https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/t...K4C63BQFI/

As expected Luxon and his coalition buddies will take a 'shell game' approach to taxation, in this case transport related.

Increased vehicle registration fees as well as increases in fuel tax and RUC rates, and a review of these measures in 3 years time which is likely to see added carbon taxation if NZ wants to comply with its Paris Agreement ETS responsibilities. In addition NACT have pulled funding on coastal shipping, Auckland Light Rail and public transport and cycling initiatives thereby ringfencing their taxation gathering net from NZ motorists, and ensuring the Road Transport Industry is placated complete with the ongoing damage to our roading infrastructure.

Just as Luxon has demonstrated he is in the job for the benefit of #1 the Nat's are very much engineering their policies to benefit their corporate donors. We as a country are being sold down the road (pun intended).

I think a part of the problem is that in David Seymour, we seem to have someone totally lacking in understanding who is apparently also a  complete stranger to empathy.  

The stark contrast between his ideas & that of the Green party on this are vivid.


https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/510590/de...nches-axed

"A  school leader says he is worried truancy will increase if school meals are limited to certain students next year.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has confirmed the government-funded lunch programme, Ka Ora, Ka Ako, is under review ahead of the Budget.
Porirua College deputy principal John Topp said the school feeds more than 1000 students a day in the area through the free school lunch programme.
The contract runs out at the end of the year and he was worried it would not be renewed for all students.

"Sometimes it's the only food they'll have in that day - and [they ask] can we have more? So we've got to keep doing that.
"But we can't target the students that need it the most because they are going to feel whakama [shame] about that and that's going to make it worse here at school, and they just won't come."
Since 2019, the programme had been offered to students at schools with the highest levels of disadvantage.


Leaders at the school said truancy was an ongoing challenge due to poverty and the cost-of-living crisis hitting families hard."

Seymour said everything was on the table when it came to truancy, including imposing fines on parents who do not send their kids to school.
"We fine people who speed past the school, but somehow we apply a totally different standards to the duty that says you've got to send your kids to school."

He said fines were just one idea to tackle truancy, and they were not going to be used on families in financial hardship.
"We don't intend to do it in a way that equates to 'the beatings will continue until morale improves'.

"We are not going to fine people who are already hard up and may in fact not be sending their kids to school because they are in financial hardship," Seymour said.
Te Tai Tokerau principals' association president Pat Newman questioned how a fine system would work.

"What are they going to do if they don't pay them, put them in jail at $150-$200,000 a year? You've got to look at how you are going to enforce this."


https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/s...%20meeting.

"Act leader┬áDavid Seymour┬áhas described free school lunches as ÔÇÿwastefulÔÇÖ public spending and argued that the new Government should cut them.┬áAlex Spence┬áreports that health campaigners are alarmed he has been given responsibility for the initiative and have asked for an urgent meeting.
A coalition of health charities has slammed the GovernmentÔÇÖs decision to give ministerial responsibility for┬áfree school lunches┬áto David Seymour after the Act leader campaigned for the programme to be abolished.
Representatives of the Health Coalition Aotearoa (HCA) wrote to Seymour, an Associate Education Minister, on Monday requesting an urgent meeting so they can plead the case for keeping the scheme, which provides free lunches to about 220,000 students across the country, according to a letter obtained by the Herald.
ÔÇ£We are concerned that we have a minister in charge who has made it clear he wants the programme shut down for ideological reasons without full consideration of the evidence,ÔÇØ Swinburn told the┬áHerald.
ÔÇ£His appointment signals that the future of the programme is in question, which is extremely concerning because it would jeopardise the health and wellbeing of these kids.ÔÇØ


https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/498...0-children

"The Green Party wants to increase the number of children receiving free school lunches by 58 percent from the start of next year, saying the programme faces being cut.
The party proposes expanding the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme, which provides about a million lunches each week to 230,000 students at about 1000 schools around New Zealand.
Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the Greens' policy would see the programme cover all schools with an equity score of 450 or higher, increasing the number of students from 230,000 to 365,000 from the start of the 2024 school year.
The Greens would also eventually pursue expanding the service to all schools.
"Feeding children is essential and I know that many people in Aotearoa understand the basic need to just make sure as a country that no child goes hungry," she told RNZ's Midday Report host Charlotte Cook."

"I never understood wind. You know, I know windmills very much. I've studied better than anybody, you know it's very expensive. TheyÔÇÖre made in China and Germany mostly, very few made here almost none, but theyÔÇÖre manufactured tremendous if youÔÇÖre into this, tremendous fumes. Gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right? So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything.
You talk about the carbon footprint, fumes are spewing into the air, right? Spewing. Whether itÔÇÖs in ChAIna, Germany, itÔÇÖs going into the air. ItÔÇÖs our air, their air, everything, right? So they make these things, and then they put em up, and if you own a house within vision of some of these monsters your house is worth 50 percent of the price. They're noisy, they kill the birds. You want to see a bird graveyard? You just go, take a look under a windmill someday you'll see more birds than you've seen ever in your life. You know in California they were killing the bald eagle, if you shoot a bald eagle they wanna put you in jail for 10 years. A windmill will kill many bald eagles. It's true! And you know what? After a certain number they make you turn the windmill off, that's true by the way. But this is, they make you turn it off after you, and yet if you've killed one, they put you in jail, but that's OK. But why is it OK for these windmills to destroy the bird population, and that's what they're doing.
I'll tell you another thing about windmills! And I'm not, look I like all forms of energy and I think windmills, really they are ok in industrial areas like you have an industrial plant, you put up a windmill, you know et cetera et cetera. I've seen the most beautiful fields, farms, fields, the most gorgeous things you've ever seen, and then you have these ugly things going up, and sometimes they're made by different companies. You know and I'm like a perfectionist, I've really built good stuff. And so you'll see like, a few windmills made by one company, General Electric, and you'll see a few made by Siemens, and you'll see a few made by some other guy that doesn't have ten cents so it looks like a-, so you'll see all these windmills they're all different shades of color, they're like sorta white but one like, an orange white, that's my favorite color orange.
And you see these magnificent fields and they're ruined, and you know what they don't tell you about windmills? After ten years they look like hell. You know they start to get tired and old, you gotta replace em a lotta times people don't replace em. They need massive subsidy from the government in order to make it. No we're doing it right, we're doing it right. And you know our numbers, enviromentally, right now are better than they ever been before, just so you know. Because I'm an environmentalist, I am! I want the cleanest water on the planet! I want the cleanest air, anywhere."

Account was suspended as to much in One Drive so deleted contents of the download file in explorer so very little left on drive but still says not enough free space. Originally had 6+ GB. Properties in Explorer say have 1.8 GB. Accessed my OD in Edge and they are still there and it wont allow me to delete them? Anyone know how to get this under control?

All well & good in principle to some extent, but the practice may be a very different thing. In particulay with younger gang members full of testosterone & lacking in life experience & self control.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/35019463...-and-mayor

"Gang patches: Views of a cop, gang member, lawyer and mayor


The new legislation would see all gang insignia banned in public places, would give police the power to issue ÔÇÿdispersal noticesÔÇÖ to gang members gathering in groups and to stop them communicating with each other. It would also allow judges to give more weight to gang membership as an aggravating factor at sentencing.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the proposed law was "ambitious" and would would provide officers with further tools to ÔÇ£continue to put pressure on the gangsÔÇØ, noting it would be up to officers to exercise their judgment about when to enforce it.
Police Association president Chris Cahill said "gang members aren't just going to hand over their patchesÔÇ£ and that policing the proposed law would be difficult in some areas. Some academics have been more critical. Associate law professor Carrie Leonetti called the proposed law a ÔÇ£political gimmickÔÇØ.

The niggly bit, and itÔÇÖs a niggle successive governments have struggled with since the days of┬áNorman Kirk in the 1970s, is working out how to attenuate the impact and presence of gangs in a lawful and practical way.
To take a closer look at this we enter that allegorical bar in HawkeÔÇÖs Bay, and speak to four people at the coalface.
First up is a HawkeÔÇÖs Bay police officer with more that 15 years front-line experience, who is happy to speak provided he remains anonymous.

ÔÇ£I donÔÇÖt think the general public appreciates just how much gang members disdain any form of authority, and especially police officers. I mean they really hate us.
ÔÇ£TheyÔÇÖre ok when theyÔÇÖre by themselves or in a pair. They can be civil and compliant. But any more than two and they just wind each other up like a couple of teenagers egging each other on. TheyÔÇÖre unpredictable, irrational and dangerous,ÔÇØ he said.
ÔÇ£Its really only the old, old school gang members who would be super compliant. They know how to play the game. The new generation are the problem. Full of bravado, showing off to each other. I think the last six years have seen them become way more emboldened.┬á


A local gang member who would also not be identified said there was no way anyone would be taking his patch, or ÔÇ£korowaiÔÇØ (ÔÇÖcloakÔÇÖ), off him.

He said he was a law-abiding citizen, as were many of his fellow gang members. He said he understood that people felt intimidated by patches, but said these tended to be people who had little or no contact with gang members and were under the impression they were all violent and/or criminal.
ÔÇ£Give me an instance with all the tangi of recent where a member of the public has been harmed? It didnÔÇÖt happen,ÔÇØ he said.
The man said there were more law-abiding gang members now ÔÇ£than ever beforeÔÇØ and police would be best served by laws that allowed them to treat gangs like they did any other group.

Scott Jefferson, whoÔÇÖs been a defence lawyer in HawkeÔÇÖs Bay since 1997, said the proposed law was ÔÇ£simply the whipping up of fears and insecurities in the wider public for political gainÔÇØ.



ÔÇ£The Bill will inevitably fall foul of the NZ Bill of Rights Act 1990, particularly s17 - ÔÇÿEveryone has the right too freedom of associationÔÇÖ. No wriggle room there,ÔÇØ he said.



Mayor Craig Little isnÔÇÖt a fan of gang patches in public places, but feels there are more productive uses of police time and resources than targeting gang members for wearing their patches.
ÔÇ£The problem is that we associate the patches with crime. But not everyone wearing those patches is a bad bugger. They might be in a gang associated with crime, but I work with the local gangs and thereÔÇÖs a lot of them doing good stuff and trying to make it better for their families,ÔÇØ he said.
ÔÇ£Look, in an ideal world we wouldnÔÇÖt have gangs, but we do, so we need to work with them. "

ÔÇ£It was my first award. It was valuable to me. But I do not need an award from an institution that does not fully understand what it is like to give up oneÔÇÖs life and, in anticipation of death, defend people and freedom,ÔÇØ Ukrainian soldier Yulia Mykytenko said in a statement. ÔÇ£God is love. But you are not.ÔÇØ

https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-...nko-medal/

All those claimants who went to ACC were paid out entitlements under the Act. ACC was promoted as the way to remove the need to litigate for damages or reparations, and yet over recent years we have increasingly seen the courts award payments to those impacted by accidents.

Those awards are often substantially higher than the equivalent ACC payment, and in addition to it.


Is ACC past its use by date?

https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/03/01/luxon-...apartment/

Should I or should I not?

Got a pop up just now, offering Free Upgrade to Esset Internet. 

   

I have been using antivirus for many years and am quite happy without the Internet version.

Will Esset Internet cause unnecessary blockages and more complicated settings to make for this senior citizen?

wainuitech, what's your view?

Win 11 Home.
As above in file explorer, all picture icons now show the application and not the image. Unable to make it show images. Dont know why it happened. Any suggestions welcome