They were of no use long ago because of their inaccuracy. When the number of cases of covid in the community was tiny, a positive covid results was nearly 100% likely to be wrong. It was just sending well people home to isolate. There only use was in high risk areas such as at the border.
They are of more use now that PCR testing is getting overwhelmed in Auckland and the rates in the community are much higher. I know of someone who got a negative RAT and a positive PCR.
Yup. RATs have some limited value once things have gone pear-shaped. They'll maybe stop some symptomless Covid-positive people from wandering around and unwittingly infecting other people. That might slow the velocity of an outbreak somewhat – maybe. But it's only mitigation – RATS have no place in the important work of trying to stop things going pear-shaped to begin with.
No difference. Two wrongs don't make a right. The people of the Ukraine have an absolute right to self-determination and their cultural identity, AKA freedom.
This is what freedom actually means rather than being annoyed at having to wear a mask in a pandemic, and tens of thousands of people just like you and me are preparing to kill and be killed for it as we speak.
"The people of the Ukraine have an absolute right to self-determination"
sounds fine, but has never ever ever been put into practice.. that sentence is total nonsense
even in our own common law there are countless duties one owes to one's neighbours… nobody has the right to do whatever they wish, particularly when that involves putting said neighbour at risk
ffs this is so basic it shouldn't even need to be said
I will use some made up numbers for ease of clarity and simplicity, to clarify the misunderstanding
Covid data for Mars for the past week
Unvaccinated
Population 1,000,000
Cases 10,000
Rate per 100k 1,000
Two doses
Population 1,500,000
Cases 38,000
Rate per 100k 2,533
In this example the vaccinated are catching covid at 2.5 time the rate as the unvaccinated, ( or more than twice as likely to catch covid.. )
The Scottish data ( this is an overview, exact numbers unimportant ) from October consistently showed the double vaxxed and boosted were far better off than the unvaccinated in all categories, but as the Omicron wave hit, and vaccine effectiveness fell, there was a change in the relative rates, and by early January, the bias showed the other way, with higher rates for the double vaxed over unvaxed for cases, hospital admission and death, but the boosted still had better rates.
They were concerned that people would mis-interpret that data as showing the vaccine was worse than ineffective.
They suggested part of the problem was ‘it has its limitations when people leave Scotland and do not inform ‘
So lets run Mars again, but with a corrected population to match the 'error' because some people left without letting the govt know.
Unvaccinated
Population 400,000
Cases 10,000
Rate per 100k 2,5000
Two doses
Population 1,500,000
Cases 38,000
Rate per 100k 2,533
So to make the vaccine look like it is not negative, 600,000 unvaccinated would have to leave without telling the govt.
The first set of numbers for Mars are actually pretty close to Scottish numbers from dec 25 to 31
It is interesting that I saw no mention of what I would be the most significant confounder that makes the vaccine look bad. Unvaccinated not bothering to get tested !
Failure to test is very defiantly happening here ( I know, because unvaxed friends said they would not bother as there was no benefit to getting tested. )
The Scottish data is a mess…. and If they publish such a mess and people get the wrong idea, whose fault is it? And when it changes from looking good to looking bad and they stop publishing it, they are going to look like they are trying to hide something.
Beautiful practical example of how to get people to distrust you.
They ( and people here ) want me to just trust them because they are the experts.
First cautionary tale, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study by the US public health service. They lied to a group of people with syphilis that they would treat them for free as if they joined the study.
But the 'experts' instead gave them placebos and watched 128 die.
I saw no reference in the wiki page to any experts going to jail…..
Then there is Pfizer, which has paid billions in fines for violating laws, but none of the people ever go to jail, they get to keep their bonuses.
I could have more trust if the people involved were rotting in jail…
A rather important number….Look down near the bottom for this section where they looked all cause death data,
Over large numbers this is a useful tool, and in the past has found problems that would not be observed in other ways.
However they observed half the expected number of deaths.
This is a screaming alarm that they have some serious issues with either their data, assumptions or processing.
This sort of discrepancy should have sent them back to the drawing board to see what was going on, and they have had plenty of time, sitting at home on full pay while remote working….
How much confidence can you have in their data analysis….
You have to link to the thing you are quoting directly. eg if it's to a comment in TS, then click on the date/time stamp of that comment, copy and paste the URL to your comment below the quote.
You said,
Google search for “vaccine will preventing covid”
Google comment displayed above any results
Think about how this works for other, especially moderators. One, google delivers results based on the individual searcher's history. So we're all going to get different results.
Two, you're asking us to do work when the onus is on you to make your argument and support it.
You could have done the google search yourself and then linked to that search. But it's still pretty vague, because it then assumes we are going to look at the search and parse what you meant.
Instead, make your point in your own words, briefly quote to support that, and provide a direct link to that quote.
Put the link in the clear, not embedded in text. That way it's very easy to see what the link it is to. This is especially important for people reading on a phone.
eg
“A deliberate misinterpretation! Of course there are going to be more vaxxed people catching Covid than unvaxxed people you twat. Take New Zealand for example. 95% of the population are double vaxxed and only 5% unvaxxed. Get the picture?
“A deliberate misinterpretation! Of course there are going to be more vaxxed people catching Covid than unvaxxed people you twat. Take New Zealand for example. 95% of the population are double vaxxed and only 5% unvaxxed. Get the picture?
People make less mistakes with linking this way too.
Seeing as you know how to use tags, can you please use the quote tags instead of "". Again, this will make it much easier to read and understand what you are trying to say. This is in addition to what Incog has just said, the more you can make your comments comprehensible, the better the debate will be.
I’d also ask kindly that you’re more succinct. Your comments tend to be overly long with an awful lot of stuff to unpack and poorly structured, which makes it hard to parse your actual comment. To me, if feels like somebody is trying to gaslight me. Sadly, you’re not the only one doing this here …
“So much data from government sources is inconsistent, or poorly organized or presented.
Just look at the Scotland data (which they have stopped publishing) which seemed to show that double vaxxed were more than twice as likely to catch covid as the unvaxed and also more likely to be hospitalized than the unvaxed “
“A deliberate misinterpretation! Of course there are going to be more vaxxed people catching Covid than unvaxxed people you twat. Take New Zealand for example. 95% of the population are double vaxxed and only 5% unvaxxed. Get the picture?
The vaccine has never been sold as being able to prevent people catching Covid.
But you are going to get a mild version of the disease with no long term consequences.
A factor you choose to ignore.
From what I understand world-wide… the most serious cases resulting in death are almost always among the unvaxxed so… if you choose to take that risk then be it on yourself if you end up in hospital gravely ill
. I'm not sure you are worthy of this response but it just might ring a bell.”
I will use some made up numbers for ease of clarity and simplicity, to clarify the misunderstanding, using the same base format as the Scottish data
Covid data for Mars for the past week. Total population 2,500,000
Unvaccinated
Population 1,000,000
Cases 10,000
Rate per 100k 1,000
Two doses
Population 1,500,000
Cases 38,000
Rate per 100k 2,533
In this example the vaccinated are catching covid at 2.5 time the rate as the unvaccinated, ( or more than twice as likely to catch covid.. )
The Scottish data ( this is an overview, exact numbers unimportant ) from October and before consistently showed the double vaxxed and boosted were far better off than the unvaccinated in all categories.
But as the Omicron wave hit, and vaccine effectiveness fell, there was a change in the relative rates, and by early January, the bias showed the other way, with higher rates for the double vaxed over unvaxed for cases, hospital admission and death, but the boosted still had better rates.
They were concerned that people would mis-interpret that data as showing the vaccine was worse than ineffective.
They suggested part of the problem was ‘it has its limitations when people leave Scotland and do not inform ‘
So lets run Mars again, but with a corrected population to match the 'error' because some people left without letting the govt know.
Unvaccinated
Population 400,000
Cases 10,000
Rate per 100k 2,5000
Two doses
Population 1,500,000
Cases 38,000
Rate per 100k 2,533
So to make the vaccine look like it is not negative, 600,000 unvaccinated would have to leave without telling the govt.
The first set of numbers for Mars are actually pretty close to Scottish numbers from dec 25 to 31
It is interesting that I saw no mention of what I think would be the most significant confounder that makes the vaccine look bad. Unvaccinated not bothering to get tested !
Failure to test is very defiantly happening here ( I know, because unvaxed friends said they would not bother as there was no benefit to getting tested. )
The Scottish data is a mess…. and If they publish such a mess and people get the wrong idea, whose fault is it? And when it changes from looking good to looking bad and they stop publishing it, they are going to look like they are trying to hide something.
Beautiful practical example of how to get people to distrust you.
They ( and people here ) want me to just trust them because they are the experts.
First a cautionary tale, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study by the US public health service. They lied to a group of people with syphilis that they would treat them for free as if they joined the study.
But the 'experts' instead gave them placebos and watched 128 die.
I saw no reference in the wiki page to any experts going to jail…..
Then there is Pfizer, which has paid billions in fines for violating laws, but none of the people ever go to jail, they get to keep their bonuses.
I could have more trust if the people involved were rotting in jail…
A rather important number….Look down near the bottom for this section where they looked all cause death data.
Over large numbers this is a useful tool, and in the past has found problems that would not be observed in other ways.
However they observed half the expected number of deaths.
This is a screaming alarm that they have some serious issues with either their data, assumptions or processing.
This sort of discrepancy should have sent them back to the drawing board to see what was going on, and they have had plenty of time, sitting at home on full pay while remote working….
How much confidence can you have in their data analysis….
". Data in this table should not be used as a measure of vaccine effectiveness due to unaccounted for biases and risk factors in different populations. For more information, please see the….."
The devil is in the detail – comparing those vaccinated first because of their far higher risk due to their co-morbidities with those yet to be vaccinated due to their complete lack of co-morbidities is an exercise in foolishness IMO.
And on the trust side of things, when the vaccines first came out the covid strain of the day (not a bowel movement) was delta, against which several vaccines do massively reduce the infection rate.
Not sure it's a "trust" issue that covid mutates into new strains.
There is the usual fine print below the table, but then in normal size text is
"Age-standardised mortality rates for COVID-19 deaths shown in Table 3 are significantly lower for people who have received a booster or third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine compared to individuals that are unvaccinated or have received one or two dose of a COVID-19 vaccine."
As it was just below table 13, and table 3 is about contact tracing, and table 13 is about deaths, I think it is fair to assume they just missed a "1"
When the numbers look favorable, all is good, and you promote them, but when they turn against you, ….oops….you look like an idiot
This 60-70km long "column" of Russian vehicles north west of Kyiv appears to be more of a road bound parking lot than an actual advance, given that its been there for two-three days and hasn't even managed to cover the 100km from the Russian border to Kiev.
However, this column represents the sort of target artillerists and attack pilots dream about. The fact that the Ukrainian have not be able to dent let alone massacre this Russian traffic jam indicates they've lost the power to conduct even limited offensive action/manoeuvre warfare and the defenders are now in a totally passive mode, awaiting the Russians in Kyiv and Kharkiv (the scene of four major battles in WW2 that left the city in ruins, the fifth battle of Kharkiv in eight decades is now underway) in what I think will be the most violent and prolonged urban street battle since Berlin in 1945 – bigger than Tet and the battle of Huế (a battle that lasted two months).
The final act of this war is going to be a savage and bloody street battle where the citizens of Kyiv are going to be subject to the indiscriminate barbarism of Russian military brutality we’ve seen previously inflicted on the citizens of Aleppo and the Chetchens.
A very long line of sitting ducks. If the Ukrainian nazis really had their act together they would have hangars full of these antiques designed to pound such targets:
Russians have air superiority. This is why there has been a call for a no fly zone, as if that could be enforced without ending up with NATO Aircraft and Russian aircraft in direct conflict.
There has been evidence of drone strikes on this convoy and other Russian armour. However the number of drones and bombs the Ukranian nation have pales in comparison to the number of Russian military vehicles.
In this situation those who have taken up arms to defend against this invasion are best suited using their advantages. Small mobile units harry the convoy whilst obsticles are set up in the streets of cities. Other defenders identify choke points where they can engage restricted targets and be able to quickly relocated after fast attacks. Every street becomes a bloody battle.
This is what Putin has bought about by deciding to invade and remove a democratically elected Jew who you want to call a Nazi.
a democratically elected Jew who you want to call a Nazi
Was interesting until you made this mistake. The only Ukrainians I want to call nazis are the ones who actually present themselves to the world as such. In case you weren't reading comments here the other day the primary group seems to be the Azov regiment.
Possibly the Russian convoy is a decoy. Putin has enough rockets that he can fire them into Kyiv without entering Kyiv. As well the convoy can send missiles from the trucks. Putin will probably only send in ground troops when Kyiv is bombed heavily.
All that may be true Sanctuary but there may be other reasons like a lack of fuel at the front of the queue and the fact that the ground is not frozen as the Russians may have expected and the farmland is too boggy, certainly for fuel trucks, so the roads are the only option. Also the Ukrainians have demolished most of the bridges on the approach to Kviv. Also to keep in mind the early troops that were repulsed were the elite Special Forces units, if they have had their arse kicked there may well be reluctance amongst the leadership to take big risks.
An excellent opportunity for the Ukrainian oligarchs: send in a bunch of mobile fast-food outlets to cruise up & down the line providing better options for soldiers fed up with military hard-tack, employ locals to staff the operation, win/win all round…
If anyone wants to see an outstanding piece of rhetoric, and get a standing ovation from the most cynical of audiences, take 8 minutes out of your day to check out Zelinsky addressing the EU Parliament yesterday. It will put a wistful note of light in an otherwise dark day.
Putin will take Kyiv due to Russia having 100 million more population, so a superior army. Other countries are reluctant to send troops as this just prolongs a war so Zelensky will be forced out.
Once Putin has Ukrainia will this be enough for him?
interesting clip about Lia Thomas, who was born William Thomas and ranked 462 amongst male swimmers in the male category. Now as Lia Thomas swimming in the female category is coming first and breaking all sorts of records in the female category. But hey well trans women are real women.
tbh I didn’t watch the interview, the opening statement, was 462, now 1st was enough for me."……….
. No one could believe the insanity. I talked with families far and wide who were curious about what was happening in the Ivy League. My call the lawyer that I knew at the ACLU to ask how the law women's rights in Title Nine might be handled in a case like this. I was trying to be respectful in my language, using trans women and biological women to differentiate and trying to use requested pronouns. I made clear that I didn't want to offend but pleaded that it seemed there was an obvious conflict here for women who already have so much less opportunity in sports, to now have to give spaces away to individuals who identify as women. I was met with the single most stunning response I've ever received on any issue. I was told that the words biological and genetic have no business being in a discussion around sex and gender. I was told trans women are women. They are female. They're girls, no language that minimizes that point should be tolerated. I was told that was an offensive question. My language was out of date. I was told that sex and gender are equally important and that the ACLU is actively removing sex from legal documentations and legal language. I tried to gently prod at the preposterous arguments I was hearing and I was met with an absolute brick wall when she concluded with let me tell you with certainty, the ACLU will never represent cis women against women.
But not to worry, the schools were ready and prepared to address any confusion their athletes might have. mandatory meetings were called with scripts read off by coaches from the athletic department or in some cases handed out the girls already caught off guard and intimidated but upset. We're now silenced. They were manipulated, coerced and emotionally blackmailed. They were told their leagues and their schools had spoken and made their positions clear. They his athletes had made the decisions to be a part of these schools and this league and they needed to support it. They were told if they had opinions, or were asked to speak, they had to clear it through their coaches and their athletic department leaders. This was also of course for their own protection has no one wants their team slung through the mud. Finally, they were told their first priority needed to be the safety and protection of their of their trans classmates who are being thrust into the media. Any harm or damage that befell their classmates due to expressing opinions that might not support them would be their responsibility. Work done Message received. Now there was little to no chance they would speak out. I know girls from Harvard, Penn, Dale and Dartmouth, that all received various versions of this same message. After these meetings, I spoke to my daughter the influence was clear.
But it came up again before IV Championships where the girls usually share a space for all the teams. I asked my daughter what she would do with Leah was changing in there. And she said resignedly. I'm not sure I'd have a choice. I still can't believe I had to tell my adult age daughter. You always have a choice about whether you undress in front of a man. What messages have these girls been receiving this year? How many of the other girls were feeling this my heart was ripped apart. Damage far greater than the sports arena was now apparent to me.
Those of you so certain of the non-evidential inclusion of transwomen in women's sports, should be able to withstand listening/reading this and coming up with justification for this situation.
I await your comments below, but anticipate your continued silence.
I saw a response somewhere that the girls may have to make a hard choice, but if enough do it now they could save girls sports.
If all the girls decided that at the start whistle, they all just sat down instead of racing, and face being kicked of the teams, they would send a message.
Why bother trying when you have no chance.
Embarrass enough people with trans only races like that and you might get girls sports to survive.
That is very amusing, but not for the other female swimmers. Jonah Lomu should have converted and played female rugby. Imagine that. He was already hard to stop,
Very very unfunny for the female swimmers, especially when Lia goes into their change room.
and this mother trying to stand up for her daughter and being silenced. It’s an outrage.
There has been a lot of talk about crazy views of the protesters at parliament, but tbh, I don’t see a lot of difference between some of their unscientific views and the idea that Lia is really a woman cause she feels like one and so therefore can compete with the women
Í can simply not get my head around how a person who is/was male, can compete in the same league as women. "Amusing" was the wrong word, I actually think it is crazy and unfair. Like I said above what if Jonah Lomu had played against women? What if Novak Djokovick played in the womens comp? We know what the result would be. IMO Laurel Hubbard should not have been in the womens weightlifting. Perhaps there needs to be a mens, womens and a third category.
Perhaps there needs to be a mens, womens and a third category.
There is no need for the expense of a third category, when categories based on fairness and safety already exist. No one is prevented from participation or competition.
This along with the disabled man who is to be deported to India after 22 years living in NZ reflect really poorly on this government and the lack of value they place upon disabled people. Far to often we have heard similar stories.
I am favor of having a high bar for giving people the gift of NZ citizenship but in this case the child is a NZ citizen so her disability status should have no impact on the decision about the status of the rest of the family.
I am aware that the rules around citizenship by birth in the country were changed quite a while back I don't remember the details but I imagine the poor young girl is not a citizen.
Maybe we'll see some courage somewhere in government to change the settings, not just make exceptions every now and then. The settings go back to at least 2005, must be time for another review.
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Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
The pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
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Luxon on TV1 Breakfast this morning earnestly confirming that he doesn’t know anything.
Saw him briefly – I thought he was looking strained – as if the job is already taking a toll.
Did he know that he use to run an Airline though?
During the good times could be a struggle for him in today's environment, safer where he is now, easy money being a politican.
Sounds like he did as badly as Hipkins did on One Zb this morning. Luckily they only have about two listeners so I've been told.
We can finally buy RAT tests. We should have been able to do this long ago.
Price war beckons as The Warehouse starts selling rapid antigen tests | Stuff.co.nz
They were of no use long ago because of their inaccuracy. When the number of cases of covid in the community was tiny, a positive covid results was nearly 100% likely to be wrong. It was just sending well people home to isolate. There only use was in high risk areas such as at the border.
They are of more use now that PCR testing is getting overwhelmed in Auckland and the rates in the community are much higher. I know of someone who got a negative RAT and a positive PCR.
Yup. RATs have some limited value once things have gone pear-shaped. They'll maybe stop some symptomless Covid-positive people from wandering around and unwittingly infecting other people. That might slow the velocity of an outbreak somewhat – maybe. But it's only mitigation – RATS have no place in the important work of trying to stop things going pear-shaped to begin with.
Thought I'd group source a query. There appears to be one or two Standardistas who have a bit of beauracratic health knowledge.
I understand that hospitals are accredited. This accreditation is dependent on different things and one of them is staffing.
Is this so?
The staffing of different departments needs to be at a 'safe' level eg numbers, skill mix etc.
Then if things get really dire, a commissioner can be appointed.
Am I on the right track
Cheers in advance, I am away from the net for most of the day.
This?
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/regulation-health-and-disability-system/certification-health-care-services
how is
USA invading Iraq
different from
Russia invading Ukraine
?
No difference. Two wrongs don't make a right. The people of the Ukraine have an absolute right to self-determination and their cultural identity, AKA freedom.
This is what freedom actually means rather than being annoyed at having to wear a mask in a pandemic, and tens of thousands of people just like you and me are preparing to kill and be killed for it as we speak.
I notice one big difference….the U.S was not subjected to worldwide sanctions and opprobrium.
"The people of the Ukraine have an absolute right to self-determination"
sounds fine, but has never ever ever been put into practice.. that sentence is total nonsense
even in our own common law there are countless duties one owes to one's neighbours… nobody has the right to do whatever they wish, particularly when that involves putting said neighbour at risk
ffs this is so basic it shouldn't even need to be said
Similarities and differences between the invasions of Iraq and Ukraine are explored here by General Petraeus in a useful interview.
David Petraeus on What Iraq Tells Us About Ukraine – The Atlantic
My post yesterday (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-01-03-2022) stirred up a hornets nest… and most of it seems to have stemmed from missing the point I was trying to make.
The main point of this is about TRUST
After all, I am told to trust the experts
But first to address her statement “The vaccine has never been sold as being able to prevent people catching Covid. “
Google search for “vaccine will preventing covid”
Google comment displayed above any results
[quote without link deleted]
Anne (post 7.4) jumped down my throat, and it looks like the paragraph she was upset about was
[quote without link deleted]
The Scottish data tables showed the rates per 100,000.
(https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/11763/22-02-16-covid19-winter_publication_report.pdf)
I will use some made up numbers for ease of clarity and simplicity, to clarify the misunderstanding
Covid data for Mars for the past week
Unvaccinated
Population 1,000,000
Cases 10,000
Rate per 100k 1,000
Two doses
Population 1,500,000
Cases 38,000
Rate per 100k 2,533
In this example the vaccinated are catching covid at 2.5 time the rate as the unvaccinated, ( or more than twice as likely to catch covid.. )
The Scottish data ( this is an overview, exact numbers unimportant ) from October consistently showed the double vaxxed and boosted were far better off than the unvaccinated in all categories, but as the Omicron wave hit, and vaccine effectiveness fell, there was a change in the relative rates, and by early January, the bias showed the other way, with higher rates for the double vaxed over unvaxed for cases, hospital admission and death, but the boosted still had better rates.
They were concerned that people would mis-interpret that data as showing the vaccine was worse than ineffective.
They suggested part of the problem was ‘it has its limitations when people leave Scotland and do not inform ‘
So lets run Mars again, but with a corrected population to match the 'error' because some people left without letting the govt know.
Unvaccinated
Population 400,000
Cases 10,000
Rate per 100k 2,5000
Two doses
Population 1,500,000
Cases 38,000
Rate per 100k 2,533
So to make the vaccine look like it is not negative, 600,000 unvaccinated would have to leave without telling the govt.
The first set of numbers for Mars are actually pretty close to Scottish numbers from dec 25 to 31
It is interesting that I saw no mention of what I would be the most significant confounder that makes the vaccine look bad. Unvaccinated not bothering to get tested !
Failure to test is very defiantly happening here ( I know, because unvaxed friends said they would not bother as there was no benefit to getting tested. )
The Scottish data is a mess…. and If they publish such a mess and people get the wrong idea, whose fault is it? And when it changes from looking good to looking bad and they stop publishing it, they are going to look like they are trying to hide something.
Beautiful practical example of how to get people to distrust you.
They ( and people here ) want me to just trust them because they are the experts.
First cautionary tale, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study by the US public health service. They lied to a group of people with syphilis that they would treat them for free as if they joined the study.
But the 'experts' instead gave them placebos and watched 128 die.
I saw no reference in the wiki page to any experts going to jail…..
Then there is Pfizer, which has paid billions in fines for violating laws, but none of the people ever go to jail, they get to keep their bonuses.
I could have more trust if the people involved were rotting in jail…
Medsafe (NZ ) did some work to try and quantify how many people are being killed by the vaccine.
A rather important number….Look down near the bottom for this section where they looked all cause death data,
Over large numbers this is a useful tool, and in the past has found problems that would not be observed in other ways.
However they observed half the expected number of deaths.
This is a screaming alarm that they have some serious issues with either their data, assumptions or processing.
This sort of discrepancy should have sent them back to the drawing board to see what was going on, and they have had plenty of time, sitting at home on full pay while remote working….
How much confidence can you have in their data analysis….
In God we trust, everyone else, show me the data…
[quotes without links deleted. Links need to be direct. Please read this .https://thestandard.org.nz/some-notes-on-moderation/. You’re still in premod – weka]
mod note.
Apologies,
I thought that posting the exact search then quoting the google text would be sufficient in context with the way other posters do.
And i thought that posting the link to the open mike page and listing the post number would be enough.
I cant see how to edit, so will repost and embed the links.
cant see how to edit the existing so will repost w
editing comments only lasts ten minutes.
You have to link to the thing you are quoting directly. eg if it's to a comment in TS, then click on the date/time stamp of that comment, copy and paste the URL to your comment below the quote.
You said,
Think about how this works for other, especially moderators. One, google delivers results based on the individual searcher's history. So we're all going to get different results.
Two, you're asking us to do work when the onus is on you to make your argument and support it.
You could have done the google search yourself and then linked to that search. But it's still pretty vague, because it then assumes we are going to look at the search and parse what you meant.
Instead, make your point in your own words, briefly quote to support that, and provide a direct link to that quote.
a few further pointers.
Put the link in the clear, not embedded in text. That way it's very easy to see what the link it is to. This is especially important for people reading on a phone.
eg
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-01-03-2022/#comment-1869695
Rather than,
People make less mistakes with linking this way too.
Seeing as you know how to use tags, can you please use the quote tags instead of "". Again, this will make it much easier to read and understand what you are trying to say. This is in addition to what Incog has just said, the more you can make your comments comprehensible, the better the debate will be.
I was trying to follow the level of linking to substantiate claims that was being praticed by other commenters with respect to general claim etc
I guess i misjudged
No problem, I will work at being very pedantic about the linking.
it's ok, it's just a learning curve.
I’d also ask kindly that you’re more succinct. Your comments tend to be overly long with an awful lot of stuff to unpack and poorly structured, which makes it hard to parse your actual comment. To me, if feels like somebody is trying to gaslight me. Sadly, you’re not the only one doing this here …
My post yesterday () stirred up a hornets nest… and most of it seems to have stemmed from missing the point I was trying to make.
The main point of this is about TRUST
After all, I am told to trust the experts
But first to address her statement “The vaccine has never been sold as being able to prevent people catching Covid. “
Google search for “vaccine will preventing covid”
Google comment displayed above any results “All COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States are effective at preventing COVID-19. Staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccination gives most people a high level of protection against COVID-19. You should get a COVID-19 vaccine, even if you already had COVID-19.
“ Anne (post 7.4) jumped down my throat, and it looks like the paragraph she was upset about was
“So much data from government sources is inconsistent, or poorly organized or presented.
Just look at the Scotland data (which they have stopped publishing) which seemed to show that double vaxxed were more than twice as likely to catch covid as the unvaxed and also more likely to be hospitalized than the unvaxed “
“A deliberate misinterpretation! Of course there are going to be more vaxxed people catching Covid than unvaxxed people you twat. Take New Zealand for example. 95% of the population are double vaxxed and only 5% unvaxxed. Get the picture?
The vaccine has never been sold as being able to prevent people catching Covid.
But you are going to get a mild version of the disease with no long term consequences.
A factor you choose to ignore.
From what I understand world-wide… the most serious cases resulting in death are almost always among the unvaxxed so… if you choose to take that risk then be it on yourself if you end up in hospital gravely ill
. I'm not sure you are worthy of this response but it just might ring a bell.”
My reply
The Scottish data tables showed the rates per 100,000. (https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/11763/22-02-16-covid19-winter_publication_report.pdf)
I will use some made up numbers for ease of clarity and simplicity, to clarify the misunderstanding, using the same base format as the Scottish data
Covid data for Mars for the past week. Total population 2,500,000
Unvaccinated
Population 1,000,000
Cases 10,000
Rate per 100k 1,000
Two doses
Population 1,500,000
Cases 38,000
Rate per 100k 2,533
In this example the vaccinated are catching covid at 2.5 time the rate as the unvaccinated, ( or more than twice as likely to catch covid.. )
The Scottish data ( this is an overview, exact numbers unimportant ) from October and before consistently showed the double vaxxed and boosted were far better off than the unvaccinated in all categories.
But as the Omicron wave hit, and vaccine effectiveness fell, there was a change in the relative rates, and by early January, the bias showed the other way, with higher rates for the double vaxed over unvaxed for cases, hospital admission and death, but the boosted still had better rates.
They were concerned that people would mis-interpret that data as showing the vaccine was worse than ineffective.
They suggested part of the problem was ‘it has its limitations when people leave Scotland and do not inform ‘
So lets run Mars again, but with a corrected population to match the 'error' because some people left without letting the govt know.
Unvaccinated
Population 400,000
Cases 10,000
Rate per 100k 2,5000
Two doses
Population 1,500,000
Cases 38,000
Rate per 100k 2,533
So to make the vaccine look like it is not negative, 600,000 unvaccinated would have to leave without telling the govt.
The first set of numbers for Mars are actually pretty close to Scottish numbers from dec 25 to 31
It is interesting that I saw no mention of what I think would be the most significant confounder that makes the vaccine look bad. Unvaccinated not bothering to get tested !
Failure to test is very defiantly happening here ( I know, because unvaxed friends said they would not bother as there was no benefit to getting tested. )
The Scottish data is a mess…. and If they publish such a mess and people get the wrong idea, whose fault is it? And when it changes from looking good to looking bad and they stop publishing it, they are going to look like they are trying to hide something.
Beautiful practical example of how to get people to distrust you.
They ( and people here ) want me to just trust them because they are the experts.
First a cautionary tale, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study by the US public health service. They lied to a group of people with syphilis that they would treat them for free as if they joined the study.
But the 'experts' instead gave them placebos and watched 128 die.
I saw no reference in the wiki page to any experts going to jail…..
Then there is Pfizer, which has paid billions in fines for violating laws, but none of the people ever go to jail, they get to keep their bonuses.
I could have more trust if the people involved were rotting in jail…
Medsafe (NZ ) did some work to try and quantify how many people are being killed by the vaccine.
A rather important number….Look down near the bottom for this section where they looked all cause death data.
Over large numbers this is a useful tool, and in the past has found problems that would not be observed in other ways.
However they observed half the expected number of deaths.
This is a screaming alarm that they have some serious issues with either their data, assumptions or processing.
This sort of discrepancy should have sent them back to the drawing board to see what was going on, and they have had plenty of time, sitting at home on full pay while remote working….
How much confidence can you have in their data analysis….
In God I trust, everyone else, show me the data…
Hamish I presume you read the report?
". Data in this table should not be used as a measure of vaccine effectiveness due to unaccounted for biases and risk factors in different populations. For more information, please see the….."
I counted FIVE of those warnings.
I did read that, and their musings as to why the data APPEARS to show the vax was innefective.
And I thought I was very clear that they bear reaponsability for presenting the data the way they did.
They set themselves up….
The devil is in the detail – comparing those vaccinated first because of their far higher risk due to their co-morbidities with those yet to be vaccinated due to their complete lack of co-morbidities is an exercise in foolishness IMO.
yup.
And on the trust side of things, when the vaccines first came out the covid strain of the day (not a bowel movement) was delta, against which several vaccines do massively reduce the infection rate.
Not sure it's a "trust" issue that covid mutates into new strains.
Obviously, we cannot trust the virus not to change its spots.
or spikes.
was trying to be subtle
They do an age standardization on the base numbers to get the displayed rate.
for example if I look at the hospitalization table, end Jan start Feb
Unvaxed base data in the table gives a raw rate of 11.8 but the age standardized rate almost tripples of 32.15
boosted raw rate 8.7 drops to adjusted rate of 7.47
So that is a pretty big bias to account for the unvaxed being probably younger and healthier and the boosted older.
Blending all the age groups into one is a hell of a messy job.
Israel data used to break it down into 10 yr band, and you could see the differences across the age bands
Now I am at my laptop a wee bit more
you clipped the word 'Warning' from the front,
In the PDF the whole warning is in red, pretty hard to miss…
But my memory was that it did not used to be there..
So looked back at the Jan 12 report
There is the usual fine print below the table, but then in normal size text is
"Age-standardised mortality rates for COVID-19 deaths shown in Table 3 are significantly lower for people who have received a booster or third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine compared to individuals that are unvaccinated or have received one or two dose of a COVID-19 vaccine."
As it was just below table 13, and table 3 is about contact tracing, and table 13 is about deaths, I think it is fair to assume they just missed a "1"
When the numbers look favorable, all is good, and you promote them, but when they turn against you, ….oops….you look like an idiot
Hamish this is only an opinion.just looked up Scottish public health service website.
They are saying people are misreporting data cherry picking different data from different days.
But they make a statement outline the reality.
Mainly around Deaths 83.7% unvaccinated.
7.6% I dose within 7days
7.9% 2 doses within 7days.
Yet it takes 2 weeks to gain full immunity so in fact if 14days taken into account maybe even lower numbers.
This 60-70km long "column" of Russian vehicles north west of Kyiv appears to be more of a road bound parking lot than an actual advance, given that its been there for two-three days and hasn't even managed to cover the 100km from the Russian border to Kiev.
However, this column represents the sort of target artillerists and attack pilots dream about. The fact that the Ukrainian have not be able to dent let alone massacre this Russian traffic jam indicates they've lost the power to conduct even limited offensive action/manoeuvre warfare and the defenders are now in a totally passive mode, awaiting the Russians in Kyiv and Kharkiv (the scene of four major battles in WW2 that left the city in ruins, the fifth battle of Kharkiv in eight decades is now underway) in what I think will be the most violent and prolonged urban street battle since Berlin in 1945 – bigger than Tet and the battle of Huế (a battle that lasted two months).
The final act of this war is going to be a savage and bloody street battle where the citizens of Kyiv are going to be subject to the indiscriminate barbarism of Russian military brutality we’ve seen previously inflicted on the citizens of Aleppo and the Chetchens.
A very long line of sitting ducks. If the Ukrainian nazis really had their act together they would have hangars full of these antiques designed to pound such targets:
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/06/20/screaming-bird-of-prey-how-the-ju-87-stuka-exceeded-its-life-span-and-carried-the-luftwaffe-through-wwii/
Russians have air superiority. This is why there has been a call for a no fly zone, as if that could be enforced without ending up with NATO Aircraft and Russian aircraft in direct conflict.
There has been evidence of drone strikes on this convoy and other Russian armour. However the number of drones and bombs the Ukranian nation have pales in comparison to the number of Russian military vehicles.
In this situation those who have taken up arms to defend against this invasion are best suited using their advantages. Small mobile units harry the convoy whilst obsticles are set up in the streets of cities. Other defenders identify choke points where they can engage restricted targets and be able to quickly relocated after fast attacks. Every street becomes a bloody battle.
This is what Putin has bought about by deciding to invade and remove a democratically elected Jew who you want to call a Nazi.
a democratically elected Jew who you want to call a Nazi
Was interesting until you made this mistake. The only Ukrainians I want to call nazis are the ones who actually present themselves to the world as such. In case you weren't reading comments here the other day the primary group seems to be the Azov regiment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion
If this is your reasoning then I worry about who is open to invasion and being tarred with the Nazi brush
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/09/white-supremacist-group-patriot-front-one-in-five-applicants-tied-to-us-military
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/05/four-held-on-suspicion-of-being-members-of-outlawed-neo-nazi-group-national-action
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/nz-defence-force-says-white-supremacist-is-a-former-soldier/WAKCYC7K4ENTMF2N26RGVKW2AI/
Possibly the Russian convoy is a decoy. Putin has enough rockets that he can fire them into Kyiv without entering Kyiv. As well the convoy can send missiles from the trucks. Putin will probably only send in ground troops when Kyiv is bombed heavily.
All that may be true Sanctuary but there may be other reasons like a lack of fuel at the front of the queue and the fact that the ground is not frozen as the Russians may have expected and the farmland is too boggy, certainly for fuel trucks, so the roads are the only option. Also the Ukrainians have demolished most of the bridges on the approach to Kviv. Also to keep in mind the early troops that were repulsed were the elite Special Forces units, if they have had their arse kicked there may well be reluctance amongst the leadership to take big risks.
An excellent opportunity for the Ukrainian oligarchs: send in a bunch of mobile fast-food outlets to cruise up & down the line providing better options for soldiers fed up with military hard-tack, employ locals to staff the operation, win/win all round…
If anyone wants to see an outstanding piece of rhetoric, and get a standing ovation from the most cynical of audiences, take 8 minutes out of your day to check out Zelinsky addressing the EU Parliament yesterday. It will put a wistful note of light in an otherwise dark day.
Zelensky receives standing ovation after speech to European Parliament – YouTube
Not even sure Dubcek could match it at the height of the 1968 PRague Spring.
Zelenski on phone to Putin:
"Hi Vladimir you want to hear a joke."
Vladimir : "OK"
Zelenski : Kyiv
Vladimir (puzzled) : I don't get it.
Zelenski : that's right b**** you don't.
How I see the invasion of Ukraine ending.
Putin will take Kyiv due to Russia having 100 million more population, so a superior army. Other countries are reluctant to send troops as this just prolongs a war so Zelensky will be forced out.
Once Putin has Ukrainia will this be enough for him?
How ever if he gets bogged down like Afghanistan and a Gurilla war by the Ukrainian's.
Pootin's reign as Dictator of Russia could be over.
What do you mean by bogged down like Afganistan?
I need to look up the history of the Russian Afganistan war 1979 – 1989 to see how it played out.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2bxpM20oXdM
interesting clip about Lia Thomas, who was born William Thomas and ranked 462 amongst male swimmers in the male category. Now as Lia Thomas swimming in the female category is coming first and breaking all sorts of records in the female category. But hey well trans women are real women.
tbh I didn’t watch the interview, the opening statement, was 462, now 1st was enough for me."……….
For the readers, transcript from a mother of one of the female swimmers here (posted audio yesterday) https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-01-03-2022/#comment-1869801 can be found here:
https://otter.ai/u/N7gCN1Xqfp6oVI5EeHFcFN6B3mQ
Those of you so certain of the non-evidential inclusion of transwomen in women's sports, should be able to withstand listening/reading this and coming up with justification for this situation.
I await your comments below, but anticipate your continued silence.
I saw a response somewhere that the girls may have to make a hard choice, but if enough do it now they could save girls sports.
If all the girls decided that at the start whistle, they all just sat down instead of racing, and face being kicked of the teams, they would send a message.
Why bother trying when you have no chance.
Embarrass enough people with trans only races like that and you might get girls sports to survive.
For the trans, have trans sports…
"For the trans, have trans sports…"
Or … for the reasons of safety and fairness, compete in the appropriate biological sex, weight and age categories – as everyone else does.
That is very amusing, but not for the other female swimmers. Jonah Lomu should have converted and played female rugby. Imagine that. He was already hard to stop,
Very very unfunny for the female swimmers, especially when Lia goes into their change room.
and this mother trying to stand up for her daughter and being silenced. It’s an outrage.
There has been a lot of talk about crazy views of the protesters at parliament, but tbh, I don’t see a lot of difference between some of their unscientific views and the idea that Lia is really a woman cause she feels like one and so therefore can compete with the women
The testimony of the mother is far from amusing, as is the situation and the impact.
What is it that you find funny?
Í can simply not get my head around how a person who is/was male, can compete in the same league as women. "Amusing" was the wrong word, I actually think it is crazy and unfair. Like I said above what if Jonah Lomu had played against women? What if Novak Djokovick played in the womens comp? We know what the result would be. IMO Laurel Hubbard should not have been in the womens weightlifting. Perhaps there needs to be a mens, womens and a third category.
Perhaps there needs to be a mens, womens and a third category.
There is no need for the expense of a third category, when categories based on fairness and safety already exist. No one is prevented from participation or competition.
It is crazy and unfair.
This just flat out wrong. This is worse than Aussie's 501s.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/02/christchurch-family-being-inhumanely-forced-out-of-country-because-4yo-disabled-daughter-can-t-get-residency.html
This along with the disabled man who is to be deported to India after 22 years living in NZ reflect really poorly on this government and the lack of value they place upon disabled people. Far to often we have heard similar stories.
Pretty much out and out discrimination if you ask me… has the disability commissioner had anything to say?
Somewhat galling that this Govt is very vocal about 501s when they’re kicking people out during to disability.
I am favor of having a high bar for giving people the gift of NZ citizenship but in this case the child is a NZ citizen so her disability status should have no impact on the decision about the status of the rest of the family.
I am aware that the rules around citizenship by birth in the country were changed quite a while back I don't remember the details but I imagine the poor young girl is not a citizen.
Agree – people born in NZ on or after 1 January 2006 are only citizens if either or both parents are NZ citizens or have residence class visas.
Thanks to Winston Peters
Possibly, although this particular provision was added to the relevant Bill in 2004 and passed in 2005 before NZ First were in government with Labour.
Maybe we'll see some courage somewhere in government to change the settings, not just make exceptions every now and then. The settings go back to at least 2005, must be time for another review.