I have no doubt this has been said by other commentators on previous days, but I need to get it off my chest, so apologies for any repetition.
I am getting royally pissed off by the blatant dishonesty of the National Party, in their unrelenting criticism of the Coalition government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
We know from past experience (their slack handling of the cow disease – mico something or other) that their response to Covid-19 would have been almost identical to the Coalitions, only slower.
Imagine the cries and whining from National if the Coalition had effectively sealed off our borders (as perhaps they should have done) to all countries as soon as it was apparent the virus was spreading in an uncontrollable way.
Imagine the effect on all business in this country and how the Coalition would have got slammed for their actions.
My fear, and I believe the Natz are doing this quite deliberately, is that this negativity will have some impact on the electorate. Their policy, to paraphrase Orwell’s Animal Farm is: before 2017, all good, after 2017 all bad. [Two legs bad, four legs good].
This continued negativity, like water on a stone, will begin to leave an impression!
[Fixed white spaces; it looked like a snowy Winter land]
Fair enough. You seem to have typed two spaces between each paragraph and few at the end for good measure. If you are pasting from somewhere else those can come along for the ride.
We are basically in the same situation now as a wartime government. Today the PM offered explictly in an interview with John Campbell on TVNZ's Breakfast show for the Nats to work cooperatively on NZ's pandemic response.
Barking 'tax cuts' at passing cars starts to look really unfit for power..
I don’t really think it’s working out quite the way National (and their proxies in the media) would like though.
Aotearoa is still in Phase 1 of the epidemic curve (thanks Siouxsie Wiles for the explainer) and so far there’s no real sign of Phase 2 – a more widespread outbreak – that the Nats need to have happen if their narrative is going get traction.
The fact that National (and their friends) are almost wishing for a pandemic as a way to attack the government in an election year is beyond belief really.
It really looks like that is their plan – the worse we get it here, the more they can make political capital out of it regardless of whether there were any shortcomings in the NZ response.
It would be cool if they could bring up specifics, but they have nothing.
A bonfire of the regulations restricting workers right to strike, the ones allowing police to taser the mentally ill, and the ones allowing security services to spy on anyone National doesn't like, would be great, but I don't think those are the ones National has in mind.
Time to prepare the counter-arguments about the value of workplace protections in making sure workers come home to their families at the end of each day.
Protection is the word to emphasise, not regulation. The Nats have a history of removing protections and it leads to things like Pike River.
If work place regulations are so effective why have work place deaths increased?
[I don’t think anybody stated those words. You’re intelligent and could make at least an attempt to answer your own disingenuous question. Thus, it looks very much like you’re trolling us again, which is your MO here. You spray & walk away and usually add very little to the debate. Patience is wearing thin in election year and I have no patience for you wasting our time. Take a week off – Incognito]
Nationals promise to dump two regs for every new one brought in is bound to be a real vote catcher this election i reckon in fact were it not for a fairly deep seated distrust and general loathing for suit wearing slimeballs i'd be tempted to vote for them myself !
People just love having less protection. Why waste all that public money painting lines down the middle of the road? Think of the tax cuts we could have instead.
No doubt the full page ads they put in the papers listing all those they're getting rid of will identify all the ones brought in under their governments.
They'll probably also apologise for telling us they were right at the time they convinced us those regs were necessary when they came in came in but weren't really necessary.
I worked on a farm as a handyman gardener for a while. I remember the leading maintenance man, a painter by trade, finishing painting a one storey building roof and then stepping back to admire the job. He hit the concrete below before he realised he'd stepped off the roof, and was very fortunately uninjured. That farm was a very unsafe place, exacerbated by a culture of drinking and very 'laddish' behaviour.
When I think about some of what I observed- animal cruelty, guesswork used in estimating chemical usage, pranks like setting off detonators inside a wool-shed, turning up to drive tractors at 7.30 after drinking till 3, playing chicken with trucks, not properly obeying hand signals when using front end loaders to stack wool bales on the bed of a truck and pushing both man and bales off the side, alcoholic shepherds with stashes of booze around the farm, and finding a stick of weeping explosive in the toolbox mounted just behind the 35X tractor seat…………
Now what was that about education and the need for safety regulations again?
Very interesting – thanks.. However I was disappointed to see that the model takes no account of how tax cuts will flatten the curve. Especially if targeted at the top marginal rate. A disqualifying oversight surely? /endpisstake
We're already running trials on treatment efficacy with drugs our ancestors didn't dream of.
Multiple teams are developing vaccines.
There were multiple waves of the black death, each only slowed by isolation, each wave devastating. We're looking at a bad initial wave of a new disease, but after a year or two it probably won't be much of an issue.
Has anyone even bothered developing a vaccine for the entire selection of viruses that only cause 15% of the common cold?
I have no idea.
But I do know that we have a variety of treatments for cold symptoms that our ancestors never had – the best drugs being so awesome we're not even allowed to buy them here for fear we make something even more powerful.
btw, I thought the link was pretty funny. It’s important to keep your sense of humour in times like these.
We're already running trials on treatment efficacy with drugs our ancestors didn't dream of.
That's a reasonable possibility, but our track record with anti-virals is patchy at best.
Multiple teams are developing vaccines.
The good news here is that despite the emergence of multiple variants, most teams will be targeting highly conserved or stable parts of the RNA sequence. Hopefully one vaccine will rule them all. The bad news is that while development of candidate vaccines may well be remarkably fast, testing them to ensure they work and are safe for mass rollout across the whole human population is probably 18 months away.
We're looking at a bad initial wave of a new disease, but after a year or two it probably won't be much of an issue.
Initial reports suggest COVID 19 is somewhat more genetically stable than the common cold virus. This hopefully means that over time as more and more people develop natural antibodies from having got the illness, an increasing total herd immunity will dramatically slow down the growth rate.
If it doesn't then we could see successive waves circle the globe for years. Also we don't yet fully understand how much damage a serious case of the illness causes, and whether it leaves an individual vulnerable to a subsequent infection.
Still lots to learn about this 'devil virus' as the CCP described it. Personally I'm taking it very seriously and have already made significant changes in our plans taking into account the medical and systemic risks it poses. Everything from already avoiding crowds, touching anything in public, always wearing glasses, washing hands everytime we return home, etc … right through to thinking through the consequences of being stuck in Australia if trans-Tasman travel is shut down,
I'm basically thinking only a few months ahead – longer term repercussions are too up in the air. But there might be some upcoming travel and events that need to be cancelled, impacts on business, that sort of thing in that timeframe.
I was already a bit germ-phobic about door handles etc, my fear of covid-19 was preceded by my fear of gastroenteritis lol
The successive waves of similar severity is basically the worst possible scenario, and frankly unlikely. More likely than NZ having zero fatalities, but we have more than prayer and isolation to rely on.
Bear in mind that even though we don't have actual disease cures, we do have a lot of symptom treatments.
“Thanks to Professor Gane and his international colleagues’ innovative work and perseverance, almost everyone with Hepatitis C can now be cured with a short course of tablets. The World Health Organisation recently announced that more than one million people have already been cured with these new drugs and that global eradication of Hepatitis C should now be achievable within the next 30 years.”
I'd like to say the hypocrisy is astounding but it's not because that's what we expect from Bridges and the current bunch of nats. National introduced the current Social Security Act 2018 (which the current government embraced and passed at the end of last year) which is riddled with reliance upon regulations which weren't there before, putting the lie to the rhetoric that the new legislation was both policy neutral and would simplify things. Of course what Bridges says doesn't matter because beneficiaries don't count.
I spoke to a relative this morning who lives in Italy and posited the perfect place for a flu -like outbreak is cold wet inland China and Italy's Po valley. cold, damp, foggy etc. He added another one and in his opinion the principal reason for the Italian outbreak is that Chinese companies have established very large factories in Italy assembling Chinese goods so that they can be marketed as EU and Italian made and they are staffed exclusively by Chinese workers most of whom went home for Chinese New Year and then left there early when the disease became known and were let back into Italy because the Italians are particularily slack when it comes to observing regulations etc.
An interesting observation on the map of the outbreaks is that there is very little spread in the southern hemisphere which is currently at the end of summer . I'll take a wild quess and bet that like SARS which it apparently shares about 97% similarity that Covid-9 will dry up and fade dramaticly when some heat and drying returns up north.
There are also very large numbers of Chinese workers in Iran as Iran is seen as the hub for the Belt and Road expansion. China has poured billions into Iranian construction and factories in the last few years. Ironic considering the CCPs treatment of it's own muslim communities.
Ironic considering the CCPs treatment of it's own muslim communities.
It's a bit of a paradox isn't it. The deeper explanation is that the Uighurs are culturally Turkic in origin and much of the rest of the Muslim world just doesn't give a shit.
Soimon wants renters to live in cold damp houses because landlords shouldn’t have to provide heaters. He’s got a heart of gold (oops, meant a heart of ice). Such a lovely man.
I don't mind providing good insulation and dampness management in our units; it keeps tenants happy and makes good business sense. And these are are typically fixed assets that are hard to mess with. But the first set of heat pumps I installed over 10 years ago all got either stolen or broken by tenants. Much less encouraging.
I'd love to see NZ have a housing stock that is modern, warm and dry … but we just don't. Many rentals are houses that are in the last 20% of their economic life, houses that very few people want to live in as their own home. And houses this old were built in an era where they were often very badly oriented to the sun, and were completely devoid of any details we would take for granted in a modern building. For this reason they're actually quite expensive to effectively get them up to a modern standard. Sure you can stuff in insulation to your heart's content … but they'll never really perform.
If building costs in NZ were more aligned with those in Australia, I'd be a lot keener to simply knock over these end of life units and build new.
Building costs!!!!!! I just priced a 5 metre length of 100mm x 12mm skirting board made out of recyled cardboard, MDF to you and it was $37 fucking dollars a metre or $185 a length, I only need 1.5 metres but Placemakers dont cut to length.
I'm going to use flattened gold bars in future, they are cheaper and have better residual value. Fucking thieving arseholes.
In a post based on a rant by far right-wing ex-convict Damien Grant, and in a feat of staggering hypocrisy, DFP fights what he calls "cancel culture" with – wait for it – a boycott campaign.
The drum is beating for the RB Governor to reduce the OCR down from 1 to .5% – if only to match cuts made by others so the dollar does not rise in value while exporters (loss of revenue) and importers (lack of new supply) are struggling. The problem is this will further fuel the property market.
Maybe it is time to consider Bollards idea of a mortgage surcharge – there would still be a OCR fall but the property market would be constrained by a mortgage surcharge (start at 0.25%, maybe rising to 0.5%).
The mortgage surcharge would also bring in revenue for wage subsidies and interest free loans to businesses so they can meet loan repayments during the downturn.
That might only happen if the banks pass on any cut in full, which is doubtful. While people are stocking up on toilet paper their minds might not be on investing in the property market either.
Seems to me that the purpose of the rate decrease is to stimulate the economy via corporate betting.
Thing is, the issue isn't corporate confidence in their psychological betting game, it's an actual lowering of personal consumption due to isolation and lowered incomes.
So a better way to inject money into that area would be for the govt to borrow from the RB at the lower rate (not offered to banks) and give boosts to recipients of government transfers. They're the ones who will keep the retail sector alive.
Interest rates largely don't fuel the property market. Yes, I am aware its a widely held belief but look at the actual evidence like rate of property price increase vs prevailing interest rates and you would conclude its not strongly correlated.
That's is cool the 2 million dollars of government tau toko for farmers affected by the droughts in Aotearoa.
There you go he is picking on people who can't defend themselves tipical right neck move.
The way I see it is a person can only handle so much toxic substances so the more that is consumed the faster the negative effects will start ie diabetes.
If you look around the world and see how badly Wahine are treated the #Metoo movement is overdue kia kaha.
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The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Beaglehole, Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago niphon/Getty Images The number of people accessing medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Aotearoa New Zealand increased significantly between 2006 and 2022. But the disorder is still under-diagnosed and ...
To celebrate the start of New Zealand music month, we look back at the best local tuneage that managed to weasel its way into Hollywood productions. There’s nothing quite like the thrilling zap of recognition when New Zealand weasels its way into a glamorous Hollywood production. Crack open a Tui ...
People trust other people more than institutions. So how can the media gain that trust through journalists without losing what’s important about the institution? Anna Rawhiti-Connell reflects on two years of curating the news for The Bulletin.Amonth ago, armed cops descended on my neighbourhood as calls to “lock your ...
A warning – suicide is discussed in this podcast New Zealand’s own long-running soap Shortland Street doesn’t hesitate to kill off its much-loved characters. But would TVNZ dare to kill off our favourite soap? That’s the fear as times get tough in television – even though it’s been pointed out ...
I have no doubt this has been said by other commentators on previous days, but I need to get it off my chest, so apologies for any repetition.
I am getting royally pissed off by the blatant dishonesty of the National Party, in their unrelenting criticism of the Coalition government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
We know from past experience (their slack handling of the cow disease – mico something or other) that their response to Covid-19 would have been almost identical to the Coalitions, only slower.
Imagine the cries and whining from National if the Coalition had effectively sealed off our borders (as perhaps they should have done) to all countries as soon as it was apparent the virus was spreading in an uncontrollable way.
Imagine the effect on all business in this country and how the Coalition would have got slammed for their actions.
My fear, and I believe the Natz are doing this quite deliberately, is that this negativity will have some impact on the electorate. Their policy, to paraphrase Orwell’s Animal Farm is: before 2017, all good, after 2017 all bad. [Two legs bad, four legs good].
This continued negativity, like water on a stone, will begin to leave an impression!
[Fixed white spaces; it looked like a snowy Winter land]
Fair enough. You seem to have typed two spaces between each paragraph and few at the end for good measure. If you are pasting from somewhere else those can come along for the ride.
We are basically in the same situation now as a wartime government. Today the PM offered explictly in an interview with John Campbell on TVNZ's Breakfast show for the Nats to work cooperatively on NZ's pandemic response.
Barking 'tax cuts' at passing cars starts to look really unfit for power..
I don’t really think it’s working out quite the way National (and their proxies in the media) would like though.
Aotearoa is still in Phase 1 of the epidemic curve (thanks Siouxsie Wiles for the explainer) and so far there’s no real sign of Phase 2 – a more widespread outbreak – that the Nats need to have happen if their narrative is going get traction.
The fact that National (and their friends) are almost wishing for a pandemic as a way to attack the government in an election year is beyond belief really.
It really looks like that is their plan – the worse we get it here, the more they can make political capital out of it regardless of whether there were any shortcomings in the NZ response.
It would be cool if they could bring up specifics, but they have nothing.
A bonfire of the regulations restricting workers right to strike, the ones allowing police to taser the mentally ill, and the ones allowing security services to spy on anyone National doesn't like, would be great, but I don't think those are the ones National has in mind.
More leaky homes and Pike Rivers, anyone?
She’ll be right, mate.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/120107398/national-to-promise-commonsense-legal-test-for-workplace-safety-rules
Time to prepare the counter-arguments about the value of workplace protections in making sure workers come home to their families at the end of each day.
Protection is the word to emphasise, not regulation. The Nats have a history of removing protections and it leads to things like Pike River.
Worm farms
For the 'making fun of them' part of the resistance, yes. #ComingUpWoodhouse
If work place regulations are so effective why have work place deaths increased?
[I don’t think anybody stated those words. You’re intelligent and could make at least an attempt to answer your own disingenuous question. Thus, it looks very much like you’re trolling us again, which is your MO here. You spray & walk away and usually add very little to the debate. Patience is wearing thin in election year and I have no patience for you wasting our time. Take a week off – Incognito]
Because the Ministry of Inaction doesn't bother enforcing them?
Whoever is the Minister of the department responsible should be sacked by Ardern then. Who is the Minister responsible?
Ardern does not sack anyone.
As a proportion of hours worked?
But if deaths are increasing does it make sense to remove the regulations Gos?
Remember the leaky buildings fiasco was down to the Nats removing rules and regulations
Cos they excluding farming
At least in part because a goddamned island blew up.
Also in part due to basic statistical variation.
See my Moderation note @ 8:53 AM.
Because they are designed to allow employers to avoid responsibility, not protect, workers.
As you would know, if you ever had a real job.
Would someone please confirm the lifting of my ban?
[Looks like the machine has let you through – MS]
I cannot confirm nor deny that your ban has expired as of this morning.
Nationals promise to dump two regs for every new one brought in is bound to be a real vote catcher this election i reckon in fact were it not for a fairly deep seated distrust and general loathing for suit wearing slimeballs i'd be tempted to vote for them myself !
People just love having less protection. Why waste all that public money painting lines down the middle of the road? Think of the tax cuts we could have instead.
exactly….and who needs buildings that are waterproof?
the poors
No doubt the full page ads they put in the papers listing all those they're getting rid of will identify all the ones brought in under their governments.
They'll probably also apologise for telling us they were right at the time they convinced us those regs were necessary when they came in came in but weren't really necessary.
Can some reporter please ask bridges ,how many roofers have to break their back before scaffolding single story dwellings is economically worth it.
I worked on a farm as a handyman gardener for a while. I remember the leading maintenance man, a painter by trade, finishing painting a one storey building roof and then stepping back to admire the job. He hit the concrete below before he realised he'd stepped off the roof, and was very fortunately uninjured. That farm was a very unsafe place, exacerbated by a culture of drinking and very 'laddish' behaviour.
When I think about some of what I observed- animal cruelty, guesswork used in estimating chemical usage, pranks like setting off detonators inside a wool-shed, turning up to drive tractors at 7.30 after drinking till 3, playing chicken with trucks, not properly obeying hand signals when using front end loaders to stack wool bales on the bed of a truck and pushing both man and bales off the side, alcoholic shepherds with stashes of booze around the farm, and finding a stick of weeping explosive in the toolbox mounted just behind the 35X tractor seat…………
Now what was that about education and the need for safety regulations again?
Dr Siouxsie Wiles writes clearly about the shape of NZ's public health response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including handy animated illustration by Toby Morris of 'flattening the epidemic curve': https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/09-03-2020/the-three-phases-of-covid-19-and-how-we-can-make-it-manageable/
That's a good read. Here is a new 3Blue1Brown video on the underlying math. Quite easy to follow:
Very interesting – thanks.. However I was disappointed to see that the model takes no account of how tax cuts will flatten the curve. Especially if targeted at the top marginal rate. A disqualifying oversight surely? /endpisstake
Ah … that's the 'Laffer out Loud" curve you're thinking of.
Flattening the curve,is only achievable by containment ,here we are limited by technological constraints and have only one mechanism.
https://twitter.com/trishankkarthik/status/1236468023827013637
Well, no, that's not strictly true.
We're already running trials on treatment efficacy with drugs our ancestors didn't dream of.
Multiple teams are developing vaccines.
There were multiple waves of the black death, each only slowed by isolation, each wave devastating. We're looking at a bad initial wave of a new disease, but after a year or two it probably won't be much of an issue.
Multiple teams are developing vaccines.
For which strain
https://twitter.com/trvrb/status/1236117963712770050
The worst strain
Will it be as successful as other coronavirus vaccines such as the common cold?
Has anyone even bothered developing a vaccine for the entire selection of viruses that only cause 15% of the common cold?
I have no idea.
But I do know that we have a variety of treatments for cold symptoms that our ancestors never had – the best drugs being so awesome we're not even allowed to buy them here for fear we make something even more powerful.
btw, I thought the link was pretty funny. It’s important to keep your sense of humour in times like these.
We're already running trials on treatment efficacy with drugs our ancestors didn't dream of.
That's a reasonable possibility, but our track record with anti-virals is patchy at best.
Multiple teams are developing vaccines.
The good news here is that despite the emergence of multiple variants, most teams will be targeting highly conserved or stable parts of the RNA sequence. Hopefully one vaccine will rule them all. The bad news is that while development of candidate vaccines may well be remarkably fast, testing them to ensure they work and are safe for mass rollout across the whole human population is probably 18 months away.
We're looking at a bad initial wave of a new disease, but after a year or two it probably won't be much of an issue.
Initial reports suggest COVID 19 is somewhat more genetically stable than the common cold virus. This hopefully means that over time as more and more people develop natural antibodies from having got the illness, an increasing total herd immunity will dramatically slow down the growth rate.
If it doesn't then we could see successive waves circle the globe for years. Also we don't yet fully understand how much damage a serious case of the illness causes, and whether it leaves an individual vulnerable to a subsequent infection.
Still lots to learn about this 'devil virus' as the CCP described it. Personally I'm taking it very seriously and have already made significant changes in our plans taking into account the medical and systemic risks it poses. Everything from already avoiding crowds, touching anything in public, always wearing glasses, washing hands everytime we return home, etc … right through to thinking through the consequences of being stuck in Australia if trans-Tasman travel is shut down,
I'm basically thinking only a few months ahead – longer term repercussions are too up in the air. But there might be some upcoming travel and events that need to be cancelled, impacts on business, that sort of thing in that timeframe.
I was already a bit germ-phobic about door handles etc, my fear of covid-19 was preceded by my fear of gastroenteritis lol
The successive waves of similar severity is basically the worst possible scenario, and frankly unlikely. More likely than NZ having zero fatalities, but we have more than prayer and isolation to rely on.
Bear in mind that even though we don't have actual disease cures, we do have a lot of symptom treatments.
'but our track record with anti-virals is patchy at best.' You haven't seen the work of the esteemed Ed Gane.
https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/news-events-and-notices/news/news-2017/02/new-zealander-of-the-year-honours-for-academic-and-graduate.html
“Thanks to Professor Gane and his international colleagues’ innovative work and perseverance, almost everyone with Hepatitis C can now be cured with a short course of tablets. The World Health Organisation recently announced that more than one million people have already been cured with these new drugs and that global eradication of Hepatitis C should now be achievable within the next 30 years.”
An excellent interview that gives an Iranian professor's perspective on Syria
Thanks.
That's an excellent interview. In an hour Mohammad Marandi has described the Syrian War as no MSM outlet ever could or would ever dare.
Simon Bridges continues to borrow (or rather, steal) from his blue buddies overseas. Nothing he says is original, not even the language he uses.
If you want a laugh, just Google "bonfire of red tape [regulations]".
National: copy and paste.
With a compliant MSM willing to act as your echo chamber further scaring the punters and sowing dissent instead of providing balance why change
I'd like to say the hypocrisy is astounding but it's not because that's what we expect from Bridges and the current bunch of nats. National introduced the current Social Security Act 2018 (which the current government embraced and passed at the end of last year) which is riddled with reliance upon regulations which weren't there before, putting the lie to the rhetoric that the new legislation was both policy neutral and would simplify things. Of course what Bridges says doesn't matter because beneficiaries don't count.
I spoke to a relative this morning who lives in Italy and posited the perfect place for a flu -like outbreak is cold wet inland China and Italy's Po valley. cold, damp, foggy etc. He added another one and in his opinion the principal reason for the Italian outbreak is that Chinese companies have established very large factories in Italy assembling Chinese goods so that they can be marketed as EU and Italian made and they are staffed exclusively by Chinese workers most of whom went home for Chinese New Year and then left there early when the disease became known and were let back into Italy because the Italians are particularily slack when it comes to observing regulations etc.
An interesting observation on the map of the outbreaks is that there is very little spread in the southern hemisphere which is currently at the end of summer . I'll take a wild quess and bet that like SARS which it apparently shares about 97% similarity that Covid-9 will dry up and fade dramaticly when some heat and drying returns up north.
heres hoping.
There are also very large numbers of Chinese workers in Iran as Iran is seen as the hub for the Belt and Road expansion. China has poured billions into Iranian construction and factories in the last few years. Ironic considering the CCPs treatment of it's own muslim communities.
Ironic considering the CCPs treatment of it's own muslim communities.
It's a bit of a paradox isn't it. The deeper explanation is that the Uighurs are culturally Turkic in origin and much of the rest of the Muslim world just doesn't give a shit.
Soimon wants renters to live in cold damp houses because landlords shouldn’t have to provide heaters. He’s got a heart of gold (oops, meant a heart of ice). Such a lovely man.
I don't mind providing good insulation and dampness management in our units; it keeps tenants happy and makes good business sense. And these are are typically fixed assets that are hard to mess with. But the first set of heat pumps I installed over 10 years ago all got either stolen or broken by tenants. Much less encouraging.
I'd love to see NZ have a housing stock that is modern, warm and dry … but we just don't. Many rentals are houses that are in the last 20% of their economic life, houses that very few people want to live in as their own home. And houses this old were built in an era where they were often very badly oriented to the sun, and were completely devoid of any details we would take for granted in a modern building. For this reason they're actually quite expensive to effectively get them up to a modern standard. Sure you can stuff in insulation to your heart's content … but they'll never really perform.
If building costs in NZ were more aligned with those in Australia, I'd be a lot keener to simply knock over these end of life units and build new.
Building costs!!!!!! I just priced a 5 metre length of 100mm x 12mm skirting board made out of recyled cardboard, MDF to you and it was $37 fucking dollars a metre or $185 a length, I only need 1.5 metres but Placemakers dont cut to length.
I'm going to use flattened gold bars in future, they are cheaper and have better residual value. Fucking thieving arseholes.
Farrar watch:
In a post based on a rant by far right-wing ex-convict Damien Grant, and in a feat of staggering hypocrisy, DFP fights what he calls "cancel culture" with – wait for it – a boycott campaign.
The drum is beating for the RB Governor to reduce the OCR down from 1 to .5% – if only to match cuts made by others so the dollar does not rise in value while exporters (loss of revenue) and importers (lack of new supply) are struggling. The problem is this will further fuel the property market.
Maybe it is time to consider Bollards idea of a mortgage surcharge – there would still be a OCR fall but the property market would be constrained by a mortgage surcharge (start at 0.25%, maybe rising to 0.5%).
The mortgage surcharge would also bring in revenue for wage subsidies and interest free loans to businesses so they can meet loan repayments during the downturn.
That might only happen if the banks pass on any cut in full, which is doubtful. While people are stocking up on toilet paper their minds might not be on investing in the property market either.
Seems to me that the purpose of the rate decrease is to stimulate the economy via corporate betting.
Thing is, the issue isn't corporate confidence in their psychological betting game, it's an actual lowering of personal consumption due to isolation and lowered incomes.
So a better way to inject money into that area would be for the govt to borrow from the RB at the lower rate (not offered to banks) and give boosts to recipients of government transfers. They're the ones who will keep the retail sector alive.
Interest rates largely don't fuel the property market. Yes, I am aware its a widely held belief but look at the actual evidence like rate of property price increase vs prevailing interest rates and you would conclude its not strongly correlated.
Hands up if you had "I'm Nero" on your Drumpf Batshittery Bingo card.
No? Too much? Me neither.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-nero-meme_n_5e658685c5b68d61645632c2
Kia Te Ao Maori News.
Rangitane Iwi lost heaps of whenua hope the crown does the correct thing.
I think there should be more architectural mahi done on old Maori sites before they lost forever.
That's the way American indigenous Wahine ambassador championing their cultures plight from their system.
Kia Kaha to all the Wahine around the world and in Mexico for there protest on Sunday.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Am Show.
if people get more putea they can spend more in business so in my view the mimimum wage increase is a win win???
If the walk is only 10 minutes I can't see what's wrong with that exercise and lowering ones negative impact on the future by walking to mahi.
Music to my ears all these song being translated into Te reo Maori.
Good to see you again Rawdon.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Newshub.
There is another subject Eco Maori has had a win on but Te kaumara never tells how sweet it is.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I say our government is doing great mahi with the virus.
Take me to the Awa is going to be sung in Te reo Māori Ka pai.
Good to see the Marae including their church in their new Carving.
Mana Wahine that's the way Wahine Shearing Sheep.
Awsome that university celebrateing the difference cultures they have their in Hawaii
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
That's is cool the 2 million dollars of government tau toko for farmers affected by the droughts in Aotearoa.
There you go he is picking on people who can't defend themselves tipical right neck move.
The way I see it is a person can only handle so much toxic substances so the more that is consumed the faster the negative effects will start ie diabetes.
If you look around the world and see how badly Wahine are treated the #Metoo movement is overdue kia kaha.
Yes absolutely power corupts.?????.
Ka kite Ano
https://youtu.be/g_D5vzqBVWo
https://youtu.be/_qtV9U9vD38
Kia Ora Newshub.
I put my Kiwisaver into low risk funds a little while ago.
Our government helping our farmers who are the back bone of Aotearoa is great during this drought.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Kia Kaha Pahui hope fully tangata will give heaps to your givealittle page.
Festpack in Hawaii looked like the event would have been awesome mate wa.
Some tangata pay rates and get little returns from the charges
That's is awesome Ahurri Treaty Settlement bill being passed by the government.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Big NO things have not changed still people using bulling and intimidating tactics on .
Online extremism how does one know who these people are and who they work for.????.
Prejudice is still a big part of Aotearoa SYSTEM.
Cash is King.
I userly have a good vegetable garden can you guess why I don't any more.
Ka kite Ano