Christmas present
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12:57 pm, December 23rd, 2010 - 2 comments
Categories: economy, humour, john key -
Tags: christmas, deficit
Couldn’t resist this excellent BODY cartoon:
2 comments on “Christmas present ”
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Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. Today’s content Covid Harry Lock (RNZ): Covid community case: Infection at MIQ facility ‘most likely scenario’ Jamie Morton (Herald): Time to ‘turn down tap’ on travel from risky countries, experts say Kate Green and ...6 hours ago - Laws making social media firms expose major COVID myths could help Australia’s vaccine rolloutSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tauel Harper, Lecturer, Media and Communication, UWA, University of Western Australia With a vaccine rollout impending, key groups have backed calls for the Australian government to force social media platforms to share details about popular coronavirus misinformation. An open letter was put ...7 hours ago
- Free PressSelling out ACT’s Waitangi Day State of the Nation Address is set to sell out again. If you’d like to start the political year right over brunch with fellow ACT supporters (Saturday 6 February 10am-12pm, Mt Eden), please buy your tickets ...9 hours ago
- Not sure about the Pfizer vaccine, now it’s been approved in Australia? You can scratch these 4 co...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Archa Fox, Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow, University of Western Australia The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has today provisionally approved Australia’s first COVID vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine, paving the way for its rollout to begin in mid-to-late February among high-risk groups. ...11 hours ago
- COVID has brought Auslan into the spotlight, but it would be wrong to treat the language as a hobby ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Kirkness, Postdoctoral research fellow, Macquarie University As government COVID updates have become a daily part of our lives over the past 12 months, so too has the sight of sign language interpreters on our screens. This has understandably had a huge ...11 hours ago
- Is news worth a lot or a little? Google and Facebook want to have it both waysSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Dwyer, Associate Professor, Department of Media and Communications, University of Sydney Executives from Google and Facebook have told a Senate committee they are prepared to take drastic action if Australia’s news media bargaining code, which would force the internet giants to ...12 hours ago
- Revealed: The companies dumping contaminants down the drain
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Hundreds of companies have dumped contaminants - like blood, fat, and toxic chemicals such as ammonia and sulphides - into sewers in breach of their trade waste consents over the past year, RNZ can reveal. Anusha Bradley reports. Frank ...12 hours ago - It gets better with age: a brie(f) history of cheese in AustraliaSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Morag Kobez, Associate lecturer, Queensland University of Technology In this series, our writers explore how food shaped Australian history – and who we are today. The history of cheese in Australia has, until recent decades, been a rather tasteless affair. Not so ...13 hours ago
- Frame: Who owns the toxic waste in Mataura’s paper mill?
On the edge of the Mataura River, a disused paper mill is filled with thousands of bags of toxic waste. Locals want to find out who’s responsible for it – and they want it gone before disaster strikes.First published November 10, 2020.The Paper Mill is part of Frame, a series ...13 hours ago - What the future of the internet looks likeAt the Chorus Fibre Lab, José Barbosa peeked behind the curtain of the internet and found something beautiful and very, very fast. The human mind is a daily swarm of notions, speculations, ruminations, thoughts and otherwise base-level brain puffs. Just to get through the grind of survival, we’ve evolved to mentally ...14 hours ago
- No missing link in Northland Covid case
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The Ministry of Health is confident the Northland community case came directly from the Pullman Hotel and there is no missing link. In a press conference this afternoon, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield confirmed the strain of Covid in the ...14 hours ago - As heatwaves become more extreme, which jobs are riskiest?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Longden, Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Heat is more dangerous than the cold in most Australian regions. About 2% of deaths in Australia between 2006 and 2017 were associated with the heat, and the estimate increases to ...14 hours ago
- ‘Above all else, don’t bullshit’: Doctor-poet Glenn Colquhoun on caring, and writing, for youn...Levin GP Glenn Colquhoun talks with books editor Catherine Woulfe about his new collection of poetry, Letters to Young People.Glenn Colquhoun is an acclaimed and accomplished poet. He has published four collections, including Playing God, in December 2002, which sold a massive 10,000 copies. He’s won a clutch of Montanas ...15 hours ago
- Begorrah – Irish Moss brings relief to a leftie blogger who was discomforted by a foreign accent
Contrasting reactions to news of Grainne Moss’s resignation as Oranga Tamariki chief executive inevitably can be found in the blogosphere. Lindsay Dawson has recorded the ACT Party’s response to the resignation and hailed it as “spot on”. The statement was made in the name of Karen Chhour, described as a ...15 hours ago - From Disney to Emmy: Zendaya’s journey to EuphoriaZendaya has been around for a decade, but she’s gone from Disney prodigy to pop star to acclaimed actress. Here are the highlights of the 24-year-old’s already impressive career.Shaking it up: Zendaya on DisneyThe world’s first encounter with Zendaya was a little Disney show called Shake It Up, a series ...17 hours ago
- The bad sh*t: My search for a solution to irritable bowel syndromeWhat’s it like to have your life governed by your gut? It’s crap, frankly.On my birthday last year I was given a bottle of fancy Aesop post-poo drops which clear the air after rigorous bowel activity – though on reflection, it may have been more of a gift for my ...18 hours ago
- Covid-19 community case: Husband, hairdresser return negative tests – Hipkins
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Negative tests results for two of the closest contacts of a woman who tested positive for Covid-19 after leaving managed isolation is a good sign, says Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins. Two of the closest contacts of a woman ...18 hours ago - Disturbed dreams of a sleeping giant – Sleepyhead's fix to the housing crisis
Sleepyhead is chopping and changing its ambitious plan to build a super-factory and a compact 1100-house community in Waikato. ...19 hours ago - The mystery of the blue flower: nature’s rare colour owes its existence to bee visionSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Dyer, Associate Professor, RMIT University At a dinner party, or in the schoolyard, the question of favourite colour frequently results in an answer of “blue”. Why is it that humans are so fond of blue? And why does it seem to ...19 hours ago
- Toxicity swirls around January 26, but we can change the nation with a Voice to parliamentSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan Davis, Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous UNSW and Professor of Law, UNSW We are on the eve of the nation’s annual ritual of celebrating the arrivals, while not formally recognising the ancient peoples who were dispossessed. Each year the tensions spill over, rendering ...19 hours ago
- Will Australia legalise ecstasy and magic mushrooms to treat mental illness? Here’s why it’s sti...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Bright, Senior Lecturer of Addiction, Edith Cowan University While the public focus remains on COVID vaccines, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) continues to evaluate a range of proposals around the provision of medical treatments in Australia. The regulatory body is currently ...19 hours ago
- ‘I can’t save money for potential emergencies’: COVID lockdowns drove older Australians into e...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Wilkinson, Professor, School of the Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney Many of us who endured lockdowns in Australia are familiar with the surge in energy bills at home. But for older Australians who depend on the Age Pension for income, ...19 hours ago
- Curb population growth to tackle climate change: now that’s a tough askSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael P. Cameron, Associate Professor in Economics, University of Waikato Population growth plays a role in environmental damage and climate change. But addressing climate change through either reducing or reversing growth in population raises difficult moral questions that most people would prefer ...19 hours ago
- Victoria and NSW are funding extra tutors to help struggling students. Here’s what parents need to...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Sonnemann, Fellow, School Education, Grattan Institute School is back for 2021, and some students will get extra help this year. Students who fell behind in their learning during the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020 will be eligible for extra tutoring in Victoria ...19 hours ago
- It’s not just cricket: Australia Day isn’t the commercial winner it used to beSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Duffy, Lecturer, School of Business, Western Sydney University Australia Day used to be an obvious and uncontroversial occasion for brands to endear themselves to Australian consumers. No longer. There has been a decided shift over the past decade in commercial attitudes ...19 hours ago
- Why weren’t there any great women artists? In gratitude to Linda NochlinSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, University of Melbourne In January 1971, Art News published Linda Nochlin’s Why have there been no great women artists? Her ...19 hours ago
- Live updates, January 25: Two close contacts of new Covid case test negativeWelcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 25, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz7.40am: Two close contacts of new Covid case test negativeThe husband of the new Northland case of Covid-19 has tested negative for the virus, along with ...20 hours ago
- Covid community case: Northland businesses face anxious wait
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission Hundreds of staff won't come into work on Monday after a 56-year-old woman who later tested positive for Covid-19 visited about 30 locations in Northland and Auckland - a blow to businesses desperately holding on after a hard year. Harry ...20 hours ago - The Bulletin: High alert as woman in Northland tests Covid-positiveGood morning and welcome to the first regular season Bulletin of 2021. In today’s edition: High alert as woman in Northland tests Covid-positive, house price inflation races ahead unabated, and schools grappling with new year after last year’s disruptions.
Ministers and health officials were keeping their options open yesterday afternoon ...
20 hours ago - While you were away…
Business & Investing: A quickfire overview of markets here and overseas since Christmas, Plus F&P Healthcare surges again ...21 hours ago - A Pākehā among Māori: The strange case of Roderick Finlayson
We begin a week-long examination of Roderick Finlayson – author of a posthumous collection of stories about Māori – with a biographical portrait by Bill Pearson Roderick Finlayson was born in 1904 in Devonport, the only son of John Finlayson and Mary Cargo. John Finlayson was a bank clerk who ...21 hours ago - Luna Rossa: a red moon waning?
The darlings of the 2000 America's Cup challengers, Luna Rossa, must quickly find their groove - or disappoint a nation who desperately need something to celebrate. Exactly 21 years ago, a boat named Luna Rossa – the red moon – set two nations alight. Three million Italians – most of them ...22 hours ago - Where is she now? Jenny McDonald
One of hockey's most prolific goal scorers, former NZ captain Jenny McDonald remembers the disappointment of the 1980 Olympics boycott, the thrill of playing for the World XI and the battle to move from grass to turf Twenty kilometres south-west of Whangarei sits the tiny township of Maungakaramea. It’s where one of ...22 hours ago - Trees are our great weapons against climate change. But what if they stop soaking?A new study suggests that trees’ ability to soak up carbon could expire. Mirjam Guesgen explains.Trees have long been held as the saviour for climate change. Plant enough trees and we might be able to balance out some of that carbon-emmitting flying or driving. But a new scientific study says ...22 hours ago
- NZ’s biggest house price surge? Kawerau. Here’s what it means for the townAs house prices escalate rapidly around the country, Kawerau saw them more than double, the biggest nationwide increase over the decade. Alex Braae goes to the Bay of Plenty town to find out what impact it is having on renters. The headline figure was stark. Data from realestate.co.nz showed that over ...22 hours ago
- A long-winded case for the super-boring stocks
What is to be done in a world where property is hyped and interest rates near zero? You could do worse than a Very Dull Infrastructure Stock. ...22 hours ago - Four things bosses must do about vehicles this year
Branded petrol and diesel fleets will soon identify any business leader not bold enough to drive the necessary change in their business. ...22 hours ago - Returnee tests positive for Covid-19 in community
A recent returnee has tested positive for Covid-19 after testing negative twice during her 14 days in managed isolation, Marc Daalder reports There is little information available about a new community case of Covid-19 identified by testing today - other than she is in Whangarei and used the Covid app ...1 day ago - Curtailing Consultation And Diminishing Democracy Are Major Concernsby Andi Cockroft Chairman Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of NZ An Otago Daily Times report (23 January) that nearly two-thirds of Dunedin residents think public consultation is lacking at the Dunedin City Council, according to the latest ...1 day ago
- Objective Must Be To Avoid Another Lockdown“If today’s probable case of Covid-19 in Northland turns out to be community transmission the Government’s overarching objective must be avoiding another lockdown,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The best news would be that this is a false alarm, ...2 days ago
- Lockout Threat: Lifewise Homecare Support Workers Won’t Give UpE tū Lifewise homecare members have been taking strike and picket action since December 2020 for basic improvements in their working conditions. Members are asking for increased sick and bereavement leave, a collective agreement, and more guaranteed ...2 days ago
- Live updates, January 24: Probable new community case of Covid-19 in NorthlandWelcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 24. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz1.15pm: Suspected community case in NorthlandHealth officials are investigating a suspected community case of Covid-19 in Northland, related to someone who was recently released from managed isolation and quarantine, the NZ Herald is reporting.A spokesperson for Covid-19 response ...2 days ago
- Is there too much Drag Race?We’re only a few weeks into the year, and already there are two new seasons of Drag Race. Are we in danger of reaching peak Drag Race? In the first month of this year, there’s been more RuPaul’s Drag Race than ever. The 13th season of the flagship US version debuted ...2 days ago
- The broken promises that led to Brexit BritainIn her first years of adulthood, Jai Breitnauer found herself living in a bold and hopeful nation. More than two decades on, she laments on how the Britain we know now came to be.Apparently, fish off the coast of the United Kingdom are happier because they’re British. This is what ...2 days ago
- A poem for .. Bassett, Brash & Hide
Dunedin writer Victor Billot resumes his weekly odes to New Zealanders in the news. This week: the blogging firm of Michael Bassett, Don Brash and Rodney Hide Three Men in a Boat It sounds like a conveyancing firm in Levin. It sounds like TV funny guys who’ll ...2 days ago - The mystery of the holy relics buried in a steel box beneath a Christchurch basilicaUnder a thick layer of concrete at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch is a metal box likely containing hundreds of holy relics – a historical treasure trove set to be uncovered after 50 years of near total obscurity.As the earth shook and buildings crumbled, a statue of ...2 days ago
- In praise of bananas, the greatest fruit of them allBananas are unequivocally the best fruit in the world, and there’s nothing you can say to change my mind, writes Alice Webb-Liddall.I was about 15 when I realised that halftime banana cake wasn’t a tradition outside of my family. On the day of an All Blacks game a banana cake ...2 days ago
- On the Rag: How sexism in design impacts our everyday livesSummer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden as On the Rag looks at how the world around us has been built by men, for men. First published December 7, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members ...2 days ago
- Google goes nuclear, threatening to pull the plug on its search engine in AustraliaAt an antagonistic hearing yesterday, the internet giant laid out the ‘worst case scenario’. And Facebook is also considering an ‘amputation’. Hal Crawford was watching.Google is poised to hit self-destruct in Australia according to a fractious Senate hearing into an unprecedented law that will force digital giants to pay money ...2 days ago
- Twyford has something to celebrate, but the hard yards were put in on disarmament long before he was...
It’s great to hear Phil Twyford celebrating a success. Not a personal ministerial success, it’s fair to say, but a success nevertheless related to arms control. The arms on which Twyford is focused, it should be noted, will make quite a mess if they are triggered. They tend to be ...3 days ago - Reviewing the Dawn Raid movie, and our lost youthDuncan Greive and Leonie Hayden were young hip hop heads and music journalists during the era captured in a new documentary about the rise and fall of South Auckland hip hop label Dawn Raid. Here they discuss the film and their memories (what’s left of them) of that time. Warning: contains ...3 days ago
- Five big ticket items that New Zealanders are going crazy overHouses might be the most popular and inflated purchases in New Zealand, but there are plenty of other products that are seeing soaring demand and prices over the past few months. Here’s a list of what New Zealanders are spending their money on with international travel out of the picture.Used ...3 days ago
- Short story: Pātea Pools, by Airana Ngarewa
"The young boy leaps, the muscles in his thighs tensing and twisting as he lifts from the handrail": the noble art of bombing, by Pātea writer Airana Ngarewa A beautifully muscled boy is posted on the side of a pool, his feet fixed to the top of a pair of ...3 days ago - The rise and fall of New Zealand’s largest water park How Waiwera Hot Pools went from New Zealand’s most visited water park to dereliction and decay. Many who grew up in Auckland likely have fond memories of Waiwera Hot Pools. Like me, they remember summer days spent racing down the slides and playing in the naturally hot pools. But how did ...3 days ago
- Taxpayers' $500k for meth treatment goes up in smoke
A government contract for a P rehab programme was canned after half a million dollars of taxpayer money was given out. Aaron Smale investigates. The Ministry of Health spent over half a million dollars on a P Rehab contract before pulling the pin because there were no results or progress reports. ...3 days ago - A game of epidemic proportions
Kia Koropp and her husband John Daubeny have been cruising the Pacific, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean over the past decade with their two children onboard their 50ft yacht, Atea. Starting in 2011 from Auckland, New Zealand, they have sailed more than 64,000 kilometres and just completed their longest ...3 days ago - Please stop ruining summer and turn off that godforsaken musicWe are drowning out the natural world with synthetic sounds, and it’s getting worse, writes Michelle Langstone.It used to be quiet once. Remember that? Remember the hush that settled over the cities like the silence that comes down in a snowstorm? It’s less than a year since Aotearoa first locked ...3 days ago
- On the Rag: It’s time to stop being a boob about boobsSummer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden in the latest episode of On the Rag as they examine the topic of boobs from every possible angle. First published November 16, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...3 days ago
- NZ offers to be 'honest broker' in nuclear disarmament
Seventy-five years after the US detonated the first nuclear tests in the Pacific, New Zealand pledges its support to Joe Biden's first tentative step towards disarmament. Today, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons comes into effect, making it illegal for New Zealand and the 50 other ...3 days ago - Self-entitled prima donnas or do they have a point? Why Australian Open tennis players find hard loc...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Terry, Professor of Psychology, University of Southern Queensland The challenge of bringing the world’s best tennis players and support staff, about 1,200 people in all, from COVID-ravaged parts of the world to our almost pandemic-free shores was always going to be ...3 days ago
- Level-crossing removals: a case study in why major projects must also be investments in healthSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoffrey Browne, Research Fellow in International Urban Development, University of Melbourne The Victorian government has committed to removing 75 road/rail level crossings across Melbourne by 2025. That’s the fastest rate of removal in the city’s history. The scale of the investment — ...3 days ago
- Vital Signs: Biden’s economic centrism isn’t exciting, but right for these divisive timesSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...3 days ago
- The viral ‘Wellerman’ sea shanty is also a window into the remarkable cross-cultural whaling his...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Stevens, Lecturer in History, University of Waikato In a year of surprises, one of the more pleasant was the recent runaway viral popularity of 19th century sea shanties on TikTok. A collaborative global response to pandemic isolation, it saw singers and ...4 days ago
- The brutal truth: There are votes to be won in a broken housing market
MPs are conflicted on rising housing prices, and will never do anything to cause them to drop. ...4 days ago - Exit Of Moss Vital First Step In The Sequence Of TransformationThe sudden departure of Graine Moss from her Chief Executive role at Oranga Tamariki is a vital first step in a sequence of changes that must take place at the Ministry according to a group of wahine Māori leaders. Dame Naida Glavish, Dame Tariana Turia, ...4 days ago
- The Friday Poem: Her uncle’s eye by Jenny PowellA new poem from Dunedin poet Jenny Powell.Her uncle’s eyeShe introduced us to her uncle’s eye floating in a jar.Lost in an accident, he hadn’t wanted to lose it again. He left it to her in his will.We must have looked shocked. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I turn him to ...4 days ago
- After CEO exit, the big question for Oranga Tamariki: reform it or scrap it and start again?The chief executive of Oranga Tamariki is quitting, leaving behind an agency she’s admitted suffers from structural racism. Justin Giovannetti looks at the future of Oranga Tamariki.Grainne Moss’s tenure as head of Oranga Tamariki has been untenable since November when the government’s senior Māori minister wouldn’t express any confidence in ...4 days ago
- Four Indigenous composers and a piano from colonial times — making passionate, layered, honest mus...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sainsbury, Senior Lecturer Composition, Australian National University Despite having different cultural backgrounds and experiences — Indigenous composers with an Indigenous mentor, and a pianist descended from Anglo-colonial history — it is nevertheless possible to create a project that can serve as ...4 days ago
- Why the COVID-19 variants are so dangerous and how to stop them spreadingSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Applied Mathematics, University of Canterbury With new, more infectious variants of COVID-19 detected around the world, and at New Zealand’s border, the risk of further level 3 or 4 lockdowns is increased if those viruses get into the ...4 days ago
- Racing 2-year-old horses is lucrative, but is it worth the risks?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Hogg, Lecturer in Psychology, Charles Sturt University Horse racing is an ethical hotbed in Australia. The Melbourne Cup alone has seen seven horses die after racing since 2013, and animal cruelty protesters have become a common feature at carnivals. The latest ...4 days ago
- Did everyone spontaneously applaud Amanda Palmer in a Havelock North café? A Spinoff investigationRight now, our most fiery national debate is over whether New Zealanders were nice to the singer Amanda Palmer in a café. Desperate to restore peace in our nation, Hayden Donnell went in search of the truth.Joe Biden had barely finished calling for unity when Amanda Palmer posted a tweet ...4 days ago
- The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending January 22The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut (Pushkin Press, $37)Maths, cyanide, suicide, gardening; ye ...4 days ago
- The archetypal explorer: Estère on transforming into a pelicanWellington artist Estère isn’t just breaking boundaries, she’s dissecting them. Maddi Rowe spoke to her about her new album, Archetypes.“That’s the story of pelicans, they’ll stab themselves in the heart to feed their young.”Despite the somewhat dark subject matter, Estère Dalton’s eyes sparkle with fascination. We’ve met to discuss Archetypes, ...4 days ago
- Why Do Cyclists Ride In The Middle Of The Road?Cycling advocates are welcoming new advice from the Transport Agency on safe cycling. "Cyclists hate it when drivers pass too close. That's scary and dangerous," said Patrick Morgan from Cycling Action Network. "So it's encouraging to see ...4 days ago
That’s very good! 🙂