New Zealand Service in Afghanistan Concludes
Did New Zealand military forces do good in Afghanistan?
Social issues
uncategorized
About the latest poll
Media claims that Ardern’s support have peaked and are tanking are way too premature.
Much ado about nothing
Chris Bishop is claiming credit for Labour finishing a deal whereby the party rented premises to Parliamentary Services for the use of Gillian Anderson MP at a level well below market rates.
The trans Tasman bubble
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said New Zealanders have an unfettered ability to travel to Australia for a holiday. Reality would suggest that he is wrong.
Water Rights War Brewing
Minister Parker is firing an 18 inch gun round that he’s ready to take on all with his call-in of the Otago water rights plan change.
She might have saved us from Covid but she does not drink beer with Soper
Newstalk ZB, Mike Hosking and Barry Soper are shocked, I tell you, shocked that Jacinda Ardern will no longer regularly appear on the Mike Hosking show.
How to Put A Stake Through Our Monarchy’s Heart
The Monarchy’s attacks on Meaghan Markle may backfire spectacularly.
No Right Turn: Give the Rangitata back
If we want to protect our environment and ourselves, we need to scale this back. And the easiest way to do that is give the river back: remove or massively scale back those consents, and let the rivers flow.
Managed isolation cleaners should be paid a living wage
Managed isolation facility cleaners, who the country desperately relies on, are struggling to survive on low wages while performing an absolutely vital role.
Escape Velocity
In this series so far I’ve examined three of the four terms in the Kaya Identity, population, economic intensity, and energy intensity. It […]
Covid19 Vaccine Rollout and Global Inequality
2023-2024 for a global rollout 0f the Covid vaccine will put stark lines of demarcation between which populations can trade and travel easily, and those who can’t.
Trifold Politics and Boundaries
Over the past year I’ve outlined in the comments an alternative triplet political model to the standard left/right description that’s the usual default. […]
The fascinating story about when some redditors took on Wall Street
The world has been watching, mostly with amusement, as some redditors have brought a Wall Street merchant bank to its knees, by buying stocks in a company, GameStop who has seen better days and whose business model is antiquated.
Who says cancel culture is a bad thing?
It may be that we have heard publicly from John Banks for the last time. If so this will be a good thing.
Is New Zealand’s The Best Little Economy In The World?
New Zealand is the best-managed country in the world. And currently has one of the best economies.
Are Revolutions A Good Idea?
Revolt? Revolution? Pain in the ass? Depends, like comedy, on timing. And which side of history you end up on.
Is Ted Cruz the dumbest politician ever?
Now that Donald Trump has more time to play golf and attend court there will be jockeying for leadership of the Republican Party, or what will be left of it once Trump’s new Patriot Party emerges. One early contender is Ted Cruz. There is a problem with him however, he is an imbecile.
Everybody gets a pardon
Donald Trump’s final decision as President may be to pardon a number of people. There is speculation that the exercise of the Presidential prerogative of mercy may have a price attached …
Regulate big tech now
If we had seen our Prime Minister fall from power because three companies decided that their dominance in society should be used to bring her down, we would be outraged. Yet that pretty much just happened in the United States.
The twitter purge
Over the past few days Twitter has suspended not only Donald Trump’s twitter account but 70,000 accounts world wide many associated with the propagation of Qanon conspiracies.
The Parler purge
Parler, which attracted right wing extremists because of its refusal to apply any rules to what people said, has had its application banned by Google and Apple and Amazon has now refused to host its data. But it has also had all of user’s data downloaded and archived and made available to everyone, including law enforcement authorities. Think Dirty Politics but on industrial scale.
US democracy is under threat
Short post to update on developments in Washington.
Trump’s next 48 hours
With crucial Senate run off races in Georgia and Congress meeting to receive the declared results of the US election and with Republicans determined to oppose the results at every turn the next couple of days will be very significant for America’s future. Update (lprent): The democratic senators from Georgia are called as victors. A riot pushed by an irresponsible President Trump happened at the Capitol building with people dead. Congress subsequently made a determined proclamation that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are confirmed a the newly elected president and vice-president. As for Donald Trump – goodbye to unstable rubbish..
The UK is now the world’s Covid cot case
Well after the emergence of a mutated Covid virus that is much easier to spread and faced with surging infection rates Boris Johnson has put England into a lockdown similar but not as strong as New Zealand’s original lockdown. But the question is, has he done too little too late?
The Tinkers
My all time favourite sci-fi author Vernor Vinge depicted in his Peace War Trilogy a counter culture that had adapted to unique set […]
Without the handbrake what should this Government do?
Welcome to 2021. This is the year for the Labour Government to be brave. What should it seek to achieve this year?
Is Progress Real?
It’s hard to overstate the extraordinary merging of events in Europe that led to the Industrial Revolution exploding in the mid-1800’s. There was […]
Parihaka
A post reflecting on the history of the Parihaka settlement, how local Taranaki Iwi were treated appallingly by the Crown and the Government, and how the settlement amount paid is but a miniscule amount of the damage actually caused.
Trump pardons buddies
Donald trump has in the past couple of days issued a number of pardons to people including former members of his campaign team, Jared Kushner’s father, a group of contractors involved in the massacre of 14 Iraqi civilians including a 14 year old boy and Ben Carson’s best friend.
Plan B activists still think NZ should be like Sweden
In a letter published in the Royal New Zealand College of Medical Practitioners journal Plan B academics have criticised the Government’s Covid elimination strategy because of the economic effects at the same time that recently announced growth figures show the economy grew in the past 12 months despite Covid.
A Few Good Green Wins
There is always plenty of bad news when it comes to nature in New Zealand, but this year has had an accumulation of good.
State Zero
This short post reprises a comment on Kaya’s Identity a few weeks back. Kaya identity is expressed in the form: F = P […]
Ihumātao deal imminent
Radio New Zealand is reporting that a deal on Ihumātao is imminent and that Cabinet is expected to sign off on the deal today.
Brexit revisited
With Brexit looming there is talk of unfinished customs software and the possibility of chaos around ports, the UK’s food supply being compromised, and potential skirmishes with France at fishing spots. And Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron are refusing to talk to Boris Johnson. Hang on England, this is going to get wild.
The Mayor’s budget proposal and Auckland’s climate change response
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff’s recently released budget proposal for Auckland Council contains some welcome proposals to address climate change. But of itself this budget will not go near to achieving Auckland’s goal of halving emissions by 50% in 2030.