The Bull Ring

  Presidential debate: How the world's media reacted 9:39 am today Share this Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via email Share on Reddit Share on Linked In US voters have endured the first of three presidential debates between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden. People watch the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Photo: AFP The event has also prompted a huge reaction from world audiences who tuned in for the chaotic event. Newspapers and commentators around the world have criticised the tone and tactics of the debate. As The Times in the UK wrote, "The clearest loser from the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was America." [UK] The paper went further, saying the event "was not a debate in any meaningful sense" but rather "an ill-tempered and at times incomprehen

  Pacific leaders weigh in on cannabis referendum 3:37 pm today Share this Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via email Share on Reddit Share on Linked In Sela Jane Hopgood , RNZ Pacific Journalist @Selabration sela.hopgood@rnz.co.nz The question of whether cannabis should be legal has divided New Zealanders for years, but what does the Pacific community think of the bill? File photo. Photo: Unsplash / Shane Rounce The 2018-2019 New Zealand Health Survey found 15 percent of adults had used cannabis in the past year - but for Pacific, the figure was slightly higher at 17 percent. Pacific community leaders around New Zealand have weighed in on what the cannabis legalisation and control referendum will mean for their communities. The University of Otago Pacific Island Student Association (UOPISA) conducted an in-house survey to gauge what the m

Fact Check: National Party's claim it increased renewable energy - Lies Did the proportion of renewable electricity generation increase faster under the previous National government than the current Labour leadership - and was National responsible for this? The statement "When we were in government we increased renewable energy from 65.4 percent to 81.9 percent. In the last three years this government has increased it by another 0.5 percent." - Simeon Brown, National Party MP,  September 28, 2020.   . . The analysis The National Party is claiming the proportion of electricity coming from renewable sources increased more when it was in power than under the Labour-led government, while also taking credit for that rise. The Labour Party agreed on a plan to transition to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2035 in the  party's confidence and supply agreement with the Green Party  from October 2017 (page 3). In September 2020 , Labour said it would bring forward the ta

Fact Check: National party claim of tax cuts on low income earners - LIES! A fact-checking service says National overstated the benefits of its tax cut plan, which they say would give New Zealanders earning between $50,000 and $70,000 an extra $3000.  The temporary tax cuts would last for 16 months and are expected to cost about $4.7 billion. National plans to pay for it by cutting back on spending, such as suspending Super Fund contributions and eliminating the fees-free university policy and KiwiBuild. National plans to increase tax thresholds by lifting the bottom bracket from $14,000 to $20,000, the middle threshold from $48,000 to $64,000 and the top bracket from $70,000 to $90,000 - changes it wants in place by December.  Kiwis are currently taxed at 17.5 percent on income between $14,000 and $48,000, and National plans to raise that bar so that you're only taxed at 17.5 percent on income between $20,000 and $64,000.  However, APP FactCheck says National overstated the amount

Overseas New Zealanders could boost Jacinda Ardern's re-election chances - former expat When recently returned New Zealander Lara Barclay talked to fellow Kiwi expatriates in Australia, it was her country's success in tackling coronavirus that came up again and again and the crisis role of prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Support from New Zealand's million-strong diaspora - equal to a fifth of the country's resident population - could prove a surprise boost for Ardern as the Labour Party leader seeks re-election at an October 17 poll. "They thought New Zealand's response was fantastic," said Barclay, a victim support worker. "Every New Zealander I knew in Australia bar one ... were super impressed by New Zealand's response and by Jacinda." Labour is widely expected to retain power next month and hopes to rule without the support of a coalition partner, although the opposition National Party has been clawing back support in recent polls. Oversea

POLL: More than half of Kiwis think now is not the right time for tax cuts More than half of Kiwis think now is not the right time for tax cuts, the latest 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton Poll has found. Labour and National are both promising changes to income tax if elected, with Labour's a tax increase hitting income earned over $180,000 by placing a new tax rate of 39 per cent, and National's temporarily slashing tax by altering  tax brackets .  However, according to the latest 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton Poll, only 34 per cent think now is the right time for tax cuts, 57 per cent disagree and don't think now is the right time, and 9 per cent either did not know or refused to answer.  The groups of people who were more likely than average (34 per cent) to think now was the right time for tax cuts were National and ACT supporters, Aucklanders and people aged 55 and over.  . . However, the results showed 62 per cent of National supporters and 57 per cent of ACT supporters wanted a tax

Princeton University gives NZ pandemic response International tick of approval Social capital has been hailed as one of the reasons behind New Zealand's successful response to the Covid-19 pandemic, new  Princeton University  research suggests. Stuff  reports were among the bodies of work drawn upon in the Innovations for Successful Societies research centre analysis which examined the response from March to June by Princeton researchers including New Zealand-born Blair Cameron. The research said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her response team “always acted quickly” throughout the pandemic, opting to make “pivotal decisions that sometimes were based on limited information”. . . In the early stages of the pandemic, government analyst Clinton Watson – who was involved in the establishment of the alert level system – told researchers there was no time to work through lengthy policy processes in standing up the country’s response. “The process was atypical; standard departmental