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Friday will change Us As Citizens
Written By: - Date published: 8:04 am, October 22nd, 2021 - 210 comments
While we may have been lifted out of martial lockdowns and some rights have been reinstated in limited form, we have surrendered to another more pervasive power. The power of big data.
New Zealand Superconductors
Written By: - Date published: 8:10 am, September 8th, 2021 - 18 comments
Just to note a little sadness at the sale of New Zealand’s High Temperature Superconductor business out of Scott Technology (a robotics specialist company based in Dunedin sold to a Brazilian meat company a few years back).
Let the Mills die
Written By: - Date published: 1:03 pm, June 24th, 2021 - 13 comments
From Kawerau to Nelson to Tiwai Point, our accelerated decline of heavy mass manufacturing factories continues.
Rangitata and the Future of the National Party
Written By: - Date published: 8:49 am, October 24th, 2020 - 42 comments
As National reels from the disastrous 2020 election result could a policy based on high tech agriculture represent a way back?
How to kill the car
Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, April 29th, 2020 - 45 comments
What would you do so that instead of wandering endlessly through tilt-slab monstrosities soaked in 80s music and fluorescent lighting, surrounded by oppressed minimum-wage slaves who hate being there and you hating being there worried about your wheeled asset damaged in their carpark instead you get freedom?
Covid-19: Back home again
Written By: - Date published: 1:49 pm, March 17th, 2020 - 2 comments
As a programmer, I’ve had a lot of experience with working from home for work, last time was about 13 years ago. Yesterday we got shifted to working from home. The toolkit has changed a lot even in the last few years. What is going to be interesting for me is to see how companies disperse their employees out in the same way over this pandemic – that will be a real test of productivity.
The death of Holden
Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, February 18th, 2020 - 43 comments
Thousands of households across New Zealand heard the announcement of the complete death of the Holden marque this week, as the death of one of the greatest binaries and one of the most closely teased and contested brands of all: Holden versus Ford.
Battery power gets way more interesting
Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, September 27th, 2019 - 35 comments
Anyone who has been around tech for the last couple of decades will be aware of the liberating and industry disruptive effect of batteries. This caught my attention – “Tesla May Have Invented a Million-Mile Electric Car Battery”. It was well worth the read.
5G flip flop
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, July 2nd, 2019 - 62 comments
Six weeks after banning China’s leading tech firm Huawei from contracts with U.S. businesses, U.S. President Donald Trump appears to have reversed it after meeting China’s Premier Xi Jinping.
Digital Corporations: Pay Us What You Owe Us
Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, February 19th, 2019 - 75 comments
The Government has indicated that it will seek to tax digital companies from overseas.
Spark vs Spooks
Written By: - Date published: 1:47 pm, February 13th, 2019 - 66 comments
Spark wants Huawei’s 5G technology because its the best and the cheapest. The GCSB spooks don’t want us to have it because 5Eyes and because the US has yanked their chain. The Prime Minister says no decision has been made – the media and the world think it is a goneburger. We should support New Zealand’s Spark, not US corporate interests.
The wonder of e-bikes and e-scooters
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, January 6th, 2019 - 20 comments
The rise of cycleways, e-bikes, and e-scooters is steadily revolutionising commutes around Auckland, especially Central Auckland. Like public transport the economic reasons for commuters are easy to understand. You don’t get ridiculous parking costs or the lousy variable commute times of fat footprint cars jammed up on crowded roads.
How To Get There 30/12/18
Written By: - Date published: 6:29 am, December 30th, 2018 - 139 comments
Welcome to TS’s Sunday think piece. It’s a blank sheet, a tabula rasa, waiting for your thoughts on the future and How To Get There.
Safe from prying 5Eyes
Written By: - Date published: 10:22 pm, December 8th, 2018 - 62 comments
I like my Huawei phone. Apparently the US National Security Agency can’t break its encryption. That’s presumably the “security” issue why Spark is being blocked from using Huawei, and why Meng Wanzhou is held hostage in Canada at the behest of US neocons.
Spooked!
Written By: - Date published: 2:52 pm, November 29th, 2018 - 29 comments
The GCSB ban on Spark’s use of Huawei technology means this government has gone from “honest broker” to poodle in a very short time. Pressure has been applied by the US and others, apparently fearing we are the “soft underbelly” of the Five Eyes spy network. Maybe its time we got out of that too – it was designed for war.
Censorship
Written By: - Date published: 2:07 pm, August 23rd, 2018 - 13 comments
It seems that if you’re the right person, harbour the correct thoughts, have the right connections, and you don’t like whatever the political opinion, news or information that’s floating about is, then you can get it banned.
More speakers arriving
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, August 3rd, 2018 - 20 comments
If you felt like being challenged but can’t quite imagine opening your leftie Facebook after going to Laura Southern, you could always open your minds for another for-profit event with a better class of speakers.
A Question from a Room.
Written By: - Date published: 6:02 am, June 19th, 2018 - 113 comments
Take a look around the room you’re in. Or if you’re out and about and reading this on some mobile device, then take a look around the next room you enter. Closely.
Would you step into a driverless car?
Written By: - Date published: 3:18 pm, May 11th, 2018 - 51 comments
And would you send your child off to a party in a driverless car?
Facebook Bullshit
Written By: - Date published: 12:04 pm, February 26th, 2018 - 70 comments
A very cursory glance at Facebook, Palantir Technologies, Cambridge Analytica, AggregateIQ, click bait, targeted ads…and what the hell is the FBI playing at?
Global Sharemarkets
Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, February 15th, 2018 - 63 comments
Recent volatility in the U.S. stockmarkets has attracted calls that capitalism is facing a crisis. But the reality appears to be different.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership
Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, January 25th, 2018 - 137 comments
The positive aspects of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership.
A billion Indians
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, August 26th, 2017 - 33 comments
The Indian Supreme Court has ruled that privacy is a fundamental right to life and liberty under India’s constitution. Other countries recognise the right to privacy against the state. But commercial interest through social media have access to huge amounts of private information. Why should there be a right of privacy against the state but not corporate interests?
Are Government-business Think Tanks worthwhile?
Written By: - Date published: 12:41 pm, August 17th, 2017 - 7 comments
In America Donald Trump has abandoned business think tanks that he established not that long ago. During the last Labour Government Helen Clark established the Growth and Innovation Advisory Board with mixed results. What should a Jacinda Ardern led Labour-Green coalition do?
Why the America’s Cup is better than Rugby
Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, June 19th, 2017 - 136 comments
And now for something completely different. Is the America’s cup a more potent example of New Zealand’s unique place in the world than the Rigby World Cup.
Eight years to an electric transport world
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, May 31st, 2017 - 66 comments
The pace of change in transportation may mean that some time soon private ownership of petroleum cars may disappear.
David Cunliffe’s final speech
Written By: - Date published: 9:53 am, April 23rd, 2017 - 28 comments
The text of David Cunliffe’s final speech delivered to the New Lynn Labour Party earlier this week where he decries neoliberalism and worries about the world’s environmental future.
Labour gets serious about regional development
Written By: - Date published: 1:46 pm, February 1st, 2017 - 46 comments
Labour is serious about regional development. It is proposing a 10 year $200m package of regional initiatives. The first of these was just announced in Dunedin.
- NZ Politics Daily: 27 October 2021
Today’s NZPD testimonial from Prue Hyman, Economist; former Associate Professor of Economics and Gender and Women’s Studies at Victoria University of Wellington “Bryce Edwards’ emails NZ Politics Daily does a great job of putting together the urls of the vast majority of the day’s columns on NZ politics and economic and social policy ...52 mins ago - Misopogon: In Defence of Beards Among Tolkien’s Elves and Men
Fun fact: New Zealand’s release date for The Nature of Middle-earth is 10th November, which means I still do not have my copy. While you lot are busy with Tolkien’s calculations of Elven life-cycles to multiple decimal places,* and laughing (from a safe distance) at Númenorean dancing bears, I ...3 hours ago - Climate Change: Make the dairy industry pay their way
The dairy industry is celebrating its biggest payout ever: $13 billion. Which is great for the farmers, but immediately raises the obvious question: if they're so rich, why aren't they paying their way? Because dairy farming relies on enormous water and carbon subsidies from everyone else, and it is neither ...20 hours ago - Putting On The Armour Of Covid Righteousness.
Moral Authority? To those who complain that the Prime Minister is unnecessarily and unethically stigmatising the vaccine hesitant and resistant, there is only one genuinely ethical retort: They have stigmatised themselves.ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES facing New Zealanders over the next few weeks will be Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance. ...22 hours ago - NZ Politics Daily: 26 October 2021Today’s NZPD testimonial from Denis Welch, Author and commentator “In a world where we’re potentially inundated by newsfeeds, NZ Politics Daily serves an invaluable function in providing direct access to news reports, articles, blogs and other commentary of interest to anyone wanting to know what’s going on in New Zealand politics and ...1 day ago
- Reducing the risk of Covid-19 transmission through the use of air purifiers
Prof Mark Jermy, Dr Julie Bennett, Dr Jason Chen, Phoebe Taptiklis and Dr Caroline Shorter* Indoor environments increase the risk of transmission for the virus that causes Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) by containment and concentration of the airborne virus. However, to reduce such transmission, the particles that carry the virus can be ...1 day ago - Is cost-benefit analysis the right tool for federal climate policy?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Lexi Smith Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) may sound like the realm of wonky bureaucrats tinkering on the edges of major policy initiatives. But CBA can have enormous consequences, especially in the context of climate change. When calculating climate harms, seemingly small assumptions made ...1 day ago - Labour Day musings
by Don Franks Labour Day’s just another holiday now, although workers wouldn’t have any paid holidays without the long up and down grind of past union struggles. This Labour Day I thought back to my first union experience. It was in 1969, one morning in a timber yard. I’d been ...2 days ago - Business and Media pimp for dodgy covid test. Govt caves. Questions Remain.
. . Recent vociferous demands by business interests and the National Party have pressured the government into allowing Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) to be used throughout the country. The pressure has grown as freight-trucking companies and others have demanded the ability to move between Auckland and the rest of the ...2 days ago - The Shadow of the Shadow: Isildur as Amazon’s Main Character
Yay. Some more leakages. About the upcoming Amazon Second Age series, that is. Fellowship of Fans can reveal that, as of episode 3 of Season 1, we will see Isildur as a focal point character: My first thought? I don’t like this. I don’t like this ...3 days ago - 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #43Listing of articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, October 17, 2021 through Sat, October 23, 2021 The following articles sparked above average interest during the week: Forget your carbon footprint. Let's talk about your climate shadow, People Who Jump to Conclusions Show Other ...3 days ago
- Media Link: “A View from Afar” on supply chain bottlenecks, commodity (over) concentration and t...
Selwyn Manning and I have created YouTube channels under our respective business names in order to promote the “A View from Afar” podcast series. The latest episode examines recent problems of global supply, production and exchange, using a micro-to-macro lens to discuss the interplay between economics, policy and politics in ...3 days ago - Dark Lord Musings: Why Sauron Joined Team Melkor
It has often been noted that Tolkien’s two great Dark Lords had quite distinct motivations for their villainy, Melkor/Morgoth being what we might today term ‘Chaotic Evil,’ and Mairon/Sauron being ‘Lawful Evil.’ One was obsessed with destroying Creation because it was not his, the other was obsessed with governing ...3 days ago - Electric aircraft – coming soon to save us, or all hype and greenwash?By Paul Callister and Robert McLachlan Electric aircraft have arrived, but a lot has to happen to make commercial flights a reality. Can they live up to the hype, and can they reduce aviation emissions? We run the numbers. It’s not easy to keep up with the rapidly-changing world of ...4 days ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #42, 2021105 articles by 463 contributing authors Physical science of climate change, effects A simple model of blocking action over a hemisphere Kurgansky Theoretical and Applied Climatology 10.1007/s00704-021-03782-y Mechanisms of European Summer Drying under Climate Change Tuel & Eltahir Alizadeh Journal of Climate Open Access 10.1175/jcli-d-20-0968.1 Observations of climate ...5 days ago
- Vaccinating the Underclass
If we want to minimise the impact of the Covid virus we are going to have to think about social class.New Zealanders do not easily talk about social class: that there are groups in the community who connect together, live different lives and have standards of living very different from ...5 days ago - Brian Tamaki – Arsehole of the Week
You may find it somewhat amusing to see Brian Tamaki arrested again for organising another Destiny Church protest. After all, his largely nonsensical argument against the Government’s Covid restrictions is one thing, but those tattooed on eyebrows are really something else.However it’s no laughing matter. The self-proclaimed messiah is in ...5 days ago - Jacinda’s Choice: “Freedom Day”, Or Failure.Lining Up With The Right: Though Jacinda Ardern hasn’t endorsed the John Key-Act-National preference for 1 December as Auckland's “Freedom Day” in as many words, that is clearly the timeline she is working to. The Prime Minister of New Zealand cannot assure 1.6 million Aucklanders that they will be free ...5 days ago
- Rendering Unto Caesar: In Labour, “L’état c’est Jacinda”.5 days ago
- Gordon Campbell on why New Zealand needs to change its Defence habits
In a flashback to the military displays of days gone by, one of our frigates recently joined a Carrier Strike show of force in the South China Sea, en route to a joint military exercise in Singapore with our traditional allies, called BersamaGold21. Reportedly, Anna Powles, from the Centre of ...5 days ago - Is Funding Euthanasia a Health Priority for Aotearoa New Zealand: Part 2?Dr Ben Gray* Providing equity of access for assisted dying without equity of access to palliative care is to completely undermine the goals of the End of Life Choice Act. The choice is distorted towards aid in dying and away from palliative care. In this blog I will describe the ...5 days ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 22 October 2021Today’s NZPD testimonial from Peder Gustafsson, Asia Correspondent, Swedish National Radio “As a Asia-Pacific Correspondent for the Swedish National Radio The newsletter from NZ Politics Daily is one of my best sources for getting information and keeping up with what’s happening in New Zealand. I appreciate the variety and breadth of the information ...5 days ago
- The Power Of “No”.Irrational Resistance: With the Delta variant of Covid-19 raging through their communities and pumping up the number of community cases to new and frightening levels, it’s beginning to dawn on the ill-treated and excluded that, for once in their lives, they have the power. If the System is so desperate ...5 days ago
- Geoffrey Miller: Geopolitics behind NZ-UK free trade dealInternational analyst Geoffrey Miller explains why the free trade agreement between New Zealand and the United Kingdom is not just about building back butter The new Aukus defence pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States will go down as one of this year’s biggest foreign policy ...5 days ago
- Barbados elects its first presidentBarbados will officially become a republic at the end of November, and today they took an important step along the way: electing their first president. To make things easy on themselves in the transition, they simply elected their current Governor-General to the role: Governor General Dame Sandra Mason has ...6 days ago
- Labour’s sneaky copyright dealThe big news this morning is that the government has reached an in-principle FTA with the UK, with the usual benefits for farmers (and therefore incentives to increase emissions). The wisdom of making an agreement with a government which literally admitted last week that it makes agreements in bad faith ...6 days ago
- Moving To The Right.6 days ago
- DrawnA ballot for five Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Education and Training (Freedom of Expression) Amendment Bill (James McDowall) Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill (Deborah Russell) Financial Professional Services Trading Advice Transparency Bill ...6 days ago
- National's failed firearms bill cost over $390,0006 days ago
- Waitemata Burning: Narrowing Down the Auckland Outbreak
So the Auckland Coronavirus Outbreak has been steadily increasing in case numbers. Not exploding, Melbourne-style, but definitely increasing. The question then becomes… how is this happening, and where is this happening? Well, I’m pleased you asked that. Because I do think we can mine the available data for clues. ...6 days ago - Wishful Thinkng
It should come as no surprise that the government’s critics, on the pandemic and other subjects, are from the political right. For many of them, the touchstone is purely political – if the policy is right-wing, it is “right”, and, if not, then it is by definition wrong. In no ...6 days ago - The critically endangered Māui dolphin is a conservation priority – we shouldn’t let uncertaint...Rochelle Constantine, University of Auckland and Wendi Roe, Massey University The world’s rarest marine dolphin, Māui, is found only along the west coast of the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. Based on our surveys over the last two summers, during which we collected small tissue samples for DNA ...6 days ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 21 October 2021Today’s NZPD testimonial from Dr Mike Reid, Principal Policy Advisor, Local Government New Zealand “NZ Politics Daily is essential early morning reading in our organisation like LGNZ. To effectively represent our members we need to understand and respond to changes in the political landscape, particularly policy and political changes at the national ...6 days ago
- Fluoridation and child IQ – the problem of counting chickens before they hatch
Image credit: Cherry-picking data – don’t get fooled by misleading statistics It’s easy to find studies that confirm ones own bias on health issues. But cherry-picking such studies is unscientific because one could equally cite studies showing the exact opposite. The problem is ...6 days ago- Kids’ quality of life will depend on today’s climate choices
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections It’s the moral quandary of human-caused climate change: People least responsible for the problem will bear the brunt of its harmful consequences. As a substantial body of scientific research has established, this reality is true of developing countries. They generally are located in already-hot regions ...7 days ago- Purpose-built MIQ: National’s sums don’t add up
. . Parts of National’s document – to open up Aotearoa New Zealand “to the world” – has been recycled from various policy and media releases last year and more recently. Despite demanding that the country open up to the outside world and end lockdowns by 1 December, and ...7 days ago- Member’s Day
Today is a Member's Day, and there's an interesting bill up for debate for once. But they'll have to get through a lot of boring stuff first. First up is Simeon Brown's Arms (Firearms Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill (No 2), which should go quickly as it has been overtaken by ...7 days ago- Justice for Brazil?
Brazil has been one of the countries worst-hit by the pandemic, with over 21 million confirmed cases and 600,000 deaths. Much of the blame for that can be squarely laid at the feet of its president, Jair Bolsonaro, who put the economy first and let the disease spread unchecked, while ...7 days ago- Freedom Day is coming!
Could 1 December be Freedom Day? ...7 days ago- Gordon Campbell on juggling Covid, and France’s Trump-like populist
It is the age-old Covid problem. How to balance the needs for firms (and schools) to re-open against the need to protect public health. In the past, the balance has been struck by insisting that the best public health outcomes also deliver the best economic (and educational) outcomes. While that ...7 days ago- Ben Santer on ‘separating’ and his ‘small part’ in understanding of climate science
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Separating is hard. I’ve spent most of my scientific career trying to separate observed climate records into human-caused signals and the background noise of natural variability. It’s been challenging and fascinating work. Challenging because so many different human and natural factors affect Earth’s ...1 week ago- NZ Politics Daily: 20 October 2021
Today’s NZPD testimonial from Joe Atkinson, Political Scientist, University of Auckland: “NZPD is an indispensable source for political junkies like me. It sorts the wheat out from the media chaff and saves a lot of time.” Anyone can sign up to NZPD for free at: https://democracyproject.nz/nz-politics-daily/ Today’s content Housing Zane Small (Newshub): How ...1 week ago- Many of New Zealand’s most popular websites use ‘dark patterns’ to manipulate users – is it ...
Cherie Lacey, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Alex Beattie, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington More than half of the most popular New Zealand websites may be unfairly manipulating visitors, according to our latest research into the use of “dark patterns” in sites ...1 week ago- COVID-19 cases rise when schools open – but more so when teachers and students don’t wear masks
Zoë Hyde, The University of Western Australia As students return to schools in Victoria and New South Wales after months of lockdowns, many people may be worried about the risks to their kids – and transmission overall. The role that schools play in transmission of the virus that causes ...1 week ago- The Picnic Period: A sign of our Covid times
Auckland. For a long been it’s been known to Maori as Tamaki Makaurau, a place of ‘many lovers’. In the past fortnight, though, Auckland has shaken out the rug and grabbed a drink to become Tamaki Pikiniki, a place of many picnics. The humble picnic is now, in many ways, a ...1 week ago- Are Covid vaccines becoming less effective?
A critical debate about Covid-19 vaccines is when does protection wane, by how much, why, and what does this mean for controlling the pandemic and the impacts of infections. Depending on the studies or headlines you read it can be confusing. Some report declining vaccine effectiveness, and others don’t. Some ...1 week ago- Widespread collapse of West Antarctica’s ice sheet is avoidable if we keep global warming below 2...
Dan Lowry, GNS Science; Mario Krapp, GNS Science, and Nick Golledge, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rising seas are already making storm damage more costly, adding to the impact on about 700 million people who live in low-lying coastal areas at risk of flooding. Scientists expect ...1 week ago- NZ Politics Daily: 19 October 2021
Today’s NZPD testimonial from Dr Oliver Hartwich, Executive Director, The New Zealand Initiative “There is a dearth of quality journalism in New Zealand, and so I am grateful to NZ Politics Daily for sifting through our media to discover the gems of reporting and opinion editorials. It is a valuable contribution to ...1 week ago- Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, 1961–2021
This is a re-post from World Weather Attribution With deepest sadness we must share with you the news that Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, dear friend, amazing scientist, co-founder and co-leader of World Weather Attribution, husband and father, and a wonderful human, passed away on 12 October 2021. Geert ...1 week ago- The Entrust election
Auckland is holding elections for EnTrust, its local electricity trust. Entrust is important - it owns electricity and gas-supplier Vector, and so the decisions it makes around energy infrastructure could make a significant difference to greenhouse gas emissions. But the elections have traditionally been ignored, so its run by CitRats ...1 week ago- Argentina returns the favour
In the early 2000s, Argentinian victims of the Dirty War, denied justice due to a local amnesty, sought justice in Spanish courts, who obligingly convicted agents of that country's dictatorship of crimes against humanity under Spain's "universal jurisdiction" law. But Argentina wasn't the only country with a repressive dictatorship which ...1 week ago- Climate Change: A good move, but not enough
The government has announced that it will quadruple climate aid to developing nations, from $300 million to $1.3 billion over four years. This is good: "climate finance" - aid to developing nations to decarbonise and offset the damage caused by rich-country emissions - is going to be a flashpoint at ...1 week ago- Too Much Say, Not Enough Do.
When The Green Party Co-Leader Speaks, Does He Make Any Sound? James Shaw must know that neither New Zealanders, nor the rest of humanity, will ever take the urgent and transformative action that Science now deems necessary to stave-off climate catastrophe.POOR JAMES SHAW: He’s the man this government sends out ...1 week ago- Gordon Campbell on the perils of declaring premature victory
Sure enough, Saturday’s Vaxathon was a barrel of fun and a throwback not merely to the Telethons of the past. It also revived memories of those distant days of early 2020, when we were all carefully wiping down our groceries, not touching our faces, washing our hands for 20 seconds ...1 week ago- NZ Politics Daily: 18 October 2021
Today’s NZPD testimonial from Kim Gillespie, Editor NZME Newspapers Lower North Island & Communities “I find the daily email great for giving me an overview of each morning’s big issues across the media landscape, and really appreciate the huge amount of work that must go in to compiling it each day.” Anyone ...1 week ago- Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – Celebrating and critiquing 25 years of MMP
Over the last week, MMP has been in the spotlight, given that it’s now been 25 years since the first general election was held under this proportional representation system. This has produced some important commentary and storytelling about the introduction of MMP and about the various pros and cons of ...1 week ago- COVID-19 in Aotearoa: what does public health do now?
Dr Belinda Loring, Dr Ruth Cunningham, Dr Polly Atatoa Carr* Public health activities have collectively made an incredible contribution to minimising the impact of COVID-19 in Aotearoa. But the work for public health is not over. As the situation in Auckland heralds a transition point in our approach to the ...1 week ago- 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #42
Listing of articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, October 10, 2021 through Sat, October 16, 2021 The following articles sparked above average interest during the week: ‘This is a story that needs to be told’: BBC film tackles Climategate scandal, Why trust science?, ...1 week ago- Is injection technique contributing to the risk of post vaccine myocarditis?
Recent misleading media headlines about vaccines being administered incorrectly in the absence of evidence do little to help public confidence in vaccines. Spoiler alert, vaccines are not being administered incorrectly. The topic of this blog is based on what could be an important scientific question – is one of the ...1 week ago- A Māori health expert reports from the Super Saturday frontlines
Rawiri Jansen, National Hauora Coalition I write this as I charge my car, getting ready to head home at the end of a pretty good Super Saturday. It started with coffee and checking the news feeds as any good day should. Between 9 and 10 am as I drove to ...1 week ago- Weddings and Leopards
Could it be that the Herald is beginning to twig that an unremitting hostility to the government does not go down well with all its readers? The evidence for that is that, in today’s issue, two contributors (Bill Ralston and Steven Joyce) who usually enjoy sticking the knife in, take ...1 week ago- The Chronicles of Kregsmal and Krunch: Volume I
As noted previously, my weekly DND campaign with Annalax and Gertrude has been put on ice. I expect it to return eventually, but for now it is very much on hiatus. The remainder of the group have decided to run an entirely new campaign in the meantime. This ...1 week ago- Super Saturday recap: Patrick Gower doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do
It was Aotearoa’s first national day of action in over ten years, the first since 2010, when Prime Minister John Key tried to inspire us to clean up our nation’s berms. It didn’t work. Today, New Zealand’s berms are worse than ever. But history is not destiny, and other cliches. ...2 weeks ago- COVID-19 Worried about getting your vaccine or want a simple explanation?
Worried about getting your vaccine? Let me tell you a secret. No-one likes getting a vaccine. People do it because they know they’re better off to. Let me tell you another secret, a weird one: the vaccine doesn’t really “do” anything. Confusing? Let me explain… Vaccines are a face at ...2 weeks ago- Delta puts workers’ power under the spotlight
by Don Franks Foremost fighting the Delta virus are workers, especially in health, distribution, service and education sectors. Unionised members of these groups are centrally represented by the New Zealand Council of trade unions ( NZCTU). Political journalist Richard Harman recently noted:“Businesses are caught in a legal tangle if they ...2 weeks ago- Faster transitions to clean energy are also cheaper
This is a re-post from the Citizens' Climate Lobby blog Several clean energy technologies like solar panels have become consistently cheaper year after year as the industries have benefited from learning, experience and economies of scale. Falling solar costs are described by “Swanson’s Law,” much like Moore’s Law described the rapid and consistent ...2 weeks ago- Abstraction and Reality in Economics
Sometimes high theory loses the human point of the exercise.One of the joys of teaching is you learn from your students. When fifty-odd years ago, I was at the University of Sussex, a student doing our first-year economics course, Jim, came to me, saying he was pulling out because it ...2 weeks ago- What Happened to the Team?
Last year, in the early stages of the pandemic, the Prime Minister’s “team of five million” performed well; team discipline was maintained and we all worked well together. This year, however, has been a different story; team discipline has weakened, and many people have on numerous occasions behaved badly and ...2 weeks ago- Climate Change: Another legal victory
Across the world climate change activists have been going to court, seeking to make their governments act to protect future generations. And hot on the heels of victories in the Netherlands and Germany, there's been another one in France: A French court has ordered the government to make up ...2 weeks ago- Invasion Of The (Covid) Body Snatchers.
2 weeks ago- Humans are driving animals and plants to the edge. But are we really heading into a mass extinction...
Michael Hannah, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington It is now common to refer to the current biodiversity crisis as the sixth mass extinction. But is this true? Are we in the middle of an event on the same scale as the five ancient mass extinctions Earth ...2 weeks ago- NZ Politics Daily: 15 October 2021
Today’s NZPD testimonial from Associate Professor Grant Duncan, Massey University, Auckland “The NZ Politics Daily email is very helpful in giving me a quick overview of current events and opinion. It allows me to pick out important or informative columns that I may otherwise have missed. I recommend NZ Politics Daily to anyone ...2 weeks ago- Missing From The Anti-Covid Action.
The Invisible Man: Where has the NZ Council of Trade Unions been during the Covid-19 Pandemic? Why hasn’t its current president, Richard Wagstaff (above) become a household name during the pandemic? Up there with Ashley Bloomfield, Michael Baker, Shaun Hendy and Siouxsie Wiles? WHERE HAVE THE UNIONS BEEN during the Covid-19 ...2 weeks ago- “Go West, Young Virus”
The Auckland Coronavirus Outbreak potters along, not helped by the perception that the Government is disturbingly enthusiastic about “managing the virus” or loosening the border. Health Minister Andrew Little said today he envisages 90% vaccination rates (which we don’t have) eventually leading to 5,000 cases in Auckland a week… ...2 weeks ago- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #41, 2021
How to fill a glass and thereby drink— from a fire hose So far this year, New Research has published listings for 3,291 papers concerning climate change from one aspect or another. Each edition includes two dozen or so articles describing freshly and directly observed effects of global waming. These ...2 weeks ago - Kids’ quality of life will depend on today’s climate choices
- Boosting support for hard-hit businesses
Our response to COVID-19 over the past 20 months means we’re in a stronger position than many other countries, but we know it’s been tough for businesses – especially those in Auckland. That’s why we’re boosting support for businesses affected by COVID restrictions as we move into the new COVID ...23 hours ago - Funding to test drugs at festivals a lifesaver
New funding for drug-checking services at festivals is a Green Party win that will save lives. However the Government needs to go further, faster and expand these lifesaving services. ...4 days ago - Green Party sets out more equitable approach to COVID-19 responseThe Green Party has warned that the Labour’s plan to move to a new COVID-19 response strategy is rushed and risky, and will leave some people at risk. Meanwhile, the Greens have a safer, more appropriate approach that won’t leave anyone behind. ...5 days ago
- Transform arms export regime to strengthen human rights protectionsThe Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is calling on the Government to urgently introduce legislation to better regulate the export of military products and technology that could be used to breach human rights in other countries. ...6 days ago
- Make it a shore thing – Bird of the Year 2021The Green Party is calling on people to go dotty for dotterel and vote for the New Zealand Dotterel/Tūturiwhatu as Bird of the Year 2021. ...7 days ago
- National’s irresponsible COVID plan will cost livesThe National Party’s plan to remove all COVID restrictions on 1 December, regardless of whether or not people are vaccinated, would cost lives, the Green Party says. ...7 days ago
- New research reinforces urgency to end conversion practicesNew research from the University of Waikato showing a link between conversion practices and negative mental health for trans and non-binary people reinforces the urgent need to pass the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill. ...7 days ago
- Te Mātāwaka: Greens call for the Government to listen to Māori health expertsTe Mātāwaka caucus support the call from iwi leaders, and Māori providers for a COVID-19 vaccination rate of 95 percent for Māori, Pasifika and other marginalised communities before further lifting COVID-19 restrictions. ...1 week ago
- Govt must build on foundation of planning rule changes to solve housing crisisFamilies looking for their first home will welcome a bipartisan commitment to increase housing supply, but will be asking what more can be done. ...1 week ago
- Equitable financial support urgently needed to combat COVID outbreakThe Green Party is calling for a broader and more equitable financial support package to slow the COVID-19 outbreak and ensure everyone in Alert Level 3 can make ends meet, following the announcement that Alert Level 3 has been extended for at least two more weeks in Auckland and at ...1 week ago
- Waste strategy needs to learn from natureAnything less than a transformational national waste strategy and waste legislation will not be enough, the Green Party said today. ...2 weeks ago
- 5 ways you can help New Zealand get vaccinatedGetting vaccinated is the best thing we can do to protect ourselves and the people we care about from COVID-19. It means we’ll all be able to do more of what we love this summer, while keeping each other safe. ...2 weeks ago
- Te Mātāwaka: Greens support iwi led housing solutionsThe Green Party’s Te Mātāwaka Caucus welcome the Government’s investment into iwi Māori-led housing initiatives. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens call for expanded protection for renters, overseas voting for COVID-19 billThe Green Party is calling for expanded protections for renters and extended eligibility for overseas voters for the COVID-19 Response Management Measures Legislation Bill, which is currently before select committee. ...2 weeks ago
- One-off residency scheme needs to include working holiday and seasonal workersThe Green Party says the Government needs to extend the one-off residency scheme to all workers, instead of keeping them in limbo with visa extensions every 6 months. ...2 weeks ago
- Camping, concerts, cuddles: Kiwis tell us why they’re vaccinatedRight now, the single most important thing New Zealanders can do in the fight against COVID-19 is get vaccinated. More and more of us are stepping up, with more than two million people now fully vaccinated. ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party deeply concerned space launches may be breaching nuclear-free lawsThe Green Party is deeply concerned that space launches by Rocket Lab may be breaching New Zealand’s long-standing nuclear-free position and legislation. ...3 weeks ago
- Govt backs business to vaccinate workforces
Vaccination will be required for all workers at businesses where customers need to show COVID-19 Vaccination Certificates, such as hospitality and close-contact businesses. New law to introduce a clearer and simplified risk assessment process for employers to follow when deciding whether they can require vaccination for different types of work. ...18 hours ago - Winners of the 2021 Prime Minister’s Education Excellence AwardsFrimley Primary School in Hawke’s Bay is the Supreme Award winner of the 2021 Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The past year has been a real test for teachers, schools and local communities. But out of the challenge of ...18 hours ago
- Government provides greater assurance to homeownersThe Government has provided greater assurance for homeowners with the introduction of a new code of ethics for Licensed Building Practitioners (LBPs), Building and Construction Minister Poto Williams announced today. The Code of Ethics, which comes into force in October 2022, sets behavioural standards for LBPs to give both ...20 hours ago
- Primary sector returns strengthen export-led recoveryFarmers’ hard work in leading New Zealand’s export-led recovery from COVID-19 is being rewarded with high prices forecast for milk and very strong returns for meat, says Trade and Export Growth and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. Fonterra announced today a record predicted milk price of $7.90 to $8.90 for the ...20 hours ago
- Supporting economic resilience in the Indo-Pacific – Speech to the Asia Forum(Check against delivery) Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, kia ora koutou katoa Thank you Farib. It is a great pleasure to be invited to speak at this event. I want to acknowledge the on-going work of the Asia Forum. Over many years – decades, in fact – you have been ...23 hours ago
- RSI ‘state of the nation’ report publishedNew Zealand’s FCR cited research ratio is twice the world average Investment in R&D is increasing Case studies underscore how a science based COVID-19 response helped save lives In 2019, Māori and Pacific people represented 5 per cent of PhD graduates. The latest research, science and innovation system report card ...23 hours ago
- Funding to translate science into real life solutionsThe Government is investing in ‘Te Tītoki Mataora’ the MedTech Research Translator, to deliver new medical tools - and meet both the demands of a global pandemic and of a growing and aging population. “COVID-19 has shown that we need to build a more resilient, productive, innovative and economically-sustainable health ...2 days ago
- Tokelau champions language and cultureCOVID-19 continues to be a powerful reminder of the importance of language and culture to the wellbeing of our Pacific communities, said the Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio. “Our Tokelau community in Aotearoa has responded strongly to the challenges of the global pandemic by getting vaccinated and supporting ...3 days ago
- Festival drug-checking services get a boostThe Government is financially supporting drug-checking services to help keep young people safe at this summer’s large festivals and events, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “This is not about condoning drug use, but about keeping people safe,” Andrew Little said. “There is clear evidence that having drug-checking services at festivals ...4 days ago
- Expanded vaccination order for health and disability, education and prison workersA newly-signed Order means most people working in three key sectors will very soon need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for the sake of themselves, their workmates and their communities, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed. The extended COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Amendment Order 2021 comes into effect ...4 days ago
- APEC finance ministers focus on inclusive, sustainable COVID recoveryAPEC finance ministers will continue to work together to respond to the effects of COVID-19 and ensure a sustainable and inclusive recovery while capitalising on the opportunity to build a more resilient future. The New Zealand Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson chaired the virtual APEC Finance ...5 days ago
- Improvements to child and maternity facilities at Timaru Hospital on trackImprovements to child and maternity facilities at Timaru Hospital are well underway, and the next stage of the project will begin next month. Health Minister Andrew Little visited Timaru Hospital today to view progress onsite. “The improvements are part of South Canterbury DHB’s four-year refurbishment project and will create a ...5 days ago
- Govt responds to independent review into WorkSafeThe Government has clear expectations that WorkSafe must action the recommendations of the independent review into the regulator to improve its management of adventure activities following the tragedy at Whakaari White Island, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood says. The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) today released the ...5 days ago
- Prevention funding to reduce tamariki in careA new iwi-led prevention programme will receive funding from Oranga Tamariki to help reduce the number of tamariki and rangatahi coming into state care, Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis has announced. Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu (Te Rūnanga) will receive $25.9m of Oranga Tamariki funding over three years to improve outcomes ...5 days ago
- Transforming New Zealand’s mental health legislationPublic consultation is now open for Aotearoa New Zealand to have a say on the repeal and replacement of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992. “’He Ara Oranga, the report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction’ made it clear that we needed to replace ...5 days ago
- COVID-19 Protection FrameworkKia ora koutou katoa Today I’m speaking directly to all New Zealanders to share a plan that will help us stay safe from COVID-19 into the future. A future where we want to continue to protect people’s lives, but also to live our lives – as safely as possible. Our ...5 days ago
- Business boost to transition to new COVID frameworkWe know that over the last twenty months the approach New Zealand has taken to COVID and Delta has saved lives and livelihoods. Along with one of the lowest mortality rates in the world, we have also had strong economic growth, low unemployment and one of the lower levels of ...5 days ago
- COVID-19 funding boost to protect maōri communitiesTēnā koutou katoa As you have heard from the Prime Minister, the new protection framework will support us to keep people safe especially our vulnerable communities and minimize the impact COVID-19 has on business and our day to day lives. If you want to protect yourself, your whanau and your ...5 days ago
- New COVID-19 Protection Framework delivers greater freedoms for vaccinated New ZealandersNew COVID-19 Protection Framework provides pathway out of lockdown and ability for businesses and events to re-open to vaccinated New Zealanders Simpler framework to minimise cases and hospitalisations without use of widespread lockdowns Auckland to move into the new framework when 90 percent of eligible population in each of the ...5 days ago
- New fund to accelerate Māori vaccinationsThe Government has established a $120 million fund to accelerate Māori vaccination rates and support communities to prepare for the implementation of the new COVID-19 Protection Framework. The new Māori Communities COVID-19 Fund will directly fund Māori, Iwi, community organisations and providers to deliver local vaccination initiatives for whānau, and ...5 days ago
- Government extends hardship assistance for low income workersIncome limits for Hardship Support through the Ministry of Social Development have been temporarily lifted so more people can recieve assistance. “Cabinet has agreed to make it easier for low income workers to recieve assistance for items such as food and other emergency costs,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “We know the ...5 days ago
- More support for learners with highest needsStudents most in need of extra help in the classroom are the focus of a new review that gets under way today, Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti says. About 50,000-80,000 children and young people are expected to benefit from a Ministry of Education review into Highest Need Learners that will ...5 days ago
- Parts of Waikato to stay at Alert Level 3 for next six daysThe parts of Waikato that have been in Alert Level 3 will remain at that alert level till Wednesday, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Based on the latest public health information, maintaining level 3 in those parts of the Waikato continues to be the most prudent course of ...6 days ago
- Hon Peeni Henare September 2021 Proactive Diary Release...6 days ago
- NZ passes world-first climate reporting legislationNew Zealand has become the first country in the world to pass a law that will ensure financial organisations disclose and ultimately act on climate-related risks and opportunities, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Dr David Clark and Climate Change Minister James Shaw today announced today. The Financial Sector (Climate-related Disclosures ...6 days ago
- Prime Minister NZ UK FTA opening remarksTēnā koutou katoa. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. I am delighted to announce today that following a conversation with Prime Minister Johnson last night, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have Agreed in Principle a historic high-quality, comprehensive and inclusive free trade agreement. I’m joined today by the Minister ...6 days ago
- New Zealand secures historic free trade deal with the United KingdomA boost of almost $1 billion to New Zealand GDP, unprecedented access for New Zealand exporters to the UK market UK to eliminate all tariffs on New Zealand exports, with over 97% being removed the day the FTA comes into force NZ exporters to save approx. $37.8 million per year ...6 days ago
- Quarterly benefit numbers show more people in workBenefit figures released today show a year on year fall of 9,807 people receiving a Main Benefit in the September Quarter. “The Government is working hard to tackle COVID-19 and it is clear our strong response to the initial outbreak has created a resilient labour market which is providing opportunities ...6 days ago
- Health reforms bill introduced to ParliamentLegislation central to fixing the health system has been introduced into Parliament by Health Minister Andrew Little. “Rebuilding the public health system is critical to laying the foundations for a better future for all New Zealanders,” Andrew Little said. “We need a system that works for everybody, no matter who ...7 days ago
- NCEA and NZ Scholarship Exams to proceedNCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams will proceed, including in areas where Alert Level 3 has been in place, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The New Zealand Qualifications Authority, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health have been working together to ensure exams can be managed in a safe ...7 days ago
- Limited change to onsite learning – for senior secondary students – in Level 3 regionsOnsite learning at schools in Level 3 regions will start from next week for senior secondary school students to prepare for end of year exams, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Secondary schools in these regions will start onsite learning for years 11 to 13 on Tuesday 26 October,” Chris ...7 days ago
- Guaranteed MIQ spots for health workersThe Government is changing the way managed isolation is co-ordinated for health workers, guaranteeing 300 spots a month for the health and disability sector. “Our world-class workforce is vital in rebuilding the health system and dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic,” Andrew Little said. “Whether it’s bringing doctors or nurses in ...7 days ago
- Govt helps to protect New Zealanders digital identitiesMaking it easier for New Zealanders to safely prove who they are digitally and control who has access to that information is one step closer to becoming law, Minister for Digital Economy and Communications, Dr David Clark said. The Digital Identity Services Trust Framework Bill passed its first reading today ...7 days ago
- Red tape cut to boost housing supplyNew building intensification rules will mean up to three homes of up to three storeys can be built on most sites without the need for a resource consent New rules will result in at least 48,200 and as many as 105,500 new homes built in next 5-8 years Bringing forward ...1 week ago
- Nationwide business partnership grows conservation jobsFurther Government support for New Zealand’s longest-standing sustainable business organisation will open up opportunities for dozens of workers impacted by COVID-19 to jump start a nature-based career, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. Partnering to Plant Aotearoa, led by the Sustainable Business Network (SBN), is a collaboration with iwi, hapū and ...1 week ago
- New Zealand increases climate aid contributionGovernment commits $1.3 billion over four years to support countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change At least 50 percent of funding will go to the Pacific as it adapts to the impacts of climate change The increase means New Zealand now meets its fair share of global ...1 week ago
- Super Māori turnout for Super SaturdayMāori have put a superb effort into mobilising to get vaccinated over Super Saturday, with thousands rolling up their sleeves to protect themselves, their whānau and communities from COVID-19, Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare says. “It was absolutely outstanding that 21,702 Māori got vaccinated on this one day alone with 10,825 ...1 week ago
- Language assists Tagata Niue to thriveDespite the uncertain times we face with the challenges of COVID-19, our cultural knowledge, values and language remain constant, helping us progress towards goals in life, said the Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio. This year, the Niuean community in New Zealand decided on the theme, “Kia tupuolaola e ...1 week ago
- New Zealand Ambassador to France announcedForeign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta today announced the appointment of Caroline Bilkey as New Zealand’s next Ambassador to France and the OECD. “Aotearoa New Zealand and France have a shared history, and enjoy a strong, collaborative partnership. This includes a strong trade and economic relationship, a shared commitment to support ...2 weeks ago
- Govt welcomes nurses’ pay settlementThe Government is welcoming news that a new employment agreement for nurses working in public hospitals has been settled. “I am very pleased that the hard work of the Nurses Organisation and District Health Boards has led to a settlement that both can support,” Health Minister Andrew Little said today. ...2 weeks ago
- Covid-19: National Party wants vaccine mandates dropped at 90 percent immunisation rate
National Party leader Judith Collins told Morning Report at 90 percent vaccination nationwide, vaccine mandates should be dropped but passports retained. ...59 mins ago - A very dark, very funny supermarket scene that’s probably about Moore Wilson’s
Wellington writer Kirsten McDougall’s new novel She’s A Killer is set just slightly in the future – the climate crisis is really biting and with it, inequality. In this excerpt our young protagonist has come into cash and takes it food shopping. (Bonus content: followed by a note from the ...59 mins ago - Vaccine Mandates For High-risk Workplaces – Expert Reaction
Vaccination will be required for all workers at businesses where customers need to show vaccine certificates, such as bars and hairdressers. This means about 40% of the country’s workforce will be subject to vaccine mandates in their jobs, including ...1 hour ago - If COVID hospitalisations increase, it’s still not clear how patients will be prioritised for ICU ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eliana Close, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology Around the world, the coronavirus pandemic has put unprecedented strain on intensive care resources. In some places, including parts of Italy, the United States, Canada, and the ...2 hours ago - If all 2030 climate targets are met, the planet will heat by 2.7℃ this century. That’s not OKSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew King, ARC DECRA fellow, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock If nations make good on their latest promises to reduce emissions by 2030, the planet will warm by at least 2.7℃ this century, a report by the United Nations Environment Programme ...2 hours ago
- Australia’s clean hydrogen revolution is a path to prosperity – but it must be powered by renewa...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Mathews, Professor Emeritus, Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University Days out from the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, the Morrison government on Tuesday announced a “practically achievable” path to reaching its new target of net-zero emissions by 2050. As expected, the ...2 hours ago
- Missing out on PE during lockdowns means students will be playing catch-upSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jora Broerse, Research Fellow in Health Policy, Mitchell Institute for Education and Health Policy, Victoria University Shutterstock International evidence suggests children have poorer movement skills as a result of COVID-related lockdowns that reduced physical activity at school, socially and in the ...2 hours ago
- The first bisexual Bachelorette and the messy history of bisexual representation on reality TVSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Beirne, Senior Lecturer in Film, Media and Cultural Studies, University of Newcastle Network 10 Reality TV staple The Bachelor, and its various franchises, has been described as a “primetime harem fantasy” even though it ultimately presents a fairly conservative portrait ...2 hours ago
- How does a library run out of e-books?Auckland’s 56 libraries are closed, and no one knows when they’ll re-open. Devouring e-books online seems like a solution. For many, like my son, it’s not.He staggers around the house. He mopes along the hallway. He lies on his bed and stares at the ceiling. This is my son in ...2 hours ago
- Live updates, October 27: 50 vehicle hikoī of ‘anti-vaxxers’ stopped at Auckland borderWelcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for October 27, by Stewart Sowman-Lund. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz. Help support our Covid coverage – join Members today.The agenda 10.30am: An announcement on the government’s controversial three waters proposal is planned. 1pm: Chris Hipkins will front today’s Covid-19 press conference. Along with today’s ...2 hours ago
- The case against FacebookInternal documents reveal a company out of control, disregarding its own reports that it is causing deep social harm, Justin Giovannetti writes in The Bulletin.The Facebook Papers. The social media giant is at the centre of a firestorm after a trove of internal documents underscored earlier testimony to the US Congress ...2 hours ago
- Old wine in new bottles – why the NZ-UK free trade agreement fails to confront the challenges of a...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Kelsey, Professor of Law, University of Auckland Shutterstock When the sales pitch for a free trade agreement is that “British consumers will enjoy more affordable Marlborough sauvignon blanc, mānuka honey and kiwifruit, while Kiwis enjoy the benefit from cheaper ...3 hours ago
- PM denies aligning MIQ changes with rumoured EU tripJacinda Ardern says she has nothing to confirm about overseas travel as a free-trade agreement with the EU reaches "a critical juncture". ...3 hours ago
- ‘World-leading’ Covid response exposes climate failure
The Government is being urged to heed health advice on climate change, as it did with Covid. David Williams reports On March 23 last year, a grim-faced Jacinda Ardern told the country the trajectory of Covid-19 was clear, and it was time to act. With two mystery cases in the ...4 hours ago - Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 27 October4 hours ago
- Newsroom daily crossword, Wednesday 27 October
...4 hours ago - Protecting our politicans from very real death threatsThe Detail - A lot of people think being an MP is a cushy job with a great salary. But along with debate comes an increasing number of death threats, some of them very real. ...5 hours ago
- The no-bullshit guide to NZ’s emissions record as James Shaw heads to GlasgowJames Shaw is one of many politicians around the world packing their bags for COP26. Going into this landmark summit, is New Zealand an international emissions pariah or are we doing our bit?Spare a thought for James Shaw. The climate change minister is about to hop on a flight to ...5 hours ago
- Which jobs have the highest risk factors for Covid transmission?As Covid embeds itself into our communities, catching the virus at work will become a real possibility for many more of us. But which occupations are by their nature the riskiest? Emma Vitz looks at the data.Since the beginning of the pandemic, I’ve been acutely aware of how lucky I ...5 hours ago
- The good art friend
Is it ever morally okay to write about someone else’s intimate trauma? In a previous life, with a different name, I was a daily newspaper journalist. I was competitive, hungry for the front page, and ruthless in my chase for it. A good friend who worked for the then Health ...5 hours ago - Documents reveal 'real lack of preparedness for Delta'
Health briefings obtained by Newsroom show the Government only began planning for a Delta outbreak in late July, just weeks before the virus escaped MIQ in August. ...5 hours ago - O'Connor goes offshore again as Europe trade questions grow
Comment: A second trip to Europe by trade minister Damien O'Connor, at a time when such excursions are vanishingly rare, suggests an urgency to clear hurdles in trade talks with the UK and EU, Sam Sachdeva writes Clearly, one stay in managed isolation wasn’t enough for Damien O’Connor. Surprise news ...5 hours ago - Long read: How past climates hold secrets for our future
What can three-kilometre long ice cores, fossilised leaves and Whanganui's oceanside cliffs tell us about the climate of ancient Earth - and what warnings do they hold for humanity's current, high-carbon trajectory? Marc Daalder reports In 1996, scientists found a time machine buried deep in the Antarctic ice. Or rather, ...5 hours ago - The two-year search for elusive Black Ferns
Ahead of the Black Ferns' 100th test match, NZ's international women of rugby finally have their own A to Z, piecing together their fascinating history. Trying to track down all 222 women who've played for the Black Ferns has taken Adam Julian on a "pretty wild" odyssey around New Zealand, and ...5 hours ago - Six smarter tips for talking with friends who aren't vaccinated
Shouting at people who are unvaccinated only makes things worse, says Jess Berentson-Shaw. Try these strategies instead ...5 hours ago - Top diplomat catches Covid on overseas trade trip
A senior foreign affairs official has had to put off his return to New Zealand after testing positive for Covid during a lengthy trip to conclude trade deals One of New Zealand's top diplomats has been forced to prolong his stay overseas after catching Covid-19 during a trade trip. Vangelis Vitalis, the ...5 hours ago - Vaccine mandate terminations raise potential worker's rights issues
Businesses are eager to see how the Government's new risk assessment law for mandating staff to get vaccinated will work and protect them from litigation. Following last week’s announcement of businesses requiring vaccine certificates to offer services to vaccinated staff in the new post-lockdown traffic light system, the Government confirmed that workers ...5 hours ago - Indian diplomats weigh in on Hindutva spat
NZ's Indian High Commission is accused of spreading disinformation – but it says it was providing balance to "one-sided" research. ...5 hours ago - The slings, arrows, and death threats aimed at our politicians
Along with a high profile, the ability to change things and strident debate, New Zealand politicians are seeing an increasing number of death threats, some of them very real Being an MP has a lot of perks – free air travel, a good salary – but the job also has a ...5 hours ago - 'Rich get richer' holiday pay decision overturned
Employers are breathing a collective sigh of relief as the Court of Appeal says they don’t owe hundreds of millions of dollars of holiday pay to top executives. ...5 hours ago - Farming and greenhouse gases: is it time to take the bull by the horns?
This story originally appeared in The Irish Times and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story Agriculture is the Irish state’s biggest single contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, writes Irish Times political correspondent Harry McGee The ...5 hours ago - Virtual brain drain: Kiwis eye offshore firms for better benefits
Kiwis are increasingly interested in working for overseas employers from behind our closed borders ...5 hours ago - Building renewable power: Govt challenged to strike environmental balance
Power companies say the environmental regulations are making it too hard to build new wind farms – and have stopped the construction of transitional gas power plants entirely ...5 hours ago - Reprieve for OT centre where abuse occurred
Whistleblower slates reversed decision as 'disingenuous' Oranga Tamariki performed a sudden u-turn yesterday when it announced it would not be closing its Te Oranga care and protection residence in Christchurch after all. The agency declared it would close the facility and launched a number of internal and external reviews and investigations ...5 hours ago - Review raises doubts over wage subsidy checks
Fresh scrutiny on the wage subsidy identifies potential rule-breakers from already-reviewed businesses. David Williams reports. Tax department analysis reveals 8 percent of sampled businesses might not have met the required revenue drop required to get the wage subsidy, lending credence to claims initial checks on the $17 billion scheme were ...5 hours ago - View from The Hill: Morrison’s net-zero plan is built more on politics than detailed policySource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Boris Johnson enthused about the Morrison government’s belated embrace of the 2050 net-zero target. “They’ve done a heroic thing, the Australians, in getting to that commitment,” Johnson said. “[It] was actually very difficult for Australia ...8 hours ago
- Politics with Michelle Grattan: Scott Morrison’s (thin) climate plan for GlasgowSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As well as Michelle Grattan’s usual interviews with experts and politicians about the news of the day, Politics with Michelle Grattan now includes “Word from The Hill”, where all things political will be ...13 hours ago
- Word from The Hill: Scott Morrison’s (thin) climate plan for GlasgowSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As well as Michelle Grattan’s usual interviews with experts and politicians about the news of the day, Politics with Michelle Grattan now includes “Word from The Hill”, where all things political will be ...14 hours ago
- ‘Illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative’ – but Crown Resorts keeps its Melbourne casin...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University Shutterstock The report of Victoria’s Royal Commission into Melbourne’s casino has been made public. It has found the behaviour of the casino’s operator, Crown Resorts to be ...14 hours ago
- Between the lines, Morrison’s plan has coal on the way out, with the future brightSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Masmikha/Shutterstock The most striking feature of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s long-term emissions reduction plan outlined on Tuesday is not the long-telegraphed commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050, or the ...14 hours ago
- The government wants to expand the ‘digital identity’ system that lets Australians access servic...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelsie Nabben, Researcher / PhD Candidate, RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub / Digital Ethnography Research Centre, RMIT University Rodion Kutsaev/Unsplash, CC BY-SA The federal government has been asking the public for feedback on proposed legislation to create a “trusted digital identity” ...15 hours ago
- Victoria’s draft pandemic law misses one critical element – stronger oversight of the government...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Partlett, Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne The Victorian government is introducing a pandemic management bill that will structure its ongoing and future response to pandemics. According to a draft dated October 23, the bill gives the executive wide powers ...15 hours ago
- Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Covid19 and its impact so far on New Zealand MortalityAnalysis by Keith Rankin. Chart by Keith Rankin. The above chart of New Zealand weekly deaths since 2015 clearly shows the impact of winter influenzas and pneumonias on the mortality landscape of New Zealand. 2017 was a particularly bad year, with a substantially increased mortality in July of that year. ...16 hours ago
- What makes a good literary hoax? A political point, for startersSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Camilla Nelson, Associate Professor in Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Spanish authors (from left), Agustin Martinez, Jorge Diaz and Antonio Mercero, who have been writing bestsellers as Carmen Mola. Quique Garcia/EPA Literary hoaxes thrive on exposure. At best, they are politically ...16 hours ago
- Ardern rejects need to visit Auckland: 'I have a duty to run the country'Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she does not need to travel to Auckland to understand the impact of the lockdown there. ...16 hours ago
- How much do marine heatwaves cost? The economic losses amount to billions and billions of dollarsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alistair Hobday, Senior Principal Research Scientist – Oceans and Atmosphere, CSIRO Shutterstock Marine heatwaves are catastrophic impacts of climate change many of us are already familiar with. But how much do they cost society? During marine heatwaves, ocean temperatures can ...16 hours ago
- Now it’s Liberals telling us we are going to have to cut the capital gains tax concession if we wa...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University NSW is doing what Labor’s Bill Shorten could not – explaining why Australia’s capital gains tax concession is knocking first home buyers out of homes. Shorten went to the 2016 ...16 hours ago
- PNG’s Pangu Pati entangled in new legal row over female presidentBy Jeffrey Enapa in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s ruling Pangu Pati is entangled in another internal dispute just six months before the issue of writs for the 2022 general election. This time, the former president of the party, Patrick Pundao, has gone to the National Court to dispute the ...17 hours ago
- 79 new community covid cases in NZ – 75 in AucklandRNZ News New Zealand has reported 79 new community cases of covid-19 today. Of the new cases, 75 are in Auckland and four are in Waikato. Forty six of these cases are linked, including 24 household contacts, and 33 remain unlinked. There is also one new case at the border. ...17 hours ago
- Two covid cases arrive from New Caledonia at border in VanuatuRNZ Pacific The Vanuatu covid task force has confirmed that two arrivals from New Caleldonia have covid-19. But the organisation says Vanuatu remains free of any community transmission of the virus. Health officials are endeavouring to trace contacts from the airport to the Ramada Hotel where the two positive ni-Vanuatu ...17 hours ago
- Morrison’s climate plan has 35% 2030 emissions reduction ‘projection’ but modelling underpinni...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government claims Australians would be nearly $2000 better off on average under its plan to reach net zero by 2050 compared with taking no action. According to the modelling – which the government has ...17 hours ago
- Clarity And Certainty For Business – Vaccine Certificates And MandatesBusinessNZ endorses proposed law changes that will provide greater clarity and certainty and reduce risks for businesses when making decisions about workplace vaccination mandates. The plan will require vaccination of all workers at businesses where customers ...17 hours ago
- Have Your Say On The Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply And Other Matters) BillThe Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Bill has been referred to the Environment Committee, and the Chairperson of the committee is calling for submissions. The bill proposes to amend the Resource Management Act ...17 hours ago
- ‘Disgraceful’ Level Of Vaccinations In Poorest Countries Will Hurt Us All, Says Helen ClarkFormer Prime Minister Helen Clark today called on donor countries to urgently step up the supply of vaccines to poorer countries. “It is critical for donor countries to see the bigger picture, to see that this really is a time not to profit, but to ...18 hours ago
- Greater Clarity On Vaccination Good For RetailersRetail NZ says that it is important that as many people as possible get vaccinated as soon as possible, and the greater certainty around vaccinations signalled by Government today is a good thing for employers and employees. “Retailers are working hard ...18 hours ago
- Vaccine Law For Hospitality Employees Awaited Warily...18 hours ago
- Victoria Police may soon be able to issue final intervention orders on the spot, but will this help ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ellen Reeves, Postdoctoral fellow, Monash University Police responses to family violence have long been the subject of scrutiny. Effective policing can play a key role in protecting victim-survivors and holding perpetrators accountable. Most recently across Australia, there has been heated debate about ...18 hours ago
- New Zealanders are super-connected. When restrictions lift in Auckland, it won’t take much to ampl...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dion O’Neale, Lecturer – Department of Physics, University of Auckland; Principal Investigator – Te Pūnaha Matatini, University of Auckland Hannah Peters/Getty Images As Aotearoa New Zealand moves from elimination to suppression, we need to understand how this could change the ...18 hours ago
- A fillip for farmers from Fonterra’s milk-payment forecast
In a timely boost to the rural regions, Fonterra has raised its forecast milk payment to farmers for this season to match its previous record high of 8.45kg/MS, as demand for dairy holds up while supply tightens. The giant co-operative lifted and narrowed its forecast farmgate milk price range for ...18 hours ago - More MIQ capacity for travellers and community cases 'within weeks' – HipkinsMIQ changes being announced this week will free up facilities to accommodate demand from New Zealanders overseas and from the Delta outbreak, the Covid-19 Response Minister says. ...18 hours ago
- New Covid-19 Strategy Raises Te Tiriti And Human Rights IssuesGreater clarity on the Government’s response to Covid-19 is welcomed by the Human Rights Commission, but it says the Te Tiriti o Waitangi and human right implications need careful analysis. A new Covid-19 Protection Framework for Aotearoa New Zealand ...19 hours ago
- 10 things every politician should know about historySource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Clark, Australian Research Council Future Fellow in Public History, University of Technology Sydney The federal Education Minister, Alan Tudge, has announced a major edit of the draft history curriculum by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) as part of ...19 hours ago
- An ABC of science from Megan Woods (but you might need a translation) portends reform of the sector ...
Latest from the Beehive A speech from Phil Twyford, speaking as Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth, can be found on the Beehive website today – for those of who relish that sort of thing. He reminded his Asia Forum audience he has specific responsibility for ...19 hours ago - Our Observations On Local Government Risk Management Practices...20 hours ago
- “The Hoo-ha Is Hōhā” Leave The Hīkoi ‘til This Is OverIt’s understood that a hīkoi dubbed the Sovereign Hīkoi of Truth (SHOT) intends to travel from Rotorua to Waitangi today against the recommendations of Iwi. “Ngāti Whātua encourages all whānau to stay home during these lockdowns and only travel ...20 hours ago
- Collins denounces 'two-class system', but won't rule out vaccine certificatesNational Party leader Judith Collins has come out firmly against creating a "two-class system" by bringing in vaccine certificates, but she also wants to bring in vaccine certificates. ...22 hours ago
- Stay-at-home ministers are missing out on giving the personal touch to NZ’s foreign relationshipsThe reluctance of senior ministers from the PM downwards to travel too far – with the noteworthy exception of trade minister Damien O’Connor – is impacting NZ’s standing overseas. True, James Shaw and his sizeable entourage are attending this week’s COP26 climate change-fest in Glasgow. PM Jacinda Ardern wanted to ...22 hours ago
- Be Good And Ready In An EmergencyBeing prepared for an emergency or disaster reduces our vulnerability to their impact and helps save lives. This week is Good and Ready Week and New Zealand Red Cross is encouraging everyone to get involved and be prepared for when the next emergency ...22 hours ago
- Could government-funded vouchers help ease the hospitality industry’s woes?Dining out vouchers and subsidies to help restaurants and cafes bounce back from Covid-19 restrictions have been proposed by industry bodies and the opposition. But similar schemes implemented overseas haven’t always run smoothly, explains Charlotte Muru-Lanning.It’s clear that the hospitality industry is severely impacted by lockdowns, and the wider consequences ...22 hours ago
- Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – October 26 2021Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. You can sign up to NZ Politics Daily as well as New Zealand Political Roundup columns for free here. Today’s content Māori vaccination Derek Cheng (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern ...22 hours ago
- OSOF Responds To NZ’s First Emissions Reduction PlanThe Ministry for the Environment (MfE) released New Zealand’s first Emissions Reduction Plan consultation document last Wednesday. The document provides a framework for reducing emissions across the energy, transport, waste, agriculture, construction ...1 day ago
- Trust That Lost 12,000 Members To Hold ElectionsThe Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust who lost over 12,000 of its 19,000 iwi members is holding an election despite its membership register still being in ‘a shambles’. Mau Whenua and other iwi members took the Trust to the Māori Land Court ...1 day ago
- Intersex children in New Zealand are routinely undergoing unnecessary surgery – that needs to chan...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Breen, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Shutterstock Until very recently, people with intersex variations have often been unseen, stigmatised and routinely discriminated against. Intersex Awareness Day today (October 26) is therefore an opportunity to examine how much progress ...1 day ago
- Service Gaps Create Barriers For Māori With Prostate CancerA prostate cancer project funded by Movember has mapped ‘the cancer pathway’ for Māori men and their whānau. The findings reveal significant gaps in service provision and barriers to health that have whānau seeking help through emergency ...1 day ago
- Grant Robertson says government 'confident' with partial return to school in alert level 3With senior high school pupils returning to class in alert level 3 areas today, the R-rate for Covid-19 is not expected to be impacted "significantly", the deputy prime minister says. ...1 day ago
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