Freedom day

Written By: - 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 - Tags:

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.

58 comments on “Freedom day ”

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  1. Treetop 1
    19 July 2021 at 8:15 am

    Are there any benefits from Freedom Day?

    • lprent 1.1
      19 July 2021 at 8:33 am

      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.

      • Treetop 1.1.1
        19 July 2021 at 11:04 am

        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.

        • lprent 1.1.1.1
          19 July 2021 at 1:56 pm

          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.

    • SPC 1.2
      20 July 2021 at 12:26 pm

      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

  2. weka 2
    19 July 2021 at 8:48 am

    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.

  3. weka 3
    19 July 2021 at 8:49 am

    The drop in death rate bears exploring. Would be good to know if rates of post covid disability and long covid are dropping too.

    • mickysavage 3.1
      19 July 2021 at 8:57 am

      Yep I thought it important to include the death rate graph. I suspect there are a few reasons:

      1. Vaccines do not stop infections but greatly reduce the effects.
      2. The most affected sectors of the community have higher vaccination rates.
      3. It is summertime in the UK and effects are lessened.

      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.

      • weka 3.1.1
        19 July 2021 at 9:25 am

        Does most vulnerable having been vaccinated include front line workers?

      • mpledger 3.1.2
        19 July 2021 at 12:30 pm

        There is a panorama doc on long-covid out recently.

      • lprent 3.1.3
        19 July 2021 at 2:04 pm

        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.

        • mpledger 3.1.3.1
          19 July 2021 at 3:06 pm

          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.

      • Andre 3.1.4
        19 July 2021 at 2:33 pm

        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.

    • Rosemary McDonald 3.2
      19 July 2021 at 9:29 am

      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.

      • weka 3.2.1
        19 July 2021 at 9:49 am

        Please let me know what you find.

        • Rosemary McDonald 3.2.1.1
          19 July 2021 at 10:04 am

          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.

      • SPC 3.2.2
        20 July 2021 at 12:36 pm

        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.

  4. tc 4
    19 July 2021 at 9:31 am

    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.

  5. Ad 5
    19 July 2021 at 10:50 am

    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.

    • lprent 5.1
      19 July 2021 at 2:08 pm

      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?

      • SPC 5.1.1
        20 July 2021 at 12:31 pm

        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.

      • SPC 5.1.2
        20 July 2021 at 1:24 pm

        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

        • lprent 5.1.2.1
          20 July 2021 at 2:12 pm

          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

          Who is being offered the vaccine now?

          All over-18s in the UK can get a vaccine.

          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.

          • SPC 5.1.2.1.1
            20 July 2021 at 2:35 pm

            He has mentioned a target date of 30 September for the vaccination requirement.

  6. Drowsy M. Kram 6
    19 July 2021 at 11:59 am

    Dear (oh dear) Boris:

    "Enough, enough. Let's get this done!", "Get Brexit done!",

    and now, apparently, 'Get Covid done!' Not so unusual to see this pro-risk mentality and behaviour on display during a global pandemic.

    Trump: “Normal life. That’s what we want, right? Normal life. Normal life. We just want normal life. It’s happening, very quickly.”

    Bolsonaro: "I'm sorry for the dead, I'm sorry. We're all going to die one day, everyone here will die. There's no point running away from it, running away from reality. You need to stop being a country of queers."

    '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:

    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.

    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.

  7. greywarshark 7
    19 July 2021 at 2:40 pm

    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.

  8. AB 8
    19 July 2021 at 2:53 pm

    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.

  9. Jenny how to get there 9
    20 July 2021 at 4:20 am

    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.

    • Jenny how to get there 9.1
      20 July 2021 at 4:53 am

      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.

  10. Jenny how to get there 10
    20 July 2021 at 8:24 am

    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;

    Herd Immunity: Strength in Numbers

    ……seasonal influenza is a contagious disease that kills 36,000 people per year in the United States alone. While having the flu is unpleasant at the best of times, it is potentially deadly for people with weakened immune systems, including children and the elderly. Flu shots are available, but their effectiveness depends on a strong immune response. As a result, the vaccine is least effective at immunizing those who need it most: people with weakened immune systems. If strong and healthy people get vaccinated, then flu outbreaks can be contained and vulnerable demographics are protected.

    https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/herd-immunity-strength-numbers/

    • Jenny how to get there 10.1
      20 July 2021 at 8:48 am

      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,

      Covid-19: Govt wants to vaccinate 70 per cent of NZ, but questions remain

      Hannah Martin Stuff.co.nz 07:27, Jan 29 2021

      The percentage of people who need to be immune to achieve herd immunity varies with disease.

      Herd immunity against measles requires about 95 per cent of a population to be vaccinated. For polio, the threshold is about 80 per cent, according to the World Health Organisation.

      WHO’s chief scientist, Dr Soumya Swaminathan​, previously said officials believe between 60 and 70 per cent of a population need to be immune to Covid-19 to “really break the chain of transmission”.

      Vaccinologist Associate Professor Dr Helen Petousis-Harris​ said she thought 70 per cent was a “low bar”.

      …..

      it remains to be seen what proportion of the population needs to be vaccinated to bring the virus under control, it could be “reasonable for an initial goal”, and one which may change as time goes on.

      “We don’t have the answers to those questions just yet.”

      For argument's sake, say you need 70 per cent vaccination coverage for herd immunity, and a vaccine was 90 per cent effective, you would need to vaccinate more than 70 per cent of people to hit that target, she said.

      https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300215491/covid19-govt-wants-to-vaccinate-70-per-cent-of-nz-but-questions-remain

      • Incognito 10.1.1
        20 July 2021 at 9:02 am

        B.1.617.2 AKA Delta variant.

        Please keep up instead of spreading old news.

      • Jenny how to get there 10.1.2
        20 July 2021 at 9:21 am

        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.

        • pat 10.1.2.1
          20 July 2021 at 10:01 am

          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.

          • Jenny how to get there 10.1.2.1.1
            20 July 2021 at 12:07 pm

            And it is no coincidence that we were told this by another Conservative British Tory Prime Minister.

            Margaret Thatcher: There’s No Such Thing as Society

            Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. During those years, she presided over a social revolution in which nationally owned industries were privatised and the welfare state was drastically reduced in size. Here she speaks of her understanding of the responsibility of the individual.

            https://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-4/margaret-thatcher-theres-no-such-thing-as-society

            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.

        • Incognito 10.1.2.2
          20 July 2021 at 12:52 pm

          Is the only way to 'depoliticise' our public health response and isolate the far right conspiracy theorists spreading vaccine hesitancy. [sic]

          The irony of your ignorance is striking and irksome. Your dogmatic absolutism should raise a warning flag for anybody reading your simpleton reckons.

          • Macro 10.1.2.2.1
            20 July 2021 at 1:55 pm

            frown

            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.

            "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Abraham Lincoln

            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.

            Two polls released this week gauging support for receiving the coronavirus vaccine are underscoring the lingering hesitancy many Republicans still harbor toward the shots, fueling concerns over an unstable recovery from the pandemic.

            A poll from Quinnipiac University released Wednesday showed that 45 percent of Republicans “don’t plan” on getting a vaccine. Another surveyfrom Monmouth University showed that 43 percent of Republicans “likely will never" get a shot.

            …

            The surveys indicated that vaccine hesitancy among Republicans was significantly higher than among Democrats and independents.

            The Quinnipiac University poll reported that 29 percent of independents and 7 percent of Democrats said they wouldn’t get a vaccine, while Monmouth University’s poll showed 22 percent of independents and 5 percent of Democrats said the same.

            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.

            • JO 10.1.2.2.1.1
              20 July 2021 at 5:12 pm

              yes

            • Jenny how to get there 10.1.2.2.1.2
              20 July 2021 at 7:46 pm

              yesyes

            • Incognito 10.1.2.2.1.3
              20 July 2021 at 10:13 pm

              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:

              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.

              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?

              Is the only way to 'depoliticise' our public health response and isolate the far right conspiracy theorists spreading vaccine hesitancy.

              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.

              • Jenny how to get there …
                21 July 2021 at 6:02 am

                Incognito

                20 July 2021 at 10:13 pm

                [Jenny] ….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?

                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.

                • Incognito …
                  21 July 2021 at 10:40 pm

                  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.

                  • Jenny how to get there …
                    22 July 2021 at 11:06 am

                    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.

                  • Jenny how to get there …
                    22 July 2021 at 6:16 pm

                    Incognito

                    21 July 2021 at 10:40 pm

                    …..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.

                    Really?

                    Only if you believe the bullship being spread about by the conspiracy theorists and right wing media outlet Fox News.

                    ……earlier this month, anti-vaxxers have exacerbated the situation by ,/b>fueling misinformation to convince people that current, widely available vaccines aren't effective against the Delta variant. (Again, that's not true.) The divide has once again focussed attention on the peddlers of vaccine lies over at Fox News, where a minuscule shift might be taking place: Two big names this week bucked the on-air trend and backed vaccines—sort of. We'll believe it when it sticks.

                    https://link.motherjones.com/view/5eb47206b01fd7378a49027felee5.cg2/0d66030e

                    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.?

              • Jenny how to get there …
                22 July 2021 at 5:47 pm

                "There is no such thing as bad soldiers, only bad generals."
                Napoleon Bonapart.

                Incognito

                20 July 2021 at 10:13 pm

                to 'depoliticise' our public health response and isolate the far right conspiracy theorists spreading vaccine hesitancy.

                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.

                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).

                • Incognito …
                  22 July 2021 at 6:11 pm

                  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:

                  We find that—even when controlling for important individual-level factors—ideological extremism on both ends of the spectrum explains skepticism of vaccination.

                  And

                  One strategy for increasing vaccination willingness is to politicize the issue of vaccination itself.

                  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?

                  • Jenny how to get there …
                    22 July 2021 at 6:39 pm

                    ‘

                    “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.

                    Nazi Hippies: When the New Age and Far Right Overlap

                    Both the New Age and the far right are drawn to conspiracy theories

                    Jules Evans Sep 4, 2020

                    Last week’s rallies in London, Berlin, and Los Angeles against lockdown measures attracted both New Agers and far-right groups….

                    ….Some people are astounded that New Age hippies could have any overlap with extremist conspiracy politics. But it happens. This week, I want to look at another period when the New Age overlapped with far-right politics, with disastrous consequences for the world — Germany in the 1920s and ’30s.

                    https://gen.medium.com/nazi-hippies-when-the-new-age-and-far-right-overlap-d1a6ddcd7be4

  11. Jenny how to get there 11
    20 July 2021 at 9:56 am

    Bad leadership has consequences

    The Pandemic Is Roaring Back Where Vaccination Rates Are Low

    Soaring infections in Arkansas show the dangers of skipping the shot.

    Noah Lanard, July 18, 2021 [two days ago]

    The variant has highlighted a new divide in America, between communities with high vaccination rates, where it causes hardly a ripple, and those like [Mountain Home, Arkansas] that are undervaccinated, where it threatens to upend life all over again. Part of the country is breathing a sigh of relief; part is holding its breath.

    While infections rose in more than half the nation’s counties last week, those with low vaccination rates were far more likely to see bigger jumps. Among the 25 counties with the sharpest increases in cases, all but one had vaccinated under 40 percent of residents, and 16 had vaccinated under 30 percent, a New York Times analysis found.

    https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/07/coronavirus-pandemic-arkansas-delta/?utm_source=mj-newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-newsletter-07-19-2021

    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.

  12. SPC 12
    20 July 2021 at 12:53 pm

    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?

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  • September-23 AT Board Meeting
    Today the AT board meet again and once again I’ve taken a look at what’s on the agenda to find the most interesting items. Closed Agenda Interestingly when I first looked at the agendas this paper was there but at the time of writing this post it had been ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    4 days ago

  • Electorate Watch: West Coast-Tasman
    Continuing my series on interesting electorates, today it’s West Coast-Tasman.A long thin electorate running down the northern half of the west coast of the South Island. Think sand flies, beautiful landscapes, lots of rain, Pike River, alternative lifestylers, whitebaiting, and the spiritual home of the Labour Party. A brief word ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • Big money brings Winston back
    National leader Christopher Luxon yesterday morning conceded it and last night’s Newshub poll confirmed it; Winston Peters and NZ First are not only back but highly likely to be part of the next government. It is a remarkable comeback for a party that was tossed out of Parliament in ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago

  • 20 days until Election Day, 7 until early voting begins… but what changes will we really see here?
    As this blogger, alongside many others, has already posited in another forum: we all know the National Party’s “budget” (meaning this concept of even adding up numbers properly is doing a lot of heavy, heavy lifting right now) is utter and complete bunk (read hung, drawn and quartered and ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    5 days ago

  • A night out
    Everyone was asking, Are you nervous? and my response was various forms of God, yes.I've written more speeches than I can count; not much surprises me when the speaker gets to their feet and the room goes quiet.But a play? Never.YOU CAME! THANK YOU! Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • A pallid shade of Green III
    Clearly Labour's focus groups are telling it that it needs to pay more attention to climate change - because hot on the heels of their weaksauce energy efficiency pilot programme and not-great-but-better-than-nothing solar grants, they've released a full climate manifesto. Unfortunately, the core policies in it - a second Emissions ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • A coalition of racism, cruelty, and chaos
    Today's big political news is that after months of wibbling, National's Chris Luxon has finally confirmed that he is willing to work with Winston Peters to become Prime Minister. Which is expected, but I guess it tells us something about which way the polls are going. Which raises the question: ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • More migrant workers should help generate the tax income needed to provide benefits for job seekers
    Buzz from the Beehive Under something described as a “rebalance” of its immigration rules, the Government has adopted four of five recommendations made in an independent review released in July, The fifth, which called on the government to specify criteria for out-of-hours compliance visits similar to those used during ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • Letter To Luxon.
    Some of you might know Gerard Otto (G), and his G News platform. This morning he wrote a letter to Christopher Luxon which I particularly enjoyed, and with his agreement I’m sharing it with you in this guest newsletter.If you’d like to make a contribution to support Gerard’s work you ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: Alarming trend in benefit numbers
    Lindsay Mitchell writes –  While there will not be another quarterly release of benefit numbers prior to the election, limited weekly reporting continues and is showing an alarming trend. Because there is a seasonal component to benefit number fluctuations it is crucial to compare like with like. In ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • BRIAN EASTON: Has there been external structural change?
    A close analysis of the Treasury assessment of the Medium Term in its PREFU 2023 suggests the economy may be entering a new phase.   Brian Easton writes –  Last week I explained that the forecasts in the just published Treasury Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU 2023) was ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • CRL Progress – Sep-23
    It’s been a while since we looked at the latest with the City Rail Link and there’s been some fantastic milestones recently. To start with, and most recently, CRL have released an awesome video showing a full fly-through of one of the tunnels. Come fly with us! You asked for ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    5 days ago

  • Monday’s Chorus: Not building nearly enough
    We are heading into another period of fast population growth without matching increased home building or infrastructure investment.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Labour and National detailed their house building and migration approaches over the weekend, with both pledging fast population growth policies without enough house building or infrastructure investment ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • Game on; Hipkins comes out punching
    Labour leader Chris Hipkins yesterday took the gloves off and laid into National and its leader Christopher Luxon. For many in Labour – and particularly for some at the top of the caucus and the party — it would not have been a moment too soon. POLITIK is aware ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • Tax Cut Austerity Blues.
    The leaders have had their go, they’ve told us the “what?” and the “why?” of their promises. Now it’s the turn of the would be Finance Ministers to tell us the “how?”, the “how much?”, and the “when?”A chance for those competing for the second most powerful job in the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • MIKE GRIMSHAW:  It’s the economy – and the spirit – Stupid…
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Over the past 30-odd years it’s become almost an orthodoxy to blame or invoke neoliberalism for the failures of New Zealand society. On the left the usual response goes something like, neoliberalism is the cause of everything that’s gone wrong and the answer ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #38
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Sep 17, 2023 thru Sat, Sep 23, 2023. Story of the Week  Opinion: Let’s free ourselves from the story of economic growth A relentless focus on economic growth has ushered in ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • The End Of The World.
    Have you been looking out of your window for signs of the apocalypse? Don’t worry, you haven’t been door knocked by a representative of the Brian Tamaki party. They’re probably a bit busy this morning spruiking salvation, or getting ready to march on our parliament, which is closed. No, I’ve ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • Climate Town: The Brainwashing Of America's Children
    Climate Town is the YouTube channel of Rollie Williams and a ragtag team of climate communicators, creatives and comedians. They examine climate change in a way that doesn’t make you want to eat a cyanide pill. Get informed about the climate crisis before the weather does it for you. The latest ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Has There Been External Structural Change?
    A close analysis of the Treasury assessment of the Medium Term in its PREFU 2023 suggests the economy may be entering a new phase. Last week I explained that the forecasts in the just published Treasury Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU 2023) was similar to the May Budget BEFU, ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago

  • Another Labour bully
    Back in June, we learned that Kiri Allan was a Parliamentary bully. And now there's another one: Labour MP Shanan Halbert: The Labour Party was alerted to concerns about [Halbert's] alleged behaviour a year ago but because staffers wanted to remain anonymous, no formal process was undertaken [...] The ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Climate Change: Ignoring our biggest problem
    Its that time in the election season where the status quo parties are busy accusing each other of having fiscal holes in a desperate effort to appear more "responsible" (but not, you understand, by promising to tax wealth or land to give the government the revenue it needs to do ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • New community-level energy projects to support more than 800 Māori households
    Seven more innovative community-scale energy projects will receive government funding through the Māori and Public Housing Renewable Energy Fund to bring more affordable, locally generated clean energy to more than 800 Māori households, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. “We’ve already funded 42 small-scale clean energy projects that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Huge boost to Te Tai Tokerau flood resilience
    The Government has approved new funding that will boost resilience and greatly reduce the risk of major flood damage across Te Tai Tokerau. Significant weather events this year caused severe flooding and damage across the region. The $8.9m will be used to provide some of the smaller communities and maraes ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Napier’s largest public housing development comes with solar
    The largest public housing development in Napier for many years has been recently completed and has the added benefit of innovative solar technology, thanks to Government programmes, says Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods. The 24 warm, dry homes are in Seddon Crescent, Marewa and Megan Woods says the whanau living ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Te Whānau a Apanui and the Crown initial Deed of Settlement I Kua waitohua e Te Whānau a Apanui me...
    Māori: Kua waitohua e Te Whānau a Apanui me te Karauna te Whakaaetanga Whakataunga Kua waitohua e Te Whānau a Apanui me te Karauna i tētahi Whakaaetanga Whakataunga hei whakamihi i ō rātou tāhuhu kerēme Tiriti o Waitangi. E tekau mā rua ngā hapū o roto mai o Te Whānau ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Plan for 3,000 more public homes by 2025 – regions set to benefit
    Regions around the country will get significant boosts of public housing in the next two years, as outlined in the latest public housing plan update, released by the Housing Minister, Dr Megan Woods. “We’re delivering the most public homes each year since the Nash government of the 1950s with one ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • Immigration settings updates
    Judicial warrant process for out-of-hours compliance visits 2023/24 Recognised Seasonal Employer cap increased by 500 Additional roles for Construction and Infrastructure Sector Agreement More roles added to Green List Three-month extension for onshore Recovery Visa holders The Government has confirmed a number of updates to immigration settings as part of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Poroporoaki: Tā Patrick (Patu) Wahanga Hohepa
    Tangi ngunguru ana ngā tai ki te wahapū o Hokianga Whakapau Karakia. Tārehu ana ngā pae maunga ki Te Puna o te Ao Marama. Korihi tangi ana ngā manu, kua hinga he kauri nui ki te Wao Nui o Tāne. He Toa. He Pou. He Ahorangi. E papaki tū ana ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Renewable energy fund to support community resilience
    40 solar energy systems on community buildings in regions affected by Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events Virtual capability-building hub to support community organisations get projects off the ground Boost for community-level renewable energy projects across the country At least 40 community buildings used to support the emergency response ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • COVID-19 funding returned to Government
    The lifting of COVID-19 isolation and mask mandates in August has resulted in a return of almost $50m in savings and recovered contingencies, Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Following the revocation of mandates and isolation, specialised COVID-19 telehealth and alternative isolation accommodation are among the operational elements ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Appointment of District Court Judge
    Susie Houghton of Auckland has been appointed as a new District Court Judge, to serve on the Family Court, Attorney-General David Parker said today.  Judge Houghton has acted as a lawyer for child for more than 20 years. She has acted on matters relating to the Hague Convention, an international ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Government invests further in Central Hawke’s Bay resilience
    The Government has today confirmed $2.5 million to fund a replace and upgrade a stopbank to protect the Waipawa Drinking Water Treatment Plant. “As a result of Cyclone Gabrielle, the original stopbank protecting the Waipawa Drinking Water Treatment Plant was destroyed. The plant was operational within 6 weeks of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Govt boost for Hawke’s Bay cyclone waste clean-up
    Another $2.1 million to boost capacity to deal with waste left in Cyclone Gabrielle’s wake. Funds for Hastings District Council, Phoenix Contracting and Hog Fuel NZ to increase local waste-processing infrastructure. The Government is beefing up Hawke’s Bay’s Cyclone Gabrielle clean-up capacity with more support dealing with the massive amount ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Taupō Supercars revs up with Government support
    The future of Supercars events in New Zealand has been secured with new Government support. The Government is getting engines started through the Major Events Fund, a special fund to support high profile events in New Zealand that provide long-term economic, social and cultural benefits. “The Repco Supercars Championship is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • There is no recession in NZ, economy grows nearly 1 percent in June quarter
    The economy has turned a corner with confirmation today New Zealand never was in recession and stronger than expected growth in the June quarter, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. “The New Zealand economy is doing better than expected,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s continuing to grow, with the latest figures showing ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Highest legal protection for New Zealand’s largest freshwater springs
    The Government has accepted the Environment Court’s recommendation to give special legal protection to New Zealand’s largest freshwater springs, Te Waikoropupū Springs (also known as Pupū Springs), Environment Minister David Parker announced today.   “Te Waikoropupū Springs, near Takaka in Golden Bay, have the second clearest water in New Zealand after ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • More support for victims of migrant exploitation
    Temporary package of funding for accommodation and essential living support for victims of migrant exploitation Exploited migrant workers able to apply for a further Migrant Exploitation Protection Visa (MEPV), giving people more time to find a job Free job search assistance to get people back into work Use of 90-day ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Strong export boost as NZ economy turns corner
    An export boost is supporting New Zealand’s economy to grow, adding to signs that the economy has turned a corner and is on a stronger footing as we rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle and lock in the benefits of multiple new trade deals, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. “The economy is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Funding approved for flood resilience work in Te Karaka
    The Government has approved $15 million to raise about 200 homes at risk of future flooding. More than half of this is expected to be spent in the Tairāwhiti settlement of Te Karaka, lifting about 100 homes there. “Te Karaka was badly hit during Cyclone Gabrielle when the Waipāoa River ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Further business support for cyclone-affected regions
    The Government is helping businesses recover from Cyclone Gabrielle and attract more people back into their regions. “Cyclone Gabrielle has caused considerable damage across North Island regions with impacts continuing to be felt by businesses and communities,” Economic Development Minister Barbara Edmonds said. “Building on our earlier business support, this ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • New maintenance facility at Burnham Military Camp underway
    Defence Minister Andrew Little has turned the first sod to start construction of a new Maintenance Support Facility (MSF) at Burnham Military Camp today. “This new state-of-art facility replaces Second World War-era buildings and will enable our Defence Force to better maintain and repair equipment,” Andrew Little said. “This Government ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Foreign Minister to attend United Nations General Assembly
    Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta will represent New Zealand at the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this week, before visiting Washington DC for further Pacific focussed meetings. Nanaia Mahuta will be in New York from Wednesday 20 September, and will participate in UNGA leaders ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Midwives’ pay equity offer reached
    Around 1,700 Te Whatu Ora employed midwives and maternity care assistants will soon vote on a proposed pay equity settlement agreed by Te Whatu Ora, the Midwifery Employee Representation and Advisory Service (MERAS) and New Zealand Nurses Association (NZNO), Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. “Addressing historical pay ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • New Zealand provides support to Morocco
    Aotearoa New Zealand will provide humanitarian support to those affected by last week’s earthquake in Morocco, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “We are making a contribution of $1 million to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to help meet humanitarian needs,” Nanaia Mahuta said. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Government invests in West Coast’s roading resilience
    The Government is investing over $22 million across 18 projects to improve the resilience of roads in the West Coast that have been affected by recent extreme weather, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today.  A dedicated Transport Resilience Fund has been established for early preventative works to protect the state ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Government invests in Greymouth’s future
    The Government has today confirmed a $2 million grant towards the regeneration of Greymouth’s CBD with construction of a new two-level commercial and public facility. “It will include a visitor facility centred around a new library. Additionally, it will include retail outlets on the ground floor, and both outdoor and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Nanaia Mahuta to attend PIF Foreign Ministers’ Meeting
    Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta will attend the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, in Suva, Fiji alongside New Zealand’s regional counterparts. “Aotearoa New Zealand is deeply committed to working with our pacific whanau to strengthen our cooperation, and share ways to combat the challenges facing the Blue Pacific Continent,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • PREFU shows no recession, growing economy, more jobs and wages ahead of inflation
    Economy to grow 2.6 percent on average over forecast period Treasury not forecasting a recession Inflation to return to the 1-3 percent target band next year Wages set to grow 4.8 percent a year over forecast period Unemployment to peak below the long-term average Fiscal Rules met - Net debt ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

  • New cancer centre opens in Christchurch
    Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall proudly opened the Canterbury Cancer Centre in Christchurch today. The new facility is the first of its kind and was built with $6.5 million of funding from the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group scheme for shovel-ready projects allocated in 2020. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

  • Government invests in top of the south’s roading resilience
    $12 million to improve the resilience of roads in the Nelson, Marlborough and Tasman regions Hope Bypass earmarked in draft Government Policy Statement on land transport $127 million invested in the top of the south’s roads since flooding in 2021 and 2022 The Government is investing over $12 million to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

  • New Zealanders continue to support the revitalisation of te reo as we celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Mā...
    Ko tēnei te wiki e whakanui ana i tō tātou reo rangatira. Ko te wā tuku reo Māori, e whakanuia tahitia ai te reo ahakoa kei hea ake tēnā me tēnā o tātou, ka tū ā te Rātū te 14 o Mahuru, ā te 12 o ngā hāora i te ahiahi. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

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