Latest Top Scoops Headlines
Facebook’s whingey ad-tracking response
Friday, 7 May 2021, 2:05 pm | Digitl
Facebook tells users intrusive, privacy abusing tracking keeps the social media service free-of-charge. It’s a snow job. More >>
Rural mobile closing the gap thanks to RCG
Friday, 7 May 2021, 2:01 pm | Digitl
New Zealand’s rural mobile users face slower download speeds than people in towns. In almost every case the rural mobile experience is worse. More >>
Detente: The Vital Word Missing From Discourse On Russia And China
Thursday, 6 May 2021, 3:35 pm | Caitlin Johnstone
On a recent 60 Minutes interview with Norah O'Donnell which focused on the Biden administration's China policy , US Secretary of State Tony Blinken talked about the United States as a defender of the rules-based international order and the importance ... More >>
Spending More On Nukes: STRATCOM’s Nuclear Death Wish
Thursday, 6 May 2021, 12:46 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Being sufficiently able at your job is a good thing. But beware the trappings of zeal. When it comes to the business of retaining an inventory for humanity’s annihilation, the zealous should be kept away. But there Admiral Charles Richard was in April this ... More >>
On Yesterday’s Big Parliamentary Air Kiss To China
Thursday, 6 May 2021, 10:07 am | Gordon Campbell
In order to obtain support from the two major parties, Act Party deputy leader Brooke Van Velden twice had to soften the language of her parliamentary motion yesterday condemning China’s persecution of the Uighurs. The key word “genocide” was ... More >>
Silicon Valley Algorithm Manipulation Is The Only Thing Keeping Mainstream Media Alive
Tuesday, 4 May 2021, 5:02 pm | Caitlin Johnstone
Listen to this article: The emergence of the internet was met with hope and enthusiasm by people who understood that the plutocrat-controlled mainstream media were manipulating public opinion to manufacture consent for the status quo. The democratization of ... More >>
A Very British Case: Postmasters And Miscarriages Of Justice
Tuesday, 4 May 2021, 4:12 pm | Binoy Kampmark
British justice is a splendidly odd animal. Its miscarriage is one of those wonders of institutional repetition. When textbooks are written on the subject, one will feature prominently. On April 23 this year, the convictions of 39 former sub-postmasters ... More >>
Calling Out China
Tuesday, 4 May 2021, 2:33 pm | Keith Rankin
Keith Rankin, 29 April 2021 We humans seem to have a need to coalesce into tribes, and we do this by identifying – and sometimes demonising, or holding in condescension – others who are not us. We also like to anthropomorphise, treating ... More >>
U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan: 1989 Vs. 2021
Tuesday, 4 May 2021, 12:36 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- President Biden's announced withdrawal from Afghanistan will be the second time since 1989 that the U.S. retreats from that country -- and twice after years of boosting war but losing control over Islamist insurgents. When previously ... More >>
Twenty Million Trees For New Zealand’s Biggest Harbour Restoration Project
Tuesday, 4 May 2021, 11:36 am | Susan Botting - Local Democracy Reporter
More than 20 million trees and other natives will be planted around New Zealand’s biggest harbour in the groundbreaking $200 million dollar Kaipara Moana Remediation project. Ruawai on the shores of Kaipara Harbour Alan Wilcox, a senior manager for ... More >>
The ‘Post-Covid-19 World’ Will Never Come.
Tuesday, 4 May 2021, 10:24 am | Eric Zuesse
On May 3rd, the New York Times bannered “Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe” and reported that “there is widespread consensus among scientists and public health experts that the herd immunity threshold is not ... More >>
On Our Determination To Ignore China’s Human Rights Abuses
Tuesday, 4 May 2021, 9:46 am | Gordon Campbell
For nearly two decades, New Zealand has been juggling our dependency on China when it comes to trade, while expecting our traditional allies to look after our defence and security needs. Yet the scale of China’s human rights abuses has added a new ... More >>
India COVID Crisis: Four Reasons It Will Derail The World Economy
Monday, 3 May 2021, 4:32 pm | The Conversation
India is the fifth largest economy in the world. Deepak Choudhary/Unsplash Uma S Kambhampati , University of Reading More >>
The Pacific Went A Year Without COVID. Now, It’s All Under Threat
Monday, 3 May 2021, 4:29 pm | The Conversation
For most of the last year, the Pacific Islands have been remarkably isolated from the devastating effects of the COVID crisis. By walling themselves off early from the outside world, most Pacific nations remain completely COVID free. More >>
Could The COVID Vaccines Affect Your Period? We Don’t Know Yet — But There’s No Cause For Concern
Monday, 3 May 2021, 4:15 pm | The Conversation
Over recent weeks, news reports have indicated some women are experiencing irregularities in their menstrual cycles after receiving a COVID vaccine. More >>
On Collins’ Desperation, And Joe Biden’s Left-wing Image
Monday, 3 May 2021, 11:13 am | Gordon Campbell
The difficulty with translating the Treaty partnership into the realities of parliamentary rule is that at best, Maori have been treated only as co-pilots, still flying on captain’s orders. Yet if we have learned anything in the past 180 years, it is ... More >>
Marine Le Pen Has The Strongest Chance To Succeed,Of All Progressive Political Leaders In The World Today
Monday, 3 May 2021, 9:43 am | Eric Zuesse
Marine Le Pen has continued her gradual political rise in France so that in the French political polling she now stands as the likeliest to succeed the man who beat her in 2017, Emmanuel Macron . If she does that, then she will probably bring bigger ... More >>
RNZ's Magna Charter - 1
Monday, 3 May 2021, 9:15 am | Tom Frewen
Two significant events occurred when Parliament resumed after Easter on Tuesday 6 April: the Prime Minister Jacinda Adern revealed her Cabinet’s choice of Monday 19 April as the date for ending Covid-19 restrictions on trans-Tasman travel; and ... More >>
Pandemic tablet boom rolls over into 2021
Sunday, 2 May 2021, 6:53 pm | Digitl
Tablet shipments are up 55 percent on the same period last year. The 2020 tablet sales boom that started when the world went into lockdown has rolled over into the first quarter of 2021. More >>
The story behind Vodafone’s FibreX court ruling
Saturday, 1 May 2021, 2:27 pm | Digitl
Vodafone’s FibreX service was in the news this week. What is the story behind the Fair Trading Act court case? More >>
Biden Lied About Yemen
Friday, 30 April 2021, 5:02 pm | Caitlin Johnstone
The Biden administration has finally admitted that the US is indeed providing offensive material support to Saudi Arabia's genocidal assault on Yemen, directly contradicting Biden's February claim that it would no longer be providing offensive support in ... More >>
Critics Of Biden As Being A ‘Progressive’ Are Mistaken: Understanding What ‘Progressive’ Means Isn’t So Easy
Friday, 30 April 2021, 4:33 pm | Eric Zuesse
The difference between “progressive” and “liberal” gets to the core of what politics in the real world is actually about, and of whether the nation is being controlled by the public (a democracy), or instead is controlled by the tiny percentage ... More >>
Without The Right Financial Strategies, NZ’s Climate Change Efforts Will Remain Unfinished Business
Thursday, 29 April 2021, 4:13 pm | The Conversation
When it comes to climate change, money talks. Climate finance is critical for enabling a low-emissions transition. This involves investment and expenditure — public, private, domestic and transnational — that demonstrably contributes to climate ... More >>
New Zealand’s First Successful ‘Stealthing’ Prosecution Leads The Way For Law Changes In Australia And Elsewhere
Thursday, 29 April 2021, 4:10 pm | The Conversation
Last week’s sentencing of a Wellington man for rape was legally significant for being New Zealand’s first successful prosecution for what is known as “stealthing”. More >>
Over 700 Health Experts Are Calling For Urgent Action To Expand Global Production Of COVID Vaccines
Thursday, 29 April 2021, 4:05 pm | The Conversation
Today, we are joining over 700 health professionals and academics in sending an open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison urging him to take a leadership role in expanding the global production of COVID-19 vaccines and other medical tools to ... More >>
Reject Mainstream Culture: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Thursday, 29 April 2021, 3:46 pm | Caitlin Johnstone
Hey remember when we learned that the CIA unilaterally funds its own clandestine operations via drug trafficking without the permission or oversight of any elected body and then everyone went "meh" and forgot about it? It's strange how ... More >>
On How The Animals Fare Within A Racing Industry In Decline
Thursday, 29 April 2021, 9:47 am | Gordon Campbell
Somehow, the office sweepstake on the Melbourne Cup is still likely to be a thing, even in the year 2021. Probably though, most non-punters would have missed the news that leaked out on Tuesday about the Victoria Racing Club’s investigation into ... More >>
Bottom-up Politics: Grassroots Activism Behind Pro-Palestine Shift In The US
Thursday, 29 April 2021, 9:19 am | Ramzy Baroud
At a recent virtual J Street Conference, US Senators, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren broke yet another political taboo when they expressed willingness to leverage US military aid as a way to pressure Israel to respect Palestinian human rights. ... More >>
UK spy chief: “The west has to go it alone on tech"
Wednesday, 28 April 2021, 5:21 pm | Digitl
“Cybersecurity is an increasingly strategic issue that needs a whole-nation approach. The rules are changing in ways not always controlled by government. More >>
NZ’s Hate Speech Proposals Need More Detail And Wider Debate Before They Become Law
Wednesday, 28 April 2021, 4:16 pm | The Conversation
Promised changes to New Zealand’s hate speech regulations have been slower to emerge than first anticipated. But a recently released cabinet paper finally gives some idea of what is being considered. More >>
How Crowdfunding Campaigners Market Illness To Capture The Attention Of Potential Donors
Wednesday, 28 April 2021, 4:13 pm | The Conversation
Tom Baker , University of Auckland ; Ann E. Bartos , University of Auckland ; Caitlin Neuwelt-Kearns , University of Auckland ; Octavia Calder-Dawe , Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington , and Susan E Wardell More >>
Was Phar Lap Killed By Gangsters? New Research Shows Which Conspiracies People Believe In And Why
Wednesday, 28 April 2021, 4:11 pm | The Conversation
Mathew Marques , La Trobe University ; James (Jim) McLennan , La Trobe University ; John Kerr , University of Cambridge ; Mathew Ling , Deakin University , and Matt Williams , Massey University The Apollo moon landings were faked , Lee Harvey Oswald ... More >>
Mike Pezzullo And Giving War A Chance
Wednesday, 28 April 2021, 3:49 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Those madly titillated by conflict have become bolder of late in the corridors of the isolated Australian capital. In such spaces, insanity can be nurtured with a sickening attention to detail, much of it fictitious. One of the most powerful bureaucrats ... More >>
Wanted: Leadership To Urge Us Kiwis To Get Vaccinated
Wednesday, 28 April 2021, 11:22 am | The Health Reformist
Simply, inviting us or encouraging us to get the COVID-19 vaccination is not good enough. For New Zealand to reach population immunity or herd immunity we will need to strongly motivate our population to take up the vaccine. Regarding the importance ... More >>
The Mass Media Will Never Regain The Public’s Trust
Tuesday, 27 April 2021, 4:16 pm | Caitlin Johnstone
This year has marked the first time ever that trust in news media dropped below fifty percent in the United States, continuing a trend of decline that's been ongoing for years. Mass media punditry is divided on where to assign the blame for the plummet ... More >>
Joe Biden, Recognition And The Armenian Genocide
Tuesday, 27 April 2021, 3:41 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Attributing names to the brutal acts humans are capable of inflicting upon each other is never without problems. There are gradations of terror, hierarchies of atrocity and cruelty. In these, the pedants reign. Disputes splutter and rage over whether ... More >>
On The Demonisation Of Film And TV Subsidies
Tuesday, 27 April 2021, 2:58 pm | Gordon Campbell
Yesterday’s big winner at the Oscars was Chinese-American director Chloe Zhao and her film Nomadland …. And Weta Digital happens to be listed here among the post-production facilities that have been working on Zhao’s next film, the mega-budget More >>
Top Economists Warn COVID-19 Impacts Will Be Severe And Long-lasting For Developing Countries
Tuesday, 27 April 2021, 11:06 am | United Nations
The multilateral system has to fundamentally change in the spirit of international solidarity to confront the severe impacts of COVID-19, according to members of the United Nations High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs, convened ... More >>
Information-Management In The U.S. Dictatorship
Tuesday, 27 April 2021, 11:03 am | Eric Zuesse
Eric Zuesse, originally posted at Strategic Culture The dictatorship manages information both by deceiving the public to believe what the regime itself knows to be actually false (such as that Saddam Hussein might be only six months away from having an atomic ... More >>
Lockout Of Wellington Bus Drivers Lifted After Court Ruling
Tuesday, 27 April 2021, 10:56 am | Socialist Equality Group
Last Thursday, New Zealand’s biggest public transport company, NZ Bus, announced an indefinite lockout of about 280 drivers in Wellington who were to hold a 24-hour strike the following day against attacks on wages and conditions. The Tramways Union ... More >>
Apple M1: At least a generation ahead of Intel
Sunday, 25 April 2021, 2:23 pm | Digitl
Six months have past since Apple launched its first M1 based Macs . This week saw a slew of new Macs and an iPad Pro all using the same processor. More >>
How satellite broadband can hurt New Zealand ISPs
Sunday, 25 April 2021, 2:17 pm | Digitl
At the time of writing, there’s no clear threat to urban broadband service providers. It could be another story outside the cities and towns. More >>
From Five Eyes To Six? Japan’s Push To Join The West’s Intelligence Alliance
Friday, 23 April 2021, 4:34 pm | The Conversation
Craig Mark , Kyoritsu Women's University As tensions with China continue to grow, Japan is making moves to join the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance. This week, Japan’s ambassador to Australia, Shingo Yamagami, told The Sydney Morning ... More >>
New Authority Could Transform Māori Health, But Only If It’s A Leader, Not A Partner
Friday, 23 April 2021, 4:31 pm | The Conversation
Dominic O'Sullivan , Charles Sturt University and Heather Came , Auckland University of Technology As part of a major overhaul of the health system , health minister Andrew Little yesterday announced a new Māori health authority. More >>
Graham Adams: Seymour Outflanks Ardern On Hate Speech
Friday, 23 April 2021, 3:33 pm | Graham Adams
Former PM Rob Muldoon was fond of saying he was a “counter-puncher” who only attacked when provoked but David Seymour has obviously realised that when you’re dealing with a government with a penchant for passing laws under urgency and minimal ... More >>
Virtual Bunny Hugging: Boasting About Climate Change Goals
Friday, 23 April 2021, 2:58 pm | Binoy Kampmark
He seemed frustrated. While Scott Morrison’s international colleagues at the Leaders Summit on Climate were boastful in what their countries would do in decarbonising the global economy, Australia’s feeble contribution was put on offer. Unable to ... More >>
How Can We Achieve Affordable, Secure Homes For Everyone?
Friday, 23 April 2021, 11:55 am | Closing The Gap
Much has been written about the reasons contributing to the crisis in housing affordability in New Zealand and its immediate and longer term consequences. This paper draws on research and commentary about how we got here and what can be done to help people ... More >>
The International Crisis Group: Do Its Funders Control The World On Behalf Of American-and-allied Billionaires?
Thursday, 22 April 2021, 4:41 pm | Eric Zuesse
Conservatives in America demonize George Soros for funding the Democratic Party and U.S.-imperialistic (or “neo-conservative”) international organizations, but he’s actually just a part of a network of around a thousand or so global aristocrats ... More >>
The Rising Threat Of Nuclear War Is The Most Urgent Matter In The World
Thursday, 22 April 2021, 4:13 pm | Caitlin Johnstone
US Strategic Command, the branch of the US military responsible for America's nuclear arsenal, tweeted the following on Tuesday: "The spectrum of conflict today is neither linear nor predictable. We must account for the possibility of conflict leading ... More >>
If We Want To Improve NZ’s Freshwater Quality, First We Need To Improve The Quality Of Our Democracy
Thursday, 22 April 2021, 4:10 pm | The Conversation
Nicolas Pirsoul , University of Auckland and Maria Armoudian , University of Auckland Since the fatal Havelock North campylobacter outbreak in 2016, freshwater quality has rightfully been a major political issue in Aotearoa New Zealand. More >>
Relief At Derek Chauvin Conviction A Sign Of Long History Of Police Brutality
Thursday, 22 April 2021, 4:07 pm | The Conversation
Clare Corbould , Deakin University The unprecedented conviction of police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder and manslaughter of George Floyd is testament to the hard work of Black Lives Matter organisers and protesters. More >>
Money, Housing, And King Canute
Thursday, 22 April 2021, 4:07 pm | Keith Rankin
Stories last week from Radio New Zealand: Expert analysis: low interest rates vs soaring house prices , Nine to Noon , 15 April 2021. And refer to: Arthur Grimes: How to fix a broken Auckland? Add 150,000 homes to crash prices by 40% ; The Spinoff, ... More >>
The International Crisis Group: Do Its Funders Control The World On Behalf Of American-and-allied Billionaires?
Thursday, 22 April 2021, 4:00 pm | Eric Zuesse
Conservatives in America demonize George Soros for funding the Democratic Party and U.S.-imperialistic (or “neo-conservative”) international organizations, but he’s actually just a part of a network of around a thousand or so global aristocrats ... More >>
A Truly Equitable National Health Service
Thursday, 22 April 2021, 10:49 am | Helene Ritchie
What have Minister Andrew Little’s health reforms and the verdict in the George Floyd case in common? Both herald promise of significant reform, in our country, and America. Both seek significant redress ensuring all people will benefit. Both ... More >>
Mixed Sight: New Zealand, The Five Eyes And China
Wednesday, 21 April 2021, 5:43 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Five Eyes arrangement between the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand has always resembled a segregated, clandestine club. Focused on the sharing of intelligence between countries of supposedly like mind, it has shown that ... More >>
Russia Increases Its Defense, While U.S. Backs Down From Provoking WW III
Wednesday, 21 April 2021, 3:09 pm | Eric Zuesse
Ever since Joe Biden became America’s President in January, America’s hostile and threatening actions and rhetoric against (as Biden refers to him) the ‘ killer ’ Vladimir Putin, Russia’s President, have made clear to Putin that the U.S. ... More >>
6 Questions About 6G
Wednesday, 21 April 2021, 2:05 pm | Dr. Syed Faraz Hasan
All mainstream network operators in New Zealand are steadily deploying 5G across the country. While we explore the scale of innovation and growth that 5G offers in almost all sectors of life, researchers around the world are already working on 6G More >>
Book Review: How To Lose The Information War
Wednesday, 21 April 2021, 11:00 am | Fightback
The authoritarian Russian state under Vladimir Putin is unquestionably an enemy of freedom and the working peoples of the world. It is hard not to cringe, though, when some American liberals try to blame Putin’s Russia alone for the Trump cult and ... More >>
On Welcoming The Major Health Reforms
Wednesday, 21 April 2021, 9:59 am | Gordon Campbell
Usually “reform” of government agencies is a cost cutting exercise in disguise, but this morning’s revision of the health system looks totally different. These reforms amount to the biggest shake-up of the health system since the neo-liberal ... More >>
Fibre Max now one in six Chorus connections
Tuesday, 20 April 2021, 7:53 pm | Digitl
Chorus added 7,000 gigabit or Fibre Max connections during the third quarter of 2021. The company’s latest connections update says the company now has 143,000 gigabit connections, that’s 17 percent of the 831,000 total. More >>
