Latest Top Scoops Headlines [Page 2]
On The Blockade Against Chloe Swarbrick’s Right To Speak Freely About Gaza
Wednesday, 8 November 2023, 9:10 am | Gordon Campbell
The tut-tutting about what Green MP Chloe Swarbrick said and how she said it, and whether she could have/should have expressed herself in other ways has been farcical. Yes, emotions are running high about the Israel/Gaza conflict. Arguably though, it ... More >>
No Pressure Dr Reti But Starting On The Right Foot Is Critical
Tuesday, 7 November 2023, 7:32 pm | Ian Powell
With the final election count now confirmed it is clear that Aotearoa New Zealand will soon be governed by a National-ACT-NZ First coalition. Further, not that there was any prior doubt, Dr Shane Reti (a general practitioner) will be the next minister ... More >>
The Holocaust Should Be A Lesson Not A Template
Tuesday, 7 November 2023, 12:15 pm | Eugene Doyle
“Jewish people exterminating men, women and children in a concentration camp is _______.” How do you finish a sentence like that? The words should fall like acid into your ear drums. It should be an impossible sentence. And yet, not so. We are ... More >>
Showboating For War: Johnson And Morrison In Israel
Tuesday, 7 November 2023, 11:01 am | Binoy Kampmark
Banished Prime Ministers are an irritation. They clog the airwaves of punditry with their views about how things were and how things should be. But even there, degrees of severity and competence should be observed. The more noble sorts would pursue ... More >>
EDITORIAL: MMP Comes Of Age - A Broader View
Monday, 6 November 2023, 3:23 pm | Alastair Thompson
EDITORIAL: MMP Comes Of Age. National Leader Luxon remains in the box seat to form the next NZ Govt following the counting of special votes. Meanwhile the Greens and Te Pati Maori are riding high, but with a vacuum still unfilled in leadership on More >>
On The Third Person In This Political Marriage
Monday, 6 November 2023, 11:08 am | Gordon Campbell
Depending on the recounts and the by-election, the centre-right will still have won only 59 seats in what will be a 122 or 123 seat Parliament. So it needs Winston Peters, big time. In return for him getting them across the line, it stands to reason ... More >>
Taking The Refugee Hysteria Off Ice
Sunday, 5 November 2023, 3:31 pm | Binoy Kampmark
There are many reasons why Australian foreign policy can be viewed from the wrong end of a municipal drainpipe. For one, it is largely dictated, in terms of security, by the competitive, acquisitive urgings of the United States. Fictional reassurances ... More >>
Rishi Sunak’s AI Pitch: The Bletchley Declaration
Saturday, 4 November 2023, 2:34 pm | Binoy Kampmark
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak looks as much a deep fake projection as a thin, superficial representation of reality. His robotic, risible awkwardness makes a previous occupant of his office, Theresa May, look soppily human in comparison. But at the ... More >>
Download Weekly: NCSC defended major telco cyber attack
Friday, 3 November 2023, 8:27 pm | Digitl
The National Cyber Security Centre says it disrupted an attack on a mobile operator. One New Zealand to buy Dense Air's 5G spectrum. More >>
Special Votes: National and ACT lose majority in largest ever Parliament
Friday, 3 November 2023, 2:15 pm | RNZ
Special votes have given Te Pāti Māori two more electorates, and the Greens an extra list seat, with National losing two. More >>
Predicting The Final Outcome Of The Election
Friday, 3 November 2023, 11:52 am | Keith Rankin
There may be some surprises when the final election count comes out today. One particular point to note refers back to the United States presidential election of 2020, when the late votes in most states – those votes not counted on election night – very ... More >>
On Breaking Up The Supermarket Duopoly
Thursday, 2 November 2023, 10:39 am | Gordon Campbell
Someone better tell Mark Mitchell, because the two big supermarket gangs – the New World Crips and the Countdown Bloods – seem to be operating with flagrant disregard for the revised version of section 36 of the Commerce Act 1986. Arguably, their market ... More >>
The Ponzi Financial Model: Japan And United States
Wednesday, 1 November 2023, 2:47 pm | Keith Rankin
Last week ( The Ponzi financial model and New Zealand’s monetary policy ) I described New Zealand's place and financial strategy within the world's financial ecosystem; how New Zealand pursues a ponzi financial model, and how that model has played a ... More >>
Apple M3 chips widen gap with Intel
Wednesday, 1 November 2023, 12:25 pm | Digitl
Let’s start with the most trivial remark: It was the first live streamed Apple launch to take place during New Zealand working hours. We’ve been trained to associate a live Apple launch with sleep deprivation. Being alert throughout is a new experience. More >>
Israel Wants Either An Apartheid State Or An Ethnic Cleansing Process, Both Crimes Under International Law
Wednesday, 1 November 2023, 9:33 am | Globetrotter
By Vijay Prashad On October 30, 2023, Israeli authorities said that they had killed “dozens” of Hamas fighters in the first days of their ground invasion. Meanwhile, Gaza’s Ministry of Health has struggled to keep its website online given the lack ... More >>
The Forty Beheaded Babies Who Survived The Hamas Attack
Tuesday, 31 October 2023, 4:13 pm | Eugene Doyle
No babies aged 0-3 years have yet been named amongst the dead of Hamas’s October 7th attack. The stories of beheaded babies, it now seems likely, were in fact weapons of mass destruction launched by experienced Israeli and American media warriors to ... More >>
On How The Americans Helped Put Hamas In Power In Gaza
Tuesday, 31 October 2023, 10:50 am | Gordon Campbell
To all intents, Hamas suddenly sprang out from behind the Oort Cloud on October 7 as a force of incomprehensible evil... Just when some important items on Israel’s agenda had been proceeding more or less according to plan. With strong backing from ... More >>
The Gaza Manifesto: Why America’s Old Middle East Is Crumbling
Tuesday, 31 October 2023, 9:27 am | Ramzy Baroud
History will not forgive those who have remained silent, exhibited or expressed ‘balanced’ positions - or worse, defended Israel’s ongoing genocide in an already besieged, impoverished and overcrowded Gaza. This is not a cliché declaration, a ... More >>
Biden’s Bungles Over Gaza
Saturday, 28 October 2023, 2:06 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The main press stable was keen to see the scrappy benefits of the 31-hour visit to Israel by US President Joe Biden. On National Public Radio (NPR), Scott Neuman expressed the view that the “largely symbolic” visit did yield a few “concrete ... More >>
Twitter one year on – decline and fool
Friday, 27 October 2023, 5:50 pm | Digitl
That's not a spelling error. Musk has done some dumb things with Twitter by any standard. More >>
Download Weekly – Tuatahi First Fibre buys Unison Fibre
Friday, 27 October 2023, 5:45 pm | Digitl
In this week's newsletter: Tuatahi First Fibre acquires Unison Fibre, Kordia to sell Starlink, TCF report, draft TDL allocation More >>
The Day Guterres Became Relevant
Friday, 27 October 2023, 2:43 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The relevance given to a UN Secretary-General is often judged by the degree of controversy caused. In history, the most relevant are usually targeted. Dag Hammarskjöld, refusing to remain a mere bauble of international office, was almost certainly murdered over ... More >>
Parents Of Vision Impaired NZ Responds To IDEA Services Complaints Review
Friday, 27 October 2023, 11:45 am | Parents of Vision Impaired New Zealand
An eight month review undertaken by Barrister Rachael Schmidt-McCleave for Whaikaha of policies, processes, and practices for managing complaints about IDEA Services Limited was released today. This review has found that there is a lingering culture ... More >>
‘Human Animals’: The Sordid Language Behind Israel’s Genocide In Gaza
Friday, 27 October 2023, 6:46 am | Ramzy Baroud
“(Tutsis) are cockroaches. We will kill you.” Arabs are like “drugged cockroaches in a bottle.” The first quote was a line repeated frequently by the Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines , a Rwandan radio station, which is largely blamed for inciting ... More >>
Thousands Protest Across New Zealand Against Israel’s Genocide In Gaza
Thursday, 26 October 2023, 12:14 pm | Socialist Equality Group
Over the past fortnight thousands of people in New Zealand have joined the global protests against the Israeli government’s genocidal bombing of Gaza. More than 5,700 people, including 2,360 children, have been killed and tens of thousands injured ... More >>
On Why Chris Hipkins Is Living On Borrowed Time
Thursday, 26 October 2023, 10:44 am | Gordon Campbell
Currently, Chris Hipkins is serving as a place-holder leader until other colleagues do the numbers and figure out their capacity for taking on what can be a highly stressful and thankless role in opposition. On his career record to date, Hipkins’ skills ... More >>
Food Sovereignty Versus Profit-maximisation
Tuesday, 24 October 2023, 7:55 pm | Ian Powell
In late January 2020 New Zealand’s trade minister David Parker got the “cold sweats”. This is according to The Economist (9 May 2020; paywalled): The world’s vulnerable food system . The context was China’s decision to ban ... More >>
On Church And State In Mt Roskill
Tuesday, 24 October 2023, 11:11 am | Gordon Campbell
The interval between election night and the formation of a new government has been restfully free of bickering and posturing, and it would be nice to think this could last until Christmas. No such luck. Come November 3, and when all the special votes ... More >>
No Peace Without Justice: Gaza Has Just Vanquished A 20-Year-Old Israeli Plan
Tuesday, 24 October 2023, 8:54 am | Ramzy Baroud
Israel had the perfect plan for Gaza - in fact, for all Palestinians, when it decided to redeploy its forces around the Occupied Gaza Strip in 2005. Despite statements made, back then, by Israeli officials that the 'disengagement' plan aimed at severing ... More >>
The Importance Of Speaking Out (Voice) In Health Systems
Sunday, 22 October 2023, 6:03 am | Ian Powell
Voice is one of the most critical features of a robust health system. The experiences and concerns of patients and their families are often given voice. This is a good thing. Health systems learn from their voices. Equally important is the voice of ... More >>
Download Weekly: Adroit buy boosts Spark's IoT push
Friday, 20 October 2023, 6:39 pm | Digitl
Spark acquires Adroit environmental monitoring business. Chorus' low cost fibre plan momentum. Kiwis to test Twitter/X charging. More >>
Gaza: "The Wounded Are In Danger Of Dying In The Next Few Hours"
Friday, 20 October 2023, 3:21 pm | Doctors Without Borders
Sydney, 20 October 2023 - The few medical facilities still operating in northern Gaza are under unimaginable duress. Many medical staff have been forced to flee to the south, as the Israeli strikes are relentless. The remaining staff have to cope ... More >>
On New Zealand’s Selective Morality On Gaza
Friday, 20 October 2023, 11:45 am | Gordon Campbell
Here’s the sound of MFAT blowing its own trumpet as it celebrated the 25th anniversary of our genuinely heroic role in alerting the international community to the Rwanda genocide: Calling for the Council to recognise that genocide was being perpetrated ... More >>
Fruitless Gestures: Victoria Bans The Nazi Salute
Wednesday, 18 October 2023, 1:58 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It took place with hardly any debate, though it interested some parliamentary members at the committee stage. The Australian state of Victoria now faces laws that will lock a person up for 12 months or punish individuals with fines of A$23,000 or above ... More >>
Testing Apple’s FineWoven material the Kiwi way
Wednesday, 18 October 2023, 1:30 pm | Digitl
FineWoven is an Apple brand name for what it calls a ‘premium’ material. The company uses it to replace leather as it pushes to polish its carbon neutral credentials. It’s a fine sentiment, but FineWoven is controversial. More >>
iPhone 15 review - a solid upgrade with few surprises
Wednesday, 18 October 2023, 1:17 pm | Digitl
There are few surprises in the iPhone 15 Plus. Many of the features that separate the 15 Plus from the iPhone 14 Plus were first introduced last year in the iPhone Pro models. More >>
On National’s Divisive Plans To Heal Our Divisions
Wednesday, 18 October 2023, 1:15 pm | Gordon Campbell
As we wait for crime to cease, rents to fall, and food prices to plummet, how does the Luxon government propose to heal the divisions that have come to divide this divided nation? Allegedly, these divisions have been caused by the twin hobgoblins ... More >>
Not Hamas-Israeli Conflict: The Palestinian Cause Belongs To The World
Tuesday, 17 October 2023, 5:27 am | Ramzy Baroud
At one time, the ‘Arab-Israeli Conflict’ was Arab and Israeli. Over the course of many years, however, it was rebranded. The media is now telling us it is a ‘Hamas-Israeli conflict’. But what went wrong? Israel simply became too powerful. The supposedly ... More >>
“Dying Under Bombs In Gaza Cannot Be The Only Option Left To People"
Monday, 16 October 2023, 6:48 pm | Doctors Without Borders
Statement by Médecins Sans Frontières /Doctors Without Border General Director, Claire Magone.: "On the ninth day of a bombing campaign of unprecedented violence on the Gaza Strip, Médecins Sans Frontières calls on the Israeli authorities to ... More >>
On The Election, And Labour’s Options
Monday, 16 October 2023, 10:39 am | Gordon Campbell
On Saturday, the Labour-led government suffered a defeat of Biblical proportions, some of it self-inflicted. Years ago, veteran political blogger Jesus Christ had tapped into Saturday’s public mood pretty accurately, with this soundbite at Revelations ... More >>
Download Weekly: TDR complaints soar
Sunday, 15 October 2023, 12:55 pm | Digitl
The Telecommunications Dispute Resolution scheme's publicity campaign pays off. The PC market stays gloomy but analysts say a recovery is coming. More >>
Breaking Bread At The Terminus Of Learning
Friday, 13 October 2023, 7:36 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Let this be a lesson to you students. You are now coming to the end of another semester, arbitrarily designated as having an even number of weeks, crammed with a range of objectives that no doubt most of you have not met. For one thing, you did not read. ... More >>
On Labour’s Last Stand
Friday, 13 October 2023, 11:14 am | Gordon Campbell
The surge, the surge. It was within the margin of error in one poll, and the increase in Labour support in the other poll still wouldn’t change the outcome. Yet to the relief of the mainstream media, the surge has provided a hint of drama to talk about ... More >>
The MPs Using The Taxpayer To Own Wellington Property
Thursday, 12 October 2023, 8:17 am | Scoop Election Podcast
In the last week of politicking the Post newspaper brought to light the fact that while most Kiwis are struggling with a cost of living and housing crisis a significant ‘minority’ of MPs are investing in Wellington real estate on the taxpayer. According ... More >>
Will Tennessee Threaten The Medical Workforce In New Zealand (with A Little Bit Of Help From Dolly Parton)
Thursday, 12 October 2023, 5:37 am | Ian Powell
Recently I came across an interesting article by Alicia Gallegos and published in the Medscape Journal of Medicine (26 June). I had not previously considered the possibility of a development in the American state of Tennessee potentially impacting negatively ... More >>
On The Attacks On Israel And Gaza
Wednesday, 11 October 2023, 12:50 pm | Gordon Campbell
On the day after the Hamas attacks, the Jewish newspaper Haaretz concluded that only a few options were available to Israel’s leaders and all of them were bad: 1. Urgent negotiations on a prisoner exchange agreement, in which Hamas will demand ... More >>
The Savagery Of The War Against The Palestinian People
Wednesday, 11 October 2023, 11:48 am | Globetrotter
By Vijay Prashad Who knows how many Palestinian civilians will be killed by the time this report is published? Among the bodies that cannot be taken to a hospital or a morgue, because there will be no petrol or electricity, will be large numbers ... More >>
The Crimes Of Medicine?
Tuesday, 10 October 2023, 10:45 am | Hemp Foundation
By Tadhg Stopford We are told that NZ needs more medicines for cancer and other diseases by Patient Voice Aotearoa, and they aren’t wrong. But they also miss the point. MedSafe (the regulator) seems captured. By whom, I do not know. But their ... More >>
On Why Winston Peters Could Be National’s New BFF
Monday, 9 October 2023, 11:36 am | Gordon Campbell
Over the weekend, some classic double speak from National. Christopher Luxon is saying he’ll be able to make a deal with whatever power configuration the voters hand to him. (He’s been a CEO deal maker with an international airline, don’t ... More >>
Download Weekly: Spark's Innovation Studio makeover
Friday, 6 October 2023, 6:19 pm | Digitl
Spark updates its Innovation Studio as it hits 1.5m IoT connections. One NZ offers a customer service dashboard. Pacific Islands telco to move from Huawei kit. More >>
UKRAINE: All Is Far From Quiet On The Eastern Front
Friday, 6 October 2023, 10:38 am | Glen Johnson
At the end of August, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told those criticizing the speed of his country’s ‘much anticipated counter-offensive’ to “shut up”. More >>
On The Centre-right’s Cynically Divisive Messages On Race
Thursday, 5 October 2023, 3:13 pm | Gordon Campbell
Could be wrong, but I have a hunch that if a male Maori activist entered the home of a National Party candidate uninvited, it would be safe to assume the Police would have done more than wag a finger at them and send them on their way. The National ... More >>
The Local Body ‘Stars’ Looking To Shine In Parliament (And Cost Ratepayers $$$)
Thursday, 5 October 2023, 10:00 am | Scoop Election Podcast
The Scoop Election team tracked down the local body politicians who stood in 2022 promising to represent their communities until 2025 but are now looking to assist democracy as MPs. More >>
Ambassador Of Israeli Crimes: This Is How Gilad Erdan Become A Defender Of Women’s Rights In Iran
Thursday, 5 October 2023, 9:05 am | Ramzy Baroud
A new trend is emerging in the Israeli hasbara discourse targeting Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims: women’s rights. The word ‘new’ is not exactly accurate. The misuse of the genuine struggle for women’s rights in the Arab and Muslim world ... More >>
Modi’s Cricket Ploy: Hindutva As Twelfth Man
Wednesday, 4 October 2023, 2:41 pm | Binoy Kampmark
This week, the International Cricket Council’s One Day International tournament will commence in India. The man who will take centre stage during the occasion will be Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, whose earthly attributes are fast becoming, ... More >>
Protecting The Safety Of The Public; Or Not!
Tuesday, 3 October 2023, 9:41 pm | Ian Powell
In 2003 then Health Minister Annette King oversaw the successful passing of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act (HPCAA). It has proved to be landmark embedded legislation The Act brought together registration for all the recognised ... More >>
Bryce Edwards: Ten Reasons Labour’s Support Has Halved
Tuesday, 3 October 2023, 5:40 pm | Bryce Edwards
The Labour Government was elected with 50 per cent of the vote three years ago, but current polls show their vote could halve in this election, which would be one of the biggest plunges in history. More >>
On National’s Disdain For The Press Debate
Tuesday, 3 October 2023, 2:40 pm | Gordon Campbell
Christopher Luxon evidently thinks this election is SO in the bag that he can afford to spurn the still-undecideds, the entire South Island, and the old Christchurch money that still reads the Press and shops at Ballantynes. We should all shed a tear ... More >>
On National’s Myths About The Desolated State Of The Economy
Monday, 2 October 2023, 3:03 pm | Gordon Campbell
Familiarity breeds consent. If you repeat the line “six years of economic mis-management” about 10,000 times, it sounds like the received wisdom, whatever the evidence to the contrary. Yes, the global pandemic and the global surge in inflation that came ... More >>
Is Microsoft Surface still competitive?
Sunday, 1 October 2023, 1:42 pm | Digitl
Yesterday’s post What is going on with Microsoft Surface? looks at the rapid recent decline in the device’s fortunes. This follow up explores less obvious reasons why Microsoft is selling fewer Surfaces. More >>