This surrender is completely the wrong message to give to the electorate.
This is a betrayal of Maori of Women of every person and group this Right Wing bigot has insulted and mocked.
Labour has dignified this Right Wing extremist and has handed him an undeserved media platform and have created a media rod for their own backs way beyond this debate.
With this victory over Labour by TVNZ, voters will be asking is there anything that Labour won’t back down on?
Through Labour’s subservience Mike Hosking will take the moderator’s chair, and his smug gloating at this personal vindication of his extreme misogynist and Right Wing views on our television screens will make the debate unbearable to watch for many.
This supercilious wretch is not fit to mediate a kindergarten finger painting contest.
As he arrogantly treats the debaters (of both sides), as wayward children, the serious issues will become lost, and the debate will be cheapened and trivialised.
By caving in and agreeing to be part of this farcical circus, Labour has been smacked and smacked down hard and the country knows it.
No doubt Labour have got an assurance from TVNZ that Mike Hosking will act as the benevolent media arbiter, and in so doing, will condescendingly patronise and glaringly favour Cunliffe over Key, to the point of farce, (and beyond).
As Mike Hosking bathes in his personal magnificence as he smugly tells the Prime Minister to, “Shut up and give Mr Cunliffe a fair go”. the whole country will cringe at the spectacle.
It doesn’t really matter now what Cunliffe says in the debate, or promises the voters, he has already lost. He will be entering the leaders debate as a crippled loser who needs to be favoured out of charity.
In giving in to this outrageous imposition by TVNZ, the public can now know for certain, that David Cunliffe and the Labour Party are hostages to the establishment, any assurances that David Cunliffe gives voters in the debate are worth nothing because Labour cannot be relied on not to fold at the slightest pressure from big business, foreign powers, vested interest, oil drillers and yes the media, all those that make up the current establishment.
No matter how reckless, unjust, or cruel. Any humiliation is bearable, any outrage is excusable.
From deep sea oil, to massacre in Gaza.
Labour as the Loyal Opposition Party guaranteed to support the establishment.
The only question left is what will be their next back down?
Labour has had plenty of chances to reform the media environment when it has been in government.
It chose to continue with the corporate profit making model for publicly owned television and radio so can hardly complain when its drive to extract dividends rather than deliver quality broadcasting results in the likes of Hoskings reigning supreme.
Rather than making fools of themselves by empty threats to boycott they should have promised reforms of publicly owned media that would lead to them focusing on providing the public with the best possible information on local and international events combined with a range of points of view and expert analysis from people who know what they are talking about.
The trouble is if they did that even more people would realise how fucked their precious capitalism is.
Jenny the views of everyone who is interested in the left are being put forward and going into the petition as well. Now it is time to stop the consciousness-raising and get positives-raising behind the strong David Cunliffe that we have. And facilitate and enable him as much as possible.
Much of the media’s approach is unfair and unbalanced and we know that they will go off in the lifeboats and leave the rest of the country dealing with the aftermath if anything goes awry. So we must deal with that thought and make sure that we make our firm stand on firm ground and just keep on with positive action that advances Labour.
3rd attempt!
+100 @ Lefty.
I submitted a comprehensive response but it disappeared up its own arse (went into a black hole). Somehow I doubt moderation but I’ll wait and see.
Still … it’s what an interloper probably deserves – it’s just that I hope this site isn’t becoming part of the Xero phenomenon.
Time is tight and opinions are cheap it seems these days (especially when one is competing with a well financed brigade of trolls).
I disagree with your points. It would have hurt Cunliffe and Labour more as weak if Hosking was removed at this stage as the issue was in the open rather than behind the scenes.
He did rather snooker himself with this previous comment.
Labour leader David Cunliffe told NewstalkZB in April that he would be happy to debate Prime Minister John Key “anytime, any place, anywhere, I’ll even do it on Mike Hosking’s show.”
Well he didn’t. This issue shows is another media beat up. Labour complains about a clearly inappropriate choice for moderator of the debates and the media then converts into a “Cunliffe won’t show” discussion. How about we debate the appropriateness of Hosking being the moderator.
Cunliffe has come across as cowardly from all of this. Here was his golden opportunity to go in there against (perceived) adversity and nail everyone with his oratory. Instead he threatened Hosking with a dossier of naughty words & phrases… What was he thinking!!!
He was probably thinking about the desperate poverty so many kiwis find themselves mired in. He was probably thinking about how he can turn around NZ’s steady descent into an American model of education, health, and insurance.
He was probably distracted by human concerns. Something which Mike Hosking has not bothered with for a long time.
You and McGrath are obviously following the Slater approach to blogging. Invent some shit, and keep repeating said shit ad nauseum in the hope that other people will also believe in said shit.
As New Zealanders become poorer due to the divisive Marxist practice of Free Trade, Elitists like Mr Hoskings will find themselves subject to more and more raw hatred.
Mr Hoskings is yet another Marxist who believes men and women are somehow equal. To anyone with brains, this is absurd. Any culture who does not value women more highly than men is doomed.
Free trade destroys local industry. Lets see what Karl Marx had to say about free trade.
“But, generally speaking, the Protective system in these days is conservative, while the Free Trade system works destructively. It breaks up old nationalities and carries antagonism of proletariat and bourgeoisie to the uttermost point. In a word, the Free Trade system hastens the Social Revolution. In this revolutionary sense alone, gentlemen, I am in favor of Free Trade.”
While that is nice for utopians, in practice, in reality, it causes a lot of anguish and destruction for the working class and their children.
What do elitists care if our working class and industrial base are destroyed? They are rootless cosmopolitans; much like the cockroach and the rat, they would be happy to live anywhere. “Free trade” they cry, but how many of them even know a trade?
As for women being more valuable than men, that should be obvious.
Indolent, arrogant men could be replaced by a small pool of breeding males, with very little loss to society, and a massive drop in violence and domestic abuse. Women can now do everything men can. While lazy New Zealand men sit around playing shooting games, women defend our country and serve in our armed forces.
We New Zealand males are becoming redundant. Lets show that we are worth keeping around.
Not at all. I am in no way against a strong government, or for a treasonous insurrection to “retake the New Zealand Constitution”.
There is no way we can return to limited government. Our people have been debased by decades of “liberty”. To attempt to remove a lot of state support, and guidance, like several idiot parties are advocating would be nothing less than a return to anarchy and slaughter. It is a survivalists fantasy.
Perhaps these libertarian anarchists see themselves holed up in their mansions, firing their rifles at the Walking Dead that come pleading for food and water. “You should have worked harder!” they scream as they shovel shells into the breech.
No, comrades, the way of the future is a mixed economy, in a morally conservative society. Already Premiere Putin, leader of the Free World has banned swearing in movies, and the promotion of perverse lifestyles to children. The bourgeois agendas of the left and right do not fool him. He knows what is good for the working class.
Have to agree with BM on this one. That’s an odd comment and reinforces why Labour has only 1 male vote in 5.
[lprent: Read the about. This site isn’t just for the Labour party. After all we let unthinking morans from the right like yourself write here. Read the policy about attributing motives to this site that don’t exist.
I get irritated by pinheaded fools being dumbarses about the site. Banned for a week to give you time to read the pages. Let me know if you need more time. ]
This election may seem stupid to you, but it is neither; pointless, nor pre-determined. The party representation proportions will be significantly changed once the votes are counted. Even if you believe that the next parliament will be; Nat-led, rather than Labour-led, the coalition agreement and private member bills submitted to the ballot over the next parliamentary term will differ.
Just because it looks like you may not win is not a reason to stop trying.
@Tom Jackson 9.33
It’s an ironic position when you care a lot about what you think is going wrong, and turning out badly, and then you help to bring this about. So why don’t you step back now you have made the comment about being pointless etc. That won’t change anything for the better except it provides a warning of possible outcomes we should keep in mind.
We now are in the situation where if one can’t say anything good, it’s better to say nothing at all. Don’t be a Cassandra any more! Just drop a bit of positive in if you see something that sparks an approving thought. I think it is good advice I am giving and I must follow this myself. And I advise all other lefties and Standardistas to adopt the same thing.
Don’t diss anyone except people like that sneaky cur that was supposed to have supplied goss to a journalist. But we don’t know if that was true anyway. What a good idea for one of these corkscrew jonos to make it up. He/she can’t reveal their sources, and seeing they don’t have any personal code of integrity and their employers are leaders in the art of sly obfuscation, the goss leak may not even have happened, probably just a song at twilight from a twilight lurker-writer’s head.
My comment won’t let me edit even though there is lots of time. I just checked on Cassandra to refresh myself.
Wikipedia on Cassandra. In their image she looks as if she is tearing her hair out!
[Apollo] he gave her the curse of never being believed. In an alternative version, she fell asleep in a temple, and snakes licked (or whispered in) her ears so that she was able to hear the future..(Ha ha snakes whispering into jonos’ ears – how apt, the apse slides in and out of our myths and beliefs.)
I was doing some replication work on the databases this morning getting the backup server at home on fibre running. Could have been causing issues.
I try to do this type of work on saturday morning as it is the quietest period on the site during the days and I’m not really that keen on doing it in the middle of the night anymore.
With respect disagree Jenny. TVNZ would never have backed down and Labour have made the point splashed over all of the MSM that Hoskin is a biased idiot.
It was time to get on with policies and not keep fighting this distraction.
He can ask tough questions as long as e does to both. He should try and remain neutral and fair. In the end what really decides are the policies and how well the leaders respond during the debate. Cunliffe will need persuasion, conviction, affability as well as aggression and fire at times. He is more than capable of all that. Though in his perceived favour, Key has smile, spin and hyperbole.
Perhaps he should have backed out of the debate and secretly asked Winston to take his place. That would have put John Key and TVNZ in a rather embarassing position.
..yes..everything you say about hosking..(and more..)..is true..
Yet I can predict that Labour Party apologists will be arguing here that “Mike Hosking is not so bad”. And the dossier Labour have collected on Hosking’s past outrages will be quietly shelved, never to see the light of day, as David Cunliffe makes his Party’s peace with Mike Hosking and the far Right embedded in the media.
It seemed to me to be quite a clever piece of positioning on Labour’s part. Hoskings is going to have to be very careful he’s fair and balanced after this publicity. One foot wrong….
I don’t care what Labour had/has to say about Hosking, he is the wrong man person for the job. Why does TVNZ always choose a guy, and a white guy at that? Guyon… etc
I have been trying to find examples of Hosking’s hate speech. links?
For the first time in quite awhile (4years+) I think the left with Labour as the largest party are going to win this election
Positive policies and no more infighting is going to carry the day
The Nats arrogance will be the deal breaker
They are certainly in a better position than they have been for a while. Not that you’d know it from the media. The Greens are focused as hell. Labour has good policies and most of the the people on board. The sense that I got from the NZF conference is that their supporters would prefer to go anywhere else to avoid touching National.
The only real hassle I see is the IMP supporters spending their time slagging everyone else on the left off. But that is to be expected. It now has the complete concentration of fragile egos who spend less time working on building a party and more on talking about the new miracle to happen.
bad12…agreed…i dont see much criticism of David Cunliffe…quite the contrary…there is some suspicion of some in caucus occasionally ( but who isnt a wee bit suspicious ?)
….generally IMP is very positive towards a Left coalition govt….their constituency is very young, techy, quite radical …not Labours constituency at all…judging from my Labour voting relatives who are all 50+
That’s right; both Bad12 & phillip ure are IMP aligned, but I don’t see them throttling back on the robustness of their discourse (or feud, if you will). So it’s not that we focus on; “slagging everyone else on the left off”, as we also go after ourselves, but mostly the Tories!
This is from a comment about IMPs I made to Chooky [at 5.1] on yesterday’s MS election stats post:
We are a strangely disparate group from my experience with NZ Politics. I come from a Green (once Labour) background, others from; National, Labour, Maori (through MANA) & NZF Parties. However we seem to building a team where, while we certainly don’t agree about everything; we are committed to working together to change the present corrupt Government.
Lolz Paupial, someone half inched your S, you should be more ‘onto it’, have a look at ‘Open Mike’ over the past week?, the ongoing debate between myself and Phillip has definitely ben ‘throttled back’,
‘Throttled’ actually as Phillip after our last exchange ”is never,ever, engaging with me again”…
Ps: insert mad laughter, i would have but the printed version looks a bit ugly…
Alien, Mmmm Bacon, ssshhh, i have four pieces in the fridge and they will make my life all that much more worth living on ‘diet days’ Sunday/Monday when i radically reduce the intake in the weight loss effort,(gloat: 88KG this week from 118KG December 2013)…
Alien, Laugh, i have recently been tempted to really stoop for Bad Taste as a stratagem with a discussion of the benefits of rat traps, which i have this week deployed, over rat poison, 3 packets of which i have bought and used in the past six months,
Wishing tho to re-invent myself as an admittedly dated adherent to an equally dated philosophy, SNAG, i have decided against discussing all aspects of my current barbarity here…
I chase house flies out of doors and windows so I don’t have to spray or whack, so well done on the non discussion of rat traps.
Having said that, it does pose problems for vegan environmentalists. Do they kill the destructive rats or possums? If they kill them, what method, a shot to the head or a belly full of poison?
If they agree to eradicate, why are they less worthy than beef and lamb? Why can’t I eat bacon if they agree to torture invasive species?
It’s a heck of a question for those vegan environmentalists out there.
Ta for the heads up – I don’t need to be more of a pauper than I already am!
I’ve been a bit busy of late, so missed quite a few Open Mikes, and other posts on TS in the last week or so. Though I seem to remember PU saying that he’d; never engage with certain people again, before, but not managing to follow through. We’ll have to see whether he manages; “never,ever, engaging”, any better.
Lolz Pasupial, i dare not comment any further on never ever, altho i have to admit that the cessation of hostilities has made ‘Open Mike’ a little bit of a cleaner read this week,
(And i might add taken a bit of the laughter out of the conversation for me, but, we have to realize that it aint our own private sandpit we are tossing the toys round in)…
building a team where, while we certainly don’t agree about everything; we are committed to working together to change the present corrupt Government
And that was the sense I got from hanging around the Internet Party’s “Party Party” tonight/this morning in Dunedin and chatting with many people. A wide range of people came along. There was a good mix in terms of demographics, ethnicities and even ages! Kim Dotcom even caught up with lovely 98yo Aunty Joyce (thanks for the photo, Tat):
There is a significant groundswell of feeling to see a change in Government. The mainstream media’s fault-finding and anti-Cunliffe slant is recognised. Support is strong for Cunliffe to lead the new government. To the broader Left and progressive voters, I say: take heart, galvanise your like-minded friends, family and wider network to vote on 20 Sep.
Good summary, especially the bit about fragile egos and the methodology of some mip supporters.
Like I’ve said before, odd that a 1% party has all the right ideas, but none of the votes.
An old quote that’s apt – Winners don’t wait for chances, they take them.
Alien, i see you have added a word to LPrent’s quote, the word? Some, as in Some IMP supporters,
Read as written by LPrent, His comment addressing ”the IMP supporters”, in the plural takes a swipe at all InternetMana Party supporters and is thus the exact same behavior that the comment protests against in relation to ”spending their time slagging off everyone else on the left”…
I did add the word ‘some’, from my own perspective, thinking it less definitive.
I know of a couple of mip good sorts who are okay and don’t aggressively attack the rest of the left in order to make political capital in a grandiose manner, so for me, one brush doesn’t tarr all.
Alien, ”is that ok”???, hell everything is ok to me,(until you see the Black note appear at the bottom of your comment that is),
”Aggressively attack” my plea is of course guilty as hell with respect to this aspect of commenting, tho personally my defence is that i happily engage on any level, not necessarily ”to make political capital in a grandiose manner” but if the conversation is going to be ‘gutter’ its either my first or second language,
(As you can see from our polite discussion the other day Alien, we both can stick to a ‘straight debate’ surrounding the facts, just as we both are fully adept at poking our little sharpened sticks metaphorically in each others eyes,
Probably a big part in our racing for the bottom when the conversation hits the gutter is the ‘shits and giggles’ it generates for us personally as dredging up something wickedly nasty as a retort i would suggest has you laughing like a loon as much as it does me)…
All good here (apart from the bold black text of doom).
If one can’t take a pointed stick to the eyes every so often, then stop playing and take up knitting, I say.
His comment addressing ”the IMP supporters”, in the plural takes a swipe at all InternetMana Party supporters and is thus the exact same behavior that the comment protests against in relation to ”spending their time slagging off everyone else on the left”…
Point taken. But the contrast between the Labour and Green party activists quietly labouring away at the pre-campaign work and the IMP tactic of slagging off other activists has been particularly striking to me over the last few months.
“IMP supporters spending their time slagging everyone else on the left off… the complete concentration of fragile egos who spend less time working on building a party and more on talking about the new miracle”
Am I included in this group you so casually denigrate? I’ve been commenting on the site less than usual precisely because; I’ve been out working on building a party, and facilitating students’ enrollment on the voting register. Sure, our; phillip & Jenny do have their quirks, but I’m sure there are other regular commenters who haven’t yet declared themselves as IMP supporters, who are also offended by your profiling of us.
Anyway, I agree with Ray that; “the left with Labour as the largest party are going to win this election”, or at least; that we’re still in with a real chance. “Positive policies and no more infighting” seems less likely however – I like Cunliffe and his faction, but am not so keen on others in the Labour Party (the ones who; while in the party, are not of the party).
The only real hassle I see is the IMP supporters spending their time slagging everyone else on the left off.
If Harawira’s performance on The Nation this morning is any guide then the answer is the opposite. He was ‘the statesman’ from start to finish. If he keeps that up then its looking good for him and the broader Left.
Is this a shameful backdown? Good strategy closer to truth. Cunliffe has raised the issue and is pragmatic now. He looks reasonable and realistic and Hosking is now aware through the petition, that not everybody loves and admires him. Cunliffe has been relentlessly picked on by all and sundry for months. Give the guy a break, without him the Left are going to sit on the Opposition benches. The only major error he has made was the Trusts earlier this year. The rest is just gossip and trivia, no doubt orchestrated by right wing media gonks. I’m with you Ray, the sea change for our entitled, arrogant and ignorant rulers is on the way.
1 jrobin
We need to stop fighting battles that take the focus off Labour Party policies and keep up the criticism of National Party policies rather than spending all our energy talking about the right wing bias in the media (even though it is the worst it has ever been). Labour were right to complain to TVNZ as Mike Hoskings will have to be a bit more careful than he would have been otherwise, but Cunliffe refusing to take part would be ridiculous. If you think the bullying of Cunliffe by the MSM is bad now it would only get worse if he didn’t turn up for the Leader’s debate.
I just hope he starts replying to every question about his leadership or disunity or supposed faults with a “I’m here to talk about the policies that are important to NZers, not to talk about trivia.”
The bias of the media, and the way its dominated by corporate-led infotainment IS an election issue.
I think left MPs are best keeping to their election policies. It’s up to the rest of us ordinary folks to keep the pressure up on the MSM to play fair during the election period – and to keep campaigning for better media after the elections.
Agree Jrobin. Nztv and Hosking have been put on notice. Hosking will be careful. He must realise that he will have a very short career when Labour wins if he is not mindful of this fact. His bff key is not going to be around much longer. Cunliffe has had the best of all the interviewers I have seen/heard him interviewed by. I don’t see this being any different.Even with ‘the popinjay’ (thank you Paul) moderating, Cunliffe will make key look like the uneducated playground bully that he is. All squealing and abuse but no substance. Bring it on.
I do not see Cunliffe’s acceptance as a back down but an inevitability. He has made his point and now it is up to tvnz and Hosking to honour their word of complete impartiality. They will be hung out to dry if they don’t. The whole country will be watching
In Politics -Stuff, a headline reads “John Minto Burns Israeli Flag.” He didn’t of course and didn’t know at the time that a flag had been burnt as the text of the column says.
IF what i seen aired on my TeeVee news last night surrounding the attack by the Israeli army on the UN school is in fact the truth,
IE: that UN officials had hours befor the shells rained down on that school, a place of refuge for women and children, begged, cajoled, and pleaded with the Israeli’s through direct contact, going so far as to provide them with the GPS coordinates for the location,
It saddens me to say that the small amount of sympathy i have thus far held onto for the Jewish State has evaporated,
Perhaps those within the US who openly support such Murder, with industrial efficiency, of children on a daily basis might care to cast around within their own borders for a ‘new promised land’ as such atrocities will in time provoke the need either for the use of weapons of mass destruction by the perpetrators of this ongoing child murder, probably within their own borders, and/or, a new ‘exodus’ of the Jewish people on a Biblical scale…
Yeah TV, seen that, perhaps Tracey Watkins inordinately extended ability to gush glowingly over Slippery the Prime Minister has dried up and desperate needs have in turn lead to desperate deeds,
Pretty low life bottom of the barrel Stuff do you not think Stuff.co.nz,???
i doubt this particular act of electoral bias by Stuff.co will have much effect as its not a hard print news organ that this gauche display appears within,
Most of us, computer literate to the extent of being able to access that particular site,(and in my case not much more), will probably have already, a long time ago,made our decisions as to which side of the political spectrum we will be voting,
Still, not a good look, and, another nail in the coffin for the mainstream media of New Zealand, and, Stuff.co can be assured that like the NZHerald, when the pay-walls go up i for one WILL NOT be paying them any of my coin to be subjected to such shit…
There was an advertisement the other day on Armstrong’s column of a blue bus in supposed motion with key’s face on the bus and blurb (go #team key or some such thing) which I can’t remember. I commented on it but when I went back it had disappeared.
Opposed to Iraeli STATE TERRORISM and the murdering of Palestinian little kids and civilians? Want to STAND UP and be counted? Today, Saturday 26 July 2014 – assemble 2pm Aotea Square Auckland. Hope to see a BIG turnout of decent people who are equally outraged at the violation of the most basic rights of Palestinians – the right to life! I’ll be there and encourage as many as possible to please attend and help spread the word. How would YOU like to be a Palestinian in Gaza right now? Penny Bright
‘When Firstline are focusing on flag burning rather than dead Palestinian children – that’s why you must march this Saturday at 2pm against Israeli aggression’
By Martyn Bradbury / July 25, 2014
This Saturday, Aotea Square, 2pm is that time to stand not only against Israeli aggression, but it’s tome to stand up against the pro-Israeli bias in our media….
Win,lose,draw, at some point after the September Votes have been counted we are going to have to get into casting our critical gaze upon all the parties of the left with a view to picking out and pointing to just what went right and what went wrong,
i definitely DO NOT propose to start such a process today, engaging in such behavior at this stage in the cycle being ‘not very helpful’ in terms of unity as the real contest is about to begin,
However,
In the case of poor old much maligned Labour who just can’t catch an even break any time anywhere it would seem i would suggest that to see what has been inherently amiss so far in the ‘campaign lead-up’ can be found encapsulated in a TV3 news item aired when David Cunliffe announced the parties election policy on education,
If you can find this particular video clip, aired the night of the education policies announcement on TV3 news at 6,(sorry my computer literacy leads me not to be able to provide a www), i would suggest that on a number of levels which do not involve the actual policy a number of ‘things’ best described as ‘wrong’ are encapsulated, epitomized, and, exposed within that one short news clip…
I was thinking about regional development and house prices ans the Reserve Bank. Largely because I was up in a so called “successful province” the other day (Taranaki) and things looked pretty dead there and the local businesses were saying things were either very tough or totally unreliable – good one day and quiet for the next week.
RE agents said houses were not selling etc etc etc.
So why cant the deposit for houses outside of Auckland and Canterbury be at 5% and have it at the 20% in those two provinces? Is it just because “who wins Auckland wins the election?” and to tell them they need a 20% deposit would mean they would vote for the other guys? (If the RB was able to do this, Im sure the Government would still get the blame)
If that deposit differential could be introduced then maybe we would have more folk looking at the provinces which would help them and with people can come business opportunities.
Auckland prices are a result of migration – from in NZ and from other countries, and Christchurch’s prices are a result of the earthquakes and the migration in for the rebuild.
I see Fran O Sullivan has joined the chorus of calls to raise the pension age.
Its easy wait 2 more years when you spend your working life either sitting on your ass at your PC (eating chocolate), or flittering from one social function to another on the Auckland cocktail circuit.
Just took part in “The Reactor” at Scoop. One of the videos to comment on was Johnathon Coleman saying if any minister knew about the FBI investigation of Dotcom, that would have been a massive red flag and he would have never got into New Zealand. Oops, Mr Coleman is in deep poo.
@ Papa TTuanuku 11.16
Okay – another word learned. Apopo – tomorrow. Tuwhera be open
And an extra – as an acronym it refers to –
APOPO is a registered Belgian non-governmental organisation which trains African giant pouched rats to detect landmines and tuberculosis. APOPO’s mission is to develop detection rats technology to provide solutions for global problems and inspire positive social change.
Perhaps we should discard the week, as in Te wiki o te reo Maori, Maori language week, dialing the one week out of the year down to one day a month and then at a future point one day a week every week of the year where te reo Maori is promoted…
Here is a technical problem for me re the Standard posts. Any suggestions please?
I am able to post. I do get notices of new TOPICS in my email, but I do not get notices of new posts. Nor do I get ‘please confirm’ notices as I used to get before. This problem has been going on for over a week now.
While posting a comment, I do tick the two little boxes as usual.
I have cleared the cookies and restarted the computer a couple of times, but still no luck.
I tried to login and asked for a now password from ‘word press’, but says, that email does not exist!
What is the problem and how do I rectify this? Any one know? Thanks.
[lprent: Should in theory be fixed now for the emails. It was caused by my new fibre installation at home.
The emails were running out through my smtp server at home, and it took me a while to notice that my outward emails weren’t going outwards. I’d changed ISPs with the UFB install and therefore the onforwarding mail server wasn’t set up. I didn’t notice, I’d also started a new job on Monday so wasn’t at home to send emails.
Problem was that I only got the UFB installed on the friday before going to the new job after screaming at chorus about being at home for 8 weeks holiday and they hadn’t managed to do the installation while I was available. I got most of the other bits fixed last weekend, but missed the smtp and also my offsite database backups ]
There is an interesting post from another blog – on why the rich actually need governments – put up by the Irascible Curmudgeon. http://theirasciblecurmudgeon.blogspot.co.nz/ He quotes –
The very rich, F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, “are different from you and me.” Their wealth makes them “cynical where we are trustful,” and makes them think “they are better than we are.” If these words ring true today, perhaps it is because when they were written, in 1926, inequality in the United States had reached heights comparable to today.
As the University of Michigan’s Mark Mizruchi points out in a recent book, the American corporate elite in the postwar era had “an ethic of civic responsibility and enlightened self-interest.” They cooperated with trade unions and favored a strong government role in regulating and stabilizing markets. They understood the need for taxes to pay for important public goods such as the interstate highway and safety nets for the poor and elderly. Business elites were not any less politically powerful back then. But they used their influence to advance an agenda that was broadly in the national interest….
Surowiecki thinks that the change in attitudes has much to do with globalization. Large American corporations and banks now roam the globe freely, and are no longer so dependent on the US consumer. The health of the American middle class is of little interest to them these days. Moreover, Surowiecki argues, socialism has gone by the wayside, and there is no need to coopt the working class anymore.
Yet if corporate moguls think that they no longer need to rely on their national governments, they are making a huge mistake. The reality is that the stability and openness of the markets that produce their wealth have never depended more on government action….
But when economic storm clouds gather on the horizon, everyone seeks shelter under their home government’s cover. It is then that the ties that bind large corporations to their native soil are fully revealed. As former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King aptly put it in the context of finance, “global banks are global in life, but national in death.”
These must be condensing though as it was drawn up around 1980s and the changes talked about in Irascible’s post have hit hard and will continue to compress downwards.
I loved this bit from the Republicans manifesto of which I only read 1/52, (o that by the end of a year I’ll have read the whole thing.) So many grand phrases. It’s so rich that it makes my stomach heave. And so tempting to believe in then, and wish for now. Even though it had important lies and obfuscations in it then.
But doesn;t this sound nice. I wonder if it has been tried anywhere?
<i>On its Centennial, the Republican Party again calls to the minds of all Americans the great truth first spoken by Abraham Lincoln: “The legitimate object of Government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do, for themselves in their separate and individual capacities. But in all that people can individually do as well for themselves, Government ought not to interfere.”
Our great President Dwight D. Eisenhower has counseled us further: “In all those things which deal with people, be liberal, be human. In all those things which deal with people’s money, or their economy, or their form of government, be conservative.”
@joe90 1.34
Tom Lehrer talented and with a presence, and a very fast delivery on The Elements. His elocution teacher must have been good.
The Michael Moore piece mentioned Wisconsin people protesting.
I remember Wisconsin Works from Ruthless Richardson’s time also Jenny Shipley (doesn’t Jenny sound a sweet name). WW was a mean-minded set-up that of the type that you would feel they would push people off cliffs if there was a way to collect pay for the trip down.
Anyway this was interesting from wikipedia about how pragmatic pollies act when a job (that they want to see done) gets pushed through their political forum.
In January 2011, the state legislature passed a series of bills providing additional tax cuts and deductions for businesses at “a two-year cost of $67 million”.[31]
In early February, the Walker administration projected a budget shortfall in 2013 (Wisconsin functions on two-year budgets) of $3.6 billion[32] and found that a budget repair bill to resolve a $137 million shortfall for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011,… The Walker-backed bill proposed taking away the ability of public sector unions to bargain collectively over pensions and health care and limiting pay raises of public employees to the rate of inflation, as well as ending automatic union dues collection by the state….
Protests : At 1:00 am on February 25, following sixty hours of debate,[60] the final amendments had been defeated and the Republican leadership of the Wisconsin State Assembly cut off debate as well as the public hearing and moved quickly to pass the budget repair bill in a sudden vote.
The vote was 51 in favor and 17 opposed, with 28 representatives not voting.[60] The final vote took place without warning, and the time allowed for voting was so short (lasting only 5–15 s)[61] that fewer than half of the Democratic representatives were able to vote; many reportedly pushed the voting button as hard as possible but it did not register.[62] Four Republican representatives voted against the bill.[63]
In recent days, many journalists, including Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post and Ronan Farrow on MSNBC, have asked when is Israel justified in attacking crowded civilian settings in order to kill militants. Robinson: “So if you’re an Israeli commander and you know that there’s a Hamas military facility next to a medical clinic, but you’re not completely sure the militants are still there, while the clinic is likely packed with injured civilians, do you still pull the trigger?”
Over a decade ago, Yonatan Shapira, then an Israeli air force pilot, bravely confronted his top commander, Lt. General Dan Halutz, over what were euphemistically called “targeted assassinations.” Israeli warplanes regularly fired missiles at Hamas leaders in Gaza, also killing innocent civilians, some of them children.
Shapira asked General Halutz, What if a Hamas leader were located in Tel Aviv? Would you order our pilots to fire there, risking Israeli bystanders? Halutz said no.
So you value Israelis over Palestinians, Yonatan responded. Get someone else to fly your aircraft.
Labour leader David Cunliffe has launched his party’s West Auckland campaign and the message is a multicultural team for a multicultural community.
In front of a roomful of cheering, red-scarf wearing Labour Party members, Cunliffe introduced the candidates for Kelston, Helensville, Upper Harbour, Te Atatu and his own electorate New Lynn.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
The pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...
Tree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...
The amount of paint needed to paint a car depends on a number of factors, including the size of the car, the number of coats you plan to apply, and the type of paint you are using. In general, you will need between 1 and 2 gallons of paint for ...
Jump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...
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The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
COMMENTARY:By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. It’s not as if we haven’t done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didn’t say: “Oh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.” No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...
NEWSMAKERS:By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Lowry, Ice Sheet & Climate Modeller, GNS Science Hugh Chittock/Antarctica New Zealand, CC BY-SA As the climate warms and Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace hundreds of millions of ...
The government's plan to reintroduce a three strikes regime is being strongly opposed by lawyers, who argue there is no evidence it reduces crime or helps people rehabilitate. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Professor specialising in Internet law, Bond University Do Australian courts have the right to decide what foreign citizens, located overseas, view online on a foreign-owned platform? Anyone inclined to answer “yes” to this question should perhaps also ask ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni E Ferreira, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney Last week in a post on X, owner of the platform Elon Musk recommended people look into disc replacement if they’re experiencing severe neck or back pain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University anek.soowannaphoom/Shutterstock NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey caught the headlines yesterday, courtesy of a blistering speech condemning the latest GST carve-up. New South Wales, he claimed, would be A$11.9 billion worse off over the ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived at Kokoda Station, Northern province, at the start of his state visit to Papua New Guinea. Both Albanese and Prime Minister James Marape will meet with the locals and the Northern Provincial government before they begin their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra Shutterstock An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week in defence of the government’s Future Made in Australia industry ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Security forces reinforcements were sent from France ahead of two rival marches in the capital Nouméa today, at the same time and only two streets away one from the other. One march, called by Union Calédonienne party (a component of the ...
A poll last August found that just 16% of New Zealanders oppose bringing back the ‘Three Strikes’ law. The nationwide poll of 1,000 New Zealanders was commissioned by Family First NZ and carried out by Curia Market Research. ...
The solo show from Ana Scotney is both sprawling and intimate, and a must-see, writes Mad Chapman. In the opening moments of Scattergun: After the Death of Rūaumoko, writer and performer Ana Scotney lays out the groundwork, literally. Silently moving around the square stage, Scotney is not so much dancing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, Monash University Who makes the words? Why are trees called trees and why are shoes called shoes and who makes the names? – Elliot, age 5, Eltham, Victoria Good question Elliot! Let’s start with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne at amRawpixel.com/Shutterstock Roles of health professionals are still unfortunately often stuck in the past. That is, before the ...
COMMENTARY:By Malcolm Evans Last week’s leaked New York Times staff directive, as to what words can and cannot be used to describe the carnage Israel is raining on Palestinians, is proof positive, since those reports are published verbatim here in New Zealand, that our understanding of the conflict is ...
In the case of New Zealand, the results confirm that there is no popular support for the vicious austerity program being imposed by the National Party-led government, which is backed in all fundamental respects by the opposition Labour Party. ...
The ‘Vampire’ singer has never visited our part of the world, but that might all be about to change. We assess the evidence.Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour is pulling in massive crowds as it whips around the US and Europe, even helping to catapult regular supporting act Chappell Roan ...
Testing of drinking water in rural Canterbury over the weekend by Greenpeace revealed that several public town supplies were reaching levels of nitrate above 5 mg/L - the threshold which a growing body of scientific evidence has linked to increased ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohan Fisher, Information Technology for Development Researcher, Charles Darwin University It may come as a surprise to hear 2023 was Australia’s biggest bushfire season in more than a decade. Fires burned across an area eight times as big as the 2019–20 Black ...
Responding to the Government’s announcement of changes to resource management laws, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said: “These changes are a step in the right direction in terms of removing ideological and unworkable ...
More than two years after the Human Rights Council called for the establishment of a national human rights commission, such a body has yet to be formed. ...
Comment:An emergency management system with wide variations in performance, significant capability gaps, funding shortfalls and above all a setup that is not meeting the needs of New Zealanders at times of crisis. The Government’s inquiry into the response to Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events in the North ...
Welcome to the whirring wonders of one brain trying to align its actions with its beliefs within a system it thinks is evil. My brain has been spiralling in a woke conundrum ever since I found out a bookshop I’ve never been to was shutting down. Good Books, a bookshop ...
We repeat our call for criminal justice policy to be based on evidence, something the three strikes regime neglects to recognise – with no evidence that it either reduces crime or assists with rehabilitation. ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara With only four more seats in the 50-member Parliament yet to be officially declared, there is no outright winner in the Solomon Islands elections. As of Monday, the two largest blocs in the winner’s circle, independents and the incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh ...
Two/fiftyseven is a multi-purpose space hidden in the heart of Wellington that is paving a way for sustainable building and responsible landlording in Aotearoa and beyond.By 2060 the world is predicted to double its entire building stock, which equates to building an entire New York City every 34 days, ...
Popstars wasn’t just a reality television revolution, it was also a huge moment for Y2K fashion.It’s 25 years since girl group TrueBliss was formed on New Zealand national television, breaking new ground for both the reality television industry and the shiny clothing industry. With the first episode on NZ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Pepping, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, Griffith University Marvin / Shutterstock Are all single people insecure? When we think about people who have been single for a long time, we may assume it’s because single people have insecurities that make ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Geary, Lecturer in Quantitative Ecology & Biodiversity Conservation, The University of Melbourne Trismegist san, Shutterstock Landscapes that have escaped fire for decades or centuries tend to harbour vital structures for wildlife, such as tree hollows and large logs. But these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Gladstone-Gallagher, Lecturer in Marine Science, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Shutterstock/S Curtis Why are we crossing ecological boundaries that affect Earth’s fundamental life-supporting capacity? Is it because we don’t have enough information about how ecosystems respond to change? Or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Crocker, PhD Student in Economics, Deakin University Here’s something for the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia to ponder as it meets next month to set interest rates. It has pushed up rates on 13 occasions since it began its ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a charity director outlines how she’s saving for retirement and buying secondhand. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female Age: 45 Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: Charity director, mum of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sophie Yates, Research Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Many Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late last year. Now a ...
It’s been called a failed experiment and a judicial straightjacket but the government says the revised three strikes law will be a more workable regime, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Three ...
New Zealand’s Palestinian community and Palestinian Youth Aotearoa are voicing alarm and disappointment with the lack of factual rigour present during the Israeli Ambassador’s appearance as a guest on TVNZ’s Q+A With Jack Tame Sunday (21/04). ...
Both ACT leader David Seymour, who played a key role in drawing up the assisted dying law, and hospice leaders say it's time the legislation was changed. ...
Public submissions on proposed gang control laws are being heard today. Rising gang membership has been cited as rationale for a crackdown – but what do we actually know about how many people belong to gangs in New Zealand?What’s all this then?A rise in the number of gang ...
Climate activists are setting their sights on an unpopular target, and hoping to bring lots of the public with them. It’s hard to miss the Majestic Princess: the enormous cruise ship, docked at Auckland’s Prince’s Wharf, looms over the nearby buildings. The ship, which can fit nearly 6,000 people, ...
Black Ferns trailblazer Kendra Cocksedge was on the verge of tears when her young protégé, Hannah King, unassumingly broke the news. Three-time Rugby World Cup winner Cocksedge and Lincoln agriculture student King meet every few weeks over a hot chocolate, in an enduring mentorship that’s spanned years. “Before we even ...
Opinion: We’ve kicked the tyres on the perception NZ’s economy is in a parlous state compared to Australia. We take a quick tour of relative trends in GDP, housing markets, labour markets, trade, the fiscal situation, and the outlooks for inflation and interest rates. We find the cyclical positions of ...
Opinion: Making sure developers, local and central government, and landowners are all on the same page makes sense The post A new kind of city deal appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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The following korero between Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku, author of the newly published memoir Hine Toa, one of the year’s most important books, and Dale Husband from e-tangata, was first published in October. It traverses her involvement with the activist group Ngā Tamatoa at Auckland University in the early 1970s, her ...
In the 16 years since it was bought by the government for $690 million, KiwiRail has had several overhauls and turnaround plans worth billions of dollars. Its ambitions as a successful, profitable operator of tourism, freight and ferries have often been derailed by disasters from earthquakes to cyclones, mine explosions ...
By Russell Palmer, RNZ News digital political journalist New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters is putting off recognition of Palestine as a state, despite opposition Labour’s formal request that he make the move. Peters said diplomatic recognition of Palestine was a matter of “when not if”, but doing so now ...
The opposition has laid into the government's plan to reintroduce a "three strikes" regime, saying it's inequitable and there's very little evidence it works. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Nicholls, Senior research associate, University of Sydney Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has ordered social media platform “X” (formerly known as Twitter) to remove graphic videos of the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in Sydney last week from the site. The incident ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney John Turnbull, CC BY-NC-ND In past bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef, the southern region has sometimes been spared worst of the bleaching. Not this time. This year’s intense underwater heat has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Austin, Lecturer in Theatre, The University of Melbourne Darren Gill/Mackey, Darling & Collaborators The relationship between witchcraft and teenage girls has been the subject of many books, films and television shows. Over time, the traditional image of witch as crone ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure ...
Labour leader David Cunliffe has dropped his objection to appearing in a live televised leaders’ debate with Prime Minister John Key.
You naughty little boy for daring question us. Now do as you are told
This surrender is completely the wrong message to give to the electorate.
This is a betrayal of Maori of Women of every person and group this Right Wing bigot has insulted and mocked.
Labour has dignified this Right Wing extremist and has handed him an undeserved media platform and have created a media rod for their own backs way beyond this debate.
With this victory over Labour by TVNZ, voters will be asking is there anything that Labour won’t back down on?
Through Labour’s subservience Mike Hosking will take the moderator’s chair, and his smug gloating at this personal vindication of his extreme misogynist and Right Wing views on our television screens will make the debate unbearable to watch for many.
This supercilious wretch is not fit to mediate a kindergarten finger painting contest.
As he arrogantly treats the debaters (of both sides), as wayward children, the serious issues will become lost, and the debate will be cheapened and trivialised.
By caving in and agreeing to be part of this farcical circus, Labour has been smacked and smacked down hard and the country knows it.
No doubt Labour have got an assurance from TVNZ that Mike Hosking will act as the benevolent media arbiter, and in so doing, will condescendingly patronise and glaringly favour Cunliffe over Key, to the point of farce, (and beyond).
As Mike Hosking bathes in his personal magnificence as he smugly tells the Prime Minister to, “Shut up and give Mr Cunliffe a fair go”. the whole country will cringe at the spectacle.
It doesn’t really matter now what Cunliffe says in the debate, or promises the voters, he has already lost. He will be entering the leaders debate as a crippled loser who needs to be favoured out of charity.
In giving in to this outrageous imposition by TVNZ, the public can now know for certain, that David Cunliffe and the Labour Party are hostages to the establishment, any assurances that David Cunliffe gives voters in the debate are worth nothing because Labour cannot be relied on not to fold at the slightest pressure from big business, foreign powers, vested interest, oil drillers and yes the media, all those that make up the current establishment.
No matter how reckless, unjust, or cruel. Any humiliation is bearable, any outrage is excusable.
From deep sea oil, to massacre in Gaza.
Labour as the Loyal Opposition Party guaranteed to support the establishment.
The only question left is what will be their next back down?
This is all so terribly disappointing Labour had a chance to put these media Czars in their place and fluffed it.
Now I fear by empowering the Right, Labour have permanently damaged the media discourse in this country.
They should have stuck to their guns.
Now we will be forced to accept this unbalanced Right wing harpy as a serious media commentator on our nations TVs for the foreseeable future.
Labour has had plenty of chances to reform the media environment when it has been in government.
It chose to continue with the corporate profit making model for publicly owned television and radio so can hardly complain when its drive to extract dividends rather than deliver quality broadcasting results in the likes of Hoskings reigning supreme.
Rather than making fools of themselves by empty threats to boycott they should have promised reforms of publicly owned media that would lead to them focusing on providing the public with the best possible information on local and international events combined with a range of points of view and expert analysis from people who know what they are talking about.
The trouble is if they did that even more people would realise how fucked their precious capitalism is.
Jenny the views of everyone who is interested in the left are being put forward and going into the petition as well. Now it is time to stop the consciousness-raising and get positives-raising behind the strong David Cunliffe that we have. And facilitate and enable him as much as possible.
Much of the media’s approach is unfair and unbalanced and we know that they will go off in the lifeboats and leave the rest of the country dealing with the aftermath if anything goes awry. So we must deal with that thought and make sure that we make our firm stand on firm ground and just keep on with positive action that advances Labour.
3rd attempt!
+100 @ Lefty.
I submitted a comprehensive response but it disappeared up its own arse (went into a black hole). Somehow I doubt moderation but I’ll wait and see.
Still … it’s what an interloper probably deserves – it’s just that I hope this site isn’t becoming part of the Xero phenomenon.
Time is tight and opinions are cheap it seems these days (especially when one is competing with a well financed brigade of trolls).
Time for a nanna knap
@OncewasTim
See Lprent at 5.09 pm may be reason for that.
I disagree with your points. It would have hurt Cunliffe and Labour more as weak if Hosking was removed at this stage as the issue was in the open rather than behind the scenes.
He did rather snooker himself with this previous comment.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11299118
What a pity John Key was too chicken to turn up.
Well he didn’t. This issue shows is another media beat up. Labour complains about a clearly inappropriate choice for moderator of the debates and the media then converts into a “Cunliffe won’t show” discussion. How about we debate the appropriateness of Hosking being the moderator.
I have no problem with Hosking.
I have no problem with Campbell.
Christ, Key has had to put up with that asshat Campbell and his sycophantic greenie/dotcom bullshit, you don’t see him moaning about it.
Best thing for Cunliffe is just to suck it up, get on with it and show that he’s got the goods.
Cunliffe has come across as cowardly from all of this. Here was his golden opportunity to go in there against (perceived) adversity and nail everyone with his oratory. Instead he threatened Hosking with a dossier of naughty words & phrases… What was he thinking!!!
He was probably thinking about the desperate poverty so many kiwis find themselves mired in. He was probably thinking about how he can turn around NZ’s steady descent into an American model of education, health, and insurance.
He was probably distracted by human concerns. Something which Mike Hosking has not bothered with for a long time.
Here’s a thought. Maybe he can think about all that AFTER he gets elected when he’s in a position to do something about it. Just a thought.
are you seriously stating that someone can only be elected if they don’t obviously think and care about poverty and turning the country around?
You and McGrath are obviously following the Slater approach to blogging. Invent some shit, and keep repeating said shit ad nauseum in the hope that other people will also believe in said shit.
They, like Slater and Crosby/Textor, have leaned that from the techniques of Paul Joseph Goebbels.
It must pain you to acknowledge and talk about the real problem.
Give Hoskings all the rope he needs.
As New Zealanders become poorer due to the divisive Marxist practice of Free Trade, Elitists like Mr Hoskings will find themselves subject to more and more raw hatred.
Mr Hoskings is yet another Marxist who believes men and women are somehow equal. To anyone with brains, this is absurd. Any culture who does not value women more highly than men is doomed.
Why should Women be more valued then Men?
What a bizarre comment.
Why don’t you ask your pretend wife? When she’s finished the pretend housework, of course.
whoar..!..hosking a ‘marxist’..?
..he hides it well…
Hosking certainly does hide it well.
And as for Hosking valuing women over men… I guess it depends what for.
Free trade destroys local industry. Lets see what Karl Marx had to say about free trade.
“But, generally speaking, the Protective system in these days is conservative, while the Free Trade system works destructively. It breaks up old nationalities and carries antagonism of proletariat and bourgeoisie to the uttermost point. In a word, the Free Trade system hastens the Social Revolution. In this revolutionary sense alone, gentlemen, I am in favor of Free Trade.”
http://mailstar.net/classwar.html
While that is nice for utopians, in practice, in reality, it causes a lot of anguish and destruction for the working class and their children.
What do elitists care if our working class and industrial base are destroyed? They are rootless cosmopolitans; much like the cockroach and the rat, they would be happy to live anywhere. “Free trade” they cry, but how many of them even know a trade?
As for women being more valuable than men, that should be obvious.
Indolent, arrogant men could be replaced by a small pool of breeding males, with very little loss to society, and a massive drop in violence and domestic abuse. Women can now do everything men can. While lazy New Zealand men sit around playing shooting games, women defend our country and serve in our armed forces.
We New Zealand males are becoming redundant. Lets show that we are worth keeping around.
yes yes..i know that marx predicted pretty much everything that is happening now..
..(and that is fascinating in its’ own right..)
..aside from the obvious civil liberties issues..yr ‘pool of breeding males’ idea does have much to recommend it..
..the only problem is perfecting a fool-proof/fail-safe boofhead/should-not-breed detector..
..and of course..such a detector should also be able to grade women..
Liberties must be curtailed for the greater good, comrade. A strong Dictatorship of the Proletariat may well be required.
have you thought about branching out into stand-up comedy..?
I find a lot of “comedians” like to reference their genitals, and are proud of their licentiousness.
Poor examples for the future Working Class youth.
yeah..!..yeah..!….doing that routine..
..it’s a bit of a young ones steal..
..but you wear it well…
Best word to describe Hoskins.
A popinjay
pop·in·jay [pop-in-jey]
noun
1. a person given to vain, pretentious displays and empty chatter; coxcomb; fop.
@Paul. Perfect word! perfect description! LOL. Dandy also springs to mind.
..’louche’ wd also have to be woven in somewhere..
Classic case scenario of the “Bourgeoisie”
I prefer the slightly more earthy “twat”, or perhaps “bell end”
This folks, is a rare example of a ‘paleo-conservative’.
Not at all. I am in no way against a strong government, or for a treasonous insurrection to “retake the New Zealand Constitution”.
There is no way we can return to limited government. Our people have been debased by decades of “liberty”. To attempt to remove a lot of state support, and guidance, like several idiot parties are advocating would be nothing less than a return to anarchy and slaughter. It is a survivalists fantasy.
Perhaps these libertarian anarchists see themselves holed up in their mansions, firing their rifles at the Walking Dead that come pleading for food and water. “You should have worked harder!” they scream as they shovel shells into the breech.
No, comrades, the way of the future is a mixed economy, in a morally conservative society. Already Premiere Putin, leader of the Free World has banned swearing in movies, and the promotion of perverse lifestyles to children. The bourgeois agendas of the left and right do not fool him. He knows what is good for the working class.
I say we follow his lead.
Have to agree with BM on this one. That’s an odd comment and reinforces why Labour has only 1 male vote in 5.
[lprent: Read the about. This site isn’t just for the Labour party. After all we let unthinking morans from the right like yourself write here. Read the policy about attributing motives to this site that don’t exist.
I get irritated by pinheaded fools being dumbarses about the site. Banned for a week to give you time to read the pages. Let me know if you need more time. ]
Oh, he’ll never have enough time. He does his thinking in a vacuum.
Aw Mike, to anyone with brains, your comment is absurd. I have no idea where you get your idea of Marxism from, but it’s not the commonly held one.
I guess it was pointless to complain in the first place, since Cunliffe can’t really avoid having to debate, but Key can.
Lord, I wish this stupid, pointless, pre-determined election was over and done with.
TJ
This election may seem stupid to you, but it is neither; pointless, nor pre-determined. The party representation proportions will be significantly changed once the votes are counted. Even if you believe that the next parliament will be; Nat-led, rather than Labour-led, the coalition agreement and private member bills submitted to the ballot over the next parliamentary term will differ.
Just because it looks like you may not win is not a reason to stop trying.
@Tom Jackson 9.33
It’s an ironic position when you care a lot about what you think is going wrong, and turning out badly, and then you help to bring this about. So why don’t you step back now you have made the comment about being pointless etc. That won’t change anything for the better except it provides a warning of possible outcomes we should keep in mind.
We now are in the situation where if one can’t say anything good, it’s better to say nothing at all. Don’t be a Cassandra any more! Just drop a bit of positive in if you see something that sparks an approving thought. I think it is good advice I am giving and I must follow this myself. And I advise all other lefties and Standardistas to adopt the same thing.
Don’t diss anyone except people like that sneaky cur that was supposed to have supplied goss to a journalist. But we don’t know if that was true anyway. What a good idea for one of these corkscrew jonos to make it up. He/she can’t reveal their sources, and seeing they don’t have any personal code of integrity and their employers are leaders in the art of sly obfuscation, the goss leak may not even have happened, probably just a song at twilight from a twilight lurker-writer’s head.
My comment won’t let me edit even though there is lots of time. I just checked on Cassandra to refresh myself.
Wikipedia on Cassandra. In their image she looks as if she is tearing her hair out!
[Apollo] he gave her the curse of never being believed. In an alternative version, she fell asleep in a temple, and snakes licked (or whispered in) her ears so that she was able to hear the future..(Ha ha snakes whispering into jonos’ ears – how apt, the apse slides in and out of our myths and beliefs.)
I was doing some replication work on the databases this morning getting the backup server at home on fibre running. Could have been causing issues.
I try to do this type of work on saturday morning as it is the quietest period on the site during the days and I’m not really that keen on doing it in the middle of the night anymore.
@lprent 5.09
Thanks. What you have set up seems to be handling the increased traffic well.
It made Labour and Cunliffe look petty and weak – and all the talk about the folder of Hosking quotes… that sounded like Mitt Romeny’s binder.
No doubt Key will bring it up during the debate.
With respect disagree Jenny. TVNZ would never have backed down and Labour have made the point splashed over all of the MSM that Hoskin is a biased idiot.
It was time to get on with policies and not keep fighting this distraction.
agreed. And Hosking has to be on good behaviour, because if he is too obviously biased then he can be called on it during the debate or after it.
He can ask tough questions as long as e does to both. He should try and remain neutral and fair. In the end what really decides are the policies and how well the leaders respond during the debate. Cunliffe will need persuasion, conviction, affability as well as aggression and fire at times. He is more than capable of all that. Though in his perceived favour, Key has smile, spin and hyperbole.
Perhaps he should have backed out of the debate and secretly asked Winston to take his place. That would have put John Key and TVNZ in a rather embarassing position.
you’ve missed yr calling..
..thought of offering yr services as a consultant..?..a tactician..?
whew jenny..!..have a (vegan) kit-kat..eh..?
.i disagree with you..
..yes..everything you say about hosking..(and more..)..is true..
..but labour blew it by bleating..
..cunnliffe should have laughed..pointed out how rightwing hosking is..
..and expressed hope that hosking wd be able to keep his far-right beliefs in check..for the course of the debates..
..and of course cunnliffe/labour have looked as tho’ their policies/arguments are so weak..
..that a trout like hosking can just blow them away/strike them silent..(!)
..how is that a good look..?
..cunnliffe has to go into these debates with fire in both his belly and his voice…
..he has the intellectual/debating-nous to do that..and he has to sell (that much/over-maligned concept)..his/labours’ vision…
..if cunnliffe goes into these debates continuing his quest to be everyman for everyone..smiling/nodding his way thru…he will tank/get tanked…
..we have seen more than enough of that ‘i’m just a nice/average guy!’ schtick..
..we get that..enough already..!
..now we need to see that intellectual/political-ideas ‘fire’ …
..cunnliffe must demand for his ideas to be heard…
..and show he is able to brush the presence of hosking away..
..as an irrelevancy..
..and that cunnliffe succeeds in this mission..
..is becoming more and more important for him/labour..
Yet I can predict that Labour Party apologists will be arguing here that “Mike Hosking is not so bad”. And the dossier Labour have collected on Hosking’s past outrages will be quietly shelved, never to see the light of day, as David Cunliffe makes his Party’s peace with Mike Hosking and the far Right embedded in the media.
Peace in our time?
Yeah right.
I think you’re wrong Jenny.
It seemed to me to be quite a clever piece of positioning on Labour’s part. Hoskings is going to have to be very careful he’s fair and balanced after this publicity. One foot wrong….
I don’t care what Labour had/has to say about Hosking, he is the wrong
manperson for the job. Why does TVNZ always choose a guy, and a white guy at that? Guyon… etcI have been trying to find examples of Hosking’s hate speech. links?
reason for labour people to be cheerful..(sort of..)
..they have this to look forward to..(from todays’ guardian..)
“..Kim Dotcom: ‘The Internet party will abolish mass surveillance’..
..Tech tycoon believes politicians need to work harder to engage the youth vote –
Dotcom also reiterated his promise that five days before the election – the world will ‘witness a moment of truth’ –
“We’re about to make history” – he said..”
(cont..)
(those ok with giving me the click-thru can go here:..
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/kim-dotcom-the-internet-party-will-abolish-mass-surveillance/
(or straight to the source..)
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/25/kim-dotcom-interview-the-internet-party-will-abolish-mass-surveillance-snowden
For the first time in quite awhile (4years+) I think the left with Labour as the largest party are going to win this election
Positive policies and no more infighting is going to carry the day
The Nats arrogance will be the deal breaker
Let us hope you are right. No more shameful back downs.
They are certainly in a better position than they have been for a while. Not that you’d know it from the media. The Greens are focused as hell. Labour has good policies and most of the the people on board. The sense that I got from the NZF conference is that their supporters would prefer to go anywhere else to avoid touching National.
The only real hassle I see is the IMP supporters spending their time slagging everyone else on the left off. But that is to be expected. It now has the complete concentration of fragile egos who spend less time working on building a party and more on talking about the new miracle to happen.
LPrent, some facts would be nice, ”The only real hassle I see is the IMP supporters slagging everyone else on the left off”,
Are you here referring to the general discussions that occur daily at the Standard,???…
bad12…agreed…i dont see much criticism of David Cunliffe…quite the contrary…there is some suspicion of some in caucus occasionally ( but who isnt a wee bit suspicious ?)
….generally IMP is very positive towards a Left coalition govt….their constituency is very young, techy, quite radical …not Labours constituency at all…judging from my Labour voting relatives who are all 50+
That’s right; both Bad12 & phillip ure are IMP aligned, but I don’t see them throttling back on the robustness of their discourse (or feud, if you will). So it’s not that we focus on; “slagging everyone else on the left off”, as we also go after ourselves, but mostly the Tories!
This is from a comment about IMPs I made to Chooky [at 5.1] on yesterday’s MS election stats post:
Lolz Paupial, someone half inched your S, you should be more ‘onto it’, have a look at ‘Open Mike’ over the past week?, the ongoing debate between myself and Phillip has definitely ben ‘throttled back’,
‘Throttled’ actually as Phillip after our last exchange ”is never,ever, engaging with me again”…
Ps: insert mad laughter, i would have but the printed version looks a bit ugly…
“‘Throttled’ actually as Phillip after our last exchange ”is never,ever, engaging with me again”…”
Pick six numbers between 1 and 48 and get down to the lotto shop 😉 :smirk:
And buy a packet of bacon flavoured kittens for the journey home 😀
Alien, Mmmm Bacon, ssshhh, i have four pieces in the fridge and they will make my life all that much more worth living on ‘diet days’ Sunday/Monday when i radically reduce the intake in the weight loss effort,(gloat: 88KG this week from 118KG December 2013)…
Great result that Bad, 88 from 118. keep it up bruv.
Maybe just get bacon flavour diet kittens with that lotto ticket.
Alien, Laugh, i have recently been tempted to really stoop for Bad Taste as a stratagem with a discussion of the benefits of rat traps, which i have this week deployed, over rat poison, 3 packets of which i have bought and used in the past six months,
Wishing tho to re-invent myself as an admittedly dated adherent to an equally dated philosophy, SNAG, i have decided against discussing all aspects of my current barbarity here…
I chase house flies out of doors and windows so I don’t have to spray or whack, so well done on the non discussion of rat traps.
Having said that, it does pose problems for vegan environmentalists. Do they kill the destructive rats or possums? If they kill them, what method, a shot to the head or a belly full of poison?
If they agree to eradicate, why are they less worthy than beef and lamb? Why can’t I eat bacon if they agree to torture invasive species?
It’s a heck of a question for those vegan environmentalists out there.
Bad12
Ta for the heads up – I don’t need to be more of a pauper than I already am!
I’ve been a bit busy of late, so missed quite a few Open Mikes, and other posts on TS in the last week or so. Though I seem to remember PU saying that he’d; never engage with certain people again, before, but not managing to follow through. We’ll have to see whether he manages; “never,ever, engaging”, any better.
Lolz Pasupial, i dare not comment any further on never ever, altho i have to admit that the cessation of hostilities has made ‘Open Mike’ a little bit of a cleaner read this week,
(And i might add taken a bit of the laughter out of the conversation for me, but, we have to realize that it aint our own private sandpit we are tossing the toys round in)…
[lprent: indeed ]
“..[lprent: indeed ]..”
my only comment is that i miss the constant argy-bargy not a jot..
..so see no reason to alter the current status quo..
building a team where, while we certainly don’t agree about everything; we are committed to working together to change the present corrupt Government
And that was the sense I got from hanging around the Internet Party’s “Party Party” tonight/this morning in Dunedin and chatting with many people. A wide range of people came along. There was a good mix in terms of demographics, ethnicities and even ages! Kim Dotcom even caught up with lovely 98yo Aunty Joyce (thanks for the photo, Tat):
https://twitter.com/Tat_Loo/status/492991223485829120/photo/1
There is a significant groundswell of feeling to see a change in Government. The mainstream media’s fault-finding and anti-Cunliffe slant is recognised. Support is strong for Cunliffe to lead the new government. To the broader Left and progressive voters, I say: take heart, galvanise your like-minded friends, family and wider network to vote on 20 Sep.
My pleasure!
Good summary, especially the bit about fragile egos and the methodology of some mip supporters.
Like I’ve said before, odd that a 1% party has all the right ideas, but none of the votes.
An old quote that’s apt – Winners don’t wait for chances, they take them.
Alien, i see you have added a word to LPrent’s quote, the word? Some, as in Some IMP supporters,
Read as written by LPrent, His comment addressing ”the IMP supporters”, in the plural takes a swipe at all InternetMana Party supporters and is thus the exact same behavior that the comment protests against in relation to ”spending their time slagging off everyone else on the left”…
I did add the word ‘some’, from my own perspective, thinking it less definitive.
I know of a couple of mip good sorts who are okay and don’t aggressively attack the rest of the left in order to make political capital in a grandiose manner, so for me, one brush doesn’t tarr all.
Is that okay?
Alien, ”is that ok”???, hell everything is ok to me,(until you see the Black note appear at the bottom of your comment that is),
”Aggressively attack” my plea is of course guilty as hell with respect to this aspect of commenting, tho personally my defence is that i happily engage on any level, not necessarily ”to make political capital in a grandiose manner” but if the conversation is going to be ‘gutter’ its either my first or second language,
(As you can see from our polite discussion the other day Alien, we both can stick to a ‘straight debate’ surrounding the facts, just as we both are fully adept at poking our little sharpened sticks metaphorically in each others eyes,
Probably a big part in our racing for the bottom when the conversation hits the gutter is the ‘shits and giggles’ it generates for us personally as dredging up something wickedly nasty as a retort i would suggest has you laughing like a loon as much as it does me)…
All good here (apart from the bold black text of doom).
If one can’t take a pointed stick to the eyes every so often, then stop playing and take up knitting, I say.
Laughs, my knitting needle is poised…
With telescopic sight, or sawn off for maximum effect at short distances. 😆
“…His comment addressing ”the IMP supporters”, in the plural takes a swipe at all InternetMana Party supporters …”
Hmmm, it could also be read as taking issue specifically with those IMP supporters who slag off the rest of the left.
“The only real hassle I see is the IMP supporters spending their time slagging everyone else on the left off.”
Ie, the hassle is those that do slag, those that don’t are no hassle.
Yours in pedantry,
TRP.
Point taken. But the contrast between the Labour and Green party activists quietly labouring away at the pre-campaign work and the IMP tactic of slagging off other activists has been particularly striking to me over the last few months.
lprent
“IMP supporters spending their time slagging everyone else on the left off… the complete concentration of fragile egos who spend less time working on building a party and more on talking about the new miracle”
Am I included in this group you so casually denigrate? I’ve been commenting on the site less than usual precisely because; I’ve been out working on building a party, and facilitating students’ enrollment on the voting register. Sure, our; phillip & Jenny do have their quirks, but I’m sure there are other regular commenters who haven’t yet declared themselves as IMP supporters, who are also offended by your profiling of us.
Anyway, I agree with Ray that; “the left with Labour as the largest party are going to win this election”, or at least; that we’re still in with a real chance. “Positive policies and no more infighting” seems less likely however – I like Cunliffe and his faction, but am not so keen on others in the Labour Party (the ones who; while in the party, are not of the party).
If Harawira’s performance on The Nation this morning is any guide then the answer is the opposite. He was ‘the statesman’ from start to finish. If he keeps that up then its looking good for him and the broader Left.
+100 Anne….Harawira is truly impressive
Is this a shameful backdown? Good strategy closer to truth. Cunliffe has raised the issue and is pragmatic now. He looks reasonable and realistic and Hosking is now aware through the petition, that not everybody loves and admires him. Cunliffe has been relentlessly picked on by all and sundry for months. Give the guy a break, without him the Left are going to sit on the Opposition benches. The only major error he has made was the Trusts earlier this year. The rest is just gossip and trivia, no doubt orchestrated by right wing media gonks. I’m with you Ray, the sea change for our entitled, arrogant and ignorant rulers is on the way.
Agreed. Stop the hand wringing. The public are desperate for light. Plus now it’s Cunliffe vs Key and Hosking. Everyone loves an underdog.
” Everyone loves an underdog”.
Winston has done very well out of being the underdog!
+1 to Ray and Jrobin
We need to stop fighting battles that take the focus off Labour Party policies and keep up the criticism of National Party policies rather than spending all our energy talking about the right wing bias in the media (even though it is the worst it has ever been). Labour were right to complain to TVNZ as Mike Hoskings will have to be a bit more careful than he would have been otherwise, but Cunliffe refusing to take part would be ridiculous. If you think the bullying of Cunliffe by the MSM is bad now it would only get worse if he didn’t turn up for the Leader’s debate.
I just hope he starts replying to every question about his leadership or disunity or supposed faults with a “I’m here to talk about the policies that are important to NZers, not to talk about trivia.”
http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/television-new-zealand-calling-to-have-mike-hosking-dropped-from-moderatingthe-political-debates#share
Just thought I would share this petition again that was first put up on the Standard by Karen.
Whatever Cunliffe and Labour do about Hoskings, I think it is very reasonable to get as many signatures for this as possible.
3,719 now! A lot in such a short time. Food for thought about other issues like Coleman?
3,751 now. They’re on their way to getting to 5000 easily by the end of the weekend.
The bias of the media, and the way its dominated by corporate-led infotainment IS an election issue.
I think left MPs are best keeping to their election policies. It’s up to the rest of us ordinary folks to keep the pressure up on the MSM to play fair during the election period – and to keep campaigning for better media after the elections.
+100
Agree Jrobin. Nztv and Hosking have been put on notice. Hosking will be careful. He must realise that he will have a very short career when Labour wins if he is not mindful of this fact. His bff key is not going to be around much longer. Cunliffe has had the best of all the interviewers I have seen/heard him interviewed by. I don’t see this being any different.Even with ‘the popinjay’ (thank you Paul) moderating, Cunliffe will make key look like the uneducated playground bully that he is. All squealing and abuse but no substance. Bring it on.
I do not see Cunliffe’s acceptance as a back down but an inevitability. He has made his point and now it is up to tvnz and Hosking to honour their word of complete impartiality. They will be hung out to dry if they don’t. The whole country will be watching
“Hosking will be careful. He must realise that he will have a very short career when Labour wins if he is not mindful of this fact.”
Why? Is it Labour policy to fire and hire broadcasters?
There is a large National party logo on online Stuff political section- not authorised by National Party but it looks like an ad.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/
Is this allowable???
they also advertising on facebook for past couple days and i mean a lot .. so alot of us have complained is misleading and spam 🙂
I see two of them. The official logo, plus the new “silver fern on black shirt” one that Key launched this week.
Three if you count the word “national” in bold type and in the official party colours.
In Politics -Stuff, a headline reads “John Minto Burns Israeli Flag.” He didn’t of course and didn’t know at the time that a flag had been burnt as the text of the column says.
IF what i seen aired on my TeeVee news last night surrounding the attack by the Israeli army on the UN school is in fact the truth,
IE: that UN officials had hours befor the shells rained down on that school, a place of refuge for women and children, begged, cajoled, and pleaded with the Israeli’s through direct contact, going so far as to provide them with the GPS coordinates for the location,
It saddens me to say that the small amount of sympathy i have thus far held onto for the Jewish State has evaporated,
Perhaps those within the US who openly support such Murder, with industrial efficiency, of children on a daily basis might care to cast around within their own borders for a ‘new promised land’ as such atrocities will in time provoke the need either for the use of weapons of mass destruction by the perpetrators of this ongoing child murder, probably within their own borders, and/or, a new ‘exodus’ of the Jewish people on a Biblical scale…
Yeah TV, seen that, perhaps Tracey Watkins inordinately extended ability to gush glowingly over Slippery the Prime Minister has dried up and desperate needs have in turn lead to desperate deeds,
Pretty low life bottom of the barrel Stuff do you not think Stuff.co.nz,???
i doubt this particular act of electoral bias by Stuff.co will have much effect as its not a hard print news organ that this gauche display appears within,
Most of us, computer literate to the extent of being able to access that particular site,(and in my case not much more), will probably have already, a long time ago,made our decisions as to which side of the political spectrum we will be voting,
Still, not a good look, and, another nail in the coffin for the mainstream media of New Zealand, and, Stuff.co can be assured that like the NZHerald, when the pay-walls go up i for one WILL NOT be paying them any of my coin to be subjected to such shit…
There was an advertisement the other day on Armstrong’s column of a blue bus in supposed motion with key’s face on the bus and blurb (go #team key or some such thing) which I can’t remember. I commented on it but when I went back it had disappeared.
Opposed to Iraeli STATE TERRORISM and the murdering of Palestinian little kids and civilians? Want to STAND UP and be counted? Today, Saturday 26 July 2014 – assemble 2pm Aotea Square Auckland. Hope to see a BIG turnout of decent people who are equally outraged at the violation of the most basic rights of Palestinians – the right to life! I’ll be there and encourage as many as possible to please attend and help spread the word. How would YOU like to be a Palestinian in Gaza right now? Penny Bright
+100 Penny…and from Bomber
‘When Firstline are focusing on flag burning rather than dead Palestinian children – that’s why you must march this Saturday at 2pm against Israeli aggression’
By Martyn Bradbury / July 25, 2014
This Saturday, Aotea Square, 2pm is that time to stand not only against Israeli aggression, but it’s tome to stand up against the pro-Israeli bias in our media….
Any idea how many children the Israeli terrorist murderers have killed in the last 24 hours?
Two days ago I predicted 7 children killed by the Israelis…
They beat that by attacking an entire school for fucks sake…
http://thestandard.org.nz/tuwhera-mike/#comment-854976
So how many today?
Israelis are committing genocide. Despicable and as low as any human behaviour anywhere… let them dwell in shit
Win,lose,draw, at some point after the September Votes have been counted we are going to have to get into casting our critical gaze upon all the parties of the left with a view to picking out and pointing to just what went right and what went wrong,
i definitely DO NOT propose to start such a process today, engaging in such behavior at this stage in the cycle being ‘not very helpful’ in terms of unity as the real contest is about to begin,
However,
In the case of poor old much maligned Labour who just can’t catch an even break any time anywhere it would seem i would suggest that to see what has been inherently amiss so far in the ‘campaign lead-up’ can be found encapsulated in a TV3 news item aired when David Cunliffe announced the parties election policy on education,
If you can find this particular video clip, aired the night of the education policies announcement on TV3 news at 6,(sorry my computer literacy leads me not to be able to provide a www), i would suggest that on a number of levels which do not involve the actual policy a number of ‘things’ best described as ‘wrong’ are encapsulated, epitomized, and, exposed within that one short news clip…
this is a must-watch from todays’ trawl..
..stephen colbert interviews elon musk..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/25/elon-musk-colbert_n_5621116.html?ref=topbar
I was thinking about regional development and house prices ans the Reserve Bank. Largely because I was up in a so called “successful province” the other day (Taranaki) and things looked pretty dead there and the local businesses were saying things were either very tough or totally unreliable – good one day and quiet for the next week.
RE agents said houses were not selling etc etc etc.
So why cant the deposit for houses outside of Auckland and Canterbury be at 5% and have it at the 20% in those two provinces? Is it just because “who wins Auckland wins the election?” and to tell them they need a 20% deposit would mean they would vote for the other guys? (If the RB was able to do this, Im sure the Government would still get the blame)
If that deposit differential could be introduced then maybe we would have more folk looking at the provinces which would help them and with people can come business opportunities.
Auckland prices are a result of migration – from in NZ and from other countries, and Christchurch’s prices are a result of the earthquakes and the migration in for the rebuild.
s something like this do-able?
The only people in Taranaki doing well are those in the oil and gas industry, and those in farming.
I see Fran O Sullivan has joined the chorus of calls to raise the pension age.
Its easy wait 2 more years when you spend your working life either sitting on your ass at your PC (eating chocolate), or flittering from one social function to another on the Auckland cocktail circuit.
Just took part in “The Reactor” at Scoop. One of the videos to comment on was Johnathon Coleman saying if any minister knew about the FBI investigation of Dotcom, that would have been a massive red flag and he would have never got into New Zealand. Oops, Mr Coleman is in deep poo.
There’s a poll at the NZ herald on whether apopo should be used in the weather from now on.
@ Papa TTuanuku 11.16
Okay – another word learned. Apopo – tomorrow. Tuwhera be open
And an extra – as an acronym it refers to –
APOPO is a registered Belgian non-governmental organisation which trains African giant pouched rats to detect landmines and tuberculosis. APOPO’s mission is to develop detection rats technology to provide solutions for global problems and inspire positive social change.
Perhaps we should discard the week, as in Te wiki o te reo Maori, Maori language week, dialing the one week out of the year down to one day a month and then at a future point one day a week every week of the year where te reo Maori is promoted…
Here is a technical problem for me re the Standard posts. Any suggestions please?
I am able to post. I do get notices of new TOPICS in my email, but I do not get notices of new posts. Nor do I get ‘please confirm’ notices as I used to get before. This problem has been going on for over a week now.
While posting a comment, I do tick the two little boxes as usual.
I have cleared the cookies and restarted the computer a couple of times, but still no luck.
I tried to login and asked for a now password from ‘word press’, but says, that email does not exist!
What is the problem and how do I rectify this? Any one know? Thanks.
[lprent: Should in theory be fixed now for the emails. It was caused by my new fibre installation at home.
The emails were running out through my smtp server at home, and it took me a while to notice that my outward emails weren’t going outwards. I’d changed ISPs with the UFB install and therefore the onforwarding mail server wasn’t set up. I didn’t notice, I’d also started a new job on Monday so wasn’t at home to send emails.
Problem was that I only got the UFB installed on the friday before going to the new job after screaming at chorus about being at home for 8 weeks holiday and they hadn’t managed to do the installation while I was available. I got most of the other bits fixed last weekend, but missed the smtp and also my offsite database backups ]
This is excellent and funny on the Living Wage.
http://lockerdome.com/tre/6170042811288129/6823146309435156
@Bearded Git 12.10
Thanks for Mary Poppins et al – great.
There is an interesting post from another blog – on why the rich actually need governments – put up by the Irascible Curmudgeon.
http://theirasciblecurmudgeon.blogspot.co.nz/ He quotes –
The very rich, F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, “are different from you and me.” Their wealth makes them “cynical where we are trustful,” and makes them think “they are better than we are.” If these words ring true today, perhaps it is because when they were written, in 1926, inequality in the United States had reached heights comparable to today.
As the University of Michigan’s Mark Mizruchi points out in a recent book, the American corporate elite in the postwar era had “an ethic of civic responsibility and enlightened self-interest.” They cooperated with trade unions and favored a strong government role in regulating and stabilizing markets. They understood the need for taxes to pay for important public goods such as the interstate highway and safety nets for the poor and elderly. Business elites were not any less politically powerful back then. But they used their influence to advance an agenda that was broadly in the national interest….
Surowiecki thinks that the change in attitudes has much to do with globalization. Large American corporations and banks now roam the globe freely, and are no longer so dependent on the US consumer. The health of the American middle class is of little interest to them these days. Moreover, Surowiecki argues, socialism has gone by the wayside, and there is no need to coopt the working class anymore.
Yet if corporate moguls think that they no longer need to rely on their national governments, they are making a huge mistake. The reality is that the stability and openness of the markets that produce their wealth have never depended more on government action….
But when economic storm clouds gather on the horizon, everyone seeks shelter under their home government’s cover. It is then that the ties that bind large corporations to their native soil are fully revealed. As former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King aptly put it in the context of finance, “global banks are global in life, but national in death.”
I put class comment on Tuwhera last night.
http://thestandard.org.nz/what-will-david-cunliffe-be-accused-of-next/#comment-855457
A description of how classes can be listed in our society is:
Classes:
. Top out-of-sight
Upper
Upper middle
Middle
High proletarian
Mid-proletarian
Low proletarian
Destitute
Bottom-out-of-sight
These must be condensing though as it was drawn up around 1980s and the changes talked about in Irascible’s post have hit hard and will continue to compress downwards.
A party platform from 1956.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25838
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BTDKdN2CUAE2OiW.jpg
@ joe90 1.01
Great. You produce magically the billboards, promises and satisfying and promising progressive situation in usa 1956.
Now wave your magic wand and get it to trans-substantiate. Tom Lehrer gives some advice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f72CTDe4-0
I loved this bit from the Republicans manifesto of which I only read 1/52, (o that by the end of a year I’ll have read the whole thing.) So many grand phrases. It’s so rich that it makes my stomach heave. And so tempting to believe in then, and wish for now. Even though it had important lies and obfuscations in it then.
But doesn;t this sound nice. I wonder if it has been tried anywhere?
<i>On its Centennial, the Republican Party again calls to the minds of all Americans the great truth first spoken by Abraham Lincoln: “The legitimate object of Government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do, for themselves in their separate and individual capacities. But in all that people can individually do as well for themselves, Government ought not to interfere.”
Our great President Dwight D. Eisenhower has counseled us further: “In all those things which deal with people, be liberal, be human. In all those things which deal with people’s money, or their economy, or their form of government, be conservative.”
I think The Elements would be useful in any trans-substantiating.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/AcS3NOQnsQM
Anyhoo, Michael Moore on when the rot really set in.
https://web.archive.org/web/20131117133000/http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/30-years-ago-today
@joe90 1.34
Tom Lehrer talented and with a presence, and a very fast delivery on The Elements. His elocution teacher must have been good.
The Michael Moore piece mentioned Wisconsin people protesting.
I remember Wisconsin Works from Ruthless Richardson’s time also Jenny Shipley (doesn’t Jenny sound a sweet name). WW was a mean-minded set-up that of the type that you would feel they would push people off cliffs if there was a way to collect pay for the trip down.
Anyway this was interesting from wikipedia about how pragmatic pollies act when a job (that they want to see done) gets pushed through their political forum.
In January 2011, the state legislature passed a series of bills providing additional tax cuts and deductions for businesses at “a two-year cost of $67 million”.[31]
In early February, the Walker administration projected a budget shortfall in 2013 (Wisconsin functions on two-year budgets) of $3.6 billion[32] and found that a budget repair bill to resolve a $137 million shortfall for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011,…
The Walker-backed bill proposed taking away the ability of public sector unions to bargain collectively over pensions and health care and limiting pay raises of public employees to the rate of inflation, as well as ending automatic union dues collection by the state….
Protests :
At 1:00 am on February 25, following sixty hours of debate,[60] the final amendments had been defeated and the Republican leadership of the Wisconsin State Assembly cut off debate as well as the public hearing and moved quickly to pass the budget repair bill in a sudden vote.
The vote was 51 in favor and 17 opposed, with 28 representatives not voting.[60] The final vote took place without warning, and the time allowed for voting was so short (lasting only 5–15 s)[61] that fewer than half of the Democratic representatives were able to vote; many reportedly pushed the voting button as hard as possible but it did not register.[62] Four Republican representatives voted against the bill.[63]
All part of a concerted effort to gain dominance at every level of government.
http://www.progressive.org/alec-nation
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
Which crowded cities can you fire into?
by JAMES NORTH, Mondoweiss, July 25, 2014
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/which-crowded-cities.html
In recent days, many journalists, including Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post and Ronan Farrow on MSNBC, have asked when is Israel justified in attacking crowded civilian settings in order to kill militants. Robinson: “So if you’re an Israeli commander and you know that there’s a Hamas military facility next to a medical clinic, but you’re not completely sure the militants are still there, while the clinic is likely packed with injured civilians, do you still pull the trigger?”
Over a decade ago, Yonatan Shapira, then an Israeli air force pilot, bravely confronted his top commander, Lt. General Dan Halutz, over what were euphemistically called “targeted assassinations.” Israeli warplanes regularly fired missiles at Hamas leaders in Gaza, also killing innocent civilians, some of them children.
Shapira asked General Halutz, What if a Hamas leader were located in Tel Aviv? Would you order our pilots to fire there, risking Israeli bystanders? Halutz said no.
So you value Israelis over Palestinians, Yonatan responded. Get someone else to fly your aircraft.
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/which-crowded-cities.html
For an entire economy not to have enough money is absurd
DTB that link leads to adware
Shouldn’t do. Should go to Photobucket.
there is an excellent doco on maori tv @ nine o’ clock..
..it’s called ‘dogtown and the z boys’..
..and is about the birth of the skateboard culture in california..
..has some great footage from way back when..
Test if the database is now accepting.
Ok – it is. Kill the old db.
Labour leader David Cunliffe has launched his party’s West Auckland campaign and the message is a multicultural team for a multicultural community.
In front of a roomful of cheering, red-scarf wearing Labour Party members, Cunliffe introduced the candidates for Kelston, Helensville, Upper Harbour, Te Atatu and his own electorate New Lynn.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10314780/Labour-comeback-will-be-a-surprise-Cunliffe