It's the unpredictable, left-field aspects of C-19 that perhaps hold the greatest potential for a re-imagined world.
"If it's true that the best ideas happen in your sleep, the world could be about to experience a surge in creative output, with many reporting they are having more vivid dreams in lockdown.
Neuroscience educator Nathan Wallis said it's not necessarily that we're having more dreams than usual — it's that we've got a better chance at remembering them when we don't have to leap out of bed in the morning."
Ok. Well I had a vivid dream last night. I went downstairs to my garage and found the floor covered in white sheepskin fur. It looked very nice but I don't know how it got there.
Would someone care to analyse what it means please? 😮
Maybe your subconscious reckons everywhere else is clean enough, and that the only thing left to do is to take soap and a yard broom to the garage floor 🙂
"Golf clubs had been fuming about the delay in responding to their request for an exemption, fearful of fungal disease causing millions of dollars of damage to their courses."
Itching to get their fungicides out and give the greens a good drenching?
Many articles, public communications, news items etc are signalling this period allowing for no maintenance as the death knell for the game in this country. This may sound a bit over-dramatic, but I have seen at least one publication, by a supposedly world recognised body, that not mowing greens for a matter of weeks may result in the need for regrassing! Others are predicting wholesale destruction of greens and other surfaces as the result of disease.
This all sounds very ominous and the hyper connected world we exist in now means this message is spreading far and wide in record time.
It is true?
In a word, No! A lot of what is circulating in my view falls into the “fake news” category.
Announced yesterday:
Sports and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson said the government had allowed urgent maintenance to go ahead but only after new guidelines were issued. This will happen after Easter.
“The Government has agreed that urgent upkeep and maintenance of biological assets will be able to go ahead after the Easter Weekend,” Robertson said. “This includes non-plantation nurseries, stadia turf, and golf and bowling club turf maintenance.”
"… A lot of what is circulating in my view falls into the “fake news” category…"
The Herald peddles a lot of fake news these days, in between piously condemning fake news from sources it doesn't like. For example, take this headline:
One of these stories must be wrong. One of them is fake news. Since the Herald has from day one has allowed it's pages to be used to run a pack of lies from the likes of Hosking et al, I think their story is more likely to be rabble rousing bullshit that Stuffs.
They were certainly swarming up through the Lewis Pass yesterday towards Golden Bay, Nelson and the West Coast – eight campervans and house buses turned back by noon by Police outside Murchison and that was just the start. The Murchison supermarket and petrol station was heaving with people. Very unfair to a small community with no Covid-19 cases, so far, because we have all stuck to the rules.
My partner has been working from home, and is now going to take annual leave for a week, and return before the lockdown lifts. He has been talking with his employer about the changes to their workplace practices, but also about the impact Covid-19 will have on their clients and customers and what adaptations will be necessary in the post lockdown period in order to keep moving forward.
I have read the posts on TS about tourism and other industries, and think that there is a such a diversity of businesses within those industries that it is pointless to try and impose a blanket approach to dealing with the fallout. I'm of a mind to agree with weka, that tourism as it has been practiced in recent years, has not been the positive it has been portrayed. As our advertised attractions have been mostly natural, outdoor environmental experiences, we have gained vast numbers of tourists who can pay little to visit these places, whose impact is often having to be mitigated by local authorities and their residents – sometimes with a very small rating base. Some tourist businesses are thriving, but workers are often lower waged precarious workers.
As someone who worked in hospitality and customer service for quite a few years, those jobs – while providing you with income often put you in a position to experience both the best and the worst of people. I would also be confident in saying that younger females would also have more incidents of harassment to report, both from other staff members and the public.
There are more than a few that assume that payment for food, entertainment means that they are direct employers – rather than they are being delivered a service by workers. And that old chestnut, "The customer is always right" is often used to excuse bad behaviour.
While travelling many years ago in Greece, I remember looking around one of the highly touristed towns with signs out the front of cafes saying "Fish and Chips" and "Full English Breakfast" and wondering what the actual locals felt living in such a place where their culture was covered up by the catering to English tourism. It felt like such a loss, both for the tourists who didn't experience anything different, and for those who made a living to cater to such short-sighted tourism.
As for NZ, I don't know how well our tourism dollars are distributed amongst those who work in the industry. How many zero hours contracts, part-time workers or those not on the living wage? As the costs are socialised amongst ratepayers, and other members of the communities, we really need to have a good look at the business model of distribution before assuming that the amount of income is the only criteria to consider.
Providing for, or mitigating the effects of visitors is a cost often borne by local authorities and this can be at a cost to small bases of local ratepayers, who often see other essential infrastructure put on hold or deferred. As part of the attraction to NZ, is the natural environment the ability to retrieve costs from visitors is limited, while the damage done to those attractions and the surrounding environs is not. This socialisation of costs, while a small proportion of tourism operators and employees enjoy a good return, is a model that strains the state's provision of infrastructure and contributes towards long-term inequality.
So – how do we ensure that the return of employment in this – and other industries – creates environments where resilience is strengthened rather than a return to BAU?
I think we really need to investigate tax structures again, and implement some form of tax system that recognises the benefits of including the other bottom lines of environmental, social and community. These are the impacts of business that give local communities their resilience and value in their locale, and our country.
I'm enamoured with the B-Corporation impact assessment tool. Mostly, because it seems so very comprehensive, that even businesses that seem to be already including the three bottom line approach have only 60% of the total. How impactful would it be to have something similar for NZ, that includes points for climate change mitigation, reinvestment of profits into NZ, investment in employees, environmental and community impact – both positive and negative?
By changing business or corporate tax to reflect a scale that measures the positive impact of each business allows the government to support businesses that have built themselves up to practice sustainable models, by reducing their tax obligations. Businesses that follow the singular financial bottom line, with externalities on community and environment, will have to pay the top of the corporate tax rate.
This means that we don't have to pick and choose industries, or provide grants and incentives that only get accessed by a few. We would have a tax system that collects more from businesses that act without regard for others, while reducing the load on those that do – regardless of size or function.
I'd say licencing fees paid by 'local' businesses for intellectual property of 'completely separate and unrelated' companies based in Switzerland (not at all for tax reasons) would be paid out of after tax profits.
Sorry for the delay, the weather was just too good and the paint pail needed to be finished. Just got back inside.
(Housing needs to be taxed appropriately. That is a whole other discussion, and one that has been had before on TS. NZ needs to regard access to affordable, healthy homes as a necessary and basic building block to build a healthy and equitable society. Some methods of avoiding personal tax by the use of trusts etc needs to be looked at as well. GST is another tax that penalises the lower income and should be phased out. )
However, my suggestion was in terms of corporate or business tax. And I proposed a method of progressive taxation based on the rating of the business in lines of something like the B Corp assessment tool. Businesses that rated highly, would have a lower tax rate. Businesses that did not – and the ones most likely to have external costs that environment or society pays for – would pay a higher rate.
(Compliance and needs to assess and remain on point may be a sticking point, but if you are already running a business that considers these aspects, you will be recognised with a lower tax rate.)
Just got some COVID-19 anecdotes from infected rellies that further highlight why elimination is by far the best strategy. COVID-19 may cause long term breathing dysfunction beyond observed lung damage, with deaths possibly occurring long after apparent recovery.
But first, the caveats. This is from my nephew in France, who recently finished his medical training and has been doing his first few hospital stints. He says his personal observations are corroborated by his colleagues, but I had a quick look online and didn't find anything that even looks vaguely like a proper study. So at best it's an early heads-up of something that might be happening, but more likely just noise rather than signal.
He is currently still in recovery from COVID-19. His case would be called mild – ie like the worst case of flu most people ever experience, but he didn't get to the point of needing external breathing assistance (his mother's case is similar). He has noticed his normal reflex to draw breath has been significantly suppressed. This is shown most dramatically by exhaling as far as possible, then trying to not inhale again. Normally this gets very distressing very quickly. In his current COVID-recovering state, he is able to sit there completely calmly feeling no need to inhale, even while his measured CO2 levels are spiking and oxygen dropping. This is particularly concerning for stopping breathing while asleep, and he notes that simply dying while asleep appears to happening at an unusually high rate among COVID-recovering patients.
It's looking more and more likely that when the dust settles, our government's response will be held out as the best model for western liberal democracies. That Italy and other parts of Europe got hit much harder earlier so we had reports of how bad it could get certainly helped make restrictions here palatable.
American intelligence officers knew a new contagion was sweeping Wuhan in November but they couldn't get the message through to the top, according to ABC News.
Trump was asked about it during yesterdays presser.
He was extremely defensive claiming he knew nothing about it. Then he vilified the media outlet(s) who ran the story, as he always does.
Possibly his most deadly decision was to ignore the advice. Could one go so far as to say he is in part responsible for mass murder.
Edit… those currently setting up for the presser are wearing masks, that’s a first. I wonder if those speaking and reporting will be wearing masks today as well. Agent orange usually appears around 10am – 10.30am for a two hour rant and questions from the press.
The dodgy tory fox network is the only stream that has their chat open. Here’s the link if you are interested
Andre, " Gonna be interesting watching the reaction of the MAGAmorons as info like this trickles out. "
The sad thing is many of them will also put their fingers in their ears, preferring to defend their views rather than appear foolish, just like trump does.
Speaking of which I wonder if agent orange will be on time today.
Possibly his most deadly decision was to ignore the advice. Could one go so far as to say he is in part responsible for mass murder.
Indeed. Now answer me this, what massive political crisis was going down in the USA during Nov, Dec and Jan? Just when you say Trump should have been paying lots of attention to this new virus in China?
Win, Stupid, Weak, Loser(s), Fake News, Deep State, Political Correctness, The Swamp, Smart, Tough, Dangerous, Bad, Veterans, Amazing, Make America Great Again, Tremendous, Terrific, Military, Out of Control, Classy.
American intelligence officers knew a new contagion was sweeping Wuhan in November but they couldn’t get the message through to the top, according to ABC News
My initial reaction is to put that in the 'blame China' box of bullshit.
If covid 19 was 'sweeping' Wuhan in November, then the very first identified case of "unusual pneumonia" from Dec 8th is a lie, yes?
And the lock-down of Wuhan, instead of occurring about four weeks after the realisation that an epidemic was breaking out (Jan 23), would (according to that ABC report) have been some eight weeks or more after an outbreak was suspected.
Aside from the usual tell tale signs of bullshit (ie – unnamed "officials"), a look at the consequences for various countries going into lockdown at given time periods after initial cases have been detected, also points to the reporting being bullshit.
Bottom line – there is a lot of finger pointing going on by officials from countries that were slow off the mark. So, the WHO is to blame for their own levels of incompetence, and China is to blame for their own levels of complacency…
Legacy/mainstream/pop/corporate media (I wish I could settle on a descriptor for the arseholes) really needs to get its shit together and stop giving credence to garbage narratives and desperate propaganda.
I think 'everyone' can agree the US response has been woeful.
What I can't quite get is the free pass being given to political actors who are only interested in notching up points.
For example. The Wisconsin Primary was spun as an "evil Republicans" line, when the reality is that both the Democratic Party and Republican Party have been casually encouraging people to go out in the middle of a pandemic to vote.
And that ABC piece subtly plays on the "blame China" narrative to pivot and ultimately blame Trump and his admin for the situation in the US. While it's legitimate to point to the failures of the current Admin, are we to believe that a Democratic Party President would have been "on the ball" and protected the people of the US? That seems to be the implicit message of the piece.
Yet we've had Biden tweeting that people should get out and vote in spite of there being a pandemic, and we've had the DNC threatening states that might postpone primaries.
To my mind, the "red team/blue team" tribalism that degenerates so much political discussion and debate to the level of 'mindless slanging match', needs to be pinned down, doused and torched.
The "red team" and "blue team" are part and parcel of the same structural and political problem. That that gets overlooked and drowned out by those who noisily rush to cheer on their colour is to the detriment of us all and any understandings we might otherwise develop.
The whole political scene in Amercia is so 'up the creek without a paddle' that it was inevitable something was going to happen to the country which would drag it down to near subsistence level. It looks to me like the combination of a mad president and the pandemic is going to do just that.
Do I have any sympathy? Yes. I feel for the intelligent and sane among them, but the rest of them? Nah. not a bit. They are reaping what they sowed.
Your comment "red team" and "blue team" sums it up. They play their political games like teenage, blonde haired bimbos – complete with brightly coloured feather dusters (that's what I call them) – gyrating round a sports arena barracking for either the red team or the blue team – whichever colour takes your fancy.
The New Zealand government – together with that of Taiwan and Australia – will be entitled to bask in global glory once we decrease our lockdown status.
But as the unemployment lines grow fastest here because the economic hit is so deep and so savage, the longer term judgement will be:
Was the New Zealand public health response worth the deliberate economic damage?
"Was the New Zealand public health response worth the deliberate economic damage?"
Do you seriously wish to suggest that the economy wouldnt be in meltdown now without lockdown?….200,000 jobs in tourism alone and god knows how many riding on the associated increased activity…and then take away the wage subsidy and how does your economy look?
Its not either or and never was….time for some clear thought
That we would now be in economic freefall because of what's happening worldwide no matter what the government did and even if somehow the coronavirus had never made it here is a fact that some people are going to need to be reminded of over and over and over again. Because some people are going to try to pretend otherwise in order to undermine the government.
So even if there might have been a theoretical better response that might have had a tiny bit more economic activity in exchange for a slightly looser response with more resulting disease and death, the reality is the much more likely outcome of a looser response would have been vastly more disease and death in exchange for maybe just a tiny bit less economic pain. If we were lucky, that is, but probably more disease and death and more economic pain.
"Because some people are going to try to pretend otherwise in order to undermine the government."
Some definitely for that reason but many in desperation….its understandable but as said clarity of thought is what is required, fortunately we appear to have it at the top unlike many countries
Was the New Zealand public health response worth the unavoidable and inevitable economic damage?
FIFY
In any case, the Q as such doesn’t make logical sense because it is based on a false premise and is more of a rhetorical one, IMHO 😉
In addition, the Q should be asked, as is happening more and more, what will NZ do when we have eliminated the virus but whilst the rest of the World is still in utter disarray? You could call it the $64,000 Q in more than one way.
Alas, I couldn't edit my comment but was going to add that the meningococcal vaccine, MeNZB, which was rolled out in NZ in 2005 is a good example of large sums of taxpayers' money being wasted despite good intentions. Of course, time will tell whether NZ's response to Covid-19 falls into the same category.
According to some, the Government’s actions are pushing the country to the brink of economic destruction. And according to some, this is a too high a price to save a few lives of people who’d die (soon?) anyway. And according to some, those vulnerable people should be isolated for self-protection so that the rest of the country can return to normal and save the economy or what’s left of it and before it’s too late. According to some, we should follow Sweden’s approach to COVID-19. Irrespective of the validity of those arguments, this is not just wasting a few taxpayers’ dollars on a measly [pun] vaccine.
Irrespective of the validity of those arguments, this is not just wasting a few taxpayers’ dollars on a measly [pun] vaccine.
Well, $200 million isn't a few dollars and apparently was, at the time, the most expensive health programme ever introduced. But I agree that it pales in comparison to the economic cost of the virus.
I'm not convinced that we can afford to save lives at all costs – which seems to be the orthodoxy here. Lobby groups have argued that an increase to Pharmac's funding would save lives. Governments, not just the current one, haven't been persuaded. In other words, there has been, until now, a limit to how much money Government's have spent to save lives. Rolling out MeNZB was a departure from that position, and the current action seems to be a departure.
As I said, time will tell whether we over-reacted.
I disagree with you on multiple points, which is a good thing as it can hopefully stimulate healthy discussion (or not).
I'm not convinced that we can afford to save lives at all costs – which seems to be the orthodoxy here.
There’s no orthodoxy as such. There’s a plan and we, not just the Government, are executing it. It is crystal clear that we cannot “save lives at all costs” as there are already two deaths, sadly. The aim of the plan is, and has always been, AFAIK, to minimise deaths and minimise impact on the economy over the long run.
Lobby groups have argued that an increase to Pharmac's funding would save lives. Governments, not just the current one, haven't been persuaded.
This is a misleading comment IMO. Funding of PHARMAC has increased. Saving lives is not a linear function of funding; you can spend millions on one life-saving drug to save a relatively small (!) number of lives. It is about diminishing returns on relatively large increases in funding. We can never save all lives of cancer patients, for example, not even when we throw unlimited amounts of money, time, and effort at it because we are technically not capable of accomplishing this. There are always real and physical constraints to what we can and cannot control and/or achieve, which is why we have to debate these issues publically. Which is why have politics 😉
In other words, there has been, until now, a limit to how much money Government's have spent to save lives.
There is no given fixed limit as such, unless you can point me to one. As a society, we make a choice on how much to spend on saving lives based on political, economic, social, and moral considerations. If you like, you can divide total Government spending by the number of citizens to derive a crude number spent on each of our lives each year. These considerations slowly change over time in quality and quantity (weighting).
Rolling out MeNZB was a departure from that position, and the current action seems to be a departure.
Not quite. It is a relative shift but not an absolute one. Much of the economic pain would have been imposed on us anyway because of the global response to the pandemic. The ‘relaxed’ approach of Sweden does not seem to be paying off [pardon the pun].
As I said, time will tell whether we over-reacted.
Only to a point, and of limited use right now. We will never really know for sure what – if, we can speculate and direct blame (and guilt & penitence & punishment) …
Was the New Zealand public health response worth the deliberate economic damage?
There would likely have been far more so-called "Economic damage" without the lockdown.
A lot of businesses would have likely been affected by the loss of staff due to deaths and large numbers of those who survived with limited or no ability to continue in their jobs as before due to ongoing medical problems such as damaged lungs, failed or failing organs, and even some emotional problems due to the loss of close loved ones.
Saving as many people as possible makes it much easier to rebuild after this has blown over, than if these steps had not been taken.
Returning to a conversation from last week with mauī and weka, it seems the official advice of the NHS is to avoid ibuprofen, but to treat fevers – including that of Covid-19 – with paracetomol. I have seen this several times in the UK media. (NZ doesn't seem to have this advice.)
Wouldn't this interrupt the immune response to the virus?
(Note, every GP except the one I had 23-25 years ago, told me to treat any viral fever in my children with paracetamol.)
There really doesn't seem to be consensus on whether ibuprofen is harmful or not. The arguments against it seem based on theoretical considerations, rather than clinical observations.
There's a notable absence of anything claiming that ibuprofen has any particularly helpful effects for COVID-19 victims.
So if anyone is foolish enough to follow the reckons of a random dude on da webz over their doctor's advice, personally I'd probably just use paracetamol. Although ibuprofen works well for me in other situations, so I might give it a shot as well just for the placebo effect. If I were in the situation of suffering enough from COVID symptoms to fell the need for pharmaceutical relief, that is.
Well, just in case anyone is foolish enough to follow the reckons of a random dude on da webz over their doctor's advice, I thought I'd link to a NZ source, quoting from the WHO, and give them the opportunity to chase a more informed opinion.
"The television promotions for the various sporting codes – especially Rugby Union and Rugby League – feature a terrifying sequence of images glorifying brutal bodily contact, exaggerated aggressiveness, and exultation bordering on complete loss-of-control. What we see is what’s left of the human male when everything dignified, intelligent, creative and compassionate has been edited out of the masculine narrative.
These promos are made all the more frightful by the knowledge that they wouldn’t look that way if the punters wanted to see something else. Clearly, smearing the screen with testosterone is the best way of getting the boys to tune-in. It’s possible, of course, that the clips are assembled for the pleasure of the sporting codes’ female devotees. At least that would make a sort of – equally troubling! – sense. In the end, however, these gloriously kinetic visual packages are all about reaffirming and celebrating a particular kind of masculinity. They present the human male as a dangerous, uncompromising and predatory bundle of muscle."
Great phalanxes of talented athletic men (and increasingly women) have left New Zealand for Australia, France, Canada, US and UK to get rich when they would otherwise have just caused trouble back here. Most will be getting paid high six figure salaries for about 5-8 years, then get out through injury.
International sport has been our quiet working class revolution for two decades. You can name the schools who will never generate Nobel Prize winners but who can generate international stars. Kelston Boys High. Marist. Penrose. They are islander and Maori dominated, and they got out.
Chris just sounds old his soul.
Unlike those sporting career-people, he lost his testosterone years ago and it shows,
Like "saturation" divers. They don't earn more than anyone else, just earn it faster?
Always considered the "intellectual lefts" dislike of popular culture, such as sports, a spectacular own goal. An artefact of "Opiate for the masses", maybe?
I'm not a sports watcher myself. Even watching the ones I enjoy doing, is boring. Didn’t do well in ball sports at school either. Preferred reading books or going sailing. But I grew out of it.
However it gives pleasure to a huge number of people and a living to many others, often from minorities.
Kilikati is as far from Trotters characterisation as you can get.
There are ignorant Neanderthal sports people, just like anywhere else, Mark Richards. There are also the John Kirwans, and all the Māori and Pacifica youth who’ve, built the discipline and responsibility learned in sport into future careers.
I wonder how much of that is a perception from "intellectuals" themselves, thinking they are not getting the respect from the "plebs" they deserve, rather than reality.
My father, an ex Teacher, and a real "intellectual" himself, has no time for the out of touch University Professors, who he says have inflicted on New Zealand schools a " decades long experiment".
I don’t have time for anyone who’s wilfully and knowingly ‘out of touch’ and flaunts it, wears it like a badge of honour (bumper sticker), and brags about it. This applies across the board.
Far from Trotters characterisation of lockdown flouters as Neanderthal, sports loving Waitakere man, it seems the largest number of rule flouters, and deliberate breakers of the lockdown, are well off beach mansion owners, sneaking out for a holiday under cover of darkness.
Increasing the chances of spreading the virus from their Auckland supermarket, to small holiday towns.
KJT, your characterisation of Trotter's man as a Neanderthal Waitakere man is less than just to his article.
I believe his defining of the characteristics of the rule-flouting, aggressive, ungentlemanly, quick to insult and be violent men who are the subject of his article can also be found in the well-off beach mansion crowd, amongst businessmen and workers, amongst the educated and the illiterate, the powerful and the powerless.
The causes are complex and beyond my present comprehension.
I have sent this article to an old friend and mentor who is a psychologist who worked with youth offenders in the States. I will be interested in his comments, but I bet he will mention fathers, being bullied, abuse and lack of spiritual dimension in the man's life.
Mmmm – some of the kindest most thoughtful young men I know are those who have been vrought up by solo mothers and that includes my two. They also both enjoy sport in fact one is a physed teacher
I agree. Trotter characterises 2 sides of the same masculinity coin (and there are other kinds of masculinity).
But Trotter favours the masculinity of the upperclass British imperialist colonisers. Many of them also did not have such a great record with abusive treatment of women and others with little power, away from the public or official gaze, behind closed doors, etc.
As well as those sneaking off to their holiday homes, are the boaties ignoring polite requests to stay away from Great Barrier Island, draining needed resources from locals, and potentially spreading C-19 there. Irresponsible, selfish, "idiots" all of them.
I like watching men's and women's rugby when it's available on freeview. I record and fast forward through promos (the focus of Trotter's post), pre-match gossip, profiles and chatter, and switch off before the prize giving ceremonies.
Many of the male commentators do present a kind of cheer-leading of macho qualities during men's matches, which I'm not keen on. I've always found some of their language a bit iffy – praising big strong men as "prime beef", and "a big unit" – animal and machine?
You read in so much British writing, the assumption that a tidy house, is a marker of character.
Or in my experience. British Captains judging an officer, on his ability to keep his uniform tidy and smart, and get the flag up at sunrise, on the dot. Never mind if he was bloody useless at anything else.
Na, the bach lot are pretty much the same people, just maybe a bit older and more affluent. The part of society Trotter is describing has always been here, but morphs slightly with each generation. Their whole world is all about 'ME'
To be fair to Chris – dissing sporting culture isn't really at the point of his piece. I think what he is doing is saying that a more rounded form of masculinity might result in fewer cases of idiotic, entitled, lockdown-breaking – and that's across all social classes.
That seems like a reasonable idea to explore at least. But it does lead him into some shallow stereotyping, including of sportspeople. This tends to happen with Chris when the over-fluent language-generating part of his brain overwhelms the editing part. He's a good writer, but at his worst when that happens.
I reckon if one was to take him aside and point out that catholicity of taste, interest and talent is a much truer marker of sophistication than narrow intellectualism – he'd agree with you. Think Sir Philip Sidney – capable both of fighting the Spanish and dashing off a sonnet.
Central hypo ventilation syndrome is when carbon dioxide increases and oxygen decreases. There is a late adult onset which can be deadly during a general anaesethic or with a virus affecting the lungs. A mutation of the PHOX2B gene is usually found in this rear condition.
Reply to Andre @ 4.
There is a considerable family history on my ex husbands side of this.
I would be interested in knowing how many deaths from Covid-19 carry the PHOX2B gene. As well the level of acidosis in people on a ventilator. It is my understanding that organ failure is strongly linked to acidosis.
I noted that immediately after my one operation, that the nurse stood beside me and told me to breathe more deeply because her meter showed my oxygen levels drooping. I assumed that the anaesthetic residue had to be purged.
It could be organ failure but this doesn’t quite explain the loss of the breathing reflex. It is possible that COVID-19 also causes neurological damage to nerves and/or parts of the brain involved in the breathing reflex. If I were a recovering patient, I’d stay off the alcohol for a while, especially in the evening/night 😉
I do not have a clinical or a scientific background. I have learnt a lot through dealing with the health system in the last 20 years, more so in the last 5 years.
What you raise about the consumption of alcohol needs to be taken on board. This could be a factor in a higher death rate in the elderly.
During the 1918 influenza epidemic it was suggested to have a whiskey to ward off catching influenza or to cure the flu.
Fascinating thread. Some ten years ago whilst neutropenic due to chemo for leukemia,the worst happened and my man caught a bug which resulted in a chest infection. Poor isolation rule enforcement on the ward.
For C4/5 tetraplegic this could be fatal. Anyway…himself can cough a little, but unfortunately his efforts triggered some kind of chest wall muscle spasm. Result, atrial fibrillation and his autonomic breathing mechanism folded. At the height of the struggle the nurse and I got him to totally engage with his breathing…"in, two three four, out two three four "
…and this he had to keep up consciously for the next three days and nights. Piped oxygen actually made things worse . Peter recalls now that he pushed the mask away…it simply wasn't helping. Somewhere we read that if the oxygen from the pipe is too high the the body thinks it has enough already.
To sleep I managed to position him semi upright and slightly on his side so he could doze a little. Too high or too low and he had to again concentrate 100% inhale, 100% exhale.
He was not offered CPAP or BIPAP but we did do periodic saline nebulizers. It took a good three days for his autonomic breathing system to 'come right', but even today, if he is doing something requiring effort and concentration(like reeling in a largish fish) he has to 'remember' to breathe.
Funnily enough we have been practicing our breathing over the past few weeks…especially when he was in hospital and hooked up to the oxygen saturation monitor.
Having to post this link as a reply to earlier comment, as the system ate my previous words when I tried to do two links in one post. Typing on a mobile phone is trickier, but at least you can pace and keep an eye on kids while doing so.
Would cut and paste quotes from linked piece, but mobile – so; sorry, I am not going to.
If you want to keep trolling commenting here than I suggest you make your contributions more constructive. I’m more than happy if people point out errors of fact and correct these. You failed on both counts. To self-correct, the drug name should end with “mab”, not “ab” as I said earlier.
Frankly your continued accusation of trolling to anyone who disagrees with you is tedious.
Your are correct in stating that the generic nomenclature ending in 'mab' signifies a monoclonal antibody it is usually expensive when still under patent but pricing often falls dramatically when patents expire.
You don’t seem to understand that it is (your) behaviour that I label as trolling, not the fact that someone (you) disagrees with me. It is common among trolls to misunderstand this difference, which is why they usually continue with their behaviour and cop a ban. Frankly, it is tedious.
It is common for any drug that comes off patent to become available at cheaper price. However, this is relative and depends on demand, effectiveness, and disease type (e.g. so-called life-saving drugs do demand a premium – Yay for the free market). In addition, companies have many ways to extend their patents. It is much harder to make a generic of a biologic than of a synthetic drug, which further adds to the price. My comment still stands, mAbs are expensive irrespective of whether they are on patent or generics.
Clearly you have an issue with me Incognito – that is your problem if you’re determined to ban me on some made up pretext please feel free
(e.g. so-called life-saving drugs do demand a premium – Yay for the free market).
Often this is the case but there are many notable exceptions, insulin is a life saving drug but is very cheap in NZ in comparison to example the newer anti cancer compounds which are often 'life prolongers'.
Many of the very simple cardiovascular medications which could be considered life savers fo certain groups are extraordinarily cheap both before paint expires and after patent expires in comparison to many non life saving medications.
It is much harder to make a generic of a biologic than of a synthetic drug, which further adds to the price.
This is a reasonable assumption for simple pressed API immediate release tablets but is often not the case for complex release oral products or long acting injectable medicines.
My comment still stands, mAbs are expensive irrespective of whether they are on patent or generics.
In some case yes in some cases no – for example Rituximab which is now generic @ around $300 per month is pretty reasonable – all depends what you are comparing it to.
Let’s start with the constructive part of your comment, which was pleasingly well-informed, thank you.
Indeed, insulin is cheaper than, for example, some of the latest cancer immune therapy drugs that have recently come on the market. Of course, insulin has been around for yonks so this comparison is not entirely fair. In addition, for a proportion of cancer patients, these drugs are not just ‘life prolongers’ but potential life savers leading to complete responses.
Yes, you’re correct that I was only referring to the manufacture of the API, thanks.
In the case of Rituximab, the generic is indeed considerably cheaper than the original but still expensive IMO, thank you.
I think none of this is inconsistent with what I said:
However, this is relative and depends on demand, effectiveness, and disease type (e.g. so-called life-saving drugs do demand a premium – Yay for the free market). [with emphasis this time]
Now, for the first part of your comment, there is no pretext for banning you; you’re seeing or making an issue out of either something that isn’t there or mixing up things. The only issue I have, more with some than with others, is their online behaviour here on TS. It is not personal – I don’t know any of the commenters here from a bar of soap nor do I take things personal, unless they make personal insults to others or me.
I focus on behaviours that may have a negative influence on overall commentary here and/or create a bad environment that’s not conducive to what we like to achieve on this site. On the other hand, I don’t go around praising every single comment that falls on the other positive side of the ledger. This is why you usually see me taking issue with something (not somebody) when you see a comment of mine. Does this make sense?
Is the US economy about to take a nose drive into hard concrete? maybe so, as it looks like the Republican/Democratic bullshit bail out is not going to save them..
Bailing Out the Bailout
It will take years to sort through the details, but Trump’s $2 trillion COVID-19 response looks like a double-down on the last disaster
The corporate component of that bailout is US$400 billion +, that the Fed can leverage to US$4 trillion +.
In other words, there will be a happy cohort of disaster capitalists making hay on various short selling or whatev's, also buying swathes of strategic assets at fire sale prices, precisely because of unprecedented levels of unemployment, bankruptcy and business failure.
Is this reactivating behind Singapore's second wave?
The coronavirus may be “reactivating” in people who have been cured of the illness, according to Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 51 patients classed as having been cured in South Korea have tested positive again, the CDC said in a briefing on Monday. Rather than being infected again, the virus may have been reactivated in these people, given they tested positive again shortly after being released from quarantine, said Jeong Eun-kyeong, director-general of the Korean CDC.
[…]
Fear of re-infection in recovered patients is also growing in China, where the virus first emerged last December, after reports that some tested positive again — and even died from the disease — after supposedly recovering and leaving hospital. There’s little understanding of why this happens, although some believe that the problem may lie in inconsistencies in test results.
One hypothesis could be that the immune system is primed after the first infection and goes in full overdrive upon the second infection. This could lead to the immune system attacking the infected tissue (cytokine storm) with greater ferocity and with fatal consequences. In the past, this has been a problem with developing vaccines against certain diseases. The immune system is a complex beast.
Amanda Marcotte takes a look at Tinyfingers Twittertwat's attempts to rile up Berners in the wake of Bernie conceding the obvious and dropping out. Gonna be interesting watching how much traction the convergence moonbats that are more interested in sticking it to the libs and Dems than achieving actual progress get this time around compared to last time.
I get it that apparently the media you consume mirrors the all-consuming hatred you feel of anyone that might be cognitively adaptable enough to win election and actually achieve some progressive goals, so you never get spoon-fed any of the real differences between the realistic choices. To help you out, here's just a few bullet points.
Biden wants to expand healthcare coverage to more people and lower costs to consumers. Tyrannosaurus Arse wants to take away coverage from poor people so he can put more money into his pockets.
Biden accepts climate change science and wants to make changes to reduce climate change. Dayglo Swampzilla wants to help his fossil fuel robberbaron friends to continue polluting the world for as long as possible to put more money into their pockets.
Biden's interests in foreign policy include considering how to improve the lives of people in foreign countries (even when that concern leads him into decisions with disastrous unintended consequences). Twitterfinger J. Putinpussy's interests in foreign policy don't extend any further than where he can put his name on hotels to put more money in his own pockets and his friends.
Biden generally supports worker's rights, even if that support is feeble and patchy. The Fifth Avenue Fraud wants to strip worker protections and suppress wages, in order to put more money into his own pockets.
Biden supports protecting natural areas and strengthening parks. America's Prolapsed Rectum just wants to shit all over them so his friends can extract more of the common wealth to put in their own pockets.
That's just a tiny portion of the differences. You're welcome. But it would be really helpful if you could suppress just a tiny bit of your motivated reasoning and broaden your information sources to include at least a few that are grounded in reality.
Yeah. That one thing is sufficient to explain why all the Repugs slurped down a load of Drano to dissolve their spines once it became clear in 2016 the genital-grabbing golem was going to win the nomination.
I read and listen to and read—not "consume"— all kinds of media. I read widely, and skeptically always. You are trying to portray me as something I'm not. You don't "get it" at all.
Biden's interests in foreign policy include considering how to improve the lives of people in foreign countries (even when that concern leads him into decisions with disastrous unintended consequences).
"Unintended consequences". That's a good way to explain away his support for the destruction of Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Palestine (to name just a few) in order to “improve the lives of people in foreign countries".
Putinpussy
We get it. You've swallowed the Russiagate Kool-Aid. How did that Mueller Inquiry go?
So Joe Spidern 'supports' 'generally supports' 'accepts' and he 'wants to'.
Hilarious.
BYW isn't there a website that gives clever, amusing nicknames for Biden? You could use that too.
Why is it a given the opposing candidate of the Murican Mugabe must not be a toady, a sycophant, and dripping in obsequiousness.
The DNC have selected Biden as their sacrificial old ewe and he will make a complete fool of himself in any debate with Thump. If they'd wanted the orangutan out they would have made sure Sanders got the nomination.
If Bernie had made it to the Oval Office, I would have found it fascinating to watch the reaction of Bernie cultists as Bernie dealt with the choice of either achieving nothing whatsoever, or succumbing to having to make the same shitty compromises that everyone else in the position has to make.
"Bernie cultists"? So the millions of people who supported him are a cult? Were they controlled by Russian masterminds like Trump was? Do they drink a kind of vodka-laced Kool-Aid?
Luckily for the rest of humanity there are sane, rational people like you and Keith Olbermann to keep watch over those cultists.
Not all Bernie's supporters are cultists. It seems only around 15% are.
The remaining huge majority of his supporters are capable of maturely swallowing their disappointment that their first choice wasn't the choice of the majority, and go on to support the next best choice to achieve progress towards what is important to them.
If the left/progressives, those who saw Bernie Sanders as a political compromise, get their shit together and bring the streets to bear on Biden's campaign/platform, then they'll possibly achieve a lot of progress.
That said, I suspect a fair few will simply walk away from US representative politics in disgust.
Truth be told, Sanders not being President could turn out to be the best thing that happened to Progressive politics in the US in terms of achieving real world results.
But for that to happen, Biden would have to be President, and well….
I'll assume that US$100 million worth of effort is contingent on him coming to the party.
The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking the DNC might have fucked up. They could have stymied a Sanders White House in a dozen different ways to Sunday. That, and Sander's support base would likely have pulled its collective punches if and when it came to holding his feet to the fire.
But with Biden…
Sanders just has to tread a line, and avoid going out there and overtly promoting any of Biden's problematic policies during a Presidential campaign.
I just went for a walk here in Blenheim. What fascinates me is the silence. Sunny calm day, very few cars, some family bikers and walkers and the deep quiet. I can hear a lawn mower about a block away and the monarch caterpillars chomping away on their leaves. I know everywhere must be quiet but this is amazing! And very pleasant.
Yes. I love the quiet. Was just on my balcony listening to the birds chatter in a tree nearby.
When the lock down ends, I guess the neighbours will have the guys back with the machines, building their half-finished rock wall – hope they finish it quickly. Plus other neighbours in houses and flats recently sold doing some upgrades.
We used to get a lot of dog walkers down our quiet street, but curiously, there's been few walkers since lock down – mostly only people in our street. It maybe that many of the dog walkers were using a narrow walkway from another, busier street to cut through to our street. But, the walkway is too narrow to allow people going in opposite directions and maintain the 2 meter distance….?
Thanks Joe. I wonder if Romans are pleased to not have tourists pounding the streets? I saw one ambulance two cars and one police car. It makes the city more beautiful but without people it is dreadfully like one of those apocalypse movies. Shudders.
Yes, Ian, I hear the same silence! My neighbours talking on their patio, two magpies 100 metres away, twittering small birds, and a monarch fluttered by but I can't claim to have heard it! I see no traffic on SH1 and hear no grape harvesters. The vineyard guns are silent.
Will our lives change because of this experience and how we live the rest of our lives? My wife stays at home every night of the week rather than three nights out. Me the same. We eat better, and more interestingly. Homegrown figs, home cooked oat biscuits, ciabatta buns and oven-roasted beetroot and quinces.
I read that our dreams are more vivid and will affect our imagination more.
I have been phoning Grey Power members who are over 70 and who have no e-mail to be contacted by. They all sounded well and happy, looked after by family and friends. Their biggest concern was how to pay their sub without using KiwiBank cheques.
I just wondered whether these wiser old folks, off-line and away from false news and scare-mongering, haven't got a deeper handle on what is worthwhile in living a good life.
We had 3 caterpillars, the first in years on our swan plant. I covered them with netting till they were fat then brought them inside to sit on the table with a few branches of swan plant as take-aways. I am sure I heard them munching. One took offence at being inside and did a runner. Next morning it turned up on my armchair. I put it back on the table so ungrateful little sod took off again. So I returned it back to the mother plant outside but now cannot find it.
Some bird with a fuller puku, or maybe it's the one that did a fly-by here……..
Just been singing a song by James Taylor on the patio as the sun goes down. The words go, "Well the sun is slowly sinking down, and the moon is slowly on the rise . So this old world must still be spinning around. And I still love you." This to my partner who's been in my bubble for coming up 44 years!
"the monarch caterpillars chomping away on their leaves"
Now that is truly impressive. I assume your hearing was good enough to hear that Holden that started up in Nelson at 5.27pm. Was it a 6 or an 8 cylinder? I heard it from over here in Wellington but my hearing isn't nearly as good as yours seems to be.
Year ago when I was in security I was about to call for backup until the "prowler" in the bushes came scurrying out, about 5.5ft shorter than I expected. Narrowly escaped months of workplace ribbing for that one lol
Around here it is the paper wasps still chomping away on the Monarch caterpillars. They used to stop looking for food around this time, but there now appears to be a new, slightly different type.. Bad news for the Monarchs. Nice weather otherwise.
I really wish I hadn't read that. Monarch Butterflies are so beautiful and wasps so dreadful. I really would prefer to think that every Monarch caterpillar turned into a butterfly than to think of them being eaten up by bloody wasps.
I don't think how nice lambs are when I eat a lamb roast of course.
A pitiless yet hilarious dissection of the likes of Bari Weiss, Amanda Marcotte, David Brooks
On his light chat show, Jim Mora used to regularly quote the right wing New York Times opinionist David Brooks whenever he needed something, however intellectually threadbare, to provide some heft for his own complacent and reactionary views.
There's some very funny and astute analysis of Amanda Marcotte's hopeless New York Times colleagues, esp. David Brooks, from the 51:00 mark….
The old scam e-mail from the LinkedIn breach turned up in my inbox today. The "we know your password, we've hacked your webcam and have vids of you watching porn, pay us bitcoin" one. As it happens, I logged in to LinkedIn for the first time in quite a while a couple of weeks ago. I checked and HIBP sez my email and password were included in the breach.
Is this just coincidence, or does this suggest the scammers still have malware planted on LinkedIn that lets them see LinkedIn's traffic?
"After brief deliberation, the Taxpayers' Union board determined the welfare of our employees to be a more pressing immediate concern than ideological purity."
Why can't the Taxdodger's Union both stick to their "ideological purity", and look after the welfare of their employees?
They could do this by making the offer to pay back the $60,000 wage subsidy they have bludged from the government.
It will be interesting to see who claims the subsidy – there'll certainly be more than just this mob who are dubious recipients of the governments largesse on behalf of the public.
The ideological purity lost out to pragmatism with the tax payers union. It is similar to discussions with fundamentalist bible expounders. Funny how biblical injunctions not to eat pork, or eat leavened bread at Passover, or eat shellfish have been overridden.
We understand with modern science why we can eat these foods safely.
These right wing purists just came up against new circumstances which made an ass of dogma. Good on them for altering their views. I just hope that they will understand that inflexible thinking and ideology lead to dead ends.
That welfarism, social cohesiveness, and even taxation can be creative, life-sustaining, and beneficial.
Donald Trump paused his efforts around the growing coronavirus crisis to sign an executive order clearing the path for US to mine the moon for resources.
According to documents released by the White House, the order rejects the 1979 global agreement known as the Moon Treaty which says any activity in space should conform with international law.
"Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space," the order states.
Any planet /moon or asteroid should be split by giving countries the exact % of surface area as they have on earth ,in the same area as their country. It would save a lot of agro if we get that far .
This wouldnt stop non spacefaring nations from getting a share of the goodies they could just sell mining rights to their chunk.
The Transportation Security Administration screened 94,931 people on Wednesday, a drop of 96% from a year ago and the second straight day under 100,000.
Historical daily numbers only go back so far, but the nation last averaged fewer than 100,000 passengers a day in 1954, according to figures from trade group Airlines for America.
I apologize for misleading people on this site. I am now convinced the data errors around Covid-19 are completely flawed and apparently meant to deliberately mislead.
While I do not doubt some people are harmed, this is not even remotely close to the level that was projected. We do not need a vaccine, nor do we need to continually monitor our borders. Maintaining a reasonable health standard + the odd vitamin boost if we feel unwell should do it.
Here are a couple of many articles I have found that support this.
But the most damming is the evidence on the ground. I point to the videos put out by Crowdsource The Truth/Jason Goodman from NYC. At first I thought this guy is arrogant and crazy, but it turned out he was just being skeptical and for good reason. The claims in the media that NYC is death central are obviously bullshit. You can't watch this guys videos and draw any other conclusion.
Then there are the photos used for different stories, in different countries. Same photo. A number of examples of this can be found.
We have all been duped.
If someone tells you that you or your family must have a Covid-19 vaccine for their own safety and that of the public tell them to go fuck themselves.
"It is in fact more likely that the coronavirus death toll is much higher than the official figures suggest, rather than it being inflated. The CDC has acknowledged its count is an “underestimation” because it only tallies cases where Covid-19 has been confirmed in a laboratory test.
Epidemiologists say a widespread lack of initial testing in the US means many people died without being counted, while even now some people who die at home or in nursing homes are not being tested for the virus.
In New York City, more than 200 people are dying at home each day during the pandemic, according to city officials, a very much higher rate than usual. Bill de Blasio, New York City’s mayor, has estimated that about 100 to 200 people a day who die at home in the city are not being included in the official virus death count. But the federal government insists the overall figures are largely accurate."
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
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 ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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. ...
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It's the unpredictable, left-field aspects of C-19 that perhaps hold the greatest potential for a re-imagined world.
"If it's true that the best ideas happen in your sleep, the world could be about to experience a surge in creative output, with many reporting they are having more vivid dreams in lockdown.
Neuroscience educator Nathan Wallis said it's not necessarily that we're having more dreams than usual — it's that we've got a better chance at remembering them when we don't have to leap out of bed in the morning."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/120941308/why-your-dreams-are-so-much-more-vivid-during-lockdown
Ok. Well I had a vivid dream last night. I went downstairs to my garage and found the floor covered in white sheepskin fur. It looked very nice but I don't know how it got there.
Would someone care to analyse what it means please? 😮
A subconscious sense of entitlement?
treasures and comfort in your subconscious?
I'll go with weka. 😉
Anxieties about how to keep things clean?
Not so much how to keep things clean but a concern I will get fed up with all the extra cleaning and washing of hands and start to slack off?
I think you might be right Editactor.
Maybe your subconscious reckons everywhere else is clean enough, and that the only thing left to do is to take soap and a yard broom to the garage floor 🙂
Did that at the start of Summer!
We should keep a running list. It reminds me of the Cuba stories, about the benefits that came from losing cheap oil.
On golf clubs and the "fuming" green keepers:
"Golf clubs had been fuming about the delay in responding to their request for an exemption, fearful of fungal disease causing millions of dollars of damage to their courses."
Itching to get their fungicides out and give the greens a good drenching?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/golf/120948493/coronavirus-greenkeepers-fume-as-jacinda-ardern-defends-delay-in-exemption-request
A Hamilton Greenkeeper speaks up:
A voice of reason
Announced yesterday:
"… A lot of what is circulating in my view falls into the “fake news” category…"
The Herald peddles a lot of fake news these days, in between piously condemning fake news from sources it doesn't like. For example, take this headline:
Kiwis swarm to holiday hotspots for Easter, ignore lockdown rules
And compare it with this one from Stuff:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120918636/in-pictures-empty-roads-this-easter-weekend-as-covid19-lockdown-continues
One of these stories must be wrong. One of them is fake news. Since the Herald has from day one has allowed it's pages to be used to run a pack of lies from the likes of Hosking et al, I think their story is more likely to be rabble rousing bullshit that Stuffs.
Just going by the headlines (…), both could be right. Devil is in the detail.
They were certainly swarming up through the Lewis Pass yesterday towards Golden Bay, Nelson and the West Coast – eight campervans and house buses turned back by noon by Police outside Murchison and that was just the start. The Murchison supermarket and petrol station was heaving with people. Very unfair to a small community with no Covid-19 cases, so far, because we have all stuck to the rules.
Glad to hear the police are on it.
Council contractors were mowing the local maunga the other day grass was about 5cm long didn't really see that as essential at this point.
Ah…those fungicides, that also double up as wormicides.
Because who on Earth would want those unsightly worm casts spoiling the turf aesthetic?
Turn the turf into food forest!
Affordable housing would not go amiss either, with a nice vege/herb plot.
My partner has been working from home, and is now going to take annual leave for a week, and return before the lockdown lifts. He has been talking with his employer about the changes to their workplace practices, but also about the impact Covid-19 will have on their clients and customers and what adaptations will be necessary in the post lockdown period in order to keep moving forward.
I have read the posts on TS about tourism and other industries, and think that there is a such a diversity of businesses within those industries that it is pointless to try and impose a blanket approach to dealing with the fallout. I'm of a mind to agree with weka, that tourism as it has been practiced in recent years, has not been the positive it has been portrayed. As our advertised attractions have been mostly natural, outdoor environmental experiences, we have gained vast numbers of tourists who can pay little to visit these places, whose impact is often having to be mitigated by local authorities and their residents – sometimes with a very small rating base. Some tourist businesses are thriving, but workers are often lower waged precarious workers.
The idea that Ad previously proposed "We serve. And there is no shame in it" is a good soundbite but flawed. As I previously posted in response:
So – how do we ensure that the return of employment in this – and other industries – creates environments where resilience is strengthened rather than a return to BAU?
I think we really need to investigate tax structures again, and implement some form of tax system that recognises the benefits of including the other bottom lines of environmental, social and community. These are the impacts of business that give local communities their resilience and value in their locale, and our country.
I'm enamoured with the B-Corporation impact assessment tool. Mostly, because it seems so very comprehensive, that even businesses that seem to be already including the three bottom line approach have only 60% of the total. How impactful would it be to have something similar for NZ, that includes points for climate change mitigation, reinvestment of profits into NZ, investment in employees, environmental and community impact – both positive and negative?
By changing business or corporate tax to reflect a scale that measures the positive impact of each business allows the government to support businesses that have built themselves up to practice sustainable models, by reducing their tax obligations. Businesses that follow the singular financial bottom line, with externalities on community and environment, will have to pay the top of the corporate tax rate.
This means that we don't have to pick and choose industries, or provide grants and incentives that only get accessed by a few. We would have a tax system that collects more from businesses that act without regard for others, while reducing the load on those that do – regardless of size or function.
Tax reform would be an excellent place to start the recovery.
Which parts out our tax system would you change, while enabling the government to necessarily massively increases its services to society?
I'd say licencing fees paid by 'local' businesses for intellectual property of 'completely separate and unrelated' companies based in Switzerland (not at all for tax reasons) would be paid out of after tax profits.
Financial transaction tax.
Sorry for the delay, the weather was just too good and the paint pail needed to be finished. Just got back inside.
(Housing needs to be taxed appropriately. That is a whole other discussion, and one that has been had before on TS. NZ needs to regard access to affordable, healthy homes as a necessary and basic building block to build a healthy and equitable society. Some methods of avoiding personal tax by the use of trusts etc needs to be looked at as well. GST is another tax that penalises the lower income and should be phased out. )
However, my suggestion was in terms of corporate or business tax. And I proposed a method of progressive taxation based on the rating of the business in lines of something like the B Corp assessment tool. Businesses that rated highly, would have a lower tax rate. Businesses that did not – and the ones most likely to have external costs that environment or society pays for – would pay a higher rate.
(Compliance and needs to assess and remain on point may be a sticking point, but if you are already running a business that considers these aspects, you will be recognised with a lower tax rate.)
Just got some COVID-19 anecdotes from infected rellies that further highlight why elimination is by far the best strategy. COVID-19 may cause long term breathing dysfunction beyond observed lung damage, with deaths possibly occurring long after apparent recovery.
But first, the caveats. This is from my nephew in France, who recently finished his medical training and has been doing his first few hospital stints. He says his personal observations are corroborated by his colleagues, but I had a quick look online and didn't find anything that even looks vaguely like a proper study. So at best it's an early heads-up of something that might be happening, but more likely just noise rather than signal.
He is currently still in recovery from COVID-19. His case would be called mild – ie like the worst case of flu most people ever experience, but he didn't get to the point of needing external breathing assistance (his mother's case is similar). He has noticed his normal reflex to draw breath has been significantly suppressed. This is shown most dramatically by exhaling as far as possible, then trying to not inhale again. Normally this gets very distressing very quickly. In his current COVID-recovering state, he is able to sit there completely calmly feeling no need to inhale, even while his measured CO2 levels are spiking and oxygen dropping. This is particularly concerning for stopping breathing while asleep, and he notes that simply dying while asleep appears to happening at an unusually high rate among COVID-recovering patients.
One of our colleagues working here is French – his mother and grandmother died of the virus on the same day last weekend.
It's looking more and more likely that when the dust settles, our government's response will be held out as the best model for western liberal democracies. That Italy and other parts of Europe got hit much harder earlier so we had reports of how bad it could get certainly helped make restrictions here palatable.
IN NOVEMBER the US Intelligence had a heads up
Covid 19 coronavirus: Intelligence shows US was warned in November – report
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12323882
American intelligence officers knew a new contagion was sweeping Wuhan in November but they couldn't get the message through to the top, according to ABC News.
VERY VERY costly for the US.
Trump was asked about it during yesterdays presser.
He was extremely defensive claiming he knew nothing about it. Then he vilified the media outlet(s) who ran the story, as he always does.
Possibly his most deadly decision was to ignore the advice. Could one go so far as to say he is in part responsible for mass murder.
Edit… those currently setting up for the presser are wearing masks, that’s a first. I wonder if those speaking and reporting will be wearing masks today as well. Agent orange usually appears around 10am – 10.30am for a two hour rant and questions from the press.
The dodgy tory fox network is the only stream that has their chat open. Here’s the link if you are interested
Yes
The US has 460k cases and 16k deaths
NY has major problems
China has 81k cases with 3k deaths (Maybe)
Every country is saying they are flattening the curve, trump constantly assures the american people they are doing great.
The scary thing I feel is the USA has only just begun. God help them.
Yes.
The US is getting abt 30k cases per day, which is 20k to 25k greater than any other country currently.
Scary as.
Did they do a case redefinition around 5th April? They were up to 35k new cases on the 4th, then it stepped down to 25k on the 5th.
It looks like a definite step down and then continues a step below the previous path, rather than noise or a continuous change in practise.
I saw by accident some Fox news the other night.
uuuuuuggh
I'm hearing you on that DV.
Andre, " Gonna be interesting watching the reaction of the MAGAmorons as info like this trickles out. "
The sad thing is many of them will also put their fingers in their ears, preferring to defend their views rather than appear foolish, just like trump does.
Speaking of which I wonder if agent orange will be on time today.
May be Cinny you can be nominated as the designated watcher, to slow the spread of the trumpanmenic
Lmfao, funny you should say that….he's just turned up.
If I don't end up zoning out on his crap or throwing something at the computer, I'll do a little update later 🙂
Thank you.
Essential service????
I have been looking carefully each day to see what shade of orange he is.
I have noticed some variation.
Possibly his most deadly decision was to ignore the advice. Could one go so far as to say he is in part responsible for mass murder.
Indeed. Now answer me this, what massive political crisis was going down in the USA during Nov, Dec and Jan? Just when you say Trump should have been paying lots of attention to this new virus in China?
And when senior CCP officials were in the White House on Jan 15 to sign Phase 1 of the hugely important US-China trade deal … did the Chinese bother to give a heads up to Trump?
Or what more can I say about WHO's Tedros whose prevarication and delay is beyond incompetent?
Trump is just one faulty link in a long chain of failure here.
The power of words – a list of Trump's favorites:
Win, Stupid, Weak, Loser(s), Fake News, Deep State, Political Correctness, The Swamp, Smart, Tough, Dangerous, Bad, Veterans, Amazing, Make America Great Again, Tremendous, Terrific, Military, Out of Control, Classy.
Enough said.
https://www.yourdictionary.com/slideshow/donald-trump-20-most-frequently-used-words.html
Gonna be interesting watching the reaction of the MAGAmorons as info like this trickles out.
It may well be that CovidCamacho has a rock-solid floor of 42% cultist support that's absolutely unbreakable.
Maybe the Manchurian Rotmelon will just slowly bleed support as one-by-one the straws add up breaking supporters backs.
Or maybe something will cause the dam to burst and he'll end up in a similar approval/disapproval situation as end-of-second-term Shrub.
American intelligence officers knew a new contagion was sweeping Wuhan in November but they couldn’t get the message through to the top, according to ABC News
My initial reaction is to put that in the 'blame China' box of bullshit.
If covid 19 was 'sweeping' Wuhan in November, then the very first identified case of "unusual pneumonia" from Dec 8th is a lie, yes?
And the lock-down of Wuhan, instead of occurring about four weeks after the realisation that an epidemic was breaking out (Jan 23), would (according to that ABC report) have been some eight weeks or more after an outbreak was suspected.
Aside from the usual tell tale signs of bullshit (ie – unnamed "officials"), a look at the consequences for various countries going into lockdown at given time periods after initial cases have been detected, also points to the reporting being bullshit.
Bottom line – there is a lot of finger pointing going on by officials from countries that were slow off the mark. So, the WHO is to blame for their own levels of incompetence, and China is to blame for their own levels of complacency…
Legacy/mainstream/pop/corporate media (I wish I could settle on a descriptor for the arseholes) really needs to get its shit together and stop giving credence to garbage narratives and desperate propaganda.
Maybe Bill.
Yes lotsa finger pointing!!
Good too see the US in control then. (Sara)
I think 'everyone' can agree the US response has been woeful.
What I can't quite get is the free pass being given to political actors who are only interested in notching up points.
For example. The Wisconsin Primary was spun as an "evil Republicans" line, when the reality is that both the Democratic Party and Republican Party have been casually encouraging people to go out in the middle of a pandemic to vote.
And that ABC piece subtly plays on the "blame China" narrative to pivot and ultimately blame Trump and his admin for the situation in the US. While it's legitimate to point to the failures of the current Admin, are we to believe that a Democratic Party President would have been "on the ball" and protected the people of the US? That seems to be the implicit message of the piece.
Yet we've had Biden tweeting that people should get out and vote in spite of there being a pandemic, and we've had the DNC threatening states that might postpone primaries.
To my mind, the "red team/blue team" tribalism that degenerates so much political discussion and debate to the level of 'mindless slanging match', needs to be pinned down, doused and torched.
The "red team" and "blue team" are part and parcel of the same structural and political problem. That that gets overlooked and drowned out by those who noisily rush to cheer on their colour is to the detriment of us all and any understandings we might otherwise develop.
Fair enough Bill.
Tribalism is a problem.
But the Trumpians don't get the scale of their problem yet.
The whole political scene in Amercia is so 'up the creek without a paddle' that it was inevitable something was going to happen to the country which would drag it down to near subsistence level. It looks to me like the combination of a mad president and the pandemic is going to do just that.
Do I have any sympathy? Yes. I feel for the intelligent and sane among them, but the rest of them? Nah. not a bit. They are reaping what they sowed.
Your comment "red team" and "blue team" sums it up. They play their political games like teenage, blonde haired bimbos – complete with brightly coloured feather dusters (that's what I call them) – gyrating round a sports arena barracking for either the red team or the blue team – whichever colour takes your fancy.
The New Zealand government – together with that of Taiwan and Australia – will be entitled to bask in global glory once we decrease our lockdown status.
But as the unemployment lines grow fastest here because the economic hit is so deep and so savage, the longer term judgement will be:
Was the New Zealand public health response worth the deliberate economic damage?
That's the evaluative scale coming.
"Was the New Zealand public health response worth the deliberate economic damage?"
Do you seriously wish to suggest that the economy wouldnt be in meltdown now without lockdown?….200,000 jobs in tourism alone and god knows how many riding on the associated increased activity…and then take away the wage subsidy and how does your economy look?
Its not either or and never was….time for some clear thought
That we would now be in economic freefall because of what's happening worldwide no matter what the government did and even if somehow the coronavirus had never made it here is a fact that some people are going to need to be reminded of over and over and over again. Because some people are going to try to pretend otherwise in order to undermine the government.
So even if there might have been a theoretical better response that might have had a tiny bit more economic activity in exchange for a slightly looser response with more resulting disease and death, the reality is the much more likely outcome of a looser response would have been vastly more disease and death in exchange for maybe just a tiny bit less economic pain. If we were lucky, that is, but probably more disease and death and more economic pain.
"Because some people are going to try to pretend otherwise in order to undermine the government."
Some definitely for that reason but many in desperation….its understandable but as said clarity of thought is what is required, fortunately we appear to have it at the top unlike many countries
FIFY
In any case, the Q as such doesn’t make logical sense because it is based on a false premise and is more of a rhetorical one, IMHO 😉
In addition, the Q should be asked, as is happening more and more, what will NZ do when we have eliminated the virus but whilst the rest of the World is still in utter disarray? You could call it the $64,000 Q in more than one way.
or the 64 billion dollar question
Is that you, Mr Joyce? 😉
no holes here…except the one im digging
I hope the similarities stop there 😉
so do I
“In any case, the Q as such doesn’t make logical sense because it is based on a false premise and is more of a rhetorical one, IMHO”
I don’t see it as rhetorical.
That’s nice to hear, Ross. How do you see it?
Alas, I couldn't edit my comment but was going to add that the meningococcal vaccine, MeNZB, which was rolled out in NZ in 2005 is a good example of large sums of taxpayers' money being wasted despite good intentions. Of course, time will tell whether NZ's response to Covid-19 falls into the same category.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0611/S00403.htm
According to some, the Government’s actions are pushing the country to the brink of economic destruction. And according to some, this is a too high a price to save a few lives of people who’d die (soon?) anyway. And according to some, those vulnerable people should be isolated for self-protection so that the rest of the country can return to normal and save the economy or what’s left of it and before it’s too late. According to some, we should follow Sweden’s approach to COVID-19. Irrespective of the validity of those arguments, this is not just wasting a few taxpayers’ dollars on a measly [pun] vaccine.
Irrespective of the validity of those arguments, this is not just wasting a few taxpayers’ dollars on a measly [pun] vaccine.
Well, $200 million isn't a few dollars and apparently was, at the time, the most expensive health programme ever introduced. But I agree that it pales in comparison to the economic cost of the virus.
I'm not convinced that we can afford to save lives at all costs – which seems to be the orthodoxy here. Lobby groups have argued that an increase to Pharmac's funding would save lives. Governments, not just the current one, haven't been persuaded. In other words, there has been, until now, a limit to how much money Government's have spent to save lives. Rolling out MeNZB was a departure from that position, and the current action seems to be a departure.
As I said, time will tell whether we over-reacted.
I disagree with you on multiple points, which is a good thing as it can hopefully stimulate healthy discussion (or not).
There’s no orthodoxy as such. There’s a plan and we, not just the Government, are executing it. It is crystal clear that we cannot “save lives at all costs” as there are already two deaths, sadly. The aim of the plan is, and has always been, AFAIK, to minimise deaths and minimise impact on the economy over the long run.
This is a misleading comment IMO. Funding of PHARMAC has increased. Saving lives is not a linear function of funding; you can spend millions on one life-saving drug to save a relatively small (!) number of lives. It is about diminishing returns on relatively large increases in funding. We can never save all lives of cancer patients, for example, not even when we throw unlimited amounts of money, time, and effort at it because we are technically not capable of accomplishing this. There are always real and physical constraints to what we can and cannot control and/or achieve, which is why we have to debate these issues publically. Which is why have politics 😉
There is no given fixed limit as such, unless you can point me to one. As a society, we make a choice on how much to spend on saving lives based on political, economic, social, and moral considerations. If you like, you can divide total Government spending by the number of citizens to derive a crude number spent on each of our lives each year. These considerations slowly change over time in quality and quantity (weighting).
Not quite. It is a relative shift but not an absolute one. Much of the economic pain would have been imposed on us anyway because of the global response to the pandemic. The ‘relaxed’ approach of Sweden does not seem to be paying off [pardon the pun].
Only to a point, and of limited use right now. We will never really know for sure what – if, we can speculate and direct blame (and guilt & penitence & punishment) …
Yes.
There would likely have been far more so-called "Economic damage" without the lockdown.
A lot of businesses would have likely been affected by the loss of staff due to deaths and large numbers of those who survived with limited or no ability to continue in their jobs as before due to ongoing medical problems such as damaged lungs, failed or failing organs, and even some emotional problems due to the loss of close loved ones.
Saving as many people as possible makes it much easier to rebuild after this has blown over, than if these steps had not been taken.
Chilling Andre. If dying while asleep is a product of Covid then a whole new disaster will unfold. Hope your nephew is wrong!
Returning to a conversation from last week with mauī and weka, it seems the official advice of the NHS is to avoid ibuprofen, but to treat fevers – including that of Covid-19 – with paracetomol. I have seen this several times in the UK media. (NZ doesn't seem to have this advice.)
Wouldn't this interrupt the immune response to the virus?
(Note, every GP except the one I had 23-25 years ago, told me to treat any viral fever in my children with paracetamol.)
There really doesn't seem to be consensus on whether ibuprofen is harmful or not. The arguments against it seem based on theoretical considerations, rather than clinical observations.
There's a notable absence of anything claiming that ibuprofen has any particularly helpful effects for COVID-19 victims.
So if anyone is foolish enough to follow the reckons of a random dude on da webz over their doctor's advice, personally I'd probably just use paracetamol. Although ibuprofen works well for me in other situations, so I might give it a shot as well just for the placebo effect. If I were in the situation of suffering enough from COVID symptoms to fell the need for pharmaceutical relief, that is.
The World Health Organization [WHO] has confirmed ibuprofen is safe to take for COVID-19 coronavirus cases
That piece doesn't cite any studies, it merely relies on the absence of good clinical evidence against ibuprofen for COVID-19 patients.
Well, just in case anyone is foolish enough to follow the reckons of a random dude on da webz over their doctor's advice, I thought I'd link to a NZ source, quoting from the WHO, and give them the opportunity to chase a more informed opinion.
West Coast local government politicians are not keen to take pay cuts in solidarity with pretty much everyone else:
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/west-coast/coast-council-leaders-reluctant-take-pay-cut
They claim the Remuneration Authority means taking the money completely is just legally compulsory.
It's not that hard for each Council to form a holding account, put all pay into it, and give it out at a reduced rate, because ……
……. that's what almost every other business in the country is having to do.
FFS when sacrifice is called for, don't call west coast politicians.
Greymouth elected a tory hairdresser who loves loves the vino as their mayor. JS
"don't call west coast politicians".
Who should we call on? Have we heard anything from our Central Government Parliamentarians for example?
Perhaps 50% cut in salary and perks all round for MPs. How does that sound?
Chris Trotter gets stuck in … gently!
"The television promotions for the various sporting codes – especially Rugby Union and Rugby League – feature a terrifying sequence of images glorifying brutal bodily contact, exaggerated aggressiveness, and exultation bordering on complete loss-of-control. What we see is what’s left of the human male when everything dignified, intelligent, creative and compassionate has been edited out of the masculine narrative.
These promos are made all the more frightful by the knowledge that they wouldn’t look that way if the punters wanted to see something else. Clearly, smearing the screen with testosterone is the best way of getting the boys to tune-in. It’s possible, of course, that the clips are assembled for the pleasure of the sporting codes’ female devotees. At least that would make a sort of – equally troubling! – sense. In the end, however, these gloriously kinetic visual packages are all about reaffirming and celebrating a particular kind of masculinity. They present the human male as a dangerous, uncompromising and predatory bundle of muscle."
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2020/04/men-to-boys.html
A good essay.
Does it also explain why some men have aggressive dogs, shave their heads and wear tattoos, walk with exaggerated thigh movement, and wear hoods?
The ones that are trying to compensate for their low status and powerlessness, in society.
Just as Trotter is still compensating for his low status at high school. Similar impulse behind both, methinks.
Billy Connolly calls them 'spectacularly tattooed fuckwits'.
Obviously, he wasn't any good at sport!
Great phalanxes of talented athletic men (and increasingly women) have left New Zealand for Australia, France, Canada, US and UK to get rich when they would otherwise have just caused trouble back here. Most will be getting paid high six figure salaries for about 5-8 years, then get out through injury.
International sport has been our quiet working class revolution for two decades. You can name the schools who will never generate Nobel Prize winners but who can generate international stars. Kelston Boys High. Marist. Penrose. They are islander and Maori dominated, and they got out.
Chris just sounds old his soul.
Unlike those sporting career-people, he lost his testosterone years ago and it shows,
The only war stories he has are losses.
Like "saturation" divers. They don't earn more than anyone else, just earn it faster?
Always considered the "intellectual lefts" dislike of popular culture, such as sports, a spectacular own goal. An artefact of "Opiate for the masses", maybe?
I'm not a sports watcher myself. Even watching the ones I enjoy doing, is boring. Didn’t do well in ball sports at school either. Preferred reading books or going sailing. But I grew out of it.
However it gives pleasure to a huge number of people and a living to many others, often from minorities.
Kilikati is as far from Trotters characterisation as you can get.
There are ignorant Neanderthal sports people, just like anywhere else, Mark Richards. There are also the John Kirwans, and all the Māori and Pacifica youth who’ve, built the discipline and responsibility learned in sport into future careers.
There’s been a long anti-intellectual undercurrent in NZ and I wonder if the pandemic response has sprung a tiny leak in this. Yeah, nah.
I wonder how much of that is a perception from "intellectuals" themselves, thinking they are not getting the respect from the "plebs" they deserve, rather than reality.
My father, an ex Teacher, and a real "intellectual" himself, has no time for the out of touch University Professors, who he says have inflicted on New Zealand schools a " decades long experiment".
I don’t have time for anyone who’s wilfully and knowingly ‘out of touch’ and flaunts it, wears it like a badge of honour (bumper sticker), and brags about it. This applies across the board.
Far from Trotters characterisation of lockdown flouters as Neanderthal, sports loving Waitakere man, it seems the largest number of rule flouters, and deliberate breakers of the lockdown, are well off beach mansion owners, sneaking out for a holiday under cover of darkness.
Increasing the chances of spreading the virus from their Auckland supermarket, to small holiday towns.
Following Bridges “good” example.
KJT, your characterisation of Trotter's man as a Neanderthal Waitakere man is less than just to his article.
I believe his defining of the characteristics of the rule-flouting, aggressive, ungentlemanly, quick to insult and be violent men who are the subject of his article can also be found in the well-off beach mansion crowd, amongst businessmen and workers, amongst the educated and the illiterate, the powerful and the powerless.
The causes are complex and beyond my present comprehension.
I have sent this article to an old friend and mentor who is a psychologist who worked with youth offenders in the States. I will be interested in his comments, but I bet he will mention fathers, being bullied, abuse and lack of spiritual dimension in the man's life.
Yup. Your last sentence nails it mac.
Men are innately dangerous, but strong men control it, direct it and are admirable. It's the weak, often fatherless ones, who are the hazard.
Mmmm – some of the kindest most thoughtful young men I know are those who have been vrought up by solo mothers and that includes my two. They also both enjoy sport in fact one is a physed teacher
Well said.
For certain every individual story is unique, but the stats on fatherless boys are grim.
You may be right.
I agree. Trotter characterises 2 sides of the same masculinity coin (and there are other kinds of masculinity).
But Trotter favours the masculinity of the upperclass British imperialist colonisers. Many of them also did not have such a great record with abusive treatment of women and others with little power, away from the public or official gaze, behind closed doors, etc.
As well as those sneaking off to their holiday homes, are the boaties ignoring polite requests to stay away from Great Barrier Island, draining needed resources from locals, and potentially spreading C-19 there. Irresponsible, selfish, "idiots" all of them.
I like watching men's and women's rugby when it's available on freeview. I record and fast forward through promos (the focus of Trotter's post), pre-match gossip, profiles and chatter, and switch off before the prize giving ceremonies.
Many of the male commentators do present a kind of cheer-leading of macho qualities during men's matches, which I'm not keen on. I've always found some of their language a bit iffy – praising big strong men as "prime beef", and "a big unit" – animal and machine?
The British "perception is reality".
You read in so much British writing, the assumption that a tidy house, is a marker of character.
Or in my experience. British Captains judging an officer, on his ability to keep his uniform tidy and smart, and get the flag up at sunrise, on the dot. Never mind if he was bloody useless at anything else.
😊
Yep.
Na, the bach lot are pretty much the same people, just maybe a bit older and more affluent. The part of society Trotter is describing has always been here, but morphs slightly with each generation. Their whole world is all about 'ME'
To be fair to Chris – dissing sporting culture isn't really at the point of his piece. I think what he is doing is saying that a more rounded form of masculinity might result in fewer cases of idiotic, entitled, lockdown-breaking – and that's across all social classes.
That seems like a reasonable idea to explore at least. But it does lead him into some shallow stereotyping, including of sportspeople. This tends to happen with Chris when the over-fluent language-generating part of his brain overwhelms the editing part. He's a good writer, but at his worst when that happens.
I reckon if one was to take him aside and point out that catholicity of taste, interest and talent is a much truer marker of sophistication than narrow intellectualism – he'd agree with you. Think Sir Philip Sidney – capable both of fighting the Spanish and dashing off a sonnet.
Central hypo ventilation syndrome is when carbon dioxide increases and oxygen decreases. There is a late adult onset which can be deadly during a general anaesethic or with a virus affecting the lungs. A mutation of the PHOX2B gene is usually found in this rear condition.
Reply to Andre @ 4.
There is a considerable family history on my ex husbands side of this.
I would be interested in knowing how many deaths from Covid-19 carry the PHOX2B gene. As well the level of acidosis in people on a ventilator. It is my understanding that organ failure is strongly linked to acidosis.
I noted that immediately after my one operation, that the nurse stood beside me and told me to breathe more deeply because her meter showed my oxygen levels drooping. I assumed that the anaesthetic residue had to be purged.
I thought about decreased oxygen and increased carbon dixoide and Covid-19 having a link a few days ago.
Central hypo ventilation syndrome could be missed as a cause of breathing differculties after a general anaesethic.
Anaesethic has other causes atelectasis.
I was to late to correct rare and the reply is out of place.
Thanks for that, Treetop. I'll mention it to him. He and his colleagues may be already onto it, he did mention brainstem and genetic factors.
Gene sequencing and Gene screening is required. Also a sleep study to be sure. There are other genetic markers such as NPARM.
The scariest thing is that the condition shows when asleep and when awake there is usually no sign of it.
Even mild sedation can be an issue. Not sure if some medication which causes sedation is increasing the death rate.
I suspect a correlation or Covid-19 is a viral form of central hypo ventilation syndrome.
There has been discussion of CPAP devices, that is what got me thinking about a link.
Some severe cases require a tracheotomy at birth until the child is old enough to wear a CPAP mask.
It could be organ failure but this doesn’t quite explain the loss of the breathing reflex. It is possible that COVID-19 also causes neurological damage to nerves and/or parts of the brain involved in the breathing reflex. If I were a recovering patient, I’d stay off the alcohol for a while, especially in the evening/night 😉
I do not have a clinical or a scientific background. I have learnt a lot through dealing with the health system in the last 20 years, more so in the last 5 years.
What you raise about the consumption of alcohol needs to be taken on board. This could be a factor in a higher death rate in the elderly.
During the 1918 influenza epidemic it was suggested to have a whiskey to ward off catching influenza or to cure the flu.
"…loss of breathing reflex."
Fascinating thread. Some ten years ago whilst neutropenic due to chemo for leukemia,the worst happened and my man caught a bug which resulted in a chest infection. Poor isolation rule enforcement on the ward.
For C4/5 tetraplegic this could be fatal. Anyway…himself can cough a little, but unfortunately his efforts triggered some kind of chest wall muscle spasm. Result, atrial fibrillation and his autonomic breathing mechanism folded. At the height of the struggle the nurse and I got him to totally engage with his breathing…"in, two three four, out two three four "
…and this he had to keep up consciously for the next three days and nights. Piped oxygen actually made things worse . Peter recalls now that he pushed the mask away…it simply wasn't helping. Somewhere we read that if the oxygen from the pipe is too high the the body thinks it has enough already.
To sleep I managed to position him semi upright and slightly on his side so he could doze a little. Too high or too low and he had to again concentrate 100% inhale, 100% exhale.
He was not offered CPAP or BIPAP but we did do periodic saline nebulizers. It took a good three days for his autonomic breathing system to 'come right', but even today, if he is doing something requiring effort and concentration(like reeling in a largish fish) he has to 'remember' to breathe.
Funnily enough we have been practicing our breathing over the past few weeks…especially when he was in hospital and hooked up to the oxygen saturation monitor.
Thanks Rosemary.
You’d be surprised how shallow many people’s breathing is. We seem to think we all know how to breathe well, but we don’t, really 😉
Had a good night's sleep last night for the first time in a week. But optimism proved short lived. IL6 receptor blockers are expensive!
https://www.pharmac.govt.nz/news/notification-2014-05-14-tocilizumab/
The reason I was looking at IL6 (interleukin 6 cytokine) blockers was this piece in the Lancet I read last night:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanrhe/article/PIIS2665-9913(20)30092-8/fulltext
Having to post this link as a reply to earlier comment, as the system ate my previous words when I tried to do two links in one post. Typing on a mobile phone is trickier, but at least you can pace and keep an eye on kids while doing so.
Would cut and paste quotes from linked piece, but mobile – so; sorry, I am not going to.
If the drug name ends with “ab”, it is an antibody and guaranteed to be expensive.
incorrect
If you want to keep
trollingcommenting here than I suggest you make your contributions more constructive. I’m more than happy if people point out errors of fact and correct these. You failed on both counts. To self-correct, the drug name should end with “mab”, not “ab” as I said earlier.Frankly your continued accusation of trolling to anyone who disagrees with you is tedious.
Your are correct in stating that the generic nomenclature ending in 'mab' signifies a monoclonal antibody it is usually expensive when still under patent but pricing often falls dramatically when patents expire.
You don’t seem to understand that it is (your) behaviour that I label as trolling, not the fact that someone (you) disagrees with me. It is common among trolls to misunderstand this difference, which is why they usually continue with their behaviour and cop a ban. Frankly, it is tedious.
It is common for any drug that comes off patent to become available at cheaper price. However, this is relative and depends on demand, effectiveness, and disease type (e.g. so-called life-saving drugs do demand a premium – Yay for the free market). In addition, companies have many ways to extend their patents. It is much harder to make a generic of a biologic than of a synthetic drug, which further adds to the price. My comment still stands, mAbs are expensive irrespective of whether they are on patent or generics.
Clearly you have an issue with me Incognito – that is your problem if you’re determined to ban me on some made up pretext please feel free
(e.g. so-called life-saving drugs do demand a premium – Yay for the free market).
Often this is the case but there are many notable exceptions, insulin is a life saving drug but is very cheap in NZ in comparison to example the newer anti cancer compounds which are often 'life prolongers'.
Many of the very simple cardiovascular medications which could be considered life savers fo certain groups are extraordinarily cheap both before paint expires and after patent expires in comparison to many non life saving medications.
It is much harder to make a generic of a biologic than of a synthetic drug, which further adds to the price.
This is a reasonable assumption for simple pressed API immediate release tablets but is often not the case for complex release oral products or long acting injectable medicines.
My comment still stands, mAbs are expensive irrespective of whether they are on patent or generics.
In some case yes in some cases no – for example Rituximab which is now generic @ around $300 per month is pretty reasonable – all depends what you are comparing it to.
Let’s start with the constructive part of your comment, which was pleasingly well-informed, thank you.
Indeed, insulin is cheaper than, for example, some of the latest cancer immune therapy drugs that have recently come on the market. Of course, insulin has been around for yonks so this comparison is not entirely fair. In addition, for a proportion of cancer patients, these drugs are not just ‘life prolongers’ but potential life savers leading to complete responses.
Yes, you’re correct that I was only referring to the manufacture of the API, thanks.
In the case of Rituximab, the generic is indeed considerably cheaper than the original but still expensive IMO, thank you.
https://www.pharmac.govt.nz/news/notification-2019-12-05-rituximab/
I think none of this is inconsistent with what I said:
Now, for the first part of your comment, there is no pretext for banning you; you’re seeing or making an issue out of either something that isn’t there or mixing up things. The only issue I have, more with some than with others, is their online behaviour here on TS. It is not personal – I don’t know any of the commenters here from a bar of soap nor do I take things personal, unless they make personal insults to others or me.
I focus on behaviours that may have a negative influence on overall commentary here and/or create a bad environment that’s not conducive to what we like to achieve on this site. On the other hand, I don’t go around praising every single comment that falls on the other positive side of the ledger. This is why you usually see me taking issue with something (not somebody) when you see a comment of mine. Does this make sense?
Is the US economy about to take a nose drive into hard concrete? maybe so, as it looks like the Republican/Democratic bullshit bail out is not going to save them..
Bailing Out the Bailout
It will take years to sort through the details, but Trump’s $2 trillion COVID-19 response looks like a double-down on the last disaster
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/coronavirus-fed-bank-bailout-disaster-976086/
Latest figures show 16 million people have now lost their jobs, with layoffs spreading across the economy
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/09/us-unemployment-filings-coronav
The corporate component of that bailout is US$400 billion +, that the Fed can leverage to US$4 trillion +.
In other words, there will be a happy cohort of disaster capitalists making hay on various short selling or whatev's, also buying swathes of strategic assets at fire sale prices, precisely because of unprecedented levels of unemployment, bankruptcy and business failure.
Is this reactivating behind Singapore's second wave?
The coronavirus may be “reactivating” in people who have been cured of the illness, according to Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 51 patients classed as having been cured in South Korea have tested positive again, the CDC said in a briefing on Monday. Rather than being infected again, the virus may have been reactivated in these people, given they tested positive again shortly after being released from quarantine, said Jeong Eun-kyeong, director-general of the Korean CDC.
[…]
Fear of re-infection in recovered patients is also growing in China, where the virus first emerged last December, after reports that some tested positive again — and even died from the disease — after supposedly recovering and leaving hospital. There’s little understanding of why this happens, although some believe that the problem may lie in inconsistencies in test results.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-09/coronavirus-may-reactivate-in-cured-patients-korean-cdc-says
One hypothesis could be that the immune system is primed after the first infection and goes in full overdrive upon the second infection. This could lead to the immune system attacking the infected tissue (cytokine storm) with greater ferocity and with fatal consequences. In the past, this has been a problem with developing vaccines against certain diseases. The immune system is a complex beast.
Mastcells and the release of histamine would play a part.
Quercetin is a natural antihistamine.
A Dr Theoharides has done a lot of research in cytokine storm and mastcells.
Might be a good idea for the government to come up with a way to keep recovered people isolated for a while .
It's just become truly scary if this is true.
Does the Corona Virus share a trait of Herpes and the great Arnold – "I'll be back"
Tuskegee 2.0
https://twitter.com/SFdirewolf/status/1248057200154570752
Amanda Marcotte takes a look at Tinyfingers Twittertwat's attempts to rile up Berners in the wake of Bernie conceding the obvious and dropping out. Gonna be interesting watching how much traction the convergence moonbats that are more interested in sticking it to the libs and Dems than achieving actual progress get this time around compared to last time.
https://www.salon.com/2020/04/09/trump-trolls-bernie-supporters-urging-them-to-turn-against-joe-biden/
Could you explain what a "convergence moonbat" is? And then could you explain how Biden is superior to Trump?
By the way, Amanda Marcotte is about the least credible “journalist” in the U.S.
https://observer.com/2017/07/democratic-establishment-progressives-dominance-politics/
https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidpol/comments/fbfkt6/nyt_cancels_chapo/
"Biden is making morons of us all" …. Joe Rogan
Are you sure it's Biden?
https://twitter.com/DavMicRot/status/1248286165897224193
Too close to call, the madhouse offers a smorgasbord of diagnoses.
2016 all over again … "jeeze do I have to pick?"
Convergence moonbats explained.
I get it that apparently the media you consume mirrors the all-consuming hatred you feel of anyone that might be cognitively adaptable enough to win election and actually achieve some progressive goals, so you never get spoon-fed any of the real differences between the realistic choices. To help you out, here's just a few bullet points.
Biden wants to expand healthcare coverage to more people and lower costs to consumers. Tyrannosaurus Arse wants to take away coverage from poor people so he can put more money into his pockets.
Biden accepts climate change science and wants to make changes to reduce climate change. Dayglo Swampzilla wants to help his fossil fuel robberbaron friends to continue polluting the world for as long as possible to put more money into their pockets.
Biden's interests in foreign policy include considering how to improve the lives of people in foreign countries (even when that concern leads him into decisions with disastrous unintended consequences). Twitterfinger J. Putinpussy's interests in foreign policy don't extend any further than where he can put his name on hotels to put more money in his own pockets and his friends.
Biden generally supports worker's rights, even if that support is feeble and patchy. The Fifth Avenue Fraud wants to strip worker protections and suppress wages, in order to put more money into his own pockets.
Biden supports protecting natural areas and strengthening parks. America's Prolapsed Rectum just wants to shit all over them so his friends can extract more of the common wealth to put in their own pockets.
That's just a tiny portion of the differences. You're welcome. But it would be really helpful if you could suppress just a tiny bit of your motivated reasoning and broaden your information sources to include at least a few that are grounded in reality.
The Supreme Court alone would be all the reason anybody needs.
Yeah. That one thing is sufficient to explain why all the Repugs slurped down a load of Drano to dissolve their spines once it became clear in 2016 the genital-grabbing golem was going to win the nomination.
I get it that apparently the media you consume…
???
I read and listen to and read—not "consume"— all kinds of media. I read widely, and skeptically always. You are trying to portray me as something I'm not. You don't "get it" at all.
Biden's interests in foreign policy include considering how to improve the lives of people in foreign countries (even when that concern leads him into decisions with disastrous unintended consequences).
"Unintended consequences". That's a good way to explain away his support for the destruction of Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Palestine (to name just a few) in order to “improve the lives of people in foreign countries".
Putinpussy
We get it. You've swallowed the Russiagate Kool-Aid. How did that Mueller Inquiry go?
So Joe Spidern 'supports' 'generally supports' 'accepts' and he 'wants to'.
Hilarious.
BYW isn't there a website that gives clever, amusing nicknames for Biden? You could use that too.
Why is it a given the opposing candidate of the Murican Mugabe must not be a toady, a sycophant, and dripping in obsequiousness.
The DNC have selected Biden as their sacrificial old ewe and he will make a complete fool of himself in any debate with Thump. If they'd wanted the orangutan out they would have made sure Sanders got the nomination.
If Bernie had made it to the Oval Office, I would have found it fascinating to watch the reaction of Bernie cultists as Bernie dealt with the choice of either achieving nothing whatsoever, or succumbing to having to make the same shitty compromises that everyone else in the position has to make.
"Bernie cultists"? So the millions of people who supported him are a cult? Were they controlled by Russian masterminds like Trump was? Do they drink a kind of vodka-laced Kool-Aid?
Luckily for the rest of humanity there are sane, rational people like you and Keith Olbermann to keep watch over those cultists.
https://imgflip.com/i/1g3io4
Not all Bernie's supporters are cultists. It seems only around 15% are.
The remaining huge majority of his supporters are capable of maturely swallowing their disappointment that their first choice wasn't the choice of the majority, and go on to support the next best choice to achieve progress towards what is important to them.
Where do you get that figure of 15 per cent from?
A poll joe90 linked a few days ago.
Thanks. That's a lot of cultists.
Is Charles Manson still alive? He could make a run in 2024.
A lot indeed. Maybe even enough to get dolt45 re-elected.
If the left/progressives, those who saw Bernie Sanders as a political compromise, get their shit together and bring the streets to bear on Biden's campaign/platform, then they'll possibly achieve a lot of progress.
That said, I suspect a fair few will simply walk away from US representative politics in disgust.
Truth be told, Sanders not being President could turn out to be the best thing that happened to Progressive politics in the US in terms of achieving real world results.
But for that to happen, Biden would have to be President, and well….
All the main left activist groups have already united and sent a letter spelling out the demands they want to see Biden shift towards.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/left-wing-groups-issue-list-of-policy-demands-to-presumptive-nominee-joe-biden
For which in return they promise to work tirelessly to get rid of Trump.
Good to see people display some smarts 🙂
I'll assume that US$100 million worth of effort is contingent on him coming to the party.
The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking the DNC might have fucked up. They could have stymied a Sanders White House in a dozen different ways to Sunday. That, and Sander's support base would likely have pulled its collective punches if and when it came to holding his feet to the fire.
But with Biden…
Sanders just has to tread a line, and avoid going out there and overtly promoting any of Biden's problematic policies during a Presidential campaign.
Biden is the "I'm not Sanders, I'm not Trump, I'm not…"
But as a functioning palimpsest he's perfectly biddable, and has taken a lot of the Sanders and Warren direction already.
It's not as if his heart
"is an open book, "
for all young Dems
…. to write on.
But if you can imagine Biden in a silky mauve diaphanous top, you'll get the idea ……
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwK_WOXjfc0
Hahaha!
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/04/coronavirus-taxpayers-union-gives-up-ideological-purity-accepts-60-000-in-taxpayer-wage-subsidies.html
Schadenfreude!
Not satire!
I just went for a walk here in Blenheim. What fascinates me is the silence. Sunny calm day, very few cars, some family bikers and walkers and the deep quiet. I can hear a lawn mower about a block away and the monarch caterpillars chomping away on their leaves. I know everywhere must be quiet but this is amazing! And very pleasant.
Yes. I love the quiet. Was just on my balcony listening to the birds chatter in a tree nearby.
When the lock down ends, I guess the neighbours will have the guys back with the machines, building their half-finished rock wall – hope they finish it quickly. Plus other neighbours in houses and flats recently sold doing some upgrades.
We used to get a lot of dog walkers down our quiet street, but curiously, there's been few walkers since lock down – mostly only people in our street. It maybe that many of the dog walkers were using a narrow walkway from another, busier street to cut through to our street. But, the walkway is too narrow to allow people going in opposite directions and maintain the 2 meter distance….?
Thanks Joe. I wonder if Romans are pleased to not have tourists pounding the streets? I saw one ambulance two cars and one police car. It makes the city more beautiful but without people it is dreadfully like one of those apocalypse movies. Shudders.
Yes, Ian, I hear the same silence! My neighbours talking on their patio, two magpies 100 metres away, twittering small birds, and a monarch fluttered by but I can't claim to have heard it! I see no traffic on SH1 and hear no grape harvesters. The vineyard guns are silent.
Will our lives change because of this experience and how we live the rest of our lives? My wife stays at home every night of the week rather than three nights out. Me the same. We eat better, and more interestingly. Homegrown figs, home cooked oat biscuits, ciabatta buns and oven-roasted beetroot and quinces.
I read that our dreams are more vivid and will affect our imagination more.
I have been phoning Grey Power members who are over 70 and who have no e-mail to be contacted by. They all sounded well and happy, looked after by family and friends. Their biggest concern was how to pay their sub without using KiwiBank cheques.
I just wondered whether these wiser old folks, off-line and away from false news and scare-mongering, haven't got a deeper handle on what is worthwhile in living a good life.
We had 3 caterpillars, the first in years on our swan plant. I covered them with netting till they were fat then brought them inside to sit on the table with a few branches of swan plant as take-aways. I am sure I heard them munching. One took offence at being inside and did a runner. Next morning it turned up on my armchair. I put it back on the table so ungrateful little sod took off again. So I returned it back to the mother plant outside but now cannot find it.
Can't hear it eating either so who knows?
Some bird with a fuller puku, or maybe it's the one that did a fly-by here……..
Just been singing a song by James Taylor on the patio as the sun goes down. The words go, "Well the sun is slowly sinking down, and the moon is slowly on the rise . So this old world must still be spinning around. And I still love you." This to my partner who's been in my bubble for coming up 44 years!
It’s been a good Friday.
"the monarch caterpillars chomping away on their leaves"
Now that is truly impressive. I assume your hearing was good enough to hear that Holden that started up in Nelson at 5.27pm. Was it a 6 or an 8 cylinder? I heard it from over here in Wellington but my hearing isn't nearly as good as yours seems to be.
Dunno about catipillars, but some small things are louder than they look.
Hedgehogs, for example. And whatever was having a domestic in my roof space the other night (I think rats, but I'm no Attenborough).
"Hedgehogs, for example".
Indeed yes. I was amazed how noisy they were when I first had them appear in my garden. Such little things too.
Year ago when I was in security I was about to call for backup until the "prowler" in the bushes came scurrying out, about 5.5ft shorter than I expected. Narrowly escaped months of workplace ribbing for that one lol
Around here it is the paper wasps still chomping away on the Monarch caterpillars. They used to stop looking for food around this time, but there now appears to be a new, slightly different type.. Bad news for the Monarchs. Nice weather otherwise.
I really wish I hadn't read that. Monarch Butterflies are so beautiful and wasps so dreadful. I really would prefer to think that every Monarch caterpillar turned into a butterfly than to think of them being eaten up by bloody wasps.
I don't think how nice lambs are when I eat a lamb roast of course.
A pitiless yet hilarious dissection of the likes of Bari Weiss, Amanda Marcotte, David Brooks
On his light chat show, Jim Mora used to regularly quote the right wing New York Times opinionist David Brooks whenever he needed something, however intellectually threadbare, to provide some heft for his own complacent and reactionary views.
There's some very funny and astute analysis of Amanda Marcotte's hopeless New York Times colleagues, esp. David Brooks, from the 51:00 mark….
At least our Auckland Harbour will be safe from encroachment !!
Imagine if we had already bowed to the cruise industry and extended Queen's Wharf ??
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/407642/cruise-ship-industry-says-value-could-be-greater-if-auckland-port-had-bigger-berth
Question for the tech geeks here.
The old scam e-mail from the LinkedIn breach turned up in my inbox today. The "we know your password, we've hacked your webcam and have vids of you watching porn, pay us bitcoin" one. As it happens, I logged in to LinkedIn for the first time in quite a while a couple of weeks ago. I checked and HIBP sez my email and password were included in the breach.
Is this just coincidence, or does this suggest the scammers still have malware planted on LinkedIn that lets them see LinkedIn's traffic?
🙂 Aw bugger! That was the very last of my decent coffee 🙁 Is that a public mea-culpa to neuter potential fallout?
2nd C-19 death announced – Christchurch woman transferred from Rest Home earlier in the week.
Oh bugger. Hard on the family. Wonder if the victim was already at risk on top being in a dementia unit patient and aged?
She was 90 years old and "The woman, who had a number of age-related health conditions, died yesterday and recently had returned a positive test."
Yep. Sad for the family. Once the virus gets into a rest home, there can be major problems.
But, also, there was a rise in numbers of confirmed and probable C-19 cases today.
29 new cases yesterday, 44 today.
We have nothing to be complacent about.
Complacency, no, not at all. Also, other countries don't count some deaths from Covid, if they're old (natural causes) & in rest homes.
Porky says:
Why can't the Taxdodger's Union both stick to their "ideological purity", and look after the welfare of their employees?
They could do this by making the offer to pay back the $60,000 wage subsidy they have bludged from the government.
Hypocrisy has scaled new heights!
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/04/coronavirus-taxpayers-union-gives-up-ideological-purity-accepts-60-000-in-taxpayer-wage-subsidies.html
It will be interesting to see who claims the subsidy – there'll certainly be more than just this mob who are dubious recipients of the governments largesse on behalf of the public.
I think the Govt itself should make a claim. It is too big to fail, and could lose millions…
Shhhhhhhh… don't someone'll read that and we'll have all the political parties putting their hands out.
The ideological purity lost out to pragmatism with the tax payers union. It is similar to discussions with fundamentalist bible expounders. Funny how biblical injunctions not to eat pork, or eat leavened bread at Passover, or eat shellfish have been overridden.
We understand with modern science why we can eat these foods safely.
These right wing purists just came up against new circumstances which made an ass of dogma. Good on them for altering their views. I just hope that they will understand that inflexible thinking and ideology lead to dead ends.
That welfarism, social cohesiveness, and even taxation can be creative, life-sustaining, and beneficial.
They're going to do it all again.
https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1248286270046044162
brain dead and possibly suicidal
I checked and nope, not satire.
Donald Trump paused his efforts around the growing coronavirus crisis to sign an executive order clearing the path for US to mine the moon for resources.
According to documents released by the White House, the order rejects the 1979 global agreement known as the Moon Treaty which says any activity in space should conform with international law.
"Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space," the order states.
https://news.sky.com/story/trump-takes-break-from-coronavirus-crisis-to-sign-order-for-us-to-mine-the-moon-11970665
Any planet /moon or asteroid should be split by giving countries the exact % of surface area as they have on earth ,in the same area as their country. It would save a lot of agro if we get that far .
This wouldnt stop non spacefaring nations from getting a share of the goodies they could just sell mining rights to their chunk.
And all of the "seas" on the moon, should be given to our planet's seas.
Whoop! (From the US)
The Transportation Security Administration screened 94,931 people on Wednesday, a drop of 96% from a year ago and the second straight day under 100,000.
Historical daily numbers only go back so far, but the nation last averaged fewer than 100,000 passengers a day in 1954, according to figures from trade group Airlines for America.
Give me another week.
https://twitter.com/Hofmanovitsj1/status/1247971369578639361
That is not only hilarious but very very clever. Thanks Joe.
Have two.
Top work!
I think this song is a silver lining from the lockdown.
I apologize for misleading people on this site. I am now convinced the data errors around Covid-19 are completely flawed and apparently meant to deliberately mislead.
While I do not doubt some people are harmed, this is not even remotely close to the level that was projected. We do not need a vaccine, nor do we need to continually monitor our borders. Maintaining a reasonable health standard + the odd vitamin boost if we feel unwell should do it.
Here are a couple of many articles I have found that support this.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/physician-blasts-cdc-coronavirus-death-count-guidelines
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/
But the most damming is the evidence on the ground. I point to the videos put out by Crowdsource The Truth/Jason Goodman from NYC. At first I thought this guy is arrogant and crazy, but it turned out he was just being skeptical and for good reason. The claims in the media that NYC is death central are obviously bullshit. You can't watch this guys videos and draw any other conclusion.
Then there are the photos used for different stories, in different countries. Same photo. A number of examples of this can be found.
We have all been duped.
If someone tells you that you or your family must have a Covid-19 vaccine for their own safety and that of the public tell them to go fuck themselves.
"It is in fact more likely that the coronavirus death toll is much higher than the official figures suggest, rather than it being inflated. The CDC has acknowledged its count is an “underestimation” because it only tallies cases where Covid-19 has been confirmed in a laboratory test.
Epidemiologists say a widespread lack of initial testing in the US means many people died without being counted, while even now some people who die at home or in nursing homes are not being tested for the virus.
In New York City, more than 200 people are dying at home each day during the pandemic, according to city officials, a very much higher rate than usual. Bill de Blasio, New York City’s mayor, has estimated that about 100 to 200 people a day who die at home in the city are not being included in the official virus death count. But the federal government insists the overall figures are largely accurate."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/09/coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-death-overcount-anthony-fauci
Eliminate.
https://twitter.com/MaximilianJans2/status/1248397776020357123
https://twitter.com/MaximilianJans2/status/1248397780860563458
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU