The inclusion is at the community level, it might not even include domestic competition at the regional or inter-provincial level (as/when these are pathways for athletes to international competition).
In sporting parlance this is known as a "hospital pass" onto the clubs and codes under sport-nz. Basically it'll be fine as long as any trans athletes taking this up are not very skilled, but if they are then there will be some media attention and protest on these codes and clubs which implemented the policy. And you'd be a bit daft as a code to push ahead with advertising your new participation policy, as that might attract some testing of the new entry threshold.
Nic, I disagree that this will be fine as long as trans and non binary atheletes are not very skilled. A case in point is Kate Wetherley, a mountain biker who rode in the mens competition up until around 18 years.
At local level even mediocre trans women are creating issues for women in sport. I know of two women who have left their chosen community sport because of sustaining injuries due to biological males being allowed to compete with them. I believe this will be the tip of the ice berg.
To quote Kate "people said that we're coming in and ruining the sport, but there are way bigger isues that women in sport face" Thanks Kate for mansplaining to us that the cyclists who know they are being cheated out of a win, face far bigger issues. Kate was a mediocre cyclist when racing in the male category and now is robbing women of titles in the womens section. The arrogance and entitlement is astounding.
Its hard to see how many of the left, who supposedly champion women's rights, are so firmly behind this and the message to women is, "come on be kind, don't be petty"
No apologies necessary. Its actually above my expectations when anybody pays attention to anything I say anyway, and in this case provided a pretty good example of what I was describing.
At local level even mediocre trans women are creating issues for women in sport. I know of two women who have left their chosen community sport because of sustaining injuries due to biological males being allowed to compete with them. I believe this will be the tip of the ice berg.
I have heard of a case in the UK of women being injured at rugby team training. The sport here will be able to take account of this in formulating policy. If they do not do so, this will impact how successfully they build the game at community level.
The only obligation on sports clubs is to accept law as to "gender self ID", just as everyone else will have to. Clubs however are free to limit inclusion based on player safety – this would involve physical contact sport.
So the only real obligation here is, if some male team decides its playing in the woman's grade this season, then they absolutely have to be believed as genuine when they say their players are all 'non-binary'?
Really? That is called "gatekeeping" these days. The only thing they have to do (under Self ID) is to open their mouths and recite the magic words "I identify as –". Look at Alex Drummond in the UK. No diagnosis, no hormones, no surgery – he does not even have to shave off his beard. Identifies as a woman – and as a lesbian.
No. The UK (maybe soon England and Wales and NI as Scotland is currently legislating self ID) does not have self ID as its legal standard (we do), so such a person would not be able to play in women's sports in England ….
Even here, with self ID, sports could require some evidential proof (such as documentation of women's ID – drivers license/passport/changed birth certificate).
I mean it seems a bit onerous expecting sporting clubs to be monitoring their participants for a full year around competition. Couldn't they just, you know, like show the club their entire browser history, or something non invasive instead?
Athletes will not need to “prove or otherwise justify their gender, sex or gender identity”, said Sport NZ in its release on Tuesday. – From the Stuff article at 1.
Hmmm, doesn't sound like Sports NZ is actually saying that. If they were saying that I think it would hardly be notable, because you have then some clear guide lines for sports codes and clubs to follow, e.g If they have a certificate/documentation then they can enter. But the way they are saying it seems more like the well known "don't ask, don't tell" army policy with sporting codes and clubs expected to wear any flak which results from that going wrong.
The change from test (medical – diagnosis and assisted transition etc) , to no test occurred with self ID. This is all the wording really refers to. It is the direction to them/sports bodies after the parliamentary legislation enabled self ID.
Really? Because one could clearly and simply say that as "sporting codes and clubs will not reject the gender recognition documentation issued by parliament".
I'm getting more of an "If they sign up for womans sport that shouldn't be challenged by anyone" vibe from the Sport NZ statement.
Actually I think my club might have had to ask if a couple of boys had been signed up for girls grades by accident, which they were (refunds were issued). Got a bit lucky there, I guess.
That seems to confuse the issue further. Now the sporting codes are expected to create some kind of player safety statement to justify excluding trans women (and non-binary, whatever that actually means) from participating in the women's category. Apparently they should do this even if its just unfair, because Sport NZ doesn't present any other grounds for rejecting this participation (like maybe its considered unfair).
But somehow this still applies even though NZ parliament passed legislation allowing self ID and some of these potential participants can have documentation indicating they should be in that category.
1. It's an acknowledgment that international level sport rules are set according to fair competition
2. It's a direction to local sports administration as to community level sport – it speaks to how any participation is to be managed (self ID as is this is current government policy society wide).
3. It allows individual sports to determine its own rules with regard to player safety.
4. It does not make any sport funding conditional on allowing transgender players.
Transgender athletes will be able to participate in sport in the gender they identify with, and will not need to “prove or … justify” their identity according to new guiding principles released by Sport New Zealand.
The principles only apply to community level sport – not elite level sport – but it will be up to sports bodies to define where and how the trans athletes will participate.
Sports bodies will not lose funding if they do not adopt the principles within their inclusion and diversity policies, and some organisations may have policies that reflect safety over inclusion, Sport New Zealand chief executive Raelene Castle said.
Nicely put. Also, as a longtime sports administrator, the Human Rights Act does not automatically allow separate divisions within sports for women, nor for girls under 12 in any sport, so there will be sports e.g. motor racing where this debate doesn't really apply. That doesn't prevent having women's and girls' competitions/divisions in those sports/ages as measures to promote equality e.g. increase participation to equal levels, but it's not blanket by any means.
I'm not a parent, but it's hard to understand how parents would risk this child's life in this way. Even if they believe that blood from vaccinated people might cause harm to their child, this is still a far lesser harm than death.
I suppose the media will be out there in full force filming the inevitable protests of VFF and other attention seeking cults. Given they only represent around 1 to 2% of the population they should be ignored. Their views have been well and truly trashed.
Just having a wee korero with the 'health professional I see most often' about this issue.
Jehova's Witnesses aren't down with blood transfusions. I understand they are able to 'bank' their own blood and use that. There is 'the precedent' already established that some naysayers, on this issue are keen to avoid.
I figure this is a fairly complex and nuanced issue and I am wary of those with black and white views on it – from either side of the debate. Just another unintended consequence that is not on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission.
and if anti-vaxers want to have that special privilege they need to do the mahi of lobbying the government to have that system set up (which also means making a coherent case). But individuals demanding this is problematic because of the precedent it sets for individuals demanding this.
Do JW's have this concession because religious belief is protected in law?
Tad unfair of you to have expected them to organise and legitimise their position by now, in these turbulent times. They are parents of twins after all.
As to the JW's I'm not sure how their 'privelege' come about.
Tad unfair of you to have expected them to organise and legitimise their position by now, in these turbulent times. They are parents of twins after all.
I wasn't saying the parents should organise that. I'm saying that if antivaxers want this special provision they need to organise and lobby. Otherwise what is being suggested is that any time someone wants special treatment, they should get it.
They did organise and lobby, and they had their own blood donors available and ready.
I was watching a presentation yesterday about Statins and how pharma pushes them. Some were even advocating for putting Statins in the public water supply at one point.
Some day the public might actually thank these so-called "anti-vaxxers" for standing up to corporate tyranny.
Apparently, according to this presenter I refer to, this dates back to Reagan liberalising the pharma industry and letting them conduct their own clinical trials.
Having been a blood donor like my father, when we were both diagnosed as having familial high cholesterol, it was not the fact that we had both been placed on statins that was the reason why we were deemed unsuitable to continue as blood donors.
The reason we were unsuitable was the fact of the diagnosis of familial high cholesterol. The medication we took to control it did not figure.
In our diagnosis, and with my decision to have the vaccine there was no corporate tyranny exerted. I think you are drawing a long bow to suggest that I would ever have anything to thank anti vaxxers for.
I always get all sides and make my own decisions on medical procedures and did not need tor read an array of conspiracy theories to get the other side.
I realise that but having got it wrong about statins it was on the cards that he would say next that having statins is accepted in blood donations, so beware!
The myth making about what shows up, in our blood and for how long is something the anti vaxxers and gullible others are getting wrong, as the court case with the wee baby shows.
Statins are as a help against heart disease (CVD) .
Whether to take statins if prescribed and whether to have a vaccination is ultimately a personal decision to be made with the very best information on both sides.
I don't class scare tactics against the covid vaccine and statins as being the very best information.
I class as scare tactics unlinked statements saying that 'they' were thinking of putting statins in the water.
I have found several articles about statins and have linked to the latest
<em> I realise that but having got it wrong about statins it was on the cards that he would say next that having statins is accepted in blood donations, so beware! </em>
Ahem are you referring to me? What did I get "wrong" about Statins, exactly?
Ahem are you referring to me? What did I get “wrong” about Statins, exactly?
You’ve been asked to provide evidence for your assertion that someone wanted to put statins in the water supply. Please prvice this evidence now. You will be in premod until both Incog and myself are satisfied. You’ve been here long enough to know two things. One is the standard of debate we expect (provide evidence for claims of fact). Two, mods hate our time being wasted by people who should know better.
thank-you. Next time please provide the link and points upfront. Making a note in the back end. You have a lot of form for this and the mods are sick of chasing it up.
I’ve even interviewed people who’ve participated in debates in the US about putting statins in water supply.
Unnamed people [plural?] in unspecified debates [plural?] that is now put into a context to suit a narrative.
Take it or leave it. It’s someone’s presentation.
Nope, that’s not an option, as you used it to make and support your own conspiracy claims in this forum. You don’t get to wash your hands off this that easily and you’ll stay in Pre-Mod for a little longer.
Can you actually link to what you were talking about please. It certainly read to me that you were critical of statins and was trying to link 'tyranny' in the pharma involvement in statins/vaccines. If you were not trying to make a point that big bad pharma was involved in vaccines and statins then what was the link/point?
I was watching a presentation yesterday about Statins and how pharma pushes them. Some were even advocating for putting Statins in the public water supply at one point.
Some day the public might actually thank these so-called "anti-vaxxers" for standing up to corporate tyranny.
Apparently, according to this presenter I refer to, this dates back to Reagan liberalising the pharma industry and letting them conduct their own clinical trials.
That is not the choice they are making. The parents appear to understand the risk to their child perfectly well – and seem to have made all reasonable efforts to organise an alternative donor source.
I doubt they are thinking in terms of risk at all.
Having had two children who both required major surgery as infants I can viscerally relate to how they are thinking at the moment.
If you have ever had to hand over your 18 month old baby daughter to a surgeon to have her eye removed (retina blastoma) you might have some inkling as to the anxiety and grief they are going through.
Now toss in a gratuitously sadistic High Court proceeding for good measure, not to mention being shat on by armchair authoritarians all over social media – and the answer I come up with is trauma.
Today we also heard of a Maori woman who in the course of a 2 minute phone call was advised that she had Stage 3 cancer, would require fast aggressive surgery, and massively invasive chemo.
It makes news frankly because the poor management can be couched in unimpeachable Maori values, and so the system sits up and takes notice. Good on her as well for getting the story.
The fact that the child's surgery came to a court case indicates a massive relationship failure on the part of the health professionals. It is their job to take the intensely vulnerable couple through the procedure and care, not the other way round.
Thanks Ad. Typing that very personal comment above stirred up old memories – and I've been here long enough to know when I have said my piece and to leave it at this.
Now toss in a gratuitously sadistic High Court proceeding featuring a King's Counsel who manages to conflate parents' valid concerns with racism…
He suggested if such a request was granted, it opened the door to other requests that were theoretically possible to achieve – such as requesting blood from a specific ethnicity but ethically and clinically bankrupt.
”There’s also a slippery slope element to it,” he said. ”We have been there before as a society.”
Things have got seriously weird. It seems to have escaped the notice of the armchair authoritarians that NZ Blood Service does impose mandatory stand down periods after certain vaccines…up to 28 days…yet none for the new and novel Covid products whose long term effects are unknown.
NZ Blood Service imposes stand down periods following certain "live virus" vaccines. Those are known to pose a risk as for a period of time those viruses can end up in the blood stream, which could later cause complications for a recipient of blood.
Were as the implementation of "extra cautious" your proposing would have resulted in highly limited blood collection for a period of months (probably years if Sue Gray gets to say whos blood to collect) and for no particular reason.
I'm sure unnecessary blood shortages are not something NZ Blood Service considers a reasonable outcome.
An intelligent medical/public health system could have anticipated this outcome and advised the government that the Pfizer product should be recommended only to those in the known 'at risk' categories for negative outcomes of Covid 19.
(Especially since the 'prevention of transmission' promise was…optimistic.)
Like the very elderly and those with co- morbidities. Most likely those who are not able to donate blood anyways.
Look, I have absolutely no doubt that if some nutter like yourself was put in charge of policy for NZ Blood Service (or other aspect of the NZ health system) you could quite capably run it into the ground within a year or so, causing massive harm and public health disaster. Fortunately for us there is no way that's happening.
That leaves this particular policy disaster as merely a product of your imagination, which I hope you will agree is a good thing.
The parents appear to understand the risk to their child perfectly well
No they don't. They have vastly over-estimated the risk of their child receiving donated blood from a Covid vaccine recipient. This risk is near-zero and yet they are ranking it as the highest risk of all. Their risk-assessment has been poisoned by the deliberate politicisation of the pandemic. If they get their wish, it opens the door to unsustainable and unscientific cherry-picking of blood donors by recipients.
Wouldn't have happened if they'd just quietly acceded to the parent's wishes and got on with saving the baby, after all, that is the prime issue, isn't it?
Who blew it up out of the water by stubbornly refusing a very simple and doable procedure that the parents were happy with
Wouldn't have happened if they'd just quietly acceded to the parent's wishes…
They can't do that because it would have opened up a can of worms and undermined the efficacy of the blood transfusion process which is second to none.
"A lawyer for the blood service, Adam Ross KC, on Wednesday described the request for that order as exceptional and without precedent. Ross said it would jeopardise the integrity of the donor service and open the door to ethically and clinically bankrupt requests regarding donor blood.
“It is a concern that an order like this can damage and will damage an excellent blood service,” he said."
It's the absence of evidence to the contrary, bolstered by the consensus of expert medical opinion which is usually our most reliable guide in the face of uncertainty. Medical opinion is not infallible – I am not gullible about these things, having first-hand experience of wrong and (perhaps) deliberately deceptive medical advice. However, we discovered its deceptiveness by consulting other medical opinion, so the general rule of thumb remains a good one. Absolutists who demand impossible certainty usually end up in a deep hole.
There's also a whole lot of other evidence based items / products that go into the patient's body during surgery other than blood products.
The actual risk from many of those is many times greater than than the actual demonstrated risk of mrna vaccines, let alone blood from someone vaccinated 12 months ago. Not to mention the probabilities of probably hundreds of potential adverse outcomes from the procedure the we mite is about to undergo to hopefully save and extent it's life.
How the hell do we turn this mass hysteria around.
If anyone gave more fucks for the wee mites life than protecting the 'safe and effective' vaccine narrative – the medics involved would have quietly accepted the parents donor offer and gotten the job done by now.
I am the one dealing with a serious, life threatening autoimmune condition – triggered by the vaccines. I don't demand anyone share my perspective, but equally I am not going to be lectured to by authoritarian ideologues who are motivated primarily to protect a political narrative.
@Redlogix I'm very sorry to hear of your condition and I wish you well for the future.
I agree with you here. The government could have de-escalated this early on by agreeing to the parents demands early on, flew under the radar and got it all hushed up.
Instead the authorities have opened up the wounds from 12 months ago and got the people all riled up.
The mother (interviewed by Alex Jones, no less) stated that she is a midwife that was marched off her job because of the mandates, and that she is currently unable to leave the hospital ward with her baby.
Why would the authoritie have agreed to something like this had huge risks for the supply of blood for the future.
I actually don't think that it is up to parents to impose their will on a person who is too young to make their own decisions. The parents should be making a separate decision, based on different facts for their child not blindly following their own views. These may be fine for an adult to rationalise but another person…….no. Children are not 'owned' by their parents.
” It is one thing to have these beliefs as an adult with only one adult, you, to look after but once you have another person who is totally reliant on you and no voice of their own it is quite another thing. The ethical questions need framing differently.
The fact that she is a health professional makes it even more concerning. Is she also a follower of Andrew Wakefield and will the baby be vaccinated against measles/mumps/rubella?”
If someone of Maori descent turns up and demands no blood from Pakeha donors, will you support them too Andy? Should this be quietly resolved and their wishes accommodated? What if a gay person demands no blood from straight donors, or an anti-5G activist demands no blood from people living near cellphone towers, a Labour voter demands no blood from Nat voters? Should we let a thousand forms of such nuttiness bloom – will you pay more tax to fund the army of loathed 'bureaucrats' making it all work?
Now sure – that's a slippery slope argument and nobody has actually done those things yet. But big, critical systems can't open themselves up to precedents that might compromise their operability.
I should also add that the archive also has a page that discourages this.
I have no idea why the page was deleted from NZ Blood. perhaps cost cutting.
Presumably there is cost and time associated with screening blood, but I have blood tests every 6 months or so as a regular health check, so it can't be that hard or require a huge infrastructure to support it.
Please stop with your uninformed comments as they only seed discord and confusion.
Running lab diagnostics on small blood samples is quite different from the involved (read: expensive) manufacturing processes of blood and blood products from pooled blood donors, which includes extensive testing and storage.
Directed donation was not recommended in international expert consensus guidelines and most national blood providers, including the UK, Australia and Canada, did not support them, she said.
That sentence means remarkably little to me, I'm afraid.
Normally I'd respond to your key point but I remember … not all that long ago … two very reasonable women on this site politely took issue with a line of argument you were pursuing … and, it seems, you were left in shock, felt violated & invalidated … in fact you went as far as suggesting you'd been personally 'Colonised' by these two very respectful (indeed remarkably restrained) women & there was some implication that you felt you'd metaphorically been kidnapped, thrown onto a sailing ship & then subsequently sold into white slavery among 17th century Moroccan Sultans on the Barbary Coast.
I wouldn't want to put you through that sort of Emotional Genocide all over again by taking issue with something you’ve said.
It’s clearly a tragic life of eternal Martyrdom for affluent Woke [… deleted]
[lprent: If you’d like me to make some comments about your parents, who I don’t know, then please carry on the the way of that last paragraph. I suspect you didn’t know Shanreagh’s parents any more than I know yours. But I suspect that your parents would have something to say about raising an arsehole who’d sneer at someone you don’t know, about something you have no idea about. Apparently because you have a some (probably pommy) weird class presumptions about boarding schools in NZ. ]
The coverage of the protest by Te Taipo went most days and the ability to see action, 'just be able to watch' as I put it, as it happened with minimal 'interpretation' was valuable. But I guess that such is your long standing (personal?) animus for the guy that anything valid and valuable like this is not valid and valuable in your eyes.
My comment was very mild and not deserving of a response such as yours.
You are and have been for many years one of the most thoughtful and principled commentators we have had here.
I've noticed you do less of the long form responses and of course no posts, but still continue anyway.
You carry a lot of grief, but still have a lot of dignity anyway.
I sincerely hope you get to wind back from full time work as soon as you can so you can focus on taking care of yourself and t hose immediately around you.
Our family are in the similar position of providing massively for an older relative and doing it for years.
You are a good person and you have my full support.
I am not sure what the paragraph below is all about. I have only ever said I went to boarding school. You know nothing about my personal financial circumstances, I always get confused with your rendering of woke, My dad never lived in the UK to vote Tory and the tax reference is head scratching.
These flights of fantasy of yours that seem for some reason to have me in their sights are uncalled for.
It’s clearly a tragic life of eternal Martyrdom for affluent Woke ex-boarding school girls who’s fathers voted Tory because they had to put tax concessions first.
I am sill awaiting your response on this posting, preferably you have thought better of these ad hominem attacks on me. Could you please confirm. You said, when this was raised earlier, that you had looked at your posts and some were troll-like.
I do not know what I have done to cause this personal invective, apart from existing. Could you please let me know. I post views.
It is as if you have some personal animus against me and/or my family. As my father died in 1993 and my mother in 2010 is is longstanding. I cannot conceive of either of them doing anything to cause this. I have always been respectful of you and your views.
Thanks. None of us are getting younger and I am not alone here at TS in dealing with the challenges that tend to come along with it.
Although this is a condition I will likely have to manage the rest of my life, thanks to working with an excellent Functional Medicine specialist here in Australia (all via telehealth) things have stabilised for the time being.
I have a good science education, worked in heavy industry technical roles all my life, and have defended the scientific method here many, many times from those who would undermine or misrepresent it. Yet at the same time I would counsel others to be aware that such a powerful tool is also prey to being misused – and that it is a mistake to imagine that everything science tells us must always be correct or complete.
That is very sad Red and bad luck. I also had a reaction severe enough to need a hospital admission for my second different vaccine. To protect many, some of us have lasting damage. Mine breathlessness after myocardia, but your auto immune reaction would be far more serious and dangerous. Kind regards for good control, and I must add the Aussie health system does great work. Perhaps we need Medicare, though the tech bungle has been awful.
Hard to know, SF what it refers to though. When I first read it it seemed an overreaction to the discussion and rereading I still don't understand it.
The ideologues in this case are the Gunns and Greys and the family of Baby W of this world. Most of the rest of us are agog/angry/sick at the lengths that a family would put the youngest and most sick person in their family through to make a point.
One of the Drs involved said that Baby W could have had the op by now. We find now that he has already had a blood transfusion with the so-called concerning blood.
I really hope that the baby will not be affected by the delay or the jaunts to the court.
Personally I find the actions of the parents not brave or thoughtful but unspeakably cruel and deluded. The child is not their property to be used to further their own views or those of Gunn/Grey.
Grey/Gunn who are the ones to be concerned about, not fellow posters, whatever their views, on TS.
“Nobody knows the risk of a little delay in the heart surgery as against the risk of providing blood which the parties now all agree may contain some residual traces of mRNA from the vaccine… or the spike protein or the other factors that we know… can cause myocarditis and death,” she [Sue Grey] said.
This is the counter-narrative that makes one’s blood boil [pun intended], that somehow blood and blood products provided through NZBS are unsafe. This is plain fearmongering and a NZ Court ruled it was unfounded and baseless, as it was not supported by medical/scientific evidence.
I'm not sure why it would make your blood boil.. There are still many questions surrounding how blood is affected by the vaccine, the science is not hard to track down. There's every reason for caution, and every reason to investigate what is happening in blood.
As they say the "truth" doesn't mind being questioned. However there's little of that occurring within the NZBS or Starship.
"Big Pharma has not had a history of disasters, litigation and fines "
Yes, they have. Also, they have a history of marvellous success and the saving of lives uncounted, as I'm sure you, Red Logix, as a promoter of the technological, will attest.
Your truculence around the situation of the heart-baby and her flakey-as-fek parents is..incongruous with your previously elegantly-explained position, imo.
I read on Stuff yesterday that "cell phones emitting radiation" is a conspiracy theory.
I'm wondering how two way radio communication works, but I don't like to ask too many questions .
[Given your history of spreading mis- and dis-information on this forum I have to ask you to provide a link to Stuff and explain the context of your selective quoting and the relevance to this discussion thread. You are in Pre-Moderation until I have seen a satisfactory response from you – Incognito]
I think you can help yourself re radiation by wearing a tinfoil hat as they did at the protest where the rebar in the concrete blocks was emitting radiation.
As far as two way radio communication is concerned if you get out of the way of direct rays emitted by people speaking on phones to other people you will be OK.
Going along Lambton Quay at lunchtime while others are walking along having catch-ups on their phones may be problematic with all the ducking and diving but I am sure it can be avoided by staggering your lunch hour to 4.00pm or similar. Or staggering the lunch hour PLUS wearing a tinfoil hat might solve the problem?
So if you don't wear the tinfoil hat in the shower how can you keep the fluoride molecules from sliding down your hair and into your skull that way? What happens if they get stuck in your skull and don't make it to your teeth?
Syncopated rhythm down Lambton Quay, no matter how it comes about would be quite concerning to the lunchtime walkers carefully moving so as not to be in anyone's space.
The sovereign citizen phenomenon has different factions, but its followers generally believe they can pick and choose which laws apply to them. This only seemed to get her in trouble in early 2021, when Rayner, who believed the unfounded conspiracy theories that cellphones emitted radiation and 5G towers were “death towers”, refused to display a QR code at her cafe for Covid-19 contact tracing
EDIT – the relevance to the thread is that the media’s definition of “conspiracy theories” seems pretty ill-defined.
Like, actual facts are now “conspiracy theories”
[Thank you for the link and the context, which makes things a lot clearer and much less ambiguous than your lazy comment.
This thread is not about the media’s definition of “conspiracy theories”, pharma, statins, or cell phone emissions. Your comments amount to diversion trolling – Like, actual facts are now “conspiracy theories” – which is disrupting the discussion of the topic started by weka @ 2. If you want to start a new topic, then do so and see how far you get and how long you’ll last. This is your warning, and you stay in Pre-Mod for now to make sure that you’ve understood this – Incognito]
This is a case of intense and singular public interest as it is a challenge to the ethos that the NZ Blood Transfusion Service works under. It is this that keeps all of us safe should we need blood transfusions as donations are able to be sourced according to demand, in relatively short time frames etc.
I totally support it being out in the open (subject to the not naming of the child/parents).
As it turns out, it is representatives of the judiciary that are keeping things front and centre.
"In a statement last night, Justice Gault said he had been informed by the lawyer acting for Te Whatu Ora that the baby's parents had prevented doctors from taking blood tests, performing a chest X-ray and an anaesthetic assessment."
what's the problem? As I said, this case has a fairly level of public interest. By which I don't mean gossip, I mean the case matters in the public interest. What would be the reason for not talking about it?
The baby has already had one transfusion with so-called 'bad' blood.
My concern is with the future and these parents. With their child now possibly getting another transfusion and that even though there is thorough screening will these parents treat their child differently ie because of their belief that the blood is unclean and that therefore that he is unclean of something?
I would hate for this to happen but we have stories of parents who treat children badly as they believe they have bad spirits or are evil.
I was always advised that babies should not be going out and about until after they had had the first vaccines on the immunisation schcdule.
This baby has been trotted around to the court etc. I would not think the courthouse with the many different types of people and differing health status would have been a good place for a sick baby to be.
Mmmm. I see lots of very young babies at crowded venues with lots of potentially infectious people around them. And, last week saw a baby/toddler with a nasal gastric tube (so presumably with a significant medical issue) at a local food court.
I think that different people have different perceptions of risk. Much like the co-sleeping debate….
Despite the Minister being in favour of supporting the refinery by underwriting a deal to keep it going for 5-10 years, "But it is understood Woods’ idea for those negotiations was not ultimately endorsed by fellow ministers."
Was the 4th Labour Government the one with Douglas and Prebble in it? So I expect we'll see a Herald column from Prebble rubbishing the closure of Marsden Point and blaming the Government for it.
And no doubt their Act mates will be on about how the Government should have done this and done that.
That’s my point, these folk are far from sight.
In this example they are not following Govt. Policy, they are advising the minister. Advising her to lessen our resilience and independence.
Advice is one thing and good PS always give a range of options, but decision making by a Minister is another process.
It is a complete 'no-no' for single option advice to go up to a Minister.
It is different if the Minister is acting under explicit legislation, here to give advice outside of what is contemplated by the legislation is a 'no-no'
Why does productivity matter for inflation? When a workforce is more productive it produces more goods and services, and at a lower cost per unit. This means there is a greater supply of these things, which puts downward pressure on prices and is therefore associated with lower inflation.
The 2020 Abrahamic Accords – restoring relations between the governments of the nations Morocco, UAE and Bahrain and Israel and a reality check at the World Cup with the people of ME.
Recent polling shows that ordinary citizens in many Arab countries, including those that participated in the Abraham Accords, disapprove of formalizing ties with Israel.
“There is clearly not much love in the Arab world for Israel,” wrote the CEO of Gulf State Analytics, a Washington-based risk consultancy that focuses on the region. “The decades of humiliation, resentment, and anger which many Arabs feel toward Israel cannot simply vanish with the signing of such normalization agreements.”
The present
For years, most Arab governments conditioned normalization with Israel on the advent of a separate Palestinian state. But the process to create that state has effectively collapsed, while Israel’s new far-right government contains numerous politicians who oppose any scenarios in which Palestinian statehood could ever be viable.
The Israeli perspective
That’s a view recognized by some in Israel. “After the Abraham Accords were signed with several Arab countries in 2020, rightist pundits claimed that the Palestinians’ fate no longer interests other Arabs,” wrote Uzi Baram in left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “They didn’t bother to read the article in the agreement stating that their fulfillment requires establishing a Palestinian state.”
The Arab
“Ordinary Arabs are against this occupation and see it as inhuman and unacceptable,” said Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor of history and contemporary politics at Qatar University.
Zweiri said the political tenor of the tournament in Qatar has offered a clear message not just to the United States and Israel, but to Arab governments that also seem intent on obscuring the political priorities of Palestinians. The presence of Palestinian flags at stadiums was “not organized by states, but something genuine from within the people themselves,” he said.
It was sort of inevitable since the recent restoration of Netanyahu to power in the most right wing government in their nations history, ending the brief period of coalition governance including an Arab party for the first time. In some ways, it's a bit like the let diplomatic down after the failure of the 2000 peace talks (followed by Israeli disengagement and Palestinian intifada).
DPR separatist Igor Strelkov (Girkin), sentenced to life in prison by the ICC for the downing of MH17 and the deaths of all 298 passengers and crew, went to Moscow.
.
Strelkov Igor Ivanovich I am in Moscow. Attempt No. 3 to take a direct part in the hostilities against the armed forces of respected Kyiv partners (they are now referred to in the reports of the Ministry of Defense as some kind of "militants") did not end in success, although it was very close to that. Briefly, without details:
And now also briefly on the impressions of the trip, which was fruitless, but not without benefit (since my eyes and ears remained with me, and my head is also still working).
Naturally, I intend to keep the vast majority of my impressions and conclusions to myself. In order, so to speak, "not to discredit". Positive impressions – I will share in the upcoming (hopefully) video conferences. But there are not too many of them – in relation to the negative ones.
And now I will only note that the basis of all our "increasing victories" on the fronts and directions of the NMD is the deepest crisis of strategic planning. Simply put, the troops are fighting "by inertia", not having the slightest idea of the ultimate strategic goals of the current military campaign and only guessing about the vague plans of the command for such grandiose senseless gestures as the construction of a completely insane in uselessness (but wildly expensive in terms of execution cost) Surovikin Lines.
In most parts of the RF Armed Forces, soldiers and officers do not understand: for what, for what and for what purposes they are fighting in general. For them, a mystery – what is the condition for victory or just a condition for ending the war? And the authorities of the Russian Federation are not able to explain this to them, since setting a clear goal for the NWO means "limiting room for maneuver" – that is, losing the opportunity to declare the goals of the NWO as achieved at any moment that the Kremlin leaders consider convenient. (For the thousand and first time, I remind you that the passionately desired “reconciliation with partners,” for which many steps are being taken to this day that demoralize society and the army, is unattainable in principle, but the Kremlin and Staraya Square do not want to believe in it).
Such sentiments specifically in the troops lead to apathy. Apathy, on the other hand, leads to a drop in morale and the fulfillment of the tasks set "for show" and "slip of the sleeves", without a real interest in their successful result. So – in the army of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (and parts of the Armed Forces of the LDNR, although there the fighters have much more motivation) apathy prevails.
The absence of a clear military-political strategy does not allow the military to develop tactics that will contribute to its implementation. In the meantime – "on a whim" – the RF Armed Forces are preparing for a protracted positional war, building long-term structures along the entire front in the style of "a la the Mannerheim Line" (does not pull on the "Maginot Line"). The fact that following the strategy of a protracted war is suicide for the Russian Federation (and its authorities and elites, too, by the way) – I wrote back in 2014, but I said (more than once or twice) – from the very beginning of the current campaign.
Therefore, watching how the enemy slowly (and without encountering any opposition) implements his own strategic tasks with the complete passivity of the military and political authorities of the Russian Federation, I do not expect anything good at the front in the coming weeks.
And, yes, – the so-called. "Ukraine" will NOT freeze in winter, will NOT rebel and will NOT fight worse. Vice versa. Its soldiers, who have already believed in their strength as a result of the autumn victories of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and are fully supported by NATO, will only fight harder and harder against the "Muscovites", avenging the hardships that their relatives and friends in the rear are forced to bear. And they will be met only by apathetic performance of duty, behind which many fighters and commanders have long been looming the unresolved question: "What are we doing here, if Moscow is most concerned with the implementation of" grain deals ", the unhindered pumping of ammonia through Odessa and the" price ceiling " on gas and oil supplied to numerous Western partners?
The United States is gearing up for a long war in the Ukraine. If the Russians think they can outlast the west in a war of logistics, well they are in for a rude shock.
Russia couldn't spot the giant 40 year old drone that struck one of its three most heavily defended air bases while Ukraine intercepts >80% of Russia's most up to date cruise missiles.
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
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 from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
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https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/300757598/transgender-athletes-can-participate-in-community-sport-says-sport-nz
So the idiocy has arrived on our shores
it's been here for a while. As some of us keep banging on about 😉
Yes, yet Grant Robinson described people who opposed it as petty and small minded.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/petty-and-small-minded-sport-minister-grant-robertson-responds-to-critics-of-sport-nz-transgender-guidelines/EHLQL6YAAFHDHI2WKMIREEOMMY/
Correction, he described them as "pretty and small minded", according to the Herald. I think he might have been making a blonde joke actually.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018757712/the-science-of-transgender-women-in-sport
And this by sports scienctist Ross Tucker.
"The scientific biologicaldifference between men and women are so large they would render women irrelevant at elite level"
"There are 10,000 men who are faster than the fastest woman in the world over 100 metres. That group of men includes 14 – 15 year olds"
So just roll over sportswomen and accomodate these male bodied atheletes.
The inclusion is at the community level, it might not even include domestic competition at the regional or inter-provincial level (as/when these are pathways for athletes to international competition).
In sporting parlance this is known as a "hospital pass" onto the clubs and codes under sport-nz. Basically it'll be fine as long as any trans athletes taking this up are not very skilled, but if they are then there will be some media attention and protest on these codes and clubs which implemented the policy. And you'd be a bit daft as a code to push ahead with advertising your new participation policy, as that might attract some testing of the new entry threshold.
Nic, I disagree that this will be fine as long as trans and non binary atheletes are not very skilled. A case in point is Kate Wetherley, a mountain biker who rode in the mens competition up until around 18 years.
At local level even mediocre trans women are creating issues for women in sport. I know of two women who have left their chosen community sport because of sustaining injuries due to biological males being allowed to compete with them. I believe this will be the tip of the ice berg.
To quote Kate "people said that we're coming in and ruining the sport, but there are way bigger isues that women in sport face" Thanks Kate for mansplaining to us that the cyclists who know they are being cheated out of a win, face far bigger issues. Kate was a mediocre cyclist when racing in the male category and now is robbing women of titles in the womens section. The arrogance and entitlement is astounding.
Its hard to see how many of the left, who supposedly champion women's rights, are so firmly behind this and the message to women is, "come on be kind, don't be petty"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/racing/article-10944351/Kate-Weatherly-Transgender-mountain-biker-issues-message-haters.html
By not very skilled, I mean not really capable of winning in women's events.
I might have misinterpreted what you were saying Nic. My apologies.
No apologies necessary. Its actually above my expectations when anybody pays attention to anything I say anyway, and in this case provided a pretty good example of what I was describing.
I have heard of a case in the UK of women being injured at rugby team training. The sport here will be able to take account of this in formulating policy. If they do not do so, this will impact how successfully they build the game at community level.
The only obligation on sports clubs is to accept law as to "gender self ID", just as everyone else will have to. Clubs however are free to limit inclusion based on player safety – this would involve physical contact sport.
So the only real obligation here is, if some male team decides its playing in the woman's grade this season, then they absolutely have to be believed as genuine when they say their players are all 'non-binary'?
I would presume the constraints then would be
Really? That is called "gatekeeping" these days. The only thing they have to do (under Self ID) is to open their mouths and recite the magic words "I identify as –". Look at Alex Drummond in the UK. No diagnosis, no hormones, no surgery – he does not even have to shave off his beard. Identifies as a woman – and as a lesbian.
This Alex Drummond looks like a budding Rhythmic Gymnast to me.
No. The UK (maybe soon England and Wales and NI as Scotland is currently legislating self ID) does not have self ID as its legal standard (we do), so such a person would not be able to play in women's sports in England ….
Even here, with self ID, sports could require some evidential proof (such as documentation of women's ID – drivers license/passport/changed birth certificate).
I mean it seems a bit onerous expecting sporting clubs to be monitoring their participants for a full year around competition. Couldn't they just, you know, like show the club their entire browser history, or something non invasive instead?
Self ID law allows a person to obtain women's identity documentation such as drivers license/passport/changed birth certificate.
Athletes will not need to “prove or otherwise justify their gender, sex or gender identity”, said Sport NZ in its release on Tuesday. – From the Stuff article at 1.
Hmmm, doesn't sound like Sports NZ is actually saying that. If they were saying that I think it would hardly be notable, because you have then some clear guide lines for sports codes and clubs to follow, e.g If they have a certificate/documentation then they can enter. But the way they are saying it seems more like the well known "don't ask, don't tell" army policy with sporting codes and clubs expected to wear any flak which results from that going wrong.
The change from test (medical – diagnosis and assisted transition etc) , to no test occurred with self ID. This is all the wording really refers to. It is the direction to them/sports bodies after the parliamentary legislation enabled self ID.
Really? Because one could clearly and simply say that as "sporting codes and clubs will not reject the gender recognition documentation issued by parliament".
I'm getting more of an "If they sign up for womans sport that shouldn't be challenged by anyone" vibe from the Sport NZ statement.
Actually I think my club might have had to ask if a couple of boys had been signed up for girls grades by accident, which they were (refunds were issued). Got a bit lucky there, I guess.
Not when the sporting bodies are free to decide on their own safety criteria.
That seems to confuse the issue further. Now the sporting codes are expected to create some kind of player safety statement to justify excluding trans women (and non-binary, whatever that actually means) from participating in the women's category. Apparently they should do this even if its just unfair, because Sport NZ doesn't present any other grounds for rejecting this participation (like maybe its considered unfair).
But somehow this still applies even though NZ parliament passed legislation allowing self ID and some of these potential participants can have documentation indicating they should be in that category.
1. It's an acknowledgment that international level sport rules are set according to fair competition
2. It's a direction to local sports administration as to community level sport – it speaks to how any participation is to be managed (self ID as is this is current government policy society wide).
3. It allows individual sports to determine its own rules with regard to player safety.
4. It does not make any sport funding conditional on allowing transgender players.
Nicely put. Also, as a longtime sports administrator, the Human Rights Act does not automatically allow separate divisions within sports for women, nor for girls under 12 in any sport, so there will be sports e.g. motor racing where this debate doesn't really apply. That doesn't prevent having women's and girls' competitions/divisions in those sports/ages as measures to promote equality e.g. increase participation to equal levels, but it's not blanket by any means.
I'm not a parent, but it's hard to understand how parents would risk this child's life in this way. Even if they believe that blood from vaccinated people might cause harm to their child, this is still a far lesser harm than death.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/480297/high-court-takes-guardianship-of-sick-baby-at-the-centre-of-dispute-over-donor-blood
Touché.
I suppose the media will be out there in full force filming the inevitable protests of VFF and other attention seeking cults. Given they only represent around 1 to 2% of the population they should be ignored. Their views have been well and truly trashed.
Just having a wee korero with the 'health professional I see most often' about this issue.
Jehova's Witnesses aren't down with blood transfusions. I understand they are able to 'bank' their own blood and use that. There is 'the precedent' already established that some naysayers, on this issue are keen to avoid.
I figure this is a fairly complex and nuanced issue and I am wary of those with black and white views on it – from either side of the debate. Just another unintended consequence that is not on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission.
and if anti-vaxers want to have that special privilege they need to do the mahi of lobbying the government to have that system set up (which also means making a coherent case). But individuals demanding this is problematic because of the precedent it sets for individuals demanding this.
Do JW's have this concession because religious belief is protected in law?
TBF, the pfizer drug has been thrust upon us.
Tad unfair of you to have expected them to organise and legitimise their position by now, in these turbulent times. They are parents of twins after all.
As to the JW's I'm not sure how their 'privelege' come about.
"They are parents of twins after all."
????
I am sure I heard/read the baby has a twin.
I wasn't saying the parents should organise that. I'm saying that if antivaxers want this special provision they need to organise and lobby. Otherwise what is being suggested is that any time someone wants special treatment, they should get it.
They did organise and lobby, and they had their own blood donors available and ready.
I was watching a presentation yesterday about Statins and how pharma pushes them. Some were even advocating for putting Statins in the public water supply at one point.
Some day the public might actually thank these so-called "anti-vaxxers" for standing up to corporate tyranny.
Apparently, according to this presenter I refer to, this dates back to Reagan liberalising the pharma industry and letting them conduct their own clinical trials.
reread what I said. It's not what you are talking about.
Funnily enough, I didn't see the anti-vaxxers organising around the statin all those years when overmedicalisation was happening.
Having been a blood donor like my father, when we were both diagnosed as having familial high cholesterol, it was not the fact that we had both been placed on statins that was the reason why we were deemed unsuitable to continue as blood donors.
The reason we were unsuitable was the fact of the diagnosis of familial high cholesterol. The medication we took to control it did not figure.
In our diagnosis, and with my decision to have the vaccine there was no corporate tyranny exerted. I think you are drawing a long bow to suggest that I would ever have anything to thank anti vaxxers for.
I always get all sides and make my own decisions on medical procedures and did not need tor read an array of conspiracy theories to get the other side.
Andy wasn't talking about blood donation, he was referring to the overprescribing of statins generally.
I realise that but having got it wrong about statins it was on the cards that he would say next that having statins is accepted in blood donations, so beware!
The myth making about what shows up, in our blood and for how long is something the anti vaxxers and gullible others are getting wrong, as the court case with the wee baby shows.
Statins are as a help against heart disease (CVD) .
Whether to take statins if prescribed and whether to have a vaccination is ultimately a personal decision to be made with the very best information on both sides.
I don't class scare tactics against the covid vaccine and statins as being the very best information.
I class as scare tactics unlinked statements saying that 'they' were thinking of putting statins in the water.
I have found several articles about statins and have linked to the latest
https://bigthink.com/health/statins-drinking-water-wonder-drugs/
<em> I realise that but having got it wrong about statins it was on the cards that he would say next that having statins is accepted in blood donations, so beware! </em>
Ahem are you referring to me? What did I get "wrong" about Statins, exactly?
I was relaying a claim made by someone else.
You’ve been asked to provide evidence for your assertion that someone wanted to put statins in the water supply. Please prvice this evidence now. You will be in premod until both Incog and myself are satisfied. You’ve been here long enough to know two things. One is the standard of debate we expect (provide evidence for claims of fact). Two, mods hate our time being wasted by people who should know better.
@weka, the claim that "someone wanted to put Statins in the water" was made by Dr. Maryanne Demasi in this presentation:
She did some work for Australian ABC but her program was canned because of "misinformation"
I don't have any source for that claim, other than it came from Dr Demasi.
Particular points:
2:34 Debates about putting Statins in the water, and as condiments in burgers.
8:27, Statin Wars, Industry Bias
Take it or leave it. It's someone's presentation.
thank-you. Next time please provide the link and points upfront. Making a note in the back end. You have a lot of form for this and the mods are sick of chasing it up.
@ 3:00:
Unnamed people [plural?] in unspecified debates [plural?] that is now put into a context to suit a narrative.
Nope, that’s not an option, as you used it to make and support your own conspiracy claims in this forum. You don’t get to wash your hands off this that easily and you’ll stay in Pre-Mod for a little longer.
Thank you Weka, that is correct.
I was also making the point that it was Reagan (allegedly) that introduced legislation to allow pharma to conduct their own clinical trials.
The conflict of interest should be clear.
My point specifically is nor pro/against statins or any other meds, but the regulatory capture that is exercised by pharma
Can you actually link to what you were talking about please. It certainly read to me that you were critical of statins and was trying to link 'tyranny' in the pharma involvement in statins/vaccines. If you were not trying to make a point that big bad pharma was involved in vaccines and statins then what was the link/point?
Re the alleged conflict of interest with Reagan.
Why should this be clear? Did Reagan have shares in the pharmaceutical companies involved?
Not sure that you have it correctly about JVs. There have been cases where the Courts have intervened.
Some JVs will accept fractionated parts of blood. That may have been blood that was made available.
https://www.medicalprotection.org/southafrica/casebook/casebook-may-2014/the-challenges-of-treating-jehovah's-witnesses
https://www.nzblood.co.nz/assets/Transfusion-Medicine/Blood-Issues/Blood-Issues-No-4-Jul-2002.pdf
https://www.bmj.com/content/367/bmj.l6513
https://www.hbtechs.co.nz/files/CPD04_-_Jehovah_s_Witnesses.pdf
https://www.avant.org.au/news/20151103-court-intervenes-in-non-urgent-situation-for-child-of-jehovahs-witness-parents/
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-27/jehovahs-witness-loses-bid-to-refuse-blood/4985476
JWs also have their religious views bypassed by courts from time to time, for the benefit of their children.
Rational balancing of risk is the #1 thing antivaxxers aren't that good at, it seems to me.
i.e.
‘Weird, evidence-free theory of possible danger(?) from blood products from vaccinated people, theory refuted by credible experts”
vs
“immediate danger of death without surgery, confirmed by all involved”
Which to choose…??????
That is not the choice they are making. The parents appear to understand the risk to their child perfectly well – and seem to have made all reasonable efforts to organise an alternative donor source.
I doubt they are thinking in terms of risk at all.
1) The baby already received one transfusion from NZ blood during previous surgery.
2) It really didn't need to be present in the court for the hearing (against medical advice).
Having had two children who both required major surgery as infants I can viscerally relate to how they are thinking at the moment.
If you have ever had to hand over your 18 month old baby daughter to a surgeon to have her eye removed (retina blastoma) you might have some inkling as to the anxiety and grief they are going through.
Now toss in a gratuitously sadistic High Court proceeding for good measure, not to mention being shat on by armchair authoritarians all over social media – and the answer I come up with is trauma.
Most real response I've seen all day.
Today we also heard of a Maori woman who in the course of a 2 minute phone call was advised that she had Stage 3 cancer, would require fast aggressive surgery, and massively invasive chemo.
It makes news frankly because the poor management can be couched in unimpeachable Maori values, and so the system sits up and takes notice. Good on her as well for getting the story.
The fact that the child's surgery came to a court case indicates a massive relationship failure on the part of the health professionals. It is their job to take the intensely vulnerable couple through the procedure and care, not the other way round.
Thanks Ad. Typing that very personal comment above stirred up old memories – and I've been here long enough to know when I have said my piece and to leave it at this.
Now toss in a gratuitously sadistic High Court proceeding featuring a King's Counsel who manages to conflate parents' valid concerns with racism…
He suggested if such a request was granted, it opened the door to other requests that were theoretically possible to achieve – such as requesting blood from a specific ethnicity but ethically and clinically bankrupt.
”There’s also a slippery slope element to it,” he said. ”We have been there before as a society.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/donor-blood-battle-crowds-gather-outside-auckland-high-court-ahead-of-hearing/DSTVOUSPWBAF3FLGJAAR7Q6CBI/
…we have more than trauma.
Things have got seriously weird. It seems to have escaped the notice of the armchair authoritarians that NZ Blood Service does impose mandatory stand down periods after certain vaccines…up to 28 days…yet none for the new and novel Covid products whose long term effects are unknown.
https://www.nzblood.co.nz/become-a-donor/am-i-eligible/detailed-eligibility-criteria/?filter=V#Vaccination
You'd think that they would would be extra cautious wouldn't you?
NZ Blood Service imposes stand down periods following certain "live virus" vaccines. Those are known to pose a risk as for a period of time those viruses can end up in the blood stream, which could later cause complications for a recipient of blood.
Were as the implementation of "extra cautious" your proposing would have resulted in highly limited blood collection for a period of months (probably years if Sue Gray gets to say whos blood to collect) and for no particular reason.
I'm sure unnecessary blood shortages are not something NZ Blood Service considers a reasonable outcome.
The Covid vaccine is not a live vaccine.
Yes, that's correct. NZ Blood Service doesn't impose a stand-down period for vaccines in general, just the problematic ones for blood donation.
Blood shortages!!!
An intelligent medical/public health system could have anticipated this outcome and advised the government that the Pfizer product should be recommended only to those in the known 'at risk' categories for negative outcomes of Covid 19.
(Especially since the 'prevention of transmission' promise was…optimistic.)
Like the very elderly and those with co- morbidities. Most likely those who are not able to donate blood anyways.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19latestinsights/deaths
Leaving the rest of us to catch it and develop long lasting immunity.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35380632/
Tragically, it is too late now. Its not as if they can suck the stuff out.
Way to go Science!
Look, I have absolutely no doubt that if some nutter like yourself was put in charge of policy for NZ Blood Service (or other aspect of the NZ health system) you could quite capably run it into the ground within a year or so, causing massive harm and public health disaster. Fortunately for us there is no way that's happening.
That leaves this particular policy disaster as merely a product of your imagination, which I hope you will agree is a good thing.
No they don't. They have vastly over-estimated the risk of their child receiving donated blood from a Covid vaccine recipient. This risk is near-zero and yet they are ranking it as the highest risk of all. Their risk-assessment has been poisoned by the deliberate politicisation of the pandemic. If they get their wish, it opens the door to unsustainable and unscientific cherry-picking of blood donors by recipients.
Wouldn't have happened if they'd just quietly acceded to the parent's wishes and got on with saving the baby, after all, that is the prime issue, isn't it?
Who blew it up out of the water by stubbornly refusing a very simple and doable procedure that the parents were happy with
Wouldn't have happened if they'd just quietly acceded to the parent's wishes…
They can't do that because it would have opened up a can of worms and undermined the efficacy of the blood transfusion process which is second to none.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/donor-blood-battle-lawyer-for-the-parents-of-baby-w-announces-no-appeal-in-guardianship-case/NH5DHZRRUFB65I7RWLMSXPTEAA/
"Without precedent", despite NZ Blood having forms for such requests available (now deleted) on their website:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220129135018/https://www.nzblood.co.nz/assets/Transfusion-Medicine/PDFs/111F066A.pdf
I don't know if this form was ever used,
This risk is near-zero
I am sure you have evidence to support this? May we see it?
It's the absence of evidence to the contrary, bolstered by the consensus of expert medical opinion which is usually our most reliable guide in the face of uncertainty. Medical opinion is not infallible – I am not gullible about these things, having first-hand experience of wrong and (perhaps) deliberately deceptive medical advice. However, we discovered its deceptiveness by consulting other medical opinion, so the general rule of thumb remains a good one. Absolutists who demand impossible certainty usually end up in a deep hole.
Yes – while we are both coming from different angles here, I think we can both agree on this.
As I get older I find myself listening to people who I know I do not agree with – but finding they have something worth listening to all the same.
There's also a whole lot of other evidence based items / products that go into the patient's body during surgery other than blood products.
The actual risk from many of those is many times greater than than the actual demonstrated risk of mrna vaccines, let alone blood from someone vaccinated 12 months ago. Not to mention the probabilities of probably hundreds of potential adverse outcomes from the procedure the we mite is about to undergo to hopefully save and extent it's life.
How the hell do we turn this mass hysteria around.
If anyone gave more fucks for the wee mites life than protecting the 'safe and effective' vaccine narrative – the medics involved would have quietly accepted the parents donor offer and gotten the job done by now.
You’ve got your narratives all wrong.
I am the one dealing with a serious, life threatening autoimmune condition – triggered by the vaccines. I don't demand anyone share my perspective, but equally I am not going to be lectured to by authoritarian ideologues who are motivated primarily to protect a political narrative.
@Redlogix I'm very sorry to hear of your condition and I wish you well for the future.
I agree with you here. The government could have de-escalated this early on by agreeing to the parents demands early on, flew under the radar and got it all hushed up.
Instead the authorities have opened up the wounds from 12 months ago and got the people all riled up.
The mother (interviewed by Alex Jones, no less) stated that she is a midwife that was marched off her job because of the mandates, and that she is currently unable to leave the hospital ward with her baby.
I can't see this ending well
Why would the authoritie have agreed to something like this had huge risks for the supply of blood for the future.
I actually don't think that it is up to parents to impose their will on a person who is too young to make their own decisions. The parents should be making a separate decision, based on different facts for their child not blindly following their own views. These may be fine for an adult to rationalise but another person…….no. Children are not 'owned' by their parents.
We have discussed this before
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02-12-2022/#comment-1924279
” It is one thing to have these beliefs as an adult with only one adult, you, to look after but once you have another person who is totally reliant on you and no voice of their own it is quite another thing. The ethical questions need framing differently.
The fact that she is a health professional makes it even more concerning. Is she also a follower of Andrew Wakefield and will the baby be vaccinated against measles/mumps/rubella?”
If someone of Maori descent turns up and demands no blood from Pakeha donors, will you support them too Andy? Should this be quietly resolved and their wishes accommodated? What if a gay person demands no blood from straight donors, or an anti-5G activist demands no blood from people living near cellphone towers, a Labour voter demands no blood from Nat voters? Should we let a thousand forms of such nuttiness bloom – will you pay more tax to fund the army of loathed 'bureaucrats' making it all work?
Now sure – that's a slippery slope argument and nobody has actually done those things yet. But big, critical systems can't open themselves up to precedents that might compromise their operability.
In response to your concerns, NZ Blood did have a procedure whereby you could fill in a form and apply for Directed Blood Donation
(i.e a specific person/persons for the donation)
I provided a link from Web Archive in this comment
.https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-07-12-2022/#comment-1925050
I should also add that the archive also has a page that discourages this.
I have no idea why the page was deleted from NZ Blood. perhaps cost cutting.
Presumably there is cost and time associated with screening blood, but I have blood tests every 6 months or so as a regular health check, so it can't be that hard or require a huge infrastructure to support it.
Please stop with your uninformed comments as they only seed discord and confusion.
Running lab diagnostics on small blood samples is quite different from the involved (read: expensive) manufacturing processes of blood and blood products from pooled blood donors, which includes extensive testing and storage.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/480359/donor-blood-why-directly-donated-blood-was-deemed-unsafe-for-baby-needing-heart-surgery
Yup, rational AF.
https://twitter.com/Te_Taipo/status/1600581191362498560
The couple with the guy speaking must be some of the most unhealthy pale looking people I have seen for a while. Are they ill?
They certainly look like they've been in a very dark rabbit hole for quite some time.
Those are the parents. Good grief they both look like they need a course of YIM, my mother's oft used go to for 'peaky' children.
"The couple with the guy"
You mean Baby W's parents talking with Alex Jones?
Yes, very poorly looking. Yes Andy I now find these are the baby's parents.
.
@Shanreagh
(In reply to your reply to me below)
That sentence means remarkably little to me, I'm afraid.
Normally I'd respond to your key point but I remember … not all that long ago … two very reasonable women on this site politely took issue with a line of argument you were pursuing … and, it seems, you were left in shock, felt violated & invalidated … in fact you went as far as suggesting you'd been personally 'Colonised' by these two very respectful (indeed remarkably restrained) women & there was some implication that you felt you'd metaphorically been kidnapped, thrown onto a sailing ship & then subsequently sold into white slavery among 17th century Moroccan Sultans on the Barbary Coast.
I wouldn't want to put you through that sort of Emotional Genocide all over again by taking issue with something you’ve said.
It’s clearly a tragic life of eternal Martyrdom for affluent Woke [… deleted]
[lprent: If you’d like me to make some comments about your parents, who I don’t know, then please carry on the the way of that last paragraph. I suspect you didn’t know Shanreagh’s parents any more than I know yours. But I suspect that your parents would have something to say about raising an arsehole who’d sneer at someone you don’t know, about something you have no idea about. Apparently because you have a some (probably pommy) weird class presumptions about boarding schools in NZ. ]
They might look unwell for a number of reasons
(a) they are parents of young twins
(b) one of the twins has a serous heart condition
(c) they claim to be locked in the hospital (unlikely but they won't leave their baby)
(d) there are undergoing a court case
(e) there is intense media scrutiny
It might also be the lighting in the hospital room.
So whatever you think of this couple, they have reasonable grounds to look unhealthy.
It could be the infamous hospital food 😉
.
Spare me the moral lecturing from a wannabe terrorist like Kemara. Dubious AF.
He's not supporting these crazies. His coverage of the protest at parliament was very informative, just being able watch.
The coverage of the protest by Te Taipo went most days and the ability to see action, 'just be able to watch' as I put it, as it happened with minimal 'interpretation' was valuable. But I guess that such is your long standing (personal?) animus for the guy that anything valid and valuable like this is not valid and valuable in your eyes.
My comment was very mild and not deserving of a response such as yours.
Yes and respect.
You are and have been for many years one of the most thoughtful and principled commentators we have had here.
I've noticed you do less of the long form responses and of course no posts, but still continue anyway.
You carry a lot of grief, but still have a lot of dignity anyway.
I sincerely hope you get to wind back from full time work as soon as you can so you can focus on taking care of yourself and t hose immediately around you.
Our family are in the similar position of providing massively for an older relative and doing it for years.
You are a good person and you have my full support.
@Swordfish
Can you please stop the ad hominems.
I am not sure what the paragraph below is all about. I have only ever said I went to boarding school. You know nothing about my personal financial circumstances, I always get confused with your rendering of woke, My dad never lived in the UK to vote Tory and the tax reference is head scratching.
These flights of fantasy of yours that seem for some reason to have me in their sights are uncalled for.
@Swordfish
I am sill awaiting your response on this posting, preferably you have thought better of these ad hominem attacks on me. Could you please confirm. You said, when this was raised earlier, that you had looked at your posts and some were troll-like.
I do not know what I have done to cause this personal invective, apart from existing. Could you please let me know. I post views.
It is as if you have some personal animus against me and/or my family. As my father died in 1993 and my mother in 2010 is is longstanding. I cannot conceive of either of them doing anything to cause this. I have always been respectful of you and your views.
Sorry to hear that RL.
That is bloody awlful. I hope you are doing o.k.
Really value your contribution on the Standard, particularly your expertise when it comes to discussing Three Waters
Thanks. None of us are getting younger and I am not alone here at TS in dealing with the challenges that tend to come along with it.
Although this is a condition I will likely have to manage the rest of my life, thanks to working with an excellent Functional Medicine specialist here in Australia (all via telehealth) things have stabilised for the time being.
I have a good science education, worked in heavy industry technical roles all my life, and have defended the scientific method here many, many times from those who would undermine or misrepresent it. Yet at the same time I would counsel others to be aware that such a powerful tool is also prey to being misused – and that it is a mistake to imagine that everything science tells us must always be correct or complete.
Especially not in medicine.
All the best to you Red, one of the least ideologically captured writers here, always with a fair and open mind
I wish the best of outcomes for you
That is very sad Red and bad luck. I also had a reaction severe enough to need a hospital admission for my second different vaccine. To protect many, some of us have lasting damage. Mine breathlessness after myocardia, but your auto immune reaction would be far more serious and dangerous. Kind regards for good control, and I must add the Aussie health system does great work. Perhaps we need Medicare, though the tech bungle has been awful.
.
Spot on.
Hard to know, SF what it refers to though. When I first read it it seemed an overreaction to the discussion and rereading I still don't understand it.
The ideologues in this case are the Gunns and Greys and the family of Baby W of this world. Most of the rest of us are agog/angry/sick at the lengths that a family would put the youngest and most sick person in their family through to make a point.
One of the Drs involved said that Baby W could have had the op by now. We find now that he has already had a blood transfusion with the so-called concerning blood.
I really hope that the baby will not be affected by the delay or the jaunts to the court.
Personally I find the actions of the parents not brave or thoughtful but unspeakably cruel and deluded. The child is not their property to be used to further their own views or those of Gunn/Grey.
Grey/Gunn who are the ones to be concerned about, not fellow posters, whatever their views, on TS.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/12/06/decision-in-baby-blood-guardianship-case-reserved/
This is the counter-narrative that makes one’s blood boil [pun intended], that somehow blood and blood products provided through NZBS are unsafe. This is plain fearmongering and a NZ Court ruled it was unfounded and baseless, as it was not supported by medical/scientific evidence.
I'm not sure why it would make your blood boil.. There are still many questions surrounding how blood is affected by the vaccine, the science is not hard to track down. There's every reason for caution, and every reason to investigate what is happening in blood.
As they say the "truth" doesn't mind being questioned. However there's little of that occurring within the NZBS or Starship.
There are questions surrounding everything. Should we call a halt on every level while we sort this stuff out?
No.
I guess the answer depends on whether anyone is willing to take responsibility some years down the track if it turns out there is a problem.
It isn't as if Big Pharma has not had a history of disasters, litigation and fines – often decades after the product was first released.
"Big Pharma has not had a history of disasters, litigation and fines "
Yes, they have. Also, they have a history of marvellous success and the saving of lives uncounted, as I'm sure you, Red Logix, as a promoter of the technological, will attest.
Your truculence around the situation of the heart-baby and her flakey-as-fek parents is..incongruous with your previously elegantly-explained position, imo.
The other question I have is how come we are talking about this?
By that, which party put this is the open?
Is it any of yours or my business?
gsays that is a reasonable question.
I particularly wondered how the media got hold of information that the parents took an anti vaxer, who spouted consiracy theories at the medics.
I read on Stuff yesterday that "cell phones emitting radiation" is a conspiracy theory.
I'm wondering how two way radio communication works, but I don't like to ask too many questions .
[Given your history of spreading mis- and dis-information on this forum I have to ask you to provide a link to Stuff and explain the context of your selective quoting and the relevance to this discussion thread. You are in Pre-Moderation until I have seen a satisfactory response from you – Incognito]
I think you can help yourself re radiation by wearing a tinfoil hat as they did at the protest where the rebar in the concrete blocks was emitting radiation.
As far as two way radio communication is concerned if you get out of the way of direct rays emitted by people speaking on phones to other people you will be OK.
Going along Lambton Quay at lunchtime while others are walking along having catch-ups on their phones may be problematic with all the ducking and diving but I am sure it can be avoided by staggering your lunch hour to 4.00pm or similar. Or staggering the lunch hour PLUS wearing a tinfoil hat might solve the problem?
Here's a great "conspiracy theory" for you
https://web.archive.org/web/20220129135018/https://www.nzblood.co.nz/assets/Transfusion-Medicine/PDFs/111F066A.pdf
It's the NZ Blood request form for Directed Donation (what the parents are requesting)
Now deleted from the NZ Blood website, archived on Wayback.
My tin foil is just fine, I always wear it except in the shower
One would have to wonder why it's been removed
So if you don't wear the tinfoil hat in the shower how can you keep the fluoride molecules from sliding down your hair and into your skull that way? What happens if they get stuck in your skull and don't make it to your teeth?
Asking for a friend!
If you visit several bars along the way, staggering will be no problem. In fact you may achieve syncopation (uneven movement from bar to bar)
[Yes. Musical joke. Yes. Not serious. Yes. Not recommending drinking to excess.]
Thank you Belladonna!
Syncopated rhythm down Lambton Quay, no matter how it comes about would be quite concerning to the lunchtime walkers carefully moving so as not to be in anyone's space.
Mod note
I've provided separate replies with links for yourself and Weka, I hope that helps
Here is the quote I was referring to
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/130672251/fivestar-coffee-one-day-behind-bars-the-next-whys-this-cafe-owner-in-jail
EDIT – the relevance to the thread is that the media’s definition of “conspiracy theories” seems pretty ill-defined.
Like, actual facts are now “conspiracy theories”
[Thank you for the link and the context, which makes things a lot clearer and much less ambiguous than your lazy comment.
This thread is not about the media’s definition of “conspiracy theories”, pharma, statins, or cell phone emissions. Your comments amount to diversion trolling – Like, actual facts are now “conspiracy theories” – which is disrupting the discussion of the topic started by weka @ 2. If you want to start a new topic, then do so and see how far you get and how long you’ll last. This is your warning, and you stay in Pre-Mod for now to make sure that you’ve understood this – Incognito]
Mod note
This is a case of intense and singular public interest as it is a challenge to the ethos that the NZ Blood Transfusion Service works under. It is this that keeps all of us safe should we need blood transfusions as donations are able to be sourced according to demand, in relatively short time frames etc.
I totally support it being out in the open (subject to the not naming of the child/parents).
That shouldn't be too hard to look up, but almost certainly it's the parents that went to the media.
There are reasonably high public interest reasons for us to be discussing the issue in public.
As it turns out, it is representatives of the judiciary that are keeping things front and centre.
"In a statement last night, Justice Gault said he had been informed by the lawyer acting for Te Whatu Ora that the baby's parents had prevented doctors from taking blood tests, performing a chest X-ray and an anaesthetic assessment."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/480419/blood-donor-case-baby-s-surgery-takes-place-at-starship
Yes, nasty judiciary, organising confrontations at the hospital and leaking videos of that to anti-vaxxer websites. \sarc
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/12/lawyer-sue-grey-says-sick-baby-doing-well-after-surgery-as-video-shows-confrontation-between-police-and-family.html [NB this is not RNZ doing the ‘dirty work’ aka reporting]
what's the problem? As I said, this case has a fairly level of public interest. By which I don't mean gossip, I mean the case matters in the public interest. What would be the reason for not talking about it?
The baby has already had one transfusion with so-called 'bad' blood.
My concern is with the future and these parents. With their child now possibly getting another transfusion and that even though there is thorough screening will these parents treat their child differently ie because of their belief that the blood is unclean and that therefore that he is unclean of something?
I would hate for this to happen but we have stories of parents who treat children badly as they believe they have bad spirits or are evil.
The child has already had their surgery delayed.
They should definitely keep the child away from baby lambs and other household pets until its fully recovered.
I was always advised that babies should not be going out and about until after they had had the first vaccines on the immunisation schcdule.
This baby has been trotted around to the court etc. I would not think the courthouse with the many different types of people and differing health status would have been a good place for a sick baby to be.
Mmmm. I see lots of very young babies at crowded venues with lots of potentially infectious people around them. And, last week saw a baby/toddler with a nasal gastric tube (so presumably with a significant medical issue) at a local food court.
I think that different people have different perceptions of risk. Much like the co-sleeping debate….
Reply to 1.
Why can't it just be another category? "Other" or"prefer not to say", like on a census form? Everyone's happy.
(ps, I know how the reply button works, thanks; but on a mobile, the comment area won't let me input text for some reason.)
Have you switched from desktop to mobile?
the problem there is that you can't see the Reply list, so you have to keep swapping back and forth.
I know been doing it since for ages
What is the point of having separate competitions in most sports based on gender/sex definitions?
Because in most codes the entrants in that category wouldn't even make up a team per region, let alone a competition.
Minister Megan Woods, chickens and roosting.
Despite the Minister being in favour of supporting the refinery by underwriting a deal to keep it going for 5-10 years, "But it is understood Woods’ idea for those negotiations was not ultimately endorsed by fellow ministers."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/126866243/government-decided-not-to-follow-through-on-idea-of-talks-to-save-refinery
In an RNZ interview, she accepted the advice of 'advisors' so job done. Refinery closed.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018833819/energy-minister-megan-woods-on-nz-s-fuel-security
A refinery, by the way, that we used to own, till the 4th Labour Government sold it off.
Who are these advisors? Is there a consequence for their shit advice?
Given the dismantling of the refinery over the past 6 months …
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/480260/airlines-told-to-conserve-fuel-after-contamination-in-shipment
Was the 4th Labour Government the one with Douglas and Prebble in it? So I expect we'll see a Herald column from Prebble rubbishing the closure of Marsden Point and blaming the Government for it.
And no doubt their Act mates will be on about how the Government should have done this and done that.
I care less about those pollies we could name.
I wanna see some mandarins get squeezed.
Really those 'mandarins' who carry out Govt Policy? Those ones?
Those 'mandarins who work with legislation that does not give discretion? Those ones?
Why would we want to change our Westminister style of govt so you could take a pot shot at someone doing their job?
You have the wrong targets in your sights.
That’s my point, these folk are far from sight.
In this example they are not following Govt. Policy, they are advising the minister. Advising her to lessen our resilience and independence.
Advice is one thing and good PS always give a range of options, but decision making by a Minister is another process.
It is a complete 'no-no' for single option advice to go up to a Minister.
It is different if the Minister is acting under explicit legislation, here to give advice outside of what is contemplated by the legislation is a 'no-no'
'
Julie Anne Genter lays out the inequities of our current economic system and highlights some policy alternatives:
what's the explanation for increasing production lowering inflation?
Supply better meets demand:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/inflation-there-s-a-vital-way-to-reduce-it-that-everyone-overlooks-raise-productivity
The 2020 Abrahamic Accords – restoring relations between the governments of the nations Morocco, UAE and Bahrain and Israel and a reality check at the World Cup with the people of ME.
The present
The Israeli perspective
The Arab
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/06/world-cup-arab-world-rallies-palestinian-cause/
It was sort of inevitable since the recent restoration of Netanyahu to power in the most right wing government in their nations history, ending the brief period of coalition governance including an Arab party for the first time. In some ways, it's a bit like the let diplomatic down after the failure of the 2000 peace talks (followed by Israeli disengagement and Palestinian intifada).
Taiwan based TMS is tripling its planned investment in Arizona to $60B (chip production).
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63883047
Now that I am 3 home bruise deep, this is jolly entertaining.
DPR separatist Igor Strelkov (Girkin), sentenced to life in prison by the ICC for the downing of MH17 and the deaths of all 298 passengers and crew, went to Moscow.
.
Strelkov Igor Ivanovich I am in Moscow. Attempt No. 3 to take a direct part in the hostilities against the armed forces of respected Kyiv partners (they are now referred to in the reports of the Ministry of Defense as some kind of "militants") did not end in success, although it was very close to that. Briefly, without details:
[…]
https://t.me/strelkovii/3492
google translate
[…]
https://t.me/strelkovii/3493
google translate
Strelkov Igor Ivanovich
And now also briefly on the impressions of the trip, which was fruitless, but not without benefit (since my eyes and ears remained with me, and my head is also still working).
Naturally, I intend to keep the vast majority of my impressions and conclusions to myself. In order, so to speak, "not to discredit". Positive impressions – I will share in the upcoming (hopefully) video conferences. But there are not too many of them – in relation to the negative ones.
And now I will only note that the basis of all our "increasing victories" on the fronts and directions of the NMD is the deepest crisis of strategic planning. Simply put, the troops are fighting "by inertia", not having the slightest idea of the ultimate strategic goals of the current military campaign and only guessing about the vague plans of the command for such grandiose senseless gestures as the construction of a completely insane in uselessness (but wildly expensive in terms of execution cost) Surovikin Lines.
In most parts of the RF Armed Forces, soldiers and officers do not understand: for what, for what and for what purposes they are fighting in general. For them, a mystery – what is the condition for victory or just a condition for ending the war? And the authorities of the Russian Federation are not able to explain this to them, since setting a clear goal for the NWO means "limiting room for maneuver" – that is, losing the opportunity to declare the goals of the NWO as achieved at any moment that the Kremlin leaders consider convenient. (For the thousand and first time, I remind you that the passionately desired “reconciliation with partners,” for which many steps are being taken to this day that demoralize society and the army, is unattainable in principle, but the Kremlin and Staraya Square do not want to believe in it).
Such sentiments specifically in the troops lead to apathy. Apathy, on the other hand, leads to a drop in morale and the fulfillment of the tasks set "for show" and "slip of the sleeves", without a real interest in their successful result. So – in the army of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (and parts of the Armed Forces of the LDNR, although there the fighters have much more motivation) apathy prevails.
The absence of a clear military-political strategy does not allow the military to develop tactics that will contribute to its implementation. In the meantime – "on a whim" – the RF Armed Forces are preparing for a protracted positional war, building long-term structures along the entire front in the style of "a la the Mannerheim Line" (does not pull on the "Maginot Line"). The fact that following the strategy of a protracted war is suicide for the Russian Federation (and its authorities and elites, too, by the way) – I wrote back in 2014, but I said (more than once or twice) – from the very beginning of the current campaign.
Therefore, watching how the enemy slowly (and without encountering any opposition) implements his own strategic tasks with the complete passivity of the military and political authorities of the Russian Federation, I do not expect anything good at the front in the coming weeks.
And, yes, – the so-called. "Ukraine" will NOT freeze in winter, will NOT rebel and will NOT fight worse. Vice versa. Its soldiers, who have already believed in their strength as a result of the autumn victories of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and are fully supported by NATO, will only fight harder and harder against the "Muscovites", avenging the hardships that their relatives and friends in the rear are forced to bear. And they will be met only by apathetic performance of duty, behind which many fighters and commanders have long been looming the unresolved question: "What are we doing here, if Moscow is most concerned with the implementation of" grain deals ", the unhindered pumping of ammonia through Odessa and the" price ceiling " on gas and oil supplied to numerous Western partners?
https://t.me/strelkovii/3495
google translate
Under reported story here
The United States is gearing up for a long war in the Ukraine. If the Russians think they can outlast the west in a war of logistics, well they are in for a rude shock.
Russia couldn't spot the giant 40 year old drone that struck one of its three most heavily defended air bases while Ukraine intercepts >80% of Russia's most up to date cruise missiles.
Second best military!
https://twitter.com/BBCSteveR/status/1600014676007342080
Today is the 8th of December 2022….WTF!