“The EU accuses Lukashenko of manufacturing the crisis in revenge for earlier sanctions in response to a violent crackdown on mass street protests against his rule in 2020. Germany said he must be countered with all strength.
“Lukashenko is making an inhumane power play with people,” German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who is set to become the country’s next chancellor, said.
Lukashenko and Russia have said the EU was not living up to its humanitarian values by preventing migrants from crossing.
Large groups fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere started flying to Minsk this spring with the help of Belarusian travel agencies.
Many have travelled to the border with Poland, Lithuania or Latvia and tried to cross into the EU, sometimes using wire cutters they say were given to them by Belarusian border guards.”
………………….
Lukashenko’s the fly in the ointment here. Not sure I’d read too much into the posturing going on, even the Russian bombers patrolling Belarus’ border.
Sounds like while the sabres are being rattled nobody actually wants to pull them out of their scabbards & use them, & certainly not Putin.
The EU tried to totally scupper the Belarus airline in June , by refusing to allow it to fly over EU airspace or use their airports , back in June because of the Ryanair incident.
Belarus then leased airlines from other countries, eg Turkey, running flights for migrants seeking entry to Europe.
It's tit for tat, not a lot to do with human rights(after all what's happened to Saudi Arabia), but more an effort to wedge Belarus away from Russia, its long time ally.
Crippling Belarus may hope to persuade Russia that Belarus is too big a burden to bear
Sanctions always have unforeseen consequences, and a tendency to backfire.
I’m struggling to remember the sanctions when the plane carrying a head of state , Bolivia’s Evo Morales was ordered down by umm, European states ., looking for Snowden
Sauce for the goose
Nice to be back here. TS is a great place for keeping up with (& learning more about) matters political, climatic, diplomatic, societal & a range of general interest matters continually raised by contributors.
A bonus is there are great humourists & characters among them.
So I hope this is an unintended consequence of the traffic light system that will be addressed and quickly.
I have 2 daughters, both dance and have done since they were very small one is 10 the other is just turned 12. I have been told that the dance school is considered a gym so my 12 year old will be unable to attend or sit exams unless double vaxxed which I am far from convinced of the benefits in this age cohort.
The 10 year old will be able to attend as will 11 year olds but as soon as they turn 12 they wont be able to attend until double vaxxed so if you went on your birthday at minimum 3 weeks of exclusion.
Excluding children from sport and social groups under these mandates is fucking ridiculous and damaging it needs to be stopped. Activities for children should not be lumped in with gyms in terms of the traffic light system they should be treated similarly to schools.
What you raise is one of the reasons why Covid is hard on families with dependent children. I am not sure how much thought the government gave to your situation. There are a number of issues.
Some of the under 12 in the dance group would have unvaccinated siblings at home.
Wearing a mask would over heat a child at a dance class. Social distancing would not be practical.
Even if there was a vaccinated and an unvaccinated class it is about the collective health of those who attend. Outside classes could be an option for the unvaccinated.
There is no normal for children and socialising within their peer group is important as well as being able to continue through the grades of an activity.
At some point classes could close short term or longer.
In the interim applies to the levels, steps and then the traffic light system.
People die from covid-19 and you are worried about your daughter missing several weeks of a dance class? I know your family is more important to you than anyone else but I think you need to take a walk and think about your priorities.
Yeah you're missing the point entirely… In the example of the dance class, what they are doing makes absolutely no fucking sense from a covid standpoint.
I also think on a longer term basis excluding children especially in early teen years from sports etc is actually really fucking harmful.
Everyone has had to pay a price since the arrival of the Delta strain. And children have not been immune. Your daughter missing a few weeks of dancing class – as mpledger pointed out – is a small price to pay.
My understanding is, the pfizer vaccine for children will be available for the under 12s in the New Year. So, the present circumstance is very temporary indeed and soon all of them will have to be vaccinated. We only have 5 weeks before the kids are off for Xmas then another 5 weeks of school holidays. By which time the vaccination of all children – for their own safety and well being – will hopefully be well underway.
There are serious ethical concerns vaccinating those young cohorts.
Not to mention children have paid a disproportionately high price given they have missed alot of education and have stunted socialization at a key point in brain development. Its wrong.
Interestingly Taiwan is no longer allowing those under 17 to have a second Pfizer shot due to the disproportionately high levels of myocarditis in that age cohort.
I agree Cricklewood. The kids have paid a very high price by way of interruptions to their education and all the unsettling emotions that go with it. But I don't think missing a few weeks of dancing classes is on the same level.
Your last paragraph must be referring to the general Pfizer vaccine that has been around for the past year. The vaccine I am talking about is the one especially produced for children under 12 and was only internationally approved a matter of weeks ago. That is the one NZ and many other countries plan to use for children because it has been proven safe and effective for them.
Yes the proven vaccine which is now raising enough red flags for countries to pull the handbrake that not concern you Anne? It indicates that they are not as safe as promised we already know they are not as effective as promised.
For the younger cohort proven safe and effective is a real stretch. As it stands all that we know is kids generate an immune response and small trials didnt raise red flags with refards side effects. Whether or not its actually beneficial in real terms the studies are still underway and the prevelance of rare side effects we wont know until its rolled out.
I take it you are happy excluding the younger cohort if parents opt not to vax them. Can you see how this might cause some issues?
Do you think it should be mandated for everyone eligible? Should the state take action against parents who refuse to vaccinate children?
When are you going to read comments properly and stop including negative remarks about matters not present in my comment in the first place!
If your claims re- Taiwan are correct, then the vaccine Taiwan was using could not have been the "Pfizer vaccine for under 12s " as it has only very recently been approved by the US medical authorities and [presumably] the WHO. As far as I can ascertain the trials in the US have only just finished and the vaccine is being rolled out across the country as we speak.
That is the vaccine NZ has managed to acquire (but unlikely to be in the country yet) and it will be rolled out early in the New Year. By all means, refuse to allow your children to be vaccinated by a vaccine which has gone through all the hoops and been approved for universal use. That is your prerogative.
mpledger…my opinion, based on reading numerous research papers and after watching the shit show that was the JCVI recommendations over giving young children these products, is that those pushing these 'vaccines' onto a demographic who are infinitesimally affected by the disease is fuckwittery of the highest order. Immoral. Unethical and completely scientifically and medically unjustified.
Question. [deleted]
(Not going to link again…don't be lazy..look up the research for yourself.) The experts have appeared to have given up totally on any sort of herd/community/population immunity against Covid.
[deleted]
There is a logical progression here…can you think what that might be?
And anyone who demands that a parent put aside their natural instincts to protect their children against some myth of the 'greater good' is beneath contempt.
Shame on you.
[I’ve deleted the claims of fact that have no linked evidence. I’ve left the opinions. We’ve been over this before and I’m not willing to spend more time on this. Each time you or anyone makes a claim of fact, you have to provide evidence as you go (that’s a quote, link and your own explanation interpretation). The reason for this is because otherwise we’re just talking past each other and it gets hard to make sense of what people are claiming.
There’s been a lot of moderation on this topic in the past, I think everyone has had fair warning. I’m noticing in general, across topics, that I’m having to remind regular who should know better. This isn’t FB where people trade in their personal reckons, we require a high level of evidence for claims of fact because we want robust debate. Reread the Policy if unclear (that’s everyone, not just Rosemary) – weka]
[please don’t do that. People shouldn’t be expected to read whole pages or research papers to understand you. Instead, quote, link, give your explanation or rationale. Yes, I know it’s more work, but it also holds a lot more water which matters in controversial debates. It will also improve the debate and lessen the accusations (both sides take heed) – weka]
Apologies…I post links to peer reviewed research that never get read and/or I try to give at least a precis of what the research I've read found.
Sometimes I feel what I say, my opinions, are worth nothing if not backed up by the science and sometimes I know that no matter what I say the person will have already made up their mind so what's the point?
So I spare them my ramblings and chuck the science at them.
Or not.
I will try not to get into discussions unless I can give it at least 80% attention.
pushing these 'vaccines' onto a demographic who are infinitesimally affected by the disease is fuckwittery of the highest order.
I think that there is sufficient evidence now from the UK to show that the effects of covd on children are far from trivial. Certainly the vaccines we have at present are far fro being effective enough but to trivialise covd in younger cohorts is not a responsible track to take
Cricklewood. Reason, common sense, consistency and sadly science have all been sacrificed on the altar of the Covid vaccines.
From Monday I will not longer be considered a fit person to provide the care my C4/5 tetraplegic partner needs. The fact he too is un vaccinated does not affect the Health Order mandate other than to make it even more impossible for another carer to provide the care he needs. Ho hum.
BUT, both he and I are welcome to attend the local base hospital in our un vaccinated state so he can have a routine yearly check up for his leukaemia which he was treated for 10 years ago. We just need to check in with the clinic the day before to assure them we have no symptoms. I assume that ALL attendees at the haematology clinic will be PPE'ed, regardless of vaccine status. Which is entirely appropriate.
Sadly you are correct, the debate around vaccination of young children will get very ugly I fear. Some will demand mandates for all sorts of childrens activities. Having kids looking suspiciously at each other will not end well.
From Monday I will not longer be considered a fit person to provide the care my C4/5 tetraplegic partner needs.
I was wondering if you would get caught up in that.
For those that don't know, the MoH is withdrawing funding from disabled people who are being cared for by their own family if the caregiver is unvaccinated.
They can use the funding only for vaccinated caregivers, which is probably reasonable for staff coming in from outside the home, but makes less sense for family caregivers and makes a complete mockery of everything the government says about empowering disabled people in their own lives.
It's one of the most fucked up things I've seen this government do.
For those that don’t know, the MoH is withdrawing funding from disabled people who are being cared for by their own family if the caregiver is unvaccinated.
Ummm. Tricky position for MoH, DHBs and for that matter for parliament. What you appear to not be considering is that this is an employee or contractor arrangement with a employer. It carries legal responsibilities for the employer. And potential large penalties in criminal, civil, and employment courts.
As a direct or indirect employer, they or the DHBs are potentially liable for their employees who infect others or vice versa (as a reckless endangerment) regardless of who the employee is. There would have to be a specific legal immunity – something that would have to be accurately described by legislation.
Then there are the insurance aspects. Diseases aren’t covered by ACC. No kind of insurance would cover sending high risk employees into a work situation as a deliberate act by the employer.
It is hard to see how Parliament could legislate such a specific legal immunity for the employers about family members. If you even look at any family law you’d understand just how fraught that is. Because simply defining what is a family member is pretty damn undefined. Which is why the legislation tends towards being very limited and prescriptive. So there would be endless cases with long-term family ‘friends’ and ‘partners’ running through the court.
This is essentially the legal position that most employers are in. Where they are been given legal coverage for mandates in potentially high risk medical areas by the use of the Health Acts by parliamentary legislation and government orders in council, both legal routes have been very prescriptive and quite unambiguous. That is what is required for them to be effective in the short time frames available.
Basically I’d suggest that you look to this at the legal review of the pandemic legislation that we will be doing a few years down the line. Offhand, I can’t think of a good way of legally defining the bounds of this.
Your best bet would probably be to make the funding a grant to the people being cared for so that they become the employer – then they can incur the legal risk.
It’s one of the most fucked up things I’ve seen this government do.
Not really. It is just that you’re mostly looking at it from the viewpoint of the carer and the cared for – without looking at it from the legal position of the funding agency.
If you look back in family law, you will find similar issues appearing every time that direct funding is given on a family basis. DHB cases from the 70s and 80s being the obvious one.
What you appear to not be considering is that this is an employee or contractor arrangement with a employer
I definitely considered that, and then ran through my head the various aspects and still concluded that the government and the MoH basically don't give a shit. In two ways: one is the normal way that disabled people get treated in NZ. Two is that they're not philosophically inclined towards any leeway for unvaccinated people (i.e. they're sending a very strong message at the same time as casting as wide a net as possible, so why would they want to exempt anyone when coercion seems to be helping the vax rate?)
Asking around it looks like the MoH said no, then yes (due to low risk), and finally no. Really hard to follow what exactly happened and why (Rosemary might know more), or whether the final decision was based on the legals you refer to, or was more about health policy.
If the issue is one of risk, consider that a severely disabled man who is being looked after by his wife, and she doesn't work anywhere else. MoH would have written a list of who was covered by the health order, and they could have included exceptions. They're not mandating all NZ workers, just some, so I think your argument about legal risk is overstated.
The DBHs and MoH don't have to be in the employer role (afaik the MoH never is, and the DHB only where they act as a healthcare agency), they can and do give funding directly to the disabled person. I'd be very surprised if all family caregivers have insurance.
There's also the option that the caregiver is self-employed.
Because simply defining what is a family member is pretty damn undefined
Pretty sure the MoH will have already done this, given they have specific programmes aimed at family care givers.
Obviously a family care giver who worked outside of the home with other vulnerable people or in key positions would be a different story (and I'm fairly certain this is who the original policy was written to cover).
Your best bet would probably be to make the funding a grant to the people being cared for so that they become the employer – then they can incur the legal risk.
Ok, hearing Rosemary grimace all the way from Northland on that one. A huge number of disabled people in NZ are living below the poverty line. Thanks to successive governments refusing to address disable people's income, and messes around ACC vs WINZ. And no, I don't think WINZ would come to the party on the funding.
And, where the MoH funds people directly, they are not allowed to use that funding to pay unvaccinated caregivers, including family. That's the point. The government is going hard on this, I doubt that people with private income to pay caregivers will be ok even if they are willing to take the risk, afaik it's just flat out against the law now.
But I do expect a lot of this stuff to go under the radar. The Panel recently had someone decrying hairdressers working from home under the table during covid, as if hairdressers haven't always done this. Lots of care work and cleaning gets done this way too. Unvaxxed people who lose their jobs will look for under the table work. Disabled people who can afford it will get desperate for workers and hire who they can. It's not like there's already an abundance of workers out there.
Vaccination is not mandatory if you live with a person who is disabled. It is mandatory if you are employed by a person who is disabled.
For me it is about the welfare of the disabled person and not some wacko law when it comes to being vaccinated when in the company of a person who is disabled in a shared home.
depends on the funding stream, but the MoH does give funding directly to some clients who then can choose their own caregivers (as employees or contractors I think).
Been away from the computer for a bit (a friend left strict instructions on my To Do notice board for me to spend less time screening) but not to worry…you have it well and truly in hand. (Peter has IF, and yes, although it was not Gazetted when we were informed by HealthcareNZ the other day, family carers providing care in the family home do come under the Health Order mandate fuckwittery.)
We have been here before, and my brief period as a paid family carer has allowed us to stock up and stockpile medical supplies etc (which are difficult to source for some reason) so we are, as usual, prepared.
Pissed off, but prepared. Fuck 'em we say. Raise the drawbridge and lower the portcullis and restock the moat with piranhas.
To celebrate the completion of Peter's new accessible bathroom (after nearly two years) we found a local home based carer to come in to ride shotgun in case I had forgotten how to do bathroom transfers and the like…and in case Himself decided a blackout was in order. This very, very capable woman had had her first Pfizer shot with huge reluctance, and only because her clients need her and she was forced to have it. She was crook for a week. I haven't heard if she's had her second.
This is a shit show.
We are living through the most extraordinary of times and we must, above all, reject the notion that there is only 'one source of truth'.
do you mean people on Super pay a family caregiver from their pension? Afaik, the mandate is on all health workers, doesn't make where the funding comes from. And which people on Super have the income to pay for lots of support?
The NZ Governments (of all persuasions) have almost prided themselves on treating non ACC high needs disabled Kiwis and their chosen family carers like shit.
This is nothing new and completely expected.
In our experience, Ministry of Health bureaucrats have a profound sense of authority based on a dearth of actual knowledge and expertise. To the point of actually causing harm to those they are supposed to be supporting.
Weka
Inhuman behavior is a consequence of pressure applied from powers we depend on. This was true in other countries with far more severe implications but the principle stands. I am disgusted to read that this is implemented. Insult to injury.
You do not need to answer, but is the Pfizer vaccine the reason for you not getting vaccinated?
When it comes to an alternative I was surprised when I heard that the Astra Zeneca vaccine (non mRNA) was going to be offered as an alternative. Another one needs to be found which is also not a mRNA one.
Immuno compromised is another topic. Even in the past.
I do think that the government need to make an exception when it comes to an unvaccinated person being the sole carer of a person in a household bubble providing the person who has the care agrees and is not coerced. There is no point in swapping a problem/s for another one. As well vaccination is not mandatory in a household. I agree with a person needing to be vaccinated were they to go into another household to give care.
So there is a difference when it comes to what goes on in your household.
There certainly are some curve balls and some need a bit more thought.
Treetop. A very close friend, in her early thirties and an early recipient of both Pfizer shots, developed a string of symptoms…including heart issues… and being an avid researcher I dug around a bit.
I simply googled her symptoms and added 'Pfizer shot'. I was totally unprepared for what I found. One website which supports US sufferers of a condition I happen to have had experience with had a new thread on its forum with 456 pages of 10 comments each of people sharing their post vax stories. I had not heard of this website before…nor that it was an actual 'thing' that I had suffered from on more than one occasion. What I'm trying to say is that these people were not my tribe.
That thread is over 750 pages now, and some of those vaccinated (because they were more likely to suffer from Covid) are still very debilitated, some are suicidal and almost all of them regret the day they took the shot. All of the shots. Moderna, Pfizer, J&J, AZ. A US site….has become a haven for sufferers throughout the world, including NZ, who like me made a symptom specific google search and found an island of discussion and support. All of those sharing their stories were met with dismissal and disbelief when they sought medical help.
My young friend is largely recovered, thank the goddess, but she did have Holter heart monitoring and an MRI and a CT scan and an ultrasound. And an ambulance when she collapsed unable to breathe at work.
My partner, after 50 years post spinal injury, is by his own description neurologically fucked. Prone to autonomic dysreflexia, thermoregulatory impairment and orthostatic hypotension at the best of times, the last few years have seen his instability increase. Change…temperature, posture, eating too quick, light, stuff in the air… whatever the fuck can cause extreme dizzines, faintness, blackouts and weird one side of the face rashes. He has become an incredibly delicate wee flower in his 70s… but it is the low, low barely- double -digits blood pressure that has him most worried.
These new vaccines are simply too big a risk.
Thanks for the support on the carer thing. I was Peter's unpaid carer for over twenty years and have only been paid for the work under Covid dispensation fro April last year.
Will we miss my income…a bit…but we knew this was coming months ago so we are prepared.
And there is information we do not have at hand yet.
Vaccination method. Will they aspirate? That alone reduces risk of vaccine into the blood etc.
Will the government provide AZ antibodies (last over 6 months) as an alternative to vaccine.
When will Novavax (not so good at preventing Delta infection but some may prefer its risk profile) be available as an alternative to the AZ and Pfizer?
Can the unvaxxed or one dosed choose one dose of Pfizer and one dose AZ (common in the UK and evidence suggests this is OK – downside is the 2 vaccines have different risk profiles)?
Can people choose their booster – say double dose Pfizer plus AZ vaccine or Novovax or AZ anti-bodies.
When will the under 65 have access to booster doses. This speaks to any sort of long term semblance of immunity (lasts well to 4 months then fades to still effective at 6 months and less so afterwards). They have ordered 4M vaccines 5-11 (one or two dose?) and one dose boosters for those over 65 health workers and the health compromised. But nothing about any boosters for others and when. The UK is providing boosters at 6 months from the second dose for all. We should have booster does before next winter for all who want them.
So that leaves one with risk management assessment planning
For example
Delay vaccination till
someone aspirates.
and then take the 2nd dose 12 weeks later so that immunity lasts through winter.
PS For mine the risk of long COVID – vascular damage, organ damage and aging of the cells from infection weights risk on the side of being protected – the balance to that is capability of reducing risk of infection.
The other unknown is the Health Ministry plan for rationing.
For example they have finally funded the diabetes 2 drug that prevents deterioration to need for dialysis – but only for one third of those who need it.
They might import treatments (anti-virals and fluvoxamine – anti-inflammatory that can be used before the steroid can be) but restrict provision of them to only some – this would increase the number of long COVID outcomes.
The other unknown is the Health Ministry plan for rationing.
I have no doubt they have one. The groundwork has been done for it to be acceptable to not treat the 'willfully unvaxxed' , to 'prioritise' and 'make the hard decisions'.
From many comments here on TS from 'Lefties'… there is a real appetite for the 'tent in the corner of the hospital carpark.'
If that is to be the case, and I have little doubt that there will be more of this attitude from those in healthcare, then at least doctors should be able to prescribe medicines and recommend therapies that may not necessarily have been approved by the bureaucrats at Medsafe. ( I am talking about off label use of established drugs with many years of safety records.)
People say all sorts of stuff because of their insecurity (interning Japanese banning Moslem migrants etc), it’s those who do that are of more concern.
(I would not rely on it, but if infected and without adequate health back up would raid the Evie McTin for a cookie).
There is no point in swapping a problem/s for another one
Thing that really fucks me off is that if we hadn't spent the last however many decades forcing many disabled people to live in poverty (financial and health), I think many of the current hesitant disabled people would choose to vaccinate. If people feel they will be looked after, then they are often more willing to take risk.
The degree of health privilege expressed by lefties in recent months is mindblowing. But it does sit alongside their relative reluctance to actually do something about the poverty of disabled people.
I think you mean the neo-liberal regime straight jacket managing elected governments, including those nominally centre-left.
Actual lefties have sought income support for those with disability at super levels, and both income support for carers and the continuance of income support to those with disability while with working partners.
One puts people's welfare first, the other puts cost of services first.
During the family carers cases hearings…so many , over such a long time…one aspect that was poorly described was the cost benefit of having a family member providing some very high level advanced personal cares.
To pay for registered/enrolled nurse level care would be too expensive and 'allowing' unregulated carers to perform some of the RN/EN level tasks raised a raft of liability issues. Not providing the care would put the patient in hospital (very expensive) or their life at risk (cheap, and many think this is actually the desired outcome).
Paying a family carer at the same rate as an unregulated carer with the disabled person giving permission for that family member to perform those high level care tasks you'd think it would have been an obvious win/win/win.
How much more is there that we have no means of knowing let alone checking? Is NZ becoming a country throwing proven checks and balances over board to get the wink wink nudge nudge instead?
that's really bad. Might be corruption, but I'd be looking first at an already stressed system degenerating under the pandemic stress. Also decades of neoliberal managerial culture. Not excuses, but if we want to fix this shit we need to be honest about the systemic issues, not just want heads to roll.
I would suggest Rako very publicly disputing what had been said about Saliva testing by both the MOH and Minister put them at a severe disadvantage during the tender process. No doubt a bureaucrat or 3 in the Ministry had an axe to grind.
I think that it's fair to say that in general the move from pandemic to endemic is ideologically driven rather than science based. An interesting article at naked capitalism gives a lot of insight to the roots of "living with covd" and the necessary tragedies that this will entail. in the case of NZ, by the end of summer we will have obtained complete transmission of Delta throughout the country if national summer holidays are given the ok. From the article:
Having an infectious disease become endemic is not the same as having a sore throat as much as our media would like to portray it that way. If COVID follows form to the previous coronavirus pandemics that have become endemic, we have literally years to go before our immune systems collectively call a truce with it.
…
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to maintain my composure for long enough to do a proper job of shredding the McKinsey propaganda. But GM, unsolicited, did the heavy lifting, so please give him a big round of applause!
Below find McKinsey text in italics, with GM’s comments in normal typeface.
Some countries are, therefore, resetting their expectations: “For this outbreak, it’s clear that long periods of heavy restrictions [have not gotten] us to zero cases,” said New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. “But that is OK. Elimination was important because we didn’t have vaccines. Now we do. So we can begin to change the way we do things.”
Or, what probably happened, New Zealand was pressured by its “international partners” to abandon elimination because it made them look bad (plus probably some other reasons). Michael Baker (who was one of the epidemiologists leading the elimination program) has said on several occasions now that the shift in policy came without any consultation with the scientists who were working with the government on COVID policy while elimination was the goal. They were completely taken out of the decision making process, which is quite telling.
The clear implication is that we are no longer following the science but have been co-opted into the business and economy centred view that peoples lives (the plebs) are less important than profits. The government could have stomped on the "freedom" protest organisers but instead has seen them as a useful tool to steer us towards endemic. The poll results could be read as the population realising the slide in commitment by the govt towards protecting peoples health. I dont know the Greens position on covd but there is an opening now for someone to make gains by filling the elimination space that has been abandoned by Labour.
I'm ok with the government not simply rubberstamping every suggestion from the scientific community. There are a wide variety of factors that might make a course of action counterproductive or impractical, so the ideal might not always intersect with the possible.
What I would like, however, is for advice regarding other factors (economic, administrative, enforcement capabilities, legal practicalities) to be as well-publicised as the scientific advice. Are we fighting a holding action to minimise ICU demands as region by region becomes exposed? Or is there just a "resistance is futile" atmosphere permeating the government because the white-ants have finally eroded the necessary compliance rates to the point that either the govt gives up or starts actual mass arrests? Or does polling in Auckland just look bad?
Everyone and their cousin has become a certified google epidemiologist with a side-hustle of immunology, just as we were all google seismologists and mining engineers ten years ago. But there doesn't seem to have been the same level of focus on the arguments for relaxing lockdowns as there was for implementing them.
Maybe that's the difference between science and the social sciences. Maybe it's maybelline.
Absolutely agree McFlock. It feels as though we are being left out of the conversation. It would be nice for a bit of transparency. Maybe the govt could let us in on their thinking rather than trying to herd us in the direction they have decided to take
The Government will soon be issuing sovereign "green bonds" to help raise finance towards a move to a low-carbon economy. Green bonds, which provide financing for low-emission or environmental projects such as renewable energy or reforestation, have increasingly become part of climate financing around the world.
Last year, the global green bond market reached a cumulative issuance milestone of US$1 trillion since its inception in 2007 – a year before the World Bank began issuing them.
Money raised from the bonds would be used to support projects that help reach the net-zero carbon 2050 target the Government has set with legislation. "Green bonds will enhance the development of New Zealand's sustainable finance market," Finance Minister Grant Robertson said.
This strikes me as a substantial shift away from greenwash.
"The creation of a green bond programme will add a new financing tool we can use to deliver the low-carbon projects we need to meet our climate targets," Climate Change Minister James Shaw said.
"Something in the order of 80 per cent of the global economy is now covered by some form of net-zero target. To meet these targets and cut emissions in line with what the science requires, capital needs to be directed towards activity that will accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy. Green bonds will be a crucial part of that."
New Zealand Debt Management at the Treasury is leading work on the green bond programme.
So what we seem to have here is both design and enforcement method. Time will tell if the combo actually works – but it does promise a morphing effect, away from neoliberalism towards sustainability.
Well, the short answer is the players in the game compete to produce winners. Privacy law prevents anyone knowing the truth, as usual.
Obviously a socialist would point to Grant Robertson, author of govt investment policy, as a player in the game. Grant would respond "Are you kidding? I'm a neoliberal. I just do policy. Others handle the money side of things."
World bank is immediately a red flag for me. First question is do bonds equate to a loan or is this a gift. Then if a loan are they denominated in $NZ or $US. If US then we are effectively selling our souls since we will always be open to political pressure through currency manipulation. At present all govt bonds are in $NZ. If push comes to shove we can always get the Reserve Bank to buy them back. QE for the people. Once we owe $US its game over for any remaining shred of independence.
With govt bonds in $US its irrelevant what value our currency is at. In fact if our currency devalues its easier to pay back. Debt in $US becomes very hard to repay if your currency comes under attack.
Good points. World Bank was once a red flag for me too but it seems to have headed towards being part of the solution in recent years. I've put a request for appraisal on Michael Reddell's site…
If you find out they are hawking green bonds as US denominated debt you will know that they have gotten a lot worse because it will signal that they have figured out how to enslave first world countries as well third world. I'm a cynic on that front especially as it's pretty recent since they tied Ecuador in a pretty little bow that will take some undoing.
Sally Brooker is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Otago, a principal investigator in the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, and co-leader of the German-NZ green hydrogen relationship building team. Her opinion:
storage of green electricity in batteries (small short haul) and in hydrogen (medium haul) will enable zero-emission planes on New Zealand’s domestic network.
Chris Bishop is making lots of noise around no need for MIQ for fully vaccinated people to be in MIQ.
That doesn't take into account a new variant emerging.if a new variant arrived which was more deadly that wasn't suppressed by existing vaccines it would be wise not to panic and keep MIQ in place until Covid is brought under control.Its easy for opposition to pick away at the existing govt,when you don't have to make the decisions.
Contact tracing is not keeping up with unlinked cases and Bishop wants to put more pressure on health workers and overload the hospital capacity quicker.
Not only a new strain emerging but antibodies waning and the R number increasing with the current Delta outbreak.
What is Bishop going to do when health workers become unwell or are partially burnt out?
A prison officer at the Waikeria jail in Waikato is on “special leave” after allegations he assaulted and strangled an inmate.
Anthony Prinsloo faces charges of injuring with reckless disregard, and strangulation, which carry maximum penalties of five and seven years imprisonment, respectively.
Prinsloo’s charge sheet says the charges relate to an alleged assault of prisoner Christopher Ranapia at the jail on June 20 this year.
Prinsloo has entered a not guilty plea to the injuring charge, and has yet to enter a plea on a more recently-added charge of strangulation, which was described as “intentionally or recklessly impeded Christopher Ranapia’s normal breathing by applying pressure on or to his throat, neck or both”.
Officer Anthony Prinsloo (a South African) has just officially charged me with breach of a prison rule after having found me in another inmates cell watching Lisa Owen interviewing me on “Newshub Nation” on TV3 on Saturday morning .
The name may be occasionally used as an ethnic slur for Afrikaners, in which instance it is also spelt according to English orthography: yarpie. This comes from the Afrikaans term plaasjapie, meaning "farm boy".[1] It has socio-economic connotations similar to the NZ/Australian term bogan or the American hillbilly. It may or may not be an offensive term depending upon intent and context of use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japie
Yu Kongjian teaches Green design recycled from ancient times:
One of China's most prominent urban design thinkers and Dean of the prestigious Peking University's college of architecture and landscape, Yu Kongjian is the man behind the sponge city concept of managing floods that is being rolled out in scores of Chinese cities.
In 2015, following President Xi Jinping's endorsement, the government announced a multi-million yuan plan and an ambitious goal: by 2030, 80% of China's municipal areas must have elements of a sponge city and recycle at least 70% of rainfall.
Much of the concept is influenced by ancient farming techniques Prof Yu learnt growing up in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, such as storing rainwater in ponds for crops. It has won Prof Yu and his landscaping firm Turenscape many awards. "Nobody would drown, not even in the monsoon season. We just lived with the water. We adapted to the water when the floods came," he says. He left for Beijing aged 17 where he studied landscaping, and later studied design at Harvard.
"I'm a Chinese traditionalist," he says with a laugh. "We have thousands of years of experience, we have the solution you cannot ignore."
Indeed, and that's an excellent photo to start with! Onsite here I often advocate my favourite leftist principle: social equity. As this example from your link indicates, it's essential for any economy.
"Every village has an official 'water guardian', who ensures that the water is distributed evenly. The family whose land is at the bottom of the terrace gets the same water as whoever is at the top."
This style of agriculture is also a model of resilience:
"You can't mechanise the terraces," explained Goodman. "You can't use tractors or other machines because of their shape and location. And they're often knee-deep with water. So, the Hani are still using buffalo or doing the hard work by hand, using the same picks and hoes and hand tools that they've used for hundreds of years."
Nobody paid much attention until the 2000s, with the arrival of new tarmac roads and a local authority determined to get the terraces highlighted on Unesco's World Heritage List. (This was finally achieved in 2013, the UN agency stating: "The resilient land management system of the rice terraces demonstrates extraordinary harmony between people and their environment, both visually and ecologically.")
Yuanyang county, the home of the terraces, has a population of some 370,000 people, with almost 90% coming from tribal groups. Come bustling market days in villages such as Shengcun, the Hani are joined by their Miao, Yao, Dai, Zhuang and Yi neighbours to trade and attend to regional business, to eat and drink, to gossip and smoke their distinctive, elongated bamboo pipes… In a time of shrinking natural resources globally, Goodman says the Hani can give the world lessons in land management, as well as in how to live in harmony with the environment. "They are proud of what they've achieved," he said. "They accomplished something marvellous that has held firm for possibly 1,300 years."
1. “The Taranaki town of Stratford is on high alert today after six people tested positive for Covid-19.
One person is in hospital and the other five are isolating at home. All of the cases have a link to the Auckland outbreak.
Taranaki DHB medical officer of health Dr Jonathan Jarman says the six people were very reluctant to get tested and have not been using the tracer app.”
2. “The West Auckland woman says her 68-year-old father, who fled a conflict-scarred country 20 years ago for a better future, spent the last five days of his life in agony coughing up blood and was too weak to move, waiting for officials to say he should go to hospital.”
3. "Some of them didn't believe that Covid was even an actual thing. They thought it was a conspiracy until they actually got it. And so you've got a lot of those, kind of misinformation out there that our people are getting.” (Paula Ormsby, Waikato women's branch leader of Mongrel Mob Wāhine Toa)
4. "The Bay of Plenty town Murupara has the country's lowest vaccination rates – less than half of the eligible population has had even one dose.
A local doctor, who rejects the Pfiizer vaccine, is closing his practice rather than accept government mandates." The 30 year GP in Murupara has said, “I am not an antivaxxer and would personally administer this vaccine should my patient be adequately informed and give free choice.”
There is a criteria for a covid-19 death. I am guessing that it is something like – anyone dying from any cause within 30 days of diagnosis (or maybe recovery) from covid-19.
There has to be a pretty strict criteria so that there is uniform counting across countries etc. But sometimes human-made criteria can't cover all the permutations that life throws up.
Sometimes it is easier to over-count (slightly) then to spend time splitting hairs.
That's bloody ridiculous! The guy was out on his driveway, and probably would have been off work for a week with Covid, then back to normal. Don't you think lead poisoning would be a more likely cause of death?
I would have thought we would want to keep our deaths from Covid as low as possible, not artificially inflate them………what's next? An asymtomatic person tests positive and while leaving hospital to go to MIQ gets run over by a bus! Notch up another Covid kill.
Yes, it is called a "case definition". You need them in epidemiology – they work well but any case definition will usually include false positives and false negatives.
Simplicity is also desirable. In this case, simplicity has trumped accuracy, I am guessing. You could make the case definition more nuanced (to exclude this case, for example), but probably not worth it for tracking the big picture.
Well, no, a trial is akin to a case review rather than an epidemiological aggregate.
Additionally, on the mortality records the primary cause of death will still eventually be the bullet. But those get finalised after the coronial cases are closed, so lag a couple of years.
Keeping them in the epidemiological aggregate looks a bit silly for small numbers, but then with larger numbers we might find that shooting victims with covid are more likely to die than non-covid victims, so maybe it could be regarded as a contributory cause (albeit not primary cause) of death.
So… because a person died, having been shot, is it reasonable to conclude that he couldn't have passed on Covid? If he wasn't listed as having Covid, could the usual tracking and tracing of contacts have been done? Are Covid deaths recorded because the person died with, or died of, the infection?
Died with. But we're not exactly living in a time where people are dropping off all over the place. Brits in particular were trying the "it only means died with not of" line last year, which is why the excess mortality stats also gained prominence.
It actually tends to work the other way – because a lot of governments got overwhelmed (charitable explanation) or wanted to hide the true toll of their incompetence (most likely), they actually stopped tests and counts unless they absolutely couldn't avoid it. So in a lot of the world, 2020 mortality was higher than expected but by much more than the official covid count.
But then there's the question about what other things emerged to raise mortality rates by 15-20% at the same time covid hit the world. Godzilla sneaking around the place?
For violent deaths, they have to be referred to the coroner, in which case cause of death isn't legally established until a finding is made. In the meantime, the reporting is that someone died while Covid positive until the Coroner's determination arrives, after which the figures can be updated.
This no doubt seems weird, but came about to avoid deliberate undercounting of deaths for political convenience (HIV was bad for this).
" It’s been a whirlwind week of kōrero, talanoa, media, meetings, and negotiations. There have been some really positive developments, but some issues remain. Over the next two days countries need to come together to agree an outcome that keeps us on track to address the climate crisis. The consequences of not doing so are intolerable.
As I told countries on Tuesday:
For decades political leaders have known what would happen if they did not act to cut emissions. They had a chance to stop it. But they didn’t. And so, it falls to us. Right here. Right now."
(Copied from Facebook. Anyone wanting to read from the source could copy some of the text, paste it into their browser’s search bar and have it appear, effortlessly, I reckon).
"They saw the winners sent home with their laptops and smart-phones. They saw themselves heading out to work every morning, as usual, to do what were once called the “shit jobs” – but were now referred to as “essential occupations”. They wondered about that. If their jobs were “essential”, why weren’t they paid the same sort of wages as the people on “Zoom” meetings, whose jobs clearly were not? They saw a world which kept on working pretty well, even when more that half the workforce was doing nothing more productive than exchanging e-mails. Some members of the Team of Five Million seemed to have a whole lot less to do than others. Something was definitely wrong with this picture."
So Devon Conway punches his bat and breaks his hand. So much for "a champion team will always beat a team of champions". His lack of self discipline has just helped Australia's chances of taking the final.
"Glasgow: The shock new pact between China and the United States unveiled in Glasgow has been hailed as a breakthrough as the deadline looms for the climate summit’s negotiations.
The world’s two largest emitters declared global warming an existential crisis which demands co-operation between the superpowers.
In a boost to the flagging COP26 talks and sign of a possible thawing in the fractured relationship between both countries, Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua and his US counterpart John Kerry stunned observers by unveiling the joint declaration pledging tougher action this decade.
The agreement was negotiated in secret for months during about 30 virtual meetings and negotiation sessions in Shanghai, London and Washington before final terms were settled in Glasgow on Wednesday night local-time (Thursday AEDT)"
"Xie described climate change as an “existential crisis” and said agreement between the US and China on how to deal with global warming far outweighed their differences on the issue.
Kerry, a former US secretary of state under Barack Obama, framed the surprise agreement as much-needed momentum for the COP26 talks.
“The two largest economies in the world have agreed to work together to raise climate ambition in this decisive decade,” Kerry told reporters in Glasgow.
“Our teams have worked together for months, and we have worked in good faith. We have found common ground.”
Kerry described the joint-declaration as a “road map for our present and future collaboration” on climate change."
Thanks, Brigid. Seems like a breakthrough. Perhaps prudent to await further analysis before we get too excited. Simulation is a strategy of govts since whenever…
I linked briefly to this development a couple of days ago. It's the outcome of significant on-going negotiations and it's not at all clear who the players are, what their motives and commitment to this really is.
Nor do we have any details on the intended 'co-operation'.
So far all the talk is around methane reduction – but that's literally only a half measure. The CCP knows full well that it risks being the very odd man out in this game, their CO2 emissions being larger and growing faster than any other major nation. You can parse the data however you like, but unless the PRC turns this corner no other actions anywhere else in the world will matter much. They know this.
They also know that solar and wind power does not work in their climate zone – nor can anyone reasonably demand they should 'shrink' their per capita energy use. This leaves just one singular path forward. The question has to be – are the US and the PRC planning to cooperate on a new generation of nuclear power?
If this is true – there could be a great deal more to this deal than is apparent so far.
Yeah, you got it. The fact that they've been doing bilateral negotiations for months suggests an ongoing mutual commitment to actually getting a substantial deal done. But it's also in their mutual interest to signal an output @ COP26. So there's a wee bit of a fudge going on.
Re the nuclear angle, your summary of the relevant logic is apt. No point precipitating a public relations disaster via premature announcement. Framing of that would be crucial. All the scientific, economic & political ducks in a row is the design challenge. If they're engaged on that task it'd be a massive breakthrough.
Typically the Guardian gets it wrong claiming they met in the Ecuador Embassy .They met in 2011, when Moris was called in to help Jennifer Robinson, long time lawyer of Assange
In the RT link Amy Goodman interviews Stella Moris
Assange and Moris have been engaged for five years, and have been asking officials at the maximum-security prison for permission to arrange a wedding since May. When they finally received a reply, they were told the matter was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). As the CPS represents the US government in the extradition proceedings against the Australian-born publisher, putting them in charge of the marriage basically gives Washington veto powers, which is “completely outrageous,” Moris told Democracy Now.
Hard to disagree with her, but I must point out that the state has sovereign power. Therefore bureaucrats are authorised to pass the buck whenever possible. The referral to the CPS by a bureaucrat seems malevolent yet I bet that bureaucrat has nothing in his employment contract requiring him to make decisions in accord with the human rights of prisoners.
Therefore, as state agent, he is free to choose where to pass the buck. There's no requirement in the law around state constitution in western countries that requires the state to make decisions based on ethical conduct or human rights as far as I know. Sure, most western countries signed up for the UN Covenants that describe such rights, but I'm unaware of any actual constraint resulting from the signing that binds state employees into acting in accord…
Geez, this sounds like very bad police/MOH coordination … ☹️
“Distraught family members who were allegedly let through Auckland’s border by compassionate police officers for the funeral of their Covid-infected father subsequently had their border exemption application declined.
Three siblings travelled from Whangārei to farewell their father before they received a response from the Ministry of Health on their application, the Herald has been told.
The family claim they were allowed into Auckland and attended the funeral, after which their travel exemption application was declined.
Now they fear they may have trouble returning home.”
Looks like what happens when humanitarian concerns come into conflict with the little hitler syndrome. Bureaucrats are big on rules and small on humanity…
With respect, Dennis, I think little hitler syndrome is an inaccurate & unfair description.
I was a public servant for 34 years, but I was never a bureaucrat & studiously avoided employment in any roles that required a bureaucratic temperament or attitude.
What most likely has happened here is classic bureaucracy tho. The person or persons charged with making the decision are too far removed from the people affected by it & most likely have little effective discretion to depart from firm & generally successful (so far) rules that have kept covid under control (until delta).
My bet is that at MOH there was a collective “If we say yes, we’ll open the floodgates & there’ll be a raft of such requests in future that we can’t then deny”-type decision. So the decision was to hang tuff for what seemed like a good reason.
Policepersons, on the other hand, are the sharp end, dealing with people face to face on a daily basis. They have lots of discretion. Many of them are moved by simple human compassion that comes from seeing grief daily. The longer they’re in a frontline role the better they get at becoming sensible, pragmatic decision-makers.
Fair enough. I accept such nuances characterise the public service. Your point re the police/public interface & pragmatism is a good one. Anyway, feel free to admonish me again whenever I air my stance on public service bureaucrats. Since it is based on half a century or so of observing the little hitler syndrome evident in media reportage of their decision-making, it'll probably keep showing up!
There’s no doubt that there ARE some little hitlers in the public service, in both case officer & supervisor roles, and I’ve met some of these psychopaths – but in the case of these applications for covid exemptions it’s a safe bet that at least two people – and very likely more than two – are involved in collectively making & then approving the final decision.
Most public servants in my experience are not the cold-hearted inflexible bastards they’re often stereotyped as. They’re ordinary, compassionate, empathetic folk like the rest of us. What counts is the policy criteria they get charged with enforcing, but don’t usually have any input into developing.
Altho Gliding On was right on the mark with many of its characterisations of how govt departments operated in the 70’s, when I joined, right down to the decor, office layouts, tea ladies & typists.
Things changed massively after Roger Douglas raided & stripped out the economy. No more tea ladies, just a kitchen area & free milk, sugar, cheapest instant coffee & tea – and open plan offices (with cube walls, if you were lucky).
The cops letting them through without a pass were endangering people in other regions. I can understand why, but they took a risk that was above their pay grade.
edit: ah, ok, they were going the other direction (into akl) so not too bad. Still it’s a bit like going overseas – if you go without everything done first, there’s no guarantee you won’t get stuck.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Opinion: New Health NZ commissioner Lester Levy is authorised to assume operational leadership – chief executive Margie Apa is effectively relegated to his operational deputy The post All-powerful Levy is feudal baron of a $28b fiefdom appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The sabres are rattling in Europe as migrant flows are deployed against Russia's enemies. Neighbours of Belarus say migrant crisis risks military clash | Reuters
From the link:
“The EU accuses Lukashenko of manufacturing the crisis in revenge for earlier sanctions in response to a violent crackdown on mass street protests against his rule in 2020. Germany said he must be countered with all strength.
“Lukashenko is making an inhumane power play with people,” German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who is set to become the country’s next chancellor, said.
Lukashenko and Russia have said the EU was not living up to its humanitarian values by preventing migrants from crossing.
Large groups fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere started flying to Minsk this spring with the help of Belarusian travel agencies.
Many have travelled to the border with Poland, Lithuania or Latvia and tried to cross into the EU, sometimes using wire cutters they say were given to them by Belarusian border guards.”
………………….
Lukashenko’s the fly in the ointment here. Not sure I’d read too much into the posturing going on, even the Russian bombers patrolling Belarus’ border.
Sounds like while the sabres are being rattled nobody actually wants to pull them out of their scabbards & use them, & certainly not Putin.
The EU tried to totally scupper the Belarus airline in June , by refusing to allow it to fly over EU airspace or use their airports , back in June because of the Ryanair incident.
Belarus then leased airlines from other countries, eg Turkey, running flights for migrants seeking entry to Europe.
It's tit for tat, not a lot to do with human rights(after all what's happened to Saudi Arabia), but more an effort to wedge Belarus away from Russia, its long time ally.
Crippling Belarus may hope to persuade Russia that Belarus is too big a burden to bear
Sanctions always have unforeseen consequences, and a tendency to backfire.
6 standard diplomatic responses (H/t Yes PM)
Sanctions look like 4.5, but good luck finding another response to a country hijacking an aircraft.
I’m struggling to remember the sanctions when the plane carrying a head of state , Bolivia’s Evo Morales was ordered down by umm, European states ., looking for Snowden
Sauce for the goose
Then no problem.
Hmmm – this might cause a backdown though: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/11/belarus-threatens-to-cut-gas-deliveries-to-eu-if-sanctioned-over-border-crisis
Ally is not quite the term for the Belarus/ Russia relationship. Shirvan has a bit of background on that if you're interested: Are Belarus and Russia parting ways? – YouTube
.
Pooklet nap time
Cute.![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
Cheers Gezza (2). It's great to have you back on TS, sharing your delightful wildlife with us once more. The little pookies are soooo sweet.
Thank you, mary. 🌷
Nice to be back here. TS is a great place for keeping up with (& learning more about) matters political, climatic, diplomatic, societal & a range of general interest matters continually raised by contributors.
A bonus is there are great humourists & characters among them.
So I hope this is an unintended consequence of the traffic light system that will be addressed and quickly.
I have 2 daughters, both dance and have done since they were very small one is 10 the other is just turned 12. I have been told that the dance school is considered a gym so my 12 year old will be unable to attend or sit exams unless double vaxxed which I am far from convinced of the benefits in this age cohort.
The 10 year old will be able to attend as will 11 year olds but as soon as they turn 12 they wont be able to attend until double vaxxed so if you went on your birthday at minimum 3 weeks of exclusion.
Excluding children from sport and social groups under these mandates is fucking ridiculous and damaging it needs to be stopped. Activities for children should not be lumped in with gyms in terms of the traffic light system they should be treated similarly to schools.
What you raise is one of the reasons why Covid is hard on families with dependent children. I am not sure how much thought the government gave to your situation. There are a number of issues.
Are the classes aligned with the school terms?
Edit my points were numbered but they got erased when I added a further sentence, so format is squashed.
Yes classes are arranged in line with school terms, and wont happen until we get to red light.
The grades are often mixed age you will certainly have unvaxxed 11 year olds dancing with vaxxed 12 year olds.
You will also have unvaxxed younger kids in studios immediately before and other classes.
People die from covid-19 and you are worried about your daughter missing several weeks of a dance class? I know your family is more important to you than anyone else but I think you need to take a walk and think about your priorities.
Yeah you're missing the point entirely… In the example of the dance class, what they are doing makes absolutely no fucking sense from a covid standpoint.
I also think on a longer term basis excluding children especially in early teen years from sports etc is actually really fucking harmful.
Everyone has had to pay a price since the arrival of the Delta strain. And children have not been immune. Your daughter missing a few weeks of dancing class – as mpledger pointed out – is a small price to pay.
My understanding is, the pfizer vaccine for children will be available for the under 12s in the New Year. So, the present circumstance is very temporary indeed and soon all of them will have to be vaccinated. We only have 5 weeks before the kids are off for Xmas then another 5 weeks of school holidays. By which time the vaccination of all children – for their own safety and well being – will hopefully be well underway.
There are serious ethical concerns vaccinating those young cohorts.
Not to mention children have paid a disproportionately high price given they have missed alot of education and have stunted socialization at a key point in brain development. Its wrong.
Interestingly Taiwan is no longer allowing those under 17 to have a second Pfizer shot due to the disproportionately high levels of myocarditis in that age cohort.
I agree Cricklewood. The kids have paid a very high price by way of interruptions to their education and all the unsettling emotions that go with it. But I don't think missing a few weeks of dancing classes is on the same level.
Your last paragraph must be referring to the general Pfizer vaccine that has been around for the past year. The vaccine I am talking about is the one especially produced for children under 12 and was only internationally approved a matter of weeks ago. That is the one NZ and many other countries plan to use for children because it has been proven safe and effective for them.
Yes the proven vaccine which is now raising enough red flags for countries to pull the handbrake that not concern you Anne? It indicates that they are not as safe as promised we already know they are not as effective as promised.
For the younger cohort proven safe and effective is a real stretch. As it stands all that we know is kids generate an immune response and small trials didnt raise red flags with refards side effects. Whether or not its actually beneficial in real terms the studies are still underway and the prevelance of rare side effects we wont know until its rolled out.
I take it you are happy excluding the younger cohort if parents opt not to vax them. Can you see how this might cause some issues?
Do you think it should be mandated for everyone eligible? Should the state take action against parents who refuse to vaccinate children?
When are you going to read comments properly and stop including negative remarks about matters not present in my comment in the first place!
If your claims re- Taiwan are correct, then the vaccine Taiwan was using could not have been the "Pfizer vaccine for under 12s " as it has only very recently been approved by the US medical authorities and [presumably] the WHO. As far as I can ascertain the trials in the US have only just finished and the vaccine is being rolled out across the country as we speak.
That is the vaccine NZ has managed to acquire (but unlikely to be in the country yet) and it will be rolled out early in the New Year. By all means, refuse to allow your children to be vaccinated by a vaccine which has gone through all the hoops and been approved for universal use. That is your prerogative.
Um I addressed your comment I said re Taiwan that indeed that is the Pfizer we are currently giving to those 12 and up.
The second part of my comment address the child dose vaccine and your comments re proven safety and efficiency which are actually far from settled.
mpledger…my opinion, based on reading numerous research papers and after watching the shit show that was the JCVI recommendations over giving young children these products, is that those pushing these 'vaccines' onto a demographic who are infinitesimally affected by the disease is fuckwittery of the highest order. Immoral. Unethical and completely scientifically and medically unjustified.
Question. [deleted]
(Not going to link again…don't be lazy..look up the research for yourself.) The experts have appeared to have given up totally on any sort of herd/community/population immunity against Covid.
[deleted]
There is a logical progression here…can you think what that might be?
And anyone who demands that a parent put aside their natural instincts to protect their children against some myth of the 'greater good' is beneath contempt.
Shame on you.
[I’ve deleted the claims of fact that have no linked evidence. I’ve left the opinions. We’ve been over this before and I’m not willing to spend more time on this. Each time you or anyone makes a claim of fact, you have to provide evidence as you go (that’s a quote, link and your own explanation interpretation). The reason for this is because otherwise we’re just talking past each other and it gets hard to make sense of what people are claiming.
There’s been a lot of moderation on this topic in the past, I think everyone has had fair warning. I’m noticing in general, across topics, that I’m having to remind regular who should know better. This isn’t FB where people trade in their personal reckons, we require a high level of evidence for claims of fact because we want robust debate. Reread the Policy if unclear (that’s everyone, not just Rosemary) – weka]
Rosemary, most of the information in your comment on covid and the vaccine is incorrect, but probably not worth debating further in this case.
I hope good luck will see you through!
Rosemary, most of the information in your comment on covid and the vaccine is incorrect, but probably not worth debating further in this case.
Please…debate away.
List the incorrect statement I made please.
I'll make a start, eh?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33716331/
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/
https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2101
[please don’t do that. People shouldn’t be expected to read whole pages or research papers to understand you. Instead, quote, link, give your explanation or rationale. Yes, I know it’s more work, but it also holds a lot more water which matters in controversial debates. It will also improve the debate and lessen the accusations (both sides take heed) – weka]
mod note.
Apologies…I post links to peer reviewed research that never get read and/or I try to give at least a precis of what the research I've read found.
Sometimes I feel what I say, my opinions, are worth nothing if not backed up by the science and sometimes I know that no matter what I say the person will have already made up their mind so what's the point?
So I spare them my ramblings and chuck the science at them.
Or not.
I will try not to get into discussions unless I can give it at least 80% attention.
Hi Rosemary
I think that there is sufficient evidence now from the UK to show that the effects of covd on children are far from trivial. Certainly the vaccines we have at present are far fro being effective enough but to trivialise covd in younger cohorts is not a responsible track to take
mod note.
This "people die from Covid" narrative could be used to justify any damn thing. It's a bs argument.
Cricklewood. Reason, common sense, consistency and sadly science have all been sacrificed on the altar of the Covid vaccines.
From Monday I will not longer be considered a fit person to provide the care my C4/5 tetraplegic partner needs. The fact he too is un vaccinated does not affect the Health Order mandate other than to make it even more impossible for another carer to provide the care he needs. Ho hum.
BUT, both he and I are welcome to attend the local base hospital in our un vaccinated state so he can have a routine yearly check up for his leukaemia which he was treated for 10 years ago. We just need to check in with the clinic the day before to assure them we have no symptoms. I assume that ALL attendees at the haematology clinic will be PPE'ed, regardless of vaccine status. Which is entirely appropriate.
Logic departed long since. RIP.
Sadly you are correct, the debate around vaccination of young children will get very ugly I fear. Some will demand mandates for all sorts of childrens activities. Having kids looking suspiciously at each other will not end well.
I'd certainly like to see the outcome of Taiwan's experience with 2nd dose Pfizer for 12-17 year olds
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4340862
The US reports a heightened risk of myocarditis and periocarditis in that age group
I was wondering if you would get caught up in that.
For those that don't know, the MoH is withdrawing funding from disabled people who are being cared for by their own family if the caregiver is unvaccinated.
They can use the funding only for vaccinated caregivers, which is probably reasonable for staff coming in from outside the home, but makes less sense for family caregivers and makes a complete mockery of everything the government says about empowering disabled people in their own lives.
It's one of the most fucked up things I've seen this government do.
Its delibrate cruelty no other explantion for it.
Kindness went out the window a while ago.
Ummm. Tricky position for MoH, DHBs and for that matter for parliament. What you appear to not be considering is that this is an employee or contractor arrangement with a employer. It carries legal responsibilities for the employer. And potential large penalties in criminal, civil, and employment courts.
As a direct or indirect employer, they or the DHBs are potentially liable for their employees who infect others or vice versa (as a reckless endangerment) regardless of who the employee is. There would have to be a specific legal immunity – something that would have to be accurately described by legislation.
Then there are the insurance aspects. Diseases aren’t covered by ACC. No kind of insurance would cover sending high risk employees into a work situation as a deliberate act by the employer.
It is hard to see how Parliament could legislate such a specific legal immunity for the employers about family members. If you even look at any family law you’d understand just how fraught that is. Because simply defining what is a family member is pretty damn undefined. Which is why the legislation tends towards being very limited and prescriptive. So there would be endless cases with long-term family ‘friends’ and ‘partners’ running through the court.
This is essentially the legal position that most employers are in. Where they are been given legal coverage for mandates in potentially high risk medical areas by the use of the Health Acts by parliamentary legislation and government orders in council, both legal routes have been very prescriptive and quite unambiguous. That is what is required for them to be effective in the short time frames available.
Basically I’d suggest that you look to this at the legal review of the pandemic legislation that we will be doing a few years down the line. Offhand, I can’t think of a good way of legally defining the bounds of this.
Your best bet would probably be to make the funding a grant to the people being cared for so that they become the employer – then they can incur the legal risk.
Not really. It is just that you’re mostly looking at it from the viewpoint of the carer and the cared for – without looking at it from the legal position of the funding agency.
If you look back in family law, you will find similar issues appearing every time that direct funding is given on a family basis. DHB cases from the 70s and 80s being the obvious one.
I definitely considered that, and then ran through my head the various aspects and still concluded that the government and the MoH basically don't give a shit. In two ways: one is the normal way that disabled people get treated in NZ. Two is that they're not philosophically inclined towards any leeway for unvaccinated people (i.e. they're sending a very strong message at the same time as casting as wide a net as possible, so why would they want to exempt anyone when coercion seems to be helping the vax rate?)
Asking around it looks like the MoH said no, then yes (due to low risk), and finally no. Really hard to follow what exactly happened and why (Rosemary might know more), or whether the final decision was based on the legals you refer to, or was more about health policy.
If the issue is one of risk, consider that a severely disabled man who is being looked after by his wife, and she doesn't work anywhere else. MoH would have written a list of who was covered by the health order, and they could have included exceptions. They're not mandating all NZ workers, just some, so I think your argument about legal risk is overstated.
The DBHs and MoH don't have to be in the employer role (afaik the MoH never is, and the DHB only where they act as a healthcare agency), they can and do give funding directly to the disabled person. I'd be very surprised if all family caregivers have insurance.
There's also the option that the caregiver is self-employed.
Pretty sure the MoH will have already done this, given they have specific programmes aimed at family care givers.
Obviously a family care giver who worked outside of the home with other vulnerable people or in key positions would be a different story (and I'm fairly certain this is who the original policy was written to cover).
Ok, hearing Rosemary grimace all the way from Northland on that one. A huge number of disabled people in NZ are living below the poverty line. Thanks to successive governments refusing to address disable people's income, and messes around ACC vs WINZ. And no, I don't think WINZ would come to the party on the funding.
And, where the MoH funds people directly, they are not allowed to use that funding to pay unvaccinated caregivers, including family. That's the point. The government is going hard on this, I doubt that people with private income to pay caregivers will be ok even if they are willing to take the risk, afaik it's just flat out against the law now.
But I do expect a lot of this stuff to go under the radar. The Panel recently had someone decrying hairdressers working from home under the table during covid, as if hairdressers haven't always done this. Lots of care work and cleaning gets done this way too. Unvaxxed people who lose their jobs will look for under the table work. Disabled people who can afford it will get desperate for workers and hire who they can. It's not like there's already an abundance of workers out there.
Vaccination is not mandatory if you live with a person who is disabled. It is mandatory if you are employed by a person who is disabled.
For me it is about the welfare of the disabled person and not some wacko law when it comes to being vaccinated when in the company of a person who is disabled in a shared home.
Yes, but also, pretty sure it's if you are a paid caregiver (rather than simply an employee), so it would cover self-employed people as well.
To make it simple who pays the self employed carer and who pays the employee who is the carer?
I think there are two different contracts when it comes to funding.
depends on the funding stream, but the MoH does give funding directly to some clients who then can choose their own caregivers (as employees or contractors I think).
Been away from the computer for a bit (a friend left strict instructions on my To Do notice board for me to spend less time screening) but not to worry…you have it well and truly in hand. (Peter has IF, and yes, although it was not Gazetted when we were informed by HealthcareNZ the other day, family carers providing care in the family home do come under the Health Order mandate fuckwittery.)
We have been here before, and my brief period as a paid family carer has allowed us to stock up and stockpile medical supplies etc (which are difficult to source for some reason) so we are, as usual, prepared.
Pissed off, but prepared. Fuck 'em we say. Raise the drawbridge and lower the portcullis and restock the moat with piranhas.
To celebrate the completion of Peter's new accessible bathroom (after nearly two years) we found a local home based carer to come in to ride shotgun in case I had forgotten how to do bathroom transfers and the like…and in case Himself decided a blackout was in order. This very, very capable woman had had her first Pfizer shot with huge reluctance, and only because her clients need her and she was forced to have it. She was crook for a week. I haven't heard if she's had her second.
This is a shit show.
We are living through the most extraordinary of times and we must, above all, reject the notion that there is only 'one source of truth'.
Thanks weka for batting on this.
The arrangement lprent suggested would be OK for those on super.
do you mean people on Super pay a family caregiver from their pension? Afaik, the mandate is on all health workers, doesn't make where the funding comes from. And which people on Super have the income to pay for lots of support?
Er no – simply that those who get money to pay a carer would not have their super cut (WINZ can only stalk benefit payments).
The NZ Governments (of all persuasions) have almost prided themselves on treating non ACC high needs disabled Kiwis and their chosen family carers like shit.
This is nothing new and completely expected.
In our experience, Ministry of Health bureaucrats have a profound sense of authority based on a dearth of actual knowledge and expertise. To the point of actually causing harm to those they are supposed to be supporting.
And they do not care.
https://publicaddress.net/access/the-family-carers-case-here-we-go-again/
Weka
Inhuman behavior is a consequence of pressure applied from powers we depend on. This was true in other countries with far more severe implications but the principle stands. I am disgusted to read that this is implemented. Insult to injury.
I typed out a couple of responses to this – but reluctantly was compelled to self-moderate.
More than anything else right now I feel ashamed.
What you self moderating!
I thought I would give it a stab @ 3.2.2.2.1.1
That was a lot more level headed response that I was capable of in the moment.![yes yes](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.png?x42494)
You do not need to answer, but is the Pfizer vaccine the reason for you not getting vaccinated?
When it comes to an alternative I was surprised when I heard that the Astra Zeneca vaccine (non mRNA) was going to be offered as an alternative. Another one needs to be found which is also not a mRNA one.
Immuno compromised is another topic. Even in the past.
I do think that the government need to make an exception when it comes to an unvaccinated person being the sole carer of a person in a household bubble providing the person who has the care agrees and is not coerced. There is no point in swapping a problem/s for another one. As well vaccination is not mandatory in a household. I agree with a person needing to be vaccinated were they to go into another household to give care.
So there is a difference when it comes to what goes on in your household.
There certainly are some curve balls and some need a bit more thought.
Treetop. A very close friend, in her early thirties and an early recipient of both Pfizer shots, developed a string of symptoms…including heart issues… and being an avid researcher I dug around a bit.
I simply googled her symptoms and added 'Pfizer shot'. I was totally unprepared for what I found. One website which supports US sufferers of a condition I happen to have had experience with had a new thread on its forum with 456 pages of 10 comments each of people sharing their post vax stories. I had not heard of this website before…nor that it was an actual 'thing' that I had suffered from on more than one occasion. What I'm trying to say is that these people were not my tribe.
That thread is over 750 pages now, and some of those vaccinated (because they were more likely to suffer from Covid) are still very debilitated, some are suicidal and almost all of them regret the day they took the shot. All of the shots. Moderna, Pfizer, J&J, AZ. A US site….has become a haven for sufferers throughout the world, including NZ, who like me made a symptom specific google search and found an island of discussion and support. All of those sharing their stories were met with dismissal and disbelief when they sought medical help.
My young friend is largely recovered, thank the goddess, but she did have Holter heart monitoring and an MRI and a CT scan and an ultrasound. And an ambulance when she collapsed unable to breathe at work.
My partner, after 50 years post spinal injury, is by his own description neurologically fucked. Prone to autonomic dysreflexia, thermoregulatory impairment and orthostatic hypotension at the best of times, the last few years have seen his instability increase. Change…temperature, posture, eating too quick, light, stuff in the air… whatever the fuck can cause extreme dizzines, faintness, blackouts and weird one side of the face rashes. He has become an incredibly delicate wee flower in his 70s… but it is the low, low barely- double -digits blood pressure that has him most worried.
These new vaccines are simply too big a risk.
Thanks for the support on the carer thing. I was Peter's unpaid carer for over twenty years and have only been paid for the work under Covid dispensation fro April last year.
Will we miss my income…a bit…but we knew this was coming months ago so we are prepared.
I thought at first you said too big an ask. Also true. Science is just not good at assessing risk for the outliers.
As you will know…we largely have to do our own risk assessment and management…because we sure as hell haven't got a hotline we can call.
Sure.
And there is information we do not have at hand yet.
So that leaves one with risk management assessment planning
For example
Delay vaccination till
PS For mine the risk of long COVID – vascular damage, organ damage and aging of the cells from infection weights risk on the side of being protected – the balance to that is capability of reducing risk of infection.
The other unknown is the Health Ministry plan for rationing.
For example they have finally funded the diabetes 2 drug that prevents deterioration to need for dialysis – but only for one third of those who need it.
They might import treatments (anti-virals and fluvoxamine – anti-inflammatory that can be used before the steroid can be) but restrict provision of them to only some – this would increase the number of long COVID outcomes.
The other unknown is the Health Ministry plan for rationing.
I have no doubt they have one. The groundwork has been done for it to be acceptable to not treat the 'willfully unvaxxed' , to 'prioritise' and 'make the hard decisions'.
From many comments here on TS from 'Lefties'… there is a real appetite for the 'tent in the corner of the hospital carpark.'
If that is to be the case, and I have little doubt that there will be more of this attitude from those in healthcare, then at least doctors should be able to prescribe medicines and recommend therapies that may not necessarily have been approved by the bureaucrats at Medsafe. ( I am talking about off label use of established drugs with many years of safety records.)
People say all sorts of stuff because of their insecurity (interning Japanese banning Moslem migrants etc), it’s those who do that are of more concern.
(I would not rely on it, but if infected and without adequate health back up would raid the Evie McTin for a cookie).
I know you do your research carefully on medical matters. You have always come across as being very devoted to the health of your partner.
Thing that really fucks me off is that if we hadn't spent the last however many decades forcing many disabled people to live in poverty (financial and health), I think many of the current hesitant disabled people would choose to vaccinate. If people feel they will be looked after, then they are often more willing to take risk.
The degree of health privilege expressed by lefties in recent months is mindblowing. But it does sit alongside their relative reluctance to actually do something about the poverty of disabled people.
I think you mean the neo-liberal regime straight jacket managing elected governments, including those nominally centre-left.
Actual lefties have sought income support for those with disability at super levels, and both income support for carers and the continuance of income support to those with disability while with working partners.
There is restructuring and there is restructuring. One puts people's welfare first, the other puts cost of services first.
One puts people's welfare first, the other puts cost of services first.
During the family carers cases hearings…so many , over such a long time…one aspect that was poorly described was the cost benefit of having a family member providing some very high level advanced personal cares.
To pay for registered/enrolled nurse level care would be too expensive and 'allowing' unregulated carers to perform some of the RN/EN level tasks raised a raft of liability issues. Not providing the care would put the patient in hospital (very expensive) or their life at risk (cheap, and many think this is actually the desired outcome).
Paying a family carer at the same rate as an unregulated carer with the disabled person giving permission for that family member to perform those high level care tasks you'd think it would have been an obvious win/win/win.
But these are bureaucrats…
Cricklewood, in the context of a global pandemic that has killed over 5 million people, your kids’ dance classes are unimportant. Get a life.
So how deep is the rabbit hole?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300452605/saliva-testing-processes-slammed-by-auditorgeneral
How much more is there that we have no means of knowing let alone checking? Is NZ becoming a country throwing proven checks and balances over board to get the wink wink nudge nudge instead?
that's really bad. Might be corruption, but I'd be looking first at an already stressed system degenerating under the pandemic stress. Also decades of neoliberal managerial culture. Not excuses, but if we want to fix this shit we need to be honest about the systemic issues, not just want heads to roll.
I would suggest Rako very publicly disputing what had been said about Saliva testing by both the MOH and Minister put them at a severe disadvantage during the tender process. No doubt a bureaucrat or 3 in the Ministry had an axe to grind.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/07/coronavirus-saliva-testing-provider-disputes-chris-hipkins-claim-of-reluctance-over-test-s-slow-rollout.html
"The ministry has consistently advised Chris Hipkins incorrectly – that saliva is a less sensitive sample for detecting Sars-CoV-2 as compared to nasopharyngeal swab tests." He said the company's protocols had been "diagnostically validated" as "at least as sensitive and accurate as nasopharyngeal swab tests".
I think that it's fair to say that in general the move from pandemic to endemic is ideologically driven rather than science based. An interesting article at naked capitalism gives a lot of insight to the roots of "living with covd" and the necessary tragedies that this will entail. in the case of NZ, by the end of summer we will have obtained complete transmission of Delta throughout the country if national summer holidays are given the ok. From the article:
The clear implication is that we are no longer following the science but have been co-opted into the business and economy centred view that peoples lives (the plebs) are less important than profits. The government could have stomped on the "freedom" protest organisers but instead has seen them as a useful tool to steer us towards endemic. The poll results could be read as the population realising the slide in commitment by the govt towards protecting peoples health. I dont know the Greens position on covd but there is an opening now for someone to make gains by filling the elimination space that has been abandoned by Labour.
I'm ok with the government not simply rubberstamping every suggestion from the scientific community. There are a wide variety of factors that might make a course of action counterproductive or impractical, so the ideal might not always intersect with the possible.
What I would like, however, is for advice regarding other factors (economic, administrative, enforcement capabilities, legal practicalities) to be as well-publicised as the scientific advice. Are we fighting a holding action to minimise ICU demands as region by region becomes exposed? Or is there just a "resistance is futile" atmosphere permeating the government because the white-ants have finally eroded the necessary compliance rates to the point that either the govt gives up or starts actual mass arrests? Or does polling in Auckland just look bad?
Everyone and their cousin has become a certified google epidemiologist with a side-hustle of immunology, just as we were all google seismologists and mining engineers ten years ago. But there doesn't seem to have been the same level of focus on the arguments for relaxing lockdowns as there was for implementing them.
Maybe that's the difference between science and the social sciences. Maybe it's maybelline.
Absolutely agree McFlock. It feels as though we are being left out of the conversation. It would be nice for a bit of transparency. Maybe the govt could let us in on their thinking rather than trying to herd us in the direction they have decided to take
Govt inserts Green lever into the economy:
This strikes me as a substantial shift away from greenwash.
So what we seem to have here is both design and enforcement method. Time will tell if the combo actually works – but it does promise a morphing effect, away from neoliberalism towards sustainability.
So, who's making the money?
Obviously a socialist would point to Grant Robertson, author of govt investment policy, as a player in the game. Grant would respond "Are you kidding? I'm a neoliberal. I just do policy. Others handle the money side of things."
Yaaay Greens.
this does look good. Depends on what the funds to towards I guess.
World bank is immediately a red flag for me. First question is do bonds equate to a loan or is this a gift. Then if a loan are they denominated in $NZ or $US. If US then we are effectively selling our souls since we will always be open to political pressure through currency manipulation. At present all govt bonds are in $NZ. If push comes to shove we can always get the Reserve Bank to buy them back. QE for the people. Once we owe $US its game over for any remaining shred of independence.
With govt bonds in $US its irrelevant what value our currency is at. In fact if our currency devalues its easier to pay back. Debt in $US becomes very hard to repay if your currency comes under attack.
Good points. World Bank was once a red flag for me too but it seems to have headed towards being part of the solution in recent years. I've put a request for appraisal on Michael Reddell's site…
If you find out they are hawking green bonds as US denominated debt you will know that they have gotten a lot worse because it will signal that they have figured out how to enslave first world countries as well third world. I'm a cynic on that front especially as it's pretty recent since they tied Ecuador in a pretty little bow that will take some undoing.
Sally Brooker is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Otago, a principal investigator in the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, and co-leader of the German-NZ green hydrogen relationship building team. Her opinion:
Chris Bishop is making lots of noise around no need for MIQ for fully vaccinated people to be in MIQ.
That doesn't take into account a new variant emerging.if a new variant arrived which was more deadly that wasn't suppressed by existing vaccines it would be wise not to panic and keep MIQ in place until Covid is brought under control.Its easy for opposition to pick away at the existing govt,when you don't have to make the decisions.
Contact tracing is not keeping up with unlinked cases and Bishop wants to put more pressure on health workers and overload the hospital capacity quicker.
Not only a new strain emerging but antibodies waning and the R number increasing with the current Delta outbreak.
What is Bishop going to do when health workers become unwell or are partially burnt out?
Of course he's a yarpie.
A prison officer at the Waikeria jail in Waikato is on “special leave” after allegations he assaulted and strangled an inmate.
Anthony Prinsloo faces charges of injuring with reckless disregard, and strangulation, which carry maximum penalties of five and seven years imprisonment, respectively.
Prinsloo’s charge sheet says the charges relate to an alleged assault of prisoner Christopher Ranapia at the jail on June 20 this year.
Prinsloo has entered a not guilty plea to the injuring charge, and has yet to enter a plea on a more recently-added charge of strangulation, which was described as “intentionally or recklessly impeded Christopher Ranapia’s normal breathing by applying pressure on or to his throat, neck or both”.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/126940647/prison-officer-on-special-leave-after-claims-he-strangled-an-inmate
Waikeria Crackdown
Am I headed for the pound again ??
Officer Anthony Prinsloo (a South African) has just officially charged me with breach of a prison rule after having found me in another inmates cell watching Lisa Owen interviewing me on “Newshub Nation” on TV3 on Saturday morning .
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/06/26/arthur-taylor-crackdown-by-prison-for-watching-my-interview-with-lisa-owen/
Not a great fan of ethnic slurs, and don’t like populist jargon either, but had never heard this one.
The name may be occasionally used as an ethnic slur for Afrikaners, in which instance it is also spelt according to English orthography: yarpie. This comes from the Afrikaans term plaasjapie, meaning "farm boy".[1] It has socio-economic connotations similar to the NZ/Australian term bogan or the American hillbilly. It may or may not be an offensive term depending upon intent and context of use.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japie
Yu Kongjian teaches Green design recycled from ancient times:
We need this guy to come here and teach our town planners that concreted places don't absorb water and thus surface flooding.
We need the water in the ground, not on concrete to collect all sorts of pollution and then go via the storm drain to nowhere.
Random thoughts wonderfully colliding![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20211025-the-marvel-of-chinas-multi-generational-rice-terraces
Indeed, and that's an excellent photo to start with!![yes yes](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.png?x42494)
Onsite here I often advocate my favourite leftist principle: social equity. As this example from your link indicates, it's essential for any economy.
This style of agriculture is also a model of resilience:
The faces of covid today;
1. “The Taranaki town of Stratford is on high alert today after six people tested positive for Covid-19.
One person is in hospital and the other five are isolating at home. All of the cases have a link to the Auckland outbreak.
Taranaki DHB medical officer of health Dr Jonathan Jarman says the six people were very reluctant to get tested and have not been using the tracer app.”
2. “The West Auckland woman says her 68-year-old father, who fled a conflict-scarred country 20 years ago for a better future, spent the last five days of his life in agony coughing up blood and was too weak to move, waiting for officials to say he should go to hospital.”
3. "Some of them didn't believe that Covid was even an actual thing. They thought it was a conspiracy until they actually got it. And so you've got a lot of those, kind of misinformation out there that our people are getting.” (Paula Ormsby, Waikato women's branch leader of Mongrel Mob Wāhine Toa)
4. "The Bay of Plenty town Murupara has the country's lowest vaccination rates – less than half of the eligible population has had even one dose.
A local doctor, who rejects the Pfiizer vaccine, is closing his practice rather than accept government mandates." The 30 year GP in Murupara has said, “I am not an antivaxxer and would personally administer this vaccine should my patient be adequately informed and give free choice.”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018820227/covid-19-murupara-racing-to-get-vaccinated
The new face today is Taupo.
Can someone explain to me why this person has been added to our Covid deaths?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-shooting-three-people-charged-over-new-lynn-murder-self-isolating-fourth-on-the-run/EXKEM7V7AEN3DB7WX2OKE2QMB4/?objectid=12485044&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=nzh_fb&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1636601423
I'm no coroner, but didn't the bullet going through him cause his death?
There is a criteria for a covid-19 death. I am guessing that it is something like – anyone dying from any cause within 30 days of diagnosis (or maybe recovery) from covid-19.
There has to be a pretty strict criteria so that there is uniform counting across countries etc. But sometimes human-made criteria can't cover all the permutations that life throws up.
Sometimes it is easier to over-count (slightly) then to spend time splitting hairs.
That's bloody ridiculous! The guy was out on his driveway, and probably would have been off work for a week with Covid, then back to normal. Don't you think lead poisoning would be a more likely cause of death?
I would have thought we would want to keep our deaths from Covid as low as possible, not artificially inflate them………what's next? An asymtomatic person tests positive and while leaving hospital to go to MIQ gets run over by a bus! Notch up another Covid kill.
Yes, it is called a "case definition". You need them in epidemiology – they work well but any case definition will usually include false positives and false negatives.
Simplicity is also desirable. In this case, simplicity has trumped accuracy, I am guessing. You could make the case definition more nuanced (to exclude this case, for example), but probably not worth it for tracking the big picture.
I was thinking, a good defense lawyer could probably get the shooter a not guilty verdict as the bullet didn't kill him, Covid did!
Well, no, a trial is akin to a case review rather than an epidemiological aggregate.
Additionally, on the mortality records the primary cause of death will still eventually be the bullet. But those get finalised after the coronial cases are closed, so lag a couple of years.
Keeping them in the epidemiological aggregate looks a bit silly for small numbers, but then with larger numbers we might find that shooting victims with covid are more likely to die than non-covid victims, so maybe it could be regarded as a contributory cause (albeit not primary cause) of death.
Sorry I thought it was obvious I was being sarcastic!
In the defense argument line, sure, but the gripe about the aggregate record seemed real.
It's not quite as odd as one might imagine.
So… because a person died, having been shot, is it reasonable to conclude that he couldn't have passed on Covid? If he wasn't listed as having Covid, could the usual tracking and tracing of contacts have been done? Are Covid deaths recorded because the person died with, or died of, the infection?
Died with. But we're not exactly living in a time where people are dropping off all over the place. Brits in particular were trying the "it only means died with not of" line last year, which is why the excess mortality stats also gained prominence.
It actually tends to work the other way – because a lot of governments got overwhelmed (charitable explanation) or wanted to hide the true toll of their incompetence (most likely), they actually stopped tests and counts unless they absolutely couldn't avoid it. So in a lot of the world, 2020 mortality was higher than expected but by much more than the official covid count.
But then there's the question about what other things emerged to raise mortality rates by 15-20% at the same time covid hit the world. Godzilla sneaking around the place?
For violent deaths, they have to be referred to the coroner, in which case cause of death isn't legally established until a finding is made. In the meantime, the reporting is that someone died while Covid positive until the Coroner's determination arrives, after which the figures can be updated.
This no doubt seems weird, but came about to avoid deliberate undercounting of deaths for political convenience (HIV was bad for this).
James Shaw speaks 🙂
" It’s been a whirlwind week of kōrero, talanoa, media, meetings, and negotiations. There have been some really positive developments, but some issues remain. Over the next two days countries need to come together to agree an outcome that keeps us on track to address the climate crisis. The consequences of not doing so are intolerable.
As I told countries on Tuesday:
For decades political leaders have known what would happen if they did not act to cut emissions. They had a chance to stop it. But they didn’t. And so, it falls to us. Right here. Right now."
(Copied from Facebook. Anyone wanting to read from the source could copy some of the text, paste it into their browser’s search bar and have it appear, effortlessly, I reckon).
"They saw the winners sent home with their laptops and smart-phones. They saw themselves heading out to work every morning, as usual, to do what were once called the “shit jobs” – but were now referred to as “essential occupations”. They wondered about that. If their jobs were “essential”, why weren’t they paid the same sort of wages as the people on “Zoom” meetings, whose jobs clearly were not? They saw a world which kept on working pretty well, even when more that half the workforce was doing nothing more productive than exchanging e-mails. Some members of the Team of Five Million seemed to have a whole lot less to do than others. Something was definitely wrong with this picture."
That picture has been askew for quite some time
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2021/11/behold-losing-class.html
So Devon Conway punches his bat and breaks his hand. So much for "a champion team will always beat a team of champions". His lack of self discipline has just helped Australia's chances of taking the final.
It was not intentional. It is a game. Tim Seifert is no mean player Top score T20 84.
I must confess that I was fishing for Alwyn.
I'm sorry but Alwyn's are a completely protected species in New Zealand so any fishing for me is banned.
We are also far smarter than anglers.
Aha, caught you!
What to watch out for fishing for alwyn
https://i.imgur.com/OSMo0HH.gif
I'll bet that is your great mate Seamus, isn't it Gezza?
Yaw diversionary tactics are wasted on me, my bro. We both know that's YOU❗️ 😀 💪🏼 🐧
Yeah we lose a bit in the batting but we gain in keeping department and maybe the adversity of losing a key player lifts the team as a whole
Of more concern is that'll miss the Indian tour
"Glasgow: The shock new pact between China and the United States unveiled in Glasgow has been hailed as a breakthrough as the deadline looms for the climate summit’s negotiations.
The world’s two largest emitters declared global warming an existential crisis which demands co-operation between the superpowers.
In a boost to the flagging COP26 talks and sign of a possible thawing in the fractured relationship between both countries, Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua and his US counterpart John Kerry stunned observers by unveiling the joint declaration pledging tougher action this decade.
The agreement was negotiated in secret for months during about 30 virtual meetings and negotiation sessions in Shanghai, London and Washington before final terms were settled in Glasgow on Wednesday night local-time (Thursday AEDT)"
"Xie described climate change as an “existential crisis” and said agreement between the US and China on how to deal with global warming far outweighed their differences on the issue.
Kerry, a former US secretary of state under Barack Obama, framed the surprise agreement as much-needed momentum for the COP26 talks.
“The two largest economies in the world have agreed to work together to raise climate ambition in this decisive decade,” Kerry told reporters in Glasgow.
“Our teams have worked together for months, and we have worked in good faith. We have found common ground.”
Kerry described the joint-declaration as a “road map for our present and future collaboration” on climate change."
https://www.theage.com.au/world/europe/existential-crisis-united-states-and-china-stun-cop26-with-joint-climate-change-pact-20211111-p597wq.html
Thanks, Brigid. Seems like a breakthrough. Perhaps prudent to await further analysis before we get too excited. Simulation is a strategy of govts since whenever…
Since it doesn’t show up here I’m guessing it’s a bilateral thingy: https://ukcop26.org/cop-president-daily-media-statement-and-latest-announcements-11-november/
Although this other report of it shows it happened at the venue: https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/china-us-make-joint-statement-cop26-climate-summit-2021-11-10/
I linked briefly to this development a couple of days ago. It's the outcome of significant on-going negotiations and it's not at all clear who the players are, what their motives and commitment to this really is.
Nor do we have any details on the intended 'co-operation'.
So far all the talk is around methane reduction – but that's literally only a half measure. The CCP knows full well that it risks being the very odd man out in this game, their CO2 emissions being larger and growing faster than any other major nation. You can parse the data however you like, but unless the PRC turns this corner no other actions anywhere else in the world will matter much. They know this.
They also know that solar and wind power does not work in their climate zone – nor can anyone reasonably demand they should 'shrink' their per capita energy use. This leaves just one singular path forward. The question has to be – are the US and the PRC planning to cooperate on a new generation of nuclear power?
If this is true – there could be a great deal more to this deal than is apparent so far.
Yeah, you got it. The fact that they've been doing bilateral negotiations for months suggests an ongoing mutual commitment to actually getting a substantial deal done. But it's also in their mutual interest to signal an output @ COP26. So there's a wee bit of a fudge going on.
Re the nuclear angle, your summary of the relevant logic is apt. No point precipitating a public relations disaster via premature announcement. Framing of that would be crucial. All the scientific, economic & political ducks in a row is the design challenge. If they're engaged on that task it'd be a massive breakthrough.
Julian Assange and Stella Moris are getting married in Belmarsh prison
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/nov/11/julian-assange-allowed-to-marry-partner-stella-moris-in-jail
Typically the Guardian gets it wrong claiming they met in the Ecuador Embassy .They met in 2011, when Moris was called in to help Jennifer Robinson, long time lawyer of Assange
In the RT link Amy Goodman interviews Stella Moris
She's an impressive young woman
https://www.rt.com/uk/540043-julian-assange-marriage-moris/
Typical state behaviour though:
Hard to disagree with her, but I must point out that the state has sovereign power. Therefore bureaucrats are authorised to pass the buck whenever possible. The referral to the CPS by a bureaucrat seems malevolent yet I bet that bureaucrat has nothing in his employment contract requiring him to make decisions in accord with the human rights of prisoners.
Therefore, as state agent, he is free to choose where to pass the buck. There's no requirement in the law around state constitution in western countries that requires the state to make decisions based on ethical conduct or human rights as far as I know. Sure, most western countries signed up for the UN Covenants that describe such rights, but I'm unaware of any actual constraint resulting from the signing that binds state employees into acting in accord…
Geez, this sounds like very bad police/MOH coordination … ☹️
“Distraught family members who were allegedly let through Auckland’s border by compassionate police officers for the funeral of their Covid-infected father subsequently had their border exemption application declined.
Three siblings travelled from Whangārei to farewell their father before they received a response from the Ministry of Health on their application, the Herald has been told.
The family claim they were allowed into Auckland and attended the funeral, after which their travel exemption application was declined.
Now they fear they may have trouble returning home.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-delta-outbreak-family-of-glen-eden-man-who-died-denied-border-exemption-after-travelling-to-funeral/4EGO5TPI2R5VKFQCYTREPPPCKE/
Looks like what happens when humanitarian concerns come into conflict with the little hitler syndrome. Bureaucrats are big on rules and small on humanity…
With respect, Dennis, I think little hitler syndrome is an inaccurate & unfair description.
I was a public servant for 34 years, but I was never a bureaucrat & studiously avoided employment in any roles that required a bureaucratic temperament or attitude.
What most likely has happened here is classic bureaucracy tho. The person or persons charged with making the decision are too far removed from the people affected by it & most likely have little effective discretion to depart from firm & generally successful (so far) rules that have kept covid under control (until delta).
My bet is that at MOH there was a collective “If we say yes, we’ll open the floodgates & there’ll be a raft of such requests in future that we can’t then deny”-type decision. So the decision was to hang tuff for what seemed like a good reason.
Policepersons, on the other hand, are the sharp end, dealing with people face to face on a daily basis. They have lots of discretion. Many of them are moved by simple human compassion that comes from seeing grief daily. The longer they’re in a frontline role the better they get at becoming sensible, pragmatic decision-makers.
Fair enough. I accept such nuances characterise the public service. Your point re the police/public interface & pragmatism is a good one. Anyway, feel free to admonish me again whenever I air my stance on public service bureaucrats. Since it is based on half a century or so of observing the little hitler syndrome evident in media reportage of their decision-making, it'll probably keep showing up!![wink wink](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png?x42494)
There’s no doubt that there ARE some little hitlers in the public service, in both case officer & supervisor roles, and I’ve met some of these psychopaths – but in the case of these applications for covid exemptions it’s a safe bet that at least two people – and very likely more than two – are involved in collectively making & then approving the final decision.
Most public servants in my experience are not the cold-hearted inflexible bastards they’re often stereotyped as. They’re ordinary, compassionate, empathetic folk like the rest of us. What counts is the policy criteria they get charged with enforcing, but don’t usually have any input into developing.
'Gliding On' has alot to answer for Gezza…probably one of DF's favourites…right timeline.![wink wink](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png?x42494)
.
🤔
👍🏼 😀
Altho Gliding On was right on the mark with many of its characterisations of how govt departments operated in the 70’s, when I joined, right down to the decor, office layouts, tea ladies & typists.
Things changed massively after Roger Douglas raided & stripped out the economy. No more tea ladies, just a kitchen area & free milk, sugar, cheapest instant coffee & tea – and open plan offices (with cube walls, if you were lucky).
Well, no, there are good reasons for it.
The cops letting them through without a pass were endangering people in other regions. I can understand why, but they took a risk that was above their pay grade.
edit: ah, ok, they were going the other direction (into akl) so not too bad. Still it’s a bit like going overseas – if you go without everything done first, there’s no guarantee you won’t get stuck.