David Harvey: The Culture of Complaint

An Institutional Problem

I have a book on my shelf entitled “Culture of Complaint” by Robert Hughes. I purchased it in September 1993 shortly after it was published.

It was an interesting book because although it argued primarily about problems in the United States of America, the issues Hughes describes resonate today. The book was prescient in that respect.

Robert Hughes was an Australian-born art critic, writer and producer of television documentaries. He was art editor for Time magazine and is known to television audiences for his TV series on modern art entitled “The Shock of the New” which was brilliant.

Dr William Happer Previews His Trip To NZ To Talk Climate Change Truth

Sean Plunket chats to Dr William Happer on The Platform about the climate change hoax.

Click to view

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Groundswell will eventually be proven right about the Paris Agreement

I think in the end, Groundswell is gonna be proven right - but I don't think they're gonna get what they want right now and I don't think they should get what they want right now.

Because what they want is for New Zealand to pull out of the Paris Agreement.

Now, we cannot pull out of the Paris Agreement. At least, we can't pull out right now, right?

Ele Ludemann: Paris Accord could determine election

The government’s commitment to the Paris Accord has garnered opposition from farmers and farming organisations.

Federated Farmers is not supportive:

Alan Emerson: Good sense and stewardship heading south

Gore council is the latest to abandon reason in pursuit of an agenda

I’m starting to think there must be something in the water in our southernmost province. Last week I wrote about the 3000 Southland farmers who will require a permit to farm, largely due to the cunning stunts of Southland Fish & Game.

Sites of significance to Maori - Gore district

The Gore District Plan proposes to classify the entire Gore District under the Sites and Areas of Significance to Maori part of Section 6 of the RMA - Laurie Paterson of Groundswell explains it

Cam Slater: Has She Run Out of Schools to Visit?

Desperation makes people do strange things. Jacinda Ardern must be really desperate now, after a series of polls that clearly show we are done with her and her party of clowns, buffoons, racists and chancers. She’s going to do that which she has steadfastly refused to do for quite some time: meet Groundswell:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will meet with the leaders of Groundswell NZ next week, a year after saying she would not meet with them.

Owen Jennings: ‘Going, going, gone’

An interesting court case in Wellington. A 76 year old man sold his house to a developer. His daughter is disputing his right to do so. She is claiming there were understandings about the property not being sold because there is tikanga involved, her baby’s placenta is buried on the property and that there were clearly issues of ethnicity and cultural values at stake.

Without commenting on this particular case it does, however raise significant issues about the nation’s slide into what can only be a quagmire of confusion, uncertainty, heartache and vagueness. The harder the elitists, the media and the academics push for the adoption of Māori language, Māori ownership, Māori control, the adoption of ill-defined terms, the incorporation of Māori factors into science and, particularly, if the courts continue down the path of judicial activism by embracing ethnic and cultural values into judgements and judicial process the greater the problems will become.

Graham Adams: Ardern’s nightmarish weekend

Criticism of the government funding gangs and the media followed hard on the heels of nationwide protests by farmers

It should have been a weekend of media adulation to further burnish the Prime Minister’s international reputation as a consensus-builder. Late on Friday night, Jacinda Ardern hosted a virtual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting attended by the world’s most powerful politicians — including Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin (and Xi Jinping via a recorded message).

But news of that illustrious event was completely overshadowed by a massive protest by farmers and tradies earlier that day that took in more than 55 towns and cities the length of New Zealand. Organised by lobby group Groundswell NZ, the Howl of a Protest against the government’s environmental regulations — including the “ute tax” — saw convoys of tractors, trucks and utes rumble through main streets from Kaitaia to Invercargill.

Mike Hosking: I hope the Govt is listening to the farmers

I hope today is a very big day for provincial and rural New Zealand. ‘Groundswell’ is what they are calling it.

The protest is up and down the streets of this fine country by tractor and ute.

Basically, it's designed to send a message to Wellington that the rural dweller has had enough, and you can't simply ride rough shod over a significant proportion of the country without some blow back.

The Ute Tax has been the final straw, but it's been over three years coming. The Labour Party, sadly, is not a rural party and it shows.

Karl du Fresne: In New Zealand this week

In New Zealand this week:

■ The online news service BusinessDesk reported the result of the first round of funding handouts under the $55 million Pravda Project, officially known as the Public Interest Journalism Fund. They include:

More than $2.4 million to NZME, Maori Television, Newshub, Pacific Media Network and 11 “support partners” to train and develop 25 cadet Maori, Pasifika and “diverse” journalists. The latter category will presumably include those who identify as transgender or non-binary and other aggrieved minorities that we haven’t got names for yet.