What Now?

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, May 24th, 2017 - 60 comments
Categories: International, Politics, Social issues - Tags: ,

Manchester Arena is the latest in a very long list of terrorist attacks, most of which we have little or no awareness of. So, what’s the idea after Manchester?

Well, I guess we could sit back and endure those who have quaffed on cocktails of fear and hate. I’m sure there are plenty of politicians and media pundits who will be more than willing to serve up gantries of the stuff in coming days.

But I’m sick of it.

I’m not interested in ‘defending’ people who get all fucked up and cause carnage for some (to them) greater cause, but I am interested in contributory factors that we might be able to influence.

If strains of Islam are the vehicle, I think it’s reasonable to say that we don’t have any direct influence over those strains of Islam. But what about the fuels that are driving that vehicle?

What are they? And what if anything can we do to cut those supplies?

60 comments on “What Now? ”

  1. Sabine 1

    i shall repost here another story from yesterday that was/is very little spoken about.

    A young guy kills two Neo Nazi roomates cause he converted to Islam. Yeah, that happened. During the Police follow up they disover that a thrid, surviving neo nazi room mate was having lots of stuff to make bombs and even some radio active materials floating about. OH Dear.

    where to from here? Maybe only if we ask ourselfs why killing is the more attractive option to some of our people? Why can some young people like the bomber in Manchester and the would be bombers in Miami Florida be more attracted to causing misery and pain.

    Maybe the hurt in them is so much that they don’t mind killing, it in fact is a relieve and all society, their families and the likes give them is pain. Call it retribution.

    But no matter what and how we go forward, what these to incidents show is that religion is not the foremost reason.

    http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article151953257.html
    He had just returned from U.S. Army National Guard duty May 19 to discover that his roommate, Devon Arthurs, 18, murdered two people in the apartment they shared in in the Hamptons at Tampa Palms complex. Both deceased were found in the apartment by the Tampa Police Department with multiple gunshots to the upper body and head.

    Arthurs confessed to the killings and said the victims were also white supremacists, according to the arrest report.

    Arthurs told police he was a white supremacist until his recent conversion to Islam, according to the arrest affidavit. He said that in “some time” before the murders, Russell participated in no-Nazi online chat rooms where he “threatened to kill people and bomb infrastructure,” according to the FBI report.

    Inside Russell’s bedroom, they found a framed photograph of Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted and put to death for bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. They also found Nazi/white supremacist propaganda, according to the FBI complaint. While in his bedroom, devices used by police bomb technicians alerted to the presence of radiation sources — thorium and americium.

    Before asking for an attorney, Russel told FBI agents he was a “national socialist,” according to the complaint, and a member of a group called the “Atom Waffen,” or “atomic weapon” in German.

    He said the explosives were manufactured in 2013 for a rocket-making project he was working on for the engineering club at the University of South Florida to send balloons into the atmosphere. But FBI Agent Timothy Swanson wrote in his report that HMTD is “too energetic and volatile for these types of uses.”

  2. roy cartland 2

    I thought it was interesting that one slogan for the Manchester solidarity is “we the many”. That’s the slogan UKLP is using for changing the type of politics and societal attitudes which have contributed to this mess.

    If people can realise that atomisation and predatory capitalism can be reversed through unity, it would be a starting point. The hurdle would be avoiding the label of ‘politicising’ the situation (as if it ever existed outside politics).

    • Carolyn_nth 2.1

      “We are many” is actually taken from a pacifist poem by Shelley.

      “The Mask of Anarchy”

      “The Masque of Anarchy” (or “The Mask of Anarchy”) is a British political poem written in 1819 (see 1819 in poetry) by Percy Bysshe Shelley following the Peterloo Massacre of that year. In his call for freedom, it is perhaps the first modern statement of the principle of nonviolent resistance.

      Rise, like lions after slumber
      In unvanquishable number!
      Shake your chains to earth like dew
      Which in sleep had fallen on you:
      Ye are many—they are few!”[3]

  3. One Two 3

    The core problem as I see it, is that the narratives are controlled (deliberately) to achieve (whichever) outcome is desired

    Can people ‘know’ what transpired leading up to (name the event), who was in fact responsible, and who ‘controlled/staged/managed’ the ‘event’

    The parameters are incredibly narrow for which the distracted public eye can draw conclusions from, that the ‘purpose’ of these events is ultimately not readily apparant

    Obfuscate and wage war by any means, are philosophies of both ‘good and bad’ entities…

    The Tavistock Institute may have some thoughts on the matter

  4. shorts 4

    the west kills hundreds/thousands/millions of innocents across a number of predominantly muslim countries – including children… and we do bugger all, hey its collateral damage

    A terrorist kills some westerners at a concert and we act like the world is ending

    at some point we’ve got to stop allowing out governments to slaughter with impunity

    please note I am not making excuses for the actions of the terrorists that target young people at a concert, but we can’t act like our young people should be immune

  5. McFlock 5

    Well, I seem to recall that many of the terrorists in the US or Europe were not the neocon wet dream of “refugee from Syria is secretly an AQ/ISIS plant” or whatever, but were actually 1st generation born in the country they made their attack in, or at least were very young when their parents made the decision to emigrate.

    Which tends to point to issues around how one connects with one’s roots and integrates with society, rather than ‘[insert here] is bad’.

    • Molly 5.1

      “Which tends to point to issues around how one connects with one’s roots and integrates with society, rather than ‘[insert here] is bad’.”

      Agree. But it also points to the ability (or inability) of the surrounding society to accept and welcome them into everyday life and groups, given their personal history and beliefs.

      It also asks the question: Is there a place where these grievances can be legitimately heard and change made?

      As has been pointed out, there are incidents involving the sanitised term “collateral damage” happening all over the world, often perpetrated by our own allies. And if someone – with personal and familial links to those places – is living in a community where these incidents are not only not newsworthy, but surrounded by people who consider this to be necessary, you don’t have to go far to see the disconnect.

      Unfortunately, the most likely place to find outrage and calls for change are with those who promote division and further carnage – for their own selfish purposes.

      Our questions about why will never be comfortably answered, we should also be asking where other avenues for expressing distress existed. Given the level of political dysfunction in the UK, the failure of immigration policies and implementation to address the issues of new and old citizens, the loss of credible news media and intellectual public discourse on issues such as the Middle East and UK and US involvement, it is also reasonable to suggest we need to consider the question “Why Not?”.

      A further thought that occurred to me after reading a couple of the articles, that quite rightly singled out the emergency services for praise.

      Primarily, how different it would be to go forward to help in this situation as opposed to one with no intended casualties – such as a train wreck or civil emergency.

      To put themselves on the line, knowing that a 100% guarantee of safety cannot be given, is to witness the best of human courage.

      With also a nod to the courage of Chelsea Manning, who leaks showed the world that the US uses double-strike taps by it’s drones to eliminate those with similar courage who go into help after the first strike hits.

      These people hit the second time, cannot realistically be given any justification to be legitimate targets. They are most likely the best of that community and they too are killed. (Not to mention, the failings of the current system to identify legitimate targets even on the first strike).

      I despair at the deaths and injuries at Manchester Arena, and reflect again on how hard it is to construct and build, and so immediate and much easier it is to destroy and dismantle.

      How do you build a society where such a thought becomes less likely – both as military tactic and as a personal action? Because it is obvious – we aren’t there yet.

  6. Adrian Thornton 6

    Until foreign military and other forces are extracted from the middle East and North Africa, and these same countries also stop flooding the region with weapons, it would be very hard to see any solution to Islamic extremists, who, in their view, are at war with foreign invaders.

    I am no apologist for Saddam Hussein, but I think his quote here would probably find wide approval throughout the Middle East, and no doubt would also find agreement with many disenfranchised radicalized youth in the west today…

    “And just as your beautiful skyscrapers were destroyed and caused your grief, beautiful buildings and precious homes crumbled over their owners in Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq by American weapons…. Americans should feel the pain they have inflicted on other peoples of the world, so as when they suffer, they will find the right solution and the right path.”

    The more pressure and tension an ideology is put under, the more entrenched and radical it will become..I think that much is plainly obvious.

    As far as what we can do, that in my view, has to start with our media treating the lives destroyed by bombs, terrorism and war in non western countries with the same degree of importance as the lives of someone from Manchester.
    When was the last time RNZ had half a dozen interviews with shocked and distraught survivors of a terrorist attack in The Middle East or North Africa?
    Should we feel less sympathy for those unnamed killed and maimed from other lands? should we believe that those lives have less value than those in Manchester? That, to me, would be the obvious inference I would take from the coverage assigned to this tragedy as opposed to the minimal coverage so many other terrorist atrocities get.

  7. Gabby 7

    Where to may depend on where the murderer learnt to make his bomb. His mental health history. Who else knew what he was up to.

  8. Bill 8

    Years ago, I had the suspicion that if I’d been brought up in N. Ireland and subjected to the daily humiliations imposed on Catholics by the British Army and N. Irish society in general, that I may well have picked up a gun in a rush of youthful hot headedness and heart felt righteousness.

    It crosses my mind today, that if I was a young Muslim man being subjected to all the stuff that’s imposed on people in numerous countries these days, then yeah, maybe.

    It also crosses my mind that young Muslim men in ‘white’ western countries being subjected to all manner of systemic bigotry and discrimination, don’t now need to simply nurse their wrath in isolation. Now they have a larger whole to identify with – one that, however twisted and misanthropic, provides a reason and a logic for committing really bad shit.

    Serves our masters rather well too – that understandable, though not excusable reaction.

    They get to be our ‘saviours’ in this big bad world that they ‘just happen’ to be instrumental architects of…this world increasingly built around things like fear, injustice, desperation and madness.

    • Sorry but im calling bullshit.

      There are thousands of young Muslim men who don’t commit atrocities. There is a small subset of EVERY group who need very little if any provocation to kill.

      Blaming it on the yanks is also simplistic rubbish – too much Hollywood infection.

      • McFlock 8.1.1

        well, I agree that the political side of “serves our masters rather well” is bunk.

        But thousands of young Irish kids never joined a paramilitary force. And thousands of suburban kids never committed a school shooting.

        I suspect the main ingredients are universal, it’s just the topping that differs: someone disaffected and socially alienated finds someone or something that reinforces negative impulses by encouraging a victim or persecution perception, and usually provides validation in the form of power and notoriety should the event take place.

        • Bill 8.1.1.1

          You don’t see that creating an external threat serves to bolster domestic centres of authority? okay

          • McFlock 8.1.1.1.1

            In general, I don’t see that any external threat needs to be created or gratefully accepted by the powers that be.

            Some instances have needed one to be generated in order to justify some significant social changes, e.g. the nazis or one or two suspicious bombings in Russia in the 1990s or the North koreans today.

            But in general I reckon that most governments in need of an external threat or security services in need of a fundraiser are probably well assured that the tragedy of the human condition ensures that one won’t be too far off. Because people are jerks.

            Indeed, I think that the convenient myth of various international threats is significant enough in reality to actually be a fact, which basically turns suggestions of these things being convenient for authority structures into arguments for the existence of those authority structures.

            edit: in short, “serves our masters rather well” could equally read “this is why we have security services”.

            • Bill 8.1.1.1.1.1

              I didn’t say it needs to be created. I’m saying it is being created.

              So, y’know – apparently inexplicable terrorism justifying an erosion of rights and expansion of ‘a surveillance state’ over society.

              By your last line, do you mean that the existence of threats justifies the existence of “authority structures”, or that those threats can serve to undermine any such justification?

              Why is the threat there? What’s it in response to? Is the threat to those “authority structures” – where we may or may not be collateral damage – or to us. I’m not quite sure how you’re looking at it.

              • McFlock

                Even without those authority structures, the world is still full of massive dicks. These massive dicks require a collective response to minimise the impact of their massive dickishness.

                Unless you can come up with non-authoritarian substitutes for the police and security services, I say that the existence of those threats necessitates some manner of police and security service. Not merely “justifies”.

                • Bill

                  So the question then becomes whether policing and security has to be, or can only be exercised by some form of concentrated power. Fair enough.

                  • McFlock

                    pretty much, yeah

                    • Bill

                      And of course we can.

                      Police and others aren’t some super-human species or whatever. The questions become those of possible operational structures and meaningful systems of accountability.

                      A conversation for another day perhaps?

                    • McFlock

                      yeah, I’m definitely in the camp of watching the watchers.

              • One Two

                Some do not appear to have basic understanding that the increase in ‘terrorism’ events, is on a recent timeline. They see a chicken v egg situation for whatever reason, such as McFlock has stated “why we have security services”…

                Naively misguided to say the least

                20-30 years ago, ‘terrorism events’ were rare exceptions,

                The fault lies squarely with UK/US/Israel/France/Saudi, and those entities who control, and have the ‘power’ to ‘create’ two of thoses states, and the ‘power’ to inflict the violent damage upon the planet and its inhabitants using the constructs which the same ‘power’ controls

                ‘Power’ is what you can’t directly see. The results and consequences of ‘power’, are seen and felt by the plebians, who then obediently express in the wrong directions…

                • McFlock

                  20-30 years ago, ‘terrorism events’ were rare exceptions

                  🙄
                  not in Europe (note that list only includes attacks with more than ten deaths) and the US, they weren’t.

                  They’re much more common globally now, yes – but mostly in countries that 20-30 years ago were active state-sponsored war zones (so explosions were still hardly rare exceptions) or dictatorships (so minimal terrorism because security services. Although shitty dictatorships.).

      • Bill 8.1.2

        Who “blamed it on the yanks”?

        There were thousands of young Catholic men in N Ireland who didn’t commit acts of violence btw.

        Care to explain how the N. Ireland peace process worked out if your claim that “there is a small subset of EVERY group who need very little if any provocation to kill” is true?

        By that reasoning the peace process should have only have had a minimal impact.

        • marty mars 8.1.2.1

          Adrian was going on about the yanks.

          I’m the one saying it is a small subset – you, on one hand agree and the next sentence attack that contention – wtf – that is a small subset of why your argumentative argument fails btw

          • Bill 8.1.2.1.1

            You’re not making any sense whatsoever.

            If a small subset of any group need very little reason to kill, then how could a peace process anywhere ever bear fruit? By your stated reasoning, that small sub-set would carry on killing people regardless. (They need very little if any provocation to kill. according to you.)

            About what Adrian was saying. Reply tabs. You know all about reply tabs. Use them.

            • marty mars 8.1.2.1.1.1

              ffs a small subset isn’t the big set. It isn’t that hard to follow unless you deliberately are trying to be a prick.

      • Tinfoilhat 8.1.3

        Thanks for saving me the trouble MM.

        I also note that Bill saves his ‘headchopper’ terminology for his Syria argumentation the stench of hypocrisy and false sanctimony in his posts is becoming overwhelming.

        • Bill 8.1.3.1

          That’s a nice rant. Any rationale on offer that might back up your assertions?

      • Ennui 8.1.4

        So Marty this calling bullshit. Bill in each paragraph says “I might”…..why might he not? Obviously the vast majority don’t but some do. Calling bullshit just does not cut it. I don’t know the real reason this person suicide bombed and we need to know. Bill had an idea. What idea have you got?

        • marty mars 8.1.4.1

          Peer pressure is a very big one i’d say.

          I dont think events turn someone into a mass murderer of innocents. It is already in them. Objectification and dehumanising are steps I think needed to commit multiple murders. And indocrination plus peer pressure can play a big part.

          Once I used to dress up in saffron robes with my shaved head and beads and I’d walk up queen st on a friday night chanting the names of God so that all who heard whether they believed or not derirved some spiritual benefit in my eyes. Belief and the wanting to belong are very powerful.

    • weka 8.2

      Yes, and to me that is self-evident and I don’t know why we are still having to talk about this. Not having a go at you, the post is important. Just weird that dynamic is still supposedly in contention. And it’s very similar to the dynamics underlying many other violences. Generally people whose wellbeing is supported don’t commit murder.

    • Adrian Thornton 8.3

      @Bill, I think that you are right, this is exactly why I believe it is critical that there has to be more balance in the media around all these tragedies, as it stands with our totally skewed and biased coverage, we only reinforce and entrench divides.

      Instead of these events driving these wedges between different cultures. races, and dividing us all, they could easily be used by a smart media to reinforce our similarities, that we all feel the same pain, loss, bewilderment, that we all want our children,family and friends to live without fear, no matter race, religion, or what part of the world you live in.

      I have emailed RNZ numerous times, asking politely, that they consider taking this angle on their reportage on these events.

      You ask what is to be done, well that is what I can do, and have done ( and ask my friends to do) not much I know, but if a hundred of people emailed or wrote into RNZ with a similar request then maybe?

  9. weka 9

    Am listening to an interview between George Monbiot and Russell Brand. Monbiot just said that most people are good and want to be in community. A small % are sociopaths. Sociopaths born into poor families end up in prison, sociopaths born into rich families go to business school.

    My take on that is that at the moment we are top heavy with people in charge who are fundamentally not equipped to manage the wellbeing of humans given we are inherently communal and co-operative. This is why I don’t see a huge amount of difference between the US presidents who bomb civilians and the Islamic fundamentalist leaders who bomb civilians. They’re all the wrong people to be in charge, and in the case of the US at least it’s the system that creates that (I’m sure Obama was a decent enough person under the right conditions).

    In terms of solutions, build community and have extended compassion for communities that are struggling.

    • Bill 9.1

      Basically, the final line.

      Though it seems to me there’s a lot of pressure being applied in the opposite direction. In our fairly insulated western societies we are to be individualistic, not communal.

      And we’re strongly encouraged to accede to a societal view that ‘others’ and/or diminishes those societies or cultures that aren’t right alongside our own on some comfortable imagined continuum.

      • Molly 9.1.1

        Agree.

        We also have to do our best to hold our “representatives” to account, and ensure they also exhibit these behaviours.

        Was watching a Bastoy prison item on Youtube, (that comes from a Mike Moore film – sicko) where the top executive employed by their state owned oil company, expressed his surprise at being hired. (@t 2:41) His role – as an academic philosopher – to ensure the long-term benefits of the citizens who owned the company, and to ensure it was run ethically.

    • RedLogix 9.2

      @weka

      The Dunedin Longitudinal Study essentially makes the same point …. that a small fraction of the population (< 5% ) can be identified from a very early age as "over confidant/under controlled". This group have volatile personalities and crucially when exposed to any form of abuse as a child between the ages about 5 – 10 are the group most likely to become dangerous as adults.

      In essence yes … every society has a small group of sociopaths who are most prone to committing atrocities. Islam has no monopoly on them. However in the normal course of events society exerts a strong constraint upon them. By moral force and intense social disapproval any one-off act in isolation quickly dampens out.

      But every society has it's hidden fractures; the global one we live having many. The tension between the western democracies and the Islam being especially potent. And when a leader chooses to exploit these tensions for their own political purposes they also unleash the normal inhibitions which keep the sociopaths in check.

      The former Yugoslavia is a prime example; the demise of a strong man leader whose own totalitarian rule had suppressed racial and cultural tensions for generations, the rise of demagogues who saw an opportunity to demonise their opponents … first led to one sociopathic act of terror, to another in reprisal and so on. As one commentator at the time memorably described it, “their society unzipped from bottom up”.

      In Europe right now it is the children of first generation Muslim immigrants who are the ones struggling with fractured identities, social barriers and inequality. It’s a classic scenario, the immigrant generation know why they made the move to another country and want nothing more than for their children have a better life. Their children however struggle with a split identity, not fitting in with either the ‘old country’ nor really their new one. It’s the second and third generations who start to forge their own way.

      And this is the toxic combination we are seeing here, radical religious leadership willing to exploit these very real social tensions, first generation immigrant alienation, and a small minority of damaged individuals responding with sociopathic atrocities.

  10. David Mac 10

    Modern warfare places participants so far apart. The drones cruising the barren hills are being operated by soldiers chucking down Big Macs and Cokes in an air-conditioned bunker just out of Vegas.

    The Brits there for WW2 talk of the pulse jet sound from the Nazi rockets and the terror associated with hearing one stop. That model aircraft sound from a drone is playing exactly the same tune. Treat people like that, they’re going to bite back. Regularly seeing the look of sheer terror in your child’s face is quite some motivator.

    The suicide bomber will never need to meet the parents of those young girls, the soldiers in a bunker in Nevada will never need to meet the parents of their ‘unluckies’.

    I think everyone without birthright should get the hell out of there. Let what will be, be. Every time I’ve stood in the middle of domestic friction, I failed to help…and that was just 3 of us. Eventually, they sorted it out for the best.

    Corny as but Lennon was right, all we need is love.

  11. greywarshark 11

    People younger won’t remember but there were bomb incidents in Australia when bad history from WW2 was still being played out – this time it was some of the Yugoslavs as they were then, particularly the Croatians. It was seen as something to contain then not the end of civilisation, but a dent in it.

    Their problem went back to WW2 and after and every time now there is a bombing or some outrage that is another flame to be kept burning to erupt in the future. What is being done in the Middle East is disastrous for reason, and likely to rebound in years to come and we may just have to put up with it then and try and understand.

    And on reading the start of the wikipedia info on the Oz events there was also a taint of set up by a state security agency. The ripples go wide and for years after these events.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Croatian_Six

  12. This idea that people who have seen friends and family killed will go on some Rambo revenge quest is rubbish. Had this happened elsewhere? Anywhere? No it is a movie meme. The damage emotionally, mentally and physically from seeing loved ones killed doesn’t turn people into killers, murderers of innocents. they are more likely to suffer for years barely getting through with PTSD and other debilitating illnesses. ffs wake up people – how much of the propaganda against Muslims is similar to this subtle othering and dehumanising.

    • David Mac 12.1

      I think it does create a widespread, heartfelt sentiment. A feeling strong enough to inspire the unhinged to behave in an extreme manner with the belief that they are helping.

      • greywarshark 12.1.1

        I think that is the point – unhinged. And the sensitivities of the young or poor can be played upon by clerics or warlords or simple crims.

        People who have had family wiped out, been traumatised om some way, don’t necessarily go Rambo though. They may become afraid so much that their unconscious makes them cower. Some of the WW1 returnees could be made to duck and run doubled-over by a sudden loud noise, as boys found out to their amusement. But whatever the bad experience it leaves scars.

    • Bill 12.2

      As far as I’m aware, no-one has said that seeing loved ones killed will result in “some Rambo revenge quest”.

      • marty mars 12.2.1

        Semantics – how brave lol

        • weka 12.2.1.1

          yeah, people with ptsd never act out of their pain.

          • marty mars 12.2.1.1.1

            Not sure what you’re talking about. Bill and I are discussing the semantics of who said what – for instance i mentioned rambo and bill is saying no one said they WILL turn into rambos. That is correct and imo beside the point and nit picky semantics that deviates from the point I was making that bill responded to.

  13. rhinocrates 13

    FWIW

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/special-report-the-psychology-of-terrorism/

    Special Report: The Psychology of Terrorism – Five experts share recent studies, classical research and professional experiences that shed light on defusing the threat of extremism

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-research-says-about-defeating-terrorism/

    What Research Says about Defeating Terrorism – Seven enlightening studies from social psychology hold vital lessons for policy makers—and the rest of us

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fueling-terror-how-extremists-are-made/

    Fueling Terror: How Extremists Are Made – The psychology of group dynamics goes a long way toward explaining what drives ordinary people toward radicalism

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rescue-mission-freeing-young-recruits-from-the-grip-of-isis/

    Rescue Mission: Freeing Young Recruits from the Grip of ISIS – Memories and emotions—not reason—hold the key to reclaiming young fanatics, according to an expert team in France

  14. keepcalmcarryon 14

    Social engineering, mass migration and globalisation. Humans are tribal people, as nice as the idea of everyone living cheek by jowl might be, there are social problems.
    Lack of integration of ethnic minorities is the key issue – migration has to be at a pace that allows everyone to adjust to their new life, locals and immigrants alike, that is the only way people can accept each other.
    Being treated as outsiders or not integrating- either due to local hostility from open immigration policy not wanted, or lack of government welfare to integrate properly leads to the next generation growing up with a chip on their shoulder, looking for an non conforming identity.

  15. One Anonymous Bloke 15

    If strains of Islam are the vehicle

    As mentioned on the “Oh Manchester” post, ideology has very little to do with the reasons people become terrorists.

    • Bill 15.1

      Yeah, some of those links rhinocrates provided cover that territory too.

      Not quite seeing how that contradicts “strains of Islam being the vehicle” though.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 15.1.1

        I don’t think it contradicts it as such. To labour the metaphor, if I’m looking for a vehicle there are plenty to choose from.

        Psycho Milt rages against Islam because it explicitly sanctions violence in much the same way as the Bible does (cloth of mixed threads etc.): arguments regarding the colour of the vehicle say nothing about the state of mind of the driver.

        • keepcalmcarryon 15.1.1.1

          Except biblically the stonings etc were old testament and noone condones that shit now. Contrast with radical islam. I note the bomber was a devout muslim: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/23/manchester-arena-attacker-named-salman-abedi-suicide-attack-ariana-grande

          “Mohammed Saeed, a senior figure of Didsbury Mosque and Islamic Centre, said Salman Abedi had looked at him “with hate” after he gave a sermon criticising Isis and Ansar al-Sharia in Libya.”
          as Ive said somewhere else, its accepted that many of these terrorists are not at heart religious they are poorly integrated immigrants or their progeny with a chip on their shoulder looking for an outlet.
          That said, wahabist islam is filling that niche.
          Saudi and their USA backers should also be condemned for their direct or indirect support.
          Huffpost had an excellent few articles on this , here is one: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/isis-wahhabism-saudi-arabia_b_5717157.html

        • Bill 15.1.1.2

          Indeed. (Never quite understood people insisting Buddhism is/was all mungbeans and sunshine).

          But short of listing every ‘vehicle’ I could think of, I thought the word ‘if’ as a qualifier served its purpose well enough.

  16. Ed 16

    Stop our addiction to oil.

  17. mary_a 17

    This article from NZH today, written by investigative journalist James Harkin, gives an insight to how Islamic fundamentalists might see and judge western culture, putting themselves in the self appointed position of taking down and wiping out what they perceive as debauched values, particularly where women and music are concerned. The irony being, in past lives many of these young men lived debauched lives, before becoming part of radical Islam!

    Although not for me, I can however understand why some people are led towards particular religions … in the hope of leading better lives, guidance perhaps … SBW being one example, of someone I see now leading a cleaner, more generous, less selfish, peaceful life, through conversion to Islam. But what drives some to want to become part of an organisation such as ISIS through Islam in the first place is anyone’s guess.

    If nothing else, Harkin’s piece is an interesting read.

    James Harkin is director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism and a reporter on Syria and the rise of Islamic State.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11862281

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  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    53 mins ago
  • Relentlessly negative
    Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 hours ago
  • Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    Bryce Edwards writes –  It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 hours ago
  • Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
    Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played. “Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
    3 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    3 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    8 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    8 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    8 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    8 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    10 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    11 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    13 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 hour ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
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