Apparently the government is going to launch a war style campaign to mobilise and empower the population. It is important to understand this isn't just a rhetoric – it will require the whole nation to do it's bit to save lives from COVID-19.
Meanwhile, in the dystopian UK, billionaire Richard Branson (worth eight billion NZ dollars) is asking for a 15 billion dollar bailout for his airline whilst demanding the 8,500 Virgin Atlantic employees take eight weeks unpaid leave. If he paid his staff $1000 a week it would cost $68,000,000 for eight weeks or about .85% of Branson's personal fortune.
Given that much of his wealth will be Virgin Airline shares, it is highly unlikely his current wealth is anything like $8 billion. How likely is it that he has a spare $68 million in actual cash?
Thats the thing with most billionaires. Most of their wealth is in the companies they own. Sure they will have a lot of cash, but probably way less than you think. A lot of their spending is from lines of credit which they have due to their wealth of their shareholdings. That is all going to dry up.
This whole thing is a bit like the GFC (except much worse). The govt has to prop up companies and banks as much as it does individuals. Otherwise you get a complete system wide crash. And then even governments can't help, at least not to the extent they could if the system wide crash can be avoided.
You are misreading the point I am making. The challenge right now is to avoid a system wide crash, not precipitate it.
I know a bunch of commenters, including you, on The Standard see this crisis as an opportunity to herald in the revolution. But that is not going to happen. The govt is going to do its best to sustain the economy, not destroy it.
But in the aftermath it (the economy and all of us in it) will be different. Will global tourism ever fully recover, at least within the next 3 to 5 years? Maybe all airlines will be smaller for many years to come. Far less cruising holidays. Way more local tourism. Way less eating out. The hundreds of billions (including Kiwisaver investments in these sectors) invested in all these industries will be gone forever.
It is not hard to think of other changes. But I am pretty sure that New Zealand farming as a source of export food will continue in essentially the same form as at present. The world will still need our food. As indeed does our economy and all of us in the towns and cities who are indirectly dependent on it. Bomber Bradbury's hope for the destruction of the export farming sector is not going to happen.
Branson and his 'billionaire' ilk, and the aspirational middle class are the problem.
I am sure Bransons business interests are arranged in ways that one can not impact on the other. Trusts or some other legal jiggery pokery that keeps him rich.
It is time for this 'not as cash rich as I may think' business leader to realise (sell) some companies and pay his staff the redundancies they are due, not coming across all socialist when it suits him.
How do you sell an airline at the moment?
Given that Branson is asking for state support so soon, probably shows how indebted he is. I am pretty certain the government will be expecting major shareholders (the likes of Branson and his cash) to step up as a condition of providing support to the airline, or any other business.
I imagine the govt will be taking a bigger stake in Air NZ and any other large business that needs a special bailout. But they are hardly going to take equity stakes in all New Zealand business, big and small across all sectors. Way too complicated. On that point the Tax Payers Union has got it wrong.
And subsidiaries of foreign companies, or ones with large foreign shareholdings?
Do we socialise losses there to get continued "foreign investment"?
The losses some local companies face is going to result in them being under-capitalised – in normal times they offer a share issue or seek a white knight partner. These are not normal times.
A government partner and later sale of the shareholding – on the market, or to one party is not unreasonable.
There is a good argument for wage subsidies, allowance for later tax payments, for sole traders and small firms to keep them going.
Based on previous tax paid income, of course.
It is in banks, and suppliers, interest for businesses to continue, rather than default into bankruptcy, so in general a business has more options to help cashflow, than a wage earner, or welfare recipient.
As any rich person could tell you – you don't get something without paying for it- any govt subsidy anywhere around a billionaire should come with a reciprocal transfer of wealth in the form of equity or property transfer. The uk govt may end up owning a carribean island or two but hey…
you obviously feel content in your uselessness, but i am relieved to see that you find no issue with Socialism when it is obscenly weatlhy people who are hanging of the government tit.
lesser known is this,….the man does not make his money only on airplanes he does make a good portion of it in Healthcare, and thus stands to make much money from the current health crisis.
Someone yesterday told you to go fuck yourself with your low concern trolling about 'socialism' for the poor. And i can only second that.
As for airlines, they too can be nationalised, grounded, and when the world returns to something resembling normal people might go back to flying in a year of several. As for Richard Branson, he can get fucked too.
Branson is an excellent example of an entrepreneur who has created remarkable wealth in many fields. He's done things beyond the capacity of the vast majority of people, yet envy of him is both palpable and deplorable. You are quite correct of course, wealthy people don't necessarily have a lot of spare cash lying around, and if his businesses goes under permanently, a lot of people will lose jobs. Yet it seems some commenters here would prefer these people lose their jobs, rather than a successful business they deeply resent get tided over a bad patch.
There is of course a balance here. Many people have good reason to be angry about the way big banks were bailed out during the GFC, an event caused by their own actions, and yet were never held accountable for in any meaningful way. In the meantime millions of ordinary people lost a great deal. By all means consider bailing out Virgin, but there has to be a quid pro quo of some kind.
For some years now I've been exploring the deeper nature of the so-called 'mixed model' economy. Why is it that societies which embrace both commercialism and socialism seem to deliver the best outcomes? What are the limits on both, when do they both go too far? What are the good features of both, and how do we construct social models that develop synergy between them?
While my starting point is socialism, I'm increasingly frustrated by narrow ideologues here on the left whose obvious agenda is 'smash capitalism'; while at the same time I've never had a moment for those right wingers who refuse to acknowledge that all human success is built on a platform of social trust and cohesion.
In this light I appreciate many of your comments here Wayne. Not that I always agree with you but that you do reach out across this deplorable political divide with good intent.
Branson is a "prime example" of how to get rich by "socialising your loses" and privatising profits. While lowering wages and avoiding taxes at the same time.
Finding a more original way of extracting wealth from the community.
Not dissimilar to New Zealand's asset strippers and the runners down of former public assets
Entrepreneurs, real ones, find something to sell that benefits people.
Branson has, like bankers, almost certainly has destroyed more real wealth, than he has created.
"Wealth creators" my arse.
By all means bail out the soon to be jobless Virgin staff.
Spending money on bailing out billionaire tax dodgers, sticks in my craw.
The govt has to prop up companies and banks as much as it does individuals.
Why?
…governments can't help, at least not to the extent they could if the system wide crash can be avoided.
How so?
Is your thinking on what constitutes "government" limited to a box that's jam packed with immovable notions of capitalism as some natural or inevitable expression of order?
Coronavirus might be our last best chance to change the path we're on and stop with this crazy warming of the plant "because" bullshit. If you lack the imagination to envisage any way other than the same old way, then perhaps it's time for you to spend your days watching soaps because you have nothing of worth to offer.
Alternatively, push at the constraints of the box that contains your patterns of thoughts, and you never know, you might be in line for a pleasant surprise or two.
Billionaire Sir Richard Branson has been urged by Labour politicians to cover the wages of Virgin Atlantic staff forced to take unpaid leave due to the coronavirus.
EXCLUSIVE: Virgin Healthcare has been exposed as a 'parasite' on the NHS as a campaigner slams the firm as it's revealed it paid no corporation tax
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin healthcare group has not paid a penny in corporation tax while being handed £2billion worth of NHS and local authority deals.
but essentially what our National Party Mouth (i guess they consider Benefit, Oravida and NO Bridges just too toxic for these trying times) Wayne wants is socialism, as without it non of these super rich and their rich man tit sucking Toadies would be where they are.
Branson/Virgin are also into trains, taking over some of the British Rail network – calls for the UK government to step in as there aren't any passengers any more.
I note that a billionaire like the Democrat former presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg promised to give away $8 billion of his $62 billion wealth, so it must therefore be possible for him and billionnaires like Branson to liberate large amounts of wealth.
How else do you give away 8% of your wealth? It must be available as cash.
Secondly, Branson must have huge ability to borrow cash against his holdings.
It's a bit rich to put 8500 employees on 8 weeks unpaid employment and cry poverty for yourself.
If Virgin is so indebted that it is going to fold – it may be better to let it fold and bail out the employees rather than Branson and the shareholders. This won't apply to all industries or companies, but the future of airlines has to be problematic.
As a rule of thumb – helicopter money in a crisis should go to the bottom of the tree. Companies with reduced revenues can lay off staff, temporarily reduce labour costs and cut operations. Helicopter money shouldn't be used to prop up companies with bad fundamentals – or (as in the GFC) crooks who should be in gaol.
Most people know it as chronic fatigue syndrome, or just ME. All serious viral infections have the potential to cause long-term damage that is poorly understood and treated.
In my late 20's I got a very serious 3 month long attack of mononucleosis that decades later still comes back to bite me as a bout of deep fatigue if I overdo it. On the wider scale of things I consider myself fortunate, but from time to time it's proven a real bugger.
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling and complex illness.
People with ME/CFS are often not able to do their usual activities. At times, ME/CFS may confine them to bed. People with ME/CFS have overwhelming fatigue that is not improved by rest. ME/CFS may get worse after any activity, whether it’s physical or mental. This symptom is known as post-exertional malaise (PEM). Other symptoms can include problems with sleep, thinking and concentrating, pain, and dizziness. People with ME/CFS may not look ill. However,
People with ME/CFS are not able to function the same way they did before they became ill.
ME/CFS changes people’s ability to do daily tasks, like taking a shower or preparing a meal.
ME/CFS often makes it hard to keep a job, go to school, and take part in family and social life.
ME/CFS can last for years and sometimes leads to serious disability.
At least one in four ME/CFS patients is bed- or house-bound for long periods during their illness.
As well as an after effect of various viral diseases etc it often goes hand in hand with a wide range of autoimmune conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Thyroid authoimmune conditions, Pernicious Anemia, etc
I hope Jacinda (or the authorities) get tough and make an example of anyone deliberately not self isolating, although it is going to be extremely hard to police. Saw on the news a reporter interviewing people arriving at airport, and some said they would not be isolating and would continue their travels around the country.
I hope that before she gets tough on anyone trying to make a living, she will get herself in front of some cameras and announce that
a. there is a rent/mortgage/residential lease holiday for at the very least 3 month.
b. the Ird is to send a check to any household (fuck means testing) of at least 3 $ grand per month if there is no rent/mortgage/residential lease so that people who are at home, not working, having lost their jobs cause the businesses are closed, bankrupt etc, can still pay the landlords, electricity utilities and food. You know that thing that keep us alive in general.
and i hope she does it soon.
Because i can see ;people being evicted for non payment of rents, having their electricity cut for non payment of bills, and then you will have these same people out in the streets not caring much about your fear of infection.
Also, i would like to point out that our emergency services, Fire fighters, Ambulance Drivers, Nurses, Doctors, Police Officers and such are all equally at risk and so will be the Army.
So frankly, she may actually have issues clamping down hard on people who will venture out and about and if only for finding some food when they run out.
I'm on board with your hopes there Sabine. But I suspect the main focus will be on large economic players and tweaking broad economic indicators, with only a few inconsequential measures being announced that might positively impact real people in everyday real life.
In other words, I fully expect notions of financial economy to trump human economy and for there to be some ideological reliance on trickle down. I'd like to be wrong.
that is what i expect, but then i also expect sick people out and about, i expect a rise in crime with people breaking in and such in order to survive.
The lady has a choice to make, prop the economy up by giving people money that will spend it to survive, or go feral and only prop her ilk up and watch rioting break out in a few weeks.
her choice, and i hope she does have that brain, that kindness and that gentlerness that people have been raving about.
Because if she does not, this is going feral very quickly. People don't take kindly to government sanctioned starvation.
All those suggestions seem reasonable and doable. Essentially we hit a giant PAUSE button on the wider economy and then go to some form of Emergency UBI to keep core services running, and people in place so that we can recover when the virus finally burns out.
It nothing new really, just a modified version of wartime conditions where govt's involvement in the economy greatly expands to ensure collective survival. The difficulty in the Western world is that most of us were not alive and do not remember the last time this happened to us in WW2, so there may be pushback and irrational behaviour. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Its worth repeating, to put the lie to the official line that we don't need to test people without symptoms…
People without symptoms have been found to have higher virus loads than those with symptoms, meaning these unidentifiable carriers are more likely to spread the virus than those showing symptoms.
This is why we should be testing as much as we can.
The gate needed to be closed before the spread of coronavirus reached NZ. It's here, and if WHO and others are to be believed, most of us will contract it over coming weeks and months.
Widespread testing would be a sensible move. Question is whether the capacity exists to execute such an exercise. Obviously, given carriers can be asymptomatic, any testing would have to be random and geared more at understanding patterns of spread etc, (with appropriate broad measures taken or recommendations made in response to emerging patterns of infection) – rather than testing geared towards isolating known or identifiable individuals.
60 – 70 % will get it. Many will die. And there will not be enough hospital beds for all.
or as Governor Cuomo said about NY
He expects everyone to have been exposed to it and to get ill of it one a time, so no point in testing, but put all efforts into containment via isolation and triage those that arrive at hospitals.
Testing hopefully our Government looks at Germany and South Korea and their drive through testing.
But i believe that most of us have already been exposed one way or another. It has had at least since last year November to make the rounds.
And if the government could finally roll out plans that allow us to lowly tax paying citizen / worker / drones/ expendables to 'mitigate' this event, more people might be staying home. But so long as people have bills to pay people will go to work.
That is what the Director-General of the WHO was saying yesterday in his briefing introduction.
"But the most effective way to prevent infections and save lives is breaking the chains of transmission. And to do that, you must test and isolate.
You cannot fight a fire blindfolded. And we cannot stop this pandemic if we don’t know who is infected.
We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test.
Test every suspected case."
And what are we doing? There seems to be more interest in deciding that testing is not required than in facilitating it. I haven't seen anything indicating that it is a complicated or expensive process to carry out a test. In the same time as New Zealand has done 338 tests South Korea has done about 250,000. Sure, South Korea is a larger country. However if we measure the tests per million people they are doing about 70 times as many.
Part of the problem was that just weeks ago WHO was giving very mixed messages, telling us not to shut down global travel and so on. For many weeks Tedros seems to have been more concerned to not embarrass his Chinese friends than to give clear unambiguous guidelines.
part of the problem is that people watched China weld its citizens into apartment blocks and believed that this will not impact them, cause bugger supply chains, bugger people travelling, bugger this and bugger that. .
nothing to do with anything. The US is not in the predicament it is because of WHO but because of the shitstain in office who refused to acknowledge the issue since at the very least Jan 22nd when the first person was officially diagnosed in the US.
And we are in this predicament because like the US we did fuck all for the longest of time, in essence preventing people from preparing/saving/building food stocks up, putting family emergency plans into place and so on and so forth.
At some stage people have to either believe their own eyes, or they will continue to eat the shit that others shovel down their throats.
We've watched Western govts everywhere take far too long to respond to this threat. And honestly while Trump has made an art form of incompetency, I do think given the highly fractious and deeply dysfunctional state of US politics, expecting any US President to have acted effectively is optimistic to say the least.
We do enjoy shitting on Trump at every possible chance, and he certainly invites it … but he doesn't exist in a vacuum. The entire US political system from top to bottom has been sliding toward this febrile condition for decades.
part of the problem is that people watched China weld its citizens into apartment blocks and believed that this will not impact them, cause bugger supply chains, bugger people travelling, bugger this and bugger that.
And yes, that is a fair point. I personally still believe the real death toll in Wuhan is ten times bigger than the CCP has admitted to, but we will always lack solid evidence for this. Much of it was literally cremated.
The shitstain is because people wanted him to be. Otherwise he would be right now holed up in his tower refusing to meet with people.
the shitstain is because a political party lets him be. Otherwise they would have 25th him, demanded he resign over any of his many 'conflicts of interests'.
the shitstain is because the conservative class the world over is in essence no more and no less then the shitstain, Mr. Branson from Virgin this and that – known tax evader, known sucker of the government tit, who expects his workers to survive without wages, while at the same time demanding the same workers bail him and his Air Company out.
the shitstain is the result of 40 + years of vilifying the working class and elevating the idiocracy that modern conservatism needs to hide behind anti abortion, anti union, anti education, anti science and such.
the shitstain is because people wanted it. because it was easier for them to listen to lies and inuendo rather then opening their eyes and see how bad they are really doing.
As for China, China did what it believed it had to do, it did so very publicly, and i see no reason to engage in conspiracy theories when I can watch the current shitshow life online.
Well at the moment. there is a policy of banning public gatherings because there might be public spread, but not closing schools because there is no known public spread.
(NOTE The UK is going to have a lockdown without closing schools).
An apparent absurdity.
Why?
(UK is still operating a public immunity by infection policy – allowing school children to spread to parents so they can be home together when they all get it – but do not want you to know this. The lockdown they now have will only slow transfer between young and more active adults without children. They of course expect those over over 70 to totally isolate for a year or so).
The answer might be
They just want to allow parents to go to work while there is no known community spread – children are themselves not at risk, and they will only operate the lockdown, including schools, when community spread is known (beyond identification and targeted isolation) and impacting on the health system – acting to prevent cases overwhelming it.
I think testing locals with symptoms would mostly be pointless (99/100 or more have something else) – the ill will isolate anyhow. It is those without symptoms who would be spreading. It's more about obtaining a cross sample of test results from hotel, tourism, hospitality, sports workers etc to have knowledge if the young and active are spreading under the radar, or not?
“In the meantime, I advise top policymakers here in Korea and elsewhere to make data-informed mitigation at a national scale in a highly effective manner.”
“When each county misses the golden time, – Washington, London, and Rome have all missed it and they are paying the terrible price – this C19 thing is rapidly moving…
“… to hit the most vulnerable group of people, including the elderly and those with the existing medical conditions.”
“The golden time”. That is perfect.
The golden time for wide scale social distancing is before you have a crisis. If you are reacting
To the crisis you are already too late.
Those who are sick were infected 2-3 weeks ago. They are a lagging indicator for exponentially increasing infections THAT HAVE ALREADY HAPPENED
Since some of our more conspiracy-minded regulars are not currently with us, I'll share this little gem to ensure everyone's eye-roll muscles are kept well-exercised.
I always wonder how they get online if they're so worried about electromagnetic waves. I kinda picture them all dollied up in a Faraday suit with their computers in steel boxes with lead glass windows for them to see the monitor. They wouldn't use phones, surely?
Phones? You'd think not given they can be tracked & monitored by the govt, in addition to the electromagnetic radiation factor. Maybe it's only 5G, 3G & 4G might be fine, cause, you know, whatever.
Lead glass makes me think of the old stupidly heavy CRT monitors. Almost caused a H&S incident once trying to lift a large one (definitely not a one person lift). Seriously heavyweight stuff reducing EM radiation …
There's been some calls to close schools but I worry about the effect on the kids.
Hipkins is right that it is the safest place for them right now, particularly mentally.
Hundreds of thousands of households have been placed under enormous pressure overnight and this has a big impact on the children. School is the one place they can be which has routines and stability.
To force them all home into a charged, uncertain and stressful environment will be very damaging for them.
I hope officials bear this in mind when making decisions.
Hong Kong also had rioting in the streets not long ago. Not the picture of a contented nation right now.
School Principals know the importance of schooling as a stable environment in the face of political hysteria and panicked mismanagement.
I think it underlines the importance … of taking a really sensible and measured and carefully-considered approach to what is happening so we’re not panicking each other into over-reacting.
Kind of like the mines rescue expert deferring to the healthy and safety advisor / worksafe, or the experienced building engineer deferring to the christchurch council.
I think it's good that the govt is pacing this, and agree that the changes are big and people need time to adjust. Once CV is in the community, then they will need to close schools, because kid collectives are basically incubators.
Keeping your sniffles secret in a post-pandemic world.
Found myself heading to the pharmacy on the weekend for some lozenges. Had anxiety that the simple action of buying cold relief medicine would label me a risk to society.
Reality is if I get a cold now my family loses thousands of dollars.
I am not sure what evidence they have that their products will actually be that effective when people actually use them for real. Have they actually tested if the hand sanitiser stays on all day, even when people have been properly washing their hands several times a day? Have they actually tested if the surfaces really can stay “germ-free” when those surfaces aren’t in a lab but are in people’s actual homes and people are going about their actual lives in and around them?
One of the concerns I have when people rush to buy products like this is that they may end up with a false sense of security and think they are more protected than they actually are, and then end up doing things that put them at higher risk of infection.
In other words, don’t feel like you are putting your family at risk by not buying these products. There are plenty of cheaper options that we definitely know work in the real world.
"Two of the new cases are in a Wellington family who recently returned from the United States, and the third is a Dunedin man who had recently travelled to Germany".
In Britain, feminists are facing being purged from the Labour Party. Here, Nick Rogers, chair of Tottenham constituency LP in London writes about what is happening and the need to defend the feminists facing purging.
Filming of Avatar also abandoned. That's every US studio now suspending operations in this country for the foreseeable future.
Local productions also either closed or under pressure to close.
That's probably about 3000 – 4000 contract workers instantly without work or any benefits. Often they are given less than 12 hours notice and are effectively sacked by memo.
Pity they don't have a strong union or better work conditions, I guess that's why we get the work huh? The Americans are unionised to fuck in their film industry.
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This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
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. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
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 ...
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Apparently the government is going to launch a war style campaign to mobilise and empower the population. It is important to understand this isn't just a rhetoric – it will require the whole nation to do it's bit to save lives from COVID-19.
Meanwhile, in the dystopian UK, billionaire Richard Branson (worth eight billion NZ dollars) is asking for a 15 billion dollar bailout for his airline whilst demanding the 8,500 Virgin Atlantic employees take eight weeks unpaid leave. If he paid his staff $1000 a week it would cost $68,000,000 for eight weeks or about .85% of Branson's personal fortune.
Given that much of his wealth will be Virgin Airline shares, it is highly unlikely his current wealth is anything like $8 billion. How likely is it that he has a spare $68 million in actual cash?
Thats the thing with most billionaires. Most of their wealth is in the companies they own. Sure they will have a lot of cash, but probably way less than you think. A lot of their spending is from lines of credit which they have due to their wealth of their shareholdings. That is all going to dry up.
This whole thing is a bit like the GFC (except much worse). The govt has to prop up companies and banks as much as it does individuals. Otherwise you get a complete system wide crash. And then even governments can't help, at least not to the extent they could if the system wide crash can be avoided.
Right on cue – an apologist for the wealthy!
The pitchforks are coming!
TV,
You are misreading the point I am making. The challenge right now is to avoid a system wide crash, not precipitate it.
I know a bunch of commenters, including you, on The Standard see this crisis as an opportunity to herald in the revolution. But that is not going to happen. The govt is going to do its best to sustain the economy, not destroy it.
But in the aftermath it (the economy and all of us in it) will be different. Will global tourism ever fully recover, at least within the next 3 to 5 years? Maybe all airlines will be smaller for many years to come. Far less cruising holidays. Way more local tourism. Way less eating out. The hundreds of billions (including Kiwisaver investments in these sectors) invested in all these industries will be gone forever.
It is not hard to think of other changes. But I am pretty sure that New Zealand farming as a source of export food will continue in essentially the same form as at present. The world will still need our food. As indeed does our economy and all of us in the towns and cities who are indirectly dependent on it. Bomber Bradbury's hope for the destruction of the export farming sector is not going to happen.
Branson and his 'billionaire' ilk, and the aspirational middle class are the problem.
I am sure Bransons business interests are arranged in ways that one can not impact on the other. Trusts or some other legal jiggery pokery that keeps him rich.
It is time for this 'not as cash rich as I may think' business leader to realise (sell) some companies and pay his staff the redundancies they are due, not coming across all socialist when it suits him.
How do you sell an airline at the moment?
Given that Branson is asking for state support so soon, probably shows how indebted he is. I am pretty certain the government will be expecting major shareholders (the likes of Branson and his cash) to step up as a condition of providing support to the airline, or any other business.
The "revolution" is happening, look at the Tax Payers Union for eg.
I imagine the govt will be taking a bigger stake in Air NZ and any other large business that needs a special bailout. But they are hardly going to take equity stakes in all New Zealand business, big and small across all sectors. Way too complicated. On that point the Tax Payers Union has got it wrong.
And subsidiaries of foreign companies, or ones with large foreign shareholdings?
Do we socialise losses there to get continued "foreign investment"?
The losses some local companies face is going to result in them being under-capitalised – in normal times they offer a share issue or seek a white knight partner. These are not normal times.
A government partner and later sale of the shareholding – on the market, or to one party is not unreasonable.
There is a good argument for wage subsidies, allowance for later tax payments, for sole traders and small firms to keep them going.
Based on previous tax paid income, of course.
It is in banks, and suppliers, interest for businesses to continue, rather than default into bankruptcy, so in general a business has more options to help cashflow, than a wage earner, or welfare recipient.
By a long way you are our most qualified commenter here, so hang in there Wayne.
Do encourage your previous colleagues to support this government's recovery package.
As any rich person could tell you – you don't get something without paying for it- any govt subsidy anywhere around a billionaire should come with a reciprocal transfer of wealth in the form of equity or property transfer. The uk govt may end up owning a carribean island or two but hey…
you obviously feel content in your uselessness, but i am relieved to see that you find no issue with Socialism when it is obscenly weatlhy people who are hanging of the government tit.
Richard Branson Wealth as per 2020 – 4.1 billion
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/05/how-virgin-became-one-of-the-uks-leading-healthcare-providers
lesser known is this,….the man does not make his money only on airplanes he does make a good portion of it in Healthcare, and thus stands to make much money from the current health crisis.
Someone yesterday told you to go fuck yourself with your low concern trolling about 'socialism' for the poor. And i can only second that.
As for airlines, they too can be nationalised, grounded, and when the world returns to something resembling normal people might go back to flying in a year of several. As for Richard Branson, he can get fucked too.
Branson is an excellent example of an entrepreneur who has created remarkable wealth in many fields. He's done things beyond the capacity of the vast majority of people, yet envy of him is both palpable and deplorable. You are quite correct of course, wealthy people don't necessarily have a lot of spare cash lying around, and if his businesses goes under permanently, a lot of people will lose jobs. Yet it seems some commenters here would prefer these people lose their jobs, rather than a successful business they deeply resent get tided over a bad patch.
There is of course a balance here. Many people have good reason to be angry about the way big banks were bailed out during the GFC, an event caused by their own actions, and yet were never held accountable for in any meaningful way. In the meantime millions of ordinary people lost a great deal. By all means consider bailing out Virgin, but there has to be a quid pro quo of some kind.
For some years now I've been exploring the deeper nature of the so-called 'mixed model' economy. Why is it that societies which embrace both commercialism and socialism seem to deliver the best outcomes? What are the limits on both, when do they both go too far? What are the good features of both, and how do we construct social models that develop synergy between them?
While my starting point is socialism, I'm increasingly frustrated by narrow ideologues here on the left whose obvious agenda is 'smash capitalism'; while at the same time I've never had a moment for those right wingers who refuse to acknowledge that all human success is built on a platform of social trust and cohesion.
In this light I appreciate many of your comments here Wayne. Not that I always agree with you but that you do reach out across this deplorable political divide with good intent.
Cheers
Straight from Ayn Rands. "Rich people, are wealth creators".
Yeah sure.
Next right wing meme?
Branson is a "prime example" of how to get rich by "socialising your loses" and privatising profits. While lowering wages and avoiding taxes at the same time.
Finding a more original way of extracting wealth from the community.
Not dissimilar to New Zealand's asset strippers and the runners down of former public assets
Entrepreneurs, real ones, find something to sell that benefits people.
Branson has, like bankers, almost certainly has destroyed more real wealth, than he has created.
"Wealth creators" my arse.
By all means bail out the soon to be jobless Virgin staff.
Spending money on bailing out billionaire tax dodgers, sticks in my craw.
Agree.
The tourism we retain is going to be narrower, and much wealthier.
Reminds me of Birch's first report after the oil crisis, which led to his Think Big.
Will be a very interesting package this afternoon.
For once you are quite right, Wayne, I do hope this economic crisis will herald a revolution.
I'd like to see the obscene inequality of this country levelled a little, by taxing the rich and closing the loopholes.
I'd like to see the poor and those on welfare be able to live with dignity and have access to the occasional treat (whatever that may be).
I'd like to see this country begin to take climate change seriously.
In other words, a complete reset.
I'm not holding my breath.
The govt has to prop up companies and banks as much as it does individuals.
Why?
…governments can't help, at least not to the extent they could if the system wide crash can be avoided.
How so?
Is your thinking on what constitutes "government" limited to a box that's jam packed with immovable notions of capitalism as some natural or inevitable expression of order?
Coronavirus might be our last best chance to change the path we're on and stop with this crazy warming of the plant "because" bullshit. If you lack the imagination to envisage any way other than the same old way, then perhaps it's time for you to spend your days watching soaps because you have nothing of worth to offer.
Alternatively, push at the constraints of the box that contains your patterns of thoughts, and you never know, you might be in line for a pleasant surprise or two.
nah, its all good. Captialism is what is gonna save us, one dead body at a time.
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/national/18309589.branson-criticised-virgin-atlantic-staff-forced-take-unpaid-leave/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/richard-bransons-virgin-healthcare-paid-21366075
but essentially what our National Party Mouth (i guess they consider Benefit, Oravida and NO Bridges just too toxic for these trying times) Wayne wants is socialism, as without it non of these super rich and their rich man tit sucking Toadies would be where they are.
Privatise the profits and socialise the losses.
Branson/Virgin are also into trains, taking over some of the British Rail network – calls for the UK government to step in as there aren't any passengers any more.
I note that a billionaire like the Democrat former presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg promised to give away $8 billion of his $62 billion wealth, so it must therefore be possible for him and billionnaires like Branson to liberate large amounts of wealth.
How else do you give away 8% of your wealth? It must be available as cash.
Secondly, Branson must have huge ability to borrow cash against his holdings.
It's a bit rich to put 8500 employees on 8 weeks unpaid employment and cry poverty for yourself.
If Virgin is so indebted that it is going to fold – it may be better to let it fold and bail out the employees rather than Branson and the shareholders. This won't apply to all industries or companies, but the future of airlines has to be problematic.
As a rule of thumb – helicopter money in a crisis should go to the bottom of the tree. Companies with reduced revenues can lay off staff, temporarily reduce labour costs and cut operations. Helicopter money shouldn't be used to prop up companies with bad fundamentals – or (as in the GFC) crooks who should be in gaol.
The post-Covid-19 ramifications of contracting the virus seem to be quite drastic:
https://twitter.com/Dr_M_Guthridge/status/1238763122992631809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1238763122992631809&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thecanary.co%2Fglobal%2Fworld-analysis%2F2020%2F03%2F15%2Fthe-other-potential-coronavirus-catastrophe-no-one-is-talking-about%2F
And what is mecfs when it's at home?
myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
Most people know it as chronic fatigue syndrome, or just ME. All serious viral infections have the potential to cause long-term damage that is poorly understood and treated.
In my late 20's I got a very serious 3 month long attack of mononucleosis that decades later still comes back to bite me as a bout of deep fatigue if I overdo it. On the wider scale of things I consider myself fortunate, but from time to time it's proven a real bugger.
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
More here https://www.cdc.gov/me-cfs/about/index.html
As well as an after effect of various viral diseases etc it often goes hand in hand with a wide range of autoimmune conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Thyroid authoimmune conditions, Pernicious Anemia, etc
https://youtu.be/aox7CeOdmOY
The run on toilet paper explained.
Brilliant. A more sober reinforcement..
https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1239322266309099520
I hope Jacinda (or the authorities) get tough and make an example of anyone deliberately not self isolating, although it is going to be extremely hard to police. Saw on the news a reporter interviewing people arriving at airport, and some said they would not be isolating and would continue their travels around the country.
I hope that before she gets tough on anyone trying to make a living, she will get herself in front of some cameras and announce that
a. there is a rent/mortgage/residential lease holiday for at the very least 3 month.
b. the Ird is to send a check to any household (fuck means testing) of at least 3 $ grand per month if there is no rent/mortgage/residential lease so that people who are at home, not working, having lost their jobs cause the businesses are closed, bankrupt etc, can still pay the landlords, electricity utilities and food. You know that thing that keep us alive in general.
and i hope she does it soon.
Because i can see ;people being evicted for non payment of rents, having their electricity cut for non payment of bills, and then you will have these same people out in the streets not caring much about your fear of infection.
Also, i would like to point out that our emergency services, Fire fighters, Ambulance Drivers, Nurses, Doctors, Police Officers and such are all equally at risk and so will be the Army.
So frankly, she may actually have issues clamping down hard on people who will venture out and about and if only for finding some food when they run out.
I'm on board with your hopes there Sabine. But I suspect the main focus will be on large economic players and tweaking broad economic indicators, with only a few inconsequential measures being announced that might positively impact real people in everyday real life.
In other words, I fully expect notions of financial economy to trump human economy and for there to be some ideological reliance on trickle down. I'd like to be wrong.
that is what i expect, but then i also expect sick people out and about, i expect a rise in crime with people breaking in and such in order to survive.
The lady has a choice to make, prop the economy up by giving people money that will spend it to survive, or go feral and only prop her ilk up and watch rioting break out in a few weeks.
her choice, and i hope she does have that brain, that kindness and that gentlerness that people have been raving about.
Because if she does not, this is going feral very quickly. People don't take kindly to government sanctioned starvation.
All those suggestions seem reasonable and doable. Essentially we hit a giant PAUSE button on the wider economy and then go to some form of Emergency UBI to keep core services running, and people in place so that we can recover when the virus finally burns out.
It nothing new really, just a modified version of wartime conditions where govt's involvement in the economy greatly expands to ensure collective survival. The difficulty in the Western world is that most of us were not alive and do not remember the last time this happened to us in WW2, so there may be pushback and irrational behaviour. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Great news, kinda. We are now testing people as they LEAVE New Zealand to go to the Pacific Islands.
WHY AREN'T WE DOING THE SAME TESTING ON PEOPLE WHO ARE ARRIVING HERE???
Travellers to Pacific Islands to undergo health check at Auckland Airport
WHY AREN'T WE DOING THE SAME TESTING ON PEOPLE WHO ARE ARRIVING HERE???
1. The relative numbers of tests involved.
2. Pacific Islands' much lower capacity to deal with an outbreak.
Its worth repeating, to put the lie to the official line that we don't need to test people without symptoms…
People without symptoms have been found to have higher virus loads than those with symptoms, meaning these unidentifiable carriers are more likely to spread the virus than those showing symptoms.
This is why we should be testing as much as we can.
Infected people without symptoms might be driving the spread of coronavirus more than we realized
There can only be one response to this knowledge: SHUT THE GATE. NOW.
The gate needed to be closed before the spread of coronavirus reached NZ. It's here, and if WHO and others are to be believed, most of us will contract it over coming weeks and months.
Widespread testing would be a sensible move. Question is whether the capacity exists to execute such an exercise. Obviously, given carriers can be asymptomatic, any testing would have to be random and geared more at understanding patterns of spread etc, (with appropriate broad measures taken or recommendations made in response to emerging patterns of infection) – rather than testing geared towards isolating known or identifiable individuals.
i would take it as the Germans did.
60 – 70 % will get it. Many will die. And there will not be enough hospital beds for all.
or as Governor Cuomo said about NY
He expects everyone to have been exposed to it and to get ill of it one a time, so no point in testing, but put all efforts into containment via isolation and triage those that arrive at hospitals.
Testing hopefully our Government looks at Germany and South Korea and their drive through testing.
But i believe that most of us have already been exposed one way or another. It has had at least since last year November to make the rounds.
And if the government could finally roll out plans that allow us to lowly tax paying citizen / worker / drones/ expendables to 'mitigate' this event, more people might be staying home. But so long as people have bills to pay people will go to work.
That is what the Director-General of the WHO was saying yesterday in his briefing introduction.
"But the most effective way to prevent infections and save lives is breaking the chains of transmission. And to do that, you must test and isolate.
You cannot fight a fire blindfolded. And we cannot stop this pandemic if we don’t know who is infected.
We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test.
Test every suspected case."
And what are we doing? There seems to be more interest in deciding that testing is not required than in facilitating it. I haven't seen anything indicating that it is a complicated or expensive process to carry out a test. In the same time as New Zealand has done 338 tests South Korea has done about 250,000. Sure, South Korea is a larger country. However if we measure the tests per million people they are doing about 70 times as many.
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-testing
Why are we so slow in this matter?
Part of the problem was that just weeks ago WHO was giving very mixed messages, telling us not to shut down global travel and so on. For many weeks Tedros seems to have been more concerned to not embarrass his Chinese friends than to give clear unambiguous guidelines.
part of the problem is that people watched China weld its citizens into apartment blocks and believed that this will not impact them, cause bugger supply chains, bugger people travelling, bugger this and bugger that. .
nothing to do with anything. The US is not in the predicament it is because of WHO but because of the shitstain in office who refused to acknowledge the issue since at the very least Jan 22nd when the first person was officially diagnosed in the US.
And we are in this predicament because like the US we did fuck all for the longest of time, in essence preventing people from preparing/saving/building food stocks up, putting family emergency plans into place and so on and so forth.
At some stage people have to either believe their own eyes, or they will continue to eat the shit that others shovel down their throats.
We've watched Western govts everywhere take far too long to respond to this threat. And honestly while Trump has made an art form of incompetency, I do think given the highly fractious and deeply dysfunctional state of US politics, expecting any US President to have acted effectively is optimistic to say the least.
We do enjoy shitting on Trump at every possible chance, and he certainly invites it … but he doesn't exist in a vacuum. The entire US political system from top to bottom has been sliding toward this febrile condition for decades.
part of the problem is that people watched China weld its citizens into apartment blocks and believed that this will not impact them, cause bugger supply chains, bugger people travelling, bugger this and bugger that.
And yes, that is a fair point. I personally still believe the real death toll in Wuhan is ten times bigger than the CCP has admitted to, but we will always lack solid evidence for this. Much of it was literally cremated.
there is one thing you are right about
The shitstain is because people wanted him to be. Otherwise he would be right now holed up in his tower refusing to meet with people.
the shitstain is because a political party lets him be. Otherwise they would have 25th him, demanded he resign over any of his many 'conflicts of interests'.
the shitstain is because the conservative class the world over is in essence no more and no less then the shitstain, Mr. Branson from Virgin this and that – known tax evader, known sucker of the government tit, who expects his workers to survive without wages, while at the same time demanding the same workers bail him and his Air Company out.
the shitstain is the result of 40 + years of vilifying the working class and elevating the idiocracy that modern conservatism needs to hide behind anti abortion, anti union, anti education, anti science and such.
the shitstain is because people wanted it. because it was easier for them to listen to lies and inuendo rather then opening their eyes and see how bad they are really doing.
As for China, China did what it believed it had to do, it did so very publicly, and i see no reason to engage in conspiracy theories when I can watch the current shitshow life online.
Trump rejected the so called academic advice (also WHO)on travel bans from China in January,and implemented one anyway,
https://twitter.com/ProfMJCleveland/status/1239399258689806336
Are we not testing every suspected case?
As in clinically suspected, not pandemic anxiety?
NZ:
We have a positive test ratio of ~1% of all tests we conduct in people most likely to have it. 99% of tests are negative.
Well at the moment. there is a policy of banning public gatherings because there might be public spread, but not closing schools because there is no known public spread.
(NOTE The UK is going to have a lockdown without closing schools).
An apparent absurdity.
Why?
(UK is still operating a public immunity by infection policy – allowing school children to spread to parents so they can be home together when they all get it – but do not want you to know this. The lockdown they now have will only slow transfer between young and more active adults without children. They of course expect those over over 70 to totally isolate for a year or so).
The answer might be
They just want to allow parents to go to work while there is no known community spread – children are themselves not at risk, and they will only operate the lockdown, including schools, when community spread is known (beyond identification and targeted isolation) and impacting on the health system – acting to prevent cases overwhelming it.
I think testing locals with symptoms would mostly be pointless (99/100 or more have something else) – the ill will isolate anyhow. It is those without symptoms who would be spreading. It's more about obtaining a cross sample of test results from hotel, tourism, hospitality, sports workers etc to have knowledge if the young and active are spreading under the radar, or not?
thread
https://twitter.com/DFisman/status/1239134892975427586
“In the meantime, I advise top policymakers here in Korea and elsewhere to make data-informed mitigation at a national scale in a highly effective manner.”
“When each county misses the golden time, – Washington, London, and Rome have all missed it and they are paying the terrible price – this C19 thing is rapidly moving…
“… to hit the most vulnerable group of people, including the elderly and those with the existing medical conditions.”
“The golden time”. That is perfect.
The golden time for wide scale social distancing is before you have a crisis. If you are reacting
To the crisis you are already too late.
Those who are sick were infected 2-3 weeks ago. They are a lagging indicator for exponentially increasing infections THAT HAVE ALREADY HAPPENED
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1239134892975427586.html
Jonathan Pie nails it.
Sorry wrong link above. This is the right one.
Since some of our more conspiracy-minded regulars are not currently with us, I'll share this little gem to ensure everyone's eye-roll muscles are kept well-exercised.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/keri-hilson-5g-did-not-cause-coronavirus_n_5e6f8ba7c5b6dda30fce0348
Out stocking up on trolley loads of tinfoil? After all, panic buying is taking many forms…
Apparently it's a fact that if you wear a tinfoil hat 5G doesn't fry your brain.*
(* also works without the tinfoil hat)
I always wonder how they get online if they're so worried about electromagnetic waves. I kinda picture them all dollied up in a Faraday suit with their computers in steel boxes with lead glass windows for them to see the monitor. They wouldn't use phones, surely?
Phones? You'd think not given they can be tracked & monitored by the govt, in addition to the electromagnetic radiation factor. Maybe it's only 5G, 3G & 4G might be fine, cause, you know, whatever.
Lead glass makes me think of the old stupidly heavy CRT monitors. Almost caused a H&S incident once trying to lift a large one (definitely not a one person lift). Seriously heavyweight stuff reducing EM radiation …
I'm undecided, but have stocked up on tinfoil to address more pressing problems
https://www.newcoldwar.org/5g-cell-phone-radiation-how-the-telecom-companies-are-losing-the-battle-to-impose-5g-against-the-will-of-the-people/
Some thoughts on where and to whom helicopter money should be distributed during a pandemic. The advice is "go big now or go home" .
There's been some calls to close schools but I worry about the effect on the kids.
Hipkins is right that it is the safest place for them right now, particularly mentally.
Hundreds of thousands of households have been placed under enormous pressure overnight and this has a big impact on the children. School is the one place they can be which has routines and stability.
To force them all home into a charged, uncertain and stressful environment will be very damaging for them.
I hope officials bear this in mind when making decisions.
The wonderful Hong Kong closed all it's schools when it had less confirmed cases than NZ currently has. Time is ticking…
Hong Kong also had rioting in the streets not long ago. Not the picture of a contented nation right now.
School Principals know the importance of schooling as a stable environment in the face of political hysteria and panicked mismanagement.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/03/coronavirus-principals-frustrated-with-parents-refusing-to-send-their-children-to-school.html
Hong Kong has done an excellent job of containment.
Principals know F all about public health, however this man does:
"University of Otago public health professor Michael Baker said it was time to act to ensure the virus didn't take hold in the community.
"Now is the time for maximum effort. We really need to maximise social distancing [with] school closures and potentially stopping public transport." "
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120330254/coronavirus-time-to-increase-social-distancing-and-close-schools-expert-says
New Zealand isn't Hong Kong or Singapore and I hope it never will be.
Each public health expert will love their day in the sun right now. But has he spoken to the education or mental health experts across the hall?
Kind of like the mines rescue expert deferring to the healthy and safety advisor / worksafe, or the experienced building engineer deferring to the christchurch council.
Tragically 29 miners died at Pike River. 115 people lost their lives in the CTV building collapse. 14 people at Cave Creek. 257 on Erebus…
…and 500 New Zealanders die from flu every single year.
I think it's good that the govt is pacing this, and agree that the changes are big and people need time to adjust. Once CV is in the community, then they will need to close schools, because kid collectives are basically incubators.
The kids at my kids school are counting the day til school is closed, holidays coming up too.
Keeping your sniffles secret in a post-pandemic world.
Found myself heading to the pharmacy on the weekend for some lozenges. Had anxiety that the simple action of buying cold relief medicine would label me a risk to society.
Reality is if I get a cold now my family loses thousands of dollars.
What kind of world do we live in?
a bloody strange one and overnight. I haven't followed today's announcement, is there anything there that will help your family?
We got some of this a while back, I do recommend getting some before it's all gone
Put it on your hands in the morning and you've got protection for 24 hours, far superior to hand sanitizer.
https://zoono.co.nz/collections/home
https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/07-03-2020/how-to-get-rid-of-covid-19-from-surfaces-the-right-way/
Don't really have anything to say about it other than please don't rely on it if you are in contact with vulnerable people.
Three new Covid-19 cases diagnosed in NZ today.
"Two of the new cases are in a Wellington family who recently returned from the United States, and the third is a Dunedin man who had recently travelled to Germany".
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/03/coronavirus-3-new-covid-19-cases-in-new-zealand.html
Also first tourist detained & deported for having no self isolation plans
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120344713/coronavirus-tourist-to-be-deported-from-nz-for-having-no-plans-to-selfisolate
Good work immigration and police.
In Britain, feminists are facing being purged from the Labour Party. Here, Nick Rogers, chair of Tottenham constituency LP in London writes about what is happening and the need to defend the feminists facing purging.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/british-labour-party-leaders-pledge-purge-of-feminists/
Filming of Avatar also abandoned. That's every US studio now suspending operations in this country for the foreseeable future.
Local productions also either closed or under pressure to close.
That's probably about 3000 – 4000 contract workers instantly without work or any benefits. Often they are given less than 12 hours notice and are effectively sacked by memo.
All because of an over-reaction to the flu…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120337742/coronavirus-avatar-filming-takes-hiatus-due-to-virus-fears
Is there 'flu about as well?
Yeah, haven't you heard, Gobby?
Pity they don't have a strong union or better work conditions, I guess that's why we get the work huh? The Americans are unionised to fuck in their film industry.