It was five dollars a night for a meal and a bed. Fifty to a room, two rooms to a floor, and four floors high. There was a rooftop to jump from or streets to die slow in. An axe murder that week narrowed the streets odds considerably; the dismemberment of limbs signalling more than the frustrations of poverty run amok. We sat on the rooftop smoking weed, gazing down at the nervous prostitutes.
I did a gig with Steady Eddie. I got into town, phoned a comedy club and scored an open mic spot for the next week. After the phone call I went to 'volunteer' at a homeless mission in exchange for a room and meals, as I'd done at a sister fellowship in Brisbane. "Oh no", she said through armoured glass. "This is Sydney, we have far more homeless here and many of them are mental patients. All our staff are trained professionals. Five bucks a night, dinner at six."
The last time I saw Steady Eddie I was a teenager sneaking into The Hillcrest Tavern in Hamilton, NZ. Now I was a homeless man sneaking to avoid a deranged killer while navigating King's Cross. I'd managed to land a day helping a builder lug gib up some stairs for pocket money, and for the gig I'd get a couple of beers. Sure, the axe murderer was a risk: but this was a gig and a couple of beers.
The manager said, "everything went great until you started singing". I drank my beer and watched the rest of the show. Eddie arrived with an attractive blonde shortly before his closing spot. He was hilarious and then he was drinking at the bar. We chatted a little. I liked him. I told Eddie my singing sucked, and he told me his was worse – but he was currently in the charts, and we laughed. Eddie left with two blondes and a 40 oz of bourbon. I took a cab back to the shelter with one eye on the meter.
"Stop here" I said. I got out on the pavement not far from the shelter. I grabbed my guitar and bag and took stock, then a double take. The cab pulled off to leave me standing there with a dozen prostitutes lining the street all the way to the corner; and they had seen me flinch.
"Hi Honey, you want some of this", began the first as she lewdly grabbed at me. "I've got no money." I stammered as I jostled guitar and bag, hands busy and thus helpless. "Well you can do me for your jacket." Says the next as she pulls her top up to reveal breasts bursting from a red lace bra. "No no," says the third, "you can do me for your guitar" as she lifts her skirt and sidles a bare ass toward me. I pick up the pace. The suggestions and sideshow get bluer as I progress. The hands are all over me, tits, ass, pussy; rubbing and thrusting through lace and lycra. Then I am at the corner, turgid, broke, frustrated, alive. I head for the mission as laughter rang down the alley.
My guitar and bag got locked up. I had permission to arrive late and a security guard escorted me up to the room. Softly, slowly, through the lines of broken men I inched over to the empty cot. My clothes and shoes went in the small cupboard beside the single bed, one shoelace tied to my hand and the other end to the cupboard door.
I dreamed I was on stage at the club with an audience full of prostitutes. The microphone wasn't projecting my voice but the ladies howled with laughter at the erection in my pants. One of them came up to the stage and tugged at my hand to draw me down amongst them. I woke to my hand being tugged by the shoelace as I opened my eyes a slit. A junkie was crouched in the dim light, quietly trying to undo the knot on my cupboard door. I punched down hard to the side of his face where his jaws met, knocking him to the floor. "Fuck Off" I said as he hit the floor. He scrambled backward: "I was only looking to see if you had any cigarettes, man" he lisped. "Fuck off now". He slithered off into the dark. The man in the next bed coughed and murmured. "Good job, son".
It was a schizophrenic guy Rafael Gavranovic who attacked at least three, but was found not guilty by means of insanity.
I can't find details of his residence, the Police were in that shelter a few times checking over resident lists to try find the guy. I guess only local cops and law would remember details that far back.
I had a guy lunge for me with a large knife there. I didn't even see him coming, had never met or spoke to him. Luckily security saw him pull the knife and took him down a couple of feet from me. Close call.
Maybe I punched his boyfriend? Staff kicked him out and told me he was a junkie and PTSD vet ‘with a few problems.’
IMO powerful writing, WTB. Definitely not too blue for the subject. The clean direct writing style is perfect and tells it as it is – or rather was. Anything more descriptive (eg descriptive adjectives etc) would lose the message IMO.
Is the collection of short stories to be all your own work, experiences? The short story is probably my most favourite genre and is one of the hardest to master as it has a tight framework to be achieved – and imo you have done it perfectly in the one above. I could 'feel' the experience.
A couple of friends of mine teach creative writing at Victoria and Massey Universities, and one in particular, specialises in the personal memoir and personal essay. I am going to copy your excerpt above to her and I think she will be impressed.
While writing the above, I realised that it reminded me of a little book of a similar nature I had and treasured years ago. It was a collection of short stories by/about a diverse group of people who were part of Wellington's so called 'underworld' back in the 1960s/70s – a world of small time crime, honour amongst thieves, madams who looked after their staff etc which was being overtaken by a darker, more drug driven element which eventually took over the old world. The book was a chronicle of the way life had been in that underworld and the consequences of its loss.
I knew a number of the people whose stories made up the collection – some of which were written by them personally and others were written as interviews by a local journalist who saw what was happening and was inspired to pull the book together as a memory of that part of Wellington's history. I cannot remember the name of the book, or the journalist, but your post has inspired me to try to track both down and refind that book. Probably well out of print etc, but somewhere in Wellington it will still exist. Archives NZ?
Keep going on this, WTB. It is an important part of both your own history and the social history of our country (and Australia).
Thanks for the compliments, I think my writing is finally maturing where it sounds like my voice not some Bukowski fan trying to emulate…
Bukowski could write a short story!
I interviewed Henry Rollins one time and he said of Bukowski that he only had one line 'life sucks and I'm drunk again' – he made a good point. Bukowski was flatting with the author Hubert Selby Junior (Last Exit to Brooklyn, Requiem For a Dream) and turned me on to his writing. 'The Demon' was a startling book.
For me, the attempted novel didn't work. The memories were all snapshots rather than a narrative. There was no thread only survival. Hence short stories.
The stories will be my experiences, and sidetracks to others stories where discussions are recalled. Still trying to 'capture' Sarge, a vet who showed young street people the ropes to survival on Sydney's streets. We downed a goon of wine while talking which didn't help…
I love it all!
I also had a chaotic childhood and young adulthood,nothing made sense , you had to be ready to run (wore a dress only about 3 times in my life, I reckon for that very reason)But I don’t regret it , and reading the sense of aliveness ,immediacy, and richness in your “snapshot”I don’t reckon you do either.
"For me, the attempted novel didn't work. The memories were all snapshots rather than a narrative. There was no thread only survival. Hence short stories."
The snapshot is much more powerful, imo. I like it far more than a full length historical type narrative. The snapshot allows the reader to participate in/savour/feel a moment in time, an experience. That is what happened to me when I read your snapshot above. The reader can then linger in the moment, think about it etc, before moving on to the next snapshot, with each snapshot possibly invoking a different experience. You have chosen well – don't let it go. Kia kaha
[Sorry, not trying to lecture – was just very moved by your post and want to see more!]
Correction – Rollins flatted with HSJ – not Bukowski. I doubt he'd have let him in his door. Rollins was quite hardcore straight-edge at that stage and had very poor opinions of drunks.
I turned up hammered for the interview. It was awkward but we got past it.
That's bloody awful. And then WINZ try shift blame to the helpers for this mess. They love to treat you with suspicion and prejudice, had my fill of these mongrels in the past.
Lol definitely you're top of the list. And incidentally the Murdoch cartoon this a.m. in the Nelson Mail/stuff seems to refer to the recentclimate change thumbs-down.
Excellent strategy from the Herald management. Put him behind the paywall so he can preach only at the converted. Since the battle for public opinion nowadays occurs in the middle ground, the rightists get to lose their champion & centrists won't have to roll their eyes at him any more. Win/win all round, eh?
I broke the other day and took the premium option with a local delivery paper on Sat – it will be clear at that end though that I never "opened" Hosking's rants before and won't now, there were just a few items of interest I wanted to keep up with.
Looks like the British electorate has now split into four more-or-less equal parts: Labour "was ranked fourth in a YouGov poll for The Times on just 18 per cent – its joint lowest level, matched only by Gordon Brown in the depths of the 2009 financial crisis. Labour trailed behind the Tories on 24 per cent, Brexit Party on 23 and Liberal Democrats on 20."
Is 18% for Labour a negative verdict on Jeremy's (lack of) leadership? Probably, but I vaguely recall Helen Clark scored around that prior to becoming PM. Could be he's playing the `slowly slowly catchee monkey' game.
Corbyn campaigned well in 2017. However it was mainly Labour versus a terrible Tory party campaign effort. Since then both the Tories AND Corbyn have impoded. I don't know how he will change that dynamic.
A character test for him, this crisis. The zen sidestep could yet work. I'd rather he told the nation what to do though. See how the news featured a woman brexiteer ranting about slavery to the EU this morning? So they're playing the freedom card.
Jeremy could cite `free to choose' as principled dogma, outflank the Tories on the right like Helen Clark did. Leftists acting like rightists is a known behavioural pattern since the '80s so voters are comfortable with it.
Equally he could steal a portion of the conservative electoral base by telling them independence means reverting to being told what to do by indigenous leaders rather than the Eurocrats. Tories love the lash of the whip so he could easily grab 10% of them with that type of leadership rhetoric.
Agreed he should do something. At the moment he is trying to play both sides of the aisle and it is simply not working for him. He looks weak and indecisive and more importantly losing support from the group of Labour activists who brought him to power.
I can't imagine the horrors some of these folk go through, but I do know they go through it to serve our country and protect the rest of us. These people deserve kindness, respect, assistance, and a place in the sun.
I can't imagine follow up is easy however. PTSD causes isolation, thus leaving one to one's own thoughts. The worst decisions are often born in isolation. Reaching out is so hard yet so vital.
"continuing to try and spread the message that it is ok to not be ok, and to ask for help."
virtue signalling?…..I think the signal is a little more explicit.
"Cull’s welcome speech was anything but welcoming.
“I’ve taken this opportunity to welcome you and this conference to Dunedin – not because I support all of the various plans and projects that will be promoted here, but so you can hear why some of those plans are not welcome here.
“So, to be clear, if you’re promoting fossil fuel exploration, extraction and exploitation – and especially its expansion – then understand you are at odds with this community and my council that represents it.”
He ended by calling fossil fuel exploration and exploitation a “dangerous and immoral folly”.
Cool – he has gone up in my estimation – a few mates in dunners don't like him for some reason. Leadership in action – good luck for the next few 'restful' years sir.
Much of the animosity seems to be from supporters of a local councillor who is "polarising", as in that many people think the councillor is a dickhead, but his supporters think he walks on water.
Possibly, he was anti-stadium. But most of the people who knock him that I've encountered were also anti-stadium. Maybe he wasn't anti enough for their tastes. But the ongoing financing of the stadium has been questionable. He has been pro one or two other developments that were pretty controversial, ISTR.
I've never had too much problem with him either way. Just seems to be pretty bland, nothing too amazing but a solid worker. There are other councillors who are more polarising, and then the usual bunch whose passion for original projects is inversely proportional to the proximity of the next election.
So how about we have a nationalised forest service to implement our aspirations to plant 1 billion trees?
Including research, nurseries, engineers, maintenance crews, millers
Instead of planting short rotation pines, we plant long term hardwoods, mixed native plantations that don't get clear felled but selectively logged for high end use, and we leave the pines and other conifers much longer for their heartwood, thus removing the need for treating with poisons.
Only a nationalised industry can do this, opting for long term gains over short term profit.Once set in motion, its in perpetuity, dedicated forestry land publicly owned cant be turned in to dairy or whatever new short sighted bonanza shows up.
And what say we have dedicated plantations for all future public buildings , schools, housing, libraries etc, getting away from carbon emitting concrete?
Each generation plants for future generations , so there's continuity.
We grow mushrooms ,or rather , we facilitate them , medicinal and otherwise as a sideline
Good thinking, Francesca. I've often wondered why pine replacement doesn't happen – just short-termism or is growing alternative trees just too hard here? I wonder if there's a relevant forestry lobby group, that could push policy from a resilience perspective instead of status quo complacency.
As regards mushrooms, nostalgia tempts me to advocate the magical, but realism reminds me there’s too many folk with vulnerable mental states. Would be interested in hearing from people with expertise in the potential benefits of diverse species of mushrooms though.
And apparently the quality of NZ grown oak, despite fast growth is pretty good
We have a history of chasing short term gains , boom and bust cycles
Maybe its our youth as a country.
In the UK oak forests are attached to Universities , with repairs, future building, roof replacement in mind.This was instituted back in an era where there was a different perception of time
We modern day desperadoes want it all now, with no thought for the morrow
And we have created a world that mirrors that – we have cut down our future to the day after next year. Changing fixed minds based on 20th century thinking is almost impossible, I think one has to smile and go round them.
Trying to keep that in mind while still planning rationally for the near future is the hardest thing.
Taranaki farmers were saved from going broke once by the export of wood ear fungi to China. There are a range of fungi we could grow for a range of purposes.
One interesting emerging idea is to use fungi to devour waste streams while making packaging and other materials.
Another is to use fungi as part of bio-remediation on riparian edges and elsewhere.
There's medicinal fungi of many types, and huge markets for them in Asia. Western medicine is slowly coming on board when they can isolate compounds and make exorbitantly priced products.
There's insecticidal fungi we can use for research and bio-control.
There's turning forestry slash to topsoil.
Then there's food.
Off the top of my head…
There's psilocybin mushrooms in my front garden… I did not put them there but lol, maybe they recognised me and moved in.
I had a look through Lincoln staff and programs once thinking that is where they would have a good silviculture program but it seemed to feature pines. We like to stick to the good idea, keep it going.
Fransesca said so rightly:
Instead of planting short rotation pines, we plant long term hardwoods, mixed native plantations that don't get clear felled but selectively logged for high end use, and we leave the pines and other conifers much longer for their heartwood, thus removing the need for treating with poisons.
Only a nationalised industry can do this, opting for long term gains over short term profit.Once set in motion, its in perpetuity, dedicated forestry land publicly owned cant be turned in to dairy or whatever new short sighted bonanza shows up.
Facts about the effect of planting pine trees and harvesting them leaving the land bare: A Tasman District Council and NIWA study released in 2018 found that recently harvested pine forests along with bank erosion were responsible for a high proportion of sediment in the Waimea Inlet, which is the largest semi-enclosed coastal estuary in the South Island. Coverage of very soft mud in the inlet soared from 10ha in 1999 to 551ha in 2013….
Jones said the national tree-planting programme was "on-track" to have 80,000 trees planted by the end of the current season, with 65,000 trees already planted.
“This new quantitative evaluation shows [forest] restoration isn’t just one of our climate change solutions, it is overwhelmingly the top one,” said Prof Tom Crowther at the Swiss university ETH Zürich, who led the research. “What blows my mind is the scale. I thought restoration would be in the top 10, but it is overwhelmingly more powerful than all of the other climate change solutions proposed.”
Crowther emphasised that it remains vital to reverse the current trends of rising greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and forest destruction, and bring them down to zero. He said this is needed to stop the climate crisis becoming even worse and because the forest restoration envisaged would take 50-100 years to have its full effect of removing 200bn tonnes of carbon."
but…
"However, some scientists said the estimated amount of carbon that mass tree planting could suck from the air was too high. Prof Simon Lewis, at University College London, said the carbon already in the land before tree planting was not accounted for and that it takes hundreds of years to achieve maximum storage. He pointed to a scenario from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 1.5C report of 57bn tonnes of carbon sequestered by new forests this century."
however…
"But tree planting is “a climate change solution that doesn’t require President Trump to immediately start believing in climate change, or scientists to come up with technological solutions to draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere”, Crowther said. “It is available now, it is the cheapest one possible and every one of us can get involved.” Individuals could make a tangible impact by growing trees themselves, donating to forest restoration organisations and avoiding irresponsible companies, he added."
It pleases me so much to see how many people are growing in ecological awareness and proffering practical solutions to move forward. Not just here in TS but all over the place.
RIP Simone – I'm sorry everything fell apart for you. You did some good work for refugees – thank you.
A human rights lawyer who was jailed after shouting racist abuse at Air India staff was found dead days after being released from prison, police have said.
Hopkins' disgusting views are consistent with those of Boris Johnson and the rest of those rats in the Conservative Party. She's a moderate compared to the likes of old Yenta Hodge and her vicious cronies.
Monbiot is a spineless fellow. He can't even do something that is decent (supporting the victim of an extermination campaign) without first paying lip service to the villainous lies perpetrated by the would-be exterminators.
Whether or not you like Assange's politics (I don't), or his character (ditto), the charges he faces in the US are oppressive and inimical to free speech. The UK should resist his extradition https://t.co/PKFdtisA22.
A greater environmental mind than you or I has put forward a good Arguement for nuclear power.
James Lovelock talked about the issue and containing the waste from nuclear. Contrasting that with the waste from gas/coal generation of electricity.
Granted, not here in Aotearoa, (go hydro).
I am starting to doubt some of yr proclamations, a coupla days ago a video was posted with Ben Shapiro and Andrew Neil.
Either yrself or yr protege opined that Shapiro came second in the discussion. I watched it and I thought Shapiro ran rings around Neil. I find a lot of Shapiro's views abhorrent, but he came across more competent and consistent than the senior journalist.
Brazil’s Bar Association, journalists and opposition lawmakers have reacted with outrage to reports that the country’s federal police plan to investigate the bank accounts of an American journalist who published leaked conversations between prosecutors and the graft-busting judge who is now Jair Bolsonaro’s justice minister.
The rightwing site the Antagonist (O Antagonista) reported on Tuesday that federal police had asked a money-laundering unit at Brazil’s finance ministry to investigate the “financial activities” of Glenn Greenwald.
Assange was never charged with rape. One is tempted to be charitable and say that such a vicious and ignorant slur is unworthy of you, but that would be a false statement.
Once again: when will you start pouring filth on Glenn Greenwald? Will you start now or will you wait for the morsels of disinformation to be fed to you from the Brazilian/U.S. authorities, as you did with the campaign against Assange?
Accusations Unlimited – is that your speciality. Why can't you give us time to come to the same opinion as you instead of insulting anybody different? Desist.
I don't think the Professor was "insulting anybody different", Mr Shark. He was simply posing the question: how long before these creeps start to pour filth on another government-designated target for destruction?
Is that a rhetorical question he was posing then, or you are? I have a feeling I am missing something here. It seemed to me that he was attacking Joe90 for something that he thought that Joe90 and others might do, like pouring filth on a speaker. Ugh.
He was attacking Joe90 not because of something he might do, but because of something he has actually done. (The latest examples of his pouring filth on a journalist is just above us on this thread, in messages 15.1.1 and 15.1.1.1.1)
Surprise surprise, the corruption prosecutions that resulted in Lula's imprisonment and his ineligibility to run were cooked up by the right.
On Sunday evening, The Intercept published a series of incendiary articles and documents purporting to expose massive problems of unethical behavior and political motives in Brazil’s Operation Car Wash—a five-year investigation into corruption at state oil company Petrobras, which resulted in the conviction of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Based on “a massive archive of previously undisclosed materials,” The Intercept is reporting that judge Sérgio Moro, hailed in Brazil, on the Time 100 list, and in a fawning 60 Minutes segment in 2017 as a paragon of courageous civic virtue, secretly aided the prosecution in Lula’s case, an egregious ethical violation in a justice system that depends upon the impartiality of the presiding magistrate. Moro has since been appointed Justice Minister in the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, a radical right-winger who won the presidential election in 2018 after Lula was barred from running.
Indeed: "incendiary articles" and exposing of "unethical behaviour and political motives" constitute a grave risk to the state. He'll have to be destroyed, just like Assange.
Could you explain: exactly why are you not on board with the state campaign this time?
Calling Adam – I know that you are there up at 11 but don't want to derail the thread there. Forget feeling crap under capitalism and feel great after rewatching this! Do you remember it Adam?
Adam posted this wonderful, wonderful dance video back on 26 June 2015 on Weekend Social and I refound it a few days ago when totally crap with a full-on dose of the common cold. It restored my belief that life is still worth living and the more I played it, the better I felt.
A must view. Thanks Adam
PS – I am still learning the new system, so if the above does not work, here is a link to Adam’s original comment with video.
One of the quirks of the current comment editor is if you want to link to a specific comment on TS, putting the link as a standalone paragraph strips the #commentnumber off the URL and turns it into a link to the OP.
But if you use the linking tool (that looks more like a misdrawn infinity symbol) or just include the link to a comment in a sentence like this /open-mike-05-07-2019/#comment-1634457 it correctly links to the actual comment.
Thanks for that tip. I assume you mean the symbol that looks like a paperclip next to the slashed S. I used that to put in the actual link to the video which eventually came up properly! But when it did not originally come up, I then edited the comment and the toolbar doesn't come up when I edit so cannot use the symbol. LOL. So I will know for the future when that happens to put the link into a sentence.
But that young woman is an amazing dancer! The ability to move bits of the body separately like they are all unconnected is not easy – and she is tops. The other videos of her both alone and with her dance partner are superb. Now off to find the Trump parade videos …
Now seen Joe90’s comment below – LOL
A while back I vaguely remember lprent explained that the delay in the image showing up for video, twitter links etc had something to do with the server having to go fetch the image and then put it into the cache, and there can be delays in some of the processes to make that happen.
Interesting what different people see that linking tool icon to be. I reckon there's a good chance that McFlock with his security background might be the only one of us that correctly interprets it as a short bit of chain at first glance.
I know it's supposed to be a chain link and when I work at it I can make myself see it as chain. But even though it's been there for months, every time I first glance at it I still see it as a misdrawn infinity. Funny how visual perception and mental shortcuts work.
You didn't derail it at all. But I have been so enjoying that video I wanted to thank Adam. He and I have had our spats, but it just brought me so much relief the other day, I wanted to share it and to acknowledge Adam for first putting it up.
I am laughing at what's happening in Washington DC – the sky gods are no fools!
Russian paranoia—you're donkey-deep in it as well. I was providing our friend, and the likes of yourself, with—by your lights—a reasonable explanation.
America is gonna need one all those rednecks have turned it into a symbol of hate.
It's not working people—scoffingly dismissed as “rednecks” by thoughtless rich pricks—that are spreading hate, but the soft, doughy white-collar bigots who have never worked in the sun in their miserable, privileged lives. People like Stephen Miller, Ben Shapiro, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump….
Is there a recipe for starting flame wars? I feel that the tone of the Perfesser is familiar. Or perhaps there is a tide in the affairs of men, and it washes up lumps of spite in blogs leaving a high water mark of see-weed.
USA, China, Australia… and so many more – why? They know what they have to do to win and that is destroy. Not just the actual people, but hope, respect, dignity.
China is deliberately separating Muslim children from their families, faith and language in its far western region of Xinjiang, according to new research.
At the same time as hundreds of thousands of adults are being detained in giant camps, a rapid, large-scale campaign to build boarding schools is under way.
Based on publicly available documents, and backed up by dozens of interviews with family members overseas, the BBC has gathered some of the most comprehensive evidence to date about what is happening to children in the region.
… In a large hall in Istanbul, dozens of people queue to tell their stories, many of them clutching photographs of children, all now missing back home in Xinjiang.
"I don't know who is looking after them," one mother says, pointing to a picture of her three young daughters, "there is no contact at all."
Another mother, holding a photo of three sons and a daughter, wipes away her tears. "I heard that they've been taken to an orphanage," she says.
Good work these crews and good report from Minister Sage on fbook.
Great progress is being made on cleaning up the Fox River since the Department of Conservation (DOC) took over managing the clean-up. Since then, Operation Tidy Fox has cleared 25 ha of rubbish between the Fox River Bridge and the confluence of the Cook River.
The team of daily volunteers has grown from fewer than 10 to around 50 people. Together they’ve picked up 55 fadges of rubbish, with each fadge weighing around 500kgs. (Fadges are like giant wool sacks).
It was good to thank and talk to the wonderful volunteer team and DOC staff in Fox Glacier yesterday. I look forward to the extra support the NZ Defence Force, working with DOC, is planning to provide in the coming weeks. And Government has also provided another $300,000, on top of the $300,000 provided earlier.
Watching a piece of the Trump Parade and it seemed to be pretty shambolic to me. Huge gaps and amatuerish participants. Funny that faces in parade seemed to be fuzzied out.
If EU politics is about incorporating the vote, & therefore you would think it's efficacy, then insular coalition bargaining before the vote is increasingly problematic when there is increasing fragmentation ( which of itself is not necessarily a bad thing ), & it seems like they have essentially a very good structure to take that into account overall if not the traditional method of using it that way.
Seems like some of the criticism is a mix of First Past the Post and Direct Democracy type asks that are being put forward theoretically, but to my understanding both applications of those models to what is being talked about seems misplaced.
Hopefully they can get over this bump and reap the increased benefits after a rocky few years.
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of a pretty flower, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a cute animal video. . . . =fs= ...
. . April 2: Day eight of living in lock-down… Today, my work day starts late. Our rosters and clients have been dramatically changed, lessening (theoretically) the number of people in our work “bubble”. If just one of us catches covid19 the impact could be considerable as Grey Base Hospital ...
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” Lenin Don’t we all know that feeling now.
Prospect Magazine alerted me to this particularly apt quote. It is a much more evocative quote than Hemingway’s “gradually then suddenly” which is also doing ...
Yesterday was the day the consequences of the lockdown suddenly got very real for many. Firms have been closing and laying people off since the outset of the quarantine but this has mostly been happening out of the public eye. The mass closure of a number of iconic New Zealand ...
Brian Williamson1, Prof Nick Wilson2 (1Economic consultant, UK; 2University of Otago Wellington)In this blog, we outline how a win-win social contract could be forged to address the major dimensions of response to the COVID-19 pandemic when using a mitigation strategy: the particular need to protect older people from high ...
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...
No Free Society Without A Free And Functioning News Media: If we are to surrender our civil rights to the broader cause of defeating Covid-19, then foreign corporations must, likewise, surrender their right to inflict immense economic and cultural harm on New Zealanders simply because it improves their bottom line.I’M ...
by Daphna Whitmore A third of the world is under lockdown and a clear assessment of this measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 is urgently needed. With any high-stakes decisions it has to be asked what are we dealing with here? Are the measures warranted? Will they achieve their ...
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...
The swan politicians may be gliding on the water, occasionally snapping at one another. Meanwhile, as the Covid19 crisis illustrates, the officials are desperately paddling below providing the real locomotion. One of the most fatuous recent grandstanding comments (of about a week ago), adding to the public’s anxieties, was ...
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it at any length. In particular, I point to the evidence ...
Today has felt surreal. I was all set to touch base online with my science communication students when a colleague shared the news that Bauer Media would be shutting down its publications immediately. The first link I saw implied it was Woman’s Weekly affected, and even that shocked me. But ...
Bogeymen, Real And Imagined: Is the number of psychopathic and sociopathic individuals in any given society truly as vanishingly small as we like to tell ourselves? Isn’t it more likely that the mass-shooters and serial-killers filling the headlines represent only the tip of a much, much larger iceberg of frightfulness? ...
Outgoing Police Commissioner Mike Bush appeared before the Epidemic Response Committee today, who asked him for the rules police are using to enforce the lockdown. He refused:Police Commissioner Mike Bush has admitted the advice given to Kiwis about what they're able to do during the lockdown hasn't been clear enough. ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of my cat, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a pretty flower. . . . =fs= ...
. . April 1: Day seven of living in lock-down… This morning I had a brief chat with one of my neighbours, “D” (social distance between us, a good three or four metres). I learned he had resigned from his previous job and had been hired by another company – ...
Funnily enough, my thought as I start this post is whether it will be well written enough. Or should that be well enough written? Because so much of what I know about good writing came from my two stints at The Listener, which this morning was shut down due to ...
With normal democratic procedures in abeyance, there were two ways to go. First, it was open for the government to dissolve itself and invite the National Party to join a ministry of national salvation. That would have lessened the democratic deficit of the times by having a team of rivals without ...
Dr Kirsty Ross Children and young people can respond differently in times of distress. This also varies by age and developmental stage, with younger children having more magical and imaginative thinking, and older children having more awareness and knowledge of the issues our communities are facing (which brings up ...
Hungary has been a virtual dictatorship for a decade now, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has gradually eroded its democracy. But now, its official, with the passage of an indefinite emergency law allowing rule by decree:Hungary’s parliament has passed a new set of coronavirus measures that includes jail terms for ...
While the economy is on pause under lockdown, the government is beginning to plan how to cope with the post-lockdown, post-tourism, post-export education world we will eventually find ourselves in. They're planning a lot of infrastructure spending as economic stimulus, and have asked for proposals which can start the moment ...
It's my distraction, setting up tiny scenes to photograph. I've got stuck on the Babushka dolls for now. Something about their bubble shape. Something about their never changing, smiling features, suggesting persistent equanimity. Can we get through everything that is being thrown at us and keep at least a tiny ...
. . March 31: Day six of living in lock-down… This time I managed to sleep a little longer and the alarm woke me at the pre-set time: 6.55am. Then remembered I was working a later shift and could’ve slept in. Oh well, there are things to do at home. ...
Image credit:Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ...
Yesterday's Horizon poll showing support for a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum sliding into the majority for the first time in a year looked like good news for reformers – and it probably is. But the result warrants some scrutiny.The poll is the fifth in a series commissioned ...
For almost a week now, every one of us who isn’t an essential worker has been confined to their bubble. We are allowed to go shopping for groceries, to visit the doctor, and to get a bit of exercise if we stay local. The reason we are doing this is ...
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...
In the absence of a vaccine or a cure for a deadly disease, staying home in your bubble is what you do, the concept is not new. To the best of my knowledge last time we did this in NZ was for polio, in the years before a vaccine came ...
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...
This has been a terrible summer for Hector’s dolphins. The first indication was very low numbers of dolphin sightings during late spring and early summer. The Otago University Marine Mammal Research Team has carried out routine dolphin surveys at Banks Peninsula for more than 30 years. In all that time, ...
On March 17, Finance Minister Grant Robertson was quick out of the blocks with an economic rescue package to help businesses through the inevitable recession resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Robertson had pulled together a scheme in short order that so far seems to have saved many jobs. In his ...
The purpose of the lockdown is to save lives, by reducing the spread of covid-19. We won't know if its really working for another week, but given the devastation that will result if it doesn't - 14,000 dead is the optimistic scenario - its definitely worth trying. But pausing the ...
. . March 30: Day five of living in lock-down… Woke up still in darkness. Alarm hadn’t gone off. Turn to radio clock; it’s a few minutes after 6am… I lie there in the dark, waiting to drift off to sleep… but it ain’t happening. Clock ticks over to 6.55 ...
The story of Les Gray, the public sector psychologist who told the truth about his use of cannabis and set off a storm, has a special place in the lore of cannabis reform in New Zealand.When Paul Shannon interviewed Gray for the 'Dope and Hope' issue of Planet magazine in ...
by Phil Duncan For Marxists, a key concern about social trends is their context – not just their causes, but why they happen when they do. Events and phenomena have causes, but they also are time or period-specific. While much of the left have capitulated recently to postmodernism, most notably ...
Since the lockdown began, we've all suddenly been reminded who the actually essential workers in our society are: not the people at the top who pay themselves the big bucks and rort the perks, but the people at the bottom they screw over and squeeze: cleaners, warehouse staff, truck drivers ...
Kia ora! As I've watched nearly all my remaining work vanish over the past couple of days, it has occured to me that one good way to keep me away from arguing with fools on Twitter all the time (in the knowledge that all we're really doing is processing our ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to extirpate the virus that causes COVID-19 from its shores. To do that, as a society we’ve moved to “Level 4”. That means adapting to unprecedented restrictions on our personal freedoms, particularly to our rights to move freely and associate with friends and ...
When the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency last week, she handed the police powers to enforce it. And almost immediately, we started hearing about heavy-handed, arbitrary "enforcement" by police who (at best) cared more about order than law, or (more likely) had no idea what the rules were ...
. . Lock Down: Day 4 – A photo essay with observations . March 29: Usual wake up routine as RNZ snaps on my radio-clock. Jim Mora’s voice slowly enters my conciousness; there’s talk of a second wave of covid19 taking hold in South Korea; the week in Parliament – ...
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... ‘Misinformation kills’: The link between coronavirus conspiracies and climate denialGrist / Rob Kim / Stringer / CSA Images Scientific ...
The kids did surprisingly well today – meltdown count was about 3, and mostly fairly short ones. (And a fourth while I was writing.) Game-wise I had a go at Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark. It’s a fairly standard RPG with turn-based combat and what they call a “mature storyline” (it ...
by Don Franks Hi David, Nice hearing from you, I’m glad to hear you’re getting by okay in these grim times. You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand. You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and ...
. . Lock Down: Day 3 – A photo essay with observations . March 28: First day of the first weekend in Lock Down. It feels like it’s been weeks since only Level 3 was declared last Tuesday, only four days ago. Woke up this morning to RNZ; coffee; toast, ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 22, 2020 through Sat, Mar 28, 2020Articles Linked to on FacebookSun, Mar 22, 2020In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of Disasters by Chelsea Harvey, ...
I’m here in lockdown with my flatmate and her two girls (6 and 2) and it. is. a time. They’re usually really active so to start with the only boardgame in the house is the copy of Guess Who that the 6 year old got for her birthday. Flatmate commented ...
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...
. . Lock Down: Day 2 – A photo essay with observations . March 27 – Day 2 of our Strange New World. The Park and Ride near my suburb, usually filled with hundreds of vehicles, had just… four; . . Another drive into Wellington City on a highway nearly ...
Fortune's Children: Under extraordinary pressure, the leader of the Government and the leader of the Opposition will each show us what they are made of. Have they been blessed with intelligence, grace, wit, poise, toughness, empathy and humour – and in what measure? More importantly, to what extent have they ...
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of having to rent a property on the open market in New Zealand, which is one of the most expensive in the entire world, you’ll likely be keenly aware of just how arrogant and entitled landlords and their real estate agents can be.Unfortunately for ...
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights:In this legal blog we outline some ...
by Equipo Jurídico Pueblos and Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (25/03/2020) An escape plan in question On the night of March 21st and the early morning of the 22nd, the forces of the Colombian state stormed into the Modelo prison in Bogotá, murdering 23 prisoners and injuring 83, in response to the ...
When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...
. . Lock Down: Day 1 – A photo essay with observations . Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief ...
Broad, Sunlit Uplands: How those words fired my young imagination! Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say: how those words fused, in my young mind, with the image printed on every packet of Fielder’s Cornflour. Always fascinated by history, especially modern history, I cannot hear Churchill’s wonderfully evocative words, even ...
. . 24 March 2020 9.46AM Number of covid19 cases in Aotearoa New Zealand: 102 . As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home. I will not be ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections A respected research group, Project Drawdown, finds that deploying solutions consistent with meeting the Paris climate targets would cost tens of trillions of dollars globally. But crucially, those outlays would also yield long-term savings many times larger than the up-front costs. The new 2020 Drawdown ...
It will pass. What happens next? Not immediately, but longer term. There are many opinions, fewer certainties. Will it “change everything!” as many confidently, and contradictorily predict? In this post I look at how foresight can help bound some of the uncertainties so you can more objectively consider the future. ...
We’ve been meaning t write something on Cuba and the coronavirus but have just discovered a very good article on the subject in the US left publication Jacobin. The article looks at how Cuba, a poor country but one where capitalism has been done away with, is leading the way ...
In 2018, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey - two British citizens who had purportedly been stripped of their citizenship by the British government - were captured while fighting for Isis in Syria. The British government then conspired to hand them over to the US, and agreed to provide evidence ...
Transformers: The disaster of the Great Depression was transformed into a new and fairer society by the democratic socialism of the First Labour Government. The disaster of the Covid-19 Pandemic offers a similar transformative possibility to the Labour-NZ First-Green Government. Seize the time, Jacinda! You will never have a better ...
Tamper with The System? Well, we already are. But there's a difference between accidentally trickling sand into a precision gearbox versus formulating a plan to alter it on the fly with improvements in mind. One action is more or less innocently unscrupulous, the other amenable to earning an easy ...
Associate Prof George Thomson, Louise Delany, Prof Nick WilsonWhile it is possible that New Zealand can use intense public health controls to eradicate COVID-19 from the country – we must also plan for other scenarios where thousands of New Zealanders are sick – including many urgently hospitalised.1 Better resilience ...
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...
We're about to do something unprecedented as a nation. We hope that by taking this extraordinary action before a single life in New Zealand has been lost to the deadly novel virus we will save tens of thousands of lives. Our lives. We'll do it together, in households, in isolation ...
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”So writes the author of Ecclesiastes, a book in the Old Testament that’s counted as a ‘wisdom’ book and written as if by an unnamed king of Jerusalem. But who would have thought there would be a time ...
I was surprised when the prime minister described the Economic Response to Covid-19 package as the ‘largest peacetime government spend in New Zealand's history’. Reflecting – checking through history – I realised that the term ‘spend’ was crucial and the package had no income tax cuts. Even so, it has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world".Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...
The domestic travel ban has been lifted for stranded foreign tourists trying to get to international airports to fly home, after the Coalition Government announced a plan to help the tens of thousands of foreigners stranded here. Foreign Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters spoke with RNZ's Susie Ferguson said foreign ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters believes the country is rediscovering its resilience and self-reliance through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.He says he is heartened that the mass majority of New Zealanders are following lockdown rules and that the government looking at the future, including paying to keep much ...
New Zealand can emulate the success of the US after the Great Depression by exploiting our own resources to turn the economy around quickly, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr. Peters told Magic Talk that New Zealand has an opportunity to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic a "superior, ...
All 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel are either on their way back to New Zealand, or already in the country, according to Defence Minister Ron Mark."Twenty-eight personnel arrived back in New Zealand last week and are in isolation at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in ...
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...
We know people are feeling anxious about COVID-19. While the situation is serious, New Zealand has a world-class health system and we’re well-prepared to keep New Zealanders safe. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
As New Zealanders brace for a global downturn due to Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says his Coalition Government’s rescue package "more significant" than any other he's seen around the world. The Coalition is to reveal a multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan on Tuesday afternoon designed to cushion the economic blow ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government.This article ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Welcome to the second edition of our lockdown Top 10s. A reminder that this chart has nothing to do with sales or launches or the publishing cycle; these are just books the Unity team love – and this week it’s westerns, full of big skies and long rides and showdowns.AUCKLANDAll ...
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster’s plan to cover revenue shortfalls through borrowing without cutting low priority spending is immoral, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “Businesses and households across the country are meeting financial challenges ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin John Brophy, Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, University of Melbourne “Katrina, I had in mind a prayer, but only this came,” Bruce Dawe wrote to his infant daughter, new-born, in intensive care, her life in the balance, declaring as poets must ...
The shock closure of Bauer NZ – and with it all of the country’s current affairs magazines – is a stark reminder of the fragile state of local media, writes Mel Bunce, the author of a book on the subject.It is a dark week for journalism in New Zealand, with ...
Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Rāmere/FridayWe made it to the end of week one e te whānau. It wasn’t that hard! In fact it was… Māori made easy.To end our week of pronunciation practice we’re going to revisit everything we ...
India faces more challenges battling Covid-19 than any other country in the world. With 1.3 billion inhabitants, hundreds of different languages spoken, and an estimated 80% of the workforce daily wage earners currently without jobs, it could be a recipe for disaster.I’ve been living in India for more than three ...
By Sri Krishnamurthi of Pacific Media Watch The Vanuatu government is using the Covid-19 to impose draconian measures and authoritarian rule by end of last month. Wholesale censorship of all Covid-19 related content has been instituted. Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) took the extraordinary step to ...
People with lower credit scores increased their borrowing upon news of the lockdown, while those with higher scores dropped away. March data from the credit-reporting agency Centrix, which runs credit checks on behalf of banks, finance companies, online lenders, and buy now pay later schemes, showed credit inquiries dropped sharply ...
Small business owners say commercial rent relief is desperately needed if they are to survive past the Covid-19 disruptions. While the wage subsidy helped with staff costs, there is currently no government assistance for commercial rent - which typically accounts for 40 percent of a firm's fixed costs. Landlords and ...
SkyCity is making 200 staff redundant as part of cost cutting because of the Covid-19 virus. The casino operator said it had no choice but to cut the size of the workforce given that once business resumes it will be at much reduced level. Chief executive Graeme Stephens said it's ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Glikson, Earth and paleo-climate scientist, Australian National University At several points in the history of our planet, increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have caused extreme global warming, prompting the majority of species on Earth to die out. In ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand. Today’s contentMedia Henry Cooke (Stuff): There’s no easy way for Government to save media drowning. But a fast fix is ...
Just after midday a cyclist was killed on a straight road on a clear day, after being hit by a van in North Canterbury. Lucinda Rees from NZ School Speeds is asking for the mandatory cyclist/vulnerable road user passing gap, which is in consultation, ...
By Indra Singh in Suva Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says that if Fijians continue to disregard the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic directives from authorities, a nationwide 24-hour curfew could be imposed. His comments come as Fiji yesterday recorded its two latest coronavirus cases, taking the total to seven. Bainimarama said ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Ōtaki author Renée.Yes, a few cyclists out and about. I remember my first bike bought from Farmers around 1942, five shillings a ...
Internal memos from NZ’s biggest magazine company, which announced its sudden closure yesterday, state they were lobbying to change a ban on publication. But the minister responsible, Kris Faafoi, has doubled down on rejecting that position, calling those internal communications ‘contradictory’ to what they said to him directly.Magazine publishing giant ...
Up to 100,000 foreigners could be seeking to leave the country in coming weeks, now the Government has relaxed domestic travel restrictions for them. ...
The loss of a loved one can be difficult in the best of times. But it’s even more painful when the planes are grounded.Late on Saturday night, three days into New Zealand’s level four lockdown, Harish got a call from his sister in India telling him that his father had ...
Health Minister David Clark has flouted the Government's advice to exercise locally after confirming he drove to a park to go mountain biking on Thursday. ...
Covid-19 cases top 1m; Trump brags he's #1 on Facebook and says he knows about the virus because a 'friend' got it; UK testing scandal grows; Cats more vulnerable to virus than dogsTicking up to a million cases: A gruesome landmark was passed today when we go over one million ...
“So do not fear, I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” Isaiah 41:10 COVID-19 - Lock down: one week on Welcome to the latest Policy Watch ...
Workers at the Port of Lyttelton are resisting the introduction of casual cargo handlers due to concerns about COVID19. RMTU South Island Organizer John Kerr says there is concern about a Lyttelton Port Company (LPC) proposal to "bring in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Strangio, Associate Professor of Politics, Monash University One of Australia’s preeminent historians, Stuart Macintyre, once observed of John Curtin, the Labor Party leader revered for navigating this nation through the dangers of the second world war, that he would have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoff Hanmer, Adjunct Professor of Architecture, University of Adelaide New research the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that SARS CoV 2, which causes the disease known as COVID-19 coronavirus, is more stable on plastic and stainless steel than on cardboard or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW The Australian government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy, estimated to cost A$130 billion, is a crucial measure to help keep the economy from completely cratering. But, even if COVID-19 is sufficiently under control for the economy to return ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gordon Menzies, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Technology Sydney During this pandemic, our twin health and economic crises require two different types of concern, and they operate differently. For the health crisis, a high level of concern is necessary. Saving lives ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Harriette Richards, University of Melbourne Times of instability and crisis produce increased nostalgia for the past. We long for a time that no longer exists, or never existed. Like melancholy, nostalgia is a sentiment of loss – one that’s particularly familiar to ...
RBNZ bans bank dividends; Who is next after Bauer's shock closure? Vital plan blocked; Commission wins in real estate price fixing case; Softbank walks out WeWorkNo you won’t: The Reserve Bank took the unprecedented step of prohibiting the banks from paying dividends during the coronavirus crisis or redeeming any ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Media reels after horror week, Wellington Council facing massive budget crunch, and highest single day of new Covid-19 cases.It had always been clear that this was going to be a difficult time for the media, with the Covid-19 downturn hitting ...
Former National Finance Ministers Steven Joyce and Bill English question the severity of the Covid-19 lockdown and ask whether the Government has an exit strategy. Andrew Patterson reports. Steven Joyce and Bill English have seen their fair share of financial crises and natural disasters as the last National Government's finance ...
There is no sign the government will tighten quarantine controls for those arriving at the border, in response to calls from the Opposition to quarantine and test everyone. ...
Two new cases of Covid-19 have been identified in Fiji, prompting a lockdown of its capital. Teuila Fuatai reports. Fijian health authorities are scrambling to identify close contacts of its latest two Covid-19 cases. The couple, from Nabua, Suva, appear unrelated to the country’s previous five. Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama ...
Christchurch is a city of contrasts, as some stretch their legs with smiles and others with suspicion. David Williams reports It was no surprise it happened in Christchurch’s student quarter. The smiles of those standing at their gates in Ilam Road broadened as a baby kayak strapped to a skateboard ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Suzanne McFadden speaks to two Kiwi 'bubbles' who have unanticipated - but serendipitous - housemates. Sue Bremner has found a silver lining to the brooding cloud of lockdown – it’s meant getting to know the sister who never knew she existed for almost 65 years. Englishwoman Bremner has found herself holed ...
As the walls go up around the world, global trade is feeling the effects. But beyond the short-term pain, what systemic change might we see? Sam Sachdeva reports. International trade was already facing headwinds before the spread of coronavirus - but the pandemic has knocked it well and truly off-course. ...
The decisions by German media giant Bauer to shut its New Zealand magazine operation and NZME’s axing of Radio Sport have been precipitated by the coronavirus. But, as Mark Jennings and Tim Murphy write, the closures are also due to the deeper problems of the local media industry. The sudden announcement ...
How long does it take to recover, how do you know you’ve recovered and can you catch Covid-19 twice? If you’ve had Covid-19 when are you officially recovered? Turns out there’s no test in New Zealand. It's judged by time of onset and last symptoms. How do I tick the ...
The first thing to note about the partying Queenstown backpackers is these acts of youthful rebellion are not an isolated phenomenon. As I write this on April 1, The Guardian is reporting on a group of people in their 20s who took the opportunity to celebrate Spring Break in the ...
Every Friday of lockdown, LockerRoom will share posts from Kiwi sportswomen who've caught our eye with novel ways of keeping on top of their game at home. This week we have Black Ferns making their own training equipment, a Kiwi professional cyclist virtually racing against riders around the world, and ANZ Premiership netballers calling their ...
Steve Braunias pays tribute to the Listener, closed yesterday in the wake of Covid-19's devastation of the economy. This piece to mark the end of the Listener is exactly how I started writing for the Listener: late at night, with instant coffee, in a state of shock. The shock then ...
The shockingly fast collapse of Bauer presents the government with a momentous choice, says Duncan Greive. Will it save the media industry, or concentrate on its own?This moment was always coming. The long, steady flow of advertising revenue to the tech giants has left the private sector media gaunt, much ...
A new app unveiled by the Government to dispense information about Covid-19 can be scaled up to help with pandemic tracking and diagnosing the illness, Marc Daalder reportsA Government WhatsApp channel revealed today will help carry information pertinent to the Covid-19 pandemic to the nation's smartphones - but that's ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As the COVID-19 transforms our individual lives, we are learning a few new things about ourselves as a society. We’ve known Australians suspect authority and, like other Western countries, have come to trust government less ...
About those handles and rails and communal areas …The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 crisis is only possible because of the support of members. If you can, please consider joining Spinoff Members here.As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Quinn, Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is changing how we live. With a rapid increase in cases, we are now isolating in our homes to “flatten the curve”. However, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In this special hour long podcast presented by Mark Evans, professor of governance and director of Democracy 2025, the panel discusses Australian democracy with Emeritus Professor Ian Chubb and Michelle Grattan. The panel dissects the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government will provide free child care in a move aimed at ensuring parents, especially in essential services, are able to keep working. More than 945,000 families with 1.3 million children will benefit. The new ...
Open mike 05/07/2019 
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...5 hours ago
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of a pretty flower, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a cute animal video. . . . =fs= ...6 hours ago
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...9 hours ago
Yesterday was the day the consequences of the lockdown suddenly got very real for many. Firms have been closing and laying people off since the outset of the quarantine but this has mostly been happening out of the public eye. The mass closure of a number of iconic New Zealand ...10 hours ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...11 hours ago
by Daphna Whitmore A third of the world is under lockdown and a clear assessment of this measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 is urgently needed. With any high-stakes decisions it has to be asked what are we dealing with here? Are the measures warranted? Will they achieve their ...17 hours ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...21 hours ago
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it at any length. In particular, I point to the evidence ...24 hours ago
46 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Global response of evapotranspiration ratio to climate conditions and watershed characteristics in a changing environment Greenhouse effect: the relative contributions of emission height and total absorption Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Climate change induced a ...2 days ago
Image credit: Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ... 2 days ago
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...2 days ago
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...3 days ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...4 days ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...6 days ago
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...7 days ago
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...7 days ago
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...1 week ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world". Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...4 hours ago
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...6 days ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...1 week ago
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...3 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government. This article ...59 mins ago
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...1 hour ago
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...2 hours ago
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...2 hours ago
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...2 hours ago
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...3 hours ago
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...3 hours ago
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...3 hours ago
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...3 hours ago
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...3 hours ago
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...3 hours ago
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...4 hours ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...4 hours ago
Vodafone says its continuing to see significant increases in calls and data on its networks after the first week of level 4 lockdown. ...5 hours ago
The Opposition says the government should be more generous with its wage and business subsidies to help companies survive the economic shutdown. ...6 hours ago
People with lower credit scores increased their borrowing upon news of the lockdown, while those with higher scores dropped away. March data from the credit-reporting agency Centrix, which runs credit checks on behalf of banks, finance companies, online lenders, and buy now pay later schemes, showed credit inquiries dropped sharply ...7 hours ago
Small business owners say commercial rent relief is desperately needed if they are to survive past the Covid-19 disruptions. While the wage subsidy helped with staff costs, there is currently no government assistance for commercial rent - which typically accounts for 40 percent of a firm's fixed costs. Landlords and ...7 hours ago
SkyCity is making 200 staff redundant as part of cost cutting because of the Covid-19 virus. The casino operator said it had no choice but to cut the size of the workforce given that once business resumes it will be at much reduced level. Chief executive Graeme Stephens said it's ...7 hours ago
Up to 100,000 foreigners could be seeking to leave the country in coming weeks, now the Government has relaxed domestic travel restrictions for them. ...9 hours ago
Health Minister David Clark has flouted the Government's advice to exercise locally after confirming he drove to a park to go mountain biking on Thursday. ...9 hours ago
Covid-19 cases top 1m; Trump brags he's #1 on Facebook and says he knows about the virus because a 'friend' got it; UK testing scandal grows; Cats more vulnerable to virus than dogs Ticking up to a million cases: A gruesome landmark was passed today when we go over one million ...9 hours ago
RBNZ bans bank dividends; Who is next after Bauer's shock closure? Vital plan blocked; Commission wins in real estate price fixing case; Softbank walks out WeWork No you won’t: The Reserve Bank took the unprecedented step of prohibiting the banks from paying dividends during the coronavirus crisis or redeeming any ...10 hours ago
Former National Finance Ministers Steven Joyce and Bill English question the severity of the Covid-19 lockdown and ask whether the Government has an exit strategy. Andrew Patterson reports. Steven Joyce and Bill English have seen their fair share of financial crises and natural disasters as the last National Government's finance ...11 hours ago
Two new cases of Covid-19 have been identified in Fiji, prompting a lockdown of its capital. Teuila Fuatai reports. Fijian health authorities are scrambling to identify close contacts of its latest two Covid-19 cases. The couple, from Nabua, Suva, appear unrelated to the country’s previous five. Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama ...12 hours ago
Christchurch is a city of contrasts, as some stretch their legs with smiles and others with suspicion. David Williams reports It was no surprise it happened in Christchurch’s student quarter. The smiles of those standing at their gates in Ilam Road broadened as a baby kayak strapped to a skateboard ...12 hours ago
Suzanne McFadden speaks to two Kiwi 'bubbles' who have unanticipated - but serendipitous - housemates. Sue Bremner has found a silver lining to the brooding cloud of lockdown – it’s meant getting to know the sister who never knew she existed for almost 65 years. Englishwoman Bremner has found herself holed ...13 hours ago
As the walls go up around the world, global trade is feeling the effects. But beyond the short-term pain, what systemic change might we see? Sam Sachdeva reports. International trade was already facing headwinds before the spread of coronavirus - but the pandemic has knocked it well and truly off-course. ...13 hours ago
The decisions by German media giant Bauer to shut its New Zealand magazine operation and NZME’s axing of Radio Sport have been precipitated by the coronavirus. But, as Mark Jennings and Tim Murphy write, the closures are also due to the deeper problems of the local media industry. The sudden announcement ...13 hours ago
How long does it take to recover, how do you know you’ve recovered and can you catch Covid-19 twice? If you’ve had Covid-19 when are you officially recovered? Turns out there’s no test in New Zealand. It's judged by time of onset and last symptoms. How do I tick the ...13 hours ago
The first thing to note about the partying Queenstown backpackers is these acts of youthful rebellion are not an isolated phenomenon. As I write this on April 1, The Guardian is reporting on a group of people in their 20s who took the opportunity to celebrate Spring Break in the ...13 hours ago
Every Friday of lockdown, LockerRoom will share posts from Kiwi sportswomen who've caught our eye with novel ways of keeping on top of their game at home. This week we have Black Ferns making their own training equipment, a Kiwi professional cyclist virtually racing against riders around the world, and ANZ Premiership netballers calling their ...13 hours ago
Steve Braunias pays tribute to the Listener, closed yesterday in the wake of Covid-19's devastation of the economy. This piece to mark the end of the Listener is exactly how I started writing for the Listener: late at night, with instant coffee, in a state of shock. The shock then ...13 hours ago
A new app unveiled by the Government to dispense information about Covid-19 can be scaled up to help with pandemic tracking and diagnosing the illness, Marc Daalder reports A Government WhatsApp channel revealed today will help carry information pertinent to the Covid-19 pandemic to the nation's smartphones - but that's ...13 hours ago
It was five dollars a night for a meal and a bed. Fifty to a room, two rooms to a floor, and four floors high. There was a rooftop to jump from or streets to die slow in. An axe murder that week narrowed the streets odds considerably; the dismemberment of limbs signalling more than the frustrations of poverty run amok. We sat on the rooftop smoking weed, gazing down at the nervous prostitutes.
I did a gig with Steady Eddie. I got into town, phoned a comedy club and scored an open mic spot for the next week. After the phone call I went to 'volunteer' at a homeless mission in exchange for a room and meals, as I'd done at a sister fellowship in Brisbane. "Oh no", she said through armoured glass. "This is Sydney, we have far more homeless here and many of them are mental patients. All our staff are trained professionals. Five bucks a night, dinner at six."
The last time I saw Steady Eddie I was a teenager sneaking into The Hillcrest Tavern in Hamilton, NZ. Now I was a homeless man sneaking to avoid a deranged killer while navigating King's Cross. I'd managed to land a day helping a builder lug gib up some stairs for pocket money, and for the gig I'd get a couple of beers. Sure, the axe murderer was a risk: but this was a gig and a couple of beers.
The manager said, "everything went great until you started singing". I drank my beer and watched the rest of the show. Eddie arrived with an attractive blonde shortly before his closing spot. He was hilarious and then he was drinking at the bar. We chatted a little. I liked him. I told Eddie my singing sucked, and he told me his was worse – but he was currently in the charts, and we laughed. Eddie left with two blondes and a 40 oz of bourbon. I took a cab back to the shelter with one eye on the meter.
"Stop here" I said. I got out on the pavement not far from the shelter. I grabbed my guitar and bag and took stock, then a double take. The cab pulled off to leave me standing there with a dozen prostitutes lining the street all the way to the corner; and they had seen me flinch.
"Hi Honey, you want some of this", began the first as she lewdly grabbed at me. "I've got no money." I stammered as I jostled guitar and bag, hands busy and thus helpless. "Well you can do me for your jacket." Says the next as she pulls her top up to reveal breasts bursting from a red lace bra. "No no," says the third, "you can do me for your guitar" as she lifts her skirt and sidles a bare ass toward me. I pick up the pace. The suggestions and sideshow get bluer as I progress. The hands are all over me, tits, ass, pussy; rubbing and thrusting through lace and lycra. Then I am at the corner, turgid, broke, frustrated, alive. I head for the mission as laughter rang down the alley.
My guitar and bag got locked up. I had permission to arrive late and a security guard escorted me up to the room. Softly, slowly, through the lines of broken men I inched over to the empty cot. My clothes and shoes went in the small cupboard beside the single bed, one shoelace tied to my hand and the other end to the cupboard door.
I dreamed I was on stage at the club with an audience full of prostitutes. The microphone wasn't projecting my voice but the ladies howled with laughter at the erection in my pants. One of them came up to the stage and tugged at my hand to draw me down amongst them. I woke to my hand being tugged by the shoelace as I opened my eyes a slit. A junkie was crouched in the dim light, quietly trying to undo the knot on my cupboard door. I punched down hard to the side of his face where his jaws met, knocking him to the floor. "Fuck Off" I said as he hit the floor. He scrambled backward: "I was only looking to see if you had any cigarettes, man" he lisped. "Fuck off now". He slithered off into the dark. The man in the next bed coughed and murmured. "Good job, son".
I lay awake till dawn.
I hope the above isn't too blue? I hear worse words here daily but not in the same context. It is a story from 1997 and I laid it out as it happened.
This is an excerpt from: Down & Out Down Under – a collection of short stories (in progress) from Aus/NZ about 'how the other half lives.'
I thought it was fabulous.I remember being in Sydney and King's Cross during that whole , what was it, a serial axe murderer rampaging at random
The fear and excitement!
You've lived on the edge WTB, and lived to tell the tale
Thanks
It was a schizophrenic guy Rafael Gavranovic who attacked at least three, but was found not guilty by means of insanity.
I can't find details of his residence, the Police were in that shelter a few times checking over resident lists to try find the guy. I guess only local cops and law would remember details that far back.
I had a guy lunge for me with a large knife there. I didn't even see him coming, had never met or spoke to him. Luckily security saw him pull the knife and took him down a couple of feet from me. Close call.
Maybe I punched his boyfriend? Staff kicked him out and told me he was a junkie and PTSD vet ‘with a few problems.’
IMO powerful writing, WTB. Definitely not too blue for the subject. The clean direct writing style is perfect and tells it as it is – or rather was. Anything more descriptive (eg descriptive adjectives etc) would lose the message IMO.
Is the collection of short stories to be all your own work, experiences? The short story is probably my most favourite genre and is one of the hardest to master as it has a tight framework to be achieved – and imo you have done it perfectly in the one above. I could 'feel' the experience.
A couple of friends of mine teach creative writing at Victoria and Massey Universities, and one in particular, specialises in the personal memoir and personal essay. I am going to copy your excerpt above to her and I think she will be impressed.
While writing the above, I realised that it reminded me of a little book of a similar nature I had and treasured years ago. It was a collection of short stories by/about a diverse group of people who were part of Wellington's so called 'underworld' back in the 1960s/70s – a world of small time crime, honour amongst thieves, madams who looked after their staff etc which was being overtaken by a darker, more drug driven element which eventually took over the old world. The book was a chronicle of the way life had been in that underworld and the consequences of its loss.
I knew a number of the people whose stories made up the collection – some of which were written by them personally and others were written as interviews by a local journalist who saw what was happening and was inspired to pull the book together as a memory of that part of Wellington's history. I cannot remember the name of the book, or the journalist, but your post has inspired me to try to track both down and refind that book. Probably well out of print etc, but somewhere in Wellington it will still exist. Archives NZ?
Keep going on this, WTB. It is an important part of both your own history and the social history of our country (and Australia).
Thanks for the compliments, I think my writing is finally maturing where it sounds like my voice not some Bukowski fan trying to emulate…
Bukowski could write a short story!
I interviewed Henry Rollins one time and he said of Bukowski that he only had one line 'life sucks and I'm drunk again' – he made a good point. Bukowski was flatting with the author Hubert Selby Junior (Last Exit to Brooklyn, Requiem For a Dream) and turned me on to his writing. 'The Demon' was a startling book.
For me, the attempted novel didn't work. The memories were all snapshots rather than a narrative. There was no thread only survival. Hence short stories.
The stories will be my experiences, and sidetracks to others stories where discussions are recalled. Still trying to 'capture' Sarge, a vet who showed young street people the ropes to survival on Sydney's streets. We downed a goon of wine while talking which didn't help…
“There was no thread , only survival”
Now that is stunning WTB
I love it all!
I also had a chaotic childhood and young adulthood,nothing made sense , you had to be ready to run (wore a dress only about 3 times in my life, I reckon for that very reason)But I don’t regret it , and reading the sense of aliveness ,immediacy, and richness in your “snapshot”I don’t reckon you do either.
"For me, the attempted novel didn't work. The memories were all snapshots rather than a narrative. There was no thread only survival. Hence short stories."
The snapshot is much more powerful, imo. I like it far more than a full length historical type narrative. The snapshot allows the reader to participate in/savour/feel a moment in time, an experience. That is what happened to me when I read your snapshot above. The reader can then linger in the moment, think about it etc, before moving on to the next snapshot, with each snapshot possibly invoking a different experience. You have chosen well – don't let it go. Kia kaha
[Sorry, not trying to lecture – was just very moved by your post and want to see more!]
Correction – Rollins flatted with HSJ – not Bukowski. I doubt he'd have let him in his door. Rollins was quite hardcore straight-edge at that stage and had very poor opinions of drunks.
I turned up hammered for the interview. It was awkward but we got past it.
Gritty rather than blue, either way i found it compelling, thanks WTB. A glimpse into a slice of life this boy hasn't experienced.
Rollins is an interesting character, can communicate strongly held views without being preachy.
I actually read that wrong thinking you said he was preachy.
I reckon he can/could certainly come across preachy but there's usually a back story worth hearing to explain some of his views.
Rollins nails it himself in a recent appearance in Portlandia, where Phil reforms his band Riot Spray.
Series 8 Episode 1 Riot Spray
Rollins: When I was younger I didn't like anything and now I like a lot of stuff.
This documentary is brilliant
2am WINZ queue anyone?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12246774
I’d quote the article but cant decide what to cut out – suggest read all
That's bloody awful. And then WINZ try shift blame to the helpers for this mess. They love to treat you with suspicion and prejudice, had my fill of these mongrels in the past.
The SFO decide not to prosecute Nigel Murray because it's too expensive.
Over $30m spent on Kim Dotcom's extradition trials.
One of these people actually committed a criminal offense in NZ.
Predictable. Murray's good at this, he's got form which Coleman was informed about.
Then there's that national neutered SFO which probably have him flirty looks and a process long enough to tidy up the loose ends.
I noticed his outrageous expenses were still way,way,less than Hisco's.
I see Hosking is now "premium content" at the Herald.
More reason to buy a subscription. Or on second thoughts, maybe not.
Always thought of Hosking as a premium donna.
Premium?
Premagnum?
Promagnum?
Cromagnum.
Premium Prick.
Robert
Lol definitely you're top of the list. And incidentally the Murdoch cartoon this a.m. in the Nelson Mail/stuff seems to refer to the recentclimate change thumbs-down.
Excellent strategy from the Herald management. Put him behind the paywall so he can preach only at the converted. Since the battle for public opinion nowadays occurs in the middle ground, the rightists get to lose their champion & centrists won't have to roll their eyes at him any more. Win/win all round, eh?
Tells you everything you need to know about the standard of egotistical immature rant granny calls 'premium'.
I broke the other day and took the premium option with a local delivery paper on Sat – it will be clear at that end though that I never "opened" Hosking's rants before and won't now, there were just a few items of interest I wanted to keep up with.
The wall isn't big enough nor well guarded enough.
I found myself listening to him via RNZ, I think it was the media slot. It was not a pleasant experience.
Looks like the British electorate has now split into four more-or-less equal parts: Labour "was ranked fourth in a YouGov poll for The Times on just 18 per cent – its joint lowest level, matched only by Gordon Brown in the depths of the 2009 financial crisis. Labour trailed behind the Tories on 24 per cent, Brexit Party on 23 and Liberal Democrats on 20."
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/corbyn-labour-leader-poll-slump-low-a8988866.html
Is 18% for Labour a negative verdict on Jeremy's (lack of) leadership? Probably, but I vaguely recall Helen Clark scored around that prior to becoming PM. Could be he's playing the `slowly slowly catchee monkey' game.
Corbyn campaigned well in 2017. However it was mainly Labour versus a terrible Tory party campaign effort. Since then both the Tories AND Corbyn have impoded. I don't know how he will change that dynamic.
A character test for him, this crisis. The zen sidestep could yet work. I'd rather he told the nation what to do though. See how the news featured a woman brexiteer ranting about slavery to the EU this morning? So they're playing the freedom card.
Jeremy could cite `free to choose' as principled dogma, outflank the Tories on the right like Helen Clark did. Leftists acting like rightists is a known behavioural pattern since the '80s so voters are comfortable with it.
Equally he could steal a portion of the conservative electoral base by telling them independence means reverting to being told what to do by indigenous leaders rather than the Eurocrats. Tories love the lash of the whip so he could easily grab 10% of them with that type of leadership rhetoric.
Agreed he should do something. At the moment he is trying to play both sides of the aisle and it is simply not working for him. He looks weak and indecisive and more importantly losing support from the group of Labour activists who brought him to power.
It's unfortunate he looks weak, being the only one honest enough to 'not know' the way out of such a mess. Needs lessons in bluster.
Here she is.
Why is that embarrassing? She is expressing her firmly held opinion and representing the people who democratically chose her to do just that.
Well THIS is interesting….NZ removed the ability for property investors to off set residential property losses.
MSM stands to the side, useless. This happened last week – it should be big news but we’ve got crickets.
Soldiers in need of help.
People get broken when exposed to trauma, and if society sends them into harms way society should then be obliged to help them.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/113934132/young-army-veterans-in-need-of-mental-healthcare-are-slipping-through-the-gaps
I can't imagine the horrors some of these folk go through, but I do know they go through it to serve our country and protect the rest of us. These people deserve kindness, respect, assistance, and a place in the sun.
I can't imagine follow up is easy however. PTSD causes isolation, thus leaving one to one's own thoughts. The worst decisions are often born in isolation. Reaching out is so hard yet so vital.
"continuing to try and spread the message that it is ok to not be ok, and to ask for help."
Hear hear.
virtue signalling?…..I think the signal is a little more explicit.
"Cull’s welcome speech was anything but welcoming.
“I’ve taken this opportunity to welcome you and this conference to Dunedin – not because I support all of the various plans and projects that will be promoted here, but so you can hear why some of those plans are not welcome here.
“So, to be clear, if you’re promoting fossil fuel exploration, extraction and exploitation – and especially its expansion – then understand you are at odds with this community and my council that represents it.”
He ended by calling fossil fuel exploration and exploitation a “dangerous and immoral folly”.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/07/05/667795/the-un-welcome-speech-dunedins-mayor-gave-miners
Cool – he has gone up in my estimation – a few mates in dunners don't like him for some reason. Leadership in action – good luck for the next few 'restful' years sir.
Much of the animosity seems to be from supporters of a local councillor who is "polarising", as in that many people think the councillor is a dickhead, but his supporters think he walks on water.
I thought the stadium had something to do it.
Possibly, he was anti-stadium. But most of the people who knock him that I've encountered were also anti-stadium. Maybe he wasn't anti enough for their tastes. But the ongoing financing of the stadium has been questionable. He has been pro one or two other developments that were pretty controversial, ISTR.
I've never had too much problem with him either way. Just seems to be pretty bland, nothing too amazing but a solid worker. There are other councillors who are more polarising, and then the usual bunch whose passion for original projects is inversely proportional to the proximity of the next election.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/04/planting-billions-trees-best-tackle-climate-crisis-scientists-canopy-emissions
So how about we have a nationalised forest service to implement our aspirations to plant 1 billion trees?
Including research, nurseries, engineers, maintenance crews, millers
Instead of planting short rotation pines, we plant long term hardwoods, mixed native plantations that don't get clear felled but selectively logged for high end use, and we leave the pines and other conifers much longer for their heartwood, thus removing the need for treating with poisons.
Only a nationalised industry can do this, opting for long term gains over short term profit.Once set in motion, its in perpetuity, dedicated forestry land publicly owned cant be turned in to dairy or whatever new short sighted bonanza shows up.
And what say we have dedicated plantations for all future public buildings , schools, housing, libraries etc, getting away from carbon emitting concrete?
Each generation plants for future generations , so there's continuity.
We grow mushrooms ,or rather , we facilitate them , medicinal and otherwise as a sideline
within the forests.
Good thinking, Francesca. I've often wondered why pine replacement doesn't happen – just short-termism or is growing alternative trees just too hard here? I wonder if there's a relevant forestry lobby group, that could push policy from a resilience perspective instead of status quo complacency.
As regards mushrooms, nostalgia tempts me to advocate the magical, but realism reminds me there’s too many folk with vulnerable mental states. Would be interested in hearing from people with expertise in the potential benefits of diverse species of mushrooms though.
https://www.tanestrees.org.nz/
A great model and underway
And apparently the quality of NZ grown oak, despite fast growth is pretty good
We have a history of chasing short term gains , boom and bust cycles
Maybe its our youth as a country.
In the UK oak forests are attached to Universities , with repairs, future building, roof replacement in mind.This was instituted back in an era where there was a different perception of time
We modern day desperadoes want it all now, with no thought for the morrow
And we have created a world that mirrors that – we have cut down our future to the day after next year. Changing fixed minds based on 20th century thinking is almost impossible, I think one has to smile and go round them.
Trying to keep that in mind while still planning rationally for the near future is the hardest thing.
Taranaki farmers were saved from going broke once by the export of wood ear fungi to China. There are a range of fungi we could grow for a range of purposes.
One interesting emerging idea is to use fungi to devour waste streams while making packaging and other materials.
Another is to use fungi as part of bio-remediation on riparian edges and elsewhere.
There's medicinal fungi of many types, and huge markets for them in Asia. Western medicine is slowly coming on board when they can isolate compounds and make exorbitantly priced products.
There's insecticidal fungi we can use for research and bio-control.
There's turning forestry slash to topsoil.
Then there's food.
Off the top of my head…
There's psilocybin mushrooms in my front garden… I did not put them there but lol, maybe they recognised me and moved in.
I had a look through Lincoln staff and programs once thinking that is where they would have a good silviculture program but it seemed to feature pines. We like to stick to the good idea, keep it going.
Fransesca said so rightly:
Instead of planting short rotation pines, we plant long term hardwoods, mixed native plantations that don't get clear felled but selectively logged for high end use, and we leave the pines and other conifers much longer for their heartwood, thus removing the need for treating with poisons.
Only a nationalised industry can do this, opting for long term gains over short term profit.Once set in motion, its in perpetuity, dedicated forestry land publicly owned cant be turned in to dairy or whatever new short sighted bonanza shows up.
There will be others out there who think the same. How can we help?
Shane Jones recently announced planting of native trees in Waimea Nelson.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/113953302/government-announces-70000-trees-to-be-planted-to-protect-tasmans-waimea-inlet
Facts about the effect of planting pine trees and harvesting them leaving the land bare:
A Tasman District Council and NIWA study released in 2018 found that recently harvested pine forests along with bank erosion were responsible for a high proportion of sediment in the Waimea Inlet, which is the largest semi-enclosed coastal estuary in the South Island. Coverage of very soft mud in the inlet soared from 10ha in 1999 to 551ha in 2013….
Jones said the national tree-planting programme was "on-track" to have 80,000 trees planted by the end of the current season, with 65,000 trees already planted.
“This new quantitative evaluation shows [forest] restoration isn’t just one of our climate change solutions, it is overwhelmingly the top one,” said Prof Tom Crowther at the Swiss university ETH Zürich, who led the research. “What blows my mind is the scale. I thought restoration would be in the top 10, but it is overwhelmingly more powerful than all of the other climate change solutions proposed.”
Crowther emphasised that it remains vital to reverse the current trends of rising greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and forest destruction, and bring them down to zero. He said this is needed to stop the climate crisis becoming even worse and because the forest restoration envisaged would take 50-100 years to have its full effect of removing 200bn tonnes of carbon."
but…
"However, some scientists said the estimated amount of carbon that mass tree planting could suck from the air was too high. Prof Simon Lewis, at University College London, said the carbon already in the land before tree planting was not accounted for and that it takes hundreds of years to achieve maximum storage. He pointed to a scenario from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 1.5C report of 57bn tonnes of carbon sequestered by new forests this century."
however…
"But tree planting is “a climate change solution that doesn’t require President Trump to immediately start believing in climate change, or scientists to come up with technological solutions to draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere”, Crowther said. “It is available now, it is the cheapest one possible and every one of us can get involved.” Individuals could make a tangible impact by growing trees themselves, donating to forest restoration organisations and avoiding irresponsible companies, he added."
Nothing to lose
Yes
It pleases me so much to see how many people are growing in ecological awareness and proffering practical solutions to move forward. Not just here in TS but all over the place.
Sad story all around
RIP Simone – I'm sorry everything fell apart for you. You did some good work for refugees – thank you.
For those who feel a bit economic ignorant. Or understanding why you feel like crap under capitalism.
Not unsympathetic to Wolf's views.
Does he have alternatives to the Capitalist model?
He errs at the beginning by stating the difference between hourly wage rates and the price of the end service or product is profit.
Most people are aware of operational costs,rents,insurances,taxes,cost of goods,super..etc
Multi national companies have the influence and resources that the small businessman does not.(to state the obvious)
"Does he have alternatives to the Capitalist model?"
My favorite economist.
See 16 below.
Right wing loon Katie Hopkins and her apartheid state supporters
A word far stronger than "despicable" is needed to describe her and the people who applaud her racist ranting….
https://www.thejc.com/news/news-features/katie-hopkins-homelands-film-premiere-london-hendon-islamophobia-1.486061
I'm sure Hopkins appreciates your efforts in spreading her work to a wider audience.
Hopkins' disgusting views are consistent with those of Boris Johnson and the rest of those rats in the Conservative Party. She's a moderate compared to the likes of old Yenta Hodge and her vicious cronies.
Marcus posted this link to Monbiot:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/03/land-reform-brute-power-billionaire-press-attacks?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR19LprhYKBidvX-ytKgbhoAbK8CXdQeS8hDS0sQubJmYni_nAawou8MwMA
It's a must-read.
Good work from Monbiot.
An extension of Rutgers Davos observation, about millionaire media front persons,always promoting the vested interests of their billionaire owners.
Monbiot is a spineless fellow. He can't even do something that is decent (supporting the victim of an extermination campaign) without first paying lip service to the villainous lies perpetrated by the would-be exterminators.
As well as his moral cowardice, he's a dodgy "environmentalist"—he supports nuclear power.
A greater environmental mind than you or I has put forward a good Arguement for nuclear power.
James Lovelock talked about the issue and containing the waste from nuclear. Contrasting that with the waste from gas/coal generation of electricity.
Granted, not here in Aotearoa, (go hydro).
I am starting to doubt some of yr proclamations, a coupla days ago a video was posted with Ben Shapiro and Andrew Neil.
Either yrself or yr protege opined that Shapiro came second in the discussion. I watched it and I thought Shapiro ran rings around Neil. I find a lot of Shapiro's views abhorrent, but he came across more competent and consistent than the senior journalist.
I thought Shapiro ran rings around Neil….competent and consistent.
And the sun circles the earth. Got it.
(Whatever this fellow is smoking, I would recommend the rest of you steer clear of it.)
You have written that James Lovelock is credible, and that Ben Shapiro "ran rings around" Andrew Neil.
You are under the influence of a powerful hallucinogen, aren't you?
Hee hee, just high on life.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
The Trump Show Sucks Balls.
Bound to happen when Bolsonaro took over.
Brazil’s Bar Association, journalists and opposition lawmakers have reacted with outrage to reports that the country’s federal police plan to investigate the bank accounts of an American journalist who published leaked conversations between prosecutors and the graft-busting judge who is now Jair Bolsonaro’s justice minister.
The rightwing site the Antagonist (O Antagonista) reported on Tuesday that federal police had asked a money-laundering unit at Brazil’s finance ministry to investigate the “financial activities” of Glenn Greenwald.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/03/brazil-glenn-greenwald-investigation-outcry-bar-association-journalists
You'll be right behind this latest state campaign against a journalist, of course.
Unlike the alleged rapist, Greenwald's an actual journalist.
Assange was never charged with rape. One is tempted to be charitable and say that such a vicious and ignorant slur is unworthy of you, but that would be a false statement.
Oh, my bad.
The alleged sexual violator.
Nope. You're still lying.
Once again: when will you start pouring filth on Glenn Greenwald? Will you start now or will you wait for the morsels of disinformation to be fed to you from the Brazilian/U.S. authorities, as you did with the campaign against Assange?
Professor L
Accusations Unlimited – is that your speciality. Why can't you give us time to come to the same opinion as you instead of insulting anybody different? Desist.
I don't think the Professor was "insulting anybody different", Mr Shark. He was simply posing the question: how long before these creeps start to pour filth on another government-designated target for destruction?
Is that a rhetorical question he was posing then, or you are? I have a feeling I am missing something here. It seemed to me that he was attacking Joe90 for something that he thought that Joe90 and others might do, like pouring filth on a speaker. Ugh.
I prefer to get down and dirty in the garden.
He was attacking Joe90 not because of something he might do, but because of something he has actually done. (The latest examples of his pouring filth on a journalist is just above us on this thread, in messages 15.1.1 and 15.1.1.1.1)
If only you and your sock were as concerned with Greenwald's work as you are with defending an alleged sexual offender.
joe90
11 June 2019 at 8:23 pm
Surprise surprise, the corruption prosecutions that resulted in Lula's imprisonment and his ineligibility to run were cooked up by the right.
Indeed: "incendiary articles" and exposing of "unethical behaviour and political motives" constitute a grave risk to the state. He'll have to be destroyed, just like Assange.
Could you explain: exactly why are you not on board with the state campaign this time?
Calling Adam – I know that you are there up at 11 but don't want to derail the thread there. Forget feeling crap under capitalism and feel great after rewatching this! Do you remember it Adam?
Adam posted this wonderful, wonderful dance video back on 26 June 2015 on Weekend Social and I refound it a few days ago when totally crap with a full-on dose of the common cold. It restored my belief that life is still worth living and the more I played it, the better I felt.
A must view. Thanks Adam
PS – I am still learning the new system, so if the above does not work, here is a link to Adam’s original comment with video.
One of the quirks of the current comment editor is if you want to link to a specific comment on TS, putting the link as a standalone paragraph strips the #commentnumber off the URL and turns it into a link to the OP.
But if you use the linking tool (that looks more like a misdrawn infinity symbol) or just include the link to a comment in a sentence like this /open-mike-05-07-2019/#comment-1634457 it correctly links to the actual comment.
Thanks for that tip. I assume you mean the symbol that looks like a paperclip next to the slashed S. I used that to put in the actual link to the video which eventually came up properly! But when it did not originally come up, I then edited the comment and the toolbar doesn't come up when I edit so cannot use the symbol. LOL. So I will know for the future when that happens to put the link into a sentence.
But that young woman is an amazing dancer! The ability to move bits of the body separately like they are all unconnected is not easy – and she is tops. The other videos of her both alone and with her dance partner are superb. Now off to find the Trump parade videos …
Now seen Joe90’s comment below – LOL
A while back I vaguely remember lprent explained that the delay in the image showing up for video, twitter links etc had something to do with the server having to go fetch the image and then put it into the cache, and there can be delays in some of the processes to make that happen.
Interesting what different people see that linking tool icon to be. I reckon there's a good chance that McFlock with his security background might be the only one of us that correctly interprets it as a short bit of chain at first glance.
Sorry to derail your thread about dance …
I see a chain link.
I know it's supposed to be a chain link and when I work at it I can make myself see it as chain. But even though it's been there for months, every time I first glance at it I still see it as a misdrawn infinity. Funny how visual perception and mental shortcuts work.
You didn't derail it at all. But I have been so enjoying that video I wanted to thank Adam. He and I have had our spats, but it just brought me so much relief the other day, I wanted to share it and to acknowledge Adam for first putting it up.
I am laughing at what's happening in Washington DC – the sky gods are no fools!
But I so wanted to see Trump's Shermans!
Aww..
Maybe the new Shermans didn't make it off the production line in time?
Russian sabotage? You'd buy into that theory, no doubt?
You're spluttering. Damn pin bones, again?
Russian paranoia—you're donkey-deep in it as well. I was providing our friend, and the likes of yourself, with—by your lights—a reasonable explanation.
Well said Prof.
..and don't worry Biden 2020 will save us lol.
Nah. This time it was all the immigrant workers in the defense contractors that went on a go-slow when they saw the design.
Yes, but it was the evil Russian masterminds that persuaded them to take that go-slow action, surely.
Surely? They control everything and everyone, as you know.
Huuge parade.
Much more fun than the Trump Parade!
Thanks lol
Speaking of flag referendums…
America is gonna need one all those rednecks have turned it into a symbol of hate.
Speaking of flag referendums…
The correct word is "referenda."
America is gonna need one all those rednecks have turned it into a symbol of hate.
It's not working people—scoffingly dismissed as “rednecks” by thoughtless rich pricks—that are spreading hate, but the soft, doughy white-collar bigots who have never worked in the sun in their miserable, privileged lives. People like Stephen Miller, Ben Shapiro, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump….
referendum, n.
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌrɛfəˈrɛndəm/, U.S. /ˌrɛfəˈrɛndəm/
Inflections: Plural referendums, referenda.
OED
Quoting the OED, no less. Q.E.D.
Identity crisis? Or just in two minds?
I ladled out the praise after you had dealt a lesson to the Professor, and you come back with an allegation like that. Sheesh! Talk about ungracious.
Peculiar prose and passionate protest. Anyway, we’re all on the same page so all good with me.
Enjoy your weekend.
Yep, that's me, a thoughtless rich prick.
'Professor'
And those proud boys and their truck humpin cousins are all very fine people indeed.
Thanks for the lesson.
You schooled me good.
Is there a recipe for starting flame wars? I feel that the tone of the Perfesser is familiar. Or perhaps there is a tide in the affairs of men, and it washes up lumps of spite in blogs leaving a high water mark of see-weed.
Should we be celebrating? https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-zealand-china-defence-relationship-recognised-through-conclusion-defence-cooperation
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2019-07/Memorandum%20of%20Arrangement%20Concerning%20Defence%20Cooperation.pdf
USA, China, Australia… and so many more – why? They know what they have to do to win and that is destroy. Not just the actual people, but hope, respect, dignity.
Good work these crews and good report from Minister Sage on fbook.
Watching a piece of the Trump Parade and it seemed to be pretty shambolic to me. Huge gaps and amatuerish participants. Funny that faces in parade seemed to be fuzzied out.
If EU politics is about incorporating the vote, & therefore you would think it's efficacy, then insular coalition bargaining before the vote is increasingly problematic when there is increasing fragmentation ( which of itself is not necessarily a bad thing ), & it seems like they have essentially a very good structure to take that into account overall if not the traditional method of using it that way.
https://www.dw.com/en/inside-europe-women-nominated-for-eus-top-jobs/av-49472112
Seems like some of the criticism is a mix of First Past the Post and Direct Democracy type asks that are being put forward theoretically, but to my understanding both applications of those models to what is being talked about seems misplaced.
Hopefully they can get over this bump and reap the increased benefits after a rocky few years.