Having dealt with the MoH for around 4 decades I would encourage you not to mistake general incompetence, a lack of governance and general muppetry with straight lying.
I do agree with you, but the lying came straight after the general incompetence, the lack of governancne and general muppetry and then couple that with some high level arrogance and you arrive at the lying because they have been found out to be less the truthful. But maybe they just misspoke? And then is admitting that one 'misspoke' misspeaking?
Maybe that is why the Ministry of Health is so unhappy about that Man speaking his mind, because he told them, asked them, and they ignored him, and now they are found out that a. they are less then truthfull, and b. they confiscate goods because they literally forgot to order -at best, or at worst always planned to confiscate the goods that businesses in NZ have ordered to keep their staff safe.
And this letter full of questions to the PM was in the Herald on – just in case anyone needed to know how old this article is.
Sir Ian Taylor – Nine questions for the Prime Minister about Covid tests in NZ
28 Nov, 2021 02:15 AM
No surprises. Everyone knows they dropped the ball and didn't order them when advised to. And now they try and muzzle Sir Ian Taylor after he helped them out.
Well I'm very glad that MOH is exercising it's powers under pandemic legislation and taking these tests out of the hands of private individuals who will end up using them to keep the wheels of commerce turning spread infection.
This debacle in a retirement village in Melbourne shows the result of business supplying the tests. Generally it will be the cheapest, or most available, which of course will be the least effective, which is why it's cheap and available.
From the linked article above
Twin Parks said residents had been tested with two different brands of RATs to confirm their diagnosis, but they provided conflicting results.
The home has had issues previously, with one email in December highlighting the inaccuracy of the tests.
"These tests are not particularly reliable, given our positive staff member tested negative on multiple RATs in the last week," it read.
Australia's health watchdog has received more than 100 complaints about rapid antigen tests, with consumers raising concerns about false positives and negatives, invalid results and missing parts.
20% inaccuracy in a close contact environment with this is only marginally better than no tests at all. But the RAT result are being used to give the confidence of 100% all clear.
Got it in one Graeme. Thank you for your correct reading of the situation.
I don't understand what the big deal is. The RATs were requisitioned for a public health need greater than the needs of single businesses or families. What is the difference between a requisition of forward orders (ie those on the way) and a requisition of what is held in warehouses in NZ.
So that the ill-informed above don't have to scratch their heads the answer is 'Nothing'
Unless those above can show me that the RATS were snatched from the hand of someone about to use them then the pufferies above your post are just mischief making.
The big deal is that the government sat on its arse while the private sector planned and secured supply, only for it to be stolen requisitioned by the government.
I guess having a dude die of a hunger strike in MIQ would again make this government look less then kind, friendly, helpful and such. You know it would make them look callous, heartless, disinterested and so on and so forth.
How dare that young man do what he did, does he not know that he has a place and that place is to be neither seen nor heard. Damn, we need a better class of peasants in this country, the current lot seems to be getting a bit uppity.
Not enough Robert Guyton. That is the problem. Not enough people have won the lottery, but then not everyone has the excellent odds of a Labour MP who participates once in such a Lottery and gets to Holiday in the Netherlands during their Omicron outbreak.
Why don't you write a nice little letter to the government on behalf of Jimmy an ask?
To me it is simple, to much lorde, wiggles, america boaties,. djs, and tv stars and not enough people whose parents are dying, or whose children may be needing healthcare or pregnant woman who would like to give birth in their home country.
I figured you, or Jimmy, would know the number, given that it must stand for something. If it was "3", I'd be with you in protesting, but if it was a substantial, significant or explainable number well north of 3, I'd wonder if you'd (both) done your research.
So lets get this straight Sabine, you believe that after selflessly making sacrifices to get the country 'Covid-fit", that was not enough. How many permanent NZ residents missed out on being able to share family time and in many cases to grieve as they wanted?
That wasn't enough. You feel entitled to complain and bemoan that fact that there were 'imports' who provided light relief and, heaven forbid, entertainment for children. Hope you have enjoyed the grandstanding antics of the self-entitled who seemingly couldn't complete application forms correctly and believed they should be able to enter the at will, even though they had chosen to live and work elsewhere.
(1)Everyone lawfully in New Zealand has the right to freedom of movement and residence in New Zealand.
(2)Every New Zealand citizen has the right to enter New Zealand.
(3)Everyone has the right to leave New Zealand.
(4)No one who is not a New Zealand citizen and who is lawfully in New Zealand shall be required to leave New Zealand except under a decision taken on grounds prescribed by law.
I have no idea of the number that have actually "won" a spot in MIQ but for a person here at work it was quite difficult and involved refreshing a computer page for several hours over numerous days to then be told there were no more spots available for their wife to return before Xmas. They finally got back in January but were trying from late October. Unfortunately she was not a DJ, but was visiting a dying relative so I guess she should have watched them die via video link like the Irish bloke did rather than travel in a Pandemic.
If you have a NZ passport and are double jabbed and get a negative test before travel it would be nice to be able to return home rather than become stateless.
A friend of mine has been through MIQ three times so far as he runs a business in the States, didn't find it hard to get the slots he wanted using the normal process. Up until recently MIQ bookings seem to have been working well but hey, that doesn't fit Sabine's narrative.
PS Not sure I agree with the ethics of him using MIQ in this way though. He is in the States at the moment.
To be fair, he had to do 5 days or he could have killed his father even earlier.
He would though, have been able to spend those days with his dad.
Logic is missing here? MBIE too formulaic?
Remembering they now know how soon omicron is infectious yet does not show up for 5 or more days.
These staff are having to make harrowing choices every day, nobody has talked about their trauma and responsibility to apply the rules there to protect us.
This appears to be another case using the promotion of media.
Our Borders have helped control the spread, so stories need to be found for clicks and to make the Government appear "less than kind".
I hope his dad has some time with him, and I hope journalists allow them to do that in peace.
It's also worth noting that if we had opened the borders, as National and ACT have been suggesting almost the entire pandemic, many thousands of elderly and/or ill kiwis would be dead, possibly quite suddenly, and before relatives could get home.
It is disgusting the lengths you have to go to, to get an exemption out of MIQ or even a MIQ spot. Where is the kindness?
My son in law booked one of many free MIQ slots in early December, so he could travel to Canada and return in early February. Just finished his stint in MIQ.
You never hear the success stories from the over 200,000 returnees through MIQ. Almost all people coming through accept MIQ has been an essential part of protecting New Zealand and don't complain or make a song and dance about it.
Thank you to everyone who has been involved in MIQ.
Friends son & daughter in law and two children applied ad got a six week stay mid Dec/late Jan, pre school son and new born. No probs getting their dates as they were not fixated on being here for Christmas. .
I know parents who have said don't come back if there is sickness at home at the time of Covid. .
I know my Dad said to me before I left several times to go overseas (he died in 1993 so before that) that he and Mum would not expect us to return if sick and really not to bother at all if they died suddenly. People who emigrated earlier and some even now who have arrived here as refugees, had/have no chance.
I do know of one case that went very smoothly as the process had been set in train to return as early as it could……set in train by completing the right forms and supplying the required info.
I think our public servants and the MIQ people have done a great job.
“Never mind what the rest of the world thinks; the situation has jarred and jangled millions of Canadians. But those who were caught off guard by the intensity, passion and adamance of the protesters have clearly not been paying attention to the creeping extremism in this country’s political discourse, fertilized in recent years by American political rhetoric, misinformation online and a sense of alienation among a significant segment of the population.
The parallels to U.S. politics don’t stop there. While Canadians have been consuming news from down south since the dawn of broadcasting, the American right appears to be speaking directly to them now. On Friday, Trumpendorsed the convoy on social media, referring to Trudeau as a “far left lunatic who has destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates” and urging the protesters to come to Washington, D.C.
And just weeks ago, apublic opinion study found that nearly 30 percent of voters who cast a ballot for the Conservative Party of Canada in September’s national elections said the Jan. 6 attacks on Capitol Hill were “a fiction created by the media.”
You know what that shows? That neither the left nor the right believes much of what comes out from the News and the Media. Case in point, we have a post here talking about how a particular media company is out to get the government.
Maybe we need to cancel free media, and only allow state media. We could call it Pravda.
Sabine, who in NZ do you typify as media on the left? We both recognise the old Truth as of the right. Do we have left wing papers, or left wing journalists? Where do our radio and TV media sit on this spectrum?
Yes the embarrassing fiasco yesterday when the South Island contingent could not board the ferry and asked for small boats to get them across the Strait in 2m swells ……the Trumper flags and Voices for Freedumb and the more militant Groundswell people shows us that this is not a voice from the roots.
It is just a rebrand of those who demonstrated at parliament a few months ago..
I know I put this link up yesterday but I am certain that behind this will be much the same as in Canada and well meaning people will have been duped.
Are you serious about people not being able to board the ferry in Picton and wanting small boats to take them across the Strait? That being so would show the special kind of dumb we're dealing with.
A UK version instigated a protest at the BBC studios planning to disrupt the news. However, the BBC had operationally vacated these premises only 6 years earlier, for central London.
I thought at the time there was a serious protest risk created as their news segment includes sweeping shots of the new building including areas accessible to poorly vetted contractors.
But it appears the protest group left all their research up to a small number of people who don't regularly watch TV news.
Less about the Trump angle, my reckons have a lot round here underestimating the numbers and enthusiasm involved in our own convoy.
Just labelling them and popping them in the 'anti-vax' box does not make them go away.
More and more we are hearing from fully vaccinated people denigrating the mandates and the unnecessarily discriminatory passports.
The people down south, organising/promoting the convoy, were the anti-vaxx, protesting with placards, won't wear a mask crowd. They tried to restrict messaging to "anti-mandate" only, but that blew out into "anti-everything" and the usual misogynistic etc. messaging as soon as the wheels started rolling.
Back in the 1990s, student protests would get the international socialists, and maybe a few "I liked Shortland St last night" slogans, but nothing too extreme in any direction.
Whereas this lot are getting everything from anti-1080 to anti-vax.
Looks like an emerging phenomena to me. Groundswell was the same. Being egged on by Dirty Pol crew, National, and I would expect Qanon type arseholes online as well as trolls.
It's a massive mistake for the left to rely on ridicule as its primary response.
Not many other responses, though. Ignoring them just lets it fester. Taking them seriously gives them credibility and respect most of them don't deserve, and it normalises their views and slogans. Contempt is too tiring without a sense of humour.
The ones who can form a coherent protest over one issue, fine. Butsomething that is everything to every one who is fresh out of gruntles is doomed to fracture.
definitely don't think they should be ignored either.
Probably useful to stop seeing them as a hive mind. Some people are grifting, some have grievances, some are just anti-Labour, some are concerned about government overreach etc.
Thinking about disaffected, poor Māori who've been largely abandoned by Labour and the left. Teasing out what's real and what's bullshit seems a good idea.
The ones who can form a coherent protest over one issue, fine. Butsomething that is everything to every one who is fresh out of gruntles is doomed to fracture.
It's what happens after that fracturing that bothers me. It's not like those people just disappear.
definitely don't think they should be ignored either.
Too toxic even for Seymour or any of his sidekicks to speak too. They made a simple calculation: not enough votes, and meeting them would actually erode support
Jacinda and all other political leaders have made a big mistake today by not addressing the crowd.
How exactly do you see that going? She gets up there and listens to abuse concerns for an hour, says sorry and then everyone loves her?
She gets up to speak, can get a word in edgeways over the abuse concerns, announces the cancelling of all controls and three waters and everyone loves her?
Or she fronts up, whatever she says infuriates the crowd, and there's an angry extremist mob with their personification of problems right there?
@blade: there is no point to turning up just to be shouted down.
@felix: even a master communicator wouldn't get much of a different response to if they'd said "go fuck yourselves". There's no way she comes out of addressing that crowd without a baying mob involved.
It's not tiny, it's thousands and thousands of ordinary people lining the streets of every town on the route. It's an incredibly dumb move to signal to all those people that the govt doesn't give a fuck what they think.
The antivax or shy nutbar "antimandate" are not "the people" they're like Trump's hairpiece – a lunatic fringe.
Had Jacinda addressed them, she'd've met an inept attempt at violence, which the DPS would have had to quell. Then they'd have whined about police brutality. Better to leave them to howl at the moon – the moon has heard it all before and isn't phased by it.
I know many Lefties aren't too bright, including the socialists on the Right – but Jacinda or her advisers have had a brain fart. – Blade
Imho, the brain farts and bozo eruptions were coming mostly from the ‘protesters’, and with increasing frequency. Time will tell.
Anti-vaccine mandate protesters at Parliament pitch tents for the night
As has become a theme with anti-vaccine mandate protests, other causes were on display: opposition to the three waters reforms; Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern or the “lying” mainstream media; and support for Donald Trump and the United States.
Many wanted “freedom” – though not to the extent of allowing others to wear a mask undisturbed.
…
“I’ve been here since 1990, and this protest was the most the angry,” Boyce said. “Our staff were being called Nazis, through no fault of their own, treated like absolute trash. All these really sickening types of accusations, absolutely detestable and untrue.”
Somewhere along the line the classical knowledge of demagogues and their mobs of shambling morons has been lost. Cleon, Trump, and Hitler are the same thing.
They present themselves as a man or woman of the common people, opposed to the elites.
Their politics depends on a visceral connection with the people, which greatly exceeds ordinary political popularity.
They manipulate this connection, and the raging popularity it affords, for their own benefit and ambition.
They threaten or outright break established rules of conduct, institutions, and even the law.
Democracy is particularly vulnerable to demagogues, and the Greeks, recognizing this, evolved the defense of ostracism.
The anti vaxmandate whatever suits the narrative of the moment protestors are part of a long but not a glorious history.
Is it me you are asking, gsays? If so, yes. I was inadvertently, perhaps, included in a Facebook site that was being used for the purpose of organising/encouraging the southern convoy from the get-go and they certainly went to pains to stop any messages other than, "No mandate" – I won't link, but perhaps you might accept my word on this. The Groundswell organisers tried the same thing for their second howl – that didn't work either, as we saw. The convoy people seemed determined to brand their efforts as "No Mandates" only, but from the reporting, photos especially, you can see that it degenerated into a mish-mash of mixed-messages, including American flags etc.
Yes I was asking you and thank you for your reply. I do take you at your word.
I understand trying to keep messaging on track and equally see how it didn't stay there.
It isn't just the 6,8 or 10% unvaxxed that are miffed at the direction of this regime. Issues such as Passports, mandates, 3 waters, health reforms, the groundswell issues, housing inaffordability, inequality etc all have their constituents. And most want to paint a placard.
Yes, there's plenty for the malcontent to be unhappy about – times of change throw up unsettling challenges.
Most of the placards, I notice, are professionally-produced and carefully-worded – reminds me a lot of the United States of America and the slickness of their pro-Trump campaign. Have you received flyers in your mailbox, gsays? Those remind me of the Exclusive Brethren campaign against The Greens, back in the day. Such materials smell of money.
Times of change is one diagnosis, lack of will and political courage is another.
Grayling's Law implies landlord politicians aren't going to solve housing affordability.
Nothing through the mail-box, don't do FB, Twitter etc, very little tv news and no commercial radio (cricket commentary excluded). TS is one of the few places for a societal barometer I have.
Plenty of money linked flyers from Countdown, New World, real estate agents though, you know, 'good money', from within the system.
They need to be scrapped by the powers that be… because the hoi polloi can only ignore so much. Mandates effecting access for anyone over 12 that's unvaxxed from public facilities not so much.
The tight community forming around anti mandate sentiment has already developed a pretty good black market (for want of better word) and we are now is an entrenchment of position in a rather large group of people who are prepared to stand for what they believe in and are likely going to sit on the edge of society henceforth. We dont have long left to prevent that.
It's easy and not to mention lazy to call them anti vaxx or stupid… They're part of our society and they're in my personal experience ordinary and exceptionally generous Kiwis.
How many cases a day do you want NZ to peak at – and how many hospitalisations and deaths will result?
I know of at least one DHB that is shifting as many scheduled surgeries as it can to the private sector, and cancelling most of the remainder, simply because of how many beds are expected to be filled in the coming weeks. And that's with the vaccine pass protocols slowing it down.
Ouch! That is cruel Robert. His wine cellar may not quite match that of the Rothschild of Chateau Lafite fame but calling it vinegar is a little harsh.
It could be from one poorly-capped bottle, Alwyn. I've certainly had a bottle or 2 of homemade cider turn to vinegar – mind you, cider-vinegar is a very healthy tipple; just a small amount, first thing in the morning, keeps the aging gentleman sprightly and keen!
I never tried making wine or cider, or anything else, after my one and only attempt at making homebrew.
As I remember it we probably bottled it before fermentation was complete and the bottles started exploding. Either that or we added too much priming sugar. I never did find out. Luckily it was out in a garage and we could stick some sandbags around it after throwing sacks over the stack of bottles. It made a bloody awful mess.
Never again. I can still remember the event 55 years later.
Heh, I am enjoying a homebrew cider that has some Black Rooster chai in it, as I casually monitor the first batch of ginger beer.
I aim to have a sweet, effervescent 7% brew. The key is to stop the ferment once a desirable level of carbonation has occurred, shy of the UXB experience you had, Alwyn.
Pasteurise by putting capped bottles into a chilli bin, with 60 C water for about an hour. A sous vide gadget is the go .
All those people must be wrong when they say they don't agree with the government policy of mandates?
Maybe the government needs to put time limits on otherwise it would be in breach of human right laws.
Perhaps we just need to listen to the concerns before being judge and jury.
Since when does NZ not allow voices of opposition? NZ has a history as far back as 1845 were people went to the streets to voice their disagreement..
This is what democracy looks like, inconvenient without a doubt but the government has to remember that they are there on behest of the people, they are not rulers without consequence and responsibility.
I don't think that this has anything to do with the opposition but rather with missing the fine point that mandates are not laws and any implementation has to be timebound. I gave you the link to show the difference.
All I am saying is, that NZ has been there a number of times and I do hope as a people have learned to not get to a antagonistic state of affairs. I am curious what hindsight will show 10 years from now – if I am still around.
Of course they are laws. Read the Health Act 1956. Those laws have been largely in place since the 1920s.
FFS – variations of challenges to the health orders have already been to the suoreme court and apart from one technicality been biffed out.
The procedure for time binding is currently in the pandemic preparedness act of 2006. It basically consists of going back to the PM for periodic review, and to parliament for a less binding review.
Since National and Labour currently support the mandates and most other responses directed by the MoH DG, then it appears unlikely to change any time soon.
You don't have guess or listen to someone who is probably a ignorant lying fool to find out what the laws are. Just read the legislation – it is all online and quite readable. Just google legislation nz.
At the very least it will make you look less like a fool to me.
Also the 2022 season of parliament opened today and the caucus met this morning – the first time in many months. The PM is is a human being and can't be everywhere at once just like the rest of us.
I would have been concerned if she had gone out to meet them given the unprecedented level of vitriol and aggressive threatening behaviour they have thrown at her. Her safety could have been seriously compromised.
Edit: I submitted the above before seeing that others have made similar points. Good one. These “nutters and crackpots” have been getting away with murder (metaphorically speaking) and its high time the rest of us let them know we’ve had enough of their moronic antics.
Given their behaviour, why on earth would she want to meet them?
Don't worry, democracy's doing fine. At the election you can vote for all your favourite anti-vaxers, if they stand. Then you can find out their true level of support.
But they won't stand, precisely because they know their true level of support.
Who's not allowing voices of opposition, or not allowing protest?
These nutters be nutters, but they can protest as much as they want – heck, if they're willing to face repercussions for going beyond "down with this sort of thing" and move to actual civil disobedience and light crimes like obstructing roads, that's their call. Most protestors have done a wee bit of that. Many have been arrested for it in the past.
But there's nothing to say anyone actually doing a job has to meet them, listen to them, or put themselves in dangerous proximity to them.
I mean that kind of rhetoric is completely unhelpful. Ostracizing people was ending badly in the past and even recently – like the USA. For every action there is a reaction. You opinion is as valid as theirs in a free country.
By the responses on this site, many would not allow the protest. Hence my comment. I also feel that the PM has to be able to talk to all people and not just some. Up to her how she wants to handle that really. Those who need some statesmanship right now on all side will find themselves disappointed.
I wouldn't be sure there's not a single person in that group who might have ulterior plans and access to firearms. And arguing that the pm should pretend they're benign because otherwise they'll try to violently storm parliament (like the US) isn't actually supporting the position of treating the protestors with anything other than extreme caution.
Ah, the irony of people who probably spent last night in a damp paddock somewhere calling the rest of us sheep…
This is the same 2000 or so people who pollute social media with their nonsense. Ignorant and uneducated and/or plain paranoid/crazy they've been weaponised for profit by Facebook and manipulated by grifters who see a dollar in their gullibility. It is tragic to see how these sad people are gleefully egged on for profit and clicks by the media.
We've seen the same faces before. Anti-1080, chem trails, Agenda 21, fantasy anti-communists. The same, tired losers. The same crystal Karens and paranoid pot abusers and damaged victims of abuse being led on by pricks and people who think the Lord took six days to create the earth as we see at every other protest. They are drunk on the attention of getting platformed by a cynical MSM who mostly hope there will be a riot they can lead the 6pm news with.
I saw the idiocy with my own eyes on Monday. The anti everything crowd were draped all over the motorway over-bridges jumping up and down in a frenzied manner and waving their flags and banners. I thought they were just a bit over excited at the time but it seems some of them at least imagined us motorists belting along the Southern motorway were part of the protests. There was a bit of horn blowing but I think it was more a case of… giving them the car version of "the fingers". I was one of them!
Most of them were Exclusive Brethren and destiny church. Following the convoy racing to the next bridge to make their numbers look bigger than they were.Trump like.
I've marched. I marched against the educational and worker changes Douglas and c/o introduced. I marched against the contract act and I was challenged with… "as a teacher it won't affect you." I answered "It will affect the families of the children I teach" We are not just "arm chair spokes people here"
This is habitual on TS. A wee few name call, or over state issues or prod till they get a response, then feel vindicated.
No one has stopped protest. In fact the cheek has been turned so often…..Police have been using kid gloves,
Ministers have tried to allow reasonable dissent, but some protestors want confrontation. The internet facebook tiktok etc add to the anger and misinformation. Luckily no political party supports anti vax anti mandate groups, as they know by the high vaccination numbers how marginal that would be.
"Luckily no political party supports anti vax anti mandate groups, as they know by the high vaccination numbers how marginal that would be."
Actually, the Outdoors party likely supports all the nonsense. I see they seem to have changed their name to the "Outdoors and Freedom Party". They got very few votes last time, expect the same for next time.
By the responses on this site, many would not allow the protest.
Really? Who has said that?
Dangerous? Are you serious?
I wouldn't want to meet with a group of people whose politics and actions are grounded in not caring if a contagious disease present in the community spreads or not.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon also said no National MPs would engage with the protestors.
"We have a busy day here. I appreciate there is a range of views sitting in the protest but we are a party that is pro-vaccination and boosters. We think that is the best protection people can have."
Asked if he was also supportive of the vaccine mandates across multiple workforces, he said he supported them at this point in time.
"That's something we've supported to this point. We think ultimately the Government, having stepped in, will have to determine how to step out in due course. But right now we think the setting is the right one."
I suspected as such, but did still chuckle, but not too loud. After all, Bob Jones once averred that us lefties had no sense of humour. mmmmmffffttt snort!
The dude who would respect Luxon giving a speech but can't because he spoke Māori is further right wing than ACT? The guy who thinks talkback radio is the voice of the nation thinks ACT is too left wing? Amongst other things? quelle surprise.
Geez , you lot can't get past your preconceived narrative, can you.
''The dude who would respect Luxon giving a speech but can't because he spoke Māori .''
That's not what I said. I said I would have had more respect for him if he had spoken for a good one minute in Maori instead of using tokenistic Maori words throughout his speech.
''The guy who thinks talkback radio is the voice of the nation thinks ACT is too left wing?''
The voice of the man in the street. A slight difference. No, I never said ACT is too Leftwing. I said they were socialists.
On second thought, your opinion is sound – denial is a common response to being unsettled by inconvenient truths.
Denialism: what drives people to reject the truth
It is hard to tell whether global warming denialists are secretly longing for the chaos and pain that global warming will bring, are simply indifferent to it, or would desperately like it not to be the case but are overwhelmed with the desire to keep things as they are.
I will talk for myself without the need for sarcasm and snide remarks
I accept the climate is changing. I do not believe in man made climate change.
I accept for better or worse there is nothing I can do about the climate changing.
I don't fuss or fret, but I do plan in case CC may affect me directly.
I feel sorry for people running around like headless chooks because they believe '' if only the world could go green, we would advert climate change.''
B, with >20 comments on OM alone this afternoon, you're the most prolific blogger on this "Lefty blog" – such industry deserves recognition.
As for:
I accept for better or worse there is nothing I can do about the climate changing.
that will naturally be true for you as long as you "do not believe in man made climate change". A key hypothetical question for you to consider would be: If you did believe in man-made climate change on spaceship Earth, would you still believe that there was nothing you could do about it?
Climate change denial, or global warming denial, is denial, dismissal, or unwarranted doubt that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is caused by humans, its effects on nature and human society, or the potential of adaptation to global warming by human actions.
It's a Lefty blog… I have a lot to be irritated about. However, it's great brain training to meet the machinations of trolls. I reckon at the end of each day this blog gives me an extra 5 IQ points.
Hart is contributing to the crisis by buying up houses and leaving them…empty…Govt is o.k with this pursuit.
Chinese do not need his help.
I have seen incidences reported when the foreign buyers ban is breached ,of the poor buyers having to sell the property and pay a fine…so breach the ban,by buying a property for say 900k,get found out and ordered to sell….sell for 1.3mil,pay Govt $30,000 dollars and say…sorry…
The Green Party have a head boy and a head girl that they call co-leaders (but I believe one must be male and one female…..someone may be able to correct me on that).
Sorry, Ad – not so many as you think. The vast majority of "single-sex Boys' schools" now include – wait for it – some horrible girly-germ ridden female students!!
Sad but true. Check out just how many boys' schools remain that have not taken in girls as well.
Robert, I don’t know about Dunedin but further north these people who call everybody else sheep were sleeping in paddocks.
Probably fitting, the IQs match.
Lprent can you help me. My Amazon Fire has frozen on the 2nd February and is not rolling over daily like it used to. I have deleted the short cut and have entered again via the browser and it is still frozen on the 2nd Feb. What is this jargon about the SSL which is on a header on my page??
My laptop is working fine and I get daily updates okay. Help please
Thanks for your help but the instructions I downloaded are not appearing on my Amazon screen. Will see if my techie son in law in the States can help me. The reason I have a Fire is my daughter over there has one and its great for messaging. Its a bugger but them's the days. Thanks anyway.
Black Caps squad for first test: Tom Latham (captain), Will Young, Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Colin de Grandhomme, Rachin Ravindra, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Neil Wagner, Hamish Rutherford, Blair Tickner, Cam Fletcher.
Some interesting selections.
Trent Boult not playing so they replace him with Blair Tickner but, barring injury, Blair won't play ahead of Henry so why not bring in the pace of Ben Sears, hes young and got some real pace so if hes not going to play it might do him some good in the team set up or Adam Milne (if his body can handle it)
Not sure why they've selected Hamish Rutherford, hes passed 50 once in ten innings and averages 37 in FC, hes an opening batter but we've got three that can do the job so shouldn't we be looking for a middle order batsman?
Tom Bruce and Mark Chapman both average over 40 in the middle order
Also wheres Patel?
My prediction for the next test team, based on the squad:
Latham
Young
Conway
Nicholls
Mitchell
De Grandhomme (maybe swopped around with Blundell or replaced by Ravindra)
He must have. I rather lost interest during one of the moon landings because of the obsessive behaviour of cricket players.
I was listening to the commentary on a transistor radio on a hot weekend day about the descent and some crazed cricketer with a heat stroke and a loud voice dragged me away to do some tedious batting. Insisted that batting was more important than a historic landing, with a possibility of gore.
Put me off cricket because clearly the enthusiastic participants must be deranged in their sense of priorities.
Some would say test cricket was created to give us understanding of Hell, but they'd be Americans. I once spent an enjoyable bus ride talking to an ex-colonel of the US army explaining the intricacies of swing and spin, and he likewise the knuckle ball and an upcurving pitch. The central plain of Turkey whizzed by…..
I did buy a bottle of wine there from the island off the coast where the Greek ships hid before retuning to Troy after the wooden horse had discharged its attackers.
The wine would not have broken any Muslim alcohol laws. It was pure vinegar.
The issue to me is that NZs medium-fast to fast-medium battery of bowlers have done very well in home conditions and when overseas conditions suit and theres nothing wrong with that
But opposition teams are probably working out, if they haven't already, how to nullify the bowling
NZ does have good variety (except out and out pace) but we still need to support our spinners.
All respect to Patel but when it comes to spinning options theres him then daylight then the 37 yo Somerville, Ravindra and Santner
NZ Cricket did well to make the team competitive but we'll never be up there consistantly until our spinners are up there, we need some pitches to encourage our spinners
I think Mitchells done enough to warrant a place at 5 (and who else is there?), I think Ravindra will be a mainstay in the line up but hes not quite there yet.
Does Tickner have some pace, I thought he was around the 130-135 mark?
Luxxy was a wan performer, Jacinda, entirely in control of her messages. Poor Seymour has lost his mojo and Willis had to apologise for her bad manners.
Well I'm in the preliminary stages of planning of doing most of the Central Otago Rail trail by foot (except for Middlemarch to Hyde which will be on bike) again but this time adding in Clyde to Cromwell so hes got my vote
Wish I could. But my walking/tramping days are well over due to a worn out right big toe.
Unfortunately my partner has a phobia about cycling due to cycling to high school in the middle of winter in Southland. Her descriptions of the clothes she used to ride with (welding gloves!) remind me of the tales of Niflheim.
I thought that getting damp in Auckland was bad enough.
You do realise that it is moored out in the lake and that you are required to swim out to get the food? That will be fun with the temperature of that glacier fed lake won't it?
It's a great walk, the pubs are about the right distance apart and will look after you. Recommend doing it in late autumn or early winter, the weather is generally really good but can be a bit cool and there's hardly anyone around. Just you, Central and the big sky. If you can, try and do one of the really isolated flat bits on a clear night.
Wow, this protest convoy is way more popular than a 'fringe', 'nutter', 'self-serving fools' or 'loopy' descriptor would have you believe.
The videos in the stream show a wide rang of support on the sides of the roads around the country. The veteran saluting is a wonderful image.
The support and aroha from outside the protest is inspiring; "This is what NZ is. Complete strangers gave us a bed for a night. Fed everyone in the convoy at Woodville. They are such amazing people. She lost her job but opened her home to us"
If anyone on here knows the silly woman in the protest today with the placard, "Sacrifice the kids to save the elderly – Really???," tell her not to worry. If someone as dumb as her gets into power they might take simply sacrifice the old for the young. How about taking houses off all the old people for a start, why should the young be disadvantaged?
Interesting National Geographic article on the development and use of a new imaging (scanning) technique to explore the effects of ageing and diseases on internal organs.
Nutty dangerous Greens at it again. This is why I have a problem with the politics and agendas behind many so called innocuous social changes in society.
Once one agenda is fulfilled, things creep forward again, and we get this.
Revisiting settlements for the adequacy of redress;
Additional redress at the level of whānau, hapū and Māori collectives, outside the Treaty settlement process; and
Enabling the crown to return land that is not owned by the Crown.
What's the problem with those? Seems not only reasonable but useful in terms of resolving some ongoing issues of poverty and other negative effects of colonisation.
1-''An inquiry into the dispossession of whenua.''
If we are going down that track we must include Maori having lost land to Maori by conquest. Those land losses still cause angst between tribes.
wouldn't that be up to Iwi? Are any Iwi or Hapū wanting this?
2 -''Revisiting settlements for the adequacy of redress''
Yes, Ngai Tahu has gone to the well of money 4 times. Why not more? Young Maori talk of modern treaty breaches and settlements.?
Full and final was a bullshit political decision made by National that had nothing to do with fairness or reality. Many of us have always expected that to be revisited.
If the Crown breaches the Treaty now, then of course that should be addressed.
3-Additional redress at the level of whānau, hapū and Māori collectives, outside the Treaty settlement process
Why not. Our local hapu received close to a million dollars for Marae development. That is an endless cash cow taxpayers will be paying for.
You say that like it's a bad thing. What's wrong with government funding for Marae? What's wrong with the government giving money to Māori going forward in the same way that they give money to other people?
Conferring rights of British citizenship and its protections the legality of land transfers.Maori didn't have lawyers representing them as no one wanted to .
Until the church stepped in in the 1880's to stop the unscrupulous land grabs taking place.Pushing Maori to the bottom of the heap.
The reparations for stolen land are only 1 to 3% of their value .They don't include loss of income or the power of owning large parcels of expensive land
If Moari got full compensation they would be the rich and powerful not requiring economic support.
Then the shoe would be on the other foot and maybe you would be complaining Maori are too rich and don't share or care.
Were its leading is the confiscation of private property from people who would have bought that property in good faith. Monetary compensation as Maori say, is not always acceptable.
Western culture is built on private property rights. Without that we aren't 1st world. We join South Africa, Tibet and Rhodesia.
You do understand, Robert. Just imagine getting the boot from your food forest. A couple of bros turn up and say ''We''ll take it from here, bugger off!"
Because its historical. In all cases litigants are dead. Accounts differ. Historical records differ. Different hapu within iwi have different versions of the same history. Agendas are in play. The crown has contested some land claims in court.
You should see the Maori land court in action.
Of course this does not apply to all land claims – some are clear cut. There is no argument.
Methinks you are making shit up. If you have evidence that the Greens are proposing the Crown confiscates private land, please show it now.
Besides, the Crown already confiscates private land with compensation via the Public Works Act, for stupid shit like building tourism roads. I don't think that's a useful approach here, but let's not pretend there aren't precedents.
Yeah, I'm an expert on land loss from the PWA …and GENUINE historical land loss. And our land was taken for a road extension that never happened.
''Methinks you are making shit up. If you have evidence that the Greens are proposing the Crown confiscates private land, please show it now.''
From the link:
Exclusive: Green Party push to return private land under Tiriti settlements.
I wrote:
''Where it's leading is the confiscation of private property from people who would have bought that property in good faith. Monetary compensation as Maori say, is not always acceptable.''
That's confiscation. But you may have missed the implied compensation for the land. That said, it's still confiscation in my view.
Blade Colonization 101.make the conquered look bad belligerent dehumanised,
Your comment is pure racism send a couple of bros around.
When National put the $2 billion cap on settlements and only trivially compensated Maori connected to their tribe,deliberately dividing rural Maori with urban Maori who have suffered the worst of colonisation .
That's brilliantly straight-faced presentation that someone with a Twitter account might like to add to the Freedum convoy's hectic thread. Some might even take it literally and agree with the excellent advice offered. Such fun.
Far from 'us lefties' making a serious mistake by responding with ridicule, as Weka said earlier, sometimes it's the best and only way to deal with all the idiocracies. It might not make them go away or change many minds, but whether it's a great cartoon, a parody song, an alternative lipreading or a Tui Billboard (Bring Them Back!), a good belly laugh is better medication than yet another growl of annoyance or despairing sigh. A solid dose of ridicule is good for our mental health.
(Sorry, this is a reply to McFlock @ 18)
There are good historical precedents for ridiculing folk that exhibit a degree of sociopathy. Hitler is said to have been especially displeased with kiwi cartoonist, David Low |since those who had learned to laugh at him weren't going to march for him any time soon.
For the Covidiocy virus, laughter may indeed be the best medicine.
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 28 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
As a young gymnast, Aimee Didierjean was always conscious of making sure her underwear wasn’t showing on the competition floor. A peek of a bra strap, or briefs if a leotard rode up, would cost a gymnast points in her routines. “When I was growing and going through puberty, it ...
Jubi/West Papua Daily Repeated cases of Indonesian military (TNI) soldiers torturing civilians in Papua have been evident, as seen in the viral video depicting the torture of civilians in the Puncak Regency allegedly done by soldiers of Raider 300/Brajawijaya Infantry Battalion. There is a pressing need for stringent law enforcement ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In 2023, Anthony Albanese was shooting for the moon, his eyes on the Voice referendum. On one view, he looked like the idealist reflecting his left-wing roots. In 2024, we’re seeing a pragmatic, determined, ...
The House - The principle that all MPs are honourable and that they should be taken at their word has been tested multiple times this week in Parliament. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW Sydney Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock Since the review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) released its recommendations in December, there has been a series of Town Hall events to discuss them around the country ...
Well what a surprise!
Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Ministry of Health admits requisitioned RATs already in New Zealand – NZ Herald
Having dealt with the MoH for around 4 decades I would encourage you not to mistake general incompetence, a lack of governance and general muppetry with straight lying.
I do agree with you, but the lying came straight after the general incompetence, the lack of governancne and general muppetry and then couple that with some high level arrogance and you arrive at the lying because they have been found out to be less the truthful. But maybe they just misspoke? And then is admitting that one 'misspoke' misspeaking?
In this open letter to the government points to this issue of 'incompetence'.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/sir-ian-taylor-nine-questions-for-the-prime-minister-about-covid-tests-in-nz/KZC73D23IUS5GGLBVEC6CWS54E/
Point 2 – 5 deals directly with testing requirement and the tools to do so.
Point 9 – points to the new totally expected variant, Omicron and another question as to why a test developed in Auckland University was not prioritized.
Maybe that is why the Ministry of Health is so unhappy about that Man speaking his mind, because he told them, asked them, and they ignored him, and now they are found out that a. they are less then truthfull, and b. they confiscate goods because they literally forgot to order -at best, or at worst always planned to confiscate the goods that businesses in NZ have ordered to keep their staff safe.
And this letter full of questions to the PM was in the Herald on – just in case anyone needed to know how old this article is.
Sir Ian Taylor – Nine questions for the Prime Minister about Covid tests in NZ
28 Nov, 2021 02:15 AM
Yep at least Foodstuffs know how to plan and organise. Imagine if the government decided to try and get in on the supermarket duopoly!
No surprises. Everyone knows they dropped the ball and didn't order them when advised to. And now they try and muzzle Sir Ian Taylor after he helped them out.
Good grief are we now in the first stages of making up a conspiracy?
Shows how easily it can happen.
It would seem that:
A news outlet made an incorrect assertion about the RATS. This, according to the manufacturer Roche who are in the process of correcting the claim.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/02/jacinda-ardern-confident-latest-poll-reflects-people-support-what-we-ve-tried-to-achieve.html
Of course that won't stop the conspiracy theorists. They'll just claim the government has paid Roche to lie about it – or some such thing. 🙄
"When asked about the requisitioning fiasco, Bloomfield and ministers tend to answer with reference to Abbott's tests, which had not been requisitioned. This was despite no companies with Abbott tests on order actually alleging their orders had been taken. The two largest firms who complained their tests had been taken, InScience and Health Works Group, both ordered Roche products."
There's more to run on this, but it certainly doesn't pass the sniff test when the DG is having to slide around direct questions.
Well I'm very glad that MOH is exercising it's powers under pandemic legislation and taking these tests out of the hands of private individuals who will end up using them to
keep the wheels of commerce turningspread infection.This debacle in a retirement village in Melbourne shows the result of business supplying the tests. Generally it will be the cheapest, or most available, which of course will be the least effective, which is why it's cheap and available.
From the linked article above
20% inaccuracy in a close contact environment with this is only marginally better than no tests at all. But the RAT result are being used to give the confidence of 100% all clear.
Got it in one Graeme. Thank you for your correct reading of the situation.
I don't understand what the big deal is. The RATs were requisitioned for a public health need greater than the needs of single businesses or families. What is the difference between a requisition of forward orders (ie those on the way) and a requisition of what is held in warehouses in NZ.
So that the ill-informed above don't have to scratch their heads the answer is 'Nothing'
Unless those above can show me that the RATS were snatched from the hand of someone about to use them then the pufferies above your post are just mischief making.
The big deal is that the government sat on its arse while the private sector planned and secured supply, only for it to be
stolenrequisitioned by the government.It is disgusting the lengths you have to go to, to get an exemption out of MIQ or even a MIQ spot. Where is the kindness?
The Taliban were kinder to the pregnant reporter than our government, now this bloke has to go on a hunger strike to see his dying father!
'We won': Nil-by-mouth striker confirmed he will be let out to see dying dad | Stuff.co.nz
So he got out of MIQ early because he met the criteria, of because of the histrionics?
Following on from the embarrassing episode of Charlotte Bellis, I would suggest it is because we have become aware of his situation.
Something about light being a good disinfectant.
Or people in very stressful situations often don't read or comprehend instructions as well as they might when a bit less stressed.
I've had to deal with people in similar situations, it's hard and careful work, and really wonder how I would go if it was me.
I guess having a dude die of a hunger strike in MIQ would again make this government look less then kind, friendly, helpful and such. You know it would make them look callous, heartless, disinterested and so on and so forth.
How dare that young man do what he did, does he not know that he has a place and that place is to be neither seen nor heard. Damn, we need a better class of peasants in this country, the current lot seems to be getting a bit uppity.
Probably now finally made an application that met the requirements and that the decision makers were able to make a decision on.
Jimmy – a question: how many people have won a MIQ spot so far, and what lengths did they all have to go to to get those spots, d'ya know?
Not enough Robert Guyton. That is the problem. Not enough people have won the lottery, but then not everyone has the excellent odds of a Labour MP who participates once in such a Lottery and gets to Holiday in the Netherlands during their Omicron outbreak.
"Not enough" isn't a number – any idea of the actual figure (you know, fact)?
Jimmy must know.
Why don't you write a nice little letter to the government on behalf of Jimmy an ask?
To me it is simple, to much lorde, wiggles, america boaties,. djs, and tv stars and not enough people whose parents are dying, or whose children may be needing healthcare or pregnant woman who would like to give birth in their home country.
I figured you, or Jimmy, would know the number, given that it must stand for something. If it was "3", I'd be with you in protesting, but if it was a substantial, significant or explainable number well north of 3, I'd wonder if you'd (both) done your research.
well why don't you google it? Or at the very least break down what you want to know.
For example we know that many pregnant women have applied to come to NZ to give birth, all but 10% were declined, or gave up.
Seriously, do you own homework. And then answer Jimmi.
So lets get this straight Sabine, you believe that after selflessly making sacrifices to get the country 'Covid-fit", that was not enough. How many permanent NZ residents missed out on being able to share family time and in many cases to grieve as they wanted?
That wasn't enough. You feel entitled to complain and bemoan that fact that there were 'imports' who provided light relief and, heaven forbid, entertainment for children. Hope you have enjoyed the grandstanding antics of the self-entitled who seemingly couldn't complete application forms correctly and believed they should be able to enter the at will, even though they had chosen to live and work elsewhere.
You are right, i am totally within my rights to have my own mind.
'and believed they should be able to enter the at will, even though they had chosen to live and work elsewhere.'
Maybe because they should be able to.
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/whole.html#DLM225517
18Freedom of movement
(2)Every New Zealand citizen has the right to enter New Zealand.
(3)Everyone has the right to leave New Zealand.
(4)No one who is not a New Zealand citizen and who is lawfully in New Zealand shall be required to leave New Zealand except under a decision taken on grounds prescribed by law.
I have no idea of the number that have actually "won" a spot in MIQ but for a person here at work it was quite difficult and involved refreshing a computer page for several hours over numerous days to then be told there were no more spots available for their wife to return before Xmas. They finally got back in January but were trying from late October. Unfortunately she was not a DJ, but was visiting a dying relative so I guess she should have watched them die via video link like the Irish bloke did rather than travel in a Pandemic.
If you have a NZ passport and are double jabbed and get a negative test before travel it would be nice to be able to return home rather than become stateless.
Over half of all NZ current cases are in MIQ and were stopped at the border.All of these people flew with a mandatory negative test.
A friend of mine has been through MIQ three times so far as he runs a business in the States, didn't find it hard to get the slots he wanted using the normal process. Up until recently MIQ bookings seem to have been working well but hey, that doesn't fit Sabine's narrative.
PS Not sure I agree with the ethics of him using MIQ in this way though. He is in the States at the moment.
To be fair, he had to do 5 days or he could have killed his father even earlier.
He would though, have been able to spend those days with his dad.
Logic is missing here? MBIE too formulaic?
Remembering they now know how soon omicron is infectious yet does not show up for 5 or more days.
These staff are having to make harrowing choices every day, nobody has talked about their trauma and responsibility to apply the rules there to protect us.
This appears to be another case using the promotion of media.
Our Borders have helped control the spread, so stories need to be found for clicks and to make the Government appear "less than kind".
I hope his dad has some time with him, and I hope journalists allow them to do that in peace.
It's also worth noting that if we had opened the borders, as National and ACT have been suggesting almost the entire pandemic, many thousands of elderly and/or ill kiwis would be dead, possibly quite suddenly, and before relatives could get home.
My son in law booked one of many free MIQ slots in early December, so he could travel to Canada and return in early February. Just finished his stint in MIQ.
You never hear the success stories from the over 200,000 returnees through MIQ. Almost all people coming through accept MIQ has been an essential part of protecting New Zealand and don't complain or make a song and dance about it.
Thank you to everyone who has been involved in MIQ.
And thank you, aj, for providing a figure (over 200,000) where others couldn't/wouldn't.
Puts the griping in perspective, that figure.
Apart from the friend I mentioned at 2.2.3, I know of a dozen other people, individuals, who have been through MIQ, they have no complaints at all.
None of them are DJs.
220,763 as at today.
DJ is he?
Friends son & daughter in law and two children applied ad got a six week stay mid Dec/late Jan, pre school son and new born. No probs getting their dates as they were not fixated on being here for Christmas. .
I know parents who have said don't come back if there is sickness at home at the time of Covid. .
I know my Dad said to me before I left several times to go overseas (he died in 1993 so before that) that he and Mum would not expect us to return if sick and really not to bother at all if they died suddenly. People who emigrated earlier and some even now who have arrived here as refugees, had/have no chance.
I do know of one case that went very smoothly as the process had been set in train to return as early as it could……set in train by completing the right forms and supplying the required info.
I think our public servants and the MIQ people have done a great job.
Copycat protests, same mentality:
“Never mind what the rest of the world thinks; the situation has jarred and jangled millions of Canadians. But those who were caught off guard by the intensity, passion and adamance of the protesters have clearly not been paying attention to the creeping extremism in this country’s political discourse, fertilized in recent years by American political rhetoric, misinformation online and a sense of alienation among a significant segment of the population.
The parallels to U.S. politics don’t stop there. While Canadians have been consuming news from down south since the dawn of broadcasting, the American right appears to be speaking directly to them now. On Friday, Trump endorsed the convoy on social media, referring to Trudeau as a “far left lunatic who has destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates” and urging the protesters to come to Washington, D.C.
And just weeks ago, a public opinion study found that nearly 30 percent of voters who cast a ballot for the Conservative Party of Canada in September’s national elections said the Jan. 6 attacks on Capitol Hill were “a fiction created by the media.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/truckers-canada-protesting-covid-vaccine-mandates-show-canada-s-trumpists-ncna1288679
You know what that shows? That neither the left nor the right believes much of what comes out from the News and the Media. Case in point, we have a post here talking about how a particular media company is out to get the government.
Maybe we need to cancel free media, and only allow state media. We could call it Pravda.
Pravda – Wikipedia
"Truth" is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, formerly the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most …
Theres always Fox….Sabine.
i must confess, i don't have a tv.
Most NZers aren't dumb enough to watch Fox.
I know a small number of people who are glued to Sky After Dark, as bad as Fox and more 'local'
Our media writer spends a fortnight watching the channel’s after-dark presenters preaching to the converted
Truth was also a tabloid weekly published in NZ from 1905 to 2013.
Its last editor was Cameron Slater!
as i said, it seems the media on the right and the left is quite apt at lying to the people, and thus the people don't believe a word of either side.
Sad innit? Left and right, two sides of the same coin.
Sabine, who in NZ do you typify as media on the left? We both recognise the old Truth as of the right. Do we have left wing papers, or left wing journalists? Where do our radio and TV media sit on this spectrum?
Yes the embarrassing fiasco yesterday when the South Island contingent could not board the ferry and asked for small boats to get them across the Strait in 2m swells ……the Trumper flags and Voices for Freedumb and the more militant Groundswell people shows us that this is not a voice from the roots.
It is just a rebrand of those who demonstrated at parliament a few months ago..
I know I put this link up yesterday but I am certain that behind this will be much the same as in Canada and well meaning people will have been duped.
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2000247363674
Are you serious about people not being able to board the ferry in Picton and wanting small boats to take them across the Strait? That being so would show the special kind of dumb we're dealing with.
I have no idea whether it was true or not, but it gave me the best laugh I've had in weeks.
The twitter tag was "#Dumbkirk"
McFlock
Me too. 😀
A UK version instigated a protest at the BBC studios planning to disrupt the news. However, the BBC had operationally vacated these premises only 6 years earlier, for central London.
I thought at the time there was a serious protest risk created as their news segment includes sweeping shots of the new building including areas accessible to poorly vetted contractors.
But it appears the protest group left all their research up to a small number of people who don't regularly watch TV news.
Less about the Trump angle, my reckons have a lot round here underestimating the numbers and enthusiasm involved in our own convoy.
Just labelling them and popping them in the 'anti-vax' box does not make them go away.
More and more we are hearing from fully vaccinated people denigrating the mandates and the unnecessarily discriminatory passports.
this is the issue.
The people down south, organising/promoting the convoy, were the anti-vaxx, protesting with placards, won't wear a mask crowd. They tried to restrict messaging to "anti-mandate" only, but that blew out into "anti-everything" and the usual misogynistic etc. messaging as soon as the wheels started rolling.
Yes this is quite expected. Well meaning protests will often provide the
'vehicle' (excuse the pun) for all sorts of malcontents to peddle their wares.
Back in the 1990s, student protests would get the international socialists, and maybe a few "I liked Shortland St last night" slogans, but nothing too extreme in any direction.
Whereas this lot are getting everything from anti-1080 to anti-vax.
Looks like an emerging phenomena to me. Groundswell was the same. Being egged on by Dirty Pol crew, National, and I would expect Qanon type arseholes online as well as trolls.
It's a massive mistake for the left to rely on ridicule as its primary response.
Not many other responses, though. Ignoring them just lets it fester. Taking them seriously gives them credibility and respect most of them don't deserve, and it normalises their views and slogans. Contempt is too tiring without a sense of humour.
The ones who can form a coherent protest over one issue, fine. Butsomething that is everything to every one who is fresh out of gruntles is doomed to fracture.
definitely don't think they should be ignored either.
Probably useful to stop seeing them as a hive mind. Some people are grifting, some have grievances, some are just anti-Labour, some are concerned about government overreach etc.
Thinking about disaffected, poor Māori who've been largely abandoned by Labour and the left. Teasing out what's real and what's bullshit seems a good idea.
It's what happens after that fracturing that bothers me. It's not like those people just disappear.
Too toxic even for Seymour or any of his sidekicks to speak too. They made a simple calculation: not enough votes, and meeting them would actually erode support
I agree, Weka.
This group now have proof -in their eyes-that the government is not for the people.
Jacinda and all other political leaders have made a big mistake today by not addressing the crowd.
When talking of numbers, reporters are not taking into account all those who turned out to support the convoy on its way to Wellington.
So, I'm wondering where the support for government Covid measures is coming from ( see News Hub tonight).
Is there now a urban/ rural divide re Covid?
Something is not right with the numbers in these polls.
How exactly do you see that going? She gets up there and listens to
abuseconcerns for an hour, says sorry and then everyone loves her?She gets up to speak, can get a word in edgeways over the
abuseconcerns, announces the cancelling of all controls and three waters and everyone loves her?Or she fronts up, whatever she says infuriates the crowd, and there's an angry extremist mob with their personification of problems right there?
Look on OM yesterday.
I said she would be shouted down.
But that's not the point.
Well she is a master communicator. I'm sure she could have come up with something better than "go fuck yourselves."
@blade: there is no point to turning up just to be shouted down.
@felix: even a master communicator wouldn't get much of a different response to if they'd said "go fuck yourselves". There's no way she comes out of addressing that crowd without a baying mob involved.
This group believes the Government is not for them.
This group is tiny.
The Government need not care, but they will staunch the bleating, if it continues, with some sort of sop, and they will like it, coz, Freedumb!
It's not tiny, it's thousands and thousands of ordinary people lining the streets of every town on the route. It's an incredibly dumb move to signal to all those people that the govt doesn't give a fuck what they think.
3.5%
The antivax or shy nutbar "antimandate" are not "the people" they're like Trump's hairpiece – a lunatic fringe.
Had Jacinda addressed them, she'd've met an inept attempt at violence, which the DPS would have had to quell. Then they'd have whined about police brutality. Better to leave them to howl at the moon – the moon has heard it all before and isn't phased by it.
But.. but.. Stuart, they could not then complain that the PM wasn't interested in talking with them. That she didn't try.
I'm afraid you aren't the smartest strategist in Aotearoa.
Coming from Blade that's excruciatingly funny.
PM Ardern and LotO Luxon not meeting them, and as for Seymour – “I don’t support people who are so anti-social that they block a road,”
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/02/08/this-too-will-pass-ardern-dismisses-anti-mandate-protest/
The mirth continues…
''This too will pass’ – Ardern dismisses anti-mandate protest.''
I know many Lefties aren't too bright, including the socialists on the Right – but Jacinda or her advisers have had a brain fart.
''Coming from Blade that's excruciatingly funny.''
I don't blame you for throwing the kitchen sink at me.
Imho, the brain farts and bozo eruptions were coming mostly from the ‘protesters’, and with increasing frequency. Time will tell.
@Drowsy M. Kram
Somewhere along the line the classical knowledge of demagogues and their mobs of shambling morons has been lost. Cleon, Trump, and Hitler are the same thing.
Democracy is particularly vulnerable to demagogues, and the Greeks, recognizing this, evolved the defense of ostracism.
The anti
vaxmandatewhatever suits the narrative of the moment protestors are part of a long but not a glorious history.Any evidence to support your assertion about organisers restricting messaging?
Or is this more misinformation (the OK sort of misinformation because 'anti-vax') akin to your question at @9?
Is it me you are asking, gsays? If so, yes. I was inadvertently, perhaps, included in a Facebook site that was being used for the purpose of organising/encouraging the southern convoy from the get-go and they certainly went to pains to stop any messages other than, "No mandate" – I won't link, but perhaps you might accept my word on this. The Groundswell organisers tried the same thing for their second howl – that didn't work either, as we saw. The convoy people seemed determined to brand their efforts as "No Mandates" only, but from the reporting, photos especially, you can see that it degenerated into a mish-mash of mixed-messages, including American flags etc.
Yes I was asking you and thank you for your reply. I do take you at your word.
I understand trying to keep messaging on track and equally see how it didn't stay there.
It isn't just the 6,8 or 10% unvaxxed that are miffed at the direction of this regime. Issues such as Passports, mandates, 3 waters, health reforms, the groundswell issues, housing inaffordability, inequality etc all have their constituents. And most want to paint a placard.
Yes, there's plenty for the malcontent to be unhappy about – times of change throw up unsettling challenges.
Most of the placards, I notice, are professionally-produced and carefully-worded – reminds me a lot of the United States of America and the slickness of their pro-Trump campaign. Have you received flyers in your mailbox, gsays? Those remind me of the Exclusive Brethren campaign against The Greens, back in the day. Such materials smell of money.
Times of change is one diagnosis, lack of will and political courage is another.
Grayling's Law implies landlord politicians aren't going to solve housing affordability.
Nothing through the mail-box, don't do FB, Twitter etc, very little tv news and no commercial radio (cricket commentary excluded). TS is one of the few places for a societal barometer I have.
Plenty of money linked flyers from Countdown, New World, real estate agents though, you know, 'good money', from within the system.
That was widely reported, and Groundswell distanced themselves.
I cannot find 9.can you please use the quote facility so we can find the actual post. Thanks
Comment 9 was Robert's latest item of disinformation/joke.
Linking really poor behaviour to the protest.
Yet another example of trying to throw mud and hoping some sticks.
The current mandates need to go, they're doing far more harm than good.
Ae, it's a matter of whether they are undone and scrapped by the powers that be, or they get ignored and rendered useless by the hoi polloi.
My money is on the latter.
They need to be scrapped by the powers that be… because the hoi polloi can only ignore so much. Mandates effecting access for anyone over 12 that's unvaxxed from public facilities not so much.
The tight community forming around anti mandate sentiment has already developed a pretty good black market (for want of better word) and we are now is an entrenchment of position in a rather large group of people who are prepared to stand for what they believe in and are likely going to sit on the edge of society henceforth. We dont have long left to prevent that.
It's easy and not to mention lazy to call them anti vaxx or stupid… They're part of our society and they're in my personal experience ordinary and exceptionally generous Kiwis.
I stand with them in their anti mandate stance.
pfft.
How many cases a day do you want NZ to peak at – and how many hospitalisations and deaths will result?
I know of at least one DHB that is shifting as many scheduled surgeries as it can to the private sector, and cancelling most of the remainder, simply because of how many beds are expected to be filled in the coming weeks. And that's with the vaccine pass protocols slowing it down.
Is it just me or have all the flies got super arrogant in this humidity?
Satirical question, Sanctuary?
If so, yes.
I draw the line when they start going through my wine cellar.
Do flies respect drawn-lines?
Worse though, would be if they were vinegar-flies. That would bode badly for your favourite wines.
"vinegar"?
Ouch! That is cruel Robert. His wine cellar may not quite match that of the Rothschild of Chateau Lafite fame but calling it vinegar is a little harsh.
It could be from one poorly-capped bottle, Alwyn. I've certainly had a bottle or 2 of homemade cider turn to vinegar – mind you, cider-vinegar is a very healthy tipple; just a small amount, first thing in the morning, keeps the aging gentleman sprightly and keen!
I never tried making wine or cider, or anything else, after my one and only attempt at making homebrew.
As I remember it we probably bottled it before fermentation was complete and the bottles started exploding. Either that or we added too much priming sugar. I never did find out. Luckily it was out in a garage and we could stick some sandbags around it after throwing sacks over the stack of bottles. It made a bloody awful mess.
Never again. I can still remember the event 55 years later.
Good times!
Cider doesn't explode, as a rule. I've made a great deal, over the years, but have eased off now; easy to make, tiring to dispose of 🙂
That said, I'm spending all day tomorrow, pressing apples, for juice mainly, but the juice-to-hard cider is pretty simple.
"tiring to dispose of".
Ah yes. How did the remark go? I think it was "I drink to relax. Sometimes I get so relaxed I can't stand".
Heh, I am enjoying a homebrew cider that has some Black Rooster chai in it, as I casually monitor the first batch of ginger beer.
I aim to have a sweet, effervescent 7% brew. The key is to stop the ferment once a desirable level of carbonation has occurred, shy of the UXB experience you had, Alwyn.
Pasteurise by putting capped bottles into a chilli bin, with 60 C water for about an hour. A sous vide gadget is the go .
or the worker bees carparks.
I am 3 floors up from our two story car park. I was astonished last night to hear a fly buzzing behind my ear. They seldom make it up that high.
The cat disposed of it. Best hunting since last years oversized aussie cockroach.
All those people must be wrong when they say they don't agree with the government policy of mandates?
Maybe the government needs to put time limits on otherwise it would be in breach of human right laws.
Perhaps we just need to listen to the concerns before being judge and jury.
https://alldifferences.com/difference-between-mandate-and-law/
As for the right to protest:
Since when does NZ not allow voices of opposition? NZ has a history as far back as 1845 were people went to the streets to voice their disagreement..
This is what democracy looks like, inconvenient without a doubt but the government has to remember that they are there on behest of the people, they are not rulers without consequence and responsibility.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_protests_in_New_Zealand
I rather have people marching and voicing their displeasure than living in a totalitarian state and instead of flags its gunfire.
Our PM doesn't even meet them, she cant be bothered. Democracy just got a wave of a despotic ruler? Kindness has left the building.
There isn't a requirement for our head of government to meet anyone apart from the governer general and parliament.
You appear to have some very strange ideas about how our government works.
Politically I can't see any point either. They probably should be calling for the leaders of the opposition to met them.
The potestors seem to be more of their responsibility to me.
I don't think that this has anything to do with the opposition but rather with missing the fine point that mandates are not laws and any implementation has to be timebound. I gave you the link to show the difference.
All I am saying is, that NZ has been there a number of times and I do hope as a people have learned to not get to a antagonistic state of affairs. I am curious what hindsight will show 10 years from now – if I am still around.
Of course they are laws. Read the Health Act 1956. Those laws have been largely in place since the 1920s.
FFS – variations of challenges to the health orders have already been to the suoreme court and apart from one technicality been biffed out.
The procedure for time binding is currently in the pandemic preparedness act of 2006. It basically consists of going back to the PM for periodic review, and to parliament for a less binding review.
Since National and Labour currently support the mandates and most other responses directed by the MoH DG, then it appears unlikely to change any time soon.
You don't have guess or listen to someone who is probably a ignorant lying fool to find out what the laws are. Just read the legislation – it is all online and quite readable. Just google legislation nz.
At the very least it will make you look less like a fool to me.
It soundss like you simply don't read
The mandates are secondary legislation, so are definitely laws in terms of NZ's Parliamentary and legal systems.
Also the 2022 season of parliament opened today and the caucus met this morning – the first time in many months. The PM is is a human being and can't be everywhere at once just like the rest of us.
I would have been concerned if she had gone out to meet them given the unprecedented level of vitriol and aggressive threatening behaviour they have thrown at her. Her safety could have been seriously compromised.
Edit: I submitted the above before seeing that others have made similar points. Good one. These “nutters and crackpots” have been getting away with murder (metaphorically speaking) and its high time the rest of us let them know we’ve had enough of their moronic antics.
Given their behaviour, why on earth would she want to meet them?
Don't worry, democracy's doing fine. At the election you can vote for all your favourite anti-vaxers, if they stand. Then you can find out their true level of support.
But they won't stand, precisely because they know their true level of support.
Who's not allowing voices of opposition, or not allowing protest?
These nutters be nutters, but they can protest as much as they want – heck, if they're willing to face repercussions for going beyond "down with this sort of thing" and move to actual civil disobedience and light crimes like obstructing roads, that's their call. Most protestors have done a wee bit of that. Many have been arrested for it in the past.
But there's nothing to say anyone actually doing a job has to meet them, listen to them, or put themselves in dangerous proximity to them.
Dangerous? Are you serious?
I mean that kind of rhetoric is completely unhelpful. Ostracizing people was ending badly in the past and even recently – like the USA. For every action there is a reaction. You opinion is as valid as theirs in a free country.
By the responses on this site, many would not allow the protest. Hence my comment. I also feel that the PM has to be able to talk to all people and not just some. Up to her how she wants to handle that really. Those who need some statesmanship right now on all side will find themselves disappointed.
I am serious.
I wouldn't be sure there's not a single person in that group who might have ulterior plans and access to firearms. And arguing that the pm should pretend they're benign because otherwise they'll try to violently storm parliament (like the US) isn't actually supporting the position of treating the protestors with anything other than extreme caution.
Ah, the irony of people who probably spent last night in a damp paddock somewhere calling the rest of us sheep…
This is the same 2000 or so people who pollute social media with their nonsense. Ignorant and uneducated and/or plain paranoid/crazy they've been weaponised for profit by Facebook and manipulated by grifters who see a dollar in their gullibility. It is tragic to see how these sad people are gleefully egged on for profit and clicks by the media.
We've seen the same faces before. Anti-1080, chem trails, Agenda 21, fantasy anti-communists. The same, tired losers. The same crystal Karens and paranoid pot abusers and damaged victims of abuse being led on by pricks and people who think the Lord took six days to create the earth as we see at every other protest. They are drunk on the attention of getting platformed by a cynical MSM who mostly hope there will be a riot they can lead the 6pm news with.
I mostly feel sorry for them.
I saw the idiocy with my own eyes on Monday. The anti everything crowd were draped all over the motorway over-bridges jumping up and down in a frenzied manner and waving their flags and banners. I thought they were just a bit over excited at the time but it seems some of them at least imagined us motorists belting along the Southern motorway were part of the protests. There was a bit of horn blowing but I think it was more a case of… giving them the car version of "the fingers". I was one of them!
Most of them were Exclusive Brethren and destiny church. Following the convoy racing to the next bridge to make their numbers look bigger than they were.Trump like.
Check out sorryantivaxxer.com and read some of the posts – talk about cognitive dissidence!
A lot of these anti-vaxxers have a very tenuous grip on reality.
I've marched. I marched against the educational and worker changes Douglas and c/o introduced. I marched against the contract act and I was challenged with… "as a teacher it won't affect you." I answered "It will affect the families of the children I teach" We are not just "arm chair spokes people here"
This is habitual on TS. A wee few name call, or over state issues or prod till they get a response, then feel vindicated.
No one has stopped protest. In fact the cheek has been turned so often…..Police have been using kid gloves,
Ministers have tried to allow reasonable dissent, but some protestors want confrontation. The internet facebook tiktok etc add to the anger and misinformation. Luckily no political party supports anti vax anti mandate groups, as they know by the high vaccination numbers how marginal that would be.
"Luckily no political party supports anti vax anti mandate groups, as they know by the high vaccination numbers how marginal that would be."
Actually, the Outdoors party likely supports all the nonsense. I see they seem to have changed their name to the "Outdoors and Freedom Party". They got very few votes last time, expect the same for next time.
I think Seymour got very close to supporting anti-mandate stupidity in his speech in the debate in the house today.
Sorry, don't want to link to it to give that w*nker a platform.
Noted
Really? Who has said that?
I wouldn't want to meet with a group of people whose politics and actions are grounded in not caring if a contagious disease present in the community spreads or not.
Foreign Waka just reheating anit vax hatred.
Server had some problems this morning. Looks like a kernel issue.
I will reboot again to get to a more stable version.
From the NZ Herald:
National Party leader Christopher Luxon also said no National MPs would engage with the protestors.
"We have a busy day here. I appreciate there is a range of views sitting in the protest but we are a party that is pro-vaccination and boosters. We think that is the best protection people can have."
Asked if he was also supportive of the vaccine mandates across multiple workforces, he said he supported them at this point in time.
"That's something we've supported to this point. We think ultimately the Government, having stepped in, will have to determine how to step out in due course. But right now we think the setting is the right one."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-outbreak-convoy-protesters-arrive-in-wellington/WHEVUEVUTMHIJ63X4RVZBLFVEE/
Did the South Island convoy stop off overnight in Dunedin?
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/anti-vax-vandals-strike
The writer of the article might be a bit suspect…
Because his name is Eric Trump?
https://thespinoff.co.nz/authors/eric-trump
There is another one ……….
It was merely my poor attempt at humour, I don't think that the next president of the USAs son will be writing for the ODT
I suspected as such, but did still chuckle, but not too loud. After all, Bob Jones once averred that us lefties had no sense of humour. mmmmmffffttt snort!
Don't worry about what Bob Jones says, I find some lefties on here very amusing
Do I get a shilling in my cloth cap, sor?
"….I don't think that the next president of the USAs son will be writing for the ODT."
Somehow I don't think so, too. My guess is his name won't be Eric, either……
Reply to McFlock.
Correct. ACT believe in:
1- State funded housing.
2- Welfare.
3- Weak justice.
4- No tax breaks to allow folks to choose their own education and medical options.
5- The continuation of woke government funded organisations.
The only difference with ACT is these things would be monitored carefully. And the largess of a big spending Labour government would be gone.
lol
Never crossed your mind, did it.
These are the folk people believe are Libertarians.
When posters mention far right ACT, I with laughter.
Never crossed my mind?
The dude who would respect Luxon giving a speech but can't because he spoke Māori is further right wing than ACT? The guy who thinks talkback radio is the voice of the nation thinks ACT is too left wing? Amongst other things? quelle surprise.
I don't want to get bogged down in the 'no true' libertarian falacy, but where did the libertarian wing go when John Banks took over?
What Libertarian wing? That an old crusty conservative was a leader of ACT should tell you something.
”No true’ libertarian fallacy,”
Never heard of that. Tell me more?
Geez , you lot can't get past your preconceived narrative, can you.
''The dude who would respect Luxon giving a speech but can't because he spoke Māori .''
That's not what I said. I said I would have had more respect for him if he had spoken for a good one minute in Maori instead of using tokenistic Maori words throughout his speech.
''The guy who thinks talkback radio is the voice of the nation thinks ACT is too left wing?''
The voice of the man in the street. A slight difference. No, I never said ACT is too Leftwing. I said they were socialists.
Fair call, I got the first wrong. The "slight difference" is nothing to write home about.
But you do seem to have changed tack from answering my query:
with:
Now you are saying that they're not too left wing for you? Is it just the mislabelling on the packaging that irks you, then?
Quite right, Blade, you did say that. Good on you.
Did you notice that Jacinda Ardern gave a good length introduction in Māori in her speech from Parliament on Waitangi Day?
Yes, and that made Luxon's tokenism stand out in contrast.
I still thought his speech was very good.
McFlock:
”No, I never said ACT is too Leftwing. I said they were socialists.”
Yep, I see what you mean.
ACT are too socialist for me.
But you don't regard socialism as left wing?
Well one assumes some members of ACT were libertarians and that they left when (or before) the 'old crusty conservative' took over.
But maybe they were always too socialist for your tastes.
To my knowledge no Libertarian has been a member of ACT. I may be wrong about that.
The problem is too many people are calling themselves Libertarians. I even came across a guy who called himself a Socialist Libertarian.
. I thought this was taking the piss. But no – it's real. These poor kids. The real world awaits them.
In a woke context I get where they are coming from. And some issues and names aren't that important to me.
But change starts with language…and from that all things follow.
Like I have said, our public education system is now about indoctrination.
It’s another reason why home schooling is taking off.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/127702133/canterbury-school-establishes-genderneutral-student-leadership-team
"Head boy" and "Head girl" = "The real world"?
How so?
A boss boy and a boss girl.
Seems reality based to me.
If you want to call then a head punga and a head fern, that is completely OK. Anything goes as long as it's not colonial hierarchical nonsense.
Why not, "Head students"?
Head student is no problem. It's the politics that drive these changes and the associated agenda that I find a problem.
You seem irritated by a great many things.
Change, seems to unsettle you a great deal.
Not all change, Robert – for example, our ‘enigmatic’ dull Blade (unkind?) has no time for man-made climate change.
On second thought, your opinion is sound – denial is a common response to being unsettled by inconvenient truths.
I will talk for myself without the need for sarcasm and snide remarks
I accept the climate is changing. I do not believe in man made climate change.
I accept for better or worse there is nothing I can do about the climate changing.
I don't fuss or fret, but I do plan in case CC may affect me directly.
I feel sorry for people running around like headless chooks because they believe '' if only the world could go green, we would advert climate change.''
B, with >20 comments on OM alone this afternoon, you're the most prolific blogger on this "Lefty blog" – such industry deserves recognition.
As for:
that will naturally be true for you as long as you "do not believe in man made climate change". A key hypothetical question for you to consider would be: If you did believe in man-made climate change on spaceship Earth, would you still believe that there was nothing you could do about it?
''B, with >20 comments on OM alone this afternoon, you're the most prolific blogger on this "Lefty blog" – such industry deserves recognition.''
?
If you did believe in man-made climate change on spaceship Earth, would you still believe that there was nothing you could do about it?
Well, that's a no brainer isn't it.
''Contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change.''
That's another great statement that causes me mirth.
Blade: "I will talk for myself without the need for sarcasm and snide remarks"
Quoted for truth, filed, enjoyed.
And your mirth is a cause of great mirth for me – a win-win
It's a Lefty blog… I have a lot to be irritated about. However, it's great brain training to meet the machinations of trolls. I reckon at the end of each day this blog gives me an extra 5 IQ points.
Anyone figured out how you lose so many overnight, though?
I give them away to my next door neighbour. He's a local Labour Party support worker.
Nice guy, but he believes Graeme Heart is causing the housing crisis by buying up heaps of houses and selling them to the Chinese.
Ah. You are a river to your people, only with IQ points.
Methinks you doth donate too much.
'thou dost'.
'you doth ' is not any kind of English.
What do you expect from someone who shakes Willy around at the slightest excuse? 🙂
What, Willy Shakespear? Methinks thou dost project too much!
Hart is contributing to the crisis by buying up houses and leaving them…empty…Govt is o.k with this pursuit.
Chinese do not need his help.
I have seen incidences reported when the foreign buyers ban is breached ,of the poor buyers having to sell the property and pay a fine…so breach the ban,by buying a property for say 900k,get found out and ordered to sell….sell for 1.3mil,pay Govt $30,000 dollars and say…sorry…
"65% of Americans believe they are above average in intelligence:"
” I reckon at the end of each day this blog gives me an extra 5 IQ points.”
Well…they did give us Apollo rockets and the Blackbird SR-71.
Or was that the work of Nazis and recovered alien technology from the Rosewell crash?
"Rosewell", Blade. That is putting a new complexion on things!
And I think they kept their rockets and their Blackbird, unless they're in that secret base under the Alps guarded by those Italians……..
The Green Party have a head boy and a head girl that they call co-leaders (but I believe one must be male and one female…..someone may be able to correct me on that).
Why wouldn't that work at a high school, Jimmy?
Co-leaders.
Lots of high schools are still single gender.
True. Then a distinction between genders won't be needed at all. And co-leaders, both of the same gender, is still a good idea, imo.
Community Leaders?
Sorry, Ad – not so many as you think. The vast majority of "single-sex Boys' schools" now include – wait for it – some horrible girly-germ ridden female students!!
Sad but true. Check out just how many boys' schools remain that have not taken in girls as well.
I never said it wouldn't work at a high school.
Imagine, with homeschoolers everyone home could have a head boy and/or a head girl!
For god's sake they're having four head prefects. Who the hell cares what gender they are? Shall we turn it into a big issue?
''For god's sake they're having four head prefects. Who the hell cares what gender they are? Shall we turn it into a big issue?''
Yes, it's the politics behind these changes that worries me.
I expect home schooling to explode now that Covid numbers are increasing.
The Babylon Bee have their work cut out for them in this current political climate:
https://babylonbee.com/news/to-improve-trustworthiness-of-the-hosts-alex-jones-to-replace-whoopi-goldberg-on-the-view
This is incredible…I must tell my liberal friend. He will be angry. So, what!! He can suck a latte made with onions.
Good stuff PR.
Robert, I don’t know about Dunedin but further north these people who call everybody else sheep were sleeping in paddocks.
Probably fitting, the IQs match.
Were the real sheep in the paddock huddled against the far fence, Adrian, praying for rain, dogs or a hole in the wire?
Lprent can you help me. My Amazon Fire has frozen on the 2nd February and is not rolling over daily like it used to. I have deleted the short cut and have entered again via the browser and it is still frozen on the 2nd Feb. What is this jargon about the SSL which is on a header on my page??
My laptop is working fine and I get daily updates okay. Help please
Ok, we changed the SSL certificate last week (so 2nd Feb is about right) and shifted to using Cloudflare as a front-end proxy.
It is probably complaining about the change to use a Cloudflare DNS and certificate because it has conflicting cache details.
1. Have you tried simply turning the fire off fully and restarting.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GJZBJS5B8VBCGQ48
Thanks for your help but the instructions I downloaded are not appearing on my Amazon screen. Will see if my techie son in law in the States can help me. The reason I have a Fire is my daughter over there has one and its great for messaging. Its a bugger but them's the days. Thanks anyway.
Yeah. Just feels like a client side cache problem.
Cricket time!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/black-caps/300512707/black-caps-very-confident-kane-williamsons-troublesome-elbow-will-fully-mend
Black Caps squad for first test: Tom Latham (captain), Will Young, Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Colin de Grandhomme, Rachin Ravindra, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Neil Wagner, Hamish Rutherford, Blair Tickner, Cam Fletcher.
Some interesting selections.
Trent Boult not playing so they replace him with Blair Tickner but, barring injury, Blair won't play ahead of Henry so why not bring in the pace of Ben Sears, hes young and got some real pace so if hes not going to play it might do him some good in the team set up or Adam Milne (if his body can handle it)
Not sure why they've selected Hamish Rutherford, hes passed 50 once in ten innings and averages 37 in FC, hes an opening batter but we've got three that can do the job so shouldn't we be looking for a middle order batsman?
Tom Bruce and Mark Chapman both average over 40 in the middle order
Also wheres Patel?
My prediction for the next test team, based on the squad:
Oh no… Please make it go away.
Fantasy cricket is even more tedious than actual cricket
As if there was any other reply required:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUNTk5xsxk4
You must remember that Puckish Rogue, being a religious man, and trying to grasp the concept of eternity, invented Test Cricket.
If I'd invented test cricket then there'd be no toss.
The visiting team chooses whether to bat or bowl
He must have. I rather lost interest during one of the moon landings because of the obsessive behaviour of cricket players.
I was listening to the commentary on a transistor radio on a hot weekend day about the descent and some crazed cricketer with a heat stroke and a loud voice dragged me away to do some tedious batting. Insisted that batting was more important than a historic landing, with a possibility of gore.
Put me off cricket because clearly the enthusiastic participants must be deranged in their sense of priorities.
'clearly the enthusiastic participants must be deranged in their sense of priorities.'
Good thing you never see that on a political blog
Some would say test cricket was created to give us understanding of Hell, but they'd be Americans. I once spent an enjoyable bus ride talking to an ex-colonel of the US army explaining the intricacies of swing and spin, and he likewise the knuckle ball and an upcurving pitch. The central plain of Turkey whizzed by…..
Thats how diplomacy is done
Pretending to be interested in other peoples sport?
I'm sure alcohol probably helped the conversation.
On a bus, in Turkey?
I did buy a bottle of wine there from the island off the coast where the Greek ships hid before retuning to Troy after the wooden horse had discharged its attackers.
The wine would not have broken any Muslim alcohol laws. It was pure vinegar.
This constant overlooking of Patel is a thorn in my side!!
The issue to me is that NZs medium-fast to fast-medium battery of bowlers have done very well in home conditions and when overseas conditions suit and theres nothing wrong with that
But opposition teams are probably working out, if they haven't already, how to nullify the bowling
NZ does have good variety (except out and out pace) but we still need to support our spinners.
All respect to Patel but when it comes to spinning options theres him then daylight then the 37 yo Somerville, Ravindra and Santner
NZ Cricket did well to make the team competitive but we'll never be up there consistantly until our spinners are up there, we need some pitches to encourage our spinners
I think the top eleven mostly selects itself.
The two key areas they will probably be thinking about:
Colin De Grandhomme vs Darryl Mitchell
Blair Tickner vs Rachin Ravindra
If CDG is in form I would probably chose him over DM for his bowling.
The choice between BT and RR will largely come down to the expected pitch conditions, and whether they think the batting needs to be strengthed a bit.
Personally, I hop BT plays. Our bowling starts looking a bit one-paced otherwise since Trent Boult is missing this game.
I think Mitchells done enough to warrant a place at 5 (and who else is there?), I think Ravindra will be a mainstay in the line up but hes not quite there yet.
Does Tickner have some pace, I thought he was around the 130-135 mark?
If he does then I'd have him in over Henry
Parliament's back. Poor old Luxie misses his cue to start his speech, luckily for him Mallard was feeling generous.
Now he's promised everyone in the country a new e-bike. Got my vote!
Luxxy was a wan performer, Jacinda, entirely in control of her messages. Poor Seymour has lost his mojo and Willis had to apologise for her bad manners.
5 million e-bikes (less one cos I've got an old model already).
Will they be made in the Addington railway workshops? Will they be made of Tiwai aluminium? Then the power could go to fuel them after manufacture.
Then we'll build more cycleways. More bike stands. More crash helmets; hemp-lined aluminium models thus catering for the 250,000 tin foil crowd.
Enlarge the ICUs. Grow hemp to replace lycra for the cycle suits.
Mine more coal for the electricity to drive 5 million bikes.
Install 1,6 million houses with solar panels.
Push cars off the roads onto the cycleways to give 5 million bikes room.
Great policy with enormous flow-on effects.
Well I'm in the preliminary stages of planning of doing most of the Central Otago Rail trail by foot (except for Middlemarch to Hyde which will be on bike) again but this time adding in Clyde to Cromwell so hes got my vote
Pucky – enjoy.
Don't worry I've walked the rail trail before (my moms family were based around Middlemarch), I particularly enjoyed the Chatto Creek pub
Sometimes I just like walking without having to do any thinking about where I'm going or what I'm doing and the trail is perfect for that
Wish I could. But my walking/tramping days are well over due to a worn out right big toe.
Unfortunately my partner has a phobia about cycling due to cycling to high school in the middle of winter in Southland. Her descriptions of the clothes she used to ride with (welding gloves!) remind me of the tales of Niflheim.
I thought that getting damp in Auckland was bad enough.
Hitting black ice isn't fun on a bike. Or coming off a bike either, so to speak.
Thats a shame though understandable.
I'm quite looking forward to trying an e-bike on the trail…and the burgers (fuel is very important)
https://www.coffeeafloat.co.nz/burgerafloat
You do realise that it is moored out in the lake and that you are required to swim out to get the food? That will be fun with the temperature of that glacier fed lake won't it?
So I have been told anyway.
Not always alwyn. I've seen it moored in the water, right beside the rail trail between Cromwell and Clyde many times.
Sorry Mary. I thought the last line would warn people I was joking.
My sister has informed me that I was wrong and that she read it as a serious, but wrong comment.
It's a great walk, the pubs are about the right distance apart and will look after you. Recommend doing it in late autumn or early winter, the weather is generally really good but can be a bit cool and there's hardly anyone around. Just you, Central and the big sky. If you can, try and do one of the really isolated flat bits on a clear night.
Crikey – a new e-bike! Now all I have to do is get myself pregnant, do a JAG, and bike to hospital for the delivery.
However, being that it's a e-bike, I will travel from Wellington Central to Manukau to bolster party support on the way.
The 'Green Way' is the only way…it's about proper use of resources.
Luxon or Mallard?
Civil war breaking out in the convoy: freedom versus Brian.
https://twitter.com/MarkHubbard33/status/1490870743357595649
Thanks for that link.
Wow, this protest convoy is way more popular than a 'fringe', 'nutter', 'self-serving fools' or 'loopy' descriptor would have you believe.
The videos in the stream show a wide rang of support on the sides of the roads around the country. The veteran saluting is a wonderful image.
The support and aroha from outside the protest is inspiring; "This is what NZ is. Complete strangers gave us a bed for a night. Fed everyone in the convoy at Woodville. They are such amazing people. She lost her job but opened her home to us"
There's a new app that helps you do your own research.
Much better than actual research, might recommend we use it at work.
If anyone on here knows the silly woman in the protest today with the placard, "Sacrifice the kids to save the elderly – Really???," tell her not to worry. If someone as dumb as her gets into power they might take simply sacrifice the old for the young. How about taking houses off all the old people for a start, why should the young be disadvantaged?
Interesting National Geographic article on the development and use of a new imaging (scanning) technique to explore the effects of ageing and diseases on internal organs.
Nutty dangerous Greens at it again. This is why I have a problem with the politics and agendas behind many so called innocuous social changes in society.
Once one agenda is fulfilled, things creep forward again, and we get this.
https://www.teaomaori.news/exclusive-green-party-push-return-private-land-under-tiriti-settlements
Blade, can you please let me know if you read Lprent's moderation of your comment yesterday?
Yes, what's the problem.?
I wanted to know if you had read it, I hadn't seen you reply or acknowledge.
You moderated. I replied to you. Do you want me to acknowledge his post?
Lynn moderated after I did, I'm asking if you read that.
Yes, I read it.
👍
Again, on the surface there is nothing wrong with those points. They even look noble and fair. But:
1-''An inquiry into the dispossession of whenua.''
If we are going down that track we must include Maori having lost land to Maori by conquest. Those land losses still cause angst between tribes.
2 -''Revisiting settlements for the adequacy of redress''
Yes, Ngai Tahu has gone to the well of money 4 times. Why not more? Young Maori talk of modern treaty breaches and settlements.?
3-Additional redress at the level of whānau, hapū and Māori collectives, outside the Treaty settlement process
Why not. Our local hapu received close to a million dollars for Marae development. That is an endless cash cow taxpayers will be paying for.
McDonalds just arrived will . Will get back to you.
wouldn't that be up to Iwi? Are any Iwi or Hapū wanting this?
Full and final was a bullshit political decision made by National that had nothing to do with fairness or reality. Many of us have always expected that to be revisited.
If the Crown breaches the Treaty now, then of course that should be addressed.
You say that like it's a bad thing. What's wrong with government funding for Marae? What's wrong with the government giving money to Māori going forward in the same way that they give money to other people?
Blade you overlook the signed legal document.
Conferring rights of British citizenship and its protections the legality of land transfers.Maori didn't have lawyers representing them as no one wanted to .
Until the church stepped in in the 1880's to stop the unscrupulous land grabs taking place.Pushing Maori to the bottom of the heap.
The reparations for stolen land are only 1 to 3% of their value .They don't include loss of income or the power of owning large parcels of expensive land
If Moari got full compensation they would be the rich and powerful not requiring economic support.
Then the shoe would be on the other foot and maybe you would be complaining Maori are too rich and don't share or care.
Change can be scary, Blade!
And the DANGER! The Exclusive Brethren warned us about The Greens, but did we listen???
Who knows where all this is leading?
Were its leading is the confiscation of private property from people who would have bought that property in good faith. Monetary compensation as Maori say, is not always acceptable.
Western culture is built on private property rights. Without that we aren't 1st world. We join South Africa, Tibet and Rhodesia.
You do understand, Robert. Just imagine getting the boot from your food forest. A couple of bros turn up and say ''We''ll take it from here, bugger off!"
Not good.
So if I buy a car in good faith and it turns out to be stolen, I get to keep it?
No, of course you don't get to keep it. That's plain stupid.
why doesn't that apply to land?
Because its historical. In all cases litigants are dead. Accounts differ. Historical records differ. Different hapu within iwi have different versions of the same history. Agendas are in play. The crown has contested some land claims in court.
You should see the Maori land court in action.
Of course this does not apply to all land claims – some are clear cut. There is no argument.
What if their relatives are still alive, and had a right to it in the owner's will?
Methinks you are making shit up. If you have evidence that the Greens are proposing the Crown confiscates private land, please show it now.
Besides, the Crown already confiscates private land with compensation via the Public Works Act, for stupid shit like building tourism roads. I don't think that's a useful approach here, but let's not pretend there aren't precedents.
Yeah, I'm an expert on land loss from the PWA …and GENUINE historical land loss. And our land was taken for a road extension that never happened.
''Methinks you are making shit up. If you have evidence that the Greens are proposing the Crown confiscates private land, please show it now.''
From the link:
Exclusive: Green Party push to return private land under Tiriti settlements.
I wrote:
''Where it's leading is the confiscation of private property from people who would have bought that property in good faith. Monetary compensation as Maori say, is not always acceptable.''
That's confiscation. But you may have missed the implied compensation for the land. That said, it's still confiscation in my view.
You truly are scared, Blade!
Mostly by the shadows cast in your own mind.
"A couple of bros…"
Terrifying! Shocking!
Coming soon, to a theatre near you, yes YOU!!!
You are dribbling again, Robert.
Put a bib on and hope someone comes along to feed you.
"Blade…
8 February 2022 at 4:48 pm
I will talk for myself without the need for sarcasm and snide remarks"
Robert…
Drowsy M. Kram…
8 February 2022 at 3:59 pm.
I have to say, Robert, you and my heavy bag have a lot in common.
you and my heavy bag have a lot in common
They could both lend you five IQ points without missing it?
Blade Colonization 101.make the conquered look bad belligerent dehumanised,
Your comment is pure racism send a couple of bros around.
When National put the $2 billion cap on settlements and only trivially compensated Maori connected to their tribe,deliberately dividing rural Maori with urban Maori who have suffered the worst of colonisation .
Poverty,Crime,health,education ,political representation.legal representation.
At every opportunity the rich and powerful who have benefited the most from Stolen lands ,Deliberately denegrate Maori for political purposes
While the majority of Maori got nothing but benefit cuts, unions were busted under National.Making life for Maori more difficult.
Had Maori got full compensation NZ would go to the top of the OECD in wealth and lack of poverty and inequality.
Maori have been screwed over and over in their country .
If Maori had maintained rightful ownership of their land you Blade would not be making such horrible comments.
Protests by the EB and Destiny Church outside Parliament pushing Qanon bs.
So stuff reckon "thousands" at parliament, while RNZ said "hundreds". Either way, seems most of the impact of from the obnoxious road use.
Funny detail from Stuff:
Guess who the adults are.
40,000 turned out for the Wellington climate strike march on Parliament (170,000 nation wide) v the estimated 1500 strong muppet assembly.
The kids are alright.
That's brilliantly straight-faced presentation that someone with a Twitter account might like to add to the Freedum convoy's hectic thread. Some might even take it literally and agree with the excellent advice offered. Such fun.
Far from 'us lefties' making a serious mistake by responding with ridicule, as Weka said earlier, sometimes it's the best and only way to deal with all the idiocracies. It might not make them go away or change many minds, but whether it's a great cartoon, a parody song, an alternative lipreading or a Tui Billboard (Bring Them Back!), a good belly laugh is better medication than yet another growl of annoyance or despairing sigh. A solid dose of ridicule is good for our mental health.
(Sorry, this is a reply to McFlock @ 18)
There are good historical precedents for ridiculing folk that exhibit a degree of sociopathy. Hitler is said to have been especially displeased with kiwi cartoonist, David Low |since those who had learned to laugh at him weren't going to march for him any time soon.
For the Covidiocy virus, laughter may indeed be the best medicine.