Biden and G7 eye US$200b global infrastructure push to rival China's Belt & Road; Aotearoa joins US, US, Australia & Japan in 'Partners in the Blue Pacific'; China sees it as AUKUS-plus
Thanks for the info on the PBP alliance, Bernard. (Sometimes I wonder what every other journalist in NZ does.) Wrt risking angering China, may I quote Professor David Shambaugh (a distinguished US scholar on China of >30 years’ standing)? He says that once you start self-censoring, China has won the soft power battle.
Suggest this as a topic for discussion on Friday with P Bale and someone sensible on China like Jason Young from the CCRC.
Both East and West have equity and social Justice problems in terms of women’s rights, bodily integrity, property rights, safety and contributions to society and the economy. It’s pretty dire stuff everywhere.
And access to specifically female services and resources for ourselves and to meet ours and our vulnerable children’s needs. The male answer seems to be to snatch the children to prey on and get women into the paid workforce and married or partnered off to work for a man as quickly as possible to keep us in our (enslaved) place which is both sadistic and inhumane and ultimately counterproductive as it goes against both groups human rights and needs. No wonder they’re trying to erase even the word women and keep reducing the age of consent and emancipation of children to way before they’re cognitively and physically ready or matured. It’s still medieval really so who are they really kidding? The evidence is all there and also evident in the omissions in access to services and resources for women specifically and to support children and themselves. “It has to be cheap” mentality🤢
Kia ora Bernard -- regarding your "grass-fed dairy and beef is a huge marketing opportunity" comment, that's true in a scenario where we're not growing our grass with unethically-sourced phosphates, or with nitrate fertilisers which are ending up in our groundwater or rivers.
That mostly isn't the scenario we're in though. If I was an overseas farmers organisation looking nervously at increasing competition from Aotearoa-NZ, I'd be talking to my comms & lobbying people about getting out the word that antipodean beef and (especially) dairy cows are eating grass grown by polluting their country's freshwater.
In regards to the chart about how much feed goes into stock versus amount of food consumed by humans, I recently watched this video which did make me consider deeper that it is not a 1-1 conversion ratio (i.e. humans consume the feed directly) due to the fact that ruminant stock converts feed into human consumable nutrition. Time 7:00 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGG-A80Tl5g
An interesting watch, but I felt it was committing the same misinformation as the eat-less-meat and go vegan lobbies.
They argued that 2/3rds of land is not suitable for growing crops, so by putting livestock on that land leaves the remaining 1/3rd for growing crops edible by humans. OK, so why are so many of NZ's dairy farms on that 1/3rd? Or the US feedlots using grain grown on the 1/3rd.
An interesting point about rainfall being counted in the amount of water required to produce a kilo of beef.
Ah, good old lies, damned lies and statistics.
But they were right in saying that it is fossil fuels that are the big problem.
Really enjoyed listening to your latest when the facts change with my old professor Jarrod Harr over the weekend. He used to drive up to the North Shore in Auckland from the Waikato everyday for lectures, so not surprised to hear he’s enjoying working from home too! You should have asked him about four day work weeks as he was a part of the research back in ‘18/‘19 with perpetual guardian. Would love to know how the shift to remote working has affected sentiment to shorter weeks and the success or failure of a four day week
Off subject but the use of Aotearoa instead of New Zealand - or the very PC Aotearoa-New Zealand makes me wonder if you are actually on the Government payroll, Bernard.
Or just virtue signaling? Or a deeply held belief?
I am a subscriber and examining media bias.
Keep up the good work and particularly go hard in regards to child poverty in NZ.
Agree on child poverty. Also, I'm not on the government payroll. Have a chat to a few ministers. They are not thrilled with what I report and write. Far too critical for their liking. And the same for the opposition, by the way. I'm lucky. I have the support of enough individual subscribers to be able to write what I see in front of me for the benefit of subscribers initially, and then the broader public generally. Mostly possible because Lynn and I own our own home.
OMG that photo must have been planned so hard... so many subliminal messages in the positioning!! (And Johnson LMAO...)
Ha! Yes. It gets better though... https://thehill.com/policy/international/3537795-g7-leaders-joke-about-stripping-to-outdo-bare-chested-putin/
Thanks for the info on the PBP alliance, Bernard. (Sometimes I wonder what every other journalist in NZ does.) Wrt risking angering China, may I quote Professor David Shambaugh (a distinguished US scholar on China of >30 years’ standing)? He says that once you start self-censoring, China has won the soft power battle.
Suggest this as a topic for discussion on Friday with P Bale and someone sensible on China like Jason Young from the CCRC.
Thanks Anne. That's useful. I'll reach out to Jason.
Both East and West have equity and social Justice problems in terms of women’s rights, bodily integrity, property rights, safety and contributions to society and the economy. It’s pretty dire stuff everywhere.
And access to specifically female services and resources for ourselves and to meet ours and our vulnerable children’s needs. The male answer seems to be to snatch the children to prey on and get women into the paid workforce and married or partnered off to work for a man as quickly as possible to keep us in our (enslaved) place which is both sadistic and inhumane and ultimately counterproductive as it goes against both groups human rights and needs. No wonder they’re trying to erase even the word women and keep reducing the age of consent and emancipation of children to way before they’re cognitively and physically ready or matured. It’s still medieval really so who are they really kidding? The evidence is all there and also evident in the omissions in access to services and resources for women specifically and to support children and themselves. “It has to be cheap” mentality🤢
Kia ora Bernard -- regarding your "grass-fed dairy and beef is a huge marketing opportunity" comment, that's true in a scenario where we're not growing our grass with unethically-sourced phosphates, or with nitrate fertilisers which are ending up in our groundwater or rivers.
That mostly isn't the scenario we're in though. If I was an overseas farmers organisation looking nervously at increasing competition from Aotearoa-NZ, I'd be talking to my comms & lobbying people about getting out the word that antipodean beef and (especially) dairy cows are eating grass grown by polluting their country's freshwater.
See this piece on calculating the greywater footprint of milk in Canterbury: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/360658768_The_grey_water_footprint_of_milk_due_to_nitrate_leaching_from_dairy_farms_in_Canterbury_New_Zealand
Great points. Plenty of work to do here. But an opportunity if they can get the nitrates and phosphates issues sorted.
In regards to the chart about how much feed goes into stock versus amount of food consumed by humans, I recently watched this video which did make me consider deeper that it is not a 1-1 conversion ratio (i.e. humans consume the feed directly) due to the fact that ruminant stock converts feed into human consumable nutrition. Time 7:00 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGG-A80Tl5g
Hi David
An interesting watch, but I felt it was committing the same misinformation as the eat-less-meat and go vegan lobbies.
They argued that 2/3rds of land is not suitable for growing crops, so by putting livestock on that land leaves the remaining 1/3rd for growing crops edible by humans. OK, so why are so many of NZ's dairy farms on that 1/3rd? Or the US feedlots using grain grown on the 1/3rd.
An interesting point about rainfall being counted in the amount of water required to produce a kilo of beef.
Ah, good old lies, damned lies and statistics.
But they were right in saying that it is fossil fuels that are the big problem.
P.S. Time was 21:00
Really enjoyed listening to your latest when the facts change with my old professor Jarrod Harr over the weekend. He used to drive up to the North Shore in Auckland from the Waikato everyday for lectures, so not surprised to hear he’s enjoying working from home too! You should have asked him about four day work weeks as he was a part of the research back in ‘18/‘19 with perpetual guardian. Would love to know how the shift to remote working has affected sentiment to shorter weeks and the success or failure of a four day week
Excellent idea Alex. One for another podcast.
Why cant anyone cut Boris a suit that fits
I do wonder if it's part of his deliberate 'schtick' of the crumpled 'everyman'...
Morally crumpled we'll buy, no one is topping Zelensky for underdressed eloquence
Off subject but the use of Aotearoa instead of New Zealand - or the very PC Aotearoa-New Zealand makes me wonder if you are actually on the Government payroll, Bernard.
Or just virtue signaling? Or a deeply held belief?
I am a subscriber and examining media bias.
Keep up the good work and particularly go hard in regards to child poverty in NZ.
Thanks Pamela. It's a personal choice. I love the name and support this petition. https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2206/S00018/70000-sign-petition-to-change-official-name-to-aotearoa.htm
Agree on child poverty. Also, I'm not on the government payroll. Have a chat to a few ministers. They are not thrilled with what I report and write. Far too critical for their liking. And the same for the opposition, by the way. I'm lucky. I have the support of enough individual subscribers to be able to write what I see in front of me for the benefit of subscribers initially, and then the broader public generally. Mostly possible because Lynn and I own our own home.
China isn't the first to try this. The US were doing the same infrastructure ransom strategy throughout the 60s and 70s in Latin America.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins is a good read about it.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man