my partner and I are off to the nz/aust cricket gala dinner tonight. i understand key and abbot will be there… hope i can still eat. tomorrow we are nzc guests for the match. havent been excited about a game for years but I am about this one.
Enjoy, Abbott is getting a few last junkets in before he is rolled for Malcolm. Keen to hear what the food was like having whanau slaving away producing it.
It was snapper… flesh side down in tomato sauce, lots of tomato sauce… fish tasted very fishy but mostly of tomato sauce. “celebrity” Chef should stick to being a celebrity, he wrecked the snapper. I had diplomats at my table who were, well, very diplomatic, but thought it was crap too.
i will have the tranny tuned in from 2pm for what, i think, is the most anticipated nz one dayer in a generation. i promise i will not mention your prediction re the english one dayer if you dont. š
Abbot was over at John Keys favourite restaurant in Parnell last night. At least I presume they were. There were a hell of a lot of police and police bikes with flashing lights hanging around. Some obvious bodyguards hanging around outside the chocolate shop next door.
Who really wants to run around with all of that fuss?
I remember Helen Clark as PM pulling the dratted 50cc motorcycle out of the garage and pottering off to gym.
My question is – what in the hell are these guys compensating for?
Here is how I could have caused damage to prominent kiwi and aussies on friday night…
Invited to gala by email, waited for tickets. never came. Rang friday and was told could pick them up at sky convention centre at dinner.
arrived on green carpet, was asked for tickets. Told the lovely woman we were picking them up inside. She waved us to the desk. Desk entered name, couldn’t find it. Tried again. Said “just go up to level 5 and they will sort out your table. Went up to level five and mingled and had a drink and snack. Still no record of us so they showed us to a table. Half an hour later official party arrived. Never asked for ID. Clearly there was NO expectation of ANY security risk to either PM…
It is Children’s Day on Sunday with various activities around the country. This is the lead in to National Foster Care Week.
If you have friends who are foster carers please offer them some recognition for their much needed work on New Zealand society’s behalf. (hint: some babysitting so they can enjoy a date night / movie/ child free coffee might be well received but I am sure chocolates, flowers or wine wouldn’t be turned away either š )
What should I do about white butterfly caterpillars on my cauliflower. They are growing next to the beans so I don’t want to put on anything toxic yo bees.
Can they both lose? We gave up a shitload of privacy with this World Cup used as a lame excuse. My opinion of cricket is that some drunk poms were sitting in a pub, having a competition to invent the most ridiculous game possible. Cricket won, they left the rules on a few beer coasters, but the retarded inbred offspring of a leading Tory family came across them and didn’t realise it was all a joke.
Nothing wrong with Rugby League, or even soccer. Good proletarian pastimes. Corinthians was the first British professional soccer club, allowing workers to play. The biggest club in SĆ£o Paulo is named after them.
Tennis, golf, and rugby union have all been tied up with support for oppressive regimes and racist tours. Fishing is good š
Yeah cricket is bit dodgy, but no need to be a killjoy. Eden Park is full and the Black Caps are kicking Aussie arse. Key and Abbot are there for the photo ops. Acting like grumpy old men doesn’t help the Left at times like these. It’s a beautiful day in Auckland, wish I was at Eden Park too.
I’m attending a different function to that of the cricket. 16 hours walking around a track in the Relay for Life. (Note the word ‘relay’ for I won’t be walking all of that! We have a team of nine members).
The event is a fundraiser for the local Cancer Society. I will be walking in the Survivor’s lap, being now treated and clear for four and five years from two separate cancers.
There’s not much more important than a big game of cricket, but this is one of them- joining with our community celebrating life.
And celebrating the work of the Cancer Society, the skill of all the medical personnel and the Welfare State.
With regard to ‘fucking cancer’, there has been this month some great news regarding drugs that attack cancer cells by using the immune system. This is one link that leads into this area.
Yep I had a very little cancer, a basal cell carcinoma on my arm (nothing serious) that was treated with this stuff that attracted white blood cells to the area and got them to deal with it. Took about 4 weeks and it went completely. I thought at the time that there must be a similar approach to attack cancers that are more invasive.
There was a discussion here awhile ago about the lack of cicadas this year, I can assure any one interested that there a plenty at the Whangapoua camp ground.
How scummy is the UK Home Office? This scummy:The Home Office lied to EU member states to remove victims of human trafficking and modern slavery in breach of European law, according to whistleblowers. Legal experts have said the practice is ...
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...
“We wuz robbed!” is the classic cry of the disappointed losers of a closely contested sporting contest – it is very much to the credit of the Black Caps that we heard no such sentiment from them following the stunning ...
The Youth Parliament is being held this week, and some of the youth MPs are campaigning for a lower voting age:Molly Doyle, 17, is one Youth MP who wants this to change. She is part of a non-partisan campaign run ...
Up till now, Australia has made its living by digging up coal and exporting it to other countries, destroying the global climate in the process. But now they have a new option: exporting solar power:The desert outside Tennant Creek, deep ...
Later this month, thousands of people are expected to march to parliament as part of the #HandsOffOurTamaraki movement. At its heart, the movement is about preserving whānau and demanding that the state stop removing children from their whānau, hapū and iwi. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh The recent statements made by the former FARC commander, Carlos Lozada (legal name Julian Gallo), where, from his seat in Congress, he praised the Colombian Army demonstrate how low the farianos have sunk. Lozada began by ...
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...
Last month I talked about the no-fly movement: people who refuse to fly or limit it to absolute necessity to avoid destroying the climate. Now, that movement has a somewhat surprising new member: Dutch airline KLM:Dutch airline KLM has launched ...
In the 1960's, humanity faced a terrible threat: global thermonuclear war. Nuclear weapons were uniquely destructive and dangerous, and if more countries got them, the logic of MAD and the pre-emptive strike would put us on a hair-trigger to destruction. ...
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...
Matariki has been and gone, but this year we saw a couple of op-eds arguing that it should be a public holiday, replacing the foreign monarch's fake birthday. And now, New Zealand Republic - a group which campaigns for an ...
The discussion on the quality of economic advice, which we reported last week, has spilled over into a discussion about whether so many senior appointments should be of non-New Zealanders. Recall I discussed the failure to develop career paths within ...
When Nicky Hager revealed US footage of the Operation Burnham raid, obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, one of the obvious questions was whether Ministers had seen it - and in particular, whether they'd been told that it ...
Northern Ireland is the Alabama of the UK: a backwards region where women and gay people are denied fundamental rights. But Westminster has just decided to fix that:MPs have voted resoundingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to ...
There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...
Ranjit Kauri, The Dancing Maharani and Other Stories, Swansea, Head and Heart, 2019, £6.99; reviewed by Don Franks Working people are not the same country to country. Our struggles for a better life take place in surroundings of very different ...
Let's Do Them! All Jacinda Ardern has to do to clinch the 2020 General Election is frighten the bejesus out of the electorate by describing in the most graphic terms imaginable what will happen to all the positive beginnings her ...
It may be that we have all misinterpreted the somewhat surprising “bromance” between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. It has been all too easy to assume that it is Kim who is cosying up to Trump rather than the ...
by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
Back in May the government released its Zero Carbon Bill. While much of the bill was welcome, there was one big exception: it contained a secrecy clause, requiring the Climate Change Commission to maintain secrecy over practically everything it does. ...
by Phil Duncan This past week has marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots in Christopher Street, New York, the event generally regarded as kicking off the gay liberation movement. Quite a few articles have ...
Southland - land of coal-burning dairy farmers - has become the first region in the country to explicitly vote against declaring a climate emergency. Their reason? They didn't want to "devalue" the word "emergency". Its an argument addressed powerfully in ...
New Zealand has a problem with police chases: officers going after fleeing drivers like rabid dogs, without any consideration for proportionality or public safety, often with fatal results. And according to an in-depth article in the Guardian today, the UK ...
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...
Holly Lawford-Smith is a senior lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Melbourne. She’s currently writing a book about radical feminism. This article appeared on Feminist Current Academics should be standing together in defence of universities’ fundamental values: the ...
The Otago Daily Times has an in-depth article about the future of wind energy in New Zealand, and it is looking bright:The news that wind will play the leading role in New Zealand’s energy future was put up in lights ...
If the sight of schoolkids striking for a future has been filling you with hope, good news: they want you to join them on September 27:Students will take to the streets again demanding action on climate change, and this time ...
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...
To express concern about foreign ownership and control in New Zealand is often to invite accusations of xenophobia and economic illiteracy. It is worthwhile, therefore, to rehearse the grounds for that concern, and to explore the various forms it can ...
It must be a day ending in Y because the Guardian - remember when it used to be a good paper1 - is running another spurious story about Corbyn's leadership being threatened over anti-Semitism.The headline the Guardian runs is: "MPs tell ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jun 23 through Sat, June 29, 2019 Editor's Pick When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met Greta Thunberg: 'Hope is contagious'Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and ...
When people slate the current Government for taking too long on certain issues, or not getting everything right, just check the outrage and quit helping National manufacture consent for their decade of Disaster Economics and much more. Bill couldn’t ...
Robots could soon replace many low-skill jobs, such as President of the United States. US Presidential hopeful and doomsday prophet Andrew Yang went to extreme lengths to make a point in the first round of Democratic primary debates today, replacing ...
More people have died in the shower this year than will die in a KiwiBuild home. KiwiBuild home owners are experiencing a surprise windfall this month, as the price of their houses have begun to rise dramatically, due to growing ...
First way – the state, Keynesian demand management, the working class as the base of support. Second way – free-market, reduce the scope of the state and cut taxes, relative indifference to social justice. Third Way – well that's the ...
E15 is a London-based housing campaign that arose from the eviction of a group of young working-class mothers from a homeless hostel in 2013. Cat Wiener, through her work with the Revolutionary Communist Group, helped get Focus E15 up and ...
Going Upstairs: If we accept the LGBTQI+ community’s untrammelled right to advance their understanding of love, then we must also accept Israel Folau’s right to articulate his own simplistic and inadequate interpretation of the Christian religion.ONE OF THE FIRST things ...
So, some Labour MPs and peers have written Corbyn a letter complaining about the re-admission of loudmouth MP Chris Williamson, who had been suspended over allegations he made anti-Semitic comments.Never mind the Guardian's typically biased headline that Corbyn is facing ...
When the NZDF was asked to release US information on Operation Burnham which would have revealed how the villagers died, they refused, claiming that the US objected. So, Nicky Hager and Deborah Manning requested it in the US, under that ...
Statistics New Zealand has released a new report on New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions, with a sectoral breakdown shown how much is caused by different sectors of the economy. The data is crystal clear: half our emissions are caused by ...
Another day, another IPCA report finding police misbehaviour, this time in relation to police beating a suspect in Huntly in 2017. But despite a finding that officers used excessive force, the police as usual refused to prosecute their own. But ...
The State Services Commission has released its report into Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf's handling of treasury's budget security failure. And it is not good:Outgoing Treasury secretary Gabriel Makhlouf was "clumsy", unreasonable and fell "well short" of expectations in his handling ...
David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill passed its second reading in Parliament last night, 70 - 50. Which means now the real struggle for consensus over amendments begins. Pretty much everyone who voted for it agrees it needs changes ...
Compare And Contrast: One of the reasons so many powerful forces combined to oust the Third Labour Government was its obvious determination to move beyond progressive rhetoric and embrace progressive action. When assessing the behaviour of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ...
International research shows that there is a socioeconomic status (or class) gradient, in which those with low SES experience higher morbidity from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, ulcers, rheumatoid disorders, a number of cancers, psychiatric diseases, dementia and so on.read more ...
In the 1980's, the revolutionary government "reformed" the public service, splitting it up into competing agencies. This was supposed to produce better focus and greater accountability: agencies would focus on their area of expertise and argue their corner, and chief ...
49 publications for this week. The last paper in this week's list features Skeptical Science volunteer and highly cited researcher Stephan Lewandowsky along with Skeptical Science founder John Cook as first and second authors respectively, working with regular collaborator Gilles Gignac. ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
This week’s “Youth Parliament” is an expensive waste of time that promotes taxpayer-funded junketeering, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “We shouldn’t be training kids on the joys of the trough,” says Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones admitted on Q+A tonight that the state of New Zealand’s infrastructure planning is “dismal” and the government needs to get on with building “rather than writing more reports about it.” ...
DairyNZ has released its submission on the Zero Carbon Bill and is calling on the Government to revise the methane target in the Bill to one that does not put at risk New Zealand’s world-leading dairy sector. Farm profit could ...
July 15 (BusinessDesk) - Foreign Minister Winston Peters will have bi-lateral meetings with two of US president Donald Trump's most hawkish defence and security advisers in a five day trip to Washington D.C. ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero are calling for Members of Parliament to show political courage as the Zero Carbon Bill goes through the crucial Select Committee process. ...
Annual net migration was provisionally estimated at 50,200 (± 800) in the year ended December 2018 compared with 52,600 in the previous year, Stats NZ said today. ...
New Zealanders have the opportunity to contribute to the government’s Review of Retirement Income Policies, including questions around Superannuation and KiwiSaver. Submissions are now open for the Review, being run by the Commission for Financial ...
Yesterday at Mataatua Marae the Tamaki Makaurau Electorate of the Māori party congratulated Rangi Mclean who was appointed to the Vice president Tāne role of the party nation-wide executive. ...
The funding crisis facing the disability sector has become more urgent following the disturbing news that the Ministry of Health will not increase contract prices for providers this year, the New Zealand Disability Support Network said today. ...
The growing number of working poor is an alarming indicator that the regulatory Minimum Wage does not cut it said Closing the Gap spokesperson Peter Malcolm. ...
Historic hui gives overwhelming agreement for a Māori Inquiry The inquiry into state run Oranga Tamariki will be led by whanau, kaimahi and Māori leaders. ...
Drug infiltration into our maximum security prisons is putting prisoners and staff at unnecessary risk, and one tool that would be of huge benefit is a full body scanner. ...
The Socialist Equality Group is hosting a protest rally in Cuba Street, Wellington (at the intersection with Left Bank) on Sunday 14 July at 2:30pm to oppose the persecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and to ...
Simon Shepherd: The National Party proposed its own medicinal cannabis scheme last year. Its Health Spokesperson, Michael Woodhouse, says it shouldn’t have been ignored. So I began by asking him what his problem is with the government’s proposed regime. ...
Countries around the world are also dealing with medicinal cannabis. Britain legalised it last year, but the uptake has been slow. Neurologist Professor Mike Barnes wrote the report that convinced UK lawmakers it was a good idea. He's coming here ...
Simon Shepherd: Green MP Chloe Swarbrick’s name has become synonymous with drug reform, so following years of campaigning for safe, public access to medicinal cannabis, what does she think of the government’s new plan? Well, Chloe Swarbrick joins me ...
Social Credit is calling for a Government enquiry into the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board over it's handling of the Sarah Preece attack in 2017 and its subsequent report. ...
An overwhelming response sees Māori from across the country pouring into Māngere today. The call for action came from Māori leadership concerned with the practice of tamariki removals by the state. Whānau, experts, and highly skilled Māori from ...
Responding the announcement of a $2.37 million loan from the Provincial Growth Fund to a Northland berry farm, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “Why couldn’t this business get a loan from the bank? If no bank was ...
Multicultural NZ is delighted to congratulate former Gisborne Mayor, Meng Foon, who has been appointed as New Zealand’s Race Relations Commissioner. ...
Award-winning broadcaster, Waatea has been selected by North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to exclusively livestream the historic Māori-led Inquiry on Oranga Tamariki. ...
“The Peace Movement sends an urgent call to Winston Peters to reject any US demands for New Zealand participation in patrolling the Persian Gulf and Straits of Hormuz. New Zealand should have nothing to do with any war on the ...
More than 50 senior non-commissioned officers from militaries in the Asia-Pacific Region gathered this week in Auckland for a conference hosted by the New Zealand Army. ...
The addition of an absurd Treaty of Waitangi clause in the Plant Varieties Act raises the question whether “Maoridom” will claim royalties on new plant varieties, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today. ...
What are we going to do about District Health Boards? News this week that the Government is looking at a further bail-out of cash-strapped Boards to help reduce their deficits has raised afresh questions about the sustainability of the current ...
Legal proceedings were filed in the Wellington High Court this week to have certain blocks of land at Shelly Bay returned to the ownership of Taranaki Whānui iwi. The land in issue is currently the proposed site for a high ...
Heart Kids, the only charity which supports families of heart children, acknowledges the fear and distress of families who have voiced their concern over paediatric cardiac services in New Zealand. ...
Amnesty International has released a scathing report into the United States’ response to gun violence, a report that New Zealand policy-makers can learn from. In Scars of Survival: Gun Violence and Barriers to Reparation in the USA, survivors of gun ...
New Plymouth District Council has corrected information it gave the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union regarding ratepayer-funded flight expenses in 2017/18. A Council spokesperson states: ...
The Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand welcomes the announcement of Meng Foon as the new Race Relations Commissioner. “Our community, along with many others, has deeply felt the absence of an advocate in that role, particularly in light of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that New Plymouth District Council was the fourth highest-spending council in the country when it game to air travel in the 2017/18 financial year. The Council spent $285,391 on flights, $256,235 of which was domestic, ...
Today I have submitted against the application of the Queenstown Lakes District Council seeking a "right to polllute" in their latest resource management application to the Otago Regional Council. I have done so in my capacity as a Dunstan ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that two officers used excessive force during an arrest in Ramarama, South Auckland on 26 October 2016. ...
“New Zealanders fought hard to achieve strong parliamentary support for medicinal cannabis last year. It’s now really important people have their say on the design of the regulations to ensure sound and sensible patient access,” says Paul Manning, ...
The numbers of deaths by suicide in New Zealand are beyond unacceptable and it is time both the previous Government admitted it failed New Zealanders during its nine years in office and that the current Government is at risk of ...
Early Wednesday morning, Generation Zero hosted a Zero Carbon Bill submission party for commuters passing through the Wellington Railway Station. Wearing togs and waving surf lifesaving flags, young climate change advocates reminded Wellingtonians about ...
David Seymour MP wrote to our Office raising concerns about the involvement of Hon Shane Jones in the decision to grant $4.6 million to the Manea Footprints of Kupe Cultural Heritage and Education Centre through the Provincial Growth Fund. Mr ...
The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt has spent $147,243 on his ratepayer-funded purchase card since late 2016 (the beginning of this term in local office). ...
10 July 2019 ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa applauds the United Kingdom Parliament on its historic vote to extend access to abortion and same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland. ...
New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers president and retired veterinarian Peter Trolove has cautioned against the proposed aerial 1080 drops near the lower Tongariro River. ...
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) has welcomed the formation of a new global group prioritising energy efficiency policy, with New Zealand’s Energy Minister Hon Dr Megan Woods joining as a founding member. The International ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling for the resignation of Victoria University Vice-Chancellor Grant Guilford over his deceitful use of a ‘rebrand’ to push a name-change agenda that has already been rejected by students, alumni, and the ...
The New Zealand Union of Students has today launched their ‘30Under30’ campaign, which shines a light on the record number of young candidates running in the 2019 Local Body Elections, meanwhile pushing the youth of Aotearoa to vote. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) has today launched the “Fair and Reasonable" campaign in response to rushed firearms legislation recently introduced by the Government. Campaign spokeswoman Nicole McKee says, “When new firearms legislation ...
COMMENTARY:By Yamin Kogoya in Auckland More than 50 years of “torture” has been inflicted on the Papuan people by the Indonesian government. With the complicity of Western governments, great fear has been put in the hearts and minds ...
It’s landlords who are finding themselves out in the cold as property managers begin to walk away from clients who haven’t insulated their rentals, reports Don Rowe.Two weeks after the first of New Zealand’s healthy homes deadlines, property managers are ...
Event date and time: Friday, July 26, 2019 – 17:00–18:30JOIN US for this Pacific Media Centre‘s smorgasbord “launch” mid-winter fono and celebration for: + Two new documentaries on climate change and media freedom + The ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Tuesday’s contentForeign affairs and trade Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): US ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Monday’s contentOranga Tamariki, state care of children, adoption Bonnie Sumner (Newsroom): Māori ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Senior research fellow, Southern Cross University Humans’ distant ancestor Australopithecus africanus had a unique approach to raising their young, as shown in our new research published today in Nature. Geochemical ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joyce Y.M. Nip, Senior lecturer, Department of Media and Communications; Department of Chinese Studies, University of Sydney As China grows more powerful and influential, our New Superpower series looks at what this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trent Yarwood, Infectious Diseases Physician, Senior Lecturer, James Cook University and, The University of Queensland This year’s flu season is off to an early start, with 144,000 confirmed cases so far in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Todd Denham, PhD Candidate, School of Global, Urban & Social Studies, RMIT University Governments are looking to fast rail services to regional cities to relieve population pressures in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zsuzsanna Csereklyei, Lecturer in Economics, RMIT University Wholesale prices in the National Electricity Market have climbed significantly in recent years. The increase has coincided with a rapid increase in the proportion of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Koa Whittingham, Psychologist and Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Bluey is a ground-breaking Australian children’s television series and the most downloaded show in ABC iView history. Since premiering in October 2018, ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Both PM and deputy PM in action on foreign relationships, major climate report being released today, and DOC staff facing escalating threats. Both the PM and deputy PM are in action ...
The Auditor-General's investigators are to look into the National Party's complaints about taxpayer funding being used to underwrite KiwiBuild homes. ...
Cancer can happen to anyone, even if they have followed the advice. While healthy living is not a guarantee, it does stack the odds in your favour. ...
Food researcher George Henderson assesses best-selling NZ low-carb cookbook What The Fat, and asks: How did it become so popular, and why is a laxative included in the sausage roll recipe? ...
Practical steps to take right now if you’re appalled at the news coming out of the United States.This article was originally published in June 2018 and has been updated with current information.From the far side of an ocean, we in ...
Grant Robertson, a cricket fanatic whose day jobs include being minister for finance and minister for sport, raced from Wellington to northwest London on the weekend to watch the Black Caps in what turned into the greatest one-day international ever ...
Ātea editor Leonie Hayden headed out to the hui for a Māori-led inquiry into Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry for Children, and found a unified Māori force that has decided enough is enough.When first announced, Saturday’s Oranga Tamariki hui was to ...
A vulnerability has hit users everywhere, New Zealand included, and it reveals something very troubling about the way the tech world worksNew Zealand Schools, district health boards and even the perhaps the halls of power have found themselves compromised by ...
By RNZ Pacific New Caledonia has a healthy lead on the Pacific Games medals table after the first week of the competition. The French Territory has won 42 gold medals after the first six days of competition and more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ahmar Mahboob, Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Sydney A few months ago, I received a call from a barrister who asked me if I could evaluate whether voice identification testimony submitted ...
Strengthening the Emissions Trading Scheme and tightening the ETS cap over time to track European prices simply makes more sense than other alternatives. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By João Teixeira, Research associate, University of Adelaide Around 55,000-50,000 years ago, a population of modern humans left Africa and started on the long trek that would lead them around the world. After ...
California five-piece Local Natives are halfway through a world tour. Guitarist and songwriter Ryan Hahn took time out to talk to The Spinoff about their experimental new album.Local Natives’ latest album, Violet Street, is both a tribute to personal growth ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au ...
We keep hearing that Kids These Days are mollycoddled and risk-averse, but is that really true? And guess who gets blamed when kids do take risks and things go wrong? This generation aye? They don’t let their kids climb trees ...
State-owned farmer Pāmu says it voted in favour of selling the troubled dairy co-op Westland Milk Products because continuing with Westland in its current state wasn't an option. ...
By Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk The Oxford City Council is to award West Papuan activist Benny Wenda the Honorary Freedom of the City accolade for his tireless fight for West Papuan self-determination. Wenda, whom the United Kingdom granted political ...
The Black Caps’ World Cup loss at Lord’s this morning has much of the country feeling pretty shit. From massage to mindfulness, here are five ways to feel just a tiny bit better.There’s a lot of weepy people out there ...
With everything in politics moving so fast these days, it can be hard to remember characters from earlier seasons who get brought back for yet another run. So with John Banks considering another Auckland mayoralty run, what are some things ...
Māori culture shouldn’t be something that’s half-heartedly appropriated for some cool video game visuals. So why do developers keep doing it?This year’s Xbox E3 Briefing kicked off with a new game reveal, Bleeding Edge – a multiplayer action game in which ...
Fifty years ago today the anti-apartheid group Hart – Halt All Racist Tours – was formed. Founding chairperson Trevor Richards looks back to the 1960s New Zealand into which Hart was born, and how it launched a battle for the ...
Weekend social 27/02/2015 
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever.
How scummy is the UK Home Office? This scummy:The Home Office lied to EU member states to remove victims of human trafficking and modern slavery in breach of European law, according to whistleblowers. Legal experts have said the practice is ...55 mins ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...3 hours ago
Later this month, thousands of people are expected to march to parliament as part of the #HandsOffOurTamaraki movement. At its heart, the movement is about preserving whānau and demanding that the state stop removing children from their whānau, hapū and iwi. ...1 day ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh The recent statements made by the former FARC commander, Carlos Lozada (legal name Julian Gallo), where, from his seat in Congress, he praised the Colombian Army demonstrate how low the farianos have sunk. Lozada began by ...2 days ago
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...2 days ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...5 days ago
There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...6 days ago
6 days ago
1 week ago
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...2 weeks ago
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...2 weeks ago
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...2 weeks ago
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...2 weeks ago
Image Credit: Blog Writing Tips. I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the ... 2 weeks ago
When people slate the current Government for taking too long on certain issues, or not getting everything right, just check the outrage and quit helping National manufacture consent for their decade of Disaster Economics and much more. Bill couldn’t ...3 weeks ago
Robots could soon replace many low-skill jobs, such as President of the United States. US Presidential hopeful and doomsday prophet Andrew Yang went to extreme lengths to make a point in the first round of Democratic primary debates today, replacing ...3 weeks ago
More people have died in the shower this year than will die in a KiwiBuild home. KiwiBuild home owners are experiencing a surprise windfall this month, as the price of their houses have begun to rise dramatically, due to growing ...3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago
Statistics New Zealand has released a new report on New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions, with a sectoral breakdown shown how much is caused by different sectors of the economy. The data is crystal clear: half our emissions are caused by ...3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...3 hours ago
This week’s “Youth Parliament” is an expensive waste of time that promotes taxpayer-funded junketeering, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “We shouldn’t be training kids on the joys of the trough,” says Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson ...20 mins ago
COMMENTARY: By Yamin Kogoya in Auckland More than 50 years of “torture” has been inflicted on the Papuan people by the Indonesian government. With the complicity of Western governments, great fear has been put in the hearts and minds ...31 mins ago
It’s landlords who are finding themselves out in the cold as property managers begin to walk away from clients who haven’t insulated their rentals, reports Don Rowe.Two weeks after the first of New Zealand’s healthy homes deadlines, property managers are ...2 hours ago
Event date and time: Friday, July 26, 2019 – 17:00 – 18:30 JOIN US for this Pacific Media Centre‘s smorgasbord “launch” mid-winter fono and celebration for: + Two new documentaries on climate change and media freedom + The ...2 hours ago
COMMENTARY: By Bryan Kramer in Port Moresby Yesterday, I returned from Tari Electorate in Hela Province following a one day trip to assess the situation following the horrific killing of 23 women (two of whom were pregnant) and nine ...4 hours ago
Napier Port is seeking to raise up to $234 million in next month's partial share float. ...4 hours ago
Jacinda Ardern has condemned comments made by the US President attacking four Democratic congresswomen. ...4 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Senior research fellow, Southern Cross University Humans’ distant ancestor Australopithecus africanus had a unique approach to raising their young, as shown in our new research published today in Nature. Geochemical ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trent Yarwood, Infectious Diseases Physician, Senior Lecturer, James Cook University and, The University of Queensland This year’s flu season is off to an early start, with 144,000 confirmed cases so far in ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yvette Selim, Interim Deputy Director, Anti-Slavery Australia, University of Technology Sydney With China’s western-most province of Xinjiang being turned into a mass internment camp, last night’s ABC Four Corners program reported on ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Koa Whittingham, Psychologist and Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Bluey is a ground-breaking Australian children’s television series and the most downloaded show in ABC iView history. Since premiering in October 2018, ...5 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Both PM and deputy PM in action on foreign relationships, major climate report being released today, and DOC staff facing escalating threats. Both the PM and deputy PM are in action ...6 hours ago
Kiwi aid organisations are battling declining donations and fewer partnerships - why are so many positive about their future? ...7 hours ago
Author Ian Buruma compares and contrasts the two big People Power protests the Chinese Communist Party has faced in the past three decades. ...7 hours ago
A former airport boss wants to be re-elected Queenstown mayor. Might his Achilles' heel be about airports? ...7 hours ago
Forestry commentators have noted the industry is facing a perfect storm worldwide. Dame Anne Salmond questions if New Zealand's approach is right. ...7 hours ago
Cancer can happen to anyone, even if they have followed the advice. While healthy living is not a guarantee, it does stack the odds in your favour. ...7 hours ago
Canon Rugby in Focus: The Black Caps' defeat in London wasn't this country's first World Cup horror show - and it probably won't be the last. ...7 hours ago
Food researcher George Henderson assesses best-selling NZ low-carb cookbook What The Fat, and asks: How did it become so popular, and why is a laxative included in the sausage roll recipe? ...7 hours ago
African nations have a habit of either shocking, or winning hearts at Netball World Cups. In Liverpool, 2019, it's the Zimbabwe Gems. ...7 hours ago
Ātea editor Leonie Hayden headed out to the hui for a Māori-led inquiry into Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry for Children, and found a unified Māori force that has decided enough is enough.When first announced, Saturday’s Oranga Tamariki hui was to ...8 hours ago
There's a great deal of positivity after the weekend hui called to deal with the uplift of Māori children. ...8 hours ago
By RNZ Pacific New Caledonia has a healthy lead on the Pacific Games medals table after the first week of the competition. The French Territory has won 42 gold medals after the first six days of competition and more ...13 hours ago
Strengthening the Emissions Trading Scheme and tightening the ETS cap over time to track European prices simply makes more sense than other alternatives. ...17 hours ago
A rise in risky visa applications from prospective students is slowing the process and hitting education providers. ...19 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By João Teixeira, Research associate, University of Adelaide Around 55,000-50,000 years ago, a population of modern humans left Africa and started on the long trek that would lead them around the world. After ...19 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au ...21 hours ago
Activity in the services sector softened in June, offering another sign of a slowing economy. ...21 hours ago
We keep hearing that Kids These Days are mollycoddled and risk-averse, but is that really true? And guess who gets blamed when kids do take risks and things go wrong? This generation aye? They don’t let their kids climb trees ...21 hours ago
State-owned farmer Pāmu says it voted in favour of selling the troubled dairy co-op Westland Milk Products because continuing with Westland in its current state wasn't an option. ...22 hours ago
By Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk The Oxford City Council is to award West Papuan activist Benny Wenda the Honorary Freedom of the City accolade for his tireless fight for West Papuan self-determination. Wenda, whom the United Kingdom granted political ...23 hours ago
The Black Caps’ World Cup loss at Lord’s this morning has much of the country feeling pretty shit. From massage to mindfulness, here are five ways to feel just a tiny bit better.There’s a lot of weepy people out there ...23 hours ago
With everything in politics moving so fast these days, it can be hard to remember characters from earlier seasons who get brought back for yet another run. So with John Banks considering another Auckland mayoralty run, what are some things ...23 hours ago
Māori culture shouldn’t be something that’s half-heartedly appropriated for some cool video game visuals. So why do developers keep doing it?This year’s Xbox E3 Briefing kicked off with a new game reveal, Bleeding Edge – a multiplayer action game in which ...23 hours ago
Fifty years ago today the anti-apartheid group Hart – Halt All Racist Tours – was formed. Founding chairperson Trevor Richards looks back to the 1960s New Zealand into which Hart was born, and how it launched a battle for the ...23 hours ago
my partner and I are off to the nz/aust cricket gala dinner tonight. i understand key and abbot will be there… hope i can still eat. tomorrow we are nzc guests for the match. havent been excited about a game for years but I am about this one.
Enjoy, Abbott is getting a few last junkets in before he is rolled for Malcolm. Keen to hear what the food was like having whanau slaving away producing it.
Ok, ordered the fish…
It was snapper… flesh side down in tomato sauce, lots of tomato sauce… fish tasted very fishy but mostly of tomato sauce. “celebrity” Chef should stick to being a celebrity, he wrecked the snapper. I had diplomats at my table who were, well, very diplomatic, but thought it was crap too.
Have left room. Key is reading his blokey jokey speech and the white male crowd is guffaw in. .. am sitting with aussie foreign ministers employees…
Prawns and white bait entree was fabulous.
hi tracey, hope you have a good time at cricket.
i will have the tranny tuned in from 2pm for what, i think, is the most anticipated nz one dayer in a generation. i promise i will not mention your prediction re the english one dayer if you dont. š
š
Abbot was over at John Keys favourite restaurant in Parnell last night. At least I presume they were. There were a hell of a lot of police and police bikes with flashing lights hanging around. Some obvious bodyguards hanging around outside the chocolate shop next door.
Who really wants to run around with all of that fuss?
I remember Helen Clark as PM pulling the dratted 50cc motorcycle out of the garage and pottering off to gym.
My question is – what in the hell are these guys compensating for?
But that is political – please ignore it..
Not the one she put- putted around on in the 70s???
Oh yeah. It didn’t get retired until well into the 00’s.
We are told that terrorism is a real risk in NZ.
Here is how I could have caused damage to prominent kiwi and aussies on friday night…
Invited to gala by email, waited for tickets. never came. Rang friday and was told could pick them up at sky convention centre at dinner.
arrived on green carpet, was asked for tickets. Told the lovely woman we were picking them up inside. She waved us to the desk. Desk entered name, couldn’t find it. Tried again. Said “just go up to level 5 and they will sort out your table. Went up to level five and mingled and had a drink and snack. Still no record of us so they showed us to a table. Half an hour later official party arrived. Never asked for ID. Clearly there was NO expectation of ANY security risk to either PM…
It is Children’s Day on Sunday with various activities around the country. This is the lead in to National Foster Care Week.
If you have friends who are foster carers please offer them some recognition for their much needed work on New Zealand society’s behalf. (hint: some babysitting so they can enjoy a date night / movie/ child free coffee might be well received but I am sure chocolates, flowers or wine wouldn’t be turned away either š )
What should I do about white butterfly caterpillars on my cauliflower. They are growing next to the beans so I don’t want to put on anything toxic yo bees.
Feed them to the chooks, prevention is best with mosquito netting to keep those buggers off all the brassicas next cycle.
Best way is to squash them by hand.
Read Patricia Grace’s story, Butterflies.
Thinking about Key and flag design and countriesand inglorious history in general. Everything that Eddie Izzard knows on this.
go the nz cricket team.
if yr an ozzie and you know it….
Can they both lose? We gave up a shitload of privacy with this World Cup used as a lame excuse. My opinion of cricket is that some drunk poms were sitting in a pub, having a competition to invent the most ridiculous game possible. Cricket won, they left the rules on a few beer coasters, but the retarded inbred offspring of a leading Tory family came across them and didn’t realise it was all a joke.
So then what about the other useless sports? Tennis, Golf, Rugby,
Nothing wrong with Rugby League, or even soccer. Good proletarian pastimes. Corinthians was the first British professional soccer club, allowing workers to play. The biggest club in SĆ£o Paulo is named after them.
Tennis, golf, and rugby union have all been tied up with support for oppressive regimes and racist tours. Fishing is good š
Yeah cricket is bit dodgy, but no need to be a killjoy. Eden Park is full and the Black Caps are kicking Aussie arse. Key and Abbot are there for the photo ops. Acting like grumpy old men doesn’t help the Left at times like these. It’s a beautiful day in Auckland, wish I was at Eden Park too.
I’m not acting. I am a grumpy old man.
š
I will be joining the grumpy old man club soon enough … aarggh
it’s ok…
..it has its’ upsides..
..you stop giving a fuck about what anyone else thinks about ya..
..(that’s one of them..)
I’m attending a different function to that of the cricket. 16 hours walking around a track in the Relay for Life. (Note the word ‘relay’ for I won’t be walking all of that! We have a team of nine members).
The event is a fundraiser for the local Cancer Society. I will be walking in the Survivor’s lap, being now treated and clear for four and five years from two separate cancers.
There’s not much more important than a big game of cricket, but this is one of them- joining with our community celebrating life.
And celebrating the work of the Cancer Society, the skill of all the medical personnel and the Welfare State.
Bless them all!
Good on you Mac1 – hope the sun shines. Enjoy the walk.
Have a good walk and fuck cancer.
Thanks both, Murray and Jenny.
With regard to ‘fucking cancer’, there has been this month some great news regarding drugs that attack cancer cells by using the immune system. This is one link that leads into this area.
http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2014/01/111531/killing-cancer-through-immune-system
We have a gorgeous day here, to be enjoyed. Life is rich and full and good.
Yep I had a very little cancer, a basal cell carcinoma on my arm (nothing serious) that was treated with this stuff that attracted white blood cells to the area and got them to deal with it. Took about 4 weeks and it went completely. I thought at the time that there must be a similar approach to attack cancers that are more invasive.
Dang I am sure the cricket has taken five years off my life …
Mine too, Mickey š
A classic game. Thought it was in the bag when we reached 100 but Aussie pulled off some amazing bowling..
There was a discussion here awhile ago about the lack of cicadas this year, I can assure any one interested that there a plenty at the Whangapoua camp ground.
They seem really late this year. Christmas was a lot quieter then usual, but the neighbourhood is humming round here now (North shore, Auck).
Yes, noticed them for the first time about a week ago (North Shore). There seemed to be something missing before. Now I know what it was.