Freedom day
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- Date published:
7:55 am, July 19th, 2021 - 58 comments
Categories: boris johnson, covid-19, health, uk politics, you couldn't make this shit up -
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Today is the day the United Kingdom gets back its freedom.
Who from you may ask? From the European Union?
No that was Brexit and it has happened already. And it did not turn out the way it was promised. Read this scathing review from the Observer if you still need to be persuaded.
Today is the day the Government has designated that the people get back their freedom from Covid.
Boris says that since the vaccination rate of those most at risk from the disease are over 90% and since the virus is less dangerous in summer time they should open up now and let it rip. But this is weird because Boris does not even want to mandate mask wearing. It is one thing letting everyone go to the pub but mask wearing of itself will slow down the spread of the disease so you would think that a responsible Government would at least keep in place the easy to do things. After all there is no such thing as a right not to wear a mask.
And when you look at recent infection rates in the UK you have to wnder what planet Boris occupies. Because there is a surge happening and that is before the effects of the World Cup final have been felt.
Admittedly death rates are much lower than they were, so far.
Maybe the vaccine is ensuring that some of those who catch the virus are more resilient.
But the event is descending into pathos.
Because Sajid Javed, the newly appointed Health Minister, has tested positive for Covid, which given the timing of the event and the photo opportunities that Boris is no doubt seeking, is rather unfortunate. And normally as a close contact of Javed’s, Boris would if he was an ordinary British Citizen be expected to go into isolation.
But there is a new policy just announced that means that Boris will not be treated like any other UK resident.
From the Guardian:
The British prime minister Boris Johnson and the chancellor Rishi Sunak have been have been contacted by NHS test and trace as contacts of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19, Downing Street said on Sunday.
The announcement follows the news that Sajid Javid, the health secretary, tested positive for the virus on Saturday.
Downing Street said in a statement:
They will be participating in the daily contact testing pilot to allow them to continue to work from Downing Street.
They will be conducting only essential government business during this period.
Scientists throughout the world are agog at what Boris is doing. From CNBC:
Global scientists have criticized the U.K. government’s plans to ease almost all Covid-19 restrictions, calling it unethical and dangerous for the entire planet.
Gathering at a virtual summit on Friday, leading scientists and government advisors from all over the world warned that Britain was heading for disaster by removing most of its remaining restrictions on Monday.
The event came as more than 1,200 scientists backed a letter to the Lancet medical journal, in which U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans were dubbed “dangerous and premature.”
England will see most of it last remaining restrictions, including mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing, removed on Monday, which Johnson has said will be an “irreversible” move.
Johnson has fiercely defended his new strategy and has argued that now is “the right time to proceed,” before the weather turned colder and as “the natural firebreak of the school holidays” approached.
“It is absolutely vital that we proceed now with caution … we cannot simply revert instantly from Monday to life as it was before Covid,” he said at a press conference Monday.
Even our own Michael Baker thinks the plan is crazy. From the Guardian:
“In New Zealand we have always looked to the UK for leadership when it comes to scientific expertise, which is why it’s so remarkable that it is not following even basic public health principles,” said Michael Baker, a professor of public health at the University of Otago and a member of the New Zealand ministry of health’s Covid-19 technical advisory group.
I think Boris is trying to create this sort of impression:
But as anyone with any sense will tell you, opening up to an easily spreadable virus that has proved to be fatal to sections of the public and that mutates the more it spreads before you have reached herd immunity is bonkers.
Good luck England. You will need it.
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- Release: National restricts access to disability care homes
With disability communities still reeling from the diminishing of Whaikaha, a leaked document now reveals another blow with National restricting access to residential care homes. ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt must help save 230 manufacturing jobs
Labour is calling on the Government and Mercury Energy to find a solution to the proposed Winstone Pulp mill closure and save 230 manufacturing jobs. ...1 week ago
- Govt shirks its responsibility to Whakaata Māori
The Green Party has called out the Government for allowing Whakaata Māori to effectively collapse to a shell of its former self as job cuts and programming cuts were announced at the broadcaster today. ...1 week ago
- NZ First Member’s Bill To Disestablish Auckland Transport
Today New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will restore democratic control over transport management in Auckland City by disestablishing Auckland Transport (AT) and returning control to Auckland Council. The ‘Local Government (Auckland Council) (Disestablishment of Auckland Transport) Amendment Bill’ intends to restore democratic oversight, control, and accountability ...1 week ago - Release: PM fails in constitutional role and leadership
The failure of the Prime Minister to condemn his Minister for personally attacking the judiciary is another example of this Government riding roughshod over important constitutional rules. ...1 week ago
- Waititi urges Rotorua Lakes Council to immediately stop works at Lake Rotokākahi
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and Member of Parliament for Waiariki, which includes Rotorua, has written to Rotorua Lakes Councillors requesting they immediately stop sewerage piping works at Lake Rotokākahi in Rotorua. “Mana whenua have been urging Rotorua Lakes Council to stop works and look at alternative plans to protect the ...1 week ago
- Release: Patient care at risk from redundancies
Patient care could suffer as a result of further cuts to the health system, which could lose thousands of staff who keep our hospitals and clinics running. ...1 week ago
- Greens call on Govt to wake up on child poverty
The Green Party says the latest statistics on child poverty in this country highlight the callous approach that the Government is taking on this issue of national shame. ...1 week ago
- Release: Police are off the beat under National
Foot patrols around the country have decreased 15 percent since National took office, despite National’s Mark Mitchell claiming otherwise. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Climate denial is an insult to Pacific leaders
Winston Peters’ climate denialism at the Pacific Islands’ Forum is an embarrassing new low. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt must end solitary confinement
The Green Party is urging the Government to end the use of solitary confinement within our prisons after new research revealed some prisoners have been held in confinement for more than 900 days. ...2 weeks ago
- Fossil fuels never the answer in climate crisis
The Government’s moves to enable the import of Liquefied Natural Gas is another step away from the sustainable and affordable energy network that this country needs. ...2 weeks ago
- Government must respect Court’s Uber employee decision
Today’s court ruling upholding the rights of Uber drivers is a message to the Government that it must not tamper with employment protections. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Uber court decision recognises workers’ rights
The Court of Appeal decision that Uber drivers are entitled to employee rights such as minimum wage, sick leave, holiday pay and collective bargaining is welcome news for the drivers involved and their unions. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour calls on Govt to divest from illegal settlements
The Labour Party is calling on the Government to tell the two major wealth funds, the NZ Super Fund and ACC, to withdraw investments from companies listed by the United Nations as complicit in Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt backtrack on fast-track still not enough
Labour welcomes news that the National Government is backing down on its reckless proposal to give Ministers final sign-off on significant projects, but it’s still not enough. ...2 weeks ago
- Fast track still on track to environmental destruction
Our environment remains at risk despite the Government's proposed changes to its controversial fast-track legislation. ...2 weeks ago
- Ohinemuri River pollution highlights mining risks
The harrowing images of the severely polluted Ohinemuri River caused by an old mining shaft could become a more common occurrence under the mining regime the Government is looking to roll out. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt Incarcerating our Mokopuna into a Failed System
Information released by the Minister for Children has revealed that almost 800 mokopuna Māori have been taken by the state this year, putting it on track for the largest displacement of tamariki Māori since the introduction of Section 7AA in 2019. “Oranga Tamariki is running a crusade against whakapapa Māori ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Chris Hipkins’ Speech to Local Government New Zealand
...2 weeks ago
- Release: Regional deals can’t leave ratepayers picking up the bill again
On the back of a patronising speech to local councils the Government has rushed out an announcement on regional and city deals that leaves out the crucial component – funding. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt in thrall to tobacco lobbyists
The National Government has put the interests of tobacco lobbyists ahead of New Zealanders and their health. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt overreach on councils an assault on local democracy
The Government’s move to enforce austerity measures on councils is an assault on local democracy. ...2 weeks ago
- Government progresses response to Abuse in Care recommendations
A Crown Response Office is being established within the Public Service Commission to drive the Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care. “The creation of an Office within a central Government agency was a key recommendation by the Royal Commission’s final report. “It will have the mandate ...1 day ago - Passport wait times back on-track
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says passport processing has returned to normal, and the Department of Internal Affairs [Department] is now advising customers to allow up to two weeks to receive their passport. “I am pleased that passport processing is back at target service levels and the Department ...1 day ago
- New appointments to the FMA board
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister has today announced three new appointments and one reappointment to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) board. Tracey Berry, Nicholas Hegan and Mariette van Ryn have been appointed for a five-year term ending in August 2029, while Chris Swasbrook, who has served as a board member ...1 day ago
- District Court judges appointed
Attorney-General Hon Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new District Court judges. The appointees, who will take up their roles at the Manukau Court and the Auckland Court in the Accident Compensation Appeal Jurisdiction, are: Jacqui Clark Judge Clark was admitted to the bar in 1988 after graduating ...1 day ago
- Government makes it faster and easier to invest in New Zealand
Associate Minister of Finance David Seymour is encouraged by significant improvements to overseas investment decision timeframes, and the enhanced interest from investors as the Government continues to reform overseas investment. “There were about as many foreign direct investment applications in July and August as there was across the six months ...2 days ago
- New Zealand to join Operation Olympic Defender
New Zealand has accepted an invitation to join US-led multi-national space initiative Operation Olympic Defender, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. Operation Olympic Defender is designed to coordinate the space capabilities of member nations, enhance the resilience of space-based systems, deter hostile actions in space and reduce the spread of ...2 days ago
- Government commits to ‘stamping out’ foot and mouth disease
Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says that a new economic impact analysis report reinforces this government’s commitment to ‘stamp out’ any New Zealand foot and mouth disease incursion. “The new analysis, produced by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, shows an incursion of the disease in New Zealand would have ...2 days ago
- Improving access to finance for Kiwis
5 September 2024 The Government is progressing further reforms to financial services to make it easier for Kiwis to access finance when they need it, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Financial services are foundational for economic success and are woven throughout our lives. Without access to finance our ...3 days ago
- Prime Minister pays tribute to Kiingi Tuheitia
As Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII is laid to rest today, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has paid tribute to a leader whose commitment to Kotahitanga will have a lasting impact on our country. “Kiingi Tuheitia was a humble leader who served his people with wisdom, mana and an unwavering ...3 days ago
- Resource Management reform to make forestry rules clearer
Forestry Minister Todd McClay today announced proposals to reform the resource management system that will provide greater certainty for the forestry sector and help them meet environmental obligations. “The Government has committed to restoring confidence and certainty across the sector by removing unworkable regulatory burden created by the previous ...3 days ago
- More choice and competition in building products
A major shake-up of building products which will make it easier and more affordable to build is on the way, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Today we have introduced legislation that will improve access to a wider variety of quality building products from overseas, giving Kiwis more choice and ...3 days ago
- Joint Statement between the Republic of Korea and New Zealand 4 September 2024, Seoul
On the occasion of the official visit by the Right Honourable Prime Minister Christopher Luxon of New Zealand to the Republic of Korea from 4 to 5 September 2024, a summit meeting was held between His Excellency President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as ...3 days ago
- Comprehensive Strategic Partnership the goal for New Zealand and Korea
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol. “Korea and New Zealand are likeminded democracies and natural partners in the Indo Pacific. As such, we have decided to advance discussions on elevating the bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive ...3 days ago
- International tourism continuing to bounce back
Results released today from the International Visitor Survey (IVS) confirm international tourism is continuing to bounce back, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Matt Doocey says. The IVS results show that in the June quarter, international tourism contributed $2.6 billion to New Zealand’s economy, an increase of 17 per cent on last ...4 days ago
- Government confirms RMA reforms to drive primary sector efficiency
The Government is moving to review and update national level policy directives that impact the primary sector, as part of its work to get Wellington out of farming. “The primary sector has been weighed down by unworkable and costly regulation for too long,” Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. “That is ...4 days ago
- Weak grocery competition underscores importance of cutting red tape
The first annual grocery report underscores the need for reforms to cut red tape and promote competition, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “The report paints a concerning picture of the $25 billion grocery sector and reinforces the need for stronger regulatory action, coupled with an ambitious, economy-wide ...4 days ago
- Government moves to lessen burden of reliever costs on ECE services
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says the Government has listened to the early childhood education sector’s calls to simplify paying ECE relief teachers. Today two simple changes that will reduce red tape for ECEs are being announced, in the run-up to larger changes that will come in time from the ...4 days ago
- Over 2,320 people engage with first sector regulatory review
Regulation Minister David Seymour says there has been a strong response to the Ministry for Regulation’s public consultation on the early childhood education regulatory review, affirming the need for action in reducing regulatory burden. “Over 2,320 submissions have been received from parents, teachers, centre owners, child advocacy groups, unions, research ...4 days ago
- Government backs women in horticulture
“The Government is empowering women in the horticulture industry by funding an initiative that will support networking and career progression,” Associate Minister of Agriculture, Nicola Grigg says. “Women currently make up around half of the horticulture workforce, but only 20 per cent of leadership roles which is why initiatives like this ...4 days ago
- Government to pause freshwater farm plan rollout
The Government will pause the rollout of freshwater farm plans until system improvements are finalised, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard announced today. “Improving the freshwater farm plan system to make it more cost-effective and practical for farmers is a priority for this ...4 days ago
- Milestone reached for fixing the Holidays Act 2003
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden says yesterday Cabinet reached another milestone on fixing the Holidays Act with approval of the consultation exposure draft of the Bill ready for release next week to participants. “This Government will improve the Holidays Act with the help of businesses, workers, and ...5 days ago
- New priorities to protect future of conservation
Toitū te marae a Tāne Mahuta me Hineahuone, toitū te marae a Tangaroa me Hinemoana, toitū te taiao, toitū te tangata. The Government has introduced clear priorities to modernise Te Papa Atawhai - The Department of Conservation’s protection of our natural taonga. “Te Papa Atawhai manages nearly a third of our ...5 days ago
- Faster 110km/h speed limit to accelerate Kāpiti
A new 110km/h speed limit for the Kāpiti Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS) has been approved to reduce travel times for Kiwis travelling in and out of Wellington, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy. ...5 days ago
- IVL increase to ensure visitors contribute more to New Zealand
The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) will be raised to $100 to ensure visitors contribute to public services and high-quality experiences while visiting New Zealand, Minister for Tourism and Hospitality Matt Doocey and Minister of Conservation Tama Potaka say. “The Government is serious about enabling the tourism sector ...5 days ago
- Delivering priority connections for the West Coast
A record $255 million for transport investment on the West Coast through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will strengthen the region’s road and rail links to keep people connected and support the region’s economy, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Government is committed to making sure that every ...5 days ago
- Road and rail reliability a focus for Wellington
A record $3.3 billion of transport investment in Greater Wellington through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will increase productivity and reduce travel times, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering infrastructure to increase productivity and economic growth is a priority for our Government. We're focused on delivering transport projects ...5 days ago
- Record investment to boost economic and housing growth in the Waikato
A record $1.9 billion for transport investment in the Waikato through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will create a more efficient, safe, and resilient roading network that supports economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “With almost a third of the country’s freight travelling into, out ...5 days ago
- Building reliable and efficient roading for Taranaki
A record $808 million for transport investment in Taranaki through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will support economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Taranaki’s roads carry a high volume of freight from primary industries and it’s critical we maintain efficient connections across the region to ...5 days ago
- Supporting growth and resilience in Otago and Southland
A record $1.4 billion for transport investment in Otago and Southland through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will create a more resilient and efficient network that supports economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Transport is a critical enabler for economic growth and productivity in Otago ...5 days ago
- Delivering connected and resilient roading for Northland
A record $991 million for transport investment in Northland through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will strengthen the region’s connections and support economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “We are committed to making sure that every transport dollar is spent wisely on the projects and ...5 days ago
- Top of the South to benefit from reliable transport infrastructure
A record $479 million for transport investment across the top of the South Island through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will build a stronger road network that supports primary industries and grows the economy, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “We’re committed to making sure that every dollar is ...5 days ago
- Government delivering reliable roads for Manawatū-Whanganui
A record $1.6 billion for transport investment in Manawatū-Whanganui through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will strengthen the region’s importance as a strategic freight hub that boosts economic growth, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering infrastructure to increase productivity and economic growth is a priority for our Government. ...5 days ago
- Restoring connections in Hawke’s Bay
A record $657 million for transport investment in the Hawke’s Bay through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will support recovery from cyclone damage and build greater resilience into the network to support economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “We are committed to making sure that ...5 days ago
- Transport resilience a priority for Gisborne
A record $255 million for transport investment in Gisborne through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will support economic growth and restore the cyclone-damaged network, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “With $255 million of investment over the next three years, we are committed to making sure that every transport ...5 days ago
- Prioritising growth and reduced travel times in Canterbury
A record $1.8 billion for transport investment Canterbury through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will boost economic growth and productivity and reduce travel times, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Christchurch is the economic powerhouse of the South Island, and transport is a critical enabler for economic growth and ...5 days ago
- Supporting growth and freight in the Bay of Plenty
A record $1.9 billion for transport investment in the Bay of Plenty through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will boost economic growth and unlock land for thousands of houses, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Transport is a critical enabler for economic growth and productivity in the Bay of ...5 days ago
- Getting transport back on track in Auckland
A record $8.4 billion for transport investment in Auckland through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will deliver the infrastructure our rapidly growing region needs to support economic growth and reduce travel times, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Aucklanders rejected the previous government’s transport policies which resulted in non-delivery, phantoms projects, ...5 days ago
- Record investment to get transport back on track
A record $32.9 billion investment in New Zealand’s transport network through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will create a more reliable and efficient transport network that boosts economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “New Zealanders rejected the previous government’s transport policies which resulted in non-delivery, ...5 days ago
- Consultation is open on gambling harm strategy
Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey has welcomed the start of Gambling Harm Awareness Week by encouraging New Zealanders to have their say on the next three-year strategy to prevent and minimise gambling harm. “While many New Zealanders enjoy gambling as a pastime without issue, the statistics are clear that ...5 days ago
- JOINT STATEMENT FOR THE OFFICIAL VISIT OF NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER CHRISTOPHER LUXON
1. Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim hosted Prime Minister Rt. Hon Christopher Luxon on an Official Visit to Malaysia from 1 to 3 September 2024. Both leaders expressed appreciation for enduring and warm bilateral ties over 67 years of diplomatic relations. The Malaysia – New Zealand Strategic Partnership 2. The ...5 days ago
- Mike Joy on his memoir and butting heads with Sir John Key
The scientist whose work prompted Sir John Key in 2011 to compare academics to lawyers says it was a "surreal" and "scary" time. ...6 hours ago - Results of school property inquiry yet to go to Cabinet
The inquiry was completed months ago, but the minister of education is still weighing up its recommendations. ...14 hours ago
- ACT pledges pushback on supermarket crackdown
Further regulation of the supermarket sector may hit a snag in the form of David Seymour, who is mounting strong opposition to any such move. ...19 hours ago
- The Weekend: Paralympics appreciation vs everyday apathy
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. The Paralympic Games end tomorrow after nearly two weeks of incredible athletic feats. On a purely results basis, New Zealand hasn’t done that well. As of writing (Friday), we’re yet to win a gold medal and are placed 61st out of 74 ...21 hours ago - ‘I wish I’d never thought of it’: The Blue Monkey on Suzanne Paul’s back
The infomercial queen looks back on an eventful life in TV, filled with Coronation Street, The Blue Monkey and a lot of reality television. Suzanne Paul is a New Zealand television icon. Born and raised in England, Paul worked around the world for 20 years before she arrived in Aotearoa ...21 hours ago
- Auckland’s secondhand bookshops, ranked and reviewed
Shanti Mathias visits and ranks the crème de la crème of Auckland’s secondhand bookshops. From Ponsonby to Grafton to Devonport to Parnell, Auckland has some lovely secondhand bookshops, many of which are huge and deserve to be browsed for hours, embracing the way that all bookstores, but especially secondhand bookstores, ...21 hours ago
- The Spinoff Essay: An ode to tea, the universal panacea
Skimmed Alive, Earl Gravy or Peanut Safari, there’s nothing like making someone a cup of tea exactly how they like it. The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous support of our members. ‘Corrie climax sparks power surge.’ That was ...21 hours ago
- ‘A bogan-fuelled track to remind us where we came from’: Blindspott’s perfect weekend playlist
Damian Alexander and Shelton Woolright of Blindspott share their perfect weekend playlist. Few embody the “west is best” mindset as well as Blindspott. So, it’s probably a good thing the bogan rockers will be able to let their West Auckland sensibilities loose as a part of a supergroup comprised of ...21 hours ago
- Brokenwood – the international hit with a kiwi accent
It’s been a brutal year for New Zealand television, with the demise of Three’s Newshub news operation, costing 300-odd jobs; and the canning of TVNZ’s highly rated Fair Go, Sunday and Late News programmes.It’s also been announced the long-running soap Shortland Street will be cut to three nights a week, ...21 hours ago - The Secret Diary of .. Christopher Luxon
MONDAYGreat news for the nation! In a gesture that I know will resonate with ordinary Kiwis who look to the Prime Minister as an example of someone who can deliver a set of deliverables that will take root and come to pass, I have sold one of my nine or ...21 hours ago
- Short story: I’m a Māori, by Airana Ngarewa
“See that car, ow?” A lime-green Beetle puttered into the distance, barely making the speed limit. “Lady in the front winked at me. Almost crossed the centre line she was so lost in my eyes.”“Bro, that’s the lifeguard. She’s seventy.”Māui shrugged his shoulders. “My swag crosses generational lines. What can ...21 hours ago
- Podcast: Does the government have it wrong on gas?
The government is making a poor economic move with its plan to import natural gas according to Saul Griffith, renewable energy advocate and former climate advisor to Joe Biden. Saul Griffith is an author, inventor, scientist and co-founder of Rewiring America. A few years back he managed to convince ...21 hours ago
- New measurements reveal the enormous halos that shroud all galaxies in the universe
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanne Fisher, Associate Professor of Astronomy, Swinburne University of Technology The starry part of every galaxy is surrounded by a vast shroud of gas extending out for more than 100,000 light years. Cristy Roberts / ANU / ASTRO 3D Have you ever ...1 day ago - Opera Eucalyptus is a lush adaptation of Murray Bail’s novel – with a modern twist
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Moya Costello, Adjunct Lecturer, Southern Cross University Opera Australia My first curiosities about the new opera Eucalyptus, an adaptation of Murray Bail’s multi-award-winning 1998 novel, were regarding how Ellen and the many stories told to her by her ultimately successful suitor ...1 day ago
- The Week in Politics: More roads and maybe fewer tourists
Analysis - The government's $32.9 billion transport spend-up, a big hike in the tourist levy, and the prime minister's ferry-free visit to South Korea. ...1 day ago
- Our cities are losing the small, colourful songbirds that give us the most joy
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andres Felipe Suarez-Castro, Research Fellow, Ecological Modelling, Griffith University Scarlet honeyeater (_Myzomela sanguinolenta_) Marty Oishi/Shutterstock The birds that fill our mornings with songs and our parks and gardens with colour are disappearing from our cities, our new study has found. We ...1 day ago
- New government funding for family violence is unprecedented, but it can’t afford to wait
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University A new A$4.7 billion national funding package announced today will deliver much needed resources to address family and sexual violence. For years, specialist support services, community legal services, therapeutic responses and men’s ...1 day ago
- Residency granted for Brazilian couple whose immigration adviser forgot to apply for visa
Brazilians Newton Santos and Nubia Chiarelli had been fighting to get their case reviewed since 2021. ...1 day ago
- Witness 1.8 billion years of tectonic plates dance across Earth’s surface in a new animation
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Collins, Professor of Geology, University of Adelaide Two tectonic plates meet in Thingvellir National Park, Iceland. VisualProduction/Shutterstock Using information from inside the rocks on Earth’s surface, we have reconstructed the plate tectonics of the planet over the last 1.8 billion years. ...1 day ago
- Far North District councillors vote unanimously to retain their Māori ward following impassioned me...
The council's strongly worded resolution also called on the CEO to explore the legal implications of not holding a binding poll as required. ...1 day ago
- The ozone hole above Antarctica will keep opening up each spring for decades to come – here’s wh...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Revell, Associate Professor in Environmental Physics, University of Canterbury NASA via Getty Images At this time of year, as the sun rises over Antarctica, a “hole” opens up in Earth’s ozone layer. The ozone layer is a vital planetary boundary ...1 day ago
- What you need to know about the draft English and maths curriculums
This is what you need to know about the draft English and maths curriculums out for consultation. ...1 day ago
- Is Russia’s changing nuclear doctrine a significant concern – or just another empty threat?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Richardson, Visiting Fellow, Centre for European Studies, Australian National University Russia’s announcement this week that it is revising its nuclear weapons doctrine has raised questions about what this means – and whether it marks a significant escalation in its war in ...1 day ago
- Bunyip birds and brolgas: how can we better protect species important to Indigenous people?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bradley J. Moggridge, Professor of Science, University of Technology Sydney Bradley Moggridge, Author provided Kamilaroi Country lies in far northwest New South Wales, past Tamworth and crossing over the Queensland border. Here, the bunyip bird (Australasian bittern, Botaurus poiciloptilus), and the ...1 day ago
- Who are the greatest Paralympians of all time?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Thousands of amazing athletes have competed in the Paralympics Games over the past 64 years. But who are the greatest of these Paralympians? And how would you decide? ...1 day ago
- ‘Put down the hammer and pick up the rammer’
One builder’s quest to find a culture of sustainability in construction. This is an excerpt from our environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. “Have you ever built a sandcastle?” asks Paul Geraets, founder of rammed earth building company Terra Firma. “Everybody has. Rammed earth is the same principle.” Rammed ...1 day ago
- The Friday Poem: ‘Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys’ by Josiah Morgan
A new poem by Josiah Morgan. Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys titled after a play by Sam Brooks I Back then Kade had a death wish, driving over a hundred an hour after school, past young lads, parents, through the suburbs, cop cars, girl friends. I drove too, ...1 day ago
- Du Val founder faces his last rodeo
Opinion: It was February 9 of this year that Newsroom revealed work had stopped on a big Du Val apartment project in Auckland as contractors threatened legal action.We had visited the Verge site in Mt Wellington. Scaffolders who said they hadn’t been paid were removing their gear. The site was otherwise empty ...1 day ago
- The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending September 6
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (Head of Zeus, $25) Min Jin Lee’s novel was published in ...1 day ago
- The government says more people need to use AI. Here’s why that’s wrong
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erica Mealy, Lecturer in Computer Science, University of the Sunshine Coast The Australian government this week released voluntary artificial intelligence (AI) safety standards, alongside a proposals paper calling for greater regulation of the use of the fast-growing technology in high-risk situations. ...2 days ago
- Bill Shorten’s greatest legacy is the NDIS. It transformed the lives of people like me with disabi...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By George Taleporos, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University Bill Shorten is resigning from politics in February next year. Throughout his 17 years in parliament, no achievement stands out more than his role in the creation of ...2 days ago
- Birth, deaths and marriages: we all have them, which is why they should be protected
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janet McCalman, Emeritus Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Why does Victoria’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry matter? Civil registrations are the most important documents created about you by the state: they certify your existence in time and ...2 days ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Connie Henson, Cojoint Senior Lecturer, Indigenous Studies, UNSW Sydney MilanMarkovic78/Shutterstock Many people with atrial fibrillation don’t have any symptoms. But this heart condition – which involves an irregular and often rapid heartbeat – increases the risk of stroke and heart failure, ...2 days ago
- The seasons change, but hope always prevails on Nadia’s Farm
The Masterchef NZ winner takes us back to the land with a new season of Nadia’s Farm. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s a warm summer’s day in Central Otago, and Nadia Lim is trying to drive a tractor. The old, ...2 days ago
- Pacific profiles: Meet the teacher behind NZ’s longest-running Fijian language class
The Pacific profiles series shines a light on Pacific people in Aotearoa doing interesting and important work in their communities, as nominated by members of the public. Today, Losalini Tuwere. All photos by Geoffery Matautia. Losalini Tuwere runs the longest-running (and most consistent) Fijian language class in Aotearoa. Every Tuesday ...2 days ago
- NZ will retain sovereignty despite joining US space mission – Minister
Defence Minister Judith Collins says it's important New Zealand is committed to working with security partners on space security. ...2 days ago
- For God and country: why the choice of next US president is a religious choice, too
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity Americans face a stark choice this November between two very different political visions. As I watched the ...2 days ago
- Australia has just been handed a map for getting to net zero. Here’s how it will guide us
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Malos, Climateworks Centre – Country Lead, Australia, Monash University AustralianCamera/Shutterstock Australia’s push for net-zero emissions received a welcome boost on Thursday, with the release of an official report showing how Australia can seek to cut domestic emissions across each sector ...2 days ago
- Limbs without limits: How New Zealand Paralympians get geared up for glory
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Are there any benefits from Freedom Day?
Lots of benefits for Covid-19. Delta has landed in the UK and is making a bid for dominant variant. It will probably suceed as it is about 2-3x more spreadable as the previous champion Beta. Freedom day will probably result in a increased density of the virus throughout the community, regardless of the relatively high vaccination rate.
Heading into another winter, the general expectation amongst the UK health sector seems to be that 'freedom day' will result in the infection rate doubling over the next few months.
About the only good thing will be that the rest of the world will have a look at what the covid-19 infection rate looks like when there is a high, but still way too low vaccination rate through the community.
My expectation is that it will simply result in a rapid selection pressure for the virus to recombine strains and to activate previously unseen behaviours from its rather large genome.
Looking at the other side of the equation – humans. Benefits for the people in the UK?
Not as a whole. However it doesn't appear to have been for that purpose. The sole purpose seems to be to allow Boris Johnson to say that he'd done it and tick something off his bucket list.
Johnson is defeated no matter what he does.
It is now in the hands of scientists and not a politician to manage mutations and vaccines. With some hope newer strains are not as harmful as the Delta variant and that vaccines become fully effective.
It appears that vaccination is slowing down the death rate. This would be my reason for being vaccinated. It is a numbers game.
Will be mine as well.
However the death rate in the only relevant issue. For instance one of my UK colleagues got covid-19 back in Feb. She is still off work with a 4 weekly cycle of doctors certificates with long covid-19. Never had to spend time in hospital as far as I am aware.
She is getting better really slowly, but lacks all energy and certainly is unable to concentrate enough to write code or organise the current project development – which are her usual jobs.
She is in her late 30s or 40s. Crucial skills with the specific product we're working on.
Long covid looks like it is more common than either death or hospitalizations amongst the under 50s with Beta. So far it is looking like Delta only increases the probability of that kind of outcome all of the way down into the 20s.
Yeah Randian's who opposed the 2020 lockdown and who decried our elimination strategy, can Cry the Beloved England has Freedom.
https://twitter.com/Madz_Grant/status/1417048101341306882
Calling this Freedom Day is as massive a gaslighting as anything we saw from the Trump administration.
Looking at the anti protest legislation in the context of let ‘em die, and the general hard right neoliberalism, makes me think the UK is now top contender for western fascism.
If 90% of the most vulnerable have been vaccinated Boris may be hoping that anyone who becomes infected from now on will survive, and build up their own immunity.
The vaccines aren’t 100% effective, and his hope doesn’t take into account how allowing free rein on community transmission will push new variants that the current vaccines aren’t as effective against.
maybe it will work out, but, it’s going to harm a lot of people and it’s a big gamble not just for the UK but globally. If new variants keep arising in the UK I expect some countries will stop allowing flights from there.
I read recently that Israeli data shows the Pfizer vaccine is only around 65% effective against the Delta strain….
https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/07/13/how-well-does-the-pfizer-vaccine-protect-against-the-delta-variant-heres-what-we-know/?sh=7ded18b2ff33
The drop in death rate bears exploring. Would be good to know if rates of post covid disability and long covid are dropping too.
Yep I thought it important to include the death rate graph. I suspect there are a few reasons:
But yes the effects of long covid should also be factored in. I know someone who is suffering from long covid and basically they have had a hell of a year.
Does most vulnerable having been vaccinated include front line workers?
There is a panorama doc on long-covid out recently.
You’re missing the most important factor – time lags.
There is typically a long lag in a country with a functional medical system between getting symptomatic and getting dead. It varies a lot by county and region, but it is typically a minimum of 3 weeks and has median morbidity of about 6 weeks after infection. It is very laggy.
If you look at the UK right now, the useful measure would be hospital admissions with covid-19. What is being reflected on the current covid-19 death rate now is what was happening on the infection side in early June.
I suspect it's also the mix of people getting it has changed. The old and vulnerable stay home and out of the way while the young ones are all mixing and socialising.
Deaths lag infections by a month or even six weeks on average. Given the upturn in infections really only started at the beginning of June, and there's already an upturn in the death rate, I think it's too soon to form any kind of opinion how the death rate of this wave compares to previous waves.
The drop in death rate bears exploring.
I'll be looking out for the latest updates from ONS regarding the number of deaths in the two most vulnerable groups in the UK.
Those with disabilities, who constituted a whopping 60% of deaths in the first and second waves. Then there's the Care Home deaths, which may also include those with disabilities, but from what I can make out are largely those with age related impairments.
Vaccines could very well account for the fall in deaths….but it could very well be that the most vulnerable had died already before the vaccine roll out.
Please let me know what you find.
Last year, there was a narrative from both the MSM and some of the fringe media in both the UK and US that these deaths of disabled and care home residents constituted 'dry-tinder'. This unpalatable terminology was quickly muted, but some did opine that whatever the extent of vaccine coverage and it's efficacy at reducing deaths in future outbreaks, there will never be those awfully high daily death tolls because of the extraordinary high toll for these people in the first and second waves.
we can assume that the Tories know what they are doing then. Bastards.
The UK is making itself a giant lab experiment – we can learn from such things as
1.whether the old and those with health conditions (eg diabetes) are protected enough by vaccination or not.
2.whether mild illness among those vaccinated can result in long covid or not.
3.how much worse it would be to allow freedom without vaccination passports (comparison to the EU) and consequent lower vaccination rates.
Watched an angry Christian horner, mask down, interviewed at super spreader event the British GP.
'Freedom' has been on show all across the UK awhile now. Add in that GP, the open at St George's on top of the euros just wrapped, horse racing etc etc strap yourselves in UK.
UK is 53.6% fully vaccinated, 69% 1 dose.
Boris's freedom moment has just encouraged everyone to get their shots.
Otherwise it's "28 Days" and "World War Z".
Sometimes freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
I did like the response of the French from new restrictions if not vaccinated. No cafes or restaurants. The demand for getting vaccinations is still rising.
In the UK – maybe you can't go to the pub or football matches without being vaccinated?
No the UK government has not led or followed the French and now German policy on internal vaccination passports – the EU already has border vaccine passports.
My bad, he has some hours ago decided that once everyone over 18 has had the chance to be vaccinated, they will then bring in vaccine passports.
https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1417159270295080961
I'm pretty sure that in the UK a vaccine are being offered to all over-18s now. However I don't think that they will have had the time to get the second jab yet – that is set to 8 weeks between jabs for the under-40s.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55045639
Of course that does mean that right now is the maximum infection possibilities as the under 40s flood into crowed nightclubs and other concentrated venues.
He has mentioned a target date of 30 September for the vaccination requirement.
Dear (oh dear) Boris:
and now, apparently, 'Get Covid done!' Not so unusual to see this pro-risk mentality and behaviour on display during a global pandemic.
'Leaders' cut from similar psychological cloth – they roll(ed) the dice for 'their' citizenry.
The best 'we' can hope for as the third wave builds is that the daily global Covid-19 death toll will remain under 8000. The UK and Indonesia currently have the largest numbers of daily new Covid-19 cases. How the UK mix of high vaccination rates and high active case numbers will play out is anyone's guess. As lprent said @1.1:
Do hope that a more virulent Covid-19 variant isn't in the pipeline, but that's a hope rather than an expectation. We don't know how lucky we (NZers) are.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/447183/covid-19-nsw-hard-lockdown-only-chance-to-crush-outbreak-premier
The Brits will start pinching loaves of bread and handkerchiefs to get arrested and transported for free to Australia soon – the land where you have a chance of getting lucky. Not like in defunct old England with its showpony/Eton schoolboy top-heavy politicians and thinking. The rest of England doesn't notice the imposition of the upper strata, because they are so light and airy they float above the populace, no substance at all – just gas enough to float 1,000 hot air balloons or even dirigibles – note future market chance here for the Brits. Get onto it before some smarter Europeans hit on it.
And this from Ian Powell, thoughtful as most of his items are:
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2107/S00051/boris-the-barbaric-threatens-more-than-the-uk.htm
If you think of freedom as a set of pre-existing conditions that were present in some imagined state of nature – then all a society or a government can really do is either step back and permit those freedoms, or step forward and restrict them. This is the mythologised 'freedom' of the neoliberal/libertarian/Tory right. Under this notion of freedom, Covid lockdowns restrict our freedom.
Or you can think of freedom as something that is collectively constructed every day through a network of mutual obligations. Your obligations construct my freedom, just as my obligations construct your freedom. Advanced, liberal societies attempt to construct as much freedom for as many people as possible. This is an historically-based view of freedom – and it means that when a deadly pandemic is stalking the world, temporary lockdowns produce a net increase in freedom for that period of time.
The ideological commitment of far right governments to the former, mythologised notion of freedom is why a number of them have done so badly in the pandemic. Covid 19 should really be a dagger to the heart of this abusive version of freedom – but that won't happen because it serves powerful interests so well.
If the UK is about to beome an example to the world of what not to do.
New Zealand must become an example of what to do.
Let us become the first nation in the world to reach herd immunity levels of immunisation.
The vaccine is not fool proof. But the more people who have it the more effective it becomes. The vaccine, just like masks, by slowing down infections and transmissions, the vaccine protects those around you, possibly more than it protects you.
The strategy being, that if herd immunity is achieved the spread of the virus will just fizzle out.
The results of Boris Johnson's irresponsibility and ignoring of the best medical and scientific advice is that the Delta varient will spread around the world and inevitably wash up on our shores, and possibly breach our defences..
Hopefully if herd immunity is reached before that time, the effects will be muted.
The race is on.
Overseas the Right, especially the Far Right have politicised the vaccine just as they politicised mask wearing and lockdown strategies.
The key to reaching herd immunity is leadership.
To beat the virus all those in leadership positions must be on board.
All those in positions of leadership Left Right and Centre, every single MP in our parliament, need to declare their support for full immunistion, but not just in words but in actions.
How can they do this?
By getting vaccinated themselves.
If every single MP in our parliament agrees to get vaccinated the Prime Minister can announce this fact to the country and the world..
And then they must follow through, it could be made into an event, with every single MP from the Maori Party to ACT being witnessed getting their jab.
Any recalcitrant MP hold outs need to be publicly challenged in the House, and made to be debated and made to defend their position.
Our success, so far, in beating back the virus has been down to leadership. Let us see that leadership demonstrated again. And not just by the government but by parliament.
(I hope you are listening Judith, I hope you are among one of the first of our political leaders to announce that every single one of your MPs in your caucus has been vaccinated. And urging every one of your supporters to do the same.)
The race to reach herd immunity is on. Let us be the first nation in the world to achieve it.
By not aiming for herd immunity, by opening up before herd immunity has been achieved, Boris Johnson has been condemned for putting economic concerns above public health.
Bur what is 'Herd Immunity' and how does it work?
Why do relatively healthy people and young people less at risk of suffering the worst effects of covid-19 need to be vaccinated?
National Geographic gives some answers;
What percentage of New Zealanders need to be vaccinated for herd immunity to be achieved?
It depends on who you ask.
Because it is such a new disease, the exact percentage for herd immunity to covid-19 to be achieved is unknown, it depends on a number of still undetermined variables,
B.1.617.2 AKA Delta variant.
Please keep up instead of spreading old news.
We were able to achieve 95% and 80% vaccination rates in the past, and 70% is a 'low bar', why are our ambitions so low today?
Part of the reason is the politisation of vaccination and disease control by the Right, who have put economic concerns above public health.
,
With this nod from mainstream conservatives vaccine hesitancy has been put on steroids by the Far Right and conspiracy theorists.
If we want to achieve herd immunity, political leadership is vital, we need to have this political leadership from right across the mainstream political spectrum, from the Maori Party to Act and everything in between.
Leadership is important.
When the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition can announce that 100% parliamentarians are vaccinated….
Is the only way to 'depoliticise' our public health response and isolate the far right conspiracy theorists spreading vaccine hesitancy.
With this sort of leadership we can match the ambitious vaccination targets of the past.
I suspect the reason why 90% plus vaccination rates were achieved in different times and locations had much to do with less of a consideration for individual rights over and above community benefit.
'There is no such thing as society' we have been told.
And it is no coincidence that we were told this by another Conservative British Tory Prime Minister.
Johnson like Thatcher thinks it is all up to individual responsibility to end the pandemic, or get out of poverty, or stop climate change, (an early concern of Thatcher’s). There is no role for leadership, there is no such thing as society, there is no role for government, government should stay out of it. Collective action and appealing to the common good, is anathema to such people, except when fighting wars of course. When war is declared whether in the South Atlantic or the Middle East. Then it is all hands on deck.
Right wing politicians can all be leaders then, leading the charge for collective action to fight any perceived menace to British interests whether it is from Argentina or Iraq or Afghanistan.
Not only do they drag their own populations into such wars, they twist the arms of other societies like New Zealand to get involved as well.
The irony of your ignorance is striking and irksome. Your dogmatic absolutism should raise a warning flag for anybody reading your simpleton reckons.
I think Jenny is advocating here that the "Government"; and by that she implies the whole of Parliament needs to set a clear goal of wholesale vaccination across the whole country. The vaccination of every parliamentarian would demonstrate that, and be an act of leading from the front and leading by example.
We frequently overlook the role of the opposition benches in our parliament, but they have an important function in government, as the do the ruling parties.
In such a case as fighting a pandemic it is important for all parties to work together to achieve the desired goal of the whole population being vaccinated. We can see the effect of one party expressing reluctance and resistance to Covid vaccinations in the US. The opposition GOP have consistently spread misinformation and lies wrt to Covid and the the resulting reluctance of GOP supporters to vaccinate is well documented.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/548422-worries-grow-over-gop-reluctance-to-take-vaccines
And this is despite McConnell (a polio survivor) advocating that every one should get vaccinated – but his words are heavily undermined by constant misinformation and lies from congress GOP colleagues and RW media.
Good comment; constructive, well reasoned and supported, and devoid of authoritarianism. I agree that setting an example is a good way of leading, as in prefigurative politics AKA be the change you want to see. Non-partisan messaging would be ideal, but I thought Bloomfield and MoH were already doing a good job of that.
Jenny’s comments (plural) OTOH were so piss-poor that it is almost not worth unpacking them.
Take this nonsense, for example:
This goes way beyond persuasion, encouragement, and setting a positive example, voluntarily, goes beyond coercion even, and is bordering on fascist. Who does get the broadcasting rights, Sky or Parliament TV? Shall we do in-depth interviews before and after too, led by Gower, Soper, and Hosking, you know, to 'depoliticise' things?
What happened to personal choice and responsibility? Since when are Covid vaccinations mandatory in NZ?
Says the cult leader called Jenny, FFS. What happened to Human Rights? Tough, says General Jenny, we must smoke out and eliminate “the far right conspiracy theorists spreading vaccine hesitancy” because they’re the enemy.
You know when the cure is worse than the disease and Jenny’s ‘cure’ is infinitely worse.
Hi Incognito,
The goal is Herd Immunity
The question is how to get there.
I happen to think it is a matter of leadership.
I have a high regard for our elected officials they do a thankless job and most if not all, despite what talkback hosts claim, are sincere, (to their various different lights), I suspect that if they were asked to do the right thing by the Prime Minister they would do it, voluntarily
I never said vaccination should be compulsory for MPs or that our MPs should be forced to be filmed getting vaccinated. I think you have miscontrued what I was trying to say. I am saying that our parliamentarians should give a lead. You are trying to imply that I think our MPs should be forced to be vaccinated at the point of a gun, and then paraded before the cameras. This is completely wrong and not what I am saying at all. Nothing like it.
I am not a "cult leader" or a borderline "fascist". Name calling and falsely assigning me the worst possiblle motives, is not the way to win a debate. You may disagree with someone, you may think they are mistaken but it doesn't help your argument to assign them malicious intent.
Maybe I was not as clear as I should have been, for that I apologise. Maye what I have put into words here is not as well written or eloquent as I would have hoped it would be.. What I was trying to say; is that MPs make an event of getting vacinated, if they want to. And as a way of giving a lead.. After all our Prime Minister did it,.when she got vaccinated..No body forced her to, she wanted to go on camera getting her vaccintion. And good for her for doing so, she did it show people that there was nothing to be afraid of. She gave a lead and set an example. It is what leaders do.
If David Seymour, (just for argument's sake, not picking on you David), or any other right wing MP, is against giving a lead to the nation, or getting vaccinated, (not saying that you would David), what is wrong with engaging in debating with the Act leader in the house to get him to defend his position?
Persausion and debate, the rough and tumble, cut and thrust of well put argument, is the bread and butter of parliament.
This is not coercion, this is democracy.
This is why we have a parliament, so we can publicly thrash out different poltical viewpoints before the nation. We are not a communist dictatorship where everything is done in secret behind closed doors. .
Every democratically elected MP worth their salt should be able to get up on their feet and debate their position and defend it.
If they are against vaccination, or don't feel the need to give a lead or set an example, let them tell us why. Let them have their say. Most democratic politicians value their time at the mic. they want their views heard, they want to defend their poltical positons on matters of the day.
From the beginning, Boris Johnson has shown little backbone in fighting this pandemic, and has now given up on the goal achieving herd immunity that high rates of vaccination can give, and is opening up his country regardless to the cost in lives and public health.
Unlike Johnson, our Prime Minister is no jellyfish. If we are to achieve herd imunity we need a strategy. The Prime Minister has every right to call on every MP to do their sworn duty to serve the nation, and to ask them to set an example, to pull the House together in a united front to undermine the deliberate efforts of the Far Right conspiracy theorists to spread vaccine hesitancy.
In times of crisis it is what great leaders are called to do.
Good to see you back-tracking from those fascist vibes in your comment. A hallmark of democracy is freedom to choose without undue influence or coercion, which is why advertising on Election Day is not permitted, for example. Similarly, MPs can make up their minds, freely, with undue influences or coercion. These are personal choices and not “political viewpoints”, as you’re suggesting . Didn’t you want to 'depoliticise' this!? I’m glad you see it this way too. Some MPs may not choose to get vaccinated with the Pfizer or any other Covid vaccine. You seem to be suggesting that there is some dividing line that neatly runs between Left and Right of the political spectrum. I hate to burst your bubble and spoil your narrative but I think you might be a tiny bit wrong there. I can’t be bothered countering your response step by step because my comment would become as long as yours or I might even have to split it into two comments, God forbid; less is more …
Lastly, herd immunity seems near-impossible with variants such as Delta, as modelling has suggested, if it were to rely on vaccination only. No matter what leadership.
Hi Incognito
There were no fascist vibes in my comment.
Macro in their following comment, did not see it that way.
There was no backtracking on my behalf. Things which I think are self explanatory, have to be explained to you in depth. Either by myself, or others like Macro, who I kindly thank here for their support.
Personally what I think is, because of our differing political views there is a certain decoherence between us, which is why I often have to explain things to you in detail, things that I think are self evident.
Don't get me wrong,
I appreciate you questioning me and challenging me, which forces me to explain my position in more depth.
Maybe I am the one wearing the blinkers
Maybe there are many others who don't understand my political perspective or where I am coming from.
I am a great believer in democracy.
Democracy has been described as the dictatorship of the majority over the minority.
I have had the honour and privilege to have had my political views about democracy shaped by my experience in the grass roots trade union movement.
In the face of employer hostility, not to be disempowered individuals, by necessity we all had work collectively as one. Agreed positions taken by the majority had to be followed. In the unionised jobs I worked at, decisions to go on strike or deduct a levy for some worthy cause or any other decision had to be agreed by a margin of 60 to 40.
On the bigger jobs there was almost every time a desenting minority, but this desenting minority understood that if they could not win the majority to their position, they still had to go along with the majority decision even if they disagreed with it.
I can understand that if you are unfamiliar with this form of democracy you might see it as dictatorship.
It may be hard but it is necessary.
When you are in a bitter fight with your employer for decent conditions and a safe work place the collective effort can easily be undermined if individuals are allowed to do their own thing.
Conservatives and others who may have not had this experience may think that the individual should be able to do whatever they like.
But in practice even conservatives who espouse freedom of the individual and hate trade unionism, in practice also take collective action where the minority have to obey the majority. Every poltical party in parliament have their 'Whips' to make sure MPs vote the way their party wants.
Only sometimes are individual MPs allowed to vote as their indivdual conscience tells them.
Some may see this as fascist or authoritarian.
I call it democracy.
Really?
Only if you believe the bullship being spread about by the conspiracy theorists and right wing media outlet Fox News.
P.S. What are people to think, Incognito, if you don't put in the links and/or quotes to the "modelling" that you (and the Far Right), claim, suggests that the vaccines are "near-impossible" against variants such as Delta.
Is that too much to ask?
Come on, help me out here. I am trying to understand where you are coming from.?
I live in NZ and don’t follow Fox News, sorry to disappoint you. Your reading comprehension is so low that you think that I said that current vaccines are not effective against the Delta variant. I did not say anything like that; it is entirely in your head. For the same reason, I’m not siding with conspiracy theorists, antivaxxers, or the Far Right. Another fantastic fail on your behalf.
I take and update my information from reliable sources, preferably NZ ones, because they tend to be most relevant to NZ (who would have guessed?).
Here’s some homework for you:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/modelling-shows-nz-may-not-reach-herd-immunity
https://www.tepunahamatatini.ac.nz/2021/06/30/a-covid-19-vaccination-model-for-aotearoa-new-zealand/
I’m growing a little tired of having to battle your ignorance and the misinformation that you’re spreading here with your simplistic comments. Please lift your game soon, thanks.
Yep that's right. The far right conspiracy theorists spreading vaccine hesitancy are the enemy, and they are winning.
And as long as they are not publicly countered and isolated by our political leaders*, not just in words but in practice, they will keep on winning. And this country will never achieve herd immunity
*(The Centre Right in particular need to be called on to distance themselves from the Far Right conspiracy theorists, not just in words but in actions).
You are incorrect! Stop smoking your own dope!
Here’s just one example but there are loads more, if only you’d look instead of confirming your own bias:
And
Political ideology and vaccination willingness: implications for policy design
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8206899/
Do you remember vivid antivaxxers before Covid? On which side of the political spectrum where these mostly found? Where have these gone?
‘
“Do you remember vivid antivaxxers before Covid? On which side of the political spectrum where these mostly found? Where have these gone?
Incognito
To answer your question.
I remember exactly which end of the political spectrum the anti-vaxers were found before covid.
The new age hippy anti-science irrational end of the political spectrum, that's where.
And I also know where they have gone.
The wheel is spinning but the hamster is gone. Do you want to have a break from commenting here because you appear to have strain on the brain from all that chasing of Nazi Hippies and Far Right conspiracy enemas.
Here’s some more light reading for you, from a Pulitzer Prize winner, no less, for when you take your commenting holiday.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/01/26/the-biggest-myth-about-vaccine-deniers-that-theyre-all-a-bunch-of-hippie-liberals/
Bad leadership has consequences
Not quite the situation in the UK, where vaccination rates are high.
But the UK is still far from reaching levels where the benefits of herd immunity kick in.
Boris Johnsons bad leadership in prematurally lifting all disease control measures against th advice of disease control experts could have similar bad outcomes.
High with one dose.
The Tory idealist – we believe in freedom and the survival of the fittest
The Tory politician – we can again declare our solidarity with freedom (as we tried last year before the NHS was overwhelmed).
The Tory realist – we can get quicker immunity among the young, by letting them spread it around before the end of summer, than by vaccination.
The known unknown, how many people got long covid without requiring hospitalisation in 2020? How many vaccinated (one dose) avoid hospitalisation and yet get long covid in 2021? And how many of the younger not vaccinated in 2021 get long covid with the delta variant?