Good article on rehabilitation/deradicalisation programmes & the situation here with the Lynnmall attacker.
…
"He had problems with belonging and attachment, he was ostracised and clinically depressed and he did not have a lot of trust,” says Canberra-based criminologist Dr Clarke Jones.
Jones was called in to assess [him] and offered to design a rehabilitation programme for him, but says it was not put in place because there was no funding and the police had no appetite for it.
As more details emerge about the case there is growing anger and frustration about how his release was handled by Corrections and the police.
The Muslim Association says he should not have been left in the small Islamic community that did not have the capacity or the capability to support him.
Corrections has defended its handling of [the attacker] and has outlined the measures it took.
Other counter terror experts have told The Detail deradicalisation or rehabilitation would have been difficult because he was unwilling.
So what is a rehabilitation programme and what does it take to successfully deradicalise an individual?":
"Mothers and sisters
Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand says her group has been calling for years for more financial and professional support for community groups.
No support is “like having some first time driver driving a Maserati. “If you have a psychosis you don’t send them to the local dairy to get support,” she says. Any rehabilitation programme needs women at the table.
“The most effective in deradicalising people are the mothers or the sisters.”
…
(Personally I'm a wee bit dubious about that one. There have been several cases overseas where mothers &/or sisters were radicalised too, or where the jihadist adheres rigidly to the Quran's teaching that women are subordinate to males & have no business telling them what to do, & they didn't dare expose their son or brother to authorities – Gezza)
Im hoping it gets clarified as to where he was radicalized… if its in 2016 as his mum said that means it happened here? Or he travelled back to Sri Lanka around that time?
Agree we need to know how & where he was radicalised. He didn't travel back to Sri Lanka. His mum there claimed he was radicalised by Iraqi & Syrian neighbours in NZ. An article I posted late yesterday by a young female Muslim academic pointed out that sectarian mosques are developing here now,
He could just have been a psychiatrically disturbed loner who was subjected to racial abuse (he was reported by one dark-skinned witness to have ignored her & specifically targeted white people) – it flipped him over the edge & he radicalised himself on the internet.
A very comprehensive analysis & opinion piece by Paul Buchanan. With some new background info.
Among other things he canvasses the many forms of terrorism, & looks at the question Robert Guyton raised here the other day. Was the LynnMall attacker actually a terrorist?
…
"… rather than an act of terrorism or terrorist act (take your pick), what I saw on Sept. 5 was the commission of a hate crime. I recognize that NZ does not have a hate crime statute (as far as I know) and understand that hate crimes are usually designated as acts of violence committed against individuals or groups because of who they are (e.g. gays, Muslims, redheads). Here I use the phrase “hate crime” because Mr. S’s hatred and rage was directed at non-Muslim society in general and because of the lack of compliance with the definitions and description of terrorism mentioned above.
It does not make the supermarket attacks any less heinous than those done deliberately as terrorist attacks with the same (thankfully non-fatal) outcome. But it does help distinguish between underlying motive and rigorousness of method, which in turn helps prevent us from being suckered into agreeing and complying with the agendas of security officials and vested “experts” alike."
Google is your friend. Open your mind and learn something about the topic, which might make you a wee bit less dubious. Easy to criticise from your key-board sitting in your armchair and not doing the mahi.
I've been doing te mahi on this topic for years. Islam & Islamic terrorism are huge subjects with multiple layers & complexities.
Islam ranges anywhere from very liberal & progressive to very conservative. I’ve only ever personally known 3 Muslims reasonably well & they were all lovely, loving, genuine folk.
Could you be more specific about exactly what you mean?
Sorry weka. This early iPad2 just can't cope with the site. It's too old & hangs constantly, requiring constant re-typing, & re-checking that it hasn't inserted characters from the text field into the name or email address.
I find it quite hard commenting on TS even on my new iphone (although I'm logged in so I don't get the typo issue). I'll have a talk to Lynn because it's not just you, it's been a consistent issue in the last year or so.
One suggestion I have is to type your comment in another app eg Text Edit (if that's available on your ipad) and then cut and paste into the text field.
I'm also curious if the name and email address fields are auto-filling or if you have to retype them each time.
Yes, once I post the first comment the fields auto-fill.
But after posting 2 or 3 times, it just slows right down, the text field takes ages to open up, and when it does, clicking in it does NOTHING. No text appears. Or if it does, it might suddenly jump up into the name or email addy field.
This iPad2's got the last iOS version for this model. It's just too old, not enuf RAM, and can't easily access a lot of sites – including "busy" news-sites with embedded videos & animated ads etc. these days.
(Just FYI, for my first comment today at the top of this page, I used the iPad’s Notes app, but I didn’t notice that the excerpts I posted used the LynnMall attacker’s name twice. Even though I was able to edit them out (great having that function here 👍🏼) as soon as I submitted it, I think that was why that one went into moderation.)
You were quite specific about what you are a wee bit dubious. I challenged you to self-educate and possibly remove some of your doubt. Never mind, it was obviously asking too much of you.
My point was that where the mothers & sisters are part of a modern day, normal, liberal & progressive Muslim family (which, in NZ, by far the overwhelming majority are) there's not usually any need for them to be involved in rehabilitation & deradicalisation programmes. Their sons & brothers are well-socialised just in their normal upbringing.
Where sons & brothers go off the rails for whatever reason & get sucked into extremist fundamentalist ideology, they usually cleave to Taliban & IS-like beliefs that their womenfolk have no right to direct them, that it should be the other way round.
The LynnMall attacker's mum (& others in his whanau) say they tried to talk him out of his extremist beliefs, but they couldn't. There've been female suicide attackers, as well as men. The Sri Lankan bombings after the Christchurch mosques attacker were perpetrated by a whole family unit, I think.
The reasons for these attacks are complex. “Lone wolves” are individuals; they don’t fit into a box. And one-size-fits-all derad programmes don’t work for everyone. They need to be tailored to the individual, from what I’ve read. Paul Buchanan's done a good analysis (posted above) of whether this attacker was even a terrorist.
But if you think I'm meaning something other than what I've said, & that you can read my mind, & I can read yours, you're mistaken.
As expected, you’re sticking to your guns and refuse to open your mind and widen your horizon. Do you ever switch eyes?
When I read a quote like that, my first reaction is to do some research. You did not, because you already know the answer, don’t you?
However, if you’re not a wee bit dubious about it and in fact quite agree with that statement by Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand then indeed I was mistaken and I apologise for the confusion.
I see these issues from as many sides & viewpoints as I can. I'm not fixed in my views on Islam, Muslims, or Islamic terrorists, & I still have no flippin idea what you're on about. I'm not a mind reader.
I thought this was a better place to swap knowledge & opinions than, say, Kiwiblog.
But it's all right, mate. I've lost interest. All the best with the mind-reading & cryptography.
Final comment: I agree with her that ideally there should be "women at table" in any derad programme. My comment was in relation to "the mothers & sisters being the most effective" at deradicalising people.
I haven't seen anything in my research yet to back that up. And I've spent enuf time explaining why that doesn't always work.
My comment was in relation to "the mothers & sisters being the most effective" at deradicalising people.
I haven't seen anything in my research yet to back that up. And I've spent enuf time explaining why that doesn't always work.
So close yet so far.
At least we’re talking about one and the same thing here. Phew!
Of course, you haven’t seen any research to back that up [darn algorithms], and you didn’t go looking for it either. You simply wrote if off and criticised it as something dubious.
You cannot explain anything if you haven’t seen any other research and because you haven’t seen anything else, until today from Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand, you didn’t go looking for it either. It is a circular argument and a sign of confirmation bias AKA a dog chasing its own tail.
QED
BTW, where is that odd reasoning coming from that something that doesn’t always work has no validity or veracity? How would you know anyway if you haven’t seen or done any research to back that up? It is an escape route for you in case there’s some research to back it up, so you can fob it off ‘because it doesn’t always work’.
QED
So, if it is not the most effective, is it effective at all, in your opinion? Maybe we find some kind of middle ground here …
Most of the research & reports I've come across so far is from the UK, where they were developing serious problems with increasing numbers of Muslim inmates convicted for criminal offences getting radicalised in the prisons.
They've had various different programmes in different prisons & a relatively recent conprehensive review following attacks by ex-inmates.
There's still mixed success, I believe. One paper (or article) indicated that the most effective programmes have been those run by a couple of well-known & respected de-radicalised extremists themselves.
One of them says he de-radicalised himself. He just concluded over time that killing innocents was obviously wrong, couldn't be justified & wended his own way out & into more orthodox Islam.
As to whether mothers & sisters might be effective in some cases, sure. It could well be that Alia is right about mothers & sisters being the best de-radicalisers for some.
But it doesn't follow that just because she holds the position she does, & said it, that they are in all cases (for reasons I've already traversed). Any more than The Pope can tell us how to rehabilitate sexual offending priests.
As to whether mothers & sisters might be effective in some cases, sure. It could well be that Alia is right about mothers & sisters being the best de-radicalisers for some.
But it doesn’t follow that just because she holds the position she does, & said it, that they are in all cases (for reasons I’ve already traversed).
I agree with the first part. I don’t think Aliya Danzeisen argued the second part.
Don’t you wonder why she’d hold “the position she does”? Do you think that it is because of her PoV and/or maybe because there’s possibly some actual research to back it up?
Don’t you wonder why she’d hold “the position she does”?
No. I assume she has the skills, knowledge, motivation & drive to fill it and sees a need for the Council to exist.
Do you think that it is because of her PoV and/or maybe because there’s possibly some actual research to back it up?
I don't know. I haven't come across anything yet that reaches the conclusion she posits. I mention those other matters I do because I've been interested in this topic for years. Ever since 9/11. I've read the Quran. Read many Hadith. Started with a few of the usual suspect anti-Muslim sites. Debated with Muslims online. Got caught out having only the most cursory understanding of Islam, & spent years finding out how complex and multi-faceted it is.
Nobody's an expert, not even Muslims, in every sect or aspect of Islam. There's not a completely rigid doctrine. It's quite interesting how much is left to Imams & scholars to consider and issue opinions (fatwahs) on. Sharia has numerous different interpretations. Not all Islamic countries have the same Sharia codes.
Blimin iPad2 inserted extra characters into my username! Reply's gone into moderation.
But I'll add that I've only known 3 Muslims reasonably well. 1 female Pakeha convert, 1 Iraqi divorced female, & 1 Somali gentleman that I worked with for 2 years. They were all lovely, peaceful, loving people.
Extent and Volume are two completely different measurements. The first is 2 dimensional and second has 3 dimensions. Your excitement is about what used to be a skyscaper now being a thin slab of concrete.
I suspect that you're a founding member of the modern flat-earth society. They appear to have dimensional myopia as well.
BTW: You should really rename yourself as just Thick or Ignorant. Grumpy would imply that you know how to think – and apparently that isn't the case. I'm not sure that you aren't engaging in false advertising.
Fresh water freezes at a higher temperature than salt water.
Fresh water is also lighter than salt water.
Before it is mixed by wave action and or currents, fresh water floats on top of salt water in a thin layer.
Glaciers are made of fresh water.
Glaciers have been melting into the sea at a record rate, causing a freshening of the Northern Ocean.
This freshening is slowing the Atlantic Meritional Overturning Current, AMOC, that transports heat from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere, causing a cooling effect at the North Pole particularly.
AlJazeera tv newshour is reporting that international reaction to the new Taliban interim Cabinet appointments is mixed.
[The reporter's Charlotte Bellis, ex-TV three, in Kabul, who has established very good personal relationships with their leadership & complains to them if she is abused or mistreated by their less-sophisticated footsoldiers. Aljaz tv has several Kiwi reporters & news anchors & technical staff]
China has pledged $31 million US in aid.
Locals' reactions range from support of their appointees & wishes for them to now just get on with governing, providing jobs, getting the ecomony back up & running etc – to disappointment & resentment there are no women Cabinet Ministers, & no other sects or ethnic minority appointments.
This remains to be seen, Ad. These dudes are a bit of an enigma at the moment.
Taliban footsoldiers & local rural commanders from the countryside aren't usually very well educated & they have longstanding strong conservative cultural & religious views.
But I get the impression many of them just joined the Taliban because half the country's in need of humanitarian aid & there are no jobs. The former Afghan government was thoroughly corrupt. Some local commanders didn't even pay their troops or police officers. Bribery was endemic.
Now the Taliban can legally acquire taxes & customs duties & start building up cash reserves. But some educated women there, & ethnic minorities, are showing every sign of not being prepared to put up with the excessively patriarchial & sectarian rule of the past Taliban.
And despite their claims they've now subdued Panjshir, there is still the core of an insurgency against them. Masoud (?) their leader hasn't been caught & has called for a national uprising against them.
There's no shortage of arms in Afganistan. It's a rugged country whose various ethnic tribes have been switching allegiances & warring with each other for centuries.
If the Talban don't adapt & adopt a more tolerant, more inclusive, less misogynistic approach, they could get bogged down & economically ruined trying to subdue an insurgency against THEM.
By the end of this year Afghanistan will have a similar global media profile to Kyrgystan or Mozambique. Tens of billions of aid will somehow continue to be poured into them for little result other than a few getting rich.
Sadly they are showing every sign of being the same reactionary & extreme misogynistic patriarchal fundamentalists that they were in the 1990s.
And the Western world in punishing them financially is probably just going to increase the poverty & misery of their own trapped civilians – unless they are toppled or forced to liberalise their concept of Sharia by an insurgency.
They are making the Saudis & Iranians look liberal & progressive.
I know quite a few Iranians and I have found them to be exceptionally liberal, decent folks. They seem to live in a different universe to their leaders.
Yes, I believe you. Aljazeera tv has shown interviews of young Iranians, males & females (20-30-somethings) sitting together, al fresco, at cafes in Tehran. Using their smartphones, several speaking English & other languages, wearing blue jeans, & though the young ladies are also wearing hijabs, they're just draped over the back half of their head, their hair is showing, they wear makeup.
They're well-educated. They don't dare directly criticise the theocratic regime but they clearly don't like its fundamentalism. There have been middle-aged interviewees there who are also very liberal. They don’t like so much of their country’s budget being spent on the Republican Guard’s fighters in other countries; they want it spent on social programmes & infrastructure etc.
Out in the provinces, I gather, the old conservative misogynous theocratic rules of behaviour & dress are more likely to still be enforced, & generally speaking the extremely powerful state-within-a-state Republican Guard is feared, even in Tehran.
These more enlightened, liberal, young Muslim folk give hope for the future as the Old Guard die out. But Trump's alienated them with the resumption of even worse sanctions that have impacted them too, & with his assassination of Soleimani.
It's quite likely. A cybersecurity expert on RNZ this morning says yesterday was possibly just the start of a ransom campaign. They take sites down with DDOS attacks for an hour or two one day, then do it again next day or two for longer, then contact the site owners & tell them how much they need to pay to make them stop.
Sorry wrong link to support above. Do our frontline staff whilst under the pressure that this outbreak is placing them under, need added stress like this? And do we need to risk extending Aucklands level 4 further ?
To go to the length of "The allegations come as WorkSafe issued an improvement notice, forcing the Auckland DHB to engage with its health and safety representatives." to achieve warranted improvement is simply eye watering.
Any idea why we havent had a massive public health campaign outlining some of the health factors that greatly increase the likelihood of ending up severly ill with Covid?
Surely if we can get prople to cut down on tobacco, alcohol and get some exercise it will help both prognosis and ease some burden on the health system?
I could hazard a guess that those factors are already well-known to the folk that would note & heed such advice, & that those who currently ignore such advice would continue to do so, so why bother?
Plus, the Covid 19 & Three Waters campaigns are probably already costing a fortune?
Today's Herald title for Mike Hosking states the Government is good at creating fear but we need hope. If the Government had played the Delta virus down and not repeatedly emphasised how dangerous and contagious it was, the first person to accuse the Government of looking the other way would be Mike Hosking himself. One suspects he is not happy the case numbers are trending down.
Hosking is the mind-killer. Hosking is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face Mike Hosking. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where Hosking has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
The Hosk is always trying to dig up dirt and put a spin on things to discredit the current Government, take anything he says with a grain of salt, he is not the smartest kid on the block.
This article really buries the lead in deference to the exploiters! I do admit that gas may be a necessary; evil transitional energy source, but still; better left in the ground, if at all possible. And even if it is taken out, the land should be put right before the exploiters cut and run. The quote in the 3rd last paragraph from Taranaki Energy Watch spokesperson Sarah Roberts, should have been much nearer the top, with a better headline like: Polluters whinge about the proposed cost of being made to clean up after themselves.
Tamarind Taranaki collapsed in December 2019 leaving the Crown with a bill of $300 million to safely decommission the offshore Tui Field.
The government says the Bill will close loopholes which allowed Tamarind to walkaway from its responsibilities.
If passed into law, it would hold companies liable for decommissioning costs in perpetuity, even if permits or licences have been on-sold and it would make company directors criminally liable for not fulfilling decommissioning obligations, even if they had since left the post…
"Given that the oil and gas industry is saying that they are good corporate citizens, I think it is quite a reasonable expectation of the Crown to expect that they meet the obligation of decommissioning and I think it's always been implicit that they do and it's actually written into a number of documents, but it's just making that obligation explicit."
Note that it was only Tamarind Taranaki Limited who "collapsed", the larger Tamarind multinational continues to thrive, and even operate in Taranaki:
The rest of the Tamarind Group is ring-fenced and unaffected by the above actions taken in respect of the Tui entities. This includes Tamarind New Zealand Onshore Operations (the acquisition which completed in September 2019), Tamarind’s 56% operating share in the Galoc field in the Philippines, and Tamarind’s various interests in Australia.
Why on earth is Middlemore Hospital allowing visitors in to see sick relatives during this level 4 lockdown. If Residential care homes are forbidding visitors because of their frail vulnerable residents why are sick and immune compromised patients not being treated with the same level of care. Staff are having to deal with haphazard mask use by visitors and one apparently managed to get it over with a patient in a room with other patients. Middlemore needs a management broom sweep.
We are managing to reduce positive cases on a daily basis on sheer luck alone. There are some crazy decisions being made during this pandemic. Riding along on a wing and a prayer. Pray it stays that way.
According to the blog of the Live Update on Stuff by Brittney Deguara (good job!), one of Bloomfield’s staffers has been in contact with the Nurses’ Organisation about the approach to visitors by ADHB and it appears to be consistent with national policy. It will be reviewed and revised by MoH and the updated guidance is expected soon and will apply to all DHBs.
Many of us have had to make concessions eg unable to visit terminally ill, missing funerals of close relatives etc.
Do we have a 0 risk factor in our elimination strategy or not? I thought we are doing everything possible to eliminate, obviously not everything. Imagine an outbreak as a result of this policy, and being told that Auckland has to stay at level 4 for another month or more. All so a few feel privileged to visit those in hospital, why not at retirement villages where those residence are separated from family ?
When my parents were going through the illnesses they had at the end of their life they were often in Middlemore. There really isn't enough staff to keep people comfortable only enough to keep them alive. Things like spoon feeding them so they eat, helping them to the toilet rearranging pillows and just reassuring them is something family can do to keep them more comfortable. I think it would be very hard when visitors aren't allowed for vulnerable people.
My phones relatively new I cant get it to paste links on TS everywhere else is fine my tablet maybe 2 years old I can comment at all with again only on TS
In the tool bars above the typing window, there is a symbol that looks like a diagonal bracket around a slash (the empty diagonal brackets/ chainlink beside it unlinks links from quoted text which saves moderator time). To link you now have to click that and paste the link into the URL box that appears.
Speaking of saving the kids, why are schools still exempt from L2 protocols? So we now have masks and no standing up in buses, unless its a school bus. We now have masks in all indoor venues, unless its a school.
It'd go a long way to encouraging pre-teens to wear masks if masks of appropriate size were provided for them by schools. My elder child can wear an adult one (with a couple of twists of straps to shorten it), but no chance with my six year old! Her Granny got measurements the other day and is having some sewn for her, but there's a bit of a waiting list for some reason.
Also the cost is not inconsiderable. A fresh disposable mask every school for two kids would be at least $10/ week. A custom mask (two really needed; so one can be washed while the other worn) would be more initially, but less longterm (except they'd get lost like socks).
So for a solo parent on a benefit, that's really not possible without cutting into bill money.
I was thinking more of secondary schools. Children under 12 are not required to wear masks at all.
My daughter’s school has over 1600 students plus teachers. With all the students passing each other in hallways every hour and forming into different groups for each class there quite some potential to spread the virus.
I agree that the state should be providing masks for schools to distribute to students. There is a duty of care.
I don't want that no. But requiring students be vaccinated in order to attend school is a considerably more complex issue than simply having them wear masks under level 2. If a secondary school student stops at the shop on the way to school or if they use public transport they are required to wear a mask, but not on a crowded school bus and in a crowded school. Schools are already pedantic about their pathetic school uniform policies so adding a mask can't be a big deal from an enforcement perspective.
My daughter’s school has brought in a level 2 policy that the students can't leave during the day unless a parent picks them up which is not a level 2 protocol, but do nothing about masks. Well a big F off to that.
What a load of totalitarian nonsense! Each year, 100s of Kiwis die of the flu and despite safe and effective vaccines being available, it was never made mandatory. Ever. I don’t hope you’re going to suggest that this should be added to the list of mandatory measures, together with meningitis perhaps, and maybe HPV too for good measure. FFS, this is Aotearoa-New Zealand, not some dystopia from a Mad Max movie. The people most at risk of severe illness and death form Covid-19 are the unvaccinated ones. In the current outbreak, most positives are unvaccinated; the actual numbers are somewhere, but I can’t be arsed trying to find them right now.
There was surprisingly muted protest when they brought in biometric chips into passports, iris-reading scanners and full body scanners at international airports. It's a post-9-11 cost of living.
Did anyone wear a condom before the AIDS epidemic? Pretty standard way of public health now.
We've given up so many civic freedoms under level 4, we will certainly lose a few permanently to keep the gains we've attained.
Welcome to the new Post-Covid world of vaccine mandates. Like 9/11 we will follow the US example and see compulsory vaccines first on all health workers, airlines, enforcement staff like Policy and military, then frontline workers, then customer staff, hotel staff, bar staff, …
…and then all those health insurers are going to remind every single workplace of the premiums all unvaccinated workers will cost them.
… straight after that Worksafe is going to be part of enforcing the liability of employers for correctly supplied and correctly worn PPE.
We have a disease that is caused by the movement of people through air. It's not the flu, or meningitis, or chicken pox.
Aotearoa-New Zealand is going to comply with what the rest of the world tells them to comply with.
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I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
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Good article on rehabilitation/deradicalisation programmes & the situation here with the Lynnmall attacker.
…
"He had problems with belonging and attachment, he was ostracised and clinically depressed and he did not have a lot of trust,” says Canberra-based criminologist Dr Clarke Jones.
Jones was called in to assess [him] and offered to design a rehabilitation programme for him, but says it was not put in place because there was no funding and the police had no appetite for it.
As more details emerge about the case there is growing anger and frustration about how his release was handled by Corrections and the police.
The Muslim Association says he should not have been left in the small Islamic community that did not have the capacity or the capability to support him.
Corrections has defended its handling of [the attacker] and has outlined the measures it took.
Other counter terror experts have told The Detail deradicalisation or rehabilitation would have been difficult because he was unwilling.
So what is a rehabilitation programme and what does it take to successfully deradicalise an individual?":
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018811353/turning-around-a-terrorist
…
"Mothers and sisters
Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand says her group has been calling for years for more financial and professional support for community groups.
No support is “like having some first time driver driving a Maserati. “If you have a psychosis you don’t send them to the local dairy to get support,” she says. Any rehabilitation programme needs women at the table.
“The most effective in deradicalising people are the mothers or the sisters.”
…
(Personally I'm a wee bit dubious about that one. There have been several cases overseas where mothers &/or sisters were radicalised too, or where the jihadist adheres rigidly to the Quran's teaching that women are subordinate to males & have no business telling them what to do, & they didn't dare expose their son or brother to authorities – Gezza)
Im hoping it gets clarified as to where he was radicalized… if its in 2016 as his mum said that means it happened here? Or he travelled back to Sri Lanka around that time?
Agree we need to know how & where he was radicalised. He didn't travel back to Sri Lanka. His mum there claimed he was radicalised by Iraqi & Syrian neighbours in NZ. An article I posted late yesterday by a young female Muslim academic pointed out that sectarian mosques are developing here now,
He could just have been a psychiatrically disturbed loner who was subjected to racial abuse (he was reported by one dark-skinned witness to have ignored her & specifically targeted white people) – it flipped him over the edge & he radicalised himself on the internet.
Nobody knows.
A very comprehensive analysis & opinion piece by Paul Buchanan. With some new background info.
Among other things he canvasses the many forms of terrorism, & looks at the question Robert Guyton raised here the other day. Was the LynnMall attacker actually a terrorist?
…
"… rather than an act of terrorism or terrorist act (take your pick), what I saw on Sept. 5 was the commission of a hate crime. I recognize that NZ does not have a hate crime statute (as far as I know) and understand that hate crimes are usually designated as acts of violence committed against individuals or groups because of who they are (e.g. gays, Muslims, redheads). Here I use the phrase “hate crime” because Mr. S’s hatred and rage was directed at non-Muslim society in general and because of the lack of compliance with the definitions and description of terrorism mentioned above.
It does not make the supermarket attacks any less heinous than those done deliberately as terrorist attacks with the same (thankfully non-fatal) outcome. But it does help distinguish between underlying motive and rigorousness of method, which in turn helps prevent us from being suckered into agreeing and complying with the agendas of security officials and vested “experts” alike."
http://www.kiwipolitico.com/2021/09/the-supermarket-stabbing-spree-was-not-a-terrorist-act/
Google is your friend. Open your mind and learn something about the topic, which might make you a wee bit less dubious. Easy to criticise from your key-board sitting in your armchair and not doing the mahi.
I've been doing te mahi on this topic for years. Islam & Islamic terrorism are huge subjects with multiple layers & complexities.
Islam ranges anywhere from very liberal & progressive to very conservative. I’ve only ever personally known 3 Muslims reasonably well & they were all lovely, loving, genuine folk.
Could you be more specific about exactly what you mean?
Please check your username before commenting each time.
the mods are already grumpy about the number of times we have to attend to this issue. The onus is on commenters to check each time.
Sorry weka. This early iPad2 just can't cope with the site. It's too old & hangs constantly, requiring constant re-typing, & re-checking that it hasn't inserted characters from the text field into the name or email address.
Think I'll just give you all a break & sod off.
I find it quite hard commenting on TS even on my new iphone (although I'm logged in so I don't get the typo issue). I'll have a talk to Lynn because it's not just you, it's been a consistent issue in the last year or so.
One suggestion I have is to type your comment in another app eg Text Edit (if that's available on your ipad) and then cut and paste into the text field.
I'm also curious if the name and email address fields are auto-filling or if you have to retype them each time.
What do you mean by hangs constantly?
From memory Lynn says it's a user end issue, but it's so constant now and it never used to happen, so I don't really know what is going on.
Yes, once I post the first comment the fields auto-fill.
But after posting 2 or 3 times, it just slows right down, the text field takes ages to open up, and when it does, clicking in it does NOTHING. No text appears. Or if it does, it might suddenly jump up into the name or email addy field.
This iPad2's got the last iOS version for this model. It's just too old, not enuf RAM, and can't easily access a lot of sites – including "busy" news-sites with embedded videos & animated ads etc. these days.
(Just FYI, for my first comment today at the top of this page, I used the iPad’s Notes app, but I didn’t notice that the excerpts I posted used the LynnMall attacker’s name twice. Even though I was able to edit them out (great having that function here 👍🏼) as soon as I submitted it, I think that was why that one went into moderation.)
cheerio gazza, see ya
I'll pass your farewell on to gazza – if I can find him.
Cheerio rood. 👍🏼
sigh
You were quite specific about what you are a wee bit dubious. I challenged you to self-educate and possibly remove some of your doubt. Never mind, it was obviously asking too much of you.
Have a nice day.
My point was that where the mothers & sisters are part of a modern day, normal, liberal & progressive Muslim family (which, in NZ, by far the overwhelming majority are) there's not usually any need for them to be involved in rehabilitation & deradicalisation programmes. Their sons & brothers are well-socialised just in their normal upbringing.
Where sons & brothers go off the rails for whatever reason & get sucked into extremist fundamentalist ideology, they usually cleave to Taliban & IS-like beliefs that their womenfolk have no right to direct them, that it should be the other way round.
The LynnMall attacker's mum (& others in his whanau) say they tried to talk him out of his extremist beliefs, but they couldn't. There've been female suicide attackers, as well as men. The Sri Lankan bombings after the Christchurch mosques attacker were perpetrated by a whole family unit, I think.
The reasons for these attacks are complex. “Lone wolves” are individuals; they don’t fit into a box. And one-size-fits-all derad programmes don’t work for everyone. They need to be tailored to the individual, from what I’ve read. Paul Buchanan's done a good analysis (posted above) of whether this attacker was even a terrorist.
But if you think I'm meaning something other than what I've said, & that you can read my mind, & I can read yours, you're mistaken.
deep sigh
As expected, you’re sticking to your guns and refuse to open your mind and widen your horizon. Do you ever switch eyes?
When I read a quote like that, my first reaction is to do some research. You did not, because you already know the answer, don’t you?
However, if you’re not a wee bit dubious about it and in fact quite agree with that statement by Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand then indeed I was mistaken and I apologise for the confusion.
I see these issues from as many sides & viewpoints as I can. I'm not fixed in my views on Islam, Muslims, or Islamic terrorists, & I still have no flippin idea what you're on about. I'm not a mind reader.
I thought this was a better place to swap knowledge & opinions than, say, Kiwiblog.
But it's all right, mate. I've lost interest. All the best with the mind-reading & cryptography.
Final comment: I agree with her that ideally there should be "women at table" in any derad programme. My comment was in relation to "the mothers & sisters being the most effective" at deradicalising people.
I haven't seen anything in my research yet to back that up. And I've spent enuf time explaining why that doesn't always work.
Hugs.
So close yet so far.
At least we’re talking about one and the same thing here. Phew!
Of course, you haven’t seen any research to back that up [darn algorithms], and you didn’t go looking for it either. You simply wrote if off and criticised it as something dubious.
You cannot explain anything if you haven’t seen any other research and because you haven’t seen anything else, until today from Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand, you didn’t go looking for it either. It is a circular argument and a sign of confirmation bias AKA a dog chasing its own tail.
QED
BTW, where is that odd reasoning coming from that something that doesn’t always work has no validity or veracity? How would you know anyway if you haven’t seen or done any research to back that up? It is an escape route for you in case there’s some research to back it up, so you can fob it off ‘because it doesn’t always work’.
QED
So, if it is not the most effective, is it effective at all, in your opinion? Maybe we find some kind of middle ground here …
Thank you for the hugs, BTW.
Most of the research & reports I've come across so far is from the UK, where they were developing serious problems with increasing numbers of Muslim inmates convicted for criminal offences getting radicalised in the prisons.
They've had various different programmes in different prisons & a relatively recent conprehensive review following attacks by ex-inmates.
There's still mixed success, I believe. One paper (or article) indicated that the most effective programmes have been those run by a couple of well-known & respected de-radicalised extremists themselves.
One of them says he de-radicalised himself. He just concluded over time that killing innocents was obviously wrong, couldn't be justified & wended his own way out & into more orthodox Islam.
As to whether mothers & sisters might be effective in some cases, sure. It could well be that Alia is right about mothers & sisters being the best de-radicalisers for some.
But it doesn't follow that just because she holds the position she does, & said it, that they are in all cases (for reasons I've already traversed). Any more than The Pope can tell us how to rehabilitate sexual offending priests.
Thank you.
I agree with the first part. I don’t think Aliya Danzeisen argued the second part.
Don’t you wonder why she’d hold “the position she does”? Do you think that it is because of her PoV and/or maybe because there’s possibly some actual research to back it up?
No. I assume she has the skills, knowledge, motivation & drive to fill it and sees a need for the Council to exist.
I don't know. I haven't come across anything yet that reaches the conclusion she posits. I mention those other matters I do because I've been interested in this topic for years. Ever since 9/11. I've read the Quran. Read many Hadith. Started with a few of the usual suspect anti-Muslim sites. Debated with Muslims online. Got caught out having only the most cursory understanding of Islam, & spent years finding out how complex and multi-faceted it is.
Nobody's an expert, not even Muslims, in every sect or aspect of Islam. There's not a completely rigid doctrine. It's quite interesting how much is left to Imams & scholars to consider and issue opinions (fatwahs) on. Sharia has numerous different interpretations. Not all Islamic countries have the same Sharia codes.
Blimin iPad2 inserted extra characters into my username! Reply's gone into moderation.
But I'll add that I've only known 3 Muslims reasonably well. 1 female Pakeha convert, 1 Iraqi divorced female, & 1 Somali gentleman that I worked with for 2 years. They were all lovely, peaceful, loving people.
Good news! Arctic and Antarctic sea ice volume is the highest it has been for 9 years! We are saved!
https://osisaf-hl.met.no/v2p1-sea-ice-index
Actually, probably not. The extent is highest for 9 years, but that doesn't also mean that the volume is likewise up.
And it is thinning as per a Russian captain (see https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/09/08/on-thin-ice-near-north-pole-a-warning-on-climate-change-a74995).
And the 84,000km2 lost v the 3000km2 gained?
Extent and Volume are two completely different measurements. The first is 2 dimensional and second has 3 dimensions. Your excitement is about what used to be a skyscaper now being a thin slab of concrete.
I suspect that you're a founding member of the modern flat-earth society. They appear to have dimensional myopia as well.
BTW: You should really rename yourself as just Thick or Ignorant. Grumpy would imply that you know how to think – and apparently that isn't the case. I'm not sure that you aren't engaging in false advertising.
Just a minute while I phone this one in.
Fresh water freezes at a higher temperature than salt water.
Fresh water is also lighter than salt water.
Before it is mixed by wave action and or currents, fresh water floats on top of salt water in a thin layer.
Glaciers are made of fresh water.
Glaciers have been melting into the sea at a record rate, causing a freshening of the Northern Ocean.
This freshening is slowing the Atlantic Meritional Overturning Current, AMOC, that transports heat from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere, causing a cooling effect at the North Pole particularly.
This is why it is called 'Climate Change'
Good news everyone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8IVI0sZ6F8&feature=emb_logo
[removed “F” from user name}
AlJazeera tv newshour is reporting that international reaction to the new Taliban interim Cabinet appointments is mixed.
[The reporter's Charlotte Bellis, ex-TV three, in Kabul, who has established very good personal relationships with their leadership & complains to them if she is abused or mistreated by their less-sophisticated footsoldiers. Aljaz tv has several Kiwi reporters & news anchors & technical staff]
China has pledged $31 million US in aid.
Locals' reactions range from support of their appointees & wishes for them to now just get on with governing, providing jobs, getting the ecomony back up & running etc – to disappointment & resentment there are no women Cabinet Ministers, & no other sects or ethnic minority appointments.
That Taleban government is already playing a downward auction to accept the most foreign aid cash for the lowest possible moral conditions.
Who will win out of that?
This remains to be seen, Ad. These dudes are a bit of an enigma at the moment.
Taliban footsoldiers & local rural commanders from the countryside aren't usually very well educated & they have longstanding strong conservative cultural & religious views.
But I get the impression many of them just joined the Taliban because half the country's in need of humanitarian aid & there are no jobs. The former Afghan government was thoroughly corrupt. Some local commanders didn't even pay their troops or police officers. Bribery was endemic.
Now the Taliban can legally acquire taxes & customs duties & start building up cash reserves. But some educated women there, & ethnic minorities, are showing every sign of not being prepared to put up with the excessively patriarchial & sectarian rule of the past Taliban.
And despite their claims they've now subdued Panjshir, there is still the core of an insurgency against them. Masoud (?) their leader hasn't been caught & has called for a national uprising against them.
There's no shortage of arms in Afganistan. It's a rugged country whose various ethnic tribes have been switching allegiances & warring with each other for centuries.
If the Talban don't adapt & adopt a more tolerant, more inclusive, less misogynistic approach, they could get bogged down & economically ruined trying to subdue an insurgency against THEM.
By the end of this year Afghanistan will have a similar global media profile to Kyrgystan or Mozambique. Tens of billions of aid will somehow continue to be poured into them for little result other than a few getting rich.
There are plenty of other problems to deal with.
They could be playing silly buggers with the remaining 100-200 Americans still living there. They're effectively hostages.
And they're reported to be making it difficult for Afghans to leave, insisting that they must have passports or travel documents & visas.
We'll have to see how quickly they fall off the Western media radar. They won't disappear from Aljazeera's interest & scrutiny.
They seem to be off to a good start
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9970003/Taliban-BAN-Afghan-women-playing-sport.html
Sadly they are showing every sign of being the same reactionary & extreme misogynistic patriarchal fundamentalists that they were in the 1990s.
And the Western world in punishing them financially is probably just going to increase the poverty & misery of their own trapped civilians – unless they are toppled or forced to liberalise their concept of Sharia by an insurgency.
They are making the Saudis & Iranians look liberal & progressive.
I know quite a few Iranians and I have found them to be exceptionally liberal, decent folks. They seem to live in a different universe to their leaders.
Yes, I believe you. Aljazeera tv has shown interviews of young Iranians, males & females (20-30-somethings) sitting together, al fresco, at cafes in Tehran. Using their smartphones, several speaking English & other languages, wearing blue jeans, & though the young ladies are also wearing hijabs, they're just draped over the back half of their head, their hair is showing, they wear makeup.
They're well-educated. They don't dare directly criticise the theocratic regime but they clearly don't like its fundamentalism. There have been middle-aged interviewees there who are also very liberal. They don’t like so much of their country’s budget being spent on the Republican Guard’s fighters in other countries; they want it spent on social programmes & infrastructure etc.
Out in the provinces, I gather, the old conservative misogynous theocratic rules of behaviour & dress are more likely to still be enforced, & generally speaking the extremely powerful state-within-a-state Republican Guard is feared, even in Tehran.
These more enlightened, liberal, young Muslim folk give hope for the future as the Old Guard die out. But Trump's alienated them with the resumption of even worse sanctions that have impacted them too, & with his assassination of Soleimani.
Listen/read it and weep.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/13/the-other-afghan-women
Here's her newsclip:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=47QwOtMt0MY
Any body aware of another attack (DOS) on ANZ this am.
This one?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/live-cyber-attack-fears-kiwibank-anz-nz-post-metservice-back-online-after-cert-flags-cyber-attacks/KJMXHDACPES4BP3FZ465LESJFM/
Thank you.
No another attack. That attack stopped me as well.
Can't get on to ANZ as of 8am this morning.
Not seen any thing in media as yet.
It's quite likely. A cybersecurity expert on RNZ this morning says yesterday was possibly just the start of a ransom campaign. They take sites down with DDOS attacks for an hour or two one day, then do it again next day or two for longer, then contact the site owners & tell them how much they need to pay to make them stop.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018811635
Thanks Gezza
Yep, can't get in.
As if those directly on the front line are not under extreme pressure not being supported by management if this report is correct. Not only those at Auckland hospital but all that we have been doing to eliminate could be undone by a failing from such as this.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/covid-19-delta-outbreak-chris-hipkins-says-outbreak-could-push-back-phased-reopening-to-world/ENOACS3WZQWCIAEIUXOQ3RIDRE/
Sorry wrong link to support above. Do our frontline staff whilst under the pressure that this outbreak is placing them under, need added stress like this? And do we need to risk extending Aucklands level 4 further ?
To go to the length of "The allegations come as WorkSafe issued an improvement notice, forcing the Auckland DHB to engage with its health and safety representatives." to achieve warranted improvement is simply eye watering.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-delta-outbreak-auckland-dhb-getting-600-visitors-daily-alleged-sex-with-patient/64RJYV3HCR537RQGTWQSUIUFTQ/
Any idea why we havent had a massive public health campaign outlining some of the health factors that greatly increase the likelihood of ending up severly ill with Covid?
Surely if we can get prople to cut down on tobacco, alcohol and get some exercise it will help both prognosis and ease some burden on the health system?
I could hazard a guess that those factors are already well-known to the folk that would note & heed such advice, & that those who currently ignore such advice would continue to do so, so why bother?
Plus, the Covid 19 & Three Waters campaigns are probably already costing a fortune?
Not the first priority in/of an elimination strategy.
General health and wellbeing of the population is and has been part of Government policies for years.
Stop bringing common sense and public health into this. Wear your face covering and get your jab already.
Today's Herald title for Mike Hosking states the Government is good at creating fear but we need hope. If the Government had played the Delta virus down and not repeatedly emphasised how dangerous and contagious it was, the first person to accuse the Government of looking the other way would be Mike Hosking himself. One suspects he is not happy the case numbers are trending down.
I'd just seen the heading "Premium opinion: This Government has been superb on Covid fear – now it’s time for some hope, writes Mike Hosking."
Someone so hopelessly residing in negative territory, so determinedly seeding mistrust talking hope?
"Premium opinion"? Hosking??
Hopefully that just means paywalled.
I saw that and laughed out loud. Mr hypocrisy wants his title back.
I thought that dum bastard was moving to Aussie .
Shameless.
https://twitter.com/StrayDogNZ/status/1435737335237201920
We hope Hosking will be gone by Christmas – we fear he might not be.
He’s become endemic.
Hosking is the mind-killer. Hosking is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face Mike Hosking. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where Hosking has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Apologies to Frank Herbert.
Quite a status elevation for Hosking but a good one
I get it – article about Hosking, big picture of a prick (or picture of a big prick.)
Mike? No no!! He's "Bob each way."
The Hosk is always trying to dig up dirt and put a spin on things to discredit the current Government, take anything he says with a grain of salt, he is not the smartest kid on the block.
His handlers want the border open.
Most likely, collective action, mutual obligation and the common good just make Hosk want to spew. Those things are just so damn not him.
This article really buries the lead in deference to the exploiters! I do admit that gas may be a necessary;
eviltransitional energy source, but still; better left in the ground, if at all possible. And even if it is taken out, the land should be put right before the exploiters cut and run. The quote in the 3rd last paragraph from Taranaki Energy Watch spokesperson Sarah Roberts, should have been much nearer the top, with a better headline like: Polluters whinge about the proposed cost of being made to clean up after themselves.https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/451103/energy-bosses-say-proposed-bill-poses-risk-to-electricity-supply
Note that it was only Tamarind Taranaki Limited who "collapsed", the larger Tamarind multinational continues to thrive, and even operate in Taranaki:
http://www.tamarindresources.com/new-zealand–tui.html
Why on earth is Middlemore Hospital allowing visitors in to see sick relatives during this level 4 lockdown. If Residential care homes are forbidding visitors because of their frail vulnerable residents why are sick and immune compromised patients not being treated with the same level of care. Staff are having to deal with haphazard mask use by visitors and one apparently managed to get it over with a patient in a room with other patients. Middlemore needs a management broom sweep.
We are managing to reduce positive cases on a daily basis on sheer luck alone. There are some crazy decisions being made during this pandemic. Riding along on a wing and a prayer. Pray it stays that way.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/451104/nurses-organisation-horrified-at-hundreds-of-daily-visitors-to-patients-at-auckland-dhb
[link fixed]
No visitors is fucking inhumane.
The issue here is with management of visitors.
According to the blog of the Live Update on Stuff by Brittney Deguara (good job!), one of Bloomfield’s staffers has been in contact with the Nurses’ Organisation about the approach to visitors by ADHB and it appears to be consistent with national policy. It will be reviewed and revised by MoH and the updated guidance is expected soon and will apply to all DHBs.
Many of us have had to make concessions eg unable to visit terminally ill, missing funerals of close relatives etc.
Do we have a 0 risk factor in our elimination strategy or not? I thought we are doing everything possible to eliminate, obviously not everything. Imagine an outbreak as a result of this policy, and being told that Auckland has to stay at level 4 for another month or more. All so a few feel privileged to visit those in hospital, why not at retirement villages where those residence are separated from family ?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/451104/nurses-organisation-horrified-at-hundreds-of-daily-visitors-to-patients-at-auckland-dhb
Nope, we do not.
When my parents were going through the illnesses they had at the end of their life they were often in Middlemore. There really isn't enough staff to keep people comfortable only enough to keep them alive. Things like spoon feeding them so they eat, helping them to the toilet rearranging pillows and just reassuring them is something family can do to keep them more comfortable. I think it would be very hard when visitors aren't allowed for vulnerable people.
My phones relatively new I cant get it to paste links on TS everywhere else is fine my tablet maybe 2 years old I can comment at all with again only on TS
In the tool bars above the typing window, there is a symbol that looks like a diagonal bracket around a slash (the empty diagonal brackets/ chainlink beside it unlinks links from quoted text which saves moderator time). To link you now have to click that and paste the link into the URL box that appears.
"Nick@StrayDogNZ
121 of the cases from our recent outbreak have been under nine years old.
Ardern says they can't be vaccinated, so we must get vaccinated for them.
If you have any doubts about vaccinations, please, do it for the kids."
From Twitter.
https://twitter.com/StrayDogNZ/status/1435774482602344449
Speaking of saving the kids, why are schools still exempt from L2 protocols? So we now have masks and no standing up in buses, unless its a school bus. We now have masks in all indoor venues, unless its a school.
That’s a little misleading. For example, masks at schools are not mandatory but they are allowed and encouraged.
https://www.education.govt.nz/covid-19/face-coverings/
There’s been various statements from Ministers and the likes about school sitations recently again and Google is your friend.
Lastly, the PM ought to qualify her statement because it is misleading too. That is, if she said those exact words in the tweet.
Encouraged is a long way away from mandatory.
It'd go a long way to encouraging pre-teens to wear masks if masks of appropriate size were provided for them by schools. My elder child can wear an adult one (with a couple of twists of straps to shorten it), but no chance with my six year old! Her Granny got measurements the other day and is having some sewn for her, but there's a bit of a waiting list for some reason.
Also the cost is not inconsiderable. A fresh disposable mask every school for two kids would be at least $10/ week. A custom mask (two really needed; so one can be washed while the other worn) would be more initially, but less longterm (except they'd get lost like socks).
So for a solo parent on a benefit, that's really not possible without cutting into bill money.
I was thinking more of secondary schools. Children under 12 are not required to wear masks at all.
My daughter’s school has over 1600 students plus teachers. With all the students passing each other in hallways every hour and forming into different groups for each class there quite some potential to spread the virus.
I agree that the state should be providing masks for schools to distribute to students. There is a duty of care.
Do you want unvaccinated and unmasked children sitting next to your daughter?
I don't want that no. But requiring students be vaccinated in order to attend school is a considerably more complex issue than simply having them wear masks under level 2. If a secondary school student stops at the shop on the way to school or if they use public transport they are required to wear a mask, but not on a crowded school bus and in a crowded school. Schools are already pedantic about their pathetic school uniform policies so adding a mask can't be a big deal from an enforcement perspective.
My daughter’s school has brought in a level 2 policy that the students can't leave during the day unless a parent picks them up which is not a level 2 protocol, but do nothing about masks. Well a big F off to that.
It's time to talk about vaccine mandates.
After 9/11 the new regulations to fly on airplanes were huge – the world's travelling people adjusted.
We need proof of double vaccination for people to attend school, university or polytech.
Even when we get to 80% vaccination rates nationwide we are going to need proof of double shots to get into a hotel, or bar, or stadium.
Same for public transport: load your vaccine proof onto your HopCard and SuperGold Card.
Neither your airline nor your travel insurance provider is going to take freeloaders.
MoE is considering the ethics of teaching people who don't wear a mask. If they're that keen on not wearing a mask, they can be taught from home.
It’s going to be just like one’s freedom to smoke: do it by yourself in your own car and own home. Otherwise not.
Carve out exceptions if you like … but form the rule first.
What a load of totalitarian nonsense! Each year, 100s of Kiwis die of the flu and despite safe and effective vaccines being available, it was never made mandatory. Ever. I don’t hope you’re going to suggest that this should be added to the list of mandatory measures, together with meningitis perhaps, and maybe HPV too for good measure. FFS, this is Aotearoa-New Zealand, not some dystopia from a Mad Max movie. The people most at risk of severe illness and death form Covid-19 are the unvaccinated ones. In the current outbreak, most positives are unvaccinated; the actual numbers are somewhere, but I can’t be arsed trying to find them right now.
There was surprisingly muted protest when they brought in biometric chips into passports, iris-reading scanners and full body scanners at international airports. It's a post-9-11 cost of living.
Did anyone wear a condom before the AIDS epidemic? Pretty standard way of public health now.
We've given up so many civic freedoms under level 4, we will certainly lose a few permanently to keep the gains we've attained.
Welcome to the new Post-Covid world of vaccine mandates. Like 9/11 we will follow the US example and see compulsory vaccines first on all health workers, airlines, enforcement staff like Policy and military, then frontline workers, then customer staff, hotel staff, bar staff, …
…and then all those health insurers are going to remind every single workplace of the premiums all unvaccinated workers will cost them.
… straight after that Worksafe is going to be part of enforcing the liability of employers for correctly supplied and correctly worn PPE.
We have a disease that is caused by the movement of people through air. It's not the flu, or meningitis, or chicken pox.
Aotearoa-New Zealand is going to comply with what the rest of the world tells them to comply with.
The Simpson's call it again.
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/mummies-found-with-golden-tongues-in-egypt-city-of-taposiris/?
Maybe not gold, But Hans Sprungfeld corpse had a silver tongue.