Quote: ” For the first time, researchers have found a person in the United States carrying bacteria resistant to antibiotic of last resort, an alarming development that the top U.S. public health official says could signal “the end of the road” for antibiotics.
The antibiotic-resistant strain was found last month in the urine of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman.”Quote End
The really appalling thing is that we’ve seen that coming for decades. For a long time the response from the Science as God people was that new antibiotics would be developped, as if that meant there wasn’t a problem with the way we were using them because hey presto there will always be another one. It’s similar to the argument that we can keep using fossil fuels, because someone will invent carbon capture and storage or free energy or something. The common denominator here is the underlying world view.
One thing to bear in mind with the end of the age of antibiotics is that many plant medicines are just as effective. There are limits to that (because we live in the natural world), and I think the biggest challenges will be in use like during surgery. If we had been in any way intelligent we would have been keeping antibiotics for serious level use and using plant medicines for every day use (and not using antibiotics to make animals grow better so we can eat them ffs).
Plant medicines are not being seriously enough researched because you can’t patent them and it’s too hard for big pharma to make shit loads of money. We could enable companies to do the research that want to simply make a living instead. Or we could just start working off the knowledge base we already have. We already know a pretty large range of plants and what microbes they are effective against and how to use them in the human body. But our ignorance around this culturally is huge. Cue a whole bunch of strawman arguments about charlatans, faith healing and woowoo.
it is true that the writing has been on the wall for a time. I was always good in avoiding antibiotics by simply not taking them. The only time i did was when i had blood poisoning a few years ago.
i tend to ‘heal’ myself with certain foods, plants, spices and the likes, and for most time its enough to get over that cold, that upset tummy etc.
Never had the flue, so i can’t really comment on that – never had a flue vaccine either.
I don’t consider myself a militant anti science dude, it is just that with flue vaccine i don’t see the reason for most of the times. It always seemed that the ones that got the office vaccine were the ones keeping the office sick.
But yes, when this takes hold, the flue season will be something else. As for surgery. Oh my. Sorry for the rambling, but yes it will be wise to sign up to the local herb and foraged plant groups. There are many good groups in NZ, including the many Maori Healers and Foragers, so in way the knowledge is there, its up to us to learn and to apply it.
For a long time the response from the Science as God people was that new antibiotics would be developped, as if that meant there wasn’t a problem with the way we were using them because hey presto there will always be another one.
But you’ll note that it wasn’t the scientists who have actually been warning that this was going to happen for, as you say, decades. So, why did antibiotics get so routinely prescribed?
Plant medicines are not being seriously enough researched because you can’t patent them and it’s too hard for big pharma to make shit loads of money.
Actually, plant medicines are being heavily researched and patented. I heard a few years ago that pharmaceutical companies were getting ready to patent huge amounts of drugs based upon marijuana – just as soon as the governments got around to legalising it. Shouldn’t be allowed as it’s a discovery and not an invention but that doesn’t appear to have stopped patents on other biologic medicines.
They’ve been making drugs from plants for decades and basing the start of their research upon folklore (which, of course, they never paid for).
We could enable companies to do the research that want to simply make a living instead.
Better idea to make it state funded research with the state then owning any IP that comes out of it and being the manufacturer. Private companies would still be able to make a profit on the research but they wouldn’t make any on sales. And they’d be competing with highly efficient government research institutions that don’t have to make a profit.
Apparently, farmers use antibiotics a lot – too much – and this is a major part of the problem. They’ve overdosed their animals, and this somehow gets into the human system which is then overloaded with antibiotics – making them less resistant .
And the 1918 flu epidemic – Maori herbal lore didn’t save people from that – or did they not use their own herbal remedies in those days ?
But Maori herbal remedies would have been tested and tried on themselves and their past diseases. The flus etc around 1918 that were introduced into a culture with no experience of them. They were a shock to the peoples’ systems literally. They could devastate and kill quickly.
USA farmers have been using antibiotics since 1958 according to an article I have in m Popular Mechanics of that year.
Thanks for that Pat. Sue Kedgley is a valuable politician, pressing forward the important issues to us with facts to support assertions or background to illustrate points.
And the farmer use of antibiotics, despite knowing how it can damage our health defences, (or remaining determinedly ignorant) and how it can get into the polluted waterways affecting fish and other living things in ways we don’t understand, reveals Federated Farmers actually as a sort of terrorist organisation practising subversion against the country and its citizens, and with a stupid, bovine or bird-brained lack of concern for themselves, their families, and their own members also.
The farming community, their advisors and other fellow-travellers, are going to suffer the problems of ineffectiveness of antibiotics along with the rest of us. But the farming money machine using whatever neo-lib fuel is expedient, must roll on and over us if we are unfortunate enough to be in its way.
edited
As Grey said, it was different for Māori because historically influenza wasn’t an illness they had experienced. I’m not sure whether by 1918 that was less of an issue than in the 1800s.
However, there was herbal treatment used successfully by doctors in the pandemic in the US and Europe.
Colonial Viper
I thought, from an ordinary citizen’s partial knowledge, that chiropractric care related to the body’s skeleton. How could that help people stricken with ‘flu.
Bacteria will develop resistance to herbal treatments too. It is in the nature of bacteria to do that because they reproduce so fast. In effect evolution is speeded up.
There are many reasons to dislike and distrust the pharma industry, but some of their products including antibacterials have been very effective. My father who was a paediatrician and is now in his 90’s recalls the spectacular difference penicillin made after WW2. Children no longer died from simple infections.
I completely agree. The issue isn’t that pharmaceuticals are bad, it’s that we have wasted antibiotics. And the reasons we have done that are to do with world views and bias. Imagine if we had kept antibiotics for the emergencies (surgery, where someone might die or end up with permanent illness etc) and used other modalities to treat the things that weren’t so urgent. The over prescribing of antibiotics that has led to multiple resistances is completely on scientists, doctors, public health officials and pharmaceutical companies.
(btw, nothing I have said in this conversation or anywhere on ts about this is me saying that herbs are good, drugs are bad. So you might want to ask yourself why you have brought that issue up. Because too often there is a reaction against so called alternative medicine as if we can only have one or the other. That’s the problem IMO and it’s frustrating in these conversations for the lines to get divided in that way. I’m arguing for us to use both).
“Bacteria will develop resistance to herbal treatments too. It is in the nature of bacteria to do that because they reproduce so fast. In effect evolution is speeded up.”
I’m not sure about that. I haven’t been able to find anything that suggests that bacteria develop resistance to plant medicines, but it could be that we just haven’t overused them and so it’s not obvious yet. I do think the theory that plants are very complex and therefore it’s harder for bacteria to develop resistance to them is sound, but it’s possible that it is happening just much more slowly than with antibiotics. If it is happening, then we has better make damn sure we don’t waste plant medicines in the way we have antibiotics, because then there probably really is nothing left with which to treat bacterial infections.
If bacteria develop resistance to plants why are plants still effective against them given plants and bacteria have been co-evolving for much much longer than humans have been around, and bacteria evolve much much faster than plants?
Well I’m no microbiologist or pharmacologist, but I expect resistance develops in some sort of proportion to the level of exposure.
So if a medicine is frequently exposed to a particular bacteria it makes it more likely that mutations in that bacteria which show resistance, and are favoured in an evolutionary sense, will develop.
It could be that plant-based medicines are more complex and resistance happens more slowly. I don’t know, but would certainly hope this is the case.
I have absolutely no problem with natural medicines but also think we should be evidence-based as far as possible. And yes I know that the pharma industry in cahoots with the publishing industry has ways of skewing the evidence. However that does not mean there is no such thing as evidence.
I expect we largely agree Weka. I brought this up because I always feel we need to avoid giving the impression that being ‘left’ involves a rejection of modernity and hankers after a pastoral, idyllic past that never really existed.
Thanks AB. I agree about evidence. It drives me just as crazy talking to alternative types who don’t have very good skills on assessing evidence and are unaware of that. But they’re not that different to the people who insist that the only valid way to understand a medicine if via RCTs. Both groups are arguing from lack of education and from ideological bias, and both groups have limited understandings about useful ways to observe and learn about the world.
“I brought this up because I always feel we need to avoid giving the impression that being ‘left’ involves a rejection of modernity and hankers after a pastoral, idyllic past that never really existed.”
Fair enough. And if I was in an alternative forum I’d be arguing for evidence based knowledge. Likewise, the idea that our pre-mordern past was nasty brutish and short and everyone who got a bacterial infection died because we had no way of treating them is just plain factually wrong.
“But you’ll note that it wasn’t the scientists who have actually been warning that this was going to happen for, as you say, decades.”
Yes and no. Scientists have certainly known. It’s the same with a lot of science, the people that speak out against the status quo get marginalised for a long time until the issues get’s aired somewhere else and becomes acceptable. Same thing has happened with the fat hypothesis. Research scientists have been speaking out, and been ignored. Their research got picked up by the alternative subcultures and a few science journalists. Later there was another wave of bigger publicity as the paleo movement grew and eventually the issue ends up on the cover of Time decades after it was first being talked about. There is a pretty serious problem with science there, we often don’t have time for the normal processes to work.
“So, why did antibiotics get so routinely prescribed?”
I’ve seen doctors say that they’ve prescribed because their patients insisted, including prescribing for viral infections where antibiotics are useless. I think what this means is that patient arrives desperate and the GP has nothing else to offer and so gives them antibiotics. This is why the ignoring of herbal antibiotics borders on the criminal.
“Actually, plant medicines are being heavily researched and patented.”
You can’t patent a plant medicine like that. If you develop it into a drug you can, but you can’t take something like garlic and patent it and sell it as an antibiotic because it’s not legally possible to do so.
Drugs and plant medicines aren’t the same thing, even where drugs are derived from plants. The reason that plant medicines don’t prompt antibiotic resistance (at least not so far) is because plants are made up of a huge number of complex components whereas antibiotics are relatively simple compounds. It’s that simplicity that enables bacteria to develop resistance, and it’s the complexity in plants that prevents this from happening.
Good idea about companies being able to do business from the research side but not the sales side. Can’t really do that for herbs though. Is the garlic in the supermarket a medicine or not?
It’s that simplicity that enables bacteria to develop resistance, and it’s the complexity in plants that prevents this from happening.
[citation needed]
Can’t really do that for herbs though.
But you do need to prove its efficacy and I’m not really seeing a lot of that around the claims of herbal medicines. And, yes, I’m quite aware of the anti-bacterial properties of garlic.
“But you do need to prove its efficacy and I’m not really seeing a lot of that around the claims of herbal medicines.”
As I said, in terms of mainstream Western understanding the serious research isn’t being done to enable GPs etc to start using plant medicines as alternatives to antibiotics. There’s been a heap of in vitro work done, so whe know which plants work on which bacteria. There’s also huge amounts of clinical experience from practicing herbalists across many cultures. For those of us interested in what works, that’s enough. For the people that want hard data, that experience can be used to inform which research needs to be done, but like I said, it’s not patentable so big pharma won’t touch it. There are also some clinical studies that support the clinical usages.
“It’s that simplicity that enables bacteria to develop resistance, and it’s the complexity in plants that prevents this from happening.
[citation needed]”
I doubt that I could cite that in a way that you would be satisfied with. We do know that simple antibiotics prompt resistance and that plants, which are complex, don’t. There may be another explanation for that rather than the one I gave, but I can’t think what it might be. But let’s call it a theory in the meantime, but one that makes enough sense to investigate. As I understand it the theory comes from understandings in biology about how bacteria develop resistance, and how plants protect themselves from microbes.
There’s been a heap of in vitro work done, so whe know which plants work on which bacteria.
So you can link to this research and it’s peer-review?
I doubt that I could cite that in a way that you would be satisfied with.
So, basically, you’re talking out your arse.
There’s also huge amounts of clinical experience from practicing herbalists across many cultures.
See, this is what we call anecdote and it’s not good enough to base sound judgement on. We need controlled trials to test to see if the plant based medicines are doing what the herbalists are saying that they’re doing.
Big Pharma may not be touching this because they can’t patent it but why aren’t the herbalists? I suspect that the answer is because they don’t have the knowledge and equipment to do that sort of testing.
Draco, I’m just going to pull some random stuff of Pubmed to get you started, but really it’s not in dispute at all that many plants demonstrate antibacterial activity in vitro. It’s fine that you are not aware of that, but I would encourage you to do some reading with an open mind i.e. go and look for the good research yourself, it’s there. I don’t have the time to do this and I don’t keep anything to hand easily because it’s such a commonly accepted thing now.
No, I’m side stepping a long boring argument with someone who is ignorant about what plants actually do and who brings in a lot of beliefs based on theoretical understandings without a lot of experience or knowledge of what happens in the world. Hence,
“There’s also huge amounts of clinical experience from practicing herbalists across many cultures.”
See, this is what we call anecdote and it’s not good enough to base sound judgement on. We need controlled trials to test to see if the plant based medicines are doing what the herbalists are saying that they’re doing.
Believing that RCTs are the only valid way to build knowledge or the only valid knowledge base to make decisions from is an ideological position. GPs routinely use empirical evidence gained from their practice to inform how they treat their patients. Behind all the RCTs is a huge amount of actual real world experience. RCTs are one of the end points of that process, not the be all and end all. And researchers conducting RCTs don’t pull their hypotheses out of thin air, they have starting points in the real world.
Herbalists and their patients don’t need RCTs in the way you do, because there are other ways of assessing efficacy, and those ways are already in use.
I do think that better research would be great, but ironically it’s the very attitudes you are displaying here that are preventing that from happening.
We are approaching a huge health crisis with the coming of the end of the age of antibiotics. Why would we not look at all the tools we have?
Both you and Richard are pretty ignorant of what is already accepted in the mainstream science communities about herbal medicine. Both appear to be arguing from prejudice based on that ignorance. That’s up to you, it’s not my job to try and educate you. I’m not that interested in engaging with someone who will write off thousands of years of empirical evidence, observation and case studies as anecdote (hint, anecdote isn’t what you think it is), because you don’t understand the value of that and see things so narrowly in terms of RCTs. Yes, if we want to find other ways of responding to bacterial infection without antibiotics more research will have to be done. But that doesn’t mean we know nothing, and writing off what we do know out of ignorance and prejudice is hardly useful (not aligned with good science).
Big Pharma may not be touching this because they can’t patent it but why aren’t the herbalists? I suspect that the answer is because they don’t have the knowledge and equipment to do that sort of testing.
Yes, and it’s too expensive, and the ones that would be interested are blocked because of bias and commercial agendas. It’s a real thing that you can’t patent plants, so stop and consider how much money would be lost if medical people were using relatively cheap to produce plant medicines to treat routine bacterial infections instead of big pharma drugs? The politics in this a significant factor.
Herbalists in general don’t need RCTs because they already have coherent, reliable, safe and effective ways of treating people. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do further research. It would be great to get more studies done so that GPs would stop overprescribing antibtioics. But that’s not a problem for herbalists, that’s a problem for GPs and people who are resistant to looking at what works.
I’ll add something else here, which is that plants aren’t just antibacterial, many also have direct effect on the immune system. So when herbalists are treating someone with a bacterial infection, they’re not using a single compound silver bullet approach to target a pathogen. There is much more going on. I say this because it’s a key part of why plants are effective, and it also means that studies need to be designed to take that into account once you get to the in vivo level. In other words, drugs and plant medicines are different things (which is good) and that needs to be taken into account when considering their various uses.
Why dont you just say its a faith based healing , that any scientific analysis doesnt come close to anything that is accepted by wider medical community.
Because it’s not. You’re a pig ignorant person who can’t even formulate a decent argument. Look at the links above. Plants have antibiotic properties. Take your prejudice and ignorance elsewhere, I can’t be bothered with this low level debate.
There have been contradictory statements reported by the media as to who is eligible for the $5000 to relocate from AKL, who gets how much etc. Paula benefit on one occasion said she hoped retired couples in existing state housing would take it up. She also said it would depend on the circumstances how much would be given eg if it was a family, where they were relocating. So sounds like WINZ already have criteria and this just adds on. or they are making it up as they go. One AKL guy interviewed said he went to WINZ to enquire about relocating and they didnt seem to know anything about it!
The Nats only speak in dollars. It’s gross. Every utterance is couched in cash terms because that is the only language their voters understand and that is the only language they believe anyone understands.
They do not speak the language of stable communities, of secure families, and of the future of such things.
This policy is the clumsiest I’ve seen from them, but they do not care and I think it is because they do not care about the future. Every decision they make is narrow, and focussed on the short term…
transient people don’t vote, heck they don’t even go on the electoral role, considering that they don’t know where they are going to live the next 6 month or two weeks from now.
now that is convenient, innit? Have a million plus essentially living in their cars/vans/friends couches and forget about them.
NZ is a country run by greedy fucks and supported by greedy fucks. Me first. That would be the appropriate Name for their party.
The latest channel 7 news reach poll has Labour 52 and Liberals 48, only 6 weeks out from the election, Shorten is actually doing a pretty good job, Labour wants to spend $50B on Australia (health, education) and Turnball wants to spend the same $50B on TAX cuts for corporations, saying that there will be “trickle down”.
So far, the environment is not a main stream issue, but It will become one, the current policy of paying the biggest polluters $4B a year as an enticement to reduce emissions is little more than a joke, I saw Turnbull and Key in Paris and they were both on the outer, Key was particularly unhappy.
The Great Barrier Reefs problems also stem from over development of coal mines and the increase of shipping traffic through the reef, a lot of this was from the previous Liberal Queensland State Govt which was voted out last year after only one term.
are the Aussie public (in the main) unaware or uninterested in the state of the GBR?….would have thought it was a source of public concern if only for the potential loss of tourist dollars (the quoted reason for burying report)?
Nelson’s stock exchange, ‘a big Ponzi scheme,’ and other tales from John Key’s offshore financial services centre
Posted in News May 27, 2016 – 01:15pm, Gareth Vaughan
By Gareth Vaughan, Richard Smith & Denise McNabb
A foreign exchange business that looks and smells like a Ponzi scheme targeting Malaysians, a Nelson-based global stock exchange, a warning from the Czech Republic’s central bank, a fantasist, and curious French-Latvian connections all have one thing in common. New Zealand registered financial service providers.
In parliament Little asked Key embarrassing questions. Key laughed and said, “The member is mistaken.”
“The member is mistaken” translates as “Little is lying and I’m laughing in his face.” Calling you a liar is damn serious. It MUST be challenged.
Another Key trick is to pop up and give an inaudible answer to an embarrassing question. Tell the speaker you could not hear Key’s answer and demand he repeat it slowly and clearly so all the house can hear.
Helen would not take that crap. Never!
Andrew, Key made a monkey of you. He was laughing at YOU.
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You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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someone mentioned the influence yesterday
today then this
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/05/26/the-superbug-that-doctors-have-been-dreading-just-reached-the-u-s/
Quote: ” For the first time, researchers have found a person in the United States carrying bacteria resistant to antibiotic of last resort, an alarming development that the top U.S. public health official says could signal “the end of the road” for antibiotics.
The antibiotic-resistant strain was found last month in the urine of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman.”Quote End
fun times ahead
The really appalling thing is that we’ve seen that coming for decades. For a long time the response from the Science as God people was that new antibiotics would be developped, as if that meant there wasn’t a problem with the way we were using them because hey presto there will always be another one. It’s similar to the argument that we can keep using fossil fuels, because someone will invent carbon capture and storage or free energy or something. The common denominator here is the underlying world view.
One thing to bear in mind with the end of the age of antibiotics is that many plant medicines are just as effective. There are limits to that (because we live in the natural world), and I think the biggest challenges will be in use like during surgery. If we had been in any way intelligent we would have been keeping antibiotics for serious level use and using plant medicines for every day use (and not using antibiotics to make animals grow better so we can eat them ffs).
Plant medicines are not being seriously enough researched because you can’t patent them and it’s too hard for big pharma to make shit loads of money. We could enable companies to do the research that want to simply make a living instead. Or we could just start working off the knowledge base we already have. We already know a pretty large range of plants and what microbes they are effective against and how to use them in the human body. But our ignorance around this culturally is huge. Cue a whole bunch of strawman arguments about charlatans, faith healing and woowoo.
it is true that the writing has been on the wall for a time. I was always good in avoiding antibiotics by simply not taking them. The only time i did was when i had blood poisoning a few years ago.
i tend to ‘heal’ myself with certain foods, plants, spices and the likes, and for most time its enough to get over that cold, that upset tummy etc.
Never had the flue, so i can’t really comment on that – never had a flue vaccine either.
I don’t consider myself a militant anti science dude, it is just that with flue vaccine i don’t see the reason for most of the times. It always seemed that the ones that got the office vaccine were the ones keeping the office sick.
But yes, when this takes hold, the flue season will be something else. As for surgery. Oh my. Sorry for the rambling, but yes it will be wise to sign up to the local herb and foraged plant groups. There are many good groups in NZ, including the many Maori Healers and Foragers, so in way the knowledge is there, its up to us to learn and to apply it.
But you’ll note that it wasn’t the scientists who have actually been warning that this was going to happen for, as you say, decades. So, why did antibiotics get so routinely prescribed?
Actually, plant medicines are being heavily researched and patented. I heard a few years ago that pharmaceutical companies were getting ready to patent huge amounts of drugs based upon marijuana – just as soon as the governments got around to legalising it. Shouldn’t be allowed as it’s a discovery and not an invention but that doesn’t appear to have stopped patents on other biologic medicines.
They’ve been making drugs from plants for decades and basing the start of their research upon folklore (which, of course, they never paid for).
Better idea to make it state funded research with the state then owning any IP that comes out of it and being the manufacturer. Private companies would still be able to make a profit on the research but they wouldn’t make any on sales. And they’d be competing with highly efficient government research institutions that don’t have to make a profit.
Apparently, farmers use antibiotics a lot – too much – and this is a major part of the problem. They’ve overdosed their animals, and this somehow gets into the human system which is then overloaded with antibiotics – making them less resistant .
And the 1918 flu epidemic – Maori herbal lore didn’t save people from that – or did they not use their own herbal remedies in those days ?
But Maori herbal remedies would have been tested and tried on themselves and their past diseases. The flus etc around 1918 that were introduced into a culture with no experience of them. They were a shock to the peoples’ systems literally. They could devastate and kill quickly.
USA farmers have been using antibiotics since 1958 according to an article I have in m Popular Mechanics of that year.
not just the US
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/9513352/Antibiotics-the-danger-of-them-ruling-the-roost
Thanks for that Pat. Sue Kedgley is a valuable politician, pressing forward the important issues to us with facts to support assertions or background to illustrate points.
And the farmer use of antibiotics, despite knowing how it can damage our health defences, (or remaining determinedly ignorant) and how it can get into the polluted waterways affecting fish and other living things in ways we don’t understand, reveals Federated Farmers actually as a sort of terrorist organisation practising subversion against the country and its citizens, and with a stupid, bovine or bird-brained lack of concern for themselves, their families, and their own members also.
The farming community, their advisors and other fellow-travellers, are going to suffer the problems of ineffectiveness of antibiotics along with the rest of us. But the farming money machine using whatever neo-lib fuel is expedient, must roll on and over us if we are unfortunate enough to be in its way.
edited
As Grey said, it was different for Māori because historically influenza wasn’t an illness they had experienced. I’m not sure whether by 1918 that was less of an issue than in the 1800s.
However, there was herbal treatment used successfully by doctors in the pandemic in the US and Europe.
[citation needed]
yep while a large proportion of patients under medical care died in that US epidemic, reportedly very few under chiropractic care did.
Colonial Viper
I thought, from an ordinary citizen’s partial knowledge, that chiropractric care related to the body’s skeleton. How could that help people stricken with ‘flu.
From memory most of it comes from doctors’ records of the time. I’ll have a look tomorrow.
We’ll be waiting.
If you want a hostile debate you’re looking in the wrong place.
the same with people who werent used to pigs as farm animals.
Almost all flu diseases come from pigs, which is why it was unknown in the americas and islands of the pacific till Europeans arrived.
If you ignore the pigs carted around by early voyagers.
http://sciencelearn.org.nz/News-Events/Latest-News/News-Archive/2007-News-Archive/Polynesians-pigs-originated-in-South-East-Asia
Bacteria will develop resistance to herbal treatments too. It is in the nature of bacteria to do that because they reproduce so fast. In effect evolution is speeded up.
There are many reasons to dislike and distrust the pharma industry, but some of their products including antibacterials have been very effective. My father who was a paediatrician and is now in his 90’s recalls the spectacular difference penicillin made after WW2. Children no longer died from simple infections.
I completely agree. The issue isn’t that pharmaceuticals are bad, it’s that we have wasted antibiotics. And the reasons we have done that are to do with world views and bias. Imagine if we had kept antibiotics for the emergencies (surgery, where someone might die or end up with permanent illness etc) and used other modalities to treat the things that weren’t so urgent. The over prescribing of antibiotics that has led to multiple resistances is completely on scientists, doctors, public health officials and pharmaceutical companies.
(btw, nothing I have said in this conversation or anywhere on ts about this is me saying that herbs are good, drugs are bad. So you might want to ask yourself why you have brought that issue up. Because too often there is a reaction against so called alternative medicine as if we can only have one or the other. That’s the problem IMO and it’s frustrating in these conversations for the lines to get divided in that way. I’m arguing for us to use both).
“Bacteria will develop resistance to herbal treatments too. It is in the nature of bacteria to do that because they reproduce so fast. In effect evolution is speeded up.”
I’m not sure about that. I haven’t been able to find anything that suggests that bacteria develop resistance to plant medicines, but it could be that we just haven’t overused them and so it’s not obvious yet. I do think the theory that plants are very complex and therefore it’s harder for bacteria to develop resistance to them is sound, but it’s possible that it is happening just much more slowly than with antibiotics. If it is happening, then we has better make damn sure we don’t waste plant medicines in the way we have antibiotics, because then there probably really is nothing left with which to treat bacterial infections.
If bacteria develop resistance to plants why are plants still effective against them given plants and bacteria have been co-evolving for much much longer than humans have been around, and bacteria evolve much much faster than plants?
Well I’m no microbiologist or pharmacologist, but I expect resistance develops in some sort of proportion to the level of exposure.
So if a medicine is frequently exposed to a particular bacteria it makes it more likely that mutations in that bacteria which show resistance, and are favoured in an evolutionary sense, will develop.
It could be that plant-based medicines are more complex and resistance happens more slowly. I don’t know, but would certainly hope this is the case.
I have absolutely no problem with natural medicines but also think we should be evidence-based as far as possible. And yes I know that the pharma industry in cahoots with the publishing industry has ways of skewing the evidence. However that does not mean there is no such thing as evidence.
I expect we largely agree Weka. I brought this up because I always feel we need to avoid giving the impression that being ‘left’ involves a rejection of modernity and hankers after a pastoral, idyllic past that never really existed.
Thanks AB. I agree about evidence. It drives me just as crazy talking to alternative types who don’t have very good skills on assessing evidence and are unaware of that. But they’re not that different to the people who insist that the only valid way to understand a medicine if via RCTs. Both groups are arguing from lack of education and from ideological bias, and both groups have limited understandings about useful ways to observe and learn about the world.
“I brought this up because I always feel we need to avoid giving the impression that being ‘left’ involves a rejection of modernity and hankers after a pastoral, idyllic past that never really existed.”
Fair enough. And if I was in an alternative forum I’d be arguing for evidence based knowledge. Likewise, the idea that our pre-mordern past was nasty brutish and short and everyone who got a bacterial infection died because we had no way of treating them is just plain factually wrong.
Sheep and beef farmers in nz very really uses antibiotics.
@ Jenny Kirk
“Apparently, farmers use antibiotics a lot”
For your information, in the USA 80% of antibiotics (by weight) are used by farmers!
These are the same thieves who wrote the TTPA.
Yep its a god reason to make factory farming illegal.
Pretty much. It’s the chickens and pigs in NZ that are being dosed up I think. I woudn’t be surprised if dairy cows are too.
We also need to guard against more development of feedlot farming in NZ.
“But you’ll note that it wasn’t the scientists who have actually been warning that this was going to happen for, as you say, decades.”
Yes and no. Scientists have certainly known. It’s the same with a lot of science, the people that speak out against the status quo get marginalised for a long time until the issues get’s aired somewhere else and becomes acceptable. Same thing has happened with the fat hypothesis. Research scientists have been speaking out, and been ignored. Their research got picked up by the alternative subcultures and a few science journalists. Later there was another wave of bigger publicity as the paleo movement grew and eventually the issue ends up on the cover of Time decades after it was first being talked about. There is a pretty serious problem with science there, we often don’t have time for the normal processes to work.
“So, why did antibiotics get so routinely prescribed?”
I’ve seen doctors say that they’ve prescribed because their patients insisted, including prescribing for viral infections where antibiotics are useless. I think what this means is that patient arrives desperate and the GP has nothing else to offer and so gives them antibiotics. This is why the ignoring of herbal antibiotics borders on the criminal.
“Actually, plant medicines are being heavily researched and patented.”
You can’t patent a plant medicine like that. If you develop it into a drug you can, but you can’t take something like garlic and patent it and sell it as an antibiotic because it’s not legally possible to do so.
Drugs and plant medicines aren’t the same thing, even where drugs are derived from plants. The reason that plant medicines don’t prompt antibiotic resistance (at least not so far) is because plants are made up of a huge number of complex components whereas antibiotics are relatively simple compounds. It’s that simplicity that enables bacteria to develop resistance, and it’s the complexity in plants that prevents this from happening.
Good idea about companies being able to do business from the research side but not the sales side. Can’t really do that for herbs though. Is the garlic in the supermarket a medicine or not?
[citation needed]
But you do need to prove its efficacy and I’m not really seeing a lot of that around the claims of herbal medicines. And, yes, I’m quite aware of the anti-bacterial properties of garlic.
“But you do need to prove its efficacy and I’m not really seeing a lot of that around the claims of herbal medicines.”
As I said, in terms of mainstream Western understanding the serious research isn’t being done to enable GPs etc to start using plant medicines as alternatives to antibiotics. There’s been a heap of in vitro work done, so whe know which plants work on which bacteria. There’s also huge amounts of clinical experience from practicing herbalists across many cultures. For those of us interested in what works, that’s enough. For the people that want hard data, that experience can be used to inform which research needs to be done, but like I said, it’s not patentable so big pharma won’t touch it. There are also some clinical studies that support the clinical usages.
“It’s that simplicity that enables bacteria to develop resistance, and it’s the complexity in plants that prevents this from happening.
[citation needed]”
I doubt that I could cite that in a way that you would be satisfied with. We do know that simple antibiotics prompt resistance and that plants, which are complex, don’t. There may be another explanation for that rather than the one I gave, but I can’t think what it might be. But let’s call it a theory in the meantime, but one that makes enough sense to investigate. As I understand it the theory comes from understandings in biology about how bacteria develop resistance, and how plants protect themselves from microbes.
So you can link to this research and it’s peer-review?
So, basically, you’re talking out your arse.
See, this is what we call anecdote and it’s not good enough to base sound judgement on. We need controlled trials to test to see if the plant based medicines are doing what the herbalists are saying that they’re doing.
Big Pharma may not be touching this because they can’t patent it but why aren’t the herbalists? I suspect that the answer is because they don’t have the knowledge and equipment to do that sort of testing.
I suspect that the answer is because they don’t have the knowledge and equipment to do that sort of testing.
I suspect it’s because most of the efficacy claims made by the (big money) alternative medicine industry are simply not supported by evidence.
Draco, I’m just going to pull some random stuff of Pubmed to get you started, but really it’s not in dispute at all that many plants demonstrate antibacterial activity in vitro. It’s fine that you are not aware of that, but I would encourage you to do some reading with an open mind i.e. go and look for the good research yourself, it’s there. I don’t have the time to do this and I don’t keep anything to hand easily because it’s such a commonly accepted thing now.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26142503
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24635487
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=manuka
“So, basically, you’re talking out your arse.”
No, I’m side stepping a long boring argument with someone who is ignorant about what plants actually do and who brings in a lot of beliefs based on theoretical understandings without a lot of experience or knowledge of what happens in the world. Hence,
“There’s also huge amounts of clinical experience from practicing herbalists across many cultures.”
See, this is what we call anecdote and it’s not good enough to base sound judgement on. We need controlled trials to test to see if the plant based medicines are doing what the herbalists are saying that they’re doing.
Believing that RCTs are the only valid way to build knowledge or the only valid knowledge base to make decisions from is an ideological position. GPs routinely use empirical evidence gained from their practice to inform how they treat their patients. Behind all the RCTs is a huge amount of actual real world experience. RCTs are one of the end points of that process, not the be all and end all. And researchers conducting RCTs don’t pull their hypotheses out of thin air, they have starting points in the real world.
Herbalists and their patients don’t need RCTs in the way you do, because there are other ways of assessing efficacy, and those ways are already in use.
I do think that better research would be great, but ironically it’s the very attitudes you are displaying here that are preventing that from happening.
We are approaching a huge health crisis with the coming of the end of the age of antibiotics. Why would we not look at all the tools we have?
Both you and Richard are pretty ignorant of what is already accepted in the mainstream science communities about herbal medicine. Both appear to be arguing from prejudice based on that ignorance. That’s up to you, it’s not my job to try and educate you. I’m not that interested in engaging with someone who will write off thousands of years of empirical evidence, observation and case studies as anecdote (hint, anecdote isn’t what you think it is), because you don’t understand the value of that and see things so narrowly in terms of RCTs. Yes, if we want to find other ways of responding to bacterial infection without antibiotics more research will have to be done. But that doesn’t mean we know nothing, and writing off what we do know out of ignorance and prejudice is hardly useful (not aligned with good science).
Big Pharma may not be touching this because they can’t patent it but why aren’t the herbalists? I suspect that the answer is because they don’t have the knowledge and equipment to do that sort of testing.
Yes, and it’s too expensive, and the ones that would be interested are blocked because of bias and commercial agendas. It’s a real thing that you can’t patent plants, so stop and consider how much money would be lost if medical people were using relatively cheap to produce plant medicines to treat routine bacterial infections instead of big pharma drugs? The politics in this a significant factor.
Herbalists in general don’t need RCTs because they already have coherent, reliable, safe and effective ways of treating people. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do further research. It would be great to get more studies done so that GPs would stop overprescribing antibtioics. But that’s not a problem for herbalists, that’s a problem for GPs and people who are resistant to looking at what works.
I’ll add something else here, which is that plants aren’t just antibacterial, many also have direct effect on the immune system. So when herbalists are treating someone with a bacterial infection, they’re not using a single compound silver bullet approach to target a pathogen. There is much more going on. I say this because it’s a key part of why plants are effective, and it also means that studies need to be designed to take that into account once you get to the in vivo level. In other words, drugs and plant medicines are different things (which is good) and that needs to be taken into account when considering their various uses.
You are talking complete scientific mumbo jumbo.
Why dont you just say its a faith based healing , that any scientific analysis doesnt come close to anything that is accepted by wider medical community.
Because it’s not. You’re a pig ignorant person who can’t even formulate a decent argument. Look at the links above. Plants have antibiotic properties. Take your prejudice and ignorance elsewhere, I can’t be bothered with this low level debate.
There have been contradictory statements reported by the media as to who is eligible for the $5000 to relocate from AKL, who gets how much etc. Paula benefit on one occasion said she hoped retired couples in existing state housing would take it up. She also said it would depend on the circumstances how much would be given eg if it was a family, where they were relocating. So sounds like WINZ already have criteria and this just adds on. or they are making it up as they go. One AKL guy interviewed said he went to WINZ to enquire about relocating and they didnt seem to know anything about it!
The Nats only speak in dollars. It’s gross. Every utterance is couched in cash terms because that is the only language their voters understand and that is the only language they believe anyone understands.
They do not speak the language of stable communities, of secure families, and of the future of such things.
This policy is the clumsiest I’ve seen from them, but they do not care and I think it is because they do not care about the future. Every decision they make is narrow, and focussed on the short term…
Muttonbird
And this style of management of NZ has been going on for 8 years, the race to the bottom.
transient people don’t vote, heck they don’t even go on the electoral role, considering that they don’t know where they are going to live the next 6 month or two weeks from now.
now that is convenient, innit? Have a million plus essentially living in their cars/vans/friends couches and forget about them.
NZ is a country run by greedy fucks and supported by greedy fucks. Me first. That would be the appropriate Name for their party.
The latest channel 7 news reach poll has Labour 52 and Liberals 48, only 6 weeks out from the election, Shorten is actually doing a pretty good job, Labour wants to spend $50B on Australia (health, education) and Turnball wants to spend the same $50B on TAX cuts for corporations, saying that there will be “trickle down”.
speaking of Turnball…..
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/27/australia-scrubbed-from-un-climate-change-report-after-government-intervention
Pat
So far, the environment is not a main stream issue, but It will become one, the current policy of paying the biggest polluters $4B a year as an enticement to reduce emissions is little more than a joke, I saw Turnbull and Key in Paris and they were both on the outer, Key was particularly unhappy.
The Great Barrier Reefs problems also stem from over development of coal mines and the increase of shipping traffic through the reef, a lot of this was from the previous Liberal Queensland State Govt which was voted out last year after only one term.
are the Aussie public (in the main) unaware or uninterested in the state of the GBR?….would have thought it was a source of public concern if only for the potential loss of tourist dollars (the quoted reason for burying report)?
This is Malcolm Turdball we’re talking about. He’s basically Abbot with more charisma, less religion and without the embarrassing speech impediment.
In other news, this is a succinct and hilarious summary of the situation:
https://youtu.be/YJTVZHt2DFw
A long read but worth it.
http://www.interest.co.nz/news/81725/nelsons-stock-exchange-big-ponzi-scheme-and-other-tales-john-keys-offshore-financial
+1
I am reminded of those apologists who were saying..”Theres no evidence of any misuse”
Thankyou for that link TMM 27.5@9.29pm
Quite wow! And fancy that building being Nelson’s very own stock exchange, I used to pass it every day.
In parliament Little asked Key embarrassing questions. Key laughed and said, “The member is mistaken.”
“The member is mistaken” translates as “Little is lying and I’m laughing in his face.” Calling you a liar is damn serious. It MUST be challenged.
Another Key trick is to pop up and give an inaudible answer to an embarrassing question. Tell the speaker you could not hear Key’s answer and demand he repeat it slowly and clearly so all the house can hear.
Helen would not take that crap. Never!
Andrew, Key made a monkey of you. He was laughing at YOU.
FIGHT BACK.
Hilary wins Washington state democratic primary votes 52.6% on Tuesday,( same in Nebraska earlier)
But Bernie had won the earlier democratic caucus , but the later higher turnout primary doesnt count for state delegats
So Clinton beats Sanders when it comes to the popular vote of registered democrats in two states where sanders wins the caucuses.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/washington-primary-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton/484313/
Bernie Sanders web page as a senator
Economy :Sorry page not found. hahahaha
Education : Sorry page not found
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/about
and click on his priorities