Did anybody see Garner on the AM show this morning? I couldn’t believe the crap I was hearing. Switched the TV on and Garner was waxing lyrically how this government has to seek out the best people to get the country up and running again, therefore should seek the best brain going John f**king Key.
Doesn't that prick realise that Key has the same political Neo-Liberal philosophy that has caused this pandemic.? Then the dick went on to say the government has to stop being politically "tribal" by seeking out the likes of the f**king spiv.
Talk about pot kettle and all that jazz.
Then the camera swung to that Cheshire cat grinning pea-brained prat called Richardson, fortunately, I managed to change channels to Aljeezera before I heard any snippets of bile and shit dribble from his mouth.
Yes and as a result I switched to Mayor Bill de Blasio's live presser from NY.
garner is like….. but key knows world leaders and blah blah.
I'm thinking world leaders will be like who the hell is john key?
But mention Jacinda and those same world leaders know who she is.
As for richardson and sport, I'm getting rather sick of hearing how we should all feel sorry for overpaid sports people having to take a pay cut and get a real job. Let's have a science or arts segment instead.
Jake Tapper wouldn't be looking to shoot the messenger would he? Meanwhile, is it Coumo as Governor or Di Blasio as Mayor who's responsible for slashing health care? Well…
While New York’s health system, already hobbled by years of neglect, buckled under the coronavirus outbreak, Cuomo wanted to cut $2.5 billion in state Medicaid funding, even though doing so would mean forfeiting $6.7 billion in federal aid. He wanted to slash state funding for education. As the pandemic eviscerates state revenue, he wanted to avoid any increase in taxes on the ultra-rich and instead balance the books by cutting muscle and bone from critical social services.
The quote from Di Blasio –
…only in the last really 48 hours or so do they [NYC Health Dept] feel they’ve seen evidence around the world, particularly a new study coming out of Singapore, that shows more evidence that this disease can be spread by asymptomatic people,” de Blasio responded.
But there's Democratic Party politics and an idea to give Coumo a leg up to position of Democratic Party nominee, which I guess goes hand in hand with bagging anyone associated with Sander's ongoing campaign…
And…encouraging offshore trusts until IRD wanted more than an A4 sheet in the wake of the “Panama Papers”, and 10, 000 or so promptly disappeared, and with them the Trust “Industry” our glorious ex leader personally helped establish.
Mr Key represented Finance Capital above all else during his time in politics. He is not required now, to put it politely.
"Did anybody see Garner on the AM show this morning?"
Nope – but I heard the screams of hilarity from the living room when he suggested John Key ride to our rescue. With JA doing a solid job, Garner was just trying to insert someone from National back into the frame. Plus showing his weakling desire to be 'led' by someone at every turn. I suggested Yanis Varoufakis as an alternative. Although Yanis might not be to everyone's taste, he'd have the virtue of understanding something about economies, history and human cultures – talents Key conspicuously lacks.
Key had the EQC to support his government financially with the Christchurch earthquakes. For the last 3 years the current government has been trying to give claimants closure.
Key has shown with his track record that he is not the person for the job to manage the huge impact Covid-19 is going to have on the NZ economy.
A letter by Fiona Farrell on the Spinoff, dated 5/4/2020. It’s about Ardern’s blend of pragmatism and kindness.
I got a photo from a mate this morning of a US soldier in WW2 carrying a donkey on his back across a grassy field. It seems the story is the donkey was being carried because it was a mine field.
Kindness.
The donkey was also being carried because a loose donkey wandering a minefield endangers the men about it.
Pragmatism.
It goes on. "The moral of the story is that in difficult times the first people you have to keep under control are the jackasses who don't understand the danger and do as they please."
If it is the picture I think it is then alas, it is untrue. The picture is from 1958 and the Algerian war, and it shows a member of the French Foreign Legion carrying a starving and exhausted donkey he had found. He took it back to his base, the Legionnaires nursed it back to health, and made it the base mascot.
Still a lovely story, but not quite the COVID parable as some would say.
Yeah, I wondered about that picture too Mac1 as the soldier in the background heading in a different direction is obviously a jackass. I think Murray was trying to illustrate with humour a valuable lesson for the times. Of course if this was an American comment, they would point out that no wonder the cheese-eating surrender monkeys never won a war they were too busy being kind and sympathetique . I know whom I prefer.
That one. Didn’t check the link as there was no explanation as to what I was being directed to. Sometimes attempts at being succinct are self-defeating.
Question about Newshub given Tova O'Brien's utterly hopeless performance yesterday – why is your political reporter at the health briefings? Accoring to the interwebs, you have a health report called Lucy Warhurst.
O'Brien seems incapable of escaping the gotcha obsessed, horse race analyst bullying cynicism that is apparently the normal culture of the press gallery. Surely you would get more intelligent questions from a properly informed health reporter?
The question is relevant to all news outlets really. I mean, why is Audrey Young writing the main update pieces for the Herald? Don't they trust their younger reporters like Emaa Russell? Do they think clinging to fossils from the 1980s accurately reflects their audience or something?
I don’t watch the commercial networks and I actively avoid anything to do with Tova O’Brien but aren’t all the press gallery journos at the daily Covid-19 updates?
As for Audrey, the way the Herald is going she’ll be the only on left on the payroll soon writing everything.
I've noticed that Jacinda Ardern gives O'Brien a subtle cold shoulder at her pressers. She will respond to her politely but briefly and move straight on to another journo before O'Brien gets a chance to respond.
Tova has no-one to blame but herself with her immature approach… as if its all about one up-man-ship.
I noticed at the press conference Ardern responded to O'Brien's question including "Tova" in the response. I thought it maybe was a bit of a way of highlighting who was asking such questions.
Goodness me Boris Johnson has been hospitalised in the UK with Coronavirus… Now, let's go find all those right wing British types who laughed like drains when that Iranian minister died.
NO ONE deserves to die of this virus, not the old the the young not those with co-morbidity and even not a twat conservative toff PM or an Iranian health minister. NO ONE.
Yes he is, NHS, which quite astounds me, as I've always not minded private hospitals for those that can afford it, coz I couldn't care less, but it's a bit cheeky of Johnson really, unless of course, public health really is a lot better.
Maybe Boris will have more respect for the NHS now? Back in September a father of a sick child gave him a message about using a hospital for a photo opportunity.
And the UK government a few weeks back toyed with the out of letting the virus spread to build herd immunity, while the elderly and immune compromised were to self isolate.
Looks like Sweden and The Netherlands are moving to ditch their (relatively) light-handed approach to social distancing and will move to more comprehensive lockdown measures. Both countries are seeing increasing mortality and exponential growth of infection.
Meanwhile discord between northern and southern Europe continues to grow. The Italians have reacted with fury to what they see as Dutch indifference to the crisis that has developed in Italy, Spain and France and the Spanish PM has again called for the Eurozone to issue so-called “Corona bonds” as part of a new Marshall Plan to kick start growth across the bloc.
One of the more stupid takes on NZ's response is to say "Look over there, let's do that", picking some other nation, chosen after doing minimal inquiry.
Popular picks: Want to go softer? Sweden. Want to go harder? Singapore.
Both are getting worse. Sure, they might end up doing better than average in the end, who knows? But let's dispense with the comforting illusion that there's some easy option out there.
OK I will just come out and say it Bill Gates is a predatory arsehole and the company through which he has made his vast fortune has done so thru the very worst sort of monopolistic dirty tricks that held back development of operating systems and foisted a basically broken expensive load of crap on almost all of our essential systems. Didnt watch the "Bill Gates recons on covid" posted by lprent. Not remotely interested.
Given the problems with developing vaccines for any corona type virus, immune enhancement etc, where the fix has been more dangerous than the disease coupled with the pharmaceutical industries less than stirling safety record I won't be lining up for a vaccine for this thing in a year to 18 months. The time frame is too short for adequate safety testing.
Did you actually read what I wrote? If you are keen to be a Guinea pig for something rushed through and not safety tested properly be my guest. No need to be rude to people who want to be sure the fix is not worse than the problem.
Hurt feelz or not, this ain't going to be business as usual, where the selfish among us who are unwilling to accept the risks of immunisation get to freeload on the backs of those who accept the risks for the well being of the herd.
Vaccines, like any other medical agent, have to undergo a rigorous and lengthy approval process to determine safety, tolerability, and effectiveness (does it work?). This is a step-wise process and trials with humans start with small groups. Depending on the urgency, some of these steps (trials) may be fast-tracked but this can lead to disappointing results down the track and even complete recall because of safety issues (e.g. severe adverse events, even deaths, in a minority of patients).
If C19 is going to circle the globe, wave after wave, for several years there will be a clear choice, isolation or vaccination. And pro-plague numpties who presently get to ride on the backs of others will have a choice too; vaccination, or if they don't and they're a threat to those who for valid medical reasons can't be vaccinated, isolation.
Are you for real. What if the answer kills more or creates more disease? Some world experts on vaccines are talking about this. Not anti vax or pro vax as is implied in your posts but about making sure we are doing the right thing. This is not simple and not binary.
I tried you point out that you can be a Guinea pig in different types of trials with different risk levels. I also tried to point out that these trials take time. No authority in its right mind will allow mass vaccination without at least some data to show safety, tolerability, and effectiveness. What I forgot to mention is that we might not see such a vaccine in the foreseeable future although there are lots of encouraging noises coming from experts. Until that time, we’ll have to rely on other strategies.
xanthe, I agree with your Gates comment and sentiment 100 percent, bravo! And absolutely wouldn’t go near anything gates is offering vaccine wise, the medicine is already available to cure but no big dollars for big pharma in it.
That accounts for the skin crawly feeling I had watching the two Gates clips on lptrents post.
And what's with the gesticulating? There's another rich blokey type featuring in American media at the moment who does that hand wavey thing. I wonder if they are related?
Along with the accolades presenting his organisation as the Saviours of the Third World, there are just as many sites critiquing and even damning it's Good Works.
You can be an arsehole and still do good. Not everything happens at the same point in time either, necessarily. There is no absolute Black & White, only shades of grey.
Yeah he is a rich prick and therefore by definition the lowest of the low – but unlike many of his kind he and his wife are in the process of giving away a large proportion of their wealth to those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, and doing it in a sensitive and sustainable way to improve living conditions and healthy outcomes for many. You can find out more about what the Gates Foundation is doing in places like Africa here:
That's true when that article was written. The "wealth" of all those 0.1%ers is actually paper wealth, based upon the value of the stocks they hold at the time. With the US stock market going through the roof at that stage it was very difficult not to continually increase your "worth". It will e a different story at the moment and a lot of Billionaires will suddenly be worth a whole lot less.
Nevertheless, the Gates giving of $45B US to overseas development aid is not an insignificant amount, and they are still giving.
Sure, $45 billion is not an insignificant amount, in fact it's an impossible amount of money for any one person to accumulate through 'hard work'. That some billionaires will be worth less due to stock market fluctuations does not effect their material holdings, for example a ostentatious $127 million dollar mansion (https://www.businessinsider.com/crazy-facts-about-bill-gates-house-2016-11?r=AU&IR=T). Billionaires should not exist period.
Well yes, the ideology that motivates Gates' philanthropy is better than that of the Kochs but that's not a particularly high bar. He still gets to use his unseemly wealth, and consequent power, to push his own ideological barrows, this is unacceptable in a supposed democracy. An example:
The Gates Foundation’s first significant foray into education reform, in 1999, revolved around Bill Gates’ conviction that the big problem with high schools was their size. Students would be better off in smaller schools of no more than 500, he believed. The foundation funded the creation of smaller schools, until its own study found that the size of the school didn’t make much difference in student performance. When the foundation moved on, school districts were left with costlier-to-run small schools.
Sure, one might even call it an exceptionally low bar. But even the schools thing was about trying to improve education for people, not to do as much as possible to make the world burn after he's dead.
The one thing Gates and the Kochs have in common is opposition to any kind tax that prevents their continued wealth-hoarding.
‘I’ve paid over $10 billion in taxes. … I’ve paid more than anyone in taxes, but I’m glad to — if I’d had to pay $20 billion, it’s fine. But when you say I should pay $100 billion, then I’m starting to do a little math about what I have left over. … I’m just kidding.’
He may be joking but he would still have roughly $6 billion after that. That's still too much for one person. An analogy of time to really fathom the figures; 1 milllion seconds ≈ 12 days, 1 billion seconds ≈ 32 years. No philanthropic largesse can justify the inequity.
Well, not really knobless obligay (as Nanny Ogg put it).
Yes, he's obscenely wealthy.
Yes, his company has been ripped on multiple times for a shoddy product and monopolistic practises.
But the man has spent a decade looking at infectious diseases and dealing with people in the full range of infectious disease management, from scientists to politicians to physicians to sufferers. I'd go with his reckons over pretty much anyone here when it comes to disease management and elimination.
Maybe eliminating disease is just a folly of the uber wealthy. But it's a more worthy folly than putting shiny balls in the sky or funding conservative astroturf campaigns.
Yes his dedication to an admirable cause in disease eradication is objectively a good thing. He’s learning from experts in the field and his foundation celebrates their successes, which are not follies, and I do not dispute the content of his message, I just prefer our system, here, where the expert advice is dispensed through our MOH rather than say Alan Gibbs on Seven Sharp.
In any event, I will continue to insist that the existence of billionaires represents a broken system, and they are complicit in the inequity in their society. No one has earned a billion dollars.
BTW, I meant "folly" in the sense of rich people throwing money at things with more form than function in mind – that sort of foolishness of decorative buildings, rather than a doomed undertaking.
Ah, i get you. I won't dispute that, and probably should have read upthread more thoroughly, I was mostly reacting to being directed to a Gates Foundation website.
so much for what Wayne was saying yesterday that National would be doing exactly what the coalition are doing re Covid19. I don’t think so……..and for all of those citing Sweden as the great way forward, their death toll is rising more rapidly than their neighbours in Finland and Norway who are in a much tighter lock down……and it appears they are about to pull the plug on their lockdown lite
I did laugh at Dr Waynes comment that the Nats would have shut our borders sooner, the same party that gutted the border controls and let in that moth.
I note he equates forestry with agriculture, and while I feel for the poor buggers off work at the mo the glaring differences are live stock need constant care as opposed to pines . Most farm workers live on the job or travel to work singly as opposed to crew vans.
NOT the actual police. Just here for shits and giggles. Like means I’ve read it, not necessarily that I agree. Life's tough. Get a helmet. #TheGreaterGood
Scott Morison on Australia and their friends in the South Pacific. He is insisting on it being recognised by all that they need to commit to help fight Covid-19. He has to argue the case because it is over-riding the established callousness of the establishment to others around it, including NZs. Gosh all of a sudden they have to help; it must have been pointed out that there is a worthwhile cost-benefit to Oz to force these words out of their pursed-lips.
It is Australia’s duty – and in our national interest – to respond to the health and economic challenges caused by coronavirus in the Pacific
…As naturally as we are focused on ensuring Australia weathers the crisis, we must not lose sight of the immense challenge facing our Pacific friends.
A real friend is one that can be relied upon in a crisis. During Australia’s summer bushfire crisis, countries like Fiji and Papua New Guinea sent members of their defence forces to Australia to help with the emergency response. Governments and ordinary people in small countries like Vanuatu and Palau donated to Australian bushfire victims.
This is the time we can demonstrate our friendship to the Pacific island nations.
It is stated in this article that Australia is the region’s biggest aid donor. But that may be because for years China has been building relationships with Pacific Island countries and that makes Australia uneasy in a political points game.
The Pacific islands have grown as a strategic priority for China and the United States and its allies, including Australia, who are keen to lock in relationships with countries that control strategic waterways between the Americas and Asia.
Australia is the region’s biggest aid donor but Pacific islands have turned to China in recent years for budget assistance.
Not sure what'shapening in Auckland. I'm in the third day of quarantine in a Brisbane hotel after flying back from NZ (home is a boat not far from here and I can't afford the alternative – a Paihia hotel where I was staying at the time of the lockdown.) All quiet and reasonable amongst the 20 odd people coccooned here, but there are anecdotal reports of parties on the corridors of quarantine hotels elsewhere as well as waiters sevng glasses of wine to younger quarantiners (Sydney). Australia seems to have flattened the curve quite well, with NZ's cases per 1 mill. population just overtaking it today, but there are still a lot of inconsistencies. If there is a move to quarantining everyoneflying in to NZ it will have to be properly policed, with kindness, too. We understand the reasons here, but still feel like criminals!
As the main vector for infection in NZ seems to be returning international travelers he makes a reasonable point.
What do we do with those returning during lockdown – do we trust them to isolate but more importantly when we come out of lockdown and they continue to come in what do we do with them then ?
Muttonbird’s point is valid though. With the country in full lockdown it doesn’t actually matter who comes across the border. If we’re all doing what we’ve been asked to do arrivals can’t infect anyone. And there are hardly any flights arriving anyway. This close-the-borders narrative is just posturing from the usual suspects.
Posturing from the usual suspects, or manufacturing consent for very strict border quarantine once we get back to level 3 or 2?
Something it’s almost as if the Government is playing the opposition and media like a piano towards what’s going to happen 3 or 4 steps down the track.
Or everyone’s playing their role in managing this thing.
"What do we do with those returning during lockdown – do we trust them to isolate but more importantly when we come out of lockdown and they continue to come in what do we do with them then?"
People with symptoms are being quarantined (that's mandatory and monitored), not asked to self isolate. I'm guessing this will be true when we drop down a level or two. We're not going back to the old normal, we will need protocols that everyone understands for a long time.
Not sure I trust symptomless 20 somethings to obey protocols – I quite like the move by some of the countries overseas where they are tracking cellphones to provide some assurance of compliance.
Most people in their 20s won’t be parted from their cellphone for more than 5 minutes so quite an effective tool for tracking them.
If we knock this on the head soon and can lower our level to 3 or 2 the price of coming to nz has to be time in quarantine, if it takes two weeks so be it .
How long can it stay hidden from a test picking it up?
Last time I looked it was something like 4,000 people that would need to be quarantined. That's logistically a big move. They're probably in a better position to do that now than last week, and I assume the numbers are dropping.
I think I recall reading that the test can come out negative for 2 days or so after a person has been infected. That is actually a big problem, which means that huge amounts of testing will not achieve elimination. Only enforced isolation for the max time for symptoms to appear will achieve elimination.
(Unless you test the same person at about 6 days into isolation – that would accurately show the person to be uninfected. Re-test everyone after a 4-day interval in order to make testing accurate?)
it looks like a numbers game to me. Many people are assuming that every case of covid has to be caught and stopped. I think it's more about containing outbreaks, by dropping the transmission rate, and doing that in an imperfect world where one also has to take into account lots of complex factors eg the police required to monitor 6,000 people and quarantine them, those police have to be taken off other duties.
Everyone acting as if they have covid and not transmitting it seems a good baseline, no matter what other strategies are in place.
No, we're not. Most of us are staying at home, but plenty are still going to work. Many of of those are still going to supermarkets/chemist, and can have close contact with other people in their household
The people in actual quarantine aren't allowed to go out at all, can't go to the supermarket, cannot have any close contact with anyone (unless their health/disability care requires it). They are also being checked on by the police.
Here are the rules for people returning from overseas who have no symptoms. They have to self-isolate but aren't being quarantined.
I can't find the guidelines for people being quarantined, but this article from 26/3/20 talks about it a bit. My reading is that anyone arriving who has symptoms is quarantined i.e. the govt escorts them to a hotel and makes sure they stay there.
Bush also sought to clarify quarantine and triage measures for arriving passengers at Auckland airport.
“If you have any symptoms, you will be taken by health people to a place of quarantine. We have a number of hotel locations proximate to Auckland airport,” he said.
'Note also, "butchers" came up almost immediately. What the hell is the Nats' obsession with butchers? '
I think it's to do with the very significant dumping of stock and waste being experienced, I do admit to have a fair bit of sympathy I went to my local on the Wednesday before lockdown and they had been working under the assumption that the would be open through the whole period (with obvious restrictions on customers in the door) but only found out they were not considered essential at 11.30.
I think it's reasonable to ask questions of what is and isn't able to be open (or online) to inform decisions if we find ourselves in lockdown for > 4 weeks or in a repeat of lockdown later in the year.
Same here. In our case she was going to take my order over the phone – prepare the meat and place it in the freezer for when I could call down and pick it up. I cant see how this would be any different to that of the supermarket, except I wouldn't have to search through a pile of meat packages to find the one with three loin chops (3 in our household "bubble") rather than 2 or 4 if I'm lucky.
I had a quiet chuckle that the supermarket chain (Countdown?) accused of price hikes got away with a bit of double talk saying three factors affected their pricing, one being market forces.
Predatory price hikes and profiteering are the result of market forces lol
No, they aren't. They are the result of market forces (the actions of buyers and sellers) being constrained. In this case, the number of suppliers is being artificially constrained for no good reason.
Panic buying is a function of human behaviour, a behaviour that occurs in any type of economy. The difference is that in a market economy supply will match demand over time. Socialist economies just let people starve. (https://fee.org/articles/a-refresher-course-on-socialism-and-starvation/)
Your second link is unsubstantiated hyperbole from a survey of 2. Well done.
"There are literally only two variables on the capitalist chart…"
The equation price = supply v's demand is nuanced. There are other variables, such as who controls the supply. In the current situation, supply is controlled by fewer players than normal. That can't help either supply or prices, and it's a situation that should never have been allowed to exist.
Panic buying that increases demand is a market force that can increase short term prices.
So to say that there is no price gouging because prices are set, in part, by market forces is nonsense. Panic buying raises demand and that enables sellers to increase their prices. Simple market forces.
Wank all you want. Say there were only two complaints, all you want. The fact is people were perceiving price gouging before the drop in the number of suppliers, but well after panic buying set in. So take your defense of market forces and stick it where the hoarded toilet paper will eventually wipe it away.
"Panic buying that increases demand is a market force that can increase short term prices."
And in a market economy, supply then increases to meet demand.
"So to say that there is no price gouging because prices are set, in part, by market forces is nonsense."
It's just as well I didn't say that then.
"Panic buying raises demand and that enables sellers to increase their prices. Simple market forces."
Until supply chatches up and prices fall. Simple market forces. Unlike socilaist economies, where people starve.
"Say there were only two complaints, all you want. The fact is people were perceiving price gouging before the drop in the number of suppliers…"
Are a sample of 2, and purely anecdotal. I'm absolutely certain prices rose, becasue there was increased demand. Then supply caught up and the prices adjust. But no-ones starving.
Are a sample of 2, and purely anecdotal. I’m absolutely certain prices rose, becasue [sic] there was increased demand.
Is a sample of 2,100 also “purely anecdotal”? The answer is irrelevant, to you, because you’re “absolutely certain” that you’re right. Maybe you should share your knowledge with MBIE.
The issue of price gouging lead the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to create an email address for people to send in their concerns.
Since its launch one week ago, there have been over 2100 emails to the Price Watch inbox, a spokeswoman for MBIE said.
“MBIE is working hard to contact firms and understand the reasons for price increases,” she said.
"So to say that there is no price gouging because prices are set, in part, by market forces is nonsense."
It's just as well I didn't say that then.
No, the supermarket did. As usual, you are incapable of following a simple thread when it doesn't serve your purpose.
The idea that supply increases to meet demand omits the time lag that can mean literally terminal hardship in a fast-moving situation. Hence the empty shelves in supermarkets. Supply is not meeting demand for some items.
You refuse to match your market catechism with real-world observations.
You seem to think that you and your situation are somehow representative or can be extrapolated. You are wilfully blind and deaf to what other people are telling you. You patronise others with BS about “basic economics”. You clearly live in a tiny small bubble.
It's a fast moving situation. Any shortages lasted days, at most.
cf:
I shop regularly. There are very few items not in stock, and no essentials.
You can't even get your bullshit consistent. Are shortages in the past tense, or are they still happening?
And given a colleague was talking about the difficulty in finding any flour today, your "no essentials" is a joke.
No, the supermarket did."
So what?
Apparently, in reality goldfish have quite good memories. You, on the other hand, can't even keep track of a thread.
To recap:
supermarkets said they increased prices in response to market forces.
I said that market forces include increasing demand, such as panic buying.
You said it was because the govt limited the number of suppliers
I provided some evidence that people perceived price increases prior to the limitation on supplier numbers.
you quibbled about the evidence, but then followed on with the idea that supply increases to match demand
I said the problem with that is the lag time between supply meeting demand, which can have extreme repercussions
you forgot how the thread started and it apparently did not occur to you to reread it, because you're a bullshitting prick who pretends to be stupid when people take the time to confront his bullshit.
“You can't even get your bullshit consistent. Are shortages in the past tense, or are they still happening?”
Are you really that stupid? No, I suspect you just know you’re out of your depth. Shortages can be both present and past. They can be toilet paper one day, coca cola the next. In a market economy they correct themselves. In a socialist one, people starve.
“And given a colleague was talking about the difficulty in finding any flour today, your "no essentials" is a joke.”
Plenty of flour at Countdown St Lukes. More anecdotal bs from you and your colleagues.
“To recap:”
“You said it was because the govt limited the number of suppliers”
No, I said that was possibly a factor in why prices rise. (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06-04-2020/#comment-1698949) It is also a factor in many other things, such as lack of choice. If you think limiting competition in the supply of a product doesn't affect pricing, then I can understand why you're struggling.
“I provided some evidence that people perceived price increases prior to the limitation on supplier numbers.”
Perceived. Yes.
“I said the problem with that is the lag time between supply meeting demand, which can have extreme repercussions”
But provided zero evidence.
You’re out of your depth in this, McFlock. Economics is a relatively simple discipline, so it’s hard to understand why you find it so difficult. Hardly surprising Incognito is trying to help you out.
The only way you drag people out of their depth is to drown them in bullshit.
I've already acknowledged that supply is one part of the price equation. You agreed that demand can also be a factor, yet you refuse to admit that this might be the case when it comes to panic-buying in NZ.
But I'm sure we can agree that there was an increase in demand via panic-buying. So did people panic-buy and the market failed to adjust its prices, or did people panic-buy and there was price gouging?
"I've already acknowledged that supply is one part of the price equation. You agreed that demand can also be a factor, yet you refuse to admit that this might be the case when it comes to panic-buying in NZ."
No. Panic buying does increase demand, for a short term.
"But I'm sure we can agree that there was an increase in demand via panic-buying."
Yes, which then likely leads to less demand later. Unless people always want 100 rolls of toilet paper inn their bathrooms.
"So did people panic-buy and the market failed to adjust its prices, or did people panic-buy and there was price gouging?"
If panic buying increases demand…
…and increased demand leads to increased prices…
…then panic buying can be a component in increasing prices.
But then the market adjusts. By increasing supply, increasing pricing, or both.
"…did the recent panic-buying increase prices in NZ?
That would have been answered by my comment " Panic buying does increase demand, for a short term." and then "If panic buying increases demand……and increased demand leads to increased prices……then panic buying can be a component in increasing prices." I thought that was fairly clear.
"In other words, did the simple economic theory play out in real life?"
Of course it does. In a truly free market. And then supply matches demand and prices reach equilibrium.
But when the government decides that Countdown can sell meat but not the local butcher, Countdown profits and the consumer loses.
The equivocations were exceptionally clear. Try addressing panic-buying, and only panic-buying, in a sentence without equivocation.
It's a simple theory. You should be able to report it's effects in a simple manner. Something like "The recent panic-buying in NZ did increase prices". Less than ten words. Go on, don't be a bullshitter all your life. You can do it.
"Panic buying that increases demand is a market force that can increase short term prices." <And in a market economy, supply then increases to meet demand>. (See how I agreed with you there?)
"Panic buying raises demand and that enables sellers to increase their prices. Simple market forces." <Until supply chatches up and prices fall. > (And there).
Panic buying does increase demand, for a short term.
"But I'm sure we can agree that there was an increase in demand via panic-buying." <Yes, which then likely leads to less demand later. Unless people always want 100 rolls of toilet paper inn their bathrooms.>
"So did people panic-buy and the market failed to adjust its prices, or did people panic-buy and there was price gouging?" <If panic buying increases demand……and increased demand leads to increased prices……then panic buying can be a component in increasing prices. But then the market adjusts. By increasing supply, increasing pricing, or both.> (Wow, not sure I could have clearer there!)
And remember I said this " The equation price = supply v's demand is nuanced. There are other variables, such as who controls the supply." Panic buying creates demand, but that is only one part of the equation. For example, let's say there was panic buying of toilet paper at a time of over supply. Would prices rise? I'll give you a lollipop for a correct answer. But I'll take it back again for the economics lesson.
"Without equivocation, did the recent panic buying in NZ result in price increases? "
You didn't read the quotes, did you? Ok, I'll simplify.
Panic buying increases demand. Increased demand increases prices IF not met by a corresponding increase in supply.
And there's the point. Let's say people panic purchased meat. At the same time the government limits the supply of meat by closing off a significant share of the supply side of the market. So demand exceeds supply, at least in part because of a silly intervention in the market. Prices will rise.
Got it now? As a general rule, the less governments interfere in a market, the better it perfroms. There are exceptions, but they tend to be where these is sub-optimal levels of competition.
"Although if you spend your time with your head up your arse, maybe you don't see other people and the only entertainment to be had is the sound of your own voice.."
Oh dear. I've demonstrated you total ignorance of basic economics and now your crying to mummy. How quaint.
lol dance away, fool. Products in which there was panic-buying.
Over what time period?
lols that's just fucking stupid.
The essay approach failed, now you're trying to bog down by drawing out enough information to allow you to evade the question.
It doesn't matter either way.
Just answer the fucking question. Ten words, easy answer, it's not as nuanced as you think. Did the recent panic-buying in NZ result in price increases?
Fuck, it can be answered in one word. I say "yes". Do you say "no"?
edt: ““A normal person…”
…would not be running away from a discussion about economics to discus whether I rembered a single post from 2 weeks ago.”
You’re not that challenging, dude. I can do both. You can’t even answer a simple question.
…would not be running away from a discussion about economics to discus whether I remembered a single post from 2 weeks ago!
[I’m having to draw a line in the sandpit before someone gets hurt and starts crying to his mummy. This thread is now closed as far as I’m concerned; it did not lead to anything or anywhere useful and it likely to spiral further downwards. No more comments from any of us, thanks – Incognito]
What the hell does that have to do with supply from supermarkets? The people in your 'anecdote' don;t have a food shortage, they have a money shortage.
McFlock doesn’t need anything from me but you don’t seem to realise this. I merely pointed out that you’re misleading and dishonest. Your reply on 16 March 2020 was only a few weeks ago. Has it refreshed your “selective” memory? Yes, I’m serious. Why do you ask? Did you miss a little wink such as this 😉 ? I’m so sorry.
Do you really sling so much bullshit that you don't remember who you throw it at multiple times, even a few weeks ago? Not a glint of a feeling of familiarity?
Although if you spend your time with your head up your arse, maybe you don't see other people and the only entertainment to be had is the sound of your own voice..
I was waiting for your lame excuse about selective amnesia. You have been commenting heaps here lately and yet you claim not to know the other commenters. Heard of McFlock, by any chance?
I’m pointing out how disingenuous you are, and it comes across in your commenting. The “interference” is coming from you; you have become an annoying little troll. How quaint.
And you expect me to remember the name of a poster for a single comment made two weeks ago?
lol
A normal person would have a glint of recognition, yeah. Maybe not remember every detail, but it should at least ring a bell. It's two weeks dude, not two decades.
People buy meat. It's food. They either buy it at a supermarket or a butcher. The lockdown is not under threat from people visitng a butcher any more than visiting a supermarket.
You are obviously unwilling to accept that the more people there are on the streets shopping at more outlets (where does it stop?) the more chance of community transmission.
Have they changed the rules for liquor stores recently?
Last I was aware, the only liquor stores that were open to walk-ins were in trust licensing areas where supermarkets can't sell alcohol. And those stores had such a problem with out-of-area people coming to buy spirits that they have restricted their sales to just wine and beer, like supermarkets.
While I don't disagree with what you have said, I feel there is a blind spot around supermarkets.
I would argue almost all the fresh produce in them is handled more than smaller, local businesses and victim to last century's supply chains.
I would love there to be a Pandemic Prepardeness section of the Food Control Plan for food producers/retailers to implement. When this happens again we are not at the behest of the duopoly, rather buying and supprting local primary producers.
And their screwing of suppliers, staff and customers.
I understand the idea was to keep the number of retail outlets in use to a minimum, from the point of monitoring and controlling virus spread.
Already wondering about Kaitia, where a supermarket worker has suspected CV19. All the shoppers, which may have been exposed, avoiding that shop and travelling elsewhere for their groceries.
I would love there to be a Pandemic Prepardeness section of the Food Control Plan for food producers/retailers to implement. When this happens again we are not at the behest of the duopoly, rather buying and supprting local primary producers.
Good idea.
Hoping they change a few others things too, like allowing natural health to be an essential service via online ordering instead of shutting it all down.
If the Ministry for Primary Industries has anything to do with it you can be sure that their only concern is for the welfare of big business. Natural health products etc are not in that category, as far as they are concerned, and are therefore unhealthy.
Some sarc in the above, but I have seen their heavy handed approach, in this area far too often to have any faith in them actually helping anything other than mainstream conventional products.
Why you had to tick the box that gave your consent to the information being made public before you could apply for the wage subsidy.
The ex employer will be having a lovely conversation with someone from the MSD audit team. Joyous times.
This idiot has also previously been jailed for 'pranks'.
A Dunedin man who admitted leaving dry-ice bottle bombs around Christchurch, injuring a cleaner and bringing the city to a standstill last August, has been jailed.
… a total of two years and three months imprisonment after pleading guilty to what his lawyer suggested was "a prank gone wrong''.
A tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, and six other big cats are exhibiting symptoms consistent with the illness, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Sunday afternoon.
“It’s the first time, to our knowledge, that a [wild] animal has gotten sick from COVID-19 from a person,” says Paul Calle, chief veterinarian for the Bronx Zoo. The Malayan tiger, named Nadia, likely contracted the coronavirus from an infected—but unknown—asymptomatic zookeeper. “It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Calle says. The zoo has been closed to visitors since March 16.
Now is not the time to have a non-Covid health issue – especially for an old woman.
I have no idea if my throat is anything to worry about or if it will clear on its own. I have had a mildly irritated throat for a few weeks now. I can see a couple of white spots on my slightly swollen right tonsil. A couple of weeks ago I was sent antibiotics after a phone consult with a GP, who said normally she'd do a throat swab to check if it's bacterial.
So several days after completing the antibiotics, no change. Phoned the GPs receptionist saying maybe I need a face-to-face consultation. Generally the GPs are doing phone & video consults now. Problem is we get charged the normal consultation fee for phone/video consults, and if a throat swab is required, that would be an extra fee for a face-to-face consultation.
The receptionist said it was a difficult one and really didn't know the solution. So I have a face-to-face consultation booked, and will phone reception when I get into the GP car park.
I really don't want to be going to a medical facility at this time, but in my low moments I'm worried about what is wrong with my throat.
Stay strong Carolyn – if you're not in the most at risk group that is recently returned from overseas or close contact with someone in that group you have most likely just got a grotty sore throat.
Remember the vast proportion of people with symptoms in NZ are actually coming back with a negative test for Covid 19. Perhaps get them to give you a flu jab while you're there to avaoid the rush once we're out of lock down.
Thanks, SM. I think the possibility of me having THE virus is low if non-existent. My concern is, WTF else is wrong with my throat, and is it something to worry about?
I have been physical distancing for at least a month now, and in last few weeks getting groceries home delivered.
But I also don't want to be at a medical facility where the virus might be at large.
Still, I just want to know what I am dealing with.
Hey Caroline I've had a mildly raw throat for about 3 to 4 weeks now and went through a brief spell of sneezing but it never developed beyond that. Since it has happened to me a few times in the past couple of years I'm not worried. It eventually goes away.
Thanks, Anne. Normally I wouldn't worry about a bit of a sore throat, but I can see white spots on my tonsils, which usually is (bacterial) strep throat requires antibiotics. It didn't get worse or better after a course of antibiotics.
Anyway, I had the face-to-face consult at the GPs this arvo, which was interesting. He came to my car in the car park in full PPEs, gave me a face mask, and took me to an area outside the GPs' building, screened off with plastic sheeting.
He also thinks it looks like strep throat. He did a physical exam of my vitals, etc, and took a throat swab. Said he'd get back to me with the results – maybe have a break after the last antibiotics of a week or so, then try a different antibiotic.
Also, the nurse gave me a flu jab – my appointment for it a couple of weeks back was cancelled as they ran out of stock. I was waiting for them to send me a new appointment.
So I don't need to go back for a separate flu jab appointment. 😊
Can I wash the face mask and re-use it?
Edit: I had strep tonsils in Aussie in my 20s when I was travelling overseas. The GP was getting worried because the antibiotics weren’t improving it, and was saying I may need to be hospitalised. Fortunately, it cleared by the end of the course of antibiotics. But memory of this has been worrying me. And also why I know what strep tonsils looks like.
Depends on the fibre composition. Most are designed for single use, so may breakdown in water and lose effectiveness.
Do you sew? You could make your own if you have the supplies, 100% cotton fabric and some elastic. I use a paperclip to insert in bridge of the nose for a snug fit. The mask is like a pocket and you can insert a throw away filler for extra protection, like a folded up tissue.
I heard chatter before we went into lockdown that strep throat was going around. The more likely thing is that it is strep throat but it's always better to get things checked out.
I was happy initially with the phone consultation and having antibiotics delivered to me. Was disappointed that the antibiotics did not eliminate it – and that was the cause of my concern.
When I searched online, all the advice said antibiotics should be prescribed ASAP, partly because it stopped transmission to others. Some said that strep throat usually goes after after a week, with or without antibiotics.
In the northern hemisphere, the pre-Covid flu included some throat infections in their just finishing winter.
In retrospect, not sure what they will test for with my throat swab. We'll see.
The GP at the phone consultation said it could be a virus or bacterial, and that's, I think why they do a swab to check. She went with it most likely being bacterial, so prescribed antibiotics to see if that worked.
Yesterday "weka" claimed there was "no evidence" that there was a purge of human rights activists from Britain's doomed, discredited Labour Party. "weka" needs to read this….
[I’m not reading that. If you want to provide back up for your claim, then cut and paste the relevant bits. But I think we’ve already established that you were being fanciful. I fully accept that you personally believe it’s true, but thus far there isn’t any evidence to support that – weka]
How does that extract prove there will be a purge of human right activists? No where does it say that people can't campaign for Palestinian rights in a pretty forthright way. It simply says that Labour party members can't be anti-semetic.
Wayne as you may not have come across Morrissey previously a word of warning, he is a notoriously self involved equal opportunity troll, it's best not to try and engage with him.
Sorry, Morrissey, but I followed your debate with Weka and Incognito is right. All you were asked to do was to give the gist of the argument/evidence that was in the links you provided. You didn't.
Starmer offering to meet right wing Zionists in order to discuss how he might stamp out antisemitism is too many orders of weird for me to wrap my head around.
There's also quite a push against feminists in UK Labour btw.
Just as advocates of basic human rights for Palestinians within UK Labour get smeared as anti-semites, so feminists within UK Labour advocating for women's rights are being smeared as TERFs.
Different protagonists, same playbook. Fucking horrible on so many levels.
Starmer offering to meet right wing Zionists in order to discuss how he might stamp out antisemitism is too many orders of weird for me to wrap my head around.
Thanks bill. Of course, supporters of the Israeli regime are not interested in "stamping out antisemitism", they're concerned only with stamping out protest against Israel. Their never-ending attempt to conflate Israel with Judaism is a desperate and cynical strategy.
I couldn't really care less about Simon Bridges driving hundreds of km between Wellington and Tauranga. I'm sure he pees in his car and can change his own tyre.
But I do think it's hilarious that driving two km was an unforgivable outrage only 3 days ago.
Let's face it, the real question is: does Simon drive a car with his smiling face plastered on the side? Because that was Clark's real crime.
But nobody can sack Bridges except the National caucus, and they've had countless reasons to do that over the past two years. One more won't make any difference.
Clark was given a police warning for clearly violating explicit terms of the lockdown? No, none of the above, he was just photographed pushing the limits of a couple of gray areas in the NZ lockdown (how far to go for exercise and what exercise types should be undertaken).
Simon can't stand 2 metres away from them because he's in yet another of his arranged photo ops. Supermarket workers are the flavour of the month (and rightly so), so Simon's got to be seem associating with them. I bet he's never bothered before.
Flavour of last month? The photo dates from before the level 4 restrictions (24th March?). It may have been "dangerous and irresponsible", but not at the time actively illegal.
I am more concerned that he has no intention of stopping his unnecessary travel. Who could ever have predicted that a National leader would be so self-entitled and lacking empathy?
Not quite. Comes under "alternative ways of working required" in level 3. Although to be fair the message might not have been communicated in small enough words at that stage.
The issue with what Clark did was as much the activity he undertook as the driving. That's why in his apoligy he said "Even though I deliberately opted for an easy, local track, on reflection I realise I should have chosen a better option such as walking, running or cycling on the flat,"
Exactly – pleased to agree with you for once. That Scottish woman twice did an hour's drive (60km or so?) and had been warned by police. Clark drove only 2.5 km once, when there is actually no 2km rule, and Tova O'Brien hides all that in tonight's TV3 news, and tries to equate the two offences as being of equal hypocrisy.
Anyone who knows the details will see Tova for what she is. But why should she be permitted to spread such tendentious rubbish, presenting it as 'news'?
"The 2017-2018 flu season was the deadliest in more than four decades with 80,000 deaths caused by the flu, including 180 children. And it looks like the virus is back with a vengeance for winter 2019-2020, which is on track to be just as bad, as seen on this CDC graph."
This article was originally published in February 2018, and has been updated with the most recent CDC data for winter 2019-2020.
The flu vaccinations have been bought forward for vulnerable people – in my area older poeple were given it away from the medical centre and with social distancing.
But flu rates go down when people are in lock-down because it spreads in the same way as covid-19. Trying to stop covid-19 spreading helps stop the flu spreading.
Does anyone know how to get the data on this? Other than emailing the polling company, which I feel is unlikely to get a timely reply. There's not much point in knowing the margin of error for a given population sample when thereare no numbers stated!
It's interesting that Ardern seems to be better trusted by Australians than Aotearoans. Maybe something to do with the right-wing mouths in NZ being even more irrelevant over there than they are in this country.
Thanks Pat, that's exactly what I was looking for. Embarrassed to be so out of practice navigating that site, it's been a while since I have followed polling. Hopefully it was at least slightly difficult to locate and not a big blue link I missed.
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Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has been re-elected in the East Choiseul constituency. It is the opening move in the political chess match to form the country’s next government. Returning officer Christopher Makoni made the declaration late last night after ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
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Did anybody see Garner on the AM show this morning? I couldn’t believe the crap I was hearing. Switched the TV on and Garner was waxing lyrically how this government has to seek out the best people to get the country up and running again, therefore should seek the best brain going John f**king Key.
Doesn't that prick realise that Key has the same political Neo-Liberal philosophy that has caused this pandemic.? Then the dick went on to say the government has to stop being politically "tribal" by seeking out the likes of the f**king spiv.
Talk about pot kettle and all that jazz.
Then the camera swung to that Cheshire cat grinning pea-brained prat called Richardson, fortunately, I managed to change channels to Aljeezera before I heard any snippets of bile and shit dribble from his mouth.
Get rid of the telly. You’ll feel so much better.
No, they need to get rid of the likes of Garner. Radio Sport has gone, thank the Lord, but we're still afflicted with this dunce.
Even without Garner and all the rest of them TV in NZ is really shit.
Garner is only there because he is no good. If he did act as a journalist, he would not be tolerated.
All the more reason to ditch the black box monopolising your living room!
I pretty much have.
Yes and as a result I switched to Mayor Bill de Blasio's live presser from NY.
garner is like….. but key knows world leaders and blah blah.
I'm thinking world leaders will be like who the hell is john key?
But mention Jacinda and those same world leaders know who she is.
As for richardson and sport, I'm getting rather sick of hearing how we should all feel sorry for overpaid sports people having to take a pay cut and get a real job. Let's have a science or arts segment instead.
Here's the link for Bill, personally I feel he is doing a stellar job for NY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73Q7PeE0HFM
Nah, he's not doing a stellar job.
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1246630962353639424
Jake Tapper wouldn't be looking to shoot the messenger would he? Meanwhile, is it Coumo as Governor or Di Blasio as Mayor who's responsible for slashing health care? Well…
While New York’s health system, already hobbled by years of neglect, buckled under the coronavirus outbreak, Cuomo wanted to cut $2.5 billion in state Medicaid funding, even though doing so would mean forfeiting $6.7 billion in federal aid. He wanted to slash state funding for education. As the pandemic eviscerates state revenue, he wanted to avoid any increase in taxes on the ultra-rich and instead balance the books by cutting muscle and bone from critical social services.
The quote from Di Blasio –
…only in the last really 48 hours or so do they [NYC Health Dept] feel they’ve seen evidence around the world, particularly a new study coming out of Singapore, that shows more evidence that this disease can be spread by asymptomatic people,” de Blasio responded.
But there's Democratic Party politics and an idea to give Coumo a leg up to position of Democratic Party nominee, which I guess goes hand in hand with bagging anyone associated with Sander's ongoing campaign…
Click bait headline
The article is about to wear or not to wear a face mask because they are now encouraging all people in NY to wear one.
Previously it was front line workers only, made me wonder if there was a supply issue at the time.
Currently there is still much debate over whether to wear one or not.
I still believe the Mayor is doing a great job, considering what he is up against, a deadly virus and an incompetent president.
But Key never sacked English when he got caught double dipping (after telling us to tighten our belts).
Duncan must be a idiot for putting forward such a weak leader!
Oh Dear
Sounds like you need a lie down and nice cup of tea.
Sirjongkyponyboy needed a nice cuppa after he tried to hammer a nail. He's over it now.
So we should go to the guy who set NZ up to be over-reliant on tourism?
Good call! /sarc
And…encouraging offshore trusts until IRD wanted more than an A4 sheet in the wake of the “Panama Papers”, and 10, 000 or so promptly disappeared, and with them the Trust “Industry” our glorious ex leader personally helped establish.
Mr Key represented Finance Capital above all else during his time in politics. He is not required now, to put it politely.
"Did anybody see Garner on the AM show this morning?"
Nope – but I heard the screams of hilarity from the living room when he suggested John Key ride to our rescue. With JA doing a solid job, Garner was just trying to insert someone from National back into the frame. Plus showing his weakling desire to be 'led' by someone at every turn. I suggested Yanis Varoufakis as an alternative. Although Yanis might not be to everyone's taste, he'd have the virtue of understanding something about economies, history and human cultures – talents Key conspicuously lacks.
Key had the EQC to support his government financially with the Christchurch earthquakes. For the last 3 years the current government has been trying to give claimants closure.
Key has shown with his track record that he is not the person for the job to manage the huge impact Covid-19 is going to have on the NZ economy.
He's a bit too keen on leaving bodies buried to have near the levers in an emergency.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/05-04-2020/lockdown-letters-10-fiona-farrell-being-strong-being-kind/
A letter by Fiona Farrell on the Spinoff, dated 5/4/2020. It’s about Ardern’s blend of pragmatism and kindness.
I got a photo from a mate this morning of a US soldier in WW2 carrying a donkey on his back across a grassy field. It seems the story is the donkey was being carried because it was a mine field.
Kindness.
The donkey was also being carried because a loose donkey wandering a minefield endangers the men about it.
Pragmatism.
It goes on. "The moral of the story is that in difficult times the first people you have to keep under control are the jackasses who don't understand the danger and do as they please."
If it is the picture I think it is then alas, it is untrue. The picture is from 1958 and the Algerian war, and it shows a member of the French Foreign Legion carrying a starving and exhausted donkey he had found. He took it back to his base, the Legionnaires nursed it back to health, and made it the base mascot.
Still a lovely story, but not quite the COVID parable as some would say.
Well spotted, Sanctuary. It looks indeed like a French 'casque'. The mate who sent it to me is ex-Navy so we'll forgive him……
That donkey looks really cute in the picture.
Yeah, I wondered about that picture too Mac1 as the soldier in the background heading in a different direction is obviously a jackass. I think Murray was trying to illustrate with humour a valuable lesson for the times. Of course if this was an American comment, they would point out that no wonder the cheese-eating surrender monkeys never won a war they were too busy being kind and sympathetique . I know whom I prefer.
This photo?
https://thestandard.org.nz/about-carrots-and-sticks/#comment-1697964
That one. Didn’t check the link as there was no explanation as to what I was being directed to. Sometimes attempts at being succinct are self-defeating.
Question about Newshub given Tova O'Brien's utterly hopeless performance yesterday – why is your political reporter at the health briefings? Accoring to the interwebs, you have a health report called Lucy Warhurst.
O'Brien seems incapable of escaping the gotcha obsessed, horse race analyst bullying cynicism that is apparently the normal culture of the press gallery. Surely you would get more intelligent questions from a properly informed health reporter?
The question is relevant to all news outlets really. I mean, why is Audrey Young writing the main update pieces for the Herald? Don't they trust their younger reporters like Emaa Russell? Do they think clinging to fossils from the 1980s accurately reflects their audience or something?
I don’t watch the commercial networks and I actively avoid anything to do with Tova O’Brien but aren’t all the press gallery journos at the daily Covid-19 updates?
As for Audrey, the way the Herald is going she’ll be the only on left on the payroll soon writing everything.
I've stopped watching TV3 News simply because of her. She thinks the news is all about her. Fuck you. Tova, grow up.
I've noticed that Jacinda Ardern gives O'Brien a subtle cold shoulder at her pressers. She will respond to her politely but briefly and move straight on to another journo before O'Brien gets a chance to respond.
Tova has no-one to blame but herself with her immature approach… as if its all about one up-man-ship.
I have to say, I find the write-ups on Stuff quite good. In general, the quality of material has noticeably increased, IMHO.
I now occasionally read an article on the NZH but they don’t do it for me. I guess, I’ve become a Stuffian.
Me too. Their coverage of the Covid 19 crisis has been excellent.
Spread the word: tell others to get Stuffed…
I noticed at the press conference Ardern responded to O'Brien's question including "Tova" in the response. I thought it maybe was a bit of a way of highlighting who was asking such questions.
Tova O'Brien is worse than useless. It's hard to find any context where she is not the worst person in the room, but it happened almost a year ago…
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/05/these-people-are-representative-of-new.html
Goodness me Boris Johnson has been hospitalised in the UK with Coronavirus… Now, let's go find all those right wing British types who laughed like drains when that Iranian minister died.
NO ONE deserves to die of this virus, not the old the the young not those with co-morbidity and even not a twat conservative toff PM or an Iranian health minister. NO ONE.
Wonder if Boris is in a NHS Public Hospital?
Yes he is, NHS, which quite astounds me, as I've always not minded private hospitals for those that can afford it, coz I couldn't care less, but it's a bit cheeky of Johnson really, unless of course, public health really is a lot better.
Maybe Boris will have more respect for the NHS now? Back in September a father of a sick child gave him a message about using a hospital for a photo opportunity.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2019/sep/18/boris-johnson-confronted-patient-father-nhs-waiting-times-video
And the UK government a few weeks back toyed with the out of letting the virus spread to build herd immunity, while the elderly and immune compromised were to self isolate.
That is one plan that would not have ended well.
He'll take it on the chin.
Looks like Sweden and The Netherlands are moving to ditch their (relatively) light-handed approach to social distancing and will move to more comprehensive lockdown measures. Both countries are seeing increasing mortality and exponential growth of infection.
Meanwhile discord between northern and southern Europe continues to grow. The Italians have reacted with fury to what they see as Dutch indifference to the crisis that has developed in Italy, Spain and France and the Spanish PM has again called for the Eurozone to issue so-called “Corona bonds” as part of a new Marshall Plan to kick start growth across the bloc.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52135814
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/sweden-prepares-to-tighten-coronavirus-measures-as-death-toll-climbs
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/spanish-pm-survival-eu-rests-response-coronavirus-crisis
Sadly, not surprising.
One of the more stupid takes on NZ's response is to say "Look over there, let's do that", picking some other nation, chosen after doing minimal inquiry.
Popular picks: Want to go softer? Sweden. Want to go harder? Singapore.
Both are getting worse. Sure, they might end up doing better than average in the end, who knows? But let's dispense with the comforting illusion that there's some easy option out there.
Singapore seems to be battling an increase in cases too now.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-06/is-capitalism-dying-or-just-in-isolation-coronavirus/12123874
OK I will just come out and say it Bill Gates is a predatory arsehole and the company through which he has made his vast fortune has done so thru the very worst sort of monopolistic dirty tricks that held back development of operating systems and foisted a basically broken expensive load of crap on almost all of our essential systems. Didnt watch the "Bill Gates recons on covid" posted by lprent. Not remotely interested.
So you and yours will be declining any covid 19 vaccination funded and fast-tracked through development, testing and manufacturing by Gates' wealth?
Given the problems with developing vaccines for any corona type virus, immune enhancement etc, where the fix has been more dangerous than the disease coupled with the pharmaceutical industries less than stirling safety record I won't be lining up for a vaccine for this thing in a year to 18 months. The time frame is too short for adequate safety testing.
No doubt those who have no choice but to rely on the herds' immunity will appreciate your rather lengthy and ongoing quarantining from the community.
Did you actually read what I wrote? If you are keen to be a Guinea pig for something rushed through and not safety tested properly be my guest. No need to be rude to people who want to be sure the fix is not worse than the problem.
Hurt feelz or not, this ain't going to be business as usual, where the selfish among us who are unwilling to accept the risks of immunisation get to freeload on the backs of those who accept the risks for the well being of the herd.
Unfortunately some human has to be the first for every vaccine.
Hats off to this dude. Signing up to the first human trials of an ebola vaccine and now coronavirus. Wow.
https://www.motherjones.com/coronavirus-updates/2020/04/first-he-volunteered-to-be-injected-with-the-ebola-vaccine-now-hes-doing-it-again-for-coronavirus/
Vaccines, like any other medical agent, have to undergo a rigorous and lengthy approval process to determine safety, tolerability, and effectiveness (does it work?). This is a step-wise process and trials with humans start with small groups. Depending on the urgency, some of these steps (trials) may be fast-tracked but this can lead to disappointing results down the track and even complete recall because of safety issues (e.g. severe adverse events, even deaths, in a minority of patients).
https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/healthy-living/immunisation/vaccine-safety
If C19 is going to circle the globe, wave after wave, for several years there will be a clear choice, isolation or vaccination. And pro-plague numpties who presently get to ride on the backs of others will have a choice too; vaccination, or if they don't and they're a threat to those who for valid medical reasons can't be vaccinated, isolation.
Are you for real. What if the answer kills more or creates more disease? Some world experts on vaccines are talking about this. Not anti vax or pro vax as is implied in your posts but about making sure we are doing the right thing. This is not simple and not binary.
That's what the trials are for.
I tried you point out that you can be a Guinea pig in different types of trials with different risk levels. I also tried to point out that these trials take time. No authority in its right mind will allow mass vaccination without at least some data to show safety, tolerability, and effectiveness. What I forgot to mention is that we might not see such a vaccine in the foreseeable future although there are lots of encouraging noises coming from experts. Until that time, we’ll have to rely on other strategies.
xanthe, I agree with your Gates comment and sentiment 100 percent, bravo! And absolutely wouldn’t go near anything gates is offering vaccine wise, the medicine is already available to cure but no big dollars for big pharma in it.
Do tell?
Indeed I'm all 'internet ears'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmFnASfjH9Q&feature=youtu.be
I think its like this.
"…is a predatory arsehole…"
That accounts for the skin crawly feeling I had watching the two Gates clips on lptrents post.
And what's with the gesticulating? There's another rich blokey type featuring in American media at the moment who does that hand wavey thing. I wonder if they are related?
Along with the accolades presenting his organisation as the Saviours of the Third World, there are just as many sites critiquing and even damning it's Good Works.
I can stand those V-neck sweaters he’s wearing all the time. What a plonker!
Fvck's your problem with v neck sweaters?
You can be an arsehole and still do good. Not everything happens at the same point in time either, necessarily. There is no absolute Black & White, only shades of grey.
Yes, Bill appears to be trying to do some good after years of accumulating ill gotten gains by inflicting terrible operating systems on people.
Yeah he is a rich prick and therefore by definition the lowest of the low – but unlike many of his kind he and his wife are in the process of giving away a large proportion of their wealth to those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, and doing it in a sensitive and sustainable way to improve living conditions and healthy outcomes for many. You can find out more about what the Gates Foundation is doing in places like Africa here:
https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Where-We-Work/Africa-Office/Stories-from-the-Field
Except he continues to get wealthier? Not doing so well with that. I think taxes would be a more effective way of redistributing his obscene wealth.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/12/11/18129580/gates-donations-charity-billionaire-philanthropy
That's true when that article was written. The "wealth" of all those 0.1%ers is actually paper wealth, based upon the value of the stocks they hold at the time. With the US stock market going through the roof at that stage it was very difficult not to continually increase your "worth". It will e a different story at the moment and a lot of Billionaires will suddenly be worth a whole lot less.
Nevertheless, the Gates giving of $45B US to overseas development aid is not an insignificant amount, and they are still giving.
Sure, $45 billion is not an insignificant amount, in fact it's an impossible amount of money for any one person to accumulate through 'hard work'. That some billionaires will be worth less due to stock market fluctuations does not effect their material holdings, for example a ostentatious $127 million dollar mansion (https://www.businessinsider.com/crazy-facts-about-bill-gates-house-2016-11?r=AU&IR=T). Billionaires should not exist period.
All true, but at least he's not doing a Koch Bros.
Well yes, the ideology that motivates Gates' philanthropy is better than that of the Kochs but that's not a particularly high bar. He still gets to use his unseemly wealth, and consequent power, to push his own ideological barrows, this is unacceptable in a supposed democracy. An example:
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-gates-education-20160601-snap-story.html
Sure, one might even call it an exceptionally low bar. But even the schools thing was about trying to improve education for people, not to do as much as possible to make the world burn after he's dead.
Ah, Noblesse oblige then.
The one thing Gates and the Kochs have in common is opposition to any kind tax that prevents their continued wealth-hoarding.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bill-gates-im-happy-to-pay-20-billion-in-taxes-but-warrens-plan-will-make-me-do-a-little-math-on-what-i-have-left-over-2019-11-07
He may be joking but he would still have roughly $6 billion after that. That's still too much for one person. An analogy of time to really fathom the figures; 1 milllion seconds ≈ 12 days, 1 billion seconds ≈ 32 years. No philanthropic largesse can justify the inequity.
Well, not really knobless obligay (as Nanny Ogg put it).
Yes, he's obscenely wealthy.
Yes, his company has been ripped on multiple times for a shoddy product and monopolistic practises.
But the man has spent a decade looking at infectious diseases and dealing with people in the full range of infectious disease management, from scientists to politicians to physicians to sufferers. I'd go with his reckons over pretty much anyone here when it comes to disease management and elimination.
Maybe eliminating disease is just a folly of the uber wealthy. But it's a more worthy folly than putting shiny balls in the sky or funding conservative astroturf campaigns.
Nanny Ogg does have a way with words.
Yes his dedication to an admirable cause in disease eradication is objectively a good thing. He’s learning from experts in the field and his foundation celebrates their successes, which are not follies, and I do not dispute the content of his message, I just prefer our system, here, where the expert advice is dispensed through our MOH rather than say Alan Gibbs on Seven Sharp.
In any event, I will continue to insist that the existence of billionaires represents a broken system, and they are complicit in the inequity in their society. No one has earned a billion dollars.
true that. But I reckon Xanthe takes it too far.
BTW, I meant "folly" in the sense of rich people throwing money at things with more form than function in mind – that sort of foolishness of decorative buildings, rather than a doomed undertaking.
Ah, i get you. I won't dispute that, and probably should have read upthread more thoroughly, I was mostly reacting to being directed to a Gates Foundation website.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120836583/coronavirus-national-calls-for-more-businesses-industries-to-reopen
so much for what Wayne was saying yesterday that National would be doing exactly what the coalition are doing re Covid19. I don’t think so……..and for all of those citing Sweden as the great way forward, their death toll is rising more rapidly than their neighbours in Finland and Norway who are in a much tighter lock down……and it appears they are about to pull the plug on their lockdown lite
I did laugh at Dr Waynes comment that the Nats would have shut our borders sooner, the same party that gutted the border controls and let in that moth.
The same party that knew about m bovis but did fuck all due to an upcoming election .
I note he equates forestry with agriculture, and while I feel for the poor buggers off work at the mo the glaring differences are live stock need constant care as opposed to pines . Most farm workers live on the job or travel to work singly as opposed to crew vans.
When I heard him prattle on about forestry my first thought was the boss will have his own ute, of course….
Meanwhile, in Britain…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQwylpsr7IE&feature=youtu.be
Please tell me the police bit is a joke.
Imagining all those people in their 50s who still carry childhood trauma from watching the fucking daleks from behind the couch.
It is. Daleks, however….
Sandford Police
@Sandford_Police
NOT the actual police. Just here for shits and giggles. Like means I’ve read it, not necessarily that I agree. Life's tough. Get a helmet. #TheGreaterGood
https://twitter.com/Sandford_Police
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f8kahmsJ-s&feature=youtu.be
Brilliant – thank you.
Thought it was a bit suspect because it was countryside with only a few houses. Bet a lot of Brits fell for it though. 😀
Sandford police as in Hot Fuzz?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/05/thousands-to-be-paid-for-daytime-green-electricity-use-during-lockdown
Scott Morison on Australia and their friends in the South Pacific. He is insisting on it being recognised by all that they need to commit to help fight Covid-19. He has to argue the case because it is over-riding the established callousness of the establishment to others around it, including NZs. Gosh all of a sudden they have to help; it must have been pointed out that there is a worthwhile cost-benefit to Oz to force these words out of their pursed-lips.
It is Australia’s duty – and in our national interest – to respond to the health and economic challenges caused by coronavirus in the Pacific
…As naturally as we are focused on ensuring Australia weathers the crisis, we must not lose sight of the immense challenge facing our Pacific friends.
A real friend is one that can be relied upon in a crisis. During Australia’s summer bushfire crisis, countries like Fiji and Papua New Guinea sent members of their defence forces to Australia to help with the emergency response. Governments and ordinary people in small countries like Vanuatu and Palau donated to Australian bushfire victims.
This is the time we can demonstrate our friendship to the Pacific island nations.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2020/mar/31/scott-morrison-calls-the-pacific-our-family-the-covid-crisis-is-australias-chance-to-prove-that
It is stated in this article that Australia is the region’s biggest aid donor. But that may be because for years China has been building relationships with Pacific Island countries and that makes Australia uneasy in a political points game.
The Pacific islands have grown as a strategic priority for China and the United States and its allies, including Australia, who are keen to lock in relationships with countries that control strategic waterways between the Americas and Asia.
Australia is the region’s biggest aid donor but Pacific islands have turned to China in recent years for budget assistance.
A World Health Organization (WHO) spokeswoman said New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Fiji and Guam can test for COVID-19, but other countries need to send specimens to Australia, New Zealand or the United States for testing.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-pacific/china-and-australia-target-pacific-with-coronavirus-aid-idUSKBN21J4WG
Vanuatu – Pray for them – all hell is going to break for them on top of Covid 19. Donate to Oxfam would help as they try to reach out.
https://www.oxfam.org.nz/news-media/media-releases/cycloneharold/
I don't get this from Gower. We're all in quarantine right now, dip-shit.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/04/patrick-gower-on-coronavirus-quarantine-border-arrivals-now-or-waste-our-sacrifice.html
Ardern said yesterday that the government would be implementing stricter border quarantines soon.
Not sure what'shapening in Auckland. I'm in the third day of quarantine in a Brisbane hotel after flying back from NZ (home is a boat not far from here and I can't afford the alternative – a Paihia hotel where I was staying at the time of the lockdown.) All quiet and reasonable amongst the 20 odd people coccooned here, but there are anecdotal reports of parties on the corridors of quarantine hotels elsewhere as well as waiters sevng glasses of wine to younger quarantiners (Sydney). Australia seems to have flattened the curve quite well, with NZ's cases per 1 mill. population just overtaking it today, but there are still a lot of inconsistencies. If there is a move to quarantining everyoneflying in to NZ it will have to be properly policed, with kindness, too. We understand the reasons here, but still feel like criminals!
As the main vector for infection in NZ seems to be returning international travelers he makes a reasonable point.
What do we do with those returning during lockdown – do we trust them to isolate but more importantly when we come out of lockdown and they continue to come in what do we do with them then ?
Muttonbird’s point is valid though. With the country in full lockdown it doesn’t actually matter who comes across the border. If we’re all doing what we’ve been asked to do arrivals can’t infect anyone. And there are hardly any flights arriving anyway. This close-the-borders narrative is just posturing from the usual suspects.
Posturing from the usual suspects, or manufacturing consent for very strict border quarantine once we get back to level 3 or 2?
Something it’s almost as if the Government is playing the opposition and media like a piano towards what’s going to happen 3 or 4 steps down the track.
Or everyone’s playing their role in managing this thing.
"What do we do with those returning during lockdown – do we trust them to isolate but more importantly when we come out of lockdown and they continue to come in what do we do with them then?"
People with symptoms are being quarantined (that's mandatory and monitored), not asked to self isolate. I'm guessing this will be true when we drop down a level or two. We're not going back to the old normal, we will need protocols that everyone understands for a long time.
Not sure I trust symptomless 20 somethings to obey protocols – I quite like the move by some of the countries overseas where they are tracking cellphones to provide some assurance of compliance.
Most people in their 20s won’t be parted from their cellphone for more than 5 minutes so quite an effective tool for tracking them.
If we knock this on the head soon and can lower our level to 3 or 2 the price of coming to nz has to be time in quarantine, if it takes two weeks so be it .
How long can it stay hidden from a test picking it up?
Last time I looked it was something like 4,000 people that would need to be quarantined. That's logistically a big move. They're probably in a better position to do that now than last week, and I assume the numbers are dropping.
I think I recall reading that the test can come out negative for 2 days or so after a person has been infected. That is actually a big problem, which means that huge amounts of testing will not achieve elimination. Only enforced isolation for the max time for symptoms to appear will achieve elimination.
(Unless you test the same person at about 6 days into isolation – that would accurately show the person to be uninfected. Re-test everyone after a 4-day interval in order to make testing accurate?)
it looks like a numbers game to me. Many people are assuming that every case of covid has to be caught and stopped. I think it's more about containing outbreaks, by dropping the transmission rate, and doing that in an imperfect world where one also has to take into account lots of complex factors eg the police required to monitor 6,000 people and quarantine them, those police have to be taken off other duties.
Everyone acting as if they have covid and not transmitting it seems a good baseline, no matter what other strategies are in place.
bingo
"We're all in quarantine right now, dip-shit."
No, we're not. Most of us are staying at home, but plenty are still going to work. Many of of those are still going to supermarkets/chemist, and can have close contact with other people in their household
The people in actual quarantine aren't allowed to go out at all, can't go to the supermarket, cannot have any close contact with anyone (unless their health/disability care requires it). They are also being checked on by the police.
Here are the rules for people returning from overseas who have no symptoms. They have to self-isolate but aren't being quarantined.
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-novel-coronavirus-health-advice-general-public/covid-19-self-isolation-close-contacts-and-travellers
I can't find the guidelines for people being quarantined, but this article from 26/3/20 talks about it a bit. My reading is that anyone arriving who has symptoms is quarantined i.e. the govt escorts them to a hotel and makes sure they stay there.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/26-03-2020/covid-19-live-updates-march-26-nz-commences-life-under-lockdown/
Todd McKlunk needs to re-read the definition of arbitrary.
I'd say there are very few inconsistencies.
Note also, "butchers" came up almost immediately. What the hell is the Nats' obsession with butchers?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/413542/more-industry-and-small-businesses-could-reopen-national
'Note also, "butchers" came up almost immediately. What the hell is the Nats' obsession with butchers? '
I think it's to do with the very significant dumping of stock and waste being experienced, I do admit to have a fair bit of sympathy I went to my local on the Wednesday before lockdown and they had been working under the assumption that the would be open through the whole period (with obvious restrictions on customers in the door) but only found out they were not considered essential at 11.30.
I think it's reasonable to ask questions of what is and isn't able to be open (or online) to inform decisions if we find ourselves in lockdown for > 4 weeks or in a repeat of lockdown later in the year.
Q/ "What [is behind] the Nats obsession with butchers?"
A/ Peter Leitch
Same here. In our case she was going to take my order over the phone – prepare the meat and place it in the freezer for when I could call down and pick it up. I cant see how this would be any different to that of the supermarket, except I wouldn't have to search through a pile of meat packages to find the one with three loin chops (3 in our household "bubble") rather than 2 or 4 if I'm lucky.
I agree about the butchers. The other point is that butchers etc provide competition to the supermarkets, something that would surely be a plus.
Providing competition is normally a good idea, but during a quarantine-style lockdown????
You have to be an economy-focused, blinkered right-winger.
I had a quiet chuckle that the supermarket chain (Countdown?) accused of price hikes got away with a bit of double talk saying three factors affected their pricing, one being market forces.
Predatory price hikes and profiteering are the result of market forces lol
Nicely put!
No, they aren't. They are the result of market forces (the actions of buyers and sellers) being constrained. In this case, the number of suppliers is being artificially constrained for no good reason.
Panic buying a week before lockdown.
Complaints about price hikes before the lockdown started (i.e. when the other stores were open). price = supply vs demand.
There are literally only two variables on the capitalist chart, and you forgot half of them.
Panic buying is a function of human behaviour, a behaviour that occurs in any type of economy. The difference is that in a market economy supply will match demand over time. Socialist economies just let people starve. (https://fee.org/articles/a-refresher-course-on-socialism-and-starvation/)
Your second link is unsubstantiated hyperbole from a survey of 2. Well done.
"There are literally only two variables on the capitalist chart…"
The equation price = supply v's demand is nuanced. There are other variables, such as who controls the supply. In the current situation, supply is controlled by fewer players than normal. That can't help either supply or prices, and it's a situation that should never have been allowed to exist.
Panic buying that increases demand is a market force that can increase short term prices.
So to say that there is no price gouging because prices are set, in part, by market forces is nonsense. Panic buying raises demand and that enables sellers to increase their prices. Simple market forces.
Wank all you want. Say there were only two complaints, all you want. The fact is people were perceiving price gouging before the drop in the number of suppliers, but well after panic buying set in. So take your defense of market forces and stick it where the hoarded toilet paper will eventually wipe it away.
"Panic buying that increases demand is a market force that can increase short term prices."
And in a market economy, supply then increases to meet demand.
"So to say that there is no price gouging because prices are set, in part, by market forces is nonsense."
It's just as well I didn't say that then.
"Panic buying raises demand and that enables sellers to increase their prices. Simple market forces."
Until supply chatches up and prices fall. Simple market forces. Unlike socilaist economies, where people starve.
"Say there were only two complaints, all you want. The fact is people were perceiving price gouging before the drop in the number of suppliers…"
Are a sample of 2, and purely anecdotal. I'm absolutely certain prices rose, becasue there was increased demand. Then supply caught up and the prices adjust. But no-ones starving.
Is a sample of 2,100 also “purely anecdotal”? The answer is irrelevant, to you, because you’re “absolutely certain” that you’re right. Maybe you should share your knowledge with MBIE.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120837204/coronavirus-massive-jump-in-the-price-of-highdemand-products-data-shows
"no one's starving".
You really don't live in the real world, do you.
No, the supermarket did. As usual, you are incapable of following a simple thread when it doesn't serve your purpose.
The idea that supply increases to meet demand omits the time lag that can mean literally terminal hardship in a fast-moving situation. Hence the empty shelves in supermarkets. Supply is not meeting demand for some items.
You refuse to match your market catechism with real-world observations.
Incognito
"Is a sample of 2,100 also “purely anecdotal”?
When it's a complaints hot line, yep, it is.
KJT
"You really don't live in the real world, do you. "
Yes I do. No-one is starving in NZ as a result of food shortages.
McFlock
No, the supermarket did."
So what?
"The idea that supply increases to meet demand omits the time lag that can mean literally terminal hardship in a fast-moving situation."
It's a fast moving situation. Any shortages lasted days, at most.
"Hence the empty shelves in supermarkets. Supply is not meeting demand for some items."
I shop regularly. There are very few items not in stock, and no essentials.
"You refuse to match your market catechism with real-world observations."
That's rich, coming from someone who displays a total lack of understanding of basic economics.
Here’s some more ‘anecdotal’ evidence for you.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/120810190/coronavirus-hungry-families-at-breaking-point-halfway-through-lockdown
You seem to think that you and your situation are somehow representative or can be extrapolated. You are wilfully blind and deaf to what other people are telling you. You patronise others with BS about “basic economics”. You clearly live in a tiny small bubble.
cf:
You can't even get your bullshit consistent. Are shortages in the past tense, or are they still happening?
And given a colleague was talking about the difficulty in finding any flour today, your "no essentials" is a joke.
Apparently, in reality goldfish have quite good memories. You, on the other hand, can't even keep track of a thread.
To recap:
“You can't even get your bullshit consistent. Are shortages in the past tense, or are they still happening?”
Are you really that stupid? No, I suspect you just know you’re out of your depth. Shortages can be both present and past. They can be toilet paper one day, coca cola the next. In a market economy they correct themselves. In a socialist one, people starve.
“And given a colleague was talking about the difficulty in finding any flour today, your "no essentials" is a joke.”
Plenty of flour at Countdown St Lukes. More anecdotal bs from you and your colleagues.
“To recap:”
“You said it was because the govt limited the number of suppliers”
No, I said that was possibly a factor in why prices rise. (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06-04-2020/#comment-1698949) It is also a factor in many other things, such as lack of choice. If you think limiting competition in the supply of a product doesn't affect pricing, then I can understand why you're struggling.
“I provided some evidence that people perceived price increases prior to the limitation on supplier numbers.”
Perceived. Yes.
“I said the problem with that is the lag time between supply meeting demand, which can have extreme repercussions”
But provided zero evidence.
You’re out of your depth in this, McFlock. Economics is a relatively simple discipline, so it’s hard to understand why you find it so difficult. Hardly surprising Incognito is trying to help you out.
The only way you drag people out of their depth is to drown them in bullshit.
I've already acknowledged that supply is one part of the price equation. You agreed that demand can also be a factor, yet you refuse to admit that this might be the case when it comes to panic-buying in NZ.
But I'm sure we can agree that there was an increase in demand via panic-buying. So did people panic-buy and the market failed to adjust its prices, or did people panic-buy and there was price gouging?
"I've already acknowledged that supply is one part of the price equation. You agreed that demand can also be a factor, yet you refuse to admit that this might be the case when it comes to panic-buying in NZ."
No. Panic buying does increase demand, for a short term.
"But I'm sure we can agree that there was an increase in demand via panic-buying."
Yes, which then likely leads to less demand later. Unless people always want 100 rolls of toilet paper inn their bathrooms.
"So did people panic-buy and the market failed to adjust its prices, or did people panic-buy and there was price gouging?"
If panic buying increases demand…
…and increased demand leads to increased prices…
…then panic buying can be a component in increasing prices.
But then the market adjusts. By increasing supply, increasing pricing, or both.
No don't dodge the question, did the recent panic-buying increase prices in NZ?
In other words, did the simple economic theory play out in real life?
"…did the recent panic-buying increase prices in NZ?
That would have been answered by my comment " Panic buying does increase demand, for a short term." and then "If panic buying increases demand……and increased demand leads to increased prices……then panic buying can be a component in increasing prices." I thought that was fairly clear.
"In other words, did the simple economic theory play out in real life?"
Of course it does. In a truly free market. And then supply matches demand and prices reach equilibrium.
But when the government decides that Countdown can sell meat but not the local butcher, Countdown profits and the consumer loses.
The equivocations were exceptionally clear. Try addressing panic-buying, and only panic-buying, in a sentence without equivocation.
It's a simple theory. You should be able to report it's effects in a simple manner. Something like "The recent panic-buying in NZ did increase prices". Less than ten words. Go on, don't be a bullshitter all your life. You can do it.
" The equivocations were exceptionally clear. Try addressing panic-buying, and only panic-buying, in a sentence without equivocation."
Aready done. On numerous occasions.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06-04-2020/#comment-1699118
"Panic buying that increases demand is a market force that can increase short term prices." <And in a market economy, supply then increases to meet demand>. (See how I agreed with you there?)
"Panic buying raises demand and that enables sellers to increase their prices. Simple market forces." <Until supply chatches up and prices fall. > (And there).
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06-04-2020/#comment-1699301
Panic buying does increase demand, for a short term.
"But I'm sure we can agree that there was an increase in demand via panic-buying." <Yes, which then likely leads to less demand later. Unless people always want 100 rolls of toilet paper inn their bathrooms.>
"So did people panic-buy and the market failed to adjust its prices, or did people panic-buy and there was price gouging?" <If panic buying increases demand……and increased demand leads to increased prices……then panic buying can be a component in increasing prices. But then the market adjusts. By increasing supply, increasing pricing, or both.> (Wow, not sure I could have clearer there!)
And remember I said this " The equation price = supply v's demand is nuanced. There are other variables, such as who controls the supply." Panic buying creates demand, but that is only one part of the equation. For example, let's say there was panic buying of toilet paper at a time of over supply. Would prices rise? I'll give you a lollipop for a correct answer. But I'll take it back again for the economics lesson.
[cuts and pastes theoretical generalisations and equivocations]
You really do like to paste hundreds of words when just ten would do.
Without equivocation, did the recent panic buying in NZ result in price increases?
No ifs, buts, cans, or mights. Just answer the simple question with an equally simple answer. Bypass the waffle and bullshit, just be honest for once.
Don’t expect honesty from Paddington. For example, Paddington claimed they’d “never heard of Climaction” and pretended not to know that Climaction was a commenter here. Yet, Paddington replied to Climaction only a few weeks ago https://thestandard.org.nz/different-responses-to-the-covid-virus-pandemic/#comment-1691901 and late last year https://thestandard.org.nz/listening-to-left-wing-dissent/#comment-1673721. I know what’s coming next 😉
"Without equivocation, did the recent panic buying in NZ result in price increases? "
You didn't read the quotes, did you? Ok, I'll simplify.
Panic buying increases demand. Increased demand increases prices IF not met by a corresponding increase in supply.
And there's the point. Let's say people panic purchased meat. At the same time the government limits the supply of meat by closing off a significant share of the supply side of the market. So demand exceeds supply, at least in part because of a silly intervention in the market. Prices will rise.
Got it now? As a general rule, the less governments interfere in a market, the better it perfroms. There are exceptions, but they tend to be where these is sub-optimal levels of competition.
Dude, it's not difficult. Just write around ten words.
I'll even write a few helpful words for you:
"The recent panic-buying in NZ", "led to", and "price increases". Feel free to replace "led to" with "did not lead to".
You can do it. Just write a clear, no-bullshit sentence.
""The recent panic-buying in NZ", "led to", and "price increases". Feel free to replace "led to" with "did not lead to". "
In what market? In which product? Over what time period?
I can well understand your desire to simplify things, but as I said an ealrier post, there are nuances.
"Although if you spend your time with your head up your arse, maybe you don't see other people and the only entertainment to be had is the sound of your own voice.."
Oh dear. I've demonstrated you total ignorance of basic economics and now your crying to mummy. How quaint.
https://thestandard.org.nz/phasing-into-phase-4/#comment-1694361, which was 23 March 2020, which is exactly one week after you replied to Climaction, whom you had never heard of, or so you claimed. How quaint.
You are incapable of answering a simple basic question that has got nothing to do with “basic economics” but everything with your belligerence.
lol wriggle on, moron. The NZ market.
lol dance away, fool. Products in which there was panic-buying.
lols that's just fucking stupid.
The essay approach failed, now you're trying to bog down by drawing out enough information to allow you to evade the question.
It doesn't matter either way.
Just answer the fucking question. Ten words, easy answer, it's not as nuanced as you think. Did the recent panic-buying in NZ result in price increases?
Fuck, it can be answered in one word. I say "yes". Do you say "no"?
edt: ““A normal person…”
…would not be running away from a discussion about economics to discus whether I rembered a single post from 2 weeks ago.”
You’re not that challenging, dude. I can do both. You can’t even answer a simple question.
"A normal person…"
…would not be running away from a discussion about economics to discus whether I remembered a single post from 2 weeks ago!
[I’m having to draw a line in the sandpit before someone gets hurt and starts crying to his mummy. This thread is now closed as far as I’m concerned; it did not lead to anything or anywhere useful and it likely to spiral further downwards. No more comments from any of us, thanks – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 7:00 PM.
"Here’s some more ‘anecdotal’ evidence for you."
What the hell does that have to do with supply from supermarkets? The people in your 'anecdote' don;t have a food shortage, they have a money shortage.
Geez, read the thread.
"and late last year "
A few weeks ago and late last year? Are your serious? Still running interference for McFlock I see.
McFlock doesn’t need anything from me but you don’t seem to realise this. I merely pointed out that you’re misleading and dishonest. Your reply on 16 March 2020 was only a few weeks ago. Has it refreshed your “selective” memory? Yes, I’m serious. Why do you ask? Did you miss a little wink such as this 😉 ? I’m so sorry.
Do you really sling so much bullshit that you don't remember who you throw it at multiple times, even a few weeks ago? Not a glint of a feeling of familiarity?
Although if you spend your time with your head up your arse, maybe you don't see other people and the only entertainment to be had is the sound of your own voice..
"Your reply on 16 March 2020 was only a few weeks ago. "
And you expect me to remember the name of a poster for a single comment made two weeks ago? Yeah, you're running interference.
I was waiting for your lame excuse about selective amnesia. You have been commenting heaps here lately and yet you claim not to know the other commenters. Heard of McFlock, by any chance?
I’m pointing out how disingenuous you are, and it comes across in your commenting. The “interference” is coming from you; you have become an annoying little troll. How quaint.
lol
A normal person would have a glint of recognition, yeah. Maybe not remember every detail, but it should at least ring a bell. It's two weeks dude, not two decades.
The 'quarantine style lockdown' is precisely the time for competition. It's not just about pricing, it's also about supply, quality, and choice.
Come on Paddingdumb, what is the purpose of the lockdown or have you forgotten already?
People buy meat. It's food. They either buy it at a supermarket or a butcher. The lockdown is not under threat from people visitng a butcher any more than visiting a supermarket.
You are obviously unwilling to accept that the more people there are on the streets shopping at more outlets (where does it stop?) the more chance of community transmission.
If I go to the supermarket to buy meat, I am one person on the street. If I go to the butcher to buy meat, I am one perosn on the street.
You missed the 'at more outlets' bit. Probably just didn't see it.
Gabby, it doesn't change anything. If it really did, liquor shops wouldn't be open.
Have they changed the rules for liquor stores recently?
Last I was aware, the only liquor stores that were open to walk-ins were in trust licensing areas where supermarkets can't sell alcohol. And those stores had such a problem with out-of-area people coming to buy spirits that they have restricted their sales to just wine and beer, like supermarkets.
They are classed as an essential service apparently in areas where alcohol is not available at the supermarket.
Meat and bread is available at the supermarket so no need for butchers or bakers for a few weeks.
"Last I was aware, the only liquor stores that were open to walk-ins were in trust licensing areas where supermarkets can't sell alcohol. "
And those liquor outlets are minutes away from supermarkets who DO sell alcohol.
"Meat and bread is available at the supermarket so no need for butchers or bakers for a few weeks. "
Which reduces choice, competition. Which is what this discussion is about.
Given the time span and complexity, I think the Government has done well.
Butchers being closed when dairies are open, is fair comment.
However the need to limit opportunities for spread, immediately needed fast decisions, and to do the details later.
I think the Government were discussing these issues without any prompting from National's bad faith.
Online deliveries may be safer option, though. Giving more online delivery capability for at risk, people..
While I don't disagree with what you have said, I feel there is a blind spot around supermarkets.
I would argue almost all the fresh produce in them is handled more than smaller, local businesses and victim to last century's supply chains.
I would love there to be a Pandemic Prepardeness section of the Food Control Plan for food producers/retailers to implement. When this happens again we are not at the behest of the duopoly, rather buying and supprting local primary producers.
Much as I dislike the supermarket duopoly.
And their screwing of suppliers, staff and customers.
I understand the idea was to keep the number of retail outlets in use to a minimum, from the point of monitoring and controlling virus spread.
Already wondering about Kaitia, where a supermarket worker has suspected CV19. All the shoppers, which may have been exposed, avoiding that shop and travelling elsewhere for their groceries.
Kaikohe
Good idea.
Hoping they change a few others things too, like allowing natural health to be an essential service via online ordering instead of shutting it all down.
If the Ministry for Primary Industries has anything to do with it you can be sure that their only concern is for the welfare of big business. Natural health products etc are not in that category, as far as they are concerned, and are therefore unhealthy.
Some sarc in the above, but I have seen their heavy handed approach, in this area far too often to have any faith in them actually helping anything other than mainstream conventional products.
they initially said no to small growers then changed their minds.
Someone told Simon he needed to have a butcher's and he misunderstood
Farmers?
Sometimes I think our species is way too stupid to survive this.
https://twitter.com/AmarAmarasingam/status/1246658639785492480
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11332762/four-more-5g-masts-attacked-conspiracy-theory-coronavirus/
OMG!
Takes stupid to another level.
Is this the type of action that should be taken?
https://youtu.be/snMl0XcSzOU
Oh look, binary fuckwit touches itself.
/
There's a few of these vids appearing on anti-muslim white supremacist sites, most fake of course, filmed before the lockdowns.
No.
Duh.
Darwinism at its finest.
Hell pit hell!
https://player.vimeo.com/video/403323528?
https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2020/04/05/right-wing-pastor-avoid-covid-19-vaccines-since-theyre-from-the-pit-of-hell/
More xtian lunacy.
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1246619114472222721
https://twitter.com/soapachu/status/1246793653294686208
It's been many years since I practised any religion. I forgot the extent to which being bad in bed is seen as a virtue by some weirdos.
God wouldn't allow true believers to be infected at woship/fundraising.
Dang…. wow! Wtf is wrong with people and where do you find this stuff Joe? Lmao
What a Prick
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/413544/covid-19-woman-says-employer-applied-for-wage-subsidy-after-making-her-redundant
Why you had to tick the box that gave your consent to the information being made public before you could apply for the wage subsidy.
The ex employer will be having a lovely conversation with someone from the MSD audit team. Joyous times.
Margaret Mahy thought up a story that has elements of what we are going through now. Have a listen to this great storyteller and wonderful woman.
ProductionShed.TV: "Down the Back of the Chair" – TVNZ DVD Margaret Mahy's Rumbustifications
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62gnJ78oDYU
ffs
https://twitter.com/SheWhoRises/status/1246876644314357761
well as Javanka said "it is OUR stockpile".
No doubt they'll do their best to make a goodly part of the $500 billion bailout theirs, too.
https://twitter.com/voxdotcom/status/1246915555099058178
edit: shameless
They were the ones purchased by Germany that were re-diverted to the US? Got them for nothing I s'pose cos the Germans had already paid for them.
Nothing coming out of Trump's America surprises me anymore including the above proposition.
Judge not amused by Supermarket Sneezer
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/supermarket-cougher-refused-bail-tested-virus
Fortunately turns out the idiot didn't have COVID-19 as he'd previously claimed. Pleaded guilty to offensive behaviour.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/supermarket-cougher-pleads-guilty-negative-virus
Hopefully a lesson to similar fuckwit pranksters.
This idiot has also previously been jailed for 'pranks'.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/398916/Christchurch-bottle-bomber-jailed
Oh joy.
A tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, and six other big cats are exhibiting symptoms consistent with the illness, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Sunday afternoon.
“It’s the first time, to our knowledge, that a [wild] animal has gotten sick from COVID-19 from a person,” says Paul Calle, chief veterinarian for the Bronx Zoo. The Malayan tiger, named Nadia, likely contracted the coronavirus from an infected—but unknown—asymptomatic zookeeper. “It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Calle says. The zoo has been closed to visitors since March 16.
Several domestic animals had previously tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, including a Pomeranian and a German shepherd in Hong Kong, a domestic cat in Belgium.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/04/tiger-coronavirus-covid19-positive-test-bronx-zoo/
Now is not the time to have a non-Covid health issue – especially for an old woman.
I have no idea if my throat is anything to worry about or if it will clear on its own. I have had a mildly irritated throat for a few weeks now. I can see a couple of white spots on my slightly swollen right tonsil. A couple of weeks ago I was sent antibiotics after a phone consult with a GP, who said normally she'd do a throat swab to check if it's bacterial.
So several days after completing the antibiotics, no change. Phoned the GPs receptionist saying maybe I need a face-to-face consultation. Generally the GPs are doing phone & video consults now. Problem is we get charged the normal consultation fee for phone/video consults, and if a throat swab is required, that would be an extra fee for a face-to-face consultation.
The receptionist said it was a difficult one and really didn't know the solution. So I have a face-to-face consultation booked, and will phone reception when I get into the GP car park.
I really don't want to be going to a medical facility at this time, but in my low moments I'm worried about what is wrong with my throat.
Stay strong Carolyn – if you're not in the most at risk group that is recently returned from overseas or close contact with someone in that group you have most likely just got a grotty sore throat.
Remember the vast proportion of people with symptoms in NZ are actually coming back with a negative test for Covid 19. Perhaps get them to give you a flu jab while you're there to avaoid the rush once we're out of lock down.
Thanks, SM. I think the possibility of me having THE virus is low if non-existent. My concern is, WTF else is wrong with my throat, and is it something to worry about?
I have been physical distancing for at least a month now, and in last few weeks getting groceries home delivered.
But I also don't want to be at a medical facility where the virus might be at large.
Still, I just want to know what I am dealing with.
Hey Caroline I've had a mildly raw throat for about 3 to 4 weeks now and went through a brief spell of sneezing but it never developed beyond that. Since it has happened to me a few times in the past couple of years I'm not worried. It eventually goes away.
Thanks, Anne. Normally I wouldn't worry about a bit of a sore throat, but I can see white spots on my tonsils, which usually is (bacterial) strep throat requires antibiotics. It didn't get worse or better after a course of antibiotics.
Anyway, I had the face-to-face consult at the GPs this arvo, which was interesting. He came to my car in the car park in full PPEs, gave me a face mask, and took me to an area outside the GPs' building, screened off with plastic sheeting.
He also thinks it looks like strep throat. He did a physical exam of my vitals, etc, and took a throat swab. Said he'd get back to me with the results – maybe have a break after the last antibiotics of a week or so, then try a different antibiotic.
Also, the nurse gave me a flu jab – my appointment for it a couple of weeks back was cancelled as they ran out of stock. I was waiting for them to send me a new appointment.
So I don't need to go back for a separate flu jab appointment. 😊
Can I wash the face mask and re-use it?
Edit: I had strep tonsils in Aussie in my 20s when I was travelling overseas. The GP was getting worried because the antibiotics weren’t improving it, and was saying I may need to be hospitalised. Fortunately, it cleared by the end of the course of antibiotics. But memory of this has been worrying me. And also why I know what strep tonsils looks like.
Yay glad you ended seeing the Dr.
Depends on the fibre composition. Most are designed for single use, so may breakdown in water and lose effectiveness.
Do you sew? You could make your own if you have the supplies, 100% cotton fabric and some elastic. I use a paperclip to insert in bridge of the nose for a snug fit. The mask is like a pocket and you can insert a throw away filler for extra protection, like a folded up tissue.
Hope that helps 🙂
Thanks, Cinny.
I can sew, sort of. Thanks for the links. Will keep them for possible future use. Depends on getting the components.
I heard chatter before we went into lockdown that strep throat was going around. The more likely thing is that it is strep throat but it's always better to get things checked out.
Thanks, mpleger. Useful to know.
I was happy initially with the phone consultation and having antibiotics delivered to me. Was disappointed that the antibiotics did not eliminate it – and that was the cause of my concern.
When I searched online, all the advice said antibiotics should be prescribed ASAP, partly because it stopped transmission to others. Some said that strep throat usually goes after after a week, with or without antibiotics.
In the northern hemisphere, the pre-Covid flu included some throat infections in their just finishing winter.
In retrospect, not sure what they will test for with my throat swab. We'll see.
The GP at the phone consultation said it could be a virus or bacterial, and that's, I think why they do a swab to check. She went with it most likely being bacterial, so prescribed antibiotics to see if that worked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01YrXUChqCI&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEpfvTdR5-U&feature=youtu.be
Attention: "weka"
Yesterday "weka" claimed there was "no evidence" that there was a purge of human rights activists from Britain's doomed, discredited Labour Party. "weka" needs to read this….
https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/thread/1586088704.html
[I’m not reading that. If you want to provide back up for your claim, then cut and paste the relevant bits. But I think we’ve already established that you were being fanciful. I fully accept that you personally believe it’s true, but thus far there isn’t any evidence to support that – weka]
Morrissey,
How does that extract prove there will be a purge of human right activists? No where does it say that people can't campaign for Palestinian rights in a pretty forthright way. It simply says that Labour party members can't be anti-semetic.
Wayne as you may not have come across Morrissey previously a word of warning, he is a notoriously self involved equal opportunity troll, it's best not to try and engage with him.
It doesn't, of course.
The letter from Starmer, to the Board of deputies of British jews, says about anti-Semitism – He will tear out the poison by it's roots.
Of course, if one thinks anti semitism isn't a poison, then that stance is going to conflict and cause some people a lot of issues.
To the "Friends of Israel"contingent supporting Palestinian rights is "anti-semitic"
Attention: "Morrissey"
You fool!
Weka never claimed such a thing but asked you to provide the evidence that you had omitted from your comments.
I’ll leave the moderation to weka.
Sorry, Morrissey, but I followed your debate with Weka and Incognito is right. All you were asked to do was to give the gist of the argument/evidence that was in the links you provided. You didn't.
Starmer offering to meet right wing Zionists in order to discuss how he might stamp out antisemitism is too many orders of weird for me to wrap my head around.
There's also quite a push against feminists in UK Labour btw.
Just as advocates of basic human rights for Palestinians within UK Labour get smeared as anti-semites, so feminists within UK Labour advocating for women's rights are being smeared as TERFs.
Different protagonists, same playbook. Fucking horrible on so many levels.
Starmer offering to meet right wing Zionists in order to discuss how he might stamp out antisemitism is too many orders of weird for me to wrap my head around.
Thanks bill. Of course, supporters of the Israeli regime are not interested in "stamping out antisemitism", they're concerned only with stamping out protest against Israel. Their never-ending attempt to conflate Israel with Judaism is a desperate and cynical strategy.
I agree Bill
I couldn't really care less about Simon Bridges driving hundreds of km between Wellington and Tauranga. I'm sure he pees in his car and can change his own tyre.
But I do think it's hilarious that driving two km was an unforgivable outrage only 3 days ago.
Let's face it, the real question is: does Simon drive a car with his smiling face plastered on the side? Because that was Clark's real crime.
Well Scotland's Chief Medical officer may disagree with you regard flouting of lockdown rules.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/scotland-s-chief-medical-officer-resigns-after-flouting-lockdown-rules-20200406-p54hdq.html
But nobody can sack Bridges except the National caucus, and they've had countless reasons to do that over the past two years. One more won't make any difference.
lol it's funny when you and Bill agree.
So, to repeat myself:
Ha! I’m sure Tova and HDPA will be all over this.
To be fair, Tova did just ask the PM about it at the press conference.
Ardern's response was (translated from poli-speak) …. "definitely not commenting but feel free to read between the lines of this non-comment".
Bridges was certainly in his own bubble.
Simons Bridges behaviour is irresponsible and unnecessary. He certainly is an arrogant little man with self-entitlement issues.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/413566/bridges-defends-wellington-to-tauranga-commute
Simon Bridges should be in quarantine to protect New Zealanders. Standing this close is dangerous and irresponsible.
https://www.twitter.com/NorthPolitics/status/1246607870927355904
Simon can't stand 2 metres away from them because he's in yet another of his arranged photo ops. Supermarket workers are the flavour of the month (and rightly so), so Simon's got to be seem associating with them. I bet he's never bothered before.
Flavour of last month? The photo dates from before the level 4 restrictions (24th March?). It may have been "dangerous and irresponsible", but not at the time actively illegal.
I am more concerned that he has no intention of stopping his unnecessary travel. Who could ever have predicted that a National leader would be so self-entitled and lacking empathy?
Not quite. Comes under "alternative ways of working required" in level 3. Although to be fair the message might not have been communicated in small enough words at that stage.
The issue with what Clark did was as much the activity he undertook as the driving. That's why in his apoligy he said "Even though I deliberately opted for an easy, local track, on reflection I realise I should have chosen a better option such as walking, running or cycling on the flat,"
Exactly – pleased to agree with you for once. That Scottish woman twice did an hour's drive (60km or so?) and had been warned by police. Clark drove only 2.5 km once, when there is actually no 2km rule, and Tova O'Brien hides all that in tonight's TV3 news, and tries to equate the two offences as being of equal hypocrisy.
Anyone who knows the details will see Tova for what she is. But why should she be permitted to spread such tendentious rubbish, presenting it as 'news'?
Anybody know if amidst the Covid 19 emergency the usual flu is being tracked globally?
Because it looks like a bad one in the States and was tracking steeply up in early January
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-flu-killed-80000-last-season-fight-it-with-these-10-proven-cures-2018-09-30
"The 2017-2018 flu season was the deadliest in more than four decades with 80,000 deaths caused by the flu, including 180 children. And it looks like the virus is back with a vengeance for winter 2019-2020, which is on track to be just as bad, as seen on this CDC graph."
This article was originally published in February 2018, and has been updated with the most recent CDC data for winter 2019-2020.
If this is the sort of moronic analysis Collins believes then there shouldn’t be too much to worry about if Bridges is rolled and she takes over:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/120815679/heres-how-coronavirus-will-change-us-judith-collins
Well it seems its not an exact science as flu is not a notifiable disease in most parts of the US
Estimates of flu deaths for the 2019-20 season are between 24 to 63,000 up until March 28
and in that same period 400,000-730,000 hospitalisations
You would have to hope this tapers off before Covid19 peaks, because that is quite an additional burden
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm
The flu vaccinations have been bought forward for vulnerable people – in my area older poeple were given it away from the medical centre and with social distancing.
But flu rates go down when people are in lock-down because it spreads in the same way as covid-19. Trying to stop covid-19 spreading helps stop the flu spreading.
Cracker Dickens' bio.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h0qj
Sketches by Boz
[US] Ol' Snippy tip….Melania Trump to address nation to rally people. ask them to pray etc. Healing theme, approx time period next couple of weeks.
Does anyone know how to get the data on this? Other than emailing the polling company, which I feel is unlikely to get a timely reply. There's not much point in knowing the margin of error for a given population sample when thereare no numbers stated!
It's interesting that Ardern seems to be better trusted by Australians than Aotearoans. Maybe something to do with the right-wing mouths in NZ being even more irrelevant over there than they are in this country.
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/8333-net-trust-score-political-leaders-march-20-2020-202003190756
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/8351-reasons-for-trust-distrust-of-political-and-business-leaders-march-2020-202003270641
Thanks Pat, that's exactly what I was looking for. Embarrassed to be so out of practice navigating that site, it's been a while since I have followed polling. Hopefully it was at least slightly difficult to locate and not a big blue link I missed.