Everyone having a cuppa and lie down or just cancelling culture? I see latest Stuff headline that the bozo escaping the fence is waaaaaaaaaaaay worse than National leaking confidential patient details, unless they're that opinion writers own details no doubt.
Mosa posted this excellent al Jazeera article yesterday about how the New Zealand's media's endangered the country's health in conjunction with the Natz.
The article is worthy of a post in its own right. Here Glen Johnson describes the far right posturing of the media.
At the end of the article, he asks ‘Will the media hold the National Party to account?’
Your observation of Stuff’s headlines provides the answer.
"A case can be made that the nation's media, laundering many of the opposition's attack lines and big business talking points, have repeatedly endangered public health.
This was driven not only by the country's clutch of prominent Fox News-style commentators – Mike Hosking, Heather du Plessis-Allan and Duncan Garner – each of whom hawks anger and division to drive ratings, but by senior reporters and editors."
It's a counter to the multitude of opinion articles masquerading as fact (homeless man bs etc) that do attempt to influence NZers attitudes . Those articles put immense political pressure on the govt.I'm pretty sure without them we would have moved to level 1 at the time Bloomfield recommended.If we'd done that there would have been time to get the new testing regime securely implemented .
Wayne, of course it's an opinion piece. It said on the link supplied by Ed. It says on the article when opened as well.
It's not a good line to take, to criticise something for being what it is plain it is.
What critics should do, Wayne, is critique the opinion piece. Where is it deficient, partisan to the point of error and distortion?
I read it and was quite taken with the quality of the writing- the developed argument, the use of examples as evidence, the conclusions.
It's not enough to slag something for being partisan. By definition, in a binary political world, half of partisan writing should be OK.
So, my question is, having given some reasons as to why the article should be read in terms of style and approach, what are your concerns with its content?
"Clark, the country's most effective health minister in decades" – seems incontrovertial evidence that the thing was written by a Labour partisan out of touch with reality. Totally clueless about the functional role of the fourth estate in a democracy too. Note the binary framing.
I must be nearly impossible to agree on a measure for "most effective" – no Minister works outside the context of the government of which they form part. David Clark has been part of a government that knew Health needed a lot of remedial work – and that became clearer after they were elected, but it is also clear that Clark achieved more than just the essential – see https://www.labour.org.nz/progress-list and click on Health.
To put it another way, I think it would be hard to put many ahead of Clark; King had similar challenges (Covid apart) and similar advances in the field.
Can't comment on the Herald but Stuff not only produces overtly partisan opinion pieces (not leftist!) and frequently presents news which is so slanted, it should carry an 'opinion' warning.
Marie Leadbeater has had recent opinion pieces on West Papua and I think Rimpac. The readers submitted items are on the editorial page below the cartoon, and cover a wide variety of opinion topics.
They are well read, but everyone reading them knows they are that person's opinion. The readers will agree or not agree, and of course they articles often contain interesting factual information irrespective of the opinion within the item.
As for the libertarians, I presume you are thinking of John Roughan, who is on the staff (or at least was). Probably the most significant feature opinion writer on staff is Simon Wilson. I would say he votes Green based on what he writes.
No, there are probably not many Marxists writing in the paper, but would there even be 1000 Marxists in New Zealand as a whole?
The Al Jazeera article is an important critique of the National party reaction to the pandemic, which has bff even to take any angle to attack the govt, including leaking confidential patient information. It has revealed National as having no coherent response to the health situation. Barking at every car I think it is called. The media, with one or two exceptions have been the same. This undoubtedly put pressure on the govt who had to make the most crucial decisions very rapidly. Fortunately the govt were able to hold their nerve.
nzders appear to have seen through the hysterics of National and some media and labour led by Ardern are on course for a landslide victory. Well deserved and you must know this Wayne. Nothing National have done has earned the trust of nzders. We have all met people at parties who blow themselves up “we have the best summer house, wine, etc etc etc”. Or in Nationals case the best team. Boasting about being the best isn’t a policy it’s kinda pathetic. Nzders use to associate it with American show off. I am pleased that most of us see through that crap
Wayne why not discuss the substance of the opinion piece instead of trying to deflect the discussion into "everyone does opinion pieces"? Classic diversion tactic.
It's an opinion piece critiquing news reports. It has a point though- apart from politics we have seen in the business press numerous "News articles" which have largely been industry groups, demanding that the border be opened for their favoured group of employees or customers.
The dairy industry is a good example – it has repeated employer views extensively about the lack of workers but with no push back about the terms and conditions of the jobs ( many are short duration), why the industry has previously failed to train locals, why they are so "specialised" that a short term visa worker can do it on a minimum wage , what steps they have taken to attract local labour etc. It's as if a lot of the employer and right wing are allowed to operate in a question free zone.
He doesn't have the guts to discuss the substance of the article or to respond to anything anyone says about his empty and senseless attempt at dismissing it. Spray and walk away Wayne. Total slime.
I was pointing out the absurdity of an ex-National Party minister—a notorious one at that—hurling a loaded and demeaning epithet—"partisan"—at a serious and credible piece of journalistic analysis.
I'd like to dedicate this to you and Mrs Wayne, Wayne. And tell her no need to pull out the Elna (oops the pedal powered Singer) just yet, and Mrs Wayne's tablecloths are safe SO FAR.
And now that you're down with the kids running things these days, gimmee a hint, I need an exclusive. You were never 'on' with that old trout Michelle were ya? You know there's big talk of it and if the ragdoll media keep biting – you might have to front
Whoar – tell me ya weren't tho' eh?. (And just btw – not only do I have a deal on Remdesivir for you, but there's a few of the blue left for you)
Ed said it was an excellent article. Then you come along trying to dismiss that by saying it's merely "a partisan opinion article." So what? Nobody's saying it isn't.
If you don't agree with the contents of the article why don't you say why you don't agree? You're such a snake.
It was obviously biased. I agree with the critique of the Nats, but all that crap about the media fronting for them won't fool anyone with half a brain. Some in the media do favour the right, but most try to represent the broader public. 🙄
… Fox News-style commentators – Mike Hosking, Heather du Plessis-Allan and Duncan Garner – each of whom hawks anger and division to drive ratings…
Du Plessis-Allan and Garner were the Talentless Television Twosome from Tartarus in 2015…
HEATHER DU PLESSIS-ALLAN: Bad news today Dunc—One Direction’s broken up! DUNCAN GARNER: I don’t CARE. I really don’t. HEATHER DU PLESSIS-ALLAN:[suddenly uneasy, isolated] Heh, heh….
Trust Luke Malpass , the National shill for Stuff ("Coronavirus: How isolation breach trumps National's privacy botchup") to start the day with a WTF moment! Since when did a single wandering miscreant who immediately is fronting up to the Court attracted the opprobrium of most NZers trump the criminal acts of at least three political opportunists. As for Muller, how could he have acted in any other way, and why did he not act decisively 30 hours earlier, even if it might have been 'kinda legal? Why, even the announcement of a recycled RON took precedence over dealing with a miscreant MP when he was in front of the camera for his press presentation. If Stuff want to be paid for content – they will need to get their shit together, unless they intend to be a 'Trumpian' sponsored organ of the Party of Irrelevance.
Stuff have taken it off their front page, and I don't really mind them spouting RW garbage, if they spout LW garbage too. I pay a Stuff sub so keep an eye, they're fairly even. Great piece in Al Jazeera, "partisan", ha!!! Seems pretty factual to me.
What Malpass says about the dilemma is true. In fact it's what people have been saying on The Standard for ages. The balance between legal authority and health protection is a real challenge.
One week from today, Dr Mary L Trump’s controversial book, Too Much and Never Enough, will hit store shelves. Dr Trump, a trained clinical psychologist who earned a master’s and a doctoral degree from Adelphi University, has authored a 211-page exposé of how the Trump family “created the world’s most dangerous man”…
President Trump and his brother Robert Trump have been trying to stop the book’s publication since last month, by filing lawsuits to enforce a confidentiality agreement concerning a dispute over the estate of their father (and the author’s grandfather), Fred Trump Sr. But a New York State judge has so far refused to block the book’s publisher, Simon and Schuster, from releasing it to stores.
Dr Trump has been estranged from Donald Trump for years, and is the first member of the president’s family to break ranks with him and the rest of her relatives by writing a book about them.
Dr Trump, a trained clinical psychologist, says her uncle does meet all nine criteria needed to be diagnosed as a narcissist. But she writes that his mental problems are far more complicated than mere narcissism. “The fact is,” she explains, “Donald’s pathologies are so complex and his behaviors so often inexplicable that coming up with an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis would require a full battery of psychological and neuropsychological tests that he’ll never sit for.”
The good news is that Americans touted their system of democracy as the best for most of the 20th century, claiming that `anyone can become president', and anyone eventually did. Donald proved them right. Mentally-ill folk have equal rights, and seeing one get the top job is a genuine thrill for all true believers in democracy! 🥳
Before we go all gleeful about rediverting the Manapouri generation, let's take a moment for the shock and devastation this will cause to those families putting dinner on the table.
We are at our lowest economic ebb in a century, and this is simply a terrible blow for the people of Bluff, Invercargill, and Southland.
That's the likely outcome, because Transpower will be able to increase their charges because of the extra investment they will have to make in the lines to move the power northwards.
On the other hand, since Transpower is wholly owned by the government, I'm kinda OK with the money from increased energy costs going to the government. Kind of a wastrel tax. As long as provision is made for those at the bottom of the income scale to help them overcome the increased burden.
Right, so let's take the opportunity to get serious about sustainable industry for Southland.
I kinda like the idea of tasking Southland Institute of Technology with developing a range of electric vehicle conversion kits – preferably with a range extender option.
In the immediate future, upgrading the transmission lines to get Manapouri's power to the Waitaki basin is going to provide a bit of a helping hand for employment and business activity in the region, if it's managed well with that as a specific goal.
It would also be great to build a southern focus around Dunedin's engineering facilities like the Hillside rail workshop, set up fully carbon-free electric-powered factories, etc.
Let's not waste the chance by just reducing the power costs for corporate dairying expanding in mismatching environments.
If ever this government needed a reminder about the parasitical nature of multinational corporations, this brutal action while our economy is weakened by the effects of COVID 19……
If a decent interviewer like Pilger or Fisk had been asking the questions, this angle would have been the focus.
Gary Tong's interview was a measured and reasonable response, Shadbolt sounded like he'd had a very heavy night before, and managed to turn it into a Penny Simmons election advertisement. About what I'd expect out of him. If I have misinterpreted that, well I did have trouble following him and I was multitasking at the time.
Agree trickle…..my understanding is that Rio Tinto have been given heavily discounted electricity…..but the deal is secret….now they are blaming electricity prices for shutting up shop I think the public is entitled to know exactly what they are paying
Rio Tinto, Gina Reinhart, the woman who makes $2.5M every hour of every day and then suggested to the Australian Govt that she should be able to import workers from China who would work for $1 an hour, saving her company a fortune in labour costs
Those thousand folks do at least have the assurance that the newly-elected National MP for Southland will be available to explain to them how National will get them new jobs via business as usual.
So they just need to organise themselves into a queue at the door of his electorate office when it opens. Call the media to show the queue on the evening tv news, then interview them after they come out from getting the MP's explanation. The pertinent question would be what day they start their new job, so the media can report whatever common pattern emerges from the answers…
Most people directly affected will most likely live in the Invercargill electorate, not Clutha Southland. Last time Invercargill voted in a Labour MP was 2002, Mark Peck held the seat for the 1993 – 2002 terms (which is kind of remarkable, a big swing in 1993, I wonder if the boundaries were redrawn, or it was a rejection of Nats doubling down on neoliberalism).
In 2017 there was only a few hundred votes between the Nat MP and the L/NZF/G ones. Will be interesting to see who Labour stands this time.
You've been here long enough to know that I don't tolerate people making shit up about my views and politics. There is absolutely nothing in my comment about the Tiwai jobs, it's a comment about southern electorates and voting. I have even less time for this shit than normal because it's election year. How you respond to my comment now will determine how I moderate you in the future.
I just find the shifting of 1000 people at the very least losing their jobs in a small region into election chances of a party a tad distasteful on the same day the the 1000 find out their life might be screwed
On the other hand, the quantity of cheap power that is about to be unleashed could power many thousands of jobs – ones that don't send the profits off-shore.
Before we go all gleeful about rediverting the Manapouri generation, let's take a moment for the shock and devastation this will cause to those families putting dinner on the table.
How about – NO!
Redundancies happen all the time and I doubt that those thousand workers gave more than a moments thought to those who suffered them.
And, yes, the freeing up of that amount of electricity and the removal of the vast subsidies to a bunch of foreign bludgers is probably going to be beneficial to NZ.
Wayne, the Al Jazeera article is pretty balanced, fair and based on facts. What is wrong with that? Refreshing to read something like that after all the trump like media stuff doing its best to discredit the government in every way possible.
How do you feel about the sleaze permeating your party? Our PM has behaved with grace always. She has had every reason to go for Muller and co and the way they operate, but has not.
If she wanted a cup of tea and a lie down, like Muller, Hosking and co would have slaughtered her if that happened but poor Toddy was feeling the strain after a torrid few days.
The reports I heard was that he was a new arrival from India.
Remember, NZ imported nearly a million migrants over a decade, mostly to replace the massive migration out of NZ after 2011, around 400,000, at that time, nearl 10% of the population.
The exact one you described, it was a news report on the radio.
It's possible the person flying in from India was originally from Ubekistan or Florida or even NZ, but the assumption was that they were from India, given the population, of 2.2 Billion, say compared to NZ of 5 million
While I understand the face displayed on billboards Just is and it is tempting to want that, I think anyone breaking quarantine could be very vulnerable to vigilantism.
He also took selfies in the aisle and made phone calls using free wi-fi before returning to the hotel and waiting for police.
He tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday morning and is now facing charges, while the supermarket has been closed for cleaning and several people, including staff, are in isolation.
The man, speaking with the NZ Herald over the phone, reportedly said he felt "totally healthy and fine" and questioned his diagnosis, saying he had been given "no evidence" of actually having the virus…
When asked why he thought it was OK to leave the hotel, he reportedly said "no one told me anything".
He told the Herald that even people with Covid-19 are human, saying, "We are also people," but he didn't respond to questions about whether he thought he had put the public at risk by leaving the hotel.
FFS what did he think was going on? That the NZ government picks up everybody from the airport complete with minders and trucks them all off to a downtown hotel and pays their accommodation bill while they trot round sightseeing? I mean really?
If he's good enough to have a debit card and work a checkout then you think he'd be smart enough to work out that something was going on and he'd better pay attention.
People are dumb and shortsighted and stupid and devious and everything.
Don't trust anyone, you don't know what their motivations are. Plan for the worst, expect even worse.
Is this it? The organisation was such that an infected person walked out of quarantine/isolation? He could have gone to a couple of clubs, got into the spirit of things and over the next couple of weeks the virus could have started spreading over the Auckland area and Auckland could have been Melbourne?
If that is the case some people are not taking things seriously. They are not taking things seriously because they are dumb or they are simply not capable.
Am I over-dramatising it suggesting that some cock up of poor planning or poor carrying out of procedures could have ended up in lives being put at risk and millions and millions of dollars being the cost?
When you think about it – we are a bit of a wild west bunch quite often. It may seem refreshing and spontaneous and giving things a go to people, and yes sometimes. But a lot of it is rebellious, childish, self-centred, and lacking in self-discipline and not appreciating that there is a greater good out there. Everything can't revolve around self and immediate self-gratification – restraint is required from people old enough to be expected to be mature adults.
But then we make little effort to help parents socialise their children, and this simplistic approach to life carries from one generation to the next. No wonder we find our country now in a mess in the natural environment and the social environment as well, and those of us who have acquired some objective view have an uphill battle showing how the problems are linked. Being thoughtful adults isn't in the experience of many family lines dating from colonial times.
This person could have NZ citizenship and lived here for a number of years, so would be able to use all things you describe.
Have you been to India in the last decade? I only ask that as you assume that cos he's arrived from India, he has no concept of modern life, ie, credit cards and using self service, I think you'll find India is not that antiquated, in fact they probably designed some of that equipment, certainly some areas and states aren't that sofisticated.
Rio Tinto has bludged cheap power for decades, while thousands of our own people live in underheated, mouldy, dumps due to the high cost of electricity from the privatised power companies. Until such obvious inequities are seriously addressed they can sod off.
Just be aware that the actual energy cost is a bit under a third of a typical residential electricity bill. Transmission and lines charges are a bit over a third, retailer charges a sixth, GST a sixth, rats and mice the rest. So Meridian could give away the Manapouri power for free and it wouldn't reduce residential electricity bills much.
A broadly similar calculation would apply to Tiwai’s power bill. The costs of supplying the electricity are a major component, especially the costs involved in enabling some backup ability.
Having an aluminium smelter at one end of a long skinny network may not be a good idea in a post electricity reform and privatisation era.
Tiwai Point won't be paying any local distribution costs, they've got Transpower delivering right to their door. Their argument for getting reduced transmission charges from Transpower was basically that the spur line from Manapouri to Tiwai Point was just for them, so that was all they should pay for, and they didn't get much benefit from the rest of the grid so they shouldn't have to contribute to paying for it.
Some time back I had a stab at comparing their transmission bill to their electricity bill, from memory and published speculation about the various components, it appeared their transmission charges were about a quarter their electricity charges. From memory, the numbers were around a quarter billion to Meridian for the juice and 65 million to Transpower to get it to them
They also won't be paying retailer charges or GST or metering or any of the other rats and mice.
One big effect of the electricity market jiggery-pokery is over the last twenty years, the price per kWhr went from being roughly the same for residential, commercial and industrial customers, to big industrial users now paying maybe a third of what residential users pay, with commercial users somewhere in between.
edit
What about conceding a lower cost for electricity but they must accept responsibility as a company, to remove and deal with safely the Mataura and elsewhere dump of leftover stuff that produces ammonia gas if wet. They are not to offsell it to any other company, they are not to contract with some other company to remove it, they are to meet with government scientists and have big full and frank talks about the way to do this, using all known scientific information on dealing with it to cause it to be inert. This must be done within two years after discussions and satisfactory solution decided. The discussions to start from six months from now. There may be some machinery required to process the stuff and we could look at offering some assistance to pay for this, no GST something, something. We should throw ourselves into getting this done, and done right at reasonable terms and proceed apace, as the saying goes.
Get this done now while they are still here and operating, and left in a safe state. If they close down soon, it will be left sitting for us to deal with and we will never get these big boys back to the table. It is no use pontificating about what should happen, and that it isn't good environmentally.
And perhaps design some state housing that uses aluminium which is strong and light, and is going cheap at the moment on world markets, and we buy it at those prices and it is right in the country so should save some carbon costs.
Andre@6.2…
Power generation/supply/retail/wholesale is an artificial market created by National and unfortunately largely still supported by all parliamentary parties to satisfy the prevailing monetarist doctrine and structural neo liberalism NZ operates on. Meridian and the rest are creatures of legislation and prime examples of the penetration of state infrastructure by market forces and private capital.
The power companies of all stripes are essentially parasites on previously publicly owned and developed, hydro, thermal and fossil fuelled systems.
What has Rio Tinto contributed apart from environmental degradation, heavily subsidised jobs, and periodic blackmail?–even the Key Govt. gifted them further millions and Mr Key was meant to be a financial genius. Their last effort to get further concessions, despite employing a professional front organisation did not seem to get a lot of traction from locals anyway if meeting attendances and media impact are an indication.
@lprent – had a couple of comments just take a random walk into oblivion after hitting "submit comment". One just a few minutes ago in reply to Tiger Mountain just above, one last night. The one just now didn't have links or any even slightly controversial language.
edit: the redo of the reply to Tiger Mountain went through normally.
Lincoln Project: Slick about sick Trumpites and their doings and should rake in the shekels. Never ever trust them again, they say. Fair enough. But I don't trust anybody now. So what are they – hot air balloons with baskets touching the ground long enough to be filled with money which will rise and drift away for a distant destination?
Headline in today's Nelson Mail – 'Niece paints acid portrait of President'. I thought what a good art work that would be – some material with his face marked out with the facial contours sort of etched into it. It would make a good wall hanging of this epic leader, monumental. Think Han Solo Star Wars.
Yep, but fortunately for us his listener base is relatively small, for obvious reasons, he's only talking to an echo chamber, noboby with an IQ above their age listens to the Hosk.
Paddy Gower was in isolation for a day or so after using the same supermarket as the quarantine wanderer. He's tested negative and is now out and about again. What day did the dude go walk about? It seems a very short period of time for covid to develop enough to return a positive test. I think the risk is very low, but am curious how that is being managed. Is the idea that a true negative will be available within a few days?
It's a stunt caused by Gower's Loss of Relevance Condition or most likely he is even stupider than I ever thought as it's 3-4 days minimum for a conclusive test.
New Labour’s gamble that devolution would defang the independence movements in Britain’s Celtic nations seems to have dramatically backfired: instead, the result seems to be that London’s media pays far less attention to the currents threatening our union than they should. But more interesting than all of these poll results is the revelation that 27% of voters in England would back English independence from the United Kingdom.
So more than a quarter of the English electorate seem to be separatist. As political minorities go, that's substantial!
Quite apart from the defects already pointed out in the article – the only thing NZ has in quantity that Australia doesn't is snow. On the other hand they have more sun, more nightlife, more shopping , more….well everything. so why would they spend more here than we do there. Should reports like this even be issued. It doesn't reflect well on EY
Getting this ‘sponsored’ group on Facebook. Fairness in Focus.They are representing medical drug manufacturers. So why this name for a group of lobbyists?
Today's headline was "New Zealand ranks last out of 20 OECD countries for access to modern medicines."
So, how many OECD countries are there? 20? Are we bottom of the OECD countries for the number of modern medicines registered, the time it takes to access them and how many such medicines are publicly funded?
That's what they imply.
Well, folks, Colombia is number 37 to join, says Google.
It seems there are lies, damned lies and pharmaceutical statistics! Do we have fairness in Fairness in Focus's advocacy for the pharmaceutical companies?
The image gives the appearance that all those green pills are weighing the DNA down. Which may actually be close to the truth. I know DNA is twisted but that one seems to be trying to shake lose!
And what medical interventions are there to access? And which ones are available on public funds? And can we have these graded by price with their special aims and ailments listed as well? Also whether they are aids to cures, or suppressants able to prolong active life though not cure?
It might also ask what externally independently tested medications are available specialising in what afflictions? It seems like more hustling with us as chooks supposed to peck at anything the overlings choose to throw.
It is interesting that the police vetoed the request, Covid-19 reasons not referred to in this article, but because of their oft-heard wish not to allow any action that is not initiated by them, may have risk, and which does not assist them in some way.
In the April email, the New Zealand police referred to other barriers: The cost "to bring yourself from the US" and deploying a team for an "unknown length of time" with "no possible guarantee of success".
"Thank you for your kind offer, but unfortunately we cannot take you up on it," the police concluded…
The response to that was: "We're the ones saying we'll pay for it. We're not asking them to do it. I don't think he even referenced Covid – they just don't want to do it."
It is sad that these people have lost their son who is drowned at the bottom of a lake, and we are in a pandemic now, but it appears that the police are in charge of this matter and have refused the parents from ever having the right to conduct their own operation, which of course should be done in a professional manner. Something must be done further about this, rather than just an outright refusal, there should be a possibility to be reviewed every six months for three times and then finally in two years, say.
We need a Risk and Recovery Unit outside the normal policing, and with more expertise and a wider framework. People in the field may be part-time employed by a few permanent and well-experienced operations managers (no generic employees). They would be trained in what to look for that might relate to legal proceedings, but they would go beyond the police yoke that seems bounded by demands from police management following best practice guidelines.
Another thing is sad – that a number of things malfunctioned and caused this tourist's death.
Tyler Nii, 27, a tennis coach, did not survive after a double parachute failure over Lake Wakatipu in January 2018.
His lifevest also failed to inflate. The tandem-jump instructor survived…
The Nii family still do not have a death certificate. It is unclear why.
They did have a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) report, but they considered it so inept and incomplete they thought it did not deserve to be called an investigation.
It had been a long fight just to be told anything by authorities, Kevin Nii said.
Was it an avoidable disaster, and if not, why not? This is part of a line of injuries and deaths in our great outdoorsy, risky, physical-oriented tourist business. And one not set up properly and thoughtfully. It is disgraceful that we have the number of accidents and deaths that we do.
When Labour wins the election and is back in power, then we should set up an agency as part of the ACC to check how things could be run better. And restore people's right to sue with a cap, for aspects that are beyond ACC's remit.
This means that the loose way that geonet measurements of volcanic activity are graded, and that there will be controls on say the White Island tourist activities accordingly. We know that business has difficulty limiting itself and turning down the dollars in any sector. This one makes much money from taking people to a 'muttering' volcano and needs to be given definite limits.
In the meantime it would be good if these people could be asked to stay in touch and first, that the police negative be replaced by a guarded positive if possible with an unconnected expert's opinion on whether it could be done safely whether it was likely to be successful or not, and second that the situation would be looked at by some authority, perhaps tourism who would check whether there was a Covid-19 window which facilitated it. We want our tourism to continue in a better form than previously, and we do not want to lose our better-paying people because of bad reports about our being casual and unreliable.
Pilot Arthur Dovey escaped unharmed, but a wing on his World War II Yak-3 aircraft was destroyed after hitting one of the cherry pickers during landing in 2018…
The repair bill for the destroyed wing was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and Dovey wanted to recover those costs from show organisers.
Why should he have to go to High Court to get this paid for when it is obviously the Warbirds organisers at fault?
And is our self-congratulatory attitude undeserved about everything? Winning a farming award, and calling his animals bitches – how's that?
(Recently I read of a farmer who commented on how great cows were as animals, very patient, and docile, and they were all named. Still had to be culled in rotation, but there was one who had such a personality that she had acquired a special rating as hostess to visitors.)
Especially after we have to build high fences around all the facilities and have 24/7 police available to deal with those entitled individuals (luckily, there are not many yet, but surely the number is going to rise).
If this is a longer term thing, we should set up camp on an island for the new arrivals.
Now the police union are criticising the Govt because they have to guard these people in quarantine. They kinda have a point, why should the police guard these people? But maybe because all the fearmongering in the media the Govt has turned the level right up to 11?
NSW used the police and defence staff. Victoria used outsourced contractors. Look who has the massive outbreak and why.
We are using a mix of outsourced, defence and police. Oh and IIRC there was a comment for a security company spokesperson complaining about those people being low paid. Maybe the industry could fix that themselves.
Why can't the police work with the community instead of deciding who they want to protect and who not? Should we call in the Army?
I question why hospitals have to hire security guards? Protecting our public workers and places should be police work. Private people's cars and property should be protected but it seems that people anywhere generally seem to be down the list.
Wow, that guy sounds deranged. He's a republican though, so it's not surprising he knows nothing about the progressive wing of the Dems. He even names Harris and Warren as patron saints of progressives… what a joke.
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Let’s rip the shiny plastic wrapping off a festering truth: planned obsolescence is a deliberate scam, and governments worldwide, including New Zealand’s, are complicit in letting tech giants churn out disposable junk. From flimsy smartphones that croak after two years to laptops with glued-in batteries, the tech industry’s business model ...
When I first saw press photos of Mr Whorrall, an America PhD entomology student & researcher who had been living out a dream to finish out his studies in Auckland, my first impression, besides sadness, was how gentle he appeared.Press released the middle photo from Mr Whorrall’s Facebook pageBy all ...
It's definitely not a renters market in New Zealand, as reported by 1 News last night. In fact the housing crisis has metastasised into a full-blown catastrophe in 2025, and the National Party Government’s policies are pouring petrol on the flames. Renters are being crushed under skyrocketing costs, first-time buyers ...
Would I lie to you? (oh yeah)Would I lie to you honey? (oh, no, no no)Now would I say something that wasn't true?I'm asking you sugar, would I lie to you?Writer(s): David Allan Stewart, Annie Lennox.Opinions issue forth from car radios or the daily news…They demand a bluer National, with ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Do the 31,000 signatures of the OISM Petition Project invalidate the scientific consensus on climate change? Climatologists made up only 0.1% of signatories ...
In the 1980s and early 1990s when I wrote about Argentine and South American authoritarianism, I borrowed the phrase “cultura del miedo” (culture of fear) from Juan Corradi, Guillermo O’Donnell, Norberto Lechner and others to characterise the social anomaly that exists in a country ruled by a state terror regime ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
Chris Bishop has unveiled plans for new roads in Tauranga, Auckland and Northland that will cost up to a combined $10 billion. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from Aotearoa political economy around housing, poverty and climate in the week to Saturday, April 26:Chris Bishop ploughed ahead this week with spending ...
Unless you've been living under a rock, you would have noticed that New Zealand’s government, under the guise of economic stewardship, is tightening the screws on its citizens, and using debt as a tool of control. This isn’t just a conspiracy theory whispered in pub corners...it’s backed by hard data ...
The budget runup is far from easy.Budget 2025 day is Thursday 22 May. About a month earlier in a normal year, the macroeconomic forecasts would be completed (the fiscal ones would still be tidying up) and the main policy decisions would have been made (but there would still be a ...
On 25 April 2021, I published an internal all-staff Anzac Day message. I did so as the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, which is responsible for Australia’s civil defence, and its resilience in ...
You’ve likely noticed that the disgraced blogger of Whale Oil Beef Hooked infamy, Cameron Slater, is still slithering around the internet, peddling his bile on a shiny new blogsite calling itself The Good Oil. If you thought bankruptcy, defamation rulings, and a near-fatal health scare would teach this idiot a ...
The Atlas Network, a sprawling web of libertarian think tanks funded by fossil fuel barons and corporate elites, has sunk its claws into New Zealand’s political landscape. At the forefront of this insidious influence is David Seymour, the ACT Party leader, whose ties to Atlas run deep.With the National Party’s ...
Nicola Willis, National’s supposed Finance Minister, has delivered another policy failure with the Family Boost scheme, a childcare rebate that was big on promises but has been very small on delivery. Only 56,000 families have signed up, a far cry from the 130,000 Willis personally championed in National’s campaign. This ...
This article was first published on 7 February 2025. In January, I crossed the milestone of 24 years of service in two militaries—the British and Australian armies. It is fair to say that I am ...
He shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.Age shall not weary him, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningI will remember him.My mate Keith died yesterday, peacefully in the early hours. My dear friend in Rotorua, whom I’ve been ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on news New Zealand abstained from a vote on a global shipping levy on climate emissions and downgraded the importance ...
Hi,In case you missed it, New Zealand icon Lorde has a new single out. It’s called “What Was That”, and has a very low key music video that was filmed around her impromptu performance in New York’s Washington Square Park. When police shut down the initial popup, one of my ...
A strategy of denial is now the cornerstone concept for Australia’s National Defence Strategy. The term’s use as an overarching guide to defence policy, however, has led to some confusion on what it actually means ...
The IMF’s twice-yearly World Economic Outlook and Fiscal Monitor publications have come out in the last couple of days. If there is gloom in the GDP numbers (eg this chart for the advanced countries, and we don’t score a lot better on the comparable one for the 2019 to ...
For a while, it looked like the government had unfucked the ETS, at least insofar as unit settings were concerned. They had to be forced into it by a court case, but at least it got done, and when National came to power, it learned the lesson (and then fucked ...
The argument over US officials’ misuse of secure but non-governmental messaging platform Signal falls into two camps. Either it is a gross error that undermines national security, or it is a bit of a blunder ...
Cost of living ~1/3 of Kiwis needed help with food as cost of living pressures continue to increase - turning to friends, family, food banks or Work and Income in the past year, to find food. 40% of Kiwis also said they felt schemes offered little or no benefit, according ...
Hi,Perhaps in 2025 it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the CEO and owner of Voyager Internet — the major sponsor of the New Zealand Media Awards — has taken to sharing a variety of Anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to his 1.2 million followers.This included sharing a post from ...
In the sprint to deepen Australia-India defence cooperation, navy links have shot ahead of ties between the two countries’ air forces and armies. That’s largely a good thing: maritime security is at the heart of ...
'Cause you and me, were meant to be,Walking free, in harmony,One fine day, we'll fly away,Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day?Songwriters: Paul David Godfrey / Ross Godfrey / Skye Edwards.I was half expecting to see photos this morning of National Party supporters with wads of cotton ...
The PSA says a settlement with Health New Zealand over the agency’s proposed restructure of its Data and Digital and Pacific Health teams has saved around 200 roles from being cut. A third of New Zealanders have needed help accessing food in the past year, according to Consumer NZ, and ...
John Campbell’s Under His Command, a five-part TVNZ+ investigation series starting today, rips the veil off Destiny Church, exposing the rot festering under Brian Tamaki’s self-proclaimed apostolic throne. This isn’t just a church; it’s a fiefdom, built on fear, manipulation, and a trail of scandals that make your stomach churn. ...
Some argue we still have time, since quantum computing capable of breaking today’s encryption is a decade or more away. But breakthrough capabilities, especially in domains tied to strategic advantage, rarely follow predictable timelines. Just ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Pearl Marvell(Photo credit: Pearl Marvell. Image credit: Samantha Harrington. Dollar bill vector image: by pch.vector on Freepik) Igrew up knowing that when you had extra money, you put it under a bed, stashed it in a book or a clock, or, ...
The political petrified piece of wood, Winston Peters, who refuses to retire gracefully, has had an eventful couple of weeks peddling transphobia, pushing bigoted policies, undertaking his unrelenting war on wokeness and slinging vile accusations like calling Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick a “groomer”.At 80, the hypocritical NZ First leader’s latest ...
It's raining in Cockermouth and we're following our host up the stairs. We’re telling her it’s a lovely building and she’s explaining that it used to be a pub and a nightclub and a backpackers, but no more.There were floods in 2009 and 2015 along the main street, huge floods, ...
A recurring aspect of the Trump tariff coverage is that it normalises – or even sanctifies – a status quo that in many respects has been a disaster for working class families. No doubt, Donald Trump is an uncertainty machine that is tanking the stock market and the growth prospects ...
The National Party’s Minister of Police, Corrections, and Ethnic Communities (irony alert) has stumbled into yet another racist quagmire, proving that when it comes to bigotry, the right wing’s playbook is as predictable as it is vile. This time, Mitchell’s office reposted an Instagram reel falsely claiming that Te Pāti ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
In a world crying out for empathy, J.K. Rowling has once again proven she’s more interested in stoking division than building bridges. The once-beloved author of Harry Potter has cemented her place as this week’s Arsehole of the Week, a title earned through her relentless, tone-deaf crusade against transgender rights. ...
Health security is often seen as a peripheral security domain, and as a problem that is difficult to address. These perceptions weaken our capacity to respond to borderless threats. With the wind back of Covid-19 ...
Would our political parties pass muster under the Fair Trading Act?WHAT IF OUR POLITICAL PARTIES were subject to the Fair Trading Act? What if they, like the nation’s businesses, were prohibited from misleading their consumers – i.e. the voters – about the nature, characteristics, suitability, or quantity of the products ...
Rod EmmersonThank you to my subscribers and readers - you make it all possible. Tui.Subscribe nowSix updates today from around the world and locally here in Aoteaora New Zealand -1. RFK Jnr’s Autism CrusadeAmerica plans to create a registry of people with autism in the United States. RFK Jr’s department ...
We see it often enough. A democracy deals with an authoritarian state, and those who oppose concessions cite the lesson of Munich 1938: make none to dictators; take a firm stand. And so we hear ...
370 perioperative nurses working at Auckland City Hospital, Starship Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre will strike for two hours on 1 May – the same day senior doctors are striking. This is part of nationwide events to mark May Day on 1 May, including rallies outside public hospitals, organised by ...
Character protections for Auckland’s villas have stymied past development. Now moves afoot to strip character protection from a bunch of inner-city villas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest from our political economy on Wednesday, April 23:Special Character Areas designed to protect villas are stopping 20,000 sites near Auckland’s ...
Artificial intelligence is poised to significantly transform the Indo-Pacific maritime security landscape. It offers unprecedented situational awareness, decision-making speed and operational flexibility. But without clear rules, shared norms and mechanisms for risk reduction, AI could ...
For what is a man, what has he got?If not himself, then he has naughtTo say the things he truly feelsAnd not the words of one who kneelsThe record showsI took the blowsAnd did it my wayLyrics: Paul Anka.Morena folks, before we discuss Winston’s latest salvo in NZ First’s War ...
Britain once risked a reputation as the weak link in the trilateral AUKUS partnership. But now the appointment of an empowered senior official to drive the project forward and a new burst of British parliamentary ...
Australia’s ability to produce basic metals, including copper, lead, zinc, nickel and construction steel, is in jeopardy, with ageing plants struggling against Chinese competition. The multinational commodities company Trafigura has put its Australian operations under ...
There have been recent PPP debacles, both in New Zealand (think Transmission Gully) and globally, with numerous examples across both Australia and Britain of failed projects and extensive litigation by government agencies seeking redress for the failures.Rob Campbell is one of New Zealand’s sharpest critics of PPPs noting that; "There ...
On Twitter on Saturday I indicated that there had been a mistake in my post from last Thursday in which I attempted to step through the Reserve Bank Funding Agreement issues. Making mistakes (there are two) is annoying and I don’t fully understand how I did it (probably too much ...
Indonesia’s armed forces still have a lot of work to do in making proper use of drones. Two major challenges are pilot training and achieving interoperability between the services. Another is overcoming a predilection for ...
The StrategistBy Sandy Juda Pratama, Curie Maharani and Gautama Adi Kusuma
As a living breathing human being, you’ve likely seen the heart-wrenching images from Gaza...homes reduced to rubble, children burnt to cinders, families displaced, and a death toll that’s beyond comprehension. What is going on in Gaza is most definitely a genocide, the suffering is real, and it’s easy to feel ...
Donald Trump, who has called the Chair of the Federal Reserve “a major loser”. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories shortest from our political economy on Tuesday, April 22:US markets slump after Donald Trump threatens the Fed’s independence. China warns its trading partners not to side with the US. Trump says some ...
Last night, the news came through that Pope Francis had passed away at 7:35 am in Rome on Monday, the 21st of April, following a reported stroke and heart failure. Pope Francis. Photo: AP.Despite his obvious ill health, it still came as a shock, following so soon after the Easter ...
The 2024 Independent Intelligence Review found the NIC to be highly capable and performing well. So, it is not a surprise that most of the 67 recommendations are incremental adjustments and small but nevertheless important ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkThe world has made real progress toward tacking climate change in recent years, with spending on clean energy technologies skyrocketing from hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars globally over the past decade, and global CO2 emissions plateauing.This has contributed to a reassessment of ...
Hi,I’ve been having a peaceful month of what I’d call “existential dread”, even more aware than usual that — at some point — this all ends.It was very specifically triggered by watching Pantheon, an animated sci-fi show that I’m filing away with all-time greats like Six Feet Under, Watchmen and ...
Once the formalities of honouring the late Pope wrap up in two to three weeks time, the conclave of Cardinals will go into seclusion. Some 253 of the current College of Cardinals can take part in the debate over choosing the next Pope, but only 138 of them are below ...
The National Party government is doubling down on a grim, regressive vision for the future: more prisons, more prisoners, and a society fractured by policies that punish rather than heal. This isn’t just a misstep; it’s a deliberate lurch toward a dystopian future where incarceration is the answer to every ...
The audacity of Don Brash never ceases to amaze. The former National Party and Hobson’s Pledge mouthpiece has now sunk his claws into NZME, the media giant behind the New Zealand Herald and half of our commercial radio stations. Don Brash has snapped up shares in NZME, aligning himself with ...
A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 13, 2025 thru Sat, April 19, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
“What I’d say to you is…” our Prime Minister might typically begin a sentence, when he’s about to obfuscate and attempt to derail the question you really, really want him to answer properly (even once would be okay, Christopher). Questions such as “Why is a literal election promise over ...
Ruth IrwinExponential Economic growth is the driver of Ecological degradation. It is driven by CO2 greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel extraction and burning for the plethora of polluting industries. Extreme weather disasters and Climate change will continue to get worse because governments subscribe to the current global economic system, ...
A man on telly tries to tell me what is realBut it's alright, I like the way that feelsAnd everybody singsWe are evolving from night to morningAnd I wanna believe in somethingWriter: Adam Duritz.The world is changing rapidly, over the last year or so, it has been out with the ...
MFB Co-Founder Cecilia Robinson runs Tend HealthcareSummary:Kieran McAnulty calls out National on healthcare lies and says Health Minister Simeon Brown is “dishonest and disingenuous”(video below)McAnulty says negotiation with doctors is standard practice, but this level of disrespect is not, especially when we need and want our valued doctors.National’s $20bn ...
Chris Luxon’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister has been a masterclass in incompetence, marked by coalition chaos, economic lethargy, verbal gaffes, and a moral compass that seems to point wherever political expediency lies. The former Air New Zealand CEO (how could we forget?) was sold as a steady hand, ...
Has anybody else noticed Cameron Slater still obsessing over Jacinda Ardern? The disgraced Whale Oil blogger seems to have made it his life’s mission to shadow the former Prime Minister of New Zealand like some unhinged stalker lurking in the digital bushes.The man’s obsession with Ardern isn't just unhealthy...it’s downright ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is climate change a net benefit for society? Human-caused climate change has been a net detriment to society as measured by loss of ...
When the National Party hastily announced its “Local Water Done Well” policy, they touted it as the great saviour of New Zealand’s crumbling water infrastructure. But as time goes by it's looking more and more like a planning and fiscal lame duck...and one that’s going to cost ratepayers far more ...
Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
One pill makes you largerAnd one pill makes you smallAnd the ones that mother gives youDon't do anything at allGo ask AliceWhen she's ten feet tallSongwriter: Grace Wing Slick.Morena, all, and a happy Bicycle Day to you.Today is an unofficial celebration of the dawning of the psychedelic era, commemorating the ...
It’s only been a few months since the Hollywood fires tore through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of devastation, numerous deaths, over 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, and a once glorious film industry on its knees. The Palisades and Eaton fires, fueled by climate-driven dry winds, didn’t just burn houses; ...
Te Pāti Māori are appalled by Cabinet's decision to agree to 15 recommendations to the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector following the regulatory review by the Ministry of Regulation. We emphasise the need to prioritise tamariki Māori in Early Childhood Education, conducted by education experts- not economists. “Our mokopuna deserve ...
The Government must support Northland hapū who have resorted to rakes and buckets to try to control a devastating invasive seaweed that threatens the local economy and environment. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would ensure the biological definition of a woman and man are defined in law. “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
COMMENTARY:By Mandy Henk When the US Embassy knocked on my door in late 2024, I was both pleased and more than a little suspicious. I’d worked with them before, but the organisation where I did that work, Tohatoha, had closed its doors. My new project, Dark Times Academy, was ...
Transport Minister Chris Bishop said it would "provide better value for money by maximising private sector investment while keeping the taxpayers' contribution to a minimum". ...
The inquiry focused on vaccines and mandates; the lockdowns; and tools such as testing and tracing. The coalition government had also widened the scope of the inquiry to seek feedback on issues such as the social and economic impact of lockdowns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will launch another push on health on Sunday, announcing a re-elected Labor government would set up a free around-the-clock 1800MEDICARE advice line and afterhours GP telehealth service. The service would ...
To sleep, perchance to dreamIn the shadowy chambers of Lord Winston,The great clock strikes thirteen.All remains untouched, covered with dust,As it has done since the 1970s,In a simple world where boys were boys,Ladies were mini-skirted and compliant ladies,And Italian law students ruled the streetsIn their wide lapel zoot suits.King Lux ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will launch another push on health on Sunday, announcing a re-elected Labor government would set up a free around-the-clock 1800MEDICARE advice line and afterhours GP telehealth service. The service would ...
Asia Pacific Report Activists for Palestine paid homage to Pope Francis in Aotearoa New Zealand today for his humility, care for marginalised in the world, and his courageous solidarity with the besieged people of Gaza at a street theatre rally just hours before his funeral in Rome. He was remembered ...
By Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific presenter The doors of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican have now been closed and the coffin sealed, ahead of preparations for tonight’s funeral of Pope Francis. The Vatican says a quarter of a million people have paid respects to Pope Francis in the last ...
By Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific presenter The doors of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican have now been closed and the coffin sealed, ahead of preparations for tonight’s funeral of Pope Francis. The Vatican says a quarter of a million people have paid respects to Pope Francis in the last ...
Once or twice a week, Dr Margaret Henley rolls up the door on a windowless storage locker in central Auckland, pulls her plastic chair up to a picnic table and sifts through the history of netball in New Zealand.She works alongside netball archivist and statistician Todd Miller, together trawling through ...
Corin DannThe time is 7:36am on Wednesday, April 23, and you’re listening to Morning Report, New Zealand’s voice of the educated left on good incomes. I’m joined now by acting Prime Minister Winston Peters. Good morning Mr Peters.Winston PetersIt was, until I saw you. I much prefer your brother.Corin DannLiam ...
When Professor David Krofcheck got an email congratulating him on winning the Oscar of the science world, he dismissed it as a hoax.“I thought it was a scam, I thought it was a phishing email,” recalls Krofcheck, nuclear physicist at Auckland University.“Yeah right, I’ve won the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was.I’ve been re-watching Girls lately, the HBO classic that perfectly captures millennial women in the most painful way. I highly recommend it especially if you haven’t watched it before. Every character on the show is deeply flawed and frustrating in their own ...
With the double-header long weekend comes a welcome chance to escape streaming slop, writes Alex Casey. Over Easter I texted my husband Joe a sentence that perhaps nobody in human history has ever texted: “hurry up geostorm is starting”. No punctuation, no capitalisation, not because I was trying to ...
April 27 is Moehanga Day, the anniversary of the day in 1806 when Ngāpuhi warrior Moehanga became the first Māori to visit England. This is his story. The wooden ship sailed down the River Thames, past smoke stacks and brick factories, until it reached a wharf in industrial south London. ...
Heidi Thomson on how her husband’s illness and Daniel Kalderimis’s book Zest have enhanced her understanding of George Eliot’s great novel.Sometimes a book finds you at just the right time. In early December my husband John had a stroke. At the time we were both reading George Eliot’s Middlemarch, ...
The musician, actor and star of upcoming documentary Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds takes us through his life in television. Musician Marlon Williams has been on our My Life in TV wish list ever since he revealed during his My Boy tour that he wrote ‘Thinking ...
When she walked dripping into the lounge, hair wet from the shower, she took one look at Hamish and dropped her towel.He was holding her phone.—How long has it been going on for?His blue eyes blazed. She wanted to pluck them out and blow on them gently, cool them off. ...
A citizens’ assembly of 100 Porirua locals has provided the city council with more than a dozen recommendations about how to tackle climate change and make sure the region is resilient to worsening extreme weather events.Ranging from expanding access to renewable energy and incentivising the planting of native trees through ...
Comment: Democracy globally is in crisis. Around the world we are seeing the rise of nationalism and declining trust in democratic institutions. Politicians, even in Aotearoa, undermine the authority of core institutions like the media and the courts, which are critical for a functioning democracy. To live well together, in ...
Journalist Rod Oram, who died last year, would have been delighted to see the commitment to addressing climate change shown by the 23-year-old winner of a prize established in his memory.Mika Hervel, a student at Victoria University of Wellington, is today named winner of the Rod Oram Memorial Essay Prize, ...
COMMENTARY:By Nour Odeh There was faint hope that efforts to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza would succeed. That hope is now all but gone, offering 2.1 million tormented and starved Palestinians dismal prospects for the days and weeks ahead. Last Saturday, the Israeli Prime Minister once again affirmed ...
An ocean conservation non-profit has condemned the United States President’s latest executive order aimed at boosting the deep sea mining industry. President Donald Trump issued the “Unleashing America’s offshore critical minerals and resources” order on Thursday, directing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to allow deep sea mining. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In this election, voters are more distrustful than ever of politicians, and the political heroes of 2022 have fallen from grace, swept from favour by independent players. A Roy Morgan survey has found, for ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The former head of BenarNews’ Pacific bureau says a United States court ruling this week ordering the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to release congressionally approved funding to Radio Free Asia and its subsidiaries “makes us very happy”. However, Stefan Armbruster, who has ...
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 25, 2025. Labor takes large leads in YouGov and Morgan polls as surge continuesSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and ...
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 With just eight days until the May 3 federal election, and with in-person early voting well under way, Labor has taken a ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Fourth Estate, $35) Fictionalised true crime for foodies. 2 Sunrise on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Taneshka Kruger, UP ISMC: Project Manager and Coordinator, University of Pretoria Healthcare in Africa faces a perfect storm: high rates of infectious diseases like malaria and HIV, a rise in non-communicable diseases, and dwindling foreign aid. In 2021, nearly half of ...
Australia and New Zealand join forces once more to bring you the best films and TV shows to watch this weekend. This Anzac Day, our free-to-air TV channels will screen a variety of commemorative coverage. At 11am, TVNZ1 has live coverage of the Anzac Day National Commemorative Service in Wellington. ...
Our laws are leaving many veterans who served after 1974 out in the cold. I know, because I’m one of them.This Sunday Essay was made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.First published in 2024.As I write this story, I am in constant pain. My hands ...
Everyone having a cuppa and lie down or just cancelling culture? I see latest Stuff headline that the bozo escaping the fence is waaaaaaaaaaaay worse than National leaking confidential patient details, unless they're that opinion writers own details no doubt.
Is "White Jesus" an example of "cancel culture"? White washing Jesus?
Mosa posted this excellent al Jazeera article yesterday about how the New Zealand's media's endangered the country's health in conjunction with the Natz.
The article is worthy of a post in its own right. Here Glen Johnson describes the far right posturing of the media.
At the end of the article, he asks ‘Will the media hold the National Party to account?’
Your observation of Stuff’s headlines provides the answer.
"A case can be made that the nation's media, laundering many of the opposition's attack lines and big business talking points, have repeatedly endangered public health.
This was driven not only by the country's clutch of prominent Fox News-style commentators – Mike Hosking, Heather du Plessis-Allan and Duncan Garner – each of whom hawks anger and division to drive ratings, but by senior reporters and editors."
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/zealand-media-endangered-public-health-200707103532946.html
Brutal. Enjoyed that, thanks.
This is exactly the type of piece parts of our MSM should be creating but it's all owned.
Over to you labour, grow a pair and fix it !
I would reform the media as a top priority.
At present New Zealanders are subjected almost totally to the views of the billionaire class.
The Jazeera link (which I have read) is not remotely a news item. It is a partisan opinion article.
The Herald always has opinion articles submitted by readers from right across the political spectrum. They are what they are and readers know that.
It's a counter to the multitude of opinion articles masquerading as fact (homeless man bs etc) that do attempt to influence NZers attitudes . Those articles put immense political pressure on the govt.I'm pretty sure without them we would have moved to level 1 at the time Bloomfield recommended.If we'd done that there would have been time to get the new testing regime securely implemented .
+1 Well said
Pity the corporate media never airs that view.
Instead it trots out the partisan view its sponsors want them to say.
The view of the deathcult called neoliberalism.
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Wayne, of course it's an opinion piece. It said on the link supplied by Ed. It says on the article when opened as well.
It's not a good line to take, to criticise something for being what it is plain it is.
What critics should do, Wayne, is critique the opinion piece. Where is it deficient, partisan to the point of error and distortion?
I read it and was quite taken with the quality of the writing- the developed argument, the use of examples as evidence, the conclusions.
It's not enough to slag something for being partisan. By definition, in a binary political world, half of partisan writing should be OK.
So, my question is, having given some reasons as to why the article should be read in terms of style and approach, what are your concerns with its content?
"Clark, the country's most effective health minister in decades" – seems incontrovertial evidence that the thing was written by a Labour partisan out of touch with reality. Totally clueless about the functional role of the fourth estate in a democracy too. Note the binary framing.
Let’s have a look a the list, shall we?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_of_Health_(New_Zealand)
Let's take decades to mean </= to 30 years in this instance.
The statement that "Clark, the country's most effective health minister in decades" is risible.
😀
Yeah, and the bloody media kept it a secret from us the whole time.
Past three decades, since 1990.
5 Ministers of Health over 30 months tenure- Coleman 36 months, Ryall 59 m., King 59 m., Shipley 36 m. David Clark 32 m.
4 with 20-30 months tenure- Helen Clark 20 m., Hodgson 25 m., English 26 m., Upton 29 m.
There's the field for thirty years. Who was the most effective Minister of Health?
Fine with me, but the original Q who was the country's most effective health minister in decades.
I must be nearly impossible to agree on a measure for "most effective" – no Minister works outside the context of the government of which they form part. David Clark has been part of a government that knew Health needed a lot of remedial work – and that became clearer after they were elected, but it is also clear that Clark achieved more than just the essential – see https://www.labour.org.nz/progress-list and click on Health.
To put it another way, I think it would be hard to put many ahead of Clark; King had similar challenges (Covid apart) and similar advances in the field.
Your comment is risible!
Never seen opinion pieces from marxists in the Herald. Plenty of shrieking libertarians. They even get regular columns.
…across the right of the political spectrum
Can't comment on the Herald but Stuff not only produces overtly partisan opinion pieces (not leftist!) and frequently presents news which is so slanted, it should carry an 'opinion' warning.
Marie Leadbeater has had recent opinion pieces on West Papua and I think Rimpac. The readers submitted items are on the editorial page below the cartoon, and cover a wide variety of opinion topics.
They are well read, but everyone reading them knows they are that person's opinion. The readers will agree or not agree, and of course they articles often contain interesting factual information irrespective of the opinion within the item.
As for the libertarians, I presume you are thinking of John Roughan, who is on the staff (or at least was). Probably the most significant feature opinion writer on staff is Simon Wilson. I would say he votes Green based on what he writes.
No, there are probably not many Marxists writing in the paper, but would there even be 1000 Marxists in New Zealand as a whole?
Where do you see Damian Grant, Wayne?
act party meetings?
The Al Jazeera article is an important critique of the National party reaction to the pandemic, which has bff even to take any angle to attack the govt, including leaking confidential patient information. It has revealed National as having no coherent response to the health situation. Barking at every car I think it is called. The media, with one or two exceptions have been the same. This undoubtedly put pressure on the govt who had to make the most crucial decisions very rapidly. Fortunately the govt were able to hold their nerve.
nzders appear to have seen through the hysterics of National and some media and labour led by Ardern are on course for a landslide victory. Well deserved and you must know this Wayne. Nothing National have done has earned the trust of nzders. We have all met people at parties who blow themselves up “we have the best summer house, wine, etc etc etc”. Or in Nationals case the best team. Boasting about being the best isn’t a policy it’s kinda pathetic. Nzders use to associate it with American show off. I am pleased that most of us see through that crap
Wayne why not discuss the substance of the opinion piece instead of trying to deflect the discussion into "everyone does opinion pieces"? Classic diversion tactic.
It's an opinion piece critiquing news reports. It has a point though- apart from politics we have seen in the business press numerous "News articles" which have largely been industry groups, demanding that the border be opened for their favoured group of employees or customers.
The dairy industry is a good example – it has repeated employer views extensively about the lack of workers but with no push back about the terms and conditions of the jobs ( many are short duration), why the industry has previously failed to train locals, why they are so "specialised" that a short term visa worker can do it on a minimum wage , what steps they have taken to attract local labour etc. It's as if a lot of the employer and right wing are allowed to operate in a question free zone.
He doesn't have the guts to discuss the substance of the article or to respond to anything anyone says about his empty and senseless attempt at dismissing it. Spray and walk away Wayne. Total slime.
Do you imagine Wayne, that the Herald would remotely consider publishing an opinion piece such as the excellent Eljazeera column? Really?
It is a partisan opinion article.
Thus speaketh an ex-National Party minister.
This is not robust debate, this is pathetic 🙁
I was pointing out the absurdity of an ex-National Party minister—a notorious one at that—hurling a loaded and demeaning epithet—"partisan"—at a serious and credible piece of journalistic analysis.
We could not have done without your help so a Bigly thanks to you 😉
No, it's thanks to you, my friend. You're correct in assessing my initial comment as a tad pathetic.
Respect!
serious and credible
Oh, I suspect the author was indeed serious about trying to con readers into believing it was a valid critique – but credible only to the credulous… 😉
Colour me "credulous" Dennis – you can lead a horse to water…
Dennis wasn’t fooled.
"right across the political spectrum"..from light blue to dark blue?
I'd like to dedicate this to you and Mrs Wayne, Wayne. And tell her no need to pull out the Elna (oops the pedal powered Singer) just yet, and Mrs Wayne's tablecloths are safe SO FAR.
Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag
And smile, smile, smile,
While you've a lucifer to light your fag,
Smile, boys, that's the style.
What's the use of worrying?
It never was worth while
So pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag
And smile, smile, smile.
And now that you're down with the kids running things these days, gimmee a hint, I need an exclusive. You were never 'on' with that old trout Michelle were ya? You know there's big talk of it and if the ragdoll media keep biting – you might have to front
Whoar – tell me ya weren't tho' eh?. (And just btw – not only do I have a deal on Remdesivir for you, but there's a few of the blue left for you)
Ed said it was an excellent article. Then you come along trying to dismiss that by saying it's merely "a partisan opinion article." So what? Nobody's saying it isn't.
If you don't agree with the contents of the article why don't you say why you don't agree? You're such a snake.
Thanks for that
Really good article
It was obviously biased. I agree with the critique of the Nats, but all that crap about the media fronting for them won't fool anyone with half a brain. Some in the media do favour the right, but most try to represent the broader public. 🙄
Still battling for the underdog, eh Dennis – onya!
"Will the media hold the National Party to account?"
… Fox News-style commentators – Mike Hosking, Heather du Plessis-Allan and Duncan Garner – each of whom hawks anger and division to drive ratings…
Du Plessis-Allan and Garner were the Talentless Television Twosome from Tartarus in 2015…
Trust Luke Malpass , the National shill for Stuff ("Coronavirus: How isolation breach trumps National's privacy botchup") to start the day with a WTF moment! Since when did a single wandering miscreant who immediately is fronting up to the Court attracted the opprobrium of most NZers trump the criminal acts of at least three political opportunists. As for Muller, how could he have acted in any other way, and why did he not act decisively 30 hours earlier, even if it might have been 'kinda legal? Why, even the announcement of a recycled RON took precedence over dealing with a miscreant MP when he was in front of the camera for his press presentation. If Stuff want to be paid for content – they will need to get their shit together, unless they intend to be a 'Trumpian' sponsored organ of the Party of Irrelevance.
Stuff have taken it off their front page, and I don't really mind them spouting RW garbage, if they spout LW garbage too. I pay a Stuff sub so keep an eye, they're fairly even. Great piece in Al Jazeera, "partisan", ha!!! Seems pretty factual to me.
A lot of comments on a headline, but no link to the piece under it. Do people actually read the content before sounding off?
It is hardly an attack on the government. It provides context to the isolation problem.
What Malpass says about the dilemma is true. In fact it's what people have been saying on The Standard for ages. The balance between legal authority and health protection is a real challenge.
We now have an inside psych diagnosis of the Donald, from within his family: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/mary-trump-book-niece-summary-highlights-too-much-and-never-enough-a9606671.html
The good news is that Americans touted their system of democracy as the best for most of the 20th century, claiming that `anyone can become president', and anyone eventually did. Donald proved them right. Mentally-ill folk have equal rights, and seeing one get the top job is a genuine thrill for all true believers in democracy! 🥳
Rio Tinto smelter in Bluff to go.
1000 jobs on the line.
Before we go all gleeful about rediverting the Manapouri generation, let's take a moment for the shock and devastation this will cause to those families putting dinner on the table.
We are at our lowest economic ebb in a century, and this is simply a terrible blow for the people of Bluff, Invercargill, and Southland.
After that, a fantastic opportunity to put a seventh of our national electricity supply to better use.
Bring on fully electrified public transport etc. If our govt finds a way past the last one's part-privatisation of the system.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300052786/tiwai-point-to-close-1000-jobs-to-go
Guarantee if the price of power shifts it will be upwards.
If we let our broken 'market' have its way, yes.
That's the likely outcome, because Transpower will be able to increase their charges because of the extra investment they will have to make in the lines to move the power northwards.
On the other hand, since Transpower is wholly owned by the government, I'm kinda OK with the money from increased energy costs going to the government. Kind of a wastrel tax. As long as provision is made for those at the bottom of the income scale to help them overcome the increased burden.
More of a kinda poor people tax. Bloody wastrels, heating their kids' rooms.
Gotta harden 'em up for their walk to and from the mines. In the snow. Uphill both ways. With a howling gale right in their faces.
They have already had 3 years.
There is a limit on blaming not doing anything on the last lot.
I'd welcome them announcing de-privatisation of our electricity system. That might be what it would take, as the Nats knew.
Right, so let's take the opportunity to get serious about sustainable industry for Southland.
I kinda like the idea of tasking Southland Institute of Technology with developing a range of electric vehicle conversion kits – preferably with a range extender option.
In the immediate future, upgrading the transmission lines to get Manapouri's power to the Waitaki basin is going to provide a bit of a helping hand for employment and business activity in the region, if it's managed well with that as a specific goal.
The Southland Regional Development Agency is the primary conduit for the concepts.
They have representation from SRC, Invercargill Council, Gore, the two Trusts, Chamber of Commerce, the Polytech, and others.
It's not like they haven't seen it coming
It would also be great to build a southern focus around Dunedin's engineering facilities like the Hillside rail workshop, set up fully carbon-free electric-powered factories, etc.
Let's not waste the chance by just reducing the power costs for corporate dairying expanding in mismatching environments.
Sacha, it takes people and Governments to have the "vision" to believe it's possible and then make it happen.
The problem with today's world is that People with a vision are considered "Dreamers"
And Corin Dann fails to ask any tough questions of their spokesperson.
Predictable.
[Fixed error in user name]
Please add a link for those of us who missed the interview.
Link to the interview.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018754179
If ever this government needed a reminder about the parasitical nature of multinational corporations, this brutal action while our economy is weakened by the effects of COVID 19……
If a decent interviewer like Pilger or Fisk had been asking the questions, this angle would have been the focus.
Gary Tong's interview was a measured and reasonable response, Shadbolt sounded like he'd had a very heavy night before, and managed to turn it into a Penny Simmons election advertisement. About what I'd expect out of him. If I have misinterpreted that, well I did have trouble following him and I was multitasking at the time.
Shortages of labour on dairy farms in Southland workers will have to find new jobs.
Aluminium demand will stay depressed for many years the aircraft manufacturing industry will take years to recover.
So no future for Tiwae but Rio Tinto are blaming electricity prices.
Very good opinion Trickle.
Agree trickle…..my understanding is that Rio Tinto have been given heavily discounted electricity…..but the deal is secret….now they are blaming electricity prices for shutting up shop I think the public is entitled to know exactly what they are paying
Not secret. Criminally low. No time to find links right now but easy enough to find.
Rio Tinto, Gina Reinhart, the woman who makes $2.5M every hour of every day and then suggested to the Australian Govt that she should be able to import workers from China who would work for $1 an hour, saving her company a fortune in labour costs
Outright Greed.
Rio Tinto smelter in Bluff to go… 1000 jobs
Those thousand folks do at least have the assurance that the newly-elected National MP for Southland will be available to explain to them how National will get them new jobs via business as usual.
So they just need to organise themselves into a queue at the door of his electorate office when it opens. Call the media to show the queue on the evening tv news, then interview them after they come out from getting the MP's explanation. The pertinent question would be what day they start their new job, so the media can report whatever common pattern emerges from the answers…
Most people directly affected will most likely live in the Invercargill electorate, not Clutha Southland. Last time Invercargill voted in a Labour MP was 2002, Mark Peck held the seat for the 1993 – 2002 terms (which is kind of remarkable, a big swing in 1993, I wonder if the boundaries were redrawn, or it was a rejection of Nats doubling down on neoliberalism).
In 2017 there was only a few hundred votes between the Nat MP and the L/NZF/G ones. Will be interesting to see who Labour stands this time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invercargill_(New_Zealand_electorate)#Election_results
So the 1000 job loses and the rest directly working around the smelter aren't that big a deal?
Cool.
Great to see your priorities.
You weren't considerate to all the families directly/indirectly supported by a 5* hotel hosting returning kiwis in quarantine.
Priorities, you say. Have you checked for yours behind your fake outrage?
There's a thought.
Maybe they can convert the smelter to a 5 star hotel.
Heating wouldn't be an issue.
You've been here long enough to know that I don't tolerate people making shit up about my views and politics. There is absolutely nothing in my comment about the Tiwai jobs, it's a comment about southern electorates and voting. I have even less time for this shit than normal because it's election year. How you respond to my comment now will determine how I moderate you in the future.
I just find the shifting of 1000 people at the very least losing their jobs in a small region into election chances of a party a tad distasteful on the same day the the 1000 find out their life might be screwed
next time say that instead of making up shit about my beliefs.
Fair call. Will do.
ta.
Bro. I was about to say don't put your hand in the cage.
Yeah. Worked it out.
Just shows @ Ad. The gNatz should have gone to Specsavers. Woodhouse might have got himself a Musk instead of a Thiel. At least he does stuff.
On the other hand, the quantity of cheap power that is about to be unleashed could power many thousands of jobs – ones that don't send the profits off-shore.
How about – NO!
Redundancies happen all the time and I doubt that those thousand workers gave more than a moments thought to those who suffered them.
And, yes, the freeing up of that amount of electricity and the removal of the vast subsidies to a bunch of foreign bludgers is probably going to be beneficial to NZ.
Wayne, the Al Jazeera article is pretty balanced, fair and based on facts. What is wrong with that? Refreshing to read something like that after all the trump like media stuff doing its best to discredit the government in every way possible.
How do you feel about the sleaze permeating your party? Our PM has behaved with grace always. She has had every reason to go for Muller and co and the way they operate, but has not.
If she wanted a cup of tea and a lie down, like Muller, Hosking and co would have slaughtered her if that happened but poor Toddy was feeling the strain after a torrid few days.
This latest escapee from Isolation needs to be made an example of, bring the full force of the Law on him, 6 months in jail, no questions.
Make an example of him so that others may be deterred from attempting the same thing.
I'd like to say he was ignorant, but he new what he was doing. foreigners who simply don't give a shit.
If he was in managed isolation rather than quarantine, has to be an NZ citizen or resident rather than a foreigner.
Yes, but that doesn't mean he was born here.
The reports I heard was that he was a new arrival from India.
Remember, NZ imported nearly a million migrants over a decade, mostly to replace the massive migration out of NZ after 2011, around 400,000, at that time, nearl 10% of the population.
What reports did you hear?
Are you suggesting that only people born in New Zealand are New Zealanders?
No, you've misunderstood, NZ citizens, today, aren't necessarily born in NZ, you know, migrants gaining citizenship after meeting the criteria.
Yep
This person flew in from India. What report have you seen that suggest he is a migrant, and if he is what is your point?
The exact one you described, it was a news report on the radio.
It's possible the person flying in from India was originally from Ubekistan or Florida or even NZ, but the assumption was that they were from India, given the population, of 2.2 Billion, say compared to NZ of 5 million
How long after moving to NZ does someone stop being a 'foreigner'?
When they’re sixth generation or older.
Then 1 yrs community service in hospitals.
Yep, and his face displayed on massive billboards so Everyone knows who he is.
While I understand the face displayed on billboards Just is and it is tempting to want that, I think anyone breaking quarantine could be very vulnerable to vigilantism.
No let him do some time in jail. And a fine.
Agreed.
Still annoyed though.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. ~~ Albert Einstein.
Well said
Ha ha this is funny but sad. 32 year old man not grown out of stupid childhood, or perhaps reached his peak already and on the way down.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/man-escaped-auckland-isolation-says-hes-now-feeling-stressed-questions-positive-covid-19-test
He also took selfies in the aisle and made phone calls using free wi-fi before returning to the hotel and waiting for police.
He tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday morning and is now facing charges, while the supermarket has been closed for cleaning and several people, including staff, are in isolation.
The man, speaking with the NZ Herald over the phone, reportedly said he felt "totally healthy and fine" and questioned his diagnosis, saying he had been given "no evidence" of actually having the virus…
When asked why he thought it was OK to leave the hotel, he reportedly said "no one told me anything".
He told the Herald that even people with Covid-19 are human, saying, "We are also people," but he didn't respond to questions about whether he thought he had put the public at risk by leaving the hotel.
Self-pitying, self-centred juvenile twat.
Much, but that's how I interpreted his actions in the first place.
Before going into Isolation, the Govt officials make it Very Clear What the Responsibilities are, there is NO EXCUSE
Well he might be mentally challenged.
Nobody told him anything?
FFS what did he think was going on? That the NZ government picks up everybody from the airport complete with minders and trucks them all off to a downtown hotel and pays their accommodation bill while they trot round sightseeing? I mean really?
If he's good enough to have a debit card and work a checkout then you think he'd be smart enough to work out that something was going on and he'd better pay attention.
[Fixed error in e-mail address]
People are dumb and shortsighted and stupid and devious and everything.
Don't trust anyone, you don't know what their motivations are. Plan for the worst, expect even worse.
Is this it? The organisation was such that an infected person walked out of quarantine/isolation? He could have gone to a couple of clubs, got into the spirit of things and over the next couple of weeks the virus could have started spreading over the Auckland area and Auckland could have been Melbourne?
If that is the case some people are not taking things seriously. They are not taking things seriously because they are dumb or they are simply not capable.
Am I over-dramatising it suggesting that some cock up of poor planning or poor carrying out of procedures could have ended up in lives being put at risk and millions and millions of dollars being the cost?
When you think about it – we are a bit of a wild west bunch quite often. It may seem refreshing and spontaneous and giving things a go to people, and yes sometimes. But a lot of it is rebellious, childish, self-centred, and lacking in self-discipline and not appreciating that there is a greater good out there. Everything can't revolve around self and immediate self-gratification – restraint is required from people old enough to be expected to be mature adults.
But then we make little effort to help parents socialise their children, and this simplistic approach to life carries from one generation to the next. No wonder we find our country now in a mess in the natural environment and the social environment as well, and those of us who have acquired some objective view have an uphill battle showing how the problems are linked. Being thoughtful adults isn't in the experience of many family lines dating from colonial times.
👍 Yes
Also, the escapee should be Billed for his Isolation, the estimated cost of $4000 plus the cost of Police time identifying potential victims
Send them a message.
AND countdown should sue him for the cost of the cleaning and shut down.
Yes, make them responsible for their actions, this applies to everything in life.
Foreigners aren't necessarily the best at not giving a shit. We can do as well without even trying, often!
Yes, in fact, probably worse
What makes you think he's a foreigner, he knows how to use a self service checkout and obviously has a debit card, you won't find either in India.
This person could have NZ citizenship and lived here for a number of years, so would be able to use all things you describe.
Have you been to India in the last decade? I only ask that as you assume that cos he's arrived from India, he has no concept of modern life, ie, credit cards and using self service, I think you'll find India is not that antiquated, in fact they probably designed some of that equipment, certainly some areas and states aren't that sofisticated.
A Kiwi mate. Makes it worse.
Yes and No, being classified as a Kiwi today doesn't mean you born here.
Nearly 20% of Kiwi citizens today weren't born here, that's the result of a decade of high immigration.
Nothing new then.
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/maori-and-european-population-numbers-1838–1901
Rio Tinto has bludged cheap power for decades, while thousands of our own people live in underheated, mouldy, dumps due to the high cost of electricity from the privatised power companies. Until such obvious inequities are seriously addressed they can sod off.
does the govt hold any sort of bond to sort out the toxic waste
here is link from 2017.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/344491/toxic-smelter-waste-must-go-campaigner
Just be aware that the actual energy cost is a bit under a third of a typical residential electricity bill. Transmission and lines charges are a bit over a third, retailer charges a sixth, GST a sixth, rats and mice the rest. So Meridian could give away the Manapouri power for free and it wouldn't reduce residential electricity bills much.
https://www.meridianenergy.co.nz/your-home/pricing-and-rates/more-about-electricity-pricing
A broadly similar calculation would apply to Tiwai’s power bill. The costs of supplying the electricity are a major component, especially the costs involved in enabling some backup ability.
Having an aluminium smelter at one end of a long skinny network may not be a good idea in a post electricity reform and privatisation era.
No.
Tiwai Point won't be paying any local distribution costs, they've got Transpower delivering right to their door. Their argument for getting reduced transmission charges from Transpower was basically that the spur line from Manapouri to Tiwai Point was just for them, so that was all they should pay for, and they didn't get much benefit from the rest of the grid so they shouldn't have to contribute to paying for it.
Some time back I had a stab at comparing their transmission bill to their electricity bill, from memory and published speculation about the various components, it appeared their transmission charges were about a quarter their electricity charges. From memory, the numbers were around a quarter billion to Meridian for the juice and 65 million to Transpower to get it to them
They also won't be paying retailer charges or GST or metering or any of the other rats and mice.
One big effect of the electricity market jiggery-pokery is over the last twenty years, the price per kWhr went from being roughly the same for residential, commercial and industrial customers, to big industrial users now paying maybe a third of what residential users pay, with commercial users somewhere in between.
edit
What about conceding a lower cost for electricity but they must accept responsibility as a company, to remove and deal with safely the Mataura and elsewhere dump of leftover stuff that produces ammonia gas if wet. They are not to offsell it to any other company, they are not to contract with some other company to remove it, they are to meet with government scientists and have big full and frank talks about the way to do this, using all known scientific information on dealing with it to cause it to be inert. This must be done within two years after discussions and satisfactory solution decided. The discussions to start from six months from now. There may be some machinery required to process the stuff and we could look at offering some assistance to pay for this, no GST something, something. We should throw ourselves into getting this done, and done right at reasonable terms and proceed apace, as the saying goes.
Get this done now while they are still here and operating, and left in a safe state. If they close down soon, it will be left sitting for us to deal with and we will never get these big boys back to the table. It is no use pontificating about what should happen, and that it isn't good environmentally.
And perhaps design some state housing that uses aluminium which is strong and light, and is going cheap at the moment on world markets, and we buy it at those prices and it is right in the country so should save some carbon costs.
Andre@6.2…
Power generation/supply/retail/wholesale is an artificial market created by National and unfortunately largely still supported by all parliamentary parties to satisfy the prevailing monetarist doctrine and structural neo liberalism NZ operates on. Meridian and the rest are creatures of legislation and prime examples of the penetration of state infrastructure by market forces and private capital.
The power companies of all stripes are essentially parasites on previously publicly owned and developed, hydro, thermal and fossil fuelled systems.
What has Rio Tinto contributed apart from environmental degradation, heavily subsidised jobs, and periodic blackmail?–even the Key Govt. gifted them further millions and Mr Key was meant to be a financial genius. Their last effort to get further concessions, despite employing a professional front organisation did not seem to get a lot of traction from locals anyway if meeting attendances and media impact are an indication.
@lprent – had a couple of comments just take a random walk into oblivion after hitting "submit comment". One just a few minutes ago in reply to Tiger Mountain just above, one last night. The one just now didn't have links or any even slightly controversial language.
edit: the redo of the reply to Tiger Mountain went through normally.
The Lincoln Project are going hard after vulnerable senators, too.
Lincoln Project: Slick about sick Trumpites and their doings and should rake in the shekels. Never ever trust them again, they say. Fair enough. But I don't trust anybody now. So what are they – hot air balloons with baskets touching the ground long enough to be filled with money which will rise and drift away for a distant destination?
Headline in today's Nelson Mail – 'Niece paints acid portrait of President'. I thought what a good art work that would be – some material with his face marked out with the facial contours sort of etched into it. It would make a good wall hanging of this epic leader, monumental. Think Han Solo Star Wars.
(https://www.flickr.com/photos/coffeego/11303417565
But…but..affirmative something…
https://twitter.com/nick_kapur/status/1280150555667632129
ah yes the meritocracy
See Winston is in hospital for emergency surgery.
Too many dead rats?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12346737
Having his spleen vented?
Cute.
Florida man.
https://twitter.com/KwCongressional/status/1280816785827258368
https://twitter.com/KwCongressional/status/1280641525483999238
"KPop Agents" hyuck!!!! I see a new character for Sacha Baron Cohen coming up…
When the US stops interfering in other nations governance is when they can complain about other nations interfering in theirs.
I often have to edit away a couple of &nsp or something that produce double spacing each – lots of empty space at end. Why does it creep in so often?
I don’t know but in the comment above @ 11, there are 16 non-breaking spaces!!
Posted late last night so for those who missed reading this excellent story from Aljazeera.
" How New Zealand's media endangered public health "
This report from Glen Johnson of Aljazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/zealand-media-endangered-public-health-200707103532946.html
Thank you mosa.
Excellent article. I posted it earlier today and acknowledged your discovery of it the day before.
I'm the treasurer of the Whangaparaoa Labour Party LEC. A real battle in a blue electorate to drive up the party vote.
We are having a campaign launch dinner and fundraiser on 1 August. Link below.
https://tinyurl.com/y85txx9d
If you would like to help us increase the % of the party vote which we have in the last 2 elections, we would love to see you.
Mods, if this is inappropriate feel free to delete.
Sounds good. Not deletable surely, more delectable! Kia kaha.
Go well Stephen D!…I was once in charge of Whangaparaoa/Orewa end of what was then Rodney electorate,and acknowledge your situation.
Just found this interview with John Cambell, well worth the watch, relevent to the upcoming Cannabis Referendum.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/nationals-paula-bennett-greens-chl-e-swarbrick-go-head-over-cannabis-referendum
And here's another one on the same subject, but…
A warning, it's a Hosking rant
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?objectid=12344874&&ref=recommended
If that guy had a brain he'd be dangerous
Actually, he has a mouth and a megaphone, and he knows how to use these very well.
Yep, but fortunately for us his listener base is relatively small, for obvious reasons, he's only talking to an echo chamber, noboby with an IQ above their age listens to the Hosk.
Dirty Dairying is ruining this country
“If this farmer is the best of the best, the reputation of the dairy industry and New Zealand are in serious trouble.”
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2007/S00126/new-zealand-share-farmer-of-the-year-winner-a-profane-industry-poster-boy.htm
Bertie must be going for Arsehole of the Year as well.
He's got some stiff competition for that title.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KBZpBJhW6g4/WZ6s1NVYTVI/AAAAAAAALqQ/BzPalgGWRkI5NlW8DRoBwtQSTjkZaD6aQCLcBGAs/s1600/John%2BBanks%2BAsshole.jpg
https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/l/f/i/z/s/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.1240×700.1lfi0o.png/1504501119377.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Woodhouse#/media/File:Michael_Woodhouse.jpg
Paddy Gower was in isolation for a day or so after using the same supermarket as the quarantine wanderer. He's tested negative and is now out and about again. What day did the dude go walk about? It seems a very short period of time for covid to develop enough to return a positive test. I think the risk is very low, but am curious how that is being managed. Is the idea that a true negative will be available within a few days?
It's a stunt caused by Gower's Loss of Relevance Condition or most likely he is even stupider than I ever thought as it's 3-4 days minimum for a conclusive test.
lol. I haven't kept up on the testing regime, but there does seem to be a lot of confusion out there about it.
Yep saw the article yesterday and wondered how Gower managed to get tested and recieve the results in the same day, how long was he in Isolation?
I'd like to see him in isolation for the full 2 wks just to drive home it's not acceptable to flaunt the rules for a story
Perhaps he is one of those exceptional accelerate students, and he achieved his 2 weeks' isolation in a matter of mere hours…
Think the media are classed as essential workers, so presumably would have been fast tracked.
probably found out he was in the supermarket before the iso-jumper even got there.
Or the test came back "yeah, nah, you're just a bit of a drama queen".
Anticipating the Exit, in which England declares independence from the UK… https://unherd.com/thepost/english-nationalism-the-dog-that-is-starting-to-bark/
So more than a quarter of the English electorate seem to be separatist. As political minorities go, that's substantial!
Well given that 54% of 33% is decisive, it's overwhelming! eh.
An attempt at analysis, at least.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/122073190/fact-check-could-a-transtasman-bubble-really-raise-nzs-gdp-by-88b-by-christmas
They're still counting the wrong things I see.
Bean counters only see beans, heaps of beans.
Neolib bean counters only see monsanto-ed, monoculture soy beans.
GM beans are the best!
everyone will starve and civilisation will collapse without them.
Quite apart from the defects already pointed out in the article – the only thing NZ has in quantity that Australia doesn't is snow. On the other hand they have more sun, more nightlife, more shopping , more….well everything. so why would they spend more here than we do there. Should reports like this even be issued. It doesn't reflect well on EY
[Fixed error in e-mail address]
Ha! Only Hooton, bailing frantically but in vain, is missing (in action.)
Maybe Hooten has jumped overboard and is swimming for his life Drowsy.
rats leaving a sinking ship and all that
Great! Cartoonists are better than journalists.
Very apt, one of things I like about this cartoonist is that he has no political bias, he makes fun of whoever gives him the opportunity.
Getting this ‘sponsored’ group on Facebook. Fairness in Focus.They are representing medical drug manufacturers. So why this name for a group of lobbyists?
Today's headline was "New Zealand ranks last out of 20 OECD countries for access to modern medicines."
So, how many OECD countries are there? 20? Are we bottom of the OECD countries for the number of modern medicines registered, the time it takes to access them and how many such medicines are publicly funded?
That's what they imply.
Well, folks, Colombia is number 37 to join, says Google.
It seems there are lies, damned lies and pharmaceutical statistics! Do we have fairness in Fairness in Focus's advocacy for the pharmaceutical companies?
For more information visit: https://www.fairnessinfocus.co.nz/…
Misleading propaganda.
They only looked at 20 countries, for starters. I have no time now to discuss the report. Maybe Stunned Mullet has something useful to add?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/114928875/new-zealands-access-to-funded-medicines-well-behind-the-rest-of-the-world–report
https://www.medicinesnz.co.nz/fileadmin/user_upload/IQVIA_ICOMM_Report__August_2019___1_.pdf
The image gives the appearance that all those green pills are weighing the DNA down. Which may actually be close to the truth. I know DNA is twisted but that one seems to be trying to shake lose!
And what medical interventions are there to access? And which ones are available on public funds? And can we have these graded by price with their special aims and ailments listed as well? Also whether they are aids to cures, or suppressants able to prolong active life though not cure?
It might also ask what externally independently tested medications are available specialising in what afflictions? It seems like more hustling with us as chooks supposed to peck at anything the overlings choose to throw.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/420829/californian-family-s-bid-to-recover-son-s-body-from-nz-lake-rejected
It is interesting that the police vetoed the request, Covid-19 reasons not referred to in this article, but because of their oft-heard wish not to allow any action that is not initiated by them, may have risk, and which does not assist them in some way.
In the April email, the New Zealand police referred to other barriers: The cost "to bring yourself from the US" and deploying a team for an "unknown length of time" with "no possible guarantee of success".
"Thank you for your kind offer, but unfortunately we cannot take you up on it," the police concluded…
The response to that was: "We're the ones saying we'll pay for it. We're not asking them to do it. I don't think he even referenced Covid – they just don't want to do it."
It is sad that these people have lost their son who is drowned at the bottom of a lake, and we are in a pandemic now, but it appears that the police are in charge of this matter and have refused the parents from ever having the right to conduct their own operation, which of course should be done in a professional manner. Something must be done further about this, rather than just an outright refusal, there should be a possibility to be reviewed every six months for three times and then finally in two years, say.
We need a Risk and Recovery Unit outside the normal policing, and with more expertise and a wider framework. People in the field may be part-time employed by a few permanent and well-experienced operations managers (no generic employees). They would be trained in what to look for that might relate to legal proceedings, but they would go beyond the police yoke that seems bounded by demands from police management following best practice guidelines.
Another thing is sad – that a number of things malfunctioned and caused this tourist's death.
Tyler Nii, 27, a tennis coach, did not survive after a double parachute failure over Lake Wakatipu in January 2018.
His lifevest also failed to inflate. The tandem-jump instructor survived…
The Nii family still do not have a death certificate. It is unclear why.
They did have a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) report, but they considered it so inept and incomplete they thought it did not deserve to be called an investigation.
It had been a long fight just to be told anything by authorities, Kevin Nii said.
Was it an avoidable disaster, and if not, why not? This is part of a line of injuries and deaths in our great outdoorsy, risky, physical-oriented tourist business. And one not set up properly and thoughtfully. It is disgraceful that we have the number of accidents and deaths that we do.
When Labour wins the election and is back in power, then we should set up an agency as part of the ACC to check how things could be run better. And restore people's right to sue with a cap, for aspects that are beyond ACC's remit.
This means that the loose way that geonet measurements of volcanic activity are graded, and that there will be controls on say the White Island tourist activities accordingly. We know that business has difficulty limiting itself and turning down the dollars in any sector. This one makes much money from taking people to a 'muttering' volcano and needs to be given definite limits.
In the meantime it would be good if these people could be asked to stay in touch and first, that the police negative be replaced by a guarded positive if possible with an unconnected expert's opinion on whether it could be done safely whether it was likely to be successful or not, and second that the situation would be looked at by some authority, perhaps tourism who would check whether there was a Covid-19 window which facilitated it. We want our tourism to continue in a better form than previously, and we do not want to lose our better-paying people because of bad reports about our being casual and unreliable.
That is a sad tale. And great ideas.
Thanks I feel love
Yes sad. Good if we can smarten up in our approach to all sorts of things.
Now looking at another sort of botch up – to a vintage plane this time. On Radionz.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/420846/warbirds-over-wanaka-head-grilled-in-high-court-over-crash
Pilot Arthur Dovey escaped unharmed, but a wing on his World War II Yak-3 aircraft was destroyed after hitting one of the cherry pickers during landing in 2018…
The repair bill for the destroyed wing was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and Dovey wanted to recover those costs from show organisers.
Why should he have to go to High Court to get this paid for when it is obviously the Warbirds organisers at fault?
And is our self-congratulatory attitude undeserved about everything? Winning a farming award, and calling his animals bitches – how's that?
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2007/S00126/new-zealand-share-farmer-of-the-year-winner-a-profane-industry-poster-boy.htm
(Recently I read of a farmer who commented on how great cows were as animals, very patient, and docile, and they were all named. Still had to be culled in rotation, but there was one who had such a personality that she had acquired a special rating as hostess to visitors.)
I'm confused as to why the cops can apparently stop people boating on Lake Wakatipu and deploying an underwater drone.
Australia is looking at capping arrivals and charging for quarantine stays.
https://www.theguardian.com./australia-news/2020/jul/09/nsw-may-cap-numbers-of-people-arriving-in-australia-and-charge-for-hotel-quarantine
This will provide cover for the same move here.
Especially after we have to build high fences around all the facilities and have 24/7 police available to deal with those entitled individuals (luckily, there are not many yet, but surely the number is going to rise).
If this is a longer term thing, we should set up camp on an island for the new arrivals.
Now the police union are criticising the Govt because they have to guard these people in quarantine. They kinda have a point, why should the police guard these people? But maybe because all the fearmongering in the media the Govt has turned the level right up to 11?
NSW used the police and defence staff. Victoria used outsourced contractors. Look who has the massive outbreak and why.
We are using a mix of outsourced, defence and police. Oh and IIRC there was a comment for a security company spokesperson complaining about those people being low paid. Maybe the industry could fix that themselves.
Why can't the police work with the community instead of deciding who they want to protect and who not? Should we call in the Army?
I question why hospitals have to hire security guards? Protecting our public workers and places should be police work. Private people's cars and property should be protected but it seems that people anywhere generally seem to be down the list.
Music to clippity-clopp ears.
/
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/505924-judd-gregg-the-coming-biden-coup
Wow, that guy sounds deranged. He's a republican though, so it's not surprising he knows nothing about the progressive wing of the Dems. He even names Harris and Warren as patron saints of progressives… what a joke.
Talking points are out.
https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1281039709683187714
Kia Ora
The Am Show.
There is no mystery its dirty politics the underbelly is shining in Aotearoa.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora
Newshub.
That's the way charge the fools who are putting the whole of Aotearoa at risk of the virus.
That's good news people going on holiday in small towns in Aotearoa.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama.
That's is good to see some putea going to Wahine who have been negatively affected by the virus.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora
Newshub.
That's is great heaps of mahi for tradies.
A sugar tax is needed.
Ka kite Ano.
How exacrlty would a sugar tax help currently?
(Just curious)
Not curious just lazy Chris T.
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU
Kia Ora
Newshub.
Election time in Aotearoa.
Racist attacks on people by idiotic fools.
The Electric car market is going good.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
The Am Show.
It would be awesome to see Aotearoa stop burning coal and change to renewable energy.
Solar power installation subsidies would be great to.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Newshub.
Yes vegetables are expensive.
Mystery creek field days is online That's the way of the future the Internet.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama.
Yes Maori need to train for high paying mahi in the system minority cultures will be last unless the employer is Maori or of minority culture Pukana.
That's the way having cardiac arrests defibrillator on Te Marae.
We must remember what our Tipuna has achieved.
Ka kite Ano.