Well maybe she should lead by example and cease her constant Twitter and Facebook posts. Social media has now been identified as a significant factor in climate change. Apart from the power consumed, the heat of the servers used worldwide is a significant factor.
Human made climate change is real, but screaming crazy hypocrits abusing people without offering solutions just turns people away from the crisis.
You appear to be quite the idiot then. For one, Thunberg does offer solutions, they're central to her whole position. The other is that reducing GHG emissions has to happen across the board. NZ is well into overshoot for its ecological footprint. Nothing to do with Thunberg, everything to do with you and me.
The crazy slur is sign of someone who is ignorant of neurodiversity but also who can't formulate an argument and so seeks to undermine the credibility of the person they are critiquing. I'm being rude here because I'm sick of the low level of political argument from some.
I reckon she's underestimating her effect. According to Clarkson, she has managed to "kill the car show" and stopped young people being interested in cars.
I think the phrase most suited to his claim is "ok, boomer" lol
"…based on figures from 2011 to 2017, the fatality rate for commercial helicopter pilots per 1000 workers on an annual basis was 75 times the national average for all workplaces, compared with 44 times the average for forestry, which was the next worst workplace."
Sometimes it helps to be a little crazy, like when putting your slick onto a literally hot LZ to rescue people…
I have an in-law who was a chopper deer shooter back in the days of the good ol’ boys down south, and while they not as crazy these days as back then I believe the spirit lives on in NZ helicopter pilots.
"The authors warn this vast water tower – a term they use to describe the role of water storage and supply that mountain ranges play to sustain environmental and human water demands downstream – is unlikely to sustain growing pressure by the middle of the century when temperatures are projected to rise by 1.9C (35.4F), rainfall to increase by less than 2%, but the population to grow by 50% and generate eight times more GDP."
"Citing recent research by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Davies said 75% of high-altitude snow and ice would be retained if global warming could be kept within 1.5C. However, 80% would be lost by 2100 if the world continued on a path of business as usual."
Unfortuantly the real elephant in the room is that many areas of the planet are over populated, such over population has only been made possible by cheap energy in the form of oil and we all know what that is doing to the climate.
Agree effect of population growth but that has not been enabled by cheap oil, but eradication of many diseases through better hygiene and science. And what is the solution? China tried one child policy and it failed miserably. Roman Catholicism and its anti birth control stance being banned would be effective but not going to happen anytime soon.
Sure hygiene has played a role, but without oil and industrialization there is no way you could feed cities of millions or support populations in the millions on a relativly small landmass.
In essence oil has allowed vast areas of the planet to support populations far greater than local resources would otherwise allow.
If one looks at death notices with all the family descendants named, do family history searches with all the family descendants named down generations, look at local histories, the descendants still alive, from two people – back to the great-great-grandparents, is massive.
It goes relatively slowly – say two having six living to adulthood who become the great grandparents, three of them having families (three didn't, killed in war, never married). We now have better medical care so babies don't die, and old people can live till 80+ and not late 70's as previously. Parents of the present generation can become great-(great?) grandparents while still living.
Say if the original parents, now elderly, had had four children who went on to reproduce, but limited their families to the extent that each generation had only two living children. Which would be reasonable one would think. I can't work it out in my head – so have attempted below to see the multiplying numbers.
Year 1 – Originating 2 people both aged 20,
By years 11-21 have 4 children (6 in current family),
Years 21 to 31- 4 young adults average 1 child = 4 (10 in current family; 4 reproducing and 4children/2adults),
Years 31-41 four young adults repeat x one = 4 (14 in current family; 4 reproducing and 8children/2adults ),
(Four young adults have had average of only 2 children each).
Years 41 – 51 children of young adults start having babies at 20 years still averaging two babies. In first decade (20 in current family; 8 reproducing and 8 children/4 adults),
Years 51 – 61 repeat (28 in current family; 8 reproducing with 16 children/4adults)
Year 62 the elders die at an old age of around 80, leaving a family of 26, plus the partners of their children who fathered and mothered the additional babies for each generation.
You have to do the calculation properly. You can't just talk about 2 becoming 26 or whatever. You gave to count in all the partners parents, gran parents etc as being the founding stock.
If we use your method for a case where a couple has 2 children. They marry and each has 2 children. The a third generation does the same. You would say that the family grew from 2 to 4 to 8 to 16. What has really happened is that the final generation of 16 actually have 16 parents, and 16 grandparents and 16 great grandparents. The number of people in each generation is not increasing at all.
It is interesting that no one wants to think for themselves. You have to follow a set formula that the state has set up. How do you know they have done that correctly – they want to blind the unknowing with science. And to get put down by the ones who have the training and who are in the know, that stops the ordinary person from trying to think for themselves, and many don't try.
I wasn't guessing Ad I followed a process based on stated factors and showed how even a modestly fertile family proliferates.
As to Alwyn, fluff around, find fault, as you want. I couldn't care less about your opinions.
Which bits of the NZStats population forecast methodology do you disagree with and why?
The ones you are looking for were released in March this year called the "New Zealand Cohort Life Tables".There are pretty well-rehearsed statistical pathways about replacement in there.
For those interested in the Matthews Auditor General issue yesterday, Kim Hill had an interview with him this morning.
The critical thing is that fraud was never raised with Mathews until he was tipped about the previous fraud conviction which had been withheld by court and Joanne Harrison had changed her name. He then acted in accordance with the rules and she was "uncovered." So the "whistle blowers" were actually complaining about non-compliance of invoicing, and not fraud.
"sn't invoice non-compliance a white collar euphemism for fraud?"
Not necessarily. Can be sloppy accounting. Matthews said he addressed that and she promised to do better. Out of thousands of invoices I bet it is not unusual to slip up.
I thought that the innkeeper told the enquiring, needy couple something like this below. The innkeeper apparently did what he could for the pair.
1 There is no room in the inn – it is full of paying guests.
2 I do have stables where you can have a roof over your heads, and a place to sleep. Basic, but with straw the animals have, to sleep in but you should be okay.
Soon after this the decree of Augustus (Luke 2:1) required that they should proceed to Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), some 80 or 90 miles from Nazareth; and while they were there they found shelter in the inn or khan provided for strangers (Luke 2:6, 7). But as the inn was crowded, Mary had to retire to a place among the cattle, and there she brought forth her son, who was called Jesus (Matthew 1:21),
To say that the innkeeper was at fault so Herod can't be blamed is a bit of a 'strawman' isn't it.
Please name me a country on the planet with a more vibrant and diverse media than the UK?
FFS the UK has a massive public service media organisation that many lefties in NZ have been demanding we have in NZ yet apparently that isn't good enough for some.
I think the real problem is some lefties don't like the fact that many people don't like either hard left policies, or certain hard left political leaders, or both.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
You're not pulling that shit on my post. You want to talk about media diversity? Okay. Show me the plethora of diverse takes from UK pop media on…Syria, Russia, Corbyn, Trump, US elections…etc, etc, etc.
In terms of a "diverse media environment", the USA is probably ahead of the UK because there's more 'independent' media of all spots and stripes using internet platforms in the US than in the UK (or elsewhere).
Except the UK also has a plethora of those sorts of outlets. What the real issue seems to me is you don't like Right wing media full stop. You seemingly would prefer all your media came from a narrow band of views. In my mind you are a prime example why the hard left is dangerous to a open and pluralistic society. You want to control the message and how it is delivered rather than work within the constructs of a complex media environment.
It really is a stretch to suggest that the number and diversity of political youtube channels in the UK stacks up against the situation in the US. Same goes for podcasts and web based news sites.
My bug bear with pop media is precisely the issue you claim I'm supportive of. Pop media is basically homogenised – it's far too bound/narrow – some of the reasons being that they're keen to maintain government access for their easy stories and are dependent on revenue streams from advertisers(who are anything but neutral in their politics)
Meanwhile, if you care to cast your mind back to the whole Laura Southern/Molenyeux debacle, you can read, right here on this site, how I vociferously opposed efforts to shut them down. Hardly indicative of this assertion you make about me wanting to 'control the message'.
Anyway. If there's a breeze up by your way, you might not suffocate in any fug being generated by your endlessly farting brain Gosman. Talking of fresh air….I'm off.
A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.
[…]
Several of those interviewed described explicit and sustained efforts by the U.S. government to deliberately mislead the public. They said it was common at military headquarters in Kabul — and at the White House — to distort statistics to make it appear the United States was winning the war when that was not the case.
[…]
Year after year, U.S. generals have said in public they are making steady progress on the central plank of their strategy: to train a robust Afghan army and national police force that can defend the country without foreign help.
In the Lessons Learned interviews, however, U.S. military trainers described the Afghan security forces as incompetent, unmotivated and rife with deserters. They also accused Afghan commanders of pocketing salaries — paid by U.S. taxpayers — for tens of thousands of “ghost soldiers.”
None expressed confidence that the Afghan army and police could ever fend off, much less defeat, the Taliban on their own. More than 60,000 members of Afghan security forces have been killed, a casualty rate that U.S. commanders have called unsustainable.
During the Vietnam War the US Military were notorious for vastly exaggerating the number of enemy killed and softening their own casualty numbers. Strangely the Iraq war figures minimised the number of Iraq casualties, I suppose because 100s of thousands were civilians.
Think of our Army minimising the number of dead during the current enquiry.
……The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.
Obfuscation and denial from the people in positions of responsibility.
Watching Chernobyl on Prime. The same massive denial and downplaying of that disaster by the authorities there.
Vietnam, Chernobyl, Iraq, Afghanistan.
“making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false”
It forms a distinct pattern.
A pattern that helps us comprehend the downplaying by establishment authorities of the climate disaster.
The children’s commissioner, Andrew Becroft, released the annual child poverty monitor on Monday which has found 148,000 children live in homes experiencing material hardship in six or more areas, including lack of access to basics such as warm clothing, health care and food. The figures are unchanged since the first report into child poverty in 2012.
“I want to see family incomes dramatically raised by increasing benefits and making the minimum wage a living wage,” Becroft said.
You have obviously missed ( deliberately ? )the full radio interview with Becroft when he stressed that the latest figures available predated the Ardern government and that he expected considerable improvement in the next lot with the things that have been done by the coalition.
Eleanor Aige does have a tendency to selective reporting.
Here's hoping things do improve – and yes, the last government made things worse. But "National did it" is a very poor excuse when you are now in the driving seat (with an NZF handbrake, to be sure) – we need things to become significantly better.
Simply increasing benefit rates (plus scrapping the claw back when people start working) and lifting the minimum wage to the living wage – would give very rapid results. Only the barest minimum has been done by the coalition so far and I still hold they are hamstrung by being neoliberal at heart and believing that redistribution is a dirty word.
The government has failed to take any immediate measures to fix child poverty, a member of an expert group set up to help reduce it says.
..nine months on from the report and its 120 detailed recommendations, just three would have been implemented.
"It seems nothing has actually happened that's actually making a significant change in the welfare system to most people in the nine months since our report came out,"
The BRR were all about spiking tory allegations of spending the country into bankruptcy. They were training wheels to prove the coalition won't fall over. Well, it looks like next term a left govt will be able to control its cash like grown ups.
Hopefully we will now see a more mature discussion of the role of economics and the way economies actually work, instead of the right-wing bullshit and lies that underpinned the BRR commitment.
National will keep to their debunked austerity / neoliberal / Chicago School ideology no doubt.
The relaxation / abandonment of the BRR is based on the "economy doing well" (whatever that means), instead of the actual truth – that the whole rationale behind the BRR in the first place is bunkum.
It's a bit like dealing with small children – sometimes it's easier to use reasoning they understand, even if it's incorrect and irrelevant to your motives lol
The corupt new Zealand sis look like they are going to try and frame me again today what have I done to deserve this SHIT THEY are showing the world how corupt new Zealand is I have seen 5 marked police cars going past around me with their lights flashing the muppet
In the last week I had 2 of the SIS actors stop in front of my truck and step me out for a fight I know that is what they want to lock me in the jail and drug me and beat me and never bail me fucken wankers
Keep up the excellent mahi the pollies have to stop putting money before your futures.
Youth climate activists have called for a global strike on Friday to protest that human rights and social justice have been sidelined at the UN climate talks in Madrid, where governments look set to wrap up two weeks of negotiations without a breakthrough on the pressing issue of greenhouse gas reduction
Campaigners have been frustrated not only at the slow progress of the talks but also that groups representing women, indigenous people and poor people have struggled to have their voices heard within the conference halls where the official negotiations are taking place, even while 500,000 people took part in a mass protest in the streets outside last Friday
“Human rights and gender equity are at the heart of what we are talking about on the climate,” said Mary Robinson, former UN high commissioner for human rights and president of Ireland. “This is about people and people’s livelihoods. Gender and social justice have an enormous impact on what people face from climate [breakdown]. If we don’t have these issues included we are going to make enormous mistakes.”
She said progress had been made on a gender action plan that was promised as part of the 2015 Paris agreement, but that some countries were still reluctant to include the language of human rights in official UN outcomes from the talks.
Fridays for Future, the movement that coalesced around the world after Greta Thunberg’s solo school strikes, said the summit “has failed us. On 13 December, local Fridays for Future groups will strike because the outcomes of COP25 [the name for the UN meeting] are not only insufficient, but a painful image of how little the politicians care about the planet.
“We stand in solidarity with indigenous people, people from the global south, and people already suffering from the climate crises
That's is the logical thing to do Railways has the lowest transport carbon footprint this will take the huge pressure off our road that big trucks put on our roads.
Thanks Jim I have stated that you are a great Kiwi leader. Our mokopuna need a clean and green environment to have a healthy prosperous life with all the beautiful creatures that the God's gave us not piles of putea.
Former PM Jim Bolger challenges 'status quo' approach to climate change
Jim Bolger gives a speech after receiving an honorary doctorate from Waikato University.
Jim Bolger attended more than 130 graduation ceremonies during his stint as Waikato University chancellor, conferring degrees on thousands of students.
In a role reversal of sorts, the 84-year-old stepped back into the spotlight at Tuesday's capping ceremony, this time to receive an honorary doctorate.
And he was happy to admit to a few nerves.
"If you don't get nervous, then you've lost your sense of occasion," Bolger said afterwards
Awsome the Coalition government and council starting programs for screen to get Pacific tangata mahi on making TV and movies . Pacific tangata Mana shines on TV and Movie screens.
. . April 3: Day 9 of living in lock-down… Another late-start to my work day. Everything is temporarily upended as clients are shuffled around so we can minimise our “bubble” by reducing the number of people we help. One of my colleagues has been removed from his clients; his ...
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of a pretty flower, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a cute animal video. . . . =fs= ...
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For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of my cat, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a pretty flower. . . . =fs= ...
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Image credit:Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ...
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When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...
. . Lock Down: Day 1 – A photo essay with observations . Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief ...
Broad, Sunlit Uplands: How those words fired my young imagination! Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say: how those words fused, in my young mind, with the image printed on every packet of Fielder’s Cornflour. Always fascinated by history, especially modern history, I cannot hear Churchill’s wonderfully evocative words, even ...
. . 24 March 2020 9.46AM Number of covid19 cases in Aotearoa New Zealand: 102 . As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home. I will not be ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections A respected research group, Project Drawdown, finds that deploying solutions consistent with meeting the Paris climate targets would cost tens of trillions of dollars globally. But crucially, those outlays would also yield long-term savings many times larger than the up-front costs. The new 2020 Drawdown ...
It will pass. What happens next? Not immediately, but longer term. There are many opinions, fewer certainties. Will it “change everything!” as many confidently, and contradictorily predict? In this post I look at how foresight can help bound some of the uncertainties so you can more objectively consider the future. ...
We’ve been meaning t write something on Cuba and the coronavirus but have just discovered a very good article on the subject in the US left publication Jacobin. The article looks at how Cuba, a poor country but one where capitalism has been done away with, is leading the way ...
In 2018, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey - two British citizens who had purportedly been stripped of their citizenship by the British government - were captured while fighting for Isis in Syria. The British government then conspired to hand them over to the US, and agreed to provide evidence ...
Transformers: The disaster of the Great Depression was transformed into a new and fairer society by the democratic socialism of the First Labour Government. The disaster of the Covid-19 Pandemic offers a similar transformative possibility to the Labour-NZ First-Green Government. Seize the time, Jacinda! You will never have a better ...
Tamper with The System? Well, we already are. But there's a difference between accidentally trickling sand into a precision gearbox versus formulating a plan to alter it on the fly with improvements in mind. One action is more or less innocently unscrupulous, the other amenable to earning an easy ...
Associate Prof George Thomson, Louise Delany, Prof Nick WilsonWhile it is possible that New Zealand can use intense public health controls to eradicate COVID-19 from the country – we must also plan for other scenarios where thousands of New Zealanders are sick – including many urgently hospitalised.1 Better resilience ...
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...
We're about to do something unprecedented as a nation. We hope that by taking this extraordinary action before a single life in New Zealand has been lost to the deadly novel virus we will save tens of thousands of lives. Our lives. We'll do it together, in households, in isolation ...
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”So writes the author of Ecclesiastes, a book in the Old Testament that’s counted as a ‘wisdom’ book and written as if by an unnamed king of Jerusalem. But who would have thought there would be a time ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world".Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...
The domestic travel ban has been lifted for stranded foreign tourists trying to get to international airports to fly home, after the Coalition Government announced a plan to help the tens of thousands of foreigners stranded here. Foreign Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters spoke with RNZ's Susie Ferguson said foreign ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters believes the country is rediscovering its resilience and self-reliance through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.He says he is heartened that the mass majority of New Zealanders are following lockdown rules and that the government looking at the future, including paying to keep much ...
New Zealand can emulate the success of the US after the Great Depression by exploiting our own resources to turn the economy around quickly, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr. Peters told Magic Talk that New Zealand has an opportunity to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic a "superior, ...
All 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel are either on their way back to New Zealand, or already in the country, according to Defence Minister Ron Mark."Twenty-eight personnel arrived back in New Zealand last week and are in isolation at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in ...
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...
We know people are feeling anxious about COVID-19. While the situation is serious, New Zealand has a world-class health system and we’re well-prepared to keep New Zealanders safe. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
As New Zealanders brace for a global downturn due to Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says his Coalition Government’s rescue package "more significant" than any other he's seen around the world. The Coalition is to reveal a multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan on Tuesday afternoon designed to cushion the economic blow ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
Medical centres across the country are condensing services, moving online, and ushering in pandemic plans. Josie Adams assesses what it’s like to access and provide essential medical care under alert level four.On Monday, Sandra Russell woke up before dawn and drove to Milford to get her blood tested. She has ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, writer and doctor Glenn Colquhoun, with the second of his Letters to Hone Tūwhare and his Travelling Band of Constant Companions. ...
ANALYSIS:By Haiqing Yu of RMIT University and Michael Keane of Curtin University China has gradually emerged out of its shadow of despair as the epicentre where the coronavirus pandemic started. Now, there is face saving required – as well as agenda-setting in the global power play. China played ...
Tech giant Google has released a giant global data set which shows how different countries are locking down, and which NZ regions are most compliant with its lockdown.A giant set of reports released by Google, created using its anonymised cellphone location data reveals the scale of human behaviour change the ...
Comedian Penny Ashton writes on the necessity of the arts, especially during lockdown.On March 22, everyone’s favourite fiscal bloodhounds, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, sent out a tweet in response to Creative New Zealand’s announcement that it will dedicate an emergency response package to helping New Zealand’s artists, in the ...
Wellington writer Philippa Swan’s new novel TheNight of All Souls is an homage to Pulitzer-winning and all-round fabulous American writer Edith Wharton. Wharton died in 1937 but, Swan writes, she’s very much of the moment. Nobody does social distancing like Wharton did. While Wharton was still comparatively young, she created the ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford.I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...
How do you hold a funeral service with the country in lockdown? Where there’s a will – and a tech-savvy uncle – there’s a way, Erin Kavanagh-Hall discovered.I was floating somewhere in the Cook Strait when I heard my grandfather’s funeral had been cancelled.I should elaborate. It was a Monday, ...
‘Stay in your bubble’ didn’t exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how essential it is to do so, says Jai Breitnauer.It was a warm but slightly grey January day in 2019 when I pulled the car over to the side of SH1, just south ...
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...
Every day at 1pm New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announces precise figures on the number of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in the country. He is working on the best information available, and during this week the level of community transmission was put at around ...
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Deery, Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, University of Melbourne “Stupid coronavirus!” I heard my six-year-old mumble while talking in her sleep. Earlier that day her swimming and basketball lessons were cancelled, a birthday party postponed, and she had to race with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University “Zoombombing” in case you haven’t heard, is the unsavoury practice of posting distressing comments, pictures or videos after gatecrashing virtual meetings hosted by the videoconferencing app Zoom. With hundreds of millions ...
Analysis - A leading epidemiologist says health authorities 'really have no idea' of the extent of community spread, Parliament's Epidemic Response Committee gets its teeth into what's going on during the lockdown and the horrendous economic imp ...
The fifth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersInformation about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 ...
The Finance Minister says struggling companies will be able to put some debt into hibernation, under new legislation unveiled today. Watch the latest government update here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government.This article ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Welcome to the second edition of our lockdown Top 10s. A reminder that this chart has nothing to do with sales or launches or the publishing cycle; these are just books the Unity team love – and this week it’s westerns, full of big skies and long rides and showdowns.AUCKLANDAll ...
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster’s plan to cover revenue shortfalls through borrowing without cutting low priority spending is immoral, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “Businesses and households across the country are meeting financial challenges ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin John Brophy, Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, University of Melbourne “Katrina, I had in mind a prayer, but only this came,” Bruce Dawe wrote to his infant daughter, new-born, in intensive care, her life in the balance, declaring as poets must ...
The shock closure of Bauer NZ – and with it all of the country’s current affairs magazines – is a stark reminder of the fragile state of local media, writes Mel Bunce, the author of a book on the subject.It is a dark week for journalism in New Zealand, with ...
Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Rāmere/FridayWe made it to the end of week one e te whānau. It wasn’t that hard! In fact it was… Māori made easy.To end our week of pronunciation practice we’re going to revisit everything we ...
India faces more challenges battling Covid-19 than any other country in the world. With 1.3 billion inhabitants, hundreds of different languages spoken, and an estimated 80% of the workforce daily wage earners currently without jobs, it could be a recipe for disaster.I’ve been living in India for more than three ...
By Sri Krishnamurthi of Pacific Media Watch The Vanuatu government is using the Covid-19 to impose draconian measures and authoritarian rule by end of last month. Wholesale censorship of all Covid-19 related content has been instituted. Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) took the extraordinary step to ...
People with lower credit scores increased their borrowing upon news of the lockdown, while those with higher scores dropped away. March data from the credit-reporting agency Centrix, which runs credit checks on behalf of banks, finance companies, online lenders, and buy now pay later schemes, showed credit inquiries dropped sharply ...
Small business owners say commercial rent relief is desperately needed if they are to survive past the Covid-19 disruptions. While the wage subsidy helped with staff costs, there is currently no government assistance for commercial rent - which typically accounts for 40 percent of a firm's fixed costs. Landlords and ...
SkyCity is making 200 staff redundant as part of cost cutting because of the Covid-19 virus. The casino operator said it had no choice but to cut the size of the workforce given that once business resumes it will be at much reduced level. Chief executive Graeme Stephens said it's ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Glikson, Earth and paleo-climate scientist, Australian National University At several points in the history of our planet, increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have caused extreme global warming, prompting the majority of species on Earth to die out. In ...
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Open mike 10/12/2019 
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We must root out the traitors among us! ...16 hours ago
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‘
Case in point:
Well maybe she should lead by example and cease her constant Twitter and Facebook posts. Social media has now been identified as a significant factor in climate change. Apart from the power consumed, the heat of the servers used worldwide is a significant factor.
Human made climate change is real, but screaming crazy hypocrits abusing people without offering solutions just turns people away from the crisis.
"screaming crazy hypocrits abusing people without offering solutions"
Who are you referring to there?
If using the internet causes CC and stopping using it is a valid solution, then presumably your posting here means you don't want to stop CC?
My social media footprint is tiny, unlike prolific professional users like Thurnberg, who is obviously who I was referring to.
Additionally, I dont make a career out of telling others what to do and throw tantrums to get attention.
You appear to be quite the idiot then. For one, Thunberg does offer solutions, they're central to her whole position. The other is that reducing GHG emissions has to happen across the board. NZ is well into overshoot for its ecological footprint. Nothing to do with Thunberg, everything to do with you and me.
The crazy slur is sign of someone who is ignorant of neurodiversity but also who can't formulate an argument and so seeks to undermine the credibility of the person they are critiquing. I'm being rude here because I'm sick of the low level of political argument from some.
I reckon she's underestimating her effect. According to Clarkson, she has managed to "kill the car show" and stopped young people being interested in cars.
I think the phrase most suited to his claim is "ok, boomer" lol
No signs of life, 8 people still on Whakaari White Island, volcanic activity at level 3. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/405170/white-island-eruption-eight-still-missing-police-believe-there-are-no-survivors
NZ Helicopter pilots – Kiwi sangfroid, daring do and flying skill at its best.
Or maybe just crazy…..
"…based on figures from 2011 to 2017, the fatality rate for commercial helicopter pilots per 1000 workers on an annual basis was 75 times the national average for all workplaces, compared with 44 times the average for forestry, which was the next worst workplace."
Sometimes it helps to be a little crazy, like when putting your slick onto a literally hot LZ to rescue people…
I have an in-law who was a chopper deer shooter back in the days of the good ol’ boys down south, and while they not as crazy these days as back then I believe the spirit lives on in NZ helicopter pilots.
Depends on the industry. A lot of commercial pilots are using little under powered ones chasing cattle or spraying which have a far higher crash rate.
eurocopters etc that are used in higher end tourism have a very low crash rate.
which is why I chose never to fly in the small helicopters and never let the kids do so either.
most of them don’t want to die – so are far from crazy.
"The authors warn this vast water tower – a term they use to describe the role of water storage and supply that mountain ranges play to sustain environmental and human water demands downstream – is unlikely to sustain growing pressure by the middle of the century when temperatures are projected to rise by 1.9C (35.4F), rainfall to increase by less than 2%, but the population to grow by 50% and generate eight times more GDP."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/09/billion-people-risk-water-supply-rising-demand-global-heating-mountain-ecosystem
"Citing recent research by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Davies said 75% of high-altitude snow and ice would be retained if global warming could be kept within 1.5C. However, 80% would be lost by 2100 if the world continued on a path of business as usual."
Where will the world place 1.9 billion migrants?
Unfortuantly the real elephant in the room is that many areas of the planet are over populated, such over population has only been made possible by cheap energy in the form of oil and we all know what that is doing to the climate.
Agree effect of population growth but that has not been enabled by cheap oil, but eradication of many diseases through better hygiene and science. And what is the solution? China tried one child policy and it failed miserably. Roman Catholicism and its anti birth control stance being banned would be effective but not going to happen anytime soon.
Sure hygiene has played a role, but without oil and industrialization there is no way you could feed cities of millions or support populations in the millions on a relativly small landmass.
In essence oil has allowed vast areas of the planet to support populations far greater than local resources would otherwise allow.
If one looks at death notices with all the family descendants named, do family history searches with all the family descendants named down generations, look at local histories, the descendants still alive, from two people – back to the great-great-grandparents, is massive.
It goes relatively slowly – say two having six living to adulthood who become the great grandparents, three of them having families (three didn't, killed in war, never married). We now have better medical care so babies don't die, and old people can live till 80+ and not late 70's as previously. Parents of the present generation can become great-(great?) grandparents while still living.
Say if the original parents, now elderly, had had four children who went on to reproduce, but limited their families to the extent that each generation had only two living children. Which would be reasonable one would think. I can't work it out in my head – so have attempted below to see the multiplying numbers.
Year 1 – Originating 2 people both aged 20,
By years 11-21 have 4 children (6 in current family),
Years 21 to 31- 4 young adults average 1 child = 4 (10 in current family; 4 reproducing and 4children/2adults),
Years 31-41 four young adults repeat x one = 4 (14 in current family; 4 reproducing and 8children/2adults ),
(Four young adults have had average of only 2 children each).
Years 41 – 51 children of young adults start having babies at 20 years still averaging two babies. In first decade (20 in current family; 8 reproducing and 8 children/4 adults),
Years 51 – 61 repeat (28 in current family; 8 reproducing with 16 children/4adults)
Year 62 the elders die at an old age of around 80, leaving a family of 26, plus the partners of their children who fathered and mothered the additional babies for each generation.
You have to do the calculation properly. You can't just talk about 2 becoming 26 or whatever. You gave to count in all the partners parents, gran parents etc as being the founding stock.
If we use your method for a case where a couple has 2 children. They marry and each has 2 children. The a third generation does the same. You would say that the family grew from 2 to 4 to 8 to 16. What has really happened is that the final generation of 16 actually have 16 parents, and 16 grandparents and 16 great grandparents. The number of people in each generation is not increasing at all.
A quick trawl through the NZStats site will give you accurate tracking of the relative strength of replacement cohorts.
No need to guess this stuff.
It is interesting that no one wants to think for themselves. You have to follow a set formula that the state has set up. How do you know they have done that correctly – they want to blind the unknowing with science. And to get put down by the ones who have the training and who are in the know, that stops the ordinary person from trying to think for themselves, and many don't try.
I wasn't guessing Ad I followed a process based on stated factors and showed how even a modestly fertile family proliferates.
As to Alwyn, fluff around, find fault, as you want. I couldn't care less about your opinions.
Which bits of the NZStats population forecast methodology do you disagree with and why?
The ones you are looking for were released in March this year called the "New Zealand Cohort Life Tables".There are pretty well-rehearsed statistical pathways about replacement in there.
Cos of the rocketing birthrate in Italy right Peetee.
For those interested in the Matthews Auditor General issue yesterday, Kim Hill had an interview with him this morning.
The critical thing is that fraud was never raised with Mathews until he was tipped about the previous fraud conviction which had been withheld by court and Joanne Harrison had changed her name. He then acted in accordance with the rules and she was "uncovered." So the "whistle blowers" were actually complaining about non-compliance of invoicing, and not fraud.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018726190
Isn't invoice non-compliance a white collar euphemism for fraud?
In the preamble to the interview, it was said that the legal eagle at NZTA got the whistle blowers to pipe down.
"sn't invoice non-compliance a white collar euphemism for fraud?"
Not necessarily. Can be sloppy accounting. Matthews said he addressed that and she promised to do better. Out of thousands of invoices I bet it is not unusual to slip up.
A Nativity story.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1203762299653128192.html
I thought that the innkeeper told the enquiring, needy couple something like this below. The innkeeper apparently did what he could for the pair.
1 There is no room in the inn – it is full of paying guests.
2 I do have stables where you can have a roof over your heads, and a place to sleep. Basic, but with straw the animals have, to sleep in but you should be okay.
This is a following of events around the birth of Jesus looking at Mary's history. http://kingjamesbibledictionary.com/Dictionary/Mary
Soon after this the decree of Augustus (Luke 2:1) required that they should proceed to Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), some 80 or 90 miles from Nazareth; and while they were there they found shelter in the inn or khan provided for strangers (Luke 2:6, 7). But as the inn was crowded, Mary had to retire to a place among the cattle, and there she brought forth her son, who was called Jesus (Matthew 1:21),
To say that the innkeeper was at fault so Herod can't be blamed is a bit of a 'strawman' isn't it.
the innkeeper was at fault for not providing a save space for a women in labour to give birth.
giving birth in a shit infested cow/sheep stall at the time would have been a good chance to die of birthing.
essentially it was greed that won and not compassion and humanity.
Please name me a country on the planet with a more vibrant and diverse media than the UK?
FFS the UK has a massive public service media organisation that many lefties in NZ have been demanding we have in NZ yet apparently that isn't good enough for some.
I think the real problem is some lefties don't like the fact that many people don't like either hard left policies, or certain hard left political leaders, or both.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
You're not pulling that shit on my post. You want to talk about media diversity? Okay. Show me the plethora of diverse takes from UK pop media on…Syria, Russia, Corbyn, Trump, US elections…etc, etc, etc.
I asked you to name me a more diverse media environment than the UK. I bet you can't.
In terms of a "diverse media environment", the USA is probably ahead of the UK because there's more 'independent' media of all spots and stripes using internet platforms in the US than in the UK (or elsewhere).
Except the UK also has a plethora of those sorts of outlets. What the real issue seems to me is you don't like Right wing media full stop. You seemingly would prefer all your media came from a narrow band of views. In my mind you are a prime example why the hard left is dangerous to a open and pluralistic society. You want to control the message and how it is delivered rather than work within the constructs of a complex media environment.
It really is a stretch to suggest that the number and diversity of political youtube channels in the UK stacks up against the situation in the US. Same goes for podcasts and web based news sites.
My bug bear with pop media is precisely the issue you claim I'm supportive of. Pop media is basically homogenised – it's far too bound/narrow – some of the reasons being that they're keen to maintain government access for their easy stories and are dependent on revenue streams from advertisers(who are anything but neutral in their politics)
Meanwhile, if you care to cast your mind back to the whole Laura Southern/Molenyeux debacle, you can read, right here on this site, how I vociferously opposed efforts to shut them down. Hardly indicative of this assertion you make about me wanting to 'control the message'.
Anyway. If there's a breeze up by your way, you might not suffocate in any fug being generated by your endlessly farting brain Gosman. Talking of fresh air….I'm off.
What do you mean by "vibrant media" ?
He's noticed Murderoch's getting a bit shaky.
Germany, gozzeroni.
Pentagon Papers 2.0
A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.
[…]
Several of those interviewed described explicit and sustained efforts by the U.S. government to deliberately mislead the public. They said it was common at military headquarters in Kabul — and at the White House — to distort statistics to make it appear the United States was winning the war when that was not the case.
[…]
Year after year, U.S. generals have said in public they are making steady progress on the central plank of their strategy: to train a robust Afghan army and national police force that can defend the country without foreign help.
In the Lessons Learned interviews, however, U.S. military trainers described the Afghan security forces as incompetent, unmotivated and rife with deserters. They also accused Afghan commanders of pocketing salaries — paid by U.S. taxpayers — for tens of thousands of “ghost soldiers.”
None expressed confidence that the Afghan army and police could ever fend off, much less defeat, the Taliban on their own. More than 60,000 members of Afghan security forces have been killed, a casualty rate that U.S. commanders have called unsustainable.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/
http://archive.li/VZ53a
During the Vietnam War the US Military were notorious for vastly exaggerating the number of enemy killed and softening their own casualty numbers. Strangely the Iraq war figures minimised the number of Iraq casualties, I suppose because 100s of thousands were civilians.
Think of our Army minimising the number of dead during the current enquiry.
Obfuscation and denial from the people in positions of responsibility.
Watching Chernobyl on Prime. The same massive denial and downplaying of that disaster by the authorities there.
Vietnam, Chernobyl, Iraq, Afghanistan.
“making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false”
It forms a distinct pattern.
A pattern that helps us comprehend the downplaying by establishment authorities of the climate disaster.
Operation Burnham anyone?
The Al1en, apologies.
Do you have a copy of your comment posted @ 10:02 AM?
I don't, but I kept it simple, so I'll have another go at it. Ta.
I can paste the original text if necessary.
Edit: not necessary, I just noticed.
Nah, all good, thanks. It's probably better second time around anyway. 😉
It usually is 😉
Ouch! lol
If child poverty is caused by neoliberal policies, and the one thing you refuse to change is your neoliberal policies, this is what happens:
Ardern government fails to reduce child poverty in New Zealand
You have obviously missed ( deliberately ? )the full radio interview with Becroft when he stressed that the latest figures available predated the Ardern government and that he expected considerable improvement in the next lot with the things that have been done by the coalition.
Eleanor Aige does have a tendency to selective reporting.
I did miss that, although not deliberately!
Here's hoping things do improve – and yes, the last government made things worse. But "National did it" is a very poor excuse when you are now in the driving seat (with an NZF handbrake, to be sure) – we need things to become significantly better.
Simply increasing benefit rates (plus scrapping the claw back when people start working) and lifting the minimum wage to the living wage – would give very rapid results. Only the barest minimum has been done by the coalition so far and I still hold they are hamstrung by being neoliberal at heart and believing that redistribution is a dirty word.
Child poverty, welfare: government inaction frustrates advocacy groups
Greens scrapping the budgetary responsibility rules.
Labour looking to loosen the rules.
The BRR were all about spiking tory allegations of spending the country into bankruptcy. They were training wheels to prove the coalition won't fall over. Well, it looks like next term a left govt will be able to control its cash like grown ups.
Good news and good timing. Next year's budget should be interesting too.
Excellent news! Well done Greens!
Hopefully we will now see a more mature discussion of the role of economics and the way economies actually work, instead of the right-wing bullshit and lies that underpinned the BRR commitment.
National will keep to their debunked austerity / neoliberal / Chicago School ideology no doubt.
lol I reckon you're optimistic about a more mature discussion.
But the big change is that now labgrn can say "our economy is going gangbusters, let's help normal people rather than overseas billionaires".
You are right, unfortunately!
The relaxation / abandonment of the BRR is based on the "economy doing well" (whatever that means), instead of the actual truth – that the whole rationale behind the BRR in the first place is bunkum.
It's a bit like dealing with small children – sometimes it's easier to use reasoning they understand, even if it's incorrect and irrelevant to your motives lol
Kia Ora 1 News.
That's awesome putea to spend on making Hospitals heating environmentally friendly putea for Railways and renewable energy projects.
I will be watching the British elections.
The farmers milk will be covered by insurance.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
That's is cool to see some technical buoys design to warm Aotearoa and our Pacific Cousin about Ngaru Ngaru Tsunami being setup in the Pacific Moana.
That's the way get the tamariki into Maori sports and teach them their history at the same time.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora 1 News.
People with superiority complex can not admit they are at fault.??????????????.
Art is like any Phenomenon that gets people attention.??????.
Congratulations on your win Te Rapa see one doesn't need chemicals to grow food just natural products like worm casting.
. Ka kite Ano
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
The corupt new Zealand sis look like they are going to try and frame me again today what have I done to deserve this SHIT THEY are showing the world how corupt new Zealand is I have seen 5 marked police cars going past around me with their lights flashing the muppet
In the last week I had 2 of the SIS actors stop in front of my truck and step me out for a fight I know that is what they want to lock me in the jail and drug me and beat me and never bail me fucken wankers
Kia Ora 1 News.
Keep up the good mahi Time will tell keep up the pressure as once it becomes economically insane to back carbon the pollies will come running.
I think that Te Tai tokerau doesn't want a port built making a mess of their Taonga harbour.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Samoa would be a great place for a holiday.
I think TVNZ needs more Tangata Whenua Culture included in its profile after all we are 16 to 20 % of the population not 1 %. Some of
My best memories is home at our Marae.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Breakfast.
That's good acting.
Democracy is being tested.
On the Big Farm we had a Bovine / Cow sauna to help Cows recover from paralysis caused by birth problems it worked. very well.
I don't no why they cancelled School dental nurses.???????
Ka kite Ano.
Mark our Coalition Government is going to save your mahi they believe in ballance media.
The public can see you sis actors driving right up the ass of my truck were ever i go sandflys muppets
Keep up the excellent mahi the pollies have to stop putting money before your futures.
Youth climate activists have called for a global strike on Friday to protest that human rights and social justice have been sidelined at the UN climate talks in Madrid, where governments look set to wrap up two weeks of negotiations without a breakthrough on the pressing issue of greenhouse gas reduction
Campaigners have been frustrated not only at the slow progress of the talks but also that groups representing women, indigenous people and poor people have struggled to have their voices heard within the conference halls where the official negotiations are taking place, even while 500,000 people took part in a mass protest in the streets outside last Friday
“Human rights and gender equity are at the heart of what we are talking about on the climate,” said Mary Robinson, former UN high commissioner for human rights and president of Ireland. “This is about people and people’s livelihoods. Gender and social justice have an enormous impact on what people face from climate [breakdown]. If we don’t have these issues included we are going to make enormous mistakes.”
She said progress had been made on a gender action plan that was promised as part of the 2015 Paris agreement, but that some countries were still reluctant to include the language of human rights in official UN outcomes from the talks.
Fridays for Future, the movement that coalesced around the world after Greta Thunberg’s solo school strikes, said the summit “has failed us. On 13 December, local Fridays for Future groups will strike because the outcomes of COP25 [the name for the UN meeting] are not only insufficient, but a painful image of how little the politicians care about the planet.
“We stand in solidarity with indigenous people, people from the global south, and people already suffering from the climate crises
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/12/activists-protest-un-climate-talks
Kia Ora 1 News.
That's is the logical thing to do Railways has the lowest transport carbon footprint this will take the huge pressure off our road that big trucks put on our roads.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Its good to see respect of Maori Tikanga.
Ka pai Winston for going to tau toko Samoa. The same to the Stars of Samoa going to tau toko Samoa.
Mana Wahine.
Ka kite Ano
Thanks Jim I have stated that you are a great Kiwi leader. Our mokopuna need a clean and green environment to have a healthy prosperous life with all the beautiful creatures that the God's gave us not piles of putea.
Former PM Jim Bolger challenges 'status quo' approach to climate change
Jim Bolger gives a speech after receiving an honorary doctorate from Waikato University.
Jim Bolger attended more than 130 graduation ceremonies during his stint as Waikato University chancellor, conferring degrees on thousands of students.
In a role reversal of sorts, the 84-year-old stepped back into the spotlight at Tuesday's capping ceremony, this time to receive an honorary doctorate.
And he was happy to admit to a few nerves.
"If you don't get nervous, then you've lost your sense of occasion," Bolger said afterwards
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/education/118105291/former-pm-jim-bolger-challenges-status-quo-approach-to-climate-change
Condolences to Peter Whanau.
Peter Snell winning the 800 metres at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
New Zealand's greatest Olympian, Sir Peter Snell, has died, aged 80.
Sports historian and friend Ron Palenski confirmed on Saturday morning that Snell had died at his home in Dallas.
Snell, who first developed heart problems in 2010, passed out while driving and crashed into several parked vehicles last month
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/118196968/new-zealand-athletics-legend-peter-snell-dies-aged-80
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
Kia Ora 1 News.
Climate change is going to have a negative effect on our wildlife and as the temperatures rise any logical person knows that we will have more fires.
I read that story of the Octopus and the Eagle locked in battle.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Awsome the Coalition government and council starting programs for screen to get Pacific tangata mahi on making TV and movies . Pacific tangata Mana shines on TV and Movie screens.
Ka kite Ano