The page may not last long (too overtly political?).
All donations go to the Christchurch City Mission, a charity I have no connection with.
And I have used the words of UncookedSelachimorpha without permission I’m afraid (I hope you don’t mind) because you expressed the indignation I felt far better than I could.
"For Michael Woodhouse, as health spokesman, former CEO of a hospital and person with a Masters of Health Administration, to merely delete emails that wilfully breach patient privacy is disgracefully inadequate.
"He knew the leak he received was outrageously unethical and went against all standards of medical practice. It was incumbent on him to take decisive action to expose and shut down this appalling behaviour. Reporting the breach to the proper authorities (e.g. MOH, privacy commissioner) would be the minimum decent action he could take."
Gordon Campbell hones in on a key point of the saga:
And what are we to make of National’s Health spokesperson Michael Woodhouse, whose credibility is fast receding to vanishing point, what with that invisible homeless person he alleged had snuck into quarantine last week. Woodhouse is obviously a big Bob Dylan fan (‘How does it feel to be without a home/like a complete unknown ?’) Subsequently, Woodhouse could offer no evidence that the mystery tramp even existed. Now comes this latest epic fail. As we stare into the vacuum of his eyes, his words make ironic reading:
National health spokesman Michael Woodhouse said the leak represented “another serious failing” of the Government.“Reports coming in this morning of personal details being leaked which reveals the identity of New Zealand’s current active cases, is yet another serious failing from this incompetent Government. This is unconscionable and unacceptable that those suffering from the incredibly dangerous virus now have to suffer further with their private details being leaked. The Government needs to get to the bottom of this, and quickly. The Ministry of Health has been assuring people since the beginning of the epidemic in New Zealand that personal details would remain private, it’s unfathomable that it couldn’t handle a simple task like this.”
Editorial note: `stare into the vacuum of his eyes' ought to be in single quotes, Gordon, to remind readers that it's a line from the Dylan song that hit top of the charts in '65.
Perhaps a journo will do the sleuthing to establish the extent of woodlouse guilt? Did he admit that he saw the email Boag sent him before he accused the govt of the privacy breach? If he did know it was a Nat conspiracy before mouthing off, Muller ought to punish him. While staring into the vacuum of his eyes, preferably…
Yes, the drift towards shallow journalism has been evident for some years now. I saw it happening in the TVNZ newsroom while I was working there in the '90s but those doing investigative journalism provided suitable balance then. I blame social media for the subsequent worsening of the effect.
Commentators lack the inside view: deadline pressure motivates quick production of stories. So there's a real economic cost to doing research. A journalist will only invest the time to get to the crux of a skullduggery situation if their conscience prevails over expediency. Journalism in the public interest remains de-institutionalised!
The Anglosphere is a term first used by science fiction author Neal Stephenson but taken up by historians and others as a useful signpost for those nations formerly part of the British Empire. It includes Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand and in some formulations, South Africa, and Ireland. Countries bound by culture, political traditions and a mutually intelligible language (hence the debate over South Africa and Ireland). In his book ‘How We Invented Freedom and Why It Matters’, ace Brexiteer and former Euro MP, Dan Hannan makes the argument that political freedom – the state deriving its power from the consent of free individuals, rather than individuals being granted freedom by an almighty state – is a uniquely British rather than ‘Western’ phenomenon.
This freedom was wrought by history and circumstances peculiar to the British Isles: the Anglo-Saxon Witan system, the common law, the Protestant break with Rome, the absence of a large, potentially tyrannical standing army and the individualist property rights that provided the basis for capitalism. Hannan argued that in the face of encroachments on political liberty (he was thinking foremost of the EU) the ideal of ‘the Anglosphere’ should be reignited.
Hong Kong is another opportunity. It prospered as a loyal British colony for over 150 years with its people never demanding self-government. Then for the sake of diplomatic expediency, its people were handed to the CCP without the democratic consultation usually required elsewhere (see the Falklands). Britain has a moral duty to its former subjects. Hong Kong, spat out by the Lion, shouldn’t be left to be swallowed up by the Dragon.
Inasmuch as we all remain embedded in cultural ambience produced by the residue of the British empire, it's a good idea to reflect on how distinctive its imperialism actually is – and likely due to having no emperor!
In a 2015 email addressed to the Mayor, Brady said she had been told at a meeting she “was being banned from participating in any official events related to China and or Antarctica…”. She claimed pressure had been placed on an individual (whose name is redacted) to have her banned, and asked if this pressure was “made under Mayor Dalziel’s knowledge, if she too is bending to Chinese pressure…
“Banning was a common practice of the South African regime and is a classic means to isolate, discredit, and silence someone whose views might be an inconvenient truth,” Brady wrote.
The mayor seems reluctant to embrace the notion that she may be a stooge of the communist regime in China. Quite why the prof got banned isn't clear though.
A council staff member responded saying “we are not aware of any ‘ban’ or ‘blacklisting’”, and rejected the suggestion there had been any such “policy or pressure” to do so.
So it seems to be a Schrodinger's ban: real if one official says it is, unreal if another says it isn't. Social reality gets created according to who you believe…
Here is the submission from: Professor Anne-Marie Brady
This submission provides: 1. An overview of China’s foreign interference activities; 2. Suggestions for a resilience strategy for local and central government.
We really need better, otherwise conspiracy theories fill in the gaps. My neighbour was telling me yesterday that he's "heard" that everyone's covering up that the guy who did a runner from quarantine the other day went to a brothel instead of the official story. First time I've ever heard a conspiracy theory of any kind from him.
Mosa publicised this article a couple of days and it has been discussed a bit on the Standard.
It would be good if there was a post based on this article.
Caitlin Johnson, one of my favourite writers, writes regularly on the issue of the daily narrative we are fed. An Aussie, her main focus is the U.S. ; however, her take is accurate for all the 5 eye nations.
Her most recent report is entitled 'As Long As Mass Media Propaganda Exists, Democracy Is A Sham. ' I recommend it.
The article looks at a recent poll that shows most Americans believe Russia targeted U.S. soldiers, despite this being a "completely discredited narrative ."
It looks at the power of the media to sway people's thinking.
Why? I'll leave that to Caitlin…..
"But people are not as objective and adept at critical thinking as we tend to believe we are. People have many cognitive biases which distort our ability to objectively process information and understand events, including one which causes us to believe something is true just because they’ve heard it said multiple times. This makes us easily susceptible to mass media propaganda, where our encounters with daily news headlines can shape our perception of what’s going on in the world regardless of whether or not those headlines are backed by actual facts."
But people are not as objective and adept at critical thinking as we tend to believe we are. People have many cognitive biases which distort our ability to objectively process information and understand events, including one which causes us to believe something is true just because they’ve heard it said multiple times. This makes us easily susceptible to mass media propaganda, where our encounters with daily news headlines can shape our perception of what’s going on in the world regardless of whether or not those headlines are backed by actual facts.
As I've said many times, the spreading of misinformation needs to be made illegal with serious consequences for those doing so. The concept of free-speech does not give anyone, especially media services, a right to lie.
Kim Hill's "brave" (that's how he describes himself) guest this morning came up with a completely ridiculous solution to the problems facing the world
RNZ National, Saturday 11 July 2020, 8:10 a.m.
First up on Dame Kim's programme this morning: yet another from that endless conveyor belt of glib and talkative "woke" commentators that she and her producers go to almost without thinking. This fellow likes to hang out with billionaires and deliver mild critiques of them to their face in places like Aspen, Colorado. Early on in this interview he called himself "brave" for this daring behaviour…
Described by a Guardian reviewer as "superb hate-reading", writer and columnist Anand Giridharadas's latest book Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World investigates the hypocrisy of billionaire "do-gooders".
He questions how and why we have become reliant on the philanthropy of the super-rich to help solve our biggest global issues, and their role in eroding the public institutions that should be leading the way.
Giridharadas is an editor-at-large for TIME and was a foreign correspondent and columnist for The New York Times from 2005 to 2016. His two previous books are India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking and The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas.
As I suspected, Giridharadas could not help himself; a few minutes after praising himself for daring to speak to Bill Gates and Peter Thiel—"brave", he calls himself—he then went on to claim that there was one person who could save the world from this. That saviour is…. wait for it!.… Barack Obama.
I dropped the following hasty email to Lady Kim…
Anand Giridharadas' bizarre praise of Obama
Dear Kim,
Anand Giridharadas was doing well until he suddenly started to spruik Barack Obama. If ever there was a tool of corrupt billionaires, it was that machine politician.
Yours in disgust at glib and thoughtless New York Times hacks,
Anand had a pretty good analysis of neo liberalism and its origins I thought regardless of his pedigree and acquaintances.
Morrissey, is there anyone in this whole damn world that has got it right in your esteemed opinion–or is everyone a sell out dog, and working class heros exist no more?
I googled working class heroes and got this: http://www.workingclassheroes.co.uk selling "mens streetwear from Patagonia". Nice to know they have embraced capitalism while doing `hands across the water' with the folks in Patagonia eh? 🤣
Bet it got Marx spinning in his grave. No more revolution. Evolution instead.
I've been wondering if capitalism is the last stage of development for a civilisation. After all, once capitalism arises in a civilisation its always been destroyed allowing for a new civilisation to arise to replace it and thus giving us civilisational evolution.
People who take Girardharadas seriously would worry about such symbolism, Dennis. Symbolism and right-on messaging is the only thing that matters for them.
I respect and admire many ethical, rigorous and brave academics and journalists—really brave, that is, not someone who delivers mild critiques to billionaires in luxury resorts.
I do not rate someone who hobnobs with Bill Gates and delivers glib homilies on the hipster channel Vice, and advocates for, of all people, Barack Obama.
I agree, Ed. He says many things that are perfectly correct. But anyone who posits Barack Obama as any sort of a solution cannot be taken seriously, other than by the same folks who wept in despair after Saint Hillary was beaten in 2016.
Morrissey you find fault with the guy for referring to Obama in a positive way. So he is to be hit over the head with that. Yet you write here with so many flaws in your thinking and still demand your right to be taken seriously: I would rate you only 65/35 right, which isn't all that high. Try being more objective and not so excitable about others why don't you.
I made the decision that that sleazeball does not deserve an hour of my time transcribing his crap; so I'm using only a little bit of that demolition job by Katherine Ryan, as part of a dramatization I'm doing of a recent emergency meeting of Muller's caucus.
Giridharadas said that the progressive ideas of Sanders and Warren were popular – but that there were barriers to them actually winning electorally. And to overcome those barriers would need someone with the charisma, rhetorical fluency, charm, likability (call it what you will) of Obama.
That doesn't seem like an unreasonable comment – whatever you think of what Obama actually did – his skills as a politician are undeniable. We have seen this close-up with Ardern, how relatability, charm, being in tune with the mood and language of the times is so important. I took it as more of a comment about Bernie's limitations as an electoral politician, rather than errors in his policy.
Admittedly – Giridharadas,s solution does seem rather week in comparison to the strength of his diagnosis.
The coalition of left/progressive voters (especially in the USA) have many conflicting values and agendas, and normally only win when the Democrats can put up a candidate who has the charisma and political fluency to get them all to turn out and vote.
(Biden is the exception only because Trump is so intensely polarising.)
Please don’t spoil Morrissey’s carefully crafted narrative; it took him ages to draft that carefully worded e-mail to Kim Hill. We need more brave public intellectuals like Morrissey.
It's going to be interesting to see the reponses in here to Kim Hill's interview with Anand Giridharadas (link not up yet @ Sacha – except maybe https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday for today 11/07/2020 )
Pass the popcorn
Edit: Fark me! How did I guess @ Mozza
I mean Obama had his chance …for the first 2 years Democrats had a majority in both houses , and yet still Guantanamo , despite all his noble promises remains open for business
No one was prosecuted for the disaster of the GFC, and the torturers “we tortured some folks”got off scot free.
Ask the people of Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Libya what they think of Obama.
Ask the people of 138 countries in the world where US special operators could be found in 2016.
“In 2016 alone, the Obama administration dropped at least 26,171 bombs. This means that every day last year, the US military blasted combatants or civilians overseas with 72 bombs; that’s three bombs every hour, 24 hours a day.”
This issue of alcohol came up yesterday on DR I think. My understanding is they can buy wine from the hotel, but not order it in. Prices are likely to be higher than a liquor outline. And the hotel can control how much is supplied, which would be essential…..imagine unlimited alcohol in quarantine……what could possibly go. wrong
I see some friend/family member said she tried to persuade our Queenstown business owner not to abscond. I hope she informed the police of his intention to commit a crime. If not suggest a visit from the police and charges.
BTW. Shout out to Gabby and Observer for having me LMAO last night. Observer quoted from the media that the Queenstown man had been difficult to manage in social isolation and had very strong political views (?" Cindy's locking me up????")
Gabbys response…."look like the Nats have found their next candidate forSouthland/Clutha " Ha ha ha bloody funny.
I also saw a headline from a contact of the new candidate saying he's a really nice guy. Yeah right….
most businesses already offer delivery – have been doing so since level 4 and three.
so no point using an underpaid uber driver – the only ones making money is the app/shareholder.
But the government could legislate just how much these hotels can charge to people in isolation for say beer and wine. Usually mini bar prices are way up because many people actually don't use them. They leave their hotels for drinks. And again in saying that, non of these fuckwits actually have a cost to pay for food n bed, so fuck it they should be able to either hold their need or suck it up and pay the price.
Have yet to see a good write up of what is available and seeing a range of opinions on it, I suspect it probably varies a bit from place to place. But the restriction on alcohol might be causing some problems, also for people that smoke. Stressful situation alongside not being able to self-medicate enough is not a good mix.
Of course not! The binary brigade will still stick to its simplistic morals of right or wrong, for or against. Anything in between has too much nuance and is too complex to consider for more than a fleeting moment – hang on, there’s another message/tweet/reckon I need to give my undivided attention as if my life depends on it. There is no position in the middle, there is no room for negotiation and debate (!), and there is definitely no possibility for consensus or agreeing to disagree.
People are not really left- or right-handed, as they would use both hands for most stuff. Similarly, people are not as politically pure and on either side of the political left-right spectrum as they believe they are. It is heuristic approach by the mind to make things simpler than they are and save time (another illusion) and energy.
Don’t blame the media, blame your lazy mind and start thinking.
Referendums don’t come out of the blue and don’t sit in some kind of vacuum. There is much debate before, which leads to a decision to hold a referendum, and then after, to implement any changes. I wasn’t referring to any specific action but to thinking, binary thinking.
This binary thinking also sits alongside that "cancel culture" letter that famous people signed, then some people took their names off when they realised who elses name was on the letter. It's about agreeing with the goal, but for different reasons. Like marching for free speech, but when you look around and see you're in a group of neo nazis you decide to quietly leave, even though you have the same goal (free speech), but for totally different reasons.
I agree. I suspect some of this is political (court report from one case suggested this). But some might also be stress. People do weird shit when in unusual and stressful situations.
A story in the Herald this morning stating unemployment was reaching " the same levels as it did during the GFC".
The recession that NZ suffered from was in 2011, nearly three years after the GFC, it was the only country in the world to claim this 3 years on, most countries were in recovery stage.
The recession in 2011, was at the time described by most economists as the direct as a soft recession, the result of the Drought that affected Northland and the East Coast, the other contributing factors was the CHCH earthquakes and the combination of the National Party Tax cuts and the increase in GST which did more harm to the economy than the GFC three years earlier.
NZ was fortunate in 2008, to have ridden the GFC on the back of Australia's economic plan, they injected over a billion dollars directly into their economy by sending a $1000 check to every house hold to maintain spending in the local Economy
At that time, Australia was NZs biggest export market and maintained their demand for NZ products.
I get really tired of the media and National saying the recession was due to the GFC, it wasn't, it was created by a Failure of the Govt of the day to recognize it wasn't the time to push through there famous tax cuts and the increase in GST that saw many on low incomes with lower spending power.
Ideological stupidity was at the forefront, but they didn't care, it was a really good excuse to run Austerity and a low wage economy, which, by any measurement, was a Complete and Total failure for most Kiwis.
NZ had the lowest average income in the OECD measured against similarly developed countries, any economist worth anything will tell you those two things lead to a shinking economy, so National imported nearly 800,000 migrants, bringing their money with them to prop up the failing economy.
Asking this again, anyone know what this piece of legislation is for? Apparently it's in older acts too. Am curious what the intent is, and how often it gets used (and why).
Schedule 8 clause 6 provides that a “chief executive of a department or the board of an interdepartmental venture may request an applicant for appointment or an employee to undergo a medical examination”. The department or venture may nominate a “medical practitioner” and must pay.
The Chief Ombudsman notes that the discretion provided to chief executives already exists in section 82 of the State Sector Act, but suggests that the Committee consider amendments to provide guidance as to the purpose of the discretion and the circumstances in which it could be exercised.
Submissions by the PSA national delegates within the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Inland Revenue Department (IR) express shared concerns. Both submit it should be clear that the requirement should be relevant to the work of the role, for example by adding to subclause (1) “… to ascertain any medical conditions that could affect fulfilment of the role”. They comment that “request” implies that an applicant could refuse a request and, if that is not the case, it should change to “require”. The DOC delegates comment that they support drug testing of workers for health and safety reasons. The IR delegates comment there is no mention of how mental health would be viewed/managed and how the principles of Nga Kaupapa are incorporated into this and the required medical examinations.
The New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties considers the power provided to chief executives is broad and untrammelled. It recommends that the Bill incorporate the safeguards found in the United Kingdom Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 (these include, for example, requiring the person seeking the medical report to obtain the person’s consent, and to provide them with information about their rights to see and amend the report before it is provided to the employer). The Council also recommends that the Bill require chief executives to keep data on the frequency and circumstances with which they use the power to ask people to undergo a medical examination, and to report this data to the Commissioner annually.
Commentary: As the Chief Ombudsman notes, the provision in the Bill already exists. It has existed in some form since 1912.
Public Service Act 1912: the Commissioner shall make regulations prescribing (among other things) “a medical examination as to the health of candidates”. Candidates were held to comply.
State Services Act 1962: the Commission or permanent head may require any applicant or employee to submit to a medical examination at ‘his’ own expense.
State Sector Act 1988: a chief executive may require any applicant or employee to undergo a medical examination at the expense of the department.
Public Service Legislation Bill: provides for a chief executive or interdepartmental venture to request and must pay.
The Bill changes an ability to “require” to an ability to “request”. This change is deliberate in the contemporary context of human rights and privacy considerations. A request cannot be enforced. If not followed, it could become the subject of an employment-related conversation between the employer and employee.
The Bill does not detail particular types of medical examinations. It would not be suitable to attempt to include either a positive or negative list. However, the term “medical practitioner” is defined in clause 5 as “a health practitioner who is, or is deemed to be, registered with the Medical Council of New Zealand continued by section 114(1)(a) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 as a practitioner of the profession of medicine”.
In practice, the provision is not used extensively. However, there can be circumstances where it is appropriate, notably when a medical examination would be relevant:
for the purpose of determining the person’s ability to perform their job, or to fulfil their requirements of being a good employer, including good and safe working conditions.
The New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties makes a number of helpful suggestions with regard to international examples. In New Zealand, however, the Privacy Act 1993 would apply to the information and provide for matters such as protecting the individual’s rights to access to it, correction, and storage. Advisers agree that the information resulting from the medical examination may only be provided to a chief executive or board or an interdepartmental venture with the consent of the applicant or employee. Advisers also agree that the only information that should be provided to the chief executive or board is information that is relevant to the purpose of the medical exam.
Recommendation 35: We recommend that an addition to this clause be inserted to the effect that:
a chief executive or board of an interdepartmental venture may request a medical examination for the purpose of determining the person’s ability to perform their job or to fulfil their requirements of being a good employer, including good and safe working conditions
the request must be in writing and state the purpose
the information resulting from the medical examination may only be provided to a chief executive or board or an interdepartmental venture with the consent of the applicant or employee
only information relevant to the purpose of the medical exam is to be provided
Now that the language is “request” not “require”, the civil liberty issue isn’t really there in the same manner. Note that employers can require medical examinations for H&S reasons now e.g. to determine if an employee is fit to return to work.
Commenters who fill in the Name and Email fields frequently, has something changed in the past few months? We're getting a lot of typos, which means the system treats you as a new commenter and the comment gets held in Pending to be released by a moderator. Would love some feedback and what kind of device you are using.
I sometimes type too fast and notice I've been typing in the email field, so more bozo user fault than system. I back up but sometimes leave the odd extra letter.
it seems odd that there is a sustained spate in the past few months. Might still be user error, but I am curious if the interface or something has changed.
I did comment some months ago that my text field kicks me off sometimes while I'm typing, and the cursor resets to the Name field. Most of the time I pick it up but sometimes I hit submit with the last bit of a sentence in the Name field instead of where it should be. Desktop version on laptop.
Also can't use the desktop version on mobile because the text field doesn't have a cursor or accept text.
ta, that's the kind of thing I was thinking about. There's been a few where sentences have turned up in the name field. Or email addresses. I'll mention it to Lynn (he's aware of the mobile issue, I find it is intermittent on my iphone). What's your OS and browser?
I hope people start to read and get informed before adding the knee-jerk comments on these "escape" stories.
Yesterday there was a flurry of Confident Reckons, many of which were made to look silly soon after, once we had some facts. Sharing instant ignorance adds nothing.
It appears that each of runners had different reasons, one only wanted some shopping, the older person is suggested as having health issues, the other man had been abusive and a "strong political viewpoint", I'm not sure about the first woman.
Amy Adams suggested that the reason was because the motel/hotel accommodation was below scratch.
Actually, I think the MSM are partly responsible. They’ve been making a big thing out of these break-outs and, I suspect, generating both copy-cat scenarios and over-reactions among some in the community.
They should leave the police and related services to deal with them and stop high-lighting the escapees unless there is good cause to notify the populace at large – something the police would do anyway.
Because these people weren't in the country as we went through L4 and L3, it looks like they may have missed out on some shift in consciousness that the rest of us have been through. The idea of sacrificing immediate self-interest for the collective good, was strong through L4 and L3. Strong enough for the phrase 'team of 5 million' not to feel completely cringey and embarrassing, which under normal circumstances it would. Alternatively – it might be that at all times, and under all circumstances, there is simply an irreducible minority of dipsh*ts.
After what I have heard about the prevalence of meth and P in the country, and the fact that we have such a high drug taking score, it is likely that there are many people affected by abstinence of their chosen pasttimes. I had an eye operation requiring me to lie still face down for long periods and regret to say that I couldn't manage the required periods. So I can be understanding of people who have drug habits or are freedom-loving reckless individuals.
Good assesment AB but there were still quite a few doing runners or walkabouts under 4 and 3, was it something like 6-700 arrests and lots of talking too's ?.
Remarkable that Labour lead National on the economy, 45-30. That might not be the case if Todd had been doing what he promised on his first day as leader … talking about the economy.
Instead he's been barking at the cars like Bridges, except with a much smaller vocabulary.
So, now it’s woof, woof instead woof, woof, wuff. That’s not vocabulary but the use of onomatopoeias to sound like a dog. All is well in NZ politics. Miaow!
The faces of Adams, Muller and Brownlee on TV1 news last night when Muller was being questioned should be set in stone. Never seen quite that level of discomfort!
Bloody Hell! Another conspiracy for Mr Muller to sink his teeth into.
First it's portraits of JA on bus shelters, now it's pavement stickers telling us all to "Keep Left Unite Against Covid 19"
The Electoral Commission really should get involved!!!! I mean ….why NOW?
And while they're at it, we should get them to declare all those "Keep Left Unless Passing" signs as electioneering – nobody takes heed of them anyway! And half the people are driving on a fishing licence too!
The link is along Cable Street Wellington – plastered over the footpath. A bloody disgrace! And I bet those bloody radical left-wing Labour Party supporting New World franchise owners are responsible.
I'm just getting more cynical as I approach dotage @ Chris T. It's a right of passage. Won't be long before the folks at ZB will be offering me a job in their bid to be fair and balanced.
I think Mike Baker on NewShubs the Nation this morning had some good ideas re handling people in quarantine. But as you know, these things take time
We can all be shit at spelling. Even i can mispell misspel. But I have seen trolls mkae dumb claims about dyslexia, and dumb lefties bekieve it and roll over for them. We can all type a message in a rush and have errors in it.
I'd hope that mental health workers are available.
But if they're sitting around in hotels at midnight waiting to respond, then I'd volunteer for isolation tomorrow. Back in the day when I had some (helpful) counselling, they kept office hours. And the taxpayer didn't pick up the tab.
There was more than enough outrage at going to Rotorua – I'm not sure how a barbed wire internment camp would go down.
But given the ongoing warnings about novel viruses, we should probably start looking at a dedicated facility or three. Maybe prefab units that can be clipped together in a public park.
Hotels work in a pinch, but they're not suitable for longer term use. Not just the absconding, they obviously have issues with cohort control and separation, especially at check in.
Chris T, NZ has no detected post-elimination Covid-19 community transmission (so far) due to an ENORMOUS dollop of good management and a near-invisible dusting of "pure luck" – you sound put out by our excellent health outcomes.
Maybe it's mostly good management in NZ and Australia, with a little bad luck in Victoria. Personally I think it's mostly good management in NZ and Victoria (slightly better management in NZ?), and luck has little to do with it.
You and Todd just need to be patient – there will be community transmission of Covid-19 again in NZ, but no-one knows when.
Has luck really got "a lot" to do with the comparatively bad Covid-19 health stats in Ireland, Sweden, the UK, USA and Brazil? If you think NZ's Covid-19 health outcomes owe more to good luck than good management, then I respectfully suggest that you re-examine your understanding of the factors affecting the spread of global pandemics.
Apologies for lumping you in with Todd – you tend to come across here as being more critical of left-leaning policies/governments than those on the right of the political spectrum, but maybe that’s just me.
There is an element of luck/chance as to whether that positive person (just the one was it?) infected someone else in those 70 minutes.
It's management (by public health services and other government institutions), aided and abetted by the general populace (team of nearly 5,000,000), that’s the primary determinant of a country’s overall health outcomes in a global pandemic. That management can be anything ranging from ‘very tight’ to ‘open slather’.
Ireland, Sweden, the UK, USA and Brazil each have a Covid-19 death rate per million of population that’s at least 75 times NZ's rate – if you thinks that's due to luck, then we'll have to agree to disagree.
Ireland, Sweden, the UK, USA and Brazil each have a Covid-19 death rate per million population that’s at least75 times NZ's and Australia’s rates. The number of Covid-19 cases per million population in NZ is at least 14 times lower than those five countries.
If you think that's due to (blind) luck, then we'll have to agree to disagree.
The management part is stopping staff having sex with people in isolation. It's literally a staff management issue. And not the only lapse they had.
Our worse lapse is someone speaking to a checkout person or a cop or a neighbour, not tongue-lashing them
Because the bloke only had to splutter on one person (If he did indeed not, in the missing 40 odd minutes) And we could just as easily be looking at Victoria numbers,
Who knows as the testing has turned to shite
But hey, The govt is doing brilliant when people aren't running off.
Based on measured Covid-19 health outcomes, our Government has indeed done a brilliant job to date. If, despite your relentless carping, you're genuinely keen on holding "all parties to account", then I look forward to your critique of the behaviour of opposition National party MPs over the last week – bit of a shocker eh?
Still think the Jamie-Lee Ross deBaclay was the opposition’s ‘lowlight‘ for this term so far, but who knows what the next 2 months will bring
And I'm struggling to understand your apparent inability to grasp the relative contributions of "blind luck" and 'management' (by governments, public services et al.) to a particular country's long-term health outcomes during a global pandemic of a novel virus.
Surely you can see that the ideology and Covid-19 health advice offered by Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro etc., are having an appreciable effect on the measurable Covid-19 health outcomes of the countries they ‘lead‘.
Although I will have to concede that NZ got pretty lucky with Ardern and Bloomfield. We don’t know how lucky…
I give up too – if you can't see a relationship between the ‘economy over health‘ ideology and ‘leadership/management‘ styles offered by Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro etc., and the measurable Covid-19 health outcomes of the countries they 'lead', but would rather attribute the hugely different health outcomes of countries to "blind luck", then we are indeed at an impasse.
As an aside, I think we should be using schools rather than hotels as detention centres. Schools are so much more like prisons, and most are now already surrounded by horrible spiky fences to keep the nasty local gangsters out. (Thanks to social policies of most governments since the 1980s.)
It would be so easy to use schools as concentration camps – only a few would be needed, and minimal security staff would be needed to patrol the perimeter.
Some people on various social media demanding to know "Where's Tova? Jessica? Why aren't they going after Todd?".
On a break, is the answer. With an election campaign coming, there won't be any time off for political journos. Parliament is in recess, so this was the obvious time to book. It's not as if they could predict the mad meltdown of the past week (who did?).
As with the timing of polls and much else, a lot of things that inspire conspiracy theories are simply arranged in advance.
(and no, that doesn't excuse Newshub's lamentable coverage, at all. But that's the fault of people who are in the building, not one reporter who isn't).
From Luke Malpress on Stuff and I thought Luke was an enthusiastic National man. Again he hints at the National being saved last week by the runaways. But not all MPs are happy. (Reference the faces of Adams and Brownlee during Mullers presser.)
It is also understood that the National Party had a caucus teleconference on Thursday night at 9.30pm which left many caucus members unhappy. First, according to sources, Muller did not specifically ask if anyone else had received information from Boag. And second, in his first big economic speech, Muller criticised the Government for not having a plan while not presenting a plan himself, instead delivering a directional, but vague, five-point framework to the Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce.
It is reported that the Virus has mutated and is much more infectious. It is said to be no more dangerous but just more easily spread. So hands up that we keep the border closed longer? Waiting for confirmation.
I think the WHO investigation into the origins of the virus will at best be a barometer displaying the alignment of Dr Tedros.
Although beyond redemption, I think Trump is right to take a step away from the UN. It's become a pit of snakes, past it's best before date. It's an organisation that should have it's foundation in a love for each other and it just hasn't. The CCP can have it.
A worthwhile WHO would bring together the 200 best vaccine minds in the world and give them all they required.
Wuhan in Hubei province was locked down, residents welded into their apartment buildings, meals passed through railings. At this time 5 million people departed on international flights from Wuhan International Airport, domestic was closed.
You or I, we'd slam the gates down at Mangere wouldn't we? The thought of knowingly jetting hot-spot people off to all points around the globe conjures up images of Mike Myer's Dr Evil in my mind.
I get the Chinese need to save face, reluctance to admit fault etc. But sheeesh. I don't think the CCP form is aligned very well with the sentiments and emotions of the 1.4 billion.
Leading via fear works, but it is always finite, comes to an end. It is natural that our love and respect for each other will rise to be dominant. We are a social animal, inclined to be friends.
So Former National Party President Michele Boag has resigned – from a few things. National's Southland MP Hamish Walker has resigned too, as did the MP he took over from Todd Barclay. Then there was Mike Sabin in 2015, Maurice Williamson in 2014, Aaron Gilmore in 2013, Phil Heatley and Pansy Wong in 2010, Richard Worth in 2009…………..all for things they knew they shouldn't be doing, but did anyway.
The Serious Fraud Office filed criminal charges against four people in relation to an alleged NZ$100,000 donation paid into a National Party electorate bank account which senior National Party personnel who clearly should have known something about it apparently didn't.
And Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics revealed (along with a few other examples of 'dirty politics') that Judith Collins had passed on private information about public servants to right-wing attack-blogger Cameron Slater Again senior National Party personnel who clearly should have known something about it apparently didn't. Collins was also the subject of controversy after an overseas trip where she appeared to be promoting milk products produced by Oravida – a New Zealand company of which her husband was a director.
There's more, but it doesn't need to be catalogued.
What's here is surely sufficient to make one question the validity of National's superior attitude towards being the 'natural party of government'. Why would anyone want to vote for more of that?
And National's claim of being 'superior economic managers' is just as flawed and will be examined in the next post.
Righties and idiots often claim, "Both sides are dirty in Politics." The last one I heard was a woman on RNZ's 'The Panel' on Friday – she made that claim, and then quoted sex scandals associated with Labour Conferences.
Well, none of them were schemes calculated to make National look bad. More like Labour being made to look bad through the media publicizing 'bigly' rumours and accusations. And let us not forget that the big headlines from Andrea Vance's accusation that Jacinda Ardern had 'covered up' a big sex scandal was later withdrawn and apologized for – at the bottom bit of page 126 where few would notice it…
National has been constantly caught out at Dirty Politics – manoeuvres deliberately calculated to make Labour look bad. This current one is only the latest. The worst was the deliberate use of material from GSCB (or SIS?) to denigrate Goff during his 2011 election campaign.. only exposed several years later. That election result should have been revoked, the abuse of knowledge explained to the public, and a new election held.
Come on, you Righties and idiots who say both sides are dirty:
Please give me a list of Labour's dirty deeds which have been deliberately calculated using foul means to make National look bad.
Nicky Hager has made a big long list of National doing that to Labour, and none of his accusations has been disproven in court – because they are valid.
Righties – please tell us exactly how many times the Labour Party or the Left in general have been shown to use subterfuge like Boag's email leaks to deliberately make the other side look bad.
I don't believe you can supply anything much of substance. Usually the mud slung at Labour is own-goal stuff, exaggerated by hostile news media.
Ed – I now think it was Thursday, not Friday. I managed to listen to Friday on RNZ website, and it was not her. I got lost in trying to hear Thursday's panel in their demands that I enrol for ipods and God only knows what..
Thanks. It was near the start, and I now know it was not Alexia. I could not access Thursday so I do not want want to accuse Nalini in case it was Wednesday..
The worst was the deliberate use of material from GSCB (or SIS?) to denigrate Goff during his 2011 election campaign.. only exposed several years later.
That was former SIS Director, Warren Tucker. The current Director, Rebecca Kitteridge formally apologised to Phil Goff a few years down the track.
Cameron Slater requested the SIS held material on Phil Goff and Tucker sent it to him. My suspicion is: Tucker was directed to supply the material to Slater from either John Key himself or someone from the PM's Office acting on his behalf.
One day the truth about that scandalous affair will be released.
“Inspector General of Intelligence and Security Ms Gwyn has been investigating allegations made in author Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics that as part of a long-running National Party dirty-tricks campaign, the Security Intelligence Service and Mr Key’s office worked together to release politically embarrassing material to Slater, who used it to discredit Mr Goff.”
You are not a Rightie giving me what I asked for, but you have magnificently reinforced what I wrote about the travesty of the 2011 election. And from what I recall, that 'embarrassing material' was not even true…
So the story of the 60 year old who busted through a window, out of quarantine, and went banging on the neighbour’s doors is already slipping out of the news sites headlines. No push for the story from the opposition I guess. So, provided we don’t go down Victoria’s unhappy path these few incidents, at odds with the 99.9% of people who are going through quarantine properly, will become nothing more than what they should be, the background noise to our successful Covid response.
Some clever, smart thinking going on in the rest of the country out side the Gnats bubble. (I don't know what they've got but I'd keep at least 2m away).
A couple of sheep are looking thoughtful about this idea, and I think probably like it. It seems the sort of thing that practical TS would go along with. How about signing the petition.
A Southland farmer is calling for New Zealand wool to be used in all publicly-funded buildings and KiwiBuild homes, for carpeting and insulation.
A petition has been started and signed by more than 7000 people.
Thanks to – Greywarshark – And thanks also to – Just is-
We are getting some very good uptodate Information and wisdom !
It does not amaze me that GrannyPoof Herald writes lines and lines of lies, and squeezes its endless Army of Bias, out of it's much treasured enormous Ass.
As David Attenborough might say – the Herald Species is breathing out its last few breaths.
Hi Grey I see on Newshub that Michael Baker the Epidemiologist is suggesting that some returnees are presenting with addiction problems and need help staying in isolation for 14 days. He suggested as one of the props to help their stay over being Nicotine patches. I thought to myself maybe my email to the Hon Chris Hipkins (which was then forwarded to Dr Megan Woods) has been actually taken in and discussed. I can hope but its probably such an obvious idea that many others have proffered their opinions as well. But I did the deed and the next day it has been suggested. Amen to that.
The eminent doctor also suggested health checks and help for other mental health issues. They need to get on top of it whatever the outcome.
Aotearoa surpassed 100 days without a case of community transmission of Covid-19. Last night that virus-free streak ended and we’re moving back up the alert levels. For months now, we’ve been intercepting cases of Covid-19 at the border. But just as has happened in many other countries, somehow the sneaky ...
Today the National Party have annouced plans to get tough on gangs. Again. We at MyThinks thought it was important to identify a list of gangs the National Party were planning on getting tough on. National have said if they are elected their new “The Gang Unit” gang unit will ...
In the musical Wicked, a re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz, the hit song Defying Gravity comes at the end of the first act and talks of how one woman (who would become the Wicked Witch of the West) breaks from what’s expected to strike off on her own path. ...
Back in June, Newsroom published a well-investigated piece about how the Department of Conservation had waived rehabilitation requirements for a mining company. Now, one of the company's directors - specifically David Wong-Tung, who just happens to be Judith Collins' husband and the director of environmental pillagers Oravida - is threatening ...
This year’s election campaign in New Zealand has attracted a number of “fringe” parties, at least some of whose supporters seem to have a fairly tenuous hold on reality and a highly flexible approach to the truth. I mean, how else could one describe some of those affiliated with the ...
Accused - Jami-Lee RossNobody would think poorly of you if you wrote former National Party MP Jami-Lee Ross off as just another crackpot! After all, now that he’s hitched his Advance NZ wagon to Billy Te Kahika’s crazy Public Party, there’s little chance of him ever redeeming himself or recovering ...
Students will be striking for the climate again on Friday, September 4: Students in Wellington are gearing up to strike from school this September 4th, to protest inaction on climate change. Their demands? That Government invests in a green COVID-19 response; that there is a just transition provided for ...
There’s no Covid on the Cook Islands. But isolation-free travel into New Zealand from the Cooks looks to be a long way off. The Prime Minister confirmed on Monday that Cabinet had considered draft text being worked on via officials which will become the basis of an agreement for quarantine-free travel ...
We should all know by now that Judith Collins, who has openly said she simply doesn’t care if wetlands are destroyed in the pursuit of swamp Kauri, isn’t exactly an environmentalist.In fact she has promised to roll back most of the small gains made by the Green Party in Government, ...
If you drive an electric car more than trivial distances between charges, you likely appreciate a state-of-charge meter (that is, what would be called a fuel-gauge in a petrol car) that is accurate. When it reports a range of 30 km, you do want to be sure it will actually ...
What to do to improve the public perception of the newly elected National party leader, when her performance so far has no doubt disappointed the expectations of her supporters? The answer is to get a National-supporting newspaper (the Herald) to organise a poll that could be guaranteed to provide an ...
Campaigns. Culture. Character. And perhaps most of all, Covid. Now the House has risen and politicians are hitting the road to pitch their woo to voters, those will be front of mind for the candidates.They were also where the new season of politics podcast Caucus began on Thursday. This year ...
There are only a few days left to make a submission on Statistics New Zealand's consultation on sex and gender identity statistical standards. This represents a really important step for recognising the very real diversity of gender, including people with no gender, and ensuring everyone has the option to see ...
Since finishing the Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change book, I’ve frequently dipped into that 176-page clip-art library, reshaping the cartoons to fit the 1920 x 1080 pixel format for Powerpoint presentations. I’ve also adapted many of the cartoons for the Cranky Uncle video series. Over the last few weeks, a few people ...
NewsHub Nation has launched a new podcast, "Supplementary Question". Their inaugural episode is about the OIA, and asks "is our most important transparency law fit for purpose?" While they interviewed Justice Minister Andrew Little and Ombudsman Peter Boshier for this, there's not actually a lot of them in there, and ...
Remember the Ruataniwha dam? The Hawke's Bay Regional Council wasted $14 million trying to push this environmental disaster through before the Supreme Court ruled that the land swap it relied on with DoC was illegal. At the end of it, they wrote off the money and sold the existing consents ...
For years we've had a housing crisis in New Zealand, driven by immigration-driven population growth and the market refusing to build enough houses (and enough of the right sort of houses) to meet it. As a result, people can't get homes, while Boomer landlords leech away their income and parasitical ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Drawdown Review 2020: How To Address Global Warming In A Responsible Manner Source: Project Drawdown Project Drawdown is a non-profit organization that relies ...
Dr Tim Chambers, Prof Nick Wilson, Jayne Richards, A/Prof Simon Hales, Dr Mike Joy, Prof Michael Baker (author affiliations*)Increasing water-related health threats, notably the waterborne campylobacter outbreak in Havelock North, have highlighted failings in NZ’s regulatory system for drinking water. In this blog we consider how the new Water ...
Yes, an election is in the offing – and we all know that elections can be polarising, as parties of the left and right square off against each other. But we should not allow our party and political allegiances to obscure the fact that, in a properly functioning democracy like ...
Dr Sommer Kapitan, Auckland University of Technology, and Dr Patrick van Esch, Auckland University of TechnologyThe Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill will limit vape sales at dairies and service stations to only three flavours, and make vaping illegal in smokefree areas. Vaping laws will be more ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Aug 2, 2020 through Sat, Aug 8, 2020Editor's ChoiceFive Years After Speaking Out on Climate Change, Pope Francis Sounds an Urgent AlarmThe encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ motivated many people ...
From some quarters, incessant scaremongering. From others, it’s a full-on tilt into touching the alarmist buttons a little too readily (uncertain times make for very captive audiences with this angle of attack). The (so-called) Opposition (and merely regarding them as that seems to be a far looser term now ...
National Party leader - Judith CollinsElections often bring out the best and worst in politicians. Some rise to the occasion and provide us with a clear vision for the future. While others wallow in resentment and controversy, over-relying on attack politics to try to attain the interest of voters.That’s been ...
The attempts to sabotage Corbyn's leadership seems likely to do more damage than Corbyn supposedly ever could have done, even if all the stories about him were true:I was reluctant to say anything but this is too important, the full story needs to be told.Don’t let anyone ever tell ...
Good day to everyone. I’ve been asked by Mr Thinks to come here and talk to you all about my concerns regarding the government response to Covid-19. We’ve been living through this pandemic for, what seems like, years. Years and years and years. Why else would the National Party have ...
‘Good Economics for Hard Times’ should be on your reading list. New Zealand does not have a Minister of Labour. It has Ministers of Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety but there is no minister with responsibility for the labour market. That responsibility was abolished in 2012 when ...
Back in the Kyoto era, the international climate change regime included a Clean Development Mechanism to fund emissions reduction projects in developing nations. Essentially someone would certify that a project - e.g. building a windfarm, or installing energy-efficient lightbulbs - would reduce emissions over and above "business-as-usual". The project would ...
Claire Breen, University of WaikatoWith COVID-19 vaccine developers reporting promising results, it is probable we will one day face a major public health question: can the government compel New Zealanders to be vaccinated? Just as inevitably, some people will refuse a vaccine. As we have seen overseas with debates ...
As the classic MMP cartoon goes, just look at who is against it. Yesterday, the Hamilton City Council voted to use STV for its next two local body elections. The move was initially opposed by deputy mayor Geoff Taylor. The reason? Because a voting system which provided accurate representation and ...
On Wednesday evening (which in Parliament’s weird world technically was still Tuesday because urgency had been taken and so time stood still), MPs united to remove a pretty terrible piece of law from our statute books. No real fanfare or fireworks accompanied this action. Indeed, I didn’t even know about it ...
By Geoffrey Miller Prominent refugee advocate Murdoch Stephens says he is disappointed by Judith Collins’ reaction to Immigration New Zealand’s decision to grant refugee status to Kurdish-Iranian writer Behrouz Boochani. Judith Collins told media last month that “there’s a lot of concern in New Zealand about what they see as ...
Hello all. Judith here to talk about how National are going to take the election in September. The National Party prides itself its unity and cohesion. We are working together to deliver for New Zealanders. First of all, ee are a strong team. We are a very strong team. Our ...
Parliament has just begun the adjournment debate, signalling the effective end of this Parliament. So it seems like an appropriate time to assess Labour's term in office. Unfortunately, its a pretty dismal assessment. Labour campaigned on one thing: change. Not just a change in who got the top jobs and ...
Our climate change policies are insufficient to achieve our goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, according to independent assessor Climate Action Tracker: New Zealand won’t be carbon neutral by 2050 without much stronger policies, says an independent analysis by Climate Action Tracker. The non-profit highlighted a lack of active ...
That was clearly a huge explosion. Just after the explosion, we see a cloud of ‘fog’ moving outwards at high speed. This is a shockwave, rather similar to that which causes a sonic boom. The ‘fog’ is caused by water condensing from the atmosphere in areas of intense low pressure ...
Can we postpone this year’s election? Quite frankly, the political parties don’t seem ready for it, and aren’t about to offer voters the necessary policy choices for the unprecedented times we’re in. We’ve ended up with a campaign focused on scandal, personality and leadership, with a policy void that’s worse ...
It is the last sitting day of Parliament, and the last question time before the House is dissolved. So, are there any questions about the damning findings of the Hit and Run inquiry, and how the government plans to bring the military back under democratic control? Of course not. ...
Property speculator - John KeyThe National Party must be in dire straits to have to rely on John Key to campaign on their behalf. Not only has the former PM been in the news claiming the recently released unemployment figures aren’t accurate, the fool has also been promoting the opening ...
Nothing Too Drastic: Few would dispute that the Left, today, are few in number. Is their failure to make the public aware of and act upon the manifest failures of the present system attributable to their lack of active energy and intelligence? Or, is it simply because the Left’s ideas ...
by Don Franks This talk was given to the Wellington Anti Capitalist Alliance, fifteen years ago. The ultimate weapons of mass destruction so far seen on this planet have been used just twice, 60 years ago this month. August 6 and August 9 1945 witnessed the US atomic bombing ...
After I noticed that my name had been taken yet again in vain by my friendly antagonist Tom Hunter over at No Minister, I went over to see what the fuss was about. Nothing much, but then I discovered a post about the Operation Burnham Inquiry by Psycho Milt. I ...
The COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 was extended today, until December 1st or the tenth sitting day following the resumption of Parliament after the election. It seems like a necessary extension. While we currently have eradicated the virus in New Zealand, it is still banging at the door, and ...
One of the government's key policies - extracted by NZ First as part of its coalition agreement - is the "Provincial Growth Fund": $1 billion a year spent on creating jobs in rural New Zealand. Yesterday the Auditor-General issued a report on the fund, finding that it lacks transparency, and ...
The Warehouse, one of New Zealand's biggest retailers, has decided to stop selling coal. Good. Coal is a dirty, polluting fossil fuel, and the less of it we have out there, the better. Retailers choosing not to sell it sends a clear message that this is not a fuel we ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and they show that unemployment actually dropped last quarter. All told, there are 111,000 unemployed - 15,000 fewer than when the government took office. But before anyone thinks that the pandemic hasn't put people out of work, remember that this is for ...
Judy KavanaghI’m OK with wearing a CovidCard. But are you? There’s no point me doing it alone.The author modelling a (fake) CovidCard. I didn’t know much about the CovidCard proposal until I read Dave’s latest blog post. You would wear the card visibly on your person. It ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy can’t I use the battery from my electric car ...
As many good things come in threes (as the saying goes), we are happy to announce a third partnership between Skeptical Science and other websites. Fakebook.eco in Brazil is joining Klimafakten.de in Germany and Nauka o Klimacie in Poland to leverage translated rebuttal material and to make the information readily available in other ...
This interview on RNZ with Ross Tucker, the scientist who headed a review of transgender athletes playing in women’s rugby, discusses the findings of the review and what it means for women in sports. The review that World Rugby undertook had a broad range of independent experts and included a ...
Siouxsie WilesThe restrictions in place for metropolitan Melbourne now are in some ways stricter than those that were in force during New Zealand’s COVID-19 lockdown. A curfew is in place and most people have to wear masks when they leave their home – neither of which happened in New ...
On Friday the Hit and Run inquiry delivered a devastating report which found that NZDF had systematically misled Ministers over civilian deaths. The report called into question civilian control of the military (and indeed, military control of the military), a fundamental principle of our democracy. So you'd expect our politicians ...
Let's Do This Again: What else can Jacinda do in a political environment so bereft of imagination and courage but seek a continuance? If she trades upon the extraordinary personal qualities that she has, miraculously, carried with her into the office of Prime Minister, then I, for one, will offer ...
How corrupt are the New Zealand Police? This corrupt: On 10 February 2019, Police attended a family harm incident. The suspect attempted to run the attending officers over in a driveway with his car, narrowly missing them, before fleeing the scene. A short pursuit followed, ending when the suspect stopped ...
Parliament's triennial Review of Standing Orders was released today, and it contains a number of welcome, if minor, improvements. The ones that caught my are: A move to encourage "pre-legislative engagement" - the government consulting widely on legislation before it is introduced - by promising easier passage (e.g. with ...
Lauren Vargo, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonGlaciers around the world are melting — and for the first time, we can now directly attribute annual ice loss to climate change. We analysed two years in which glaciers in New Zealand melted the most in at least four ...
Caroline Shaw, Anja MizdrakE-bikes are everywhere. Sales are booming and predicted to overtake sales of new cars in a few years. There were three times as many e-bikes and e-scooters imported into NZ in 2019 alone as there are e-cars in the entire country. You can’t go out in ...
New Zealand First is facing a difficult struggle to get re-elected, but Josh Van Veen, who was once a researcher for Winston Peters, argues that there is still a very significant section of cultural conservatives who oppose mass immigration and political correctness and might yet be won back over to ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk Many Americans these days seem unable to avoid controversy on practically any topic, so why not embrace the discord and wade into the especially volatile arena of nuclear energy? Advocates claim it’s the only way to meet global climate goals, ...
Can we trust New Zealand’s military? There must now be serious doubt, given the landmark report released on Friday concluding the investigation into allegations made in the book Hit and Run by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson about a 2010 SAS killing raid in Afghanistan. The most recent Colmar Brunton ...
In New Zealand, we've just had the report of the Hit and Run inquiry, which found that a New Zealand led raid had accidentally killed civilians, including a child. meanwhile, around the same time, the British SAS was conducting its own raids in Afghanistan, and theirs were a hell of ...
In addition to establishing a process for setting emissions reductions plans, the Zero Carbon Act established a process for managing the risks of climate change. The first part of this is the preparation of regular risk assessments, looking at the risks to our economy, society, environment, and ecology. The first ...
Over on The spinoff, Amnesty International's Meg de Ronde has a response to Friday's release of the Hit and Run report. And in response to Attorney-General David Parker's claim that the government was being "transparent" by releasing the report, its titled "we shouldn’t have to work this hard to get ...
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Rising Seas Could Menace Millions Beyond Shorelines, Study FindsAs climate change raises sea levels, storm surges and high tides will ...
There's an election next month, so you'd be expecting political parties to be telling us what they stand for and what they'd do if they'd win. But while the Greens have given us a detailed policy platform, and National has talked about roads and austerity, Labour, currently leading the polls ...
It's campaign time! The official countdown to Election Day is underway, with Labour supporters crowding into Auckland's Town Hall for our 2020 Campaign Launch. We recap some of the highlights below ...
It's campaign time! The official countdown to Election Day is underway, with Labour supporters crowding into Auckland's Town Hall for our 2020 Campaign Launch. We recap some of the highlights below ...
We've announced that we will expand the Flexi-wage programme to support up to 40,000 more people into work, or to help them start their own business. It's yet another way we're helping keep our economy moving by getting people into work and training. Read on to find out more ...
Business subsidy of on average $7500, and up to $22,000, to hire unemployed New ZealandersUp to 40,000 jobs to be supported by $311 million investment in keeping New Zealanders off the unemployment benefitRing-fenced fund to help unemployed start their own business ...
This week was the last of the 52nd Parliament: a major milestone for our Government and a great opportunity to look back at all the progress we've made for New Zealanders. This week, we increased support for businesses to take on apprentices, improved access to hospital care in Northland, and ...
Kia orana and kia ora koutou katoa. It is a privilege to be able to speak in this adjournment debate and to mark and acknowledge the fact that we are now two years and 10 months into the conclusion of a parliamentary term that has been extraordinary in so many ...
On 1 August, we marked the anniversary of Jacinda Ardern becoming the Leader of the Labour Party. On that day in 2017, Leader Andrew Little nominated Jacinda Ardern to succeed him and lead the party to victory.Now, three years on, we look back at some of the key moments ...
With the June 2020 quarter showing underemployment increasing, the Green Party is calling for a Guaranteed Minimum Income and an increase to the abatement threshold to ensure everyone has a dignified income. ...
We went hard and we went early in our health response to COVID-19, and we did everything we could to cushion the economic impact too. In fact, we can fill every letter of the alphabet with the steps we took to fight COVID-19 and ensure we were in a position ...
Investing in our people, backing businesses, and upgrading infrastructure and housing throughout the country - it's been another week of progress for New Zealanders as we deliver our plan to recover and rebuild. ...
July was another busy month, packed with key investments aimed at progressing our economic recovery as we rebuild New Zealand. We extended support for businesses, helped create jobs through local infrastructure projects, and kept working to clean up our waterways so Kiwis can access safe clean water. Check out the ...
The Green Party is calling for the Defence Force Chiefs in place between 2010-2017 to front up and explain how dishonesty, process and policy failures within the Defence Force led to ‘a series of incorrect statements in briefings to ministers and public releases’ regarding alleged breaches of international torture prevention ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
The Government is stepping up action to deal with environmentally harmful products – including plastic packaging, tyres and e-waste – before they become waste. ...
The Green Party are ensuring that New Zealanders who were overseas when COVID-19 hit will not be charged for the cost of isolation or quarantine if they return home to live. ...
It's been another week of creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and investing in infrastructure up and down the country - all of which are helping to keep our economy moving post-COVID-19. ...
Law changes to end tenure review and provide for better management of Crown pastoral lands in the South Island high country were considered by Parliament today with the first reading of the Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill says Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage. ...
Following the success of the phase out of single-use plastic shopping bags, the Government now has plans to phase out more single-use and problem plastics to reduce waste and protect the environment announced Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage. The proposals are to phase-out: some hard-to-recycle PVC and polystyrene ...
After 102 days we have our first cases of Covid-19 outside of a Managed Isolation or Quarantine facility in New Zealand. Shortly I will ask Dr Bloomfield to set out the details of the case. While we have all worked incredibly hard to prevent this scenario, we have also planned ...
An iwi-Crown approach programme to restore the Raukūmara forest on the East Coast of the North Island and boost employment opportunities for whānau, particularly rangatahi/young people, will receive $34 million funding, Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage has announced. “Raukūmara Pae Maunga is a partnership with Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Porou, and ...
Government agencies and partners are working closer together to provide more Māori Housing through the Te MAIHI o te Whare Māori – the Māori and Iwi Housing Innovation Framework for Action (MAIHI). MAIHI is a kaupapa Māori approach that drives a system change to give effect and impact on Māori ...
Site work is soon to begin on Te Ahu a Turanga: Manawatū Tararua Highway, the project to replace the former SH3 route through the Manawatū Gorge, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Phil Twyford was today in Woodville at the signing of a formal agreement by members of the Alliance ...
The Pacific Islands Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) begins today and will focus on the major economic and social impacts of COVID-19 on the Pacific. FEMM is an important congregation of Economic Ministers and senior officials from around the region, and for the first time, the annual meeting will be ...
Cabinet has approved a formal apology and ex gratia payment to former soldier George Nepata, announced Defence Minister Ron Mark. This payment is to recognise the New Zealand Defence Force’s failure to provide Mr Nepata with a safe system of work in April 1989 when, as a result of an ...
A report undertaken by Ministerial Services into Iain Lees-Galloway’s ministerial expenditure has found no evidence of any inappropriate transactions or spending. Ministerial Services undertook a line by line review of all his expenditure, including staff and spouse expenses for the period 1 January 2019 to 30 June 2020. “I commissioned ...
Managed isolation charges for returnees will come into force from 12.01am Tuesday 11th August, after they passed their last cabinet milestone today, Housing Minister Megan Woods said. “The new charging system balances the rights of New Zealanders to return home and helps reduce pressure on the managed isolation and quarantine ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Henry Puna have welcomed the completion of phase one in the establishment of a travel bubble between New Zealand and the Cook Island. Negotiations on the text of an ‘Arrangement to Facilitate Quarantine-Free Travel ...
The Government has launched a new online, phone and onsite service to help New Zealanders connect to a range of employment support and products for workers and businesses affected by COVID-19, announced Minister of Education Chris Hipkins and Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni. Connected.govt.nz is a one-stop-shop for jobseekers, ...
Security guards contracted to the Ministry of Social Development will be paid at least the Living Wage from next month supporting the Government’s commitment towards fair pay and employment conditions, announced Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni. “MSD was among the first government agencies to pay its employees the living ...
The Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today launched Te Mana o te Taiao, the Aotearoa New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy - a way forward that envisions Aotearoa New Zealand as a place where ecosystems are healthy and resilient, and people embrace the natural world. “Many of New Zealand’s plants and wildlife species ...
“Pacific languages, cultures and identity are essential to the health, wellbeing and lifetime success of our Pacific peoples and their communities in Aotearoa. The strength and resilience of Pacific Aotearoa is not only vital to their own prosperity but integral to the prosperity of all New Zealanders, and is particularly ...
· $38 million to help schools cover unexpected costs related to COVID-19 · $69 million upgrade for online learning · $107 million contingency funding to support school construction suppliers facing additional costs due to the lockdown. The Government is releasing $214 million from the COVID-19 response and recovery fund to ...
Despite the Government installing safety upgrades around the country, people should still take care around rail crossings, said Transport Minister Phil Twyford launching Rail Safety Week. Phil Twyford said installing safety infrastructure is crucial, but we are encouraging people to be more careful around trains too. “We’re making good progress ...
The Government is providing a cash injection to help Palmerston North City Council complete a programme to provide 78 social housing units for vulnerable tenants. The $4.7 million to build 28 units in the Papaioea Place redevelopment comes from the $3 billion set aside for infrastructure in the Government’s COVID-19 ...
A pest free Banks Peninsula/Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū is one step closer with a $5.11 million boost to accelerate this project and create jobs, announced Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage in Canterbury today. “This is a game changer for this ambitious project to restore the native wildlife and plants on Ōtautahi/Christchurch’s doorstep ...
A Government grant of $6.4 million will expand the Pettigrew Arena in Taradale with new indoor courts of national standard. “The project is likely to take 18 months with approximately 300 people employed through the process,” Grant Robertson said. “The expansion will increase the indoor court space up to 11 ...
The Far North tourist destination of Mangonui is to receive Government funding to improve waterfront infrastructure, open up access to the harbour and improve water quality, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has announced. A total of $6.5 million from the $3 billion set aside in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund ...
The Government has re-affirmed its commitment to supporting the hosting of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, which the ICC has delayed from 2021 to 2022. “This is obviously a disappointing decision for cricket players and fans around the world and for the White Ferns and their supporters here at ...
Cyclists and walkers will now have a safer way to get around Taupō, Tūrangi, and between Hamilton and Cambridge, with funding for shared paths and Te Awa River Ride, Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. “The Te Awa River Ride is the latest part of massive growth ...
Six major cycle routes will be completed in Christchurch thanks to funding from the Government’s investment in shovel-ready infrastructure as part of the COVID-19 recovery Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. $125 million will be invested to kick-start construction and fund the completion of the following cycleway ...
Plans are underway for a brand new state-of-the-art hub for Whanganui’s justice and social agencies, following confirmation the ageing Whanganui Central Police Station is to be replaced. Police Minister Stuart Nash has announced $25 million in new infrastructure spending to improve facilities for the wider community, and for staff who ...
An adjustment payment has been made to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu under the relativity mechanisms in their 1995 and 1997 Treaty of Waitangi settlements, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little announced today. The latest payments to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu are $2,700,000 and $2,600,000 respectively to ensure the ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off the start of the Auckland NZ Upgrade Programme rail projects which will support over 400 jobs and help unlock our biggest city. Both ministers marked the start of enabling works on the third main rail line project ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $3.78 million in Wairoa will create much needed economic stimulus and jobs, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. PGF projects announced today include: $200,000 loan to Nuhaka Kiwifruit Holdings Ltd (operated by Pine Valley Orchard Ltd) to increase the productivity ...
Tenants in public and Māori housing may be benefiting from their own affordable renewable energy in future – a fund to trial renewable energy technology for public and Māori housing has today been announced by Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods and Associate Minister for Housing (Māori Housing) Nanaia Mahuta. ...
Hokianga will receive $2.7 million to redevelop four of its wharves and upgrade its water supply, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Far North District Council will receive $1.8 million from the Provincial Growth Fund for the work on the wharves. “The work will include the construction of ...
A $350 million Residential Development Response Fund is being established to support the residential construction sector and to minimise the economic impact from COVID-19, the Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods has announced. “The Residential Development Response Fund will help to progress stalled or at-risk developments that support our broader housing ...
As part of a broader plan to divert waste from landfill, the Government today announced $10.67 million for new infrastructure as part of the Resource Recovery Network across the Auckland region. “This key investment in Auckland’s community recycling network is part of the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group ‘shovel ready’ projects ...
The Government is investing $45 million in the first stage of an ambitious urban development project for Tauranga that will employ up to 250 people and help the region grow, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says the funding has been allocated out of the $3 billion ...
Getting low-emission trucks on the road is a step closer with investment in infrastructure to support hydrogen vehicles, the Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods has announced. The Infrastructure Reference Group has provisionally approved $20 million for New Plymouth company Hiringa Energy to establish a nationwide network of hydrogen-fuelling stations. ...
A new trades training centre to upskill the local workforce will be built in the South Waikato town of Tokoroa through funding from the Government’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Government will contribute $10.84 million from ...
The Government has agreed to repeal part of the Oranga Tamariki Act subsequent children provisions, Minister for Children Tracey Martin announced today. “There are times when children need to go into care for their safety – the safety and care of children must always be paramount,” Minister Martin said. “But ...
A $1.5 million boost to grow primary mental health and addiction services for Pacific peoples in Auckland, Hamilton and Canterbury will lead to better outcomes for Pacific communities, Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa says. Pasifika Futures has received funding to expand services through The Fono, Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest by ...
Twenty-two projects to boost the sustainability and climate resilience of New Zealand’s food and fibres sector have been announced today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The $18m funding will deliver practical knowledge to help farmers and growers use their land more sustainably, meet environmental targets, remain prosperous, and better understand ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson welcomes an initiative that assists employers to get mature workers into New Zealand small businesses. The disadvantages that older people face in the workplace was highlighted in the whole of Government Employment Strategy. In order to address this, a Mature Workers Toolkit has been developed and ...
New Zealand and Australia reaffirmed today the need for the closest possible collaboration as they tackle a global environment shaped by COVID-19, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said. “In these challenging times, our close collaboration with Australia is more vital than ever,” said Mr Peters. Mr Peters and his Australian ...
The recovery and forensic examination of the loader driven by survivor Russell Smith means the underground team are now moving into an area of the Pike River Mine that has not been seen since the explosion, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little said. “The fifth and last robot ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union is urging the Prime Minister to recommend that the Governor-General delay the dissolution of Parliament. Taxpayers' Union spokesperson Islay Aitchison says, "Given the considerable uncertainty regarding ...
The Māori Affairs Committee has completed its inquiry into health inequities for Māori and has presented its final report. You can read the committee’s report here . The inquiry was initiated in March 2019 and focused on cancer care. It explored ...
Back in March 17th 2020 - WHO (world health Organisation) warned the global community test, test, test, everyone suspected of COVID 19 virus infections, today our senior epidemiologist James Baker advised to test multiple times, as he states that some ...
Today at noon, Auckland moves into alert level three while the rest of New Zealand moves into alert level two. Here’s how it will affect businesses and what you can do to help.Three days at a higher alert level may not seem like much, but for many fragile businesses still ...
Greenpeace is welcoming the Government’s announcement today of a plan to phase out more single-use plastics, but is calling for the ban to cover a wider range of products, including plastic drink bottles. "The world is drowning in plastic ...
Takeaway Throwaways applauds this morning’s announcement by Associate Minister Eugenie Sage, proposing phase-outs of a wide range of single-use plastics. Items targeted include multiple serviceware products - from bowls, plates, straws, stirrers, ...
John Bolton’s book on his time as Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser – The Room Where it Happened – is worth reading. His forensic training means he sets out clearly his own actions and their motivations. His recording of the responses of others appears scrupulous, albeit disputed. Failings of omission or ...
Parliament is scheduled to be dissolved today for an election on September 19. University of Otago law professor Andrew Geddis runs through how and under what circumstances the election will happen – or be delayed.No matter how, Covid-19 is now back in the community. How widespread, and with what consequences, ...
ACT Leader David Seymour wrote to the Speaker last night asking him to postpone the dissolution of Parliament. "Mr Speaker, Terrible news tonight. It occurs to me that Parliament does not need to dissolve before the election. I strongly urge ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Weismueller, Doctoral Researcher, University of Western Australia In February, major social media platforms attended a meeting hosted by the World Health Organisation to address coronavirus misinformation. The aim was to catalyse the fight against what the United Nations has called an ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Salisbury, Research Associate, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland Government responses to COVID-19 in Australia have received, by and large, bipartisan support. An exception, it seems, is the imposition of restrictions on interstate movement. State borders ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Hoffmann, Professor of Economics and Chair of Behavioural Business Lab, RMIT University Fingers have been pointing all over the place as the country searches for answers to the stubbornly high coronavirus cases and rising death rates in Victoria. While Victorian Premier ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ali Lakhani, Senior Lecturer in Public Health, La Trobe University Under the stage 4 restrictions enforced throughout metropolitan Melbourne, residents can exercise for one hour each day, within five kilometres of their home. While such restrictions are necessary to reduce the spread ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wilkins, Associate Professor of illegal drug research, Massey University The referendum on legalising recreational cannabis use is just over a month away. Campaigns for and against the change are well under way. We’ve had expert reports from the Helen Clark Foundation, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fernanda Alves, PhD student, Australian National University Saving endangered species from extinction is a challenging job. It requires creative, affordable and effective interventions. In a rare good news story for conservation, we came up with one such method. We want to save ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Krumdieck, Professor and Director, Advanced Energy and Material Systems Lab, University of Canterbury CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barry Oliver, Associate Professor, The University of Queensland Insider trading comes in two main forms: arguably legal and clearly illegal. But, as with drugs in sport, it’s hard to tell when arguably legal ends and clearly illegal begins. It is generally accepted ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frances Di Lauro, Senior Lecturer, Department of Writing Studies, University of Sydney In the year then of our Lord 1348, there happened at Florence, the finest city in all Italy, a most terrible plague… Giovanni Boccaccio introduces his acclaimed collection ...
"The Government must share open, transparent data," according to ACT Leader David Seymour "Prime Minister has stated she knew of a Family with COVID-19 at 4pm on Tuesday afternoon. A simple question is whether the four people were all ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Live Updates for August 12, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Get me on Stewart@thespinoff.co.nz7.00am: What you need to know Auckland has four new cases of Covid-19 – all in the community. There is no ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Resurgence plan triggered by Covid-19 community transmission, questions about what it will mean for the election, and Christchurch rest home lockdown appears to be unrelated.The first new cases of Covid-19 outside of managed isolation have been announced, triggering a resurgence ...
The only Kiwi woman to win an Olympic medal in swimming, Jean Hurring, has passed away in her 90th year. She was gentle and generous, teaching countless New Zealanders how to swim - but had a formidable, determined streak. Jean Hurring will be remembered as a kind, gentle and humble woman ...
Trade Me, New Zealand's largest online auction and classifieds market, had already integrated its core software tools into the Slack collaboration platform before Covid-19 hit, and saw the true value of that when it shifted seamlessly to remote working under lockdown. Paolo Ragone, chief technology officer for Trade Me, told Newsroom the ...
The Ruddelle case judgment reflects judicial recognition of how women in abusive relationships are caught in social and systemic entrapment, writes Julia Tolmie Women who use lethal defensive force against their violent partners are a rarity. Most women in abusive relationships, if there is a homicide, will be the ones ...
Toi Iti responds to a beautiful book of photographs of sparsely populated King Country towns Step one, take land. Strip it, stack the wood, start a farm. Now build a town! Post Office, school, chapel. Milk flowing? Build a dairy factory. Need a bank? Got it. Shop? Yep. Build some ...
Despite warnings, many Kiwis would not have expected the re-emergence of Covid-19 in the community. Now, the virus has put New Zealand on the back foot and added another election-year twist, Sam Sachdeva writes. It was an inevitability, New Zealand was told. Not if, “just a matter of when”. Director-General ...
With their party hovering on the 5 percent threshold in the polls, Greens co-leaders discussed their accomplishments in Government and the party's ambitious pitch to the electorate. ...
We think we've crushed Covid-19 - what other diseases are the country battling that could do with big injections of money and effort? New Zealand has more or less kicked Covid-19 to the kerb, but what about other diseases we're trying to eradicate? Today The Detail looks at where we’ve got ...
The return of Covid-19 to Auckland and the Level 3 lockdown are expected to hit hospitality and retail stocks, and play a part in the Reserve Bank's new Monetary Policy Statement ...
Beyond the direct and practical implications, more significant for the eventual outcome is the effect on the electorate’s psyche, writes Ben Thomas.It’s tempting to reach for easy metaphors with the re-emergence of Covid-19 just weeks before the election: a horror villain rising from the dead; a restless spirit summoned again, ...
Aotearoa surpassed 100 days without a case of community transmission of Covid-19. Last night that virus-free streak ended and we’re moving back up the alert levels. Siouxsie Wiles explains why that has to happen.For months now, we’ve been intercepting cases of Covid-19 at the border. But just as has happened ...
The confirmation of community transmission has prompted a swift move up the alert level ladder. Here are the critical questions about Auckland’s move to Covid-19 level three lockdown, answered.What are the new alert levels – and where do they apply?Auckland enters alert level three at midday today, Wednesday August 12. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Nationals are demanding major changes to the government’s controversial new higher education fee plan, declaring it would disadvantage regional communities and students as it stands. The Nationals party room on Monday discussed the JobReady ...
Auckland moves back into near-lockdown at Level 3 while the rest of the country shifts gears to Level 2. Here's a refresher course on what you'll have to do differently now. With Auckland moving to Level 3 Covid-19 restrictions, a range of public venues and workplaces will close in our largest ...
Analysis: Our testing regime for Covid-19 will often be several days or weeks behind, underscoring the need to act as if we're two weeks ahead of where we are, Marc Daalder reports On March 25, the day New Zealand moved into Level 4 lockdown, the official Covid-19 case tally was ...
The prime minister has announced Auckland will go into alert level three, and the rest of the country alert level two, after four cases of the coronavirus were detected in a family with no known link to overseas travel or existing cases. Via the Science Media Centre, the experts on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The federal government has clashed with the Royal Commission into Aged Care, strongly rejecting the claim by senior counsel assisting the inquiry Peter Rozen that it had no specific COVID-19 plan for the sector. Aged ...
Four positive cases of covid-19 outside of managed isolation or quarantine have been reported and New Zealand has activated a resurgence plan. After 102 days without community transmission they are the first cases acquired from an unknown source, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced tonight. Ardern said New Zealand must take ...
Auckland will enter Level 3 at noon on Wednesday while the rest of the country moves to Level 2. How will the Government manage the logistics of a regional lockdown? In response to the confirmation of four cases of Covid-19 in Auckland, of unknown origins and with no known connection to ...
After 102 days without community transmission, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed New Zealand has its first Covid-19 case acquired from an unknown source. ...
After 102 days without community transmission, Jacinda Ardern confirmed New Zealand has its first Covid-19 case acquired from an unknown source. Look back over our live updates. ...
New Zealand has been shocked back into a state of Covid-19 infection with community transmission detected in four confirmed cases from one family in South Auckland outside the isolation and quarantine system. Auckland will be put into Level 3 alert from noon on Wednesday, with all schools closed, people required to work from ...
Auckland to move to alert Level 3 'lockdown' from Noon on Wednesday - with the rest of NZ put into Level 2 - after a community outbreak in South Auckland New Zealand has been shocked back into a state of Covid-19 infection with community transmission detected in four confirmed cases from one ...
After 102 days without community transmission, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed New Zealand has its first Covid-19 case acquired from an unknown source. ...
After 101 days without any reported community transmission in New Zealand, cases without any link to overseas travel have been reported.There are four cases of community transmission in one family, Ashley Bloomfield has announced.A man in his 50s with no link to overseas travel or other known cases tested positive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government and the Australian Defence Force are bracing for reputational damage to the military from damning findings in an imminent report on Australian Special Forces’ behaviour in Afghanistan. The report, expected within a month, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government and the Australian Defence Force are bracing for reputational damage to the military from damning findings in an imminent report on Australian Special Forces’ behaviour in Afghanistan. The report, expected within a month, ...
The National Party board will meet "as soon as possible" to discuss allegations surrounding its member Roger Bridge and a late-night call on talkback radio. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zachariah Wylde, Postdoctoral Researcher in Evolutionary Biology, UNSW As time passes, our fertility declines and our bodies start to fail. These natural changes are what we call ageing. In recent decades, we’ve come leaps and bounds in treating and preventing some of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janneke Berecki-Gisolf, Associate Professor, Accident Research Centre, Monash University COVID-19 restrictions in Victoria have had a marked effect on how and where we spend our time. For many people, home has become the workplace, and for most school-aged children, home is also ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Wilson, Associate Professor in Education, University of Sydney To fix inequality in Australian education, governments should fully fund all non-government primary schools, according to former former NSW Education Minister and now head of the UNSW Gonski Institute, Adrian Piccoli. In an ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ilana Finefter-Rosenbluh, Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Monash University Over the weekend, Victorian Education Minister, James Merlino, announced the individual impact of COVID-19 will be taken into account for every Year 12 student in the state when calculating their VCE score and ATAR. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Clift, Teaching Fellow and PhD candidate, University of Melbourne The arrest this week of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong reveals the repressive reality of the city’s new made-in-China national security law. It also sends a sharp signal to ...
NZ’s domestic economy is tracking much better than many predicted, as it adjusts to something closer to normality after the Covid-19 lockdown. Just how well may emerge when the Reserve Bank delivers its verdict this week on whether there is any need for new monetary policy moves. Bank economists are ...
With Jacinda Ardern staying quiet on how she'll vote in this year's cannabis referendum, Judith Collins is putting on the pressure, saying all of the National caucus will vote against it. ...
An Auckland psychic healer yesterday announced she would be running for parliament. Less than 24 hours later, she wasn’t. So what happened? And why is she accusing Jacinda Ardern of treason? Stewart Sowman-Lund investigates. It’s been a big year for Jeanette Wilson. In June, as the Covid-19 crisis was continuing to spiral ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. “I think you have to recognise money comes from somewhere. It doesn’t just come from a big money tree.” Judith Collins 2020 “Someone has to pay the bill – there aren’t little pixies at the bottom of the garden printing cash.” John Key 2009Keith ...
By RNZ News New Zealand has reported one new case of covid-19 in managed isolation today, the Ministry of Health has confirmed. Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the new case was a man in his 20s who arrived from Melbourne on July 30. He was in isolation at ...
National's newly released policy also includes the creation of two new national parks, establishing the Kermadec marine sanctuary, and revising Tahr management. ...
Content warning: This pieces includes discussion of harassment, stalking and violence.‘I don’t sleep. I’m terrified.’ Sophia shares her story with Emily Writes.Sophia* was 19 and a talented swimmer. She was teaching swimming lessons at an Auckland public pool with a gym attached and one day, while she was using the ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk As Guam’s health statistics continue to mount, covid-19 has hit the first family, reports the Pacific Island Times. Following Governor Lou Leon Guerrero’s disclosure last night that she had tested positive for covid-19, her son Joaquin Cook, president of the Bank of Guam, revealed he has ...
Road safety charity Brake has launched a Virtual Fleet Exhibition for fleet operators and suppliers, celebrating fleet safety and sharing best practice. The exhibition is part of Brake’s Global Fleet Champions initiative and runs for the whole of ...
With more than 1,000 local businesses on its books, MyHR saw firsthand the pressure the Covid-19 fallout put on New Zealand’s SMEs, as well as having its own business model tested to the limit.New Zealand’s Covid-19 lockdown had a seismic effect on human resources departments. In order to stay afloat ...
In an interview on Monday, Ms Collins said: We will not let DHBs limit or allocate health treatment based on race, which is what we’ve seen Labour allow some DHBs to do. That is really important that we cannot have that. It has to be on need and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caroline Gargett, NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Head of Women’s Health Theme, The Ritchie Centre, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Hudson Institute Endometriosis is a debilitating, chronic condition that affects 1 in 10 women worldwide. It occurs when tissue which has similar properties ...
National leader Judith Collins says allegations surrounding the party's board member Roger Bridge is a matter for the party to deal with internally. ...
Open mike 11/07/2020 
Aotearoa surpassed 100 days without a case of community transmission of Covid-19. Last night that virus-free streak ended and we’re moving back up the alert levels. For months now, we’ve been intercepting cases of Covid-19 at the border. But just as has happened in many other countries, somehow the sneaky ...23 mins ago
Today’s content Community transmission Ben Thomas (Spinoff): What the Covid resurgence means for the election campaign Luke Malpass (Stuff): In this new lockdown, Labour competence will be key Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): NZ’s bubble bursts as Covid returns Jason Walls (Herald): ‘Extremely disappointed’: National Party leader Judith Collins blasts Govt; says it let Covid-19 back ...1 hour ago
Today the National Party have annouced plans to get tough on gangs. Again. We at MyThinks thought it was important to identify a list of gangs the National Party were planning on getting tough on. National have said if they are elected their new “The Gang Unit” gang unit will ...3 hours ago
In the musical Wicked, a re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz, the hit song Defying Gravity comes at the end of the first act and talks of how one woman (who would become the Wicked Witch of the West) breaks from what’s expected to strike off on her own path. ...15 hours ago
Back in June, Newsroom published a well-investigated piece about how the Department of Conservation had waived rehabilitation requirements for a mining company. Now, one of the company's directors - specifically David Wong-Tung, who just happens to be Judith Collins' husband and the director of environmental pillagers Oravida - is threatening ...18 hours ago
Accused - Jami-Lee RossNobody would think poorly of you if you wrote former National Party MP Jami-Lee Ross off as just another crackpot! After all, now that he’s hitched his Advance NZ wagon to Billy Te Kahika’s crazy Public Party, there’s little chance of him ever redeeming himself or recovering ...19 hours ago
What to do to improve the public perception of the newly elected National party leader, when her performance so far has no doubt disappointed the expectations of her supporters? The answer is to get a National-supporting newspaper (the Herald) to organise a poll that could be guaranteed to provide an ...1 day ago
There are only a few days left to make a submission on Statistics New Zealand's consultation on sex and gender identity statistical standards. This represents a really important step for recognising the very real diversity of gender, including people with no gender, and ensuring everyone has the option to see ...2 days ago
Since finishing the Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change book, I’ve frequently dipped into that 176-page clip-art library, reshaping the cartoons to fit the 1920 x 1080 pixel format for Powerpoint presentations. I’ve also adapted many of the cartoons for the Cranky Uncle video series. Over the last few weeks, a few people ...2 days ago
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From some quarters, incessant scaremongering. From others, it’s a full-on tilt into touching the alarmist buttons a little too readily (uncertain times make for very captive audiences with this angle of attack). The (so-called) Opposition (and merely regarding them as that seems to be a far looser term now ...4 days ago
The attempts to sabotage Corbyn's leadership seems likely to do more damage than Corbyn supposedly ever could have done, even if all the stories about him were true: I was reluctant to say anything but this is too important, the full story needs to be told.Don’t let anyone ever tell ...4 days ago
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by Don Franks This talk was given to the Wellington Anti Capitalist Alliance, fifteen years ago. The ultimate weapons of mass destruction so far seen on this planet have been used just twice, 60 years ago this month. August 6 and August 9 1945 witnessed the US atomic bombing ...6 days ago
It's campaign time! The official countdown to Election Day is underway, with Labour supporters crowding into Auckland's Town Hall for our 2020 Campaign Launch. We recap some of the highlights below ...2 days ago
The Green Party has revealed its Homes for All Plan, which lays the foundation for an Aotearoa where everyone has a warm, dry and affordable home. ...3 days ago
Following the success of the phase out of single-use plastic shopping bags, the Government now has plans to phase out more single-use and problem plastics to reduce waste and protect the environment announced Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage. The proposals are to phase-out: some hard-to-recycle PVC and polystyrene ...2 hours ago
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union is urging the Prime Minister to recommend that the Governor-General delay the dissolution of Parliament. Taxpayers' Union spokesperson Islay Aitchison says, "Given the considerable uncertainty regarding ...32 mins ago
Today at noon, Auckland moves into alert level three while the rest of New Zealand moves into alert level two. Here’s how it will affect businesses and what you can do to help.Three days at a higher alert level may not seem like much, but for many fragile businesses still ...52 mins ago
John Bolton’s book on his time as Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser – The Room Where it Happened – is worth reading. His forensic training means he sets out clearly his own actions and their motivations. His recording of the responses of others appears scrupulous, albeit disputed. Failings of omission or ...2 hours ago
The Minister of Health says they are working with lawyers on making masks mandatory in Auckland as the city prepares for alert level 3. ...2 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Weismueller, Doctoral Researcher, University of Western Australia In February, major social media platforms attended a meeting hosted by the World Health Organisation to address coronavirus misinformation. The aim was to catalyse the fight against what the United Nations has called an ...2 hours ago
The only Kiwi woman to win an Olympic medal in swimming, Jean Hurring, has passed away in her 90th year. She was gentle and generous, teaching countless New Zealanders how to swim - but had a formidable, determined streak. Jean Hurring will be remembered as a kind, gentle and humble woman ...5 hours ago
Trade Me, New Zealand's largest online auction and classifieds market, had already integrated its core software tools into the Slack collaboration platform before Covid-19 hit, and saw the true value of that when it shifted seamlessly to remote working under lockdown. Paolo Ragone, chief technology officer for Trade Me, told Newsroom the ...5 hours ago
The Ruddelle case judgment reflects judicial recognition of how women in abusive relationships are caught in social and systemic entrapment, writes Julia Tolmie Women who use lethal defensive force against their violent partners are a rarity. Most women in abusive relationships, if there is a homicide, will be the ones ...5 hours ago
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Dear Standard readers,
I have created a fun Give a Little page:
“Buy Michael Woodhouse a moral compass.”
https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/buy-michael-woodhouse-a-moral-compass
The page may not last long (too overtly political?).
All donations go to the Christchurch City Mission, a charity I have no connection with.
And I have used the words of UncookedSelachimorpha without permission I’m afraid (I hope you don’t mind) because you expressed the indignation I felt far better than I could.
'outrageously unethical ' seems very much the brand these days, hope mattys enjoying this ride as they've shambolic'd this one all themselves.
Awesome, I just donated!
Me too!
Tony, why don't you just make a page: "Michael Woodhouse must resign."
Or, even better: "Woodhouse, Kaye, and Muller Must Resign."
i shared that on my evil FB page 🙂
Gordon Campbell hones in on a key point of the saga:
Editorial note: `stare into the vacuum of his eyes' ought to be in single quotes, Gordon, to remind readers that it's a line from the Dylan song that hit top of the charts in '65.
Perhaps a journo will do the sleuthing to establish the extent of woodlouse guilt? Did he admit that he saw the email Boag sent him before he accused the govt of the privacy breach? If he did know it was a Nat conspiracy before mouthing off, Muller ought to punish him. While staring into the vacuum of his eyes, preferably…
Denis, the 4th estate is equally to blame for this fiasco, they parroted the mumblings of a recidivist liar, knowingly.
We need honest Journalism at a time like this, peoples lives are at risk
WAKE UP MEDIA, get your heads out of the sand.
Yes, the drift towards shallow journalism has been evident for some years now. I saw it happening in the TVNZ newsroom while I was working there in the '90s but those doing investigative journalism provided suitable balance then. I blame social media for the subsequent worsening of the effect.
Commentators lack the inside view: deadline pressure motivates quick production of stories. So there's a real economic cost to doing research. A journalist will only invest the time to get to the crux of a skullduggery situation if their conscience prevails over expediency. Journalism in the public interest remains de-institutionalised!
.”…….and say, do you want to…….make a deal?”
[Fixed error in e-mail address]
Homes in, in praxis. Go hone your wit.
BFD has something worth reading for a change: https://thebfd.co.nz/2020/07/10/a-free-taste-of-an-insight-politics-article-8/
Inasmuch as we all remain embedded in cultural ambience produced by the residue of the British empire, it's a good idea to reflect on how distinctive its imperialism actually is – and likely due to having no emperor!
The writer seems unaware of the constraint imposed by international law: 19th centuries treaties dictated the outcome. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handover_of_Hong_Kong
Two prominent women in spat over free speech: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122101004/christchurch-mayor-lianne-dalziel-rejects-china-corruption-claim
The mayor seems reluctant to embrace the notion that she may be a stooge of the communist regime in China. Quite why the prof got banned isn't clear though.
So it seems to be a Schrodinger's ban: real if one official says it is, unreal if another says it isn't. Social reality gets created according to who you believe…
Here is the submission from: Professor Anne-Marie Brady
This submission provides: 1. An overview of China’s foreign interference activities; 2. Suggestions for a resilience strategy for local and central government.
https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/52SCJU_EVI_93630_JU69172/ec59cb5bfacf8217b4d55c2200ba6e5875ce9943
Here's an article about the media's quality of reporting during COVID:
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/zealand-media-endangered-public-health-200707103532946.html
We really need better, otherwise conspiracy theories fill in the gaps. My neighbour was telling me yesterday that he's "heard" that everyone's covering up that the guy who did a runner from quarantine the other day went to a brothel instead of the official story. First time I've ever heard a conspiracy theory of any kind from him.
Thank you Gareth. I agree with your summation.
Mosa publicised this article a couple of days and it has been discussed a bit on the Standard.
It would be good if there was a post based on this article.
Caitlin Johnson, one of my favourite writers, writes regularly on the issue of the daily narrative we are fed. An Aussie, her main focus is the U.S. ; however, her take is accurate for all the 5 eye nations.
Her most recent report is entitled 'As Long As Mass Media Propaganda Exists, Democracy Is A Sham. ' I recommend it.
The article looks at a recent poll that shows most Americans believe Russia targeted U.S. soldiers, despite this being a "completely discredited narrative ."
It looks at the power of the media to sway people's thinking.
Why? I'll leave that to Caitlin…..
"But people are not as objective and adept at critical thinking as we tend to believe we are. People have many cognitive biases which distort our ability to objectively process information and understand events, including one which causes us to believe something is true just because they’ve heard it said multiple times. This makes us easily susceptible to mass media propaganda, where our encounters with daily news headlines can shape our perception of what’s going on in the world regardless of whether or not those headlines are backed by actual facts."
We need a better media.
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/07/09/as-long-as-mass-media-propaganda-exists-democracy-is-a-sham/
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/03/26/the-illusory-truth-effect-how-millions-were-duped-by-russiagate/
As I've said many times, the spreading of misinformation needs to be made illegal with serious consequences for those doing so. The concept of free-speech does not give anyone, especially media services, a right to lie.
Kim Hill's "brave" (that's how he describes himself) guest this morning came up with a completely ridiculous solution to the problems facing the world
RNZ National, Saturday 11 July 2020, 8:10 a.m.
First up on Dame Kim's programme this morning: yet another from that endless conveyor belt of glib and talkative "woke" commentators that she and her producers go to almost without thinking. This fellow likes to hang out with billionaires and deliver mild critiques of them to their face in places like Aspen, Colorado. Early on in this interview he called himself "brave" for this daring behaviour…
As I suspected, Giridharadas could not help himself; a few minutes after praising himself for daring to speak to Bill Gates and Peter Thiel—"brave", he calls himself—he then went on to claim that there was one person who could save the world from this. That saviour is…. wait for it!.… Barack Obama.
I dropped the following hasty email to Lady Kim…
Anand Giridharadas' bizarre praise of Obama
Dear Kim,
Anand Giridharadas was doing well until he suddenly started to spruik Barack Obama. If ever there was a tool of corrupt billionaires, it was that machine politician.
Yours in disgust at glib and thoughtless New York Times hacks,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
Anand had a pretty good analysis of neo liberalism and its origins I thought regardless of his pedigree and acquaintances.
Morrissey, is there anyone in this whole damn world that has got it right in your esteemed opinion–or is everyone a sell out dog, and working class heros exist no more?
To call Obama a working class hero is quite a stretch.
He was there for the billionaires.
I googled working class heroes and got this: http://www.workingclassheroes.co.uk selling "mens streetwear from Patagonia". Nice to know they have embraced capitalism while doing `hands across the water' with the folks in Patagonia eh? 🤣
Bet it got Marx spinning in his grave. No more revolution. Evolution instead.
Capitalism is destroying the planet.
So not evolution, but regression.
I've been wondering if capitalism is the last stage of development for a civilisation. After all, once capitalism arises in a civilisation its always been destroyed allowing for a new civilisation to arise to replace it and thus giving us civilisational evolution.
Can you give me an example please?
Ancient Rome
Ancient Greece
Ancient Egypt
The list goes on.
People who take Girardharadas seriously would worry about such symbolism, Dennis. Symbolism and right-on messaging is the only thing that matters for them.
I respect and admire many ethical, rigorous and brave academics and journalists—really brave, that is, not someone who delivers mild critiques to billionaires in luxury resorts.
I do not rate someone who hobnobs with Bill Gates and delivers glib homilies on the hipster channel Vice, and advocates for, of all people, Barack Obama.
Morrissey.
I'm 10 minutes in and Anand Giridharadas is making a lot of sense, especially regarding the Tech billionaires, like Thiel, Gates and Bezos.
I agree, Ed. He says many things that are perfectly correct. But anyone who posits Barack Obama as any sort of a solution cannot be taken seriously, other than by the same folks who wept in despair after Saint Hillary was beaten in 2016.
Totally agree.
How is that manuscript coming along of the Woodhouse interview?
Morrissey you find fault with the guy for referring to Obama in a positive way. So he is to be hit over the head with that. Yet you write here with so many flaws in your thinking and still demand your right to be taken seriously: I would rate you only 65/35 right, which isn't all that high. Try being more objective and not so excitable about others why don't you.
I made the decision that that sleazeball does not deserve an hour of my time transcribing his crap; so I'm using only a little bit of that demolition job by Katherine Ryan, as part of a dramatization I'm doing of a recent emergency meeting of Muller's caucus.
No he didn't. You need to clean your ears again.
Actually, he said we need "someone like Obama."
Utterly inane, utterly Hillary for President.
Giridharadas said that the progressive ideas of Sanders and Warren were popular – but that there were barriers to them actually winning electorally. And to overcome those barriers would need someone with the charisma, rhetorical fluency, charm, likability (call it what you will) of Obama.
That doesn't seem like an unreasonable comment – whatever you think of what Obama actually did – his skills as a politician are undeniable. We have seen this close-up with Ardern, how relatability, charm, being in tune with the mood and language of the times is so important. I took it as more of a comment about Bernie's limitations as an electoral politician, rather than errors in his policy.
Admittedly – Giridharadas,s solution does seem rather week in comparison to the strength of his diagnosis.
The coalition of left/progressive voters (especially in the USA) have many conflicting values and agendas, and normally only win when the Democrats can put up a candidate who has the charisma and political fluency to get them all to turn out and vote.
(Biden is the exception only because Trump is so intensely polarising.)
That's a fair point
Indeed, AB.
And it was a great interview by the way. It's something we should be focused on.
Egg Zachary, LIKE Obama. The persuader, not the warmonger.
Please don’t spoil Morrissey’s carefully crafted narrative; it took him ages to draft that carefully worded e-mail to Kim Hill. We need more brave public intellectuals like Morrissey.
It's going to be interesting to see the reponses in here to Kim Hill's interview with Anand Giridharadas (link not up yet @ Sacha – except maybe https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday for today 11/07/2020 )
Pass the popcorn
Edit: Fark me! How did I guess @ Mozza
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018754514/anand-giridharadas-beware-of-billionaire-do-gooders
Thank you, fellow link-wrangler 🙂
But you have to admit, he has a point.
I mean Obama had his chance …for the first 2 years Democrats had a majority in both houses , and yet still Guantanamo , despite all his noble promises remains open for business
No one was prosecuted for the disaster of the GFC, and the torturers “we tortured some folks”got off scot free.
The torture, mass killings, drone bombings, and persecution of journalists all increased in severity under Obama.
Ask the people of Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Libya what they think of Obama.
Ask the people of 138 countries in the world where US special operators could be found in 2016.
“In 2016 alone, the Obama administration dropped at least 26,171 bombs. This means that every day last year, the US military blasted combatants or civilians overseas with 72 bombs; that’s three bombs every hour, 24 hours a day.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/america-dropped-26171-bombs-2016-obama-legacy
Francesca 1 GOP senator fought a legal battle for 2 years to stop Obama's policies .
got a call to day asking if we could deliver to the local isolation hotel. Why yes, we can.
And so we did. Gave the package to the guard by the fence and they took it to the customer.
So really there is no reason anyone needs to sneak out for a V and a Pie, or a bootle of whine or anything. Call and have it delivered.
but not alcohol. (thanks @lprent for giving us the in comment ctrl/right click's)
This issue of alcohol came up yesterday on DR I think. My understanding is they can buy wine from the hotel, but not order it in. Prices are likely to be higher than a liquor outline. And the hotel can control how much is supplied, which would be essential…..imagine unlimited alcohol in quarantine……what could possibly go. wrong
I see some friend/family member said she tried to persuade our Queenstown business owner not to abscond. I hope she informed the police of his intention to commit a crime. If not suggest a visit from the police and charges.
BTW. Shout out to Gabby and Observer for having me LMAO last night. Observer quoted from the media that the Queenstown man had been difficult to manage in social isolation and had very strong political views (?" Cindy's locking me up????")
Gabbys response…."look like the Nats have found their next candidate forSouthland/Clutha " Ha ha ha bloody funny.
I also saw a headline from a contact of the new candidate saying he's a really nice guy. Yeah right….
Is a bootle of whine like are a very large container of whinge..
A Peter? lol
discussion on twitter suggests that people can't get alcohol delivered (but can buy in hotel alcohol, within a certain limit eg 6 cans beer/day).
TBF given it is 4 and 5 star hotels that would probably cost a fortune.
Not that I condone rocking on down to the local bottle store.
Maybe the govt should assign someone to just get a shopping list and delivery person for each day, can't see it being much more cost.
Maybe work with Uber?
most businesses already offer delivery – have been doing so since level 4 and three.
so no point using an underpaid uber driver – the only ones making money is the app/shareholder.
But the government could legislate just how much these hotels can charge to people in isolation for say beer and wine. Usually mini bar prices are way up because many people actually don't use them. They leave their hotels for drinks. And again in saying that, non of these fuckwits actually have a cost to pay for food n bed, so fuck it they should be able to either hold their need or suck it up and pay the price.
Have yet to see a good write up of what is available and seeing a range of opinions on it, I suspect it probably varies a bit from place to place. But the restriction on alcohol might be causing some problems, also for people that smoke. Stressful situation alongside not being able to self-medicate enough is not a good mix.
True.
TBH, given the situation I would tend to just say you can smoke in your room, if it temporarily saves grief
Increased risk of fire, and cigarette smoke ruining the room? Don't think so.
also the smell for the next person. But making it easier for smokers in other ways makes sense.
Patches. Plus something else to stick in their mouth instead.
Oh how kind we are to alcohol addicts. Now when we get the marijuana okay law passed it will stop some of the silly unbalanced BS in NZ.
Of course not! The binary brigade will still stick to its simplistic morals of right or wrong, for or against. Anything in between has too much nuance and is too complex to consider for more than a fleeting moment – hang on, there’s another message/tweet/reckon I need to give my undivided attention as if my life depends on it. There is no position in the middle, there is no room for negotiation and debate (!), and there is definitely no possibility for consensus or agreeing to disagree.
People are not really left- or right-handed, as they would use both hands for most stuff. Similarly, people are not as politically pure and on either side of the political left-right spectrum as they believe they are. It is heuristic approach by the mind to make things simpler than they are and save time (another illusion) and energy.
Don’t blame the media, blame your lazy mind and start thinking.
One of the disadvantages of a referendum is the Yes/No nature of it. A bit like are you really pregnant or just a little bit pregnant?
Referendums don’t come out of the blue and don’t sit in some kind of vacuum. There is much debate before, which leads to a decision to hold a referendum, and then after, to implement any changes. I wasn’t referring to any specific action but to thinking, binary thinking.
Out of interest, when do you become pregnant?
When do I become pregnant? Er no time I hope. As an 80 year old male it might be a bit late anyway.
This binary thinking also sits alongside that "cancel culture" letter that famous people signed, then some people took their names off when they realised who elses name was on the letter. It's about agreeing with the goal, but for different reasons. Like marching for free speech, but when you look around and see you're in a group of neo nazis you decide to quietly leave, even though you have the same goal (free speech), but for totally different reasons.
Context matters.
still, one ran for a pie and a v. non of that is needed.
Anywho, the lady in question got her teas, her chocolates, her pastry, her coffee and she will be good there for two weeks before going home.
the point is, that no one needs to be a shitheel.
I agree. I suspect some of this is political (court report from one case suggested this). But some might also be stress. People do weird shit when in unusual and stressful situations.
A story in the Herald this morning stating unemployment was reaching " the same levels as it did during the GFC".
The recession that NZ suffered from was in 2011, nearly three years after the GFC, it was the only country in the world to claim this 3 years on, most countries were in recovery stage.
The recession in 2011, was at the time described by most economists as the direct as a soft recession, the result of the Drought that affected Northland and the East Coast, the other contributing factors was the CHCH earthquakes and the combination of the National Party Tax cuts and the increase in GST which did more harm to the economy than the GFC three years earlier.
NZ was fortunate in 2008, to have ridden the GFC on the back of Australia's economic plan, they injected over a billion dollars directly into their economy by sending a $1000 check to every house hold to maintain spending in the local Economy
At that time, Australia was NZs biggest export market and maintained their demand for NZ products.
I get really tired of the media and National saying the recession was due to the GFC, it wasn't, it was created by a Failure of the Govt of the day to recognize it wasn't the time to push through there famous tax cuts and the increase in GST that saw many on low incomes with lower spending power.
Ideological stupidity was at the forefront, but they didn't care, it was a really good excuse to run Austerity and a low wage economy, which, by any measurement, was a Complete and Total failure for most Kiwis.
NZ had the lowest average income in the OECD measured against similarly developed countries, any economist worth anything will tell you those two things lead to a shinking economy, so National imported nearly 800,000 migrants, bringing their money with them to prop up the failing economy.
And we all know how that ended up.
Asking this again, anyone know what this piece of legislation is for? Apparently it's in older acts too. Am curious what the intent is, and how often it gets used (and why).
After some more research, this is raised in the State Services Commission departmental report on the Bill (https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/submissions-and-advice/document/52SCGA_ADV_93134_GA4111/state-services-commission-departmental-report) – because the Select Committee failed to produce a report, the SSC report is the best option remaining. To quote from the report (pp135-137):
Now that the language is “request” not “require”, the civil liberty issue isn’t really there in the same manner. Note that employers can require medical examinations for H&S reasons now e.g. to determine if an employee is fit to return to work.
Commenters who fill in the Name and Email fields frequently, has something changed in the past few months? We're getting a lot of typos, which means the system treats you as a new commenter and the comment gets held in Pending to be released by a moderator. Would love some feedback and what kind of device you are using.
I sometimes type too fast and notice I've been typing in the email field, so more bozo user fault than system. I back up but sometimes leave the odd extra letter.
it seems odd that there is a sustained spate in the past few months. Might still be user error, but I am curious if the interface or something has changed.
I did comment some months ago that my text field kicks me off sometimes while I'm typing, and the cursor resets to the Name field. Most of the time I pick it up but sometimes I hit submit with the last bit of a sentence in the Name field instead of where it should be. Desktop version on laptop.
Also can't use the desktop version on mobile because the text field doesn't have a cursor or accept text.
ta, that's the kind of thing I was thinking about. There's been a few where sentences have turned up in the name field. Or email addresses. I'll mention it to Lynn (he's aware of the mobile issue, I find it is intermittent on my iphone). What's your OS and browser?
Ummm. That sounds like a lagging javascript.
I'll have a look at it when I get some working glasses back again.
But it will be a browser problem. I really need to finish the code (and cookie) that flips the java editor off on a particular browser / machine.
I accidentally typed in the name field and did not notice.
You've made my day
I hope people start to read and get informed before adding the knee-jerk comments on these "escape" stories.
Yesterday there was a flurry of Confident Reckons, many of which were made to look silly soon after, once we had some facts. Sharing instant ignorance adds nothing.
I'm looking forward to eventually finding out why people are doing this. Don't have a good sense of this yet.
It appears that each of runners had different reasons, one only wanted some shopping, the older person is suggested as having health issues, the other man had been abusive and a "strong political viewpoint", I'm not sure about the first woman.
Amy Adams suggested that the reason was because the motel/hotel accommodation was below scratch.
Actually, I think the MSM are partly responsible. They’ve been making a big thing out of these break-outs and, I suspect, generating both copy-cat scenarios and over-reactions among some in the community.
They should leave the police and related services to deal with them and stop high-lighting the escapees unless there is good cause to notify the populace at large – something the police would do anyway.
Because these people weren't in the country as we went through L4 and L3, it looks like they may have missed out on some shift in consciousness that the rest of us have been through. The idea of sacrificing immediate self-interest for the collective good, was strong through L4 and L3. Strong enough for the phrase 'team of 5 million' not to feel completely cringey and embarrassing, which under normal circumstances it would. Alternatively – it might be that at all times, and under all circumstances, there is simply an irreducible minority of dipsh*ts.
that's a really good point about not having gone through L4 here.
After what I have heard about the prevalence of meth and P in the country, and the fact that we have such a high drug taking score, it is likely that there are many people affected by abstinence of their chosen pasttimes. I had an eye operation requiring me to lie still face down for long periods and regret to say that I couldn't manage the required periods. So I can be understanding of people who have drug habits or are freedom-loving reckless individuals.
Good assesment AB but there were still quite a few doing runners or walkabouts under 4 and 3, was it something like 6-700 arrests and lots of talking too's ?.
A massive fine for any chump who sees fit to endanger what we've achieved plus the full cost also for the quarantine. Take that !
Anyway you cut it it's basically a 'F U, I'll be right' attitude which arises from not considering others.
Just heard another report that a 60 year old man broke out of a window in an Isolation facility in Hamilton, it took the police an hour to find him.
There are calls for returnees to have negative C19 test before boarding any flights to return to NZ.
Personally, I think this should be mandatory for all flights globally.
It's become evident that some of the people returnig to NZ new they had symptoms, but came here anyway.
I refer you to 14.1 above.
Sorry, the article I heard said Hamilton
Usual caveats about polls, but there's plenty of data here to reflect on.
Remarkable that Labour lead National on the economy, 45-30. That might not be the case if Todd had been doing what he promised on his first day as leader … talking about the economy.
Instead he's been barking at the cars like Bridges, except with a much smaller vocabulary.
So, now it’s woof, woof instead woof, woof, wuff. That’s not vocabulary but the use of onomatopoeias to sound like a dog. All is well in NZ politics. Miaow!
The faces of Adams, Muller and Brownlee on TV1 news last night when Muller was being questioned should be set in stone. Never seen quite that level of discomfort!
Adams eyeballs are spinning like a cartoon, it's strange to watch.
Bloody Hell! Another conspiracy for Mr Muller to sink his teeth into.
First it's portraits of JA on bus shelters, now it's pavement stickers telling us all to "Keep Left Unite Against Covid 19"
The Electoral Commission really should get involved!!!! I mean ….why NOW?
And while they're at it, we should get them to declare all those "Keep Left Unless Passing" signs as electioneering – nobody takes heed of them anyway! And half the people are driving on a fishing licence too!
(/sarc)
Link?
The link is along Cable Street Wellington – plastered over the footpath. A bloody disgrace! And I bet those bloody radical left-wing Labour Party supporting New World franchise owners are responsible.
If I had my way, I'd put them in the Army!
So no link?
Thanks
I bet those fishing are using their library cards too.
Bloody something something
Another one does a runner.
Am beginning to wonder if there are decent mental health workers in these places.
Are these issues regarding alcohol?
More likely drug related or mental health related I would think.
You mean as opposed to indecent ones? Put 'em in the stocks I reckon! NAME and SHAME is the only answer. That'd learn 'em
Not sure where that sarcastic comment came from.
I was just querying if there were councillors talking to these people.
But by all means, if you think who gives a shit, that is fine
I'm just getting more cynical as I approach dotage @ Chris T. It's a right of passage. Won't be long before the folks at ZB will be offering me a job in their bid to be fair and balanced.
I think Mike Baker on NewShubs the Nation this morning had some good ideas re handling people in quarantine. But as you know, these things take time
Counsellors surely, not councillors?
I am slightly dyslexic. Apologies.
It makes my emails that mention their or there and your and you're quite interesting to read though, which can entertain people at my expense.
🙂
Ah – trying to play a false 'PC' card, huh?
The fact that you can easily spell 'slightly dyslexic' correctly is complete proof that you are no such thing.
Never try to stand in the way of a good pedant, O careless one.
Whatever
You are awesome and probably right, and me admitting I am shit at spelling is a complete "PC" thing.
Congrats
We can all be shit at spelling. Even i can mispell misspel. But I have seen trolls mkae dumb claims about dyslexia, and dumb lefties bekieve it and roll over for them. We can all type a message in a rush and have errors in it.
You give me to much credit.
I have always just been crap at grammar since my school days.
I know big words, but often spell the smaller ones wrong.
It isn't a particularly sympathy thing.
It is just how it has always been.
too much, you rascal.
I'd hope that mental health workers are available.
But if they're sitting around in hotels at midnight waiting to respond, then I'd volunteer for isolation tomorrow. Back in the day when I had some (helpful) counselling, they kept office hours. And the taxpayer didn't pick up the tab.
Lol
That is a good point.
Huh? Nobody has thought of that, obviously.
https://covid19.govt.nz/updates-and-resources/latest-updates/miq-review/
4 cretins out of 30k do a runner and quickly get caught….NZ quarantine is working magnificently.
Hasn't it occurred to Muller that in criticising the quarantine process he is consigning himself to oblivion?
"magnificently."
One of them was infected and it is pure luck we aren't looking at infections
There was more than enough outrage at going to Rotorua – I'm not sure how a barbed wire internment camp would go down.
But given the ongoing warnings about novel viruses, we should probably start looking at a dedicated facility or three. Maybe prefab units that can be clipped together in a public park.
Hotels work in a pinch, but they're not suitable for longer term use. Not just the absconding, they obviously have issues with cohort control and separation, especially at check in.
Chris T, NZ has no detected post-elimination Covid-19 community transmission (so far) due to an ENORMOUS dollop of good management and a near-invisible dusting of "pure luck" – you sound put out by our excellent health outcomes.
Not really.
I am just starting to think it is more luck, than management.
Look at Victoria. I have family there and they have had the bad version.
Maybe it's mostly good management in NZ and Australia, with a little bad luck in Victoria. Personally I think it's mostly good management in NZ and Victoria (slightly better management in NZ?), and luck has little to do with it.
You and Todd just need to be patient – there will be community transmission of Covid-19 again in NZ, but no-one knows when.
I think luck has a lot to do with it and I wouldn't give Todd the time of day, so please don't associate me with him for zero reason.
Has luck really got "a lot" to do with the comparatively bad Covid-19 health stats in Ireland, Sweden, the UK, USA and Brazil? If you think NZ's Covid-19 health outcomes owe more to good luck than good management, then I respectfully suggest that you re-examine your understanding of the factors affecting the spread of global pandemics.
Apologies for lumping you in with Todd – you tend to come across here as being more critical of left-leaning policies/governments than those on the right of the political spectrum, but maybe that’s just me.
We had a positive person running around for 70 minutes
Yes. It is luck
There is an element of luck/chance as to whether that positive person (just the one was it?) infected someone else in those 70 minutes.
It's management (by public health services and other government institutions), aided and abetted by the general populace (team of nearly 5,000,000), that’s the primary determinant of a country’s overall health outcomes in a global pandemic. That management can be anything ranging from ‘very tight’ to ‘open slather’.
Ireland, Sweden, the UK, USA and Brazil each have a Covid-19 death rate per million of population that’s at least 75 times NZ's rate – if you thinks that's due to luck, then we'll have to agree to disagree.
And I am sure the people in Victoria would be saying the same thing if the security guard who had alleged shagged the isolated person and not got it.
It is blind luck
Ireland, Sweden, the UK, USA and Brazil each have a Covid-19 death rate per million population that’s at least 75 times NZ's and Australia’s rates. The number of Covid-19 cases per million population in NZ is at least 14 times lower than those five countries.
If you think that's due to (blind) luck, then we'll have to agree to disagree.
The management part is stopping staff having sex with people in isolation. It's literally a staff management issue. And not the only lapse they had.
Our worse lapse is someone speaking to a checkout person or a cop or a neighbour, not tongue-lashing them
BTW
I have no particular allegiance with either the Nats or Labour
Voted for Helen once and have never voted National
But I do do one thing, And that is hold all parties to account.
Edit: And I have a particular distaste for fluffy politics and crap media not asking questions
When was the last time it hit the average required 4000 a day which is required to be sure of proper monitotiring
These are Hipkins numbers, not mine,
Then lets disagree.
Because the bloke only had to splutter on one person (If he did indeed not, in the missing 40 odd minutes) And we could just as easily be looking at Victoria numbers,
Who knows as the testing has turned to shite
But hey, The govt is doing brilliant when people aren't running off.
By all means have an opinion divorced from reality but do not try to pass it off as fact.
Based on measured Covid-19 health outcomes, our Government has indeed done a brilliant job to date. If, despite your relentless carping, you're genuinely keen on holding "all parties to account", then I look forward to your critique of the behaviour of opposition National party MPs over the last week – bit of a shocker eh?
Still think the Jamie-Lee Ross deBaclay was the opposition’s ‘lowlight‘ for this term so far, but who knows what the next 2 months will bring
National have been complete idiots.
I am still struggling to see how this relates to covid infected people walking out of isolation with little detail of where they went for over an hour
And I'm struggling to understand your apparent inability to grasp the relative contributions of "blind luck" and 'management' (by governments, public services et al.) to a particular country's long-term health outcomes during a global pandemic of a novel virus.
Surely you can see that the ideology and Covid-19 health advice offered by Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro etc., are having an appreciable effect on the measurable Covid-19 health outcomes of the countries they ‘lead‘.
Although I will have to concede that NZ got pretty lucky with Ardern and Bloomfield. We don’t know how lucky…
I know this is a struggle for you to understand, but I don't support national or labour.
I couldn't give a rats arse, if both broke.
I look at thingd from both sides
Apologies if this is a complete conundrum to you
I give up.
It is obvious you don't see a covid infected person who rock off on one of the busiest streets in the country is an issue.
All good
We had some blind luck and apparently no one else is infected in his travels.
But then who knows as the testing has gone down.
I give up too – if you can't see a relationship between the ‘economy over health‘ ideology and ‘leadership/management‘ styles offered by Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro etc., and the measurable Covid-19 health outcomes of the countries they 'lead', but would rather attribute the hugely different health outcomes of countries to "blind luck", then we are indeed at an impasse.
As an aside, I think we should be using schools rather than hotels as detention centres. Schools are so much more like prisons, and most are now already surrounded by horrible spiky fences to keep the nasty local gangsters out. (Thanks to social policies of most governments since the 1980s.)
It would be so easy to use schools as concentration camps – only a few would be needed, and minimal security staff would be needed to patrol the perimeter.
I would have said the grounds of military bases and campervans like originally, but if you think schools I disagree.
Sorry – I forgot that some people need a sarc tag.
We could fit 25+ people into each classroom, with some extra desks to spare.
But this ignores the fact it would be a bit dim.
But by all means roll with it trying to tell them wise.
So now we have people saying we should use schools?
Brilliant
Some people on various social media demanding to know "Where's Tova? Jessica? Why aren't they going after Todd?".
On a break, is the answer. With an election campaign coming, there won't be any time off for political journos. Parliament is in recess, so this was the obvious time to book. It's not as if they could predict the mad meltdown of the past week (who did?).
As with the timing of polls and much else, a lot of things that inspire conspiracy theories are simply arranged in advance.
(and no, that doesn't excuse Newshub's lamentable coverage, at all. But that's the fault of people who are in the building, not one reporter who isn't).
And there I was feeling sorry for Tova. Why, I thought to myself, why should she ever again believe anything at all that Todd Muller ever says ???!
Poor little Tova – I well remember her shamelessly and impudently putting that question to Jacinda Ardern over a far lesser issue during lockdown.
I was so looking forward to Todd's effort at answering her heart-wrenching question…
Something like, "Er, no… I can see where you are going with this."
But poor little Tova is away on holiday, is she?
Well, I guess both she and we are spared all that agony.
As is Todd. Typical!
It's not politics, just a bit funny. This parrot rocks Led Zeppelin.
That's gorgeous, Fireblade.
In parts it reminded me of Michelle Boag on The Panel.
From Luke Malpress on Stuff and I thought Luke was an enthusiastic National man. Again he hints at the National being saved last week by the runaways. But not all MPs are happy. (Reference the faces of Adams and Brownlee during Mullers presser.)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/122102664/mullers-new-job-convince-the-public-nationals-not-a-moral-vacuum
It is reported that the Virus has mutated and is much more infectious. It is said to be no more dangerous but just more easily spread. So hands up that we keep the border closed longer? Waiting for confirmation.
Watch the video.
Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan. The problem that Todd Muller has and is National telling us the truth?
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/video/heather-du-plessis-allan-is-national-telling-us-the-full-truth/
I think the WHO investigation into the origins of the virus will at best be a barometer displaying the alignment of Dr Tedros.
Although beyond redemption, I think Trump is right to take a step away from the UN. It's become a pit of snakes, past it's best before date. It's an organisation that should have it's foundation in a love for each other and it just hasn't. The CCP can have it.
A worthwhile WHO would bring together the 200 best vaccine minds in the world and give them all they required.
Wuhan in Hubei province was locked down, residents welded into their apartment buildings, meals passed through railings. At this time 5 million people departed on international flights from Wuhan International Airport, domestic was closed.
You or I, we'd slam the gates down at Mangere wouldn't we? The thought of knowingly jetting hot-spot people off to all points around the globe conjures up images of Mike Myer's Dr Evil in my mind.
I get the Chinese need to save face, reluctance to admit fault etc. But sheeesh. I don't think the CCP form is aligned very well with the sentiments and emotions of the 1.4 billion.
Leading via fear works, but it is always finite, comes to an end. It is natural that our love and respect for each other will rise to be dominant. We are a social animal, inclined to be friends.
From Chris Leitch outlining the number of dodgy National MPs. These are facts rather than just opinions. New Zealand Politics. Blogger.
https://www.facebook.com/New-Zealand-Politics-155820134514358/
That is skewering.
No hyperbole, exaggeration or histrionics.
I wonder if Kiwiblog is interested?
Righties and idiots often claim, "Both sides are dirty in Politics." The last one I heard was a woman on RNZ's 'The Panel' on Friday – she made that claim, and then quoted sex scandals associated with Labour Conferences.
Well, none of them were schemes calculated to make National look bad. More like Labour being made to look bad through the media publicizing 'bigly' rumours and accusations. And let us not forget that the big headlines from Andrea Vance's accusation that Jacinda Ardern had 'covered up' a big sex scandal was later withdrawn and apologized for – at the bottom bit of page 126 where few would notice it…
National has been constantly caught out at Dirty Politics – manoeuvres deliberately calculated to make Labour look bad. This current one is only the latest. The worst was the deliberate use of material from GSCB (or SIS?) to denigrate Goff during his 2011 election campaign.. only exposed several years later. That election result should have been revoked, the abuse of knowledge explained to the public, and a new election held.
Come on, you Righties and idiots who say both sides are dirty:
Please give me a list of Labour's dirty deeds which have been deliberately calculated using foul means to make National look bad.
Nicky Hager has made a big long list of National doing that to Labour, and none of his accusations has been disproven in court – because they are valid.
Righties – please tell us exactly how many times the Labour Party or the Left in general have been shown to use subterfuge like Boag's email leaks to deliberately make the other side look bad.
I don't believe you can supply anything much of substance. Usually the mud slung at Labour is own-goal stuff, exaggerated by hostile news media.
As a matter, who was the woman on RNZ's 'The Panel' on Friday?
Wallace Chapman is hapless.
The actions of Woodhouse during a worldwide pandemic are more than Dirty Politics.
What is the definition of subversion?
I do wonder sometimes if Wallace hears the way he speaks, in which case the world would be a wondrous bowl of vigorously tossed garbled word salad.
Yes, I suspect it is Wallace's task to trivialise and divert, just as it was Jim Mora's.
Ed – I now think it was Thursday, not Friday. I managed to listen to Friday on RNZ website, and it was not her. I got lost in trying to hear Thursday's panel in their demands that I enrol for ipods and God only knows what..
It was Nalini Baruch on Thursday's The Panel and Alexia Russell on Friday.
Thanks. It was near the start, and I now know it was not Alexia. I could not access Thursday so I do not want want to accuse Nalini in case it was Wednesday..
Sorry In Vino
There is no reply link on your other post.
So repeat
When was the last time it hit the average required 4000 a day which is required to be sure of proper monitotiring
These are Hipkins numbers, not mine,
I don't know why you are asking me, Chris T: I made no statement at all about testing.
One of the goals of Dirty Politics was to seed that doubt in the public, that they "all" do it, to undermine the notion of "big" Govt.
Yeah – Why on Earth did I waste my keyboarding time? No Rightie will reply, because no Rightie has a list of anything to offer.
Pledge cards kind of rings a bell
Was that a dirty trick by Labour designed to make the Right look bad? I think not… I seem to remember it was played upon to make Labour look bad.
That was former SIS Director, Warren Tucker. The current Director, Rebecca Kitteridge formally apologised to Phil Goff a few years down the track.
Cameron Slater requested the SIS held material on Phil Goff and Tucker sent it to him. My suspicion is: Tucker was directed to supply the material to Slater from either John Key himself or someone from the PM's Office acting on his behalf.
One day the truth about that scandalous affair will be released.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11363842
Thanks, Anne.
You are not a Rightie giving me what I asked for, but you have magnificently reinforced what I wrote about the travesty of the 2011 election. And from what I recall, that 'embarrassing material' was not even true…
Correct. Whoever the spook… who put the file together was up the creek without a paddle. I'm going to see if I can find the details.
I found this:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/spy-review-slams-former-sis-director-over-goff-2014112510
The incorrect information concerned a briefing Tucker gave Goff about the suspected Israeli spy case following the ChCh earthquake.
So the story of the 60 year old who busted through a window, out of quarantine, and went banging on the neighbour’s doors is already slipping out of the news sites headlines. No push for the story from the opposition I guess. So, provided we don’t go down Victoria’s unhappy path these few incidents, at odds with the 99.9% of people who are going through quarantine properly, will become nothing more than what they should be, the background noise to our successful Covid response.
Some clever, smart thinking going on in the rest of the country out side the Gnats bubble. (I don't know what they've got but I'd keep at least 2m away).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018754423/calls-for-nz-wool-to-be-used-in-govt-buildings-and-homes
A couple of sheep are looking thoughtful about this idea, and I think probably like it. It seems the sort of thing that practical TS would go along with. How about signing the petition.
A Southland farmer is calling for New Zealand wool to be used in all publicly-funded buildings and KiwiBuild homes, for carpeting and insulation.
A petition has been started and signed by more than 7000 people.
Thanks to – Greywarshark – And thanks also to – Just is-
We are getting some very good uptodate Information and wisdom !
It does not amaze me that GrannyPoof Herald writes lines and lines of lies, and squeezes its endless Army of Bias, out of it's much treasured enormous Ass.
As David Attenborough might say – the Herald Species is breathing out its last few breaths.
Hi Grey I see on Newshub that Michael Baker the Epidemiologist is suggesting that some returnees are presenting with addiction problems and need help staying in isolation for 14 days. He suggested as one of the props to help their stay over being Nicotine patches. I thought to myself maybe my email to the Hon Chris Hipkins (which was then forwarded to Dr Megan Woods) has been actually taken in and discussed. I can hope but its probably such an obvious idea that many others have proffered their opinions as well. But I did the deed and the next day it has been suggested. Amen to that.
The eminent doctor also suggested health checks and help for other mental health issues. They need to get on top of it whatever the outcome.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/covid-19-nz-to-quarantine-people-in-isolation-for-months-maybe-years-epidemiologist/ar-BB16BkDC