Social issues

Categories under Social issues

Until all of us are safe none of us are safe

Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, September 9th, 2021 - 78 comments

On Monday of this week David Seymour received a roasting after posting a confidential Health code that was to be used by Waitakere Whanau to receive priority vaccination slots.  He has now doubled down on his effort and claimed that prioritisation is wrong.

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).

Terrorist attack – Law changes may not have helped deal

Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, September 7th, 2021 - 15 comments

A proposed urgent change in the law concerning preparing to commit a terrorist attack may not have stopped the New Lynn attack from happening.

Seymour undermines vaccine roll out for Maori

Written By: - Date published: 1:53 pm, September 6th, 2021 - 81 comments

David Seymour has publicised a code designed for West Auckland whanau to try and improve poor vaccination rates amongst Maori.

Can The Terror-Injured Citizens Hold the New Zealand Government To Account?

Written By: - Date published: 9:04 am, September 5th, 2021 - 57 comments

While Prime Minister Ardern is an empathic Prime Minister, good for the country in a crisis, and is genuinely caring, there’s also a time for citizens to say that the state must pay to right wrongs.

The politics of the New Lynn attack

Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, September 4th, 2021 - 111 comments

Early days so far but the New Lynn attack will spark a debate about the adequacy of the country’s terrorism suppression laws and about citizenship rights.

Terrorist attack in New Lynn

Written By: - Date published: 5:44 pm, September 3rd, 2021 - 132 comments

News broke this afternoon of an attack at Countdown Lynnmall where the assailant was shot and six people injured, three critically.  Jacinda Ardern and Police Commissioner have just given a stand up conference and have advised that the assailant was ISIS inspired.

National’s next leader?

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, September 3rd, 2021 - 60 comments

As the damage caused by Judith Collins’ leadership of the National Party intensifies it is inevitable that there will be internal discussions about who should replace her, and soon.  And I think the best candidate is clear.

Judith’s very bad two days

Written By: - Date published: 8:12 am, September 2nd, 2021 - 50 comments

Judith Collins’ insistence that Parliament be reconvened even at a time that the country was in lockdown level 4 has backfired spectacularly.

Covid and the media

Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, August 29th, 2021 - 54 comments

This week there has been some argy bargy between the Twitterati including the Waitakerati and the media on coverage of Covid in Aotearoa with elements of the media complaining that the criticisms are unjustified.  A brief review of some of the offerings this week would suggest otherwise.

How Far Ought The State Go In A Pandemic?

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, August 29th, 2021 - 120 comments

Even in a time of crisis, people have human rights that must be upheld.

Gumming up the works

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, August 28th, 2021 - 53 comments

Last night it was revealed that National and Act had refused to agree to a proposed virtual Parliament sitting where questions could be asked, and instead wanted face to face meetings, even though this would mean a third of the country’s MPs travelling regularly to Wellington from a Covid delta hotspot.

Fuck-knuckles, cock and piss, balls does not breach BSA guidelines

Written By: - Date published: 9:08 am, August 26th, 2021 - 14 comments

The Broadcasting Standards Authority have ruled that the use of the words “Fuck-knuckles, cock and piss, balls” by student radio station 95bfm does not breach standards of good taste and decency.

Ardern Needs to do More Than Manage Crisis

Written By: - Date published: 2:23 pm, August 25th, 2021 - 24 comments

For a country that has sought to form advantage for itself with strong and hard COVID-19 lockdowns, we’re not gaining any more advantage than yet another binge-purge cycle of supply tension and shortages, rapid economic downturn softened by tens of billions of subsidy, followed by unsustainable booms, over and over again.

The mysterious socialist hermit kingdom

Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, August 25th, 2021 - 111 comments

Various commentators including Nigel Farage have claimed that New Zealand’s Covid elimination strategy is a failure.  Our death rate and the possibility that we can again return to a normality that other nations can only aspire to suggests they are wrong.

China reports zero local symptomatic Covid-19 cases for first time in weeks

Written By: - Date published: 10:52 am, August 24th, 2021 - 55 comments

You probably won’t see this in our local media, as our pundits today debate whether it is time to ditch our elimination strategy and Australia gives up on it. China is also well ahead on ensuring its vast population is vaccinated as well.

Matt King caught blowing anti vaccination dog whistle

Written By: - Date published: 11:15 am, August 23rd, 2021 - 22 comments

Former National MP Matt King has been publicly posting anti vaccination propaganda under the ruse of only wanting a conversation.

Peak Globalisation

Written By: - Date published: 3:26 pm, August 22nd, 2021 - 72 comments

The first great era of globalisation from roughly 1840 through to 1914 took place inside a framework that we can now view as the last hurrah of empire. The logic of empire extends back to the invention of agriculture – a technology that fundamentally demands access to fertile land, rainfall and sunshine. This meant all […]

The importance of Jacinda’s 1 pm press conferences

Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, August 22nd, 2021 - 130 comments

Jacinda Ardern has resumed the 1 pm briefings where she communicates effectively the country’s current situation and what the plan is.  But National and some elements of the media are complaining, presumably that she is doing too good a job.

The Covid vaccine may not be the nirvana

Written By: - Date published: 12:47 pm, August 21st, 2021 - 151 comments

Claims that a comprehensive vaccination scheme will allow life to get back to normal ignores the experience of Israel, which despite having a large proportion of its population vaccinated is having a surge of new infections of Covid that is stretching its health system.

Farewell Dr Michael Cullen

Written By: - Date published: 1:52 pm, August 20th, 2021 - 21 comments

Dr Michael Cullen has died, and with him goes a real standard-bearer for Labour for three decades.

RIP Michael Cullen

Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, August 20th, 2021 - 15 comments

Former Labour Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen has died.

The antidote page for all those chickens

Written By: - Date published: 3:15 pm, August 19th, 2021 - 32 comments

This is the page that I read at least once a week. With a clean brevity it gives me almost all of the strategic summary information about the progress of the vaccinations in NZ. Even it’s title is clean and clear. COVID-19: Vaccine data. But I’m trained in operations and rather more interested in reality rather than the average untrained pundit or politician who run around like a Chicken Little saying the equivalent of “the sky is falling” every other week. Thankfully they were ignored.

A little bit of understanding can go a long way …

Written By: - Date published: 11:09 am, August 19th, 2021 - 18 comments

Our online Persona is not us, but just a mask.

Here again, but Delta gives less latitude. So give less latitude.

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, August 18th, 2021 - 31 comments

We’re back in a Covid-19 lock down. Until we get to a very high level of vaccinations >80-90%, something that no state has yet achieved, this is our only realistic defence against outbreaks. Delta is way more infectious  than previous variants. It infects the vaccinated to act as spreaders. Don’t know about anyone else. But this time I intend to exert my right to give less social latitude to idiots.

The importance of political leadership in dealing with Covid

Written By: - Date published: 8:55 am, August 18th, 2021 - 66 comments

Political leadership in the time of Covid is important.  As the Government urgently swung into action and imposed a level 4 lockdown after news of a community case of Delta Covid who lived in Auckland and had spent time in Coromandel while infectious, Thames-Coromandel District Mayor and former National MP Sandra Goudie admitted to not scanning regularly.

Bowker may be a dick but he has not breached the draft hate speech legislation

Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, August 15th, 2021 - 42 comments

Troy Bowker has bowled out of Hurricanes Rugby but has claimed free speech martyrdom after the response to his well publicised criticism of the word “Aotearoa”.  But his claims of martyrdom like his recent attacks on lefties would appear to be hopelessly overbaked.

Covid-19 and the risk-based border plan

Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, August 12th, 2021 - 93 comments

Details on the government’s plan for New Zealand’s borders, and the Delta variant of Covid.

We are stuck

Written By: - Date published: 7:13 am, August 12th, 2021 - 45 comments

New Zealand has one of the most concentrated and oligopolistic economies in the world, and also one of the least commercially protected societies. Will we ever be able to break out of it? If you look across our society, it is the relationships of less than 20 main companies with our government that form a […]

National’s civil war continues

Written By: - Date published: 9:08 am, August 9th, 2021 - 25 comments

In an extraordinary move National’s board has reselected Peter Goodfellow as Party Chairperson and this has caused former MP David Carter to resign as board member and express no confidence in the leadership or in National’s chances at the next election.

National used to be better than this

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, August 6th, 2021 - 59 comments

Back in the day National used to have a strong urban liberal wing that gave the impression that it was sympathetic to LGBTQI issues.  Yesterday that impression was trashed.