Yeah it was impressive as always Robert. I liked her focus on sealing the perimeter of the cluster rather than chasing down the rabbit hole after patient zero so Auckland can begin to move down alert levels
And has a skill I never learned: hearing stupid questions and giving tolerant and reasonable answers.
That question about whether it's still a team of five million would have had me telling the questioner to fuck off just as a matter of reflex, and she explained it consistently with the original analogy, and then told people outside Auckland how they could help those within Auckland. Quite spectacular.
Absolutely agree. Coming in late on repeat TV news channels 6 and 8, I happened to see that response to what I think was meant to be a hostile question. Quick, natural smile, perfect reply with candour and natural confidence.
Jacinda is, I think, the most talented, connecting communicator we have had as PM since Rob Muldoon at his peak. He was of the opposite nature – domineering, calculating, but still beguiling his 'mob'.
Lange was wittiest; Winston at his best was close to Muldoon, but less focused; I hoped for a lot from Palmer, but in dropping his legal, academic air he turned into the most boring speaker ever. Kirk was excellent, but too brief in existence.
I never liked PMs like Key and English who managed to mangle the English language while either charming or plodding…
I have waited to see how Jacinda would rate. I now believe that we are lucky to have one of the very best PMs we have had, in that she combines excellent communication skills with a good, kind character.
Regardless of how much social change she has been able to achieve to date, she is the leader that we on the Left cannot do without.
yeah – besides the choice of Winston and a myriad other instances of good luck, having a PM who has a toddler and therefore up to date with the communication skills to deal with journolists and tories 🙂
Apart from the dick who wrote to Collins asking her to resist the lockdown measures the National Party in general has been very quiet today. Maybe they think they are about to catch a break at last?
If there was a skerrick of self awareness amongst 'em, today was the day to keep it zipped.
Again I feel The Greens were prescient with giving The Nats their share of questions. The more they open their mouths the more they show how unfit they are to govern. climate
The same, sadly, applies to “Merv’s” intervention in National’s 2020 Auckland Central candidate selection. Newshub has alleged that this pseudonymous caller of late-night talkback shows is in fact a regional representative of the National Party with a bee in his bonnet about Nuwi Samarakone, the Sri Lankan-born party activist apparently favoured by the party hierarchy. “Merv’s” contribution followed the circulation, by a person, or persons, unknown, of a photograph of Ms Samarakone (a former ballet dancer) posing for the camera in leotards. Astonishingly, that was all it took to make sure that, at least as far as its three leading contenders are concerned, the Auckland Central contest will be an all-white affair. Childish brutality indeed!"
"It is very difficult to interpret Mr Te Kahika’s activity as anything other than an attempt to impede, undermine and in every way frustrate the Government’s attempt to respond adequately to a proven resurgence of community transmission of Covid-19 in the city of Auckland and, quite possibly, across the rest of New Zealand."
&
" If Holmes’s important stipulation that “the character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done”, then Mr Te Kahika’s actions can only be described as extremely reckless and irresponsible."
He was my woodwork teacher. Nothings changed, he's still a bully and not very popular with his peers. A family friend knew him too, that's how I know combined with the attitude of the other teachers towards him when he wasn't around. Something that surprised me as a 13yo boy and stuck with me. It wasn't very often teachers openly dissed one of their own in front of students. Just saying..
Doing the math from his wiki page, twelve years of teaching before parliament in 1996 would put him in the tail-end of the days when teachers would lob chalk, dusters, and off-cuts at students.
Could be entertaining if they were gentle lobs and the teachers were original about it, but bloody terrifying if the teacher was a bully.
One of the more stupid journos just asked her if we are still a team of 5 million if there are different alert levels around the country. Ardern’s response will be come a classic, “Yes, because not everyone in the team is on the field at the same time.”
How long you reckon before some Aussie journos come up with blistering attack-lines on Ardern and NZ Govt. Y'know… can't cope with NZ being better 'n them at handling just about everything.
As a number of folk who thought they were clever have discovered, there aren't too many chinks in Jacinda's armour. I think the irredeemably negative will mostly look at the fate of Alan Jones and decide "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."
They may rage against the Victorian government in frustration however.
I suppose too, having won two tests, we don’t need a third game eh.
The business-commentariat is trying really hard to make her look like less of a sociopath by saying the quiet bits loud. The idea that we should let people die in a bullshit effort to maintain GDP is stupid even if it were real (not according to the examples of the rest of the world, as JA said this afternoon).
Old Merv, eh? In normal times this incident would have completely destroyed the National Party structure and Goodfellow in particular. How many lives has that guy had?
But here we are in post-pandemic times, and in a mega-cluster of National Party screw-ups, and it is nothing but a footnote.
If the National Party wants to move forward and provide this country with a decent opposition for the next decade they need to sack Peter Goodfellow right now. The poison is at the top.
edit
This is not what I think is good leadership from our public education institutions. A Southland polytechnic department head allegedly shared conspiracy theories about Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and US billionaire Bill Gates to a class of students.
An outline of the course noted requirements included displaying '’self-awareness, reflective practice and personal leadership in a health and wellbeing setting'’.
[Merle] Petersen, when asked if she believed those statements to be factually correct, provided a written statement saying all facts were open to interpretation. She was also approached in person by a Stuff reporter, but referred comment through SIT.
When asked if she thought it appropriate to repeat conspiracy theories at an academic institution, her statement said students were encouraged to do their own research into topics…
The paper about which the discussions took place focused on economic and social policy, she said.
This required students to examine how economic theory and social policy in New Zealand had contributed to oppression and marginalisation of particular groups.
‘’The discipline we teach, and into which students are enrolled, has an expectation that we educate the students to become aware of the socio-political contexts in which we work.
This is serious and I think this person should be sacked, and the Southern Institute of Technology should be closely checked to see how far this lazy system of tutor employment should be going. Students are very impressionable when at these colleges, and indeed are very influenced at any age when they are fully engaged in study and learning. The last thing they need to learn is that nothing they are told is really reliable. They can mislearn about life and the universe at home. When they go somewhere official they should be able to expect more than today's reckons from a teacher with a balanced viewpoint, male or female.
She is the Services Program Manager at Southern Institute of Technology, SIT.
She is part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) Te Ropu Tauwhiro i Aotearoa
Merle Grimwood-Petterson? Invercargill, NZ works at SIT
Amazing how many there are by Petersen name in the world – quite a few in South Africa. Her Facebook page is full of inspirational quotes with flowers etc.
You're letting prejudice get in the way of the evidence.
One problem for liberal/lefties that many of us have to face up to is that the conspiracy crazies draw a lot of support from Maori/Pasifika minorities, in the same way that Brian Tamaki does. God moves in mysterious ways.
…SIT, when earlier approached for comment, replied with a statement saying it was not aware of the accusations, nor had the tertiary institutions ever received any previous complaints about Petersen’s political views.
'’SIT is a politically neutral institution,'' the statement said….
I feel that this is not an 'open-minded' neutral learning institution if encouraging this sort of discourse to happen.
…It is alleged Petersen then said Gates, who had plans to depopulate the world, held a secret meeting with Ardern.
When asked by a member of the class if Gates had to quarantine, she responded with an eye roll. ‘'She was deadly serious,’' the attendee said.
Petersen allegedly referred to Ardern as “dangerous”, telling the class people needed to “keep an eye on her”.
The person who attended the class was concerned Petersen’s views could have a negative impact on the students, many of whom wanted to be social workers.
And just to compare teaching styles. This NZ fear-laden, darkly intoned conspiracy theory approach and the Finnish one that appears to produce open keen wide-thinking students.
"National’s deputy leader Gerry Brownlee has backtracked over his questioning of the Government’s handling of coronavirus information, saying it was not his intention to play into the hands of conspiracy theorists."
"Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Canterbury Mornings on Friday, Brownlee admitted he had got himself into a “bad spot” and that he “certainly didn’t intend to create any fear”.
“The way it has been presented has been unfortunate, I’ve certainly not enjoyed it,” he said."
David Skilling – "But this is an opportunity to invest in skills upgrading, capital and technology investment, to move to a higher productivity, higher wage economy."
I believe Labour the best to deliver this. National too interested in the short term, Greens would argue it means unsustainable growth, ACT would be opposed because skills upgrading conflicts with individual choice (big government offers me the way to improve my skill level but as an individual I am free to do what I like and I don't like the government telling me what to do).
The lead-up to the 2011 election was dominated by NZ hosting the Rugby World Cup. All over the news, all day, every day. There were 34 days between the final (won by John Key, with help from some All Blacks) and the election.
There are 35 days between now and the (provisional) election date, September 19.
I wonder what possessed Hilary Barry to take such a shrewish tone with the Prime Minister this evening? Jacinda looked upset by her tone and what sort of a silly question is asking her what she has got to say to the business people of Auckland as though she is a naughty child?
I saw that too Jan M and wondered the same thing. Either Barry has a bee in her bonnet about the Level 3 extension or she was trying to do the serious political interviewer thing and it didn't come off… or she’s a Nat supporter and let down her cover.
Whatever, Jacinda looked exhausted so hope she 's allowed to take it easy this week-end. She deserves a short break.
Whoever the next Prime Minister is, they will allow Covid-19 into New Zealand. Both leaders adamantly deny it now.
Polling overwhelmingly demands they publicly support what I called in March the idyllic scenario
What he really means is
1. that National is captured by those blinded by greed (a bit stoopid) and they arrogantly presume they can force Labour into opening borders recklessly (like a hooker touting for more custom by not requiring condom use) – constant bleating in the media (as per winter of discontent 2000).
2. Oz opposes us having elimination and Level 1 (it makes them look second-rate) because they can only bubble with us at level 2 (where we get tourists if we allow their infection rate).
Evidence what Kelly said today in Oz, that having level 1 was too risky (you only get there by elimination and they do not have a policy of elimination).
Australia's acting chief medical officer Paul Kelly said today New Zealand should not have returned to pre-pandemic life after going 102 days without community transmission. He said despite New Zealand's initial lockdown being successful, a return to mass gatherings and lack of social distancing was problematic. "That is just very dangerous," he told the Australian Senate's coronavirus inquiry today. "To go right back to a pre-Covid state makes them extremely vulnerable."
the right wing political world is embarrassed by comparative failure – their constant refrain is the economic cost of effective pandemic response, so they hate our example (low debt enabling the goal of elimination and the reward of level 1 recovery which is out of their reach sans vaccine).
Evidence Irish Times
the recent change in alert levels saying it was a "recipe for economic disaster." Burke-Kennedy suggested that following New Zealand's lead on lockdowns would turn Ireland's recession into a depression and trigger a higher number of suicides.
They have no choice but to accept community spread, the old TINA, thus their fear of our models existence. Nice how they claim they will save business men from suicide by allowing the deaths of less important old, poor and sick people.
David Seymour is saying what National really believes.
If a lockdown is required to maintain elimination, then it is time to have an honest conversation about accepting a new reality that the virus is here to stay and we must learn to live with it intelligently," Seymour said on Friday.
I believe Covid-19 will become endemic, globally, which means that we (NZ) need to have a plan for the future. I disagree that now is the time to have that conversation. After the Election, the Government should lead or initiate an inclusive debate about the way forward for NZ, preferably with much input from the public as well as from various experts, not just health experts and business people – we’re in this together.
Covid-19 is here to stay and won’t be eliminated or eradicated and will be endemic unless there is a highly effective vaccine for it. However, given what we know about coronaviruses, it is unlikely that even with a vaccine it will be eradicated.
The various scenarios should be discussed sooner rather than later and to pin all our hopes on an effective and safe vaccine becoming available in the very near future is fanciful; talking of evidence. So, we wait and do nothing, say nothing, and most certainly do discuss nothing? Avoid at all cost because even talking about it might put lives at risk? Because that would be the domain of RWNJs? I hope you don’t truly believe that because it is insulting to anyone’s intelligence.
There are those on the right, who would not wait behind our border even 6 months of 2021 for a vaccine. And on the right is where they belong.
Just as well that I didn’t even suggest anything of the kind. You’re achieving nothing by turning this into a hyper-polarised debate or by politicising it as a Left-Right issue. As I said, we’re in this together and simplistic binaries are of no help with complex issues, they are counter-productive.
And your Hootonesque apologetic ones especially.
I love your attempt at Monty Python humour 😀
Your wilful avoidance and attempt to shut down debate before it has even started does not sit well with me 🙁
1. were people vaccinated for the plague, and if not where did it go?
2. were people vaccinated for Spanish flu and if not where did it go?
PS I cannot see how any discussion about a plan for the future, based on a belief that SARS COV2 will always be with us, can occur in the absence of consensus about that.
PS I cannot see how any discussion about a plan for the future, based on a belief that SARS COV2 will always be with us, can occur in the absence of consensus about that. [my italics]
And how do you propose do we reach a consensus about that? Given that there are no plans to eradicate the virus on a global scale and with over 21 million cases in total and rising by hundreds of thousands daily. And if we don’t have or reach consensus, what do we then? When or what does trigger any discussion about a plan for the future? What do we do in the meantime? Are we allowed to talk about it before then and should we? If not, why not? Why are you so resistant (antagonistic) towards this?
It’s also based around protecting the capitalist base to the global economy that leads to indebted and under reourced government, rather than questioning its assumptions (why is printed QE money called a debt future generations owe – that just means they get underfunded health and education and welfare systems).
Not necessarily. Anyway, some sectors of our society, including health and education, are not doing well because of the lockdowns. I wouldn’t want to be an NCEA student this year or a cancer patient waiting to be seen or treated by a specialist. Mental health is also taking a battering, it seems although numbers are hard to come by.
I disagree. A plan could include different versions of MIQ. It wouldn’t necessarily mean what you think it means. But if you start from an extreme PoV, I can see why you wouldn’t be keen to even contemplate other options and just want to stick with BAU and shut down any discussion about a ‘plan’ as RW conspiracy.
The answers to 1 and 2 are "millions of infections and dead, and social isolation efforts, created a herd immunity and slowed the spread enough to lower the reproductive rate below 1".
The goal is to avoid the millions of dead, no? So we either wait for a vaccine, or until it blows over. And if that takes a couple of years, well at least we're not digging mass graves.
herd immunity worked with Spanish Flu because enough people got it and died? i.e. if smaller numbers of people had it, it wouldn't have gone away? And if smaller numbers of people had died it wouldn't have gone away?
Sorry, was unclear. The survivors were immune. The others died.
Bubonic plague has a different vector for infection, but many of the basic techniques of prevention are still relevant – ISTR someone mentioning at TS ships with plague victims being let in at the behest of the business community that wanted the trade.
so the Spanish Flu herd immunity was established by widespread infection, deaths of many leading to a smaller population, who had been infected but survived? Eliminated because this sequence led to an R value of less than 1?
Many viruses figure out a balance to stay in the human body permanently, establishing a balancing act between not killing the host but not being eliminated by the immune response. Herpes, for example. But by their nature they have to be pretty mild – killing few of their hosts.
Covid and Spanish flu aren't like that. From the virus' point of view, they have a ticking clock to spread to someone else before the virus kills the host or their host kills them (i.e. the patient gets better).
People who die quickly have less time to spread the virus, so there's an evolutionary bias towards becoming less lethal (more time to spread = more infections of that version).
There's also the problem that if you, as a virus, find your siblings and ancestors have already infected most of the people you meet and they got better, then you probably can't pass your descendents on to those people.
If every contact with a vulnerable person gives you a 30% chance of infecting them, coming into contact with four people gives you a decent chance of spreading yourself about if nobody has caught it before.
If 3 of those 4 caught it before, you've only got a 30% chance of spreading it. Repeat that twice, and your strain probably becomes an evolutionary dead end.
The Bubonic Plague (Spanish flu) was a bacterial infection so incomparable to aligning to as yet unknown final behaviours of SARS- CoV- 2, a virus.
The Spanish flu was an H1N1 influenza -A strain virus which became a pandemic. What happened in the time of this pandemic 1918 to 1920 was that people either developed immunity or died. The Spanish flu virus H1N1 had since been reconstructed for scientific study then these samples destroyed after experimentation.
So the Spanish flu potentially did not go away nor was herd immunity established as fact.
H1N1 influenza-A virus strain subtype appeared again as the Swine flu in 2009.
Influenza A viruses are the only influenza viruses known to cause flu global epidemics of flu disease.
SARS- CoV-2 is NOT an influenza virus. The SAR acronym being of the type drscribed as
severe acute respiratory syndrome.
SARS-CoV(1) emerged in 2002.
Combating SARS- CoV-2 is an unknown still. Ideally, having a plan economic or otherwise to carry on with life should be the goal now.
To date only 2 infectious viruses are known to have been potentially eradicated, smallpox and rinderpest.
That does not explain why so many young people died rather than older people – the immune system of healthy adults was triggered – “cytokine storm.
Hear of Samoa in relation to Sapanish flu – but for one ship visit they might have had no deaths at all?
It is possible to bubble and avoid deaths.
During the plague there were villages and towns that had no deaths – they used quarantine and then the plague was gone.
As for a plan – both parties have investment programmes to create domestic economy jobs (one focused on more and more roads, one more diverse based on investment in community well being).
Despite no eradication of Spanish flu, it no longer exists. Despite no eradication of plague has anyone in our country ever been infected treated for it?
After the Election, the Government should lead or initiate an inclusive debate about the way forward for NZ, preferably with much input from the public as well as from various experts, not just health experts and business people – we’re in this together.
The government MUST lead the debate, and should have started a long time ago.
We had three month during which the government should have led the debate on what to do if he virus re-emerges, how to handle future lock downs, what protections the public can expect etc etc etc.
Without that open approach from government the void will be filled by conspiracy theories.
As for the 'we're' all in this together? Now some are really knee deep in the shit, others are happy and able to work from home / or receive their income from investments and thus feel still in control of things. The rest of us however is not in that position. We are the expandable err 'hero' essential worker who is asked to rehire the staff we let go for a bit of cash via the flexi scheme or hey , here a few dollars , why won't you start a business. No we are not all in this together.
That's not the sort of planning Incognito is suggesting – his is about moving on from the keep it out bubble approach.
[Either you have a reading comprehension and cognitive problem, which is why you misunderstood me, or you are simply unwilling to understand what I was saying. Either way, you have misinterpreted my words, knowingly or unwittingly. You were making up shit and put words/meanings into my mouth. Point out where I suggested “moving on from the keep it out bubble approach” or retract and apologise – Incognito]
If you are not in favour of moving on from our keep it out bubble approach, sure I retract and apologise.
My impression, that this was your position was based on your wanting government to set a future direction based on a changed world environment and assumption this meant a change from current keep it out and eliminate policy.
I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank you for your many positive and high quality comments on this site – from one volunteer to another, so to speak.
For the record, I’m supportive of the current approach at present. However, the current approach has no in-built mechanism for the future – it is kind of a one-trick pony. I think it is important that we plan for the future, especially when a vaccine takes a long (?) time or never arrives. If not plan for anything (different), at least discuss the various options with their associated risks and advantages. Talking doesn’t commit anybody to anything AFAIK.
Chris Hipkins was saying today that TINA. That might be so, but it is not very inviting to constructive criticism. I find that a little ‘problematic’.
The Plan B group are holding their Policy Symposium tomorrow. I have criticised them in the past for being pseudo-scientific and their PR has been shit. They have become somewhat of an ‘anti-establishment’ group and that has killed the debate before it got off the ground. It think this is in some ways regrettable, as it is good a good thing when the powers that be are challenged – to keep an open mind is the key to making improvements, when/where possible, and progress in general.
As you can see, I have a nuanced view of this complex issue but I repeat, I’m not advocating or favouring anything at present.
The Government has either been too busy with dealing with the pandemic or governing in general but is has shied away from this difficult conversation. This has created a vacuum that is now being filled by the Oppos, fringe parties, and conspiracy theorists, which all have an agenda and something to gain by media attention. Conspiracy theories are shooting up like hallucinatory mushrooms for those scared souls who search for solace. The narrative is framed and controlled by those people. For this reason alone, the Government should wrestle back the initiative and lead, but they’re not going to at this side of the Election.
That show is almost unwatchable in itself, so shallow, and that's the second time Gorman has been on this week insisting we can't carry on like this and there needs to be a Grand Coalition to make the all decisions in the future. It looked like a total hit job on the Govt. He definitely has an agenda and Barry looked like she is in on it.
Gorman was on RNZ Friday morning with the same line – parroting Collins. National involved in decision-making before a delayed election. Black swan event coup opportunity mentality.
I don't mind hearing his criticisms, but his solution is unworkable nonsense. Even at the best of times (i.e. not these) a Lab-Nat coalition could not last 5 minutes. And whoever is in government, there has to be an opposition filling the vacuum.
I'm obviously biased, but the best health strategy is to get the election over, have a functioning government and give them the job for 3 years. Putting that off doesn't solve anything.
A grand coalition is a ridiculous idea at this time. Unless the election has to be delayed for a year or two. Anyone suggesting it is to be mocked and derided. We have a govt with a workable majority until November and then from memory a supermajority is needed for just one vote and that is to delay the election (or it's on a week by week basis by an electoral official?)
Look at Germany right now, a grand coalition would see the likes of act, nzpp and all the Looney tunes parties polling around 10-20% and lab/Nat would probably have to govern together for a few elections until they either become one party like national did with it's predecessors or get replaced by new vehicles, potentially dangerous vehicles.
Grand coalitions should only ever be called for in times of war when governing parties are split and can't get a majority in their own ranks. Get this tripper off the tv
I'm not sure of Hillary's politics but she's definitely not a labour voter, she says "they labour party" with a kind of hatred in her tone and an expression that looks like she tasted something foul…. But on the other hand she defended jacinda on social media when mark Richardson asked about her potentially getting pregnant and has been really against all the conspiracy theories going round. Maybe she's apolitical and just doing her job, stranger things have happened
a grand coalition is always a bad idea, i lived through a few in Germany. Generally they can't get their act together, little gets done, and early election more often then not are called once parties break of for lack of 'confidence'.
however, that does not mean a grand coalition can not happen.
And if it will happen here its gonna be the no mates party, the hologram and one of the religious / conservative parties, my bet would be the bishops wife and maybe the new conservatives.
i can not see a labour/national coalition as the parties are too far apart and not even saving the country would bring them together to that point. We would need a different set of people in the no mates party.
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Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
The protest outside the White House correspondents’ dinner hotel. Image: Anatolu video screenshot APR More than two dozen Palestinian journalists had called for a boycott of the dinner, writing an open letter urging their American colleagues not to attend. “You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and ...
“Our exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,” says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
A historian with a track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
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I'd far rather stare at an empty podium than at Jessica Mutch when awaiting these press conferences.
15k tests yesterday
Up from roughly a couple thousand a day before this outbreak. Nice scale-up.
So many tests, so few positives, and none outside the known cluster 🙂
A very nice positive comment Incognito the sort of thing we all need at the moment instead of all the whinging and negativity by the right.
that was impressive.
The Prime Minister's presentation of the new situation was elegant and sound. She's impressive in the face of challenge.
Yeah it was impressive as always Robert. I liked her focus on sealing the perimeter of the cluster rather than chasing down the rabbit hole after patient zero so Auckland can begin to move down alert levels
And has a skill I never learned: hearing stupid questions and giving tolerant and reasonable answers.
That question about whether it's still a team of five million would have had me telling the questioner to fuck off just as a matter of reflex, and she explained it consistently with the original analogy, and then told people outside Auckland how they could help those within Auckland. Quite spectacular.
Absolutely agree. Coming in late on repeat TV news channels 6 and 8, I happened to see that response to what I think was meant to be a hostile question. Quick, natural smile, perfect reply with candour and natural confidence.
Jacinda is, I think, the most talented, connecting communicator we have had as PM since Rob Muldoon at his peak. He was of the opposite nature – domineering, calculating, but still beguiling his 'mob'.
Lange was wittiest; Winston at his best was close to Muldoon, but less focused; I hoped for a lot from Palmer, but in dropping his legal, academic air he turned into the most boring speaker ever. Kirk was excellent, but too brief in existence.
I never liked PMs like Key and English who managed to mangle the English language while either charming or plodding…
I have waited to see how Jacinda would rate. I now believe that we are lucky to have one of the very best PMs we have had, in that she combines excellent communication skills with a good, kind character.
Regardless of how much social change she has been able to achieve to date, she is the leader that we on the Left cannot do without.
Some learn this during parenthood, some during a career in education, some never do. Don’t worry, ‘soft skills’ are not for the faint-hearted.
yeah – besides the choice of Winston and a myriad other instances of good luck, having a PM who has a toddler and therefore up to date with the communication skills to deal with journolists and tories 🙂
she suffers fools and foolish questions quite gladly doesn't she, or with skill and aplomb anyway.
Apart from the dick who wrote to Collins asking her to resist the lockdown measures the National Party in general has been very quiet today. Maybe they think they are about to catch a break at last?
They may be ruminating on Mr Bridge's resignation.
If there was a skerrick of self awareness amongst 'em, today was the day to keep it zipped.
Again I feel The Greens were prescient with giving The Nats their share of questions. The more they open their mouths the more they show how unfit they are to govern. climate
"
"Crude, but effective.
The same, sadly, applies to “Merv’s” intervention in National’s 2020 Auckland Central candidate selection. Newshub has alleged that this pseudonymous caller of late-night talkback shows is in fact a regional representative of the National Party with a bee in his bonnet about Nuwi Samarakone, the Sri Lankan-born party activist apparently favoured by the party hierarchy. “Merv’s” contribution followed the circulation, by a person, or persons, unknown, of a photograph of Ms Samarakone (a former ballet dancer) posing for the camera in leotards. Astonishingly, that was all it took to make sure that, at least as far as its three leading contenders are concerned, the Auckland Central contest will be an all-white affair. Childish brutality indeed!"
Ibid (again, Chris Trotter) – perfectly skewered.
Again, Chris Trotter pins it:
"It is very difficult to interpret Mr Te Kahika’s activity as anything other than an attempt to impede, undermine and in every way frustrate the Government’s attempt to respond adequately to a proven resurgence of community transmission of Covid-19 in the city of Auckland and, quite possibly, across the rest of New Zealand."
&
" If Holmes’s important stipulation that “the character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done”, then Mr Te Kahika’s actions can only be described as extremely reckless and irresponsible."
Well worth reading, imo.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2020/08/is-billy-tk-shouting-fire-in-crowded.html
James Dann's question is pretty funny…
"Gerry Brownlee was a woodwork teacher the leaky building crisis was caused by bad carpentry I’m just asking questions"
😆
He was my woodwork teacher. Nothings changed, he's still a bully and not very popular with his peers. A family friend knew him too, that's how I know combined with the attitude of the other teachers towards him when he wasn't around. Something that surprised me as a 13yo boy and stuck with me. It wasn't very often teachers openly dissed one of their own in front of students. Just saying..
Doing the math from his wiki page, twelve years of teaching before parliament in 1996 would put him in the tail-end of the days when teachers would lob chalk, dusters, and off-cuts at students.
Could be entertaining if they were gentle lobs and the teachers were original about it, but bloody terrifying if the teacher was a bully.
and maybe the media should ask their own questions of Mr Brownlee
One of the more stupid journos just asked her if we are still a team of 5 million if there are different alert levels around the country. Ardern’s response will be come a classic, “Yes, because not everyone in the team is on the field at the same time.”
"What was the tone of the Prime Minister's announcement"? asked TVOne.
A very feminine question, I thought; and I rejoiced!
12 more days, two weeks total. Could have been worse.
Child 1 is upset – doesn't like remote learning (I agree, digital learning is a poor facsimile of the real thing).
Child 2 is fine – voracious appetite for schoolwork no matter the circumstance.
I was all over the place the last few days but JA brought us all around yet again.
Well, it's looking like we've nailed it again.
The electoral clincher being of course, beating Aussie again .
Reckon not many on the team think Jacinda didn't earn her place.
How long you reckon before some Aussie journos come up with blistering attack-lines on Ardern and NZ Govt. Y'know… can't cope with NZ being better 'n them at handling just about everything.
As a number of folk who thought they were clever have discovered, there aren't too many chinks in Jacinda's armour. I think the irredeemably negative will mostly look at the fate of Alan Jones and decide "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."
They may rage against the Victorian government in frustration however.
I suppose too, having won two tests, we don’t need a third game eh.
This from Oz put up by Muttonbird at OM 31.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12356678
Covid 19 coronavirus: Australian health chief says New Zealand's strategy 'very dangerous'
Don't come the raw prawn with us mate (redundant popslang from the 60s.)
Damn – I consistently overestimate the intelligence of Aussies – the ones I know are as sharp as. Mind, half of them used to be kiwis.
This 12 days will suck all political oxygen towards Ardern's leadership fire.
Labour will come out of it over 55%.
Economy and health will be the top issue as voters enter the polling booth.
when do you think the election will be?
September 19.
4 weeks after level 2 probably is fair.
Although there is nothing to stop the other parties hitting the campaign trail everywhere other than Auckland.
Shit can act and national even get 100 people to a meeting!!!
They should merge and merve them into combined Oppo meetings; on current polling they may soon be equal in numbers.
October 17.
Allows time for Auckland to return to level 2, barring more bad news (possible at any time, this year, next year, whenever).
Politically smart not to give National a loser's excuse.
October 10.
One week to build up again and two weeks lost in Levels 2 & 3.
Warning: my predictions are more often wrong than right. 🙁
The PM mentioned that the Electoral Commission had been doing work on an election @ Level 2.
October 3.
Moved two weeks because of the two weeks at Level 3 in Auckland.
September 19.
Today Jacinda referred to “the philosophy of New Zealanders”…
Go Early. Go Hard.
Somebody really ought to ask Judith Codger to say something stoopid, I mean add her constructive comments.
The business-commentariat is trying really hard to make her look like less of a sociopath by saying the quiet bits loud. The idea that we should let people die in a bullshit effort to maintain GDP is stupid even if it were real (not according to the examples of the rest of the world, as JA said this afternoon).
Is Hooton back on the payroll then?
Lol
Hootons virus has been far more damaging and infectious to National than carona virus.
Too soon to call but very encouraging. The A-Team. Why would anyone with half a brain consider change?
Old Merv, eh? In normal times this incident would have completely destroyed the National Party structure and Goodfellow in particular. How many lives has that guy had?
But here we are in post-pandemic times, and in a mega-cluster of National Party screw-ups, and it is nothing but a footnote.
If the National Party wants to move forward and provide this country with a decent opposition for the next decade they need to sack Peter Goodfellow right now. The poison is at the top.
edit
This is not what I think is good leadership from our public education institutions.
A Southland polytechnic department head allegedly shared conspiracy theories about Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and US billionaire Bill Gates to a class of students.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/300078747/tutor-alleged-to-have-shared-conspiracy-theories-with-polytech-class
An outline of the course noted requirements included displaying '’self-awareness, reflective practice and personal leadership in a health and wellbeing setting'’.
[Merle] Petersen, when asked if she believed those statements to be factually correct, provided a written statement saying all facts were open to interpretation. She was also approached in person by a Stuff reporter, but referred comment through SIT.
When asked if she thought it appropriate to repeat conspiracy theories at an academic institution, her statement said students were encouraged to do their own research into topics…
The paper about which the discussions took place focused on economic and social policy, she said.
This required students to examine how economic theory and social policy in New Zealand had contributed to oppression and marginalisation of particular groups.
‘’The discipline we teach, and into which students are enrolled, has an expectation that we educate the students to become aware of the socio-political contexts in which we work.
This is serious and I think this person should be sacked, and the Southern Institute of Technology should be closely checked to see how far this lazy system of tutor employment should be going. Students are very impressionable when at these colleges, and indeed are very influenced at any age when they are fully engaged in study and learning. The last thing they need to learn is that nothing they are told is really reliable. They can mislearn about life and the universe at home. When they go somewhere official they should be able to expect more than today's reckons from a teacher with a balanced viewpoint, male or female.
She is the Services Program Manager at Southern Institute of Technology, SIT.
She is part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) Te Ropu Tauwhiro i Aotearoa
Sounds like a South African import.
There's a few SA/Zim expat imports here who are virulently against any kind of socially conscious government in their adoptive home.
Berend de Boer, the gun nut, is another one.
On facebook – https://www.facebook.com/merle.petersen.7
Merle Grimwood-Petterson? Invercargill, NZ works at SIT
Amazing how many there are by Petersen name in the world – quite a few in South Africa. Her Facebook page is full of inspirational quotes with flowers etc.
"Sounds like a South African import."
You're letting prejudice get in the way of the evidence.
One problem for liberal/lefties that many of us have to face up to is that the conspiracy crazies draw a lot of support from Maori/Pasifika minorities, in the same way that Brian Tamaki does. God moves in mysterious ways.
You can take the white person out of South Africa, but you can't take South Africa out of the white person.
Seriously? We got here based solely on "Merle Petersen "?
I think he's a Dutchie.
Same thing.
Bit sweeping that Muttonbird I think. Same root perhaps.
The apple never falls far from the tree.
Penny Simmonds.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/121555775/education-boss-penny-simmonds-to-run-for-invercargill-seat
From link:
…SIT, when earlier approached for comment, replied with a statement saying it was not aware of the accusations, nor had the tertiary institutions ever received any previous complaints about Petersen’s political views.
'’SIT is a politically neutral institution,'' the statement said….
I feel that this is not an 'open-minded' neutral learning institution if encouraging this sort of discourse to happen.
…It is alleged Petersen then said Gates, who had plans to depopulate the world, held a secret meeting with Ardern.
When asked by a member of the class if Gates had to quarantine, she responded with an eye roll. ‘'She was deadly serious,’' the attendee said.
Petersen allegedly referred to Ardern as “dangerous”, telling the class people needed to “keep an eye on her”.
The person who attended the class was concerned Petersen’s views could have a negative impact on the students, many of whom wanted to be social workers.
Oranga Tamariki candidates?
And just to compare teaching styles. This NZ fear-laden, darkly intoned conspiracy theory approach and the Finnish one that appears to produce open keen wide-thinking students.
From Where to Invade Next with Michael Moore.
Brownlee!
"National’s deputy leader Gerry Brownlee has backtracked over his questioning of the Government’s handling of coronavirus information, saying it was not his intention to play into the hands of conspiracy theorists."
Yeah/nah, Gerry.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122453434/gerry-brownlee-admits-getting-into-a-bad-spot-over-covid-conspiracy-theories
"Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Canterbury Mornings on Friday, Brownlee admitted he had got himself into a “bad spot” and that he “certainly didn’t intend to create any fear”.
“The way it has been presented has been unfortunate, I’ve certainly not enjoyed it,” he said."
Pfffffffft!!!!
So the polling came back and they were headed for single figures with that approach….
Nah, an emotional junior staffer told him to pull his head in.
David Skilling – "But this is an opportunity to invest in skills upgrading, capital and technology investment, to move to a higher productivity, higher wage economy."
I believe Labour the best to deliver this. National too interested in the short term, Greens would argue it means unsustainable growth, ACT would be opposed because skills upgrading conflicts with individual choice (big government offers me the way to improve my skill level but as an individual I am free to do what I like and I don't like the government telling me what to do).
https://www.firstnzcapital.co.nz/rest/document/public/encrypted?hash=a5LZhJCykwcmuH1pLIrUgvuGNDRHeWnPoirqqcdJfxnKf89nU02b7PozFdXP30mdl8GA1Bt8Aw0%3D
Today's forgotten fact:
The lead-up to the 2011 election was dominated by NZ hosting the Rugby World Cup. All over the news, all day, every day. There were 34 days between the final (won by John Key, with help from some All Blacks) and the election.
There are 35 days between now and the (provisional) election date, September 19.
I wonder what possessed Hilary Barry to take such a shrewish tone with the Prime Minister this evening? Jacinda looked upset by her tone and what sort of a silly question is asking her what she has got to say to the business people of Auckland as though she is a naughty child?
I also object to them having that Gorman fellow on giving Covid updates. He has, I think, a political agenda, to bag the Coalition government.
I'd much soon they had David Skeggs or Baker – much more objective.
I think he has too – I listen and wait for the weasel words
I saw that too Jan M and wondered the same thing. Either Barry has a bee in her bonnet about the Level 3 extension or she was trying to do the serious political interviewer thing and it didn't come off… or she’s a Nat supporter and let down her cover.
Whatever, Jacinda looked exhausted so hope she 's allowed to take it easy this week-end. She deserves a short break.
Hooton claims that the next government will let the virus in.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12356349
What he really means is
1. that National is captured by those blinded by greed (a bit stoopid) and they arrogantly presume they can force Labour into opening borders recklessly (like a hooker touting for more custom by not requiring condom use) – constant bleating in the media (as per winter of discontent 2000).
2. Oz opposes us having elimination and Level 1 (it makes them look second-rate) because they can only bubble with us at level 2 (where we get tourists if we allow their infection rate).
Evidence what Kelly said today in Oz, that having level 1 was too risky (you only get there by elimination and they do not have a policy of elimination).
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12356678 3.
the right wing political world is embarrassed by comparative failure – their constant refrain is the economic cost of effective pandemic response, so they hate our example (low debt enabling the goal of elimination and the reward of level 1 recovery which is out of their reach sans vaccine).
Evidence Irish Times
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/08/irish-newspaper-slams-new-zealand-s-alert-level-change.html
They have no choice but to accept community spread, the old TINA, thus their fear of our models existence. Nice how they claim they will save business men from suicide by allowing the deaths of less important old, poor and sick people.
David Seymour is saying what National really believes.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/08/act-leader-david-seymour-wants-new-zealand-to-accept-new-reality-that-covid-19-is-here-to-stay.html
I believe Covid-19 will become endemic, globally, which means that we (NZ) need to have a plan for the future. I disagree that now is the time to have that conversation. After the Election, the Government should lead or initiate an inclusive debate about the way forward for NZ, preferably with much input from the public as well as from various experts, not just health experts and business people – we’re in this together.
Beliefs mean nothing. And your Hootonesque apologetic ones especially. Decisions need to be based on evidence.
Even beginning that discussion before stage 3 vaccine trials conclude is premature.
There are those on the right who would not wait behind our border even 6 months of 2021 for a vaccine. And on the right is where they belong.
Fair enough 🙂
Covid-19 is here to stay and won’t be eliminated or eradicated and will be endemic unless there is a highly effective vaccine for it. However, given what we know about coronaviruses, it is unlikely that even with a vaccine it will be eradicated.
The various scenarios should be discussed sooner rather than later and to pin all our hopes on an effective and safe vaccine becoming available in the very near future is fanciful; talking of evidence. So, we wait and do nothing, say nothing, and most certainly do discuss nothing? Avoid at all cost because even talking about it might put lives at risk? Because that would be the domain of RWNJs? I hope you don’t truly believe that because it is insulting to anyone’s intelligence.
Just as well that I didn’t even suggest anything of the kind. You’re achieving nothing by turning this into a hyper-polarised debate or by politicising it as a Left-Right issue. As I said, we’re in this together and simplistic binaries are of no help with complex issues, they are counter-productive.
I love your attempt at Monty Python humour 😀
Your wilful avoidance and attempt to shut down debate before it has even started does not sit well with me 🙁
Ever answered these questions
1. were people vaccinated for the plague, and if not where did it go?
2. were people vaccinated for Spanish flu and if not where did it go?
PS I cannot see how any discussion about a plan for the future, based on a belief that SARS COV2 will always be with us, can occur in the absence of consensus about that.
And how do you propose do we reach a consensus about that? Given that there are no plans to eradicate the virus on a global scale and with over 21 million cases in total and rising by hundreds of thousands daily. And if we don’t have or reach consensus, what do we then? When or what does trigger any discussion about a plan for the future? What do we do in the meantime? Are we allowed to talk about it before then and should we? If not, why not? Why are you so resistant (antagonistic) towards this?
Because having a plan is really about opening up borders – allowing greater risk of and toleration for community spread.
And that involves greater risk to the poor, ethnic minorities, those with health conditions and the aged.
And it does not deliver better results than elimination and operating at Level 1.
It’s also based around protecting the capitalist base to the global economy that leads to indebted and under reourced government, rather than questioning its assumptions (why is printed QE money called a debt future generations owe – that just means they get underfunded health and education and welfare systems).
Not necessarily. Anyway, some sectors of our society, including health and education, are not doing well because of the lockdowns. I wouldn’t want to be an NCEA student this year or a cancer patient waiting to be seen or treated by a specialist. Mental health is also taking a battering, it seems although numbers are hard to come by.
I disagree. A plan could include different versions of MIQ. It wouldn’t necessarily mean what you think it means. But if you start from an extreme PoV, I can see why you wouldn’t be keen to even contemplate other options and just want to stick with BAU and shut down any discussion about a ‘plan’ as RW conspiracy.
The answers to 1 and 2 are "millions of infections and dead, and social isolation efforts, created a herd immunity and slowed the spread enough to lower the reproductive rate below 1".
The goal is to avoid the millions of dead, no? So we either wait for a vaccine, or until it blows over. And if that takes a couple of years, well at least we're not digging mass graves.
herd immunity worked with Spanish Flu because enough people got it and died? i.e. if smaller numbers of people had it, it wouldn't have gone away? And if smaller numbers of people had died it wouldn't have gone away?
Sorry, was unclear. The survivors were immune. The others died.
Bubonic plague has a different vector for infection, but many of the basic techniques of prevention are still relevant – ISTR someone mentioning at TS ships with plague victims being let in at the behest of the business community that wanted the trade.
so the Spanish Flu herd immunity was established by widespread infection, deaths of many leading to a smaller population, who had been infected but survived? Eliminated because this sequence led to an R value of less than 1?
In Europe there were areas – towns and villages that never developed herd immunity because they never had any cases. Quarantines worked then too.
There have been flu outbreaks in the 20th C that barely affected some areas of the world – these never developed herd immunity either.
Consider the case of Samoa, would people have died of the Spanish h flu if that ship had not arrived?
If the world develps herd immunity within 2 years again this time, those areas with effective quarantines for that period have few if any deaths.
Many viruses figure out a balance to stay in the human body permanently, establishing a balancing act between not killing the host but not being eliminated by the immune response. Herpes, for example. But by their nature they have to be pretty mild – killing few of their hosts.
Covid and Spanish flu aren't like that. From the virus' point of view, they have a ticking clock to spread to someone else before the virus kills the host or their host kills them (i.e. the patient gets better).
People who die quickly have less time to spread the virus, so there's an evolutionary bias towards becoming less lethal (more time to spread = more infections of that version).
There's also the problem that if you, as a virus, find your siblings and ancestors have already infected most of the people you meet and they got better, then you probably can't pass your descendents on to those people.
If every contact with a vulnerable person gives you a 30% chance of infecting them, coming into contact with four people gives you a decent chance of spreading yourself about if nobody has caught it before.
If 3 of those 4 caught it before, you've only got a 30% chance of spreading it. Repeat that twice, and your strain probably becomes an evolutionary dead end.
Yes.
The Bubonic Plague (Spanish flu) was a bacterial infection so incomparable to aligning to as yet unknown final behaviours of SARS- CoV- 2, a virus.
The Spanish flu was an H1N1 influenza -A strain virus which became a pandemic. What happened in the time of this pandemic 1918 to 1920 was that people either developed immunity or died. The Spanish flu virus H1N1 had since been reconstructed for scientific study then these samples destroyed after experimentation.
So the Spanish flu potentially did not go away nor was herd immunity established as fact.
H1N1 influenza-A virus strain subtype appeared again as the Swine flu in 2009.
Influenza A viruses are the only influenza viruses known to cause flu global epidemics of flu disease.
SARS- CoV-2 is NOT an influenza virus. The SAR acronym being of the type drscribed as
severe acute respiratory syndrome.
SARS-CoV(1) emerged in 2002.
Combating SARS- CoV-2 is an unknown still. Ideally, having a plan economic or otherwise to carry on with life should be the goal now.
To date only 2 infectious viruses are known to have been potentially eradicated, smallpox and rinderpest.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/1918flupandemic.htmh
ttps://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/viruses/types.htmhttps://w
ww.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30484-9/fulltext
Correction to paragraph 1,
Spanish flu was a virus that had bacterial pneumonia evolve as the cause of deaths.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14458-bacteria-were-the-real-killers-in-1918-flu-pandemic/
That does not explain why so many young people died rather than older people – the immune system of healthy adults was triggered – “cytokine storm.
Hear of Samoa in relation to Sapanish flu – but for one ship visit they might have had no deaths at all?
It is possible to bubble and avoid deaths.
During the plague there were villages and towns that had no deaths – they used quarantine and then the plague was gone.
As for a plan – both parties have investment programmes to create domestic economy jobs (one focused on more and more roads, one more diverse based on investment in community well being).
Despite no eradication of Spanish flu, it no longer exists. Despite no eradication of plague has anyone in our country ever been infected treated for it?
The government MUST lead the debate, and should have started a long time ago.
We had three month during which the government should have led the debate on what to do if he virus re-emerges, how to handle future lock downs, what protections the public can expect etc etc etc.
Without that open approach from government the void will be filled by conspiracy theories.
As for the 'we're' all in this together? Now some are really knee deep in the shit, others are happy and able to work from home / or receive their income from investments and thus feel still in control of things. The rest of us however is not in that position. We are the expandable err 'hero' essential worker who is asked to rehire the staff we let go for a bit of cash via the flexi scheme or hey , here a few dollars , why won't you start a business. No we are not all in this together.
That's not the sort of planning Incognito is suggesting – his is about moving on from the keep it out bubble approach.
[Either you have a reading comprehension and cognitive problem, which is why you misunderstood me, or you are simply unwilling to understand what I was saying. Either way, you have misinterpreted my words, knowingly or unwittingly. You were making up shit and put words/meanings into my mouth. Point out where I suggested “moving on from the keep it out bubble approach” or retract and apologise – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 9:18 AM.
If you are not in favour of moving on from our keep it out bubble approach, sure I retract and apologise.
My impression, that this was your position was based on your wanting government to set a future direction based on a changed world environment and assumption this meant a change from current keep it out and eliminate policy.
Thank you for your conditional retraction 😉
I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank you for your many positive and high quality comments on this site – from one volunteer to another, so to speak.
For the record, I’m supportive of the current approach at present. However, the current approach has no in-built mechanism for the future – it is kind of a one-trick pony. I think it is important that we plan for the future, especially when a vaccine takes a long (?) time or never arrives. If not plan for anything (different), at least discuss the various options with their associated risks and advantages. Talking doesn’t commit anybody to anything AFAIK.
Chris Hipkins was saying today that TINA. That might be so, but it is not very inviting to constructive criticism. I find that a little ‘problematic’.
The Plan B group are holding their Policy Symposium tomorrow. I have criticised them in the past for being pseudo-scientific and their PR has been shit. They have become somewhat of an ‘anti-establishment’ group and that has killed the debate before it got off the ground. It think this is in some ways regrettable, as it is good a good thing when the powers that be are challenged – to keep an open mind is the key to making improvements, when/where possible, and progress in general.
As you can see, I have a nuanced view of this complex issue but I repeat, I’m not advocating or favouring anything at present.
The Government has either been too busy with dealing with the pandemic or governing in general but is has shied away from this difficult conversation. This has created a vacuum that is now being filled by the Oppos, fringe parties, and conspiracy theorists, which all have an agenda and something to gain by media attention. Conspiracy theories are shooting up like hallucinatory mushrooms for those scared souls who search for solace. The narrative is framed and controlled by those people. For this reason alone, the Government should wrestle back the initiative and lead, but they’re not going to at this side of the Election.
That show is almost unwatchable in itself, so shallow, and that's the second time Gorman has been on this week insisting we can't carry on like this and there needs to be a Grand Coalition to make the all decisions in the future. It looked like a total hit job on the Govt. He definitely has an agenda and Barry looked like she is in on it.
Gorman was on RNZ Friday morning with the same line – parroting Collins. National involved in decision-making before a delayed election. Black swan event coup opportunity mentality.
I don't mind hearing his criticisms, but his solution is unworkable nonsense. Even at the best of times (i.e. not these) a Lab-Nat coalition could not last 5 minutes. And whoever is in government, there has to be an opposition filling the vacuum.
I'm obviously biased, but the best health strategy is to get the election over, have a functioning government and give them the job for 3 years. Putting that off doesn't solve anything.
A grand coalition is a ridiculous idea at this time. Unless the election has to be delayed for a year or two. Anyone suggesting it is to be mocked and derided. We have a govt with a workable majority until November and then from memory a supermajority is needed for just one vote and that is to delay the election (or it's on a week by week basis by an electoral official?)
Look at Germany right now, a grand coalition would see the likes of act, nzpp and all the Looney tunes parties polling around 10-20% and lab/Nat would probably have to govern together for a few elections until they either become one party like national did with it's predecessors or get replaced by new vehicles, potentially dangerous vehicles.
Grand coalitions should only ever be called for in times of war when governing parties are split and can't get a majority in their own ranks. Get this tripper off the tv
I'm not sure of Hillary's politics but she's definitely not a labour voter, she says "they labour party" with a kind of hatred in her tone and an expression that looks like she tasted something foul…. But on the other hand she defended jacinda on social media when mark Richardson asked about her potentially getting pregnant and has been really against all the conspiracy theories going round. Maybe she's apolitical and just doing her job, stranger things have happened
a grand coalition is always a bad idea, i lived through a few in Germany. Generally they can't get their act together, little gets done, and early election more often then not are called once parties break of for lack of 'confidence'.
however, that does not mean a grand coalition can not happen.
And if it will happen here its gonna be the no mates party, the hologram and one of the religious / conservative parties, my bet would be the bishops wife and maybe the new conservatives.
i can not see a labour/national coalition as the parties are too far apart and not even saving the country would bring them together to that point. We would need a different set of people in the no mates party.