War solves nothing: A medical profession view. Wheelers Corner 82 25th Oct 2019

War has never been a conflict resolver, it has always been a conflict creator, this has been obvious over hundreds of years.
Both the first and second World wars, used  conflict not to solve problems but to take control over others for various and normally secret reasons based on the views of the powerful and controlling interests of the day.

Fear for ones individual / community / and nationalistic reasons quickly took over society. The suffering and long term harm was covered up by forcing the masses [working people] to take the leading role in the actual physical fighting. [except for Donald Trump, he grew an extra bone in his foot to avoid being conscripted which later simply disappeared]

Each state regardless of which side of the conflict, then claimed what their side, were the heroes and the other side the villains. Today because of education we know that there are heroes and villains on both sides of any conflict.

The US went to war with North Vietnam after a false so-called attack on a US Warship, Iraq was attacked after a false story of Weapons of mass destruction. Who were the villains?

Afghanistan was attacked by Russia and later by the Americans solely for political reasons, Russia or the US cared bugger all for the people. The Russian state or the American state were not under any physical threat therefor their occupation was illegal according to international law.
An up to date version of this criminal behaviour: is what the Israeli dictatorship is doing to the people of Palestine, the UN has condemned their behaviour but has done nothing to punish the Zionist Government, it seems that if your friend is the USA then your country is protected while you break international law and murder civilians men women and children.

Today in this so-called enlightened world these villain-like behaviours are still in use. So the question remains 'What do we do about it?. My view is that we make our elected leaders BAN WAR.

Now I'm not a feminist, I'm male 79 year old ex-service man, who has come to recognise that wars are no solution to human conflict, but simply a short term political appeasement to man's aggressive nature. But the clear fact is that war should be banned.

So I looked around the society in which I live. I asked myself the question 'Who are the real peace makers? And one word stood out for me! WOMEN, this doesn't mean that all women are peace makers or that all men are war makers just the majority are.

So it seem to me that the sooner we elect to parliament a hundred plus more women the quicker we can get banning war high on the agenda. Women care about saving life and the enviroment for their children, I don't doubt many men do too. Its just that women speak out and actually do something.

So I accept that the statement below from the Association  of Schools of public health in Europe Because it relates completely to New Zealand. So I ask sincerely that you read it carefully, as I'm sure you will.   

Wheeler Corner file picture.

"This from the 'The Association of Schools of Public Health in Europe' who issued this clear statement that:
"Wars and armed conflicts have devastating consequences for the physical and mental health of all people involved, for the social life within and surrounding the war-affected regions, and for the health of the environment. 
Wars destroy health infrastructure, undoing years of health advancement, and severely compromise health systems' capacity to respond to the direct and indirect health consequences of fighting". They went on to state and I quote:

"Millions of people have been internally displaced or forced to flee their countries because of armed conflict. Forced migration creates further physical and mental health problems during transit, in enforced encampment, and because of restricted ntitlement to health care in countries hosting refugees.
The disastrous effects might last for generations to come. In short, war is a man-made public health problem.
In January, 2018, following the Turkish Government's announcement of a military operation in Afrin, Syria, the Turkish Medical Association (TMA) issued a public statement, declaring that “war is a man-made public health problem”.
[The ruling Turkish dictatorship reacted and:]
Eleven TMA members (five of them from TMA's central council) were subsequently put on trial and sentenced to 20 months in prison with the charge of inciting hatred and hostility.

The Association of Schools of Public Health in Europe (ASPHER) represents 119 schools of public health in 43 countries. ASPHER recognises the unequivocal evidence that war is a man-made public health problem. ASPHER is committed to direct the attention of the public and of policy makers to the irrevocable damage armed conflicts inflict on population health. Consequently, ASPHER stands in solidarity with the convicted TMA members". Quote ends.

A small but active group here in Palmerston North known as Peace Action Manawatu, I believe supports, the ASPHER statement.
Now PAM is made up of individuals who believe strongly that war is an activity that should be outlawed.
I have sought the views of a few of the members of PAM [Dr Fred Hirst, Rev Andy Hickman] on this issue and I share them with you for your consideration, in an earlier issue of a Wheeler's Corner blog: https://wheelerscornernz.blogspot.com/2019/10/local-body-elections-good-bad-and-ugly.html [Item 2] I reported on the successful effort in achieving the cancellation of the Weapons EXO planned for 2019. Which proved that collective action [non violent] can achieve important goals.

What happened in Turkey to those eleven members of their TMA proves without doubt that dictators listen to no one other their dictator friends like Donald Trump and care little for human life and the practice of medical practitioners.

Others have a view of war: Here are a couple" The first from PAM activist Rev Andy Hickman:

Rev Andy Hickman.

Let's just name the reality! That although most of the world's leaders spout that they do not want to engage in war, they in fact indulge in ways that profit from war.
Here are some facts:
$1.7 TRILLION was the Global Military Expenditure in 2017
 68 MILLION refugees, asylum-seekers, displaced persons at present
 53% of refugees are unaccompanied children
 14,465 nuclear warheads currently active
 40% of corruption in international trade relates to arms trade
 43,000 people killed or injured by explosives in 2017. 74% were civilians.
 Yemen death toll for August 2018 was 981 civilians, 300 of those children.
 Lockheed Martin ($US 5.3 billion profit last year) sells to whoever pays including the US-backed Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on Yemen citizens.
MAS Zengrange (Lower Hutt NZ company who made $2.7 million profit in 2014) manufactures trigger devices for cluster bombs sold to Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, half of NZ-ers live in cold houses and avoid going to the doctors. One-third of NZ-ers skip meals.
[Primary data source SIPRI arms industry database. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute]
Ka whakatikatika e ia i õ tãtou waewae ki te huarahi o te rangimãrie. - Ruka 1:79
May God guide our feet into the way of peace.
Rev Andy Hickman,  Thanks Andy:

 

Dr Fred Hirst.

Dr Fred Hirst [PAM activist] added this further information:

• environmental impact of war is accelerating anthropogenic climate change due to the strong correlation between military expenditure and GHG emissions:
• Scorched earth'
• Deforestation including use of defoliants and herbicides
• Air, soil and water pollution
• Environmental and ecosystem degradation with loss of agricultural and forested land (fauna/flora)
• Chemicals, toxins, nuclear and other environmental hazards including undetonated armaments (cluster bombs and land mines)
• Fossil fuel use and fires (US military forces have highest fossil fuel consumption of any 'defence force' and are high generators of toxin and solvent pollution)
• Displacement of over 65m people, including refugees, currently (equivalent to population of UK)
• due to conflict often to gain access to scarce or valuable resources (land, fossil fuels, minerals, water, etc) and from increasingly severe and frequent destructive climate change consequences causing flood, drought, cyclones, fires and sea level rise.
• Those most at risk and disproportionately represented as casualties of conflict and climate change are women, children, elderly and indigenous people, and those living in poverty and socio-economic deprivation.

Thank you Fred, your words prove the magnitude of harm that clearly relates to war like behaviour, before, during and after war like conflict.

Well this has been a long Wheelers Corner this week, but the subject matter is vital to the continuation of human life both now and in the future.

This is why I am so concerned, and it has led to me to use social media via my blog site to get the message out to as many human beings as I can. So its vital that you understand the reasons why I feel the way I do: Here is a pen picture of what drove me in the direction of peace rather than war: This word picture was compiled by Valerie Morse an Auckland peace activist in 2018: 

The Unlikely Peacenik

"When most of us imagine what a peace activist looks like, we usually conjure up some version of a hippie stereotype: tie-dyed clothes, long dreadlocks, peace signs and a penchant for smoking the green stuff. It is not often that we think of ex-soldiers as those at the forefront of the peace movement, but Palmerston North resident Peter Wheeler is exactly that.

Peter said his dad had served in World War II, and he joined the NZ Infantry Regiment in 1960 because he says the military was familiar to him, and he “wanted to leave home, but not leave people.”

He was deployed to Malaya, a journey he said was “fascinating for a young man,” and ended up going to Jungle Training school, which turned out to be as he describes it, “sniper school”. Members of the 1^st NZIR were deployed to Vietnam in 1969, and Peter remembers that there was dissent within the military about New Zealand participating in that war.

“They asked me would I volunteer to go. I had by that time decided I wouldn’t, because I was opposed to it – particularly our role in it.”

But the Army didn’t take his refusal well, he said, “What that cost me in real terms was an immediate exile, in my case to Dunedin, and my promotions suddenly came to a halt.”

After 19 years in the Army, Peter ended up working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Papua New Guinea, an experience, he says that taught him a number of things about himself and the world. “It made me see what many people in the world think about having white, European people come into their country, get all the key jobs and tell everyone what to do. It really opened my eyes about how other people were forced to live.”

The strength of these experiences taught him that, “war today is not about helping people. That’s just garbage. What we’re doing it for – like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – is for what we get out of them. The people we call our ‘enemies’ today, were once, not so long ago, allies of the US. The US armed and equipped many of those people. They didn’t do it to help those people, but to fight someone else.”

Peter says that you can’t have a “war on terrorism”, instead he says, what you need is “peace plan for terrorism.” He notes that, “terrorism is the outcome of failings in the political and economic sphere.”

Peter is one of the few ex-soldiers in New Zealand speaking up against war. In the US, there are a large number of soldiers, many of them still on active duty, who have joined up with anti-war organisations like Veterans for Peace and the Iraq Veterans Against the War.

The strategy of these groups is to mobilise the military community to withdraw its support for the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and oppose other US wars.

These soldiers speak in communities, to the media and also speak with young people in classrooms about the realities of military service. They support all those resisting the war, including Conscientious Objectors and others facing military prosecution for their refusal to fight. They also advocate for full funding for the Veterans Administration.

“We could learn a lot from these kinds of organisations as we have a lot of the same kind of issues in New Zealand albeit on a smaller scale” says Peter.

In his view, fighting wars is really about protecting those with money and power. He is also highly critical of military spending on new weapons like the 9000 new firearms for the Army and the weapons upgrade of the frigates, saying that much of what the NZ military doing is really about following Donald Trump’s demands for more weapons spending by America’s friends and allies.

“The United States under Trump is pushing weapon sales big time across the world and it clearly has New Zealand in its sights...our very own Minister of Defence appears to be a great fan of present US behavior.”

Peter’s view is backed up by some facts on the ground: since taking office last year, the government has committed $2.3 billion to new P8 aircraft from US weapons dealer Boeing, another $103 million for a new Navy boat, and $23 million for a new US-centric military ‘command and control’ system.

The aircraft purchase has been criticised by some as a clear case of buying for the “Five Eyes” rather than for NZ’s own needs, a reference to the five nation intelligence alliance comprised of the US, UK, Australia, Canada and NZ.

Now Peter has turned his peace activism on the annual Defence Industry Association expo that has moved to Palmerston North.

“What concerns me most is the propaganda of it all. This is an organisation that is set up to sell weapons. They do this by saying that they are protecting our ‘security.’ They are not. They are endangering it.”

He says that the equation is pretty simple: if you sell weapons to the military, they will want to use them. That incentivises waging war, and these companies then profit from war and killing.

Peter has now joined up with local group Peace Action Manawatū who are organising actions against the Weapons Expo including a Peace March on the first day, which falls on Halloween this year. “Weapons dealers and war are about the scariest things in the world,” says Peter.

“I will be doing everything a 77-year-old can do to stop this thing from going ahead. I hope that this year there will be more veterans on the front lines with me against these war profiteers. We are some of the ones who have seen and felt up close what war is really about, and its horror, pure and simple.” Thank you Valerie.

I'd like to thank you for reaching the end of this long blog, and never forget you are among the most important people in the world...I would value you sharing this with your friends.

The Youngster who shook the world. Wheeler's Corner 81 19th Oct 2019

Greta [courage comes in all sizes] Thunburg.

This young person stirred up millions of supporters around the world to protest world government failure to act in regard to the obvious concerns raised by the almost 100% of the world's climate scientists.

It is said that over 95% of those scientists support this world view and especially those who are involved in climate change.

The real question is how can this desire be converted into political change that will pick up the challenge.

The New Zealand scene:

The National Party is clearly has not yet accepting the urgency or behind any change to support the ways and means of any REAL change, they keep using the theme that climate change is simply 'nature at work'...their comments about Greta have been really negative. But the Nats have come out in opposing almost anything and punishing behaviour of Kiwis and their families and offspring:

Simon suggest we all move to Mars cows and all

"A short list of people who’d be fined under National’s school leaver policy. Speaking of university students, leader of the Opposition Simon Bridges announced that the National Party would be looking into fining parents of children who leave school early and don't go into further education or training.  The announcement was met with widespread condemnation and ridicule, with even senior National MP Judith Collins saying "it's not for me". Reed Fleming compiled an incomplete list of noted New Zealanders who would've been fined under this policy. They include Lorde, Sonny Bill Williams, Parris Goebel, and National's deputy leader and spokesperson for social services, Paula Bennett".

I can picture the Nats banning all kids from protesting about the lack of climate action, and fining their parents or care givers three thousand dollars if they do...  

The Labour Party too, often says the right words, but realistic economic action from Labour these days is still not far off the neoliberal stance they have followed since the hugely damaging days of Roger Douglas and his right wing crew of wreckers. I wonder how many of them support the backward looking New Zealand First Party climate so-called policy.

Greta Thunburg has without doubt shaken up the world with her words "how dare you" to the International Climate Conference just before the students struck in support of a more active approach to the subject of action around climate change.

If we take a little time to reflect back, two events stand out: One was when the world sat up and took note of the power of woman on the political scene, now we all know that New Zealand was the first country in the world to give woman the right to vote...that was a huge and enlightened step forward...but history shows that it was in fact an accident, and only came about because a ship load of South Island MP's failed to arrive at Parliament in time for the vote and the majority of them were anti women so the vote passed by a very small majority. Today naturally male MP's praise themselves for ALLOWING women the vote...

and brighter and smarter.

The numbers of women in Parliament has taken years and years decades in fact, to reach part equality with males, in fact the present green party with a high number of women mp's, labour comes a distant second, and National and NZ First barely rate a mention, Labour has an elected a female Prime Minister, where as national has never had an elected female PM, and New Zealand First has yet still to admit that women actually exist.

So its not hard to understand just how backward are some of our NZ political players who have suggested that young women should stay out of politics and just wash and wipe the dishes when ordered! and that supporting their political behavior is just not on! Even if the kids are showing us the way toward saving the planet.

When you compare the behaviour of our and the worlds youngsters it not hard to believe that most of them have better and more intelligent brains than the Donald Trump, Mike Hosking, and other over paid and over rated talking heads. Seriously folks, Tramp says he wants peace but then via the back door murders hundreds of thousands, and jails kids in US privately run prisons.

So what does this mean for New Zealand...Well in my view it means we should get behind our youth by supporting the Green party politically and encouraging our children to do the same, it would achieve two things.

It would give the Labour party some much needed backbone, it would shake the hell out of the National Party, scare the heck out of the one percent that really run our country and drive the NZ First party to its already dug grave site, somewhere in Northland,

I have not included the ACT party because unless they Nats buy them a seat they won't exist after the 2020 election [heres hoping] 

Below is a reference to a story in  [Noted News Letter] its well worth a read.

https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/currently-politics/will-the-greta-thunberg-effect-influence-nz-election day-2020?ref_email=d2hlZWxlckBpbnNwaXJlLm5ldC5ueg%3D%3D&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NOTED_newsletter_17-10-2019&utm_term=list_notednz_newsletter


2. Below is an US media statement about governmemt in the USA, the question for us New Zealander's is, does this apply to NZ as well?...you decide.

"There’s a lot of reasons people have lost trust in government, not the least of which is that oligarchs and corporatists have been running  a well-funded, strategic coup which featured a propaganda campaign designed to rebrand  government from what it had been up until the late 1970’s—the source of much innovation and prosperity, a champion of the people, and a defender of the middle class—to the source of our problems, while simultaneously selling the free market and corporations as the source of all good things.  

But their propaganda campaign succeeded only because over the years, the ultra-rich and corporations were ceded more and more power, until by the early 21^st century, government no longer represented the people’s interests and they knew it. By 2014, Gilens and Paige concluded, after studying money and power in politics: ‘The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”

Meanwhile, since 1980 half of all Americans saw almost no gains in wealth, while the oligarchs walked away with the vast majority of wealth generated in that time.  Today, the three richest Americans have as much wealth as the bottom half of all Americans.

In short, the U.S. has a government of the rich and corporations, by the rich and corporations, and for the rich and corporations.  No wonder people don’t trust government and no wonder the people elected a renegade like Trump.

Have a short think about it, could not all of the above comments equally apply to us here in NZ 

 

Local Body elections the good the bad and the ugly Wheeler's Corner 80 13th Oct 2019

This From: Robert McLachian:
1.
"Great to see the top four climate candidates elected in Palmerston North (with 95% of votes counted): Brent Barrett, Renee Dingwall, Lorna Johnson, and Aleisha Rutherford. Karen Naylor, Pat Handcock, and Zulfiqar Butt also did well on the Climate Voter scorecard and were elected. Zulfiqar has a PhD in measuring greenhouse gas emissions & I expect him to be strong in this area.

In the Horizons Regional Council, Green Party candidates Rachel Keedwell and Fiona Gordon were elected in Palmerston North, and Sam Ferguson (Green) came first in Horowhenua.

With New Zealand's first Green Party mayor elected in Dunedin, so far this has been a good day for climate politics". Thanks Robert,

The final count is still to be announced but my gut feeling is that the results above won't change.
https://www.pncc.govt.nz/media/3132217/iteration-report-12-oct-2019.pdf

Radio NZ has just reported the bad part of our local election process:

"Andy Foster has been elected mayor of Wellington, ousting incumbent Justin Lester.
The candidates had had a nailbiting wait for results after a large number of last-minute ballots were still to be counted today.
Last night, with the count of 90 percent of the votes completed, Andy Foster was leading incumbent Justin Lester by 715 votes, and 5600 special votes were being counted today.
Mr Foster told RNZ's Insight election special that if he was elected mayor, his prominent backer Sir Peter Jackson would not be influencing what happened within the new council".

If you believe that Peter Jackson won't influence Andy Fosters behaviour, you must be a tooth fairy believer ... Money talks and always has a pay-back...

2.
Peace action Manawatu is no doubt over joyed at the cancellation of the latest offer by the re-elected Mayor Grant Smith [Tin Soldier] to host the Defence Force Industry Forum's Arms Expo here in Palmerston has been rejected by the Defence Industry Association, who turned down his offer. It would seem that the anti war organisations throughout NZ have forced this ugly behaviour off shore, because the DIAF has been forced to relocated its salesmanship team to operate in Australia...rather than in NZ, a wise move, we in NZ have always been light years ahead of Australia in creating peace rather than war!

Now if the American population can somehow bring their crazy Donald [Duck] Trump under control and stop him from declaring yet another long lasting war outside of his own borders, the world could become a safer place for human beings. Since the 2nd WW the USA has never been successful using its armed forces as a weapon of social change, in fact everything they touch ends up rotten and corrupt.It would seem that dictators are Trumps best friends...

With the continuing efforts by all those who love our environment, and those whom opt for peace over war, who love more than hate, people like the young Greta from Sweden and the millions world wide to follow her, we could and will end up with a more human world, we may even save the planet and the human race from extinction. Courage comes in various shapes and forms. We have a chance to revitalise democracy and freedom by marching together on a path toward peace rather than war.
3.

Wheeler's Corner has been broadcast on Manawatu People Radio for over 12 or 13 years, but alas it ends this week, I have really enjoyed presenting the programme and I want to thank all the staff for the work they put into making the station fuction along with all the community interaction the create and support. I've had some exciting moments, such as the time the PNCC CEO tried to shut down my programme, which failed but increased my listenership greatly.

The present management team of Fraser Greig, Hugh Dingwall and Samuel Gordon are doing a wonderful job of keeping the station up and running. I thank them and all the present and past volunteers over the past decade plus.

While I am still remaining as a trustee on the board so I will be a part of the team of MPR. It has been and still is an exciting role. Wheeler's Corner blog site will contine, as typing is easier than speaking on the radio, and while it true that some have said, I was never short of words, in fact they wish I would shut up and listen more! And they were correct. In so many respects listening is more important and educational than talking.

Well that's it for this week, and please never forget that you are amongst the most important people in the world.


 

 
   

Act dishes out its awards, Palmerston North wins. Wheelers Corner 48 5th Oct 2019

 

 

 

New Zealand's most Right Wing Party 'ACT' dishes out its 2019 awards. Better known as Government wast awards: 

Lifetime Achievement Award

2019 Jonesie Awards: Named after that great adult movie watcher Shane Jones NZF list MP:

"I'm not a great fan of the ACT party, their past and present leaders and supporters have left a trail of destruction thoughout our wonderful nation, with leaders like Douglas, Prebble, Don Brash to name but three, we must never forget it was this bunch that sold-off with the willing and eager assistance of National and Labour, whole branches of government activities, like banks, educational activities, council operations and power supply to private companies, under their slimy neoliberal hand. Regardless here is the Lifetime awards they issued [with a great deal of tongue in cheek]

1,
Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt took home the most heinous ham: the Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in government wast
His feats are new and old.

Sir Tim was arrested 33 times as a protestor in the 1960s and ‘70s, before running for Mayor of Waitemata City in 1983, where he unexpectedly won. After famously losing his mayoral chains (literally) twice, he was voted out in 1989. He then failed to get elected as MP for West Auckland, as Auckland Mayor (twice), and as MP for Wellington Central, before in 1993 finally finding the one group of voters who would accept him: the forgiving folk of Invercargill.

He famously said, “I don’t care where, as long as I’m Mayor”.

But Sir Tim wanted more. The very next year he unsuccessfully ran for Parliament again, was voted out as Mayor, ran for Parliament once more for the Legalise Cannabis party, and finally was welcomed back to the Invercargill mayoralty in 1998, where he has remained ever since.

Sir Tim is now a household name, and has supplemented his ratepayer-funded mayoral salary with a range of celebrity gigs, and even receives public money through his positions as ambassador for the Southern Institute of Technology and director for Invercargill Airport.

Sir Tim’s career has recent highlights: in 2015, his Council flew four staff members to China to buy Christmas lights, only to bring them home and discover the lights failed to meet New Zealand standards and were scrapped. A replacement set of lights cost ratepayers $250,000.

Sir Tim also has the honour of owning the country’s most expensive mayoral vehicle, a Chrysler 300C.
2.

Tracy Martin NZF List MP

His Mayoral expenses this term alone include $3,100 maintaining his Chrysler, $19,500 on books (mostly books about himself to give to other people), $2,600 on donations to private charity, $8,000 on conference fees, $1,800 at local liquor stores, and $3,200 on custom made rubber wristbands that say, “I met the Mayor”.

Hon Tracey Martin: for thinking deaf people can’t read. Our Associate Education Minister decided it would be wise to spend $800 of your money on a video of a sign language interpreter. This would make sense for a speech, but it this case, it was to translate one of her written press statements. $800 is our smallest nominated spend, but Jonesie adjudicators were stunned that a Minister evidently thinks deaf people are illiterate too.




3.

Add caption

Palmerston North City Council: Corporate welfare for Toyota New Zealand. Ratepayers in Palmerston North forked out $391,000 to appease the world’s largest car manufacturer after it threatened to move its offices to another city. The decision was made in a closed council session and was only publicised after a Taxpayers’ Union information request.

2019 Jonesie Awards: we highlight the best of the worst in Government waste Yesterday, we hosted our second annual Oscars-style awards ceremony at Parliament. The "Jonesies" celebrate the best of the worst of government waste at both the local and central government level. So, who was lucky enough to take home a golden sow? Palmerston North City Council won in the Local Government category, for its $391,000 corporate welfare payment to Toyota New Zealand (the world's largest car manufacturer!).  Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won in the Central Government category, for her hypocritical fuel price inquiry that ignored the Government's own petrol taxes.  Sir Tim Shadbolt won the Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in Government waste racked up over many years. He joins the Jonesies' namesake, Shane Jones, in the pantheon of great troughers. PM must strip Jones of forestry portfolio Remember who the Jonesie Awards are named after? Last week it was reported that Shane Jones, as Minister of Forestry, told attendees of an industry event that the sector needed to get behind and support NZ First or else it will miss out on Government support and Provincial Growth Fund (taxpayer) money. That's a disgraceful attempt to exploit his control of taxpayer funds for political ends, and the Prime Minister rightfully rebuked him. However, instead of apologising to the public, he’s now threatening ‘utu’ on the whistleblower from the event. This isn’t the first time that Shane Jones has bullied business, been rebuked by the Prime Minister, and then doubled down. We say the Prime Minister now has every reason to sack Mr Jones. Lashing out at a whistleblower for blowing the whistle on behaviour that borders on corrupt is the action of a wannabe despot, not a Minister in the Cabinet of a Western nation (let alone the “most open and transparent” government!). After reading the above list its no wonder our rates have gone through the bloody roof, I wonder the reaction of PN Mayor Grant Smith must be about his city winning the most wastful Council in the country: Especially now the Defence Force Industry Forum has cancelled its yearly sales drive for 2019...I suppose he never got a chance to offer them a grant to continue with his invitation that they had penciled in, but have now erased. I suppose thr rate payers will be greatful that have been spared the angony of another give away by out generous Mayor.  2.

Peter,
It's been a week since the global climate strike, and the team at SumOfUs are still taking in the awe-inspiring power of the 7 million people that took part in the 4000 events, across the globe, last week to demand that we end the age of fossil fuels.
SumOfUs exists to hold corporations accountable. And corporations are absolutely responsible for the current climate crisis -- just 100 companies produce 71% of global carbon emissions.

I was proud that SumOfUs worked with organizations such as 350.org to invite millions of our members that want to create a safer, cleaner world together during the climate strikes.

During the climate strikes, I made sure to gather all the stories from around the globe of SumOfUs joining in solidarity at the different strikes, so I could report them back to you, Peter. It was incredible to see the action in real time of SumOfUs in over 8 locations and in 3 different continents and be a part of a movement of millions hitting the streets to stop catastrophic climate change.
Watch this inspiring video of SumOfUs at climate strikes across the world last week like us on Facebook.
We were live at the climate strike on Instagram. Please watch and follow us on Instagram.