Open mike 07/09/2021
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- 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #39
Listing of articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, September 19, 2021 through Sat, September 25, 2021 The following articles sparked above average interest during the week: The false promise of massive tree-planting campaigns, Can the economy afford NOT to fight climate change?, Will ...11 hours ago - Maui dolphin declines below 50 individuals
The chances of Maui dolphin avoiding extinction have just got even worse. It was bad enough already, but the latest population estimate shows that there are now fewer than 50 Maui dolphins left in the World. Meanwhile, the Ministry for Primary Industries has just increased the quotas for gillnet and ...17 hours ago - Climate Change: Anatomy of a mistake
At the beginning of the month, the Emissions Trading Scheme turned into a farce, when the government flooded the market with credits in a failed and wasteful attempt to Keep Carbon Prices Low. This cost us a billion dollars while undermining the fundamental purpose of the ETS. So why did ...2 days ago - To meet America’s Paris pledge, climate policy Avengers must assembleThis is a re-post from the Citizens' Climate Lobby Blog To meet our share of greenhouse gas emissions cuts as part of the Paris target to limit global warming to well below 2°C (3.6°F) above pre-industrial levels, the United States has committed to cutting emissions by 50–52% below 2005 levels by 2030. ...3 days ago
- Libertarians, Neoliberals, Ordoliberals and Economists.
Not all neoliberals are the same, as a comparison ranging from Don Giovanni to Geneva School ordoliberals shows. Wellington was lucky to get the Wellington Opera Company’s production of Don Giovanni, especially as it missed the NZ Opera Company’s The Marriage of Figaro because of a lockdown. It was staged ...3 days ago - Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – Is the Wage Subsidy still transferring massive wealth to the ri...
Over $15 billion has been transferred to businesses by the Government via the Wage Subsidy Scheme since Covid hit in 2020. The scheme has turned out to be effective at both keeping businesses afloat and enriching the already wealthy. Now that the scheme is back in operation, and because it’s ...3 days ago - Sweden one year on
The response to Covid around the world has been highly politicised. This was evident early on with the hostility towards Sweden for not having mandated lockdowns. In Sweden people were encouraged to work from home if they could, and schools were kept open. As someone on Twitter pointed out: First ...3 days ago - Ideational and ideological in the construction of “isms.”
A lot has been made in recent times about the dark and pernicious side of ideology, particularly its ability to incite hate or dispute obvious fact. In that regard there has been much discussion of political ideologies, particularly national populism such as that practiced by the likes of Viktor Orban, ...3 days ago - NZ Politics Daily: 24 September 2021Today’s NZPD testimonial from Ian Powell, Health commentator, former Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists: “When I was Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists I found NZ Politics Daily a highly valuable tool for quickly identifying articles of relevance and developments in the health and ...3 days ago
- Daily Blog Branded Upper-Middle-Class, Pseudo-Left, Imperialists! Who Knew?
3 days ago - Ian Powell: Reputations in tattersOn 19 May 2021 the Democracy Project published an article by me discussing how a ‘very bureaucratic coup’ was successfully undertaken to undermine the district health board with the strongest leadership engagement culture of the 20 DHBs responsible for the provision of health services from community to hospital in New ...3 days ago
- Graham Adams: Going where the media won’tBehind the coverage of David Seymour’s rise in the polls and Maori Language Week lurk inconvenient truths. Graham Adams argues journalists need to be more even-handed to maintain their credibility. In the hullaballoo that followed Curia’s poll results last week, the media focused mainly on the startling fact that ...3 days ago
- Is This What We Want?Heavy Hands: Over the past few days, the centre of Melbourne has witnessed some of the worst political violence in a generation. Police officers have been hospitalised. Rubber bullets have been fired. Hundreds have been arrested. And all because the state government of Victoria is insisting that all construction workers ...3 days ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #38, 202189 articles by 535 contributing authors Observations of climate change, effects Rainfall regime trends at annual and monthly scales in Catalonia (NE Spain) and indications of CO2 emissions effects Lana et al. Theoretical and Applied Climatology Open Access pdf 10.1007/s00704-021-03773-z Trends and Variability of North American Cool-Season Extratropical Cyclones: 1979–2019 ...4 days ago
- MBIE’s muppetry on carbon pricesA while ago I snarked on Twitter about how awful MBIE's carbon price modelling is: in their Energy in New Zealand 2020 report, they made the following assumption: Apart from the Environmental scenario, carbon prices are assumed to increase from NZD$25 per tonne of carbon dioxide in 2019 to ...4 days ago
- Climate Change: Why are we ignoring nitrogen fertiliser?Synthetic nitrogen fertiliser is a significant source of greenhouse gas emisisons. According to Emissions Tracker, it was responsible for 1.4 million tons of direct CO2-equivalent emissions in 2019, plus an unspecified amount of indirect emissions due to enabling dairy intensification. This is big enough to matter, and you'd expect there ...4 days ago
- DrawnA ballot for seven Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Protection of Journalists’ Sources Bill (Louisa Wall) Plain Language Bill (Rachel Boyack) Public Finance (Prohibition on Providing Public Funds to Gangs) Amendment Bill (Simeon Brown) Improving Arrangements for Surrogacy Bill ...4 days ago
- Hi-Viz Vengeance On Melbourne’s Streets.Fuck The Jab! Are all these protesting Melbourne construction workers right? No, of course not. Covid-19 is not a figment of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ imagination. Nor can one help speculating, just a little, that mixed-in with all this working-class fury there might also be a pretty large dose of ...4 days ago
- Pinpointing the role of climate change in every storm is impossible – and a luxury most countries ...Friederike Otto, University of Oxford and Luke Harrington, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Tropical Storm Ida recently left a path of devastation across the US, capping a summer beset by wildfires, heatwaves and floods which broke records around the world. The inevitable question after each of ...4 days ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 23 September 2021Today’s NZPD testimonial from Heather Roy, Commentator, former Parliamentarian and Minister “As a political commentator I find the ‘NZ Politics Daily” email extremely useful. It is great having links to up to date topical political issues listed in one place and I’m particularly grateful for the inclusion of blog posts, many ...4 days ago
- The Cost of “Living With The Virus”
I noted in my previous post that the New Zealand media is eagerly pushing the notion that Elimination Has Failed, and that we need to re-open because the Virus is Inevitable. Luke Malpass – the chappie I criticised there – is actually one of the tamer examples. The likes ...5 days ago - Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – Why Australia’s nuclear-sub defence plans are unpopular in NZNew Zealand was said to have been sidelined when the trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States was announced a week ago. But very quickly the “Aukus” pact has taken on an unpopularity in this country, with a consensus forming that New Zealand is best ...5 days ago
- Thinking is Power: Don't be fooled… fact check!This is a re-post from the Thinking is Power website maintained by Melanie Trecek-King where she regularly writes about many aspects of critical thinking in an effort to provide accessible and engaging critical thinking information to the general public. Please see this overview to find links to other reposts from Thinking is Power. Post ...5 days ago
- Bryce Edwards: What happened to the dream of a peaceful nuclear-free Pacific?Plans by Anglophone countries to ramp up militarisation in the Asia Pacific region have been welcomed by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. But Bryce Edwards argues that what’s actually needed is strong condemnation of this dangerous drive to war and instability. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is ...5 days ago
- Equality under the law?Twelve days ago New Zealand was shocked to learn that a rich Auckland couple had abused "essential worker" paperwork to break lockdown and fly down to Wanaka for a holiday. But despite multiple criminal offences apparently being committed, they still haven't been charged: At least 20 people have been ...5 days ago
- Member’s DayToday is a Member's Day, and due to the postponement of a lot of business, it consists entirely of first readings. First up is Ricardo Menéndez March's Human Rights (Disability Assist Dogs Non-Discrimination) Amendment Bill, which should easily go to committee. Second is Mark Cameron's Resource Management (Regional Responsibility for ...5 days ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 22 September 2021Today’s NZPD testimonial from Bernard Hickey, Journalist and commentator “NZ Politics Daily is so useful I think Bryce and his team should charge for it! But it’s great it’s available for all and I hope it gets the financial support it needs. A real-time experiment in whether there is enough of ...5 days ago
- Outdated Views? Andrea Vance On Sean Plunket.Re-Platforming: In the eyes of senior Stuff journalist, Andrea Vance, Sean Plunket’s “dalliances with controversy make it easy to paint him as a two-dimensional character: a right-wing, shock-jock with outdated views on privilege and race.” Dear me! The scorn dripping from those words could fill a large spittoon! Regardless, Plunket’s new ...5 days ago
- Book Review: Saving Us by Katharine HayhoeIn late 2013, my mother went into a hospice for the final time. Her illness had reached a stage where little more could be done. I had to face the fact that she was going to die, and soon, when for the preceding few years of palliative care, there was ...5 days ago
- Legal Beagle: Not too late to make the Counter Terrorism Legislation Bill clearer
The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill was back from Select Committee last week, and got its second reading today.My submission on the original bill is here. As I often am, I was more reticitent in pushing back that other submitters, largely focussed on asking the Justice Committee to assure itself the new ...5 days ago - Don’t plan on orderly transitionsThe nature, scale, and pace of change is central to futures work. But usually more attention is given to identifying what’s happening rather than what needs to happen. Are we living in fast times? Many futures studies focus on how fast the world is changing now. Partly that seems ...5 days ago
- The Siren Song of Negativity: Luke Malpass on EliminationI must say, I was a bit surprised at the New Zealand Government’s decision to shift Auckland out of Level 4 to Level 3. There are still around 20 daily Delta cases in Auckland (14 today) – a fraction of the earlier peak, but a seriously stubborn tail-end of ...6 days ago
- Let them voteA side effect of the pandemic and resulting closed borders: tens of thousands of overseas kiwis could lose the right to vote: Currently, New Zealanders who are overseas must have visited the country once within the last three years to be allowed to vote - or once in the ...6 days ago
- AUKUS has consequencesLast week Australia announced a new security deal with the UK and US which would see it abandon its plans to buy conventional submarines from France and instead acquire nuclear-powered submarines from one of its new partners. France is pretty pissed about this - they were completely blindsided, and the ...6 days ago
- NZ Politics Daily – 21 September 2021Today’s NZPD testimonial from Ros Rice, Executive Officer Community Networks Aotearoa “Community Networks Aotearoa has been subscribed to NZ Politics Daily for some time now, and it is one of the most regularly read items in the office. It enables us to instantly get feedback on media views on topics of the ...6 days ago
- Can the economy afford NOT to fight climate change?This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Those opposing a fast transition to renewable energy and other aggressive action to fight catastrophic climate change often argue that the economic costs would be too great. Now, with the proliferation of extreme hurricanes, droughts, floods, wildfires, and other disasters linked to a ...6 days ago
- Rest of New Zealand won’t move to Level 1 until threat of Christmas in the Park has passed
Christmas in the Park is a seasonal affliction, but can be particularly tricky to wipe out due to its unpredictable timing, usually occurring at a completely different time to Christmas. While Auckland prepares to move to Alert Level 3 on Wednesday, New Zealanders in the fun part of the country ...6 days ago - Expropriate the house hoardersNorth & South has an in-depth piece on the origins of the housing crisis, and like so much else wrong with Aotearoa, the blame can be laid firmly at the feet of the NeoLiberal regimes of the 80's and 90's, who sold state houses, slashed benefits while imposing market rents, ...7 days ago
- A Coalition Of The Waning.The Sunset Of Anglo-Saxon Imperialism: To join this “Coalition of the Waning”: this AUKUS pact composed of the three military aggressors of the Iraq War; would not only be folly – it would be criminal folly.THE FORMATION OF AUKUS, the new military pact linking Australia, the United Kingdom and the ...7 days ago
- “No Debate!” Means No Democracy.To The Lamp-Post With Them! Revolutionaries, along with the counter-revolutionaries they inevitably call into existence, are not disposed to engage in rational political discussion with their opponents. Their objective is not to change minds, but to crush bodies. Tragically, those who rule out the possibility of debate, almost always end ...7 days ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 20 September 2021Today’s NZPD testimonial from Hamish Rutherford, Journalist, New Zealand Herald “I find the NZ Daily Politics an important part of my morning, allowing me to scan and access a wide variety of the material published in New Zealand over the previous 24 hours. It often draws my attention to work I would ...7 days ago
- Covax misses its 2021 delivery target – what’s gone wrong in the fight against vaccine nationali...Rory Horner, University of Manchester The latest supply forecast for Covax – the programme for sharing COVID-19 vaccines around the world – suggests that accelerating vaccination in low-income countries looks unlikely. Covax estimates it will have distributed 1.425 billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021, significantly less than ...7 days ago
- Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand could be the big winner of Aukus falloutInternational analyst Geoffrey Miller considers the implications for New Zealand of the new Aukus partnership China’s level of anger at the new Aukus defence pact between Australia, the UK and the US was only to be expected. France’s was not. And Paris’s dramatic recall of its ambassadors to Canberra and ...1 week ago
- 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #38Listing of articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, September 12, 2021 through Sat, September 18, 2021 The following articles sparked above average interest during the week: Do high levels of CO2 in the past contradict the warming effect of CO2?, What would it ...1 week ago
- One thousand dead New Zealanders per year?
. . . . . References RNZ: Covid-19 debate – When should New Zealand open up its borders? Worldometer: Coronavirus Cases – United States RNZ: US hospitals ration care amid shortages and Covid-19 surge Reuters: Some U.S. hospitals forced to ration care amid staffing shortages, COVID-19 surge NPR: A COVID ...1 week ago - 1pm health update for Saturday, September 18 2021The following is a summary of today’s 1pm health update from the Ministry of Health Today there are 20 new cases of Covid-19 to report in the community, and 6 new cases of the Ebola virus. Please do not concern yourself with the Ebola; this will probably be fine. Of ...1 week ago
- Reading the Covid Tea-Leaves: 18th September
This past month’s blogging has really turned into an extended rant on the subject of the Coronavirus (primarily because I still haven’t got my hands on The Nature of Middle-earth, and there’s little update on the Amazon series). Auckland is still on Level 4, of course, and the rest ...1 week ago - Experts warn exclusion from AUSUK pact could see New Zealand miss out on future catastrophic warsPICTURED: US President Joe Biden deep in thought as he searches his brain for any memory of the person on screen. New Zealand’s exclusion from a tripartite security pact between the United States, Australia and the UK may not come as a surprise to many kiwis, but experts warn that ...1 week ago
- Big Challenges for the Government
A short review of the policy issues that Labour is facing and the ministers undertaking them. There is a sense that there are two major issues facing any government. One is policy management and the other is political management – not just of policies. As a result New Zealand’s political ...1 week ago - Seymour and Collins
The Herald continues to hitch its wagon to David Seymour’s coat-tails. They don’t seem to realise that Seymour is almost entirely an (inadvertent) creation of Judith Collins. If it weren’t for the fact that Collins is performing so badly as National leader, Seymour would not be noticed. For those interested ...1 week ago - Keep New Zealand Nuclear-Free – Stay Out of AUKUS!1 week ago
- Making the Most of MasksDr Nitasha Rimar, Dr Lucy Telfar Barnard, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Lesley Gray, Prof Michael Baker Masks and vaccination have a central role in minimising the health and economic impact of COVID-19, regardless of the long-term strategy we use against the pandemic. These interventions depend on both good performance and high ...1 week ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 17 September 2021Today’s NZPD testimonial from Simon Bridges, Parliamentarian “NZ Politics Daily is an essential news service for me, enabling me to cut through the constant noise and quickly see what’s going on. Dr Bryce Edwards and NZ politics Daily are a big public good, keeping kiwis, even politicians, better informed.” Anyone can ...1 week ago
- The 'team of five million' isn't all of us. Are we doing enough for the others?
The “team of five million” has become a well-worn but still powerful call to arms in the past 18 months as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield have tried to rally a sense of national unity in the fight to save lives in this Covid-19 pandemic. ...1 week ago - Covid outreach disaster as online poll sees vaccination bus named ‘the murder wagon’Ashley Bloomfield says he doesn’t want those hesitant about getting the vaccine to “be distracted” by the fact they come out of the murder wagon. The Government is dealing with a Covid outreach debacle today, after the decision to put the naming of New Zealand’s vaccination bus service to a ...2 weeks ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #37, 2021Go with real guilt, or imaginatively hide? This week's New Research includes a couple of interesting papers exploring the confused, noisy marketplace of ideas, volitions and impulses we call "the human mind," in connection with thinking about climate change and our responsibility for causing harm and remedy. We're all (surely?) ...2 weeks ago
- Overlooked and undervalued, New Zealand’s community caregivers have become the ‘invisible’ ess...Katherine Ravenswood, Auckland University of Technology; Amber Nicholson, Auckland University of Technology, and Fiona Hurd, Auckland University of Technology As Auckland enters its fifth week in level 4 lockdown and the rest of New Zealand stays at level 2, spare a thought for the nation’s invisible network of essential ...2 weeks ago
- Gesta Gertrudis: Volume IV
Time for another Gertrude update. Alas, due to personal issues involving the DM, this will be the last update from this campaign for some time. Until then, Gertrude shall be put on ice. Since Dunedin is no longer in lockdown, both these sessions were in-person. Session Seven/Sixty-Three Technically, ...2 weeks ago - Samoa’s opposition should be sworn inOn Monday, in response to a refusal by HRPP MPs to accept the proper process for being sworn in, Samoa's speaker banned them from parliament. Because they'd also called for a mob, he took the unprecedented step of banning the public too. These decisions were reasonable at the time. MPs ...2 weeks ago
- Racist from top to bottomBack in 2019, the government tweaked drug laws to encourage the use of police discretion. So did it work? well, charges are down, but the burden of prosecution is falling even more disproportionately on Māori: A 2019 change to drug laws has led to far fewer people being charged ...2 weeks ago
- Pattern recognitionGovernment defers introducing tougher winter grazing rules - again, RNZ, 26 August 2021: The government has pushed intensive winter grazing rules back by another six months. Intensive winter grazing is when livestock are feed fodder crops - when done poorly it can create a muddy mess leading to animal ...2 weeks ago
- Climate Change: An excuse, not a justificationYesterday the government announced plans to delay its key Emissions Reduction Plan - currently due by law by 31 December - until next year. Its "justification"? Shaw said consultations on the plan would begin in early October. "It is only right to make sure everyone has the chance to ...2 weeks ago
- Bringing woolly mammoths back from extinction might not be such a bad idea — ethicists explainJulian Koplin, The University of Melbourne and Christopher Gyngell, The University of Melbourne US startup Colossal Biosciences has announced plans to bring woolly mammoths, or animals like them, back from extinction and into the frosty landscape of the Siberian tundra. Colossal has received US$15 million in initial funds to ...2 weeks ago
- Lessons learned from a remote blood pressure lowering trial in AotearoaHelen Eyles, Jacqui Grey, Elaine Umali, Cliona Ni Mhurchu Technologies such as smartphone apps, Wi-Fi-enabled data collection devices, and web-based data management systems offer the opportunity to deliver and assess the impact of clinical trials remotely, something which researchers are becoming increasingly drawn to. However, there are drawbacks, and even ...2 weeks ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 16 September 2021Today’s NZPD testimonial from Chris Trotter, Political commentator: “NZ Politics Daily has become an invaluable resource for all those who practice, study and/or write about politics in New Zealand. So much so that I can’t remember how I ever did without it.” Anyone can sign up to NZPD for free at: https://democracyproject.nz/nz-politics-daily/ Today’s ...2 weeks ago
- Josh Van Veen: The Ghost of lockdowns PastJudith Collins may have led the New Zealand National Party to a catastrophic defeat in 2020. But the election result was not of her making. The real turning point for National came twelve weeks before Collins’ elevation to the leadership. In those days the Opposition could still boast of having ...2 weeks ago
- Why a domestic NZ COVID ‘passport’ raises hard questions about discrimination, inequality and c...Tim Dare, University of Auckland and Justine Kingsbury, University of Waikato With COVID-19 causing extraordinarily intrusive and expensive lockdowns, vaccine “passports” or certificates are increasingly seen as key to getting out of them. Decision-makers and gatekeepers – from border guards to maître d’s – will have a means of ...2 weeks ago
- The Indiscrete Charmlessness Of Upper-Class Rule-Breakers.Rules Are For Little People: Those who claim that all human-beings are equal have obviously never encountered a man on horseback when they are travelling on foot!THE UPPER-CLASS ABSCONDERS from Auckland’s Level 4 Lockdown have done the rest of New Zealand a favour. They have exposed, in the most dramatic ...2 weeks ago
- Intensifying Covid-19 Control Measures: 5 Measures for Faster Elimination and 5 Measures to Prevent ...Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Julie Bennett, Dr Leah Grout, Dr Jin Russell, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Michael Baker Despite some good progress, the persisting Covid-19 outbreak in Auckland still poses risks to health, social wellbeing and the economy. There is a need for accelerated efforts to ensure more rapid ...2 weeks ago
- The definition of my sex is not hate speech
NZME (publishers of the NZ Herald newspaper, among others) has joined the de-platforming of Speak Up For Women after a few online gender identity activists complained on Twitter about an advertisement in a rival paper the Otago Daily Times. SUFW were to run advertisements in NZME papers too as part of ...2 weeks ago - Climate Change: Some “emergency”Jacinda Ardern: 'Climate change is my generation's nuclear-free moment', Newshub, 20 August 2017: In her campaign launch speech in Auckland on Sunday, Ms Ardern called climate change "my generation's nuclear free moment". [...] "There will always be those who say it's too difficult. There will be those who say ...2 weeks ago
- Thinking is Power: How to do your own researchThis is a re-post from the Thinking is Power website maintained by Melanie Trecek-King where she regularly writes about many aspects of critical thinking in an effort to provide accessible and engaging critical thinking information to the general public. Note: This article is the second of a two-part series on “doing your own ...2 weeks ago
- Climate explained: how much of the world’s energy comes from fossil fuels and could we replace it ...How are fossil fuels formed, why do they release carbon dioxide and how much of the world’s energy do they provide? And what are the renewable energy sources that could replace fossil fuels? Fossil fuels were formed over millions of years from the remains of plants and animals trapped ...2 weeks ago
- Climate Change: We need more than excuses on methaneMethane is a powerful greenhouse gas. While its lifetime in the atmosphere is limited - its half-life is 9.1 years, so any given amount is almost entirely gone after a hundred years - it is far better at trapping heat. Averaged over a century it has a global warming potential ...2 weeks ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 15 September 2021Today’s NZPD testimonial from Colin James, political commentator, author “Bryce Edwards’ five-days-a-week digest of links to articles on policy and politics is a valuable resource, both on the day for those who need to know or are just plain interested and as an archive for those who need or want to track ...2 weeks ago
- 5 reasons to get vaccinated
You’ve probably heard a lot about the COVID-19 vaccine lately – and you might be wondering what the big deal is, or why you should bother getting vaccinated. If that’s the case, here are five reasons to roll up your sleeves. ...3 days ago - Kiwis overseas must be allowed to vote next year
New Zealanders stranded overseas should be allowed to vote in next year’s local government elections and the 2023 general election, the Green Party said today. ...5 days ago - Disability-assist dog Bill to have first reading todayAfter being delayed due to lockdown, Ricardo Menéndez March’s Members Bill to ensure that disabled New Zealanders do not face discrimination for having a disability assist dog will have its first reading in Parliament today. ...5 days ago
- Auckland Central MP calls for Government funding to revive the St James Theatre, launches open lette...Green Party MP for Auckland Central, Chlöe Swarbrick, is launching an open letter to the Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Hon Kiritapu Allan, asking for the Government to match the Auckland Council’s contribution of $15 million to revive the St James Theatre. ...6 days ago
- Open letter calling for ACC to cover all birth injuries and trauma reaches 10,000 signaturesIn less than 12 hours, more than 10,000 people have signed on the Green Party’s open letter asking for ACC to cover all birth injuries and trauma. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens call for all birth injuries to be covered by ACC, launch open letterThe Green Party is launching an open letter to the Minister for ACC asking for all birth injuries and trauma to be covered, and the letter has strong support from the sector. ...2 weeks ago
- Our mihi to the ways te reo Māori can unite and inspire through COVIDKia ora e te whānau, and happy Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori! Yes, it’s Māori Language Week. And even though we’ll be celebrating a little differently this year as we work to stamp out mate korona, there are still plenty of opportunities to embrace this taonga and advance our ...2 weeks ago
- Alert Level 2: Everything you need to knowStamping out COVID-19 isn’t easy, but together, we are stronger than the virus. We’ve made good progress, but the job still isn’t done. We need to stay vigilant to stop the spread. Here’s where you can find the essential information you need to stay safe at Alert Level 2. ...3 weeks ago
- Greens call for immediate student support, launches petitionGreen Party Tertiary Education Spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick has launched a petition calling for immediate, meaningful support for students, saying the Government’s announced boost to the student hardship funds doesn’t go far enough. ...3 weeks ago
- Greens say Govt investment in public transport, walking, cycling is not enoughThe Green Party welcomes the $6 billion being invested in public transport, walking and cycling through the National Land Transport Programme, as announced by the Minister of Transport today, however says it is nowhere near enough. ...3 weeks ago
- Tuvalu language revival and COVID-19
Te Vaiaso o te Gana Tuvalu 2021 - Tuvalu Language Week moves online due to the uncertainty around COVID-19 said the Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio. “However it is a timely reminder of the power of embracing both traditional and new ways of doing things. It has been ...23 hours ago - United Nations General Assembly: 76th General Debate StatementE ngā Mana, e ngā Reo, Rau Rangatira mā o tēnei Whare Nui o te Ao Prestigious people, Speakers of note, Chiefs one and all of this General Assembly Ngā mihi mahana ki o koutou katoa, mai i toku Whenua o Aotearoa Warm greetings to you all from my home ...2 days ago
- APEC 2021 Women and the Economy Forum prioritises women’s economic empowermentMinister for Women Jan Tinetti today chaired the virtual APEC 2021 Women and the Economy Forum, which is working to address outstanding issues for women and girls across the region as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. The forum brought together Ministers and representatives from 21 economies to discuss gender ...2 days ago
- Upper Hauraki to move to Alert Level 2Upper Hauraki will move to Alert Level 2 from 11:59pm tomorrow, 25 September, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. After positive cases were detected in the Upper Hauraki area on Sunday, extra Alert Level restrictions were put in place to immediately prevent any wider transmission of the virus. “We’ve ...3 days ago
- Report into Aotearoa New Zealand’s export controls system releasedForeign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta today welcomed the findings of an independent review into Aotearoa New Zealand’s export controls system, which regulates the export of goods to foreign militaries, police forces or paramilitaries. Produced by David Smol, a former Chief Executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the ...3 days ago
- New District Court Judge appointedAttorney-General David Parker has announced the appointment of Brett Crowley of Wellington as a District Court Judge. He is currently the Wellington Public Defender and started his career as a staff solicitor working in a range of litigation including criminal defence work. He went to the bar in 1999 specialising ...3 days ago
- Mental health stocktake shows strong progressThe first report of the Government’s Implementation Unit has found strong progress has been made since the Mental Health and Addictions Package was announced in 2019. “The report notes most initiatives funded in the Budget 2019 package are on track to deliver what is expected by 2023/24,” Grant Robertson said. ...3 days ago
- Working together to grow the West CoastA project that has been crucial in allowing businesses to continue during the tourism downturn is among a number of initiatives to receive a boost from the Government’s Jobs For Nature programme, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. Sustaining South Westland is an extension of an initiative set up last year ...3 days ago
- Next steps to improve safety in wake of Whakaari White Island tragedyThe Government is moving to improve safety in light of the Whakaari White Island tragedy and has released proposals to reinforce safety standards in registered adventure activities. The package of proposals includes: Strengthening requirements for how operators, landowners and the regulator manage natural hazard risks Improving how risks are monitored, ...3 days ago
- New Zealand donates more COVID-19 vaccines to COVAX and the PacificForeign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Associate Health Minister Aupito William Sio announced today that New Zealand is donating additional Pfizer vaccines to the Pacific and AstraZeneca vaccines to the COVAX Facility, to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. “New Zealand is donating 708,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine ...3 days ago
- Speech to the Property Council of New ZealandKia ora koutou katoa Is it a pleasure to be able to speak with you today, and to be able to answer some questions you may have. I would like to acknowledge the organisers of this event, the Property Council. The theme of this year’s conference is City Shapers. Together ...4 days ago
- Additional MIQ for ChristchurchAn additional hotel will be added to our network of managed isolation and quarantine facilities, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “I have approved and Cabinet is in the final stages of signing off The Quality Hotel Elms in Christchurch as a new managed isolation facility,” Chris Hipkins said. ...4 days ago
- NZ COVID-19 response earns another major digital investmentMinister for the Digital Economy and Communications Dr David Clark welcomes Amazon’s Web Services’ (AWS) decision to establish a Cloud Region on New Zealand shores, further boosting New Zealand’s growing digital sector, and providing a vote of confidence in the direction of New Zealand’s economic recovery. “Amazon is the second ...4 days ago
- New Zealand invests in cutting edge cancer R&DScaling up the manufacture of CAR T-cell cancer therapy for clinical trials Advancing New Zealand’s biomedical manufacturing capability Supporting future international scientific collaborations Transforming cancer care with targeted, affordable solutions Research, Science and Innovation Minister Hon Dr Megan Woods has announced that the fight against COVID-19 will not stop the ...4 days ago
- Expert group appointed to lead New Zealand’s future health systemAn outstanding group of people with extensive and wide-ranging governance and health experience have been appointed to lead the Māori Health Authority and Health New Zealand, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “This Government is building a truly national health system to provide consistent, high-quality health services right across the country. This ...4 days ago
- Funding to help clean up contaminated sitesThe Government is supporting the clean-up of contaminated sites in Northland, Dunedin and Southland to reduce risk to people’s health and protect the environment. Environment Minister David Parker said the funding announced today, through the Contaminated Sites Remediation Fund, will help us turn previously hazardous sites into safe, usable public ...4 days ago
- Predator Free apprenticeships open up new job opportunitiesThe expansion of a predator free apprenticeship programme is an opportunity for more people to kick-start a conservation career, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Predator Free Apprenticeship Programme is focused on increasing the number of skilled predator control operators in New Zealand through a two-year training programme. “The Trust ...5 days ago
- Further NCEA support confirmed for Auckland studentsThe number of Learning Recognition Credits for senior secondary school students will be increased for Auckland students, Education Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. This recognises the extended time these students will spend in Alert Levels 3 and 4. “It means students in Auckland will have a fair opportunity to attain ...5 days ago
- Long-term pathway next step to better mental wellbeing for New ZealandersThe Government is taking a new approach to support people who experience mental distress, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “Kia Manawanui Aotearoa – Long-term pathway to mental wellbeing (Kia Manawanui) is the first 10-year plan of its kind that targets the cause of mental distress and also sets out how ...5 days ago
- Keeping our Police safe to keep our communities safeThe Government is committed to keeping our frontline police officers safe, so they in turn can keep New Zealanders safe – with one of the largest investments in frontline safety announced by Police Minister Poto Williams at the Police College today. The $45 million investment includes $15.496 million in ...5 days ago
- Clean Vehicles Bill passes first checkpointThe Land Transport (Clean Vehicles) Amendment Bill will help New Zealand drive down transport emissions by cleaning up the light vehicle fleet, Transport Minister Michael Wood says. The Bill passed its first reading today and will establish the legislative framework for key parts of the Government’s Clean Car Package, including ...6 days ago
- Funding boost supports ongoing Māori COVID-19 responseThe Government is responding to the need by whānau Māori and Māori Health providers to support their ongoing work responding to COVID-19 and to continue increasing rates of Māori vaccination, Associate Minister for Health (Māori Health), Peeni Henare and Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson announced today. This increased ...6 days ago
- Significant increase to COVID-19 penaltiesPenalties for breaches of COVID-19 orders are set to significantly increase from early November 2021 to better reflect the seriousness of any behaviour that threatens New Zealand’s response to the virus, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Throughout this Delta outbreak we’ve seen the overwhelming majority of people doing ...6 days ago
- Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill returns to ParliamentThe Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill has returned to Parliament for its second reading in an important step towards giving enforcement agencies greater power to protect New Zealanders from terrorist activity. “The Bill addresses longstanding gaps in our counter terrorism legislation that seek to protect New Zealanders and make us safer,” Justice ...6 days ago
- Joint Statement: New Zealand and Australian Trade MinistersHon Damien O'Connor MP, New Zealand Minister for Trade and Export Growth, and Hon Dan Tehan MP, Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, met virtually on Monday 20 September to advance trans-Tasman cooperation under the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement (CER). CER is one of the most ...7 days ago
- Prime Minister’s Post Cabinet Press Conference/COVID-19 Update opening statement***Please check against delivery*** E te tī, e te tā, nau mai rā [To all, I bid you welcome] As you will have seen earlier, today there are 22 new community cases to report; three of which are in Whakatiwai in the Hauraki area, and the remainder in ...7 days ago
- Major milestones for Māori COVID-19 vaccine rollout as new campaign launchesWhānau Ora and Associate Health (Māori Health) Minister Peeni Henare acknowledges two major milestones in the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme for Māori. “I am very pleased to announce more than 50 percent of eligible Māori have received their first dose and 25 per cent are now fully vaccinated,” ...1 week ago
- Government funding to fight infectious diseases$36 million for research into Covid-19 and other infectious diseases The investment will improve our readiness for future pandemics Research will focus on prevention, control, and management of infectious diseases The Government’s investing in a new Infectious Diseases Research Platform to boost Aotearoa New Zealand’s Covid-19 response and preparedness for ...1 week ago
- Quarantine-free travel with Australia to remain suspended for a further 8 weeksSuspension to be reviewed again mid to late November Decision brought forward to enable access from Australia to first tranche of around 3000 rooms in MIQ Air New Zealand working at pace to put on more flights from Australia from October The suspension of quarantine-free travel (QFT) with Australia has ...1 week ago
- Extra support for Ethnic Communities to share vaccination informationExtra support is being made available to Ethnic Communities to help them share COVID-19 vaccination information within their communities, Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities Priyanca Radhakrishnan said. “We know we need to get every eligible person in New Zealand vaccinated. A fund being launched today will allow for ...1 week ago
- School holidays remain unchanged for Auckland regionSchool holidays in Auckland will continue to be held at the same time as the rest of the country, starting from Saturday, 2 October, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “I’ve carefully considered advice on the implications of shifting the dates and concluded that on balance, maintaining the status quo ...1 week ago
- Government continues crackdown on gangs and organised crimeOperation Tauwhiro extended until March 2022 Since it was launched in February, Operation Tauwhiro has resulted in: 987 firearms seized $4.99 million in cash seized 865 people charged with a firearms-related offence Gangs and organised crime groups will continue to be relentlessly targeted with the extension of Police’s successful ...1 week ago
- Speech to Body Positive 'HIV Treatments Update Seminar 2021'E ngā mana E ngā reo E ngā iwi Tēnā koutou katoa Ka huri ki ngā mana whenua o te rohe nei. Tēnā koutou. He mihi hoki ki a tatou kua tau mai nei I raro I te kaupapa o te rā. Nō reira tēnā koutou katoa Acknowledgements It’s a ...1 week ago
- Power bill changes bring fairness to chargesA key recommendation of an independent panel to make electricity charges fairer across all households will be put in place, the Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods has announced. “Phasing out the regulations on ‘low-use’ electricity plans will create a fairer playing field for all New Zealanders and encourage a ...1 week ago
- NZ economy’s strong momentum will support rebound from Delta outbreak; COVID fund replenishedThe economy showed strong momentum in the period leading up to the recent Delta COVID-19 outbreak, which bodes well for a solid economic rebound, Grant Robertson said. GDP rose 2.8 percent in the June quarter, following on from a 1.4 percent increase in the previous March quarter. This was a ...2 weeks ago
- Projects create benefits into the futureMaking a well-known lake swimmable and helping to halt the decline of the endangered hoiho/yellow-eyed penguins are among a suite of new projects being supported by the Government’s Jobs for Nature programme across the southern South Island, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “It’s no secret that many of our most ...2 weeks ago
- Opening statement for Whāriki Indigenous Small Business RoundtableKei ngā tōpito e wha o te āo e rere ana te mihi maioha ki a koutou nō tawhiti, nō tata mai e tāpiri ana ki tēnei taumata kōrero mo te ao hokohoko arā mā ngā pākihi mo ngā iwi taketake Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa – Pai Mārire. ...2 weeks ago
- New members appointed to KāpuiaThe Government is adding four additional members to Kāpuia, the Ministerial Advisory Group on the Government’s Response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch mosques. “I’m looking forward to having Pamela MacNeill, Huia Bramley, Melani Anae and Katherine Dedo join Kāpuia and contribute to this group’s ...2 weeks ago
- Timeline confirmed for Emissions Reductions PlanCabinet has agreed to begin consulting on the Emissions Reduction Plan in early October and require that the final plan be released by the end of May next year in line with the 2022 Budget, the Minister of Climate Change, James Shaw confirmed today. “Cabinet’s decision allows organisations and communities ...2 weeks ago
- Pay parity pathway for early learning teachers confirmedPay parity conditions and higher funding rates for education and care services will come into force on 1 January, 2022, Minister of Education Chris Hipkins confirmed today. The Government signalled this work in Budget 2021. “From 1 January, 2022, centres opting into the scheme will receive government funding and be ...2 weeks ago
- Live updates, September 27: Jacinda Ardern v John Key – PM denies ruling ‘hermit kingdom’ by f...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for September 27, by Stewart Sowman-Lund. Send me thoughts and feelings to stewart@thespinoff.co.nz. Help us keep you informed on Covid-19 – click here to learn how you can join The Spinoff Members. 8.00am: Ardern denies ruling ‘hermit kingdom’ by fear Prime minister Jacinda Ardern does not believe ...1 hour ago - Why it’s time to change our archaic and unnecessary surrogacy laws In Aotearoa, parents who conceive via a surrogate must formally adopt a baby who was always intended to be theirs. Now, a member’s bill looks set to change a time-consuming, expensive and exhausting process. It’s about time, writes Hannah Gibson.At its essence, surrogacy is about people working together with others, ...1 hour ago
- Toni Street cracks open her past to share a life marked by griefLost and Found is a profound and brave addition to the celebrity memoir canon, writes Sam Brooks.Simply put: Toni Street, who has had a national audience of one kind or another for 15 years, has gone through a lot. It shouldn’t be a surprise. She’s written a memoir, and people ...1 hour ago
- Buy now, pay forever?Calls for buy-now, pay-later providers to be regulated as millions of dollars in late fees are paid annually by New Zealand consumers. Madeleine Chapman writes for The Bulletin.Buy now, pay forever?Consumer NZ is calling for buy-now, pay-later services to be regulated under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act after ...2 hours ago
- Markets wary as Evergrande fate hangs in balance
Business & Investing: NZX's flat month continues as international markets fluctuate under the threat of collapse of the giant Chinese property company ...3 hours ago - Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 27 September4 hours ago
- Newsroom daily crossword, Monday 27 September4 hours ago
- Facebook’s slow-motion reckoning is about much more than one companyA major newspaper investigation into misinformation and other harms on its platforms shows how enormous the Facebook problem has become, writes Hal Crawford.“The era of social media companies presenting themselves as passive conduits for user speech is coming to an end. The question is what will replace it.” Gilad Edelman, ...4 hours ago
- Who *can’t* get the Covid-19 vaccine?As vaccination rates continue to climb, the advice is clear that almost everyone 12 or over can safely roll up their arm for the Pfizer. But who can’t? Mirjam Guesgen sorts the rumour from the fact.Quick note to start: we’re not doctors. Consult your GP or Healthline for any specific ...4 hours ago
- Anne Salmond: The case for nature-based forests
The use of 'permanent' plantations of pine trees solely to build up carbon offsets is solving one harm with another, writes Dame Anne Salmond. There is an alternative. As Argentinian ecologist Sandra Diaz said during the 2021 Nobel Prize Winners Summit: "We have incontestable evidence that the living fabric of ...4 hours ago - Integrity checks causing wage subsidy payment delays, MSD says
NZ businesses have claimed close to $17b from the wage subsidy so far. But increased integrity checks are causing significant delays in processing tens of thousands of subsidy applications. ...4 hours ago - Chickens in NZ writing – an investigation
Ten stories about chickens 1. NADIA LIM AND HER CHICKEN Nadia Lim, chef of the nation, wrote her first children's book last year. Marvellous Marvin (illustrated by Fifi Colston, published by Scholastic) is based on a chick that hatched in a muslin-lined cake tin balanced on a pile of books under ...4 hours ago - Takeaways served for Silver and White Ferns
While both the White Ferns and Silver Ferns lost to England in the past week, they should have gained an insight into what's needed for their World Cup and the Commonwealth Games campaigns, now on the horizon. Netball writer Suzanne McFadden and Canterbury Magicians cricketer Kristy Havill look at what both teams can take from ...4 hours ago - Paediatrician: Covid is not a choice for the sick children I treat, Sir John
A paediatrician feels dismay at John Key's blithe talk of Covid patients 'choices and consequences' ...4 hours ago - For your mental health, pay attention
As Aotearoa slowly emerges from Covid-19 restrictions and we head into Mental Health Awareness Week, Margaret Stanley reflect on the things that got us through this difficult time I was drawn to a career as an ecologist through curiosity and a love for all creatures great and small. My mother was instrumental ...4 hours ago - Brian Tamaki video catches eye of Facebook
A Brian Tamaki video was pulled down by Facebook and investigated by police. ...4 hours ago - Putting the brakes on belching cows
Genetic manipulation, toilet training for cows, seaweed feed, vaccines ... millions is being spent on research to reduce the methane emissions from New Zealand's agricultural industry. Millions of dollars is being spent on getting cows and sheep to produce less gas. The projects in train range from genetics experiments, ...4 hours ago - The clock is ticking on net-zero, and Australia’s farmers must not get a free pass
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Ha, Associate, Grattan Institute Dan Peled/AAP Political momentum is growing in Australia to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050. On Friday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was the latest member of the federal government to throw his weight behind ...9 hours ago - Agitated Nationals grapple with climate debate, as former minister Chester takes ‘a break’ from ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A tough debate is expected when a highly volatile Nationals parliamentary party meets on Monday, ahead of climate change negotiations between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce to endorse a target of ...9 hours ago
- Lemming-like Mental Health Hiring Practices Won’t Solve Mental Health Staffing Issues
“A recent Government-commissioned report to assess the progress made on their 2019 $1.9 billion mental health initiative is being hampered by lemming-like beliefs and assumptions that risk tipping the entire $1.9 billion over an ideological cliff,” ...13 hours ago - With vision of a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’, Quad leaders send a clear signal to ChinaSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lavina Lee, Senior lecturer, Macquarie University Evan Vucci/AP The Quad has come a long way since it was resurrected in 2017 as a loose coalition comprising the US, Australia, India and Japan. The face-to-face, leaders summit at the end of ...17 hours ago
- Govt wants to plug gaps in safety rules for adventure tourism
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood says he wants to plug gaps in the adventure activities, with tougher rules to mitigate the risks posed by natural hazards. ...17 hours ago - Ranked: All of today’s op-ed columns by Sir John KeyPrime minister for three terms, John Key has only made rare media appearances since leaving office. But today he’s published a number of commentaries across the media. We rank them.4. Sir John Key on Newshub, September 26A big get for Newshub. A long opinion essay by former prime minister Sir ...21 hours ago
- An ode for .. Mark Richardson
New Zealand's unsanctioned poet laureate composes an ode for Sir Mark of Richardson A Man Of Our Age Arise Sir Mark! You leave the field with 9,994 hot takes on the Box. Hypnotized were we at your rapier wit, and lofty pronouncements on Matters Of State. You reflected ...1 day ago - Live updates, September 26: Latest case numbers coming and a word from Sir John KeyWelcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for Sunday September 26, by Madeleine Chapman. Get in touch on info@thespinoff.co.nzThanks for your company today. All our coverage of the Covid response is made possible thanks to Members’ contributions. Help keep the show on the road by joining today.The day ahead There is ...1 day ago
- Our writers are being hung out to dryThe president of the New Zealand Society of Authors wants very much to talk about money. It’s six years since I last bought new knickers. I know this because it’s six years since I earned enough to replace the old ones I’d nursed along for the previous decade. This is the ...1 day ago
- Recipe: Orange, hazelnut and chocolate chunk biscuitsIt’s hard to improve on the simple perfection of a chocolate chip biscuit, but orange zest and hazelnuts’ll do it.It’s a rainy day here in Taranaki and these biscuits served with a hot cup of tea are just the ticket. Though do beware as they are rather moreish, and resisting ...1 day ago
- The Milford Opportunities Project: the myth of a tourism reset
The motivation of a masterplan for tourism in Milford Sound Piopiotahi is unfounded, lacks scientific evidence and is not the solution to New Zealand’s problem of concentrated tourism flows, argues Professor Juergen Gnoth The Milford Sound Opportunities Project (MOP) has emerged as one of the Government’s centrepieces of initiatives to ...1 day ago - I wasn’t fully vaccinated, then I got measles and it changed my lifeIt’s not just the virus, it’s what comes after.I never used to be sick.I assumed my good health was because I’d done all the right things. I exercised, I ate well, I didn’t smoke or drink to excess. If I got sick (rarely), I’d get over it quickly. I’d made ...1 day ago
- The Sunday Essay: The things we keepTwo black pearl necklaces, three generations, 15,000 miles. Christchurch writer Chessie Henry on the objects that bind us. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New ZealandOriginal illustrations by Ahsin AhsinIn April this year I drove in my brother’s car from Auckland to Christchurch. I had just ...1 day ago
- We are all connected, Ardern tells UN General AssemblyPrime Minister Jacinda Ardern has urged world leaders to address rising inequality and make international trade "more open and inclusive" in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. ...2 days ago
- Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Is the Wage Subsidy still transferring massive wealth to the ric...Analysis by Bryce Edwards. Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Over $15 billion dollars has been transferred to businesses by the Government via the Wage Subsidy Scheme since Covid hit in 2020. The scheme has turned out to be effective at both keeping businesses afloat and enriching the already wealthy. Now ...2 days ago
- Scotty Stevenson: Love, rugby, and the story of my familyAhead of tonight’s hundredth Test between the New Zealand All Blacks and South Africa’s Springboks, Scotty Stevenson reaches deep into his own family history, within which the two nations and their personalities are deeply entwined. This essay was first published in Dylan Cleaver’s newsletter The Bounce. Subscribe here.There will be ...2 days ago
- China’s problems in property are a difficulty for everyone
As China’s most indebted property developer Evergrande hovers on the brink, the question is where the government will draw the line on support for the firm – and for the financial system. Markets are nervous but the consensus seems to be that while an example may be made of ...2 days ago - Live updates, September 25: Is Auckland’s delta outbreak coming under control?Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for Saturday September 25, by Toby Manhire. Get in touch on info@thespinoff.co.nzThanks for your company today. All our coverage of the Covid response is made possible thanks to Members’ contributions. Help keep the show on the road by joining today.The day (and night) aheadThere ...2 days ago
- How build-to-rent can help ease New Zealand’s housing woesA glimpse into a brighter future for New Zealand’s lifelong renters.While New Zealand’s build-to-rent market remains in its infancy, a leader in property development believes a significant opportunity exists with the emerging asset class to provide better quality rentals on terms friendly to both tenants and landlords.New Ground Capital managing ...2 days ago
- Just how far can kindness travel?
Are Kiwis capable of caring about people in low-income countries when we have pressing social problems in our own backyard? The University of Auckland's Dr Nikki Turner speaks to UNICEF Aotearoa about the impacts of the pandemic, and why vaccination coverage is critical wherever you live. Doctor Nikki Turner is a fast ...2 days ago - Short story: The Big Game, by AP Gaskell
Ahead of tonight's All Blacks vs Springboks match, we reprint the greatest rugby short story of all times, from 1947 The football match at Carisbrook was over. Dusk was already falling, and during the last part of the game the flight of the ball and even the movements of ...2 days ago - Dodgy tickets, huge mark-ups – what is Viagogo really up to?Offshore touts are trying to flog off expensive tickets to concerts all over New Zealand. And sometimes those tickets may not even exist. What can be done to stop it?Adam Webb is hovering over his keyboard, frantically searching for information. He has multiple internet tabs open and fake credit cards ...2 days ago
- Learning to teach teens in a pandemicFrom refereeing shots at the rubbish bin to instructing from his mum’s lounge, a new teacher looks back on his first year.Between the wild passions and imbalances of puberty, the so often uninspired curriculum, the leaky (if not mouldy) buildings and toxic political discourse that pollutes education, learning to teach ...2 days ago
- New Tall Fern Taia has Dad close at hand
A huge few weeks for basketballer Ashley Taia will be capped off by wearing the Tall Ferns singlet for the first time in the FIBA Women's Asia Cup. Ashley Taia knows her “biggest fan” – her late dad – will be watching over her when she makes her debut for the Tall ...2 days ago - View from The Hill: Barnaby Joyce falls (sort of) into step for the ‘net zero’ marchSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Lukas Coch/AAP The Coalition brigade is assembling, readying for the final march to a place it once regarded as enemy territory and poisoned ground, too dangerous to approach. Josh Frydenberg waved the flag ...2 days ago
- Travellers grounded after surprise Covid rule change
Air New Zealand and people hoping to fly back into Auckland this morning were blindsided - and stranded - by a new rule that came in at midnight last night After six weeks down in Queenstown waiting out Auckland’s lockdown, it was finally time for John Gosney to come ...3 days ago - Mayor Meets With Ministers Over Three Waters Reform ProposalThis week Mayor Rehette Stoltz met with Ministers, including the Minister for Local Government Nanaia Mahuta to discuss the Three Waters reform proposal. Government is proposing to move the management of the three waters away from individual Councils ...3 days ago
- New Zealand Red Meat Sector Welcomes Chinese Taipei’s CPTPP Membership ApplicationThe Meat Industry Association (MIA) and Beef + Lamb NZ (B+LNZ) welcome Chinese Taipei’s formal application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Sam McIvor, chief executive of Beef + Lamb NZ said the ...3 days ago
- NZ kiwifruit reportedly tests positive for Covid in China
A Covid scare with Kiwi produce imported into China could have repercussions for New Zealand exporters Chinese officials say a batch of New Zealand kiwifruit imported into the country has tested positive for Covid-19, in news which could concern Kiwi exporters wary of any clampdown. The CCP-owned Global Times reported ...3 days ago - Week in Politics: Auckland moves down, doubt cast on elimination strategyAnalysis - Critics accuse the government of giving up on its elimination strategy and Speaker Trevor Mallard's move to stop unvaccinated people entering Parliament's precinct raises debate. ...3 days ago
- The Friday Poem: Young Adult Success Stories, by Erik KennedyA new poem from Christchurch poet Erik Kennedy.Young Adult Success StoriesThis fantastic article outlines how, at the tender age of twenty-two, Brad got seed money for his underwear delivery start-up and bought a Bugatti. What an amazing tale of industry and sticktoitiveness. How did he do it? Ah, yes, it’s ...3 days ago
- Most 2019 Budget mental health intiatives on track – reviewDeputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said a stocktake of the $1.9 billion mental health package found strong progress had been made since its announcement. ...3 days ago
- Wenda blames nurse’s death on Indonesian military crackdown for Papuan mining, palm oilAsia Pacific Report newsdesk The United Liberation Movement of West Papua has blamed the Indonesian military over the attack at a hospital in Kiwirok, near the Papua New Guinean border, in which a nurse was killed. Interim president Benny Wenda of the ULMWP has issued a statement in response to ...3 days ago
- Taliban ‘journalism rules’ open way to censorship, persecution, warns RSFAsia Pacific Report newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says it is very disturbed by the “11 journalism rules” that the Taliban announced at a meeting with news media on September 19. The rules that Afghan journalists will now have to implement are vaguely worded, dangerous and liable to be used ...3 days ago
- Covid deaths soar in New Caledonian crisis – 16 in one dayRNZ Pacific New Caledonia recorded 16 covid-19 deaths yesterday — the highest single day total since the delta strain of the virus arrived in the territory less than three weeks ago. A spokesperson for the territorial government, Gilbert Tyuienon, said the archipelago “is going through a crisis never seen in ...3 days ago
- Auckland mayor Goff makes ‘roll up your sleeves – take covid jab’ pleaAsia Pacific Report newsdesk Auckland Mayor Phil Goff has appealed to the 1.7 million people in the city to “roll up your sleeves” and get vaccinated immediately to help New Zealand cope better with the covid-19 pandemic. Writing in The New Zealand Herald today to back the newspaper’s 90% Project ...3 days ago
- New Amazon data centres risk unbalancing NZ's fragile electricity network
At risk of being churlish, we say Amazon Web Services must invest not just in jobs but also in utility-scale renewable energy ...3 days ago - ‘Don’t be a dick’: Nigel Latta’s advice for surviving Covid while stuck at homeProperty investors at this year’s virtual Property Conference probed the psychologist on all things Covid and working from home. Reweti Kohere listened in as the keynote speaker responded with some home truths.Working from home is a thing now, an acceptable way these days to clock in and out of one’s ...3 days ago
- Court Ruling A Victory For Common SenseGreat news and a victory for common sense and for people seeking abortion services. That's the response from Family Planning to a High Court decision today where a group of health professionals opposed to abortion have lost a court case over whether their ...3 days ago
- VIDEO: Michelle Grattan on AUKUS fallout and the government moving to net zeroSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra University of Canberra Professional Fellow Michelle Grattan alongside University of Canberra Associate Professor Caroline Fisher discuss the week in politics. This week the pair discuss the announcement of the AUKUS, in particular the reaction ...3 days ago
- Mahuta spurns call from civic leaders to go with the flow – and go slow – with contentious Three...
A press statement we received from Nanaia Mahuta, speaking as Minister of Foreign Affairs, dealt with the findings of an independent review into New Zealand’s export controls system, which regulates the export of goods to foreign militaries, police forces or paramilitaries. Produced by David Smol, a former Chief Executive of ...3 days ago - Covid-19 briefing: Upper Hauraki to move to alert level 2The Upper Hauraki area will join most of New Zealand in alert level 2 after no further positive results, the deputy prime minister has confirmed. Watch the government's latest Covid-19 briefing here. ...3 days ago
- Meet the Pacific social services helping keep the team of five million safeWhen the latest lockdown became much more than a health crisis for many South Auckland families, it was their local, Pacific-led social services that stepped up to help. Patricia Tosogu is beaming with relief as she stands in the doorway of her new temporary home in Ōtāhuhu, while the sounds ...3 days ago
- Two governments claim to run Myanmar. So, who gets the country’s seat at the UN?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Simpson, Senior Lecturer, University of South Australia As world leaders have gathered for the UN General Assembly in New York this week, there has been uncertainty over who should be representing Myanmar. Since a coup on February 1, Myanmar’s military ...3 days ago
- Building trust with migrant and refugee communities is crucial for public health measures to workSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Devaki Monani, Lecturer, Social Work, Charles Darwin University Shutterstock During COVID-19 we’ve seen racism and discrimination against migrant and refugee communities erode trust between them and authorities.So as the Delta variant spreads, we must find ways ...3 days ago
- Our air defences are down – only some RNZAF aircraft can reach for the sky as Orions are retired
There are sad faces around Whenuapai today as the RNZAF retires the first of its five Lockheed Orions. The aircraft is flying to Woodbourne for breaking and parting – essentially for spares. The Orions came into service in 1966 and have become a familiar presence in the south Pacific, saving ...3 days ago- Bernard Hickey: Fashion’s greenwashing problem and how to see through it
It’s getting increasingly tough to buy clothing that isn’t the result of practices that exploit both workers and the environment. Bernard Hickey talks to the founder of a local tech start-up that wants to help consumers all over the world make better choices.Follow When the Facts Change on Apple Podcasts, ...3 days ago- The Spinoff Covid tracker: 20 live graphs that tell the story of delta in Aotearoa
Everything you need to know about how the Covid-19 pandemic is tracking in New Zealand, through regularly updated data visualisations.The Spinoff Covid tracker brings together all the relevant Covid data – cases, tests, vaccination and mobility – in one place.The aim of this page is to show the numbers in ...3 days ago- Watch live: Grant Robertson and Dr Caroline McElnay give an update on the current Covid-19 outbreak
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson and Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay are providing an update on the current Covid-19 outbreak. ...3 days ago- Facebook livestreams of PM’s 1pm update swarmed by anti-vax misinformation
The benefits of reaching the wider audience outweigh the risk of damage, says Ardern.The daily 1pm updates have become the central set-piece of New Zealand’s response to the Covid-19 crisis. Among the popular live streams of these Beehive briefings is that on the prime minister’s own Facebook page. Yesterday’s, for ...3 days ago- Carterton District Council Responds To Three Waters Reform Proposal
Carterton District Council is preparing to submit its response to the Government’s Three Waters Reform proposals on 1 October. Chief executive Geoff Hamilton has written a draft letter to be sent to the Department of Internal Affairs on behalf of the ...3 days ago- The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending September 24
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.Auckland only had one day back in action before we came nagging for sales figures, which seems a ...3 days ago- $62 Million Dubai Pavilion Is Insulting Extravagance
NZTE’s $62 million pavilion unveiled today in Dubai is an unseemly extravagance during a pandemic, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “NZTE has completely misread the room by proceeding with the Dubai ...3 days ago- Soft Penalty For Council Fraudsters Shows Law Change Needed
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling for increased penalties for defrauding public bodies after two men stole $178,365 from Hurunui District Council using false invoices . “Stealing $178,000 from ratepayers ought to land you in jail, not home ...3 days ago- Government proposes tougher safety rules for adventure activity operators
The government wants to bring in tougher safety rules for adventure activity operators, in response to the deadly 2019 Whakaari / White Island eruption. ...3 days ago- Letter to the Editor – MIQ
Dear Government Stop thanking me for doing my bit as an Aucklander. Why wouldn’t I? Stop celebrating the vaccination statistics when we could have been ahead of the game if you had just agreed to pay the asking price for the Pfizer vaccine way back ...3 days ago- Keith Rankin Data Analysis – Table of Excess Deaths from Covid19
Data and Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin. The table below uses raw-death data published downloaded from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/excess-mortality-raw-death-count to predict what death numbers would have occurred in 2020 and 2021 had there been no Covid19 pandemic. The actual death numbers are compared with the predicted (counterfactual) numbers to calculated excess ...3 days ago- Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – September 24 2021
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. You can sign up to NZ Politics Daily as well as New Zealand Political Roundup columns for free here. Today’s content Modelling dispute, Govt Covid strategy RNZ: Modeller stands ...3 days ago - Our air defences are down – only some RNZAF aircraft can reach for the sky as Orions are retired
I’ve just seen someone say that the LynnMall attacker targeted white people. Have I missed something? Is there evidence of this?
Yes, I saw a young Kiwi female witness on three news, who said she was there in the supermarket, appeared to be of Indian descent, and said that the attacker wasn't interested in her, that he seemed to be (she paused to think about how to put it) specifically going after white people.
I was quite surprised they showed it.
Can't remember now if it was the night of the attack or the following night. She's the only witness I've seen saying that. And I don't know if she's accurate – but I've seen someone else report this witness's claim in an online news article or possibly on Kiwiblog too.
Might still be viewable on the on demand three news?
Not that I'm aware of. But few of us are privy to his thoughts and writings. Those that had dealings with him, including his family and friends, may know more.
He apparently wrote that if he was sent back to Sri Lanka he would seek out "Kiwi scums", whatever that means.
Yes I saw the interview Gezza mentions and she said he seemed to target white people and ignored her.
This lifted from last night's Daily Review, on a twitter thread:
We don't want to get Covid in any form. Anything the government does to keep it running rampant in our society is worth backing – and to hell with the economy!
Think you might need a from in there Tony
I agree
wishful thinking Tony, it will be near impossible to keep covid out forever
Imho the longer we keep Covid out, the better off Kiwis and the NZ economy will be, so why not stick with the Covid elimination strategy until it's clear (as in NSW) that the team can't quell community outbreaks in NZ. Level Delta 2 tomorrow!
NZ is in the totally enviable position of having a genuine choice (elimination strategy vs freedums strategy); I'd rather we didn't surrender that choice willingly.
Unite against COVID-19
https://covid19.govt.nz
Letters in the SMH say that NSW has greatly reduced testing-this is why it appears Covid cases have reached a plateau.
Rumour has it that ScoMo's mate Boris ordered the same approach in the UK.
"Near impossible" is not, impossible.
Many experts say that achieving herd immunity is near impossible.
Which of course means, achieveing herd immunity is possible, (but difficult).
As John F. Kennedy said, "We don't do these things because they are easy, we do these things because they are hard".
So what would it take?
We don't know what level of the population would need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity against Covid-19, because it has never been done before.
But we do know that for measles, another highly transmissable disease, herd immunity is achieved when 95% of the population has been vaccinated.
Is 95% vaccination coverage our target?
Is that what we want?
If that is what we want, can we the team of 5 million pull it off?
Could 95% of us be vaccinated?
Do we have the sort of visionary leadership that could inspire the team of 5 million to achieve that level of vaccnation coverage?
Can 95% of us be inspired to go for it?
With determined leadership, with inspiring messaging appealing to national pride, I believe it is possible.
"Let's do this!"
Appealing to national pride. I’m backing, the world beating, New Zealand, 'All Vax'
🙂
All Vax vs Wallabies?
The government could recruit the Rugby Union and their outgoing sponsor AIG to the vaccination cause.
To spearhead the campaign, the National Team 'All Blacks', be renamed 'All Vax', for the period of the crisis.
Can we please get Winston and NZ First back into Government and get some Sanity back into the Asylum in Wellington.
In a queue of 100 for my first jab at a stadium, I'm not even sure what sanity would now look like.
How'd it go?
Got mine this arvo at the old Appliance Shed building. Just a couple minutes wait inside, no queues at all.
Quickest jab ever. I swear, she nailed me with that harpoon and delivered the payload before the swab even hit the rubbish bin.
Only side effect so far is I kinda stuck hard to the door frame getting in the car to leave. Wasn't expecting the magnet effect to be so strong.
I highly recommend good Anti-Virus software because you don’t want to get hacked. The monthly software updates can be tedious and the unscheduled patches are frustrating, but shit happens and not everything gets caught in beta-testing stage.
Do you install it like this?
No, no, no!
You have to lick the shiny surface of the CD-ROM to properly install it. Make sure you do this anti-clockwise or you might get a DDoS Error, which is not good and you have to reinstall everything from scratch. After that, you restart the system and wear it as in the photo to complete the installation and make sure it is working properly. Never ever eat cookies before you lick on the disk!
Just had a CIA MIB knock on the door warning me about Pfizer's Ukraine testing lab.
Seriously, Te Wanau Waipereira had 30 cars lined up by 8am for the 8.30am kickoff..
Tonnes of polite staff, from traffic to parking to registation to jabs to aftercare.
Having previously been registered for the now-defunct Elliot Street one, I was very happy with the service.
Yeah, pretty slick operation with a positive friendly vibe all around.
I'd expect nothing less from secret conspiracists trying to hide the truth that they're all in thrall to shapeshifting reptilian alien overlords trying to control our minds.
With a Vacuum on the right it would be easy for any politician to make a mark how ever looking at Winston's ability to communicate has diminished and given its 2 years before another election .if he doesn't make the 5% threshold he will be useful in keeping National from the govt benches.His handbrake style of politics didn't go down well last time if National find a better leader Winston's protest vote will disappear .
If more people agreed with you, he would be.
But they don't
Sanity is what this Government is doing. Insanity is "opening up" "living with the virus" before people are able to be vaccinated.
Look at Britain. Now losing a "jumbo jet load" of people every three days. All their systems strained or curtailed.
We are struggling to manage getting enough vaccine from producers and to get people to understand that each transmission means we may have a worse version to fight.
What is required is patience and a collective effort to reach full vaccination, coupled with health approaches to limit outbreaks and to minimise their effects.
Well said Patricia. Insanity is the rest of the world right now, NZ is sane.
Agree Patricia…but don 't you mean "dying with the virus"
Winston and NZ First: sanity? More like complete ignorance and incoherence. Here's the poor old fellow back in 2015 trying, and failing, to enunciate a position on a pressing matter…
That's brilliant for reminding us why we don't need Winston, Morrissey.
Talking of polis that have disappeared, isn't it wonderful that nobody talks about Trump any more.
… isn't it wonderful that nobody talks about Trump any more.
Unfortunately, my friend, people are not only talking about him, they're talking him up, bigtime….
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/05/politics/melania-trump-out-of-the-public-eye-2024/index.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/07/trump-campaign-operation-2024-510013
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/07/trump-run-president-2024-sean-spicer
If they must bring back an ex-President, I would suggest President Bush….
Love the Black Tony Blair.
Thanks for the links Morrissey. I guess what I was really saying is that the news outside the USA used to be full of Trump and now it isn't. It's certainly plausible that Trump would beat Biden next time around.
What are the arrangements for politician to be at parliament at level 3?
Dr Shane Reti on RNZ this morning mentioned sharing dinner with Judith and several Nat MPs last night. How many bubbles did that burst?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/first-up/audio/2018811287/reti-not-sure-how-movement-around-ak-will-work-with-levels
He mentioned it in response to a question about an attempted "spill". Was he naming Judith's supporters?
Reduced number of MPs as I recall. As long as they're socially distancing there needn't be a problem with that small group of participants described sharing a meal in a sizeable room.
Poor Collins. I'm not politically tribal. I reckon the mainstream media really are rather unfair how much more they seem to be cheerleading to get her dumped by National as leader than I recall them being with Andrew Little before he handed over to Ardern.
But Collins is her own worst enemy. Even when she's got decent political ammunition to work with, she's one of the worst, most awkward communcators I've seen or heard in interviews.
She gets flustered when ambushed & frequently burbles nonsense. I've even heard her recently saying the complete opposite to what she meant. She remained blissfully unaware of it.
Reti, by comparison, in that audio link is streets ahead of her as a communicator.
Well Little tended not to go at their throats like a pitbull with the scent of postie in its nostrils, which might explain it. Paw Judy.
No, but he did bark at every passing car & was often vague about Labour's solutions when questioned. I never agreed with the Angry Andy label his opponents’ supporters sometimes used. He came across as humourless.
Collns by comparison tries too hard to be witty & often ends up just being gauche. She's hopeless responding to questions, vague, lacking detail & often inaccurate.
She criticised Press Gallery journos in a recent tv one interview for not "asking the hard questions" of Ardern and just asking "how she feels".
I've watched all Ardern's standups re Level 4. I know what Collins means. Several of the gallery journos give Ardern an easy ride, & are quite deferential, imo. But she DOES get asked tricky questions. And nobody has ever actually said "How do you feel?"
Collins is too vague & flippant for her own good.
Level 2 restrictions of 50 in a room won't affect National's caucus, then…………
Heh, shit they could just about all take there partners to .
Half of them could and still have room for Mr Goodfellow and partner. 32 +16 +2.
Mr Muller is already isolated from caucus to make 32.
I wonder how many will be resigning before the next election? Nick Smith already gone. Who's next?
Brownlee? Collins after being rolled? Bridges after his machinations have failed? Bishop who might find that life begins at forty? Brown who discovers the same at thirty?
Bishop often comes acrosss well but he's never going to live down that abominable performance as spokesperson for Big Tobacco with the sadly late Greg Boyed on Q+A. That probably rules him out as a leader prospect. If not for that he might be in the running.
Six Palestinian prisoners escape Israeli jail through tunnel
Israeli authorities have launched a manhunt after six Palestinian prisoners escaped from one of the country's most secure jails overnight.
The men are believed to have dug a hole in the floor of their cell at Gilboa prison, then crawled through a cavity and tunnelled beneath the outer wall.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-58460702
Yes, it's headlining on Al Jazeera tv.
Al Jazeera tv news: Palestinians are gearing up for trouble as Israeli security forces look likely to be entering their territories in force & going hard out to find them.
Aljaz tv news update: At the same time, Palestinians in the occupied territories are shown celebrating this small "victory over the Israeli military machine", and in Gaza they're handing out sweets.
Israelis are concerned some of the escapees may be planning attacks.
Israelis are concerned some of the escapees may be planning attacks.
??? You mean Israeli politicians and their media megaphones are claiming that. In the rational world, protests against the outlaw state continue…
https://www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk/events/
Well, it was a voiceover by the AlJazeera reporter, with a quick comment by a middle-aged civilian car driver.
Aljaz tv tends to be biased towards the Palestinian viewpoint, as am I. Pisses me off the US has done so much to defend the continual Israeli stealing of more & more Palestinian land & Trump made it even worse.
But I have little hope of an eventual successful resolution of what to me is now an intractable problem in Israel/Palestine, Morrissey.
Not while Hamas remains committed even in its 2017 Charter to completely extinguishing the Israeli state, which I don't think is appropriate, & it and Islamic Jihad are prepared to mount & encourage suicidal attacks among young Palestinians who now have no hope of their own sizeable state, & while Israel has got away with creating walled Palestinian territory bantustans, & making Gaza the biggest open-air concentration camp in the world, with Israel the uncontested & ruthless regional military & security superpower.
The Brits & the UN have a lot to answer for. But the situation is now what is & I can't see how it will improve.
Not while Hamas remains committed even in its 2017 Charter…
???? Have you ever expressed qualms about the United States Declaration of Independence, with its notorious racist ranting about "the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions"?
If not, why not? Why do you single out the language of the Hamas Charter?
Much of what you have written shows you to be a thoughtful and considered person; I would counsel you against being led by dodgy political commentators and right wing newspaper columnists into denouncing the democratically elected government of the Palestinian Territories.
The US DOI is a separate issue, Morrissey. In these more enlightened days (well, for some) it's obvious that the European settler migrants & their descendants decimated, marginalised, & stole the lands & cultures of the North American first peoples. They have a hard road getting such damage redressed in any fair & meaningful way.
My view is that the Brits & the UN had no moral right to give Palestinian land to Jewish settlers for the re-creation of a Jewish state, without the prior consent of the Palestinian Arabs. But it happened. Largely because of the holocaust, Imo. The lead up to it was bloody & there were atrocities & massacres on both sides. The Israelis adopted many British practices (like blowing up the houses of Arab resisters & treating them like shit).
The Israelis had the best (British) trained & experienced army officers, & following their declaration of the establishment of the state of Israel they creamed the Arab armies who were hopeless by comparison. And they continued to do it until the Arab countries gave up attacking them.
The bigger Arab countries these days pay lip service only to supporting the Palestinians – not counting those who've concluded peace treaties with Israel.
Hamas & Islamic Jihad both have the fundamentalist Islamist objective of wiping Israel out. (So does Iran.) So even though Hamas was democratically elected in Gaza (because Fatah was perceived as corrupt, compromised by Israel, & impotent – unable to stop Israeli illegal settlement building & secure the Palestinian right of return of their diaspora) they end up looking like muderous fanatics.
Palestinians have no hope of matching military might with Israel. So Hamas is forced to use tactics like unguided missiles, suicide missions, sending young Palestinians to protests & loosing incendiary balloons into Israel, while Israel gets away with murdering Palestinian innocents by the score in brutal military response as "collateral damage" (only the yanks could come up with such a term). And the world basically doesn't give a shit any more, so long as Israel eventually stops slaughtering them after each major clash when the clamour against it gets too loud.
Too many Israelis have been born in Israel now. They can't be seriously expected to be eventually exterminated as a state as Hamas wants. Israel/Palestine is the UN's greatest failure, in my opinion.
European settler migrants & their descendants decimated, marginalised, & stole the lands & cultures of the North American first peoples.
"Decimated"? They exterminated far more than one in ten.
Hamas & Islamic Jihad both have the fundamentalist Islamist objective of wiping Israel out. (So does Iran.)
Wrong in all three cases. You are simply repeating black propaganda.
…. eventually exterminated as a state as Hamas wants.
Again, you're repeating a ruthless lie. The only exterminationist ideology in that area of the world comes out of the outlaw regime in Tel Aviv, and its fanatical backers in the United States and Britain.
FGS. I didn't use "decimated"in the strictly Roman army sense. They were basically wiped out. Few I know would think otherwise.
Re Hamas, no I'm not. I don't believe most of what I hear from the Israel / US propaganda machine. And I don't believe them on this.
I've done my own extensive research over months into Hamas & its Charter or Covenant. Happy to agree to disagree.
Colditz! Or at least Stalag Luft III.
Listening 9 till noon Kathryn Ryan interviewing a research scientist about saliva testing for Covid .She is saying it is easier and just a accurate and that we need to be testing at higher rates around outbreaks and at borders once a week is not enough twice a week is much safer especially with the Delta variant.
She is saying that other opinions from renowned scientists was being shut out by the NZ health response this needs to be looked into by this govt urgently maybe some bone for Collins and Seymour to pick on that's real and not made up for a change.
when folks start saying scientists are "renowned", I start getting suspicious.
We do need more testing (mostly to boost the odds of detecting the index case in the wild, rather than a couple of transfers down the line), but it depends where the bottleneck is. If it's the number of swabs, fine. If it's the number of pcr machines, supplies, or accredited techs, switching tests won't improve anything.
Collins and rimmer will pick at antything. There's nothing with meat relating to the covid response, though – all the govt needs to do is point to the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, that also applies to shit where improvement has been too slow: housing, for example.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.tvnz.co.nz/news/story/JTJGY29udGVudCUyRnR2bnolMkZvbmVuZXdzJTJGc3RvcnklMkYyMDIxJTJGMDklMkYwNiUyRnNhbGl2YS10ZXN0
However, last year is a long time ago in the field of SARS-Cov-2 research. There have been considerable developments in the past month which seem to be living up to the hype (and a seriously dope acronym – SHERLOCK = Specific High sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter unLOCKing)):
https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/a-test-that-detects-covid-19-variants-in-your-spit/
The CRISPR tech involved is fascinating. But the important point is that the test is done in the unit, and does not need to be sent off to a PCR lab.
So the SalivaDirect team seem to have sent their resident kiwi in to flog their obsoleted product onto the NZ government while they still can. At least it's better than Shield.
She was talking about one specific test wasn't she. What do we know about its price and availability?
https://sptnkne.ws/HjYA
Legitimate worry.
Standby for predictable reply from Ad.
Have you enough independent thought of your own to give us a brief tl;dr in your own words?
Y'know, a few hints as to the topic etc. Rather than just dropping a (frankly seriously dodgy-looking propaganda) link as a bit of flame-bait?
So, you post a non-intelligible link just so that you can needle someone else here?
It is a legitimate worry, so it's a legitimate comment. I can't help it if it needles the anti all Russian brigade.
What exactly is “a legitimate worry”, in your opinion?
Without any commentary or explanation, it is not “a legitimate comment”.
Why do you find it necessary or justified to needle another commenter, i.e., Ad, to be specific?
If you have an issue with Ad’s Posts and/or comments you need to address those in a proper and adequate way. You seem to be unable to do so, or just not willing to put in the mahi.
Why do you say that “[you] can't help it if it needles the anti all Russian brigade.” when you deliberately and intentionally wrote it in such a way that it would do exactly that?
Why are you playing the victim?
Why are you being disingenuous?
Russia are the biggest hackers in the world who would know if this is true or not I would suspect not given Russia's c invasion of former Soviet states.The US would not want research falling into Russian hands.
There's this little leap your source has made, from biological to 'military biological', which they evidently cannot verify or they'd have raised it under the UN Biological Weapons Convention. Credulity r us.
Not much of a leap as it happens
“The Central Public Health Reference Laboratory was inaugurated in April 2011, and Andrew Weber, the US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs took part in the ceremony (http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23257). Washington allotted $100 million for its construction, according to unofficial information (http://civil.ge/rus/article.php?id=23744). US officials openly stated that the laboratory would participate in the analysis of strategic biological risks. “The US Army plans to place specialists there that will work on these issues alongside the Georgians,” US Ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland noted (http://nregion.com/pda/txt.php?id=44549
https://jamestown.org/program/georgian-authorities-take-over-joint-us-georgian-biological-research-facility-under-russian-pressure/
from your link
Georgian authorities have finally realized that Russia is irritated not by the type of scientific research being carried out at this laboratory, but by the very existence of a Georgian-US military facility in the post-Soviet space—which then-President Dmitry Medvedev famously referred to as Russia’s zone of “privileged interest”
So, rather than a 'legitimate worry' even your link confesses that this is merely Russian agitprop – not US aggression to take seriously, but Russia imposing its will on states unfortunate enough to have so belligerent a neighbour. Like the satirical boggies, hearts and minds play no part in Russian diplomacy:
any small, slow, and stupid beast that turned its back on a crowd of boggies was looking for a stomping. ~ Bored of the Rings
You were disputing the military involvement , calling it a little leap
I don't recall using the term "a legitimate worry"
No, that was your fellow traveler Bydonz – your link debunked his thesis, such as it was.
Yah boo sucks!
Sputnik say no more
Lying Russians
Us only interested in keeping shipping lanes open , women and girls protection, human rights, democracy , freedom of the press
They're the least militant nation on earth, never use sanctions as an economic weapon,
have only the well being of the planet and humanity in mind
Russians are bad, its their nature, they can't help it.They also have low home ownership rates, have been brainwashed and have bad teeth and awful hygiene habits
The Ukrainians opposition members complaining are secret Russian sympathisers
Need I go on ?
And need I add the sarc tag?
You forgot the vodka.
Too obvious, unsubtle.oh ..sorry
That satirical spray sounds exactly like Rachel "Russia Russia Russia" Maddow
when she's pretending to be serious.
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/518586-glenn-greenwald-tells-megyn-kelly-he-has-been-formally-banned-from-msnbc
https://rnzcgp.org.nz/RNZCGP/News/College_news/2021/College_of_GPs_comes_out_against_Ivermectin_for_COVID-19_treatment.aspx
In simple terms, until new data comes in and until further notice, stay away from it.
I gotta admit, I kinda get frustrated by the usual wording of "no evidence supports". It makes it sound like it's still a completely open unresearched question.
The actual situation with respect to ivermectin is that there have been two large scale well-designed, well conducted trials (Lopez-Medina in Colombia, and the Together trial by McMaster University) with significantly different dosage protocols, that both found negligible benefit over placebo.
To me, a better wording would be something like "the best evidence to date shows no benefit from using ivermectin".
"no evidence to support" is a phrase used in medicine, psychology etc and is well understood in those circles.
"The best evidence to date" could carry the implication that the evidence being spoken of is high quality. Very often, particularly in psychology evidence can be poor e.g. sample seletion biases, lack of randomized control, errors in methodology.
You would not want to imply that this is the "best evidence to date"……….its would suggest the evidence is high quality.
"no evidence to support" is indeed the common professional phrase almost universally used within the profession.
But when there is in fact strong evidence that something is ineffective, such as the evidence ivermectin is ineffective against covid, continuing to use that specific phrase rather than something stronger is misleading to non-professionals.
It also makes it easy for misinformation artists to misrepresent the true state of understanding.
It sounds like you know better than those whose work involves accessing evidence Andre.
A bit like the "evolution is just a 'theory'" line.
Clinical trials are not designed to show that something is ineffective, as it would be unethical, for one. Demonstrating efficacy is not easy and often the P-value for so-called statistical significance is set at 0.05, which might be a wee bit too high. It means that there is a one-in-twenty chance that the ‘efficacy’ was caused by random noise in the data. Another way of putting is that if you were repeating the trial 20 times, one would show ‘efficacy’ when in reality there is none. This is better odds (happens more often) than throwing a specific number twice in row (e.g. two 6’s) with a dice (i.e. one-in-thirty six).
One of the ways you know you are being lied to is when professionals who know perfectly well that Ivermectin that has an impeccable 40yr record of use in both animals and humans – in the order of billions of doses with virtually zero harm – is now suddenly a dangerous drug that has to be avoided.
Right there is the red flag. These people are knowingly lying to you.
There are two camps in this crisis – one is saying COVID is not real or not serious and are concerned that it's being used as a fig-leaf for authoritarianism. The other group believes COVID is serious and everything is about public health. Both groups are wrong in my view.
COVID is of course real and dangerous but at the same time it's becoming clear that it's being used as an excuse to impose an unjustified removal of human rights and a creeping authoritarianism.
And one of the main tools of that authoritarianism is the shouting down and smearing of people who object to it. It's plain this is no longer a science discussion – it's become an obdurately ideological one.
Oh my.
If the strong trial evidence ivermectin doesn't work is unconvincing, and reason that antiviral concentrations are impossible to actually achieve in humans doesn't persuade people to not take ivermectin, maybe this will:
A brief squiz with google suggests this actually is legit research and not just a wind-up someone just hokied up.
(h/t polecat at DailyKos)
So it might not treat covid, but could be a plausible "male pill"…
Not a very effective one, but yeah.
Every sperm is
scaredsacred [my dyslexia is flaring up under stress].The lamentable safety history of biolabs in the US
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/05/28/biolabs-pathogens-location-incidents/26587505/
Russian propaganda from USAToday?
Imagine how more lax would be the standards in the ex Soviet countries
The labs may be perfectly innocent in their intent, but safety?
I wonder
And I wonder how well the US would tolerate Russian founded similar laboratories close to their borders
Good comment, and we know what the US military regime's reaction would be to your last paragraph.
I've commented on this before but it's worth saying again – while living in Tawa during the 00's my partner socially encountered two separate people who both contracted a serious illness while working at NZ's own CRC biolab in Porirua. In both cases management covered it up.
These places leak like sieves.
This is interesting. From RNZ live:
Because it is a Chinese vaccine some will wish to refute the study on political grounds.
Could someone with a bit more science savvy than me (not hard) explain how immunity can dwindle .I'd understood that once having encountered the Covid synthetic spike proteins, our immune systems have learnt how to fight the virus, and recognise and remember when they are exposed to the virus again
Does our immune system somehow forget?
I get that the original vaccines were developed to fight the existing strains around at the time and might not work so well for new variants, but how does a booster of the same vaccine help in that case?
It seems that the current vaccines are effective against the new variants.
You might find this interesting
https://starship.org.nz/health-professionals/starship-update/?fbclid=IwAR3hiKcz9-fTNRgUo-oh8SPqXT7YQI-zvnKvhE_MgA8XVkvemmaOLyeskMk
As for why vaccines loose their efficacy, I don't know. I'll see what I can find
Thanks Brigid
It isn’t the vaccine that loses its efficacy, it is the multiple disease specific immune responses in the recipients of the vaccines.
All any vaccine does is to point out disease proteins and structures to the bodies immune system, and let it recognise that disease. The body manufactures its responses to defend against those intruders.
In a holistic sense what happens is that it costs the body quite a lot of to maintain a high level of immune alert, so over time without the presence of the disease, the bodies defences will slowly diminish to a watching brief. That can get overwhelmed if the body is exposed to a high viral load in the environment or if the bodies immune responses get diminished (for example when getting drunk too frequently or getting adult onset diabetes).
The reason why these vaccines are done in series is to keep the threat alive for the bodies defences which over a series of shots over time builds up a higher ‘priority’ and longer term defences. It is a way of ‘talking’ to the immune system to say over and over again – ‘watch out for this!’.
A very rough example of the process (ie the numbers are bogus but in the right kind of order for the current vaccinces) – you get a shot and it give you something like a 80% effectiveness. You get second shot 6 weeks later and you get 95% effectiveness. That slowly diminishes over 6 months to 85%. You get third shot then and it puts you up at 95% again – and it now takes 12 months to drop to 85%. Repeat as required.
Now you could probably make a one shot vaccine that triggers a 95% response immediately. But that would probably make a number of recipients quite sick.
You get a high immunity, but it also gives 4% chance of a adverse reaction rather than 0.04% chance. That is because your immune responses tend to be pretty dumb, and the often over-react to what look like severe infections and diseases.
Obviously then risk from the cure is worse than the disease from that treatment – so a more attenuated vaccine is used.
There should always be a strict statistical and careful analysis of any treatment, especially vaccines, because there are virtually no treatments that don’t have side effects. You need to figure out the risk/benefit profiles and balance them across whatever population you’re trying to treat.
Which is why using a parasitical treatment in horse sized doses for a completely different purpose is so bloody stupid. So far it appears to have no significiant benefits against covid-19, and in large quantities or to the wrong person it has some significiant risks. There aren’t the systematic studies to indicate what those risks and benefits are.
That is the gist of the logic behind all vaccines. Vaccines are way of getting peoples bodies a better chance at fighting off a specific disease. The extent to which they work really depends on just how responsive and individual’s immune system is. Which is why there are a list of conditions about who should not use each of them – based again on statistical risk/benefits.
If only Ivermectin cured brainworms as well as bodily parasites.
It's not just the dose size, it's also the release profile once taken and whether the other contents of the pill are to us the equivalent of chocolate to dogs.
Like, I have been prescribed two types of dicolfenac: 12.5mg and 75mg (with a max of 150mg/day). Pharmacist pointed out that one 75mg isn't the same as half a dozen 12.5mg pills because they're quicker release for acute pain, rather than a treatment for chronic issues, and it's a great way to screw your kidneys or something.
Yes, a lot of the most common anti-inflammatories are nephrotoxic over time. My late wife's kindeys were destroyed by 30 years of them. She had a particularly painful & aggressive kind of arthritis in her major joints. Her last 9 years were spent on peritoneal dialysis.
Yeah, one of the reasons that medical trials for general release treatments are so large is because they're looking for the optimal dosing regimes as well.
Got my 2nd Covid 19 jab today. Only had a mildly sore upper arm the following day last time.
We were rather late getting the initial invites to apply as 65+ cohort in Wgtn. My invitation came by text the evening after Ardern had announced that afternoon that all in that cohort had now been sent invitations.
(Level 4 lockdown was announced as coming into effect the next day after I got home.)
I'm happy enuf. My lungs are pretty stuffed. If I get Covid 19 unvaccinated it's likely to be "all over Rover" for me.
My first jab is scheduled for Friday. That was the first date that I could get a couple of months ago within an easy cycling distance after the first age cohort under 65 was opened.
I'd have chased one earlier (I have a stent from a previous heart attack), but as a computer programmer with a limited interest in a social life, I live a reasonably constrained life anyway. As an ex-medic and a person with an interest in the history of epidemics, I am really cautious about infections. Plus we went straight into level 4.
Which is why using a parasitical treatment in horse sized doses for a completely different purpose is so bloody stupid.
Using the wrong dose of anything is completely stupid, and on that basis you can discredit all therapeutic treatments – even the vaccines themselves. All you're attempting there is smear by association.
And of course there are many drugs that turn out to have multiple actions and a diverse range of uses. The term 'off label" doesn't mean useless – it just means that clinicians find broader uses for a drug beyond the original official approvals. This has been common practice for decades.
And finally the one aspect of this whole discussion that totally irks me is the notion that the entire human immune system consists of vaccine induced anti-bodies and nothing else. Again we've known for decades that it's a much more complex system than this and that when it comes to virus's the antibody component of the system is relatively unimportant. Virus's are nothing more than bits of RNA that enter cells and hijack them from the inside – while antibodies are very large molecules that are outside the cell. The two actually don't meet each other directly.
If you recall the AIDs epidemic you should remember that what is actually important in destroying virus infected cells are a completely different part of your immune system, the T-cells. The dangerous aspect of HIV was that it defeated the T-cell system and opened up the body to opportunistic attack from other virus's. The point to bear in mind here is that T-cell lymphocytes and B-cell antibodies are different aspects of the immune system and that measuring antibody response only captures one aspect it.
The reason why the immune system is so complex is because there are so many classes of threat – bacteria, virus's, parasites and fungi are the main four. As a result we've evolved a complex immune system that has many components each working in tandem – and in the case of virus attack the lead actor are the T-cell lymphocytes (white blood cells) that recognise and kill virus infected cells. The B-cell antibodies are best thought of as the clean up crew. This NIH article is a good description:
In the context of COVID the presence of B-cell antibodies is a good measure of whether or not you have been infected or vaccinated recently – but probably doesn't say anything much about the ability of your immune system as a whole to defeat another exposure.
Read it again. In particular the paragraph preceding your quoted section where I said…
That is the crucial step in determining if a treatment should be used – because in the end there is simply no other effective way at present to determine the risk profiles and benefits of a treatment.
With invermectin, so far what small and largely anecdotal studies have been done (once you exclude the bullshit study that got withdrawn because analysis showed that the numbers were largely made up) the statistics don't appear to show any significiant benefit even as a Hail Mary treatment in reducing mortality. There is now however considerable anecdotal evidence that taking horse sized doses on invermectin is dangerous to all sorts of systems on humans – which is presumably why clinical studies on that kind of dose haven't happened..
Which is why I tend to say immune system rather than anti-bodies or t-cells or anything else. There are a lot of systems involved from the auto-destruct genes that fail when the cell itself perceives damages inside cells through to the bone marrow immune cell manufacturing sites.
Immunity levels vary based on the bodies assessment of threat levels. On differing times scales – sure. But if you grab any multi-cellular and drop them into a sterile environment for a while, then the whole set of defence responses drops. If the organism doesn't need something them it pushes resources into something else..
It seems it's a conundrum not yet fully understood.
"Yet no one knows precisely how VLPs prod the immune system to make LLPCs. Schiller points to the work of Nobel Prize winner Rolf Zinkernagel of the University of Zurich in Switzerland and his then–graduate student Martin Bachmann. They reported 25 years ago that dense, highly repetitive proteins on the surfaces of viruses trigger the strongest antibody responses. A VLP is just such a structure. In theory, that allows the viral antigens to "cross-link" to many receptors on the surface of B cells. That, in turn, triggers a cascade of signals in immune cells that lead to strong, durable antibodies. How? "That's the million-dollar question," Slifka says."
https://www.science.org/news/2019/04/how-long-do-vaccines-last-surprising-answers-may-help-protect-people-longer
Thanks Brigid
Thats a very good link
“Researchers are ramping up efforts to figure out why some vaccines protect for mere weeks but others work for life.We simply dont know what the rules are to inducing long-lasting immunity,says Plotkin, who began to research vaccines in 1957. For years, we were making vaccines without a really deep knowledge of immunology. Everything of course depends on immunologic memory, and we have not systematically measured it.”
Slifka has also done work on the diptheria and tetanus boosters for adults, finding them unnecessary if all shots were received in childhood
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200225075120.htm
Francesca covid is a flu like virus like the flu its continually mutating outsmarting our defence mechanisms.
I think she knows that. If you read the link I offered you'll better understand what it is she's asking
This article does a pretty good job of explaining it in a relatively plain language way – What We Actually Know About Waning Immunity https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/09/waning-immunity-not-crisis-right-now/619965/
“Does our immune system somehow forget?”
Essentially yes, because the cells that do the remembering can die off over time.
So this would be in the case of viruses rather than bacteria for instance?
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200225075120.htm
We need a resident immunologist to answer all these questions.
Every blog should have one.
Good link, explained well
The benefit of boosters are still not clear.
I'd want more info before a third jab., not that the first 2 were any hassle at all, but some countries haven't nearly enough supplies as it is
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/31/biden-booster-plan-fda-508149
FDA getting a bit pissed off with Biden's rush to roll out the booster this month before they've had the time to study the benefits.
" because the cells that do the remembering can die off over time."
Not really correct. In some cases the T cells, which are replicating continually, pass the relevant information on to the next generation and when prompted to provide immunity do so for a considerable time.
In some cases this doesn't happen particularly effectively. If it was known why and this could be mitigated, somebody could get immensely rich
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/09/auckland-cycle-bridge-missing-from-government-s-24-billion-transport-funding-package.html
Hopefully there will be a quiet announcement in the coming weeks that this silly idea has been dumped.
Of course the cycle bridge will never go ahead. Even 70+% of Labour voters think its a dumb idea.
There’s a rather thick wrap-around blanket service for each and every ICU patient that is expensive, but it takes more than just (!) money to run and expand.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018811173/increasing-icu-bed-numbers-is-not-that-simple
I think it is simple.
New Zealand trained ICU nurses are already some of the best trained in the world.
They just need to be paid more. Along with the attendant "… physiotherapists, pharmacists, speech and language therapists … dieticians, healthcare assistants, orderlies, all the people who increase the functioning of an organisation."
“In terms of the training we provide, unfortunately for us, if you train in New Zealand in ICU you’re in high demand in the rest of the world.
“Particularly for nurses, who are leaving to work in Australia for 30 percent more salary.”
I doubt if any ICU nurses want to head into NSW any time soon.Given there is no travel either.
‘kay
Remember the very recent nursing strikes? What was that all about then?
It takes about 2 years experience to be well trained just on ventilators and the myriad other very special bits of equipment in the units, lots to look out for, lots to do and that is on top of all the other ICU/HDU skills and protocols required.
Is it just me, or is Nick Leggat a whiny little [wood pigeon] who loves the sound of his own voice?
😳 Hard to tell from the limited information provided. 😕
Irony not your strong suit?