoulsy concerned about male violence and yet go in on the PM for sharing her strategy for coping with said male violence online.

                so now it's starting to piss me off, that you still don't get what I am saying. I'm not supporting online abusers, I'm pointing to the social dynamics about why they exist and what our options are for changing that behaviour. If you can 't be arsed getting my point, then at least please stop talking to me as if I mean something else.

                Sure. Multiple commentors don't get your point or don't agree with your point. It's my fault. Clearly. I don't think you are supporting online abusers, I think pearl-clutching because a PM draws attention to it, hamfistedly or not, regardless of how she phrases it, sends a shitty message about what we should or shouldn't tolerate in society, regardless of your reason.

                You really have no idea what is going on. I'm seeing people who voted left in 2020 now arguing against the Labour government.

                Aside from the fact a rump of people voted for Labour in 2020 because the idea of an imploding National party trying to pick up the reins in the middle of a global pandemic wasn't that appealing, some of Labour's recent proposed law changes are on the extreme side and unpalatable to a lot of us. We all know how you feel about self ID for example.

                • weka …
                  29 May 2022 at 2:50 pm

                  Probably because it's completely baffling as to how you are able to be simultaneoulsy concerned about male violence and yet go in on the PM for sharing her strategy for coping with said male violence online.

                  Let me explain one more time then. It's how the Prime Minister described her coping strategy. By dehumanising citizens of the country she is governing. In the context of us having increasing polarisation and divisions and being on the cusp of alt right radicalisation and violence.

                  You think they're a bunch of fuckwits who deserve ostracisation. I think the people around them are moving away from our centre left government and I'm concerned about where that is going to end up.

                  Ardern could have talked about her personal coping in a way that didn't demean people.

                  Sure. Multiple commentors don't get your point or don't agree with your point. It's my fault. Clearly. I don't think you are supporting online abusers, I think pearl-clutching because a PM draws attention to it, hamfistedly or not, regardless of how she phrases it, sends a shitty message about what we should or shouldn't tolerate in society, regardless of your reason.

                  Nice deflection but it's actually you who is making shit up about what I am saying. You said,

                  don't white knight for them just because the PM made a weaksauce mum joke that you seem intent on spinning out of all proportion.

                  I've said more than once that it's not the people abusing PM I am concerned about, I'm not trying to save them. I'm pointing to dynamics that you refuse to recognise. I don't get the impression it's because you disagree so much as you don't get it.

                  Aside from the fact a rump of people voted for Labour in 2020 because the idea of an imploding National party trying to pick up the reins in the middle of a global pandemic wasn't that appealing, some of Labour's recent proposed law changes are on the extreme side and unpalatable to a lot of us. We all know how you feel about self ID for example.

                  Don't really know what you are getting at there, but I'm talking about people who have usually or always voted on the left, now politically homeless. From gender stuff or freedom stuff, it's a similar dynamic. So when I said people who voted left in 2020, it was in response to you saying they left the left a long time ago, and I'm pointing out that there are people you are apparently unaware of and in denial of.

                  I'm no saying this will affect the 2023 election. I'm saying that the left should be concerned about people ending up hating centre left governments when they used to support them.

    • Stuart Munro 7.3
      29 May 2022 at 8:42 pm

      I wonder if she meant Rorschach.

  8. roblogic 8
    29 May 2022 at 10:46 am

    Agreed, Jacinda was referring to the fringe conspiracy element like Counterspin and VFF. The ones who desecrated the Parliament lawn and war memorial. The guys who follow her around the country and try to disrupt every press conference. The arseholes who attacked vaccination centres. The criminals who send her death threats.

    The rabble of Q-Anon MAGA nuts, heads full of disinformation and lies from Trump, Alex Jones or Tucker Carlson (or worse), who then go on to attempt to overthrow governments, and cause widespread social disruption by intimidation tactics with convoys of chaos.

    I really don't know the solution, but social media narratives are dividing us and making many go crazy, by manipulating human herd instincts

    • weka 8.1
      29 May 2022 at 11:02 am

      the people sitting on the VFF fence, do you think they will listen to that speech and hear Ardern's message about self responsibility online? Or do you think they will hear her poking at the people who take them seriously?

      If you think the latter and you think it doesn't matter that the PM is insulting NZ citizens, what do you think should happen to those people?

      • roblogic 8.1.1
        29 May 2022 at 12:20 pm

        It is difficult to know how to respond to alt right insurrectionists. The paradox of tolerance

        https://twitter.com/byroncclark/status/1530434129560760321?s=21&t=7Lg5bToLThYgcL7RjAZDZw

        • weka 8.1.1.1
          29 May 2022 at 12:40 pm

          Clark is part of a sub culture that specialised in understanding extremism and looking at ways of addressing it. They're not generally very good at calling in the people on the fence or who are still able to be reached. Ostracisation is a primary tool.

          I'm thinking about the people I know (quite a lot of them) who are anti Labour because of the mandates. These are people who have historically voted on the left. We might get really lucky and they vote Green next election, or they don't bother voting. Some will waste votes or god forbid vote TOP.

          Some of them are people who have voted on the right, because that's the background they come out of, but in reality they're probably swing voters. The ones that decide elections in NZ.

          At the moment Labour can afford that. But the left cannot. We really cannot afford to ostracise progressives if in the long run we want to hold NZ on a course of transition to post-carbon, or avoid a RW backlash.

          It's pretty much the same dynamic happening to left GCFs who are now politically homeless and refuse to vote for Labour or the Greens.

          That the left considers itself so righteous that it can dispose of people that it doesn't agree with just blows my mind, again and again.

          Ardern was talking about people being abusive online. But the slur cast a wider net, because she's already established there are two NZs and here she is doing it again. Everyone I know of the above groups would condemn online abuse, but there would be a but. Yes it's wrong, but…

          In that space there is the opportunity to connect, be kind, call people in. Or push them away and tell them they're disposable, deplorable, whatever, because we think they are few in number. It's like we've learned nothing about radicalisation.

          The actual hard core alt right, throw everything we've got at the problem, address the behaviours and the way power is being accumulated and used. But that alone will not work because they are better resourced than us and better organised and they've been planning a long time. That we push people their way is just bizarre.

          • Kat 8.1.1.1.1
            29 May 2022 at 2:45 pm

            The PM was describing what she 'imagined' a keyboard warrior who posts something "especially horrific" on her feed looks like. Her imagining is also a fairly common perception of internet bullies. The notion that this description of her imagining, in the context of her speech, is somehow harmful, draws a very long bow.

            In the next sentence of her speech she went on to say: "Keyboard warrior or not though, it’s still something that has been written by a human, and it’s something that has been read by one too……"

            Here the PM leaves it up to her audience to imagine for themselves. When I heard those words I imagined a pale person in a blue suit. Then a person in a yellow jacket. Then a person behind a news desk. Then a voice on the radio. Then a person out in the fields, on a boat, in a bus, in a ute, on a tractor, in a classroom……..

            Given her audience perhaps Jacinda wanted to channel Abraham Lincoln: "Better to remain silent and be thought a keyboard warrior than to type and to remove all doubt…."

            • weka 8.1.1.1.1.1
              29 May 2022 at 2:58 pm

              as I said to Incognito below, the fact that we have to explain what we thought she meant suggests to me it was vague enough to be understood in multiple ways. When I first listened, I was enthralled, and I had a good grasp of what she was saying, the arguments she was making. But that bit didn't make as much sense. I won't be the only one.

              The PM was describing what she 'imagined' a keyboard warrior who posts something "especially horrific" on her feed looks like. Her imagining is also a fairly common perception of internet bullies. The notion that this description of her imagining, in the context of her speech, is somehow harmful, draws a very long bow.

              funny how you left out the bit I was pointing to. What you just said sounds reasonable. I was pointing to the labelling of those people as loner slobs. Of course Ardern supporters will hear what she says in a positive light. It's the people who don't that I'm talking about. She's the PM, it's just hugely problematic to talk about citizens in that way no matter how she copes with it personally (and all power to her coping).

              • Kat …
                29 May 2022 at 3:51 pm

                That is the point, I don't see the PM in the context of her speech truthfully describing her imaginings or common perceptions as being hugely problematic. On the contrary that is her signature cut through and continues to reflect the breath of fresh air label bestowed on her when she first became PM.

                • weka …
                  29 May 2022 at 4:06 pm

                  here's how AB reframed it below,

                  "It is tempting to think of keyboard warriors as being like the guy in the baggy track pants with poor hygiene, but to do that is to reciprocate their hatred with derision".

                  To me this (or something similar) does the personal touch as well as avoiding the demeaning stuff. Followed up with the comment about both people being human would be ka pai.

                  I don't want to be nitpicking here, it was a great speech. Mostly I'm bothered by how many lefties think that demeaning people is justified.

                  • Kat …
                    29 May 2022 at 4:56 pm

                    I do think some consideration of the demographic of the audience is important and that this speech took place in America not NZ.

                    We may have exhausted the topic now 🙂

            • Incognito 8.1.1.1.1.2
              29 May 2022 at 8:30 pm

              Here the PM leaves it up to her audience to imagine for themselves.

              QFT, thank you.

            • Kiwijoker 8.1.1.1.1.3
              30 May 2022 at 11:09 am

              You’ve nailed it.

      • Populuxe1 8.1.2
        29 May 2022 at 12:58 pm

        She could have sung "Somewhere over the Rainbow" and they'd still be accusing her of being a trans, horse-faced communist freemason injecting poison into the veins of the children for the NWO. What they think is largely irrelevant because they aren't listening anyway.

        • weka 8.1.2.1
          29 May 2022 at 1:04 pm

          who is 'they'?

          • Populuxe1 8.1.2.1.1
            29 May 2022 at 1:17 pm

            The people who make the comments that her deliberately cringe, very weak joke (which for some unfathomable reason you insist on comparing to Hillary Clinton calling MAGA types "deplorables" in serious earnestness) was aimed at.

            • roblogic 8.1.2.1.1.1
              29 May 2022 at 4:55 pm

              Yeah I don’t see how Jacinda pandering to the lunatic fringe is going to help improve the political discourse in Aotearoa. The Government has shown a lot of patience with its pro-vaccine PR campaigns and attempts to be reasonable.

              This government is actually doing a hell of a lot to address the deep seated problems we face, more than any in history probably, but disinformation is pernicious and dangerous, a more extreme form of dirty politics that is poisoning the minds of our most vulnerable groups.

              Jacinda is recognised around the world as a different kind of politician, a stunning contrast to the negative politics of division that has blighted the world lately. I think it’s fair enough for her to name her foes, who have made themselves the enemies of democracy by their own admission and endless abuse of her personally. They are the tools of antidemocratic, regressive forces that prefer to stay anonymous.

              Tolerance of difference doesn’t mean staying silent or polite when they do something offensive or spew defamatory lies.

              • weka …
                29 May 2022 at 8:13 pm

                Yeah I don’t see how Jacinda pandering to the lunatic fringe is going to help improve the political discourse in Aotearoa

                Are you meaning that this is what I am suggesting?

                • Stuart Munro …
                  29 May 2022 at 8:50 pm

                  Consider the context – the PM and many of her ministers receive abuse and threats daily, some of which result in legal action.

                  Her stereotype of the authors is pretty mild in the circumstances – an objective description would be less charitable.

                  • weka …
                    29 May 2022 at 9:01 pm

                    even if you believe that describing people in negative stereotypes is ok, it's still a problem in that it reinforces division.

                    • Stuart Munro …
                      29 May 2022 at 9:23 pm

                      The "gentleman" that has been threatening to kill the PM, and many of his fellow travelers, are far beyond redemption through simple politeness.

                      They have in fact reached the point where they need to be called out. That will increase division also, but outside their toxic echo chambers their narratives, like those of Amber Heard, tend to prove less popular than they assume.

                    • weka …
                      29 May 2022 at 9:52 pm

                      what gentleman?

                      You seem to have missed my point Stuart. Maybe read my other comments. I'm not suggesting what you think I am.

                    • weka …
                      29 May 2022 at 9:54 pm

                      obviously people issuing death threats need to be held accountable and I said as much during the parliament protests (which is the death threats I am aware of).

                      You should know me well enough to know that this isn't about politeness and honestly I'm sick of the binary thinking on display here.

                    • Stuart Munro …
                      29 May 2022 at 10:09 pm

                      I'm sick of the binary thinking

                      Yes – I've had your version of 'nuance' pointed at me before.

                      Didn't buy it then, and don't buy it now.

                      The PM is grappling with the issue of dealing with what are in fact hostiles. Even if they are not a credible threat to the PM, they would certainly like to be – and they are a threat to our system of governance. It's important not to pander to or appease de facto hostiles – they will only take advantage.

                    • weka …
                      29 May 2022 at 10:27 pm

                      It's important not to pander to or appease de factohostiles – they will only take advantage.

                      who are you talking about exactly? If you mean men online abusing Ardern, then I would agree, so please stop talking to me as if I am saying appease them.

                      Seriously, all day it's been like this. Read your last few comments and see how little clarity you are giving. Who are the gentlemen? Who are the hostiles? I'm sure you know who you mean, but I don't.

                    • Stuart Munro …
                      31 May 2022 at 5:14 pm

                      Somehow you leave squaring the circle between not employing negative stereotypes and calling a hostile a hostile in our court.

                      Among deepsea fishermen, we prefer to call a spade a fucking shovel.

                    • weka []
                      31 May 2022 at 6:01 pm

                      connect the replies so you see them (above) 🙂

                    • weka …
                      31 May 2022 at 5:58 pm

                      It's pretty fucking simple.

                      People who abuse others online (the problem is the behaviour, go hard against that)

                      Loner slobs (let's focus on undermining them instead using stereotypes ('deplorables') which is also an inverse dog whistle to all the other people who feel undermined by JA/Labour)

                      It's obvious from a moderators pov.

                    • weka …
                      31 May 2022 at 5:59 pm

                      and if Ardern was a deep sea fisherman, she could call them whatever she wants. But she's not, she's the Prime Minister of a country that has adopted kindness politics and she's speaking on a very public state to a large groups of privileged people.

                    • Stuart Munro …
                      31 May 2022 at 7:06 pm

                      The PM is busy – it's unlikely she understands otakus (they kill gamified aliens, not politicians). No harm done though.

                      When you find yourself echoing Pagani, you've taken a wrong turn.

        • mickysavage 8.1.2.2
          29 May 2022 at 7:52 pm

          Amen to that.

      • Patricia Bremner 8.1.3
        29 May 2022 at 4:25 pm

        Personally I see Paganin's response as deliberate offence. A bit like the rapist’s "She shouldn't be out alone at night she asked for it.".

        It is as if the PM should accept that treatment and keep her kind mantra which Paganini then says has worn thin.

        Talk about contradictions and ridiculous long straws of offence. Give that Paganini woman the whole cake.

        Weka, I do understand the PM could have phrased it better, but perfection is of the Gods. PM did say "When I see something really vile"

  9. weka 9
    29 May 2022 at 11:05 am

    Don't know why this has to be explained in TS of all places, but play the ball not the man. Especially if you are the bloody Prime Minister.

  10. Johnny on the Spot 10
    29 May 2022 at 11:08 am

    You are so right about Pagani!

  11. DB Brown 11
    29 May 2022 at 11:37 am

    Edited version.

    Get a damn grip.

    She's explaining how she uses humor to get her through some of the dark nasty crap she has to deal with.

    The only victims here are self appointed.

    • weka 11.1
      29 May 2022 at 11:47 am

      river of filth.

      • DB Brown 11.1.1
        29 May 2022 at 11:48 am

        Pardon?

        I didn’t like that part of the speech for different reasons. She didn’t need to mansplain keyboard warrior to us.

        • weka 11.1.1.1
          29 May 2022 at 12:13 pm

          this is the problem of sound bite comments.

          Get a damn grip.

          who?

          She's explaining how she uses humor to get her through some of the dark nasty crap she has to deal with.

          probably, but it wasn't apparent what she was doing, and some of us said it's still a problem and explained how.

          The only victims here are self appointed.

          who are the victims?

          • DB Brown 11.1.1.1.1
            29 May 2022 at 3:32 pm

            You're right I could have done better. But it's all a bit daft. I don't get you on this and I know you're not (typically) prone to being daft… ? Not being patronising – Are you OK?

            For me – it annoys me this intensity of focus on soundbites. Smacks of cancel culture getting one thing to hold up and decry 'this is no good' when really it's F-all. So the speech gets an A instead of an A-plus. But that doesn't warrant an inquisition.

            The expectation of perfection stifles us to express ourselves honestly. It demands tiptoeing round while the world burns. Ardern bravely addressed many elephants in the room in her speech, and while in the USA in general.

            She's not over there cosying up to power and putting herself above the fray, she's somehow balancing the above with diplomacy and class.

            The mandates are largely over, why are the protestors still whining? Chips on shoulders?

            One thing I've noticed with a fair few of the protestor types I know, they had massive chips on their shoulders well before covid.

            The working class are not some political football to be coerced left and right. They can make their own minds up – if only they had a diet of facts. The PM has been trying to address that too.

            • weka 11.1.1.1.1.1
              29 May 2022 at 3:39 pm

              Thanks DB. Some stuff happening locally that makes it more personal than usual. And I do have strong beliefs that we have to get past ostracising people we disagree with if we're going to do things like transition to low carbon in the time frame required. I see the whole system and how it interconnects and this issue, of how we treat opponents is very high on my list of things that scare me (after climate). I've been watching (and talking about it) for many years, mostly about what the right have been doing. Time we looked at our own nest as well.

              Agree about the perfection thing. For me it's less of an issue that Ardern had a bum note in an otherwise outstanding speech, than it is that so many lefties here don't get what the problem is. But fair dos, it's gotten us all a bit het up.

              The mandates are largely over, why are the protestors still whining? Chips on shoulders?

              They're not, they're organising. And the left is oblivious to this. The organising I see is good, but I worry about the stuff I don't see in the grimmer parts of the webs and society.

      • Jilly Bee 11.1.2
        29 May 2022 at 1:31 pm

        'river of filth' – I immediately took Michael Wood's comment quite literally, as there was a substantial river of filth that had been excreted, peed and generally deposited by those who had taken up residence on the lawn flowing down the gutters. I thought of far worse words to describe those so called humans who had desecrated the Parliament lawn and war memorial. Some of the commenters on social media who let their over stimulated minds run riot also fit that description as well. I think the PM has described them very aptly.

        • weka 11.1.2.1
          29 May 2022 at 1:36 pm

          I thought of far worse words to describe those so called humans who had desecrated the Parliament lawn and war memorial.

          and if you were PM or an MP you really shouldn't say them out loud.

          How do you see this going? Do you think VFF etc are just going to fade away? What happens if they grow into a political movement with power? You see what's happening in the US right? What Ardern was pointing to, in the US it's probably too late to change that, here we still have a choice. Do we want the kind of division in society that leads to men going into schools (or workplaces or parliament) and doing mass murder? Do you think the Chch shooter was an anomaly and that NZ is somehow immune to growing such people ourselves?

    • mac1 11.2
      29 May 2022 at 12:15 pm

      And 'uses humour' to do it. Sometimes that is the best way to deal with bleakness- gallows humour.

      An earlier reaction I had to the criticism was to use the point of view of some from the right when challenged about something they said that was 'less than parliamentary'. They'd say, "It's a joke, geddit?"

      But as I wrote above, there is an element of pity in her imagings to me. Pity that transforms the attempt at hurt into a means of kindness, even understanding, and let the transformation allow her equanimity of mind. It's a way to avoid the rabbit hole of depression and a way to deal with hatred.

      She restyled the attack into something far less harmful.

      Decades ago, when I had lost an election, coming second, I was greeted by a former student who bellowed across the field at a festival, "Loser!"

      Technically he was right. But I rephrased his attack upon me, knowing him as I did, that he was the loser.Winners don't mock their opponents and still keep respect.

      Humour is a better reply to anonymous vitriol. If nothing else, it shows that such attacks are not finding a deep mark, and also that they demean the attacker.

      "Loser!"

      Who is the loser here? Who is the one to be pitied? I watched a movie last night, "Mona Lisa Smile", where the vitriolic writer of hateful articles in the 1953 fashionable (like Harvard) American university student newspaper, vituperative and manipulative, out to hurt and dismay, was overcome by her intended victim who showed her love and compassion, instead hugging this woman who was lacking love from family and trophy husband alike.

      Her intended victim instead saw the smelly, deformed Superwoman disguise, of the 1950s ideal of American womanhood, that she had been given. A remarkable moment in the film, and most unexpected, especially from the character who displayed her understanding and pity.

      • SPC 11.2.1
        29 May 2022 at 1:23 pm

        Decades ago, when I had lost an election, coming second, I was greeted by a former student who bellowed across the field at a festival,

        I remember something … not that similar. It was Wellington on a Saturday in 1981 after a game of rugby which New Zealand's AB's lost – and someone shouted at me (and others) over and over that "you lost". I merely replied with words to the effect, tell us all how you feel (the marshalls did a good job of restraining the "mouth frothing redneck").

        But as I wrote above, there is an element of pity in her imagings to me. Pity that transforms the attempt at hurt into a means of kindness, even understanding, and let the transformation allow her equanimity of mind. It's a way to avoid the rabbit hole of depression and a way to deal with hatred

        Maybe Saint Jacinda just considers them to be orcs.

  12. Bazza64 12
    29 May 2022 at 12:04 pm

    Ironic that Jacinda’s speech was about the need for democratic systems & informed debate. Perhaps she should have been more upfront with Harvard & explained that she was trying to move NZ away from a democratic state to something race based. And you don’t tell the electorate that you are going to do, you just quietly bring it in bit by bit. Her only response about co-governance was the she feared it was becoming politicised. Shit, if co-governance isn’t political then nothing is. No need for informed debate when the PM won’t even front the topic in detail.

    Threats against any politician (verbal or actual) are never acceptable. But I can understand why our PM seems to be the most hated in recent times & I hear this from many people who voted for her.

    Yes she looked & sounded impressive at Harvard, but dig a little under the shiny veneer & there is huge disappointment for many.

    • Populuxe1 12.1
      29 May 2022 at 1:01 pm

      Demographically speaking it's been "race-based" for 182 years now. That's kind of the problem.

      • Bazza64 12.1.1
        30 May 2022 at 10:58 am

        It hasn't been race based for 182 years. In the early days maybe it was & that was clearly wrong. But it has been majority based for a long time (as every democracy is & has to be, otherwise it's not democratic). Maori seats were brought in to ensure Maori could aggregate their vote to get Maori representation in parliament, which has worked well for them . Look how much Maori representation we have in parliament under our pre-Jacinda democratic system – is that not a good thing ?

    • SPC 12.2
      29 May 2022 at 1:09 pm

      The feared co-governance is merely

      1. partnership in management of public land and water assets (guardianship of the public estate – land seized off iwi)

      2. greater involvement of Maori in the delivery to Maori (Maori Health Authority in addition to whana ora – which was brought in under a National government).

    • Alan 12.3
      29 May 2022 at 1:54 pm

      best comment today Bazza

    • Incognito 12.4
      29 May 2022 at 3:16 pm

      Nothing in Ardern’s speech about co-governance!?

  13. Incognito 13
    29 May 2022 at 1:33 pm

    It’s disappointing but not too surprising that a lazy commentator and media-shill such as Pagani had to zoom in on Ardern’s keyboard warrior comment and use it as a pivot to attack Ardern’s personality trait of kindness.

    Of course, the term keyboard warrior is a metaphor to start with.

    In this light, I read Ardern’s brief comment as a metaphor too. Metaphorically, she described an aggressive person who uses their device as a violent weapon to lash out and attack others in anger and in an irrational state of raw uncontrolled emotions. Their online persona at the time is of somebody who feels invincible, untouchable, all-powerful and protected from counter-attacks in the safety of their homes and shielded behind the anonymity of their made-up online usernames. They don’t think and consider the consequences and impact their actions may have on others – they act with the mental age of a small child. I’m with Ardern on this, if that’s what she meant by her words and if so, I’d have added “grow up”.

    The written version of the speech can be found here: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/harvard-commencement-speech-democracy-disinformation-and-kindness

    • RedLogix 13.1
      29 May 2022 at 1:39 pm

      Yeah – it reads as an excellent speech with just one teensy controversial point.

      Well I guess all the keyboard warriors needed something to scrap over.

      • SPC 13.1.1
        29 May 2022 at 1:52 pm

        The use of the terms bottom feeders and deplorables …etc inform the public as to the nature of the neo-liberal ruling class.

        These can be quite revealing – the term secular left behind used by those of the rapture movement for example – it can be seen as expression of ambition for control of SCOTUS and return Jim Crow era voter suppression, ending the gains of the civil liberties era of the 60’s/70’s step by step).

      • Populuxe1 13.1.2
        29 May 2022 at 2:13 pm

        Anyone want to borrow some pearls to clutch? Mine are cultured.

      • Incognito 13.1.3
        29 May 2022 at 2:15 pm

        laugh good one!

        Ardern made it very clear whom she had in mind when she singled out the ones who write and post online something “especially horrific”. If anybody feels they qualify for this category (aka if the shoe fits) they may have some reason to feel offended by Ardern’s comment, but I reckon they’d exist in that state semi-permanently anyway, by personal choice and not because of Ardern personally. People who clearly not qualify have no reason to feel that Ardern’s comment was addressed to them.

        The group of keyboard warriors Ardern singled may actually (and hopefully) be a very select and small group of people, such as the Dirty Dozen at the Parliament grounds occupation, aided by a much larger group of unthinking followers, i.e., quite literally keystrokers who have the finger on Likes buttons. The unthinking followers by definition belong to the group of readers that Ardern also referred to.

      • Patricia Bremner 13.1.4
        29 May 2022 at 4:41 pm

        smiley Yes I think so. They pounced!!

    • SPC 13.2
      29 May 2022 at 1:45 pm

      Yet being anonymous is actually important to have and exercise free speech safely from ones home or personal device (note NSO will allow governments to spy on these).

      Few people, such as members of SCOTUS, get immediate help (GOP in Congress) when they come under threat.

    • weka 13.3
      29 May 2022 at 1:52 pm

      That's maybe the fourth interpretation of her words that I've seen, which tells me more than anything that that paragraph was off linguistically and that the metaphor failed to land in the way intended.

      I was watching enthralled by the speech and when she said that bit, I was like whoa! did she actually say that, how weird. It did jar.

      It's also off politically, which is what I've been arguing today. I also think it's unfortunate that Pagani does this (really, she should just start a centrist party and get the legitimacy for her views that way).

      I like the explanation of metaphor, and I don't particularly disagree with your parsing of the metaphor. The problem I have is that she described the person in demeaning terms.

      It was interest that she both softened this and made it more pointed when she said,

      Keyboard warrior or not though, it’s still something that has been written by a human, and it’s something that has been read by one too.

      Not softening/making more pointed the demeaning, but the actual point she was trying to make: it's two sets of humans involved. Unfortunately some here want one of the humans to be dehumanised, and this never leads to anything good.

  14. Just Saying 14
    29 May 2022 at 1:48 pm

    https://youtu.be/-I_7M_JeSoc

    As one who was a leftwing (female) foot soldier, how I felt about Adern's swipe against deplorables like me for daring to criticise her government's divisive and dangerous policy:

    • The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door
      He said, "I am not fighting for you any more"
      The queen knew she'd seen his face someplace before
      And slowly she let him inside……………………

      ……….. But the crown, it had fallen, and she thought she would break
      And she stood there, ashamed of the way her heart ached
      And she took him to the doorstep and she asked him to wait
      She would only be a moment inside

      Out in the distance her order was heard
      And the soldier was killed, still waiting for her word
      And while the queen went on strangling in the solitude she preferred
      The battle continued on

      Songwriters: Suzanne Vega. For non-commercial use only.

  15. Reality 15
    29 May 2022 at 1:58 pm

    Considering the wretched, vile, abusive, threatening stuff the PM is subjected to, I can well understand her giving her frank opinion on what she thinks. Turning the other cheek always is just beyond possible. Sometimes the blunt truth needs to be spoken.

    The tall poppy let's knock her down types, conservative often older males who cannot accept a young, vibrant, female PM, who basically are angry and jealous, lurk in the shadows in New Zealand. What is puzzling is that so-called left, centre- left commenters here criticise the PM a lot in comparison to the right who always support their politicians even when they have stepped out of line. Greater loyalty perhaps?

  16. AB 16
    29 May 2022 at 2:57 pm

    It was a weak joke – but didn't detract greatly from an otherwise pretty good speech. An Ardern on top of her game would have inverted the joke and said: "It is tempting to think of keyboard warriors as being like the guy in the baggy track pants with poor hygiene, but to do that is to reciprocate their hatred with derision". Or something genuinely classy like that. Maybe she's tired (most of us would be dead with that workload), or maybe she needs a better speechwriter.

    But that's a bit of a sideshow. I was much more perturbed by how an audience made up of the financial/economic elite of Harvard, lapped up everything she said. If on the tech giants she had said – "it's unacceptable for this much power to ever be in unaccountable, private hands. The only legitimate power flows from democratic processes. Therefore these platforms need to be nationalised and turned into well-regulated public utilities and free to the public as part of an integrated system of Universal Basic Services and Income" – probably she would have been booed. Which would have been something to cheer about.

    • weka 16.1
      29 May 2022 at 3:04 pm

      "It is tempting to think of keyboard warriors as being like the guy in the baggy track pants with poor hygiene, but to do that is to reciprocate their hatred with derision".

      omg, that is perfect. Thank-you.

      Fuck, when someone says something in twenty words that I couldn't get that clear in twenty comments.

      Or something genuinely classy like that. Maybe she's tired (most of us would be dead with that workload), or maybe she needs a better speechwriter.

      yep.

      • Robert Guyton 16.1.1
        29 May 2022 at 3:19 pm

        I don't agree. Hers was a personal comment (I feel…imo…) this tiny expression, real expression of how Jacinda feels about people who have "keyboard-attacked" her, is genuine and justified. Measured too. She simply described how she classifies/envisages/contains what must be a sometimes appalling engagement from those "warriors" – it's a personal, humorous/realistic "release" into the world, of pressure that must be, in reality, intense and spiritually-damaging attacks from people plunked in front of their computers, keen to cause hurt. The advice to "picture your audience naked" is not an encouragement to demean those in front of you, it's meant as an equaliser – a method of reducing the perceived power a potentially-harmful crowd to something you can interact comfortably with. Jacinda has brought those corrosive agents down to something un-threatening, as she must, if she is to survive their attacks. Imagination is a powerful agency – controlling negative images requires the sort of approach that Jacinda has described. I support her action.

        • weka 16.1.1.1
          29 May 2022 at 3:30 pm

          picture your audience naked is in fact neutral though.

          I hear what you are saying, and agree largely, I just think that AB's sentence (or similar) does this without the other problematic bits.

        • Anne 16.1.1.2
          29 May 2022 at 4:34 pm

          Thank you Robert. Your description of Jacinda's motivation is so much better than my attempts earlier today.

          I have met Jacinda several times. I know she is the genuine article. Gentle, compassionate and kind. Many people try to portray her as false and putting on airs and graces. It is no surprise that most are right wing National and ACT supporters incapable of conceiving that a politician can actually have those admirable qualities in abundance.

          I think we would be flabbergasted if we knew the depth of filth and depravity in many of the comments/statements she has seen and personally received since she became PM. Yet she has not once revealed the actual nature of them or tried to use them to her advantage. She's strong and gutsy. We should all be celebrating how lucky we are – not trying to put her down.

        • Patricia Bremner 16.1.1.3
          29 May 2022 at 4:50 pm

          I felt that Robert. She was describing a method of coping, not anyone person.

        • Just Saying 16.1.1.4
          29 May 2022 at 6:20 pm

          Robert, who had the power here?

          There is an assumption Ardern was being victimised. She wasn't being victimised by the protestors. She abused her power and victimised those who didn't 'voluntarily' comply with the vaccine. Her government set up a nasty punishment system affecting almost every area of their lives, despite 98% vaccine compliance. It promoted hostile vigilantism against a tiny segment of the population. There was no health or safety issue involved beyond threatening the security of those targeted. I see this as unconscionable.

          This nasty, pointless, authoritarianism horrified and appalled me. And now from a grand platform Ardern chose to take another swipe. She could have chosen the opposite approach. Where there is care and respect we make the effort to repair.

          From rhetoric laden with terms of filth, scum and excrement, the Standard lost one of its authors. Did anyone stop to think how hurtful that would have been for that author? Who knows about the non-authors, whether visitors, readers or commenters that it also eliminated in the frenzy. And still so little reflection and no attempt at repair.

          • Anne 16.1.1.4.1
            29 May 2022 at 6:58 pm

            What a sad and distorted diatribe from Just Saying.

          • Robert Guyton 16.1.1.4.2
            29 May 2022 at 6:59 pm

            The protesters, Just Saying? Jacinda Ardern's comments were aimed at the "keyboard warriors" who have sent unpleasant messages in her direction. I didn't think she was referring only to the protesters et al, involved in the anti-mandate movement. Maybe I missed this. You seem to have laid your mandate-anxieties across this issue – have I read you wrong?

            • Just Saying 16.1.1.4.2.1
              29 May 2022 at 7:13 pm

              I think it was pretty clear who she was taking a swipe at Robert. Even you say:

              I didn't think she was referring only to the protesters et al, involved in the anti-mandate movement. (emboldening mine).

              • weka …
                29 May 2022 at 7:27 pm

                she's clearly talking about keyboard warriors, so sure, to the extent that the anti-mandate movement accepted that into their culture, then it refers to them, but pretty obliquely. She clearly names people who are being abusive online, why are you assuming this is a reference to the anti-mandate protestors?

                There’s a term that gets thrown around a lot – keyboard warrior. It’s used to refer to someone who makes aggressive or abusive posts online, often anonymously. I like the name. In my mind, when I read something especially horrific on my feed, I imagine it’s written by a lone person unacquainted with personal hygiene practices, dressed in a poorly fitted super hero costume – one that is baggy in all the wrong places.

                • Just Saying …
                  29 May 2022 at 7:49 pm

                  I'm going to try and do this really fast because I'm still having huge and time-consuming problems commenting here.

                  The gist was that there was more that I tried to add to the comment. It was about how I'd always appreciated hearing about the amazing things you are achieving not far from where I am. I don't know why the land always seems to tell me that all kinds of berries will be stupendous without any help from me and all other food will be lacklustre despite every bit of extra help I can think of.

                  I have often thought of what you are achieving where you are as I carry on trying. Today spreading spinach seedlings so far afield that there must be somewhere that one plant thrives, and it might tell me something about what is going wrong everywhere else.

                  And as an explanation for being so far off-topic, even though we disagree on this, I wanted you to know that I value your writings. Crop success and failure aside, we aren't really that far apart. Left wing gardeners, trying (and in your case succeeding in) growing food, and so many other points of commonality.

                  And that was why I responded to you, not to try and win a fight but because, I guess respect.

                  • Robert Guyton …
                    29 May 2022 at 8:17 pm

                    Oh, thanks, Just Saying. I understand. Big ups for your approach to growing. For us gardeners/growers, the division into pro and anti mandate (for example) has been very disturbing. My hope is that, as the tide resettles the sand as it rises again, our dismay at experiencing those divisions, will smooth over and we'll all settle back to our places. Our commonality of thought and ideology that has us interacting intimately with the soil, the garden and the environment is not affected by politics, popular uprisings or the news/fake news conflict 🙂

              • DB Brown …
                30 May 2022 at 9:00 am

                Nah this is rubbish you are making up. You are assuming you're the victim here. There's nought but victimhood from the protestors, and they think EVERYTHING is about them.

                And now they all want an apology?!!! Fuck. No.

                No matter what is said or done, somehow, it is twisted into 'I'm not included' style nonsense yet simultaneously it is all about them.

                How could this be? Why should I, or anyone, listen to such nonsense? I know some of them, intellectual lightweights who attack you as soon as they are losing the argument. People I've known in real life using their online friends to group attack myself and others who disagree. One has been a pain in the ass since climate change, it's not the mandates that put a banner in that clowns hand.

                Hiding in shadows and mobs. Threats, coercion… fuck all those people, and the relative normies who think they've found their tribe because they were asked to do something once and they disagreed and made their entire life about being aggrieved… now they've found a stupid hill to die and ruin their lives on.

                They've earned no respect. But keep demanding it.

          • fender 16.1.1.4.3
            29 May 2022 at 8:04 pm

            Oh really, lost as in gone missing, kicked off or perished from often deadly virus? I missed any official statement, please link.

            An author undermining public health via disinformation is no loss IMO. The majority of any ridicule bordering on abuse came from that infrequent author too , by the way.

            With 1200 deaths and more every day perhaps he's just too ashamed to return.

            • Just Saying 16.1.1.4.3.1
              29 May 2022 at 8:12 pm

              Eradication is impossible. Seems like China would be something of an ideal for you, policy-wise.

              Bill was right. And surely if he should be hanging his head in shame, what should the government backing down from such ‘lifesaving’ policies be doing?

              Is this divisiveness ever going to stop?

              • joe90 …
                29 May 2022 at 8:34 pm

                Eradication is impossible.

                Good thing there were no plans to eradicate covid in Aotearoa.

              • fender …
                29 May 2022 at 8:45 pm

                Seems you've posted this in the wrong location, it's of no relevance here. Nor was it a barrow pushed by the author in question so I'm guessing it was just some random attempt to denigrate.

                But since you've changed the subject, yes it does seem to be impossible to eradicate, and it looks like rain tomorrow fairweatherwise.
                I see you’ve edited initial reply…
                So , no Bill wasn’t right. Eradication wasn’t his thing, the controversy was over containment measures and severity from letting it rip.

            • PsyclingLeft.Always 16.1.1.4.3.2
              30 May 2022 at 11:04 am

              And hey absolutely. More than a few Good posters…who's opinion I valued. gone (Farmer guy from up North and that maybe rare breed, a LABOUR supporter) .

          • Patricia Bremner 16.1.1.4.4
            29 May 2022 at 8:14 pm

            You did not see the posters with death threats and a wagon to take the PM away? She was a victim of lies and exaggeration. Bloomfield and the Health Team made the calls. The protest anger was directed by others and failed to address the source of those rules.

        • Incognito 16.1.1.5
          29 May 2022 at 9:12 pm

          Yes, excellent, Robert, you’re only the second commenter here who seems to understand and appreciate the power and role of imagination in Ardern’s brief comment.

          We don’t need to explain what Ardern meant, unlike Pagani who decided to ‘interpret’ the words for us, so that she could push her own message & agenda forward. How kind of her.

          If people are offended by Ardern’s comment and feel personally demeaned or dehumanised by it, it is because they put on the shoe, without too much hesitation as if the words were addressed directly to them but not to others, not because it was Ardern’s message and intention, in my opinion. Such reaction is highly irrational, of course; why would the PM talk to me or about me directly and specifically in a speech at Harvard? Yet some people take these things extremely personally.

          Even Pagani called it “a slightly sneering way”; Ardern left a lot to the imagination and that’s exactly what she intended, I believe, other than to share her personal way of coping with vile comments online.

          Others are entitled to their interpretations as much as I am to mine. In the end, they’re all just opinions and we can agree to disagree.

    • weka 16.2
      29 May 2022 at 3:05 pm

      But that's a bit of a sideshow. I was much more perturbed by how an audience made up of the financial/economic elite of Harvard, lapped up everything she said. If on the tech giants she had said – "it's unacceptable for this much power to ever be in unaccountable, private hands. The only legitimate power flows from democratic processes. Therefore these platforms need to be nationalised and turned into well-regulated public utilities and free to the public as part of an integrated system of Universal Basic Services and Income" – probably she would have been booed. Which would have been something to cheer about.

      and thank-you for dragging this leftwards again.

    • Incognito 16.3
      29 May 2022 at 3:14 pm

      Why is it tempting to restrict this to “the guy”??

      • weka 16.3.1
        29 May 2022 at 3:32 pm

        because that's the stereotype.

        • AB 16.3.1.1
          29 May 2022 at 5:15 pm

          Yes – that's what I meaning. Set up the stereotype and then show yourself as trying to get beyond it, because you are a leader. It's good rhetoric and effective politics.

          • Incognito 16.3.1.1.1
            29 May 2022 at 5:24 pm

            Not seeing that at all. Ardern did not intend to set up a stereotype in her speech, she actively avoided it, which is different from what you’re saying.

            • weka 16.3.1.1.1.1
              29 May 2022 at 7:28 pm

              She used a stereotype causally (loner slobs). What AB is suggesting is to name a stereotype up front and then say let's not use that because it demeans. Which fits very well with her overall message about humans and the internet.

              • Incognito …
                29 May 2022 at 8:43 pm

                “the guy” = male

                “humans” = M/F = N

                “loner slobs” = ??

                • weka …
                  29 May 2022 at 9:12 pm

                  don't know what you are saying, but there's been an unusually large amount of miscommunication today.

                  • Incognito …
                    29 May 2022 at 9:14 pm

                    I’ve been trying to figure out that stereotype, is it a male stereotype? If yes, why? Nothing in Ardern’s speech hinted at this!?

                    • weka …
                      29 May 2022 at 9:57 pm

                      yes, the people that abuse women online are usually male. It's the subtext. The people who are generally portrayed as keyboard warriors, unwashed and lone in front of their computers, are talked about as male. The first is statistically true, the latter is the stereotype.

                    • weka …
                      29 May 2022 at 9:58 pm

                      Ardern isn't going to get up and say male violence in a speech like that, for a whole range of reasons.

                    • Incognito []
                      30 May 2022 at 8:29 am

                      Thanks for clearing that up. Whether Ardern said or implied it is a moot point because she didn’t say it and we can only assume it. I’d be surprised if she intended to set up that male stereotype in our minds, rather I believe she was sharing her own projection of online abusers, which was that of child-like person and much more neutral than some seem to think.

                      It had not occurred to me that Ardern might have been referring to males. Half the time I have no idea what sex is associated with online profiles and it doesn’t matter to me because shit=shit and abuse=abuse; how one copes with it is clearly not the same as how one would try to address the underlying issues & causes, for example – there are multiple ways to tackle the problem. Ardern offered some thoughts on how and who/what could address online abuse and none of it implied it had anything to do with stereotypes of males and male violence, as far as I can tell from re-reading the speech. That’s why I struggled following the convo here. BTW, stereotypes can be just as misleading as heuristics when trying to gain a deep understanding of an issue and formulating a solution.

                      Wasn’t VFF founded and spearheaded by a bunch of women and wasn’t VFF responsible for a whole lot of stuff happening online? I have no idea if VFF was doing any online abuse itself or specifically targeting the PM, but what is online abuse is a grey area and stirring it up in others, knowingly and quite possibly deliberately, is being complicit, IMO.

  17. weka 17
    29 May 2022 at 3:02 pm

    Venn diagram of people who thought Ardern's two NZs comment meant nothing and who think stereotyping keyboard warriors as loner slobs means nothing is close to being a circle.

  18. Just Saying 18
    29 May 2022 at 3:28 pm

    The problem for the left is a festering sore.

    Instead of seeking repair Ardern chose her grand platform to open that sore even further. I don't think the writers included that smear. It was a personal swipe. And sure, she can hide behind pseudo-ambiguity. Except the context means everybody knows, and everyone was supposed to know.

    • Patricia Bremner 18.1
      29 May 2022 at 4:58 pm

      Let's talk about festering sores. Almost all of them began with DP. from the Right.

      None of the perpetrators have been dismissed and only two have been publicly outed.

      The strong disinformation coming from 12 voices. Why are they not named and outed?

      Festering sores require the strong disinfectant of sunlight.

      • Peter 18.1.1
        30 May 2022 at 9:17 am

        So some are upset that the PM imagines that some of the stuff she sees is " written by a lone person unacquainted with personal said hygiene practices, dressed in a poorly fitted superhero costume – one that is baggy in all the wrong places.”

        Is she allowed to have such imaginings or allowed to have them but not say it?

        I wonder if she imagines such about all the patently weird stuff she obviously sees. Or she saves it for those in particular who are experts at sorting out gangs, poverty, housing, hospitals, shortage of workers, supermarket and petrol prices AND became overnight expert microbiologists, epidemiologists to the extent they could condemn anyone else in those fields for being dressed poorly and having uncommonly coloured hair.

        The 12 voices putting out strong disinformation? Why are they not named and outed?You would have thought the world would go crazy to have them known.

        Some person appears in a court for some incident impacting on a small number of people has their name suppressed after due legal consideration.

        The public cacophony in some cases is on-going. The various branches of the media seek reviews and mount appeals. The disinformation distributers poison the whole country and we don't know who they are. One name came up when David Fisher in the Herald named Chantelle Baker as a "super spreader."

  19. RP Mcmurphy 19
    29 May 2022 at 10:35 pm

    the media colludes with the right wing backers to run a "permanent campaign" with no let up and no tolerance of any opposition no matter how beneficial or inspirational any policy or speech may be. the meedja in nz will not give an inch.

  20. thebiggestfish7 20
    29 May 2022 at 10:40 pm

    I thought it was a good speech. This whole online stuff is not just a symptom of the right, just a casual troll through Twitter can show how insane and polarised the split between left and right has become. You are living in a bubble of you think this is just a right wing thing. It’s crazy out there and the polarisation is getting worse and constructive debate is sadly continuing to decline.

    • Gosman 20.1
      30 May 2022 at 9:25 am

      I agree this issue is across the political spectrum. The amount of people who block me on Twitter simply because I share a different political view than them is astounding.

  21. Jackel 21
    29 May 2022 at 10:40 pm

    You can speak lies, insults and platitudes and avoid the truth for a while, but eventually the truth will catch up with you.

  22. Gosman 22
    30 May 2022 at 9:22 am

    Matthew Hooton was pretty scathing of National and also of the right at times when they were in power. His view of John Key was that he really didn't do anything substantive and wasted most of the opportunities while he was in office.

  23. Maurice 23
    30 May 2022 at 1:20 pm

    Oh Dear! I do see what she means …

    https://instapundit.com/522795/#respond

  24. remo 24
    31 May 2022 at 10:27 am

    Different people react differently to cant and artifice, I guess.
    Some people have allergic reactions to pretence being rewarded by pretence…
    Like peanuts.
    For most people, peanuts are ok., but…for others….they choke.

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • Stories of varying weight

    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on anything you may have missed. Share Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 hours ago
  • Balancing External Security and the Economy

    New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    18 hours ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: The unravelling of the offsets

    The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    22 hours ago
  • What makes us tick

    This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    23 hours ago
  • Foreshore and seabed 2.0

    In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the Royal Commission report into abuse in care

    Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    1 day ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 26

    TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Weekly Roundup 26-July-2024

    Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 day ago
  • God what a relief

    1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago
  • Trust In Me

    Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • The Hoon around the week to July 26

    TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Care report released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 26

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced $802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Radical law changes needed to build road

    The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #30 2024

    Open access notables Could an extremely cold central European winter such as 1963 happen again despite climate change?, Sippel et al., Weather and Climate Dynamics: Here, we first show based on multiple attribution methods that a winter of similar circulation conditions to 1963 would still lead to an extreme seasonal ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago
  • First they came for the Māori

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

    Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Will the real PM Luxon please stand up?

    Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Will debt reduction trump abuse in care redress?

    Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Care report in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Olywhites and Time Bandits

    About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Why were the 1930s so hot in North America?

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob Henson Those who’ve trawled social media during heat waves have likely encountered a tidbit frequently used to brush aside human-caused climate change: Many U.S. states and cities had their single hottest temperature on record during the 1930s, setting incredible heat marks ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago
  • Throwback Thursday – Thinking about Expressways

    Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • The Possum: Demon or Friend?

    Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago
  • Not a story

    Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry published its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • A tougher line on “proactive release”?

    The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • 'Let's build a motorway costing $100 million per km, before emissions costs'

    TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Lester's Prescription – Positive Bleeding.

    I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Casey Costello gaslights Labour in the House

    Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone icon on the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    3 days ago
  • Why is the Texas grid in such bad shape?

    This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Headline from 2021 The Texas grid, run by ERCOT, has had a rough few years. In 2021, winter storm Uri blacked out much of the state for several days. About a week ago, Hurricane Beryl knocked out ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on a textbook case of spending waste by the Luxon government

    Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • LXR Takaanini

    As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    3 days ago
  • Four kilograms of pain

    Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Luxon gets caught out

    NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • A worrying sign

    Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Are we fine with 47.9% home-ownership by 2048?

    Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloitte report for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Let's Win This

    You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Waimahara: The Singing Spirit of Water

    There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    4 days ago
  • A major milestone: Global climate pollution may have just peaked

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’s Oliver LewisScoop: Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announced the Board of Te Whatu Ora- Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • HealthNZ and Luxon at cross purposes over budget blowout

    Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • 2500-3000 more healthcare staff expected to be fired, as Shane Reti blames Labour for a budget defic...

    Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • Might Kamala Harris be about to get a 'stardust' moment like Jacinda Ardern?

    As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    5 days ago
  • Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics

    TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
    The KakaBy Steven Hail
    5 days ago
  • Reported back

    The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Vandrad the Viking, Christopher Coombes, and Literary Archaeology

    Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Biden Withdrawal

    History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    5 days ago
  • Joe Biden's withdrawal puts the spotlight back on Kamala and the USA's complicated relatio...

    This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions

    A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Existential Crisis and Damaged Brains

    What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • A speed limit is not a target, and yet…

    This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. A recent Newsroom article, “Back to school for the Govt’s new speed limit policy“, ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #29

    A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago
  • I'd like to share what I did this weekend

    This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • For the children – Why mere sentiment can be a misleading force in our lives, and lead to unex...

    National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Order image, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • A friend in uncertain times

    Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • The Chaotic World of Male Diet Influencers

    Hi,We’ll get to the horrific world of male diet influencers (AKA Beefy Boys) shortly, but first you will be glad to know that since I sent out the Webworm explaining why the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was not a false flag operation, I’ve heard from a load of people ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • It's Starting To Look A Lot Like… Y2K

    Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Pharmac Director, Climate Change Commissioner, Health NZ Directors – The latest to quit this m...

    Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Flooding Housing Policy

    The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted (Again!)

    As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā's Chorus for Friday, July 19

    An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024

    Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure

    TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Tobacco First

    Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Trump’s Adopted Son.

    Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSA announced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Hoon around the week to July 19

    TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #29 2024

    Open access notables Improving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society: To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand

    Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue.  We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    17 hours ago
  • AG reminds institutions of legal obligations

    Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • More young people learning about digital safety

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views.  “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024

    Tēnā tātou katoa,  Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes

    New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts.  “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry

    An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events

    The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit

    Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.   “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto

    He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Transport Minister thanks outgoing CAA Chair

    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Test for Customary Marine Title being restored

    The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says.  “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Opposition united in bad faith over ECE sector review

    Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet.  “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Kiwis having their say on first regulatory review

    After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks.  “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government upgrading Lower North Island commuter rail

    The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government moves to ensure flood protection for Wairoa

    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • PM speech to Parliament – Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report into Abuse in Care

    Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.  At the heart of this report are the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges torture at Lake Alice

    For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges courageous abuse survivors

    The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Half a million people use tax calculator

    With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis.  “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Paid Parental Leave improvements pass first reading

    Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Rebuilding the economy through better regulation

    Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • ‘Open banking’ and ‘open electricity’ on the way

    New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Charity lotteries to be permitted to operate online

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Accelerating Northland Expressway

    The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Sir Don to travel to Viet Nam as special envoy

    Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.    “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Grant Illingworth KC appointed as transitional Commissioner to Royal Commission

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024.  “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • NZ to advance relationships with ASEAN partners

    Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane.    “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says.   “This will be our third visit to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Backing mental health services on the West Coast

    Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • NZ support for sustainable Pacific fisheries

    New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Students’ needs at centre of new charter school adjustments

    Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Commissioner replaces Health NZ Board

    In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today.  “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister to speak at Australian Space Forum

    Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum.  While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation.  “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend climate action meeting in China

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan.  “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Oceans and Fisheries Minister to Solomons

    Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Government launches Military Style Academy Pilot

    The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Nine priority bridge replacements to get underway

    The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Update on global IT outage

    Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New Zealand, Japan renew Pacific partnership

    New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says.    “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New infrastructure energises BOP forestry towns

    New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • 'Pacific Futures'

    President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests.    Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone.    Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-07-27T00:09:12+00:00