Daily review 13/09/2021
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5:30 pm, September 13th, 2021 - 36 comments
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- The 1 Good Thing Left In Journalism
Hi,It’s almost Christmas Day which means it is almost my birthday, where you will find me whimpering in the corner clutching a warm bottle of Baileys.If you’re out of ideas for presents (and truly desperate) then it is possible to gift a full Webworm subscription to a friend (or enemy) ...1 hour ago - Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Monday, December 23
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ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...22 hours ago - Fact brief – Are we heading into an ‘ice age’?
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The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...2 days ago - Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, December 21
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Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...3 days ago
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It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...3 days ago
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The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...4 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...4 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...5 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...5 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...6 days ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...6 days ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...6 days ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...6 days ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...6 days ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...6 days ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...7 days ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...7 days ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...7 days ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
- Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine
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Oh no, another week at 4 !!
I have a serious 1st world problem.
I'm sick and tired of supermarket beer and wine.
I have a distinctive Scottish name and Scotch is my game.
As I've lived on my boat for the past 10 years I dont have a shore based delivery address so liquor deliveries at 4 dont work.
Oh woe is me.
Place your order and send it to my place, I will look after it for you
Any recommendations from past experiences ??
Can you not order and pick up at the local distribution centre. Know pre lockdown that if no one is at home they return to their yard and you can pick up packages the following day. Thee are a few whisky outlets that courier, so I have been informed.
Seems to me that if you're on your boat alone, you could share a bubble with someone onshore? Swap 'em a fresh fish in exchange for each delivery? (that might just be my BMI talking – I sink like a brick so that the prospect of good food is all that will conceivably get me onto water these days lol)
are swaps allowed under level four? (they weren't last time). Where are we at now with the whole virus on the groceries/courier package thing?
Haven't looked it up, but if it's within a combined bubble according to the rules, it's not the same as exchanging stuff willy nilly with the neighbours.
makes sense.
To help in your planning Johnr when you are able to purchase – I found this guy worth watching and he doesn’t go high end, whiskies that are “relatively” affordable Ralfy.com.
https://www.youtube.com/user/ralfystuff/videos
His background was being coffin-carrying Undertaker, the resulting shoulder damage meant me being off work
http://www.allthingswhisky.com/?p=177
https://whiskymag.com/story?ralfys-world
Now if you were in Campbeltown..
I'd buy a yacht with the money I'd got..
https://youtu.be/0ciCMsiPTbQ?t=14
Hi Macro.. you made Norm's night, he sang along with that. He comes from Dunblane.
🙂 My folks were from Campbeltown and the Isle of Gigha (off the Kintyre Peninsula).
G'gfather was a distillery man. There were 41 distilleries in the town at one stage.
very good Macro,I too am of Scottish descendant. och ah
The range of human actions when it comes to mask wearing and vaccination shows a population wide variation of behaviour in response to perceived threat. I'm guessing persistence of this trait confers a reproductive advantage.
for the species?
Serious question (Has the government ditched elimination?)
Last 3 days – Cases: 23, 20, 33
Today – Level 3 in Auckland in 8 days 'likely', 'Get vaccinated this week' (Not as safe after this week because re-opening even if cases are 20+ a day?)
Link for this interpretation? It doesn't read that way in nzherald reporting to me.
I do think the govt should be updating the wage subsidy to support businesses staying closed in Auckland.
They have and the payments up to a month after the lockdown.
That is my interpretation. I listened to the press conference and skimmed through the Herald article…what did you get from it?
I didn't see any suggestion that the level would necessarily reduce in a week or so. Just that maybe there was a suggestion lockdown was working and the level would reduce when it was safe to do so.
We are in L4 for at least a week, and then the Govt will review. I am sure they are acutely aware of the costs of an extended lockdown. But the costs of a Delta outbreak, when only 50% of the population is vaccinated, are horrendous. The health system is already falling apart. A Delta outbreak will demolish it, and wreck the economy anyway
In the press conference they said they have agreed "in principle" to move Auckland down to level 3 next Wednesday.
To make it simple, that still means at least a week.
Things are tracking well at the moment, so if that continues then L3 looks likely. But if the tail is longer than than expected, or a new cluster seems to pop up, it could be another few weeks.
There's no knowing, so no firm timetable. It just is what it is. Mate of mine is Buddhist – he seems to have the right vibe for this sort of shit.
Yep that's how I understood it too. Level 4 for another week, then if all going well, and only if numbers stay low, then level 3 after that. I didn't pick up on any indication of how long L3 would be, but imagine it would likely be two weeks.
My understanding of "in principle" is if things stay the same (i.e. 20+ cases a day, a handful of "concerning cases) Auckland will still move down to level 3 next Wednesday.
Only 15 today. Phew!
Steady at 20 cases a day for a week is bad. It means there's likely an unknown problem resulting in a plateau, and we aren't eliminating the bug.
What we should be seeing is a longish tail where knocking off the last few cases a day is as difficult as getting from 80 a day down to 20, but there's still progress on rolling average.
20, 20, 23, 15, 20, 19 is bad.
20, 15, 16, 12, 10, 8 is good.
20, 15, 12, 8, 0, 6 is even better.
My understanding of "in principle" is if things stay the same (i.e. 20+ cases a day, a handful of "concerning" cases) Auckland will still move down to level 3 next Wednesday.
In the press conference they said they have agreed "in principle" to move Auckland down to level 3 next Wednesday.
The crucial bit is the number of community cases where how they got the infection is unknown. Most of the cases are from known connections – typically family. Generally those cases are expected and people are already in isolation or quarantine when they test positive.
I think that the dangerous unlinked cases is currently 17 and falling. That is because they are indicative of undetected probably asymptomatic infection sources or clusters in community that can trigger new outbreaks
That said, we have had two unlinked cases over the weekend. That also said, it often takes a few days to to do things like getting the genomic analysis to eliminate where they didn’t get it from and to do a through look at possible points of contact.
The purpose of the lockdown is to isolate sources of infection – to eventually drop the numbers by providing no way for people to get infected. It isn’t there to stop people who have already been isolated because they could have been infected from not testing positive. We don’t have magic medical preventatives to stop that happening.
That is why when analysts are looking at reported cases, they are usually looking at measures like 7 days rolling averages to discern trends. It isolates random vagaries like how many people decided to get tested because the weather was better today.
Yes, although we are seeing some close contacts spreading the virus before they are isolating. They said "only a handful" of the 17 are concerning. Yesterday there were 34 unlinked cases and that dropped by half today which was sudden.
I agree, although since most of the people testing positive are people expected test positive, external factors affecting testing numbers would not have as much of an effect?
A RWNJ thought leader. Bless.
https://twitter.com/deonteleologist/status/1427716090650451970
Can someone please ask David how many deaths are acceptable, including his own parents/grandparents?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/451404/act-leader-david-seymour-calls-elimination-strategy-into-question
Based on Professor Gibson's research, up to 45,350 deaths may be acceptable, although he notes that that is an "unduly harsh assessment". That's the number – equivalent to two million fewer expected life years – which he has calculated based on our elimination strategy. His conclusion?
New Zealand’s safety-at-all-costs response to Covid-19 is likely to cause greater reductions in life expectancy than would eventuate with a more balanced response.
I wouldn't focus on David Seymour as he isn't in Government. If you're concerned about the loss of life, I'd focus on the current strategy.
https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10289/14388/NZAE_Poster_Gibson_Life_Expectancy_Reductions_from_Covid_Response.pdf?sequence=14&isAllowed=y
Overall mortality due to country-specific strategic responses to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic will no doubt continue to be a matter of some debate within and between groups of public health professionals, economists and academics.
Tracking excess mortality across countries during the COVID-19 pandemic with the World Mortality Dataset
Gibson's an Economist, not a Medical Expert.
Oh, come on! it’s just a numbers game and it’s not like we’re talking about real people dying or something. \sarc