National & Labour Know They Must Ditch Fuddy Duddy Images. But How?
New Zealand’s two major political parties have been revealed in the same day to each have bungled their separate strategies to turn a youthful face to the electorate.
The first was when a very young National Party Member of Parliament did what party officials who sought to block his original selection said he would do which was fall out with the same electoral officials, an incident spiced up by the now seemingly mandatory secret taping sub plot.
The second incident involving the Labour Party followed hard on the heels of the National Party episode.
Nearly 100 electioneering “interns” mainly from the United States were brought to Auckland to assist in campaigning for the Labour Party and along the way to receive lectures from luminaries of the party.
All this at a time when the Labour Party, the equivalent of the US Democrats, was itself campaigning against people from overseas taking the jobs of New Zealanders and in so doing forcing up the price of accommodation.
Fired up by the notion of a Bernie Sanders type of youth crusade the Labour Party Auckland operatives had forgotten to consider that people from the United States insist on a high standard of accommodation in New Zealand.
Indeed, it was the failure of the New Zealand premium hotel sector to provide things that Americans like, such as air conditioning, that was such a problem prior to the arrival of the United States franchise hotels in order to provide its citizens with their home comforts in the South Seas.
The United States interns were less than impressed by the sparseness of their billets.
They were similarly underwhelmed by their failure to meet the high level Labour Party figures who, in the event, seem not to have realised that they were supposed to have met the interns in the first place.
In electioneering strategic terms however both these episodes demonstrated how both the main parties are turning themselves inside out to demonstrate their regard for youth values meaning the youth vote.
The two very recent European elections, the one in the UK and the one in France indicate that their attention is justified.
In election wining terms in New Zealand for Labour and National this means stopping the youth vote sliding into the Green Party.
The Greens embody all the conventional middle class ideological values on things like climate and refugees.
Neither was the mood of the main party strategists improved last month when they surveyed the cover of the house magazine of this voting bloc North & South (pictured) which channeled Vanity Fair with a tableau of idealised Green candidates.
The National and Labour election schemers saw before them the embodiment of the yearnings of this whole sector which is bounded at the younger end by career-friendly university types still in touch with their capping mag days, and at the older end by Guardian Weekly subscribers.
Why?
Because National and Labour share something else too.
It is an indelible musty-fusty sectarian aura redolent of times gone by.
This understanding haunts the high command of both the main parties.
It is the reason the National Party forced on an entirely rural and safe farming electorate a perma-grinning disco type in their early 20s whose short career in the real world was notable for a stint with Big Tobacco.
It is the reason that the Labour Party turned a blind eye on a semi-freelance operation to whip up a US-style youth storm in Auckland.
Result?
Both the two main political parties will now start once again to heed their once powerful local organisations at electorate and divisional level.
These representation committees will tell them that twisting and turning to meet fashionable media-driven yearnings is one thing.
Also that meeting grass roots expectations requires a fixed and determined longer term direction.
| From the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. || Tuesday 27 June 2017 |||
Peter Beck, Rocket Lab founder, argues that the UK Government should abandon plans for launching rockets in Scotland. Anna Isaac from The Telegraph met with Peter and asked him a few questions:
What’s your business background?
I’m an engineer. Before I started Rocket Lab, I worked in a New Zealand Government lab, developing advanced materials, structures and superconductors. But even since I was a kid, I’ve built rockets. My very first one used hydrogen peroxide, which was very dodgy – very dodgy indeed.
How did you start the company?
I started the business about 10 years ago, because I wasn’t happy with how things were being done in the the space industry. The sector wasn’t looking at space with the right sense of scale. Space, so far, has been a domain for billionaires and Governments. I want to make it more accessible.
I took a holiday in the US for a month, hoping that I would find like-minded people in the industry. It was there that I realised two things. First, no one wanted to do what I wanted to do; and second, the rockets that I was building in my garage weren’t that less complicated than the rockets being creating in commercial enterprises.
Continue to read the full article here || June 26, 2017 |||
The Reserve Bank continues to broaden its engagement with a diverse range of stakeholders to provide accountability, and to promote understanding and dialogue, Head of Communications, Mike Hannah, said in a speech released today.
Speaking to the Canterbury branch of the Institute of Directors in Christchurch yesterday evening, Mr Hannah said that the Bank’s relationships were crucial to achieving the Bank’s policy objectives.
“We rely heavily on the behaviours of households and businesses being consistent with our policy objectives, ranging from their expectations of price stability and bank resilience, or credit growth, to confidence in banknotes and the payments systems,” he said.
“The Bank places a high priority on communicating with a wide spectrum of audiences, through a multitude of channels, and we are adapting to changing audience needs.”
Mr Hannah said the Bank is planning to undertake its second External Stakeholder Engagement Survey in the first half of 2018. A survey in 2014 showed that the Bank’s audiences had different perspectives and expectations, meaning that the Bank needs to communicate in the context and language appropriate to each group.
“We particularly noticed that the public and businesses had lower familiarity with the Bank, compared with specialist financial market or media groups.”
To better connect with its general public audience, the Bank has developed a range of web content – explanatory videos and animations, author interviews and audio podcasts – and ventured into social media channels such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and SoundCloud.
“But we have been cautious about using these media in a two-way fashion, such as ‘following’ other users, publicly responding to comments, or sharing other people’s content. This because of the risk of having informal social media statements being read as formal signals, as well as reputational risks that a central bank has to be conscious of.”
The Bank has an extensive programme of off-the-record presentations for business audiences around New Zealand and has expanded this to around 120 a year, as well as outreach into schools, universities and other research institutions.
“Most of these events are off-the-record as they provide a unique opportunity for dialogue, with the Bank listening and responding to questions and candid comments from a broad range of New Zealanders, whose understanding is so important to our price and financial stability objectives.”
The Bank’s on-the-record speeches, their content and timing, will always be driven by policy needs, and our interactions with markets and media are conducted within the disciplines enforced by financial market sensitivities.
“We recognise that real-time and near-real-time media reach far into an investment world beyond New Zealand and can influence our interest and exchange rates. Care has to be taken by a central bank in communicating into this world.
“We will continue to engage with the news media, through briefings, interviews, press conferences, and responses to inquiries. Equally, we will continue to provide access for technical discussions with financial market analysts.”
The Bank will continue to foster improvements in its regulatory relationships, which have benefitted from longer consultation periods on proposed regulations, and greater liaison with industry through workshops.
“Our contact with Parliamentary and Government stakeholders will remain frequent, extensive, and open, to promote understanding, and also to deliver accountability for the policies and tools that we are charged with to promote New Zealand’s economic growth.”
More information
Read the speech "Engaging with our stakeholders to promote understanding, accountability and dialogue"
It’s easier than ever for Kiwis to watch TVNZ shows with today’s launch of a revamped tvnz.co.nz bringing together Live TV and OnDemand viewing.
TVNZ now live streams all its channels – giving viewers the option to view 1, 2 and DUKE on devices at the same time as on air broadcast – and offers local TV shows, Live sports, 1 NEWS, international dramas, box sets, movies and short form videos, all for free OnDemand.
“The big growth trends among New Zealand viewers are the demand for video and viewing on mobile devices, and we’re responding to this by bringing them together on tvnz.co.nz.” said TVNZ Chief Executive Kevin Kenrick.
“It’s all about giving viewers the choice and control – whether they want to watch broadcast TV, time shifted TV, TV streamed on a mobile device, Live or OnDemand,” he says.
Features of the new mobile optimised site include simplified navigation, a new video player and smarter integration for social feeds and content.
TVNZ is extending the amount of time its programmes are available online. “We’re giving people more time to watch episodes before they expire, more box sets and more stacking of episodes one after the other, so viewers can watch at their own pace,” says Kevin Kenrick.
Viewers can work their way through whole seasons of cutting edge dramas Clique and Cleverman (season 2 arrives 3 July), and all four feature length episodes of Oliver Stone’s The Putin Interviews – all new and exclusive to tvnz.co.nz.
TVNZ will be on more streaming devices with a Chromecast app set to launch next month, followed by an Apple TV app later this year, says TVNZ.
TVNZ is available on the following supported devices:• Apple iPhone 4, 4S, 5, 5C, 5S, 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus; Apple iPod Touch iOS9; Apple iPad 2, 3, 4, iPad Air, iPad Air 2; Apple iPad Mini, Mini 2, Mini 3, Mini 4 (iOS9 and above)• Apple AirPlay• Android devices including the Samsung Galaxy S7, Edge, and Tab A 10.1 (Android version 4.3 and above)• Samsung 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 Smart TVs and selected models of Smart Blu-ray players and Smart Home Entertainment Systems• FreeviewPlus TVs, set top boxes and MyFreeviewPlus Recorders• Playstation3 & Playstation4• Microsoft Surface and Mobile• Xbox One
Coming soon: Chromecast (July).
TVNZ Live streams are available in high definition at 720p resolution.
| A TVNZ release || June 26, 2017 |||
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Trade Minister Todd McClay says he believes the time is right to launch trade talks with Mexico, Chile, Peru and Colombia as part of the Government’s push for better access in Latin America.
Mr McClay leaves tomorrow to attend the Pacific Alliance Leaders Summit where a trade deal will be top of his agenda.
“We’ve been talking to the four Pacific Alliance countries about better access for Kiwi exporters for the last two years. With direct flights to South America there is increasing opportunity for New Zealanders to do more in these growing markets,” Mr McClay says.
“New Zealand currently has more than $1.1 billion dollars of two-way trade with the countries of the Alliance. But our exporters face high tariffs rates on many products, including dairy, which is currently our largest export.”
“A high-quality free trade agreement with Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru as part of the Pacific Alliance trading bloc presents a huge opportunity for New Zealand companies exporting to this fast-growing region because there is so much room for growth.”
Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru are home to 221 million consumers and have a huge combined GDP of US$3.85 trillion. The Pacific Alliance is a regional integration and trading bloc.
“Under Trade Agenda 2030, the Government’s new trade strategy, we have set the ambitious target of covering 90 per cent of our goods trade under FTAs and the Pacific Alliance is an important part of reaching that goal,” Mr McClay says.
| A Beehive release || June 26, 2017 |||
Some helpful advice brought together by Peter Crawley who was asked recently if there was a method to notch, bend, and straighten hollow sections using Inventor. I’ve discovered a couple a couple of methods, both of which are shown below. There are probably more, but these two look worthy of sharing. If you have any feedback or want to suggest an alternative, please use the comments below. (Notch and bend description – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notching)
Unfolding the part pictured above
Being a fan of Frame Generator, I was keen to see if I could find a method that could be used to unfold an existing frame. In conjunction with an unlikely partner (Sheet Metal) it can! See the second method below for details.
Method 1 – Notch and bend using the “Bend Part” feature
This method assumes you can straighten the design in your head before modelling it and bending it into shape. If you have the brain for that process, then this is the method for you because it’s quick and easy. If you’d prefer to model the final result and then “unfold” it, skip over to Method 2 below.
Depending on your preference for modelling steelwork, this might appeal because it uses standard sketch-based features on the part file itself. I like it for its simplicity, but for multiple bends, it can quickly become difficult to calculate exactly where the cuts should be made, especially if the part is bent in more than one plane.
Continue to read the the full article here | Monday June 26, 2017 |||
Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee will today travel to Cuba to meet with his counterpart before attending the Pacific Alliance Summit in Colombia.
On June 27, Mr Brownlee will visit Cuba to meet Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.
“This visit will help to strengthen New Zealand’s interests in the Latin American region, which is home to about 625 million people,” Mr Brownlee says.
“New Zealand works with Cuba on a number of important issues, including agriculture, international development, and regional cooperation.
“Both nations provide support to Small Island Developing States in the Pacific and Caribbean regions. Cuba is an important player in the Caribbean and the visit is a valuable opportunity to engage with one of our larger partners in the region,” Mr Brownlee says.
Mr Brownlee will then attend the Pacific Alliance Summit in Cali, Colombia on June 29 and 30. Trade Minister Todd McClay is also attending.
The Alliance is a regional organisation, established in 2011 by Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. New Zealand has observer nation status with the Pacific Alliance.
“The Alliance is looking to begin trade negotiations with some observer countries as a pathway to offering Associate Membership of the group,” Mr Brownlee says.
“New Zealand already has long-standing relationships with the Alliance and each of its constituent nations.
“Pacific Alliance is a growing force for political and economic stability in Latin America, so it’s important for New Zealand to be a voice at the table,” Mr Brownlee says.
| A Beehive release || June 26, 2017 |||
The Government is investing $170,000 in a Canterbury initiative that connects secondary students with businesses who can transition them into further education, employment or training.
The funding will also extend Christchurch’s Educated Job Ready Programme to Timaru.
Economic Development Minister Simon Bridges and Social Development Minister Anne Tolley announced the funding in Christchurch today at the launch of the Canterbury Regional Economic Development Strategy refresh.
“While Canterbury has New Zealand’s lowest regional unemployment rate, skills shortages pose a significant risk to high-value production across all districts in the region,” Mr Bridges says.
“Canterbury needs to keep its young people and ensure they have the knowledge and skills to get productive work in their region, both now and in the future. The region also needs to retain and retrain older workers and attract more people into the workforce.”
The Ministry of Social Development is working closely with other Canterbury agencies to support regional development and has a particular focus on young people who need additional support to play their part in the future workforce.
“By helping secondary schools and training institutions partner up with businesses we can support more young people into training and employment. This benefits them as well as the wider Canterbury community,” Mrs Tolley says.
“Our aim is to reduce the number of young people in Canterbury who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) so it remains less than the national NEET rate by June 2019.”
Due to the rebuild, Canterbury has a higher proportion of its workforce involved in construction than in New Zealand overall. The regional economic development initiatives will help the regional economy to keep growing after the earthquake recovery ceases to drive economic activity and employment.
| A Beehive release || June 23, 2017 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242