That’s efficiency folks. Not-for-profit charities concentrate on covering costs so there is a small surplus. Government making a profit from providing necessities to needy citizens is a sort of oxymoron, out of gas.
As appalling as the situation is re children becoming sick and tenants dying, as the result of deteriorating state house conditions, this cartoon is right on the button. Summed up well by Tom Scott.
If Paula Bennet had her way they would be harvesting the mushrooms and making a business of selling them, using their kiwi ingenuity and “turning their lives around” just as she did???? Yeah right
Late in life, Henry became obese, with a waist measurement of 54 inches (140 cm), and had to be moved about with the help of mechanical inventions. He was covered with painful, pus-filled boils and possibly suffered from gout. His obesity and other medical problems can be traced from the jousting accident in 1536, in which he suffered a leg wound. The accident re-opened and aggravated a previous injury he had sustained years earlier, to the extent that his doctors found it difficult to treat. The wound festered for the remainder of his life and became ulcerated, thus preventing him from maintaining the level of physical activity he had previously enjoyed. The jousting accident is also believed to have caused Henry’s mood swings, which may have had a dramatic effect on his personality and temperament.[137][138]
The theory that Henry suffered from syphilis has been dismissed by most historians.[139] A more recent theory suggests that Henry’s medical symptoms are characteristic of untreated type 2 diabetes.[138] Alternatively, his wives’ pattern of pregnancies and his mental deterioration have led some to suggest that the king may have been Kell positive and suffered from McLeod syndrome.[140] According to another study, Henry VIII’s history and body morphology may have been the result of traumatic brain injury after his 1536 jousting accident, which in turn led to a neuroendocrine cause of his obesity. This analysis identifies growth hormone deficiency (GHD) as the source for his increased adiposity but also significant behavioural changes noted in his later years, including his multiple marriages.[141]
I don’t think that Hoots is one for accurate historical knowledge – his chosen profession being to rewrite the past and he’s likely to be one who slept through most of his lessons at school anyway.
For those who don’t know, a while ago well-known political commentator and shitstain Matthew Hooton declared from the comfort of a nice warm studio that today’s beneficiaries have lifestyles and amenities that would be the envy of Henry VIII, by which he meant a typical Renaissance monarch. He was quite aggressive in insisting that this was so.
Lately, since news of the horrible conditions in which Housing NZ “clients” have been enduring, deaths by pneumonia and so on have emerged, he’s been peculiarly silent on the issue.
Maybe he’s going to say that these people are getting sick and dying in strange underwater jousting accidents?
Maybe he’s going to continue to insist that they should be grateful for the conditions that they enjoy?
Maybe Hosking will come along and have something to say about the glass being half full, even if the water is cold, murky and disease-ridden?
“He was quite aggressive in insisting that this was so”
From my experience whenever he’s least convinced that what he’s saying is true (or in this case relevant) he’s most aggressive and forthright. Week after week you can hear him on RadioNZ and when he starts getting in peoples face you can be reasonably sure he’s got his fingers crossed under the table.
Life expectancy was 30 years. Poverty was widespread, disease outbreaks common, living conditions were unsanitary and smelly.
So, in a way, Hooton is right. Life is better than during Henry’s reign. Henry would have been treated for his conditions, his son would have probably survived and the world as we know it would have been different, in ways of which counterfactual history writers can only dream.
But it does not excuse that our life expectancy, living conditions, health and safety are not what they should be in a world so much more advanced in knowledge, wealth, technology and communications.
“But it does not excuse that our life expectancy, living conditions, health and safety are not what they should be in a world so much more advanced in knowledge, wealth, technology and communications.”
Exactly, and yet over and over again the parasites are saying “Be grateful for what you have and admire me for what I have – things could be worse in North Korea/Hell/Venus” It’s smug, disgusting, shows a contempt for everyone else and a philistine contempt for the project of civilisation itself which is to make life better for all.
It’s the ‘admire me for what I have’ which is just so false. The idolising of falsity, Mammon, earthly pleasures and artifacts which is so shallow and pathetic. The lack of recognition of art, spirituality, intellectual excellence, the non-understanding of what it is that makes us human beings special, unique, and capable of so much.
Indeed, the ‘project of civilisation’ is as you state so well. And it is galling that the people who have the power and resources just don’t get that; and worse, stand so belligerently in its way.
It seems that , even though incredibly ill in his later years, Henry VIII still managed to survive nearly twice the contemporaneous life expectancy, thanks to an extraordinarily high standard of state-funded healthcare for the times.
what a great cartoon reminds me of the listner days when scot was king and his cartoons and excellent articles and editorials of a once dynamic magazine socked it to the government on a regular basis, printed on non highgloss paper u could wipe your arse with it or light the fire with it after a damn good read !
I quite agree, the Listener is now a lifestyle magazine and it’s the last straw for me, I am going to cancel my subscription, this week’s issue was full of gardening, cooking and media/film star rubbish. Everything in paper form is boring these days.
There are some things we shouldn’t profit from, housing is one of them.
All the people with a property portfolio, receiving rents for sub standard dwellings will sleep a little sounder.
Waking in their warm dry homes, knowing that housing for the most vulnerable is deliberately kept in a poor condition.
Thus.making their dilapidated investment look
good.
Housing is just another Ponzi scheme designed by those who never have to live there in state housing on a generational basis .
The govt continues to show us how useless they are and actually admitting that they have no real desire to see things improve unless it is in the manner of the free market doctrine of progress, ie the end of socialism .
The news media were at one ceremony by the looks of things. The Governor-General, the Prime Minister and his deputy were at another. The news media were at a swearing-in ceremony. The country’s leaders were at an appointment ceremony. The New Zealand Gazette record of what transpired says: Appointment of ...
I n some alternative universe, Auckland mayor Efeso Collins readily grasped the scale of Friday’s deluge, and quickly made the emergency declaration that enabled central government to immediately throw its resources behind the rescue and remediation effort. As Friday evening became night, Mayor Collins seemed to be everywhere: talking with ...
They called it an “atmospheric river”, the weather bombardment which hit NZ’s northern region at the weekend. It exacted a terrible toll on metropolitan Auckland and the rest of the region. Few living there may have noted a statement from electricity generator Mercury Energy labelled “WET, WET, WET!” This was ...
I know, that is a pretty corny title but given the circumstances here in the Auckland region, I just had to say it. The more oblique reference embedded in the title is to the leadership failures exhibited by Mayor Wayne Brown and his so-called leadership team when confronted by the ...
How much confidence should the public have in authorities managing natural disasters? Not much, judging by the farcical way in which the civil defence emergence in Auckland has played out. The way authorities dealt with Auckland’s extreme weather on Friday illustrated how hit-and-miss our civil defence emergency system is. In ...
Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The recent leadership change in the governing Labour party resulted in a very strange response from National’s (current) leader, Christopher Luxon. Mr Luxon berated Labour for it’s change of leader, citing no actual change.As ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 22, 2023 thru Sat, Jan 28, 2023. Story of the Week New Study Reveals Arctic Ice, Tracked Both Above and Below, Is Freezing LaterClimate change is affecting the timing of both ...
Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.It was another ‘SHOCK! HORROR!’ headline from a media increasingly venturing into tabloid-style journalism:Andrea Vance’s article seemed to focus on the "million dollar sums from the Government as the country grapples with a housing ...
Dr Brian Easton writes: It’s the summer break. Everyone settles down with family, books, the sun and some fishing. But the Prime Minister has a pile of briefing papers prepared just before Christmas, which have to be worked through. I haven’t seen them. Here is my guess at some ...
What Was the Prime Minister Reading in the Runup to Election Year?It’s the summer break. Everyone settles down with family, books, the sun and some fishing. But the Prime Minister has a pile of briefing papers prepared just before Christmas, which have to be worked through. I haven’t seen them. ...
In case you hadn't noticed, FYI, the public OIA request site, has been used to conduct a significant excavation into New Zealand's intelligence agencies, with requests made for assorted policies and procedures. Yesterday in response to one of these requests the GCSB released its policy on New Zealand Purpose and ...
Farming leaders are watching closely whether Damien O’Connor keeps the key portfolios of Agriculture and Trade when Prime Minister Chris Hipkins restructures his Cabinet. O’Connor has been one of the few ministers during Labour’s term in office who has won broad support for what he has done ...
South Islands farmers are whining about another drought, the third in three years. If only we knew what was causing this! If only someone had warned them that they faced a drying climate! But we do know what is causing it: climate change. And they have been warned, repeatedly, for ...
Ok, there’s good news and bad news in this week’s inflation figures, but bad > good. Our inflation rate held steady but hey, at a level below the inflation rate in Australia. The main reason for the so/so result here? A fall in petrol prices of 7.2% offset the really ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes: Since her shock resignation announcement, Jacinda Ardern has been at pains to point out that she isn’t leaving because of the toxicity directed at her on social media and elsewhere, rebutting journalists who suggested misogyny and hate may have driven her from office. Yet ...
Since her shock resignation announcement, Jacinda Ardern has been at pains to point out that she isn’t leaving because of the toxicity directed at her on social media and elsewhere, rebutting journalists who suggested misogyny and hate may have driven her from office. Yet there have been dozens of columns ...
The Clinical Magus: Of particular relevance to New Zealanders struggling to come to terms with the sudden departure of their prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is Jung’s concept of the anima. Much more than what others have called the feminine principle, the anima is what the human male has made out ...
The Select Committee, considering the proposed RNZ-TVNZ merger, has come back with a report conceding many of the criticisms that were made of the original legislation. In what is one of the most comprehensive demolitions of a Bill submitted to a Select Committee, the Economic Development, Science and Innovation ...
Such are the 2020s, the age when no-one, it seems, actually respects the basic underpinnings of democracy. Even in New Zealand. This week, I stumbled across a pair of lengthy and genuinely serious articles, that basically argue that Something is Rotten in the state of New Zealand democracy. One ...
Buzz from the Beehive Hurrah. Today we found something fresh on the Beehive website, Beehive.govt.nz, which claims to be the best place to find Government initiatives, policies and Ministerial information. It wasn’t from Finance Minister Grant Robertson, whose reaction to the latest inflation figures would have been appreciated. So, too, ...
Smiling And Waiving A Golden Opportunity: Chris Hipkins knew that the day at Ratana would be Jacinda’s day – her final opportunity to bask in the unalloyed love and support of her followers. He simply could not afford to be seen to overshadow this last chance for his former boss ...
Extremism Consumes Itself: The plot of “Act of Oblivion” concerns the relentless pursuit of the “regicides” Edward Whalley and William Goffe – two of the fifty-nine signatories to King Charles I’s death warrant. As with his many other works of historical fiction, Robert Harris’s novel brings to life a period ...
To challenge the Government’s promotion of co-governance, to share power between Maori and public authorities and agencies, is to invite accusations of racism. An example: this article by Martyn Bradbury on The Daily Blog headed Luxon’s race baiting hypocrisy at Ratana. The article was triggered by National leader Christopher Luxon, ...
A very informative video discussion: Are we getting the whole story about Ukraine? | Robert Wright & Ivan Katchanovski Getting objective information on the situation in Ukraine and the cause of this current war is not easy. There is the current censorship and blatant mainstream media bias – which ...
Yesterday the Herald ran an op-ed from Mayor Wayne Brown titled “The case for light rail is lighter than ever” and a few things stood out. However, it’s getting more and more tricky to make a strong economic case for spending up to $29 billion on a single route of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Samantha Harrington Imagine it’s a cold February night and your furnace breaks. You want to replace it with an electric heat pump because you’ve heard that tax credits will help pay for the switch. And you know that heat pumps can reduce ...
In 2005, then-National Party leader based his entire election campaign on racism, with his infamous racist Orewa speech and racist iwi/kiwi billboards. Now, Christopher Luxon seems to want to do it all again: Fresh off using his platform at this week's Rātana celebrations to criticise the government's approach to ...
Inflation is showing little sign of slowing down, posing a problem for freshly minted PM Chris Hipkins. According to that old campaigner Richard Prebble, Hipkins should call a snap election. If he waits till October, he risks being swept away. The dilemma for the new leader is that fighting an election ...
Buzz from the Beehive A great deal has happened since January 19. Among other things, a new Prime Minister and deputy have been sworn in and our leaders (past, present and aspiring) have delivered speeches at Ratana. Newshub reported that politicians of all stripes had descended upon Rātana for the ...
It’s a big day for New Zealand; our 41st Prime Minister has taken office and the new, “Chippy” era of politics is underway. Or, on the other hand, the Labour Party continues to govern with an overall majority and much the same leadership team in place. Life goes on and ...
New Zealand has another Prime Minister who does not have a basic grasp of the three articles of the Treaty of Waitangi. THOMAS CRANMER writes: It is simply astonishing that New Zealand’s next Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, is unable to give even a brief explanation of the three articles ...
A statue of a semi-naked Nick Smith puts the misogyny debate into perspective. GRAHAM ADAMS writes … In the wake of Ardern’s abrupt resignation, the mainstream media are determined to convince us she was hounded from office mainly because she is a woman and had to fall on her sword ...
A Different Kind Of Vibe: In the days and weeks ahead, as the Hipkins ministry takes shape, the only question that matters is whether New Zealand’s new prime minister possesses both the wisdom and the courage to correct his party’s currently suicidal political course. If Chris “Chippy” Hipkins is ...
An editorial in the NZ Herald last week, titled “Nimbyism goes bananas as housing intensifies“, introduced Herald readers to a couple of acronyms that go along with the now-familiar NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard): “bananas” (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone) “cave” dwellers (citizens against virtually everything). The editorial ...
Back in the dark autumn of 2020, when the prospect of Covid was freaking the country out, Finance Minister Grant Robertson set himself and Treasury a series of questions about what a post-Covid economy might look like. Those were fearful days, and the questions in part reflected a series ...
Buzz from the Beehive Yet another day has passed without Ministers of the Crown posting something to show they are still working for us on the Beehive website. Nothing new has been posted since January 17. Perhaps the ministers are all engaged in the bemusing annual excursion ...
Incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has already indicated he intends making the tax system “fairer”. That points to the route a government facing an election could take to tilt the odds towards winning in its favour, given Labour’s support in the last months of the Ardern era had been ...
NewsHub has a poll on the cost-of-living crisis, which has an interesting finding: the vast majority of kiwis prefer wage rises to tax cuts: When asked whether income has kept up with the cost of living, 54.8 percent of people surveyed said no and according to 58.6 percent of ...
Labour has begun 2023 with the centre-left bloc behind in the polls and losing ground. That being so, did his colleagues choose Chris Hipkins as the replacement for Jacinda Ardern because they think he has a realistic shot at leading them to victory this year, or because he‘s the best ...
Two Flags, Two Masters? Just as it required a full-scale military effort to destroy the first attempt at Māori self-government in the 1850s and 60s (an effort that divided Maoridom itself into supporters and opponents of the Crown) any second attempt to establish tino rangatiratanga, based on the confiscatory policies ...
The first of Kiwirail’s big network shutdowns to fix the foundations on our tracks is now well underway with the Southern Line closed between Otahuhu and Newmarket. This is following on from the network wide Christmas/New Year shutdown, during which Kiwirail say that nearly 1,300 people working across 69 different ...
This is a re-post from the Citizens' Climate Lobby blogIn last year’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Congress included about $20 billion earmarked for natural climate solutions. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible for deciding how those funds should be allocated to meet the climate ...
You’ve really got to wonder at the introspection, or lack thereof, from much of the mainstream media post Jacinda Ardern stepping down. Some so-called journalists haven’t even taken a breath before once again putting the boot in, which clearly shows their inherent bias and lack of any misgivings about fueling ...
Over the weekend I was interviewed by a media outlet about the threats that Jacinda Ardern and her family have received while she has been PM and what can be expected now that she has resigned. I noted that the level of threat she has been exposed to is unprecedented ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes: The days of the Labour Government being associated with middle class social liberalism look to be numbered. Soon-to-be Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni are heralding a major shift in emphasis away from the constituencies and ideologies of liberal Grey ...
A Different Kind Of Vibe: In the days and weeks ahead, as the Hipkins ministry takes shape, the only question that matters is whether New Zealand’s new prime minister possesses both the wisdom and the courage to correct his party’s currently suicidal political course. If Chris “Chippy” Hipkins is able to steer ...
The days of the Labour Government being associated with middle class social liberalism look to be numbered. Soon-to-be Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni are heralding a major shift in emphasis away from the constituencies and ideologies of liberal Grey Lynn and Wellington Central towards the ...
Following the surprise resignation of Jacinda Ardern last week, her replacement, Chis Hipkins, has said: Over the coming week, Cabinet will be making decisions on reining in some programs and projects that aren’t essential right now That messaging is similar to what Jacinda Ardern said late last year and as ...
Much of what will mark the early days of Chris Hipkins’ Prime Ministership would have happened anyway. By December, the Prime Minister and Finance Minister were making it clear the summer break and early days of this year were going to be spent on a reset of government policy. ...
Going to try to get into the blogging thing again (ha!) what with an election coming up and all that. So today I thought I'd start small and simple, by merely tackling the world's (second) richest man.I'm no fan of Elon Musk. You don't want to know why, but I'll ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 15, 2023 thru Sat, Jan 21, 2023. Story of the Week State of the climate: How the world warmed in 2022With a new year underway, most of the climate data for ...
Well, that was a disappointment. As of today, the New Zealand Labour Caucus opted for Chris Hipkins as our new Prime Minister, and I cannot help but let loose a cynical cackle. ...
Get ready for a major political reset once Chris Hipkins is sworn in as Prime Minister this week. Labour’s new leader is likely to push the Government to the right economically, and do his best to jettison the damaging perceptions that Labour has become “too woke” on social issues. Overall, ...
Things have gone sideways… and it’s only the third week of January? It was political earthquake time. For some the Prime Minister made a truly significant announcement. For others – did you have this on your bingo card? – a body double did so (sit tight, you’ll understand later, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Because our hard-working Ministers of the Crown are engaged in Labour Party caucus stuff in Napier, no doubt jockeying to ensure they keep their jobs or get a better one, Point of Order was not surprised to find no fresh news on the Beehive website this ...
By the end of 2019, Jacinda Ardern was a political superstar heading towards an election defeat. She was an icon, internationally beloved, on track to be an ex-prime minister before the age of forty. It was the year of the Christchurch terror attack when Ardern’s response to the atrocity saw ...
People complain about their jobs being meaningless. Does it matter?David Graeber, author of Bullshit Jobs: The Rise of Pointless Work and What We Can Do About It, would have smiled at Elon Musk’s sacking half the Twitter workforce. Musk seems to be confirming the main thesis of the book, that ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes: Should New Zealand have a snap election? That’s one of the questions arising out of the chaos of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s shock resignation. There’s an increased realisation that everything has changed, and the old plans and assumptions for election year have suddenly evaporated. ...
Should New Zealand have a snap election? That’s one of the questions arising out of the chaos of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s shock resignation. There’s an increased realisation that everything has changed, and the old plans and assumptions for election year have suddenly evaporated. So, although Ardern has named an ...
I warned about the trap of virtue signaling in my article Virtue signaling over Ukraine. This video is still relevant – but have we moved on since then? The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was universally condemned at the time. Or was it? Certainly, the political atmosphere ...
Earlier this week Point of Order carried a post by Geoffrey Miller on how Japan under a new security blueprint is doubling its defence spending. The plans see Japan buying up advanced weaponry – including long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US – and spending more on ...
Anyone else suffering back-to-work-blues? We’re battling, but still upright. Haere tonu! Today’s cover image is of sunset over Tirohanga Whānui Bridge, sourced from Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland On Monday, Jolisa pondered the fate of AT’s ‘Statements of Imagination’. Tuesday’s post was a guest post by Grady ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
The Government is maintaining its strong trade focus in 2023 with Trade and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visiting Europe this week to discuss the role of agricultural trade in climate change and food security, WTO reform and New Zealand agricultural innovation. Damien O’Connor will travel tomorrow to Switzerland to attend the ...
The Government has extended its medium-scale classification of Cyclone Hale to the Wairarapa after assessing storm damage to the eastern coastline of the region. “We’re making up to $80,000 available to the East Coast Rural Support Trust to help farmers and growers recover from the significant damage in the region,” ...
The Government is making an initial contribution of $150,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Tairāwhiti following ex-Tropical Cyclone Hale, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “While Cyclone Hale has caused widespread heavy rain, flooding and high winds across many parts of the North Island, Tairāwhiti ...
Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor has classified this week’s Cyclone Hale that caused significant flood damage across the Tairāwhiti/Gisborne District as a medium-scale adverse event, unlocking Government support for farmers and growers. “We’re making up to $100,000 available to help coordinate efforts as farmers and growers recover from the heavy ...
Pacific Media Watch Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat reports today on how Fiji has fared under the draconian Media Industry Development Act that has restricted media freedom over the past decade. There are hopes that state-endorsed media censorship will stop in Fiji following last month’s change in government to the People’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Treasurer Jim Chalmers has rejected as “laughable” criticism he has turned his back on the Hawke-Keating reform era in his blueprint for “values-based capitalism”. In this podcast Chalmers also reveals he spoke with Paul ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne It’s finally been launched. A new cultural policy for Australia. After years (actually decades) of neglect, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today launched a new national ...
Labour’s new leader Chris Hipkins has brought along a significant poll bump, with Labour now ahead in both the 1News Kantar Public and Newshub Reid Research polls. Both major television networks have released the first polls of Hipkins’ premiership tonight. But while both polls now have Labour ahead, both also predict ...
It’s a big evening for political tragics, with both the major television networks set to reveal a first glance at the popularity of new prime minister Chris Hipkins. TVNZ and Newshub have announced they will both be airing the poll results at 6pm tonight. It’ll show whether or not there ...
Two political polls tonight have Labour regaining lost ground against National, with leader Chris Hipkins more popular than the opposition's Christopher Luxon. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Obbard, Senior Lecturer in Nuclear Engineering, UNSW Sydney On January 12 a truck pulled out of Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and drove 1,400km south to Perth, arriving on January 16. Nine ...
Schools in Auckland won’t be opening as planned after the events of the weekend, the education ministry has confirmed. They will remain closed until after the Waitangi long weekend. “With the possibility of further weather damage leading to more disruption, the secretary for education has directed that schools, kura, early ...
Aucklanders are being warned to prepare for more heavy rain as the city continues to feel the fallout from Friday’s devastating floods. Mayor Wayne Brown has given a media conference this afternoon where he suggested schools should remain closed tomorrow, and also said Aucklanders could take their storm waste to ...
Schools in Auckland won’t be opening as planned after the events of the weekend, the education ministry has confirmed. They will remain closed until after the Waitangi long weekend. “With the possibility of further weather damage leading to more disruption, the secretary for education has directed that schools, kura, early ...
Aucklanders are being warned to prepare for more heavy rain as the city continues to feel the fallout from Friday’s devastating floods. Mayor Wayne Brown has given a media conference this afternoon where he suggested schools should remain closed tomorrow, and also said Aucklanders could take their storm waste to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John McAloon, Senior Lecturer, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock Everyone with young children experiences parenting challenges. And these are often exacerbated by parental exhaustion, financial or relationship difficulties, and work stress. I’m a clinical child ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Oliver Eklund, PhD Candidate in Media and Communication, Queensland University of Technology Unsplash Streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ will soon face regulations to invest in Australian content, as Australian regulations catch up to other world players. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rick Sarre, Emeritus Professor of Law and Criminal Justice, University of South Australia Indigenous community members outside the Victorian coroners court ahead of the release of a report into the death of Veronica Nelson.Tamati Smith/Getty ImagesAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ...
Asia Pacific Report Greenpeace claimed today claimed New Zealand’s extreme rain and flooding crisis in the North Island at the weekend as a “climate disaster”. “As our friends, family and neighbours across Auckland and the North Island have been battered by unprecedented rain and flooding, it’s a visceral reminder that ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fijian Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) chief executive officer Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s employment status has been terminated, new board chair Ajay Bhal Amrit confirmed today. Amrit said in a statement that chief financial officer Vimlesh Sagar would act in the position until the board could “confidently appoint” a ...
RNZ News A fourth person has been found dead as a result of New Zealand’s catastrophic floods on Friday, which have now spread to other parts of the country. Police said in a statement that Search and Rescue, who had been looking for a person swept away by floodwaters in ...
This year, politicians will stand for the leadership of our country. As young people today, we are accustomed to doomsday climate headlines and “once in 100 year” phenomena. We have heard all the big kōrero, but where is all the meaningful action? ...
Everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand on Census Day, 7 March 2023, will be asked to answer questions about themselves in the census. As a household there will also be questions about where you live, Stats NZ said today. “There will be a lot that is familiar ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Marriott, Professor of Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington GettyImages Aotearoa New Zealand’s new Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, has said we should look at ways to make the tax system fairer. Finance associate minister David Parker made ...
Greenpeace is today calling for the North Island’s extreme rain and flooding event to be named as a climate disaster. "As our friends, family and neighbours across Auckland and the North Island have been battered by unprecedented rain and flooding, ...
In these threatening times, a broad discussion about the role of EQC is imperative, writes Chris Nicoll In Aotearoa we are good at dealing with catastrophes when they occur. We see (otherwise rare) social unity in the minute-by-minute responses. People seem happy to help one another without hope of reward ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flavio Macau, Associate Dean – School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock Potatoes are among Australia’s favourite vegetables. However, we are facing a shortage of processed potatoes, especially of frozen chips. Coles introduced a two-item limit for shoppers ...
The breakout star of Treasure Island: Fans vs Faves is The Spinoff’s own head of podcasting, Jane Yee. Here’s everything you need to know about her show, The Real Pod.What is The Real Pod?A weekly podcast which recaps the biggest reality TV shows screening in New Zealand, The ...
In some alternative universe, Auckland mayor Efeso Collins readily grasped the scale of Friday’s deluge, and quickly made the emergency declaration that enabled central government to immediately throw its resources behind the rescue and remediation effort. ...
The Treasure Island: Fans v Faves co-hosts talk fans, faves and making their new hosting partnership work. When Treasure Island: Fans v Faves premieres tonight and a new group of castaways wash ashore on a Fijian beach in the hopes of winning $50,000 for charity, they’ll be wrangled by a ...
*This story was originally published on RNZ and is republished with permission* Landslips, road closures, homes and businesses flooded and more heavy rain on the way. Here is what you need to know as the severe weather continues. Landslips and homes without water Northern suburbs of Auckland and Titirangi appear ...
Chesdale cheese slices were one of the banes of Charlotte Muru-Lanning’s childhood. Can she learn to love them as an adult?This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. For most of my childhood, Chesdale cheese slices were a mainstay in the fridge. Much to my disappointment. ...
Auckland has a big clean-up job and faces uncertainty with severe weather forecast, but the prime minister would not be drawn on the Auckland mayor's handling of the flood response. ...
Total exports saw a growth of $8.7 billion (14 percent) to $72.2 billion in the year ended December 2022 compared with 2021, Stats NZ said today. Annual imports also rose sharply to $86.7 billion, up $16.1 billion (23 percent). “Price inflation ...
Meet the kiwi in charge of some of the worlds biggest brands across Japan, Australia and Aotearoa. Glen Kyne went from running the commercial team at Mediaworks to fostering brands like CNN and HBO in the blink of an eye. He chats with Duncan about the future of the streaming ...
The report by the Economic Development, Science, and Innovation Committee has suggested essential changes to the Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media Bill. Many of these changes are straight out of the Free Speech Union submission on this Bill and we are glad ...
Power Play - Aucklanders did not get the political leadership they deserve as they face the aftermath of Friday night's devastating floods, writes Jane Patterson. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kath Albury, Professor of Media and Communication and Associate Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making + Society, Swinburne University of Technology Shutterstock A 2022 survey by the Australian Institute of Criminology found three in four app users surveyed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Farrelly, Professor and Head of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania Two years after Myanmar’s coup on February 1 2021, the country’s large and growing resistance forces receive almost no attention outside the country. The democratic opposition, fronted by the National ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Beckett, Senior Lecturer (Food Science and Human Nutrition), School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle Pexels, CC BY Many of us want (or should I say need?) our morning coffee to give us our “get up and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Victoria’s Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Shutterstock We know everything in our homes gathers dust. What you probably don’t know is whether there are toxic contaminants in your house ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian A Wright, Associate Professor in Environmental Science, Western Sydney University Dan Himbrechts/AAP Swimming in rivers, creeks and lakes can be a fun way to cool off in summer. But contamination in natural waterways can pose a risk to human ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Highfield, Senior Lecturer, Deputy Head of School (ACT and regional NSW), Australian Catholic University Erik Anderson/AAP Around Australia, about 320,000 children are starting school for the first time. As an early childhood researcher, former kindergarten teacher, and parent of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Sonnemann, Principal Advisor Education, Grattan Institute Shutterstock More than four million students around Australia are heading back to school. While this will be a year of achievement and learning growth for many students, others will struggle to keep up. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tregear, Principal Fellow and Professor of Music, The University of Melbourne This article contains spoilers. Todd Field’s new, multi-Academy Award nominated feature film Tár is generating considerable commentary – and not a little controversy. For some, its storyline allows ...
*This story was originally published on RNZ and is republished with permission* Aucklanders whose homes and businesses were inundated during Friday's deluge have begun cleaning up as the threat of further wild weather lingers. Some of them told First Up how the unprecedented rain event had impacted them. 'It's just ...
Most of them commemorate early Pākehā arrival. Some are based on obsolete provincial borders. One celebrates an A&P show. But most importantly, none of them have any meaning to the vast majority of us, writes historian André Brett. First published in 2021 Last Monday was the Wellington Anniversary Day public ...
In the final part of a series on Labour's leadership transition, Elliot Crossan argues that the idealistic vision Jacinda Ardern espoused of a kind, empathetic and fair society is possible – but not with a less-inspiring new leader. Read part one here, and part two hereOpinion: Jacindamania ended in ...
A progress report on booksellers Last week's shock news that Vic Books in Wellington is set to close – it's open for nine more trading weeks, shutting its doors for good on March 31 – has been felt deeply by Kiwi booksellers. "It happens to them, it happens to all ...
A focus on “bread and butter” issues likely signals the end of the RNZ/TVNZ merger, writes Mark JenningsOpinion: It is highly probable new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has decided to scrap the plan to create a new public media entity, he just hasn’t announced it yet. His election-year pitch ...
Nearly 18 million people in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian assistance. The Detail talks to one aid worker who's seen the devastation wreaked by Russia's invasion and the toll it's taken on Ukrainians. When New Zealand aid worker Anne Bulley knocked on the door of two elderly women living in a ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government’s cultural policy, released Monday, “puts First Nations first”, while also promising regulated Australian content on streaming services and a shift to greater support for the popular in the arts. The policy reflects ...
An inexhaustive list of community assistance in the Auckland area.Kai, clothing, bedding Auckland City Mission A flood response fund has been set up by the mission. Both Vodafone and Te Rourou, Vodafone Aotearoa Foundation will match donations up to $35,000 each. So, for every $10 donated, $30 will go ...
Auckland Emergency Management have issued an emergency mobile alert ahead of the potential for extremely heavy rain to hit the Auckland region. The alert warned Aucklanders of MetService’s orange heavy rain warning between now and Monday. The Met Service issued an orange heavy rain warning due to an active line of thunderstorms ...
By Barbara Dreaver, 1News Pacific correspondent The Moungavalu family in Aotearoa New Zealand are grateful to be alive. Their Māngere home in Auckland, along with others in their street, was hit hard by flooding with chest-deep water sweeping down the road. Mohe Mougavalu says the water went down their no ...
Auckland's mayor says lessons have been learned following the region's highest ever rainfall over 24 hours, which left four people dead and forced hundreds of people out of their homes. ...
Oceans are at their warmest state ever and that has consequences, Kevin Trenberth writes I am a climate scientist who has been around watching the climate crisis grow from one of little concern to one where enough extremes of weather have grabbed the attention of the public. It is now ...
The deputy prime minister, Carmel Sepuloni, and transport minister Michael Woods spoke Sunday afternoon and updated on the government’s response to the state of local emergency in Auckland. Today there will be 70-80 case managers supporting those calling the MSD helpline for assistance. Sepuloni encouraged anyone needing any assistance (food, ...
Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni says it has been "incredibly heartening" to see the way Aucklanders had helped each other out over the past few days. Sepuloni and Transport Minister Michael Wood have provided today's government update on the ongoing state of emergency in Auckland. Sepuloni thanked the many organisations ...
The deputy prime minister says it has been "incredibly heartening" to see the way Aucklanders had helped each other out over the past few days. Watch the latest government update here. ...
The deputy prime minister and the transport minister are providing today's government update on the ongoing state of emergency in Auckland. Watch it live here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Welch, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Auckland Getty Images We’ve built our cities to be vulnerable to – and exacerbate – major weather events such as the one we saw in Auckland on Friday. While almost no ...
If you’ve managed to secure some eggs, here’s a tasty dish from the Parsi cuisine which essentially revolves around eggs… Even if they were an acquired taste for Perzen Patel. I’ve always been mentally allergic to eggs. I’ll eat cakes that have eggs and dishes where I can’t see or ...
PNG Post-Courier Papua New Guinea’s Service Improvement Programme worth more than K1 billion (NZ$440 million) has become a major cash cow for “irresponsible” leaders, says the monitoring agency. In the past decade, the Provincial and District Services Improvement Programme has delivered much but has not achieved what it set out ...
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An excerpt from a keynote speech delivered in November last year to mark Ben Brown’s time as Te Awhi Rito New Zealand Reading Ambassador.We imagine ourselves into existence and a universe comes with us. This is the first and most important function of language, revealed to us ideally ...
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When you consider their remote location, perilous terrain and dark, sometimes ugly history, it seems incredible that anyone still lives on Pitcairn Island. But almost 50 people do and, as Graeme Lay discovers, they live very well. The supply ship Claymore II stands off the north coast of Pitcairn Island. ...
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In the second of a three-part series on Labour's leadership transition, Elliot Crossan focuses on how Labour's economic handling of the Covid crisis created an explosion in inequality. Read part one here.Opinion: In her emotional resignation speech, Jacinda Ardern described how she no longer had “enough in the tank to do ...
ANALYSIS:By James Renwick, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington The extraordinary flood event Auckland experienced on the night of January 27, the eve of the city’s anniversary weekend, was caused by rainfall that was literally off the chart. Over 24 hours, 249mm of rain fell — well ...
RNZ News Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has acknowledged the way Aucklanders have come together and opened their homes to those in need, with the New Zealand government focused on providing the resources needed to get the city back up and running. The new prime minister — just four days into ...
RNZ News Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty has asked for communication on support after the severe thunderstorm in Auckland to be stepped up. It comes after a Civil Defence warning text failed to be sent out, and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown told RNZ they will be reviewing the response, ...
RNZ News Three people are dead and at least one person is missing following the flooding overnight in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. About 1000 people were still stranded today after Auckland Airport was closed last night because of flooding of the arrival and departure foyers. Flights were cancelled for ...
Wayne Brown has doubled down on his decision last night to shun the media until close to midnight and only order a state of emergency at 9.30pm. In a defensive display to the media this afternoon, the Auckland mayor was questioned on comments other councillors made last night, including some ...
Prime minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed there are three deaths linked to the extreme weather event in Auckland over the past 24 hours. There is also at least one person missing. Speaking at a press conference in Auckland, Hipkins said the priority was to make sure Aucklanders were safe, housed ...
*This story was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission*Until New Zealand's stormwater drain system adapts to our rising climate, it will never be able to cope with the level of flooding seen in Auckland on Friday night, writes James Renwick The extraordinary flood event Auckland experienced ...
Who is the guy on the left?
A tenant that pays the rent s my guess.
That’s efficiency folks. Not-for-profit charities concentrate on covering costs so there is a small surplus. Government making a profit from providing necessities to needy citizens is a sort of oxymoron, out of gas.
As appalling as the situation is re children becoming sick and tenants dying, as the result of deteriorating state house conditions, this cartoon is right on the button. Summed up well by Tom Scott.
If Paula Bennet had her way they would be harvesting the mushrooms and making a business of selling them, using their kiwi ingenuity and “turning their lives around” just as she did???? Yeah right
Still waiting for Hoots to say again that this is a lifestyle that Henry VIII would have envied.
…crickets…
Henry VIII died at the age of 55 (ie a year younger than I am now)
This is a pretty accurate analysis of his life over the last decade. Any takers for the life of Henry Tudor Jnr?
I don’t think that Hoots is one for accurate historical knowledge – his chosen profession being to rewrite the past and he’s likely to be one who slept through most of his lessons at school anyway.
For those who don’t know, a while ago well-known political commentator and shitstain Matthew Hooton declared from the comfort of a nice warm studio that today’s beneficiaries have lifestyles and amenities that would be the envy of Henry VIII, by which he meant a typical Renaissance monarch. He was quite aggressive in insisting that this was so.
Lately, since news of the horrible conditions in which Housing NZ “clients” have been enduring, deaths by pneumonia and so on have emerged, he’s been peculiarly silent on the issue.
Maybe he’s going to say that these people are getting sick and dying in strange underwater jousting accidents?
Maybe he’s going to continue to insist that they should be grateful for the conditions that they enjoy?
Maybe Hosking will come along and have something to say about the glass being half full, even if the water is cold, murky and disease-ridden?
“He was quite aggressive in insisting that this was so”
From my experience whenever he’s least convinced that what he’s saying is true (or in this case relevant) he’s most aggressive and forthright. Week after week you can hear him on RadioNZ and when he starts getting in peoples face you can be reasonably sure he’s got his fingers crossed under the table.
So what were the conditions of Henry VIII’s time?
Life expectancy was 30 years. Poverty was widespread, disease outbreaks common, living conditions were unsanitary and smelly.
So, in a way, Hooton is right. Life is better than during Henry’s reign. Henry would have been treated for his conditions, his son would have probably survived and the world as we know it would have been different, in ways of which counterfactual history writers can only dream.
But it does not excuse that our life expectancy, living conditions, health and safety are not what they should be in a world so much more advanced in knowledge, wealth, technology and communications.
“But it does not excuse that our life expectancy, living conditions, health and safety are not what they should be in a world so much more advanced in knowledge, wealth, technology and communications.”
Exactly, and yet over and over again the parasites are saying “Be grateful for what you have and admire me for what I have – things could be worse in North Korea/Hell/Venus” It’s smug, disgusting, shows a contempt for everyone else and a philistine contempt for the project of civilisation itself which is to make life better for all.
It’s the ‘admire me for what I have’ which is just so false. The idolising of falsity, Mammon, earthly pleasures and artifacts which is so shallow and pathetic. The lack of recognition of art, spirituality, intellectual excellence, the non-understanding of what it is that makes us human beings special, unique, and capable of so much.
Indeed, the ‘project of civilisation’ is as you state so well. And it is galling that the people who have the power and resources just don’t get that; and worse, stand so belligerently in its way.
So.
It seems that , even though incredibly ill in his later years, Henry VIII still managed to survive nearly twice the contemporaneous life expectancy, thanks to an extraordinarily high standard of state-funded healthcare for the times.
Personally I think Henry’s problems were genetic…and still it goes on.
what a great cartoon reminds me of the listner days when scot was king and his cartoons and excellent articles and editorials of a once dynamic magazine socked it to the government on a regular basis, printed on non highgloss paper u could wipe your arse with it or light the fire with it after a damn good read !
I quite agree, the Listener is now a lifestyle magazine and it’s the last straw for me, I am going to cancel my subscription, this week’s issue was full of gardening, cooking and media/film star rubbish. Everything in paper form is boring these days.
There are some things we shouldn’t profit from, housing is one of them.
All the people with a property portfolio, receiving rents for sub standard dwellings will sleep a little sounder.
Waking in their warm dry homes, knowing that housing for the most vulnerable is deliberately kept in a poor condition.
Thus.making their dilapidated investment look
good.
This Housing NZ situation is the most appalling indictment on our society.
bar none
But at least the South Canterbury Finance investors got their shoddy investment back eh
At least Rio Tinto could keep going eh
At least the farmers got their $400m irrigation money eh
At least Warner Bros got their deal eh
At least more money was able to be given to private schools eh
At least the highest income earners got a tax break eh
. . . .
We should all be embarrassed to the high heavens. The fact we are not is a further indictment on our society and how it is structured.
Hopeless. Lazy evil.
Housing is just another Ponzi scheme designed by those who never have to live there in state housing on a generational basis .
The govt continues to show us how useless they are and actually admitting that they have no real desire to see things improve unless it is in the manner of the free market doctrine of progress, ie the end of socialism .
The state housing experiment is a total failure.
WHY?
It has distracted needy people from being housed, (a basic function of the state housing system).
90 million will make no difference to a handfull of near term women living rough on Auckland streets who are due to give birth in several weeks.