A top Trump health official met Monday with a group of doctors who are proponents of the controversial “herd immunity” approach to COVID-19, even as other experts warn of its deadly and dangerous consequences.
Martin Kulldorff, a professor at Harvard; Sunetra Gupta, a professor at Oxford; and Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford, all of whom are epidemiologists studying infectious diseases, were invited to the meeting by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Scott Atlas, an adviser to Trump on whom other experts have cast doubt for his statements about COVID-19, including his endorsement of herd immunity.
In the meeting, the three doctors told Azar that allowing the virus to spread uncontrolled among young, healthy people while protecting older adults and those at higher risk for serious illness would build up enough population immunity to stop it from spreading widely while avoiding lockdowns and other mitigation measures that have had a damaging impact on the economy.
No doubt the tRump cultists will lap up an unproven vaccine.
In his theatrical Monday display of flouting his doctors’ advice and returning to the White House, President Trump’s triumphal videotaped message contained a line that deserves more attention than it received: “The vaccines are coming momentarily.”
Trump has spent weeks hinting that he would like a vaccine to be announced before the election, and also that he distrusts his scientific advisers. Now his administration has overruled the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed vaccine guidelines, according to a report from the New York Times. It is abundantly clear Trump’s political team is overruling its scientists in order to rush through the approval of a vaccine before the election.
She's simply not good at it. And it's hurting the campaign. She's not good at turning crowds – much better simply riding with crowds who already agree with her.
The faster Woods and the campaign team gets Ardern back flashing that grin across the malls of New Zealand the better it will be for us all.
Shutting the borders and locking down are not the same thing. NZ was first by a day or two on both measures. Why Collins persist with this pointless and demonstrable lie I have no idea.
You can moisten them with your tears or keep them dry and crunchy and add a bit of butter and honey or vegemite on them. They are fillers till something better comes along, which we all await but the piece of resistance may have to wait till after the election.
In this important election the atmosphere is so full of pollution that exposing a manifesto to air will have it covered in viruses and other noxious matter from the right/wrong-wing.
After, we expect a great meal with healthy salads prepared by seasoned chefs plus all the other healthy foods, not forgetting the sensitive gluten intolerant.
Donald Trump could just stay in the White House behind the oval office desk and do interviews with Hannity (the most powerful tv show by and long way) and keep dominating the news cycles of Fox (the most powerful station ever).
That Trump name will perpetually echo even harder through every news cycle.
On the other hand if after a week he decides to hit the campaign trail with Pence, he will be lauded as the 3rd day resurrection of the next Christ: conquering death itself.
I see plenty of upside plays for Trump right now, and I'm sure he's got the confidence to play them.
Which might still be Biden's best strategy. Let it be all about Grampa Rage Nappies.
He's won coming out of tight corners by bringing others to his level. Drive up the Hillary-hate. Make sure the regulators that could bring him down would go down with him. Be too big for his banks to allow to fail. But if Biden stays out of the pig-wrestling pen, the Master of the Looniverse will be exposed out there all by himself.
However, Putin's courage will not be so desperate if you take a closer look at the same program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin". Even at the height of the epidemic, Zarubin, who had previously announced his stories about Putin directly from the studio of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, standing next to Solovyov, suddenly and without any explanation began to get in touch on TV from a mysterious room resembling a hotel room .
The interlocutors of the "Project" explain that all people who have to be near the head of state, regardless of their regalia and age, have to serve a very strict two-week quarantine. There are at least three places for the supreme quarantine.
I think Arderns debating has slipped markedly since last election, not sure why that should be,,,,but her interview skills are very good as she is currently demonstrating…Collins probably 'won' the debate but wont have won any new votes
Arderns debating has slipped markedly since last election, not sure why that should be,,,,
Last election all she had to do was concentrate on campaigning. This time she's PM and is running the country as well as campaigning. That, I suspect, is the difference.
As discussed previously, Collins has spent the entire campaign in safe blue territory. Tonight she had a tough, lively audience, for the very first time. They weren't there to provide sycophantic nods and smiles. They responded to what she said, and mostly they weren't impressed.
Reality hit her hard.
But that's the story of her career. Always believes her own mirror. National will be relieved to get rid of her next month. It will be the most welcome exit from NZ politics since Don Brash.
Judith started with raucous interjections but she looked a little startled by the negative audience reactions for the reasons as you pointed out Observer. It seemed that she was biting her tongue from there on in – most of the time. And afterwards she didn't seem happy with the journalists questions either. Same reason?
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 16, 2025 thru Sat, March 22, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. We are still interested ...
In recent months, I have garnered copious amusement playing Martin, chess.com’s infamously terrible Chess AI. Alas, it is not how it once was, when he would cheerfully ignore freely offered material. Martin has grown better since I first stumbled upon him. I still remain frustrated at his capture-happy determination to ...
Every time that I see ya,A lightning bolt fills the room,The underbelly of Paris,She sings her favourite tune,She'll drink you under the table,She'll show you a trick or two,But every time that I left her,I missed the things she would doSongwriters: Kelly JonesThis morning, I posted - Are you excited ...
Long stories shortest this week in our political economy:Standard & Poor’s judged the Government’s council finance reforms a failure. Professional investors showed the Government they want it to borrow more, not less. GDP bounced out of recession by more than forecast in the December quarter, but data for the ...
Each day at 4:30 my brother calls in at the rest home to see Dad. My visits can be months apart. Five minutes after you've left, he’ll have forgotten you were there, but every time, his face lights up and it’s a warm happy visit.Tim takes care of almost everything ...
On the 19th of March, ACT announced they would be running candidates in this year’s local government elections. Accompanying that call for “common-sense kiwis” was an anti-woke essay typifying the views they expect their candidates to hold. I have included that part of their mailer, Free Press, in its entirety. ...
Even when the darkest clouds are in the skyYou mustn't sigh and you mustn't crySpread a little happiness as you go byPlease tryWhat's the use of worrying and feeling blue?When days are long keep on smiling throughSpread a little happiness 'til dreams come trueSongwriters: Vivian Ellis / Clifford Grey / ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, Washington Post/$, Wired/$, ...
ACT up the game on division politicsEmmerson’s take on David Seymour’s claim Jesus would have supported ACTACT’s announcement it is moving into local politics is a logical next step for a party that is waging its battle on picking up the aggrieved.It’s a numbers game, and as long as the ...
1. What will be the slogan of the next butter ad campaign?a. You’re worth itb.Once it hits $20, we can do something about the riversc. I can’t believe it’s the price of butter d. None of the above Read more ...
It is said that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. That may be an exaggeration but an even better response is to point out economists do know the difference. They did not at first. Classical economics thought that the price of something reflected the objective ...
Political fighting in Taiwan is delaying some of an increase in defence spending and creating an appearance of lack of national resolve that can only damage the island’s relationship with the Trump administration. The main ...
The unclassified version of the 2024 Independent Intelligence Review (IIR) was released today. It’s a welcome and worthy sequel to its 2017 predecessor, with an ambitious set of recommendations for enhancements to Australia’s national intelligence ...
Yesterday outgoing Ombudsman Peter Boshier published a report, Reflections on the Official Information Act, on his way out the door. The report repeated his favoured mantra that the Act was "fundamentally sound", all problems were issues of culture, and that no legislative change was needed (and especially no changes to ...
The United States government is considering replacing USAID with a new agency, the US Agency for International Humanitarian Assistance (USIHA), according to documents published by POLITICO. Under the proposed design, the agency will fail its ...
Hi,Journalism was never the original plan. Back in the 90s, there was no career advisor in Bethlehem, New Zealand — just a computer that would ask you 50 questions before spitting out career options. Yes, I am in this photo. No, I was not good at basketball.The top three careers ...
Mōrena. Long stories shortest: Professional investors who are paid a lot of money to be careful about lending to the New Zealand Government think it is wonderful place to put their money. Yet the Government itself is so afraid of borrowing more that it is happy to kill its own ...
As space becomes more contested, Australia should play a key role with its partners in the Combined Space Operations (CSpO) initiative to safeguard the space domain. Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States signed the ...
Ooh you're a cool catComing on strong with all the chit chatOoh you're alrightHanging out and stealing all the limelightOoh messing with the beat of my heart yeah!Songwriters: Freddie Mercury / John Deacon.It would be a tad ironic; I can see it now. “Yeah, I didn’t unsubscribe when he said ...
The PSA are calling the Prime Minister a hypocrite for committing to increase defence spending while hundreds of more civilian New Zealand Defence Force jobs are set to be cut as part of a major restructure. The number of companies being investigated for people trafficking in New Zealand has skyrocketed ...
Another Friday, hope everyone’s enjoyed their week as we head toward the autumn equinox. Here’s another roundup of stories that caught our eye on the subject of cities and what makes them even better. This week in Greater Auckland On Monday, Connor took a look at how Auckland ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking with special guest author Michael Wolff, who has just published his fourth book about Donald Trump: ‘All or Nothing’.Here’s Peter’s writeup of the interview.The Kākā by Bernard Hickey Hoon: Trumpism ...
Wolff, who describes Trump as truly a ‘one of a kind’, at a book launch in Spain. Photo: GettyImagesIt may be a bumpy ride for the world but the era of Donald J. Trump will die with him if we can wait him out says the author of four best-sellers ...
Australia needs to radically reorganise its reserves system to create a latent military force that is much larger, better trained and equipped and deployable within days—not decades. Our current reserve system is not fit for ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, Washington Post/$, Wired/$, ...
I have argued before that one ought to be careful in retrospectively allocating texts into genres. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) only looks like science-fiction because a science-fiction genre subsequently developed. Without H.G. Wells, would Frankenstein be considered science-fiction? No, it probably wouldn’t. Viewed in the context of its time, Frankenstein ...
Elbridge Colby’s senate confirmation hearing in early March holds more important implications for US partners than most observers in Canberra, Wellington or Suva realise. As President Donald Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defence for ...
China’s defence budget is rising heftily yet again. The 2025 rise will be 7.2 percent, the same as in 2024, the government said on 5 March. But the allocation, officially US$245 billion, is just the ...
Concern is growing about wide-ranging local repercussions of the new Setting of Speed Limits rule, rewritten in 2024 by former transport minister Simeon Brown. In particular, there’s growing fears about what this means for children in particular. A key paradox of the new rule is that NZTA-controlled roads have the ...
Speilmeister:Christopher Luxon’s prime-ministerial pitches notwithstanding, are institutions with billions of dollars at their disposal really going to invest them in a country so obviously in a deep funk?HAVING WOOED THE WORLD’s investors, what, if anything, has New Zealand won? Did Christopher Luxon’s guests board their private jets fizzing with enthusiasm for ...
Christchurch City Council is one of 18 councils and three council-controlled organisations (CCOs) downgraded by ratings agency S&P. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories shortest:Standard & Poor’s has cut the credit ratings of 18 councils, blaming the new Government’s abrupt reversal of 3 Waters, cuts to capital ...
Figures released by Statistics New Zealand today showed that the economy grew by 0.7% ending the very deep recession seen over the past year, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “Even though GDP grew in the three months to December, our economy is still 1.1% smaller than it ...
What is going on with the price of butter?, RNZ, 19 march 2025: If you have bought butter recently you might have noticed something - it is a lot more expensive. Stats NZ said last week that the price of butter was up 60 percent in February compared to ...
I agree with Will Leben, who wrote in The Strategist about his mistakes, that an important element of being a commentator is being accountable and taking responsibility for things you got wrong. In that spirit, ...
You’d beDrunk by noon, no one would knowJust like the pandemicWithout the sourdoughIf I were there, I’d find a wayTo get treated for hysteriaEvery dayLyrics Riki Lindhome.A varied selection today in Nick’s Kōrero:Thou shalt have no other gods - with Christopher Luxon.Doctors should be seen and not heard - with ...
Two recent foreign challenges suggest that Australia needs urgently to increase its level of defence self-reliance and to ensure that the increased funding that this would require is available. First, the circumnavigation of our continent ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, The Atlantic-$, The ...
According to RNZ’s embedded reporter, the importance of Winston Peters’ talks in Washington this week “cannot be overstated.” Right. “Exceptionally important.” said the maestro himself. This epic importance doesn’t seem to have culminated in anything more than us expressing our “concern” to the Americans about a series of issues that ...
Up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of "Climate Fresk" and at a guess, this will also be the case for many of you. I stumbled upon it in the self-service training catalog for employees at the company I work at in Germany where it was announced ...
Japan and Australia talk of ‘collective deterrence,’ but they don’t seem to have specific objectives. The relationship needs a clearer direction. The two countries should identify how they complement each other. Each country has two ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the OPC’s decision to issue a code of practice for biometric processing. Our view is that the draft code currently being consulted on is stronger and will be more effective than the exposure code released in early 2024. We are pleased that some of the revisions ...
Australia’s export-oriented industries, particularly agriculture, need to diversify their markets, with a focus on Southeast Asia. This could strengthen economic security and resilience while deepening regional relationships. The Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on ...
Minister Shane Jones is introducing fastrack ‘reforms’ to the our fishing industry that will ensure the big players squeeze out the small fishers and entrench an already bankrupt quota system.Our fisheries are under severe stress: the recent decision by theHigh Court ruling that the ...
In what has become regular news, the quarterly ETS auction has failed, with nobody even bothering to bid. The immediate reason is that the carbon price has fallen to around $60, below the auction minimum of $68. And the cause of that is a government which has basically given up ...
US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats have dominated headlines in India in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Trump announced that his reciprocal tariffs—matching other countries’ tariffs on American goods—will go into effect on 2 April, ...
Hi,Back in June of 2021, James Gardner-Hopkins — a former partner at law firm Russell McVeagh — was found guilty of misconduct over sexually inappropriate behaviour with interns.The events all related to law students working as summer interns at Russell McVeagh:As well as intimate touching with a student at his ...
Climate sceptic MP Mark Cameron has slammed National for being ‘out of touch’ by sticking to our climate commitments. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories shortest:ACT’s renowned climate sceptic MP Mark Cameron has accused National of being 'out of touch' with farmers by sticking with New Zealand’s Paris accord pledges ...
Now I've heard there was a secret chordThat David played, and it pleased the LordBut you don't really care for music, do you?It goes like this, the fourth, the fifthThe minor falls, the major liftsThe baffled king composing HallelujahSongwriter: Leonard CohenI always thought the lyrics of that great song by ...
People are getting carried away with the virtues of small warship crews. We need to remember the great vice of having few people to run a ship: they’ll quickly tire. Yes, the navy is struggling ...
Mōrena. Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, The Atlantic-$, ...
US President Donald Trump’s hostile regime has finally forced Europe to wake up. With US officials calling into question the transatlantic alliance, Germany’s incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recently persuaded lawmakers to revise the country’s debt ...
We need to establish clearer political boundaries around national security to avoid politicising ongoing security issues and to better manage secondary effects. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) revealed on 10 March that the Dural caravan ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have reiterated their call for Government to protect workers by banning engineered stone in a submission on MBIE’s silica dust consultation. “If Brooke van Velden is genuine when she calls for an evidence-based approach to this issue, then she must support a full ban on ...
The Labour Inspectorate could soon be knocking on the door of hundreds of businesses nation-wide, as it launches a major crackdown on those not abiding by the law. NorthTec staff are on edge as Northland’s leading polytechnic proposes to stop 11 programmes across primary industries, forestry, and construction. Union coverage ...
It’s one thing for military personnel to hone skills with first-person view (FPV) drones in racing competitions. It’s quite another for them to transition to the complexities of the battlefield. Drone racing has become a ...
Seymour says there will be no other exemptions granted to schools wanting to opt out of the Compass contract. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories shortest:David Seymour has denied a request from a Christchurch school and any other schools to be exempted from the Compass school lunch programme, saying the contract ...
Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, and British Prime Minister John Major signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in ...
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler(Image credit: Antonio Huerta) Growing up in suburban Ohio, I was used to seeing farmland and woods disappear to make room for new subdivisions, strip malls, and big box stores. I didn’t usually welcome the changes, but I assumed others ...
Myanmar was a key global site for criminal activity well before the 2021 military coup. Today, illicit industry, especially heroin and methamphetamine production, still defines much of the economy. Nowhere, not even the leafiest districts ...
What've I gotta do to make you love me?What've I gotta do to make you care?What do I do when lightning strikes me?And I wake up and find that you're not thereWhat've I gotta do to make you want me?Mmm hmm, what've I gotta do to be heard?What do I ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...
Whenever Christopher Luxon drops a classically fatuous clanger or whenever the government has a bad poll – i.e. every week – the talk resumes that he is about to be rolled. This is unlikely for several reasons. For starters, there is no successor. Nicola Willis? Chris Bishop? Simeon Brown? Mark ...
Australia, Britain and European countries should loosen budget rules to allow borrowing to fund higher defence spending, a new study by the Kiel Institute suggests. Currently, budget debt rules are forcing governments to finance increases ...
The NZCTU remains strongly committed to banning engineered stone in New Zealand and implementing better occupational health protections for all workers working with silica-containing materials. In this submission to MBIE, the NZCTU outlines that we have an opportunity to learn from Australia’s experience by implementing a full ban of engineered ...
The Prime Minister has announced a big win in trade negotiations with India.It’s huge, he told reporters. We didn't get everything we came for but we were able to agree on free trade in clothing, fabrics, car components, software, IT consulting, spices, tea, rice, and leather goods.He said that for ...
I have been trying to figure out the logic of Trump’s tariff policies and apparent desire for a global trade war. Although he does not appear to comprehend that tariffs are a tax on consumers in the country doing the tariffing, I can (sort of) understand that he may think ...
As Syria and international partners negotiate the country’s future, France has sought to be a convening power. While France has a history of influence in the Middle East, it will have to balance competing Syrian ...
One of the eternal truths about Aotearoa's economy is that we are "capital poor": there's not enough money sloshing around here to fund the expansion of local businesses, or to build the things we want to. Which gets used as an excuse for all sorts of things, like setting up ...
National held its ground until late 2023 Verion, Talbot Mills & Curia Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)If we remove outlier results from Curia (National Party November 2023) National started trending down in October 2024.Verion Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)Verian alone shows a clearer deterioration in early ...
In a recent presentation, I recommended, quite unoriginally, that governments should have a greater focus on higher-impact, lower-probability climate risks. My reasoning was that current climate model projections have blind spots, meaning we are betting ...
Daddy, are you out there?Daddy, won't you come and play?Daddy, do you not care?Is there nothing that you want to say?Songwriters: Mark Batson / Beyonce Giselle Knowles.This morning, a look at the much-maligned NZ Herald. Despised by many on the left as little more than a mouthpiece for the National ...
Employers, unions and health and safety advocates are calling for engineered stone to be banned, a day before consultation on regulations closes. On Friday the PSA lodged a pay equity claim for library assistants with the Employment Relations Authority, after the stalling of a claim lodged with six councils in ...
Hundreds more Palestinians have died in recent days as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, is blocked. ...
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...
At 2.30am local time, Israel launched a treacherous attack on Gaza killing more than 300 defenceless civilians while they slept. Many of them were children. This followed a more than 2 week-long blockade by Israel on the entry of all goods and aid into Gaza. Israel deliberately targeted densely populated ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...
Labour does not support the private ownership of core infrastructure like schools, hospitals and prisons, which will only see worse outcomes for Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is disappointed the Government voted down Hūhana Lyndon’s member’s Bill, which would have prevented further alienation of Māori land through the Public Works Act. ...
The Labour Party will support Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill which would allow sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. ...
The Government’s new procurement rules are a blatant attack on workers and the environment, showing once again that National’s priorities are completely out of touch with everyday Kiwis. ...
With Labour and Te Pāti Māori’s official support, Opposition parties are officially aligned to progress Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in Palestine. ...
Te Pāti Māori extends our deepest aroha to the 500 plus Whānau Ora workers who have been advised today that the govt will be dismantling their contracts. For twenty years , Whānau Ora has been helping families, delivering life-changing support through a kaupapa Māori approach. It has built trust where ...
Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end. ...
This morning’s announcement by the Health Minister regarding a major overhaul of the public health sector levels yet another blow to the country’s essential services. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will ensure employment decisions in the public service are based on merit and not on forced woke ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ targets. “This Bill would put an end to the woke left-wing social engineering and diversity targets in the public sector. ...
Police have referred 20 offenders to Destiny Church-affiliated programmes Man Up and Legacy as ‘wellness providers’ in the last year, raising concerns that those seeking help are being recruited into a harmful organisation. ...
Te Pāti Māori welcomes the resignation of Richard Prebble from the Waitangi Tribunal. His appointment in October 2024 was a disgrace- another example of this government undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi by appointing a former ACT leader who has spent his career attacking Māori rights. “Regardless of the reason for ...
Police Minister Mark Mitchell is avoiding accountability by refusing to answer key questions in the House as his Government faces criticism over their dangerous citizen’s arrest policy, firearm reform, and broken promises to recruit more police. ...
The number of building consents issued under this Government continues to spiral, taking a toll on the infrastructure sector, tradies, and future generations of Kiwi homeowners. ...
It was a tough landing back in New Zealand for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who have returned home high on successful trips to India and the US, respectively.But Kiwis have given the National-led coalition a rating of 4.2 out of 10 in the latest Ipsos ...
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Comment: Māori once grew enough fruit and vegetables to feed Auckland, yet these days many struggle to afford healthy food.Today, Māori and Pacific people experience more food insecurity than other ethnicities in Aotearoa, because they are likely to have less income. The places they live are often food deserts – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Jim Chalmers likes to boast, or marvel, that he is the first treasurer since Ben Chifley to deliver four budgets in a term. If Labor wins the May election, the treasurer will reckon the ...
Comment: It’s going to be a big few weeks for the Rt Hon Winston Raymond Peters.Fresh off the plane from Washington DC and a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he delivered his New Zealand First party’s state of the nation speech in Christchurch on Sunday.By week’s end, Peters ...
Parliament's recent inquiry and debate on climate change adaptation asked small questions, looked short-term and inched towards reactive solutions. ...
No news is good newsLord Breen of Seymour was taking the watersAt the Head in the Clouds Health Spa.A figure walked up the long, winding stepsTo his mountain top resort.It was the Court Surgeon.“What’s up, Sawbones?,” chuckled Lord Breen.“Why didn’t you fly up in the Royal Balloon?”“Lo,” said the Court ...
Asia Pacific Report Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick called on New Zealand government MPs today to support her Member’s Bill to sanction Israel over its “crazy slaughter” of Palestinians in Gaza. Speaking at a large pro-Palestinian solidarity rally in the heart of New Zealand’s largest city Auckland, she said Aotearoa ...
The draft bill was intended to stop any move away from the principle of equal suffrage, where each person gets an equal say in electing people, Uffindell said. ...
By Leah Lowonbu, Stefan Armbruster and Harlyne Joku of BenarNews The Pacific’s peak diplomatic bodies have signalled they are ready to engage with Papua New Guinea’s Autonomous Government of Bougainville as mediation begins on the delayed ratification of its successful 2019 independence referendum. PNG and Bougainville’s leaders met in the ...
MONDAYThe party of honoured New Zealanders were shown an old fort. “Awesome,” said Mr Luxon.He wore a gold turban, a white linen jacket, a peacock-illustrated waistcoat sewn with exquisite rubies, a white dhoti crafted from finest polyester with 1 1/2″ gold jari border, and a $625 pair of Christian Kimber ...
Christopher Luxon's trip to India included the restart of trade talks, the tightening of defence ties, and more than a spot of cricket - RNZ's deputy political editor takes us behind the scenes. ...
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Three heavyweight academics have conducted a linguistic analysis of the Greens parliamentary utterances: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/123001871/analysis-shows-the-greens-have-changed-the-language-of-economic-debate-in-new-zealand
[Content deleted because it contained too many links that triggered Auto-Moderation]
that was cool.
My God. What are that lot in America on? Beggars belief:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-54427762
They're barking mad!
Indeed.
A top Trump health official met Monday with a group of doctors who are proponents of the controversial “herd immunity” approach to COVID-19, even as other experts warn of its deadly and dangerous consequences.
Martin Kulldorff, a professor at Harvard; Sunetra Gupta, a professor at Oxford; and Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford, all of whom are epidemiologists studying infectious diseases, were invited to the meeting by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Scott Atlas, an adviser to Trump on whom other experts have cast doubt for his statements about COVID-19, including his endorsement of herd immunity.
In the meeting, the three doctors told Azar that allowing the virus to spread uncontrolled among young, healthy people while protecting older adults and those at higher risk for serious illness would build up enough population immunity to stop it from spreading widely while avoiding lockdowns and other mitigation measures that have had a damaging impact on the economy.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/519727-trump-health-official-meets-with-doctors-pushing-herd-immunity#.
Judith says she likes blood sports, but only when she's the hunter, not the prey. The Christchurch leaders' debate is not what she had in mind.
Is she not enjoying herself? Pity.
Oh, she's enjoying being Trumpy and getting votes back from Advance and New Cons, maybe ACT.
It's just the country she's losing.
No doubt the tRump cultists will lap up an unproven vaccine.
In his theatrical Monday display of flouting his doctors’ advice and returning to the White House, President Trump’s triumphal videotaped message contained a line that deserves more attention than it received: “The vaccines are coming momentarily.”
Trump has spent weeks hinting that he would like a vaccine to be announced before the election, and also that he distrusts his scientific advisers. Now his administration has overruled the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed vaccine guidelines, according to a report from the New York Times. It is abundantly clear Trump’s political team is overruling its scientists in order to rush through the approval of a vaccine before the election.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/trump-vaccine-overrules-fda-election-coronavirus-science.html
Not being funny, but Ardern is looking a bit weak in this one to me.
She's simply not good at it. And it's hurting the campaign. She's not good at turning crowds – much better simply riding with crowds who already agree with her.
The faster Woods and the campaign team gets Ardern back flashing that grin across the malls of New Zealand the better it will be for us all.
Are you even watching it?
She doesn't need to turn the crowd.
Will be quite interesting to see what the people criticising Collins about interrupting will say about about Ardern's this time.
I hate to quote the devil but this is exactly on point …
https://twitter.com/MatthewHootonNZ/status/1313370460743057408
There's a link to the stuff site below @4.2
This is probably the most interesting debate so far.
They are letting them go a bit free form
She's got the crowd eating out of her hand
She closed well.
If you mean Ardern I just thought I had never seen someone throw so many slogans in with so little substance behind it.
I've never seen someone spout the same porkie in both debates.
https://twitter.com/TheSpinoffTV/status/1313366621629542400
Making up facts on the hoof is the leader’s call.
https://asiapacificreport.nz/2020/03/20/tonga-declares-state-of-emergency-shuts-borders-over-coronavirus/
Though not a month
NZ 19 Samoa 21st.
Cheers
There appears to be a bit of confusion.
Quite funny how the spinoff can't google
Or Stuff
Collins' earned an early round of boos when she said Samoa had shut its borders before New Zealand (it didn't), something Ardern immediately pushed back on.
https://asiapacificreport.nz/2020/03/20/tonga-declares-state-of-emergency-shuts-borders-over-coronavirus/
March the 20th
Actually. Apologies.
Thought we closed ours on the 23rd.
You are correct
Fact check: Did Sāmoa really lockdown ‘a month before New Zealand’? In the most heated exchange of the debate so far, Collins accused Ardern of “disrespecting” Sāmoa for rejecting Collins’ claim that the nation went into lockdown a month before New Zealand. So who’s right? In this case, Ardern. Sāmoa went into lockdown on March 26, a day after New Zealand entered level four lockdown.
Well if we were the 25th then that makes Samoa first given my link.
Links to official news stories don't lie
They never lie
2:00 pm on 26 March 2020
Samoa is now officially on lock down. The government said people or organisations who don't adhere to new Covid-19 lockdown requirements will face finds. Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi said the last flights from Fiji, New Zealand and American Samoa had arrived and all passengers are now under 14 days quarantine.
Shutting the borders and locking down are not the same thing. NZ was first by a day or two on both measures. Why Collins persist with this pointless and demonstrable lie I have no idea.
I find it quite bizarre that voting is already well underway and Ardern has yet to release a manifesto.
Makes me think we're in for a term of smile-and-wave politics punctuated by crisis management, wrinse and repeat, here comes 2026.
better vote Green then eh.
Like eating dry Weetbix
I like dry weetbix. Good nibbling food while consuming a book.
Hey you're the one who wanted a manifesto.. 🙂
You can moisten them with your tears or keep them dry and crunchy and add a bit of butter and honey or vegemite on them. They are fillers till something better comes along, which we all await but the piece of resistance may have to wait till after the election.
In this important election the atmosphere is so full of pollution that exposing a manifesto to air will have it covered in viruses and other noxious matter from the right/wrong-wing.
After, we expect a great meal with healthy salads prepared by seasoned chefs plus all the other healthy foods, not forgetting the sensitive gluten intolerant.
She has already won the argument.
Apologies.
Would have probably helped putting the stream link in for people.
They are currently having a half time break for a few minutes.
But there is a discussion on the first one going on inbetween
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122837729/election-2020-livestream-jacinda-ardern-and-judith-collins-face-off-in-the-press-leaders-debate
Donald Trump could just stay in the White House behind the oval office desk and do interviews with Hannity (the most powerful tv show by and long way) and keep dominating the news cycles of Fox (the most powerful station ever).
That Trump name will perpetually echo even harder through every news cycle.
On the other hand if after a week he decides to hit the campaign trail with Pence, he will be lauded as the 3rd day resurrection of the next Christ: conquering death itself.
I see plenty of upside plays for Trump right now, and I'm sure he's got the confidence to play them.
https://twitter.com/RepMattGaetz/status/1313125654897008641
https://www.thewrap.com/matt-gaetz-chuck-norris-donald-trump/
An oldie but still a goodie:
Herman who?
https://twitter.com/TimOBrien/status/1313192280971452418
But Cain's twitter-thumbs still work. Something for the tinyfingers twittertwat to look forward to.
Trump's by no means 'out of the woods'. It's the second week of COVID infection that is the most dangerous.
Still he's looked at the odds and decided they're good enough to roll with. He's a gambler by nature.
He's been in tighter corners than this before, and won.
His brand and media force just make it impossible to talk about Biden.
Which might still be Biden's best strategy. Let it be all about Grampa Rage Nappies.
He's won coming out of tight corners by bringing others to his level. Drive up the Hillary-hate. Make sure the regulators that could bring him down would go down with him. Be too big for his banks to allow to fail. But if Biden stays out of the pig-wrestling pen, the Master of the Looniverse will be exposed out there all by himself.
That seems to be working on the nationwide polls and on the betting spreads.
So bloody true, I like your comment.
confidence, try – cocksure full of oneself arrogant as bold as brassaudacious brazen impudent insolent
The PM smashing the acting leader of the national party in this debate.
Well noted @TheAl1en
After two debates where Judith Collins managed to steer the discussion more often than not, and keep her from performing paragraph-long sentences, Jacinda Ardern commanded the stage at The Press debate. She interrupted Collins whenever she felt like it. She didn't pause or hesitate when Collins interrupted her – steam-rolling all the way through. And she played the room like a fiddle.
lol
Some of the cost of Covid is the unique people we have lost to it. In this case an artist from St. Petersburg.
Meanwhile, Poots lives in his very own bubble.
However, Putin's courage will not be so desperate if you take a closer look at the same program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin". Even at the height of the epidemic, Zarubin, who had previously announced his stories about Putin directly from the studio of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, standing next to Solovyov, suddenly and without any explanation began to get in touch on TV from a mysterious room resembling a hotel room .
The interlocutors of the "Project" explain that all people who have to be near the head of state, regardless of their regalia and age, have to serve a very strict two-week quarantine. There are at least three places for the supreme quarantine.
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proekt.media%2Fnarrative%2Fvaktsina-koronavirus%2F
well saw last half and dont think anyone will be changing their minds after tonight..and for over 10% of voters its too late anyway
Actually enjoyed that one.
Both showed up with a bit of back bone.
Ardern is starting to come across as over practiced too much and fake, but she is going to win anyway so she might as well go with the flow.
I think Arderns debating has slipped markedly since last election, not sure why that should be,,,,but her interview skills are very good as she is currently demonstrating…Collins probably 'won' the debate but wont have won any new votes
Last election all she had to do was concentrate on campaigning. This time she's PM and is running the country as well as campaigning. That, I suspect, is the difference.
Funny how bias colours your comment, where mine saw nothing fake about Jacinda at all, rather I saw a bit of a flake in Judith.
You could point your own point back at you tbf
I did actually, tbf (mine)
Good debate though. Both showed they are no roll over and be hammered.
Not much sign of Judith’s mob on Twitter. And wonder of wonders Henry Cooke at Stuff thinks Ardern won it.
As discussed previously, Collins has spent the entire campaign in safe blue territory. Tonight she had a tough, lively audience, for the very first time. They weren't there to provide sycophantic nods and smiles. They responded to what she said, and mostly they weren't impressed.
Reality hit her hard.
But that's the story of her career. Always believes her own mirror. National will be relieved to get rid of her next month. It will be the most welcome exit from NZ politics since Don Brash.
Judith started with raucous interjections but she looked a little startled by the negative audience reactions for the reasons as you pointed out Observer. It seemed that she was biting her tongue from there on in – most of the time. And afterwards she didn't seem happy with the journalists questions either. Same reason?
Did she not lead the audience in prayer then?
Spend 20 minutes and learn some political economy….and if you think this dosnt apply here remember that the ratings agencies are US based as well.
https://michael-hudson.com/2020/10/%e2%80%a8debt-deflation-and-the-neofeudal-empire/
But there is hope as we have a Parliamentary system and can at least vote for alternatives