John Roughan writes a wilfully ignorant piece on Climate Change.
It is wilfully ignorant if he wishes to claim to be a serious journalist.
Wonder if he’s watched Alister Barry’s ‘Hot Air’? As a New Zealand journalist, he should have.
Or if not, has he read the book ‘Merchants of Doubt’ by Conway and Oreskes. The film based on it is showing at the NZ Festival. I recommend he watches it.
If he does, he will realise how ridiculous the following statement of his is.
“But if the worst that can happen is a rise of a metre in sea levels and a few degrees in mean temperatures over a century, I think we’ll cope.”
Yes, that’s right Roughan is saying, without any Science to back himself up (apart from a chat with a pschchologist), that a 2 per cent temperature rise isn’t much.
Climate change is according to him “on a political mission.” Yet it is clear from his snide comments about obesity and sugar taxes that the main reason for this article being written was political. For some context , Roughan wrote the hagiography of Key. Despite his claims , it is Roughan who is using politics to muddy the Science.
Shame on the Herald for publishing this climate denial piece in 2015.
I sent this to the moderators a couple of days ago. It may have got spammed out, so I thought I’d post it in open mike, in reduced form. Being an elite technophobe, I didn’t know how to transfer the chart boxes. they disappeared when I cut an pasted from word. So it’s slightly unclear.
I was having a poke around on Skykiwi to see what I could find about local Chinese opinions of Labour’s press release on Chinese (sounding) investment in the Auckland real estate market, and I found the item below. Skykiwi is NZ’s most popular Chinese language website. Here’s the translation:
Are Chinese really speculating on the real estate market? Skykiwi stats tell you NZ Chinese perspectives.
Skykiwi has broken down your comments on three different NZ Herald articles into different categories…within the circle of Chinese people, perspectives are clashing and very intense, and are certainly not monolithic.
Is Labour discriminating against Chinese people?
Percentage Number of commenters
Yes 46% 67
No 25% 36
Neutral 10% 15
Other 19% unstated
Chinese people in the Auckland housing market
Percentage Commenter No.
Chinese speculation is driving up house prices 36% 52
Overseas investment should be restricted 12% 18
Chinese house purchasing is reasonable 32% 46
Other 20% 29
Do you support what Labour is saying?
Percentage Number of commenters
Support 39% 26
Opposed 31% 21
Neutral 18% 12
Invalid 12% unstated
We also took a vote on the question: are Chinese buyers pushing up Auckland house prices?
Vote percentage Vote number
Yes 61% 1515
No 19% 467
说不好 (literally, say not good(?)) 19% 471
Notes:
The item was written by the editorial team, published on the 13th, and according to the website has had nearly 9,000 views. You can see the original here, with pretty pie charts: http://money.skykiwi.com/realestate/2015-07-13/201290.shtml
I agree with Fran O’Sullivan.
‘Labour must dig deeper in foreign buyer data.’
‘What Labour should do is spend some funds and buy data from Quotable Value itself (something that Labour MP Phil Twyford, who ran the story, admitted he considered) so they have a tighter, fact-based arsenal when the issue is next raised.’
Which brings me to a slightly off topic point. Why has the access to land information moved so far beyond the reach of the general public? It’s collected with public money and yet it costs over $500 to even look at any part of the data base. Once it was possible to go into a LINZ office and have at least a basic look at data before having to spend money. I can understand it not being a free for all on the internet but why cannot the data be accessed at a kiosk at a local governement office?
‘Whangarei dairy farmer Alex Wright said many farmers were in a dire situation and, following comments from Minister for Economic Development Steven Joyce, the Government’s view that struggling dairy farmers were resilient was out of touch with reality.
“They talk about farmers being resilient – well, you can be resilient for a certain amount of time, but if you reach the point where you can’t function your business because you can’t even pay for the basics to run the business, then I feel that the government are just sitting on the fence.
She said the Government should be putting pressure on the banks to act more compassionately towards struggling farmers.
Janette Walker, a negotiator working with heavily indebted farmers, said banks were putting pressure on family members to put up their own properties as guarantees.
She said there was a risk that parents could lose their own homes.
“40 percent of farmers are not going to make any money this year, and probably at the same for the following season. Some of them may have to sell some assets, some of them may have to exit farming.”
Ms Walker said banks had been cutting off cashflow for struggling dairy farmers in particular and demanding more security for further loans.’
The only words I have to describe bankers cannot be typed here.
2 questions.
1. What were the 4 Australian banks’ profit last year?
2. Wonder who will buy the farms at rock bottom prices? Foreign speculators?
This was all so very clear and obvious when times were good……
eh? Why the crying? This scene has been played out so very many times over the generations in New Zealand that anybody who cries now and thinks it is something new is a frikkin’ idiot.
If people didn’t want to deal with banks when they get mean and tough, then they should quite simply not have had anything to do with them. Everybody knows that banks are cunts. Full bloody stop.
Idiots
The entire scene is loaded with the idiocy of humanity
idiots for making deals with banks
idiots idiots idiots
short term thinking with no regard for history past and present – no wonder people have got themselves into trouble
People simply turn a blind eye to the fatal flaws in our farming/banking sector because of la-la land dreamy romantic poorly thought out notions of farming heaven.
If by saying they are “hard to avoid” you mean that it is not possible to be a farmer unless you have a banker then the entire premise of the current approach to farming is resting in a pile of cowshit steaming away in the morning sun……
“wonder who will buy the farms at rock bottom prices? Foreign speculators?”
This will be what pretty much every single farmer that is in debt-trouble will be eyeing nervously…. hoping that those foreign buyers who have ramped up demand and prices for farmland will stay ……. but sheesh, if all you;ve got is hope then you’ve got nothing..
But foreign buyers should be banned. And the voting farmer will be watching this political issue nervously too…
If this happened right now you would see farmland values plummet like never before in NZ….. I mean, if the number of buyers of New Zealand farmland was restricted to only New Zealand residents,….. ask yourself……. total meltdown…….
…….
the lessons from this???
watch out for banks. watch out for foreign ownership. both of these distort our lands and our people….. they should both fuck off
I have come to the conclusion that the provision of credit into a society is, in the big sense, a common good and as such should be controlled by parameters that reflect that….
Currently the banking structures are anything but for the common good ….
(it is in the common good due mostly to the massive impact it has on society – ether for better or for worse. It is such an enormous player that to leave it in private hands is not right)
You talk about “the idiocy of humanity”, and then you say that credit should not be in private hands, i.e. it should be under the control of a public body / Government.
But a public body is made up of individual humans, and as you say, humanity is prone to ‘idiocy’?
What I don’t understand is why you think a group of idiots in a public body will be any more effective than a group of idiots in a private one?
What I don’t understand is why you think a group of idiots in a public body will be any more effective than a group of idiots in a private one?
1. The government gets to regulate public services better than it does private corporations
2. Public servants are more accountable than the private corporations
Really, the problem we have is that we’ve allowed the private sector to work solely for greed while destroying the public service that actually built NZ.
“What I don’t understand is why you think a group of idiots in a public body will be any more effective than a group of idiots in a private one?”
The answer is simple.
Those of the private body have a mandate to make a profit from the creation of credit for its shareholders.
Those of the public body have a mandate to manage the creation of credit for the benefit of all of us.
So you see the agenda of each is different.
I have come to the conclusion that the provision of credit into a society is, in the big sense, a common good and as such should be controlled by parameters that reflect that….
The Government could restart the Rural Bank (its circumstances like this its forerunner facilities were created for in the late 1800s…) and buy back land from farmers for a fair price; or allow farmers to refinance their mortgages at a lower interest rate – with some employment and environmental strings attached of course.
And ignore The Lost Sheep. Who is desperate to try and derail productive discussion here.
I’m concerned about that as well but the farmers are asking for the government to step in and save the farmers and the government only has two options for that:
1. Cough up money to cover the farmers debt or
2. Pass legislation preventing the sale of farms to foreigners
And this government definitely won’t do the second so that only leaves the first and they probably won’t do that one either – unless the banks also demand it to protect them.
So, basically, the farmers are asking for a government handout.
This is a basic summary of the NDPs ethics/background:
“New Democrats seek a future that brings together the best of the insights and objectives of Canadians who, within the social democratic and democratic socialist traditions, have worked through farmer, labour, co-operative, feminist, human rights and environmental movements, and with First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, to build a more just, equal, and sustainable Canada within a global community dedicated to the same goals.”
Good to see a party focused on sustainability and equality gaining ground on the conservatives in Canada. The NDP won the last election in Alberta, which was an achievement because Alberta is the “oil state,” and had been a strong hold of the conservatives for quite some time.
People who like money too much ought to be kicked out of politics, Uruguayan President José Mujica told CNN en Español in an interview posted online Wednesday.
“We invented this thing called representative democracy, where we say the majority is who decides,” Mujica said in the interview. “So it seems to me that we [heads of state] should live like the majority and not like the minority.”
“I’m not against people who have money, who like money, who go crazy for money,” Mujica said. “But in politics we have to separate them. We have to run people who love money too much out of politics, they’re a danger in politics… People who love money should dedicate themselves to industry, to commerce, to multiply wealth. But politics is the struggle for the happiness of all.”
I especially like that last sentence because it shows the start contrast between NZ traditional values and the current govt that believes that some people deserve happiness more than others and if the other’s needs don’t get met, well that’s just how the game goes.
yeah!!!! politics is the struggle for the happiness of all… i say we should start right right away with ejecting people who love money from our political landscape. who’s with me?
Weka WP just stuck with saying we have been saying foreign investment is a problem for years. He desisted Tova’s overgeneralizations and stuck to his points. When she said “aren’t you worried that Labour is stealing your voters?” (or words to that effect) he just replied, we welcome them saying it.
Any kept going back to young NZders not being able to buy their own homes.
What I noticed that when the panel talked, the discussion with Mark Solomon dominated including the case with the board member and the wood pigeons (sorry I haven’t followed that story fully), rather than commenting on Winston and what he was saying about housing affordability………………….They completely omitted commenting on it.
Gower, garner, hoskins, henry etc don’t possess the professional subtelty to hide their shilling for the NACT regime.
It’s what happens when the bar is so low and the pool so small that the over paid/hyped personalities end up tinking they’re above and beyond it all with an arrogant smugness they can’t mask.
The living systems that conservationists seek to protect in some parts of this country are a parody of the natural world, kept, through intensive management, in suspended animation, like a collection in a museum. An ecosystem is not just a place. It is also a process. I believe their diminished state also restricts the scope of human life. We head for the hills to escape the order and control that sometimes seem to crush the breath out of us. When we get there, we discover that the same forces prevail. Even our national parks are little better than wet deserts.
The same could be said about our natural environment here in NZ and our farms are the ‘wet deserts’ that he refers to there.
Hey Colonial Viper – can you give me a link to that item re Russia/banning GMOs please.
We have a situation developing where the Govt thru MPI will be overriding local council regulations which ban GMOs, so they can bring in forestry which is genetically engineered (I think we’re talking radiata pine) even into those districts which ban GMOs. So I’d be interested to read why Russia is doing this. Might add to our ammunition to try and stop the govt. on this issue.
Thanks CR. I’ll go thru all these for useful info ….. and pass on to people in the north up here who are really angry at this govt tactic of trying to by-pass what they’ve spent over a decade trying to achieve – a GE Free region.
And this is why the private sector can’t do many government services (Health, social security, etc) any cheaper than the government:
And the true fallacy is that of scalable products. In a PSO [Professional Services Organization], there are a very small number of services that would actually achieve scale and drive advantage. Remember that a scalable product is where the marginal unit cost of sales is negligible—in other words, the cost structure is predominantly fixed. This is precisely the opposite of the cost structure of most professional services firms.
With the typical PSO, each additional engagement will incur substantial variable costs in the form of compensation (a direct expense). The fixed costs are typically negligible in considering the overall profitability of an engagement. In these cases, scale is never achieved—the service is not scalable and additional growth leads to either steady, or declining, margins.
Many government services are personal requiring one on one personal meetings and thus economies of scale simply cannot be applied.
Have you ever asked yourself this question, “Do I have what it takes to be a National/Labour (delete one) supporter?” and thought that you were not good enough?
Have you ever wished that you could sip your lattes in a Parnell cafe while reading the property press to reassure yourself that your Point Chevalier villa is retaining its inflated value and tut-tutting over the difficulties faced by first-time home buyers without feeling in the least bit hypocritical?
Have you ever wanted to be able to pay lip service to social justice so that you could impress your friends at dinner parties without the stress and possible embarrassment of actually committing to it or marching for it?
Have you ever wanted to utter the phrase “I’m not a racist, but…” without the least sense of self-awareness or irony?
When you talk about “swallowing dead rats”, haven’t you always wished that someone else had to swallow them instead of you?
Have you ever felt stifled by vestigial principles and never been able to say “but in the real world…” without feeling that you’re making excuses?
NOW you can aspire to be a genuine National/Labour (delete one) Supporter!
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As a Basic National/Labour (delete one) Supporter, you will enjoy many benefits, including having a specially-selected minority acquaintance so that you can claim to understand their experience and empathise with them. This acquaintance will be guaranteed to have no embarrassing contrary views and will validate your stances at all times (please indicate whether you require a socioeconomic, ethnic or sexual/gender minority acquaintance).
As a Special National/Labour (delete one) Supporter, we will send MPs to your exclusive box at a sports stadium to provide valuable photo opportunities that will enable you to present yourself as influential and well-connected in the halls of government. As an added service, they will provide charming conversation and help you to dispose of your excess chardonnay.
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Just call this number below and you will be contacted by a National/Labour (delete one) representative to begin the process of assessing whether you can become a fully-accredited National/Labour (delete one) Supporter!
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“As a Basic National/Labour (delete one) Supporter, you will enjoy many benefits, including having a specially-selected minority acquaintance so that you can claim to understand their experience and empathise with them. This acquaintance will be guaranteed to have no embarrassing contrary views and will validate your stances at all times (please indicate whether you require a socioeconomic, ethnic or sexual/gender minority acquaintance).”
That is very good indeed rhino – keep this stuff coming, kia kaha!!!
For a time Edwin Rozario was forced to live off of bread and milk after his boss – Wellington businesswoman Michelle Spooner – failed to pay his wages.
Spooner’s $7700 debt to the software developer is still outstanding despite a ruling by the Employment Relations Authority to stump up with the cash by the end of March – the same day her company, MC2IT, was liquidated.
So, when is the government going to move in with the Proceeds of Crime Act (not paying employees is a crime and she’s obviously benefited from it) and take everything from her and then pay her employees?
Come now Draco, if an employer is held responsible for that, what will we have next? The world will end. No, employees must be skilled managers of their managers, psychotherapists, political genius’, to assist the employer to understand themselves. And if the employer has to abuse and drive the employee into poverty during that treatment, then it is the employees fault for not realising the employer is just plain human. What does an employee know about their situation? Nothing. The cost must be on the employee, because to scare the employer into thinking they’re incompetent would damage their self esteem and goal of popular gratitude and social status without effort. Employees must be able to make up for employer’s incompetence and illegal behaviours with assistance from legislation. Employers are simply people that are too big to fail.
What is it with this winter. So far I had a nasty flu that knocked me over for about 5 days back in May/June. Now I have a headcold (I think) that has knocked me over for 2 and half days. That is finally dissipating.
This is after having a flu jab earlier in the year.
Am I being unlucky or is this just a lousy year for colds?
Lousy year I think. Paper said “they” (medical people) are recording more strains of previously unseen flu than last few years.
Anecdotally, I haven’t been sick for five years or so. Now, two colds, in the last month. Shoulda taken the woman’s advice at the supermarket an not used the tongs for grabbing muffins all those last years. Let the immune system beef up a bit. Maybe licking the windows of the bus will help.
if you want to greatly increase the work load on your immune system, exposing yourself to a dozen versions of flu virus simultaneously via a flu jab might help.
Lol, when you don’t use the tongs you feel like a rebel and you also feel there is an old lady nearby looking into your soul. That’s been my experience anyway.
Drink heaps. Stay warm…wear a hat for godsakes! Eat garlic, onions, make soup from same.
Take manuka and propolis when the lurgy looms. And lemons.
Take 1000 mg of Vit C x 2 daily.
Get outside in the fresh air….take your portable interweb device if you have to.
IMHO….the flu jab is a scam. The viruses causing such ills are constantly changing and adapting…clever little buggers….much better if you strengthen your immune system.
Tried all that Grandma ! This is the first year I’ve ever been laid down like this ….. raided friends’ trees for lemons and limes – nothing works – and yes – maybe the flu jab wasn’t such a good idea !!
It would be interesting to see who has got the flu who had the jab and who didn’t.
Anecdotally, from my own experience, it seems more people get the flu who get the jab than those who don’t.
This is why I don’t get the flu jab – I couldn’t afford to be put out of action for weeks at a time with flu. I’ve never had the flu, or the vaccine, but have had immune-related chronic ailments (which have been resolved thankfully), and wouldn’t put anything into my system that could stress my immune system.
We’re in the dark ages of understanding the immune system and how it interacts with bacteria, stress, and the environment.
What stage do you think it’s at?
Are you familiar with research about the links between the role of gut bacteria and diabetes, allergies, obesity, IBD?
Are enough measures being taken in NZ to reduce antibiotic over-use?
Do you consider antibiotic over-use a major problem?
Does the presence of gut bacteria play a role in the efficacy of vaccines?
ER to state we are in the dark ages in relation to understanding the immune system was clearly incorrect as the scientific community has increased its knowledge immensely during the last 50 and dramatically in the last 5-10 years in almost all areas.
In relation to gut bacteria it is not an area of expertise for me although no – one in the medical area would deny that gut flora are extremely important in relation to the body’s wellbeing.
In NZ we do have sufficient measures in place to limit antibiotic usage although unfortunately there are far less measures in place throughout the world especially in India and South East Asia.
Regarding gut flora and efficacy of vaccines it depends which vaccines one is discussing, there is some limited evidence in animal models to suggest that influenza vaccine and polio vaccine that there is decreased efficacy when there is a strongly suppressed gut flora.
“although no – one in the medical area would deny that gut flora are extremely important in relation to the body’s wellbeing”
I think you will find many people that will disagree with you on that. You probably don’t get to hear the stories of people whose doctors write off such concerns.
Of course antibiotics have done some amazing things. And yes, they’re still incredibly useful. But can you honestly say that getting to MRSA etc in such a short period of time wasn’t because of misuse? And currently isn’t because of willful misuse?
Yes Methicillin resistant S. Aureus would have been unlikely to have developed without S. Aureus being exposed to methicillin.
Not sure why you’re accusing me of being patronising ? I was just making the point that antibiotics are still very useful and will continue to be so into the future.
You seemed to be assuming that I get my information from stories from the MSM, and that I somehow am not capable of analysing the validity of my sources. That’s patronising.
It’s not just methicillin right? Nice neutral framing but you avoided my point.
@ Weka from our provious discussion the only conclusions I can make about you is that you are usually polite and tend to be more on the ‘natural medicine” side of a debate rather than the “pharmaceutical, surgical intervention” side.
“@ Weka from our provious discussion the only conclusions I can make about you is that you are usually polite and tend to be more on the ‘natural medicine” side of a debate rather than the “pharmaceutical, surgical intervention” side.”
nsd, I find you considerably better than most in these debates 🙂 but your comment represents a profound misundersanding of my view. I don’t see it as two sides. Conventional medicine is important. Natural medicine is important. We need both and other things besides.
With due respect, I think your framing of things in the above duality is part of the problem (a framing which lots of people here also use).
Besides all that, I don’t see how that relates to my comment about being patronising.
True enough – but given the rapid rate at which bugs are evolving in response to antibiotics – how much longer do you think they will remain generally useful?
Asking this in the context of a relative dying of a drug-resistant pneumonia just a week ago.
Watching the move of antibiotic resistance bacterial infections from hospitals to becoming established in communities, and the only word I can think of is criminal. It’s not like medical people and health authorities didn’t know what the problem was.
And we haven’t even gotten to the use of antibiotics in growing food or how they’re acting in the environment.
That’s a fair call, Even when antibiotics are used appropriately, they contribute to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria because they don’t destroy every bug they target.
Bacteria (and many viruses) live on an evolutionary fast track, so germs that survive treatment with one antibiotic soon learn to resist others.
There’s no doubt that MRSA in particular is the result of decades of often unnecessary antibiotic use. For years, antibiotics have been prescribed for colds, flu and other viral infections that don’t respond to these drugs.
That being said antibiotics (both those used now any new agents) will continue to be useful for long into the future.
For years, antibiotics have been prescribed for colds, flu and other viral infections that don’t respond to these drugs.
Yet they are frequently needed to treat the secondary bacterial infections which so often follow in the footsteps of the viral attack.
And I do believe these secondary attacks happen because people do not look after themselves properly. Simple supportive care that our grandmothers often knew about has gone awol these days – because too many people think that if they get ill it’s not something they have to take seriously because ultimately the drugs will fix it if necessary.
And as weka hints above – given the rampant misuse of antibiotics outside strict medicinal use, and your own understanding of how rapidly bugs evolve – your sanguinary attitude here baffles me a little.
“Yet they are frequently needed to treat the secondary bacterial infections which so often follow in the footsteps of the viral attack.”
More occasionally needed, I would think that most GPs in NZ would send the patient home with some paracetamol for the fever of a viral infection and instructions for bed rest and to call if no improvement in 48 hours or if the symptoms are worsening before Rxing antibiotics.
I also agree that people don’t look after themselves – too many people feel they have to turn up at work rather than resting at home.
“… your sanguinary attitude here baffles me a little.”
Don’t know why, yes antibiotics are overused worldwide and bacteria evolve rapidly, however very broad spectrum resistance is still relatively rare and we continue to improve rXing protocols and development of new medicines.
Why on earth would someone agree to take paracetamol to suppress a fever response generated and used by the body to fight off a viral infection? Sheeesh.
I now wear a beanie wool hat in bed when I am crook. It really makes a heck of difference – especially as my heads yields to male pattern baldness.
Mind you there are down sides. Last night when after the fever broke, I found myself living in a wet morass of sweat. I’d gone to bed with a duvet, merino carriage blanket, thick cotton PJ’s, terrycloth dressing gown, and wool hat because I was still cold despite Lyn complaining about getting roasted.
I had to get up at 0530, have a shower, change, and discard everything I was wearing into the basket. Everything including the wool hat was completely soaked. Then I crashed on the couch with another duvet and set of carriage blankets.
You are blinkin’ lucky lprent that you’ve only been knocked out for 5 days with flu and 2 1/2 days with head cold.
My flu lasted a full two weeks, then recovery period of another two weeks with slow energy returning plus relapses and just now – after 3 days of feeling good and energised – I’ve blinkin’ got another viral throat infection. Its non-stop and anecdotal comments from friends and neighbours (and the doctors’ rooms) say its happening to heaps of people. (and i had a flu jab too !) whatever it is, its nasty and hanging around ! Yeah – its a lousy year for colds/flu/sore throats !
You are blinkin’ lucky lprent that you’ve only been knocked out for 5 days with flu and 2 1/2 days with head cold.
That is probably because I go to bed immediately after I get a onset. Trying to work as a programmer just doesn’t work if you are sick. You make bad mistakes a lot, and if you don’t catch them or they get missed in code reviews, then they will hang around in the code.
So after a few awful experiences of trying to deal with the downstream costs of that kind of thing, I have a cunning strategy. As soon as I am sure that my error rate is rising with the sore throat / headache / sneezing / coughing or whatever – I head for bed. And I stay there until I am sure that my body has handled it.
I get hired to write code and make machines do what we want them to do. I sure as hell don’t get hired to make mistakes because I am crook. Most years this means that I have a day or two off. This year is a bit crazy so far.
Yeah – that’s what others up here in the north are saying …… its a long-lasting bug whatever sort it is.
(and by the way, I too head for bed when feeling crook – hotwater bottles, lemon and honey drinks – but NOTHING worked this time !)
Well…full of sympathy for you both…but got to go….feeling a vague tickley prickely thingy coming on….can’t think why!
Raw onion and cheese sandwich methinks, then off to me virginal couch.
Seriously though….Grandma was right about the losing heat through your head thing, but I think she mean’t before you get the lurgy…you know, as a prophylactic measure. When you’re feverish…might pay to leave it off to let the heat escape!
My partner insists on shaving his head…then…wears a bloody hat to bed because he’s cold.
Yes – absolutely delicious limes. Big and juicy. And heaps of them on my friend’s tree. I made lime marmalade a while back (before the flu bug hit) – first time ever – just delicious !
Incidentally, the worst bug I ever had was around 1991/2 during a contract with Telecom. I was doing some insane hours working on some prototype code that was probably a little beyond what the 80386’s it was running on could really do.
I’d been working through some flu bug. When we stopped and I ‘relaxed’, then it really started to get bad. A month later I went to doctor and immediately got stuffed on antibiotics to kill the pneumonia . It took near 6 weeks before I was fully operational again.
That is why I have ever since then stopped working and live hot and sweaty in bed when a bug gets me.
Yes I linked to that yesterday in another context. An interesting read. Not sure if I agree with his conclusions entirely, but the argument is neatly constructed and challenging.
Critically he’s assuming the technology infrastructure underpinning his argument will be a permanent feature of future life. That’s not a given.
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New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
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John Roughan writes a wilfully ignorant piece on Climate Change.
It is wilfully ignorant if he wishes to claim to be a serious journalist.
Wonder if he’s watched Alister Barry’s ‘Hot Air’? As a New Zealand journalist, he should have.
Or if not, has he read the book ‘Merchants of Doubt’ by Conway and Oreskes. The film based on it is showing at the NZ Festival. I recommend he watches it.
If he does, he will realise how ridiculous the following statement of his is.
“But if the worst that can happen is a rise of a metre in sea levels and a few degrees in mean temperatures over a century, I think we’ll cope.”
Yes, that’s right Roughan is saying, without any Science to back himself up (apart from a chat with a pschchologist), that a 2 per cent temperature rise isn’t much.
Climate change is according to him “on a political mission.” Yet it is clear from his snide comments about obesity and sugar taxes that the main reason for this article being written was political. For some context , Roughan wrote the hagiography of Key. Despite his claims , it is Roughan who is using politics to muddy the Science.
Shame on the Herald for publishing this climate denial piece in 2015.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11482780
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGf4maDU7Ps
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ii9zGFDtc
I sent this to the moderators a couple of days ago. It may have got spammed out, so I thought I’d post it in open mike, in reduced form. Being an elite technophobe, I didn’t know how to transfer the chart boxes. they disappeared when I cut an pasted from word. So it’s slightly unclear.
I was having a poke around on Skykiwi to see what I could find about local Chinese opinions of Labour’s press release on Chinese (sounding) investment in the Auckland real estate market, and I found the item below. Skykiwi is NZ’s most popular Chinese language website. Here’s the translation:
Are Chinese really speculating on the real estate market? Skykiwi stats tell you NZ Chinese perspectives.
Skykiwi has broken down your comments on three different NZ Herald articles into different categories…within the circle of Chinese people, perspectives are clashing and very intense, and are certainly not monolithic.
Is Labour discriminating against Chinese people?
Percentage Number of commenters
Yes 46% 67
No 25% 36
Neutral 10% 15
Other 19% unstated
Chinese people in the Auckland housing market
Percentage Commenter No.
Chinese speculation is driving up house prices 36% 52
Overseas investment should be restricted 12% 18
Chinese house purchasing is reasonable 32% 46
Other 20% 29
Do you support what Labour is saying?
Percentage Number of commenters
Support 39% 26
Opposed 31% 21
Neutral 18% 12
Invalid 12% unstated
We also took a vote on the question: are Chinese buyers pushing up Auckland house prices?
Vote percentage Vote number
Yes 61% 1515
No 19% 467
说不好 (literally, say not good(?)) 19% 471
Notes:
The item was written by the editorial team, published on the 13th, and according to the website has had nearly 9,000 views. You can see the original here, with pretty pie charts:
http://money.skykiwi.com/realestate/2015-07-13/201290.shtml
I agree with Fran O’Sullivan.
‘Labour must dig deeper in foreign buyer data.’
‘What Labour should do is spend some funds and buy data from Quotable Value itself (something that Labour MP Phil Twyford, who ran the story, admitted he considered) so they have a tighter, fact-based arsenal when the issue is next raised.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11482897
Which brings me to a slightly off topic point. Why has the access to land information moved so far beyond the reach of the general public? It’s collected with public money and yet it costs over $500 to even look at any part of the data base. Once it was possible to go into a LINZ office and have at least a basic look at data before having to spend money. I can understand it not being a free for all on the internet but why cannot the data be accessed at a kiosk at a local governement office?
Bankers putting the squeeze on farmers.
‘Whangarei dairy farmer Alex Wright said many farmers were in a dire situation and, following comments from Minister for Economic Development Steven Joyce, the Government’s view that struggling dairy farmers were resilient was out of touch with reality.
“They talk about farmers being resilient – well, you can be resilient for a certain amount of time, but if you reach the point where you can’t function your business because you can’t even pay for the basics to run the business, then I feel that the government are just sitting on the fence.
She said the Government should be putting pressure on the banks to act more compassionately towards struggling farmers.
Janette Walker, a negotiator working with heavily indebted farmers, said banks were putting pressure on family members to put up their own properties as guarantees.
She said there was a risk that parents could lose their own homes.
“40 percent of farmers are not going to make any money this year, and probably at the same for the following season. Some of them may have to sell some assets, some of them may have to exit farming.”
Ms Walker said banks had been cutting off cashflow for struggling dairy farmers in particular and demanding more security for further loans.’
The only words I have to describe bankers cannot be typed here.
2 questions.
1. What were the 4 Australian banks’ profit last year?
2. Wonder who will buy the farms at rock bottom prices? Foreign speculators?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/279050/banks-give-'benefit-of-doubt'-to-farmers-bnz
This was all so very clear and obvious when times were good……
eh? Why the crying? This scene has been played out so very many times over the generations in New Zealand that anybody who cries now and thinks it is something new is a frikkin’ idiot.
If people didn’t want to deal with banks when they get mean and tough, then they should quite simply not have had anything to do with them. Everybody knows that banks are cunts. Full bloody stop.
Idiots
The entire scene is loaded with the idiocy of humanity
idiots for making deals with banks
idiots idiots idiots
short term thinking with no regard for history past and present – no wonder people have got themselves into trouble
Yes it is very unwise to depend on banks.
They are are to hard to avoid, though.
They are not hard to avoid, I disagree.
People simply turn a blind eye to the fatal flaws in our farming/banking sector because of la-la land dreamy romantic poorly thought out notions of farming heaven.
If by saying they are “hard to avoid” you mean that it is not possible to be a farmer unless you have a banker then the entire premise of the current approach to farming is resting in a pile of cowshit steaming away in the morning sun……
“wonder who will buy the farms at rock bottom prices? Foreign speculators?”
This will be what pretty much every single farmer that is in debt-trouble will be eyeing nervously…. hoping that those foreign buyers who have ramped up demand and prices for farmland will stay ……. but sheesh, if all you;ve got is hope then you’ve got nothing..
But foreign buyers should be banned. And the voting farmer will be watching this political issue nervously too…
If this happened right now you would see farmland values plummet like never before in NZ….. I mean, if the number of buyers of New Zealand farmland was restricted to only New Zealand residents,….. ask yourself……. total meltdown…….
…….
the lessons from this???
watch out for banks. watch out for foreign ownership. both of these distort our lands and our people….. they should both fuck off
Nationalise banks.
I have come to the conclusion that the provision of credit into a society is, in the big sense, a common good and as such should be controlled by parameters that reflect that….
Currently the banking structures are anything but for the common good ….
(it is in the common good due mostly to the massive impact it has on society – ether for better or for worse. It is such an enormous player that to leave it in private hands is not right)
Because if you put a bunch of humans into a group and call them a government, they lose the ability to act like idiots?
what?
You talk about “the idiocy of humanity”, and then you say that credit should not be in private hands, i.e. it should be under the control of a public body / Government.
But a public body is made up of individual humans, and as you say, humanity is prone to ‘idiocy’?
What I don’t understand is why you think a group of idiots in a public body will be any more effective than a group of idiots in a private one?
1. The government gets to regulate public services better than it does private corporations
2. Public servants are more accountable than the private corporations
Really, the problem we have is that we’ve allowed the private sector to work solely for greed while destroying the public service that actually built NZ.
“What I don’t understand is why you think a group of idiots in a public body will be any more effective than a group of idiots in a private one?”
The answer is simple.
Those of the private body have a mandate to make a profit from the creation of credit for its shareholders.
Those of the public body have a mandate to manage the creation of credit for the benefit of all of us.
So you see the agenda of each is different.
+1
The Government could restart the Rural Bank (its circumstances like this its forerunner facilities were created for in the late 1800s…) and buy back land from farmers for a fair price; or allow farmers to refinance their mortgages at a lower interest rate – with some employment and environmental strings attached of course.
And ignore The Lost Sheep. Who is desperate to try and derail productive discussion here.
Well its tough really. When you take a loan, you know the outcome. This has been known about for some time.
So, that would be the farmers asking for more handouts from the government?
Don’t be wrong…I’m only concerned at more of our land being sold to overseas speculators
I’m concerned about that as well but the farmers are asking for the government to step in and save the farmers and the government only has two options for that:
1. Cough up money to cover the farmers debt or
2. Pass legislation preventing the sale of farms to foreigners
And this government definitely won’t do the second so that only leaves the first and they probably won’t do that one either – unless the banks also demand it to protect them.
So, basically, the farmers are asking for a government handout.
there are many ways to structure this “hand out” to serve the interests of the nation, and the environment.
NDP now has a clear lead in Canada’s complicated three-way Federal Election campaign.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/07/17/ndp-captures-lead-in-public-support-forum-poll-says.html
Looked at the graph Scott. Where does the NDP sit? Left or Right?
This is a basic summary of the NDPs ethics/background:
“New Democrats seek a future that brings together the best of the insights and objectives of Canadians who, within the social democratic and democratic socialist traditions, have worked through farmer, labour, co-operative, feminist, human rights and environmental movements, and with First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, to build a more just, equal, and sustainable Canada within a global community dedicated to the same goals.”
Good to see a party focused on sustainability and equality gaining ground on the conservatives in Canada. The NDP won the last election in Alberta, which was an achievement because Alberta is the “oil state,” and had been a strong hold of the conservatives for quite some time.
fascinating: does this mean Harper is on the slide?
nice piece on the sausage factory of Chinese GDP measurement.
http://www.baldingsworld.com/2015/07/15/considering-the-veracity-of-chinese-gdp/
basically no one has a clue. and they keep changing measurement criteria so the stats aren’t even internally reliable over time.
yep…when the Chinese leadership says that growth will be 7.5% next year, that is EXACTLY what they mean lol
Old article but bears reposting,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/23/mujica-rich-people-politics_n_6036892.html
I especially like that last sentence because it shows the start contrast between NZ traditional values and the current govt that believes that some people deserve happiness more than others and if the other’s needs don’t get met, well that’s just how the game goes.
Just wish we had a leader like Mujica.
One with more visionary aspirations than just money and materialism.
We do have leaders like that but not enough of the NZ people vote for them. What does that tell us?
to many new zealanders are self interested jerks? maybe we shouldn’t let people who love money vote either
Sounds like a nice idea but people who love money never do that.
yeah!!!! politics is the struggle for the happiness of all… i say we should start right right away with ejecting people who love money from our political landscape. who’s with me?
Just watched The Nation……Winston Peters, I have to say was stunning re Labour and overseas investors………
in what way anker?
Weka WP just stuck with saying we have been saying foreign investment is a problem for years. He desisted Tova’s overgeneralizations and stuck to his points. When she said “aren’t you worried that Labour is stealing your voters?” (or words to that effect) he just replied, we welcome them saying it.
Any kept going back to young NZders not being able to buy their own homes.
What I noticed that when the panel talked, the discussion with Mark Solomon dominated including the case with the board member and the wood pigeons (sorry I haven’t followed that story fully), rather than commenting on Winston and what he was saying about housing affordability………………….They completely omitted commenting on it.
Thanks, I’ll check it out when it goes up online.
I would honestly be interested to know what you think.
I do value your opinions even though we may not have seen eye to eye over Labour release of Band T data….
Winston was good. She couldn’t sidetrack him or put words into his mouth. He basically said he’s glad that Labour agrees with him.
haven’t had a chance today anker, thanks.
http://itsourfuture.org.nz/tova-obrien-interviews-winston-peters/
Hi Weka,
transcript from yesterday. I mostly disagree what WP says about water, so ignore that.
Its more how he doesn’t give the interviewer an inch.
What a patronizing comment from Tova at the end. Speaks to me that he gets under their skin!
cheers.
They are complicit, that’s why.
In the 1940s there was a term for them.
Quislings.
More on the Nation……Paddy introducing the panelists “for National Press secretary and a good friend of mine” (Ben Thomas?????? I think).
Former National Press secretary and Paddy introduces him as a a good friend of his. He’s not even trying to pretend or hide it anymore
Gower, garner, hoskins, henry etc don’t possess the professional subtelty to hide their shilling for the NACT regime.
It’s what happens when the bar is so low and the pool so small that the over paid/hyped personalities end up tinking they’re above and beyond it all with an arrogant smugness they can’t mask.
George Monbiot: Let’s make Britain wild again and find ourselves in nature
The same could be said about our natural environment here in NZ and our farms are the ‘wet deserts’ that he refers to there.
George Monbiot is inspirational.
just read a piece saying Russia is banning all GMOs from the fields and the shelves. Somme governments understand what this century has to be about.
Hey Colonial Viper – can you give me a link to that item re Russia/banning GMOs please.
We have a situation developing where the Govt thru MPI will be overriding local council regulations which ban GMOs, so they can bring in forestry which is genetically engineered (I think we’re talking radiata pine) even into those districts which ban GMOs. So I’d be interested to read why Russia is doing this. Might add to our ammunition to try and stop the govt. on this issue.
Hi Jenny:
http://russia-insider.com/en/2015/03/16/4517
http://www.globalresearch.ca/gmo-free-russia-government-approves-bill-that-would-ban-gmo-cultivation-breeding-and-imports/5426431
http://www.rt.com/news/russia-import-gmo-products-621/
http://www.inquisitr.com/1692271/monsanto-eliminated-russia-officially-bans-gmos/
http://www.globalmeatnews.com/Industry-Markets/Russia-continues-to-tighten-GMO-legislation
Thanks CR. I’ll go thru all these for useful info ….. and pass on to people in the north up here who are really angry at this govt tactic of trying to by-pass what they’ve spent over a decade trying to achieve – a GE Free region.
And this is why the private sector can’t do many government services (Health, social security, etc) any cheaper than the government:
Many government services are personal requiring one on one personal meetings and thus economies of scale simply cannot be applied.
The farce of “centrism”:
Dear Sir/Madam (select one assigned at birth),
Have you ever asked yourself this question, “Do I have what it takes to be a National/Labour (delete one) supporter?” and thought that you were not good enough?
Have you ever wished that you could sip your lattes in a Parnell cafe while reading the property press to reassure yourself that your Point Chevalier villa is retaining its inflated value and tut-tutting over the difficulties faced by first-time home buyers without feeling in the least bit hypocritical?
Have you ever wanted to be able to pay lip service to social justice so that you could impress your friends at dinner parties without the stress and possible embarrassment of actually committing to it or marching for it?
Have you ever wanted to utter the phrase “I’m not a racist, but…” without the least sense of self-awareness or irony?
When you talk about “swallowing dead rats”, haven’t you always wished that someone else had to swallow them instead of you?
Have you ever felt stifled by vestigial principles and never been able to say “but in the real world…” without feeling that you’re making excuses?
NOW you can aspire to be a genuine National/Labour (delete one) Supporter!
For the time of this strictly limited never-to-be-repeated offer we are offering you the opportunity to be assessed to determine whether you have what it takes to be a National/Labour (delete one) supporter. There are many advantages to becoming a National/Labour (delete one) Supporter and we offer a full range of package deals.
As a Basic National/Labour (delete one) Supporter, you will enjoy many benefits, including having a specially-selected minority acquaintance so that you can claim to understand their experience and empathise with them. This acquaintance will be guaranteed to have no embarrassing contrary views and will validate your stances at all times (please indicate whether you require a socioeconomic, ethnic or sexual/gender minority acquaintance).
As a Special National/Labour (delete one) Supporter, we will send MPs to your exclusive box at a sports stadium to provide valuable photo opportunities that will enable you to present yourself as influential and well-connected in the halls of government. As an added service, they will provide charming conversation and help you to dispose of your excess chardonnay.
As a Prospective Partnership National/Labour (delete one) Supporter, we will ensure that you are first in line for any future Public-Private Partnerships with a chance to have personally crafted legislation composed just for you, written by hand in Comic Sans on a Maui Dolphin vellum scroll.
Just call this number below and you will be contacted by a National/Labour (delete one) representative to begin the process of assessing whether you can become a fully-accredited National/Labour (delete one) Supporter!
(Please note, persons and groups considered politically expendable by our focus groups need not apply)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRysrnWZ1SI
“As a Basic National/Labour (delete one) Supporter, you will enjoy many benefits, including having a specially-selected minority acquaintance so that you can claim to understand their experience and empathise with them. This acquaintance will be guaranteed to have no embarrassing contrary views and will validate your stances at all times (please indicate whether you require a socioeconomic, ethnic or sexual/gender minority acquaintance).”
That is very good indeed rhino – keep this stuff coming, kia kaha!!!
good god you are a devil, RC
Wellington businesswoman dodges paying former employee thousands
So, when is the government going to move in with the Proceeds of Crime Act (not paying employees is a crime and she’s obviously benefited from it) and take everything from her and then pay her employees?
Come now Draco, if an employer is held responsible for that, what will we have next? The world will end. No, employees must be skilled managers of their managers, psychotherapists, political genius’, to assist the employer to understand themselves. And if the employer has to abuse and drive the employee into poverty during that treatment, then it is the employees fault for not realising the employer is just plain human. What does an employee know about their situation? Nothing. The cost must be on the employee, because to scare the employer into thinking they’re incompetent would damage their self esteem and goal of popular gratitude and social status without effort. Employees must be able to make up for employer’s incompetence and illegal behaviours with assistance from legislation. Employers are simply people that are too big to fail.
What is it with this winter. So far I had a nasty flu that knocked me over for about 5 days back in May/June. Now I have a headcold (I think) that has knocked me over for 2 and half days. That is finally dissipating.
This is after having a flu jab earlier in the year.
Am I being unlucky or is this just a lousy year for colds?
Lousy year I think. Paper said “they” (medical people) are recording more strains of previously unseen flu than last few years.
Anecdotally, I haven’t been sick for five years or so. Now, two colds, in the last month. Shoulda taken the woman’s advice at the supermarket an not used the tongs for grabbing muffins all those last years. Let the immune system beef up a bit. Maybe licking the windows of the bus will help.
if you want to greatly increase the work load on your immune system, exposing yourself to a dozen versions of flu virus simultaneously via a flu jab might help.
Three actually – none active as I’m sure you know.
A/California/7/2009 (NYMC X-181) (A/California/7/2009 (H1N1) – like): 15 μg haemagglutinin per dose
A/South Australia/55/2014 (IVR-175) (A/Switzerland/9715293/2013 (H3N2) – like): 15 μg haemagglutinin per dose
B/Phuket/3073/2013 (B/Phuket/3073/2013 – like): 15 μg haemagglutinin per dose
Lol, when you don’t use the tongs you feel like a rebel and you also feel there is an old lady nearby looking into your soul. That’s been my experience anyway.
that;s deep lol
Grandma here.
Drink heaps. Stay warm…wear a hat for godsakes! Eat garlic, onions, make soup from same.
Take manuka and propolis when the lurgy looms. And lemons.
Take 1000 mg of Vit C x 2 daily.
Get outside in the fresh air….take your portable interweb device if you have to.
IMHO….the flu jab is a scam. The viruses causing such ills are constantly changing and adapting…clever little buggers….much better if you strengthen your immune system.
Grandma out.
Tried all that Grandma ! This is the first year I’ve ever been laid down like this ….. raided friends’ trees for lemons and limes – nothing works – and yes – maybe the flu jab wasn’t such a good idea !!
It would be interesting to see who has got the flu who had the jab and who didn’t.
Anecdotally, from my own experience, it seems more people get the flu who get the jab than those who don’t.
🙄
This is why I don’t get the flu jab – I couldn’t afford to be put out of action for weeks at a time with flu. I’ve never had the flu, or the vaccine, but have had immune-related chronic ailments (which have been resolved thankfully), and wouldn’t put anything into my system that could stress my immune system.
We’re in the dark ages of understanding the immune system and how it interacts with bacteria, stress, and the environment.
“We’re in the dark ages of understanding the immune system and how it interacts with bacteria, stress, and the environment.”
Um no we’re not.
[G’day, Doc! Can you check the spelling of your handle next time you post? Noth not north sends you into moderation. Cheers, TRP]
Will do TRP, thanks for that.
What stage do you think it’s at?
Are you familiar with research about the links between the role of gut bacteria and diabetes, allergies, obesity, IBD?
Are enough measures being taken in NZ to reduce antibiotic over-use?
Do you consider antibiotic over-use a major problem?
Does the presence of gut bacteria play a role in the efficacy of vaccines?
ER to state we are in the dark ages in relation to understanding the immune system was clearly incorrect as the scientific community has increased its knowledge immensely during the last 50 and dramatically in the last 5-10 years in almost all areas.
In relation to gut bacteria it is not an area of expertise for me although no – one in the medical area would deny that gut flora are extremely important in relation to the body’s wellbeing.
In NZ we do have sufficient measures in place to limit antibiotic usage although unfortunately there are far less measures in place throughout the world especially in India and South East Asia.
Regarding gut flora and efficacy of vaccines it depends which vaccines one is discussing, there is some limited evidence in animal models to suggest that influenza vaccine and polio vaccine that there is decreased efficacy when there is a strongly suppressed gut flora.
“although no – one in the medical area would deny that gut flora are extremely important in relation to the body’s wellbeing”
I think you will find many people that will disagree with you on that. You probably don’t get to hear the stories of people whose doctors write off such concerns.
well we blew the advantage of antibiotics in the first 50 years we had them. 50 years, in the context of evolution. How fucking stupid is that?
No don’t believe all the stories in the MSM – antibiotics are still extremely valuable tools in all sorts of conditions.
Much of our modern surgery as an example would be hugely curtailed without antibiotics.
Patronising much?
Of course antibiotics have done some amazing things. And yes, they’re still incredibly useful. But can you honestly say that getting to MRSA etc in such a short period of time wasn’t because of misuse? And currently isn’t because of willful misuse?
Yes Methicillin resistant S. Aureus would have been unlikely to have developed without S. Aureus being exposed to methicillin.
Not sure why you’re accusing me of being patronising ? I was just making the point that antibiotics are still very useful and will continue to be so into the future.
You seemed to be assuming that I get my information from stories from the MSM, and that I somehow am not capable of analysing the validity of my sources. That’s patronising.
It’s not just methicillin right? Nice neutral framing but you avoided my point.
@ Weka from our provious discussion the only conclusions I can make about you is that you are usually polite and tend to be more on the ‘natural medicine” side of a debate rather than the “pharmaceutical, surgical intervention” side.
“@ Weka from our provious discussion the only conclusions I can make about you is that you are usually polite and tend to be more on the ‘natural medicine” side of a debate rather than the “pharmaceutical, surgical intervention” side.”
nsd, I find you considerably better than most in these debates 🙂 but your comment represents a profound misundersanding of my view. I don’t see it as two sides. Conventional medicine is important. Natural medicine is important. We need both and other things besides.
With due respect, I think your framing of things in the above duality is part of the problem (a framing which lots of people here also use).
Besides all that, I don’t see how that relates to my comment about being patronising.
True enough – but given the rapid rate at which bugs are evolving in response to antibiotics – how much longer do you think they will remain generally useful?
Asking this in the context of a relative dying of a drug-resistant pneumonia just a week ago.
Watching the move of antibiotic resistance bacterial infections from hospitals to becoming established in communities, and the only word I can think of is criminal. It’s not like medical people and health authorities didn’t know what the problem was.
And we haven’t even gotten to the use of antibiotics in growing food or how they’re acting in the environment.
That’s a fair call, Even when antibiotics are used appropriately, they contribute to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria because they don’t destroy every bug they target.
Bacteria (and many viruses) live on an evolutionary fast track, so germs that survive treatment with one antibiotic soon learn to resist others.
There’s no doubt that MRSA in particular is the result of decades of often unnecessary antibiotic use. For years, antibiotics have been prescribed for colds, flu and other viral infections that don’t respond to these drugs.
That being said antibiotics (both those used now any new agents) will continue to be useful for long into the future.
For years, antibiotics have been prescribed for colds, flu and other viral infections that don’t respond to these drugs.
Yet they are frequently needed to treat the secondary bacterial infections which so often follow in the footsteps of the viral attack.
And I do believe these secondary attacks happen because people do not look after themselves properly. Simple supportive care that our grandmothers often knew about has gone awol these days – because too many people think that if they get ill it’s not something they have to take seriously because ultimately the drugs will fix it if necessary.
And as weka hints above – given the rampant misuse of antibiotics outside strict medicinal use, and your own understanding of how rapidly bugs evolve – your sanguinary attitude here baffles me a little.
“Yet they are frequently needed to treat the secondary bacterial infections which so often follow in the footsteps of the viral attack.”
More occasionally needed, I would think that most GPs in NZ would send the patient home with some paracetamol for the fever of a viral infection and instructions for bed rest and to call if no improvement in 48 hours or if the symptoms are worsening before Rxing antibiotics.
I also agree that people don’t look after themselves – too many people feel they have to turn up at work rather than resting at home.
“… your sanguinary attitude here baffles me a little.”
Don’t know why, yes antibiotics are overused worldwide and bacteria evolve rapidly, however very broad spectrum resistance is still relatively rare and we continue to improve rXing protocols and development of new medicines.
Why on earth would someone agree to take paracetamol to suppress a fever response generated and used by the body to fight off a viral infection? Sheeesh.
@ CV true enough, however, people, parents in particular, like to avoid the pain and discomfort associated with fevers.
I now wear a beanie wool hat in bed when I am crook. It really makes a heck of difference – especially as my heads yields to male pattern baldness.
Mind you there are down sides. Last night when after the fever broke, I found myself living in a wet morass of sweat. I’d gone to bed with a duvet, merino carriage blanket, thick cotton PJ’s, terrycloth dressing gown, and wool hat because I was still cold despite Lyn complaining about getting roasted.
I had to get up at 0530, have a shower, change, and discard everything I was wearing into the basket. Everything including the wool hat was completely soaked. Then I crashed on the couch with another duvet and set of carriage blankets.
Reminds me. I have to change the bedding
You are blinkin’ lucky lprent that you’ve only been knocked out for 5 days with flu and 2 1/2 days with head cold.
My flu lasted a full two weeks, then recovery period of another two weeks with slow energy returning plus relapses and just now – after 3 days of feeling good and energised – I’ve blinkin’ got another viral throat infection. Its non-stop and anecdotal comments from friends and neighbours (and the doctors’ rooms) say its happening to heaps of people. (and i had a flu jab too !) whatever it is, its nasty and hanging around ! Yeah – its a lousy year for colds/flu/sore throats !
That is probably because I go to bed immediately after I get a onset. Trying to work as a programmer just doesn’t work if you are sick. You make bad mistakes a lot, and if you don’t catch them or they get missed in code reviews, then they will hang around in the code.
So after a few awful experiences of trying to deal with the downstream costs of that kind of thing, I have a cunning strategy. As soon as I am sure that my error rate is rising with the sore throat / headache / sneezing / coughing or whatever – I head for bed. And I stay there until I am sure that my body has handled it.
I get hired to write code and make machines do what we want them to do. I sure as hell don’t get hired to make mistakes because I am crook. Most years this means that I have a day or two off. This year is a bit crazy so far.
Yeah – that’s what others up here in the north are saying …… its a long-lasting bug whatever sort it is.
(and by the way, I too head for bed when feeling crook – hotwater bottles, lemon and honey drinks – but NOTHING worked this time !)
Well…full of sympathy for you both…but got to go….feeling a vague tickley prickely thingy coming on….can’t think why!
Raw onion and cheese sandwich methinks, then off to me virginal couch.
Seriously though….Grandma was right about the losing heat through your head thing, but I think she mean’t before you get the lurgy…you know, as a prophylactic measure. When you’re feverish…might pay to leave it off to let the heat escape!
My partner insists on shaving his head…then…wears a bloody hat to bed because he’s cold.
Cheer up guys…this too shall pass.
PS…Far North home grown limes…..yum!
Yes – absolutely delicious limes. Big and juicy. And heaps of them on my friend’s tree. I made lime marmalade a while back (before the flu bug hit) – first time ever – just delicious !
It really is a bad season for colds and flus…
Oh well grin and moan about it. That stops it getting too exasperating.
Incidentally, the worst bug I ever had was around 1991/2 during a contract with Telecom. I was doing some insane hours working on some prototype code that was probably a little beyond what the 80386’s it was running on could really do.
I’d been working through some flu bug. When we stopped and I ‘relaxed’, then it really started to get bad. A month later I went to doctor and immediately got stuffed on antibiotics to kill the pneumonia . It took near 6 weeks before I was fully operational again.
That is why I have ever since then stopped working and live hot and sweaty in bed when a bug gets me.
Me too.Yes a bad year for colds.It’s the persistent after cough cough cough that gets me. Any remedies welcomed.
Rodel – try Gee’s Linctus for night-time. Buy at a chemist. Helps you sleep.
(It’s got morphine in it. Great knock-out when you’re desperate) !
JK Thanks. Got some. – Vix original vapoDrops also good.
86 year old neighbour, never ill – She swears by cider vinegar and honey
“The end of capitalism has begun” A little light reading from today’s Guardian.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/17/postcapitalism-end-of-capitalism-begun
Yes I linked to that yesterday in another context. An interesting read. Not sure if I agree with his conclusions entirely, but the argument is neatly constructed and challenging.
Critically he’s assuming the technology infrastructure underpinning his argument will be a permanent feature of future life. That’s not a given.