There used to be a dairy on every corner and a post office in every town. Then came the free market and the big beneficiary appears to be off licences, where people can buy all the alcohol they like but not buy a single stamp. Here in Hornby, Christchurch, our NZ Post Shop recently closed (an agency was started at Paper Plus, in the Mall) and we have about four upcoming applications for new off-licences.
One of these was heard about a fortnight ago. I was an objector, along with 40 or so other people. The three agencies tasked with examining applications, the Police, Medical Officer of Health and the licensing inspectors failed to oppose the application.
We need to talk about THAT cartoon. The one The Daily Blog published three times, that depicts Zionism as a virus, with a familiar-looking Nazi-style “S”. The one by Malcom Evans, who claims he was dumped by the NZ Herald for an anti-Israel cartoon, although the Herald has publicly refuted that.
Let’s start with what we can all agree on. It is not antisemitic to criticise Israel in the same way you would criticise any other country. Israel can and should be criticised like any other country.
But not everything negative you hear about Israel constitutes “criticism”. Lies, conspiracy theories, a denial of history and facts, a refusal to acknowledge that Israel exists or a call for it to be dismantled or destroyed, alone among all the world’s nations …none of these are “criticism” of Israel. It’s strawmanning to pass it off as such.
.
.
“
One of the hurdles these days is just passing the drug test … Under workplace safety, you can’t have people on your premises under the influence of drugs and a lot of our younger people can’t pass that test.
People telling me they open for applications, they get people turning up and it’s hard to get someone to be able to pass the test – it’s just one example.
So look if you get around the stories, you’ll hear lots of stories – some good, some not so good – about Kiwis’ willingness and ability to do the jobs that are available.”
Community service has always been an important part of the work of academics, but the lure of prestigious publication in top journals can often turn an academic’s face away from the communities they serve.
But the best give fine service to their communities. Anne Salmond comes to mind as an outstanding academic who has changed the ways that Māori and Pakeha live together in Aotearoa. There are the earthquakes experts who helped us understand the Christchurch quakes, the public health people in the pandemics and so on.
One of the most outstanding science communicators in New Zealand is Siouxsie Wiles. She has been doing this communication work in concert with her academic roles for a number of years. She runs the exciting bioluminescence lab at the University of Auckland. She uses glowing things to illuminate how bacteria work.
Article – Socialist Equality Group By John Braddock, Socialist Equality Group 10 March 2021, original url: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/03/10/maor-m10.html A report released by the New Zealand Reserve Bank in January revealed that Mori businesses and non-profit organisations owned almost $NZ69 billion ($US50.2 billion) …
By John Braddock, Socialist Equality Group
A report released by the New Zealand Reserve Bank in January revealed that Māori businesses and non-profit organisations owned almost $NZ69 billion ($US50.2 billion) in assets as of 2018. The report, produced by economic consultancy BERL, said most of the assets of the “Māori economy” were in the private sector.