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… once Special Votes are counted and announced on 7 October.
Three years ago, there were 330,985 Special Votes cast, accounting for 13.5% of total votes. That reduced National's seats in Parliament by one, and gifted the Green Party a fourteenth MP. The balance of power in Parliament went through a seismic shift with that one transfer of a single seat.
This year the number of Special Votes has risen dramatically to (approximately) 384,072 (or 15% of total votes).
Special Votes have traditionally supported left-leaning Parties and Labour and the Greens may pick up one or two extra seats, at the expense of National.
This may result in former Iranian refugee, lawyer, and feminist activist, Golriz Ghahraman becoming the Green's eighth MP. Two extra MPs will send Mojo Mathers back to Parliament.
National will lose one, maybe two seats, reducing it's MPs from currently 58 to 57 or 56.
No wonder Peters, Labour, and the Greens can afford to bide their time. Two weeks will give the three parties a clearer picture as to what voters have delivered.
She continued asserting that the Maori Party could work in coalition with Labour. In effect Ms Fox was re-branding the Maori Party as an opposition party working to change the government.
Ms Fox may have been earnest in her desire to move her party to the left. But Flavell's comments suggest otherwise.
The demise of the Maori Party should not surprise anyone. They have suffered the doom of any small political party that has made two grievous mistakes.
Mistake #1: Moving too close to their major coalition partner and being over-shadowed and subsumed by the Blue Colossus that was the National-ACT Government.
In blaming voters for their defeat, Marama Fox and Te Ururoa Flavell and other Maori Party leadership ignored the gradual decline of voter support until they had nothing left.
"The downside of being in government with National is having to put up with all the anti-worker, anti-beneficiary and anti-environment (and therefore anti-Maori) legislation that comes as a natural consequence of having a right-wing government.
The Maori Party is a coalition partner of that government and our co-leaders are ministers in that government, so unless we take a very strong position against some of the government's legislative agenda we will be seen as supporting that agenda.
" It needs the nuclear option.
It needs to kick National in the guts and walk away.
It's time for Flavell to change the narrative.
He needs to start distancing the Maori Party from National. He needs to start extricating it from the cosy relationship.
Which is unfortunate, as I believe that the Maori Party's voice in Parliament added to the public discourse. One hopes that a resurgent Maori-Mana Party will return in 2020. Maori need representation in the House, independent of any mainstream, pakeha-dominated party.
Gareth Morgan – green with envy?
Gareth Morgan's call for the Green Party to work with National is either political naivete – or a cunning plan to undermine and eventually destroy the Green Party and siphon off their voter-base.
Either way, not a look look for Mr "Common Sense".
The fate of the Maori Party (and other small parties whose orbits took them too close to their stellar coalition partners) is a clear warning that a blind person could see.
Mr Morgan should to stick to his "knitting" such as promoting the Universal Basic Income and building his own party for 2020.
With no hope of ACT's sole MP, David Seymour, pulling in a second MP on his "coat-tails", National might as well cut him loose and regain Epsom for themselves.
Who can really care anymore for a "Party" polling at half of one percent?
He said it was pretty clear cut that a two-party coalition would be more stable, and voters had given National a task of forming a government with New Zealand First.
"Our position in going into those negotiations is that almost one in two New Zealanders supported National.
ACT would complicate a governing arrangement, and he would not expect the party to be included in that government.
Typical of right-wingers; demanding personal responsibility from the rest of us – but never showing any themselves. If ACT cannot win electoral support under MMP, then it will never achieve success under any system (except maybe at gunpoint).
Perhaps Mr Seymour should just accept that 99.95% of voters simply do not like ACT's free-market, dog-eat-dog, and corporate-welfarism for it's taxpayer-funded Charter Schools.
When Gareth Morgan's TOP gained four times more votes (48,018 – 2.2%) than ACT (10,959 – 0.05%), what does that say about the fate of neo-liberalism in this country?
The question is, what will he do about it?
Does Winston Peters really want his party to end up like the Maori Party, ACT, and Peter Dunne – all casualties of their political closeness to National?
As others have pointed out, a vote for NZ First was indeed a vote for change. Otherwise, those leaning toward National would have cut out the Black & White Middle Man and voted for the Blue Team.
Going with National is More of the Same.
Choose wisely, Mr Peters, choose wisely.
With the demise of the Maori Party and the assimilation of all seven Maori Seats into a mainstream, predominantly white-person's political party, it is more apparent than ever that we need to retain those Maori Seats to ensure on-going, guaranteed Parliamentary representation for Tangata Whenua.
If National bows to Peters' demand for a referendum on the seats, it will be a sad day for democracy in this country when the Majority get to choose on entrenched safeguards for a Minority.
Why do (some) pakeha feel so threatened by seven seats when they have 113 seats for themselves, under their potential full control? It can't be any notion of "reverse-racism". Those who demand the abolition of Maori seats rarely concern themselves with such matters.
In a Hollywood movie, a budding politician rises up from nowhere and successfully takes on the political Establishment Elites. After a struggle, the hero/heroine prevails, showing that truth, courage, and integrity will always defeat the Dark Forces of the political Elite. Cue happy ending; cue stirring theme music; roll credits; bank the ticket-takings.
In real life, Steven Joyce and his party strategists (with the assistance of Crosby Textor?) spun two lies, regarding Labour's mythical "$11.7 billion fiscal hole" and that Labour would "raise taxes". None of which were remotely true. Joyce was aided and abetted by Bill English who unashamedly repeated those two lies at every opportunity, whether on-air debates or interviews on Radio NZ, Q+A, The Nation, etc. At no point did either man resile from their wilful calumny.
If 998,813 voters who ticked "National" on their Party Vote ballot weren't aware that the two claims were barefaced lies – or, knew it was a lie and simply didn't care – Joyce's strategy for mis-information worked.
The Dirty Tricks strategy was previously used against Winston Peters when an unknown agent leaked his superannuation over-payment to the media.
At the next election, Labour and the Greens must be better placed to strategically address "fake news" from the National Party. Labour and Green strategists must be conscious that the Nats will stoop to lies if their pre-election polling shows them at-risk of losing. A rapid-response task-force should be ready and well-resourced to counteract such lies; to do it immediately, and with energy.
"…And one of the issues was the attack from National on tax and their lies, in effect. Now, why didn't you call them out earlier?
[…] But do you look back now and go, 'We were relentlessly positive, but we let their relentless negativity come in too much.' Do you look back now as you wake up and go, 'Oh, we should have called them out earlier.'?
This style of dirty tricks cannot be allowed to become New Zealand's "new norm".
The Nats are nothing if not "flexible". As are their "principles".
The Standard: Where to now for the Greens?
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 25 September 2014.
The final day of campaign is upon us. Tomorrow is the "official" Election Day and nine years of National government is about to either end – or win a rare fourth term.
Polling does not look good for an outright win for the Labour-Green bloc.
English seems to be "relaxed" about borrowing from our former Prime Minister's handbook to bend the truth – or just outright lie when it suits his selfish needs.
National's willful lying on this issue is classic Crosby-Textor manipulation; throw mud and some of it will stick in the minds of poorly informed voters. Or voters who know it's a lie – but want to feel validated voting for a party that promotes the lifestyle of the Cosy, Comfy Middle-class.
This has been borne out with comments I've heard during my door-knocking and market-stalls campaigning for the Green Party. A few from the Cosy, Comfy Middle-class seemed eager to voice derogatory opinions about Metiria Turei, but when questioned what experiences they've had trying to survive on welfare, the response has been either to deflect to "get a job" or a complete lack of understanding.
Being willfully ignorant means not doubting; not questioning; and enjoying support from fellow Cosy, Comfy Middle-class to maintain the illusion.
That is the problem with the property-owning Cosy, Comfy Middle-class. Until a "market correction" strips away their over-inflated valuations, they are happy to live the mirage of "wealth".
Which leads to why we will likely see a fourth National term after Saturday.
The Radio NZ poll-of-polls was fairly close, with only the Greens suffering a major drop in actual votes.
Post 2014 election, National's votes translated to 60 seats and was able to gain Supply & Confidence from "rats and mice" minor parties; ACT, Maori Party, and Peter Dunne.
This time the National and red/green bloc are almost identical.
Corin Dann: Let's go back to 2005, in Rotorua, where you gave a pretty famous speech about your– You were being harried by media – probably like myself, because I was there – about who you were going to go with in 2005. And you stood up and said, 'According to constitutional convention, the party which gains the most seats is the party which must first try and form a government. We will support this constitutional convention in the first instance.' Can you give New Zealanders an assurance that that's your position today and come September 24th?
Winston Peters: All it means is what I said. 'In the first instance', that's what you'd expect to happen, not just in this country but in every country. However, it's only the first instance. It's not a binding rule that says 'In this first instance, this is clearly going to fail, therefore we should look elsewhere. That's all it means.
Both Labour and the Greens have resolutely ruled out any such referendum. Only one other major party has ever had a policy of doing away with those seats.
It is common knowledge that there is considerable animosity between the Green Party and NZ First. Peters is unlikely to sit in a three way coalition involving the Greens (or a four-way, involving the Maori Party). His preference would most likely be as one of two in a dual-party coalition.
Of course, Peters could simply offer Supply & Confidence to "the largest party".
But what would be in it for him and NZ First? What gains could he achieve if he's not "at the table"?
In deciding whether to join in Coalition or simply offer Supply & Confidence to a fourth term National government, Peters would do well to remember that with the Nats at 45.1%, 54.9% of voters want change. That's a clear majority.
Choose wisely, Mr Peters. Choose wisely.
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 22 September 2017.
The jaw-dropping, gob-smacking, forehead-slapping gall of Winston Peters! For him to demand clarity and full disclosure from others – when he himself has made a fetish of not disclosing to voters who he will coalesce with, post-election – takes the Hypocrisy-of-the-Year Award from National and plants it firmly on his own Italian suited jacket-lapel.
On top of which, none of Peters multi-billion dollar policies have yet to be costed.
So here's the deal, Winston. You want to see Labour's tax plans? We want to see your coalition intentions.
We'll show you ours if you show us yours. After all, "One needs to know what we are talking about".
As Jacinda said, "Let's do this".
On the matter of Labour referring taxation reform to a Working Group post-election, former-ACT Party leader Richard Prebble was scathing in his condemnation that Jacinda Ardern would not disclose her intentions toward implementation of a possible Capital Gains Tax.
"…Jacinda thinks the answer to every problem is a new tax. Asking for a mandate for capital gains taxes without giving any details is outrageous. All new taxes start small and then grow. GST was never going to be more than 10 per cent.
"In a "captain's call" Jacinda changed the tax policy to say that a Labour victory was a mandate for Labour to introduce any new tax and at any rate that a nameless committee of "tax experts" recommended, just the family home is off limits.
Any tax? What about land tax? Yes. Tax on the family bach and boat? Yes. Water? Petrol? Nothing is off the table. Will the capital gains tax be 33 per cent? Maybe. The petrol tax 10 cents a litre? Probably. Water tax. Guess a figure. "Trust us" says Jacinda.
This, from the man who was a former Minister in the Lange Government which – in 1986 – introduced various neo-liberal "reforms" that the Labour Government had never campaigned on; had not included in their manifesto; and introduced the regressive Goods and Services Tax in 1986. The Goods and Services Tax was never disclosed to the public in 1984.
Prebble and his cronies deceived the New Zealand public in the 1984 election campaign. They withheld their true agenda. They lied to us.
For Prebble to now rear up on his hind legs, braying in indignation, pointing a stained finger at Jacinda Ardern, is hypocrisy beyond words.
Richard Prebble should think carefully before raising his voice on this issue – lest his own track record is held up for New Zealanders to scrutinise.
Does he really want that particular scab picked?
The latest TV1/Colmar Brunton Poll (14 September) has Labour and the Greens climbing – a direct antithesis to the TV3/Reid Research Poll which had Labour and the Greens sliding (12 September).
Are polling polling companies operating in the same country? Or Parallel Universes?
Is it about time that all public polling was banned once early voting begins?
The chasm in poll-results for National, Labour, and the Greens confirms critics of polls who dismiss results as wildly unpredictable. "Bugger the pollsters", said Jim Bolger in 1993 – and with considerable justification.
Though Winston Peters and his supporters may be nervous at the fact that both polls have NZ First at 6% – perilously close to the 5% threshold. Any lower and Peters' Northland electorate becomes a crucial deciding factor whether NZ First returns to Parliament.
Several commentators – notably from the Right – have been making mischief with the poll results, suggesting that a vote for the Green Party would be a wasted vote. Without the parachute of an electorate base, if the Greens fall below 5% in the Party Vote, their votes are discounted and Parliamentary seats re-allocated to Labour and National.
John Armstrong and Matthew Hooton are two such commentators making this fallacious point. Fallacious because even at Reid Research's disastrous 4.9%, the polling ignores the Expat Factor. Expats – predominantly overseas young voters – are not polled, but still cast their Special Votes, and often for the Green Party.
It seems contradictory that there is a total black-out of polls on Election Day itself – when voting stations are open. But polling is allowed to proceed two weeks out from Election Day when voting stations are also open.
It may be time for this country to consider banning all polling whilst voting stations are open. If poll results are so open to wild fluctuations, and certain commentators make mischief from questionable data, then the possible risk of undue influence on voters cannot be discounted.
Once voting begins, polling should cease.
The only poll that should count after voting begins is Election Day.
On Radio NZ's Morning Report (14 September), NZ First Leader, Winston Peters lost the plot. His haranguing of Guyon Espiner did him no credit.
Peters' blatant Trumpian-style lie flew in the face of his bottom-lines during this election campaign.
Peters has issued several other bottom lines, including changing the Reserve Bank Act, banning foreign purchase of land, setting up a foreign ownership register, reducing net migration to 10,000 per year, and not raising the age of eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation (from 65).
Peters also attacked Espiner for personally supporting the neo-liberal "revolution" in the 1980s. As Espiner pointed out, when Roger Douglas tore New Zealand's social fabric apart, he was 13 years old at the time.
Labour's tax & spend – what ails the Nats?
National has launched a full-scale attack on Labour's taxation policies and plans to set up a Tax Working Group to investigate the possibility of a Capital Gains Tax.
But there's more to it than simply attacking Labour through a perceived weakness in their taxation policy.
Labour is attempting to shift New Zealand away from a low-taxation/minimalist government, and return the country to the fully-funded social services we all once enjoyed.
Remember free prescriptions? Yes indeed. Prior to 1986, prescribed medicine was free.
National's growing concern is not that Labour will introduce new (or higher) taxes.
Their worry is that New Zealanders will like what their taxes can buy; free tertiary education. Lower medical costs. Cheaper housing. New, re-vitalised social services such as nurses in schools.
Up until now, the Cult of Individualism had it's allure. But it also has it's nastier down-side.
If New Zealanders get a taste for a Scandinavian-style of taxation and social services, that would be the death-knell for neo-liberalism. When Jacinda Ardern recently agreed with Jim Bolger that neo-liberalism had failed – the Right noticed.
"New Zealand has been served well by interventionist governments. That actually it's about making sure that your market serves your people – it's a poor master but a good servant.
– the Right became alarmed.
This election is not simply between the National-led block vs the Labour-led bloc – this is the battle for the future of our country; the soul of our people.
This moment is New Zealand's cross-road.
Did the country rise up in a clamour of righteous anger? Was there a vocal outcry on social media? Were the Letters-to-the-editor columns filled were disgust and demands for a fair go for beneficiaries?
Like hell there was. If New Zealanders noticed, they showed little interest.
$200 million in lawful entitlements withheld – and there is barely a whimper.
A young solo-mum withholds information from social welfare in the mid-1990s, after then-Finance Minister Ruth Richard has cut welfare payments – and every conservative moralist; middle-class National/ACT supporter; media elite; and right-wing fruitcake, has a collective hysterical spasm of judgementalism that would put a Christian Fundamentalist to shame.
Perhaps then, our sheep and pigs might finally learn to fly.
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 15 September 2017.
Ask David: When is a Bribe not a Bribe?
National has added to it's list of expensive election year bribes. Not content with offering $10.5 billion on new roads (which is additional to an estimated $12 billion to be spent on seven roads in National's "Roads of National Significance" plan) – the Nats have promised to increase their HomeStart grant by $10,000. First home buyers would get $20,000 to buy an existing house or $30,000 for a newly constructed property.
" You've had nine years to come up with a policy like this and you leave it until the last 13 days in an election campaign to make such an announcement.
This is a further sign of National Party desperation.
If a government wants to do something, the money is there. If National says they'll find the money, I'm sure they will, but the question is why has it taken so long?
Treasury warned the Government in 2013 that increasing first home buyer subsidies would undermine the Reserve Bank's efforts to slow down the housing market, force an early Official Cash Rate hike and push up house prices.
"[Welcome Home Loan and KiwiSaver withdrawal schemes] may undermine the power and credibility of the Reserve Bank's proposed use of restrictions on high Loan to Value Ratio mortgages, depending on up-take.
Experience with homeowner grants in Australia suggests that such programmes tend to push prices up in a supply constrained environment by supporting greater demand, rather than improving affordability.
" It's an admission of National's failure to fix the fundamentals of our housing crisis. Instead of getting homes built, they're trying to soothe home buyers' pain with a bribe.
The ACT Party says it would bring in bulk funding for teacher salaries, offering schools $93,000 per teacher but only if they abandon collective agreements.
At its campaign launch this afternoon, ACT leader David Seymour said he wanted to give schools the power to decide what individual teachers earn.
The party would do this by introducing bulk funding, where schools could opt out of the centralised payroll system and collective agreements.
Party leader David Seymour said that the Government surplus of $3.7bn meant the party could promise to pay principals $975 million, to pay good teachers an extra $20,000 each, without cutting services or raising taxes.
It is not just National that is showing increasing signs of desperation. When a right-wing political party that supposedly espouses individual freedom of choice offers tax-payer funded bribes for people to quit an organisation they have voluntarily opted to join – then we begin to understand that the entire neo-liberal paradigm is under threat.
Will David Seymour offer our hard-earned tax money to other people to quit organisations he doesn't agree with?
Māori Party co-leader Marama Fox; Green Party leader James Shaw; ACT Party leader David Seymour; and United Future's new leader, Damian Light participated in TVNZ's Multi Party Debate on 8 September.
Though why Peters believed that the two major parties – National or Labour – would participate in a Minor Parties Debate is unclear.
Anyway, despite Peters' toy-tossing tantrum, "minor" parties they may be, but their presence in Parliament will often determine the government, and influence policy.
During the debate, the Resource Management Act was made the scapegoat by ACT leader, David Seymour, for the failing of the neo-liberal system to satisfy market demand for housing.
Seymour ducked the challenge, changing the subject.
There would be blue-blood in the streets of affluent, leafy, upper middle-class Epsom if high-rise developments suddenly filled the skyline.
An example of what Epsomites might expect if ACT got it's way and the RMA was abolished or significantly weakened to allow unfettered urban development can be found in the Wellington suburb of Mt Victoria.
Amongst the single, two-story, and occassional three-story homes is a massive high-rise block of apartments called Melksham Tower. The building was constructed around 1975, prior to the passing of the Resource Management Act in 1991 (ironically by the then Bolger-led National Government).
A newly completed block of high-rise flats in Mt. Victoria has become the focal point in a struggle between private developers and local residents.
The local residents, led by the Mt. Victoria Progressive Association, are angry about the construction of Williams Development Holdings' new 10-storey Melksham Towers building, which was originally given a council permit on the basis that it would be a block of flats.
Residents have mounted a vigorous campaign against the tower block itself, but the main attack has been focused on the roots of the problem—the inability of a community to have any say in the development of their area. The campaign started from general meetings of the Progressive Association and a small group of people went from door-to-door in the area discussing Mt. Victoria's development and the significance of Melksham Towers.
The response was such that a demonstration of 70 residents gathered outside the tower block recently to show their disapproval of what has been described as 'a human filing cabinet'. They also discussed what steps could be taken to prevent the construction of any similar structures.
If David Seymour takes up James Shaw's challenge, the good people of Epsom could "share the pleasure" of Mt Victoria's citizens of learning the hard way what unfettered development has in store for them.
Would Seymour accept that challenge?
For Epsomites, 'The protest will have only just begun'.
English's Committment on child poverty – real or "aspirational"?
All we have to do is party-tick National and give him that fourth term in Parliament. Simple as, bro!
Why didn't National do this earlier in their nine years in office? Why have they put it off until now, when National is floundering in the polls?
What has changed since October last year when then-Dear Leader, John Key, refused to measure and address child poverty because it was "a complicated area and there are many particular measures you can use"?
How are they defining who those "100,000 children in poverty" really are? Will they be using dodgy stats such as Statistics NZ uses for unemployment? Thus far, National has steadfastly refused to measure child poverty in this country.
Paula Bennett refused to accepted a recent UNICEF report on child poverty in New Zealand, disputing it's figures. How will we know which figures are acceptable to National if it disputes the UN?
"Aspirational" – National's way of setting ambitious goals (especially at election time), and then shrugging when things don't eventuate.
I wonder if National's campaign for re-election is also… "aspirational"?
ACT considers Eugenic Final Solution for the Poor?
The sub-text of Houlbrook's assertion is clear and simple; poverty is the fault of the poor. Obviously they are incapable of enjoying the benefits of the neo-liberal, free-market system and have chosen to remain – poor. So after thirty-plus years of the "Revolution", the peasants cannot recognise the paradise put before them by the likes of Roger Douglas, Ruth Richardson, et al.
In which case, if ACT believes so deeply that "parents who cannot afford to have children should not be having them" – then it should be prepared to make that Party policy and legislate accordingly.
I therefore call upon ACT Leader, David Seymour, to publicly announce that his party will be putting forward legislation to ban low-income families from having children. He can advise the public how much people must earn before the State will issue a permit to breed.
Of course, that still leaves the thorny problem of what to do with children of parents who lose their job(s); become bankrupt; lose their business, and must rely on welfare.
I look forward to how ACT will sell this policy to the public.
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 11 September 2017.
Who paid for the Budget surplus?
The 2017 Pre-Election Fiscal Update (PREFU) revealed that the Nats had achieved a respectable $3.7 billion surplus – contrasting sharply with the $1.6 billion forecasted surplus in the May 2017 Budget.
How did National achieve such a remarkable feat, despite reduced revenue from tax cuts in 2009 and 2010 and the re-build after the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes?.
New Zealand's health budget has been declining for almost a decade and could signal health reforms akin to the sweeping changes of the 1990s, new research claims.
Six prominent industry health leaders and researchers contributed to the editorial in the latest edition of the New Zealand Medical Journal, after several months analysing Government documents and data.
Their analysis showed Government spending in health had steadily tracked downward since 2009, despite constant reassurances from health ministers that spending was increasing year-on-year.
The $16.1 billion 2016 Health Budget, announced on Thursday, was $170 million more than last year, including $124m for Pharmac, $96m for elective surgery and $39m for a new bowel screening programme.
However, the researchers' analysis of Budget data from 2009-10 found the country's health budget had fallen short of what was needed each year to cover new services, increasing costs and the Ministry of Health's cost-weighted index, which accounted for population growth and ageing.
The accumulated "very conservative" shortfall over the five years to 2014-15 was estimated at $800 million, but could be double that, Canterbury Charity Hospital founder and editorial co-author Phil Bagshaw said.
Vote Health's operational expenditure decreased from 6.32 per cent to 5.95 per cent as a proportion of GDP in the same five years.
Government expenditure was set to continue falling overall, with New Zealand ranked 26th out of OECD countries for spending as a proportion of GDP in 2013.
This meant further cuts for health spending, which was estimated to drop by about 4 per cent a year.
"The continued under-resourcing of our health services . . . is not owing to unaffordability; it is a policy decision to reduce government expenditure overall and introduce tax cuts," the editorial said.
Then again, those like Bill English – who stands to gain the most from tax cuts – are also the most likely to be able to afford private health insurance.
Steven Joyce – Pot. Kettle. Hypocrite.
"Government annual operating expenditure in these forecasts increases from $77 billion to $90 billion over the next four years, which is sufficient for significant ongoing improvement in the provision of public services," Mr Joyce says.
And interestingly, during National's massive borrowing-spree, interest rates have remained low. Joyce's contention that borrowing leads to higher interest rates for mortgage holders doesn't seem to have happened (yet) – and National has borrowed like there's no tomorrow.
By making up outright lies about Labour's budgetary plans, Joyce has not only revealed himself as as deceptive – but drawn unwanted attention to National's own irresponsible borrowing over the last nine years.
If it hasn't been said already, the seat of Ohariu has become irrelevant. Whether Brett Hudson or Greg O'Connor wins is now academic. Once again, it is the Party Vote that counts.
When Dunne was standing, the coat-tailing provision made him a valuable asset to National. If Dunne breached the 1.2% threshold as well as winning Ohariu, he would've dragged in another MP off the United Future party list.
It is the same reason National offered patronage to David "H" Seymour to gift him Epsom: the possibility of an extra ACT MP via MMP's coat-tailing rule.
This is why Judith Collins doubled-down and stubbornly refused to implement the Electoral Commission's recommendations in 2013 to eliminate the coat-tailing provision.
The Green Party was thus correct to stand a candidate in Ohariu. Whilst the Greens are not seeking to win the electorate, they are chasing Party Votes – and Ohariu is another opportunity to remind voters that the Greens are vital for this country's environmental well-being.
Simply put; to be healthy we need our Greens.
Bill English's announcement on 4 September on TV3's Leader's Debate that his party would raise 100,000 children out of poverty in the next three years appears to have been policy made-on-the-hoof.
National have pledged 600,000 low-income New Zealanders will have access to $18 GP visits.
National will also expand the community services card to an additional 350,000 people, with low incomes and high housing costs.
Alongside free GP visits for under 13s and the Very Low Cost Access (VLCA) scheme for GP visits, which were already in place, National's new policy would mean more than half of New Zealanders would be eligible for either free or cheap doctors visits.
The obvious question is: has Steven Joyce checked if it's all been costed?
Are there any lurking micro-Black Holes in National's Budget?
Wouldn't it be ironic if…?
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 6 September 2017.
Parliament's Grassy knoll: who tried to character-assassinate Winston?
The leaking of Winston Peter's superannuation over-payment is well known. Also known is that Ministers Paula Bennett and Anne Tolley were briefed by Ministry of Social Development and State Services Commission, respectively, on Peters' private details regarding the over-payment before it was leaked to the media and made public knowledge.
Also briefed – though it is unclear why, as he was not a warranted Minister of the Crown – was political appointee, Chief of Staff, Wayne Eagleson.
Evidently the only person in the entire country not briefed was the Prime Minister, Bill "Double Dipper from Dipton" English.
Bennett, Tolley, and Judith Collins have all denied any involvement in the leak.
Which is true, in a Bizarro World kind of way. In 2009, when Bennett mis-used her Ministerial powers to reveal personal details of two solo mothers on the DPB, it was done in a very public manner.
Asked if she would do the same thing again, Bennett said "it would depend on the circumstances".
Perhaps Judith Collins, who disclosed a State servant's name and personal information to a right-wing blogger, was involved in the leaking of Peters' situation?
Prime Minister John Key has conceded it was "unwise" for Judith Collins to give Cameron Slater a public servant's name, job title and phone number which was then used in an attack post on his Whale Oil blog.
However, John Key says no disciplinary action will be taken against the Justice Minister because the action pre-dated the final warning he gave Ms Collins over the Oravida scandal.
Mr Key says he still stands by the Justice Minister.
"I think the passing of private information, in terms of phone numbers, I think that's unwise. It's unwise of a Minister. Look in the end it's one of those things," Mr Key says.
"I absolutely and strongly deny this and any suggestion of inappropriate behaviour. I am restrained in clearing my name while I am still a Minister inside Cabinet and I believe the right thing to do is to resign as a Minister so I am able to clear my name.
Only Minister Tolley has not been accused of a direct privacy violation of any individual(s) – at the moment. However, MSD is know to leak like a sieve and it was MSD that briefed the Minister regarding Winston Peters.
One thing is for certain; some Ministers are not averse when it comes to leaking personal details of individuals who run foul of this government.
Recent revelations that blogger and activist, Martyn Bradbury, has had his private bank details scrutinised by Police shows how little National and its state agencies respect the privacy of individuals.
Especially those who dare criticise the current regime.
Carlson is seventh on the list and would enter parliament if ACT gained 5 per cent of the party vote.
Parliament needed people with life skills and her life experiences would help stand her in good stead if she is elected, she said.
The former West Auckland police officer owned her own business in New Plymouth, is a North Taranaki SPCA board member, and ran fitness programmes for cancer support groups.
She is also completing a business studies degree extra-murally at Massey University.
"I'm fairly young, and I'm surprised to be high on the list because I'm a bit of political newbie, but I've already seen lot of things from working in the police.
All well and good – engaging young New Zealanders to enter politics should be encouraged. It should never be the sole "happy hunting grounds" for Baby Boomers seeking to feather their own nests, at the expense of younger generations.
It should be no surprise to anyone that Ms Carlson wonders why ACT is not supported more at the ballot box. It's not because "people don't know more about ACT".
Quite the contrary – most New Zealanders middle-aged and over – are very clear about ACT and what it stands for. After all, we lived through ACT-style so-called "reforms" in the late 1980s and into the 1990s.
That is why ACT is not well supported except by a tiny minority of unreconstructed wealthy, privileged extremists. (Aka, the One Percent.) At 28, Ms Carlson would be oblivious to all this.
At least Ms Carlson has a measure of self-awareness. Given time and experience she may understand how that privileged upbringing gives her a head start in life that is denied many others.
She may even experience that critical Road-To-Damascus revelation that ACT's market-driven ideology has made matters much, much worse since 1984.
I suggest the next cuppa tea she has is not with David Seymour, but Jim Bolger.
Jacinda Ardern has a 6% lead over Bill English as preferred Prime Minister among definite voters.
Among the 860 adult respondents who are both registered to vote and 100% likely to vote, Ardern leads English by 43% to 37%.
Among all of the 960 respondents to the August 11-15 Horizon Research poll Ardern leads 45% to 32%.
Winston Peters is preferred Prime Minister by 15% of all respondents and 14% of definite voters.
James Shaw, the Green Party leader, is preferred by 2%, and David Seymour of ACT and Te Ururoa Flavell of the Maori Party each by 1%.
Coincidentally, English's current popularity at 37% is similar to Key's Preferred Prime Minister ratings before he stepped down as Dear Leader Prime Minister. By May last year, Key's PPM rating had fallen to 36.7% – continuing a steady downward trend.
Which means Ms Ardern is now more popular than John Key was, prior to his resignation.
Queensland's Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has announced a major step back from neo-liberalism's prime enabler, globalism, by announcing that the State government would prioritise local businesses for contracts. The aim is to create more local jobs.
" Our new procurement strategy is unashamedly a 'Buy Queensland' one. No longer will we be constrained by free trade agreements that have seen jobs go off-shore or interstate.
Wherever possible, one regional and one Queensland supplier will be invited to quote or tender for every procurement opportunity offered. Preference must be given to local subbies and manufacturers on significant infrastructure projects of $100 million or more.
According to the SBS report, Queensland spent A$14 billion per annum on supplies, services, plus A$4 billion building and maintaining State infrastructure.
Ms Palaszczuk made a valid case for buying-local when she pointed out "this money comes from Queensland taxpayers, it is only right we spent it in a way that benefits Queensland businesses and workers".
The prime role of a government in a Western-style democracy has always been (or should be!) to protect and enhance it's citizens. Creating an environment where local jobs flourish is part and parcel of that dictum.
Governments are not "in business" to create jobs in other countries at the expense of their own workers.
" The 'Buy Queensland' promotion should be about encouraging Aussies to buy their local product, just like 'Buy NZ Made' encourages New Zealanders to buy Kiwi-made. It's OK to encourage your people to buy local, but it's not OK to mandate State Government weightings that amount to protectionism.
In plain english, Ms Beard is fine with "it's OK to encourage your people to buy local," but "it's not OK to mandate State Government weightings that amount to protectionism" because it harmed the interests of her members.
Tough. It's about time globalisation began to be rolled back instead of continually exporting jobs and entire businesses to off-shore jurisdictions where labour is cheaper and easily exploitable because of lax (or unenforced) labour laws.
We need fair trade, not so-called "free" trade. "Free" trade is not free when we, the tax-payers, have to foot the bill to pay for welfare, because workers became unemployed after their jobs were exported to China, Vietnam, Pakistan, Fiji, etc, or cheaper (and often shoddier) goods imported to unfairly compete with locally-made products.
Queensland's Premier understands this. She wants jobs created for her own workers – not in some other country. Especially when those workers in other nations won't be paying tax in Queensland.
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 4 September 2017.
National's Running Ad – Unintended Messaging?
Nearly everyone has seen National's "running ad" – a variation on last election's rowing-boat advertisement – but without the plagiarised and illegal use of an artist's music.
The full advert can be seen here, on Youtube.
The messaging is fairly uncomplicated and straight-forward; the blue (actually, more like teal) team is a metaphor for National running together as a team, whilst other "joggers" – representing Labour, Greens, and NZ First – are limping along. It's about as subtle as burning a cross on a Black American's front lawn.
Yup. New Zealand as we imagine it in our fantasies.
Is this really National's vision of an unspoiled, 100% "Pure" countryside – with a dam across it?
So the "message" from this advert is that National will readily ignore other people in obvious distress and carry on their merry way?
The subliminal theme presented by the Teal Team is one of callous indifference.
This may not have been National's intended message. But it sure ties in with child poverty, homelessness, income inequality, and other dire social problems ignored by National. Not until the media spotlight is focused sharply on the plight of families living in garages, cars, or tents, does National react.
The focus groups presented with this advert clearly didn't understand the subconscious meaning within these images when they gave it their 'thumbs up'. Or maybe they did – but just didn't care.
As at 1 September, the National Party runners ad scored 570 'Dislikes' as opposed to 173 'Likes'.
On Youtube at least, the Nats have already lost the election.
The doom of Metiria Turei was well and truly sealed when the Establishment Media (aka, Media Elite) and assorted right-wing bloggers and commentators ripped her reputation to shreds like a pack of blood-crazed pit-bulls in a feeding-frenzy.
Some of the public understood her situation.
Many did not. The conservative public passed judgement on Ms Turei because, well, passing judgement on someone elses' perceived moral 'lapses' makes the Judger feel so much better about him/herself.
Former Greens co-leader Metiria Turei has received the most nominations for the 2018 New Zealander of the Year Awards so far.
Support for Turei increased after her resignation following her admission she'd lied to Work and Income to receive higher benefit payments in the 1990s, the awards organisation said.
The nominee with the second highest number of nominations is the Australian deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce – although his eligibility to win won't be assessed until nominations have closed.
Joyce was recently revealed to be a New Zealand citizen because his father was born here. The revelation came during a spate of Australian senators having to step down after checking laws preventing them holding dual citizenship while in office. Since then, Joyce has renounced is New Zealand citizenship. Stuff has contacted Joyce's office for comment.
The Dompost focused more on Australian deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, than on Ms Turei's public support.
Despite Turei's fall from grace after she publicly admitted she lied to Winz about her living circumstances in the 1990s she has received the most nominations.
In an act of casual minimisation, both papers made sure their stories did not reflect any degree of public support for the former Green Party co-leader.
One thing seems clear – there is an under-current of support for Metiria Turei.
Anyone wanting to add their voice to nominate Ms Turei can do so on the New Zealander of the Year website.
Following on from several political parties expressing varying degrees of a gradual move back to state-funded tertiary education, Fran O'Sullivan – the doyen of the Right and nominally an "impartial" journalist writing for the NZ Herald appeared on TVNZ's Q+A on 27 August as one of it's regular panellists.
"… when he [Phil Twyford] talked about property speculators, what and how […] what exactly are you going to do there? Are you going to bring in place capital gains taxes? Because I say that because right now, including our government officials, we're being marketed internationally as a hot place for property investment. No capital gains tax. No stamp duty.
"Well I was actually quite stunned that people are talking in the range of $500,000 to $600,000. For first home owners I think that's quite ridiculous. I think it needs to come down further.
A pro-National, ostensibly pro-free market commentator loudly voicing support for seizure of privately held land? Make no mistake, this is heresy against the supreme core neo-liberal tenet of the supremacy of individual land-owning "rights".
What Ms O'Sullivan was advocating is a giant leap to the Left.
In effect, private land ownership has not only failed to deliver affordable homes to young New Zealanders – but is actually an impediment. Our aspirations for families to own their own homes has been confounded by unfettered capitalistic greed.
Ms O'Sullivan appears to have experienced a Road-To-Damascus conversion that neo-liberalism is not the answer. Like any inflexible, dogmatic ideology, it is part of the problem.
"The preliminary work indicates the environmental effects are small, but after 100 launches we may want to have a fresh look as to what is the future regulatory regime beyond that.
By the time we have had 100 lots of debris hit the ocean, fall to the seabed, we will have a better idea [of the environmental impact].
Right now we are not able to get advice on exactly how much of the jettisoned material will actually make it to sea level, or whether it will burn up prior to hitting the ocean.
Meanwhile, National has permitted granting of a consent to Trans-Tasman Resources to mine 50 million tonnes of iron ore sand off the coast of south Taranaki each year, every year, for the next 35 years.
The damage to ocean life in the surrounding sea and ocean floor cannot even be imagined. The zone of mining would most likely become a dead-zone – uninhabitable.
Unbelievably, consent was given by the so-called Environmental Protection Agency, despite receiving 13,417 submissions demanding that Trans-Tasman Resources' application to be declined – and only 147 submissions in support.
One has to wonder where Nick Smith's priorities lie?
At the bottom of the ocean floor, by the looks of things.
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 3 September 2017.


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Systems biology characterization of engineered tissues.
Rajagopalan P, Kasif S, Murali TM. Systems biology characterization of engineered tissues. Annu Rev Biomed Eng. 2013;1555-70.
Tissue engineering and molecular systems biology are inherently interdisciplinary fields that have been developed independently so far. In this review, we first provide a brief introduction to tissue engineering and to molecular systems biology. Next, we highlight some prominent applications of systems biology techniques in tissue engineering. Finally, we outline research directions that can successfully blend these two fields. Through these examples, we propose that experimental and computational advances in molecular systems biology can lead to predictive models of bioengineered tissues that enhance our understanding of bioengineered systems. In turn, the unique challenges posed by tissue engineering will usher in new experimental techniques and computational advances in systems biology.


text:
Young delegates headed to synod preparation
by Joshua J. McElwee
This article appears in the Synod on the Youth 2018 feature series. View the full series.
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Silvia Bohl, left, participates in a small group discussion during a Vatican-sponsored seminar about the concerns of young people at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome Sept. 13, 2017. The seminar was part of the preparatory process for the 2018 Synod of Bishops on "young people, faith and vocational discernment." (CNS/Paul Haring)
Vatican City — Some 300 young people from around the world will come to the Vatican in late March for a weeklong conference meant to prepare the way for an October Synod of Bishops on issues facing youth today.
Several of the delegates to the March 19-24 meeting say they want to discuss specifically why so many young people raised Catholic are deciding to leave the faith as they grow older.
"I really want to discuss how we can fix this problem of so many people from my generation leaving the church," Katie Prejean-McGrady, one of the U.S. delegates to the meeting, said in an interview.
"We as a church really need to address how to get those millennials back in the door, because our generation is so influential in other places," said Prejean-McGrady, a former Catholic-school teacher who is now a popular conference and mission speaker. "Can you imagine if we had the power of the millennial generation within the church?"
The March meeting of young people is being held in advance of the Oct. 3-28 Synod of Bishops, which is carrying the theme "young people, the faith and vocational discernment."
Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, head of the Vatican's synod office, said during a February briefing that the preliminary meeting is meant to help the bishops direct their preparations for the synod. He said the conference is meant to help the prelates learn to speak "with" young people instead of "about" them.
Prejean-McGrady, from Louisiana, is one of three delegates chosen by the U.S. bishops to attend the March event. Another is LaSallian Christian Br. Javier Hansen, a religion teacher at Cathedral High School in El Paso, Texas.
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Katie Prejean-McGrady (CNS/Katie Prejean-McGrady)
Hansen said in an interview that in order to prepare for the March meeting, he is reading a new report conducted by Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate on why young people in the U.S. are leaving the church. Titled "Going, Going, Gone: The Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics," the report indicates that 74 percent of young former Catholics say they left the religion between the ages of 10 and 20.
Hansen, originally from California, said the church needs to "reach out to young people … in order to figure out why people are leaving the church, in order to get a survey of where we are as a church."
Hansen said that one idea he would like to bring up at the March meeting is that Catholic dioceses around the world adopt a practice of creating structures akin to pastoral councils specifically for young people in order to hear directly from them.
Alina Oehler, a young German theologian who is attending the March event as a delegate for the women's storytelling group Voices of Faith, said she wants to speak especially about the role of women in the church.
Speaking at a press conference March 7, Oehler said that many of her friends in Germany question her choice to be Catholic because they do not see the church as an institution that promotes women's rights.
"I hope that we will discuss also the issue of the role of women in the church because that's one of the topics that I want to stress," she said.
"So many women don't understand how I can be part of this club because when they think of the Catholic Church, there are men on their minds," she said. "They think of bishops, the pope. They don't have any image of a powerful woman in the church."
She added, "I really hope that the Holy Spirit will guide us in our discussions to this point."
At a Feb. 16 briefing, Baldisseri explained that the pre-synod meeting will start March 19 with a session where the young people meet with Pope Francis and will be able to ask him some questions.
The participants will then be split into groups based on the languages they speak, where they will discuss specific topics in view of creating a final document from their meeting. That final document will be delivered to Francis March 25 and will be used to help form the synod's initial working document, known in Latin as an instrumentum laboris.
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LaSallian Christian Br. Javier Hansen (CNS/Courtesy of Cathedral High School)
"The next Synod of Bishops wants to be, in fact, not only a synod 'on' young people but 'for' young people, and also not a synod 'of' young people but 'with' young people," said Baldisseri.
The synod system was first created by Pope Paul VI following the landmark 1962-65 Second Vatican Council, as a way of keeping the council's atmosphere of discussion among church prelates alive.
Francis has held two synods during his papacy, in 2014 and 2015. Both focused on issues of family life and resulted in the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia ("The Joy of Love") in 2016.
The Vatican synod office began preparing for the 2018 meeting last year, launching an online survey that asked young people about their lives and the challenges they face. Baldisseri said at the briefing that the office received about 221,000 responses to the survey, with some 100,500 young people fully completing it.
The cardinal said of the respondents who fully completed the survey:
58 percent were female;
About 50 percent were between the ages 16 and 19;
56.4 percent came from Europe
19.8 percent came from South America
19.1 percent came from Africa;
73.9 percent identified themselves as practicing Catholics.
Read this Next: Young people to talk with Pope Francis about future of the church
Most of the young people coming for the March meeting were selected by national bishops' conferences, which are each sending delegates. The synod office has also invited some seminarians, young members of ecclesial movements, and students of Catholic colleges and universities.
Baldisseri said the office has invited some teachers, priests and parish workers so that the conference can "listen also to those who live next to young people and can be instruments to better understand their situation."
The synod office has prepared for the participants a traccia di lavoro (work outline) that the six language groups will use to guide their work. The outline has three parts and each part has five questions to help start discussion.
Francis said during his trip to Chile in January that he decided to have the synod focus on young people because the church needs to learn how to be "challenged, deep down, by her sons and daughters."
[Joshua J. McElwee is NCR Vatican correspondent.]
This story appeared in the March 23-April 5, 2018 print issue.
Francis' youth exhortation says Catholic Church must change but offers few proposals
Mary inspires, assists those seeking their vocation, pope says
Pope to issue post-synod document on young people in March
Young people deserve to hear directly from Pope Francis on synod
There it is: Synodality
Vatican | Young delegates headed to synod preparation
Cardinal Tagle: Upcoming synod will reflect clear picture of families
Can Pope Francis succeed in reforming the Curia?
The fear of real Roman Curia reform
Pope's concept of a synodal church must be put into practice, Marx says
Catholic church must welcome 'unconventional couples,' top Italian bishop says

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Drugs, guns and nice sofas
On millionaires' row in Herat, elaborate palaces are being built by businessmen who have made fortunes from exploiting the needs of the new Afghanistan – or selling heroin. A heady mix of Iranian, Italian and Gulf influences, the houses have created a new school of design: Narcotecture. But many are worried the ancient city will soon be lost in the blur of development.
Lessons in Diplomacy
Independent from the Soviet Union since 1991, and finally emerging from years of corruption, oil-rich Azerbaijan is now planning a diplomatic campaign to change its image. But to fill its new embassies – 16 so far this year alone – it needs a new generation of officials. Welcome to the ambassador academy.
The vexed quest to design and new currency symbol of Kazakhstan.
Robert Mugabe still misses Savile Row.
Canada's diamond rush and South America's wished-for folding money.
Moscow says goodbye to brutalism and the twentysomethings running Georgia.
Sydney's waterless car wash and America's "Year of the Pacific".
Across Europe, villages and towns are being abandoned as people move to the cities – or other richer countries. It is a problem that Spain knows only too well. In its Soria region, there are now 492 empty villages and others that will die with the last residents. Can the country's ghost towns ever be reborn?
During the Putin years the process of democratisation in Russia has stalled, with worrying human-rights violations. But a barely heard opposition is fighting back. Led by chess master Garry Kasparov, advised by activist Marina Litvinovich, can they call the Kremlin into check?
Breaking China
The financial spotlight has been shining bright on China's big eastern cities, but as investors notice the wealth of opportunity and resources in the remote western region, the city of Urumqi is about to take centre stage.
Living on Wall Street and the rise of theRussian technopark.
Sending out an SAS
Founded in 1925, Copenhagen Airport – or CPH – is one of the best designed and most efficient in Europe. The airport is the largest in Scandinavia and the hub for carrier SAS. Here, we look at all the companies needed to tend to an aircraft and send it on its way.
Top of the flops
Havaianas flip-flops are the unofficial national shoe of Brazil. Since 1962, textile manufacturer São Paulo Alpargatas has made Havaianas that are worn by almost every Brazilian – from school children to celebrities. Last year, the company sold 162 million pairs. This month, the company will open an office and showroom in New York, its first outside Brazil.
Pinkberry yoghurt is one of those American franchise ideas – think soup, coffee and juice bars – that seem so obvious, you want to kick yourself for not having bought in at the beginning. The growth of the franchise has been explosive, from one Los Angeles store in January 2005 to 16 today, plus three in New York (five more by the end of summer) and, soon, six in London.
Maine Event
Portland's annual Maine Boatbuilders Show attracts an unusual mix of salty dogs, day-tripping families and wealthy customers, who fly in on their private jets to inspect the sloops, schooners, kayaks, ketches and yawls – and possibly put in an order or two.
The great patissiers have met their match in Sadaharu Aoki. With three shops in Paris and three in Tokyo, he puts a Japanese twist on classic French pastries. His commitment to craft, design and the best of two cultures, makes his business our perfect company this month.
Road Wage
Two-thirds of US freight is moved by road and the haulage industry is booming. While the truckers may not get to see their families as often as they would like, driving is one industry that offers well-paid jobs with great benefits, even if you haven't got a college education.
Korea Moves
Thanks to its commitment to a lightning-fast wireless future, South Korea has become a laboratory for mixing pop culture with big business, blurring the line between bands and brands. Is this the media model for things to come?
The perfect listening post in Milan.
Hippies invade the Whitney Museum: and Dengue Fever put Khmer music on the map.
Sets Appeal
After studying architecture, Robert Cowper worked his way up from a draughtsman to become an art director on the sets of big-budget films. Monocle met him on the set of The Bourne Ultimatum in the week that the director requested reshoots – and some massive New York roofscapes.
The Inn Crowd
They never make it on to most magazine's "Best Hotel" lists, but Japan's simple, pared-down ryokan are setting new standards in service and design. The Fuyija, remodelled by architect Kengo Kuma, looks set to introduce a western audience to the pleasures of the traditional Japanese inn.
A Swiss gym, a Japanese shop, a German house and a Swedish school.
How to look comfortable and feel good this summer.
Salone Selectives
With record numbers attending Milan's Salone Internazionale del Mobile, its reputation as the most important design fair was confirmed again. Shuttling across the city, Monocle caught up with the key industry players to get an insight into the state of the market, discover the latest products and report on up-and-coming trends. Swarms of buyers, designers, clients and press descended on this year's Milan furniture fair to do business. Unfazed by the crush, Monocle sent its team of journalists to report on the event (visit monocle.com for our filmed dispatches). We visited the firms featured in our preview, discovering a host of new wonders on the way. "It's been years since we last saw such a Salone," said Carlo Giorgetti, president of Italian furniture giant Giorgetti of the event. His stand was so busy that access was restricted at peak times.
Once a year, the top watchmakers gather in Basel to reveal their newest creations – and the world comes to buy. Monocle was there to discover the leading trends and take the pulse of the market.
Cool Operator
Ten years ago, Australian Shane Williams invented a vest to cool down football players and improve their performance on the field. Today his simple invention is helping commandos in sun-baked Iraq, burn victims, heart patients and thoroughbred horses.
Inventory No. 4
A new brew from Carlsberg and a must-have propelling pencil.
If you're going to work at home, do it in style.
Abdel Zaher Binding
With over half a century of craftsmanship under his belt, Mohamed Abdel Zaher has transformed his family-run book-binding business into a modern enterprise, retaining all of its character and charm.
Las Mimosas
Tenerife has always had a bad rep (and some worse "reps"), but Monocle is a big fan of Santa Cruz, the tourist-free northern capital. While the package hordes party hearty in Playa de las Americas, leave the southern badlands behind and snap up a Modernist property in the verdant north.
Milton Glaser is best known for creating the I <3 NY logo, but his 50-year career has included much more. He founded New York magazine, and has designed record covers, posters, restaurant interiors, packaging and, most recently, a college curriculum. Glaser chose to eat dim sum in New York's Chinatown for his notional last meal.
For many of us it's a case of not being able to see the forest for the trees. For Italy it was more not being able to spot the opportunity for the chairs at this year's Milan furniture fair.
Expo 04: Invader on the Horizon
Since the 1970s, Mykonos has been on the list of summer destinations for the sun-seeking elite and gay party boys. Today it is smarter than ever, with new five-star hotels, a seasonal Nobu and berths for the grandest yachts. Out of sight, however, there are other visitors: workers from Albania and Poland.
Robert Cowper / Shepperton
Thomas Calvocoressi
Jasin Boland
"The overall design of any film is generally down to us art directors. We're the front line for how things look. We answer to the production designer, who briefs us on the director's big vision and it's our job to interpret that in three dimensions. Of course, you normally find yourself at your desk at midnight, snagging it and thinking about how the drawings will work as a set, with cameras, actors and crew. I studied architecture.
It helps, but you have to unlearn things because it's a different way of constructing. When you're thinking of architecture, you're thinking of flow through a building, but sets are all about façade. The joy of it is working on all periods: I could be doing Victorian, baroque fantasy, futuristic or contemporary. I'm not stuck in one style. On a set, you can realise dreams you had as a student – and to see your thing built is a thrill. You imagine, you draw, it's there.
Paul Greengrass's ethos for the Bourne films is to make things look as under-designed as possible. You don't jazz sets up because the whole production can easily skip into fantasy or James Bond. Everything's grounded – right from the camera department, which uses a lot of hand-held. It's an unpatronising way of filmmaking.
Of course, we shoot a lot of scenes in real, sourced locations, too. Although film scheduling can be like a military operation, and you can run out of time in locations. You don't want to send a whole crew back to New York to shoot again, so we end up here, at Shepperton, building or a stage. A roof scene, 10 storeys up, could be quite dangerous, stunt-wise, but here we can control it. But, wherever we can, we use a location. For The Bourne Ultimatum, the CIA headquarters was played by Welwyn BioPark – it just looked right!
Last-minute rewrites like this are common. The producers care so much about the final article and they don't want the audience wondering, 'What does that mean?' or 'Why did that happen?' The reworking of scripts throws up new sets because the action requires it – just one extra line of dialogue can mean a new set build. We cater for whatever the producers want.
We work closely with the stunt department – all the positioning and distances have to be worked out with the stunt guys. Over at Pinewood, there's a mock-up of this set so they can practise a particular jump. Today, they're moaning about a parapet being too high for them, even though it's been agreed at three metres – they've probably seen it and gone, 'Oh God, that's a pretty big drop!' But they'll put crash mats everywhere and they'll be fine. Whatever we do isn't just random design – it has to be coordinated with production, photography, lighting, stunts. Matt Damon might take the final tumble though – he's not shy of that at all.
We've done a New York rooftop set here with pyramid skylights, huge ducting, boxes, control units, generators. It's all timber so we'll add dummy rivets and glaze it to make it metallic. We start off as if it's off the shelf, baby's bottom, then bring it back – give it rust runs and dust.
In the four weeks since we came back from the real New York, it's been non-stop, seven days a week. But it's usually a 07.30, 08.00 start. I might have a team waiting on a stage with a load of timber and if my drawings aren't complete by the morning, 30 guys are standing around costing a fortune. It's like a dam breaking and I'm right on the edge. Sometimes I have to work through the night to deliver the drawings. These are craftsmen, who need measurements to cut and make. If a set isn't ready for an actor, it can cost a million pounds. If you've got a lot of people on set and you're not filming, you've paid 500 people for nothing. So, the pressure's on.
I do go home, though! I'll leave the drawings and someone will take them down to set and I might have the morning off. We're all freelancers, so there's no set of people I work with all the time. I've had varied jobs, but all are American-funded films made in Europe – they've got the money to spend and we'll spend it. On some films, we've had 12 stages and built everything from scratch; you don't find spaceship parts in scrap yards or DIY stores.
I am a film buff, but mostly classic cinema from the 1970s. That's not the reason I'm doing this, though. It's a joy to see your set on screen if it's well shot; but sometimes you work on a set and someone's lit it wrong and it's not quite right. It's like the ugly lights at the end of a party.
Or you've built a half-mile-long set and all the shots are close-ups of an actor. That's frustrating. The joy is conceiving something and working with craftsmen to build it. I still hand draw – it's more expressive than a CAD, which can be sterile. It's like a DJ not wanting to give up vinyl; wanting to feel something moving beneath his fingers.
The strike order comes when the director's completely happy and the film's not going to change. Sets are generally chucked. It's a crime when beautiful pieces go to waste. Teams might keep key pieces and breathe life into them on another set. I kept a piece from Event Horizon that I did – this gyrosphere thing that sent you into the next dimension. I know people who've got doors from Star Wars clad to the back of their bedroom doors."


1.1 Are there any legit hacks or cheats?
2 What is King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare?
King of Avalon is a very interesting strategy game on Android and iPhone. The game was released in July 2016 and we've been playing the game ever since. The game is a lot of fun to play but there is one major drawback. The fact that you run out of gold very often really limits the amount of fun you can have in the game. It's therefore not surprising that there are many people looking for cheats and hacks for King of Avalon.
If you're on our website you're probably looking for a hack for King of Avalon as well. After all, who doesn't want to get an unlimited amount of free gold. As you might have noticed there are tons of websites on the internet that claim they have cheats or hacks. However, while there are many websites that claim they have cheats none of them work. You might have tried some of these so called "generators" already. If you have, then you know just as well as we do that you will not receive the gold that they promise you.
Are there any legit hacks or cheats?
Unfortunately, no. There are no real hacks or cheats for King of Avalon. However, it is possible to get free gold in King of Avalon. As we've mentioned before there are many websites out there with fake hacks and cheats. These websites look very legitimate, usually they even have images or videos with "proof" that their hacks work. However, do not be fooled by them. These videos and videos are easily faked by using a King of Avalon hacked APK.
You don't have to take our word for it. If you don't believe us simply try one of these hacks or cheats, but be prepared to be disappointed. If it really was that easy to hack King of Avalon then the developers of the game would have fixed it a long time ago. Hacks or cheats for games like King of Avalon have a huge impact on their revenue. If there was a real hack or cheat for the game available then nobody would pay for gold anymore and the company that developed the game would go bankrupt so logically they ensure that it's impossible to hack the game.
So, now that we've established that there are no cheats or hacks available for King of Avalon you might be wondering how you can obtain free gold. Luckily for you, we've done a ton of research on the topic.
We've spent hours upon hours searching the web for ways to obtain free gold in King of Avalon. It was not easy to find a working method will all these scams out there but eventually we managed to do it. Once we found out the method of obtaining and tested it thoroughly we decided to create a guide. In this guide we will show you step-by-step how you can obtain free gold in King of Avalon without having to use hacks or cheats.
The guide works on both Android and iPhone and is completely legit. Personally we play the game on Android but we've tested the guide on an iPhone device and it works just as well on iPhone.
When you're using our guide you do not have to worry about your account getting banned or disabled because you're not breaking any rules. This is the method that the top players don't want you to know about, and we're giving it to you for free!
Stop falling for fake hacks and cheats, and use our guide instead. Simply click the big blue button below to start learning how to obtain tons of free gold without having to pay a dime!
What is King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare?
For the our readers that don't know what King of Avalon is we're giving you a brief overview. We highly recommend the game because it's simply a ton of fun especially when you're using it in combination with our guide.
King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare is a strategy war game. It's developed by DIANDIAN INTERACTIVE HOLDING. The game is multiplayer and takes place after King Arthur's death. Your objective is to raise your dragon and your army in order to lift the sword of Excalibur.
In the game your dragon is key. Without your dragon you are nowhere! In addition, you have to ensure that you maintain alliances with friends so you can build your empires together.
If you want to learn more about King of Avalon you can check out the wiki, which has tons of useful information.


This particular hound is a photographic favorite of mine. Before I knew her name (Jesse) I was calling her Autofocus because my camera found it so easy to focus on her. Usually a hound is small and lost in a large background scene like this, but her coloring is so vivid as she stands on the Great Meadow course jump that the scene works.
Rabbits can be a real challenge. On this day they were plentiful, but they kept popping up out of unexpected locations. By the time I could spin around and catch a glimpse, they were either beyond my ability to capture them via camera, or captured badly. Finally one rabbit obliged me by dashing, well lit, within my range.
The weather was too dry for good scenting, but the pack gave it its best. It's hard to make dark hounds stand out on a cloudy day from muted autumn vegetation, especially when the chestnut (tan) of their muzzles and legs match the tall grasses. Best to work for an overall atmospheric mood.
Sometimes you can get better shots by concentrating on the mini-dramas that always accompany a pack of hounds, especially when they're off duty. Basset hounds are particularly good for this — who doesn't smile when they see one?
First there's the problem of how to pick one up. These hounds hunt uncollared, so simply finding a way to hold onto them is tricky, and picking them up to put them into the trailer when you're not that tall yourself doesn't always work. After all, if it takes two hands to lift that hound, how will you open the trailer door? Good thing the hound is patient.
Then there's the general incongruity of carrying a basset hound around like a kitten, even when the human's a bit larger. It only seems plausible because the legs are too short to dangle much.
There are many hounds and lots of staff, so look for those quiet private moments of human-hound interaction.
Sometime no one notices the hounds who use their own initiative to explore the crowd.
Just because the people are talking to other people and ignoring the hounds doesn't mean the hounds have lost focus on the important things, such as post-hunt treats.
They sit patiently (or not), waiting for their opportunity.
This entry was posted on October 14, 2010, 1:47 pm and is filed under Ashland Bassets, Hunting with Basset Hounds, Photo Essays. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


text: Q: What algorithm does numpy random.normal uses? is it just the gaussian formula for normal distribution? does its use the mersenne twister? I am a beginner and math algorithms are not my thing, but I was curious if the numpy random.normal uses the Mersenne twister or no because then it wouldn't be a normal distribution?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
BATTLE BEAST: New Album Title, Release Date Revealed
March 8, 2013 0 Comment Battle Beast
Finnish metallers BATTLE BEAST — who last fall parted ways with lead singer Nitte Vänskä and replaced her with Noora Louhimo — have completed work on their second full-length album. Produced, mixed and mastered by the band at JKB Studios in Helsinki, the CD will simply be entitled "Battle Beast" and is scheduled for release on May 17 via Nuclear Blast Records.
A four-minute trailer for "Battle Beast", featuring commentary from BATTLE BEAST bassist Eero Sipilä, keyboardist Janne Björkroth and drummer Pyry Vikki, can be seen below.
BATTLE BEAST recently toured Europe as the support act for SONATA ARCTICA.
Fan-filmed video footage of the band's November 4, 2012 concert in Berlin, Germany can be seen below.
Regarding Vänskä's departure from the band, BATTLE BEAST previously said: "On August 19th, Nitte sent the rest of the band an e-mail stating that she was leaving the band, effective immediately. As the reason for her leaving, she cited her will to focus on her family life. As this happened without any prior notice, the rest us were slightly disappointed. But what's done is done, and we're thrilled to announce the new BATTLE BEAST vocalist with a voice and character to take the band to heights of glory."
According to a press release, Louhimo "is already experienced in performing some of the most demanding rock songs in existence and is now ready to take her big step into the metal world. With lungs of leather and a voice to order gods with, Noora possesses all the requirements to deliver the kind of power needed for performing BATTLE BEAST's music.
BATTLE BEAST's debut album, "Steel" — which was originally released in Finland in 2011 via Hype Records — was made available internationally on January 27, 2012 through Nuclear Blast Records.
Formed in 2008, BATTLE BEAST won the Wacken Open Air Metal Battle contest in Finland last year, enabling the band to perform at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany and represent its home country in the international Metal Battle finals. The group beat out 26 other acts from all around the world, which led to a record deal with the world's biggest independent heavy metal label.
"Battle Beast" trailer:
Performance footage (November 4, 2012 in Berlin, Germany):
← STONE SOUR: New Video Interview With COREY TAYLOR, JOSH RAND
KAMELOT's CASEY GRILLO Schedules Florida Drum Clinic →
BATTLE BEAST Featuring New Singer NOORA LOUHIMO: First Performance Footage Available
BATTLE BEAST: Second Tour Webisode Available
BATTLE BEAST: Pro-Shot 'Iron Hand' Performance Footage From France
Orlando, Florida-based hard rockers ALTER BRIDGE have set "The Last Hero" as the title of their fifth album, due in


Automatic complicated watches are cool — we're probably all in agreement on this one. How could something that gives you a day/night indicator or all kinds of calendar information running on a bunch of gears and wheels and the motion of your wrist not be dope? The one problem is that these types of watches are generally pricey. Like, really pricey, if we're talking about a complicated watch from a top Swiss brand.
If you're looking for a complicated watch because you're into the idea or the mechanics but don't want to drop a ton of money, you could do much worse than the Orient Sun & Moon V.3 Orient is one of our favorite budget brands, and for good reason: they pack a ton of value into incredibly affordable packages that utilize in-house movements. Are you getting the type of finishing you could expect from a complicated watch from a Top 3 Swiss company? Of course not. But for this kind of money, you're getting a hell of a lot of watch.
Right now, the black dial Sun & Moon V.3 is available on Amazon beginning at just $197 for Prime customers – roughly $40 off its already competitive price. There are other versions of the watch available for different prices; $266 for the white-dial version, $265 for the gold-tone case version, and $250 for the blue-dial version for Prime customers. All variants include the following functions: 21-jewel automatic in-house movement with 40 hours of power-reserve, stainless steel 42.5mm case with sapphire crystal and display case back, hours/minutes/seconds hands, day and date display, AM/PM indicator in the form of a rotating disc displaying either the sun or moon, and water resistance to 50m. With four dial options available, this is a great entryway for many people into the world of complicated timepieces.


text:
Q: JAR file won't run when double clicked but runs in terminal I have a JAR file that outputs something onto the terminal when run.
However, when I double click the JAR file, nothing happens, and my Mac tells me to check the console for possible errors, and I find nothing.
On the other hand, running the JAR from terminal java -jar file.jar works just fine, and the JAR runs as expected.
I am using IntelliJ to build my JAR, and I am sure that my configurations are correct for building a JAR file.

A: I guess that it is not a problem about your system but your application. Did you include any instructions for the application to stop or pause? Because what could be happening is that it executes your program but it goes so fast that you dont even have time to see it. Try using Thread.Sleep(500).
(those 500 are miliseconds so feel free to change the value)

A: You can write a shell-script to launch your application. Call it something.sh and put java -jar YourProgram.jar in it. SH scripts you should be able to double click. Java files you cannot (if they don't have an UI) as they are not launched by a terminal and the JVM does not know witch terminal to use.


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