What an absurd over-reaction - â˜discrimination my a**e. â˜Ethical practices...what or whos ethical practices? Yours? Im tired of hearing how hard it is for mums. Tens of thousands of years of raising kids without all the moaning and now we have a generation who do nothing but moan about how they cant take a trailer-sized pram into a cafe. Its not all about you.
Who would want to work fir a Council? For starters, its a career killer if you ever want to return to the commercial sector. Secondly, working for a Council is a slow death from professional depression as you watch your motivation fade from the inability to get anything done as you hit endless bureaucratic brick walls because no o e can make a decision in those places. Working for a Council is like working in your own tomb.
The spin coming out of the council building defies belief; I think they actually believe the weasel words theyre peddling. If someone tells me they work for CCC, I think theyre either so incompetent no one else will employ them or so desperate for work because no one else will employ them.
Eventually, I hope reason and our continuously improving our knowledge of our universe and ourselves brings an end to religion - I would see this as a great step for humankind.
Im with you Radix, we took up the same tenet a few years ago with meat and eggs and weve never looked back. Like you, we now eat less meat but we eat quality ... its given us smaller waste lines as well as guilt free eating. Weve also extended it to clothing and plastics - we dont buy seasonal fashion, we buy glass containers that we reuse and we avoid plastic toys for kids and dogs. Weve minimised our belongings and for any new item into the house, we give away, recycle, upcycle or, if theres no other option, dispose of an old item. Life is so much more pleasant with less stuff and taking a more ethical approach to food and consumer goods.
This satanic dude makes one good argument, âIf were going to have one religious monument we ought to allow them all or none at all;â my vote is for none at all!
CCC use public money in the most irresponsible ways conceivable like:1. Restoring the Cathedral (a religious building (over 50% of residents are agnostic or atheist) owned by a tax exempt organisation (surely they get enough financial benefits already) - potential saving to rate payers of $10m or more. 2. $1.3M touchscreen - surely this is a luxury item for a city that needs its water pumps fixed and potholes repaired. Send it back and get a refund. Hold the Places and Spaces Manager publicly accountable. Savings $1M. 3. A stadium - nice to have but not essential. We could become a city that has a point if difference rather than being yet another urban centre with a conference centre and stadium - its unimaginative spending. Savings, $1b on these two projects. 4. The salaries of the CEO of City Care and his executive amount to $3M a year for what is essentially a CCC department. If they took City Care back inhouse - given its not worth anything on the commercial market (evidence of how poorly the CEO has done his job) and paid realistic salaries, that would save $2M per annum. Then theres past stupid decisions like buying Ellerslie, sadly we cant get anything back from this. Its easy to see ways that CCC could reduce spending but it would require the counsellors and the holdings company to get a backbone and deal with the people in the council organisations that waste money or cost too much money and to stop spending on things we dont want or need.
The same can be said of most countries, including NZ - some people move to NZ and make a new and better life, others feel unwelcome and unsafe. Maybe it depends on the person as well as the country.
NZ is a duopoly in food retail so as long as theres not three players in the market, were doomed to pay extortionate prices for food while farmers make a pittance and cut corners in animal welfare and environmental guardianship to survive. I buy from butchers, growers and bakers to avoid these crooks.
We eat meat in our house but probably about a quarter of the amount we used to a d we only eat free range meat and eggs. We considered going vegetarian because we are animal lovers (not just pet lovers) but we also think meat is an important part of our diet. Our middle ground was to eat less meat and source it from places that give the animals the best possible life.
Christchurch isnt a great city but instead a large town thats missing a CBD, has munted roads, rising rates, terrible water, and no ability to attracts any shows or events - the costs outweigh the benefits. Weve become a big Ashburton.
I am amazed too...at how bad Stuff has become at publishing articles with numerous typos and that its got so bad that readers now no longer comment. It makes Stuff look pretty amateur compared to an actual newspaper and the journalists clearly have no pride in their work.
Im with you Bianca, this is not the best use of public money. I feel for the families but I think their need for this to happen to quell their hurt is coming at a cost to the greater good for NZers.
dsss123, this is a blatant lie. Using â˜free speech guidelines to get away with publishing theological propaganda is manipulative, especially given no such laws deny you stating empirical facts about death rates due to war or atrocities or as you emotively label it for effect, â˜bloodshed. The countries with the most crimes against humanity are those where religion is pervasive and entrenched in both the political and education systems like the Middle East, Northern Africa and India. In most recent history theres Myanmar and Bosnia not to mention the East Bank. In these countries, people are killed in the name of religion every day - for believing in a different God, for being gay, for going outside without a chaperone, etc. then theres the crimes like those hidden by the Catholic Church. In predominantly atheist countries (eg. Scandinavia), there is less crime, more civil rights, fewer violations of human rights and a surprisingly high level of peace between people if diverse ideas. They also have the highest numbers of educated women, because atheists dont see women as in need of subjugation.
Theres two sides to every story; Id be interested to hear the daughters perspective before wading in too deep.Ive heard my 73 year old mother tell her friends stories about how her children mistreat her and years ago she sent me an email laden with 0 accusations about how I did x, y, z and it was quite disturbing seeing just how distorted the facts had become due to how she views the world as a chronically depressed woman. When I look back on my mothers life, its full of â˜woe am I stories and a â˜everyone is mean to me but Im so good to them attitude combined with harsh judgment of people behind their backs - shes like her mother was. I spent decades trying to find a way to have a healthy relationship with her. Some people like this - they get sympathy and attention from being this way so it reinforces the behaviour and people lap up their stories without getting the facts. I avoid my mother now.
Major libraries in the world arent in cities with earthquake damage, like roads, not repaired seven years later. The person with authorised that spending out to be fired for lack of fiduciary responsibility with public money, particularly at a time when basic needs are not being met and ratepayers are dealing with huge rates hikes. The person who authorised this, and the people involved in advocating for it, clearly have no care for the people of this city, the only care about installing stupid monuments to their own pet projects.
Me too! ... Humankinds reason.â˜Mans logic suggests your still back in the dark ages where we called all people with reasoning skill â˜man and all people without were â˜women. Maybe sell your horse and cart and evolve with the rest of us.
Um...there are lots of things in life that will make people â˜feel icky but that doesnt mean society has to adapt to everyones â˜ick factor. This child is going to end up a snowflake if this kind of thing wings her out. Some kids at 11 are dealing with a lot more than â˜is there any chance you could be pregnant? When going for an x-ray?
Im with you PamA. Students tapping on a keyboard during a tutorial or lecture is very annoying - tap, tap, tap. Screens flickering with Facebook, Instagram or worse, video games and You Tube movies, is very distracting, rude and inconsiderate - just dont go to the lecture in the first place, no one cares of you are there or not, Id prefer you werent there. Checking phones every few minutes is a bit tragic - cant you sit still and engage your ears and brain for 50-minutes?! These young students are doomed due to their inability to focus an how easily distracted their are. Set a higher standard and make students work for their grade. My favourite professor is a woman who is intimidatingly whip smart and stern but I want to please her, I want to do work that earns an A from her...because her standards are so high, I know an A means an A.
Showytime, I agree, public money is used in ways that are not what some tax payers want and what other tax payers do want. My concern is that spending the millions on bringing home the Pike River victims is an emotional decision to help ease the angst of the families rather than a rational decision that can help move things forward. These families have not got justice and they, understandably, are hurt and angered. Seeing exorbitant amounts of money spent to retrieve the bodies may ease that hurt somewhat, as a sort of restorative justice, but it is not going to change anything. Where this money ought to be spent (roads, nurses, Obama visits) is not really whats up for discussion and neither is what projects shouldnt be funded - they are broad policy discussions. Personally, Id rather see legal justice for the families in terms of prosecution of those who neglected to ensure the safety of their family members and for the money to be spent in the community helping to create jobs or schools or whatever the community feels will help move it forward. Speaking from experience, I think there comes a time for acceptance, forgiveness and letting go, for allowing yourself to move forward. The people we lose under tragic circumstances dont want us to spend our lives fighting for past wrongdoings, if they were alive, theyd want us to live, find happiness, live the lives they didnt get to live instead of fighting through each day.
The millennials have done a fine job convincing their grandparents to skip a generation in terms of handing down their capital so I suspect Gen X (born 1960s to 1970s) will end up with the most difficult time in old age being wedged between the two largest generations making the most noise (Boomers and Millennials). In every generation theres moaners and go-getters, lazy turds and those who are motivated. The only thing Ive noticed with Millennials is that many seem to want cool jobs or fun jobs whereas previous generations expected to metaphorically work in the coal mines to survive.
I cannot understand why people would downvote your comment. Most people are just trying to make their way through life the best way they know how and, it seems, often the biggest obstacles to being happy as we all try our best to navigate the minefield of life can be the preconceived ideas and judgments of others. I am a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white, straight woman, so I have it pretty easy compared to most minority groups, yet I still experience harmful judgment from people who have no idea who I am and have never bothered to ask, as do most people. It would be such a nicer world if we could just be kinder, more tolerant and seek to understand others instead of wading in on people, their lives and their choices with our judgments.
Jeez, youre overpaid AngryBird! How on earth does someone â˜serving their community get paid in the top 0.05% of the population and then justify that massive income when outside their door are people who cant afford heating in Winter because of rates increases that exceed incomes? Youre bragging just about your income and influence is unbecoming and reiterates how why people dislike people â˜in power like yourself. I dont work for a Council, I lobby for community groups, charitable trusts and organisations trying to improve the living standards of many low and middle income earners in NZ who are being screwed on all sides by government agencies abusing public money to pay for their salaries, junkets and...what did you say...your lifestyle job. Id say I have influence and I serve. You exploit.
It wreaks of a boys club. Wreaks of a bunch of butt kissing, rugby, racing and beer bromances. Makes me ill reading the lack of age, gender and ethnic diversity in these positions. NZ is normally a reasonably progressive country but clearly this notion hasnt reached MFAT.
Given the ratio of people with wheelchairs or scooters to people with prams is lower, and people with prams group together when they go out, Id say at any given time in a cafe one or two wheelchairs is not going to have the same effect as seven prams...unless theres a gather of people who use wheelchairs. Its not the same. Pram users go out together in groups of three or four or more and they clutter up cafes with these huge pieces of equipment butted up against all the tables around them. And where theres a pram...theres a child young enough to need that pram. And that means noise, incessant wriggling and moaning about wanting to leave. I dont think people who use wheelchairs or mobility scooters do this.
Im with you Helen. The people who claim to care about the environment are importing cheap plastic products, heavily packaged, from China instead of paying for quality and buying glass or wood or finding alternatives. It stuns me how many plastic toys for babies, children and dogs are coming in from China and presumably getting thrown into landfill a year later. Surely there are other ways to entertain your human and furry family members without buying all these plastic widgets.
I agree Scrambled Eggs. Every second weekend, I go for a walk with my neighbours kids and my dog so that their parents get an hour of downtime. We walk about 1km, when normally Id walk about 5kms on my own. The kids walk slowly and are curious about everything but its nice to slow down, not care how long it takes or whether we get from A to B. I think parents need to slow down, get their little kids walking, even if it takes ages to get from the car to the cafe, does it matter if its a slow journey? Is t the point to enjoy them rather than rush rush rush and be busy busy busy?
I agree Dave, Rwanda is an amazing example of a progressive nation on many fronts including gender equality, infrastructure development, tourism development and environmental governance, fir example, you cant take any plastic bags across the border because they have seen the impact on waterways and on waste management and landfill so they check your vehicle and bags at the border. In NZ, try to take a plastic bag away from someone and they get up in arms. I found Rwanda a wonderful example of a nation moving forward after a sad and traumatic history that goes back to Belgiums rule.
DumptyDo, using a pram is optional; using a wheelchair is not! Having a baby is a choice; being tetraplegic is not! As a Society we have a moral responsibility to ensure people with disabilities are not in any way excluded or marginalised given they did not choose to be in a wheelchair and there are often enough barriers to their inclusiveness put up by people like yourself with ignorant moments like yours. As for mothers, there are a number of choices they can make to be included that a person in a wheelchair cannot make, for example, carrying your child into the cafe instead of using a pram. The person in the wheelchair dies not have a choice to walk or use another means of moving about.
Surely the Mayor and CEO and staff knew what was going on with the ombudsman given the news was reporting it. Nothing rips my knickers more than liars and this council has become adept at it. Theyre only interested in protecting their jobs and us, that rate payer, funding their chat salaries and lifelong benefits and pet projects. The Council, the CEO and the senior library staff - Robertson and Thompson - ought to go. Gallows and tomatoes for them.
Inspiring and love the attitude of many people in their 70s and 80s these days; many still seem as vibrant as their 40s. They key seems to be to look after your body - stay trim, fit and healthy as much as you can - so that you can still do things and still have energy.Im halfway through my life (mid 40s) and I have already packed a lot in, such that I wonder if the second half might be a disappointment. These type of stories, from people older than my parents, drawn out the fear of ageing and make me embrace it more. The last in the photo is a beautiful older woman.
If youre no longer in love with your spouses, youve been unhappy in your relationships for a long while and youve tried to make things work at home, then consider ending your marriages first. Not all marriages, or friendships or relationships, are meant to last a lifetime; people change, they grow in different directions and theres no point sacrificing your life out of some sense of duty. Whats more, you spouse deserves to be with someone who loves them rather than someone whos heart (or groin) is wandering elsewhere. I dont want my husband to stay with me out of duty or obligation and if he stops loving me and we cant rekindle that love, surely its best fir everyone just to move on. I dont think we ought to stay in an enduringly unhappy marriage, assuming youve tried to make it work, for the sake of social expectations and/or promises made when you were probably a different person at a different time in life. Wars more, children suffer more, and learn a bad example of love, when they are in a family where the parents dont love each other. Children get through divorce fine, they adapt, if their parents handle any divorce with dignity. Most children wounded by divorce are wounded by the scorned parent being bitter about being left and using the children as a means to punish their ex, which sadly, is all too common.
The reason were working longer hours are due to: A: inefficiency in systems, processes and managing people - most managers are technical people with limited skills leading people. B: Lack of prioritisation of work, including not doing some things, and doing unnecessary/trivial projects dictated by mangers who say yes to everything without considering the value of assigning resources to the project. C: the lack of time in flow or deep thinking (being truly productive) due to the number of distractions and disruptions we allow into our working days - meetings, phone, email, talking with colleagues, water cooler chats, etc. D: habitual time filling with multiple small, benign tasks because we lack a clear idea and focus of what we ought to be doing to deliver real value E: lack of autonomy in our work - if you dont feel like master and commander of your own work tasks and outcomes then its easy to have a sort of malaise about ones job When I worked in a corporate office as a manger I achieved very little due to pressures from above to take on all manner of pointless projects that deliver little value, despite me advising them that the projects were pointless, constant disruptions and the inability to carve out chunks of time to get deep into a productive mindset as well as feeling a bit flat about my work as it all seemed trivial and lacking direction. Now the staff I employ and people I collaborate know that I am available in the mornings for meetings, emails, phone calls and that I lock myself in my office for a productive four hours every afternoon. I structure work such that any new projects must be justified against the merits of existing projects and anything new means something must go. My staff play a key role in determining what projects are important and what projects can die. Staff can negotiate their hours, conditions and type of work they want to do that they find fulfilling as long as it meets the needs of the business.
I think it would be fantastic for people all over the world to have more time to do things in their lives that are not work-related. Work seems to take such a massive chunk of our lives. The quant. metrics are s great result fir the company however, I think that some of â˜academic research May be flawed: 1. If the workers being surveyed want to keep their four day week theyre going to answer survey questions in the affirmative irrespective of whether its an accurate response. Self reported responses when theres a carrot being dangled are likely to have a big dose of bias. 2. Theyve only measured the short run so far. Incentives have a huge positive impact at the beginning but then come to be assimilated into workers expectations and lose their shine.3. If every organisation does it, then this organisation will lose its unique appeal for staff; they wont feel quite so much like they win the lottery and the business will lose its competitive advantage. Setting this aside, bring on a four day week for all of us! Id beat down the door to work for any company that offers a four day week at the same rate of pay as five.
Id prefer NZ found a different way to prop up our economy than completely ruining our environment with cows, cow s**t and cow abuse. Dirty dairying is Nationals legacy and its disgusting the impact it has had on our waterways. As for cows in McKenzie, what an eye saw. Money, money, money - humans will do anything for it, including destroy the one planet we have to live on. Were a virus, no better than rabbits.
Having worked for the Christchurch City Council, many of the staff are overpaid because theyve been in the same job for so long. Some managers are paid obscene salaries purely due to long service rather than talent. Whats more, theres almost zero accountability in public sector to there are two people employed to do the job of one person in private sector - government could cull half the jobs and it would have few consequences.
Futurists think this type of technology will arrive far sooner than it actually arrives; I suspect driverless buses will be another 20 or 30 years away in NZ given were about that far behind the rest of the world and theyre not in Europe or the USA.
Some of those beliefs that people have are downright dangerous so Im not just going to go, âokay, believe what you wantâ if it involves indoctrination of children into a â˜religion that is fir crackpots.
They are not worth this money by any stretch of the imagination. Most boards fail to oversee the creation of any marketable value into NZ businesses or drive any efficiencies into organisation to improve share value, they do things like give the CEO pay rises and bonuses while the performance of the business is lacklustre, they do â˜rebranding to make it look like theyre doing something. Boards in this country are just head nodding, back scratching men with a token female trying to keep her head above water in a male dominated environment and they sit around a table nodding their heads and laughing all their way to the bank. Its shocking that they getaway with being so inept and yet theyre paid so much. Look at recent performance of Boards like Wynyard, did we see any accountability after hundreds of people lost their jobs. What about Boards of failing universities and Council owned companies that are going nowhere while directors collect huge fees and CEOs get bank rises. This woman is drinking the coolade if she thinks theyre worth more. Like like many people at that level of business, theyre so deep in their own BS and so far up each other ****** that they dont realise how far removed from reality they are in terms of how much value they deliver.
Theres three amazing qualities Ive seen in some men I really admire:1. He walks away from gossip; does not partake. Women whip up storms with a rumour mill so when I meet a man who is discrete and respectful, I think hes a great example for women to learn from. 2. Reliable. Ive known some men that I could trust my life with, who I knew would catch me if I fell every single time. That kind of reliability is incredibly attractive. 3. They encourage a woman to build her own life, to be all that she can be, because they arent afraid to be with their equal. Many men are taught that manliness is linked to how well you look after a woman rather than how much you encourage her to to rise. And of course theres the dealbreakers: must love dogs; be able to hold an interesting conversation; be kind; be trustworthy; and, be a generous lover (between the sheets).
I agree. Ive seen plenty of my own gender (women) do some pretty nasty things to make and female coworkers, in particular playing the victim and spreading undermining gossip and rumours. NZ has a serious problem of workplace bullying, harassment and biases in recruitment and advancing staff - it happens at all levels and both genders are perpetrators and both genders are victims. I think this is less a gender issue and more a personality type issue. People in positions of power are often extroverted A-types and among this slice of the population there is a higher proportion of excessively entitled, self-promoting and competitive personalities who tend to think they can do as they please. It would be great if wed stop promoting these types of people into powerful positions given they tend to get there on charm rather than any real talent and they tend to have a higher number of personality traits that tend to abuse power.
There lies the problem Bellgirl, the tension between âprotect the companyâ and dont allow bullying - HR protects the company by blaming the victim, further victimising the victim, and protecting the bully, because the bully is usually at the top or employed by an even bigger bully further up.Almost every bully I have seen in a workplace is protected by the CEO (because theyre loyal to the CEO) and HR.
Frankly, I am sceptical that a counsellor said this. When people are consumed with hurt, anger and bitterness they hear things in distorted ways. No trained counsellor would ever say this. I suspect she is distorting it based on her own mindset.
I think Don and Lauren are poles apart on the freedom of speech debate. Don does not make ludicrous claims for media attention and to simply to rattle cages, he also listens to other points of view and is considered in is responses. Lauren is a bully with a one track mind. Lauren makes empirical claims that are not 1, in other words she lies about the empirical evidence or lack thereof. Lauren distorts claims about things like âwhere most women would prefer to beâ (she can cite no evidence fir women preferring to be in the kitchen and yet she is stating it as if there is evidence). Lauren lists average IQ for each race yet it is a well established fact that IQ tests are a poor indicator of intellect and biased towards a western education. I wouldnt trust an IQ test and Ive studied them at university. Lauren was defamatory/slanderous about Allah by making claims about his sexuality that can be neither proven or not proven and are therefore intended to incite conflict for some unknown reason like she finds it amusing or ages just being a child and having a dig (Im a staunch atheist so Im not defending Islam but rather that Laurens insult in this case is an abuse of free speech). Don is using reasoning, Lauren is just a pseudo-intellectual using flawed arguments and distorted facts and poor justification to push a decisive agenda, get attention and berate anyone who challenges her. She faux listens and instead uses â˜question time at rallies as a way to pretend to listen and then jump on her soapbox and rant. I wouldnt give her a moment of my time because I think shes a bully. Lauren is propaganda- âtell a lie, make it big enough, repeat it often and eventually they (the common folk) will believe it.â Hitlers propaganda team said that; he thought â˜common folk were stupid; Lauren is using the same approach, shes rallying people who are quick to believe propaganda. Don is a smart man with an agenda and some good arguments to back it up. I dont agree with everything he says but I do think he is using freedom of speech in the manner in which Mill intended it be used when he developed his thesis is response to the church persecuting people who spoke up against it. Lauren is an attention seeking brat with faux intellect and poorly constructed arguments that rely on assertions and are not clearly justified. Id consider her arguments lesser/weaker than most first year philosophy students come up with in essays.
A $1.3M touch screen in our library is also not important but unfortunately the CCC Libraries Spaces and Places team spend public money on their own personal pet projects.
I agree JIB and I think your scepticism is healthy. My facts maybe wrong, which is the point Im making. We ought to all be careful about taking sides without hearing all sides and weighing up the evidence. Some peoples â˜evidence involves using emotive language like â˜vicious abuse and then people wade in with âoh my, poor you, thats awful,â but theyre responding to the language and the story not the facts.
Danny, write an article. Your comment is one-third the way there so go for it. As a woman, Id like to read the male perspective more often. Instead of hearing men moan about the lack of articles geared at men...or moan about women writing articles about the mans perspective...perhaps a few more me could put fingers to keyboard and hey presto, problem solved.
If someone asks me to a cafe, restaurant or to catch up and they start to check emails, text messages or a social media account, I politely wrap things up. I think not engaging with the human across the table from you is the height of rudeness...Followed closely buy interrupting someones story with oh, I saw that on Facebook, which pretty much goes for everyones life these days so why meet and talk at all, given no one has anything to share that isnt already on Facebook.Social media is BS and so is obsessing over whats on a screen instead of engaging with the real world.
Prestige, you add nothing to the discussion by comparing boys with girls, the article is about boys not about both genders. Perhaps think about whether you are adding anything to the discussion before commenting, or you just sound like a moaner trying to inflame a pointless gender debate.
Im not going to respect my parents â˜no matter what they do, even if its right or wrong. If one of my parents assaulted someone, stole, defrauded, lied, was mean spirited or not someone I particularly like, Im not going to fulfil some sense of duty to respect them. Respect us earned not a right you have just because youre a parent. We dont choose our parents and we dont choose to be born.
Trump supporters in NZ leave me wondering what the world is coming to. Furthermore, I detest the Trumpian term fake news. Its a slap down term for ignorant souls who cant pull apart the argument or the evidence with any rigour. Its like a child in the playground shouting it wasnt me, he did it without an ounce of evidence.
The problem with â˜gay conversion therapy is that it implies that being gay is a choice, that being gay can be converted and that being gay requires therapy. The label is riddled with judgement and bias. Do we have:1. Depression conversion therapy 2. Bipolar conversion therapy3. Heterosexual conversion therapy 4. Anxiety conversion therapy The label implies judgment, it implies theres something wrong with you and that you need converting. Its just awful. Im a straight white female, is there a conversion therapy for me? No! Because Im acceptable apparently, Im not in need of conversion. Lets get out of the pre-1990s and stop with this conservative judgment on people. As for why this topic is both public and relevant, its because we marginalise people who dont conform to social conventions. Unless we bring these conversations out of the shadows or closet, people who do not conform will be offered CONVERSION THERAPY.
True. But sometimes thats a throwaway line. Most people wont listen to someone unless they concede some ground or acknowledge some flaws of their own, but it doesnt mean they are owning their contribution to the problem - acknowledging fault can be a way to drawn people in to the dialogue - âIm not perfect, Ive made my mistakes...BUT...let me tell you how awful my daughter is,â and people are drawn into her version of events. Maybe her daughter is awful, maybe shes not, maybe the mother cant see the impact of her behaviour on her daughter. But nevertheless, theres two sides. In my experience, people who moan about vague and subjective mistreatment are often holier than thou types playing the victim to get sympathy or attention.
Divorce doesnt ruin lives. How you handle a divorce CAN ruin lives. Some people handle divorce with maturity, they accept that love can come to an end and that how they handle that end will either not ruin lives or ruin lives - that goes for the leaver and the leavee. Some people see the end of a marriage as a new beginning or an opportunity, others see it as destroying lives - I guess it depends what kind of attitude you have to change.
Venice? Thats one hell of a stretch! Venice is an archipelago of islands connected by channels and has thousands of years of history and architecture. How on earth can you see any parallels?
Thinkagain, that still does not give Christchurch thousands of years of history as a merchant town built atop an archipelago with canals. It makes us a wetland with 200 years of history as a agricultural village with a hint of old English conservatism and a few post-quake buildings that make it look like Frankfurt post being bombed to rubble...a soulless concrete jungle.
Whoa people, I think youre confounding what the media are doing with what Jacinda is doing. I dont think she is driving all these articles, the media is and I doubt think she wants all the attention on her, however she has to find a balance of keeping the media content and meeting her own needs given she is a public figure, I.e., elected as the PM of NZ. I dont think Jacinda things shes special, I think the media does and being the first PM in the history of humanity to have a first child in her tenure, I suspect theres a great deal of global curiosity. Whats more, it does suggest that we are a progressive nation although, reading the comments on Stuff, many kiwis dont sound that progressive at all. In fact some comments make me wonder if many NZers are conservative old foggies who think a womans place is in the kitchen or the nursery. If you dont like the stories, dont read them, skip over them, like any other story youre not interested in.
There are always exceptions that disprove the rules. Most, not all, children at these schools come from privileged white families with wealthy grandparents or parents. These children get a sanitised version of an education where they dont have to overcome the challenges that children in public schools have to deal with - overcrowded classrooms, disruptive children, children from poverty and lack of resources. My husband and I are wealthy and so are our parents but we wont take money from our parents at our age to fund our childrens education and we dont want our children to be educated in a sugar coated and sanitised school system where they are protected and given the best of everything. We want them to learn humility and that they are not special, not entitled to more, and that they have to pull up their own bootstraps to make it in life. We looked at sending them to St Margarets and St Andrews but the thought of our kids being educated in a bubble was not what we wanted for them. We want our kids to learn how to make it in a world that is not perfectly curated for their success, that way, when they do succeed, they did it without being wrapped in cotton wool.
1. If your taste in men is no grey hair and no potbelly, then dont go on a second date. Pretty easy really. 2. How late? 10 minutes? 30 minutes? I dont care if someone is ten-minutes late for a one hour catch up, I just leave at the same time I planned to leave and entertain myself for the time I was waiting (not by ranting on Stuff but by reading the news). I allocated that time to be there, how I spend that time doesnt really bother me. But then I think people who obsess over grammar, lateness, the way their containers face in their pantry and others peoples inadequacies are self-righteous, holier than thou hypocrites who might want to look at thy log in thy own eye.
Maybe you should hear both sides of the story before deciding whether it is â˜vicious abuse. This woman is using emotionally charged language that makes me wonder whether shes playing the victim. Id be keen to hear the daughters version of events.
Most of the depressed and anxious people that I know do not exercise because depression robs you of energy and do not eat well because anxiety makes them crave fatty and salty, sweet or carb laden feel good foods that give them an upper. Thats a tough cycle for them to break because their low mood contributes to the bad habits and the bad habit contributors to the low mood. I have sympathy for them. We need more mental health services that find ways to get depressed and anxious people moving and eating well instead of popping Prozac. My mother has been on antidepressants for about 20-years and its robbed her of her warmth. She needs the drugs to survive but I cant help wondering if shed only used the pills for a year and focused on getting active and eating well over that time and then stopped the pills, then she wouldnt have become a hardened old woman whose critical of everyone.
In five years? Its been eight years since the first quake and we still have a huge number of vacant lots, a city that looks like scattered jigsaw pieces and a Council hellbent on spending public money ($1.3M) in touch screens for libraries (a place for books) instead of repairing roads, giving us drinkable water and creating an affordable place to live (50% rates rises within ten years). Christchurch will be an expensive place to live and will remain in pieces for at least another eight years. I look forward to leaving and maybe coming back in a decade or so, when itll resemble a city again.
Anything? Anything at all? All I have to do is want it? I want a $50M injection of cash into my business, can I have it? I want lots of things but I cant bend the world, the law, other people, life, to my Will. Its a stupid saying, âanything you want you can make happen.â If that were 1, every business would run at huge profits. If are you suggesting the owner didnt really want profits? There are always external and unforeseen factors that you cannot control. Statements like yours come from people who think theyre in control; control is an illusion.
Pseudoscience article with even worse pseudoscience comments. Vitamin C is the greatest hoax played out in plain sight in the history of modern medicine. Vitamin C is possibly the most extensively studied vitamin, nutraceutical, complementary / natural medicine in history. We have more scientific data on vitamin C than any other ingredient. The science is solid and the data is of excellent quality and the conclusions in the white paper journal articles are real. In this case; the hoax is actually propagated by the victims of the hoax. It is a crazy situation where a lie or a hypothesis can get all the way around the world before the truth gets its pants on. It is the general public with old, wrong information, assumptions and marketing one liners and ânaturopathicâ rules and anecdotal reports that are insisting on using vitamin C at the wrong dose for the wrong reason. In this case the hoax is not created and propagated by âthe manâ or âbig pharmaâ they are just supplying the demand.
Quotas are not the answer but making extinct the misogynistic and macho males from the top tier might help solve most of the problems for both the men and women who report to them. The type of a%^*holes that end up at the top table have a tendency to bully men who arent macho enough and disadvantage women who are assertive, because they still hold an attitude that women should be agreeable and men should be able to posture like a peacock.
I agree SillyKiwi, this is a sad day for women in Argentina. Its sad that there will be backyard abortions that cost women their lives or babies born that arent wanted and end up in a state system when a foetus could have been terminated and all the consequences of unwanted pregnancies couldve be avoided. Undoubtedly the decision was made by men who are religious given Argentina is a patriarchal society with church at the top. I really would like to see religion come to a natural end in my lifetime - I would go to my grave smiling and hopeful about humanitys future. Religion is the worst thing man ever created.
25 years ago I reduced carbs on the advice of a book called The Nutrition Bible; it wasnt called Keto or clean eating or gluten-free or paleo, which are all catchy marketing terms to flog products to consumers...it was just called eating nutritiously. Refined carbs and sugar have long been considered a source of empty calories that taste yummy but dont fill you up or offer any nutritional value to your body. Its just different terminology for different times. Marketers get hold of stuff and turn it into an entire industry to get consumers to part with more cash than they need to.
A friend of mine is overweight but does 5km and 10km running races, competed in Le Race and is fitter than most healthy weight people I know. Ive never seen her eat McDs or any takeaways. Shes overweight for a few reasons I suspect, one being that eats quite large meals, but the food is healthy (home cooked, salads, veges) and two, her family are all genetically quite a strong/large build. I dont think she deserves your contempt. I think for her to be thin shed have to eat torturously small meals and get new genetics, neither of which sound realistic. Maybe its unrealistic for some people to be skinny. Maybe some larger people are fit and healthy but just dont look it due to social norms and some skinny people have a disgusting diet and dont exercise and will die young but they just look healthy on the outside. I just think youre an Ill informed bigot.
I dont think Im better than most immigrants to NZ, however I do think that my positive attitude and the fact that I dont use sarcasm to tear people down makes me a better person than the Brits in my workplace who are kind of mean and negative.
I would prefer our TV was not visible unless its in use. We have a small home, so making it inconspicuous is difficult. We have looked into all sorts of ways to hide it in the ceiling and walls using cabinets and mounting systems. Id love to have the fortitude to live with a TV at all.
Id prefer to give kids time, love, sport, music, books, education, play with whatever is on hand and adventures... pretty much anything other than discretionary consumer goods. All that stuff we teach our kids to buy is just trinkets and baubles that serve as distractions, make you poor and end up gathering dust or in landfill.
I think Sam is delightful, particularly since she got the acting lessons and came out of her shell. Even on the news she seems lighter and breezier. Shes graceful and elegant and my favourite.
Even if I was worth $10million I wouldnt send my kids to a private school. I want my children to be able to relate to their peers from all walks of life, to have humility and to establish their own networks and way in the world. Private schools raise kids with silver spoons in their mouths and a narrow view of the world.
Actually, the link between meat and developing cancer is tenuous at best. The book Tropic of Capricorn is a biography of cancer and the single biggest factor is inflammation, so if you want to reduce the risk of cancer, dont do things that inflame cells in the body, which can be a multitude of things.
Surely Society has moved on from the concept of patriarchy to one of equality? My husband is my equal, my team mate, my partner, he is not the head of the house and I am not subservient to him. Men who want patriarchy are weak, they need power imposed by traditions, whereas men who value equality, who see their mothers, wives and daughters as their equals, are strong, they dont need inequality or power, they earn mutual respect.
As much as I dont hold Liannes mayoral tenure in much regard, I dont think shes lacking smarts given she has a four year professional degree under her belt and a career that required a reasonable IQ. I commend her for saying she doesnt think a Mayor should be paid that much given they dont have much power.
I cal BS on this comment. Im not a gullible as the 17 upticks it got from people who will believe any wildly exaggerated story on the internet. Firstly, a large company would not risk one of those men making a formal complaint or, as you have just proven, talking to other people about the nature of the meeting. Secondly, women are underrepresented in executive roles relative to their qualifications, experience and presence in the workforce (many women dont leave careers to have babies) so, if this type of meeting was happening then we wouldnt see so much underrepresentation, would we? Your comment reads like someone making stuff up and these types of unsubstantiated comments fan the flames and conflict between the genders. It would be great if men and women could help each other out to solve each genders issues in terms of workplace equality and how people are treated at work, irrespective of their gender. For example, bullying is not a gender issue and plenty of quiet but capable men get overlooked for promotions because they arent as loud, brash and self promoting as colleagues who often do rise to the top.
I find it a little vulgar seeing a software company exploit this situation to build their public profile. I suspect they might be gearing up for an â˜initial public offering and this is good PR. I prefer the attitude of the dive team, who were humble, didnt seek out attention, adoration or hero status for their contribution and instead made it about rescuing the boys.
Simon seems like a nice enough guy but Im a bit tired of hearing about his personal circumstances and now his views on who shouldve won Dwts. Sure, I dont have to look at the headline or read the article but it seems like theres a lot of effort going into keeping him relevant.
I dont think we should stifle freedom of speech, but I think we ought to be very clear about what constitutes opinion, what constitutes gossip and what constitutes fact and truth. We ought to be able to debate the opinions of others freely and be mindful of dangerous opinions gathering momentum because they use scepticism as a means to undermine the facts and the truth, for example, Trump uses the term fake news to undermine facts and in creating doubt many people now dont believe the facts/truth despite them being evident. Lastly, I do think we have a right to set boundaries, for example, I wont allow people to yell at me, hit me, steel from me, abuse me or treat me poorly. I will either ask the to stop or walk away, or if necessary, use force to stop them. Perhaps it is a councils right to set a boundary on who uses the property owned by the council and it is the councils right, as publicly elected politicians, to make decisions for its constituents? The council did not say these people werent allowed in NZ, they didnt say they werent allowed to speak, they just said that you cant use our venue to do so, implying that they should find somewhere else to speak. Is this a basic right to determine who uses our property? For example, wont allow a racist, homophobic or sexist bigot in my house but they can have their freedom of speech somewhere else, just not on my turf so to speak. I dont want those sort of beliefs tainting my home environment but Im interested to hear how people can come to believe some of the things they do believe. Lastly, we ought to be careful in allowing freedom of speech that to 90% of people who are followers, who can be convinced of anything if their is a compelling enough speaker, dont end up taking away our freedoms because they end up voting in some nut case like they did in America. Theres a great number of ignorant people out there who need things like Gods and leaders like Trump.
Petone cafe owner upset at being attacked by mums with prams
What an absurd over-reaction - â˜discrimination my a**e. â˜Ethical practices...what or whos ethical practices? Yours? Im tired of hearing how hard it is for mums. Tens of thousands of years of raising kids without all the moaning and now we have a generation who do nothing but moan about how they cant take a trailer-sized pram into a cafe. Its not all about you.
Struggle to fill role with lifestyle perks in Tokoroa
Who would want to work fir a Council? For starters, its a career killer if you ever want to return to the commercial sector. Secondly, working for a Council is a slow death from professional depression as you watch your motivation fade from the inability to get anything done as you hit endless bureaucratic brick walls because no o e can make a decision in those places. Working for a Council is like working in your own tomb.
Council releases $1.2m cost of library touch wall as Attorney-General demands 'urgent' action over secrecy
The spin coming out of the council building defies belief; I think they actually believe the weasel words theyre peddling. If someone tells me they work for CCC, I think theyre either so incompetent no one else will employ them or so desperate for work because no one else will employ them.
Faith to Faithless: The group that supports people who no longer believe
Eventually, I hope reason and our continuously improving our knowledge of our universe and ourselves brings an end to religion - I would see this as a great step for humankind.
We want free range eggs right up to the point of buying them
Im with you Radix, we took up the same tenet a few years ago with meat and eggs and weve never looked back. Like you, we now eat less meat but we eat quality ... its given us smaller waste lines as well as guilt free eating. Weve also extended it to clothing and plastics - we dont buy seasonal fashion, we buy glass containers that we reuse and we avoid plastic toys for kids and dogs. Weve minimised our belongings and for any new item into the house, we give away, recycle, upcycle or, if theres no other option, dispose of an old item. Life is so much more pleasant with less stuff and taking a more ethical approach to food and consumer goods.
US's Satanic Temple takes Baphomet statue to State House for free speech rally
This satanic dude makes one good argument, âIf were going to have one religious monument we ought to allow them all or none at all;â my vote is for none at all!
Rate rises continually outstrip incomes and inflation - do they need an overhaul?
CCC use public money in the most irresponsible ways conceivable like:1. Restoring the Cathedral (a religious building (over 50% of residents are agnostic or atheist) owned by a tax exempt organisation (surely they get enough financial benefits already) - potential saving to rate payers of $10m or more. 2. $1.3M touchscreen - surely this is a luxury item for a city that needs its water pumps fixed and potholes repaired. Send it back and get a refund. Hold the Places and Spaces Manager publicly accountable. Savings $1M. 3. A stadium - nice to have but not essential. We could become a city that has a point if difference rather than being yet another urban centre with a conference centre and stadium - its unimaginative spending. Savings, $1b on these two projects. 4. The salaries of the CEO of City Care and his executive amount to $3M a year for what is essentially a CCC department. If they took City Care back inhouse - given its not worth anything on the commercial market (evidence of how poorly the CEO has done his job) and paid realistic salaries, that would save $2M per annum. Then theres past stupid decisions like buying Ellerslie, sadly we cant get anything back from this. Its easy to see ways that CCC could reduce spending but it would require the counsellors and the holdings company to get a backbone and deal with the people in the council organisations that waste money or cost too much money and to stop spending on things we dont want or need.
The truth about living in France according to Kiwis who live there
The same can be said of most countries, including NZ - some people move to NZ and make a new and better life, others feel unwelcome and unsafe. Maybe it depends on the person as well as the country.
Council releases $1.2m cost of library touch wall as Attorney-General demands 'urgent' action over secrecy
Im with you eddierob. Im disgusted by this council; nothing but contempt for them.
Supermarket owners banking super profits, NBR Rich List shows
NZ is a duopoly in food retail so as long as theres not three players in the market, were doomed to pay extortionate prices for food while farmers make a pittance and cut corners in animal welfare and environmental guardianship to survive. I buy from butchers, growers and bakers to avoid these crooks.
How veganism changes your body from day one
We eat meat in our house but probably about a quarter of the amount we used to a d we only eat free range meat and eggs. We considered going vegetarian because we are animal lovers (not just pet lovers) but we also think meat is an important part of our diet. Our middle ground was to eat less meat and source it from places that give the animals the best possible life.
Rethink for Sir Bob Parker's luxury Cranmer Gardens apartments
Christchurch isnt a great city but instead a large town thats missing a CBD, has munted roads, rising rates, terrible water, and no ability to attracts any shows or events - the costs outweigh the benefits. Weve become a big Ashburton.
Auckland: NZ's most leave-able city?
I am amazed too...at how bad Stuff has become at publishing articles with numerous typos and that its got so bad that readers now no longer comment. It makes Stuff look pretty amateur compared to an actual newspaper and the journalists clearly have no pride in their work.
Pike River re-entry could cost $12m more than $23m budget, minister says
Im with you Bianca, this is not the best use of public money. I feel for the families but I think their need for this to happen to quell their hurt is coming at a cost to the greater good for NZers.
Faith to Faithless: The group that supports people who no longer believe
dsss123, this is a blatant lie. Using â˜free speech guidelines to get away with publishing theological propaganda is manipulative, especially given no such laws deny you stating empirical facts about death rates due to war or atrocities or as you emotively label it for effect, â˜bloodshed. The countries with the most crimes against humanity are those where religion is pervasive and entrenched in both the political and education systems like the Middle East, Northern Africa and India. In most recent history theres Myanmar and Bosnia not to mention the East Bank. In these countries, people are killed in the name of religion every day - for believing in a different God, for being gay, for going outside without a chaperone, etc. then theres the crimes like those hidden by the Catholic Church. In predominantly atheist countries (eg. Scandinavia), there is less crime, more civil rights, fewer violations of human rights and a surprisingly high level of peace between people if diverse ideas. They also have the highest numbers of educated women, because atheists dont see women as in need of subjugation.
Dear Mary-anne: How can I stop my daughter's abuse?
Theres two sides to every story; Id be interested to hear the daughters perspective before wading in too deep.Ive heard my 73 year old mother tell her friends stories about how her children mistreat her and years ago she sent me an email laden with 0 accusations about how I did x, y, z and it was quite disturbing seeing just how distorted the facts had become due to how she views the world as a chronically depressed woman. When I look back on my mothers life, its full of â˜woe am I stories and a â˜everyone is mean to me but Im so good to them attitude combined with harsh judgment of people behind their backs - shes like her mother was. I spent decades trying to find a way to have a healthy relationship with her. Some people like this - they get sympathy and attention from being this way so it reinforces the behaviour and people lap up their stories without getting the facts. I avoid my mother now.
Ombudsman asks Attorney-General to take action against Christchurch council for touch wall cost secrecy
Major libraries in the world arent in cities with earthquake damage, like roads, not repaired seven years later. The person with authorised that spending out to be fired for lack of fiduciary responsibility with public money, particularly at a time when basic needs are not being met and ratepayers are dealing with huge rates hikes. The person who authorised this, and the people involved in advocating for it, clearly have no care for the people of this city, the only care about installing stupid monuments to their own pet projects.
Faith to Faithless: The group that supports people who no longer believe
Me too! ... Humankinds reason.â˜Mans logic suggests your still back in the dark ages where we called all people with reasoning skill â˜man and all people without were â˜women. Maybe sell your horse and cart and evolve with the rest of us.
Hospital questions child on pregnancy status
Um...there are lots of things in life that will make people â˜feel icky but that doesnt mean society has to adapt to everyones â˜ick factor. This child is going to end up a snowflake if this kind of thing wings her out. Some kids at 11 are dealing with a lot more than â˜is there any chance you could be pregnant? When going for an x-ray?
Uni students told to switch off laptops, smartphones during lectures
Im with you PamA. Students tapping on a keyboard during a tutorial or lecture is very annoying - tap, tap, tap. Screens flickering with Facebook, Instagram or worse, video games and You Tube movies, is very distracting, rude and inconsiderate - just dont go to the lecture in the first place, no one cares of you are there or not, Id prefer you werent there. Checking phones every few minutes is a bit tragic - cant you sit still and engage your ears and brain for 50-minutes?! These young students are doomed due to their inability to focus an how easily distracted their are. Set a higher standard and make students work for their grade. My favourite professor is a woman who is intimidatingly whip smart and stern but I want to please her, I want to do work that earns an A from her...because her standards are so high, I know an A means an A.
Major water management reform could take responsibility for drinking water from councils
Stupid idea! Centralising rarely works, it just creates a monstrous mess of bureaucrats applying a one size fits all approach.
Coerced sex work a significant problem in New Zealand
Its good that someone did a PhD about it then I guess.
Should we leave dog poo in our post-plastic fantastic world?
We do the same. Nothing to debate. If you dont pick up your dog poo youre being grubby and gross.
Struggle to fill role with lifestyle perks in Tokoroa
â˜Serve the community ... thats hilarious with those salaries.
Pike River re-entry could cost $12m more than $23m budget, minister says
Showytime, I agree, public money is used in ways that are not what some tax payers want and what other tax payers do want. My concern is that spending the millions on bringing home the Pike River victims is an emotional decision to help ease the angst of the families rather than a rational decision that can help move things forward. These families have not got justice and they, understandably, are hurt and angered. Seeing exorbitant amounts of money spent to retrieve the bodies may ease that hurt somewhat, as a sort of restorative justice, but it is not going to change anything. Where this money ought to be spent (roads, nurses, Obama visits) is not really whats up for discussion and neither is what projects shouldnt be funded - they are broad policy discussions. Personally, Id rather see legal justice for the families in terms of prosecution of those who neglected to ensure the safety of their family members and for the money to be spent in the community helping to create jobs or schools or whatever the community feels will help move it forward. Speaking from experience, I think there comes a time for acceptance, forgiveness and letting go, for allowing yourself to move forward. The people we lose under tragic circumstances dont want us to spend our lives fighting for past wrongdoings, if they were alive, theyd want us to live, find happiness, live the lives they didnt get to live instead of fighting through each day.
Young people 'expect to end up poorer' but it's not all gloom
The millennials have done a fine job convincing their grandparents to skip a generation in terms of handing down their capital so I suspect Gen X (born 1960s to 1970s) will end up with the most difficult time in old age being wedged between the two largest generations making the most noise (Boomers and Millennials). In every generation theres moaners and go-getters, lazy turds and those who are motivated. The only thing Ive noticed with Millennials is that many seem to want cool jobs or fun jobs whereas previous generations expected to metaphorically work in the coal mines to survive.
Do men really have it easier? These transgender guys found the truth was more complex
I cannot understand why people would downvote your comment. Most people are just trying to make their way through life the best way they know how and, it seems, often the biggest obstacles to being happy as we all try our best to navigate the minefield of life can be the preconceived ideas and judgments of others. I am a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white, straight woman, so I have it pretty easy compared to most minority groups, yet I still experience harmful judgment from people who have no idea who I am and have never bothered to ask, as do most people. It would be such a nicer world if we could just be kinder, more tolerant and seek to understand others instead of wading in on people, their lives and their choices with our judgments.
Struggle to fill role with lifestyle perks in Tokoroa
Jeez, youre overpaid AngryBird! How on earth does someone â˜serving their community get paid in the top 0.05% of the population and then justify that massive income when outside their door are people who cant afford heating in Winter because of rates increases that exceed incomes? Youre bragging just about your income and influence is unbecoming and reiterates how why people dislike people â˜in power like yourself. I dont work for a Council, I lobby for community groups, charitable trusts and organisations trying to improve the living standards of many low and middle income earners in NZ who are being screwed on all sides by government agencies abusing public money to pay for their salaries, junkets and...what did you say...your lifestyle job. Id say I have influence and I serve. You exploit.
NZ Ambassador to Trump's Washington recalled
It wreaks of a boys club. Wreaks of a bunch of butt kissing, rugby, racing and beer bromances. Makes me ill reading the lack of age, gender and ethnic diversity in these positions. NZ is normally a reasonably progressive country but clearly this notion hasnt reached MFAT.
Cafes across New Zealand say Faith & Co's buggy ban is not the norm
Given the ratio of people with wheelchairs or scooters to people with prams is lower, and people with prams group together when they go out, Id say at any given time in a cafe one or two wheelchairs is not going to have the same effect as seven prams...unless theres a gather of people who use wheelchairs. Its not the same. Pram users go out together in groups of three or four or more and they clutter up cafes with these huge pieces of equipment butted up against all the tables around them. And where theres a pram...theres a child young enough to need that pram. And that means noise, incessant wriggling and moaning about wanting to leave. I dont think people who use wheelchairs or mobility scooters do this.
How veganism changes your body from day one
Do you mean a sausage or a â˜sausage?
Customers call out companies on unnecessary waste and use of plastic
Im with you Helen. The people who claim to care about the environment are importing cheap plastic products, heavily packaged, from China instead of paying for quality and buying glass or wood or finding alternatives. It stuns me how many plastic toys for babies, children and dogs are coming in from China and presumably getting thrown into landfill a year later. Surely there are other ways to entertain your human and furry family members without buying all these plastic widgets.
Petone cafe owner upset at being attacked by mums with prams
I agree Scrambled Eggs. Every second weekend, I go for a walk with my neighbours kids and my dog so that their parents get an hour of downtime. We walk about 1km, when normally Id walk about 5kms on my own. The kids walk slowly and are curious about everything but its nice to slow down, not care how long it takes or whether we get from A to B. I think parents need to slow down, get their little kids walking, even if it takes ages to get from the car to the cafe, does it matter if its a slow journey? Is t the point to enjoy them rather than rush rush rush and be busy busy busy?
Refugee escapes genocide to be given HIV 'death sentence' in New Zealand
I agree Dave, Rwanda is an amazing example of a progressive nation on many fronts including gender equality, infrastructure development, tourism development and environmental governance, fir example, you cant take any plastic bags across the border because they have seen the impact on waterways and on waste management and landfill so they check your vehicle and bags at the border. In NZ, try to take a plastic bag away from someone and they get up in arms. I found Rwanda a wonderful example of a nation moving forward after a sad and traumatic history that goes back to Belgiums rule.
Cafes across New Zealand say Faith & Co's buggy ban is not the norm
DumptyDo, using a pram is optional; using a wheelchair is not! Having a baby is a choice; being tetraplegic is not! As a Society we have a moral responsibility to ensure people with disabilities are not in any way excluded or marginalised given they did not choose to be in a wheelchair and there are often enough barriers to their inclusiveness put up by people like yourself with ignorant moments like yours. As for mothers, there are a number of choices they can make to be included that a person in a wheelchair cannot make, for example, carrying your child into the cafe instead of using a pram. The person in the wheelchair dies not have a choice to walk or use another means of moving about.
Faith to Faithless: The group that supports people who no longer believe
Holy Bible ought to be shelved in section H...next to Harry Potter.
A secret that should never have happened
Surely the Mayor and CEO and staff knew what was going on with the ombudsman given the news was reporting it. Nothing rips my knickers more than liars and this council has become adept at it. Theyre only interested in protecting their jobs and us, that rate payer, funding their chat salaries and lifelong benefits and pet projects. The Council, the CEO and the senior library staff - Robertson and Thompson - ought to go. Gallows and tomatoes for them.
Octobombs: the octogenarians with no plans to retire
Inspiring and love the attitude of many people in their 70s and 80s these days; many still seem as vibrant as their 40s. They key seems to be to look after your body - stay trim, fit and healthy as much as you can - so that you can still do things and still have energy.Im halfway through my life (mid 40s) and I have already packed a lot in, such that I wonder if the second half might be a disappointment. These type of stories, from people older than my parents, drawn out the fear of ageing and make me embrace it more. The last in the photo is a beautiful older woman.
The big business of baby showers: The mums-to-be spending thousands on Instagram worthy celebrations
Hens nights, weddings, baby showers, christenings...theyre all stupid traditions from a bygone era.
A surprising number of young mums are seeking help for prolapse
Whoa, child birth is horrific.
Dear Mrs Salisbury: I love my husband, but there's this man at work...
If youre no longer in love with your spouses, youve been unhappy in your relationships for a long while and youve tried to make things work at home, then consider ending your marriages first. Not all marriages, or friendships or relationships, are meant to last a lifetime; people change, they grow in different directions and theres no point sacrificing your life out of some sense of duty. Whats more, you spouse deserves to be with someone who loves them rather than someone whos heart (or groin) is wandering elsewhere. I dont want my husband to stay with me out of duty or obligation and if he stops loving me and we cant rekindle that love, surely its best fir everyone just to move on. I dont think we ought to stay in an enduringly unhappy marriage, assuming youve tried to make it work, for the sake of social expectations and/or promises made when you were probably a different person at a different time in life. Wars more, children suffer more, and learn a bad example of love, when they are in a family where the parents dont love each other. Children get through divorce fine, they adapt, if their parents handle any divorce with dignity. Most children wounded by divorce are wounded by the scorned parent being bitter about being left and using the children as a means to punish their ex, which sadly, is all too common.
Four-day working week trial a bonus for working mums
The reason were working longer hours are due to: A: inefficiency in systems, processes and managing people - most managers are technical people with limited skills leading people. B: Lack of prioritisation of work, including not doing some things, and doing unnecessary/trivial projects dictated by mangers who say yes to everything without considering the value of assigning resources to the project. C: the lack of time in flow or deep thinking (being truly productive) due to the number of distractions and disruptions we allow into our working days - meetings, phone, email, talking with colleagues, water cooler chats, etc. D: habitual time filling with multiple small, benign tasks because we lack a clear idea and focus of what we ought to be doing to deliver real value E: lack of autonomy in our work - if you dont feel like master and commander of your own work tasks and outcomes then its easy to have a sort of malaise about ones job When I worked in a corporate office as a manger I achieved very little due to pressures from above to take on all manner of pointless projects that deliver little value, despite me advising them that the projects were pointless, constant disruptions and the inability to carve out chunks of time to get deep into a productive mindset as well as feeling a bit flat about my work as it all seemed trivial and lacking direction. Now the staff I employ and people I collaborate know that I am available in the mornings for meetings, emails, phone calls and that I lock myself in my office for a productive four hours every afternoon. I structure work such that any new projects must be justified against the merits of existing projects and anything new means something must go. My staff play a key role in determining what projects are important and what projects can die. Staff can negotiate their hours, conditions and type of work they want to do that they find fulfilling as long as it meets the needs of the business.
93-year-old former fighter pilot takes to the skies again in South Canterbury
I think youre splitting hairs. Maybe he was recommissioned to a bomber plane.
The four-day working week: Build it and they will hum
I think it would be fantastic for people all over the world to have more time to do things in their lives that are not work-related. Work seems to take such a massive chunk of our lives. The quant. metrics are s great result fir the company however, I think that some of â˜academic research May be flawed: 1. If the workers being surveyed want to keep their four day week theyre going to answer survey questions in the affirmative irrespective of whether its an accurate response. Self reported responses when theres a carrot being dangled are likely to have a big dose of bias. 2. Theyve only measured the short run so far. Incentives have a huge positive impact at the beginning but then come to be assimilated into workers expectations and lose their shine.3. If every organisation does it, then this organisation will lose its unique appeal for staff; they wont feel quite so much like they win the lottery and the business will lose its competitive advantage. Setting this aside, bring on a four day week for all of us! Id beat down the door to work for any company that offers a four day week at the same rate of pay as five.
Greenpeace protests mega dairy conversion in the Mackenzie District
Id prefer NZ found a different way to prop up our economy than completely ruining our environment with cows, cow s**t and cow abuse. Dirty dairying is Nationals legacy and its disgusting the impact it has had on our waterways. As for cows in McKenzie, what an eye saw. Money, money, money - humans will do anything for it, including destroy the one planet we have to live on. Were a virus, no better than rabbits.
IRD and MBIE workers stop work in favour of better pay provisions
Having worked for the Christchurch City Council, many of the staff are overpaid because theyve been in the same job for so long. Some managers are paid obscene salaries purely due to long service rather than talent. Whats more, theres almost zero accountability in public sector to there are two people employed to do the job of one person in private sector - government could cull half the jobs and it would have few consequences.
Shakeup planned for Christchurch's public transport network
Futurists think this type of technology will arrive far sooner than it actually arrives; I suspect driverless buses will be another 20 or 30 years away in NZ given were about that far behind the rest of the world and theyre not in Europe or the USA.
In defence of... Tom Cruise, a criminally underrated star
Some of those beliefs that people have are downright dangerous so Im not just going to go, âokay, believe what you wantâ if it involves indoctrination of children into a â˜religion that is fir crackpots.
Report shows directors' pay has risen again, but so did their hours
They are not worth this money by any stretch of the imagination. Most boards fail to oversee the creation of any marketable value into NZ businesses or drive any efficiencies into organisation to improve share value, they do things like give the CEO pay rises and bonuses while the performance of the business is lacklustre, they do â˜rebranding to make it look like theyre doing something. Boards in this country are just head nodding, back scratching men with a token female trying to keep her head above water in a male dominated environment and they sit around a table nodding their heads and laughing all their way to the bank. Its shocking that they getaway with being so inept and yet theyre paid so much. Look at recent performance of Boards like Wynyard, did we see any accountability after hundreds of people lost their jobs. What about Boards of failing universities and Council owned companies that are going nowhere while directors collect huge fees and CEOs get bank rises. This woman is drinking the coolade if she thinks theyre worth more. Like like many people at that level of business, theyre so deep in their own BS and so far up each other ****** that they dont realise how far removed from reality they are in terms of how much value they deliver.
Men talk to men about being men
Theres three amazing qualities Ive seen in some men I really admire:1. He walks away from gossip; does not partake. Women whip up storms with a rumour mill so when I meet a man who is discrete and respectful, I think hes a great example for women to learn from. 2. Reliable. Ive known some men that I could trust my life with, who I knew would catch me if I fell every single time. That kind of reliability is incredibly attractive. 3. They encourage a woman to build her own life, to be all that she can be, because they arent afraid to be with their equal. Many men are taught that manliness is linked to how well you look after a woman rather than how much you encourage her to to rise. And of course theres the dealbreakers: must love dogs; be able to hold an interesting conversation; be kind; be trustworthy; and, be a generous lover (between the sheets).
Fat to fit: Christchurch man's body transformation
Awesome effort! Great story of a balanced and moderate approach. Well done.
Michelle Duff: The five women who brought a firm to its knees
I agree. Ive seen plenty of my own gender (women) do some pretty nasty things to make and female coworkers, in particular playing the victim and spreading undermining gossip and rumours. NZ has a serious problem of workplace bullying, harassment and biases in recruitment and advancing staff - it happens at all levels and both genders are perpetrators and both genders are victims. I think this is less a gender issue and more a personality type issue. People in positions of power are often extroverted A-types and among this slice of the population there is a higher proportion of excessively entitled, self-promoting and competitive personalities who tend to think they can do as they please. It would be great if wed stop promoting these types of people into powerful positions given they tend to get there on charm rather than any real talent and they tend to have a higher number of personality traits that tend to abuse power.
When your boss is a bully, don't sit there and take it
There lies the problem Bellgirl, the tension between âprotect the companyâ and dont allow bullying - HR protects the company by blaming the victim, further victimising the victim, and protecting the bully, because the bully is usually at the top or employed by an even bigger bully further up.Almost every bully I have seen in a workplace is protected by the CEO (because theyre loyal to the CEO) and HR.
Being left out of her son's life a high price to pay
Frankly, I am sceptical that a counsellor said this. When people are consumed with hurt, anger and bitterness they hear things in distorted ways. No trained counsellor would ever say this. I suspect she is distorting it based on her own mindset.
Don Brash speaks at boisterous Auckland University debate, punctuated by protests
I think Don and Lauren are poles apart on the freedom of speech debate. Don does not make ludicrous claims for media attention and to simply to rattle cages, he also listens to other points of view and is considered in is responses. Lauren is a bully with a one track mind. Lauren makes empirical claims that are not 1, in other words she lies about the empirical evidence or lack thereof. Lauren distorts claims about things like âwhere most women would prefer to beâ (she can cite no evidence fir women preferring to be in the kitchen and yet she is stating it as if there is evidence). Lauren lists average IQ for each race yet it is a well established fact that IQ tests are a poor indicator of intellect and biased towards a western education. I wouldnt trust an IQ test and Ive studied them at university. Lauren was defamatory/slanderous about Allah by making claims about his sexuality that can be neither proven or not proven and are therefore intended to incite conflict for some unknown reason like she finds it amusing or ages just being a child and having a dig (Im a staunch atheist so Im not defending Islam but rather that Laurens insult in this case is an abuse of free speech). Don is using reasoning, Lauren is just a pseudo-intellectual using flawed arguments and distorted facts and poor justification to push a decisive agenda, get attention and berate anyone who challenges her. She faux listens and instead uses â˜question time at rallies as a way to pretend to listen and then jump on her soapbox and rant. I wouldnt give her a moment of my time because I think shes a bully. Lauren is propaganda- âtell a lie, make it big enough, repeat it often and eventually they (the common folk) will believe it.â Hitlers propaganda team said that; he thought â˜common folk were stupid; Lauren is using the same approach, shes rallying people who are quick to believe propaganda. Don is a smart man with an agenda and some good arguments to back it up. I dont agree with everything he says but I do think he is using freedom of speech in the manner in which Mill intended it be used when he developed his thesis is response to the church persecuting people who spoke up against it. Lauren is an attention seeking brat with faux intellect and poorly constructed arguments that rely on assertions and are not clearly justified. Id consider her arguments lesser/weaker than most first year philosophy students come up with in essays.
Public art fund scrapped in Christchurch City budget
A $1.3M touch screen in our library is also not important but unfortunately the CCC Libraries Spaces and Places team spend public money on their own personal pet projects.
Dear Mary-anne: How can I stop my daughter's abuse?
I agree JIB and I think your scepticism is healthy. My facts maybe wrong, which is the point Im making. We ought to all be careful about taking sides without hearing all sides and weighing up the evidence. Some peoples â˜evidence involves using emotive language like â˜vicious abuse and then people wade in with âoh my, poor you, thats awful,â but theyre responding to the language and the story not the facts.
Hello baby, goodbye me: when motherhood sparks an identity crisis
Danny, write an article. Your comment is one-third the way there so go for it. As a woman, Id like to read the male perspective more often. Instead of hearing men moan about the lack of articles geared at men...or moan about women writing articles about the mans perspective...perhaps a few more me could put fingers to keyboard and hey presto, problem solved.
Westport man ends hunger strike over rates with scrambled egg
Council rates are ridiculously high and increases are outpacing income increases.
The screening process: redefining family time in the digital age
If someone asks me to a cafe, restaurant or to catch up and they start to check emails, text messages or a social media account, I politely wrap things up. I think not engaging with the human across the table from you is the height of rudeness...Followed closely buy interrupting someones story with oh, I saw that on Facebook, which pretty much goes for everyones life these days so why meet and talk at all, given no one has anything to share that isnt already on Facebook.Social media is BS and so is obsessing over whats on a screen instead of engaging with the real world.
Whats it like to grow up male in New Zealand?
Prestige, you add nothing to the discussion by comparing boys with girls, the article is about boys not about both genders. Perhaps think about whether you are adding anything to the discussion before commenting, or you just sound like a moaner trying to inflame a pointless gender debate.
Dear Mary-anne: How can I stop my daughter's abuse?
Im not going to respect my parents â˜no matter what they do, even if its right or wrong. If one of my parents assaulted someone, stole, defrauded, lied, was mean spirited or not someone I particularly like, Im not going to fulfil some sense of duty to respect them. Respect us earned not a right you have just because youre a parent. We dont choose our parents and we dont choose to be born.
Markle's sister says it will be Meghan's fault if their dad dies
Cat up tree story...move on.
Inside the White House's tumultuous stretch of walk backs
Trump supporters in NZ leave me wondering what the world is coming to. Furthermore, I detest the Trumpian term fake news. Its a slap down term for ignorant souls who cant pull apart the argument or the evidence with any rigour. Its like a child in the playground shouting it wasnt me, he did it without an ounce of evidence.
Petition to ban gay conversion therapy presented to Parliament
The problem with â˜gay conversion therapy is that it implies that being gay is a choice, that being gay can be converted and that being gay requires therapy. The label is riddled with judgement and bias. Do we have:1. Depression conversion therapy 2. Bipolar conversion therapy3. Heterosexual conversion therapy 4. Anxiety conversion therapy The label implies judgment, it implies theres something wrong with you and that you need converting. Its just awful. Im a straight white female, is there a conversion therapy for me? No! Because Im acceptable apparently, Im not in need of conversion. Lets get out of the pre-1990s and stop with this conservative judgment on people. As for why this topic is both public and relevant, its because we marginalise people who dont conform to social conventions. Unless we bring these conversations out of the shadows or closet, people who do not conform will be offered CONVERSION THERAPY.
Kiwis' TV pride shows "unsophisticated" style
Thanks AI, yep, thats what I meant. :-)
Christchurch nurses prepare for nationwide strike on either side of the picket
Three days ago an article in the paper said over 3,000 nurses applied for about 400 jobs at the Manakau DHB. It sounds like we have plenty of nurses.
Dear Mary-anne: How can I stop my daughter's abuse?
True. But sometimes thats a throwaway line. Most people wont listen to someone unless they concede some ground or acknowledge some flaws of their own, but it doesnt mean they are owning their contribution to the problem - acknowledging fault can be a way to drawn people in to the dialogue - âIm not perfect, Ive made my mistakes...BUT...let me tell you how awful my daughter is,â and people are drawn into her version of events. Maybe her daughter is awful, maybe shes not, maybe the mother cant see the impact of her behaviour on her daughter. But nevertheless, theres two sides. In my experience, people who moan about vague and subjective mistreatment are often holier than thou types playing the victim to get sympathy or attention.
Dear Mrs Salisbury: I love my husband, but there's this man at work...
Divorce doesnt ruin lives. How you handle a divorce CAN ruin lives. Some people handle divorce with maturity, they accept that love can come to an end and that how they handle that end will either not ruin lives or ruin lives - that goes for the leaver and the leavee. Some people see the end of a marriage as a new beginning or an opportunity, others see it as destroying lives - I guess it depends what kind of attitude you have to change.
Christchurch: Through the eyes of a visitor
Venice? Thats one hell of a stretch! Venice is an archipelago of islands connected by channels and has thousands of years of history and architecture. How on earth can you see any parallels?
Christchurch: Through the eyes of a visitor
Thinkagain, that still does not give Christchurch thousands of years of history as a merchant town built atop an archipelago with canals. It makes us a wetland with 200 years of history as a agricultural village with a hint of old English conservatism and a few post-quake buildings that make it look like Frankfurt post being bombed to rubble...a soulless concrete jungle.
Kiwi mums talk about joys and challenges of returning to work post baby
Whoa people, I think youre confounding what the media are doing with what Jacinda is doing. I dont think she is driving all these articles, the media is and I doubt think she wants all the attention on her, however she has to find a balance of keeping the media content and meeting her own needs given she is a public figure, I.e., elected as the PM of NZ. I dont think Jacinda things shes special, I think the media does and being the first PM in the history of humanity to have a first child in her tenure, I suspect theres a great deal of global curiosity. Whats more, it does suggest that we are a progressive nation although, reading the comments on Stuff, many kiwis dont sound that progressive at all. In fact some comments make me wonder if many NZers are conservative old foggies who think a womans place is in the kitchen or the nursery. If you dont like the stories, dont read them, skip over them, like any other story youre not interested in.
Canadian Diana Patchett the new principal of Christchurch's St Margaret's College
There are always exceptions that disprove the rules. Most, not all, children at these schools come from privileged white families with wealthy grandparents or parents. These children get a sanitised version of an education where they dont have to overcome the challenges that children in public schools have to deal with - overcrowded classrooms, disruptive children, children from poverty and lack of resources. My husband and I are wealthy and so are our parents but we wont take money from our parents at our age to fund our childrens education and we dont want our children to be educated in a sugar coated and sanitised school system where they are protected and given the best of everything. We want them to learn humility and that they are not special, not entitled to more, and that they have to pull up their own bootstraps to make it in life. We looked at sending them to St Margarets and St Andrews but the thought of our kids being educated in a bubble was not what we wanted for them. We want our kids to learn how to make it in a world that is not perfectly curated for their success, that way, when they do succeed, they did it without being wrapped in cotton wool.
Why should I settle for men with beer bellies and man boobs?
1. If your taste in men is no grey hair and no potbelly, then dont go on a second date. Pretty easy really. 2. How late? 10 minutes? 30 minutes? I dont care if someone is ten-minutes late for a one hour catch up, I just leave at the same time I planned to leave and entertain myself for the time I was waiting (not by ranting on Stuff but by reading the news). I allocated that time to be there, how I spend that time doesnt really bother me. But then I think people who obsess over grammar, lateness, the way their containers face in their pantry and others peoples inadequacies are self-righteous, holier than thou hypocrites who might want to look at thy log in thy own eye.
Dear Mary-anne: How can I stop my daughter's abuse?
Maybe you should hear both sides of the story before deciding whether it is â˜vicious abuse. This woman is using emotionally charged language that makes me wonder whether shes playing the victim. Id be keen to hear the daughters version of events.
The exercise that improves your mood
Most of the depressed and anxious people that I know do not exercise because depression robs you of energy and do not eat well because anxiety makes them crave fatty and salty, sweet or carb laden feel good foods that give them an upper. Thats a tough cycle for them to break because their low mood contributes to the bad habits and the bad habit contributors to the low mood. I have sympathy for them. We need more mental health services that find ways to get depressed and anxious people moving and eating well instead of popping Prozac. My mother has been on antidepressants for about 20-years and its robbed her of her warmth. She needs the drugs to survive but I cant help wondering if shed only used the pills for a year and focused on getting active and eating well over that time and then stopped the pills, then she wouldnt have become a hardened old woman whose critical of everyone.
Christchurch: Through the eyes of a visitor
In five years? Its been eight years since the first quake and we still have a huge number of vacant lots, a city that looks like scattered jigsaw pieces and a Council hellbent on spending public money ($1.3M) in touch screens for libraries (a place for books) instead of repairing roads, giving us drinkable water and creating an affordable place to live (50% rates rises within ten years). Christchurch will be an expensive place to live and will remain in pieces for at least another eight years. I look forward to leaving and maybe coming back in a decade or so, when itll resemble a city again.
The four-day working week: Build it and they will hum
Anything? Anything at all? All I have to do is want it? I want a $50M injection of cash into my business, can I have it? I want lots of things but I cant bend the world, the law, other people, life, to my Will. Its a stupid saying, âanything you want you can make happen.â If that were 1, every business would run at huge profits. If are you suggesting the owner didnt really want profits? There are always external and unforeseen factors that you cannot control. Statements like yours come from people who think theyre in control; control is an illusion.
Should I bother taking vitamin C or other supplements for my cold?
Pseudoscience article with even worse pseudoscience comments. Vitamin C is the greatest hoax played out in plain sight in the history of modern medicine. Vitamin C is possibly the most extensively studied vitamin, nutraceutical, complementary / natural medicine in history. We have more scientific data on vitamin C than any other ingredient. The science is solid and the data is of excellent quality and the conclusions in the white paper journal articles are real. In this case; the hoax is actually propagated by the victims of the hoax. It is a crazy situation where a lie or a hypothesis can get all the way around the world before the truth gets its pants on. It is the general public with old, wrong information, assumptions and marketing one liners and ânaturopathicâ rules and anecdotal reports that are insisting on using vitamin C at the wrong dose for the wrong reason. In this case the hoax is not created and propagated by âthe manâ or âbig pharmaâ they are just supplying the demand.
How do people choose their baby's last name - it's more complicated than you think
Why?
Age no barrier for owner selling Devonport 'dolls' house' to follow her dream
As a 45 year old woman, I have notmet many women in my mothers age group who inspire me, who set an example that age is not a barrier. Fantastic.
The man dividend from Genesis' gender equality drive
Quotas are not the answer but making extinct the misogynistic and macho males from the top tier might help solve most of the problems for both the men and women who report to them. The type of a%^*holes that end up at the top table have a tendency to bully men who arent macho enough and disadvantage women who are assertive, because they still hold an attitude that women should be agreeable and men should be able to posture like a peacock.
Argentina Senate rejects legalising elective abortion
I agree SillyKiwi, this is a sad day for women in Argentina. Its sad that there will be backyard abortions that cost women their lives or babies born that arent wanted and end up in a state system when a foetus could have been terminated and all the consequences of unwanted pregnancies couldve be avoided. Undoubtedly the decision was made by men who are religious given Argentina is a patriarchal society with church at the top. I really would like to see religion come to a natural end in my lifetime - I would go to my grave smiling and hopeful about humanitys future. Religion is the worst thing man ever created.
I quit sugar and carbs and accidentally dropped 10kg
25 years ago I reduced carbs on the advice of a book called The Nutrition Bible; it wasnt called Keto or clean eating or gluten-free or paleo, which are all catchy marketing terms to flog products to consumers...it was just called eating nutritiously. Refined carbs and sugar have long been considered a source of empty calories that taste yummy but dont fill you up or offer any nutritional value to your body. Its just different terminology for different times. Marketers get hold of stuff and turn it into an entire industry to get consumers to part with more cash than they need to.
'Wake-up' call study shows 'alarming' increase in obesity rates
A friend of mine is overweight but does 5km and 10km running races, competed in Le Race and is fitter than most healthy weight people I know. Ive never seen her eat McDs or any takeaways. Shes overweight for a few reasons I suspect, one being that eats quite large meals, but the food is healthy (home cooked, salads, veges) and two, her family are all genetically quite a strong/large build. I dont think she deserves your contempt. I think for her to be thin shed have to eat torturously small meals and get new genetics, neither of which sound realistic. Maybe its unrealistic for some people to be skinny. Maybe some larger people are fit and healthy but just dont look it due to social norms and some skinny people have a disgusting diet and dont exercise and will die young but they just look healthy on the outside. I just think youre an Ill informed bigot.
Shifting from the UK: NZ has everything an immigrant needs
I dont think Im better than most immigrants to NZ, however I do think that my positive attitude and the fact that I dont use sarcasm to tear people down makes me a better person than the Brits in my workplace who are kind of mean and negative.
Kiwis' TV pride shows "unsophisticated" style
I would prefer our TV was not visible unless its in use. We have a small home, so making it inconspicuous is difficult. We have looked into all sorts of ways to hide it in the ceiling and walls using cabinets and mounting systems. Id love to have the fortitude to live with a TV at all.
No presents, please: How gift cards initiate children into the world of ‘credit’
Id prefer to give kids time, love, sport, music, books, education, play with whatever is on hand and adventures... pretty much anything other than discretionary consumer goods. All that stuff we teach our kids to buy is just trinkets and baubles that serve as distractions, make you poor and end up gathering dust or in landfill.
Who will take home the almighty Dancing With The Stars glitterball?
I think Sam is delightful, particularly since she got the acting lessons and came out of her shell. Even on the news she seems lighter and breezier. Shes graceful and elegant and my favourite.
Canadian Diana Patchett the new principal of Christchurch's St Margaret's College
Even if I was worth $10million I wouldnt send my kids to a private school. I want my children to be able to relate to their peers from all walks of life, to have humility and to establish their own networks and way in the world. Private schools raise kids with silver spoons in their mouths and a narrow view of the world.
The (vegan) kids are all right
Actually, the link between meat and developing cancer is tenuous at best. The book Tropic of Capricorn is a biography of cancer and the single biggest factor is inflammation, so if you want to reduce the risk of cancer, dont do things that inflame cells in the body, which can be a multitude of things.
How do people choose their baby's last name - it's more complicated than you think
Surely Society has moved on from the concept of patriarchy to one of equality? My husband is my equal, my team mate, my partner, he is not the head of the house and I am not subservient to him. Men who want patriarchy are weak, they need power imposed by traditions, whereas men who value equality, who see their mothers, wives and daughters as their equals, are strong, they dont need inequality or power, they earn mutual respect.
Dr Lance O'Sullivan: Penalise parents who won't vaccinate their kids
Who diagnosed vaccination-onset epilepsy and how? Too often correlation becomes causation. The evidence for causality is almost zero.
Canterbury mayors get pay increases
As much as I dont hold Liannes mayoral tenure in much regard, I dont think shes lacking smarts given she has a four year professional degree under her belt and a career that required a reasonable IQ. I commend her for saying she doesnt think a Mayor should be paid that much given they dont have much power.
Male directors still reign supreme at New Zealand International Film Festival
I cal BS on this comment. Im not a gullible as the 17 upticks it got from people who will believe any wildly exaggerated story on the internet. Firstly, a large company would not risk one of those men making a formal complaint or, as you have just proven, talking to other people about the nature of the meeting. Secondly, women are underrepresented in executive roles relative to their qualifications, experience and presence in the workforce (many women dont leave careers to have babies) so, if this type of meeting was happening then we wouldnt see so much underrepresentation, would we? Your comment reads like someone making stuff up and these types of unsubstantiated comments fan the flames and conflict between the genders. It would be great if men and women could help each other out to solve each genders issues in terms of workplace equality and how people are treated at work, irrespective of their gender. For example, bullying is not a gender issue and plenty of quiet but capable men get overlooked for promotions because they arent as loud, brash and self promoting as colleagues who often do rise to the top.
Kiwi software company helping solve some of the world's biggest environmental issues
I find it a little vulgar seeing a software company exploit this situation to build their public profile. I suspect they might be gearing up for an â˜initial public offering and this is good PR. I prefer the attitude of the dive team, who were humble, didnt seek out attention, adoration or hero status for their contribution and instead made it about rescuing the boys.
Dancing With the Stars: Simon Barnett believes Chris Harris should have won
Simon seems like a nice enough guy but Im a bit tired of hearing about his personal circumstances and now his views on who shouldve won Dwts. Sure, I dont have to look at the headline or read the article but it seems like theres a lot of effort going into keeping him relevant.
Why self-proclaimed 'free speech champions' aren't helping the cause
I dont think we should stifle freedom of speech, but I think we ought to be very clear about what constitutes opinion, what constitutes gossip and what constitutes fact and truth. We ought to be able to debate the opinions of others freely and be mindful of dangerous opinions gathering momentum because they use scepticism as a means to undermine the facts and the truth, for example, Trump uses the term fake news to undermine facts and in creating doubt many people now dont believe the facts/truth despite them being evident. Lastly, I do think we have a right to set boundaries, for example, I wont allow people to yell at me, hit me, steel from me, abuse me or treat me poorly. I will either ask the to stop or walk away, or if necessary, use force to stop them. Perhaps it is a councils right to set a boundary on who uses the property owned by the council and it is the councils right, as publicly elected politicians, to make decisions for its constituents? The council did not say these people werent allowed in NZ, they didnt say they werent allowed to speak, they just said that you cant use our venue to do so, implying that they should find somewhere else to speak. Is this a basic right to determine who uses our property? For example, wont allow a racist, homophobic or sexist bigot in my house but they can have their freedom of speech somewhere else, just not on my turf so to speak. I dont want those sort of beliefs tainting my home environment but Im interested to hear how people can come to believe some of the things they do believe. Lastly, we ought to be careful in allowing freedom of speech that to 90% of people who are followers, who can be convinced of anything if their is a compelling enough speaker, dont end up taking away our freedoms because they end up voting in some nut case like they did in America. Theres a great number of ignorant people out there who need things like Gods and leaders like Trump.