Newshub reports: He [Hipkins] said the government had only been in office for six months, and “the wheels are falling off already”. This is beyond stupid. Hipkins claims taking two portfolios away from Ministers who were seen to be struggling is the wheels are falling off. In the first few months of last year, we saw his Government have: The PM resign The Minister of Justice sacked/resigned after being charged with drink driving and not co-operating with Police after she crashed her car Stuart Nash sacked for leaking Cabinet discussions and multiple prior warnings Michael Wood sacked after ..read more

   The post General Debate 25 April 2024 first appeared on Kiwiblog ..read more

The Herald reports: The High Court has ruled Children’s Minister Karen Chhour cannot be compelled to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal. In a just-released decision, Justice Andru Isac granted the Crown’s application for judicial review, setting aside the summons issued by the tribunal. This is a very good decision. The Waitangi Tribunal was basically making a power play that has failed. An issue for the future is what to do with institutions that behave more like political activists than neutral bodies. The Human Rights Commission has many people wanting them to be scrapped as they often loo ..read more

I got to speak to a group of esteemed old boys from a NZ school today. My starting point was a comment made by a Head of English at a boys school I was teaching at when she stated that the comparatively poor English results, compared to Science and Math were because; ” … they were boys”. This was a part of my counter evidence: Top 30 Books of BBC Readers The LOTR, JRR Tolkien Pride and Predudic, J Austen His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee Winnie the Pooh, AA M ..read more

As job losses have occurred in the media sector, the media have done story after story about how devastating this change is for journalists and their families, and the need for empathy. And then after Melissa Lee loses the broadcasting portfolio, the NZ Herald runs the following: Calling it insensitive is putting it lightly. And people wonder why not everyone is upset with media job losses. The post Should media practice what they preach? first appeared on Kiwiblog ..read more

Max Salmon writes: Last week the Commerce Commission announced its concern with a proposed merger between Foodstuffs North Island and Foodstuffs South Island. Their concern is a decrease in competition in the market. It sounds crazy when you first hear it, but it’s even weirder when you see what the Commerce Commission is actually worried about. At first glance it’s ludicrous. It isn’t like there are vast numbers of inter-island shoppers, ferrying and flying between north and south to secure precious grocery bargains from the New World on the other side of the Strait. Price differences betwe ..read more

1 News reports: Melissa Lee has been relieved of the role of Media and Communications Minister, while Penny Simmonds has also lost her disabilities portfolio. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has explained the change saying due to significant challenges in each portfolio they should be held by senior Cabinet ministers. It follows controversies and pressure in both ministers’ portfolios in recent months. Paul Goldsmith with take over from Lee, and Louise Upston will take over for Simmonds. “It has become clear in recent months that there are significant challenges in the media sector. Similarl ..read more

The World Tribune reports: “EU DisinfoLab, which receives grants from George Soros’ controversial Open Society Foundations, is now testing the water regarding ‘repurposing’ of an ICANN security operation set up to combat malware, spam, phishing, etc., and turn it into a tool against ‘disinformation sites,’ ” Didi Rankovic reported for Reclaim the Net on April 9. … And, according to EU DisinfoLab, Rankovic added, “who better to wipe out whatever domain name is deemed to belong to a ‘disinformation site’ than a DNS registrar – and ICANN is the top authority for them all.” ICANN’s Doma ..read more

   The post General Debate 24 April 2024 first appeared on Kiwiblog ..read more

Ranapera Taumata is a Third Striker.  He murdered his girlfriend in 2019 by beating her to death with his bare hands. The Judge summarised: Over the next 17 minutes or so, inside the sleepout you inflicted a prolonged and violent assault on Ms Hira, rendering her unconscious and injured. At about 1.15 am you dragged her outside; she appeared to be unconscious. You tossed her to the ground. You then proceeded to throw items of clothing and bedding outside around where her body lay. A few minutes later you again grabbed her and dragged her by the hair back into the sleepout. … A post ..read more