Cuba’s covid response

Written By: - Date published: 7:49 am, November 9th, 2021 - 114 comments
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Well paint me red and call me Josef Stalin.  This post will probably invite SIS investigation of my background.

But I have been doing some reading into Cuba’s response to Covid and I must say that it is impressive.

Cuba is a not large island on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico.  It is home to 11 million people.

It has an extraordinary health system as summarised by this passage from the National Centre of Biotechnology information:

In high-income countries there is no relationship between per capita GDP and either of these measures of health status. For mortality under five years of age, the relationship disappears above a per capita GDP of $15,000; for life expectancy, there is some suggestion of a relationship up to $20,000 per capita. But the relationship is unclear among countries at the very lowest incomes. A fitted trend line would indicate a very powerful relationship, but comparison of individual country observations shows very large differences in health measures for countries with the same reported levels of income. Inter-country differences in factors other than income are obviously exerting a very powerful effect on health – which is not the case for higher-income countries.

And then there is Cuba.

High up on the far left for life expectancy, and low down on the left for under-five mortality (expanded circles), Cuba’s health measures are comfortably within the band of the highest-income countries while its per capita income, at $3,438, places it 86th among the 139 countries plotted – roughly in the middle of the third quartile. The health of Cuba’s population matches or exceeds, on average, that of the United States. Among countries with similar income levels, the best achieve under-five mortality rates twice that of Cuba, and the rest are three, four or five times as high. The best life expectancies are five years shorter; others are 10 or more years shorter. The differences are extraordinary.

It has the third highest number of doctors per head of population, behind the rich person enclaves of Quatar and Monaco.  And this is despite the fact that it has suffered a US imposed trade embargo for the past sixty years.  Who knows what could have happened if Cuba US trade had proceeded normally.  The embargo occurred because Cuba wanted to do what the US wanted European nations to do, which is to host nuclear missiles as a deterrent to the opposition starting a nuclear war.  The idea was crazy but the lack of balance is also crazy.

Cuba’s Covid response appears to be exceptional.  Because of its economic circumstances it has had to develop its own vaccines but results have been that promising that it has been able to export the vaccine to nations such as Vietnam and Venezuela.  The Nature website had this earlier description of development of the vaccines:

If everything goes to plan, Cuba could be the first Latin American country to develop and manufacture its own vaccine against COVID-19.

Vicente Vérez Bencomo, director-general of the state-owned Finlay Institute of Vaccines in Havana, where one of Cuba’s most advanced vaccine candidates was created, thinks the chances are good. The candidate, called Soberana 02, entered phase III trials in people in March. It’s one of the country’s two homegrown vaccines — the other is called Abdala — to make it this far.

And not a moment too soon. Although Cuba had few infections for most of 2020, COVID-19 cases began to rise in the 11-million-person island nation after it reopened its borders to tourism last November. Infections peaked on 24 April, with nearly 5,800 active cases.

Cuba is one of the last-remaining communist countries in the world, and has endured decades of trade embargoes imposed by the United States, cutting off its access to essential supplies. Vérez Bencomo says it is this history that has given the Cuban people an independent streak, spurring them to create their own COVID-19 jab rather than joining the international COVAX initiative, which aims to deliver vaccines fairly across all countries.

Even Soberana 02 has an independent streak, working differently from other vaccines in play. The jab is a ‘conjugate’ vaccine, one that links a weaker antigen with a stronger one to ensure a vigorous immune response. To make Soberana 02, Finlay scientists coupled fragments of the coronavirus spike protein to a deactivated form of tetanus toxin, a powerful antigen that can boost production of immune cells and antibodies.

Cuba was a late starter to vaccinating its population but as can be seen from these graphs its vaccination roll out has been superb.

As it has reached high levels of vaccination the infection rate has declined.

And deaths from the disease are well below those of wealthier more advanced nations.

Cuba recently announced that children as young as two years of age would be vaccinated.  I suspect other nations are contemplating the same response in an effort to reach herd immunity.

There is a strong message here.  Respect for the science and making sure that no one is left behind can work.  America could learn a lot from the Island nation south of its borders whose economy it has sought to ruin for the past six decades.

114 comments on “Cuba’s covid response ”

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  1. weka 1
    9 November 2021 at 7:59 am

    Quick google and I can’t see what if any vaccine mandates Cuba are using.

    but that sound is liberals rushing to stand with the Freedom protestors, lol.

  2. Sabine 2
    9 November 2021 at 8:18 am

    Cuba has a good export business, they export medical personal. Maybe that has something to do with it, they actually train doctors, nurses, and the likes in large masses for their country and to send elsewhere.

    Meanwhile, we pull ICU nurses from elsewhere to staff Aucklands ICU beds, never mind there are now ICU nurses missing elsewhere, and the few that still train as nurses are saddled with debts for the largest part of their life. – and that was / is a bipartisan decision by our lawmakers.

    Cuba also has an exceptionally well organized 'civil' defense system, with bloc wards and people in neighborhoods being organized to help with floods, hurricanes etc. So i would simply guess that Cuba has something that we no longer have, a sense of Citizenship and responsibility towards their communities and country.

    • AB 2.1
      9 November 2021 at 9:59 am

      “they actually train doctors…”

      We restrict entry to medical school – including people capable (intellectually and otherwise) of being perfectly competent and committed doctors. It's hard to avoid the conclusion that the resulting scarcity is deliberate – especially when it comes to specialists (as opposed to GPs). The scarcity creates the opportunity for the private medical insurance business to sell priority access to specialists to whomever can afford it. And it enables large salaries for the private specialists themselves. You only need to look at the fancy private medical clinics lining the lower end of Remuera Rd and similar places in Auckland to see the result. Marketised access to healthcare tends to be crap.

  3. Tiger Mountain 3
    9 November 2021 at 8:30 am

    As an internationalist I have long supported the right of Cuba to exist and the people prosper, which has been a difficult endeavour indeed with US Imperialism’s foot on the Island’s throat for six decades.

    Good on them for continuing on their independent course. Oh that Western Govt.s had laid it down in war footing style for the pharmaceutical corporates re COVID drugs–no patents, payment from taxpayers at cost only, drop the “worried well” and vanity pill production until global vaccination is achieved–but that would have been s-s-socialism…

    • garibaldi 3.1
      9 November 2021 at 9:26 am

      Yes, full marks to Cuba. They have have strong social services for all their people and have always been very helpful in helping out in overseas medical disaster needs.

      It's a pity we are not "allowed" to admit and emulate Cuba's successes. Another mark against Western wall to wall propaganda.

      • RedLogix 3.1.1
        9 November 2021 at 9:58 am

        Nor do white supremacists currently operate gas chambers – but apologising for them remains repugnant.

  4. Byd0nz 4
    9 November 2021 at 8:34 am

    Cuba has always stood firm to Communist principles, and shown the way for people first as it's health system atests to. Not only does it train their people in the medical field, they have also trained for free people from other poorer countries to become Doctors and others in medicine.

    They have not yet been userped from within or without despite having a fascist neigbhor who has tried to kill the Communist experience for decades.

    Long live true Communism, long live Cuba.

  5. Patricia Bremner 5
    9 November 2021 at 9:16 am

    Cuba is a real thorn in American's hide loldevil The Bay of Pigs invasion CIA trained group of American based Cubans to topple Fidel Castro was a complete farce. After the trouncing by the locals 17-20th April 1961 Relationships were strained. The USA embargoed trade with Cuba from the 60s and have voted with Israel to continue that at WHO each occasion. Good on Cuba. Well done.

  6. RedLogix 6
    9 November 2021 at 9:28 am

    Interesting but selective with your data points. For instance I note with wry amusement how no-one mentions Sweden anymore.

    Frankly this entire pandemic has been politicised enough as it is.

    • KJT 6.1
      9 November 2021 at 9:36 am

      Yep. The right wing and "centrist" apologists who were all about "Sweden's freedoms" not long ago are rather silent about it now.

      "Politicised?

      Annoyed that your USA good, commies bad narrative has been shown up, eh?

    • Blazer 6.2
      9 November 2021 at 9:50 am

      60 years of making the economy' scream'-Red,after invasion failed.

      • RedLogix 6.2.1
        9 November 2021 at 10:10 am

        If the US had ever really wanted to crush Cuba they could have done it by lunchtime. The Bay of Pigs fiasco was just that – a fiasco because there was no broad commitment to the project and it was abandoned as soon as it became public. Instead the US has in it's usual somewhat ruthless fashion settled on a policy of containment of anything that looked communist to them.

        And once the nuclear missile issue was settled – they've more or less tolerated a socialist Cuba ever since. Indeed all Cuba really ever had to do was repudiate the extremism of it's communist past and move away from it's overt political and human rights oppression and the embargoes would likely have ended.

        Of course you might want to consider that the embargoes served a political purpose in Havana as well.

        • KJT 6.2.1.1
          9 November 2021 at 10:48 am

          Rubbish.

          If Cuba even looked like becoming an example of a successful "Socialist" State on the US border, the USA would have doubled down.

          As they have done everywhere else from Indonesia to Bolivia.

          The embargos and saunctions are calculated to keep Cuba on the back foot just enough, so the USA can pretend it is "Communism" and not the USA, which is keeping Cuba down.

          • RedLogix 6.2.1.1.1
            9 November 2021 at 11:17 am

            Typical marxist blaming everyone and anything else for the obvious, repeated and catastrophic failures of his ideology.

            • georgecom 6.2.1.1.1.1
              9 November 2021 at 4:07 pm

              it's not that simple RL. sure the bloqueo works for both Washington and Havana, it lets Havana distract from some of the failures of it's centrally managed economy. It's not just ideological for the US however, it's also personal. Were it ideological the US would have dismantled it's embargo stance years back when the USSR split. They would treat Cuba the same as they do China and Vietnam. It's personal for the US, the leading Miami families still holding a grudge, US corporates who missed on on continued wealth extraction from the country and the US in general who still believe a small island who told the US to piss off must be taught a continuing lesson. In 2021 it's pretty much just bullying from a bigger country.

              • RedLogix …
                9 November 2021 at 4:18 pm

                Yup. That's a reasonable analyis – logically the sanctions should have ended ages ago. There is no justification for them and indeed under Obama they were substantially reduced. Trump as usual buggered this up to some extent – but overall the relationship continues to thaw slowly, piecemeal from the frigid recesses of the Cold War.

                And what you say about it having become personal makes a lot of sense.

                • georgecom …
                  9 November 2021 at 4:37 pm

                  The big Orange Blowarse appeased his paymasters in Miami. Bush was very good for Fidel, easy to blame the imperialista. Obama was more problematic for Raul. I would hope Biden picks up the work Obama started and re-establish more normal relations. A huge improvement he could make I think is to remove the Helms-Burton act. Do that and finally the onus falls on the Cuban socialist system to sort itself out and deliver some tangible improvements for it's people. Cuba and Cubans can then decide their own course in the world

                  • RedLogix …
                    9 November 2021 at 4:54 pm

                    One hopeful trend is that Mexico is now the US's largest trade partner and is on track to become something of a success story – despite the obvious issues it still faces.

                    With time I can see both the US and Cuban govt realising they have more to gain than face to lose by normalising relations. It might take the old guard on both sides to retire first.

    • Patricia Bremner 6.3
      9 November 2021 at 9:57 am

      RL, Selective data points
      wry amusement.
      Yes. ……. Right Tui.

  7. KJT 7
    9 November 2021 at 9:50 am

    Cuba is hardly "Stalinist".

    Just saying.

  8. Stuart Munro 8
    9 November 2021 at 10:23 am

    One of the things Confucius said was that if he took the time to listen, he could learn something from the stupidest man in any village. Without slating Cuba unnecessarily, we could certainly learn things from their approach to health. Had neoliberalism not made our few remaining civil services so defensive that dissent is unthinkable.

    As we welcome Christmas with Covid, vicious and ignorant media hacks, and 'freedumb' antivaxers recruited by US Trumpist web narratives, quite a few reigning assumptions are likely to be brought into question – and just as hastily hushed by our faux technocrat insiders.

  9. Bearded Git 9
    9 November 2021 at 10:23 am

    I spent a month in Cuba in 2012 and because I speak some Spanish and stayed in casas familiars in out of the way places was able to talk to the locals. It is not paradise on earth by any means …one guy told me his friend was jailed for 7 years for killing a cow. Pensions are two thirds of bugger all. Almost nobody can afford to own a car yet public transport is chaotic. There were massive queues at the bakeries for bread, or even broken biscuits due to shortages. There was very little in the supermarkets and people were not allowed to travel abroad (somebody hijacked the ferry in Havana harbour once to try to get to Florida….there are no boats at all sailing/motoring in Havana harbour).

    But as you say in your superb post Mickey the health service seems excellent, and many of Cuba's economic problems can be layed at the door of the USA.

    • RedLogix 9.1
      9 November 2021 at 10:47 am

      Yes I've had the privilege of working in Latin America in recent years and what you're saying here makes sense. Anyone I know of who has actually been to Cuba comes away both impressed and appalled. Life is tough for the ordinary people, and their unaccountable regime maintains power by ensuring no politically powerful middle class can ever flourish.

      The Cuban embargoes are a relic from the Cold War and should have been abandoned decades ago – but persist because they serve a political purpose on both sides. Still as you say, the Cuban adaption to it's peculiar circumstances does have lessons to learn from if we cared to listen.

      • KJT 9.1.1
        9 November 2021 at 10:50 am

        Given the example of the "middle class" of Batista's theives, that was removed, the atitude is understandable.

        • RedLogix 9.1.1.1
          9 November 2021 at 10:57 am

          So should the 'thieving middle classes' everywhere be 'removed'?

          • KJT 9.1.1.1.1
            9 November 2021 at 11:02 am

            The theives. Who take without contributing.. CGT, inheritance taxes and a realistic progressive tax rate will do it. With jail terms for tax dodgers!

            Before you come up with the obvious "Lefties say" "Strawman".

            Surely you are aware of Cuba’s past history. Batista made Putin and Koch look honest.

            • RedLogix 9.1.1.1.1.1
              9 November 2021 at 11:08 am

              Quit hiding behind a strawman. Just say what you believe in.

              • KJT …
                9 November 2021 at 9:29 pm

                I am a bit baffled that you cannot see the problem with your repeated arguing with things people haven't said.

                Your "strawman" debating tactics.

      • Blazer 9.1.2
        9 November 2021 at 10:53 am

        'but persist because they serve a political purpose on both sides. '

        You can't be serious !

        Without sanctions Cuba may have made the U.S look bad.

        • RedLogix 9.1.2.1
          9 November 2021 at 11:06 am

          Legitimate Cuban socialism does indeed in some aspects make the US look a tad shabby. But then much the same could be said if you compared NZ with the US, or any number of other well governed democratic nations.

          As I've written to elsewhere, the political centre of gravity in the US has always been closer to the individual than the collective – so when it comes to their public sector they tend not to be terribly efficient.

          And while I don't think its useful to over-romanticise 'communist Cuba", nor does it serve much purpose to demonise the 'capitalist Yanks'. There's just so much more to the contrast between the two nations, than a simpleton tale of good vs evil.

          • Blazer 9.1.2.1.1
            9 November 2021 at 11:46 am

            You'll never have much chance in an arse kicking contest with one leg …strapped up.

          • Patricia Bremner 9.1.2.1.2
            9 November 2021 at 11:53 am

            What we admire is Cuban tenacity, their huge enjoyment of arts and life and their very pragmatic view of a McCarthy-ised American attitude towards Communism.
            Over time all Leaders and States usually shelve hurts and bitterness grow and change. Not the USofA. They hold slights and hurts right out there, to excuse their bloody minded pursuit of any opposition to the ends of the Earth.

            The biggest laugh I get is when serious Americans tell me "Communists would take over the World" They are so damned serious, and don't see the parallel behaviour by their own chosen State.

          • Patricia Bremner 9.1.2.1.3
            9 November 2021 at 11:56 am

            RL, “over romanticise "simpleton tale" There you go again.

          • garibaldi 9.1.2.1.4
            9 November 2021 at 12:10 pm

            The wall to wall pro Western propaganda fed to us everyday has worked in it's aim to vilify anyone who disagrees with the USA.

            The old mantra of "God bless America" has been proven time and time again( by the meddling fingers of the CIA and covert/overt interventions) to be a total farce.

            Actions speak louder than words and the USA (being the "exceptional Country" ie the rules are made for everyone else other than them) never seems to have to answer to the World for all it's foul play in every corner of the World.

            • RedLogix 9.1.2.1.4.1
              9 November 2021 at 12:21 pm

              Communism has had two hundred years in which to demonstrate it's innate moral and economic superiority. Yet all it took was for a bunch of evil, violent, perfidious yanks to keep it down – amazing.

              • Patricia Bremner …
                9 November 2021 at 12:30 pm

                Those are your words, not ours. RL

                Both Cubans and Americans have been shafted by the behaviour and the long held grudge. There are more truly poor in the States you so admire, who can not get medical help… just saying. Neither system is perfect, but I don't see Cubans infiltrating other countries systems.

                • RedLogix …
                  9 November 2021 at 1:10 pm

                  The 'oppression of the evil Yanks' in keeping down 'true communism' is the perpetual whining excuse of marxists everywhere.

                  I merely paraphrased.

                  • Tiger Mountain …
                    9 November 2021 at 1:18 pm

                    Comes across as supreme toadying to me–“his masters voice”–personified

                    Just admit it, the Cubans have done well with COVID against great odds.

                    You are just like Dubya during Katrina storm, the Cubans offered to land several thousand para medics with backpacks within 24 hours to assist, and Bush refused the offer while the domestic response dragged on and on for days…

                    • RedLogix …
                      9 November 2021 at 1:31 pm

                      There are no utopias. The post WW2 US led world order was merely the least worst of all the all the alternatives on offer at the time.

                      And the remarkable thing is that unlike all the other alternatives, here you are, well fed, comfortable and still free to type out all your objections to how evil the yanks are on the internet.

                    • In Vino …
                      9 November 2021 at 6:44 pm

                      Redlogix: Communism was ruined by the autocratic, totalitarian culture of every country it was ever tried in. Instead of achieving utopian paradise, each revolution devolved back to the tyranny that had preceded it. Communism was never tried in any industrially advanced country with a tradition of democracy.You are wrong in saying Communism has had 200 years to prove anything. It has not had a fair chance because all advanced, rich countries have opposed it.

                      Capitalist USA has consistently done its best to make Communism fail wherever it thought it was rearing its ugly head…

                    • RedLogix …
                      9 November 2021 at 6:59 pm

                      It seems you are arguing that in order to have a successful communist one party state – you have to start with a successful capitalist, democracy first.

                      Or have I misunderstood?

                    • In Vino …
                      9 November 2021 at 10:23 pm

                      Yes you have. You blindly follow the assumption that a one-party state can only be totalitarian, and that communism must be so because that is how God made it. (?)

                      A country with education, advanced industry and democratic institutions could well have made a totally different beast of Communism from your preconceived vision of Stalinist evil.

                      It could not happen because, as I said, Communism was tried only in poor countries with a culture of cruel totalitarianism. In those countries Communism was always doomed to become the evil beast you seem to delight in portraying.

              • Subliminal …
                9 November 2021 at 12:51 pm

                You really are the petfect "yank" RL. Little tiny insignificant Cuba completely pulls your chain. A tiny nation who is being congratulated for a successful response to a terrible disease and you really cant find it in your heart to say well done? Rather, you take it as a personal affront and refuse to relent. The parallels would make me laugh if it weren't so sad.

                • RedLogix …
                  9 November 2021 at 1:03 pm

                  There are a number of countries that can be congratulated for their COVID response. Linking it to their politics is however stupid.

                  • Subliminal …
                    9 November 2021 at 1:16 pm

                    Oh right. Their health system just sprouted up out of the ground?

                    • RedLogix …
                      9 November 2021 at 1:26 pm

                      Most properly governed nations have a substantial socialist component to their governance – this is a good thing. It's not in the least surprising that Cuba has developed a capable medical system and contrary to what you imagine I'd not diminish that accomplishment in the least.

                      And as I mentioned elsewhere – if there are lessons to be learned I really don't mind where they arise from.

                    • Subliminal []
                      9 November 2021 at 2:27 pm

                      Right. So National/Act would probably develop a different health system to Labour/Greens. Obviously when discussing a country's health system politics is the most obvious driver of what type of health system is built. A tiny nation as poor as Cuba that nevertheless has a high number of doctors AND the ability to mass produce vaccines that have been designed themselves have a high degree of efficacy as shown in the results of their populations statistics wrt covd requires a very unique set of political circumstances. We can do the RL / US thing and ignore, downplay and disparage or be startled into a realisation that when we are told that we cant afford a proper health system and that TINA, we are being lied to.

                  • Brigid …
                    9 November 2021 at 2:01 pm

                    "Linking it to their politics is however stupid, because the majority practise communism or socialism to some degree. And it's just not fair to show capitalism up in such a bad light"

                    FIFY

              • KJT …
                9 November 2021 at 9:34 pm

                The country with the most money and bombs on earth.

      • Bearded Git 9.1.3
        9 November 2021 at 6:08 pm

        Fine comments Red….of course the people and music in Cuba are marvellous ….one of my fondest memories is sharing a bottle of Havana Club along with a line of people on benches while chatting…..but it worries me that the non Spanish speaking people who visit Cuba for 10 days come away with the idea it is paradise where the people dance and drink rum all day…as you say the reality is much more complicated

    • georgecom 9.2
      9 November 2021 at 4:24 pm

      no es facil BG.

      There is or was a cafe on the corner of La Rampa and Avenida de los Presidentes if I recall correctly. I had one of the worst ever meals in my life there. A cuban frend explained the situation of the cafe. One ministry ran the actual cafe. Another ran the bookstore and a third something else I cannot recall. 3 government departments all with fingers in the pie, efficient and economic it was not.

      Summed up some of the pressing problems with the economic model for me. Es Cuba no.

    • Bearded Git 9.3
      17 November 2021 at 9:29 am

      Should be "casas familiares" BTW. Typed on my phone as was travelling around the Mainland at the time.

  10. PHB 10
    9 November 2021 at 12:32 pm

    I too spent some days in Cuba a few years back, mostly in Havana. I had sort of hoped that I would see a socialist nirvana but was sadly disappointed. Food was in short supply, poverty very apparent. Shops were empty and one guy that ferried us around was amazed at our freedoms and life style in New Zealand. We talked a bit about riding on an elephant in Cambodia (I know, I will never do it again) and this clearly seemed to him like a possibility that was beyond his wildest dreams. His Dad had been lining up for three years to try and move to the USA to live by his brother who had gotten to Miami, but without success. The mojito's were great and it was so depressing that I had too many, got depressed by it all and made the waiters day by giving them all my Cuban peso. Going to get money out at the hotel was a nerve wracking experience including the archetypal scowling woman smoking in a small cubicle and being watched by a security guy with what looked like a machine gun. Its all anecdote of course but a shining light for a better system, Cuba was not.

    • In Vino 10.1
      9 November 2021 at 7:36 pm

      PHB – I don't mean to attack you personally; just the majority of Kiwis who do OE and tourism, but see only enough to confirm their original preconceived ideas and prejudices, and return here claiming to be experts because they have been there.

      I went to Europe in the late 70s, did a quick bit of tourism through West Germany and France, and many of my best photos of castles, cathedrals etc are from that trip. Later I worked for 15 months in a West German city that I had visited. I soon realised that my previous quick visit had taught me nothing at all.

      I later spent 2 years living in France: same thing. Being a brief tourist teaches you next to nothing at all.

      As I say – not attacking you personally PHB, but I do not highly value the testimony of people who briefly passed through a place, whether they speak the language or not.

      I want to hear from someone who lived there for an extended period.

      It still galls me (but I tend to bite my tongue) when I hear 'well-travelled' Kiwis say, "Oh yes, the French are… " or, "Oh yes, the Germans tend to be…"

      Fortunately, not all Kiwis who have done OE have remained insular and prejudiced!

  11. UncookedSelachimorpha 11
    9 November 2021 at 12:42 pm

    Thanks Micky, great post. I had missed most of this.

    I spent some time in Poland around the end of Communism there. People didn't like the Soviet system (and in effect being occupied by the Russians) and the economy was laughable, but many came to dislike aspects of the developing Westernisation also. One thing I noticed before Westernisation became dominant – people other than businesspeople and the wealthy were highly respected. Being a teacher, doctor, academic etc brought high social status (but not necessarily good pay!), rather than owning a Porsche, which is more the case today.

  12. Lukas 12
    9 November 2021 at 12:43 pm

    Curious as to why NZ was not included in your second chart?

  13. bwaghorn 13
    9 November 2021 at 12:44 pm

    It sounds like the best thing that can happen to a country is for the mighty USOf A to have no access to them .

  14. Sanctuary 14
    9 November 2021 at 12:49 pm

    Cuba's success should come as no surprise, it is what communist countries do well. The Soviet Union inherited a literacy rate of just 40% (and less than 15% amongst women) in 1922, and despite being exhausted by eight years of war and suffering an investment boycott from capitalist countries lifted literacy to 99% in 1939. In other words, the Soviet Union effectively eliminated illiteracy in just fifteen years, something that had eluded the Tsarist regime for centuries.

    This success story was reflected everywhere in the USSR. For example, child mortality rates dropped from over one in four (260+ per 1000 live births) to 80 or so per thousand on the eve of WW2 – still about double that of the USA (although the US figures for the period are only reliable for the white population) but a huge improvement, especially against the background of war, famine, purges and capitalist hostility.

    Because the west tends to focus on the purges of the urban bourgeoisie and the intelligensia, particularly their use as slave labour in the Gulag system that underpinned the USSRs incredible industrialisation program, it is usually missed that for the vast bulk of the Soviet population the USSR was a massive improvement on what had come before. After all, who doesn't want to go from being the the illiterate and abjectly poor property of some cruel and absentee aristocratic landlord to being a free, literate factory worker making wages? The Soviet Union didn't defeat Nazi Germany because it soldiers were all dumb peasant cannon fodder motivated by nothing more than an animal lust for revenge and fear of the NKVD blocking squads (the popular image put about ex-Nazi German generals post WW2). Plenty of Soviet soldiers fought because they didn't want to return to Tsarist times and, heaven forbid, they were committed communists because Stalin had done OK by them.

    • RedLogix 14.1
      9 November 2021 at 1:08 pm

      Well at least this thread is flushing out all the vile mass murder apologists.

      Your argument is selective and void. Most nations on earth were achieving much the same things – lower infant mortality, longer lifespans, improved education and health care have been common features across the entire planet for much of the past two hundred years.

      To attribute these to the 'successes of communism' is weak minded to put it politely.

      • Blazer 14.1.1
        9 November 2021 at 1:41 pm

        I find his argument remarkably similar to yours RL.

        The U.S.A, ugly warts and all has delivered security and prosperity across the globe in a way that any alternative could not achieve….because um…we will never know.

        As for 'mass murder'…what a can of worms that is!

        • RedLogix 14.1.1.1
          9 November 2021 at 1:45 pm

          Maybe I am biased. But then I've visited the site of not one but two gulags. Has the same impact as being at one of the Holocaust sites.

          • Blazer 14.1.1.1.1
            9 November 2021 at 2:00 pm

            I can imagine that would be like visiting Dresden,Hiroshima,Nagasaki….or Vietnam after they had been impacted.

            • RedLogix 14.1.1.1.1.1
              9 November 2021 at 2:20 pm

              Yes. This is precisely why war is to be utterly deplored and why effective politics to avoid it are so vital.

              Not the same thing as a political system that has internalised horror as a tool of power.

          • Sanctuary 14.1.1.1.2
            9 November 2021 at 2:03 pm

            Oh please, spare us your unique experience. You are not the only person to have visited a death camp or a gulag. I visited the USSR and East Germany, I have no illusions about those countries.

            Your attempts to censor debate on this site – a left wing one – have veered into the clownish.

            • RedLogix 14.1.1.1.2.1
              9 November 2021 at 2:22 pm

              Yet you remain an open advocate of the ideology. Can I conclude that you liked what your saw?

        • Sanctuary 14.1.1.2
          9 November 2021 at 1:55 pm

          I am not making any value judgement on the USSR, just pointing out that the Bolsheviks made massive and genuine improvements in the health outcomes of the average Soviet citizen – a pattern repeated in China and other countries that experienced socialist revolutions like Cuba. For example, Nicaragua, another country exhausted by civil war, wracked by debt and subject to punishing US sanctions and a US funded insurgency, launched all sorts of public health measures that had a dramatic impact on vaccinations rates, child mortality and disease control. When the Indians kicked out their imperialist oppressors the smallpox vaccination rate was less than 20%. Within thirty years, India elimnated smallpox and polio using communist style public health measures.

      • aom 14.1.2
        9 November 2021 at 1:57 pm

        "Well at least this thread is flushing out all the vile mass murder apologists."

        This statement is obviously inclusive of yourself!

    • Alan 14.2
      9 November 2021 at 3:35 pm

      yea, that Joseph Stalin was a top guy, those 20 million dissidents that he killed ………

  15. higherstandard 15
    9 November 2021 at 1:35 pm

    I was lucky enough to visit Cuba in the early 2000s off the back of a conference in the USA.

    The people are lovely and I enjoyed Havana, I found the people are quite open, the myth that Cuba has some brilliant healthcare system seems to be regularly promulgated by people in the USA highlighting the difference between their healthcare system and that in Cuba.

    From my discussions with people in Cuba and what I saw first hand our local healthcare in NZ is far superior to that available in Cuba for the average person.

    • Patricia Bremner 15.1
      9 November 2021 at 1:42 pm

      20 years ago. They have trained many Doctors since then Higherstandard, but you are probably right then.

    • Scott 15.2
      9 November 2021 at 5:46 pm

      Yes higherstandard the Cubans are lovely family oriented people and very proud of their healthcare and education systems. Resilient is the best description.

      I have had many genuine conversations with ordinary Cubans who were committed to and inspired by the revolution but most have now lost the faith and are disillusioned.

      The government decides where you live – and you can marry and have 3 kids before you are allocated an apartment. Raoul announced the end of rationing but still today the "libreta" operates. You can queue all day just to find essentials sold out. Basic medicines are unavailable and buildings regularly fall over.

      I was told some years ago that Cuba's biggest export is doctors and the country relies heavily on selling their services to other countries.

      Government officials and tourists get looked after. The political class get the best doctors and hospitals. Often families provide bedding and food and toilet paper etc for those in hospital.

  16. SPC 16
    9 November 2021 at 1:37 pm

    Better job managing the pandemic in Cuba than the farm collectivism in the Ukraine Joe.

  17. Patricia Bremner 17
    9 November 2021 at 1:39 pm

    RL, The last murder of innocents happened by drone in Afghanistan. Guess by who? We are not fans of communism, we just don't buy some rhetoric/putdowns.

  18. Sanctuary 18
    9 November 2021 at 1:45 pm

    Well the same pattern can be seen in China. Prior to 1948 China was a byword as a cesspit of disease. Bubonic plague, malaria, typhoid, you name it China had it in spades. Despite decades of war, the botched great leap forward, and again a boycott on everything from aid to investment lifespan in China rose by 21 years between 1950 and 1970, child mortality fell from 195 per thousand in 1950 to 47 per thousand in 1970 (which, BTW, puts into context how horrific the Tsarist child mortality rate was).

    It isn't hard to grasp that removing a ruling class that doesn't give a shit about ordinary people and replacing it with one that does, eliminating corruption, motivating the population with a revolutionary idea that offered hope, [deleted], eliminating bourgeoisie opposition, and bringing order will most likely lead to great public health outcomes.

    [RL: I am contemplating a permanent ban for advocating open class violence and mass murder. You have 30 min to explain why not.]

    [MS: Peace and mung beans everyone. I am fine with the comment and Sanctuary is addressing the post and the reference to China is valid]

    • RedLogix 18.1
      9 November 2021 at 1:51 pm

      See mod note.

      • Sanctuary 18.1.1
        9 November 2021 at 1:57 pm

        Oh my God, get a life.

      • Sanctuary 18.1.2
        9 November 2021 at 1:58 pm

        Dude you are out of control. I expect you might be the one losing here, not me.

        • Brigid 18.1.2.1
          9 November 2021 at 2:13 pm

          It is ironic when one displays behaviour that he so vociferously criticises.

          An ego of cut glass perhaps?

          • In Vino 18.1.2.1.1
            9 November 2021 at 7:54 pm

            Agree – who here is the Pharisee, looking at the letter of the law rather than the spirit?

            No way was Sanctuary advocating violent policy: he was quoting some things that people could conclude from history. Not advocating a way forward now.

            I would add guillotining the aristocracy. And maybe burning the heretics.

            How about that?

            • Brigid 18.1.2.1.1.1
              9 November 2021 at 8:14 pm

              "'I find that offensive. ' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that. ' Well, so fucking what."

              Stephen Fry

        • RedLogix 18.1.2.2
          9 November 2021 at 2:29 pm

          OK your 30 minutes are up and I see you've doubled down. There is an obvious response but you choose not to take it.

          One of the iron-clad rules of this site is that there will be no advocacy either open or indirect of political violence. You know this perfectly well yet you deliberately flirted with that line as an intentional provocation.

          • Dennis Frank 18.1.2.2.1
            9 November 2021 at 2:56 pm

            rules of this site is that there will be no advocacy either open or indirect of political violence

            The thing hinges on indirect, eh? Since the onsite lawyer sees no problem, could be it hinges on competing meanings of indirect, eh? Lawyers are trained in competing interpretations whereas kiwi males are trained to call a spade a spade.

            I suspect the credibility of the outcome will depend on the collective judgment of the kiwi males rather than the sole lawyer. However we ought to wait & see how many female commentators here are keen to approve indirect advocacy of violence. devil

            • RedLogix 18.1.2.2.1.1
              9 November 2021 at 3:15 pm

              Well the onsite lawyer really only addressed the China aspect of the comment. It avoided the obviously objectionable.

              As for this absurdist admiration for the CCP's achievements – lets take a look at the real-life comparison with Taiwan that was going on at the same time.

              For almost thirty years the Maoists inflicted one callous, ideologically driven bungle after another on the Chinese people, directly leading to the mass starvation of tens of millions, and subsequently the cruel eradication of traditional Chinese culture. As a result by the 70's they had become one of the most dysfunctional nations on earth. During a post war period when every other significant nation (even the Soviets) had made substantial development gains – the PRC was barely holding pace with some of the poorest most backward places on earth.

              It was only after Deng opened the nation up to the global trading order that what we see as modern China could develop. But even now it remains a fragile one party authoritarian ethno-state, prone to proto-genocidal oppression of it's minorities.

              In the meantime Taiwan, after a deeply unpromising start under military dictatorship and despite it's relatively small size, has evolved into an energetic democracy and one of the more successful nations in Asia.

              The contrasting trajectories of the two could not be more stark. If I had to choose one the two nations to live in – the decision would be obvious.

              • Dennis Frank …
                9 November 2021 at 3:30 pm

                shooting the landlords, eliminating bourgeoisie opposition, and bringing order will most likely lead to great public health outcomes.

                I notice he didn't suggest that Aotearoa apply this policy. Wonder why? Shooting our landlords and eliminating whichever members of the middle class oppose the govt might not actually improve our public health?

                Obviously readers will ponder this thought. Perhaps an experiment to test the proposition could be applied to a selected urban center.

                Any suggestions which one would be best? Thinking Face on JoyPixels 6.6

          • Tiger Mountain 18.1.2.2.2
            9 November 2021 at 3:11 pm

            Get a grip. Class violence is the 26 richest individual capitalist moneybags owning as much as 50% of the world’s population.

            https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/21/world-26-richest-people-own-as-much-as-poorest-50-per-cent-oxfam-report

            Class violence is US Imperialism spending 20 years and trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives to replace the Taliban with the Taliban!
            It is not class violence to discuss 20th century history.

            • RedLogix 18.1.2.2.2.1
              9 November 2021 at 3:28 pm

              Class violence is the 26 richest individual capitalist moneybags owning as much as 50% of the world’s population.

              These people are beyond class. This isn't your grandfather's proletariat vs bourgeoisie dynamic. It's probably better described as unconstrained neo-liberalism, in that while nations have many developed various internal mechanisms to moderate the extremes of wealth – nothing comparable has arisen at the global scale which is the domain these people operate in.

              It also speaks to the fact that while the poorest 50% of the world have escaped extreme poverty – just how much potential development remains to get them into full modernity.

              • roblogic …
                9 November 2021 at 3:48 pm

                Who would have imagined that the promise of the information age, and artificial intelligence, would enable capitalists to weaponise their plundering to a global scale, reducing democratic governments to their handmaidens

                • Tiger Mountain …
                  9 November 2021 at 4:01 pm

                  Jeez, maybe Marx and Engels had a glimmer…with their theories & investigations on the tendency of the rate of profit to fall driving expansion and speed up and exploitation of new resources including labour, and concentration of ownership into monopolies replacing previous multiple competing capitalists, and…the rise of non productive finance capital as a major force.

                • RedLogix …
                  9 November 2021 at 4:07 pm

                  would enable capitalists to weaponise their plundering to a global scale, reducing democratic governments to their handmaidens

                  All human societies are hierarchical and a lot more so than we like to imagine. Consider the relatively non-political world of music, or literature, or any of the arts. What we always see is a tiny minority of hyper-successful individuals accumulate most of the attention and rewards. It's the natural consequence of a ubiquitous mathematical power law in action.

                  You can model this quite apolitically with some simple numerical modesl – but always the simplest and unavoidable rule is that success always generates the opportunity for more success.

                  Another example is Price's Law – that states "“The square root of the number of people in a productive domain produce half of its total output.”

                  In itself these are value-free observations – they are not justifications for anything. They do however tell us the nature of the problem we are up against – and for the most part it isn't a cabal of evil men in suits plotting how to rob everyone else into perpetual misery. Reality is a lot more banal than this.

                  The inescapable reality is that people are different – and we all live different lives. As a result small differences that prove advantageous will tend to amplify over time. And the more productive the environment the faster this will tend to happen. This is just reality – not ideological in any sense.

                  Where politics comes in is that we know humans are also very sensitive to status – and when we perceive the status gradient to be excessive we become very anxious and prone to violence. Capitalism may well have been part of the solution to poverty, but it speaks nothing to the question of inequality. Marxism put up a pioneering idea to address this challenge – but it also proved to be catastrophically wrong in that it sought to dismantle capitalism rather than address the more deeply rooted reasons why inequality both arises and becomes excessive.

                  • Dennis Frank …
                    9 November 2021 at 4:26 pm

                    a tiny minority of hyper-successful individuals accumulate most of the attention and rewards. It's the natural consequence of a ubiquitous mathematical power law in action.

                    Yes, I've seen this asserted in more than one book by social scientists in the past. Somewhere in my archives I have a photocopy of a massive statistical validation encompassing many countries – both capitalist and non – produced by the UN or some related international org. One graph for wealth and another for income. Same law.

                    It's also been discovered in the scientific research into how networks grow, and is therefore part of current network theory. They measured hubs & links to websites etc to validate it.

                  • roblogic …
                    11 November 2021 at 9:43 am

                    As far as I'm concerned, Bezos, Musk, Gates and the rest of them are international criminals who routinely scoff at tax laws, exploit their workers, and abuse their monopolistic market power to aggregate even more obscene piles of wealth. They have impoverished the once-great American middle class, and they can go to hell.

                    • RedLogix …
                      11 November 2021 at 10:00 am

                      A couple of thoughts – I have no illusions that much of the hatred directed personally at this uber wealthy class is driven by resentment. And that largely precludes rational discussion.

                      Secondly you might want to note that while US based individuals dominate the top position in the lists – there are plenty of billionaires, many hundreds, in China and India. We just don't know their names as a rule.

                      Any useful conversation around the extremes of wealth and poverty are probably more usefully directed at understanding root causes and how our political institutions need to adapt to managing it in an uber-connected, global economy.

                    • roblogic …
                      11 November 2021 at 10:04 am

                      China does one thing right, when they decide someone like Jack Ma is getting too powerful they simply confiscate half of his stuff. Or if the bankers commit large scale fraud they are executed.

                    • roblogic …
                      11 November 2021 at 11:06 am

                      So the global suffering and oppression of the working class is all just "resentment" of the uber rich?

                      Look, if someone does well, that's great and good on them. But you can't tell me that Bezos amassed his incomprehensible fortune all by his own genius and hard work. He sits atop the collective effort of millions. And if he paid his workers a dime for every dollar he owns, they would all be millionaires.

                      But no, they are living on food stamps. That's not "resentment" it is a systemic evil of capitalism, that must be abolished for the good of the human race.

          • mickysavage 18.1.2.2.3
            9 November 2021 at 3:45 pm

            @RL

            I read “shooting the landlords” as being rhetorical.

            @Sanctuary

            How about I delete those three words from your comment and we all get back to arguing the merits?

    • Patricia Bremner 18.2
      9 November 2021 at 2:34 pm

      He is talking about history. How things come about…Like France.

      • RedLogix 18.2.1
        9 November 2021 at 2:52 pm

        It read as an apology for it. If Sanctuary did not intend it as such then a simple clarification remains at hand.

  19. SPC 19
    9 November 2021 at 2:16 pm

    New York's tradition of uncapping fire hydrants to beat the heat | 6sqft

    It's gonna be a long summer. Doctor WHO turns a dalek into something useful.

  20. georgecom 20
    9 November 2021 at 4:32 pm

    Cuba has got 2 vaccines which look good. Abdala is a 3 jab protein vaccine (similar the the Nevervax vaccine seemingly half on NZ is waiting for) and has a 90% protection rate. Soberana 2 which is a 2 jab protein vaccine and has a 60+% protection rate but which reaches 90% with a third dose of Soberana Plus, which is a vaccine developed for people who have had covid but need a booster.

    They have another couple under development, Soberana 1 and Mambisa which is delivered through the nose.

    Cuba has not reached full vaccination yet, ranges from 1 dose to 3 doses per person. They are not yet all triple jabbed, but well on the way.

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    The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Ministers are not above the law
    Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • What’s the outfit you can hear going down the gurgler? Probably it’s David Parker’s Oceans Sec...
    Buzz from the Beehive Point  of Order first heard of the Oceans Secretariat in June 2021, when David Parker (remember him?) announced a multi-agency approach to protecting New Zealand’s marine ecosystems and fisheries. Parker (holding the Environment, and Oceans and Fisheries portfolios) broke the news at the annual Forest & ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?
    Bryce Edwards writes  – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Matt Doocey doubles down on trans “healthcare”
    Citizen Science writes –  Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • A TikTok Prime Minister.
    One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • Texas Lessons
    This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    2 days ago

  • Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links at 6:06 am
    The top six news links I’ve seen elsewhere in the last 24 hours as of 6:06 am on Wednesday, April 17 are:Must read: Secrecy shrouds which projects might be fast-tracked RNZ Farah HancockScoop: Revealed: Luxon has seven staffers working on social media content - partly paid for by taxpayer Newshub ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Fighting poverty on the holiday highway
    Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago

  • Bernard's six-stack of substacks at 6:26 pm
    Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • At a glance – Is the science settled?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • Apposite Quotations.
    How Long Is Long Enough? Gaza under Israeli bombardment, July 2014. This posting is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
    Bowalley Road
    3 days ago

  • What’s a life worth now?
    You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Howling at the Moon
    Karl du Fresne writes –  There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Newshub is Dead.
    I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Seymour is chuffed about cutting early-learning red tape – but we hear, too, that Jones has loose...
    Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?
    Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago

  • Was Hawkesby entirely wrong?
    David Farrar  writes –  The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • PRC shadow looms as the Solomons head for election
    PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time. A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Climate Change: Criminal ecocide
    We are in the middle of a climate crisis. Last year was (again) the hottest year on record. NOAA has just announced another global coral bleaching event. Floods are threatening UK food security. So naturally, Shane Jones wants to make it easier to mine coal: Resources Minister Shane Jones ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • Is saving one minute of a politician's time worth nearly $1 billion?
    Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Long Tunnel or Long Con?
    Yesterday it was revealed that Transport Minister had asked Waka Kotahi to look at the options for a long tunnel through Wellington. State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    3 days ago

  • Smoke And Mirrors.
    You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • What is Mexico doing about climate change?
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The June general election in Mexico could mark a turning point in ensuring that the country’s climate policies better reflect the desire of its citizens to address the climate crisis, with both leading presidential candidates expressing support for renewable energy. Mexico is the ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • State of humanity, 2024
    2024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?When I say 2024 I really mean the state of humanity in 2024.Saturday night, we watched Civil War because that is one terrifying cliff we've ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Govt’s Wellington tunnel vision aims to ease the way to the airport (but zealous promoters of cycl...
    Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • The case for cultural connectedness
    A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Useful context on public sector job cuts
    David Farrar writes –    The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated.   While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell On When Racism Comes Disguised As Anti-racism
    Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    4 days ago

  • Govt ignored economic analysis of smokefree reversal
    Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • True Blue.
    True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • Who is running New Zealand’s foreign policy?
    While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago

  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #15
    A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 7, 2024 thru Sat, April 13, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week is about adults in the room setting terms and conditions of ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Feline Friends and Fragile Fauna The Complexities of Cats in New Zealand’s Conservation Efforts

    Cats, with their independent spirit and beguiling purrs, have captured the hearts of humans for millennia. In New Zealand, felines are no exception, boasting the highest national cat ownership rate globally [definition cat nz cat foundation]. An estimated 1.134 million pet cats grace Kiwi households, compared to 683,000 dogs ...

    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    5 days ago

  • Or is that just they want us to think?
    Nice guy, that Peter Williams. Amiable, a calm air of no-nonsense capability, a winning smile. Everything you look for in a TV presenter and newsreader.I used to see him sometimes when I went to TVNZ to be a talking head or a panellist and we would yarn. Nice guy, that ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Fact Brief – Did global warming stop in 1998?
    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Did global warming stop in ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • Arguing over a moot point.
    I have been following recent debates in the corporate and social media about whether it is a good idea for NZ to join what is known as “AUKUS Pillar Two.” AUKUS is the Australian-UK-US nuclear submarine building agreement in which … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    6 days ago

  • No Longer Trusted: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    Turning Point: “What has turned me away from the mainstream news media is the very strong message that its been sending out for the last few years.” “And what message might that be?” “That the people who own it, the people who run it, and the people who provide its content, really don’t ...
    Bowalley Road
    6 days ago

  • Mortgage rates at 10% anyone?
    No – nothing about that in PM Luxon’s nine-point plan to improve the lives of New Zealanders. But beyond our shores Jamie Dimon, the long-serving head of global bank J.P. Morgan Chase, reckons that the chances of a goldilocks soft landing for the economy are “a lot lower” than the ...
    Point of OrderBy xtrdnry
    6 days ago

  • Sad tales from the left
    Michael Bassett writes –  Have you noticed the odd way in which the media are handling the government’s crackdown on surplus employees in the Public Service? Very few reporters mention the crazy way in which State Service numbers rocketed ahead by more than 16,000 during Labour’s six years, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • In Whose Best Interests?
    On The Spot: The question Q+A host, Jack Tame, put to the Workplace & Safety Minister, Act’s Brooke van Velden, was disarmingly simple: “Are income tax cuts right now in the best interests of lowering inflation?”JACK TAME has tested another MP on his Sunday morning current affairs show, Q+A. Minister for Workplace ...
    Bowalley Road
    6 days ago

  • Don’t Question, Don’t Complain.
    It has to start somewhereIt has to start sometimeWhat better place than here?What better time than now?So it turns out that I owe you all an apology.It seems that all of the terrible things this government is doing, impacting the lives of many, aren’t necessarily ‘bad’ per se. Those things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac Day
    Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 hours ago

  • Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the Philippines
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.  The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago

  • Government commits $20m to Westport flood protection
    The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    19 hours ago

  • Taupō takes pole position
    The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago

  • Cost of living support for low-income homeowners
    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners.  “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago

  • Government backing mussel spat project
    The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago

  • Government focused on getting people into work
    Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Clean energy key driver to reducing emissions
    The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forward
    The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic Partnership
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Government consults on extending coastal permits for ports
    RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Inflation coming down, but more work to do
    Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • School attendance restored as a priority in health advice
    Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sector
    Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International Congress
    Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector.    "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Removing red tape to help early learners thrive
    The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • RMA changes to cut coal mining consent red tape
    Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • McClay reaffirms strong NZ-China trade relationship
    Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Prime Minister Luxon acknowledges legacy of Singapore Prime Minister Lee
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.   Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • PMs Luxon and Lee deepen Singapore-NZ ties
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.  During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Antarctica New Zealand Board appointments
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner.  The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Finance Minister travels to Washington DC
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Pet bonds a win/win for renters and landlords
    The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Long Tunnel for SH1 Wellington being considered
    State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • New Zealand condemns Iranian strikes
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel.    “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says.    "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Huge interest in Government’s infrastructure plans
    Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Health Minister thanks outgoing Health New Zealand Chair
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board.   “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti.  “I have asked her to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Roads of National Significance planning underway
    The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Navigating an unstable global environment
    New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.   “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States.    “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • NZ welcomes Australian Governor-General
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Pseudoephedrine back on shelves for Winter
    Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • NZ and the US: an ever closer partnership
    New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Joint US and NZ declaration
    April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • NZ and US to undertake further practical Pacific cooperation
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research.   “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Government redress for Te Korowai o Wainuiārua
    The Government is continuing the bipartisan effort to restore its relationship with iwi as the Te Korowai o Wainuiārua Claims Settlement Bill passed its first reading in Parliament today, says Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith. “Historical grievances of Te Korowai o Wainuiārua relate to 19th century warfare, land purchased or taken ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Focus on outstanding minerals permit applications
    New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals is working to resolve almost 150 outstanding minerals permit applications by the end of the financial year, enabling valuable mining activity and signalling to the sector that New Zealand is open for business, Resources Minister Shane Jones says.  “While there are no set timeframes for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Applications open for NZ-Ireland Research Call
    The New Zealand and Irish governments have today announced that applications for the 2024 New Zealand-Ireland Joint Research Call on Agriculture and Climate Change are now open. This is the third research call in the three-year Joint Research Initiative pilot launched in 2022 by the Ministry for Primary Industries and Ireland’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Tenancy rules changes to improve rental market
    The coalition Government has today announced changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to encourage landlords back to the rental property market, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “The previous Government waged a war on landlords. Many landlords told us this caused them to exit the rental market altogether. It caused worse ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Boosting NZ’s trade and agricultural relationship with China
    Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay will visit China next week, to strengthen relationships, support Kiwi exporters and promote New Zealand businesses on the world stage. “China is one of New Zealand’s most significant trade and economic relationships and remains an important destination for New Zealand’s products, accounting for nearly 22 per cent of our good and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Freshwater farm plan systems to be improved
    The coalition Government intends to improve freshwater farm plans so that they are more cost-effective and practical for farmers, Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay have announced. “A fit-for-purpose freshwater farm plan system will enable farmers and growers to find the right solutions for their farm ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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