Long Covid must be taken seriously as Omicron dominates – experts
Professor Harvey White, a cardiologist and director of the Green Lane Cardiovascular Research Unit, also warned that the development of long Covid should not be trivialised.
"You could have heart attacks or strokes in the future, or brain fog affecting your memory and thinking, or fatigue affecting your ability to work or take part in recreation."
The behaviour of Highlanders players who ignored requests from cabin crew to wear masks on a flight home from Wellington has been labelled "unacceptable".
A person on the flight, who wished to remain anonymous, said players were walking around the plane without wearing masks and some were continually asked to put their masks on, but ignored the cabin crew.
One player was said to have walked on the plane without a mask and ignored requests to put one on.
If a member of the crew deems behaviour disruptive, they have the right to take measures they think reasonable to prevent the passenger from continuing that behaviour. When the aircraft lands, their actions may include:
making the passenger leave the aircraft, possibly under police escort
refusing to carry the passenger on the remaining sectors of the journey shown on their ticket, and
reporting the incident on board the aircraft to the relevant authorities with a view to prosecuting them for any criminal offences that may have been committed.
At this point, you would think the seriousness does not need to be explained.
We are two years, six million deaths and countless cancelled events into a pandemic. New Zealand is at the height of its Covid-19 outbreak.
Yet there were still some Highlanders players who ignored requests to wear masks on their flight from Wellington last weekend, just days before it was revealed Covid-19 was in the camp.
For sure. Not only literally letting the side down, but they role model for kids ! Were they really that boofheaded? Hope theres some consequence for them.
Behind the Herald's paywall is a Hosking assertion that Luxon has made Ardern look out of touch. I bet he hasn't been able to prove it. I reckon she did it all by herself. He just happened to be standing around nearby at the time.
Trotter goes deeper:
Though they dare not admit it, the Neoliberals have lost control of the machine. All they are capable of now is presenting increasingly implausible explanations for why everything has gone so very badly wrong. https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2022/03/10/reports-of-labours-death/
National & Labour locked in a battle to the death, each trying to out-bland the other. Death via boredom. Nobody else notices because same old shit is normal.
But haven't you, as a sensible centrist, always argued for bland incrementalism? Nothing too drastic otherwise the pendulum might swing too far from safety.
I've presented here as a radical centrist. If I happen to accidentally advocate something sensible it's likely due to pragmatism – serving the cause of the common good does often involve pragmatic compromise in the middle ground.
The problem with the middle way is that incrementalism often doesn't solve a serious social problem in a suitable time-frame. Thus climate change. Radical action to prevent it caused sheeple to go "Gah!" and mill around nervously in the middle of the road with the whites of their eyes in a mass showing.
A radical wearing sheeple clothing can herd them towards the gate incrementally. Another could bark at them to get a hurry-up. So what we need from Labour & National is individuals capable of steering the bland majority in the right direction. That function could be performed by the Greens and ACT but they're both intent on also fronting as sheeple currently.
No need to worry though. Back to the future is getting another re-run via the free- trade deal with Britain. Sheeple can therefore hallucinate electric-powered tankers heading north full of mutton just like in the old days…
Biden fumbles ball, but hasn't quite dropped it yet:
So it was striking on Tuesday when first the Pentagon described a Polish offer to send planes to the US airbase in Ramstein as “untenable”, and then the deputy US secretary of state said the US had not been consulted about the plan. Part of the problem was that the Polish proposal was subtly but critically different to a scheme that had previously been discussed in private.
In its original, US-conceived iteration, the proposal was a trilateral deal whereby Poland would hand over the MiGs to Ukrainian pilots to fly into their homeland, and the US would then provide some substitute planes. Boris Johnson, an enthusiast, described the plan as “rent a MiG”.
So instead, in a game of diplomatic pass the parcel, Poland tweaked the proposals so the planes would be sent free of charge to the US airbase in Ramstein, Germany, rather than being flown out of Poland into Ukraine. The move would literally take Poland out of the line of Russia’s fire since the plan could be labelled as that of the US, Nato or the EU.
Poland also suggested other frontline Nato countries with MiG planes should match its plan, a proposal directed at Slovakia and Romania. If executed it would mean Ukraine had 70 extra planes at its disposal.
The Pentagon’s response – “it is simply not clear to us that there is a tangible justification for this” – was swift. Passing the parcel back, it said any decision to hand over planes ultimately rested with the Polish government, although it did not kill off the proposal altogether.
Buck-passing is a novel way to win a war, so I guess we have to credit the Democrats for clever tactics. Putin will be baffled, never having heard of pass the parcel. Explaining that it is actually a buck won't improve his advisor's standing either. Shuffling stuff around is confusing enough. Pretending to do so without actually doing it ramps up the effect.
Either way the public spat is a setback. Over the weekend the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, had said a plan involving planes was under active consideration. The upshot after this mini-debacle is Russia retains air superiority. Ukrainian pilots who were being trained in Poland to fly the planes are now grounded with no machines with which to defend their country.
Keeping Putin guessing is good. The uncertainty principle. Lulling him into a false sense of security by rolling over & playing dead. Who said Democrats are thick?
The episode may have lessons for both sides.
That's profound. It raises the hypothetical possibility of such lessons being learned. Back in the real world, action man looks glum. "What the hell am I meant to be doing??"
The possibility of making the MiG-29s available first appeared publicly on 27 February, when the EU made the unprecedented decision to provide military aid to a country outside the bloc. The first tranche of equipment for Ukraine is expected to amount to €500m (£417m), but up to €5bn is to be spent under the European Peace Initiative. It was then that the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that aid for Kyiv would also include offensive weapons, including planes. At that point it became clear that the planes would only be MIG-29 and Su-25, because Ukrainian pilots only have experience with these machines.
Right, so a fortnight has passed while western political leaders have twiddled their thumbs, trying to figure out how to turn this plan into action.
I think they should just leave the MiG-29s on the border with the keys in the ignition and let Ukraine's farmers and their tractors do the rest. “Yuri! Do you see what I see???”
Good thinking, but it may not be required. Breitbart is reporting a u-turn by Poland's govt:
The Polish government confirmed on late Tuesday that it has made its entire fleet of MIG-29 fighter jets available “immediately and free of charge” to Ukraine.
Poland will send its entire fleet of MIG-29 fighter jets to the U.S. Air Force base at Rammstein in Germany, the Polish government said in a shock statement Tuesday evening… Although the MIG-29s are not the most advanced or effective fighters NATO could theoretically supply to Ukraine, they have the key advantage of being an airframe Ukraine already operates, so Ukrainian pilots, ground crews, and supply chains would be ready to operate donated aircraft straight away.
The deal the yanks were proposing was Poland gives fighters to the Ukraine, then the US helps out a nato partner to get new jets. That's two separate actions, so deniable as a "nato" move. The poles don't like it because the Russians will be very pissed at them.
The "deal" the poles tried to switch it to was the poles giving planes to the yanks who would give them to the Ukrainians. That's a multilateral action from nato nations, thereby an escalation in direct military assistance from nato. That escalates tensions in a big step rather than a cautious tiptoe to the brink, so increases the likelihood of mushroom clouds.
*ok, a bit harsh, but the line is a good one. Preferably yelled by someone in a tv show with a white house setting
Yeah I get that. Thing is, European nations can do their solo thing regardless of any NATO constraint, right? So it looked like Poland was doing so, plus presuming Germany would also, to help Ukraine.
Think of it as doing an end-run around the US blocking position. And re multilateral action from nato nations – don't we have to see formal declarations from NATO officials to believe that's happening? Yes!
So seems like unilateral helping of Ukraine by some European states is proceeding on the basis of expediency. Biden's paranoia re nuclear threat is understandable but his timidity re appropriate helping isn't…
Nah, Poland's offer was to send the planes to Rammstein (not the band).
That requires the explicit blessing of the yanks.
Whereas if the Ukrainians just fly the reflagged planes home from Poland, the yanks just go "gee, pal, you seem to be short a few aircraft. How'd that happen? Here, have some Gen4's on us, and be more careful next time".
It's possible they're also just obvious enough for totalitarians to get the joke and therefore be pissed off. Unlike Laibach.
edit: although Laibach might have been a bit on the nose in this collaboration
True. What if the Poles get the Germans to host the planes temporarily though? In an airport of their own, I mean. Hypothetical at this stage.
I suspect the Poles may feel apprehension about dealing with Ukraine direct, lest Putin enter them onto his list of next invasions at #2. But you could be right.
I wonder how weak the German leader currently feels. His armed forces chief declared himself "pissed off" last week. I gather things are alarmingly run-down due to the peace dividend from the end of the Cold War. Caught between not liking deference to the USA and being realistic, I guess…
Oh, the poles definitely don't want to piss off russia too much. Especially if dolt45 gets re"elected", Nato ain't going to be much protection with him pissing in the pool.
Germany's a funny one. Chronic readiness problems, especially in the navy, from what I've read. But also some really interesting new equipment that is just coming to maturity and deployment – like the Puma IFV. And not in a "well, block A flies but can't fire the cannon" F35 or a "we can afford to make, like, six" way like the SU57.
Basically, so far shit like manpads and atms are defensive. NATO making a clear move to provide offensive weapons like jets is a step up, and the nuclear minefield is one place we really want potus to tread gingerly.
As it is, Russia's quick shunt "back to the USSR" with only state TV and no maccas might end up solving the Putin problem pretty quickly. Not sure where he can bail to in order to avoid doing a Ceaucescu, either.
“We are here to help our Ukrainian brothers and sisters in any way we can,” Raed Al Saleh, the leader of the White Helmets, told me in an interview. Putin’s goal is to break the will of the civilian population, he said, and there are no limits to the savagery of his troops. “The Russian military has no principles. They respect no human rights. They have no standards or ethics,” Saleh said. “The Ukrainians are facing the most ferocious, unethical, criminal killing machine that exists in the world today, which we have been facing for the last seven years.”
[…]
There are some things the Syrians have learned not to do. Do not give GPS locations of medical facilities to the United Nations, which may claim it needs the information to keep them safe. The Russians will use that information to target them. Never let Moscow have any say or control over how humanitarian aid is distributed, even when it’s a U.N. program. The Kremlin will use that power to starve out civilian populations, as it is doing in Syria now.
The Russians have been fought to a standstill/crawl in the north west, north and north east and in the south east the strong defenses erected by the Ukrainians post 2014 are also holding out against attacks from the Donets region.
In the south the situation is a lot worse for the Ukrainians, since they can't simply defend fixed urban defense zones and conduct guerilla warfare against logistics lines. The Russians hold a major advantage there in manoeuvre warfare. The Russians are attacking from the breakaway republics west towards Mariupol and east towards Mariupol from the Crimea, whilst simultaneously attacking west towards Odessa and northwest to secure their flank (and capture significant nuclear and hydroelectric energy generation infrastructure) along the lower Dnieper river along a line running roughly Kherson to Zaporizhzhia.
The concern is that capturing Mariupol will allow the thrusts from the Donets and Crimea to link up and thence thrust north to outflank and unhinge the Ukrainian fixed defenses facing Donetsk and Luhansk. which would force the Ukrainians into the open and into a general retreat to the northwest that would be threatened with defeat in detail by a double envelopment from a thrust developed from Zaporizhzhia aimed at Kharkiv and also from Mariupol towards the direction of Izyum/Chuhuiv. This is why the Ukrainians will hang to Mariupol as long as possible. Similarly, the fall of Odessa would release significant Russian forces for an attack either along the axis Uman – Vinnytsia and then either towards Kyiv or Lviv (or possibly both) or more likely (in my opinion) towards Cherkasy to secure the west bank of the Dnieper, link up with the attack that should develop along the Kharkiv-Poltava direction and on to Kyiv along both banks of the Dnieper – the control of which will also significantly reduce Russian logistics problems.
All in all, the position of the Ukraine is grim unless they can somehow mount some sort of significant and successful counter attack in the Mariupol battle that achieves something more than a short term tactical success.
There are a number of elements wrong about your analysis.
The Russian army's biggest weakness that is being shown up in this War is their logistic capability. They are struggling to supply the large force to the West of Kiev even though it is only about 150 km from the border with Belarus. The reasons behind this is that the Russian army relies heavily on railways to move the bulk of troops and supplies and they have far less road transport available.
Down south they have made a lot of progress across the lower Dnieper river towards Odessa and have linked up to the East with their forces based in the Donbas it is true however the further they move the more tricky their supply problems become and it is complicated by the fact that there isn't as extensive East – West rail network in the South as there is in other parts of Ukraine.
What this means is that the Russian army is vulnerable to attacks against their extended supply columns and will not be able to bring as much power to bear against opponents the further they go in to Ukraine. If they do not capture Ukraine from the North and/or East in the next two weeks what happens down south isn't going to make much difference.
Ukraine also has the entire West of the country around Lviv to fall back on if needed which will make the Russians job of eliminating military threats almost impossible.
Its entirely possible the Russians are in no hurry to end the conflict in Ukraine and stalled convoys to Kiev are by design….they certainly dont appear to be under threat.
There's a headline on the Herald online today: "Top school failed to safeguard students, says complainant." It's to do with allegations over sexual harassment by a teacher.
Last week they had a story, " Top school…" something or other. Today's one is Tauranga Boys' College last week it was Westlake Girls' High.
They have a way of describing some schools as "top" schools.
I wrote to the Herald last year and asked them if they had a list on the wall of the office which classified schools. And if there was a list of institutions which were to be called "top" schools whenever they were referred to. I asked what criteria were used to determine which was a top school and which were just 'schools.'
I don't think they printed my letter. (I do understand that online stories and headlines might not be in the print edition and so the letter may not have been relevant in the print environment.)
So what is a top school? A story comes up and someone whips through examination results? Checks out Education Review Office reports? Goes through results of sports competitions and representative team lists? Dips into their prejudice and pre-conceived notions baskets?
The funny thing is that searching the Herald site for 'top' schools easily brings up stories about sexual abuse, bullying of pupils, bullying of staff, drunk pupils, poaching top sports kids from other schools, fighting and assaults.
How many incidents of very concerning behaviour have to happen before a school isn't a top one? Is there a severity graph? How many decades of not having any untoward claims against it and how many mountains of positive achievement behind it before an ordinary, no adjectives needed school gets to graduate to being a 'top school'?
Today's story described the school as a "prestigious all-boys school." How much of the prestige is down to organs like the Herald continually defining it as a top school?
Good on you for asking that question of the Herald. You won't get an answer though because "top school" just means one that archetypal National-voting Herald readers would consider sending their kids to. It's a loose constellation of characteristics that may include but is not confined to: not many brown kids; in a suburb with relatively expensive houses as this is a form of triage that excludes non-professional parents; good aggregate exam results; offers a prestigious alternative to NCEA; has family connections; has a reputation for sporting prowess.
'Top' schools do not need to be private – extremely expensive housing in some suburbs is just as effective as an exclusionary device as private school fees. In both cases, wealthy parents are using their money to buy a supposed advantage for their kids over the kids of less wealthy parents. (These same parents probably believe they have a principled commitment to equality of opportunity.)
The proper response to this is to a.) attack excessive wealth and b.) ensure that the education system is so good that any supposed advantage gained by going to a 'top' school is illusory.
They could have bought half an insis computer nearly or some shares in South Canterbury Finance a lemon carrier a hospital computer system that doesn't work some Charter schools.
I don't know how long the west will be able to refrain from intervening in this conflict, despite the risks of a direct confrontation with Russia. The Russians are committing some dreadful human rights variations, and could be on the verge of pushing this conflict to another whole level.
For instance, Russian forces have just bombed a maternity hospital in Mariupol:
And yet they did (and still do ) in Syria…no western power will involve itself in direct military conflict with Russia unless they (Russia) cross the Rubicon….and I doubt even Putin is that foolish.
The US assistance was to one side in a civil war that did not involve direct confrontation with the Russian military….and was probably pre cleared with the Russians (as an anti ISIS move) not unlike the pre warning of the cruise missle strikes on the Homs airfield.
It would be interesting to see how manay companys have a 'don't get tested, just call in sick' procedure in place.
The milkman that i spoke to today basically states that night shifts had to be cancelled and others run at 2 – 4 staff where it should be double the staff.
Nevermind, it does not matter actually what we do, keep restrictions its fucked, undo restrictions and its fucked also – see the UK where cases are up again, as is hospitalisation and death. And Oh, yeah, its the 'Stealth' variant that is on the rise Omicron 2.0 with a much higher viral load. Some of the stats in my link above to the DK diary on Covid. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/9/2084438/-28-MONTHS-LATER-The-Hidden-Toll-of-COVID-Not-Being-Discussed
Russia is being squeezed out of the capitalist system:
Last month, Russia's central bank more than doubled its interest rate to 20% in an attempt to stop the value of its currency from sliding further.
Fitch Ratings downgraded its view of the country's government debt, warning a default is "imminent"… The ratings cut – to C from B – is the second time this month Fitch has downgraded its view of Russia's ability to pay its debts.
The announcement from Fitch came after the US and UK said they will ban Russian oil, as they step up the economic response to the invasion of Ukraine. US President Joe Biden said the move targeted "the main artery of Russia's economy". Meanwhile, the European Union said it will end its reliance on Russian gas.
In recent days, rival ratings agencies Moody's Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings have also slashed their assessments of Russian sovereign debt. It means the country's sovereign debt is now considered to be below investment grade, or in "junk" territory, by three of the world's major ratings companies.
Harsh sanctions, plummeting exchange rates, depleted foreign reserves, a reliance on imports and the Poots responds to his economy being strangled by voluntarily cutting Russia’s export revenue. Genius.
What is being evidenced is the destruction now of wealth,mostly due to the finacialization of debt and assets exactly the same problem from the GFC.
Say for example the non return of leased Jets from Russia becomes a 10b$ liability,or the meltdown in the Nickel market in London became a 12b$ destruction of wealth,as the investment banks start to liquidate their positions to meet call obligations there will be a flow from equities to cash,a high wealth risk in pension fund etc,and increased cash hording.
not only western financial markets,China construction bank was a defaulter on calls in the LME nickel blow up.As was China's largest nickel manufacturer (and the worlds biggest stainless steel supplier) .
Tsingshan is also a producer ie a miner,The short option on the global exchange was to protect its position (its risk) in case Nickel prices fell.The 8 billion$ position is now a debt which needs to be funded.As is the 4b$ position for the China construction bank.
"Chinese authorities directed Tsingshan’s domestic banks to offer more credit lines to the company, two of the people said. A majority of these new loans will be used for margin calls on its existing positions on the London Metal Exchange (LME), the people said."
The real anger from everyday Aussies over the failure of the state in response to this event is getting loud.
Mind you, 40 odd years of radical far right liberalism and what do you expect. It can't do anything because it sold everything thing off to sociopaths (ooops I mean private business interests).
What of the PR propaganda. Based on fear. The minister continually declines and Q&A time to the media. If the minister cannot sell this ,what does that say of either/both the minister and the policy ??
From the link below the issues are mentioned BUT no mention on solutions or expected time frames that issues raised will be rectified. e.g. How and when will Buller's boiling of water be fixed by 3 waters as they will be included in the area of the South Is that aligns with Ngāi Tahu? Will this 3 water s halt any need "To boil" beaches closed due to discharge of Waste or storm water, pipes bursting ? We were sold the fear of these but NO MENTION of a guarantee going forward that such events will NOT happen under 3 waters. If 3 waters cannot guarantee that such events do not occur then this is NO better than the status quo. https://www.dia.govt.nz/Three-Waters-Reform-Programme
• Return water assets to councils.
• Allow councils to enter into voluntary “shared services” agreements, gaining the benefits of scale, while retaining local ownership and control.
• Establish 30-year central-local government agreements to plan water infrastructure upgrades tailored to specific regions.
• Share GST revenue with councils to fund infrastructure upgrades.
• Establish public-private partnerships to attract investment from financial entities such as KiwiSaver funds and ACC.
• Expand the exemption from domestic supply for a single dwelling to also include all small water suppliers supplying fewer than 30 endpoint users.
They should have skipped the first 5 paragraphs in the policy statement and stuck with the policy initiatives.
The strength in the policy is to use the gst on rates (around a billion) to fund council infrastructure spend.
Little explained part of the reasons, as I think this is all his ideas.
When the labour government gave money for DHBs to employ more nurses , some said thanks for the money but we will run it our way and use agencies, overtime instead.
Same again for the extra money for Mental health facilities , some DHBs just dragged the chain on even starting upgrades to existing facilities or building new. They just wanted to do it in their own time and at their own pace.
They had become little silos used to deflecting central government.
Another example was when the pandemic struck the Auckland Regional Public Health entity just wouldnt cooperate much with the MOD and had their own ways of doing infectious diseases which they preferred. A number of Auckland based covid stuff ups over MIQ and testing were directly on the ARPHA preferred way.
Have we had the year of delivery yet? Wasn't Grant Robertson heading up a new group (cant remember what it was called) to ensure things actually got done? Did that not get done?
When long time Labour man Phil Goff categorically states that it is poorly thought through, poorly structured and liable to manipulation in the future, you know you have problems.
Bryce Edwards has an interesting piece on 3 Waters today.
In dot-land, the dot is all there is, and all there is not. It is infinitesimally small and infinitely large, all at once. Must be time for another coffee …
Not at all. I think the added cost burden people would face due to Three Waters would not only impact them in the short-term but also over the long-term.
Well, that's not what the reform programme says. The reform programme says there will be long term savings, as well as much better water quality, a well as increased GDP.
Perhaps you don't believe it in the same way you don't believe in better housing for tenants, and the same way you don't believe in science.
In the report for Monday’s meeting, Council staff say the Government has not provided an opportunity to analyse alternative options for service delivery that may better meet the needs of communities than the proposal put forward.
They also say the Government needs to revisit its cost estimates to ensure the financial impacts of water reform are more accurate and transparent and that residents and ratepayers will not be saddled with unfair financial burdens over time.
The Council resolved on 9 December 2021 to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work cooperatively with at least 21 other co-signing councils to convince the Government to reconsider its plans to reform water services across New Zealand.
And alternative options for service and delivery (that may better meet the needs of communities than the proposal put forward) are being overlooked or ignored
And here is Dr Bryce, fresh from promoting the anti-vax parliament protests, delivering a sustained attack on Nanaia Mahuta, calling for he resignation, no less.
The main beef is of course co-governance which betrays the real motives of Edwards and his allies. Can't let Maori make any decisions, they are not capable!
'Labour went into the 2020 election promising to break up the supermarket duopoly and bring down the price of food. This policy is now essentially dead.
See what he does created a policy that didnt exist so he could shoot it down. Their 'policy' was a market study- which is what it says in the manifesto
First electric ute recently driven in NZ. Our local free newspaper carried a report, including test drive by their reporter. It's double-cab. No price yet – it's due to market next summer: https://ldv.co.nz/product/ev-t60-ute/
The LDV electric Ute is useless, it is only two wheel drive and has about as much ground clearance a as normal car as the motor takes the place of the diff. It has a towing capacity of only ONE tonne , a small caravan at most and that halves its range which is already laughably short. Wide tyres and two wheel drive means that any water on any sort of slope on pretty much any surface makes it almost undriveable . It is greenwashing at its most egregious and the weight of wasted materials makes a joke of its supposed green credentials. Better wait for the next generation that’s fit for purpose.
True that. So, we need to eliminate everything that emits any form of carbon into the atmosphere. Or just a drastic reduction? Energy efficiency is important, of course, but so is overall energy consumption. Do we proceed in small incremental steps or should we wait for giant leaps (for mankind)? The nay-sayers seems to be binary boofheads of all or nothing and since it’s never all it becomes nothing by default.
I have heard variations of the rocket ‘dilemma’ before, i.e. by the time the rocket is ready for take-off it will be overtaken (literally) by newer (i.e. not just bigger propulsion rockets using combustion as the driving force), better, and fasters modes of space transportation/exploration. Life sucks when you’re a rocket scientist.
But as I've said on here before, utes were really good for getting sour looking individuals down to Parliament for the protest. There were many of them in the convoy that I saw with the 30-40 male demographic that seems to have a problem with female leaders, sorry I read that again, female anythings.
There are 100s of them around Wellington and as you say most are not farm or tradies vehicles. So low down ground clearance is not really important if the only gravel work it is going to do is from the tarseal then to the gravelled carpark at footie.
good grief. The issue isn't how many people use them for what, it's what the people who do need a 4WD and good towing capacity use them for in real life.
I live in the country. People tow shit, drive distances, and drive in situations where a 4WD is an asset.
Well then , it makes it just fine for the 90% of users who dont drive down farm tracks
When I worked in a business that needed a 4×4 for rough site tracks , I was given a Diahatsu Terios , was so light that plenty of times could go where a Landrover had trouble, only used the 4×4 feature ocassionally.
And most of the major manufacturers produce 2 wheel drives as well. So how does this EV compare with those vehicles. Nissan/Toyota/Ford/Mitsubishi/Mazda etc must think they have a market for their two wheel drives. Perhaps someone here can give an informed comparison rather than the opening words "They are useless…"
It depends what you use it for…i have a 2 wheel drive flat deck (not electric) that does what I need…in over 20 years i have only needed 4 wheel drive about 4or 5 times so the additional running/service costs of 4WD are not warranted…a capable EV 2WD would be a suitable replacement (depending on price and range) in my situation.
If you need 4WD capability then the same limitations will apply. once available ..range and price.
Back to the future: minister announces plan. Basically, it means healing the state broadcaster split of 1975…
The government has confirmed it is creating a new public media entity incorporating RNZ and TVNZ.Minister of broadcasting and media Kris Faafoi said the new broadcaster will be "an autonomous Crown entity" operational by July 2023, which will have both commercial and Crown funding. The new entity will be not-for-profit and will operate under a charter which will be set out in legislation due by the end of this year, Faafoi said. (Details of consultation carried out on a new charter for the new organisation were also published today)
It will have "complete editorial independence" andprovide news as a core service, while broadcasting on a range of platforms "including current radio and linear TV and those of third parties".
Faafoi confirmed TVNZ and RNZ will initially be subsidiaries of the new organisation. Faafoi had accepted advice from the Business Case Governance Group he appointed in March 2021, led by former NZ First MP Tracey Martin, ahead of the decision to create the new public media entity… A board will be appointed next month to oversee the detailed design of the new public media entity, Faafoi said. He said it would include RNZ and TVNZ staff and also "shop floor" representation of the broadcasters' staff.
Both were part of the NZ Broadcasting Corporation from 1962, until being split split into Radio New Zealand, Television One, and South Pacific Television in 1975.
The Muldoon government then merged TV One with South Pacific Television to form TVNZ in 1980; the National government privatised RNZ’s commercial stations in 1996; the Helen Clark Labour government restructured TVNZ into a Crown entity in 2003, with a remit to be a public broadcaster under a charter but also retain its commercial performance with advertising. It was a hard ask, and the following National government of John Key dumped the charter requirement.
And he appraises efficiency gains:
Combining the news and current affairs operations could extend the pair’s news-gathering reach in New Zealand and the world, although various radio and television news programmes would still require their own individual staff. An amalgamation of the podcast efforts by both would be sensible, for it is part of a growing information market.
I wouldn't blame the minister for lack of detail (blame the pandemic instead).
details are to be thrashed out in what the Government terms “phase two” of its establishment, which will take until at least January 2023 when the new entity’s board will be established.
Ralston is serious (but diffident) about back to the future:
can I at least suggest quickly coming up with a name for the new amorphous entity: perhaps NZBC? That name would complete the cycle of the last 60 years.
I'd go for something future-oriented – Multimedia Aotearoa would do.
South Pacific started as a stand alone new channel , it wasnt split from anything
I remember going to its studio , a large hall or something on the site of current TVNZ back when the existing only channel was operated out of the old 1YA building in Shortland St
The Radio side had their own building just off Queen St at Durham St W
Yep. I worked as an audio operator for the old AKTV2 in Shortland St. for 4 to 5 years in the 1960s. The new entity sounds like an upgraded version of the original. One positive aspect was the ability of staff to transfer from radio to TV or vice versa. For those who remember TV news reader, Jennie Goodwin for example, iirc she started her career in radio and transferred to TV ending up as one of the longest serving presenters.
A member of my extended family died today. A male aged 82 who reluctantly entered hospital because stents were leaking. Because of damaged lungs he had a great fear of Covid and took every precaution to keep himself safe. Tripled vaccinated / always masked up / not out in the community. Three tests during his stay were negative for Covid. Five days in to his hospital stay he had a major stroke. Three days after that he was diagnosed with Covid – today was his Day 2.
Filled my vehicle up 11:20 this morning diesel $2:51 returning past the same station $2.61. No wonder the motorway is like a Sunday morning. I get the impression that those living day to day are increasing in number. These fuel increases, from talking to some have not even made their way into the cost of goods yet🙁
I think the motorway is like a Sunday morning because a lot of people are working from home amid our biggest outbreak of a 1 in 100 year pandemic event.
Manukau where all the wealth and high incomes reside in 🙃.
The only BAU I have noticed re traffic volumes: is the school traffic. Where I work the office car park is used for school drop offs and pickups with 2 schools across the road, and at our local primary school traffic is as heavy as it has always been.
Yes, and that is because parents are dropping their kids to school directly instead of sending them on public transport. Another effect of the outbreak.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
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A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
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It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
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Flag-bearing duties were shared between boxer David Nyika and Black Ferns Sevens captain Sarah Hirini in Tokyo three years ago. Triple Olympic medallist in boardsailing, Barbara Kendall was the first female flag bearer in Atlanta in 1996. Since 2004, the flagbearers have worn a kākahu (cloak) as they led ...
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/%E2%80%98take-it-seriously%E2%80%99-dunedin-covid-patient
Long Covid must be taken seriously as Omicron dominates – experts
Professor Harvey White, a cardiologist and director of the Green Lane Cardiovascular Research Unit, also warned that the development of long Covid should not be trivialised.
"You could have heart attacks or strokes in the future, or brain fog affecting your memory and thinking, or fatigue affecting your ability to work or take part in recreation."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/463014/long-covid-must-be-taken-seriously-as-omicron-dominates-experts
No mild flu this. Absolutely needs awareness and precautions. And Vaccination !
https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/highlanders-flout-mask-rules
wtf ! Just boofheads. No role models for sure : (
I thought refusing to obey cabin crew instructions was a crime?
Hi.just home and seen this? Not sure if applies. But of course Highlanders ! Probably the worst aspect was CEO Roger Clark being onboard
“I was on the plane as well, so I did see a couple of guys that weren’t wearing them.”
Well….why didnt he say something?
https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/highlanders/players-did-not-take-life-and-death-situation-seriously
For sure. Not only literally letting the side down, but they role model for kids ! Were they really that boofheaded? Hope theres some consequence for them.
Behind the Herald's paywall is a Hosking assertion that Luxon has made Ardern look out of touch. I bet he hasn't been able to prove it. I reckon she did it all by herself. He just happened to be standing around nearby at the time.
Trotter goes deeper:
National & Labour locked in a battle to the death, each trying to out-bland the other. Death via boredom. Nobody else notices because same old shit is normal.
But haven't you, as a sensible centrist, always argued for bland incrementalism? Nothing too drastic otherwise the pendulum might swing too far from safety.
I've presented here as a radical centrist. If I happen to accidentally advocate something sensible it's likely due to pragmatism – serving the cause of the common good does often involve pragmatic compromise in the middle ground.
The problem with the middle way is that incrementalism often doesn't solve a serious social problem in a suitable time-frame. Thus climate change. Radical action to prevent it caused sheeple to go "Gah!" and mill around nervously in the middle of the road with the whites of their eyes in a mass showing.
A radical wearing sheeple clothing can herd them towards the gate incrementally. Another could bark at them to get a hurry-up. So what we need from Labour & National is individuals capable of steering the bland majority in the right direction. That function could be performed by the Greens and ACT but they're both intent on also fronting as sheeple currently.
No need to worry though. Back to the future is getting another re-run via the free- trade deal with Britain. Sheeple can therefore hallucinate electric-powered tankers heading north full of mutton just like in the old days…
One of Trotters better pieces.
Biden fumbles ball, but hasn't quite dropped it yet:
Buck-passing is a novel way to win a war, so I guess we have to credit the Democrats for clever tactics. Putin will be baffled, never having heard of pass the parcel. Explaining that it is actually a buck won't improve his advisor's standing either. Shuffling stuff around is confusing enough. Pretending to do so without actually doing it ramps up the effect.
Keeping Putin guessing is good. The uncertainty principle. Lulling him into a false sense of security by rolling over & playing dead. Who said Democrats are thick?
That's profound. It raises the hypothetical possibility of such lessons being learned. Back in the real world, action man looks glum. "What the hell am I meant to be doing??"
Right, so a fortnight has passed while western political leaders have twiddled their thumbs, trying to figure out how to turn this plan into action.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/09/clash-over-poland-and-us-missile-plans-reveals-tensions-in-escalating-war
I think they should just leave the MiG-29s on the border with the keys in the ignition and let Ukraine's farmers and their tractors do the rest. “Yuri! Do you see what I see???”
Good thinking, but it may not be required. Breitbart is reporting a u-turn by Poland's govt:
Why would you link to Breitbart?
Two day old news that isn't even true.
Two day old news that isn't even true.
How do you know? You expect readers to believe you automatically?? To invalidate that Breitbart report you need to produce evidence that it's invalid.
What that report makes clear is the unilateral decision of the Polish govt. So the control freaks in Biden’s admin are trying to forbid that move…
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/09/blinken-ukraine-poland-fighter-jets-00015747
Sigh. It's diplomacy, you doofus.*
The deal the yanks were proposing was Poland gives fighters to the Ukraine, then the US helps out a nato partner to get new jets. That's two separate actions, so deniable as a "nato" move. The poles don't like it because the Russians will be very pissed at them.
The "deal" the poles tried to switch it to was the poles giving planes to the yanks who would give them to the Ukrainians. That's a multilateral action from nato nations, thereby an escalation in direct military assistance from nato. That escalates tensions in a big step rather than a cautious tiptoe to the brink, so increases the likelihood of mushroom clouds.
*ok, a bit harsh, but the line is a good one. Preferably yelled by someone in a tv show with a white house setting
Yeah I get that. Thing is, European nations can do their solo thing regardless of any NATO constraint, right? So it looked like Poland was doing so, plus presuming Germany would also, to help Ukraine.
Think of it as doing an end-run around the US blocking position. And re multilateral action from nato nations – don't we have to see formal declarations from NATO officials to believe that's happening? Yes!
So seems like unilateral helping of Ukraine by some European states is proceeding on the basis of expediency. Biden's paranoia re nuclear threat is understandable but his timidity re appropriate helping isn't…
Nah, Poland's offer was to send the planes to Rammstein (not the band).
That requires the explicit blessing of the yanks.
Whereas if the Ukrainians just fly the reflagged planes home from Poland, the yanks just go "gee, pal, you seem to be short a few aircraft. How'd that happen? Here, have some Gen4's on us, and be more careful next time".
Interesting that you mention the band (in brackets) because they are popular in Russia but not with the Russian authorities.
I can see why.
It must be the lyrics, because their music is great.
Too "woke", amongst other things.
It's possible they're also just obvious enough for totalitarians to get the joke and therefore be pissed off. Unlike Laibach.
edit: although Laibach might have been a bit on the nose in this collaboration
True. What if the Poles get the Germans to host the planes temporarily though? In an airport of their own, I mean. Hypothetical at this stage.
I suspect the Poles may feel apprehension about dealing with Ukraine direct, lest Putin enter them onto his list of next invasions at #2. But you could be right.
I wonder how weak the German leader currently feels. His armed forces chief declared himself "pissed off" last week. I gather things are alarmingly run-down due to the peace dividend from the end of the Cold War. Caught between not liking deference to the USA and being realistic, I guess…
Oh, the poles definitely don't want to piss off russia too much. Especially if dolt45 gets re"elected", Nato ain't going to be much protection with him pissing in the pool.
Germany's a funny one. Chronic readiness problems, especially in the navy, from what I've read. But also some really interesting new equipment that is just coming to maturity and deployment – like the Puma IFV. And not in a "well, block A flies but can't fire the cannon" F35 or a "we can afford to make, like, six" way like the SU57.
Basically, so far shit like manpads and atms are defensive. NATO making a clear move to provide offensive weapons like jets is a step up, and the nuclear minefield is one place we really want potus to tread gingerly.
As it is, Russia's quick shunt "back to the USSR" with only state TV and no maccas might end up solving the Putin problem pretty quickly. Not sure where he can bail to in order to avoid doing a Ceaucescu, either.
With it's ground assault increasingly bogged down, The Russian military turns to its tactic, honed in Syria, of bombing hospitals.
Isis, Neo-nazis, any pretext will do.
Russian–Syrian hospital bombing campaign
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian%E2%80%93Syrian_hospital_bombing_campaign#:~:text=These%20hospitals%20were%20Nabad%20al,Idlib%20province%20in%20May%202019.
A war crime here, a war crime there…
/
https://twitter.com/deangloster/status/1501149968358281217
https://euromaidanpress.com/2022/02/28/russian-aircraft-drop-cluster-bombs-with-petal-mines-in-kharkiv-oblast/
“We are here to help our Ukrainian brothers and sisters in any way we can,” Raed Al Saleh, the leader of the White Helmets, told me in an interview. Putin’s goal is to break the will of the civilian population, he said, and there are no limits to the savagery of his troops. “The Russian military has no principles. They respect no human rights. They have no standards or ethics,” Saleh said. “The Ukrainians are facing the most ferocious, unethical, criminal killing machine that exists in the world today, which we have been facing for the last seven years.”
[…]
There are some things the Syrians have learned not to do. Do not give GPS locations of medical facilities to the United Nations, which may claim it needs the information to keep them safe. The Russians will use that information to target them. Never let Moscow have any say or control over how humanitarian aid is distributed, even when it’s a U.N. program. The Kremlin will use that power to starve out civilian populations, as it is doing in Syria now.
https://archive.ph/CVdit
Bombing hospitals and leveling cities is only the beginning.
The Ukrainians know they cannot afford to lose this fight.
Occupied Urkaine under Putin's oppressive rule, will most likely resemble Rutin's ally, Assad's rule in Syria.
Syria: Mass Deaths and Torture in Detention – YouTube
I also suspect Putin's been taking notes from Xi on what they're doing in the "Uygur Autonomous Region".
My probably ill informed quick take:
The Russians have been fought to a standstill/crawl in the north west, north and north east and in the south east the strong defenses erected by the Ukrainians post 2014 are also holding out against attacks from the Donets region.
In the south the situation is a lot worse for the Ukrainians, since they can't simply defend fixed urban defense zones and conduct guerilla warfare against logistics lines. The Russians hold a major advantage there in manoeuvre warfare. The Russians are attacking from the breakaway republics west towards Mariupol and east towards Mariupol from the Crimea, whilst simultaneously attacking west towards Odessa and northwest to secure their flank (and capture significant nuclear and hydroelectric energy generation infrastructure) along the lower Dnieper river along a line running roughly Kherson to Zaporizhzhia.
The concern is that capturing Mariupol will allow the thrusts from the Donets and Crimea to link up and thence thrust north to outflank and unhinge the Ukrainian fixed defenses facing Donetsk and Luhansk. which would force the Ukrainians into the open and into a general retreat to the northwest that would be threatened with defeat in detail by a double envelopment from a thrust developed from Zaporizhzhia aimed at Kharkiv and also from Mariupol towards the direction of Izyum/Chuhuiv. This is why the Ukrainians will hang to Mariupol as long as possible. Similarly, the fall of Odessa would release significant Russian forces for an attack either along the axis Uman – Vinnytsia and then either towards Kyiv or Lviv (or possibly both) or more likely (in my opinion) towards Cherkasy to secure the west bank of the Dnieper, link up with the attack that should develop along the Kharkiv-Poltava direction and on to Kyiv along both banks of the Dnieper – the control of which will also significantly reduce Russian logistics problems.
All in all, the position of the Ukraine is grim unless they can somehow mount some sort of significant and successful counter attack in the Mariupol battle that achieves something more than a short term tactical success.
There are a number of elements wrong about your analysis.
The Russian army's biggest weakness that is being shown up in this War is their logistic capability. They are struggling to supply the large force to the West of Kiev even though it is only about 150 km from the border with Belarus. The reasons behind this is that the Russian army relies heavily on railways to move the bulk of troops and supplies and they have far less road transport available.
Down south they have made a lot of progress across the lower Dnieper river towards Odessa and have linked up to the East with their forces based in the Donbas it is true however the further they move the more tricky their supply problems become and it is complicated by the fact that there isn't as extensive East – West rail network in the South as there is in other parts of Ukraine.
What this means is that the Russian army is vulnerable to attacks against their extended supply columns and will not be able to bring as much power to bear against opponents the further they go in to Ukraine. If they do not capture Ukraine from the North and/or East in the next two weeks what happens down south isn't going to make much difference.
Ukraine also has the entire West of the country around Lviv to fall back on if needed which will make the Russians job of eliminating military threats almost impossible.
Well, I don't often (in fact never) agree with Gossy, but I think (s)he's right on the mark here.
Logistics does not seem to be the Russian's strong point.
Its entirely possible the Russians are in no hurry to end the conflict in Ukraine and stalled convoys to Kiev are by design….they certainly dont appear to be under threat.
There's a headline on the Herald online today: "Top school failed to safeguard students, says complainant." It's to do with allegations over sexual harassment by a teacher.
Last week they had a story, " Top school…" something or other. Today's one is Tauranga Boys' College last week it was Westlake Girls' High.
They have a way of describing some schools as "top" schools.
I wrote to the Herald last year and asked them if they had a list on the wall of the office which classified schools. And if there was a list of institutions which were to be called "top" schools whenever they were referred to. I asked what criteria were used to determine which was a top school and which were just 'schools.'
I don't think they printed my letter. (I do understand that online stories and headlines might not be in the print edition and so the letter may not have been relevant in the print environment.)
So what is a top school? A story comes up and someone whips through examination results? Checks out Education Review Office reports? Goes through results of sports competitions and representative team lists? Dips into their prejudice and pre-conceived notions baskets?
The funny thing is that searching the Herald site for 'top' schools easily brings up stories about sexual abuse, bullying of pupils, bullying of staff, drunk pupils, poaching top sports kids from other schools, fighting and assaults.
How many incidents of very concerning behaviour have to happen before a school isn't a top one? Is there a severity graph? How many decades of not having any untoward claims against it and how many mountains of positive achievement behind it before an ordinary, no adjectives needed school gets to graduate to being a 'top school'?
Today's story described the school as a "prestigious all-boys school." How much of the prestige is down to organs like the Herald continually defining it as a top school?
It is our not so subtle class system in action.
Good on you for asking that question of the Herald. You won't get an answer though because "top school" just means one that archetypal National-voting Herald readers would consider sending their kids to. It's a loose constellation of characteristics that may include but is not confined to: not many brown kids; in a suburb with relatively expensive houses as this is a form of triage that excludes non-professional parents; good aggregate exam results; offers a prestigious alternative to NCEA; has family connections; has a reputation for sporting prowess.
'Top' schools do not need to be private – extremely expensive housing in some suburbs is just as effective as an exclusionary device as private school fees. In both cases, wealthy parents are using their money to buy a supposed advantage for their kids over the kids of less wealthy parents. (These same parents probably believe they have a principled commitment to equality of opportunity.)
The proper response to this is to a.) attack excessive wealth and b.) ensure that the education system is so good that any supposed advantage gained by going to a 'top' school is illusory.
Yes and under the "added value system " the Nats favoured, the "Top Schools" often failed in that arena as well.
"a bridge to sell"?
Is that the $800 million dollar boondoggle Wood was going to stick in the shadow of the current Auckland Harbour Bridge?
Given that they apparently spent at least $50 million on preparing for it before sanity prevailed there must surely be something there to sell.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
They could have bought half an insis computer nearly or some shares in South Canterbury Finance a lemon carrier a hospital computer system that doesn't work some Charter schools.
I don't know how long the west will be able to refrain from intervening in this conflict, despite the risks of a direct confrontation with Russia. The Russians are committing some dreadful human rights variations, and could be on the verge of pushing this conflict to another whole level.
For instance, Russian forces have just bombed a maternity hospital in Mariupol:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/09/europe/russia-invasion-ukraine-evacuations-03-09-intl/index.html
They have confirmed using thermobaric weapons
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-thermobaric-weapons-confirmed-ukraine/31745182.html
And now the possibility of Russia using chemical weapons is being flagged as a distinct possibility:
https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-west-has-serious-concern-putin-could-unleash-chemical-weapons-on-kyiv-12561783
The world just can't stand by and allow this sort of barbaric action to continue.
And yet they did (and still do ) in Syria…no western power will involve itself in direct military conflict with Russia unless they (Russia) cross the Rubicon….and I doubt even Putin is that foolish.
Except this time it is a horror show being broadcast to the world.
Syria got plenty of coverage….and Ukraine a whole lot closer to Mother Russia.
Risk aversion will be paramount
Raqqa horror show …but no broadcast
What the the US walked into Syria and took their oil fields, or did you miss that?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/28/syria-us-troops-oil-fields-isis
The US assistance was to one side in a civil war that did not involve direct confrontation with the Russian military….and was probably pre cleared with the Russians (as an anti ISIS move) not unlike the pre warning of the cruise missle strikes on the Homs airfield.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/06/the-us-warned-the-russians-ahead-of-syria-missile-strikes-official.html
Syria has been a testing ground for Russia to determine how far the west can be pushed without military response.
As I have said before the ultimate Russian objective is not military, it is economic.
You get the risk is nuclear war right? Then everyone loses.
an excellent dairy about Covid, and long Covid in particular for those that are interested in such things.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/9/2084438/-28-MONTHS-LATER-The-Hidden-Toll-of-COVID-Not-Being-Discussed
Agreed Sabine, so the "Mild" virus is a nasty beast, best avoided.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/128006089/fonterras-unvaccinated-workers-to-be-subject-to-daily-testing-programme
Seems Fonterra is one of the first employers to allow unvaccinated staff to continue to keep their job via daily testing.
It will be interesting to see how many more companies/employers will follow suit?
It would be interesting to see how manay companys have a 'don't get tested, just call in sick' procedure in place.
The milkman that i spoke to today basically states that night shifts had to be cancelled and others run at 2 – 4 staff where it should be double the staff.
Nevermind, it does not matter actually what we do, keep restrictions its fucked, undo restrictions and its fucked also – see the UK where cases are up again, as is hospitalisation and death. And Oh, yeah, its the 'Stealth' variant that is on the rise Omicron 2.0 with a much higher viral load. Some of the stats in my link above to the DK diary on Covid. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/9/2084438/-28-MONTHS-LATER-The-Hidden-Toll-of-COVID-Not-Being-Discussed
We truly live in interesting times.
Nothing new there. Thats was always the option with wide latitude given to companies like them as they werent part of the 'compulsory' sector
Russia is being squeezed out of the capitalist system:
Harsh sanctions, plummeting exchange rates, depleted foreign reserves, a reliance on imports and the Poots responds to his economy being strangled by voluntarily cutting Russia’s export revenue. Genius.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-08/russia-to-restrict-some-raw-material-exports-but-omits-details
At the cost of hyper inflation,and massive wealth destruction to all other economies.
https://twitter.com/BobOnMarkets/status/1501619630397403139?cxt=HHwWhsC5maLG6dYpAAAA
https://twitter.com/markgongloff/status/1501685712663498756?cxt=HHwWiMCyueHMh9cpAAAA
What is being evidenced is the destruction now of wealth,mostly due to the finacialization of debt and assets exactly the same problem from the GFC.
Say for example the non return of leased Jets from Russia becomes a 10b$ liability,or the meltdown in the Nickel market in London became a 12b$ destruction of wealth,as the investment banks start to liquidate their positions to meet call obligations there will be a flow from equities to cash,a high wealth risk in pension fund etc,and increased cash hording.
Would the collapse of western financial markets be considered an existential threat?
Some would suggest so.
not only western financial markets,China construction bank was a defaulter on calls in the LME nickel blow up.As was China's largest nickel manufacturer (and the worlds biggest stainless steel supplier) .
Dont think the supply of nickel will be an issue for China however….and the margin call has been deferred.
the margin calls were deferred until they could raise credit,they still had to pay the calls reversing an asset to a liability at higher margins.
https://twitter.com/jfarchy/status/1501499240824119297?cxt=HHwWgoC5_dXmstYpAAAA
And who knows what deals have been done with the Russian suppliers for forward contracts….the money will be recouped…and then some.
Tsingshan is also a producer ie a miner,The short option on the global exchange was to protect its position (its risk) in case Nickel prices fell.The 8 billion$ position is now a debt which needs to be funded.As is the 4b$ position for the China construction bank.
Whos likely to suffer more?….the holder of real resources or the holder of debt?
China has access to both.
Its a transfer of wealth from the 250th largest company(globally) to an investment bank.
Partially….
"Chinese authorities directed Tsingshan’s domestic banks to offer more credit lines to the company, two of the people said. A majority of these new loans will be used for margin calls on its existing positions on the London Metal Exchange (LME), the people said."
https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/3169846/chinese-nickel-giant-tsingshan-secures-lifelines-lenders
'Will Ban'
But not yet, Phase out is the actual wording. By the end of the year, apparently
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-to-phase-out-russian-oil-imports
I think Russian LNG is a few years phase out , but only cant come in Russian ships, other flags are fine.
My precious…..
Very precious is Newcastle coal.
https://twitter.com/JavierBlas/status/1499270597548949507?cxt=HHwWhoC-0ceqvc4pAAAA
The real anger from everyday Aussies over the failure of the state in response to this event is getting loud.
Mind you, 40 odd years of radical far right liberalism and what do you expect. It can't do anything because it sold everything thing off to sociopaths (ooops I mean private business interests).
Without 3-Waters, Labour could so easily win the next election.
If you evaluate this government solely in such terms, rejecting Three Waters on top of:
– Rejecting Capital Gains and other tax reform,
– Shrinking Kiwibuild,
– No structural reforms to transport after multiple failures
– No structural reform to electricity after major blackout
– Not reacting to the Commission into State Care findings
– Not reforming the supermarket duopoly, or the fuel oligopoly, ,
would not be a good look.
Beyond COVID, and without Three Waters, they would go to the 2023 election with:
– Extension of National's Bright Line Test
– Expansion of Kainga Ora
– Gun reform
– State health entity merger
– Merging state broadcasters into new agency
I think this Labour government would admit that they aren't structural reform experts. They've made most of their differences elsewhere.
What of the PR propaganda. Based on fear. The minister continually declines and Q&A time to the media. If the minister cannot sell this ,what does that say of either/both the minister and the policy ??
From the link below the issues are mentioned BUT no mention on solutions or expected time frames that issues raised will be rectified. e.g. How and when will Buller's boiling of water be fixed by 3 waters as they will be included in the area of the South Is that aligns with Ngāi Tahu? Will this 3 water s halt any need "To boil" beaches closed due to discharge of Waste or storm water, pipes bursting ? We were sold the fear of these but NO MENTION of a guarantee going forward that such events will NOT happen under 3 waters. If 3 waters cannot guarantee that such events do not occur then this is NO better than the status quo.
https://www.dia.govt.nz/Three-Waters-Reform-Programme
https://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/Files/three-waters-reform-programme-2021/$file/transforming-the-system-for-delivering-three-waters-services-the-case-for-change-and-summary-of-proposals-30-june-2021.pdf
I'm still waiting for Seymore and Luxon's alternative.
Act policy today is to localise the assets.
They should have skipped the first 5 paragraphs in the policy statement and stuck with the policy initiatives.
The strength in the policy is to use the gst on rates (around a billion) to fund council infrastructure spend.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2203/S00078/drop-co-governance-of-three-waters.htm
How come when ACT had a big say in the Super City creation they created the 3 Waters governance model in Watercare Service Ltd
Combines water assets from 8 council entities into 1 …check
Makes the councils 100% owners but not direct control…check
Appointed board doesnt own but has full control of these assets…check
Same as the health reforms: time to make the customer promise that my health outcomes will improve as a result of the reforms.
Little explained part of the reasons, as I think this is all his ideas.
When the labour government gave money for DHBs to employ more nurses , some said thanks for the money but we will run it our way and use agencies, overtime instead.
Same again for the extra money for Mental health facilities , some DHBs just dragged the chain on even starting upgrades to existing facilities or building new. They just wanted to do it in their own time and at their own pace.
They had become little silos used to deflecting central government.
Another example was when the pandemic struck the Auckland Regional Public Health entity just wouldnt cooperate much with the MOD and had their own ways of doing infectious diseases which they preferred. A number of Auckland based covid stuff ups over MIQ and testing were directly on the ARPHA preferred way.
Have we had the year of delivery yet? Wasn't Grant Robertson heading up a new group (cant remember what it was called) to ensure things actually got done? Did that not get done?
Three Waters is the Nats best policy.![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
along with the no evictions policy at KO, absolute gold that one.
Pretty sure if there was a referendum on Three Waters it would sail through.
Problem is noisey farmers are so petrified of losing control of the ability to pollute for profit they'll moan on and on until it is sunk.
When long time Labour man Phil Goff categorically states that it is poorly thought through, poorly structured and liable to manipulation in the future, you know you have problems.
Bryce Edwards has an interesting piece on 3 Waters today.
Where is your link to that “interesting piece”?
Move eyeballs to the 2'o'clock position its in the feed column.
I can’t, I have blinkers on. And I read & reply in backend.
1 dimensional observations in a 6d world,are often constraints in time and space.
That’s too much for my one-track mind. I need links to connect the 1D dots.
There is an infinite space between the dots,a troublesome problem in a linear world called lineland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland#/media/File:Houghton_EC85_Ab264_884f_-_Flatland,_cover.jpg
In dot-land, the dot is all there is, and all there is not. It is infinitesimally small and infinitely large, all at once. Must be time for another coffee …
https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/three_waters_poll
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/11/newshub-reid-research-poll-half-of-new-zealand-doesn-t-support-three-waters-reforms.html
Meh. Curia polls to order.
It's telling that the unsure vote is so significant and I think it shows the strength of the misinformation campaign conducted by farming interests.
2 seperate polls with similar results….and both some months ago (and apart) before a lot of negative publicity, including latest council rejections.
Makes one wonder what your comment "Pretty sure if there was a referendum on Three Waters it would sail through." could be based on.
I think the individual added cost burden people would face due to Three Waters would turn many off.
That is typical of the short term thinking which has dragged this country down for several decades now.
Not at all. I think the added cost burden people would face due to Three Waters would not only impact them in the short-term but also over the long-term.
Well, that's not what the reform programme says. The reform programme says there will be long term savings, as well as much better water quality, a well as increased GDP.
Perhaps you don't believe it in the same way you don't believe in better housing for tenants, and the same way you don't believe in science.
https://newsline.ccc.govt.nz/news/story/three-water-reform-model-flawed-says-mayor
Consequently
https://ccc.govt.nz/services/water-and-drainage/water-reform
So the modelling is in question.
And alternative options for service and delivery (that may better meet the needs of communities than the proposal put forward) are being overlooked or ignored
Indeed, councils up and down the county have overlooked and ignored service and delivery which meets the needs of communities for decades now.
Time for a different approach.
3 waters isnt a rivers and streams farm pollution issue
Its urban supply drinking water and sewage disposal along with stormwater
I imagine nitrate leaching and water borne pathogens from farms comes under drinking water?
No . Regional councils cover the land use side of farming .
Its a water treatment issue . They cant even keep easily treated infectious organisms out of the water supply
Doesnt mean to say the 3 waters isnt a European scale answer unsuited for our spread out country. Wind down the scale and it should work out
And here is Dr Bryce, fresh from promoting the anti-vax parliament protests, delivering a sustained attack on Nanaia Mahuta, calling for he resignation, no less.
The main beef is of course co-governance which betrays the real motives of Edwards and his allies. Can't let Maori make any decisions, they are not capable!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-can-three-waters-be-salvaged-or-will-nanaia-mahuta-have-to-go/CALGH4AB2RSRS63YLOKA7UQZM4/
Hes now a shock jock journalist pretending hes an academic, he used to be a proper political scientist.
Now its like the Business Round Table funds his little University group
https://democracyproject.nz/about/
You got it. Opaque too.
Almost like the antithesis of democracy, when you think about it.
Bryce always cut and spliced other opinions to back up his current hypothesis.
Not any more . hes become a full no facts based commentator now
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/463012/opinion-supermarkets-win-in-the-end
'Labour went into the 2020 election promising to break up the supermarket duopoly and bring down the price of food. This policy is now essentially dead.
See what he does created a policy that didnt exist so he could shoot it down. Their 'policy' was a market study- which is what it says in the manifesto
First electric ute recently driven in NZ. Our local free newspaper carried a report, including test drive by their reporter. It's double-cab. No price yet – it's due to market next summer: https://ldv.co.nz/product/ev-t60-ute/
The LDV electric Ute is useless, it is only two wheel drive and has about as much ground clearance a as normal car as the motor takes the place of the diff. It has a towing capacity of only ONE tonne , a small caravan at most and that halves its range which is already laughably short. Wide tyres and two wheel drive means that any water on any sort of slope on pretty much any surface makes it almost undriveable . It is greenwashing at its most egregious and the weight of wasted materials makes a joke of its supposed green credentials. Better wait for the next generation that’s fit for purpose.
Bullock trains?
too much methane.
True that. So, we need to eliminate everything that emits any form of carbon into the atmosphere. Or just a drastic reduction? Energy efficiency is important, of course, but so is overall energy consumption. Do we proceed in small incremental steps or should we wait for giant leaps (for mankind)? The nay-sayers seems to be binary boofheads of all or nothing and since it’s never all it becomes nothing by default.
Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
A rocket can take us a quarter of a million miles in a few days, but takes a decade to build from scratch.
I have heard variations of the rocket ‘dilemma’ before, i.e. by the time the rocket is ready for take-off it will be overtaken (literally) by newer (i.e. not just bigger propulsion rockets using combustion as the driving force), better, and fasters modes of space transportation/exploration. Life sucks when you’re a rocket scientist.
Use horses instead of cattle for your ute replacement needs. Cooch Windgrass showed the way.
https://horses.extension.org/what-is-the-carbon-footprint-of-a-horse-compared-to-an-automobile/
My folks knew a farmer years ago who used a bren gun carrier on the farm.
Do they make an EV version of the Bren gun carrier?
Asking for a farming friend.
No, but an interesting threshold will be when tanks and IFVs go electric. Actual farm ute EVs will be well before that, though.
yes and no.
I'd be surprised if most utes get their towbar used even annually, and there's the old joke about how often they leave tarmac, too.
It's not a farm vehicle. But most utes aren't farm vehicles. Heck, 91% of them aren't even work vehicles.
But as I've said on here before, utes were really good for getting sour looking individuals down to Parliament for the protest. There were many of them in the convoy that I saw with the 30-40 male demographic that seems to have a problem with female leaders, sorry I read that again, female anythings.
There are 100s of them around Wellington and as you say most are not farm or tradies vehicles. So low down ground clearance is not really important if the only gravel work it is going to do is from the tarseal then to the gravelled carpark at footie.
yup.
Lots of compensation going on in car yards, by the look of it.
good grief. The issue isn't how many people use them for what, it's what the people who do need a 4WD and good towing capacity use them for in real life.
I live in the country. People tow shit, drive distances, and drive in situations where a 4WD is an asset.
The issue is whether the current electric vehicle is a realistic substitute for a ute.
Which means how and where most of them are used is an important part of addressing that issue.
Well then , it makes it just fine for the 90% of users who dont drive down farm tracks
When I worked in a business that needed a 4×4 for rough site tracks , I was given a Diahatsu Terios , was so light that plenty of times could go where a Landrover had trouble, only used the 4×4 feature ocassionally.
Those big butch utes are all show and no go.
And most of the major manufacturers produce 2 wheel drives as well. So how does this EV compare with those vehicles. Nissan/Toyota/Ford/Mitsubishi/Mazda etc must think they have a market for their two wheel drives. Perhaps someone here can give an informed comparison rather than the opening words "They are useless…"
It depends what you use it for…i have a 2 wheel drive flat deck (not electric) that does what I need…in over 20 years i have only needed 4 wheel drive about 4or 5 times so the additional running/service costs of 4WD are not warranted…a capable EV 2WD would be a suitable replacement (depending on price and range) in my situation.
If you need 4WD capability then the same limitations will apply. once available ..range and price.
Thanks for that Pat.
Back to the future: minister announces plan. Basically, it means healing the state broadcaster split of 1975…
Bill Ralston's history of the thing:
And he appraises efficiency gains:
I wouldn't blame the minister for lack of detail (blame the pandemic instead).
Ralston is serious (but diffident) about back to the future:
I'd go for something future-oriented – Multimedia Aotearoa would do.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/128018813/success-of-tvnzrnz-merger-will-all-come-down-to-money
South Pacific started as a stand alone new channel , it wasnt split from anything
I remember going to its studio , a large hall or something on the site of current TVNZ back when the existing only channel was operated out of the old 1YA building in Shortland St
The Radio side had their own building just off Queen St at Durham St W
Yep. I worked as an audio operator for the old AKTV2 in Shortland St. for 4 to 5 years in the 1960s. The new entity sounds like an upgraded version of the original. One positive aspect was the ability of staff to transfer from radio to TV or vice versa. For those who remember TV news reader, Jennie Goodwin for example, iirc she started her career in radio and transferred to TV ending up as one of the longest serving presenters.
To avoid people going apeshit (again), this is an informative article on an interesting change of how the data are acquired and reported: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/03/the-actual-number-of-covid-19-deaths-revealed-as-government-changes-reporting-approach.html
Cause of death it seems even in normal times is a complicated thing.
The simple answer it seems is there are usually a number of interelated causes of death
For most they die of 'old age' and covid seems to be an accelerator in that
A member of my extended family died today. A male aged 82 who reluctantly entered hospital because stents were leaking. Because of damaged lungs he had a great fear of Covid and took every precaution to keep himself safe. Tripled vaccinated / always masked up / not out in the community. Three tests during his stay were negative for Covid. Five days in to his hospital stay he had a major stroke. Three days after that he was diagnosed with Covid – today was his Day 2.
Patricia 2, that is a sad outcome for your family.
It appears even the modellers got the hospitalisation rate wrong The B2a heavy viral load is sooo infectious.
Sadly this type of situation occurs where staff and systems are pressured and the peak wave is high.
That is no comfort at this time sadly. Our son and his neighbour are struggling with throat and cough issues and overwhelming tiredness.
Decrypting crypto.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1501449525831081987?cxt=HHwWhoC5tfCYnNYpAAAA
Kinda racist, but that's a South African for you.
Filled my vehicle up 11:20 this morning diesel $2:51 returning past the same station $2.61. No wonder the motorway is like a Sunday morning. I get the impression that those living day to day are increasing in number. These fuel increases, from talking to some have not even made their way into the cost of goods yet🙁
I think the motorway is like a Sunday morning because a lot of people are working from home amid our biggest outbreak of a 1 in 100 year pandemic event.
$2.61 for diesel…ouch, what part of the country?
Manukau where all the wealth and high incomes reside in 🙃.
The only BAU I have noticed re traffic volumes: is the school traffic. Where I work the office car park is used for school drop offs and pickups with 2 schools across the road, and at our local primary school traffic is as heavy as it has always been.
Yes, and that is because parents are dropping their kids to school directly instead of sending them on public transport. Another effect of the outbreak.
Last i saw here in Canty was about 5 days ago …$2.25 and that caused an expletive or two.