"The Commerce Commission last night [Dec 2001]rejected a proposed merger between the country's second and third largest supermarket groups.
Progressive's parent company, Perth-based Foodland Associated, has said it is likely to challenge an earlier rejection of its bid through the Privy Council.
Progressive sought permission to buy Woolworths in May, lodging its application a day before competition laws were tightened.
‘"The saga dates back to July last year [2001] when the Commerce Commission cleared Progressive's application for permission to buy Woolworths, claiming the merged company would not would not acquire or strengthen dominance in any market.
However rival supermarket operator Foodstuffs took legal action, claiming the deal should be judged under the more strict criteria of "substantially lessening competition" in a market.
A Court of Appeal decision forced Progressive to apply under the stricter criteria but that application was turned down by the Commerce Commission (as mentioned in the first paragraph)
The Privy Council overturned the Court of Appeal Decision, leaving them with the original approval ( lodged 1 day before stricter rules came into force)
Amoral pricks would sacrifice their own for a dollar.
/
But at some point we’re going to have to ask and answer the question: Were the years of life saved from COVID worth shutting down the country, putting a generation out of the classroom and into enormous debt? Had we known all this at the start, would we have made different decisions?
Statistical value of a life is an interesting concept – presumably they would attempt to use that. I would hope any work would also look at human behaviour in a pandemic, which is to lower risk by staying home a lot.
I was actually being flippant (what, me? noooooo), but it's an interesting question. Even without huge personal behaviour changes being included in the equation, $4million times 10,000 lives saved (light estimate for no lockdowns and minimal immigration changes over covid year 1 e.g. Sweden/uk/usa) is $40 billion. Not sure the govt response has cost that yet.
like ECE, teaching, aged care health workers are generally “givers”. I have this fear that they will feel obligated to return to work when they are still unwell. As someone still recovering form COVID, recovery can more complicated than a cold/flu and as I read there is increasing reporting on long COVID. I hope that we don’t sacrifice these workers to get over this hump and then leave them to suffer later on, and even later on their workload will still be extremely high. When will they be able to R&R ?? I see burnout for many https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-outbreak-critical-healthcare-staff-can-now-work-while-covid-positive-as-a-last-resort/2XMY6CQ2EA6NZM7D2DMCE3TWWU/
Based on the nurses I know, I feel that there will be enormous pressure on nurses (in particular) to work while symptomatic, 'you're not really sick enough to take leave'. Pressure coming ultimately from hospital management – who have firmly resisted all attempts to improve the staffing situation – but also their desire to support their colleagues – knowing there is no replacement, so not turning up increases the load on everyone else.
This is not a '9 years of neglect' issue. This has been going on for more than 20 years – and hasn't changed in the last 4 (or even in the last 1.5 – with a majority labour government).
Yes, Covid. But actually the Health Minister has put all his energy into the DHB reforms; which, while they *may* increase efficiency – do nothing to improve the staffing situation on the front line.
Herodotus you are correct. They are expecting medical people to "soldier on" which is bad form, as this virus needs lots of rest to recover. The brain effects are a shock.
I found it quite unique rob very pertinent to right now in its realism .An unusual take for an msm outlet . Love or loath Fox News its what a lot of americans are watching so its useful from an observers perspective to know what those viewers are thinking check out the comments when i watched that segment last night there was about 13k of them that had been generated in just a few hours .Judge for yourself .
Further developments on the Statutory bailout of sensitive new age energy group Bulb energy,will cost the British government billions of pounds and subsequently the British consumer.(total fails to date 23 companies).
Conservative academic, author and former spook John Schindler on Poots' religious war.
"Regrettably, Putinhas no reason to back down now, since the West has already dropped its economic “atomic bomb” on Russia, leaving Moscow to explain to its own people why the Ukraine war must go on, in the face of economic ruin, anti-Russian sentiments in many countries, and the deaths of Russian soldiers in a war of choice. As this newsletter has already explained, Putin’s aggression against his neighbor isn’t grounded merely in coldly rational geostrategy: it has a significant religious component too."
He spent 30 minutes to say the obvious…..Putin has 6000 nukes and it isnt a good idea to engage in military conflict with him….and that includes 'no fly zones'.
John Campbell outlines the results of two new studies:
(1) IvermectinvsRemdesivir
and
(2) Ivermectin vs Non-Users (Control Group)
[NOTE: This could be a little upsetting for the chattering classes, convinced as they are that Ivermectin is the Devil's Brew & therefore any heretic mentioning the Drug That Dare Not Speak Its Name must inevitably be closely associated with anti-vaxxers, Donald Trump, the alt-right, moon landing conspiracies, Vladimir Putin, howling at the moon, the eating of new-born babies … and so on & so forth]
Spoiler: Ivermectin was the clear winner on the day … associated with significant reduction in hospitalisation & mortality:
"Unfortunately, these meta-analyses are highly dependent on a small number of highly “positive” trials, which, if removed, turn positive meta-analyses into negative meta-analyses. Seemingly not coincidentally, these very highly “positive” clinical trials are also the most dodgy, either very badly done at best or outright fraudulent at worst."
Still pushing that shit after a million deaths in the USA and six million worldwide?
Are you suggesting they were all taking Ivermectin ? … Bizarre.
Why not take the medically tested and approved vaccines
I'm triple-vaxxed, me old son … although, like many living outside insular echo-chambers, I’m able to think independently & am still a little concerned about the mRNA vaccines’ unknown long-term consequences.
instead of some off label antibacterial drug… FFS.
Prefer to carefully weigh the emerging evidence on potentially-useful anti-virals (it’s not either vaccination or anti-virals) rather than allow myself to be blinded by preconceived assumptions. It’s a drug that has been used for decades, with a remarkably good safety record over billions of human doses
Still, at least you didn't descend to calling it "a horse de-wormer" … so I’m delighted to see you're making a certain amount of progress.
However there are promising new protease inhibitor drugs going through proper medical trials at present. Better than the latest miracle cure touted by alternative (quack) therapists.
Nah – the point you miss completely is that Ivermectin, unlike any any of these 'promising' new drugs, already has an extremely well understood long-term safety profile. Arguably one of the safest drugs ever.
The only promise these new drugs can offer at this moment is a steady profit stream to their pushers.
It's a sign of the extreme disconnect in society when people trust horse treatments rather than listen to basic medical advice. That is the problem. Ivm might not be bad when properly taken but it has been greatly abused and touted irresponsibly.
Or when did it not save human lives since in invention in 1975?
Too soon, to point out it’s a human drug. “dumb ass” is what dumb ass says I suppose ah incognito, but you wouldn’t go there – not with your track record?
No apology then, going to keep running with your abuse.
Let people tell lies about a drug that has improved the quality of millions of lives.
Feel free to die on that hill. The simple truth is Ivemectin has been the best best drug in the global south to deal with parasites. You and yours keeping up the lie it ant nothing but a horse drug, is a bullshit argument and you know it.
But feel free to keep spreading that lie incognito. It's a hell of a hill to die on, lying when the truth is so much better.
Ivermectin was a blockbuster veterinary drug long before it found application in and for humans. There’s no argument about this. Nor is there an argument about ivermectin being cheap and safe. Placebos are also cheap and safe, so that’s an irrelevant argument anyway.
Point to [the] “lies” I have told on this forum about ivermectin. Be clear & specific and provide a link(s) to my comment(s) containing the lie(s). For example, when & where did I label ivermectin as “nothing but a horse drug” or just “a horse drug”? You make accusations, you back it up. If you cannot, you retract and apologise. After you’ve calmed down …
You went for cheap abuse. Come on, If you read my link, you would have seen I was not defending the drug for use with Sars-Covid19. But you still went there, and now are using that as your defence in the latest remarks to me. I never said it was useful for Sars-Covid19. Show me where I said that – if we playing that game.
I tried nothing more than defend a important drug widely used in the global south to save millions of lives, from what I saw was a cheap shot. And all I got from you was "Talking of “dumb ass” comments " but even better from you " No point backing up when you’ve gone over the cliff’s edge and don’t even realise that you’re in freefall"
Misrepresenting what I said – that's on you.
As I said why spread a lie about a drug when the truth is much more powerful. Ivemectin is a very effective drug, that is not recommend in the treatment of Sars-Covid19. The lie is to call it a horse drug. Or the lie of letting that statement stand, when it is simply untrue.
No, you did not say what I called out as a lie, you just went for abuse, and got the response from me you knew you'd get. So I apologise for losing my rag.
So, you don’t hesitate to use the term “dumb ass” on others, but you cannot handle it when I call out your assertion about the Nobel Prize for ivermectin using the exact same label!? Here it is (https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-08-03-2022/#comment-1873393), so that you can re-read your own “dumb ass” comment again and refresh your memory. I hope the light will come on this time, but I can’t be sure.
Secondly, the Nobel Prize is irrelevant in the context of Covid-19. The price and being off-patent are also irrelevant, for Covid-19 and for a Nobel Prize.
Thirdly, if the so-called ‘lie’ that you accused me of is calling it “a horse drug” then indeed, you cannot point to when & where I said that because I did not and have not. You appear to apologise for that but then you also accuse me of “misrepresenting” you. I won’t ask for clarification because all you’re capable of is ranting and talking mostly nonsense.
Stop digging a hole of accusations about lies and misrepresentations.
Already always listening from you again Incognito.
When you say horse drug, all you are doing is ending the conversation , unless wankers like me point it out. You have banned many for doing exactly that, me even at some point.
Why the double standard because of Sars-Covid19? How is it helpful to let that role?
Not sure why you keep going about Sars-Covid19, my point was about a useful drug, so please stop do me the curtsy of not putting words in my mouth, and please look at you second comment.
“No point backing up when you’ve gone over the cliff’s edge and don’t even realise that you’re in freefall.”
Sure I can handle the abuse, but the second comment from you was just bullshit, and an apology would be nice.
[It’s a real pity that you edited your comment after 8 minutes and changed it completely into yet another tirade of false accusations and pitiful victimhood because you’re now being moderated.
I started to engage with you in this sad thread here (https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-08-03-2022/#comment-1873422) about your dumb ass comment about your dumb ass reason why ivermectin won the Nobel Prize and said nothing about horses. (NB a drug cannot actually win the Nobel Prize, but we can get the meaning) This is the point that you’re not grasping and yet you’re bleating on about wanting an apology from me!?
You did it again, so I ask you again when & where I called ivermectin a “horse drug” to try ending the conversation. Unless you can point to a comment of mine in which I did exactly that you’d better stop and stay quiet or face the consequence. You’ve been warned – Incognito]
So if you think it's a good piece are you going to withdraw you comment "horse treatment"?
It's a very good drug which has helped a lot of people.
By the way for incognito, because he on his whole mr assumption man shitfuckery. I'm defending the drug as a extremely useful drug for the treatment of parasites. And all the good it has done in the global south, if he had actually bothered with the link he would notice I picked that link because I'm not saying it helps with Sars-Covid19 – but what is it about assumptions and such like…
Adam, imho no-one in this thread has been questioning the utility of ivermectin as a broad-spectrum anti-parasitic agent. And some of the anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties it displays in vitro suggest that it might be clinically useful against more than just parasites.
The relevant question for this thread, however, is whether it is effective against COVID-19, either as a prophylactic or to treat symptoms. And on that specific question the expert scientific jury is still out, pending the results of high-quality trials. In the absence of a verdict, I wouldn't use ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19 infection, but in some countries this pandemic has had a devastating effect on human health, and there are far too many desperate people in the world at the best of times.
Fair enough adam – I agree that ivermectin is a relatively safe compound for humans and other animals, and that it has an excellent track record as an anti-parasitic drug. My point is that (imho) it's not prudent or helpful to recommend the use of ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19 infections, and people who are encouraging same (possibly out of a genuine desire to help) are leveraging pandemic-related despair.
Many people are in dire straits – no need for some (not you) to add to their misery by talking up an unproven treatment, particularly when a proven vaccine is available.
I’ve no time for anyone advocating the use of ivermectin to prevent/treat COVID-19 infections – my position will change if (evidence-based) consensus expert medical opinion changes.
Neither do the antivaxxer hordes raiding veterinary clinics, it got so bad that one place had a sign saying “proof of horse ownership is required before purchase”.
There is a whole political and social movement associated with this stuff, that is not so benign
I prefer going directly to the literature and reading its claims and critiques, rather than stitting thru a tediously slow video. If it’s that important why don’t you summarise the main points and add references to the mainstream journals that he cites.
It's about as useful as Trump advocating bleach and hydroxychloroquine… i.e. it dilutes the most important message… get vaccinated! Or join the Herman Cain Awards.
Alternative therapies have their place but the level of bullshit pushed by idiots on the internet feeds vaccine hesitancy and is a primary reason for massive, avoidable deaths.
I read your link but also read this, because you know, confirmation bias and all that. Quote:
Merck, one company that produces Ivermectin, said in February 2021 that it had examined the findings of “all available and emerging studies of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19”, and the analysis has concluded that there was:
“No scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against COVID-19 from pre-clinical studies;
“No meaningful evidence for clinical activity or clinical efficacy in patients with COVID-19 disease, and;
“A concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies.”
Just echoing the disclaimers attached to one of the newer IVM studies mentioned. It is still not a miracle cure and pushing it as such just adds to antivaxxer sentiment.
Be careful what you wish for JR – the crumbling of perceived reality can cut both ways. All it takes is an open mind.
Correction of scientific literature: Too little, too late!
[3 March 2022] The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the limitations of the current scientific publication system, in which serious post-publication concerns are often addressed too slowly to be effective. In this Perspective, we offer suggestions to improve academia’s willingness and ability to correct errors in an appropriate time frame.
…
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many basic quality control and transparency principles have been violated on a regular basis. This is perhaps most apparent in the Surgisphere debacle, in which global policy on COVID-19 treatment was changed overnight on the basis of a database that later turned out not to exist. Although the Surgisphere retraction happened quickly, it was far slower than the change in medical practice, which was immediate, and represents a best-case scenario in which a high-profile paper was immediately interrogated and investigated. The stories of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, both widely promoted based on poor quality or even fraudulent studies, are further concerning accounts of how the scientific publishing process has failed to exercise basic quality control.
But there's a world of difference between double blind trials that actively search for adverse events, and studies that search only for positive effects and don't even take into account other treatments that the participants are taking.
So far the strongest finding seems to be that trials conducted by clinicians motivated to save lives show a positive result, while those conducted and funded by pharma or their captive entities show nil result.
Assuming that finding is correct, one would expect that pharma actually know how to run a trial that minimises biases, confounding factors, and also looks for safety issues.
It's fundamental to their income stream, after all.
When it turns out that IVM might well have been able to reduce the COVID death toll by more than a factor of 10, and similarly with Vitamin D, then the question of where the shame should be located becomes an interesting one.
The key word, appropriately highlighted in your comment, is "might".
Seems to me that clinicians climbing on the ivermectin bandwagon have rather jumped the gun, but I have an open mind on “where the shame should be located” – time (and good science) will tell.
High-dose ivermectin for early treatment of COVID-19 (COVER study): a randomised, double-blind, multicentre, phase II, dose-finding, proof-of-concept clinical trial [February 2022]
High-dose ivermectin was safe but did not show efficacy to reduce viral load.
… In conclusion, we did not demonstrate a significant reduction in viral load between ivermectin and placebo, although a trend for the highest dose is apparent. Whether this drug might have clinical efficacy at lower doses remains debated. We believe that our findings further support the WHO recommendation suggesting that it is currently advisable to refrain from administrating ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19 outside of clinical trials. Considering the reduced tolerability, large, high-dose clinical trials should not be recommended.
"Today, nations around the world are called again to take sides – between Russia and the west, and very soon between the west and China. But as the map of sanctions attests, the cross-pressure between these great powers may once again spark a movement for non-alignment, demanding a more universal application of international law against demands for unilateral exception.
There will no doubt be consequences for this neutral position. Non-aligned nations in the first cold war were frequently victim to aggression, invasion and economic embargo. The same risks to neutrality are visible today. Lithuania recently canceled a shipment of Covid vaccines to Bangladesh for its refusal to condemn Russia at the United Nations. The US, for its part, has already passed the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (Caatsa), giving license to punish countries with sanctions for trading with the other side."
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The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
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A bit of History about Supermarket merger
"The Commerce Commission last night [Dec 2001]rejected a proposed merger between the country's second and third largest supermarket groups.
Progressive's parent company, Perth-based Foodland Associated, has said it is likely to challenge an earlier rejection of its bid through the Privy Council.
Progressive sought permission to buy Woolworths in May, lodging its application a day before competition laws were tightened.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/supermarket-merger-rejected/PZW5NRYY7SYQHEYRXEUEPJ4HE4/
But before that
‘"The saga dates back to July last year [2001] when the Commerce Commission cleared Progressive's application for permission to buy Woolworths, claiming the merged company would not would not acquire or strengthen dominance in any market.
However rival supermarket operator Foodstuffs took legal action, claiming the deal should be judged under the more strict criteria of "substantially lessening competition" in a market.
A Court of Appeal decision forced Progressive to apply under the stricter criteria but that application was turned down by the Commerce Commission (as mentioned in the first paragraph)
The Privy Council overturned the Court of Appeal Decision, leaving them with the original approval ( lodged 1 day before stricter rules came into force)
Simon Power almost got a draft bill on anti-cartel legislation up.
But was then whisked away to Westpac.
Labour finally got there.
Amoral pricks would sacrifice their own for a dollar.
/
But at some point we’re going to have to ask and answer the question: Were the years of life saved from COVID worth shutting down the country, putting a generation out of the classroom and into enormous debt? Had we known all this at the start, would we have made different decisions?
Probably not this time. Practically every country, culture, and political system acted the same way, just to different extents. Even Sweden had more stringent restrictions than New Zealand for large parts of the past two years. But we can’t afford to make the same mistake next time.
https://www.act.org.nz/the_free_press_7_march_2022
Another message from the shadow minister of mandatory euthanasia and eugenics how unsurprising.
I wonder if they have a $$ per life ratio, or whether they just think the economy would do better without people?
Statistical value of a life is an interesting concept – presumably they would attempt to use that. I would hope any work would also look at human behaviour in a pandemic, which is to lower risk by staying home a lot.
One would hope.
I was actually being flippant (what, me? noooooo), but it's an interesting question. Even without huge personal behaviour changes being included in the equation, $4million times 10,000 lives saved (light estimate for no lockdowns and minimal immigration changes over covid year 1 e.g. Sweden/uk/usa) is $40 billion. Not sure the govt response has cost that yet.
like ECE, teaching, aged care health workers are generally “givers”. I have this fear that they will feel obligated to return to work when they are still unwell. As someone still recovering form COVID, recovery can more complicated than a cold/flu and as I read there is increasing reporting on long COVID. I hope that we don’t sacrifice these workers to get over this hump and then leave them to suffer later on, and even later on their workload will still be extremely high. When will they be able to R&R ?? I see burnout for many
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-outbreak-critical-healthcare-staff-can-now-work-while-covid-positive-as-a-last-resort/2XMY6CQ2EA6NZM7D2DMCE3TWWU/
Based on the nurses I know, I feel that there will be enormous pressure on nurses (in particular) to work while symptomatic, 'you're not really sick enough to take leave'. Pressure coming ultimately from hospital management – who have firmly resisted all attempts to improve the staffing situation – but also their desire to support their colleagues – knowing there is no replacement, so not turning up increases the load on everyone else.
This is not a '9 years of neglect' issue. This has been going on for more than 20 years – and hasn't changed in the last 4 (or even in the last 1.5 – with a majority labour government).
Yes, Covid. But actually the Health Minister has put all his energy into the DHB reforms; which, while they *may* increase efficiency – do nothing to improve the staffing situation on the front line.
Ask yourself how many others, not nurses or hospital workers, are currently working with covid as they can not afford to not work.
Aged care health workers have been both in short supply and poorly compensated long before covid….they have been 'sacrificed' for years.
But its all good, National will cut their taxes (but not as much as they'll cut their own)
Herodotus you are correct. They are expecting medical people to "soldier on" which is bad form, as this virus needs lots of rest to recover. The brain effects are a shock.
This is why i sometimes watch Tucker Carlson !!!
Got a summary of why we should watch a 30 minute video of Tucker?
Apart from the usual hypocrisy, fear, jingoism, and blaming Biden for everything…
I found it quite unique rob very pertinent to right now in its realism .An unusual take for an msm outlet . Love or loath Fox News its what a lot of americans are watching so its useful from an observers perspective to know what those viewers are thinking check out the comments when i watched that segment last night there was about 13k of them that had been generated in just a few hours .Judge for yourself .
Big shot (Tsingshan Holding Group) caught by short and curlies on big short.Also defaulting was Chinese construction bank on margin calls.
https://twitter.com/JavierBlas/status/1501092364340846596?cxt=HHwWiICz-avj-dQpAAAA
Huuuge implications for lithium battery production in China.
Further developments on the Statutory bailout of sensitive new age energy group Bulb energy,will cost the British government billions of pounds and subsequently the British consumer.(total fails to date 23 companies).
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60653751
Just been reading that one Nicola Willis was a senior advisor to John Key. Say no more!!![enlightened enlightened](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/lightbulb.png?x42494)
Conservative academic, author and former spook John Schindler on Poots' religious war.
"Regrettably, Putin has no reason to back down now, since the West has already dropped its economic “atomic bomb” on Russia, leaving Moscow to explain to its own people why the Ukraine war must go on, in the face of economic ruin, anti-Russian sentiments in many countries, and the deaths of Russian soldiers in a war of choice. As this newsletter has already explained, Putin’s aggression against his neighbor isn’t grounded merely in coldly rational geostrategy: it has a significant religious component too."
https://topsecretumbra.substack.com/p/putins-religious-war-against-ukraine
Is anyone going to have a go at writing on Zelinsky holding a moral mirror up to the EU, US, and NATO?
At what point do the 'red lines' of NATO become too expensive, too hot to even contemplate making the jump over them?
When oil's at US$140 a litre? $160? $180? $200? When a litre of 91 hits $4? Or inflation hits 10% p.a.?
When we start to get a COVID-scale death count?
When the US, EU, UK et al determine that they will cut off all Russian oil?
Or cut off all Russian Gas?
How much more important now are the founding principles and mechanisms of the Common Market, and of the Eeuopean Union, and of the Euro?
When will the UN ideal of sovereign integrity really reign over the views of China and India sitting elegantly on the sideline?
On a sliding scale of idealism, what is left if Ukraine falls?
All these questions are going to cut sharper as the sieges take hold.
Are you advocating for direct western intervention?….such as Zelinsky's call for a no fly zone?
Zelinsky's call for a no fly zone? Never… according to this fellow. When he explains the reason it makes a whole lot of sense:
He spent 30 minutes to say the obvious…..Putin has 6000 nukes and it isnt a good idea to engage in military conflict with him….and that includes 'no fly zones'.
.
John Campbell outlines the results of two new studies:
(1) Ivermectin vs Remdesivir
and
(2) Ivermectin vs Non-Users (Control Group)
[NOTE: This could be a little upsetting for the chattering classes, convinced as they are that Ivermectin is the Devil's Brew & therefore any heretic mentioning the Drug That Dare Not Speak Its Name must inevitably be closely associated with anti-vaxxers, Donald Trump, the alt-right, moon landing conspiracies, Vladimir Putin, howling at the moon, the eating of new-born babies … and so on & so forth]
Spoiler: Ivermectin was the clear winner on the day … associated with significant reduction in hospitalisation & mortality:
Ivermectin, more evidence – YouTube
Still pushing that shit after a million deaths in the USA and six million worldwide?
Why not take the medically tested and approved vaccines instead of some off label antibacterial drug… FFS.
Well at least the vaccines worked to make you fully immune to facts.
Hmmm facts you say?
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/?s=ivermectin&category_name=&submit=Search
Yes. From your link
"Unfortunately, these meta-analyses are highly dependent on a small number of highly “positive” trials, which, if removed, turn positive meta-analyses into negative meta-analyses. Seemingly not coincidentally, these very highly “positive” clinical trials are also the most dodgy, either very badly done at best or outright fraudulent at worst."
In other words you have nothing.
I left you a note abt your sci fi story
.
Are you suggesting they were all taking Ivermectin ? … Bizarre.
I'm triple-vaxxed, me old son … although, like many living outside insular echo-chambers, I’m able to think independently & am still a little concerned about the mRNA vaccines’ unknown long-term consequences.
Prefer to carefully weigh the emerging evidence on potentially-useful anti-virals (it’s not either vaccination or anti-virals) rather than allow myself to be blinded by preconceived assumptions. It’s a drug that has been used for decades, with a remarkably good safety record over billions of human doses
Still, at least you didn't descend to calling it "a horse de-wormer" … so I’m delighted to see you're making a certain amount of progress.
It’s not an anti-viral, it’s anti-bacterial.
Ivermectin is the new hydroxychloroquine, take 6: Incompetence and fraud everywhere! | Science-Based Medicine (sciencebasedmedicine.org)
However there are promising new protease inhibitor drugs going through proper medical trials at present. Better than the latest miracle cure touted by alternative (quack) therapists.
Pfizer’s new COVID-19 protease inhibitor drug is not just “repackaged ivermectin” | Science-Based Medicine (sciencebasedmedicine.org)
Nah – the point you miss completely is that Ivermectin, unlike any any of these 'promising' new drugs, already has an extremely well understood long-term safety profile. Arguably one of the safest drugs ever.
The only promise these new drugs can offer at this moment is a steady profit stream to their pushers.
It's a sign of the extreme disconnect in society when people trust horse treatments rather than listen to basic medical advice. That is the problem. Ivm might not be bad when properly taken but it has been greatly abused and touted irresponsibly.
MY FATHER, THE FOOL
I’d run out of sympathy for COVID skeptics. Then I remembered my father’s stiff neck.
Ivermectin is a drug that has been used for years in the third world and won a Nobel prize because it's safe and patent free.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivermectin
Have you ever tried thinking for yourself roblogic, or you going to keep repeating dumb ass corporation media talking points?
Talking of “dumb ass” comments![crying crying](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/cry_smile.png?x42494)
Want to back that comment up?
Like when did it not win a Nobel prize?
Or when did it not save human lives since in invention in 1975?
Too soon, to point out it’s a human drug. “dumb ass” is what dumb ass says I suppose ah incognito, but you wouldn’t go there – not with your track record?
No point backing up when you’ve gone over the cliff’s edge and don’t even realise that you’re in freefall. Sweet dreams.
No apology then, going to keep running with your abuse.
Let people tell lies about a drug that has improved the quality of millions of lives.
Feel free to die on that hill. The simple truth is Ivemectin has been the best best drug in the global south to deal with parasites. You and yours keeping up the lie it ant nothing but a horse drug, is a bullshit argument and you know it.
But feel free to keep spreading that lie incognito. It's a hell of a hill to die on, lying when the truth is so much better.
It’s what you asserted about the Novel Prize. BTW, this was awarded in 2015 and this had and still has nothing to do with Covid-19.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2015/press-release/
Ivermectin was a blockbuster veterinary drug long before it found application in and for humans. There’s no argument about this. Nor is there an argument about ivermectin being cheap and safe. Placebos are also cheap and safe, so that’s an irrelevant argument anyway.
Point to [the] “lies” I have told on this forum about ivermectin. Be clear & specific and provide a link(s) to my comment(s) containing the lie(s). For example, when & where did I label ivermectin as “nothing but a horse drug” or just “a horse drug”? You make accusations, you back it up. If you cannot, you retract and apologise. After you’ve calmed down …
You went for cheap abuse. Come on, If you read my link, you would have seen I was not defending the drug for use with Sars-Covid19. But you still went there, and now are using that as your defence in the latest remarks to me. I never said it was useful for Sars-Covid19. Show me where I said that – if we playing that game.
I tried nothing more than defend a important drug widely used in the global south to save millions of lives, from what I saw was a cheap shot. And all I got from you was "Talking of “dumb ass” comments
" but even better from you " No point backing up when you’ve gone over the cliff’s edge and don’t even realise that you’re in freefall"
Misrepresenting what I said – that's on you.
As I said why spread a lie about a drug when the truth is much more powerful. Ivemectin is a very effective drug, that is not recommend in the treatment of Sars-Covid19. The lie is to call it a horse drug. Or the lie of letting that statement stand, when it is simply untrue.
No, you did not say what I called out as a lie, you just went for abuse, and got the response from me you knew you'd get. So I apologise for losing my rag.
So, you don’t hesitate to use the term “dumb ass” on others, but you cannot handle it when I call out your assertion about the Nobel Prize for ivermectin using the exact same label!? Here it is (https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-08-03-2022/#comment-1873393), so that you can re-read your own “dumb ass” comment again and refresh your memory. I hope the light will come on this time, but I can’t be sure.
Secondly, the Nobel Prize is irrelevant in the context of Covid-19. The price and being off-patent are also irrelevant, for Covid-19 and for a Nobel Prize.
Thirdly, if the so-called ‘lie’ that you accused me of is calling it “a horse drug” then indeed, you cannot point to when & where I said that because I did not and have not. You appear to apologise for that but then you also accuse me of “misrepresenting” you. I won’t ask for clarification because all you’re capable of is ranting and talking mostly nonsense.
Stop digging a hole of accusations about lies and misrepresentations.
Already always listening from you again Incognito.
When you say horse drug, all you are doing is ending the conversation , unless wankers like me point it out. You have banned many for doing exactly that, me even at some point.
Why the double standard because of Sars-Covid19? How is it helpful to let that role?
Not sure why you keep going about Sars-Covid19, my point was about a useful drug, so please stop do me the curtsy of not putting words in my mouth, and please look at you second comment.
“No point backing up when you’ve gone over the cliff’s edge and don’t even realise that you’re in freefall.”
Sure I can handle the abuse, but the second comment from you was just bullshit, and an apology would be nice.
[It’s a real pity that you edited your comment after 8 minutes and changed it completely into yet another tirade of false accusations and pitiful victimhood because you’re now being moderated.
I started to engage with you in this sad thread here (https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-08-03-2022/#comment-1873422) about your dumb ass comment about your dumb ass reason why ivermectin won the Nobel Prize and said nothing about horses. (NB a drug cannot actually win the Nobel Prize, but we can get the meaning) This is the point that you’re not grasping and yet you’re bleating on about wanting an apology from me!?
You did it again, so I ask you again when & where I called ivermectin a “horse drug” to try ending the conversation. Unless you can point to a comment of mine in which I did exactly that you’d better stop and stay quiet or face the consequence. You’ve been warned – Incognito]
Mod note for you.
read note
That is an excellent wiki page, I suggest you read the whole thing
So if you think it's a good piece are you going to withdraw you comment "horse treatment"?
It's a very good drug which has helped a lot of people.
By the way for incognito, because he on his whole mr assumption man shitfuckery. I'm defending the drug as a extremely useful drug for the treatment of parasites. And all the good it has done in the global south, if he had actually bothered with the link he would notice I picked that link because I'm not saying it helps with Sars-Covid19 – but what is it about assumptions and such like…
The original comment (#10 above) is about a Dr. John Campbell video where he unambiguously claims that
Start your own thread if you want to change the subject.
So you going to stick with the lie it's nothing but a horse drug.
What a hill to die on. Who gives a dam about the lies we tell that hurt the global south.
Adam, imho no-one in this thread has been questioning the utility of ivermectin as a broad-spectrum anti-parasitic agent. And some of the anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties it displays in vitro suggest that it might be clinically useful against more than just parasites.
The relevant question for this thread, however, is whether it is effective against COVID-19, either as a prophylactic or to treat symptoms. And on that specific question the expert scientific jury is still out, pending the results of high-quality trials. In the absence of a verdict, I wouldn't use ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19 infection, but in some countries this pandemic has had a devastating effect on human health, and there are far too many desperate people in the world at the best of times.
Come on
Drowsy M. Kram that was not my point. My point was the lazy comment condemning a very useful drug, is not helpful.
All I've seen that comment being used as, is as short hand to shut down debate.
It worked, both other commentators walked away.
Fair enough adam – I agree that ivermectin is a relatively safe compound for humans and other animals, and that it has an excellent track record as an anti-parasitic drug. My point is that (imho) it's not prudent or helpful to recommend the use of ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19 infections, and people who are encouraging same (possibly out of a genuine desire to help) are leveraging pandemic-related despair.
Many people are in dire straits – no need for some (not you) to add to their misery by talking up an unproven treatment, particularly when a proven vaccine is available.
I’ve no time for anyone advocating the use of ivermectin to prevent/treat COVID-19 infections – my position will change if (evidence-based) consensus expert medical opinion changes.
"might not be bad when properly" Well you just called it horse treatment so clearly you have no fucking idea how it is taken properly.
Neither do the antivaxxer hordes raiding veterinary clinics, it got so bad that one place had a sign saying “proof of horse ownership is required before purchase”.
There is a whole political and social movement associated with this stuff, that is not so benign
The esteemed Dr Campbell has finally fallen down the rabbit hole that he has been digging for a while. Gone full anti-vaxx. Silly old git
https://twitter.com/factaotearoa/status/1501788285257285635?s=21.
So going anti-vaxx means carefully reading and reporting the data as it becomes available.
Righto.
You forgot to mention his habit of spreading falsehoods and conspiracy theories.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Campbell_(YouTuber)
I could say the same about you. And you forgot to mention anything the video was about. Probably because you haven't seen it.
I prefer going directly to the literature and reading its claims and critiques, rather than stitting thru a tediously slow video. If it’s that important why don’t you summarise the main points and add references to the mainstream journals that he cites.
To use your own words above… You're still pushing that shit! #Stromectol
It's about as useful as Trump advocating bleach and hydroxychloroquine… i.e. it dilutes the most important message… get vaccinated! Or join the Herman Cain Awards.
Alternative therapies have their place but the level of bullshit pushed by idiots on the internet feeds vaccine hesitancy and is a primary reason for massive, avoidable deaths.
Have you no shame?
When it turns out that IVM might well have been able to reduce the COVID death toll by more than a factor of 10, and similarly with Vitamin D, then the question of where the shame should be located becomes an interesting one.
The only certainty here is of course that you will not read the above references with an open mind.
I read your link but also read this, because you know, confirmation bias and all that. Quote:
Feb 2021. Here's the latest peer reviewed studies.
(2) Ivermectin, more evidence – YouTube
Where they only observe correlation, and don’t explore causation or confounding factors. Double blind controlled studies please.
Sorry, are you totally disregarding the findings on that basis? Just checking whether you're actually that dumb or just being petty.
Just echoing the disclaimers attached to one of the newer IVM studies mentioned. It is still not a miracle cure and pushing it as such just adds to antivaxxer sentiment.
Your perceived reality is starting to rumble, shake and crack. It's okay.
Is it? That would be cool. Could do with an update on this cranky old OS 😛
Be careful what you wish for JR – the crumbling of perceived reality can cut both ways. All it takes is an open mind.
Correction of scientific literature: Too little, too late!
[3 March 2022]
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the limitations of the current scientific publication system, in which serious post-publication concerns are often addressed too slowly to be effective. In this Perspective, we offer suggestions to improve academia’s willingness and ability to correct errors in an appropriate time frame.
…
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many basic quality control and transparency principles have been violated on a regular basis. This is perhaps most apparent in the Surgisphere debacle, in which global policy on COVID-19 treatment was changed overnight on the basis of a database that later turned out not to exist. Although the Surgisphere retraction happened quickly, it was far slower than the change in medical practice, which was immediate, and represents a best-case scenario in which a high-profile paper was immediately interrogated and investigated. The stories of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, both widely promoted based on poor quality or even fraudulent studies, are further concerning accounts of how the scientific publishing process has failed to exercise basic quality control.
Nobody is "totally disregarding" anything.
But there's a world of difference between double blind trials that actively search for adverse events, and studies that search only for positive effects and don't even take into account other treatments that the participants are taking.
So far the strongest finding seems to be that trials conducted by clinicians motivated to save lives show a positive result, while those conducted and funded by pharma or their captive entities show nil result.
A familiar pattern is emerging here:
https://twitter.com/hntweets/status/1501903205663391744?s=21
Assuming that finding is correct, one would expect that pharma actually know how to run a trial that minimises biases, confounding factors, and also looks for safety issues.
It's fundamental to their income stream, after all.
The key word, appropriately highlighted in your comment, is "might".
Seems to me that clinicians climbing on the ivermectin bandwagon have rather jumped the gun, but I have an open mind on “where the shame should be located” – time (and good science) will tell.
Difficult choices ahead.
"Today, nations around the world are called again to take sides – between Russia and the west, and very soon between the west and China. But as the map of sanctions attests, the cross-pressure between these great powers may once again spark a movement for non-alignment, demanding a more universal application of international law against demands for unilateral exception.
There will no doubt be consequences for this neutral position. Non-aligned nations in the first cold war were frequently victim to aggression, invasion and economic embargo. The same risks to neutrality are visible today. Lithuania recently canceled a shipment of Covid vaccines to Bangladesh for its refusal to condemn Russia at the United Nations. The US, for its part, has already passed the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (Caatsa), giving license to punish countries with sanctions for trading with the other side."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/10/russia-ukraine-west-global-south-sanctions-war