Migrant workers working in extreme heat barely last 10 years.
One-third of transplant patients at a center near Kathmandu have been young men who worked abroad in extreme heat
In recent years, scientists and groups including the International Labor Organization have increasingly warned about the deadly, yet often overlooked, link between exposure to extreme heat and chronic kidney disease.
“These epidemics of chronic kidney disease that have surfaced … [are] just the beginning,” said Richard Johnson, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado who is studying pockets of kidney disease globally. “As it gets hotter, we expect to see these diseases emerge elsewhere.”
The recent emergence of an apparently new form of chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu) has become a serious public health crisis in Sri Lanka. CKDu is slowly progressive, irreversible, and asymptomatic until late stages, and is not attributable to hypertension, diabetes, or other known aetiologies. In response to the scope and severity of the emerging CKDu health crisis, the Sri Lanka Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization initiated a collaborative research project from 2009 through 2012 to investigate CKDu prevalence and aetiology. The objective of this paper is to discuss the recently published findings of this investigation and present additional considerations and recommendations that may enhance subsequent investigations designed to identify and understand CKDu risk factors in Sri Lanka or other countries.
Dairy owners working in increased fear have declared a “retail crime emergency” and called for urgent support from law-makers including more legal protection to use self-defence, installation of facial recognition cameras and cracking down on beggars and “feral families”.
But the fine appeared only to provoke further errant behaviour by Mr Samuel.
Over the following two months, he made explicit threats to two employees by phone, which were recorded and disclosed to the Labour Inspectorate.
Believing one worker to be responsible for the initial complaint, Mr Samuel said he would arrange someone to cut off the man’s limbs and harm his family.
A second man was told to "prepare for his parents’ funeral in Sri Lanka.".
As time went on, Sanjay's conditions worsened. The business owners, he says, began to abuse him, accusing him of stealing, or of abusing customers and other staff. They fabricated events, letters and complaints, digging at his self-esteem, and eroding his mental health.
Eventually, when it came to a head, Sanjay had a mental breakdown.
Once again, my interpretation of these attacks is crime gangs using underage kids to soften up retail business owners for protection rackets. The actual stuff stolen is not the point, the social menace is. A point: many migrant dairy owners are from countries like India where rule of law and the courts are barely functional, and bribery and protection rackets are common. How to address this criminal intimidation is to target not only offenders, but also those who plan to benefit from their actions. There needs to be good education and solidarity at the local business community level, coordinated with police, to resist any 'protection' approaches.
It is a lovely theory but you have zero evidence for protection rackets happening, do you? In other words, it is pure speculation on your behalf, isn’t it? You know that we like to see evidence for claims of opinion because they make debate informative and relevant.
I know nothing about older offenders but according to my SO who works at the pointy end of child protection; in our burg at least the majority of these incidents are social media driven copycat crimes. Offences are committed by young people who've had little previous contact with police/youth justice. They're egged on by media peers to record their offending and post the evidence, their social media is monitored and high clearance rates ensue. Apparently there's little evidence of any Fagin like organiser involvement in young people's offending.
btw, anecdotally, the only dairy in a 5 Km radius of where I live has given up reporting thefts and stand-over tactics. The plods insistence on shutting the doors while they carry out their forensics costs a lot of money, and, I suspect, their presence may interfere with the day to day rorts.
every social media platform (FB, twitter, instagram, tiktok, blogs etc) have a date and sometimes a time stamp on every new post.
For instance, your comment on TS just now, right above your words 'Date stamp?', there are the words '7 January 2023 at 11:43 am'. Those words are a clickable link*. If you click on it, the page will refresh to that link and the URL in the address field of your browser will now show this,
That's a permanent link that you can use anywhere on the internet to direct people to that comment.
Likewise, on your Facebook post, there is currently a time stamp. Directly below your name and to the left of the wee planet. It currently says 53m, and is clickable. If you click on it, the page will refresh, and the browser URL now has a permanent link for use anywhere on the internet.
On some platforms those permanent links will embed. On TS, FB posts will, as well tweets (and some other platform posts).
* (it probably won't be clickable on the Mobile version of TS on a mobile device, in which case switch to the Desktop version using the link at the bottom of the page)
Open day and night, though wider at night. I've become very enthused by the flowers in my tunnel house and so have people seeing the photos on-line. Struggled for a while with my new camera (it's a phone!) but am now better than I was which is good, as flowers are ephemeral 🙂
I'll not post many here (bandwidth 🙂 but here's one more for today.
You need to link to the actual image and not to the page the image is on.
Facebook won't give you a link to the actual image. (Presumably they want all their "branding" around posts.)
You need to go to a website that hosts images, upload the image, open the URL for the page the image is on and then right click on the image and go "open image in new tab". Copy that URL e.g. https://i.postimg.cc/SxhbLTky/flow2.png
flow2.png is the part of the URL for the photo file.
That is the URL you need for the Standard's photo form. Note I cut the photo down so it's not a big drain on bandwidth.
The guy mutilated someone just because they broke into his house. I am picking if he had his way, they would have been strung up from lampposts.
His support for Trump is pretty vocal as well, which means the guy probably condones police brutality, lynching and crackdowns on the LGBT communuty, all things that Trump has backed. He deserves no sympathy. If he had his way, NZ would be like 1950's Mississpi.
The guy is full of hate. Plain and simple. Hate for brown people, hate for LGBT’s, hate for women, hate for due process. He has KKK written all over him.
[1 year ban. Long pattern of behaviour of unsubstantiated claims of fact and slurs, that the mods are sick of, that you apologise for at the time but then keep doing. Explanation is here from one of the more recent moderations, including clear instructions that you need to provide pre-emptive links as evidence for claims. Which you appeared to agree to but you haven’t been doing. https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11-11-2022/#comment-1920681 and https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11-11-2022/#comment-1920633 – weka]
OK. You said that he was "above the law". I merely paraphrased it.
You may therefore be willing to explain how, if he is "above the law" he was prosecuted and appears to be facing a large fine. If he was "above the law" he wouldn't have been charged at all, much less being subject to a large fine would he?
So, in spite of this do you still think he is "above the law" or would you now agree that your statement is simply wrong?
I’m getting tired of your pedantic nitpicking and your ‘paraphrasing’ that is essentially a euphemism for altering and twisting other people’s words to score trivial points. You don’t contribute to (robust) debate, you divert away from it.
If you have a point to make, make it. If you want to indulge in frivolous trivialities then start your own blog.
He was informed of the restrictions yet he went ahead. Either the consequences of going ahead, a $73,000 fine and the costs of the remediation order, were a minor irritation or he thought he was above the law.
He didn't become a wealthy man without knowing the value of a dollar so I'm picking he thumbed his nose.
I don't have any problem with you saying that he thought he was above the law. In fact I agree with the statement and I think he may have been expecting nothing to happen.
What I didn't agree with was that you said, or at least implied, that he was above the law which seems to be saying that no action would be taken and that the Crown would just ignore what he has done.
This seems to me to be saying that the law in New Zealand is not applied equally to everyone. That prospect scares me.
Well thank God they haven't ignored it and I like to think they never will ignore such actions. If we ever get to the stage that the law is applied differently depending upon who you are, or who you know we are sunk.
The Burrs are not "above the law", yet their actions evince their feeling that the law simply did not apply to them.
Prior to purchasing the property the Burrs received advice from the Department of Conservation and the regional council as to the significance of the wetland and restrictions on what activity can occur that may impact on the wetland.
Despite this instruction the Burrs immediately started unlawful works.
…
Judge Harland described the offending as “energetic” stating that “Mr Burr was moving forward at a very fast pace and the impression I gained was that he was not stopping for anyone”.
Maybe the Burrs were aiming for a fait accompli drainage, and a 'no use crying over spilt milk' defence – drain the swamp!
The son's a recent provincial back rower who weighed in at >95Kgs. He and his father weren't happy with just subduing an overweight teenager. They mutilated him to satisfy their own, racist lust for revenge.
Easy to say. He was reportedly (and we only have the reports to go on) – armed with a large knife, and continually getting up to try to attack them.
They also didn't know if there were other people outside (from the original article – he says he assumed that the guy and his girlfriend had been dropped off – and there were others outside).
Nor did they know how long the police would take to get there (a real concern in rural communities).
Do I think it could have been handled better? Sure I do. In many ways, including beginning a lot further back on the criminal trajectory. I also think it could, very easily, have resulted in the teen being dead, or seriously crippled.
It doesn't, but given it was tue third or fourth time and he'd been clattered around the head with a wine bottle at 1 30 am its hardly suprising he lost the plot at went to far.
I'd be really interested to know why he was been targeted by the teen and why he was able to continuously return.
Eitherway the system failed the both of them badly ending in a pretty horrific situation.
Deeply felt racial animosities are all too common in that part of the country but we only have the violent thug's word that this was the fourth time the teen, who he knew, had broken into his home.
Waiting for Crinkle to justify the assertion that this wasthe third or fourth time he'd been clattered around the head with a wine bottle.
Fair enough. Still disgusted by attempts to justify the actions men who beat, subdued, and used a knife to mutilate a disabled teen with, according family, the intellectual capacities of a child.
I'm not justifying anything, just saying the reaction is unsurprising. It's possible we see something similar happen if one of the kids holding up dairies gets collared.
I do think there's alot about this particular case that we don't know, perhaps due to suppression orders. The repeated targeting seems weird and there were attempts at to sort things out. Like I say the system failed both of them.
yeah, there's a lot about that whole story that's not clear.
It's not hard to imagine that cutting the finger tip happened from escalation and trying to stop the kid with the knife from getting up off the floor. But it's also not hard to imagine that the solutions coming into Burr and his son's head arose from their values and lives. Other people would have reacted differently.
It's milly's commenting style and behaviour that is the problem. I assumed there was some truth in what he was saying, but the inflammatory spray style runs counter to TS's requirement of evidence based robust debate. And as you say, the comments are misleading. There's also the problem of defamation and what happens when one of milly's comments puts the site owners at risk.
If millsy had provided the link you did, they wouldn't have gotten banned. They've been told so many times, sucked up so much moderator time, and we're sick of it. Also, election year, so we're tightening up.
It is obvious Burr is MAGA (it's in the link you took the time to provide) and, as you say, therefore it's probable he condones aggressive policing, vigilantism, and crackdowns on vulnerable and minority communities.
The other link provided by joe90 @ 4.3.1 details more of Burr's character, where he likens the young Māori offender to a dog:
“He’s still [his mother’s] kid. He just went off the rails. If you have a dog, and you don’t train it and no discipline – they need education and discipline.
So, probably racist too, which was your other reasoned assertion.
Another link from joe90 @ 4.1 describes Burr's attitude to environmental laws and the environment itself. It's pretty clear what the man is like when you build a picture from his own words and actions, ie, not someone who progressives would defend.
One thing I'd like to say about millsy's extremely heavy ban is that for some commenters TS is a means to document and release frustrations. One commenter who does this a lot is Swordfish in his ongoing battle with the imaginary managerial middle class.
I do it myself, not necessarily seeking feedback, just wanting to get down on paper as it were what I'm thinking, with links, for possible reference later. My point is, some commenters rely on TS for the ability it provides to 'get things down on paper' as described, and this helps with their mental health.
Also, the requirement for commenters to be thorough with expanding on claims and providing links for each claim is discriminatory to those who are time and technology poor.
Such a long ban (particularly for highlighting the behaviour of a horrible individual) doesn't seem to factor much of that in at all.
Frustrated moderator decisions do affect frustrated real people…
Guns and the right to bear arms is always a hot US topic. A six year old shot a teacher in a classroom.
I understand all the stuff about preventing crazed people having guns, them taking guns into schools and procedures in the event of terrible incidents happening.
The need to check 5 and 6 year olds to see if they're carrying?
It's another context for all the talk in the country just a year after there was insurrection at the country's Capitol. And at a time so many in the debate for House Speaker are talking about the US being the greatest country in the world.
"Data also suggests that young people disproportionately commit gun homicides. For example, 18-20-year olds comprise just 4% of the US population, but account for 17% of known homicide offenders."
Most of this stuff is a lot better than the Soviet era stuff the Russians are using atm.
So, it looks like Ukraine is going to get everything it needs to push the Russians out of Ukraine. This is important, even from a negotiating perspective. It is vital that Russia sees that the west is not going to back down in its support for Ukraine. So, in that way Russia will see that continued aggression on its part is futile.
Not really "business" as most of what the US is giving is the stuff they were going to scrap at some stage anyway. Probably cheaper for them to give it to the Ukrainians.
That is a big "if". The Ukrainians tend to be a bit smarter than the Russians who house their soldiers next to ammunition dumps which doesn't lead to great outcomes for the soldiers when their base is targeted by Ukrainian artillery, as happened in Makiivka the other day.
Even the Russians now acknowledge that 89 soldiers were killed in the attack, which means the number is much more likely to be in the hundreds as claimed by the Ukrainians and many other sources.
Given the way Tsar Poot's Army has handle it's fabled "Red God" Zhukov & Co would be rolling in their graves atm.
As for it's Combined Arms Tactics/ Doctrine, you wouldn't be getting a Cuppa Tea & Biscuit interview with Chief Instructor & RSM at the School of Armour, Infantry or at Staff College!
But a RTU or worst a notice to show cause why we shouldn't boot you out on your ass.
Oh sorry to nit prick, the AMX 10 isn't a Light Tank, it's Wheel Tank Destroyer or Heavy Armoured Car armed with a 105mm gun.
The AMX 10 would a good vehicle to have alongside the Aussie Bushies for those deep penetration attacks/ offensives after the Heavy Brigades ie Tanks & Infantry Fighting Vehicles have broken through the Russian Defensive Belt in coming spring after General Mud has passed or this winter which is starting to look very unlikely now.
Yeah, thanks for that. I realise the term "tank" is a fairly loose description.
They should be handy for the Ukrainians though. I think they can be transported by air, and I understand the older version is amphibious, which could be handy for the Ukrainians.
Any MBT would be welcome for the Ukrainian Armoured Corp, heck even the old upgraded IDF Cents, T55's & T62's would be a bit of handful for Poot's Army given the Ukrainian Army's Combined Arms Tactics/ Doctrine has been exceptional.
Yes, it's been rough for the Ukrainian Armed Forces at start of the Russian Invasion & a few things didn't go to plan especially in the Sth Command Region. But they didn't panic & stayed to their Strategic Battle plan as they knew this day would come.
Leopard 2's would be a game changer on the battlefield especially at a tactical level, also of note Jordan is retiring it's Challenger 1's MBT which is also a beast & would be interesting if a 3rd or the Poms suddenly brought them. It may not have the mobility ie speed on the battlefield, but packs a punch with its firepower & protection with it Cobham Armour.
China has rebuffed repeated U.S. offers to share advanced vaccines as Beijing battles a fast-spreading wave of COVID-19, a rejection that’s led to growing frustration among American officials concerned about a resurgence of the pandemic.
I thought that was well written and quite fair in a neutral sort of way. Whatever happens we will end up with with an amalgamated 3 Waters service model. The current local authority model is a failure in many cases, Haldon's 'orphans', and really can't be fixed.
About the only bit that can change is how independent of councillor control, and how universal, the new model is. Some councils have done very well, New Plymouth is an example, but they are lucky to have a strong growing economy and helpful topography along with good leadership. Queenstown Lakes is similar, we can do whatever is required thanks to a vibrant development community that willingly* hand over vast sums in development contributions to realise their dreams.
Down the road is Gore. They have a combined sewage / stormwater system, a shrinking economy along with a similarly shrinking and aging population. Successive councils have kicked the can down the road, funding civic amenities but ignoring the pipes. It's going to be a huge undertaking fixing this and well beyond the resources of the town. Love to see how National and ACT will deal with this.
Most likely outcome if National are government in 2024 will be a "review" which will change the name of it all, maybe create a couple more entities so it feels more local, and Mana Whenua involvement is up to the shareholding Councils to decide. The regions that choose to develop strong relationships with Mana Whenua will get things done, this that don't might find it a bit harder.
That's the problem National will have in trying to dismantle 3 Waters. The 'orphans' are the bluest of the blue. National will be faced with either taking the Gores out the back and shooting it, or having to justify pouring billions into propping up dying towns, which will go down really well with ACT.
I really don't think National have thought through how they are going to sell this to their constituents or support parties. The few Nat MPs that can think more than one move ahead are probably hoping like hell they either don't win this year, or come up with a viable policy PDQ.
I'm not sure the orphans are resistant to help or change, it's just that the problem has been so large and has just been getting larger for 100 years. They should have been moving to separated services in 1930, but couldn't afford it then and it's just got harder with time. They aren't alone, Auckland has only just separated the last of it's combined services.
In Gore's case fixing involves replacing 70% of the towns sewer and stormwater network, and then rehabilitating the street. Starting again on a new site is probably quicker and cheaper.
Esp when a…lot..of the aged and hardened will be gone…and the Somebody Elses Problem is for the Generations to come. Bit like Climate change and our Earth burning : (
His take isn't far from mine. Got to avoid the disaster of a NAct government (and get another Green / Labour one instead) – but Labour has done very little to significantly address the real problems of inequality, poverty, worker's rights and conditions in NZ. And certainly haven’t been transformative in any way, to my mind.
What no one expected was a heat wave in winter. With temperatures of 19 degrees, rather an 1 degree, people were out jogging wearing a teeshirt rather than going skiing.
Blame it on a continuance of La Nina (a rare third year).
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
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A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 28 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Migrant workers working in extreme heat barely last 10 years.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/06/climate-change-heat-kidney-disease/?
From Sri Lanka to El Salvador.
Abstract
The recent emergence of an apparently new form of chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu) has become a serious public health crisis in Sri Lanka. CKDu is slowly progressive, irreversible, and asymptomatic until late stages, and is not attributable to hypertension, diabetes, or other known aetiologies. In response to the scope and severity of the emerging CKDu health crisis, the Sri Lanka Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization initiated a collaborative research project from 2009 through 2012 to investigate CKDu prevalence and aetiology. The objective of this paper is to discuss the recently published findings of this investigation and present additional considerations and recommendations that may enhance subsequent investigations designed to identify and understand CKDu risk factors in Sri Lanka or other countries.
https://bmcnephrol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2369-15-125
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/14/kidney-disease-killing-sugar-cane-workers-central-america
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_nephropathy
Won't be holding my breath waiting for an admission from Kaushal that he's overstating the threat of beggars and “feral families”.
https://twitter.com/sfchronicle/status/1611067264974917652
Dairy owners working in increased fear have declared a “retail crime emergency” and called for urgent support from law-makers including more legal protection to use self-defence, installation of facial recognition cameras and cracking down on beggars and “feral families”.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dairy-crime-fury-if-the-government-is-not-able-to-provide-safety-they-have-no-right-to-govern/6KHRRVE2MRBAPKGAGTBQWH3QE4/
IMO Dairies…will have the same exploitations going on. Does Mr Sunny follow those up? I'm sure….
Once again, my interpretation of these attacks is crime gangs using underage kids to soften up retail business owners for protection rackets. The actual stuff stolen is not the point, the social menace is. A point: many migrant dairy owners are from countries like India where rule of law and the courts are barely functional, and bribery and protection rackets are common. How to address this criminal intimidation is to target not only offenders, but also those who plan to benefit from their actions. There needs to be good education and solidarity at the local business community level, coordinated with police, to resist any 'protection' approaches.
It is a lovely theory but you have zero evidence for protection rackets happening, do you? In other words, it is pure speculation on your behalf, isn’t it? You know that we like to see evidence for claims of opinion because they make debate informative and relevant.
I know nothing about older offenders but according to my SO who works at the pointy end of child protection; in our burg at least the majority of these incidents are social media driven copycat crimes. Offences are committed by young people who've had little previous contact with police/youth justice. They're egged on by media peers to record their offending and post the evidence, their social media is monitored and high clearance rates ensue. Apparently there's little evidence of any Fagin like organiser involvement in young people's offending.
btw, anecdotally, the only dairy in a 5 Km radius of where I live has given up reporting thefts and stand-over tactics. The plods insistence on shutting the doors while they carry out their forensics costs a lot of money, and, I suspect, their presence may interfere with the day to day rorts.
.
Test
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=936000814443028&set=a.102768607766257
posting the photo on its own is a bit more complicated…
https://www.facebook.com/robert.guyton.77582/posts/pfbid02cncguhunt9MxAyK3ispLrgsMJiL4guZqQyAjcb6UG55Sm6GByn7bxUNK4aokwj89l?__tn__=%2CO*F
click on the date stamp of the post (not the image) and then copy and paste that into the TS comment box.
Date stamp?
every social media platform (FB, twitter, instagram, tiktok, blogs etc) have a date and sometimes a time stamp on every new post.
For instance, your comment on TS just now, right above your words 'Date stamp?', there are the words '7 January 2023 at 11:43 am'. Those words are a clickable link*. If you click on it, the page will refresh to that link and the URL in the address field of your browser will now show this,
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-07-01-2023/#comment-1929463
That's a permanent link that you can use anywhere on the internet to direct people to that comment.
Likewise, on your Facebook post, there is currently a time stamp. Directly below your name and to the left of the wee planet. It currently says 53m, and is clickable. If you click on it, the page will refresh, and the browser URL now has a permanent link for use anywhere on the internet.
On some platforms those permanent links will embed. On TS, FB posts will, as well tweets (and some other platform posts).
* (it probably won't be clickable on the Mobile version of TS on a mobile device, in which case switch to the Desktop version using the link at the bottom of the page)
Okay. Let's see…
https://www.facebook.com/robert.guyton.77582/posts/pfbid0227wz6PV8fktKMWtpMCHoiP6GvE4wKygu8gSpsUMbCw6n9SsLWTaFNjEULvKnPrywl
perfect.
Is that night flowering?
Open day and night, though wider at night. I've become very enthused by the flowers in my tunnel house and so have people seeing the photos on-line. Struggled for a while with my new camera (it's a phone!) but am now better than I was which is good, as flowers are ephemeral 🙂
I'll not post many here (bandwidth 🙂 but here's one more for today.
https://www.facebook.com/robert.guyton.77582/posts/pfbid02npbbJxXszzHMb58vuAT4DRNo5vxwGe1yoJ8jNeKwkquAJBxRDWffdehwvTFgAuQql
They are magnificent Robert. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks and you are very welcome.
You need to link to the actual image and not to the page the image is on.
Facebook won't give you a link to the actual image. (Presumably they want all their "branding" around posts.)
You need to go to a website that hosts images, upload the image, open the URL for the page the image is on and then right click on the image and go "open image in new tab". Copy that URL e.g. https://i.postimg.cc/SxhbLTky/flow2.png
flow2.png is the part of the URL for the photo file.
That is the URL you need for the Standard's photo form. Note I cut the photo down so it's not a big drain on bandwidth.
Dont know why the media is giving this reactionary thug a platform:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/i-would-have-been-killed-why-farmer-bill-burr-ordered-his-son-to-chop-off-the-tip-of-a-teens-finger/WYZYNJR64VHHPA6Q6BWIWADRCM/
The guy mutilated someone just because they broke into his house. I am picking if he had his way, they would have been strung up from lampposts.
His support for Trump is pretty vocal as well, which means the guy probably condones police brutality, lynching and crackdowns on the LGBT communuty, all things that Trump has backed. He deserves no sympathy. If he had his way, NZ would be like 1950's Mississpi.
The guy is full of hate. Plain and simple. Hate for brown people, hate for LGBT’s, hate for women, hate for due process. He has KKK written all over him.
[1 year ban. Long pattern of behaviour of unsubstantiated claims of fact and slurs, that the mods are sick of, that you apologise for at the time but then keep doing. Explanation is here from one of the more recent moderations, including clear instructions that you need to provide pre-emptive links as evidence for claims. Which you appeared to agree to but you haven’t been doing. https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11-11-2022/#comment-1920681 and https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11-11-2022/#comment-1920633 – weka]
Wealthy settler land owners are above the law.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1201/S00140/waikato-farmer-faces-73k-fine-for-not-stopping-for-anyone.htm
You must be very well off yourself if you regard having to pay a $73,000 fine as being so trivial that you can ignore the law with impunity.
If I was going to have to pay a fine of that magnitude I would feel that I had been whacked with the full force of the law.
Good thing I didn't say that he was able to ignore the law with impunity, eh.
OK. You said that he was "above the law". I merely paraphrased it.
You may therefore be willing to explain how, if he is "above the law" he was prosecuted and appears to be facing a large fine. If he was "above the law" he wouldn't have been charged at all, much less being subject to a large fine would he?
So, in spite of this do you still think he is "above the law" or would you now agree that your statement is simply wrong?
I’m getting tired of your pedantic nitpicking and your ‘paraphrasing’ that is essentially a euphemism for altering and twisting other people’s words to score trivial points. You don’t contribute to (robust) debate, you divert away from it.
If you have a point to make, make it. If you want to indulge in frivolous trivialities then start your own blog.
He was informed of the restrictions yet he went ahead. Either the consequences of going ahead, a $73,000 fine and the costs of the remediation order, were a minor irritation or he thought he was above the law.
He didn't become a wealthy man without knowing the value of a dollar so I'm picking he thumbed his nose.
I don't have any problem with you saying that he thought he was above the law. In fact I agree with the statement and I think he may have been expecting nothing to happen.
What I didn't agree with was that you said, or at least implied, that he was above the law which seems to be saying that no action would be taken and that the Crown would just ignore what he has done.
This seems to me to be saying that the law in New Zealand is not applied equally to everyone. That prospect scares me.
Well thank God they haven't ignored it and I like to think they never will ignore such actions. If we ever get to the stage that the law is applied differently depending upon who you are, or who you know we are sunk.
The Burrs are not "above the law", yet their actions evince their feeling that the law simply did not apply to them.
Maybe the Burrs were aiming for a fait accompli drainage, and a 'no use crying over spilt milk' defence – drain the swamp!
Millsy woulda ordered his son to put a brew on. Then he would have sent the lad on his way with a very stern warning not to do it again.
The son's a recent provincial back rower who weighed in at >95Kgs. He and his father weren't happy with just subduing an overweight teenager. They mutilated him to satisfy their own, racist lust for revenge.
Two adult men had the teen on the ground with a rifle pointed at him. All they had to do was wait for the police to arrive.
Easy to say. He was reportedly (and we only have the reports to go on) – armed with a large knife, and continually getting up to try to attack them.
They also didn't know if there were other people outside (from the original article – he says he assumed that the guy and his girlfriend had been dropped off – and there were others outside).
Nor did they know how long the police would take to get there (a real concern in rural communities).
Do I think it could have been handled better? Sure I do. In many ways, including beginning a lot further back on the criminal trajectory. I also think it could, very easily, have resulted in the teen being dead, or seriously crippled.
definitely a dangerous situation. How does cutting off the tip of the teens finger make that better?
It doesn't, but given it was tue third or fourth time and he'd been clattered around the head with a wine bottle at 1 30 am its hardly suprising he lost the plot at went to far.
I'd be really interested to know why he was been targeted by the teen and why he was able to continuously return.
Eitherway the system failed the both of them badly ending in a pretty horrific situation.
Cite?
from the link in millsy's original comment.
Deeply felt racial animosities are all too common in that part of the country but we only have the violent thug's word that this was the fourth time the teen, who he knew, had broken into his home.
Waiting for Crinkle to justify the assertion that this was the third or fourth time he'd been clattered around the head with a wine bottle.
Crickle didn't say that, they said,
My emphasis.
I assumed that the reporter has some familiarity with evidence from the court case, and wasn't just letting him say what he wanted.
Fair enough. Still disgusted by attempts to justify the actions men who beat, subdued, and used a knife to mutilate a disabled teen with, according family, the intellectual capacities of a child.
I'm not justifying anything, just saying the reaction is unsurprising. It's possible we see something similar happen if one of the kids holding up dairies gets collared.
I do think there's alot about this particular case that we don't know, perhaps due to suppression orders. The repeated targeting seems weird and there were attempts at to sort things out. Like I say the system failed both of them.
@ Cricklewood. No system has failed William Burr.
I disagree, to have the same offender in your home multiple times despite restorative justice etc is a failure.
Burr is an odious individual but nobody deserves been burgled robbed or threatened especially in their own home.
yeah, there's a lot about that whole story that's not clear.
It's not hard to imagine that cutting the finger tip happened from escalation and trying to stop the kid with the knife from getting up off the floor. But it's also not hard to imagine that the solutions coming into Burr and his son's head arose from their values and lives. Other people would have reacted differently.
mod note
Prick told an ambulance driver that they were “too PC” and were “dealing with black people”. But millsy's overstating things.
/
It's milly's commenting style and behaviour that is the problem. I assumed there was some truth in what he was saying, but the inflammatory spray style runs counter to TS's requirement of evidence based robust debate. And as you say, the comments are misleading. There's also the problem of defamation and what happens when one of milly's comments puts the site owners at risk.
If millsy had provided the link you did, they wouldn't have gotten banned. They've been told so many times, sucked up so much moderator time, and we're sick of it. Also, election year, so we're tightening up.
From your link
Familiarise yourself with the racial undertones that prevail in Te Rohe Potae.
You see, we only take Burr's word when it suits our narrative.
I stand with you, millsy.
It is obvious Burr is MAGA (it's in the link you took the time to provide) and, as you say, therefore it's probable he condones aggressive policing, vigilantism, and crackdowns on vulnerable and minority communities.
The other link provided by joe90 @ 4.3.1 details more of Burr's character, where he likens the young Māori offender to a dog:
So, probably racist too, which was your other reasoned assertion.
Another link from joe90 @ 4.1 describes Burr's attitude to environmental laws and the environment itself. It's pretty clear what the man is like when you build a picture from his own words and actions, ie, not someone who progressives would defend.
One thing I'd like to say about millsy's extremely heavy ban is that for some commenters TS is a means to document and release frustrations. One commenter who does this a lot is Swordfish in his ongoing battle with the imaginary managerial middle class.
I do it myself, not necessarily seeking feedback, just wanting to get down on paper as it were what I'm thinking, with links, for possible reference later. My point is, some commenters rely on TS for the ability it provides to 'get things down on paper' as described, and this helps with their mental health.
Also, the requirement for commenters to be thorough with expanding on claims and providing links for each claim is discriminatory to those who are time and technology poor.
Such a long ban (particularly for highlighting the behaviour of a horrible individual) doesn't seem to factor much of that in at all.
Frustrated moderator decisions do affect frustrated real people…
Guns and the right to bear arms is always a hot US topic. A six year old shot a teacher in a classroom.
I understand all the stuff about preventing crazed people having guns, them taking guns into schools and procedures in the event of terrible incidents happening.
The need to check 5 and 6 year olds to see if they're carrying?
It's another context for all the talk in the country just a year after there was insurrection at the country's Capitol. And at a time so many in the debate for House Speaker are talking about the US being the greatest country in the world.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/shooting-virginia-elementary-school-leaves-1-adult-injured-rcna64695
"Data also suggests that young people disproportionately commit gun homicides. For example, 18-20-year olds comprise just 4% of the US population, but account for 17% of known homicide offenders."
https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/who-can-have-a-gun/minimum-age/
Gotta be a bloke.
https://twitter.com/SlenderSherbet/status/1611344653068177410
It looks like the West is getting serious in the arms it is supplying Ukraine.
The US is supplying 50 Bradley fighting vehicles amongst other things.
France is sending AMX-10 RC light tanks.
Germany is sending Mauder infantry fighting vehicles.
Plus, it looks like countries in Europe are going to send Leopard 2 tanks.
Most of this stuff is a lot better than the Soviet era stuff the Russians are using atm.
So, it looks like Ukraine is going to get everything it needs to push the Russians out of Ukraine. This is important, even from a negotiating perspective. It is vital that Russia sees that the west is not going to back down in its support for Ukraine. So, in that way Russia will see that continued aggression on its part is futile.
Uncle Sam isn't fucking around.
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3261263/more-than-3-billion-in-additional-security-assistance-for-ukraine/
Uncle sam isnt fucking around ….
heck no , endless war is good for business !!
Not really "business" as most of what the US is giving is the stuff they were going to scrap at some stage anyway. Probably cheaper for them to give it to the Ukrainians.
More arms for Ukraine will shorten the war.
War is how the world rids itself of treacherous thugs.
https://twitter.com/Bobrovska_MP/status/1611334341464068098
The National Guard of Ukraine says Sunday's cease-fire was broken and the evacuation plans have been halted after Russian forces opened fire.
It was the second day in a row a cease-fire to allow the evacuation of civilians from the port city of Mariupol has failed.
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/06/1084818850/russia-ukraine-cease-fire-mariupol
Those Bradley fighting vehicles are bad-ass. And I think the US has thousands of them lying around. So, 50 will only be the start I imagine.
Presume this is different to the vehicle in "The Pentagon Wars"?
If it gets hit by Russian artillery it'll blow up just the same tsmithfield
That is a big "if". The Ukrainians tend to be a bit smarter than the Russians who house their soldiers next to ammunition dumps which doesn't lead to great outcomes for the soldiers when their base is targeted by Ukrainian artillery, as happened in Makiivka the other day.
Even the Russians now acknowledge that 89 soldiers were killed in the attack, which means the number is much more likely to be in the hundreds as claimed by the Ukrainians and many other sources.
Aftermath of the attack here:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/cellphone-use-by-russian-soldiers-allowed-ukraine-to-target-troops-russian-military-says
Given the way Tsar Poot's Army has handle it's fabled "Red God" Zhukov & Co would be rolling in their graves atm.
As for it's Combined Arms Tactics/ Doctrine, you wouldn't be getting a Cuppa Tea & Biscuit interview with Chief Instructor & RSM at the School of Armour, Infantry or at Staff College!
But a RTU or worst a notice to show cause why we shouldn't boot you out on your ass.
Oh sorry to nit prick, the AMX 10 isn't a Light Tank, it's Wheel Tank Destroyer or Heavy Armoured Car armed with a 105mm gun.
The AMX 10 would a good vehicle to have alongside the Aussie Bushies for those deep penetration attacks/ offensives after the Heavy Brigades ie Tanks & Infantry Fighting Vehicles have broken through the Russian Defensive Belt in coming spring after General Mud has passed or this winter which is starting to look very unlikely now.
Yeah, thanks for that. I realise the term "tank" is a fairly loose description.
They should be handy for the Ukrainians though. I think they can be transported by air, and I understand the older version is amphibious, which could be handy for the Ukrainians.
Leopard 2's will be welcomed. Designed specifically to operate on the open steppe against Warsaw Pact armour during a European winter.
Any MBT would be welcome for the Ukrainian Armoured Corp, heck even the old upgraded IDF Cents, T55's & T62's would be a bit of handful for Poot's Army given the Ukrainian Army's Combined Arms Tactics/ Doctrine has been exceptional.
Yes, it's been rough for the Ukrainian Armed Forces at start of the Russian Invasion & a few things didn't go to plan especially in the Sth Command Region. But they didn't panic & stayed to their Strategic Battle plan as they knew this day would come.
Leopard 2's would be a game changer on the battlefield especially at a tactical level, also of note Jordan is retiring it's Challenger 1's MBT which is also a beast & would be interesting if a 3rd or the Poms suddenly brought them. It may not have the mobility ie speed on the battlefield, but packs a punch with its firepower & protection with it Cobham Armour.
The AMX 10 is a good wagon for mobile operations & those QRF/RRF UN Missions which the French used them for during the 80's & 90's.
They were a vast improvement over the AML 90's from the 1960's- 70's which were a primped up French version of the British Ferret.
Pride, or they're culling the herd.
China has rebuffed repeated U.S. offers to share advanced vaccines as Beijing battles a fast-spreading wave of COVID-19, a rejection that’s led to growing frustration among American officials concerned about a resurgence of the pandemic.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/01/07/asia-pacific/china-covid-vaccines-us/
One mayor on 3 Waters prospects regardless of who wins election nationally:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/opinion/300777969/heres-what-could-be-coming-for-the-new-plymouth-district-council-on-the-three-waters-front
I thought that was well written and quite fair in a neutral sort of way. Whatever happens we will end up with with an amalgamated 3 Waters service model. The current local authority model is a failure in many cases, Haldon's 'orphans', and really can't be fixed.
About the only bit that can change is how independent of councillor control, and how universal, the new model is. Some councils have done very well, New Plymouth is an example, but they are lucky to have a strong growing economy and helpful topography along with good leadership. Queenstown Lakes is similar, we can do whatever is required thanks to a vibrant development community that willingly* hand over vast sums in development contributions to realise their dreams.
Down the road is Gore. They have a combined sewage / stormwater system, a shrinking economy along with a similarly shrinking and aging population. Successive councils have kicked the can down the road, funding civic amenities but ignoring the pipes. It's going to be a huge undertaking fixing this and well beyond the resources of the town. Love to see how National and ACT will deal with this.
Most likely outcome if National are government in 2024 will be a "review" which will change the name of it all, maybe create a couple more entities so it feels more local, and Mana Whenua involvement is up to the shareholding Councils to decide. The regions that choose to develop strong relationships with Mana Whenua will get things done, this that don't might find it a bit harder.
ACT have been wanting to return GST to councils to
reduce ratesfund infrastructure for a while. Reality will be more roads, councillors get elected by promising things that constituents can see and touch, not shit that's buried in the ground and they have to dig up the roads to put there.I'd love to leave the orphans behind because they, in the thrall of the farming lobby, are so resistant to any form of help.
Let them drink cow piss day and night.
That's the problem National will have in trying to dismantle 3 Waters. The 'orphans' are the bluest of the blue. National will be faced with either taking the Gores out the back and shooting it, or having to justify pouring billions into propping up dying towns, which will go down really well with ACT.
I really don't think National have thought through how they are going to sell this to their constituents or support parties. The few Nat MPs that can think more than one move ahead are probably hoping like hell they either don't win this year, or come up with a viable policy PDQ.
I'm not sure the orphans are resistant to help or change, it's just that the problem has been so large and has just been getting larger for 100 years. They should have been moving to separated services in 1930, but couldn't afford it then and it's just got harder with time. They aren't alone, Auckland has only just separated the last of it's combined services.
In Gore's case fixing involves replacing 70% of the towns sewer and stormwater network, and then rehabilitating the street. Starting again on a new site is probably quicker and cheaper.
Well..you've pretty much nailed it ! I'd also add that theres more than a bit of
Esp when a…lot..of the aged and hardened will be gone…and the Somebody Elses Problem is for the Generations to come. Bit like Climate change and our Earth burning : (
Martin Bradbury has an interesting take on the Standard.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2023/01/07/blogwatch-how-desperate-are-labour-read-this-standard-post-and-gasp/
The pompous arse has a new pejorative?
His take isn't far from mine. Got to avoid the disaster of a NAct government (and get another Green / Labour one instead) – but Labour has done very little to significantly address the real problems of inequality, poverty, worker's rights and conditions in NZ. And certainly haven’t been transformative in any way, to my mind.
Many forecasts were made as to the arrival of winter and its impact on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and wider Europe because of an energy crisis.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=general+winter+ukraine
What no one expected was a heat wave in winter. With temperatures of 19 degrees, rather an 1 degree, people were out jogging wearing a teeshirt rather than going skiing.
Blame it on a continuance of La Nina (a rare third year).
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/05/1147116000/la-nina-climate-change-california-bomb-cyclone-winter-heat-wave
But it is coming to an end. Signs are that it is going neutral for a turn to El Nino later this year.