When I became eligible for superannuation I got a sense of how UBI would motivate those who strive – which actually is most of us. "Scum" is getting welfare now anyway so nothing changes there. What changes with UBI (and in my case now with superannuation) , is the ability to get ahead, to "get the foot in the door."
The other point I like about UBI is that we are all recognised as equal, nothing has to be qualified, justified, or scutinised, We are all recognised as equal and are valued at the point of adulthood. From there it is over to the individual to take the opportunity to run with it or to sit back in the sun and become "scum," or as most of us would, do just get on with life in a constructive way.
UBI would be a much more economic to administrate than the many headed monsters that ACC and social welfare have become.
UBI should be available to all New Zealand born citizens.
Ahhhh the miracle of turning 65 when you magically go from bloodsucking scum to deserving recipient who has paid taxes all your life.
It's as magic as caterpillars turning into butterflies or water into wine.
There are some special ones though who despite not having paid taxes all their lives in New Zealand want to get both a full NZ pension and keep their overseas one on top of. They are really extra special those ones – presumably cause the specifically chose to retire here – they have magic wings.
I absolutely agree with the UBI but need to point out:
Overseas pensions – you can choose either but not both.
DoS – you seem to believe that you can both, NZ and OS pension but I reassure you, you cant.
If you are receiving a pension from overseas and opted for the NZ one the former is being paid to the NZ Government. We are talking some 18 billion per annum here that goes into the consolidated fund.
How will this work if you are a permanent resident and worked in NZ 30 odd years contributing possibly more than some not so keen to work? Is it better to keep the overseas pension and what does this say about the status of being a permanent (not so permanent after decades?) resident. There are many reasons why people opt for not taking up citizenship. It does not have to be parochial. Fuel for thought.
UBI payable to Permanent Resident – this needs to be reviewed in the same way as its done with the pension and pegged against minimum years of tax contribution perhaps?
No UBI should be paid for people not living here and have just bought their way into NZ. Millions buy you a seat at the table kind of process.
Some fairness needs to be introduced and some serious thought put into this.
Generally, the UBI would be more efficient to administer.
People need to be prepared to get tax number and registration with the IRD as soon as they turn 18 (?).
"DoS – you seem to believe that you can both, NZ and OS pension but I reassure you, you cant."
Nope you can't but I was referring to all the lobbying that goes on to make this possible as if they were hard done by.
"If you are receiving a pension from overseas and opted for the NZ one the former is being paid to the NZ Government. We are talking some 18 billion per annum here that goes into the consolidated fund."
While you have said opted you still don't fairly represent the position. In essence if you have lived and worked for part of your life in two countries you will often be entitled to a pension in both countries. in essence a part pension for the time you worked in NZ and a part pension for the time you worked overseas. This means you are not advantaged over someone who ha actually lived and worked in New Zealand and contributed taxes for their entire life. You can get a NZ pension if you have lived here for 10 years.
So it is possible that you could have left home and worked overseas at 18 – which many of my peers did especially to the UK, worked there til 55 then returned and lived here til 65. So 37 years of your working life was in the UK and 10 here (if indeed you worked). 37 years of a UK pension is a decent amount.
The standard practise is to have your overseas pension calculated and then top up to the full NZS pension if your overseas pension is less than the NZ one. This will vary on a regular basis due to exchange rates etc and according to my father-in-law was bloody annoying. He was amongst those who lobbied some years ago now to have a simple system that people could opt into. His UK pension wasn't particularly large as he had only spent a small portion of his working life in the UK. You can choose to make the administration easier select to have your UK pension paid to the government and receive a full NZS pension.
It's incorrect to suggest the government takes your pension and puts it in the consolidated fund.You would have only ever been paid the difference between the two pensions so there is no net gain for the government or the consolidated fund. It's just easier administratively to have created that option for everyone.
For 10 years working in the UK you'd get not a lot from their government. We're pretty generous already.
Pigs at the trough. And in light of some contributions on a thread yesterday (I think maybe McFlock and Red), it never ceases to amaze me how some, who profess they follow religious guidance (of whatever religion) will selectively focus on a particular aspect to justify their antics – in this case the idea of 'self-reliance'. These greedy, status-seeking blokes are apt to forget the 5 Virtues and have well and truly signed up the 5 Thieves instead! Nanak would be rolling in his grave – probably let alone their own grandfathers. And these arseholes probably justify it all by thinking that they probably had to go through similar shit when they were starting out. And if they thought about it in any depth, 'self reliance' is actually the last thing they'e up to – taking handouts, ripping off others for their own personal gain, and then trying to justify it by wanking on about how they 'give back'. There are one or two politicians who operate in similar fashion.
I repeat btw, that its not limited to their particular religious belief (i.e. the selectivity in the aspects they use in order to justify their actions)
These pirates should be audited with extreme prejudice, particularly given their penchant for shafting their workers. I would be incredibly suspicious of that money being used appropriately. (There's a fancy mansion to complete and green fees to pay.) They're obviously awash with remorse for their previous actions.
"These pirates should be audited with extreme prejudice……."
Indeed! And not just by WINZ or whichever agency has provided the money, but IRD and others as well. But that won't necessary stop a few others from taking the risk to do likewise. You'll find that not only have these greedy, status-seeking, arrogant arseholes ripped people off, but they've lied to them repeatedly as well by way of false promises and what is effectively bondage – slavery even.
And if we really don't want to see this sort of thing as a feature of the future, we'd go further: Things like offering an amnesty to a few of their former employees and even PR if necessary – a sufficient number to ensure a successful prosecution. There are a few people around that'd be able to assist in tracing those employees if the appropriate agencies don't feel they're up to the job.
I really have to stop myself from beginning a rave, but the damage they do is far worse than they imagine because at times like this, it allows people's prejudices to seemingly become justified: Tarring everyone of like bretheren with the same brush (I've seen it often such as the "us" lecturing on how "they" are ripping off "their own"); ensuring the next/younger generations from becoming utterly cynical of the positive values this religion (but others as well) espouse – even though I'm basically agnostic tending (oops – pivoting) atheist.
No different though than those that religiously espouse "Good, Wholeseome Family Values" that think family, child and sexual abuse is quite OK (as long as its done in private) …. from the Capills and others, to the tithing Tamakis, or the 'exceptional' followers of Islam who are perfectly prepared to gruesomely murder others of the faith.
There's probably a chemical cure for most of them – it'd probably involve massive doses of oestrogen, but suffice to say these two are well-versed in Kaam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh and Hankaar – AND its a matter of record. I'm kind of wondering if a "kind and transformational" gummint is up to the challenge of facing them down through the various agencies and their supposed capabilities they have. I suspect not – but maybe in the fullness of time ("in this space, going forward")
Then lets look forward to F&P bringing their manufacturing back home!
Further processing of our all primary products, wood, wool, meat , hides, horticultural, fish and the return to the making of medical products from our primary products like thyroxine as Glaxo used to do, would be a logical manufacturing re- development and development!
Will not make sense for all firms. Both the F&P companies must remain focused on overseas markets to be viable (and have shifted manufacturing closer to those) and one is not even NZ-owned anymore.
The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times and Stuff are all owned by Channel 9 (Australian). Personally, I find the Ozzie variants better researched with better comments than Stuff. Think there is a bit of cross Tasman rivalry going on in Oz and there have been a few poorly written articles about NZ's response to Covid-19. Not matched by the NZ equivalents.
I see our Sith African Mayor here in Gisbo, capital of Maori NZ, wants to push on. Oh, to have the virtue of obliviousness. Or, the straight path to National MPdom. I can't remember the particularities of our present MP's unawareness of others, except all we fellow Napier exiles refuse to vote for her, in her Ohope homestead. So much we can get away with, or National.
Michael Reddell has another go at it, on Spinoff this time: "Successful economies tend to be ones where foreign trade – exports and imports – is rising as a share of GDP: especially for small countries the wider world is where most of the potential markets are. In New Zealand, the foreign trade share has hardly changed since about 1980, and has been falling this century – the peak years of the latest wave of globalisation. We were once among the most successful trading nations in the world – matched by really high living standards for the times – but no longer. Ministers and officials like to talk about the numerous preferential trade deals they sign, but the data tell their own story." https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/04-05-2020/rebuilding-a-shattered-economy-in-a-post-covid-world/
Running to stand still for 40 years gives us a good idea of the merit of all the macho business thrusters we had to endure the propanda from during Rogernomics & Ruthenasia. Nothing much heard from our right-wing thinktanks in recent years along those lines though, nor now. Zero from our sole left-wing thinktank.
Michael's point about the contrast between all the media hoop-la surrounding our foreign ministers signing trade deals, and the consequent lack of any bump in foreign trade earnings, shows just how much our media are captivated by froth not substance.
“When the economy is going backwards, when there is little appetite by firms to invest, and a strong precautionary motive to save, we need the OCR to be quite deeply negative for a time.” Nudge.
We were the "most successful trading nation " when we only had one customer, the UK, with butter, cheese and meat because it was desperately short of protein and wool for the mills for clothing. The price of wool was artificially high because of the Korean War at famously " a pound a pound " when average wages in NZ were about 5 Pound a week, that made wool about $180 a pound in todays money. Wool is probably about 12-15 dollars a pound today.
I have a grocery bill of my parents from 1950 and butter and milk even heavily subsidised as they were then, were a lot more expensive than now.
Having only one customer who takes all you can produce at huge prices only makes you "successful "in a limited sense.
to Adrian at 5:1 : Sorry Adrian …. milk was 4d a pint albeit subsidised. I know because had four children from 1955 < , my husband and I drank milk because cheaper than tea ( coffee a rarity then). Therefore we consumed 10 pints a day for years, allowing milk vendor to accept a cheque monthly rather than so much cash ( yes 40d was well worth pinching!) each day.
Not old enough to remember the fifties, but growing up in the sixties, my parents, with one earner, on less than half the average wage at the time, were able to buy 6 pints of milk daily, plenty of bread and other food, and put a lamb roast to feed at least eight, on the table every Sunday.
People on similar income, from two earners today, would be paying half their weekly food budget, after rent, for one roast.
You mean we were selling them quality produce, in return for their shoddy manufactured goods. Little has changed, apart from the countries we are selling to.
I would have a good think about which country was "propping up" the other, if I were you?
We were selling them quality produce in return for foreign exchange. The UK basically provided our high standard of living. They didn't need us at all. As for their ‘shoddy’ goods, you have a very short memory. Remember Tri-Ang, Corgi and Meccano toys, Morris and Austin motor cars, the Beatles (and hundreds of others). They did very well by the world did the UK.
I remember 2 shillings for a pound of butter and a shilling for a loaf of bread. 4 pence for a pint of milk. Nine pence for a seat in local movie theatre. Lamb was cheap and chickens only for special occasions.
2 cents (thats right, cents ) for a pint of milk…mind you wages were equally low.
It is important to remember that when this 'regime' was in place we had a very compressed remuneration structure which included a top tax rate of 60 cents in the dollar….and capital controls. Some of the solutions from the past are relevant….as are some of the lifestyle impacts.
So here's how the Democrats are trying to impress voters: "government programs in the United States—even those supported by the purportedly pro-government party—are not designed to solve problems. Rather, they are designed to solve a given problem only to a degree—and that degree can’t require an amount of spending that would necessitate financial sacrifice on the part of high-income taxpayers. This is not a leftist conspiracy theory, but the overt position of the party’s leaders, who believe they will not be able to achieve crucial voting margins in upscale suburbs if they authorize too much taxation and spending." https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/coronavirus-stimulus-failures-hit-professional-class.html?via=features
"To put it cynically, the job of much Democratic legislation is to make liberal voters of means feel good that something is being done for the less fortunate, not necessarily to actually do that thing."
"Some people might really benefit, but the process of doing so will be time-consuming and byzantine, and will only affect their overall life situation at the margins. (Consider the “free college in New York state” program that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo often takes credit for starting. Seventy percent of those who apply to the program are rejected—and it doesn’t cover the costs of housing or class materials, but you also can’t participate in it if you’re a part-time student, i.e., someone who needs to work on the side to cover the costs of housing and class materials. During his 2018 reelection campaign Cuomo belittled his opponent’s proposal to raise taxes on incomes over $1 million a year and called it a political “nonstarter.”)"
"Voters who might need better benefits have the choice of either accepting these as the best they can get or not voting at all, because the other party wants new programs to be inadequate on purpose—and wants to cut back the ones that do work, like Social Security and Medicare—so as to “incentivize” individuals to work harder to get a job or to get a better job or to save more. The choice is between drowning gradually or all at once."
But hey, Democrats are the progressive option, apparently. "“Our constituents have a lot of questions about where the hell this $3 trillion is going and why it isn’t coming into their pockets,” Pennsylvania Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon told Politico in an article about rank-and-file Democratic backlash against the party’s limited stimulus efforts."
Downside of that: those sociopaths who ignore the rules will get new recruits. Did you see those figures for the number of parties on saturday night complained about? Plenty of folks have a `been there, done that' attitude to social distancing…
either we will have a spike in infections which will be traceable to those parties and we go back to L4 and people learn to stop being dicks, or we don't have a spike because the curve was sufficiently flattened and we carry on figuring it all out as we go along and some people politicise the issue and we go back to the old macho politics (except Labour are in charge, with St Jacinda at the helm, lol).
28 days of this 0.00 and I'll be getting the champers out of the fridge. I'm picking that we may stay at level 3 until after the queens birthday weekend.
Saw some figures way back (for Aus) which indicted that lockdown compliance needed to be 70% or above to reduce transmission – we look like we went through level 4 in the high 90's – which makes the track to 0.00 faster. So if level 3 means we have dropped but are still above 70% we will get there but the more compliance the quicker.
Time to roll out the ad campaigns " play to the whistle" , " game not over yet" "fancy going to the beach this summer?" – make it really clear that we are close to full time but need that extra push just to get us there
Yes – brilliant. Now the plan to ensure that in those sectors of the economy that aren't coming back, nobody is left behind. The plan to ensure that after everybody has put in the effort, the result isn't that some people get to make out economically like bandits, while others go to the wall.
The PM working her magic again. Unusual times for sure, but this suggests her stance on AUS/NZ relations has not been as damaging as some alarmists on the right would have us believe.
Fortunately for Ardern the meeting is a phone in, but an interesting turn of events all the same. It's my sense that quite a few Australian politicians are quietly grateful that Ardern has paved the way for SloMo to follow.
But the outcome is a good one, both countries have responded magnificently so far, at least to the best extent you might reasonably imagine. It’s set the stage for a major trans-Tasman refresh.
There are scarcely two nations on earth more tightly linked socially and economically, but we've allowed the political relationship to drift. This may well be a good chance to reset the politics, because I think in this coming unsettled decade we are going to need the relationship working at full strength.
Certainly a common adversary helps focus common interests. If they get this trans tasman bubble working it could strengthen ties even further with each others citizens boosting badly damaged tourism sectors.
Australia's deportation policy is still a massive issue though.
Yes. The trick to sorting that issue will be getting the Australian public and politicians to start putting a higher value on their unique relationship with NZ. Ardern has raised our credibility enormously over here, almost everyone we have spoken with is aware of our govt's bold and gutsy approach. They respect that.
lol @ "SloMo" … their PMs are always good nickname fodder 😂
More seriously, there are stumbling blocks that both nations need to face up to in order to normalise & strengthen relations. Citizenship, border security, foreign policy, the FIRE sector, workers rights
I don’t think it’s so much that we’ve let the relationship drift on our side. It’s more a case of Australia thinking they have bigger fish to fry as they reach for middle-power status. At any rate, if this is a reset it’s welcome.
I think Scomo wants to bask in the positive "halo" effect around Jacinda. She's had a lot of good publicity so he may be wanting some of it to rub off on him. Suspect he needs it. Next Mike Pence will be wanting a phone in!!?
"this suggests her stance on AUS/NZ relations has not been as damaging as some alarmists on the right would have us believe."
Too many hilariously bad takes to choose from, especially after Ardern's last trip across the Tasman, where (shock!) a NZ PM spoke up for NZ. Here's one of the classics …
"Should she be returned to power, a prospect that looks remote, Jacinda Ardern has almost zero likelihood of a rapprochement with our PM." (The Australian, March 5 2020 – emphasis added).
(it's subscription only, but you can copy/Google the quote)
That says it all really doesn’t it? They’ve spent the last 3 years convinced she was just some weird aberration and that normal service would resume. Frankly I’m happy if they continue to underestimate her.
TDB's got a good appraisal of the reeferendum: "under this model almost everyone wins. Access to cannabis will be legal yet controlled, medical access gets easier and cheaper, current providers aren’t locked out and can go legal, social equity provisions are built in, overseas corporates are blocked, micro cultivators have a place, sales taxes support increased health and education and don’t just disappear to a general government fund, our police get better things to do, and people will have legal options other than alcohol." https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/05/04/cannabis-referendum-bills-recipe-for-success/
"A Yes vote will take away money and influence from organised crime, and it will reduce the dominance of our alcohol industry, and the pharma trade won’t be part of this. There won’t be cannabis stores on every corner. There won’t be a Big Cannabis industry. and imports won’t be allowed. Vertical integration will be banned, and advertising prohibited, so those who banked on a big corporate approach may be ruing their bets. Instead, this model supports local growers, producers and small businesses."
"The parties that make up the current Government have pledged to make the result binding. They’ve put forward the Bill, so they’re obviously supportive of it. Notably, the final version of the Bill has not backtracked on any parts of the earlier draft."
I'm surprised & pleased by the constructive collaboration of NZF. Well done, all involved in the process!
I seem to recall that in the early days of debate about legalisation especially in regard to medicinal cannabis that Grey Power (or a significant part of them) were strongly in favour, so this may have something to do with NZF's attitude.
See the hypocrisy around me almost every day. Employers complaining about young employees doping and drinking. They would never have passed a drug test, back in their day.
Yeah I'm with you on reducing the possibility of cartel formation like petrol retailers, but I assume the regulator will keep an eye on that tendency. Unlike the USA, we are small enough a democracy that regulator-capture isn't obviously happening.
Yet Mullah Bob al-McCroskie of the Christian Taliban is still not happy. If he had his way, people with a spliff in their pocket would be publicly flogged in Aotea Square.
A wee while back the case against the IRA was dropped, and now we find out that the outgoing administration, through the FBI, deliberately set up Flynn on minor crimes of process which they then used to puff up their whole Russia conspiracy crap.
But the lack of those involved anymore in current events and their alienation from organised society in the Rogernomics era is just an open door to bullshit, and the Right has the copyright on that.
The craft industry has promise, based on a long tradition of quality and uniqueness and I'm hoping will continue the Covid 19 rebirth of knitting and other handcrafts. The luxury goods market will not die. A hand knitted item from locally grown, spun and dyed fibres posted to a status conscious consumer overseas with cash to spend and rellies and friends to impress or gift could be a nice little earner.
Blood test today, what a nightmare, queue in the rain, people pushing past to front, maybe texted because its their turn. No staff long wait. In and out same tiny entry. If it was a burger bar would be shut down, Privatisation, lowest tender wins, all for profit. I should have flagged it but its a time dependant test.
"In other words many businesses – whether S&P 500 companies or small and medium-sized enterprises – will be rendered insolvent by the pandemic. No amount of liquidity, however, cheap, will avert that fate.
There are estimates that about 16 per cent of US listed companies either couldn’t cover their interest costs or barely covered them even before the crisis has cost them months of lost cash flow.
With the likelihood that any recovery will be slow and halting rather than the "V-shaped" recovery US markets had been pricing in since March 23, it is probable that the pandemic will cut swathes through corporate and Main Street America, along with similar impacts, albeit to differing degrees, on the rest of the world’s economies."
"We're a society that is governed by the rule of law, which means the state can't exercise power over people without the legal authority to do so," he told Magic Talk host Ryan Bridge on Monday.
Hey, Chris Findlayson, remember that time you let Police exercise power over Nicky Hager without the legal authority to do so?
“I remember, going back to my time as Security Minister, [the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet] had a list of national security concerns, and the pandemic possibility was toward the top of that list.” he said.
Right underneath Nicky Hager, who seemed to be the start and finish of the Prime Minister’s security concerns.
"In fact, nobody upheld the public-health interventions as long as they should have. San Francisco reduced mortality by at least 25% – the highest rate among US cities. But, rather than reinforcing its commitment to its interventions, this success led the city to cancel its restrictions in November; a second, much deadlier wave of infections followed in December and January. Had San Francisco sustained its social-distancing rules for longer, the National Academy of Sciences estimates, it could have cut the death toll by 95%."
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” George Santayana famously quipped in 1905….. all those clamouring for level 2 and trans tasman travel might want to consider such.
Global warming is still having big negative effects yet we still don't have efficient plans to minimise Global warming.
We are lucky to have the 21st century commutation devices to help businesses function during isolation there are many ways to make money using the Internet.?????.
That's is cool a company making a more cost effective ventilator in Aotearoa.
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Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
Dunedin writer Victor Billot resumes his weekly odes to New Zealanders in the news. This week: the blogging firm of Michael Bassett, Don Brash and Rodney HideThree Men in a BoatIt sounds like a conveyancing firm in Levin.It sounds like TV funny guys who’ll ...
Under a thick layer of concrete at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacramentin Christchurch is a metal box likely containing hundreds of holy relics – a historical treasure trove set to be uncovered after 50 years of near total obscurity.As the earth shook and buildings crumbled, a statue of ...
Bananas are unequivocally the best fruit in the world, and there’s nothing you can say to change my mind, writes Alice Webb-Liddall.I was about 15 when I realised that halftime banana cake wasn’t a tradition outside of my family. On the day of an All Blacks game a banana cake ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden as On the Rag looks at how the world around us has been built by men, for men. First published December 7, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members ...
At an antagonistic hearing yesterday, the internet giant laid out the ‘worst case scenario’. And Facebook is also considering an ‘amputation’. Hal Crawford was watching.Google is poised to hit self-destruct in Australia according to a fractious Senate hearing into an unprecedented law that will force digital giants to pay money ...
It’s great to hear Phil Twyford celebrating a success. Not a personal ministerial success, it’s fair to say, but a success nevertheless related to arms control. The arms on which Twyford is focused, it should be noted, will make quite a mess if they are triggered. They tend to be ...
Duncan Greive and Leonie Hayden were young hip hop heads and music journalists during the era captured in a new documentary about the rise and fall of South Auckland hip hop label Dawn Raid. Here they discuss the film and their memories (what’s left of them) of that time. Warning: contains ...
Houses might be the most popular and inflated purchases in New Zealand, but there are plenty of other products that are seeing soaring demand and prices over the past few months. Here’s a list of what New Zealanders are spending their money on with international travel out of the picture.Used ...
"The young boy leaps, the muscles in his thighs tensing and twisting as he lifts from the handrail": the noble art of bombing, by Pātea writer Airana Ngarewa A beautifully muscled boy is posted on the side of a pool, his feet fixed to the top of a pair of ...
How Waiwera Hot Pools went from New Zealand’s most visited water park to dereliction and decay. Many who grew up in Auckland likely have fond memories of Waiwera Hot Pools. Like me, they remember summer days spent racing down the slides and playing in the naturally hot pools. But how did ...
A government contract for a P rehab programme was canned after half a million dollars of taxpayer money was given out. Aaron Smale investigates. The Ministry of Health spent over half a million dollars on a P Rehab contract before pulling the pin because there were no results or progress reports. ...
Kia Koropp and her husband John Daubeny have been cruising the Pacific, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean over the past decade with their two children onboard their 50ft yacht, Atea. Starting in 2011 from Auckland, New Zealand, they have sailed more than 64,000 kilometres and just completed their longest ...
We are drowning out the natural world with synthetic sounds, and it’s getting worse, writes Michelle Langstone.It used to be quiet once. Remember that? Remember the hush that settled over the cities like the silence that comes down in a snowstorm? It’s less than a year since Aotearoa first locked ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden in the latest episode of On the Rag as they examine the topic of boobs from every possible angle. First published November 16, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Seventy-five years after the US detonated the first nuclear tests in the Pacific, New Zealand pledges its support to Joe Biden's first tentative step towards disarmament. Today, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons comes into effect, making it illegal for New Zealand and the 50 other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Terry, Professor of Psychology, University of Southern Queensland The challenge of bringing the world’s best tennis players and support staff, about 1,200 people in all, from COVID-ravaged parts of the world to our almost pandemic-free shores was always going to be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoffrey Browne, Research Fellow in International Urban Development, University of Melbourne The Victorian government has committed to removing 75 road/rail level crossings across Melbourne by 2025. That’s the fastest rate of removal in the city’s history. The scale of the investment — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Stevens, Lecturer in History, University of Waikato In a year of surprises, one of the more pleasant was the recent runaway viral popularity of 19th century sea shanties on TikTok. A collaborative global response to pandemic isolation, it saw singers and ...
The sudden departure of Graine Moss from her Chief Executive role at Oranga Tamariki is a vital first step in a sequence of changes that must take place at the Ministry according to a group of wahine Māori leaders. Dame Naida Glavish, Dame Tariana Turia, ...
A new poem from Dunedin poet Jenny Powell.Her uncle’s eyeShe introduced us to her uncle’s eye floating in a jar.Lost in an accident, he hadn’t wanted to lose it again. He left it to her in his will.We must have looked shocked. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I turn him to ...
The chief executive of Oranga Tamariki is quitting, leaving behind an agency she’s admitted suffers from structural racism. Justin Giovannetti looks at the future of Oranga Tamariki.Grainne Moss’s tenure as head of Oranga Tamariki has been untenable since November when the government’s senior Māori minister wouldn’t express any confidence in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sainsbury, Senior Lecturer Composition, Australian National University Despite having different cultural backgrounds and experiences — Indigenous composers with an Indigenous mentor, and a pianist descended from Anglo-colonial history — it is nevertheless possible to create a project that can serve as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Applied Mathematics, University of Canterbury With new, more infectious variants of COVID-19 detected around the world, and at New Zealand’s border, the risk of further level 3 or 4 lockdowns is increased if those viruses get into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Hogg, Lecturer in Psychology, Charles Sturt University Horse racing is an ethical hotbed in Australia. The Melbourne Cup alone has seen seven horses die after racing since 2013, and animal cruelty protesters have become a common feature at carnivals. The latest ...
Right now, our most fiery national debate is over whether New Zealanders were nice to the singer Amanda Palmer in a café. Desperate to restore peace in our nation, Hayden Donnell went in search of the truth.Joe Biden had barely finished calling for unity when Amanda Palmer posted a tweet ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut (Pushkin Press, $37)Maths, cyanide, suicide, gardening; ye ...
Wellington artist Estère isn’t just breaking boundaries, she’s dissecting them. Maddi Rowe spoke to her about her new album, Archetypes.“That’s the story of pelicans, they’ll stab themselves in the heart to feed their young.”Despite the somewhat dark subject matter, Estère Dalton’s eyes sparkle with fascination. We’ve met to discuss Archetypes, ...
Cycling advocates are welcoming new advice from the Transport Agency on safe cycling. "Cyclists hate it when drivers pass too close. That's scary and dangerous," said Patrick Morgan from Cycling Action Network. "So it's encouraging to see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tilman Ruff, Honorary Principal Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne Today, many around the world will celebrate the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to enter into force in 50 years. The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the creation of a Chief Executive role to lead the public service’s pay equity work, and the appointment of Grainne Moss to this position. "Unions and public service employers are currently working ...
The Council of Trade Unions is warning that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures out today illustrate that the cost of living is increasing disproportionately for those on lower incomes; resulting in the poor getting poorer. CTU Economist Craig ...
Why are there so many offensive comments on the New Zealand Police Facebook page and are they breaking the law? Janaye Henry investigates. New Zealand Police Facebook pages – there are a number of them, for different regional police districts around the country – are an interesting place to spend ...
Our guide to stopping procrastinating and actually (finally) getting on top of investing. Because there’s a good chance that if you’re reading this, you don’t know a single thing about it.In part one, we covered some of the basic things you need to know about investing – why do it? ...
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft acknowledges the huge effort and commitment of departing Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive Grainne Moss and says her decision to resign today was principled. “The issues facing Oranga Tamariki are beyond individual ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. With Covid19, Italy shows the classic European pattern, with its early outbreak, substantial recovery thanks to lockdowns and other public health measures, and resurgence thanks to complacency ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW This year has already seen significant progress in the government’s commitment to establish a body – a “Voice” – that would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say when the government ...
Northland farmer Derek Robinson was sentenced earlier today by the District Court in Whangarei for two offences of ill-treating animals at rodeo events. Mr Robinson was found guilty in November last year, following a defended hearing. The charges ...
Under fire Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will resign, effective February 28, Marc Daalder reports After four and a half years at the helm of child protection agency Oranga Tamariki, chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will be leaving the position at the end of ...
The Department of Internal Affairs and New Zealand Police acknowledge the sentencing of 36-year-old Aaron Joseph Hutton on charges relating to the possession of child sexual exploitation material, and entering into a dealing involving the sexual exploitation ...
Ngā Tāngata Microfinance (NTM) is calling for tougher penalties for those caught promoting pyramid schemes. Such business models are illegal under the Fair Trading Act 1986. This call comes after the Commerce Commission issued a ‘stop now’ notice ...
British High Commissioner to New Zealand Laura Clarke is calling on young women aged 17 to 25 to apply for the annual ‘Be British High Commissioner for the Day’ competition. The winner will have the opportunity to become an ‘honorary High Commissioner’, ...
The Māori Party is welcoming the resignation of Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss after sustained pressure from leading figures within the Māori Party. This resignation is the result of the continued strong pressure of the Māori Party ...
In a historic corner of Dunedin, startup culture is thriving. Catherine McGregor visited the city’s Warehouse Precinct to meet the people driving the movement. When Jason and Kate Lindsey bought the four storey building now known as Petridish, it was an absolute wreck. Once home to a thriving hat and textiles ...
Summer reissue: The Fold’s very first guest is back to tell Duncan Greive how she pulled off the media deal of the year.The chaotic couple of weeks which finally saw the end of the Stuff-NZME saga were riveting and strange, replete with stock exchange announcements, legal challenges and finally the ...
Chris Liddell has dropped his candidacy to become director-general of the Paris-based OECD. Without support from the Ardern government and vilified in the media as somehow being involved in the encouragement by Donald Trump of the Washington riots, he plainly saw he had little chance of crowning his stellar career ...
Tara Ward hands out her first impression roses as she dives deep into the sea of single men vying to win The Bachelorette NZ’s heart. While the world burns in a searing fireball of unpredictability, we can take comfort in the fact that some things never change. The heart still yearns, ...
People from all around New Zealand will be converging on the super-secret Waihopai satellite interception spybase, in Marlborough, on Saturday January 30th. ...
In its Thursday editorial the NZ Herald speaks an important truth: “Investment important to stay on track”. This won’t have startled its more literate readers but in its text it notes the strong result in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, which prompted Westpac to raise its forecast for dairy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Craig Mark, Professor, Faculty of International Studies, Kyoritsu Women’s University With the spread of COVID-19 steadily worsening in Japan since the onset of winter — daily records for infections and deaths continue to be broken — the fate of the Tokyo Summer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Taylor, Early Career Research Leader, Emerging Viruses, Inflammation and Therapeutics Group, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University All eyes are on COVID-19 vaccines, with Australia’s first expected to be approved for use shortly. But their development in record time, without compromising ...
Yesterday’s government announcement on new state housing is a pathetic response to the biggest housing crisis in New Zealand since the 1940s. At a time when the country needs an industrial-scale state house building programme, the government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Obadiah Mulder, PhD Candidate in Computational Biology, University of Southern California Australia is in the midst of tropical cyclone season. As we write, a cyclone is forming off Western Australia’s Pilbara coast, and earlier in the week Queenslanders were bracing for a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynette Vernon, School of Education – VC Research Fellow, Edith Cowan University When the holidays end, barring a fresh outbreak of COVID-19, teenagers across Australia will head back to school. Some will bounce out of bed well before the alarm goes off, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology Twenty years ago, on January 25 2001, a virtually unknown German supermarket chain quietly opened its first stores in Australia. The two stores – one in Sydney’s inner-west suburb of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Giuffre, Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney Bluey is easily the most successful Australian television show of the last decade. A record-breaking success for its local broadcaster the ABC, as well as production partners BBC Studios and Screen Australia, ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permissionIt will take $3 million to clean up 1 million litres of abandoned toxic waste from a property in Ruakaka - three times more than the last big chemical clean-up undertaken by government agencies A two-year mission to clean up 1 million ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The action Biden took on just his first afternoon in office demonstrates a radical shift in priority for the US when it comes to its efforts to combat the climate crisis. It could put more pressure on New Zealand to step up. ...
Ban Bomb Day event at the New Brighton Pier, 9am, on January 22nd, 2021 January 22nd, 2021, marks the first day the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) Enters into Force and becomes international law. Aotearoa NZ is one of the ...
The lights are burning into the night at the New York Yacht Club's America's Cup base as they race to fix their damaged boat. And Suzanne McFadden discovers something surprising may emerge. Out of American Magic’s calamity may come opportunity - for even more speed. While the lights burn bright ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve BrauniasFICTION 1 Tell Me Lies by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $29.99) Every January, there's a new best-selling crime thriller by the New Zealand-born author who lives in Melbourne. Pomare is ...
Our approach so far in trying to end what Dr Collin Tukuitonga describes as a 'racist' disease - rheumatic fever - has not worked. It's time we try something new, he writes. Acute rheumatic fever and the rheumatic heart disease it causes, long-known as a disease of poverty, is a blight on ...
New Zealand triple-code star, Anna Harrison, can't stop returning to the courts - whether it's netball or beach volleyball. She tells Ashley Stanley what keeps drawing her back. The day before Anna Harrison leaps back into netball, she will have one more hit-out at another of her favourite old sports ...
New to sailing? With the Prada Cup resuming this weekend, here’s how to bluff your way into sounding like a pro. When I was 10, my mum made my brother and I join the local sailing club. It was a favourite pastime of families in Kerikeri, and my brother was actually ...
A formal complaint to the UN, signed by a NZ Muslim group, says France’s Islamophobic laws and policies are entrenching discrimination and breaching human rights laws. The Khadija Leadership Network has joined a global coalition of Muslim organisations to formally complain about the French government’s systemic entrenchment of Islamophobia and discrimination against ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and a lineup of incredibly successful New Zealand women as they confront their imposter syndrome once and for all. First published 20 October, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members ...
Happy Star Wars Day! 🙂
May the fourth be with you, too.
The problem with universal payments is that scum may be eligible for them as well: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121359471/coronavirus-wealthy-liqour-store-barons-claim-550k-covid19-wage-subsidy
It goes to their staff.
Audit the hell out of them to make sure because of their past practises, but this is how welfare should be operated.
I agree. There will always be some bad apples but that does not invalidate the whole scheme. May be a challenge we see to UBI.
When I became eligible for superannuation I got a sense of how UBI would motivate those who strive – which actually is most of us. "Scum" is getting welfare now anyway so nothing changes there. What changes with UBI (and in my case now with superannuation) , is the ability to get ahead, to "get the foot in the door."
The other point I like about UBI is that we are all recognised as equal, nothing has to be qualified, justified, or scutinised, We are all recognised as equal and are valued at the point of adulthood. From there it is over to the individual to take the opportunity to run with it or to sit back in the sun and become "scum," or as most of us would, do just get on with life in a constructive way.
UBI would be a much more economic to administrate than the many headed monsters that ACC and social welfare have become.
UBI should be available to all New Zealand born citizens.
[lprent: I removed the double up for you. ]
Ahhhh the miracle of turning 65 when you magically go from bloodsucking scum to deserving recipient who has paid taxes all your life.
It's as magic as caterpillars turning into butterflies or water into wine.
There are some special ones though who despite not having paid taxes all their lives in New Zealand want to get both a full NZ pension and keep their overseas one on top of. They are really extra special those ones – presumably cause the specifically chose to retire here – they have magic wings.
Hi Janet
I absolutely agree with the UBI but need to point out:
Overseas pensions – you can choose either but not both.
DoS – you seem to believe that you can both, NZ and OS pension but I reassure you, you cant.
If you are receiving a pension from overseas and opted for the NZ one the former is being paid to the NZ Government. We are talking some 18 billion per annum here that goes into the consolidated fund.
How will this work if you are a permanent resident and worked in NZ 30 odd years contributing possibly more than some not so keen to work? Is it better to keep the overseas pension and what does this say about the status of being a permanent (not so permanent after decades?) resident. There are many reasons why people opt for not taking up citizenship. It does not have to be parochial. Fuel for thought.
UBI payable to Permanent Resident – this needs to be reviewed in the same way as its done with the pension and pegged against minimum years of tax contribution perhaps?
No UBI should be paid for people not living here and have just bought their way into NZ. Millions buy you a seat at the table kind of process.
Some fairness needs to be introduced and some serious thought put into this.
Generally, the UBI would be more efficient to administer.
People need to be prepared to get tax number and registration with the IRD as soon as they turn 18 (?).
"DoS – you seem to believe that you can both, NZ and OS pension but I reassure you, you cant."
Nope you can't but I was referring to all the lobbying that goes on to make this possible as if they were hard done by.
"If you are receiving a pension from overseas and opted for the NZ one the former is being paid to the NZ Government. We are talking some 18 billion per annum here that goes into the consolidated fund."
While you have said opted you still don't fairly represent the position. In essence if you have lived and worked for part of your life in two countries you will often be entitled to a pension in both countries. in essence a part pension for the time you worked in NZ and a part pension for the time you worked overseas. This means you are not advantaged over someone who ha actually lived and worked in New Zealand and contributed taxes for their entire life. You can get a NZ pension if you have lived here for 10 years.
So it is possible that you could have left home and worked overseas at 18 – which many of my peers did especially to the UK, worked there til 55 then returned and lived here til 65. So 37 years of your working life was in the UK and 10 here (if indeed you worked). 37 years of a UK pension is a decent amount.
The standard practise is to have your overseas pension calculated and then top up to the full NZS pension if your overseas pension is less than the NZ one. This will vary on a regular basis due to exchange rates etc and according to my father-in-law was bloody annoying. He was amongst those who lobbied some years ago now to have a simple system that people could opt into. His UK pension wasn't particularly large as he had only spent a small portion of his working life in the UK. You can choose to make the administration easier select to have your UK pension paid to the government and receive a full NZS pension.
It's incorrect to suggest the government takes your pension and puts it in the consolidated fund.You would have only ever been paid the difference between the two pensions so there is no net gain for the government or the consolidated fund. It's just easier administratively to have created that option for everyone.
For 10 years working in the UK you'd get not a lot from their government. We're pretty generous already.
Previous articles suggested the offenders had committed to no longer being employers, by selling their liquour store.
I guess their greed outed them again, then.
They just parted ways with Super Liquor and rebranded under a new corporate structure.
Pigs at the trough. And in light of some contributions on a thread yesterday (I think maybe McFlock and Red), it never ceases to amaze me how some, who profess they follow religious guidance (of whatever religion) will selectively focus on a particular aspect to justify their antics – in this case the idea of 'self-reliance'. These greedy, status-seeking blokes are apt to forget the 5 Virtues and have well and truly signed up the 5 Thieves instead! Nanak would be rolling in his grave – probably let alone their own grandfathers. And these arseholes probably justify it all by thinking that they probably had to go through similar shit when they were starting out. And if they thought about it in any depth, 'self reliance' is actually the last thing they'e up to – taking handouts, ripping off others for their own personal gain, and then trying to justify it by wanking on about how they 'give back'. There are one or two politicians who operate in similar fashion.
I repeat btw, that its not limited to their particular religious belief (i.e. the selectivity in the aspects they use in order to justify their actions)
These pirates should be audited with extreme prejudice, particularly given their penchant for shafting their workers. I would be incredibly suspicious of that money being used appropriately. (There's a fancy mansion to complete and green fees to pay.) They're obviously awash with remorse for their previous actions.
"These pirates should be audited with extreme prejudice……."
Indeed! And not just by WINZ or whichever agency has provided the money, but IRD and others as well. But that won't necessary stop a few others from taking the risk to do likewise. You'll find that not only have these greedy, status-seeking, arrogant arseholes ripped people off, but they've lied to them repeatedly as well by way of false promises and what is effectively bondage – slavery even.
And if we really don't want to see this sort of thing as a feature of the future, we'd go further: Things like offering an amnesty to a few of their former employees and even PR if necessary – a sufficient number to ensure a successful prosecution. There are a few people around that'd be able to assist in tracing those employees if the appropriate agencies don't feel they're up to the job.
I really have to stop myself from beginning a rave, but the damage they do is far worse than they imagine because at times like this, it allows people's prejudices to seemingly become justified: Tarring everyone of like bretheren with the same brush (I've seen it often such as the "us" lecturing on how "they" are ripping off "their own"); ensuring the next/younger generations from becoming utterly cynical of the positive values this religion (but others as well) espouse – even though I'm basically agnostic tending (oops – pivoting) atheist.
No different though than those that religiously espouse "Good, Wholeseome Family Values" that think family, child and sexual abuse is quite OK (as long as its done in private) …. from the Capills and others, to the tithing Tamakis, or the 'exceptional' followers of Islam who are perfectly prepared to gruesomely murder others of the faith.
There's probably a chemical cure for most of them – it'd probably involve massive doses of oestrogen, but suffice to say these two are well-versed in Kaam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh and Hankaar – AND its a matter of record. I'm kind of wondering if a "kind and transformational" gummint is up to the challenge of facing them down through the various agencies and their supposed capabilities they have. I suspect not – but maybe in the fullness of time ("in this space, going forward")
Manufacturing returning to NZ: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/prosper/121177344/coronavirus-manufacturing-can-be-the-backbone-the-covid19-economic-recovery
Then lets look forward to F&P bringing their manufacturing back home!
Further processing of our all primary products, wood, wool, meat , hides, horticultural, fish and the return to the making of medical products from our primary products like thyroxine as Glaxo used to do, would be a logical manufacturing re- development and development!
Will not make sense for all firms. Both the F&P companies must remain focused on overseas markets to be viable (and have shifted manufacturing closer to those) and one is not even NZ-owned anymore.
I see a piece in Ozzie daily 'the age' quoting soimon, Gisborne mayor and no one else whining on about lockdown levels.
JA has her work cut out.
Isn't that a Murdoch rag?
The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times and Stuff are all owned by Channel 9 (Australian). Personally, I find the Ozzie variants better researched with better comments than Stuff. Think there is a bit of cross Tasman rivalry going on in Oz and there have been a few poorly written articles about NZ's response to Covid-19. Not matched by the NZ equivalents.
I see our Sith African Mayor here in Gisbo, capital of Maori NZ, wants to push on. Oh, to have the virtue of obliviousness. Or, the straight path to National MPdom. I can't remember the particularities of our present MP's unawareness of others, except all we fellow Napier exiles refuse to vote for her, in her Ohope homestead. So much we can get away with, or National.
Michael Reddell has another go at it, on Spinoff this time: "Successful economies tend to be ones where foreign trade – exports and imports – is rising as a share of GDP: especially for small countries the wider world is where most of the potential markets are. In New Zealand, the foreign trade share has hardly changed since about 1980, and has been falling this century – the peak years of the latest wave of globalisation. We were once among the most successful trading nations in the world – matched by really high living standards for the times – but no longer. Ministers and officials like to talk about the numerous preferential trade deals they sign, but the data tell their own story." https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/04-05-2020/rebuilding-a-shattered-economy-in-a-post-covid-world/
Running to stand still for 40 years gives us a good idea of the merit of all the macho business thrusters we had to endure the propanda from during Rogernomics & Ruthenasia. Nothing much heard from our right-wing thinktanks in recent years along those lines though, nor now. Zero from our sole left-wing thinktank.
Michael's point about the contrast between all the media hoop-la surrounding our foreign ministers signing trade deals, and the consequent lack of any bump in foreign trade earnings, shows just how much our media are captivated by froth not substance.
“When the economy is going backwards, when there is little appetite by firms to invest, and a strong precautionary motive to save, we need the OCR to be quite deeply negative for a time.” Nudge.
We were the "most successful trading nation " when we only had one customer, the UK, with butter, cheese and meat because it was desperately short of protein and wool for the mills for clothing. The price of wool was artificially high because of the Korean War at famously " a pound a pound " when average wages in NZ were about 5 Pound a week, that made wool about $180 a pound in todays money. Wool is probably about 12-15 dollars a pound today.
I have a grocery bill of my parents from 1950 and butter and milk even heavily subsidised as they were then, were a lot more expensive than now.
Having only one customer who takes all you can produce at huge prices only makes you "successful "in a limited sense.
to Adrian at 5:1 : Sorry Adrian …. milk was 4d a pint albeit subsidised. I know because had four children from 1955 < , my husband and I drank milk because cheaper than tea ( coffee a rarity then). Therefore we consumed 10 pints a day for years, allowing milk vendor to accept a cheque monthly rather than so much cash ( yes 40d was well worth pinching!) each day.
And in 1963/4 when i was flatting, a leg of lamb was 7 and 6d.
crikey that's impressive memory and track record.
good to have on this site.
Coarse wool ( which is most wool not off a merino) is about $2.80 a kg at the moment.
Not old enough to remember the fifties, but growing up in the sixties, my parents, with one earner, on less than half the average wage at the time, were able to buy 6 pints of milk daily, plenty of bread and other food, and put a lamb roast to feed at least eight, on the table every Sunday.
People on similar income, from two earners today, would be paying half their weekly food budget, after rent, for one roast.
In the '60's NZ was still being propped up by the UK. Today we have no such safety net.
You mean we were selling them quality produce, in return for their shoddy manufactured goods. Little has changed, apart from the countries we are selling to.
I would have a good think about which country was "propping up" the other, if I were you?
We were selling them quality produce in return for foreign exchange. The UK basically provided our high standard of living. They didn't need us at all. As for their ‘shoddy’ goods, you have a very short memory. Remember Tri-Ang, Corgi and Meccano toys, Morris and Austin motor cars, the Beatles (and hundreds of others). They did very well by the world did the UK.
I remember 2 shillings for a pound of butter and a shilling for a loaf of bread. 4 pence for a pint of milk. Nine pence for a seat in local movie theatre. Lamb was cheap and chickens only for special occasions.
2 cents (thats right, cents ) for a pint of milk…mind you wages were equally low.
It is important to remember that when this 'regime' was in place we had a very compressed remuneration structure which included a top tax rate of 60 cents in the dollar….and capital controls. Some of the solutions from the past are relevant….as are some of the lifestyle impacts.
Hi Denis, follow the money….
Look who was talking about "predators" in 1994
Starts at the 0:30 mark….
Speaking of manufacturing, the past and future and wool.
It is such a great fibre and massively undervalued.
The rise of the plastic/fossil fuel based clothing has to have reached its peak. Surely a clever marketing crowd can put that message across.
Unsustainable vs organic. Foreign sourced vs made in Aotearoa.
All the different businesses/people that would be involved. Farmers, shearers, science (R&D), manufacturing….
Combined with a hemp product it would be unstoppable.
we've been trying for 50 years without success
Cheap plastic vs expensive bespoke organic fibres
A choice few can afford
Boots theory?..we seem to have lost the ability to apply it.
But you are right to observe that price will be even more of a factor in the current environment.
So here's how the Democrats are trying to impress voters: "government programs in the United States—even those supported by the purportedly pro-government party—are not designed to solve problems. Rather, they are designed to solve a given problem only to a degree—and that degree can’t require an amount of spending that would necessitate financial sacrifice on the part of high-income taxpayers. This is not a leftist conspiracy theory, but the overt position of the party’s leaders, who believe they will not be able to achieve crucial voting margins in upscale suburbs if they authorize too much taxation and spending." https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/coronavirus-stimulus-failures-hit-professional-class.html?via=features
"To put it cynically, the job of much Democratic legislation is to make liberal voters of means feel good that something is being done for the less fortunate, not necessarily to actually do that thing."
"Some people might really benefit, but the process of doing so will be time-consuming and byzantine, and will only affect their overall life situation at the margins. (Consider the “free college in New York state” program that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo often takes credit for starting. Seventy percent of those who apply to the program are rejected—and it doesn’t cover the costs of housing or class materials, but you also can’t participate in it if you’re a part-time student, i.e., someone who needs to work on the side to cover the costs of housing and class materials. During his 2018 reelection campaign Cuomo belittled his opponent’s proposal to raise taxes on incomes over $1 million a year and called it a political “nonstarter.”)"
"Voters who might need better benefits have the choice of either accepting these as the best they can get or not voting at all, because the other party wants new programs to be inadequate on purpose—and wants to cut back the ones that do work, like Social Security and Medicare—so as to “incentivize” individuals to work harder to get a job or to get a better job or to save more. The choice is between drowning gradually or all at once."
But hey, Democrats are the progressive option, apparently. "“Our constituents have a lot of questions about where the hell this $3 trillion is going and why it isn’t coming into their pockets,” Pennsylvania Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon told Politico in an article about rank-and-file Democratic backlash against the party’s limited stimulus efforts."
Zero!
Zero new cases today!
WOOT!
Downside of that: those sociopaths who ignore the rules will get new recruits. Did you see those figures for the number of parties on saturday night complained about? Plenty of folks have a `been there, done that' attitude to social distancing…
either we will have a spike in infections which will be traceable to those parties and we go back to L4 and people learn to stop being dicks, or we don't have a spike because the curve was sufficiently flattened and we carry on figuring it all out as we go along and some people politicise the issue and we go back to the old macho politics (except Labour are in charge, with St Jacinda at the helm, lol).
I'll raise a glass to New Zealand. Well done
Then several glasses to JA and AB
I agree with this man and so does my wife!
Lovely Beef Stroganoff tonight thankyou Sanctuary.
We just celebrated too! Extra treats for lunch and I've knocked over my last bottle of Corona!
My partner said "Guess how many we got today" and I could just hear the zero answer in her voice.
28 days of this 0.00 and I'll be getting the champers out of the fridge. I'm picking that we may stay at level 3 until after the queens birthday weekend.
Saw some figures way back (for Aus) which indicted that lockdown compliance needed to be 70% or above to reduce transmission – we look like we went through level 4 in the high 90's – which makes the track to 0.00 faster. So if level 3 means we have dropped but are still above 70% we will get there but the more compliance the quicker.
Time to roll out the ad campaigns " play to the whistle" , " game not over yet" "fancy going to the beach this summer?" – make it really clear that we are close to full time but need that extra push just to get us there
Yes – brilliant. Now the plan to ensure that in those sectors of the economy that aren't coming back, nobody is left behind. The plan to ensure that after everybody has put in the effort, the result isn't that some people get to make out economically like bandits, while others go to the wall.
Hong Kong had zero for last two days,and 14 days with no local infection (cases being repatriation flights)
Clearly not a case of location.
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3082640/coronavirus-hong-kong-records-no-new-cases-sunday
A NZ doctor was responsible for HK's pandemic readiness as they had previous experience with Sars early 2,000's.
Taiwan no other countries were as well prepared.
A NZ doctor was responsible for HK's pandemic readiness as they had previous experience with Sars early 2,000's.
Taiwan and HK no other countries were as well prepared.
Desperate blame game rather lame
The PM working her magic again. Unusual times for sure, but this suggests her stance on AUS/NZ relations has not been as damaging as some alarmists on the right would have us believe.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300003988/jacinda-ardern-to-join-australian-national-cabinet-on-tuesday
I wonder if they'll seat her next to Dutton?
Fortunately for Ardern the meeting is a phone in, but an interesting turn of events all the same. It's my sense that quite a few Australian politicians are quietly grateful that Ardern has paved the way for SloMo to follow.
But the outcome is a good one, both countries have responded magnificently so far, at least to the best extent you might reasonably imagine. It’s set the stage for a major trans-Tasman refresh.
There are scarcely two nations on earth more tightly linked socially and economically, but we've allowed the political relationship to drift. This may well be a good chance to reset the politics, because I think in this coming unsettled decade we are going to need the relationship working at full strength.
Yes of course, a virtual meeting.
Certainly a common adversary helps focus common interests. If they get this trans tasman bubble working it could strengthen ties even further with each others citizens boosting badly damaged tourism sectors.
Australia's deportation policy is still a massive issue though.
Yes. The trick to sorting that issue will be getting the Australian public and politicians to start putting a higher value on their unique relationship with NZ. Ardern has raised our credibility enormously over here, almost everyone we have spoken with is aware of our govt's bold and gutsy approach. They respect that.
lol @ "SloMo" … their PMs are always good nickname fodder 😂
More seriously, there are stumbling blocks that both nations need to face up to in order to normalise & strengthen relations. Citizenship, border security, foreign policy, the FIRE sector, workers rights
I don’t think it’s so much that we’ve let the relationship drift on our side. It’s more a case of Australia thinking they have bigger fish to fry as they reach for middle-power status. At any rate, if this is a reset it’s welcome.
I think Scomo wants to bask in the positive "halo" effect around Jacinda. She's had a lot of good publicity so he may be wanting some of it to rub off on him. Suspect he needs it. Next Mike Pence will be wanting a phone in!!?
Mike Pants would be more likely to institute a trade war.
"this suggests her stance on AUS/NZ relations has not been as damaging as some alarmists on the right would have us believe."
Too many hilariously bad takes to choose from, especially after Ardern's last trip across the Tasman, where (shock!) a NZ PM spoke up for NZ. Here's one of the classics …
"Should she be returned to power, a prospect that looks remote, Jacinda Ardern has almost zero likelihood of a rapprochement with our PM." (The Australian, March 5 2020 – emphasis added).
(it's subscription only, but you can copy/Google the quote)
That says it all really doesn’t it? They’ve spent the last 3 years convinced she was just some weird aberration and that normal service would resume. Frankly I’m happy if they continue to underestimate her.
TDB's got a good appraisal of the reeferendum: "under this model almost everyone wins. Access to cannabis will be legal yet controlled, medical access gets easier and cheaper, current providers aren’t locked out and can go legal, social equity provisions are built in, overseas corporates are blocked, micro cultivators have a place, sales taxes support increased health and education and don’t just disappear to a general government fund, our police get better things to do, and people will have legal options other than alcohol." https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/05/04/cannabis-referendum-bills-recipe-for-success/
"A Yes vote will take away money and influence from organised crime, and it will reduce the dominance of our alcohol industry, and the pharma trade won’t be part of this. There won’t be cannabis stores on every corner. There won’t be a Big Cannabis industry. and imports won’t be allowed. Vertical integration will be banned, and advertising prohibited, so those who banked on a big corporate approach may be ruing their bets. Instead, this model supports local growers, producers and small businesses."
"The parties that make up the current Government have pledged to make the result binding. They’ve put forward the Bill, so they’re obviously supportive of it. Notably, the final version of the Bill has not backtracked on any parts of the earlier draft."
I'm surprised & pleased by the constructive collaboration of NZF. Well done, all involved in the process!
I seem to recall that in the early days of debate about legalisation especially in regard to medicinal cannabis that Grey Power (or a significant part of them) were strongly in favour, so this may have something to do with NZF's attitude.
So they should be. They were all smoking it, back in the day.
not just back in the day. you would be surprised how much gets used in places like waikanae beach.
Not really surprised.
See the hypocrisy around me almost every day. Employers complaining about young employees doping and drinking. They would never have passed a drug test, back in their day.
Personally I think permitting one entity to control 20% (one-fifth) of the market is too much, This should be reduced to 10-15%.
It's also a shame about the gummy bears….
Yeah I'm with you on reducing the possibility of cartel formation like petrol retailers, but I assume the regulator will keep an eye on that tendency. Unlike the USA, we are small enough a democracy that regulator-capture isn't obviously happening.
Yet Mullah Bob al-McCroskie of the Christian Taliban is still not happy. If he had his way, people with a spliff in their pocket would be publicly flogged in Aotea Square.
Let those without a skin cast the first stone(er).
Take heed of the fate of Oedipus.😉
what is it with powermad christians and flogging ? isnt he the loving father who wants to relegalise giving your kids a love punch?
Remember RussiaGate?
A wee while back the case against the IRA was dropped, and now we find out that the outgoing administration, through the FBI, deliberately set up Flynn on minor crimes of process which they then used to puff up their whole Russia conspiracy crap.
Farrar watch:
David reduced to complaining about Hezbollah and their possible influence in New Zealand.
Dd you expect him to headline a certain poll?
With his 400 commenters a blog.
But the lack of those involved anymore in current events and their alienation from organised society in the Rogernomics era is just an open door to bullshit, and the Right has the copyright on that.
Simon's been quiet after today's announcements. Perhaps Crosby Textor have advised him not to jump on the soap-box so soon this time.
The craft industry has promise, based on a long tradition of quality and uniqueness and I'm hoping will continue the Covid 19 rebirth of knitting and other handcrafts. The luxury goods market will not die. A hand knitted item from locally grown, spun and dyed fibres posted to a status conscious consumer overseas with cash to spend and rellies and friends to impress or gift could be a nice little earner.
https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/research/crafting-aotearoast
Blood test today, what a nightmare, queue in the rain, people pushing past to front, maybe texted because its their turn. No staff long wait. In and out same tiny entry. If it was a burger bar would be shut down, Privatisation, lowest tender wins, all for profit. I should have flagged it but its a time dependant test.
"In other words many businesses – whether S&P 500 companies or small and medium-sized enterprises – will be rendered insolvent by the pandemic. No amount of liquidity, however, cheap, will avert that fate.
There are estimates that about 16 per cent of US listed companies either couldn’t cover their interest costs or barely covered them even before the crisis has cost them months of lost cash flow.
With the likelihood that any recovery will be slow and halting rather than the "V-shaped" recovery US markets had been pricing in since March 23, it is probable that the pandemic will cut swathes through corporate and Main Street America, along with similar impacts, albeit to differing degrees, on the rest of the world’s economies."
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/bandaids-not-cures-the-economic-reality-of-the-pandemic-may-have-set-in-for-investors-20200504-p54pki.html
Hey, Chris Findlayson, remember that time you let Police exercise power over Nicky Hager without the legal authority to do so?
Right underneath Nicky Hager, who seemed to be the start and finish of the Prime Minister’s security concerns.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/05/coronavirus-troubling-arrests-during-lockdown-undermine-rule-of-law-in-new-zealand-former-attorney-general.html
People like Tinkerbell are really over reacting here. Making it sound like people are being snatched off the streets to be never seen again.
Starting to get other changes being made without full scrutiny – immigration, RMA
Bit of a worry
RIA
"In fact, nobody upheld the public-health interventions as long as they should have. San Francisco reduced mortality by at least 25% – the highest rate among US cities. But, rather than reinforcing its commitment to its interventions, this success led the city to cancel its restrictions in November; a second, much deadlier wave of infections followed in December and January. Had San Francisco sustained its social-distancing rules for longer, the National Academy of Sciences estimates, it could have cut the death toll by 95%."
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/04/how-to-avoid-a-w-shaped-global-coronavirus-recession
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” George Santayana famously quipped in 1905….. all those clamouring for level 2 and trans tasman travel might want to consider such.
Pat Science and truth is better than politicians and BS
Science and truth are also superior to business self interest and deception…the question is , where do those making the decisions stand?
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Global warming is still having big negative effects yet we still don't have efficient plans to minimise Global warming.
We are lucky to have the 21st century commutation devices to help businesses function during isolation there are many ways to make money using the Internet.?????.
That's is cool a company making a more cost effective ventilator in Aotearoa.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
That would be good tourists travel between Australia and Aotearoa.
I think our tamariki will be safe going back to school.
We had big thunder storm last night.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
It good seeing tangata moving back to their whenua.
Chur bro great mahi.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora The Am Show.
That's is cool that person gifting $100 dollar notes. The people that needed it would take the money.
That's correct climate change will make some countries very hostile to lives outside of air conditioned building.
That's a good video.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Newshub.
I would not gamble like Sweden is with people lives.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I think that our government will help Maori through these hard times.
I quite like Troy's waita
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Its great to see grass roots sports getting a funding boost.
Regenerative Agriculture will be a great way to protect our environment for the many generation to come and create more mahi
Ka kite Ano