More recently known as Ed, and probably even more recently (and briefly) known as Jinx. Definitely not witty, in fact completely devoid of any detectable humour whatsoever.
Pseudo-pseudo majorly concentrated on funnelling the USA and world disasters to us. I wondered why he seemed stuck in a rut, but after WtB’s count of its headline groupings, if he looked at the Herlad that would have been predictable.
Just one word of amelioration about the Herald – it does produce some good factual stuff; we aren’t seeing it become the National Enquirer yet.
Hmmmm…in these times, where even expressing an interest into thoroughly investigating all aspects of what are now considered conventional practices (be it vaccination, fluoridation of public water supplies, widespread 1080 use, widespread agrichemical use etc) is going to attract a shit tonne of ‘strident’ pro-ers tearing one to bits and accusing the ‘antis’ of being the cause of all the worlds problems…is it any reason your so called ‘anti – vaxxers’ are keeping a low profile?
Judging by the comments sections of msm articles about all of the above issues…it is the ‘pro’ lobby dishing out the bulk of the shit in a ‘strident’ manner
So. Being a person who was raised to make my own inquiries I’ve gone to the source, so to speak, and downloaded the current Immunisation Handbook from the that august institution the Ministry of Health.
The Disclaimer, though, kinda made my eyebrows rise….
“Disclaimer
This publication, which has been prepared for, and is published by, the Ministry of Health, is for the assistance of those involved in providing immunisation services in New Zealand.
While the information and advice included in this publication are believed to be correct, no liability is accepted for any incorrect statement or advice.
No person proposing to administer a vaccine to any other person should rely on the advice given in this publication without first exercising his or her professional judgement as to the appropriateness of administering that vaccine to another person.”
Those sort of publications always have that sort of warning.
There are people who simply cannot be given immunizations. There is apparently at least one child in this category at the Christchurch school. Quite why that is so I don’t know.
Anybody reading this publication you have is merely being told to consider the individual health situation of the person concerned before going ahead with the injection.
“No person proposing to administer a vaccine to any other person should rely on the advice given in this publication without first exercising his or her professional judgement as to the appropriateness of administering that vaccine to another person.”
Confidence, much?”
Yes absolutely, this is standard risk management by the MoH, no different from the provision of any medication or medical procedure to a patient. Benefits must out weigh risks…do no harm etc etc
yes. The harm from not immunizing only eventuate if they loudly declare how they are justified they are not to, and enough of the herd follow their lead. It’s like they want to kill lots of people and get a egotistical high of the higher ground.
The Min of Health is just protecting itself from possible expensive legal claims that people who have endless negative cautions, and a positive desire for litigation, are adding to the maelstrom of matters to fear and defend oneself from.
I read some of Linus Pauling’s work on Vitamin C, and remember an article about a vaccination programme in Australia on aboriginal children.
A doctor working with the children, advocated for the administration of Vitamin C before any of the children were vaccinated. He theorised that their diet did not provide their immune system with the ability to respond to the vaccinations as expected. Ridiculed for this procedure, when he left his post the fatality rate for immunised children rose as high as 50% in the Northern Territories. And this was in the 70’s.
There is a long and terrible history of forced medication or medical intervention. Measles seems to be a very low bar to call for compulsory vaccination.
Many people who have had iatrogenic experiences, don’t have the blind faith in medical institutions and decision making that is required for such clear non-questioning compliance.
Wouldn’t you say that many on this site are authoritarian in their views with regards to the action required to address climate change? And rightly so. Evidence suggests action is required on climate change.
When the evidence overwhelmingly supports the case that vaccines work, and they keep the community safe, then we have a right to be “authoritarian” in those views, and we must always call out those who choose to ignore the evidence. Vaccinate your kids, or stay out of our schools. The exception obviously being those who cannot vaccinate based on medical professional opinion – which is exactly why the rest of us need to vaccinate – to keep those who cannot vaccinate, safe!
“When the evidence overwhelmingly supports the case that vaccines work, and they keep the community safe,..”
Possibly the most recent evidence that that statement is false…
” In spite of protecting against the diseases, DTP-vaccinated children had fivefold higher mortality than children who didn’t receive the vaccine.
We have repeated this finding many times. Protection against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis seems to come at a very high price: increased risk of dying from other infections, such as respiratory infections, particularly for females. Translated into absolute numbers, the results indicate that the use of DTP vaccine in sub-Saharan Africa may cost tens of thousands of female lives every year. ”
The researcher is not saying all vaccines are bad and is not saying that all non live vaccines should be banned. She IS saying there is a very, very real problem with the order in which vaccines are given. She IS saying (well, implying) that because the whole discussion around vaccinations has become so polarised, these vital research findings are very likely to be lost in a(nother) shitstorm of extremist rage.
But. Whatever. I never cease to be awestruck at the absolute, blind commitment of some on these pages to a particular point of view, regardless of any information that might come their way that ordinarily would make a person have a further wee think.
Another frustration is that many here seem almost incapable of actually reading an article or paper all the way through…yet still feel they have the authority to comment, and worse, dismiss it.
“Another frustration is that many here seem almost incapable of actually reading an article or paper all the way through…yet still feel they have the authority to comment, and worse, dismiss it.’
Case proven. How about, when you dive into an ongoing conversation, you actually backtrack and actually check out the links?
Or, I can just dish it up to you again….because information is power and all that…..
How many deaths have been avoided over the last few decades due to the vaccines? I would hazard a guess that this far outweighs the risks. It is the risks that you seem so fixated on, even if the evidence suggests the benefit to society outweighs these risks. You are looking for a perfect solution to eradicating these illnesses – I’m sorry, but there will never be one. But to expose the vast majority of the population to these illnesses based on a low level of risk from vaccination would be absurd. I’ll stop arguing at this point – as pro-plague people are extremely painful to argue with.
I would consider myself very concerned about climate change, and an advocate for effective changes, information sharing and planned transition. My personal individual choices reflect that as well as my attendance at a couple of select committee hearings and protests, and my commitment to submitting to government when possible.
Yet, I believe an authoritarian approach is one that treats people like children and dismisses any questions or concerns. Ultimately, it creates division and builds resistance to change. It may be the choice of the frustrated – and satisfy in the short term – but in the long term it takes greater energy to sustain and often results in significant pushback.
Imo, these anti-vaxxers come from the same school of thought as the anti-fluoride crowd and the Climate Change deniers. They never read any of the reputable information available. Instead they follow fringe nutcases who have no scientific or medical credibility whatsoever. Nutbars paying homage to nutbars.
There’s an Aussie woman on her way to NZ to spread her brand of anti-vaxxer poison. She should be banned from entering the country on the grounds she represents a danger to the community at large. In this case I strongly suspect she’s a con artist making a lot of money out of the anti-vaccine campaign.
Perhaps we could follow the example of the Italian Government.
From an Economist daily newsletter I get.
“Italian children can now be turned away from school unless there is proof they have been properly vaccinated. Parents of unvaccinated children aged between six and 16 can also be fined up to €500 ($565). Lorenzin law, introduced following a rise in measles cases, requires immunisation against a number of illnesses including chickenpox, polio, measles, mumps and rubella.”
From what level of understanding would you support such a law, Anne?
That you endorse hate speech views such as garners on this subject signals your understanding of vaccine science is literally zero…
If you actually cared about children, you might take the time to spend learning and undstanding more about the subject…
The global researched and archives issues relating to vaccine science (which is the anti-science) people like to project onto other groups…is building daily in support of maimed, damaged and killed children, Anne…
Or are you comfortable to disregard the body of evidence?
If you would like a discussion, and some links, I can share you many (to peer reviewed research)…
Do it for the children, Anne…you say you care about them…
The global researched and archives issues relating to vaccine science (which is the anti-science) people like to project onto other groups…is building daily in support of maimed, damaged and killed children, Anne…
If I read you correctly then that is one of the most obnoxious pieces of crap I have ever encountered on the subject. It serves to highlight the necessity for a law to prevent that kind of hair-brained garbage from being advocated in public places.
And Nigel Latta expressed the same views as mine on Seven Sharp tonight except in a rather more diplomatic fashion. (Not online yet)
Btw, I was professionally trained in both the physical and psychological health and well being of children.
Precis….live vaccines good and can have health benefits beyond the target disease. Dead vaccines….not so good…in fact bad in far too many cases…especially for girls.
Very simple precis, and I sincerely hope it gets your attention.
Live vaccines priming the immune system. Absolutely no surprise there though it is a wow moment for me that the coverage is more comprehensive than the targeted disease. And this was found for multiple live vaccines. Wow.
I kinda see why doctors prefer the dead vaccine and why mothers do not. But patient harm in any form needs to be put under serious scrutiny. Is there any test for a pre-condition of immuno-compromised people?
I geek out on tweaking plant immunity with various microbes and fungi, viruses are over my pay grade – we did have a relatively
comprehensive look at HIV in postgrad. Damn thing evolves…
Our tutor was one of the ones that died on flight MH17. Damn shame that was.
About a century ago there was a woman helping Australian Aborigines at a time when polio was being vaccinated agai
Sister Kenny devised a way of treating polio victims that had better outcomes than previously. One of her ideas was that the vaccine shouldn’t be given to someone at a time when they had a cold, or their health was compromised. I think that would fit in with your idea of having a pre-condition that would affect immune systems.
She also did a lot of work keeping their limbs moving so that they didn’t end up as permanently disabled.
And yet you’ve offered zero, nothing to counter the comment I made…but go right ahead…you believe it’s “obnoxious crap and hairbrained garbage”… you must be able to back it up…
Surely if you’re supporting punitive laws, endorsing violent hate speech , you must have legitimate counters to my comment, Anne….you must have a level of understanding of the core issues…the research…the harm…the damaged and dead…
Surely, Anne…you must have…or how can you offer written support of such laws coming to Nz…Endorse censorship…you must have knowlegde and understanding to counter…
I’m offering you the opportunity for an open discussion…only you on this subject Anne…because you supported the hate speech I’m calling out…
I also believe you are a higher calibre of commentator on balance, here in comparison to others engaged in this discussion…
With respect…if your training was from your understood generation (based on your comments)…then it will be terribly outdated and in need of a refresh…
So go right ahead, Anne…provide substance of your position to endorse hate speech against children and parents…censorship and punitive legislations…
Here we go… Nigel Latta talking about vaccines on Seven Sharp. Scroll past the weather and it’s the first item. Listen to Hillary and Jeremy after the end of the interview following the brief ASB ad. They make a couple of pertinent points couched in humour:
Nigel Latta. He’s a bit akin to a much loved teddy bear isn’t he? Hauled out, dusted off and cuddled so we can all feel comforted and secure. I had no idea he was an expert on immunology and vaccination science.
On second thoughts Anne…DON’T WATCH/READ WHAT DR BENN HAS TO SAY.
Fair enough Anne. That is the level of propaganda which you’re amenable to…that your level of understanding is derived from…
You’re not alone in being fooled…there are too many ‘fools’ …on either side of the discussion…including the paid ones in the link you posted…
You see Anne, it is not a binary discussion…despite your preferred propaganda channels imploring you to believe…it is a deeply nuanced, complicated set of (actual science) , not vaccine science and its pseudoscience relative, psychology…components…deeply personal…
You, and each and every individual…paid or unpaid who share…or pretend to share the same views…are already relegated to the sidelines of the discussion…while the minority goes about what the minorities through history…always go about doing…
That you so callously disregard the global scientific community’s body of archived research, performed and disseminated to those adults and parents who take full responsibility for their offspring, by spending time and energy learning and understanding that research…
Says that you Anne, have chosen…at this point in your life…not to grow…not to further your knowledge…not to gain understanding as to why it is you…and the ‘authorities’ you refer…who will continue to lose ground…who will continue to lack understanding about why…the vaccine science industry…has lost its position…
And you will continue to blame those who do know…who did the research…the science…who suffered the damage and loss…who shared the actual science with other adults from all professional and non professional backgrounds…to decide for themselves, the best choices to make for their children…
While yourself…and all those whose views you relate to…will continue to belittle and berate those…who took the time to grow and expand themselves…for the good of others…
And you and your ilk…will believe it is ‘others’…who are stupid…who are gullible…who are uneducated absorbers of fake news on the internet….
But that, Anne…is already the projections of those who have been sidelined…because real science…is never settled…
It had already moved on from what you ‘believed’ it to be…decades ago…and you’re not interested in updating yourself…
Thanks One Two. It’s reassuring to know that you’ve done all the research because you care so much… and still come up with the wrong outcomes.
Vaccines, amongst other public health methods, have lifted health quality outcomes like being free from communicable diseases and living longer to heights almost unimaginable 100 years ago.
But of course some stupid fuckwits on the internet know better than 97% of health professionals because they’ve done some reading. This is the magic number of scientists that confirm global warming is correct. So how can the same proportion of doctors be so wildly incorrect in your opinion?
Personally I don’t want my kids going to schools with other parents children who are trying to be 3rd world worriers. Vaccines should be legally mandated or no entry into public schools.
The anti-vaccination movement is, by and large, a first world thing.
Take the polio vaccine, afaik, the oral polio vaccine, which has its risks. And is basically something given in (sometimes literal) shitholes where the disease is rampant anyway.
Vaccines are by definition of “reality” not 100% risk free: You can be allergic and only find out when you go into a seizure. It’s just that those situations are rare.
As in, between 1:1.000.000-2.000.000.
The risks of dying to something like measles, is even less with proper healthcare something like 1:1000, are you young, are you not that strong, you get pneumonia, and sometimes that’s it right there. It happens. In less priviliged societies? It kills.
The simplest and most direct means of discrediting the antivax movement is to give them what they want. Give them an exemption form to sign.
With the caveat that any offspring of their who falls ill and transmits the illness to another who latter on dies from something that could have been prevented with vaccination will be considered a sign of manslaughter and the full weight of the law will act on them in that regard.
As long as the people involved clearly understand the risks of vaccines and why it’s so important to society to be able to control communicable disease down to manageable levels then I don’t see any reason why people can’t live and let live.
Only a single comment to respond with…covers the largest flaw in your core of your thinking…
* vaccinated communities have been proven to spread the same diseases (and mutated versions of) which are supposedly ‘vaccine preventable’ by injecting the vaccines(s) which manufactures, lawmakers and doctors, recommend,advise/force people to inject…to prevent from catching the [virus]…
Get better informed…no excuses for that level of missing data…
I’ll not be responding to you further on this subject…
I do not like you using the words ‘hate’ speech One Two. It seems to me that they are being thrown around far too frequently.
Hate speech encourages KKK to go and hang African Americans, and to burn down their churches.
It shouldn’t be used about people who have a different point of view and argue strongly for it. Biased they are, foolish and bigoted perhaps, but hate is another bloody four letter word like rape. There seems little respect for language and meaning when such words are used freely.
One Two: most of us accept that we live in an imperfect world where there are very few perfect solutions. Most of the time we are forced to choose the lesser of two evils, and I think this is one of them.
If all the anti-vax arguments are true, so be it – vaccination is an evil.
But I for one would much rather have had the risky vaccinations I have had, than suffer from just one of the nasty diseases I have been protected against.
For the vast majority of people the nasty diseases have a far more devastating effect than the vaccinations do , and for those who suffer from vaccinations, maybe we have to wait for medical science to help them as well..
Lesser of two evils.
If vaccinations had ever looked like being worse than the disease avoided, a huge majority would have become anti-vax.
Are you now going to tell me I am an innocent victim of propaganda?
In Vino, your comment indicates you’re ok with people making choices with regards to bodily autonomy, and forced medication…that position alone, is a respectable one to hold…
There are many points in your comment which I could address and which I could show are logically incorrect…but they are your perspective and your decisions to take for yourself…
What I would suggest is that no-one who involves themselves in having an opinion on vaccines, should allow themselves or others, the disservice of complacancy , laziness or ignorance by believing what they are told…or believing what they ‘know’…
Western medicine (the corporate consensus variety) has seemingly no interest in accepting why it might be an evolutionary necessity for humans to get sick and self heal, thus gaining genuine full cell immunity through a powered up immune system…it is what our bodies have been doing since day one…our immune systems are amazing just as they are…
Pure hubris to think that short circuiting and tricking the immune system with chemicals is not leading to human beings becoming sicker, with more illness and diseases in younger cohorts than modern medicine provides any answer for other than…more drugs/vaccines and toxic allopathic protocols…
Our spieces has evolved symbiotically over [forever number] of years with the very microbes we believe we have somehow mastered, and can control…and should eradicate from the environment…they can’t be…not by human beings…
To your final question…innocent victim…no not at all…just someone whose comment also indicates they need to invest more time into learning about the flaws in vaccine science…which actual science has now moved to unreservedly, exposing…
So much research and scholarly material available which could assist with helping people to make more well informed decisions for their own well being, and that of their loves ones…
One Two
I have kept an open mind as to your comments and the veracity of the beliefs, information, references etc. But the longer they are and the more you use emotional language, the more wary I become of your statements.
For once Sam comes up with something informative. And it is a serious matter which he takes through giving freedom to anti-vaxers with a waiver of treatment for their children. And a case to answer of involuntary manslaughter when they cause deaths.
The simplest and most direct means of discrediting the antivax movement is to give them what they want. Give them an exemption form to sign.
With the caveat that any offspring of their who falls ill and transmits the illness to another who latter on dies from something that could have been prevented with vaccination will be considered a sign of manslaughter and the full weight of the law will act on them in that regard.
Then he makes the point about plagues that they cause 100% deaths. Which may not apply to measles, instead there will be numerous cases of people being debilitated badly, blind etc.
Measles infections can harm the front or back of the eye, possibly causing vision loss or blindness. Though measles is just re-emerging as a threat in developed countries, the disease has long been a leading cause of childhood blindness worldwide.Mar 5, 2015
(Some American Academy that blacks out everything over cookies)
One in ten will get ear infections and some hearing loss also.
In her book about her travels in early New Zealand colonial times, Florence Harsant travelled in remote areas where Maori had been struck down by measles. She was horrified to find whole households laid low, parents unable to care for children, and no-one in the village with medicines and no help from authorities.
She had to plan to escape herself from a travel limitation set up by either Maori or surrounding colonists, and advised health authorities herself.
As Sam says, this is a first world thing, with emotional people who haven’t been taught decision making, analysing risk, ratios and percentages and means and averages etc. And in life there is risk, and that we are surrounded by unsterile air, and constantly ignoring advice to wash hands after going to the toilet etc. – noticed in public places.
There are irresponsible people, there are ones who despise western medicine, there are others who are fatalists. One woman I knew of was a Pacific Islander of determined decisions, and she would not allow her teenager to use asthma aids, such as an inhaler. When her son died from an asthma sttack, the authorities did not know what to do for the best. I don’t know whether she was even charged with neglect. Some parents can not be reasoned with. Public health is set up to assist us, and has, but they must be watchful to keep up quality. Whatever they do, though there will be criticism – too early, too late, wrong type, over-spent on the wrong virus line.
Gw..and with respect…you’re clearly underinformed on this subject…take responsibility for your weariness…do not transfer your shortcomings onto my commentary…
Others have tried a similar tactic in the 5G discussion…it is a tactic of the disingenuous …
I addressed the logical failings in the core premise of Sams proposal…
Why are you ignoring my response to Sam, regarding known and proven vaccine failure rates?
That is…the spread of the very disease individuls were vaccinated against catching..
Messaging with people who do even tale the time to invest in learning vaccine 101 is not productive…
No emotions Gw…you’ve read me incorrectly…and you’ve written a novel…
Edit. You should stop using derogatory terms…I believe you are above such use of anti-v***
Alwyn for once I entirely agree with your suggestion. Producing proof of vaccination is a good idea which would save lives and prevent illness. I had polio, measles 2 kinds, mumps and chickenpox. There is no advantage having these diseases and every advantage not to.
Join the club. So did I.
Amazing that any of us made it to adulthood isn’t it?
I cannot understand anyone who refuses, or is simply to lazy, to vaccinate their children.
Some still believe that disgraced English doctor with his b*s about a connection between the MMR vaccination and Autism. Now there is a dreadful example of a human being.
One of the things the pro-disease crowd sometimes go on about is Big Pharma make money from vaccines so that inherently makes them suspicious.
Yet that fucking fraud Wakefield was busily patenting his single disease vaccines in order to line his pockets and consulting on lawsuits in order to line his pockets all the while he was fabricating his data that happened to support those activities. But somehow, he’s a hero to the pro-diseasers?
Wakefield. Yes now I remember the name. When I read about his activities at the time he was kicked out of the profession I got so mad at his behaviour I never wanted to read anything more about him, EVER.
When I wrote the comment here I couldn’t recall his name but I refused to google the story because it would simply make me so mad about that vile person again. So rather than do so about all I could think of to say was ” that disgraced English doctor”.
The number of kids who must have suffered so he could attempt to line his pockets.
Whooping cough was best…after the awful coughing the rest of 6 weeks off school to ride bikes up and down SH1 (wartime and almost no traffic. Seriously, they were all dangerous. Think the first immunisations were for diphtheria early 1940’s, done at school.
And to think Heather, our Mum’s put us into contact with other children who had contracted these diseases because it was believed we were better off catching them as children. That is, with the exception of polio and whooping cough.
I remember the school shutdown for some six to eight weeks during the polio epidemic of the early 1950s. As an extra precaution we weren’t supposed to play with one another, so we spent all day whizzing past each other on our scooters. Yeah… there were some bruised and bleeding knees came out of that one. 🙂
The schools closed in 1947 when I caught polio in the last great epidemic, and again in 1953 when June Opie got polio from the failed vaccine, Salk? and spent the rest of her life in an iron lung.
The three drops on the tongue polio vaccine was available in my first year of teaching in 1962.
“Imo, these anti-vaxxers come from the same school of thought as the anti-fluoride crowd and the Climate Change deniers. They never read any of the reputable information available. Instead they follow fringe nutcases who have no scientific or medical credibility whatsoever. Nutbars paying homage to nutbars.”
Well that’s part of the problem right there, and I referred to this at 2.1.2 .
I struggle with the need to fluoridate all drinking water. To me it makes no sense when tooth decay is not caused by lack of fluoride.
Yes I do agree our climate is changing, the sun is more intense than 20 or even 10 years ago, and that we definitely need to urgently seek and implement ways to try and mitigate the effects. (Although I fear rampant capitalism will see our ultimate doom as a species.)
I exercised discretion when it came to my children’s immuisations, which is not to say I didn’t have them vaccinated. As I mentioned a few days ago….MMR was very new and there were anecdotal cases of serious adverse events (NOT autism…!!!) which made a few folk understandably nervous. Very frustrating that with the release of MMR the old single measles jab became unavailable…even if we were willing to pay. When the Hep B vaccine was being given to newborns there were concerns from some groups. I asked a GP if my 18 month old needed the jab, and was told there was no way he was going to catch Hep B…he wasn’t in the at- risk group. So why the mass vaccination program if the disease is a risk for only specific sections of the population?
I’ve have tried (and failed) to find the official register of significant averse effects from vaccinations…..where is it?
Calling people ‘nutbars’ and ‘murderers’ for vaccine hesitancy is merely going to widen the divide.
Surely respect and open communication would be more productive when engaging with the small percentage of parents who decide to eschew all vaccines for their children?
“It is a very small percentage of the New Zealand population.
“We need to understand it and respond to it, and definitely put more resources and thinking into it, but it is a very small part of why we are not getting high immunisation coverage rates.”
Dr Turner said there were other problems with delivering immunisations, beyond what she called vaccine hesitancy, and New Zealand would be better off dealing with those.”
Now it would be manifestly unreasonable to expect a shock jock media personality to actually take a calming breath or two and actually do some proper research…or even check with the head honcho from IMAC before launching into their lynch mob rousing speech…but I’d expect most of the commentators here to at least keep a tiny portion of their minds ajar.
Surely respect and open communication would be more productive when engaging with the small percentage of parents who decide to eschew all vaccines for their children?
I would have agreed with you say… 20 years ago but not any more.
I’m talking generally and not just about anti-vaxxers. Respect and open conversations do not work with many of these people. Their anti-ness has become ideological to the point of religious fervour. To begin with, they are the ones who refuse to communicate respectfully with the actual experts and denigrate them to the point of defamation and slander.
It is time for them to be called out for what they are – fools. Fools who are putting their children’s – and other people’s children’s – health and a viable future in serious jeopardy.
“To begin with, they are the ones who refuse to communicate respectfully with the actual experts and denigrate them to the point of defamation and slander.”
Is it possible for you to provide a link or two as examples of this? I am seriously interested.
And again….according to the IMAC chief, so called ‘anti-vaxxers’ are a very small part of why we are not getting high rates of immunisation coverage.
So…it may very well be the the anti- vax brigade are as angry/shouty/hate- speechy as the pro- vax lynch mob….but they are not having the effect on immunisation rates you seem to think they are.
Well. One Two…thanks for just about ruining our mince and noodle dinner.
What a powerful piece of work, and for those who can spare the time the Ted Talk is totally engrossing.
This should be turning the whole vaccine debate inside out…but as the Doctor Benn says…the whole issue has become so polarised that each side will try and use the findings to give credibility to their stubbornly held point of view. And the very, very real potential benefits of accepting the findings and changing the way we vaccinate will be lost.
No worries, Rosemary…It was really for people such as yourself…it’s not my role to change anyone’s views…that’s an individual choice to expand…
I was highly surprised such an article was published on TC…and the comments section allowed to continue on…
Some of the comment links are also probable triggers for folks here…
For the time being I’ll limit any linking, as per my comments a few days ago…I’m a long way over this discussion…except to call out those who publish and/or endorse violent hate speech…
The progapanda levels are a signal the establishment has completely lost the decades long control, and they know it…
Real science , research, knowledge and thinking has moved on…people are no longer kept in the dark (unless they willingly choose to be)…and in a few years from now…it will all be over…
Have a good evening…hope you recoverd the meal alright…
‘I was highly surprised such an article was published on TC…and the comments section allowed to continue on…”
I had to check with a scientist the credibility of The Conversation (because I have trust issues ) and was assured that it was ‘… usually OK…much better than the Guardian’.
The comments section I’m going to read right now.
Passionate commitment to one’s point of view/beliefs/ideology is all very well if tempered with an open mind and respect for the commitment of the opposition…blind adherence and all that.
How many more deaths before we can be brave enough to put our dogmatism aside?
On the subject of vaccination , TC is about as low level as it gets. If you have time…brave some of the other articles over the years…it’s likely that you will pick up the themes and discourse TC publishes…
Often comment sections would mirror the majority on todays thread, here, and then the comments gets closed off…as soon as a counter or two is visible…it is a consistent form of censorship…perhaps due to lack of mods available…but it is an observable occurrence…
I would say that spending prescious time reading anti-scientific and outdated articles about research which only represents established industry position…can be unhealthy…but you’re definitely up to it should you choose to…there is years worth of it on TC…
The piece I linked to, I’ve had to read multiple times in appreciation of the author and her professional yet honest demeanour within the article, as well as her responses in the comments section…gold nuggets can be found…
I’ve been reading through the linked material in comments as some of the linked material and commentary was new for me…I will also watch the ted talk…perhaps TC should leave comments sections open on this subject…
To your question. Many, many magnitudes more than the total global deaths from measles in developed nations…over the past 50 years…
Thanks for the read. AFAIK the live polio vaccine, which was on the immunisation schedule many years ago was changed to the dead polio vaccine after a couple of incidents where mothers got the disease after immunising their children.
I had read many years ago about the benefits of live vaccines, but can’t remember where. Also, about the difference in immunity robustness from people who had the vaccine compared to those who had recovered from the disease. The immune system was much stronger, and the article/paper was discussing the possibility of the body responding with changes to the respiratory system, or mucous membranes, that is not achieved with vaccinations. Sorry, I can’t remember more, it was a while ago.
Salk was to have said the live polio vaccine was responsible for +/- 100% of polio…it was replaced but the damage was done…
The Cutter Incident
With regards to live vaccines and the article in particular…there is also large archives of research of contraindictions resulting from live vaccines, the manufaturing, storage and transport problems including the adjuvants required (similar to attenuated vaccines) which are also problematic…
I linked the article as it is one of the most balanced I’ve encountered in a mainstream web site…and can be understood and progressed from by those who are interested…
Was a good read One Two, and worth the couple of minutes it took to do so.
My children are grown so the vaccination issue is one I don’t look into much anymore. But I am always surprised by the vitriol expressed on this issue, and the calls for mandatory medication. This could be a result of the medium that allows for collective censure, which brings out the bully in all of us, but I can’t remember it being that divisive twenty years ago.
It certainly is testament to the psychological abuse pushed repeatedly at the public, setting parents against eachother, children against eachother as well as children against their own parents…
It has been ramped up to levels which have essentially exposed vaccine science for what it always was…something masquerading as science…there is a word for that…
The aggressive campaigns through corporate media leading to poorly advised and punitive legislations, have created the situation you describe…
Hostile is an understatement…all aimed in the the wrong directions…
Your link cites a study suggesting that, while the DTAP vaccine protects against infection from those three bacteria, it makes children more susceptible to dying from other causes. If this were true, it would certainly concerning however..
It was published in a rather obscure journal. This by itself doesn’t give us an indicator of the quality of the paper, but if we really had data that showed us there was a concern with the DTaP vaccine, an important part of the childhood vaccine schedules worldwide, it should have been published in a higher quality journal.
The study looks at the mortality rate after the vaccine used at that time, which contained the whole-cell version of pertussis. That vaccine was pulled from the market and replaced with an acellular version. Reasons for changing the vaccines are complex, but it was partially because of the higher rate of minor adverse events with the wP version of the pertussis vaccine. There is no evidence I am aware of that the wP version caused more deaths than the current aP version.
The study only examined 1057 children, which is a tiny number in any epidemiological study that tries to compare one group to another to examine a potential effect. Many case control studies that examine vaccine effects (either effectiveness or adverse events) use 100,000 to several million patients and there’s certainly far more data on this vaccine available now at medicine regulators around the world.
The number of deaths that was used in the study was tiny, sometimes only 1 death in a population group (like female unvaccinated children). Because they used such small numbers, unintentional bias could occur.
The deaths were not categorized and may have absolutely nothing to do with vaccination. With such small numbers analyzed, it’s possible that unrelated mortality could have given results that could change dramatically with just a handful of unrelated deaths.
Ironically, the study showed that there was decreased mortality with the children who received oral polio vaccine (separate from the DTP vaccine). If we accept this statistically suspect small sample as unbiased (which we can’t), the overall results are positive with a full vaccination.
This leads me a critical point in the vaccine debate that those critical of vaccination cherry-pick studies that support beliefs about vaccine safety, the antithesis of real science. If we look at larger studies more broadly, what can we say about the safety profile of the DTaP vaccine?
There’s a Danish study that included over 805,000 children looking at various outcomes to getting multiple antigen vaccines, such as DTP or DTaP, came to this conclusion:
‘… results do not support the hypotheses that multiple-antigen vaccines or aggregated vaccine exposure increase the risk of non-targeted infectious disease hospitalization.”
In a meta-review, considered by many as the pinnacle of high quality scientific research hierarchy, which included over 183,000 participants in 58 different trials, the authors concluded that,
‘..Acellular vaccines have fewer adverse effects than whole-cell vaccines for the primary series as well as for booster doses.’
The authors found no vaccine related mortality for either vaccine, which completely contradicts the belief about the lack of safety of the DTaP vaccine.
Hviid A, Wohlfahrt J, Stellfeld M, Melbye M. Childhood vaccination and nontargeted infectious disease hospitalization. JAMA. 2005 Aug 10;294(6):699-705. PubMed PMID: 16091572.
Mogensen SW, Andersen A, Rodrigues A, Benn CS, Aaby P. The Introduction of Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis and Oral Polio Vaccine Among Young Infants in an Urban African Community: A Natural Experiment. EBioMedicine. 2017 Mar;17:192-198. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2017.01.041. Epub 2017 Feb 1. PubMed PMID: 28188123; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5360569.
Zhang L, Prietsch SO, Axelsson I, Halperin SA. Acellular vaccines for preventing whooping cough in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Sep 17;(9):CD001478. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001478.pub6. Review. PubMed
Mullet, good on you for having a genuine go at contributing to the discussion in a meaningful way…
I am responding as a show of appreciation for that comment…
Comments I’ve posted, yesterday and today provide ample starting points for those who are interested and were able to pick up on them…as such I am not going to address the mesh of points you attempted to raise…
Except these few:
* You, nor anyone in the entire human populace is aware of ‘the entire volume of research’ let alone map it all out…so absolutely…you are not aware of ‘evidence’…same applies to any individual or agency who uses that deceptively misleading statement
* Published in a ‘big journal’ is subjective speculation on your part , and your part only. It transparently leads into the next dot points in effort to create a sense of dismissive minimizing of the research team, the report and the findings
* Cherry picking is your projection and does not alter the validity of the findings in the 190 page report, that you’ve actually cherry picked data from in an attempt to further dismiss and minimize the research findings
* The study reported positive and negative outcomes from the research, and you seek to trivialise all findings claiming ‘size bias’ without referencing the duration of the researched study
Ironically, vaccine science and corporate testing protocols and regulatory licensure have achieved approval to market, including recommended schedule vaccines using highly dubious (documented) tactics and inferior ‘research protocols’ from smaller test cohorts alongside truncated , fast tracked timelines
* Danish studies including the link you posted to last week, have a track record of corporate sponsored ‘research’ becoming reference studies of the vaccine science industry, used ad nauseum by vaccine advertising dependant journals and media outlets
It seems you have more to offer the discussion, than the usual remarks and name calling would suggest…
Well, if you come from a broken home with nothing but shitty role models you might understand the attraction of a man who gives you straight up good advice. The demonisation of Peterson, as some of his views are nonsensical, detract from the fact he’s put a lot of people’s lives back on track.
And the left can’t stand it. He doesn’t preach but it’s based in biblical teaching. He explains why. They don’t care. Utterly shitty people protesting just to protest, you find them at every protest, just wankers looking for excitement in their meaningless lives.
Society, instead of learning what they can from all this, taking the good, made blanket statements of condemnation and all we learned is there’s a lot of judgmental assholes out there prepared to lie and distort things to get their column inches.
It’s trendy to hate Peterson, and banal.
Maybe people think the public will think they’re clever if they one up an intellectual.
you need to watch his talks, not listen to the attention clamoring press.
I’m waiting for the first lawsuits by the kids of anti-vaxxers pro-plaguers (good point JS). Suing their parents after they catch a fully preventable disease because their parents refused to get them vaccinated.
Yet hunger is not the context here. Because there is other bad shit happening, it does not minimise the stupidity of playing russian roulette with a child’s life.
It was a parody of the RNZ headline (a source didn’t go with the style).
It is the most appropriate source for anyone interested in the facts. Someone wih your views ought to know these facts which can then be contrasted with any risk of an adverse effect. Caring and committed child health professionals throughout the world, well appraised with the facts, are entirely convinced by the weight of evidence. Why would you not trust them, but instead trust an anonymous web site spinning crap?
Interesting that you know what my views are – since I haven’t articulated them on this thread…
You have such faith in a medical system and drug clinical trials that allows you to accept all information without question. Some ask questions anyway.
I have faith in the scientific process that utilises qualified people to continually and robustly investigate and test the basis and foundation of knowledge. I trust the motives of people who care for children and I listen carefully to what they say.
For illustration check out the comprehensive and continually expanding list of studies published on the Immunisation Advisory Centre’s website:
I’d like to give another shoutout to Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage for her massive expansion of the National park estate through the Mohikinui River and catchment.
I would also like to give a great big shoutout to all the activists around and in Forest and Bird who campaigned against that dam, squashed those corporate dogs in Meridian, and ensured this great area remains wild and free forever.
It includes about 15km of the Mokihinui riverbed, all of the Mokihinui Forks Ecological Area, a large part of the Lyell Range-Radiant Range conservation area and a small part of what remains of North West Nelson Forest Park, most of which became Kahurangi National Park when it was established in 1996.
The Mokihinui addition to Kahurangi National Park is equivalent in size to Abel Tasman and Paparoa National Parks combined and is twice the size of Egmont National Park.
Kahurangi is the country’s second largest park and with the addition of the Mokihinui land, it will increase in size by 14 per cent to 517,335ha. Fiordland National Park, at more than 1,230,000ha, is the largest national park.
6. PROS AND CONS OF CORRIDORS Noss (1987) provided a list of some potential advantages and disadvantages of ecological corridors. The following is an elaboration of his scheme.
A quick look at the maps shows that AT and Kahurangi NP’s are already very close together; any corridor between the two lies mainly along a relatively short area on the top of the Takaka Hill limestone area, north of the state highway.
From memory most of this area is pretty undeveloped, marginal farmland or regenerating. There are some private dwellings scattered about in the area, but nothing at any scale.
Surely a formal corridor would be feasible, even if it didn’t have the full formal status of a National Park, along with all the restrictions that would imply. Something more like say a Forest Park that permitted existing activities and dwellings, but protected it from further development?
You’re more familiar with the area than I am, would something like that work?
Great news!! Now, we just need to add the Matiri River Valley to the park on its eastern boundary. Oops too late, construction of the hydro scheme is under way. This was one that got the nod from the John Key government – payback to the Talley family for years of National party support.
Lake Matiri is a wildlife refuge and part of Kahurangi NP, the Matiri River Valley was deliberately excluded due to its power generation potential. Despite significant local opposition, the power scheme was consented quite some years ago. The Talley family chose not to make a start (power prices too low?) and recently sold the consent to Pioneer Generation, Talleys still own the land. DOC could have refused the concession due to lack of required reports etc but didn’t. Pressure from above??
.Well done indeed Eugene Thanks Ad. A good post. I see they are leaving the remains of the monster wasp nest in the tree at Hamurana, for fear of poisoning the stream.
Pest control always has fish hooks, but is worth it.
I know there is an issue of scale…but I have dealt to wasp nests by enclosing said structure in a heavy duty plastic bag, tying off the top and cutting the whole caboodle free from it’s anchor. Bag containing wasp nest can then be further contained until inhabitants discorporate. This can be sped up by freezing. Or chemicals.
Of course…the use of a plastic bag might not be acceptable either….oh, life is getting sooo complicated!
Woulda been even more exciting if there was another undetected entrance that led under the house. Seen that almost happen, not quite under the house but uncomfortably close…
Hah! When a neighbour deployed one of those sonic rodent deterrers, our usual non chemical methods of keeping the rat population down in our chook house failed. (The rats moved to our place.) The rats congregating in broad daylight to give us the single digit salute coincided with the failure of a large batch of very hot chili paste to seal properly. We emptied the contents of the bubbling jars down the most used rat runs…..
Back in the day when one could purchase strings of double happy firecrackers….
Humans are apex predators. But I don’t need to kill for food, and nor do domesticated animals. The problem with cats is not killing for food supply so much, as simply killing for fun.
I often wonder if, at some stage, we’d deliberately culled out the ‘cruel’ cats, we’d have a better breed that only killed when hungry.
I’d agree that humans are at the top of the food chain but as far as an apex predator I’d put bears above us. and cats don’t kill for fun, that’s just the human talking. Cats kill vermin that stray in there territory when they not feeding. Cats are cats. I’d suggest people who don’t really understand cats enough to leave them alone instead of dating bits off them and making them carry around fashion accessories, I’d suggest they get a goldfish.
Muscled, black with steel green eye
Swishing through the rye grass
With thoughts of mouse and apple pie
Tail balancing at half-mast
And the mouse police never sleeps
Lying in the cherry tree
Savage bed foot warmer
Of purest feline ancestry
Look out, little furry folk
He’s the all night working cat
Eats but one in every ten
Leaves the others on the mat
And the mouse police never sleeps
Waiting by the cellar door
Window-box town crier
Birth and death registrar
With claws that rake a furrow red
Licensed to mutilate
From warm milk on a lazy day
To dawn patrol on hungry hate
No, the mouse police never sleeps
Climbing on the ivy
Windy roof top weathercock
Warm blooded night on a cold tile
The mouse police never sleeps
The mouse police never sleeps
The mouse police never sleeps
…
Songwriters: Ian Anderson
Could we develop a family of cats which are really good mice catchers. That would save me putting down poisoned grain and have mousetraps littering the place. I think the parents have to teach the catching skills, so by careful breeding and initiation procedures, they would be very useful cats and not a disdained predator – they could be as valuable as trained sheep dogs.
Dogs have a lineage of pack hunting and scavenging which made them really suseptable to domestication where as cats are extremely territorial and would savage humans in an instance if it was large enough and it’s a simple as that.
My encounters with the buzzy things have been during house painting or gardening. I never could see the logic in using chemicals which inevitably infuriate the beasts if one is having to continue working in that area. Hence the containment. Mind you…I don’t have one of those nifty zoot suits.
This wasp nest is right round the trunk of a palm tree and the tree could be damaged. It’s growing on a steep slope, slippery for the blokes, and perhaps slippy if tree died or was removed leaving soil uncovered and exposed to the heavy rain we are getting.
WTF??!!? Somehow I just took it as given that a major government building initiative would include at least include the simplest and basic energy and cost efficient choices. But it seems not …
Meanwhile, if there’s any readers with any concern whatsoever for their budget that are still using old-skool incandescent bulbs, get yourself to Bunnings or Mitre 10 today and buy replacement LED bulbs for them. Seriously. Do it now. You can get them for $3 each or less.
You’ll want warm white colour (unless you like your house to look like the alien autopsy room in a bad sci-fi movie), for most fixtures look at the existing incandescent bulb and divide the watts by 10. I’ve pretty much replaced all bulbs that were 100W incandescents when I moved in with 9W LEDs and I’m happy with the how much light there is. If you want more tech details, ask and I’ll write up a bit more.
By the $, a 100W incandescent costs $0.02 to $0.03 per hour, so if it’s on an average of 1 hour per day, that’s $7 to $11 per year. Plus incandescents only have a design life of 1000 hours, by industry agreement. Compare to an LED that costs $3 initially to buy, but pays for itself in electricity savings in 3 to 6 months and should last 10,000 hours or longer.
If you’ve now got compact fluorescents, it’s probably still worth changing to LEDs but the payback time is two or four years. And you get full light instantly instead of the fluorescents taking a minute or so to warm up and get to full brightness.
Flourescent bulbs were a massive gyp. i think I posted on them here some time back. The past is past. LED’s must have improved cos last I looked at them (probably a decade) they were good for a few months then diminished capacity was the norm.
Yeah there’s been huge improvements in LEDs over the last decade. But if you’re still suspicious, keep the receipt for a warranty or CGA claim if they do start to fade.
Ten years ago I paid $6 each for the nearly best new tech available to make myself mountain bike lights – 1Watt chips mounted on a 23mm aluminium star module heatsink that put out a then amazing 100 lumens/watt. Nowadays if I were inclined to do the same thing I’d be paying about $1.50 each for 10W chips mounted on a 12mm heatsink that would be up around 140 lumens/watt.
The key to long life in LEDs is keeping the chip from getting hot. They’ve learned a lot about getting better thermal paths from the chip to the heatsink, and in turning more of the electrical energy into light so there’s less heat to dissipate.
Interesting info Andre. I knew LED’s had improved, but for a relatively mature tech that’s pretty impressive.
By complete contrast I recall buying my first red LED almost 50 years ago, it took me ages to save for it, and it barely glowed by today’s standards. But it was worth it just to have this amazing new light source in my own hands.
Dunno that I’d call LEDs relatively mature. There’s still a hell of a lot of space for improvement that nobody has found a way into yet.
For general lighting with acceptable colour rendering, a device that turns 100% of input electrical energy into useful light would put out about 370 lumens/watt. At the moment, the best LEDs top out around 200 lumens/watt.
At the moment, most white LEDs are actually a blue LED shining through a yellow phosphor. So there’s significant light energy lost and heat generated for every blue photon that gets turned into a yellow photon.
The next level of energy efficiency is combining blue LEDs shining through a green phosphor with red LEDs (these are commercially available as Phillips Hue LEDs at horrendous price). There’s less energy lost turning a blue photon into a green one and the necessary red photons are separately emitted at high efficiency by the red LED. Our eyes also respond to red, green and blue light, so a light source that directly emits red, green and blue has an inherent efficiency headstart over a light source that’s blue and yellow. It’s also possible to vary how much energy goes into the red vs the blue-and-green, so the light can change from a cozy yellowish warm light to a brighter daylightish white when wanted.
So that naturally raises the question of producing white light with separate red, green, and blue LEDs. Well, nobody has yet found a way to make high-efficiency green LEDs, so that’s an area with potential.
I agree. Seems like Twyford wants to make the coalition look like luddites, but more likely he has been knee-capped by whoever made the design decision. Twyford ought to apologise to the public, acknowledge that the govt wants to implement Green house designs, and direct his department to operate accordingly. Bad looks like this will hurt the coalition unless swift remedial action is taken.
That a level of detail that should have been dealt to several pay grades below Twyford. As I see it, there’s even a potential messaging opportunity here for Twyford to push change to a new way of doing thing. Where instead of the initial cost ruling all decisions there’s more attention on whole-of-life costs.
Twyford has screwed completely a policy that was 7 years in the making, thru what … lack of any detail to implement, and has not delivered more than a few spec builders would have supplied to the market in the same period.
To limit to 1st home buyers was a mistake imo, and should the time come that we have any volume, many of today’s 1st buyers will already have moved into a place.
Honestly can anyone expect 1st buyers wait until an appropriate house comes available in their town/city?
Why would people say that not having LED bulbs installed in the homes was a case of lacking in energy efficiency? The sockets for the lights are the same as incandescent if looking at the cheapest and safest. My incandescents cost a little over $1 each and last six months. It would seem that buying LEDs is better, so if I can get warm white, (I dislike the stark white-blue alernative), and am not price-limited I will buy them. But I like having incandescents as spares that I keep in reserve for failures.
Not everyone can get cheap LEDs where they shop. Incandescents should be kept as cheap alternartives while education about the LEDs should continue. That easy calculation of dividing by 10 to find the right level of light when choosing LEDs is handy thanks. Looking at the lumens and other terminology is confusing and people have limited time to moon over products gathering information in the shop.
At my place with 2 adults and 3 kids at home on after dark it was quite feasible for 20 or even 30 bulbs to be lit up. At an average of say 75W each (if they were incandescents) that would be a load of 1.5kW to 2.5 kw, at peak time. and maybe 3 to 5 kWhr per day just for lighting.
Swap those to LED and it’s around 0.2 to 0.3 kw lighting load at peak time, and less than 1 kWhr per day usage for lighting.
How is that difference not an energy efficiency issue?
Furthermore in a new build you can design the lighting around the characteristics of LED lighting and the way LEDs are more directional. LEDs also don’t generate enough heat to risk starting fires if something like insulation or wood is too close. The insulation issue can be a big one, it’s surprising how much warmth can get lost through old-skool ceiling downlight fixtures that have to have the insulation set back quite a distance.
Michael Cullen has been involved with finance for yonks. Just to refresh us on old but important history: When the Prime Minister, David Lange, attempted to limit the influence Douglas had on the government’s direction, Cullen became involved on Lange’s side. After Labour’s re-election in 1987, Cullen was made Associate Minister of Finance (an attempt by Lange to provide an anti-reform counterbalance to the radical Douglas) and Minister of Social Welfare (an attempt to limit the impact of the reforms in that area).
Eventually, Douglas was forced to resign, but a month later the political controversies around the dispute prompted the resignation of Lange himself. Douglas was succeeded as Finance Minister by David Caygill, one of his allies (albeit a considerably less radical one). Cullen was made Associate Minister of Health, again to reduce the effect of reforms on that sector.
When Labour lost the 1990 election (something attributed by many people to public anger at Douglas’ reforms, and disarray within the Labour Party), Cullen returned to being Labour’s spokesperson on social welfare. The following year, he replaced David Caygill as the party’s chief finance spokesperson…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cullen_(politician)
Eric the Ripper has a good ring to it, he and Hotchin towelled up a few investors here in NZ and even managed to get Sir Owen Glenn over a barrell. Karma is a bitch isn’t it.
Their was one thing that was missing from this report.
The IRD, in 2002, approved the scheme. They gave an opinion that it was an Approved Issuer and that the 2% was the correct rate.
The in 2010 the reversed their opinion. That, unfortunately is something the IRD do quite commonly. The effect is that people who relied on the opinion given by the IRD find, much later on, that they have changed their mind and claim taxes and penalties for something they said was fine.
I have no objection to them changing their view. However I don’t believe they should be able to backdate the change.
It is rather like them dropping the blood alcohol limit from 80 to 50 and then fining everyone who was measured at a level between 50 and 80 at a time when that was quite legal.
It is, in practice, passing a retrospective law.
‘Shipley also invests US$50,000 in Richina. According to numbers quoted by Richard Yan during the court case, Shipley’s investment in the Chinese company could now potentially be worth US$14 million ($22 million), on paper at least.’
Reading this,it seems very clear what was going on here.There is a name for it that begins with F.
female
fortitude
felony
fandangle
flaccid
fart
finagle
fact-finding
foolishness
That’s my stream of consciousness thinking – the f’s that came to mind.
Here’s a couple of interesting articles on insurance, or not being able to get insurance in specific areas due to risk from natural disasters or the result of CC.
Now remind me of what the role of the former State Insurance was prior to it being sold and what the then muppets said about the market is always right as there is no need to have a Government own/ backed insurance company.
I’m a little bit surprised that the IAG can 50% of the market share in Wellington and if IAG is prepared to do this to Wellington, then what does this say IRT other parts of the country that are at risk from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions?
At a briefing on the new indictments Tuesday, Andrew Lelling, a U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, said that some parents paid up to $6.5 million “to guarantee admission” for their children to elite colleges. He said that a total of 33 parents have been charged.
“There will not be a separate admissions system for the wealthy. And there will not be a separate criminal justice system, either,” Lelling said.
How about we ditch the lawnmower and plant a range of pasture grasses and flowers instead which wouldgrow unhindered and as the season changes so do the different species?
Seems strange that we spend so much time mowing stuff and annoying the suburbians.
Pro-life my arse.
I can’t quite put in word how much i despise these fucking forced birthers and how much i despite doctors that would let a women develop a sepsis before ‘aborting’ the rotting fetus she carries cause ‘heartbeat’.
“In one case, a patient who had suffered cardiac arrest shortly before getting pregnant did not meet the hospital’s threshold for life endangerment and was unable to afford to travel and pay for an abortion at the nearest hospital that would see her, about four hours away. She ended up miscarrying in her second trimester. In another case, a patient who was dying from metastatic cancer needed abortion care. The hospital took so long to deliberate, she miscarried too.
“Our conversation should have been like, ‘How can we help you heal and meet whatever your goals are in this terrible situation’, and not about this stupid law,” the doctor said.
“My hands are tied,” she continued. “I can’t do what’s right for the patient.””
yes one can keep roe vs wade ‘legal’ yet put up so many ‘trap’ laws that effectively even a women dying of a septic pregnancy will not get the care she needs. Fucking ghouls hiding behind religion, superstition and simply hate of women. I can’t find other reasons then hate disguised as ‘won’t no one think of the babies’ cause no, you are not fucking thinking of the baby – born or unborn – and you certainly don’t care about the ‘host’ aka the mothers. (hosts – https://www.google.com/search?q=pregnant+women+are+hosts&oq=pregnant+women+are+hosts&aqs=chrome..69i57.4072j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 )
Well I’m pro choice because arguably the fetus is apart of the woman.
That’s why in my opinion consent is more important than pro choice. The age of legal consent should be again, and this is my opinion, but it should be 21 – 25 years old to account for brain development and basically there’s no marked improvement in income until you’re a graduate.
Having to continue carrying a baby that is dead inside you, is one of the joys that the ethical society force on some unfortunate women. It’s not a healthy situation for her, and negates any suggestion that women and their fertility role is respected by society and those in power. A hero – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
What names do others know of who have championed women in their fertility burden?
“Fucking ghouls hiding behind religion, superstition and simply hate of women.”
Yes there are circumstances in which abortion is the only humane option. But I encourage you to watch this. To the end.
Honey, i have had abortions, i also head an emergency hysterectomy and there is nothing this guy will ever tell me.
So no,
if you read the article above you would understand that i am talking about doctors refusing to render aid to women who come to hospital in pain, unable to walk, with fever and because they are not yet ‘actively’ dying do not get the health care they need and should be entitled too.
But maybe you missed the part that i put in quotes ‘ had miscarriages in the second trimester’ cause obviously it is more important for the women to suffer some more month then give them the care they need.
So take your preacher / ob gyn and shove him where its dark. Cause this guy will never be denied healthcare, he will never be left to fester with a dead fetus until he ‘actively is dying’ and he will never have to make the choice of having an abortion at an early stage or when you are told that your child that you wanted is growing with a brain outside the skull or has not lungs and that you can’t have an abortion cause hey, women, you are a host, and as such you would have no issues birthing this child and then watch it die.
Pro life my ass. Forced birth. Once born, pull yerself up by your bootstrap child.
‘…you would understand that i am talking about doctors refusing to render aid to women who come to hospital in pain…”
So why the rant about abortion? The issue you are raising is a valid health issue, not necessarily connected to access to abortions.
“Honey, i have had abortions, i also head an emergency hysterectomy and there is nothing this guy will ever tell me.”
That’s rather closed minded. He has performed thousands of abortions, and is describing the utter inhumanity if the process. It is chilling.
add new KiwiSaver contribution rates of 6% and 10% and make the savings scheme accessible to those aged over 65;
I’m running on 8% kiwisaver at present, and getting some quite reasonable returns. I wouldn’t mind kicking that up as everything is automatic and way less hassle than dealing with other investments on an ongoing basis. Essentially automatic payments really waste my personal time when they come out of my working account. It doesn’t take much to suddenly be providing the bank with extra revenue with fees. And even worse, I get people trying to ring me when I’m coding which is REALLY expensive.
Which is why I’ve pretty well eliminated most of automatic payments including those to other investment funds. Paying as part of my PAYE is way easier which is now the only way I do it. Other bills just get paid when I have a few spare minutes on my phone.
But I would like to push a bit more into investments. It’d be nice to have a 12% or 15%. But 10% is better than 8%
Also I’m not planning on stopping work (or riding my e-bike to work) unless I really really have to. I’m nearly 60 now and still coding well. Life after 65 will probably still involve me working and demonstrating both current coding and antique techniques to those callow youngsters under the age of 40.
“Life after 65 will probably still involve me working and demonstrating both current coding and antique techniques to those callow youngsters under the age of 40.”
🙂
Careful tho’ @ lprent – things like experience and proven record can often account for sweat FA these days
I have tended to rely less on experience and track records than on companies being desperate to get their projects out of the door.
Most jobs that I have had in programming for the last couple of decades has been after whoever I went to work for had an unfortunate problem of some kind caused by mismanagement of their projects in their staffing, documentation, design, or implementation and needing someone to recover it.
i am so pleased about it. My shop girl studies, works for me and has a few other side digs in summer when the tourist come. I am so pleased for her that she does not have to pay more taxes on her income now then Gareth Morgan.
The utterances of Molyneux, Southern and Peterson seem benign compared to the pro-plague propaganda this fucking terrorist is spreading.
She’s a wellness blogger married to an @NRL star, charging parents hundreds of dollars each to hear her controversial views on childhood vaccinations. Now, Taylor Winterstein is taking her workshops on the road, and doctors say she’s putting lives at risk. @AmberLaidler7#7Newspic.twitter.com/Ol8scuVHXk
Seems an attention getter, without having to strip, but it really is part of a porn movement to look at me, I’m good looking and achieving celebrity and you can be like me. Tell people things that make them think, or feel they have gone through the motions.
It’s mental gym here folks, worry about my subject, and don’t waste your energies on the rest of life, which is confusing and debilitating to the mind. Stay with us and reeelaaax your mind, and together we will solve your problems. Half the things you worry about don’t happen. You can have twice as much fun in your life if you just stop worrying about finding the truth and just listen to us; listen to our Foundation; The Foundation of Life.
Watch out for that in your letterbox and on line soon. Someone will pick up on that to sell something to the peeps.
poor thing, still trying to get away from tax faster then anyone can say boo.
Can’t have Gareth Morgan pay taxes. Now that would upset the tax evader.
Poor thing, did no one tell him that he would have to pay nothing if he is not selling his assets:? Oh that is how he made his money in the first place? Sucks to be him.
This inclusion of taxation upon all income to capital (not just homes but all non-financial capital) properly integrated into the current income tax regime…”
I don’t know what that means. Annual levies? Does that mean like higher Rates?
I have sought an answer for this but does anyone know how this would be better than CGT?
Morgan is not entirely clear on what he means by “annual levies”, but I think he means the tax on imputed rentals. Perhaps The Economixt sees the lack of these as a possible justification for capital gains taxes, but thinks it would be better to apply them on a regular basis rather than as lump sum tax when the property is sold.
Morgan provides a link to the Economist article but it’s behind a paywall. However the headline indicates that what the Economist wanted to replace was stamp duty on the sale of a property.
That would be good – a CGT of reasonable percentage on commercial and rented properties. Then stamp duty of a small percentage on all properties.
Two bites at a luscious cherry. Put that in your pipe and smoke it you lachrymose speculators. (I thought I would throw in a new word to the stewpot with the so many others used in the debate about taxes on housing.)
I think you are misunderstanding the comments. The Economist was writing about the British situation, and recommending that their stamp duty be abandoned, and replaced by an annual payment of some sort. Without having access to the Economist article I cannot say what the nature of that annual payment would be.
A woman complained that there were’nt jobs available to locals. If it was her personally, she should have put up her own advert. If it was general she should have not butted in, it isn’t the Finnish woman’s fault and it was just bad-mouthing her instead of the politician who should be controlling foreign workers. But she iwould be unlikely to have put her thoughts to the polly, most NZs just vent, full of sour air.
And the men who used the opportunity to make remarks that were sleazy or suggestive, that is so childish. They have no awareness of how to communicate in a public place, as on-line sites are, and that shows lack of maturity too. I wonder where these men learned their attitudes towards women? In the home? Is it being passed on down the generations in some farm families? And the old refrain – just having a joke, some people have no sense of humour.
by Don Franks Like New Zealand, Britain is officially a country of equal opportunity under the rule of law, with increasing hardship for those at the bottom. When there’s an election, and the party most obviously callous towards poor people wins, decent folks are dismayed and bewildered. “What the hell ...
UKanians went to the polls yesterday in early elections aimed at resolving the Brexit impasse. And they certainly have, delivering a huge majority to the Tories, and (barring internal rebellions of the sort which delayed Brexit) giving them the power to do whatever they want. And thanks to the UK's ...
by Karim Pourhamzavi Mass protests are occurring across Iran, taking place in over 100 cities. The protests have been sparked by the government’s cutting of fuel subsidies, a measure which caused fuel prices to double overnight. Mass protests are hardly new in Iran, but there is an important difference ...
What other song could we play as the UK's political rule book gets torn up and thrown away?Video courtesy of YouTubeThis post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
Legendary in my own mind, I mean. All times are NZ, which is an hour10.00am (NZ) There's about an hour to go until the exit poll is released. At that point, half of the British voting public will devastated, and the other half celebrating wildly. Unless everyone is simply confused.Turnout seems ...
Forlorn Hope: When the call came down to make Corbyn unelectable, the Establishment's journalists and columnists rose to the challenge. Antisemitism was only the most imaginative of the charges levelled against the old democratic-socialist. There were many more and, sadly, they appear to have worked. Boris Johnson may not be much ...
"Rendezvous" by David Low, September 1939.DUNEDIN IS THE BIRTHPLACE of, for my money, the world’s greatest cartoonist, David Low. At the height of his powers, in 1930s London, Low’s cartoons represented the visual conscience of the civilised world. His most famous cartoon, “Rendezvous”, penned a few weeks into the Second ...
If you want to study propagandist techniques, you are typically told to study Dictatorships. Not unfair, but what’s always been more interesting to me is so-called “democratic” countries and their broader information systems.Why? Because people opt for it, even as they decry “totalitarian regimes!”.. It’s quite an eye ...
Introducing legislation which shits on the public's right to know seems to have become a daily occurrence for this government. Today's example is the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Bill. The bill establishes a framework for the establishment of "special purpose vehicles" (SPVs) to hide debt from local government balance sheets ...
Below is the longlist of words and phrases generated in the korero phase of Public Address Word of the Year 2019, with some editorial moderation. Now it's time to vote. As you'll doubtless be able to see, you get three ranked choices. Use your power wisely. Or frivolously, whatever.As usual, ...
The University of Waikato and New Zealand Law Foundation have released a report today on the law around encryption in New Zealand. There's stuff in there about principles and values, and how proposed government policies to provide for "lawful access" by creating backdoors would destroy the trust which makes encryption ...
A ballot for two Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance (Prompt Settlement of Claims for Uninhabitable Residential Property) Bill (Stuart Smith) Social Security (Exemption for Ex Gratia and Compensation Payments) Amendment Bill (Willow-Jean Prime) Neither bill seems likely to be particularly controversial. This is ...
Earlier in the month, Bougainvilleans went to the polls in a landmark referendum to decide on whether they would remain part of Papua New Guinea or become independent. Yesterday, the results came in, with over 97% support for independence. The referendum wasn't binding - instead it means negotiations with the ...
by Daphna Whitmore This week 800 unionised bus drivers in Auckland were suspended from work after they refused to collect fares as part of a campaign of industrial action. Drivers working for Auckland’s largest bus company NZ Bus are asking for more pay and better working conditions after being offered ...
As details emerge about what unfolded on Whakaari / White Island two days ago, my thoughts go out to all the families affected by this terrible event. My thoughts are also with the first responders who worked in perilous circumstances to assist and protect those affected. Both local and ...
BMG research have unleashed their final poll of the 2019 campaign:Westminster voting intention: CON: 41% (-)LAB: 32% (-)LDEM: 14% (-)GRN: 4% (-)BREX: 3% (-1)via @BMGResearch , 06 - 11 Dec Chgs. w/ 06 Dec That's a bit of a "Dunno why we bothered" sort of poll. "Phillip, I'm afraid I've been a ...
Grant Keeps On Trucking: Out of the $12 billion Robertson has announced for infrastructure investment, $8 billion will be allocated to specific projects, with the balance of $4 billion held in reserve. What does it say about this Government's "transformational" ambitions that 85 percent of that $8 billion is to ...
I am not making this up.First few lines of the Dail Mail write up:Boris Johnson's exasperated media minder swore on live TV today as the PM refused to speak to Good Morning Britain before trotting into a fridge as he started an early milkround in Yorkshire. Piers Morgan was visibly ...
In previous elections pollsters have bemoaned the 'shy Tory' - the respondent who is so fearful of being judged as a cruel and heartless bastard by an anonymous pollster, or their spouses, workmates and friends, that they lie about their intention of voting Conservative, skewing the poll figures in Labour's ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzI was in Switzerland recently and discovered that they haven’t ...
So, You Gov's MRP poll - the weird one that tries to reflect what will happen at a constituency level and which pretty much nailed the hung parliament in 2017 - is not looking too good for Labour:
We've known about climate change for over forty years now,and it has been a major political issue for twenty. And yet fossil fuel companies have kept polluting with impunity, while government have looked the other way and twiddled their thumbs and refused to do anything because "the economy", or just ...
Sheer Loopiness: Many of those expressing bemusement at the antics of these #turnardern effacers, were convinced that they were yet another expression of the National Party’s increasingly spiteful anti-government propaganda campaign. They marvelled at the oddness of the perpetrators’ mindset and questioned the common-sense of allowing the rest of New Zealand ...
Brad Scott, GNS Science VolcanologistThis post was originally published by GeoNet.Following the 9 December devastating eruption at Whakaari/White Island we have put together some information about the island. New Zealand’s most active volcano Whakaari/White Island is currently New Zealand’s most active volcano, it has been since an eruptive episode ...
The Justice Committee has reported back on its Inquiry into the 2017 General Election and 2016 Local Elections, with a host of recommendations about how to improve our electoral systems. Some of their recommendations are already incorporate din the Electoral Amendment Bill currently before Parliament, but there's also a recommendation ...
Back in 2017, in order to make themselves "electable" in the eyes of rich people who oppose everything they stand for, the Greens signed up for NeoLiberalism, adopting a restrictive set of "Budget Responsibility Rules" which basicly prevented them from using government to make things better. Now, they're finally abandoning ...
Since invading in 2001, the US has consistently claimed that their war in Afghanistan has been going well, even when it continued year after year after year. Of course, they were lying, and thanks to the Washington Post and the US Freedom of Information Act, we get to see just ...
How should we think about artificial intelligence and the implications that it has for our work and leisure? There are many articles on artificial intelligence and its potential impacts on jobs, and the ethics of applications. These are important topics, but I want to focus on some less discussed aspects, ...
I love data. It’s amazing the sort of “discoveries” I can make given a data set and computer statistical package. It’s just so easy to search for relationships and test their statistical significance. Maybe relationships which ...
The other big story concerning Leeds Hospital is Boris Johnson's bizzare behaviour at Leeds Hospital, where he was confronted by a journalist and challenged about a four year old boy with suspected pneumonia who was left sleeping on the floor, rather than getting abed like a sick kid would in ...
So, for a brief period of history, it was alleged that a protester had punched Matt Hancock's SPAD (not a euphemism; special adviser) when Hancock visited Leeds Hospital.This was reported by the likes of Robert Peston and Laura Keunssberg, as well as the less credible Guido Fawkes. It also quickly ...
by Daphna Whitmore Last week France passed a law that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. It is based on a definition of anti-Semitism that includes criticism of Israel such as: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist ...
Over the past year we've seen major bus problems in Hamilton and Wellington, as drivers have sought better wages and an end to the bullshit of split shifts, which basicly see them "married to the job". And now its Auckland's turn. When NZBus's drivers planned low-level strike action of not ...
The government has been congratulating itself over the passage of the Zero Carbon Act, which sets out long-term emissions targets. But those targets are insufficient. Meanwhile, Denmark is showing us how its done:Denmark’s parliament adopted a new climate law on Friday, committing to reach 70% below its 1990 emissions in ...
Another day, another piece of legislation with a secrecy clause. This time its the innocuous-seeming Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill, which (after establishing a new body and making it subject to the OIA in three different ways) includes the rapidly-becoming-standard clauses enabling it to request information from other public ...
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...
On 27 September, Greta Thunberg addressed a crowd of 500,000 at the School Strike for Climate in Montreal, saying: “You are a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And Sweden is also a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And in both cases, it means absolutely nothing. Because ...
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...
Michael SchulsonWhen Shane Burcaw flies on an airplane, he brings along a customized gel cushion, a car seat, and about 10 pieces of memory foam. The whole arsenal costs around $1,000, but for Burcaw it’s a necessity. The 27-year-old author and speaker — who, alongside his fiancée, Hannah ...
We are very pleased to publish this submission is from Lucinda Stoan. She is a social justice activist, mother, and educator, based in Washington State in the US. This detailed and comprehensive source-linked overview of trans issues and what is at stake will be useful for many people, especially in ...
New Zealand's Underarm Banker: It bears recalling that the “independence” of the Reserve Bank Governor was for decades held up by neoliberal capitalists as the most compelling justification for passing the Reserve Bank Act. Interesting, is it not, how the ruling class’s support for the Bank’s independence lasted no longer than ...
Rubbish In, Rubbish Out: Put all this together, and it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that anyone who responds positively to a pollster’s request to “answer a few questions” is just ever-so-slightly weird. Desperately lonely? Some sort of psephological train-spotter? Political party member primed to skew the poll for or against ...
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...
Samuel Becher, Victoria University of Wellington and Jessica C Lai, Victoria University of WellingtonEarlier this year, the New Zealand-based pizza chain Hell Pizza offered a limited-edition “Burger Pizza”. Its customers weren’t told that the “meat” was plant-based. Some customers complained to the Commerce Commission, which enforces consumer law in ...
Some people seem to want to close down any critical discussion of the current research into the relationship between water fluoride and child IQ. They appear to argue that claims made by researchers should not be open to critical review and that the claims be accepted without proper consideration ...
The government has been congratulating itself over the passage of the Zero Carbon Act, which sets out long-term emissions targets. Meanwhile, Climate Action Tracker has the shameful reality: those targets are insufficient:While New Zealand is showing leadership by having passed the world’s second-ever Zero Carbon Act in November 2019, under ...
The government introduced a Racing Industry Bill today. As an urban who horse racing as pointless-to-cruel, and gambling as a tax on stupidity and/or hope, this isn't normally a bill which would interest me in the slightest, beyond grumpiness at more government money for a dying industry. But there is ...
Check. Check. One, two, three, four. Is this thing ON? Hello readers, I logged in last night (yeah, it’s been a while) to mark THE END of the landmark legal case, Jordan Williams v Colin Craig, which (gulp) reached The Supreme Court, in which New Zealand’s most-defamed man was suing the politician he ...
Before The Birth: Israel’s most fervent supporters set their clocks ticking in Biblical times. They cite the kingdoms of David and Solomon as proof that, in the words of the Exodus movie’s theme-song: “This land is mine.” The majority of Israel’s backers, however, start their clocks in 1933 – the year Adolf ...
In an unreliable, strange and confusing world, Public Address is proud to present a measure of comfort and stability by annually asking everyone what words or phrases sum up the year that's been – and then giving some of them consumer goods as prizes for being clever or simply lucky.Well, ...
Both my parents are pretty handy – and they seem to have the right tools for most jobs in the garage and they know how to fix practically anything. A similar story could be told about their generation’s experience in the workforce – being a generalist was not unusual and ...
When it was revealed that NZ First had tried to enrich itself from public office via the Provoncial Growth Fund, the Prime Minister assured us that everything was OK as Shane Jones, the Minister responsible for the fund, had recused himself. Except it seems that that recusal came very late ...
Today is a Member's Day, and probably the last one of the year. After the marathon of the End of Life Choice Act, most of the bills up for debate today are uncontentious. First up is the second reading of Chlöe Swarbrick's Election Access Fund Bill. This will be followed ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has reported back on the government's odious and tyrannical control orders bill. As expected, the fraudulent select committee process has made no significant changes (partly because they couldn't agree, but mostly because it was a stitch-up from the start, with no intention of ...
Yesterday, the government released its draft Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, which will be put to a non-binding referendum at the next election. I'm not a drug policy expert, but Russell Brown is, and he thinks its pretty good. And pretty obviously, it will be a massive improvement on the ...
As you're probably aware, the draft bill outlining the proposed legal cannabis regime to be put to a referendum late next year was published yesterday, and has already attracted a flurry of comment. It's notable that a good deal of the comment is about proposals that aren't actually new.A minimum ...
One of the big problems in New Zealand climate change policy is the government working at cross-purposes with itself. It wants to reduce fossil fuel use, but encourages oil and gas exploration. It wants to reduce transport emissions, but then builds enormous new roads. The problem could be avoided if ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzAccording to the United Nations, food shortages are a threat ...
Last year, the government announced it was ending offshore oil exploration by no longer issuing new permits. The idea was that the industry would then die off as permits expired. Except almost immediately the government revealed its bad faith, by saying they would extend permits and alter conditions to keep ...
The government introduced the Education and Training Bill to Parliament yesterday. Its a massive bill, which replaces both existing Education Acts, as well as various other bits of legislation (including some which are still proceeding through the House). I'll leave the serious analysis to teachers and people who actually know ...
Amelia SharmanThere’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to micro-credentials, those bits of bite-sized learning that can help workers stay on top of technological change. What’s a micro-credential? While definitions vary, micro-credentials can be understood as short courses that allow people to learn new skills or have an existing competency recognised. ...
All Smiles Now: Claire Szabo is taking up her presidential role after serving as the CEO of Habitat For Humanity. Which is absolutely perfect! After KiwiBuild was so comprehensively mismanaged by Phil Twyford, the party has not only elected a new president from a thoroughly respectable not-for-profit, but one who ...
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...
by Daphna Whitmore At Golden Oaks, a luxurious country retreat in the Hudson Valley, pregnant women have the best care money can buy. From the organic food, personalised exercise programmes, private yoga instruction and daily massages Golden Oaks looks like a country lodge for the upper class. Set some time ...
When Labour was running for election in 2017, it felt it needed to demonstrate "fiscal responsibility" and signed itself up to masochistic "budget responsibility rules". It was a fool's errand: the sorts of voters who demand fiscal responsibility are also the sorts of voters who believe that labour can never ...
Writing in Stuff, Joel MacManus looks at what we need to do to meet the Zero Carbon Act's targets. The core of it:1. Convert 85 per cent of vehicles on the road to electric. 2. Eliminate fossil fuels from all industrial heating up to 300 degrees Celsius. 3. Double our ...
Professors Janet Hoek and Richard Edwards, Emeritus Professor Phil Gendall, Jude Ball, Dr Judith McCool, Anaru Waa, Dr Becky FreemanRecent media reports have presented conflicting evidence on youth vaping in NZ. While some NZ school principals report concerns about increasing vaping on school grounds and confiscating vapes, ASH Year ...
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...
Image credit:The beginner’s guide to blogging I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is ...
1080 is used to control pests in NZ. Its use is contested by a noisy few. A new report claims high levels of 1080 in rats washed up on a beach. Flora and Fauna of Aotearoa (F&F) won’t name the laboratory that did their testing. It has sparked a hunt ...
Paramedics have reiterated their support for New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball's bill to impose mandatory prison sentences on those who assault our first responders and prison officers. There are more than 50 cases of abuse and assault against New Zealand paramedics each week. The figure has remained largely unchanged ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has revealed the Party’s stance on a proposed single public broadcaster. He said it had been the NZ First policy to support and strengthen public sector media. "For this reason, we welcome the initiative of Minister Faafoi to progress work in this area. Both ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First Introduction Good morning, and thank you for your attendance here today. Let us start by acknowledging the work of all the media outlets and reporters, particularly the regional reporters, who have been covering this week’s tragedy at Whakaari White Island. It ...
New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball’s bill introducing a six-month minimum sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its first reading in Parliament. Mr Ball said the new offence of "injuring a first responder or prison officer with intent" would target people who attacked paramedics, police, firefighters, and corrections ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters gave his final interview for 2019 on The Country to tell farmers they have never had it better under the current coalition Government. “Here you've got these record returns [for farmers]. These returns would be nothing like a record if the currency under the ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that New Zealand's Cook Islands High Commissioner, Tessa Temata, has died over the weekend. Ms Temata, 52, died in Palmerston North and had returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. She was the first New Zealand High Commissioner to the Cook Islands of Cook Island ...
A new defence report has mapped out how New Zealand's soldiers will navigate rising seas, and a year after the Defence Force announced its need to prepare for climate change. In the “Responding to the Climate Crisis” report, the Force restates its operational plan and sets goals to tackle climate ...
We're rebuilding New Zealand - our transport network, our hospitals, our schools and more... After nine years of neglect there's a lot to fix - but we're getting on with the job. ...
We're rebuilding New Zealand - our transport network, our hospitals, our schools and more... After nine years of neglect there's a lot to fix - but we're getting on with the job. ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, has called for awareness to be raised and more stringent biosecurity checks to be put in place for African Swine Fever (ASF), a widespread virus that is uncontrolled in most of Asia and a serious ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Human Rights A critical step has been taken to end gender based violence against women and girls in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Human Rights Jenny Marcroft MP has welcomed the passing of the first reading of the Crimes (Definition of Female ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says it's time to recognise market forces haven't led to the expected reduction in Māori smoking rates and try a new approach. The Party had recently invoked the agree to disagree clause in their Coalition Agreement with the Labour Party, and will not support ...
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...
The Coalition Government will be banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, ahead of next year’s general elections. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament and passed under urgency – emphasising the need for such restrictions to safeguard our democracy. The bill introduces a new requirement that party secretaries and ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones opened Taipā's $19 million bridge recently, improving transport infrastructure in the Northland region. The two-lane bridge is 107m long with a 2.5m-wide shared walking and cycling path, and will reduce the congestion that the old one-lane bridge was notorious for. The project had also included ...
The Overseas Investment Office have rejected the application of Mercury Agriculture LP, which is 92 per cent controlled by Canadian interests, to purchase more than 2000 hectares of South Canterbury and Otago land. Mercury wanted to buy 2000ha at Rangitata, 1494ha near Ashburton, 816ha near Cromwell and 212ha near Temuka. ...
This weekend was Labour's 103rd Party Conference! We welcomed over 500 of our Labour whānau in red to Whanganui, where we reflected on the last two years in Government, and looked ahead to 2020 and beyond. We know the long-term challenges facing New Zealand won't be tackled overnight, but we're making ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced that the Provincial Growth Fund will invest $9.6 million to seal the final unsealed section of State Highway 43 from Stratford to Taumarunui. The Minister said sealing the 12-kilometre gravel section of the highway – also called the “Forgotten World Highway” - through ...
Former Finance Minister and former chair of the Tax Working Group, Sir Michael Cullen, has voiced his support for New Zealand First’s decision to oppose the planned increase in tobacco excise tax. In an interview with The Weekend Collective, he said that increasing the price was no longer effective in ...
Māori are natural storytellers. On the marae we use stories to tell our history, to teach the next generation life lessons and to let people know, in our most creative of ways, who we are and where we have come from. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First has invoked the ‘Agree to Disagree’ provisions of the Coalition Agreement because it cannot support the announced 11.46 percent increase in the tobacco excise from 1 January 2020. “Studies show that the automatic tobacco excise increases are having less effect ...
Taupō-based company Geo40 has made a breakthrough in extracting near battery-grade lithium from geothermal fluid which its says could be a gamechanger. Its chief executive John Worth said the earth mineral was highly prized, with battery-grade lithium selling for US$10,000 (NZ$15,600) a tonne. Geo40 was founded in 2010 to find ...
Crown research institute AgResearch Ltd, as part of its Future Footprint plan, had intended to relocate top scientists and support staff — particularly those focused on sheep genetics and genomics — from Invermay to Lincoln. However, those plans seem to have been shelved at the request of the Coalition Government. ...
Ten engineering firms in Southland are receiving a total of $2.13 million in Provincial Growth Fund funding to lift productivity and create new jobs. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced in Invercargill that the 10 engineering and manufacturing firms would receive funding to assist them with buying equipment that ...
The number of new residents to New Zealand is the lowest it has been in nearly two decades and it has earned the ire of the immigration industry. The industry alleges that 'Trump-style extreme vetting' is being put in place aimed at keeping a lid on immigration numbers. June Ranson, ...
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is one step closer to modernising its fleet after the United States State Department recently approved the sale of five new C-130J Hercules aircraft to New Zealand. Arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, in Fort Worth, Texas, will provide the aircraft, but as a "foreign military ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development A $261,000 loan from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) has helped a family-run business in Manawatū to scale up manufacturing capacity, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced at its opening today. Ashhurst-based skin-care business The Herb Farm is on track to ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Regional Freight Hub near Palmerston North has taken a step forward with the completion of the master plan, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said. Shane Jones unveiled the high-level design of the new Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) backed rail-road hub ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of DefenceTērā te haeata takiri ana mai i runga o Pukaha!Ara tai uru, whai uru, whai uru!Ara whai ato, whai ato, whai ato!Ara rā tini, ara rā tini, ara ri!The rays of the morning sun strike a new dawn upon Pukaha ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic DevelopmentThe Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $772,000 in opportunities for growth in Manawatū-Whanganui, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today.NZ Bio-Forestry Limited will receive a $380,000 boost for game-changing research which could unlock significant growth in the wood processing sector, ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced today the appointment of diplomat Sarah Lee as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to South Africa. She will be the first female Head of Mission to represent New Zealand in Africa. “New Zealand’s relationship with South ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones wants to create a log barging facility at Hicks Bay and turn the area into a Special Economic Zone. The move would be part of protecting New Zealand's forests from being depleted by India and China, he said. It follows his announcement last week to strengthen ...
New Zealand First supports the changes recommended by the Winter Grazing Taskforce to improve animal welfare outcomes through the winter months, and the establishment of a pan-sector action group to implement them. New Zealand First Primary Industries Spokesperson Mark Patterson says the report highlights areas of concern about the animal ...
Former prime ministers Helen Clark and Sir John Key, formerly from the Labour and National parties respectively, have joined forces in support of New Zealand First’s plan to relocate Auckland's port to Whangārei. While Ms Clark and Sir John spent their political careers on opposite sides of the political divide, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is in Japan for the Foreign Ministers' meeting of the G20 grouping of countries as one of nine "invited" countries. He has used the opportunity to cast a spotlight on the plight of Pacific countries, calling out countries which still offered subsidies or Government assistance to ...
Auckland’s growing screen sector is the catalyst for a new partnership between the Ministry of Social Development and Auckland’s economic development agency Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED). The launch today at FilmFX in Henderson, is to celebrate the partnership which looks to capitalise on the social and economic development opportunities ...
A minute’s silence will be observed at 2.11pm on Monday 16 December in honour of the victims of the Whakaari White Island eruption, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed. “Wherever you are in New Zealand, or around the world, this is a moment we can stand alongside those who have ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced New Zealand will contribute NZ$1 million of funding towards the joint United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) Pacific Regional Action Plan for Measles. “Prevention through vaccination is the most effective way of avoiding illness and a costly health emergency. ...
New Zealand is today remembering one of our true sporting heroes, triple Olympic gold medal winner Sir Peter Snell. “He was a legend, here and around the world,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “Our thoughts are with Sir Peter’s wife Miki and their family.” “Sir Peter is recognised as New ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson on his election victory. “New Zealand and the United Kingdom are close friends and despite our distance we are strongly connected by our history and people,” Jacinda Ardern said. “I look forward to continuing to work with Prime ...
The Government has released its long term vision for a sustainable 21st Century rail network that gets our cities moving, connects our regions and gets more freight off the roads. Deputy Prime Minister and State Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters said the Government is committed to rebuilding New Zealand’s ...
I want to start by acknowledging the families who have experienced such grief and such loss since the extraordinary tragedy on Monday. Today was all about reuniting them with their loved ones. We've just come from the airport where many of them were gathered and in amongst what you can ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further support for Samoa’s longer term needs as it continues to respond to a devastating measles epidemic. “Samoa’s health system has experienced massive strain in the wake of the measles epidemic. The volume of patients needing care during this outbreak, and the number of ...
Discounted electric bikes will be offered up to public sector staff across the country as part of the Government’s work to reduce transport emissions and support healthier transport options. Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter officially launched the new initiative at Wellington Hospital today. “The Government has negotiated bulk-purchase ...
The Australian and New Zealand Governments today launch an historic joint bid to bring the FIFA Women’s World Cup to the Southern Hemisphere for the first time. Australian Minister for Youth and Sport, Richard Colbeck and New Zealand Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson will announce the bold campaign, ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) has approved a $15 million loan to help re-establish a gold mining operation at Blackwater Gold Mine, near Reefton, Rural Communities Minister and local MP Damien O’Connor announced at an event on the West Coast today. “This is great news for the Coast that could ...
Papakāinga model inspires whānau well-being A housing project by Kohupātiki whānau in Hastings is an outstanding example of a Māori-led housing initiative that can reduce financial pressure and reconnect whānau to their whakapapa says the Minister for Māori Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta. Minister Mahuta officially opened the Aroha Te Rangi ...
Restoration efforts for a significant wetland in the Hawke’s Bay are getting more support announced Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage. “Wetlands are vital to healthy landscapes and ecosystems. They function as nature’s ‘kidneys’, filtering and protecting water quality, acting as nature’s sponges after rain and are home to ...
Nelson has today seen the launch of Housing First Nelson Tasman. Today’s launch marks the expansion of the Government’s homelessness programme, Housing First, to the top of the South Island. “Housing First is a proven programme that puts people who are experiencing homelessness and multiple, high and complex needs into ...
New Government funding announced today will help communities make a difference in tackling environmental issues Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage announced in Hawkes Bay today. The Ministry for the Environment’s Community Environment Fund is dedicating $243,101 to growing the capacity and capability of the Environment Hubs Aotearoa’s (EHA) ...
The days of vulnerable consumers falling victim to loan sharks, truck shops and other predatory lenders are numbered, following the Credit Contracts Legislation Amendment Bill passing its third reading tonight. “Too many Kiwis are being given loans that are unaffordable and unsuitable, trapping them in debt and leaving their families ...
A Bill that prevents terrorism and supports the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas has passed its third reading, Justice Minister Andrew Little says. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill is a carefully targeted response to manage the risk posed by a small number of New Zealanders who have ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio will travel to Samoa on Friday, where New Zealand medical teams are helping Samoa respond to an outbreak of measles. “New Zealand has been working closely with the Government of Samoa and offering our assistance from the ...
The Government has changed the law to improve student safety and welfare in university halls of residence and other student accommodation. The Education (Pastoral Care) Amendment Bill passed its third reading this afternoon and details of an interim Code of Practice setting out the Government’s expectations of tertiary providers have also been released. ...
A new tool to help councils fund and finance infrastructure could mean some housing developments happen a decade earlier than currently planned, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said today. “This new tool, developed by the Government in partnership with industry and high-growth councils, will allow councils to access private debt ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has welcomed the release of a bold new vision for the country’s vital food and fibre sector. “I’m delighted that New Zealand’s major farmer and grower organisations are today supporting the Primary Sector Council’s vision – Fit for a Better World,” he said. “The international consumers ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has congratulated the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville Government for completing a well-conducted referendum on the future political status of Bougainville. “New Zealand supported the referendum process by providing technical advice through the New Zealand Electoral Commission and leading a Regional Police ...
In light of Cabinet’s position that freight operations on prime land in downtown Auckland are no longer viable, the Government will now embark on a short work programme to enable decision-making in the first half of next year, Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones says. Minister Jones is today releasing the ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter has received the report back from a surgical mesh restorative justice process undertaken by Victoria University. The process heard stories, either in person or online submission, from more than 600 people affected by surgical mesh. “The report made for heart-breaking and confronting reading,” says ...
The Water Services Regulator Bill – Taumata Arowai , introduced to Parliament today, is a milestone for drinking water safety in New Zealand and will help improve environmental outcomes for urban waterways, rivers and lakes. “This is a breakthrough for New Zealanders in terms of providing safe drinking water throughout ...
Kia ora koutouE ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā matā wakaTēnā koutou katoaHaere ngā, moe maiKoutou ma ngā Rangatira Ko Anaru ahauKo au te Minita mo ngā TureHe Honore tino nui kei roto I ahau No reira tena koutou katoa Today, we are releasing two reports that are the ...
The Government is looking to turn around the long-term challenges of criminal justice by taking a new approach to break the cycle of offending to ensure there are fewer victims of crime. Justice Minister Andrew Little released two reports today, Turuki! Turuki! from Te Uepū Hāpai I te Ora, and ...
New Zealand firms expanding beyond the start-up phase are set for more support after today’s passage of the Venture Capital Fund Bill, Associate Finance Minister David Parker said. The Bill, which establishes a $300 million Venture Capital Fund, puts in place a key initiative of the Wellbeing Budget’s economic package. ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira mā. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Señora Presidenta, Excellencies, Delegates. International action A common thread that runs through the Paris Agreement is the commitment we have made to each other to do what we can to ...
The Government is lifting capital investment to the highest level in more than 20 years as it takes the next step to future-proof New Zealand. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced $12 billion of new investment, with $8 billion for specific capital projects and $4 billion to be added to ...
The Government is forecast to run $12 billion worth of surpluses across the four years to 2023/24 as the economy continues to grow. The surpluses will help fund day-to-day capital requirements each year. These include fixing leaky hospitals, building new classrooms to cover population growth and take pressure off class ...
Budget 2020 will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also investing to future-proof the economy. When the Government took office in 2017 it was left with crumbling infrastructure, severe underinvestment in public services, degraded rivers and lakes, a housing crisis and rising ...
The Minister responsible for the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 (te Takutai Moana Act 2011), Andrew Little has welcomed the launch of an online geospatial tool that provides data-rich, dynamic coastline maps that will significantly boost research and evidence-gathering under the Act. Te Kete Kōrero a Te ...
The Chief Victims Advisor to Government Dr Kim McGregor, QSO, has been reappointed in her role for a further two years. Dr McGregor has held the role since it was established in November 2015. She provides independent advice to government on how to improve the criminal justice system for victims. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Civil Defence Minister Peeni Henare have today announced the deployment of a network of DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) buoys. “New Zealand and the Pacific region are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. It is vital we have adequate warning systems in place,” ...
DART Buoys Announcement Aotea Wharf, 9.30am 11 December 2019 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements to Minister for Civil Defence Hon Peeni Henare also here today. White Island It is with regret that this event shadows the tragic natural disaster two days ago. The volcanic eruptions on White Island have claimed 5 lives, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Racing Industry Bill in parliament today. This is the second of two Bills that have been introduced this year to revitalise New Zealand’s racing industry. “Our domestic racing industry has been in serious decline. The Government is committed to ...
Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni, is pleased to announce that $291,321 is to be awarded to national and local community initiatives to maintain and promote the use of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). “New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world where Sign Language is an ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has announced today the Coalition Government’s initial response to work completed by the independent statutory body, the Veterans’ Advisory Board. “When Professor Ron Paterson completed his review of the Veterans’ Support Act in 2018, he made a number of recommendations, including one which I referred ...
The Government will fund the bulk of the cost of a rural water supply for the Ohakea community affected by PFAS contamination, Environment Minister David Parker announced today at a meeting of local residents. This new water scheme will provide a reliable and clean source of drinking water to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Tormey, Professor of Politics, University of Bristol So for all the talk of narrowing polls, tactical voting, and possible shocks leading to a hung parliament, Boris Johnson achieved a crushing victory over Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party in the UK’s ...
Sir Peter Snell has died, aged 80, at his home in Dallas, Texas. James McOnie remembers arguably New Zealand’s greatest ever athlete.Sir Peter Snell was so great that small towns still engage in custody battles over the legendary runner.His birthplace Opunake (where he spent his first 11 years) claims him, ...
Māori Injustice Issues Will Have More Visibility Thanks to New Panel Advising Ombudsman A prominent Māori leader, Lady Tureiti Moxon believes Māori injustice issues will be seen much more now thanks to Pūhara Mana Tangata, a first-time Māori panel appointed ...
“It was right there in the waiting room that Jack first told me he was finding it hard to separate his fingers”: a parent’s nightmare, by Dunedin writer Emma Neale. ...
We started picking a top 10 ourselves and puttered out at about #3, sick of the sound of our own voice. Bugger it, we thought, and sent for assistance. It’s been like Christmas ever since, an inbox flowing over with gorgeous, sincere little gifts. Here’s the nonfiction selection, in no ...
The leadership shown by tangata whenua at every national disaster and tragedy should be recognised and honoured by all of us, writes Catherine Delahunty.I do appreciate having a prime minister who is capable of expressing decent, human emotions when tragedies descend on us. It’s a sadly low bar that she ...
From the pockmarked rugby paddock of Apiti, to the smooth, iridescent-blue turf of Albany, Black Sticks defender Steph Dickins' hockey journey has come a long way. ...
If you want to shock and amaze your friends and family this Christmas, look no further than the deep recesses of $1 reserve Trade Me. Folks, I’m going to let you in on a huge Christmas secret here: you can get all your presents for $1 if you know where to ...
To celebrate the 50th birthday of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth, Walters Prize-winning artist Ruth Buchanan has rehung their collection, bringing previously unseen works and skeletons out of the closet. Her new exhibition The scene in which I find myself/Or, where does my body belong examines ...
It is hard to remember a year in which New Zealand was so repeatedly in global headlines, writes Kamahl Santamaria, a Kiwi journalist based in Doha.Time zones are a strange thing. You go to sleep, and then for eight hours or so, you miss out on everything happening on the ...
Napoleon demanded that his generals be lucky. Conservative PM Boris Johnson, as he surveys a thumping victory in the British general election, would meet that criterion.His luck bears a resemblance to that of Margaret Thatcher. Like her, he has made a decisive break with orthodox establishment thinking. That presents ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison has rejected or sidelined a number of recommendations from the long-awaited Thodey review of the public service that might have constrained his and his government’s power. Not surprisingly, a proposal to ensure changes ...
Analysis - The "do nothing" government announces a big spend-up on infrastructure, moving the Port of Auckland, and Winston Peters throws his weight behind NZME's bid to buy Stuff. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]For their last video for the year, University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini and Michelle Grattan look backwards to the big issues which have shaped political discourse. They discuss the surprise election results, and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has acknowledged Ngāti Awa for their role as tangata whenua (people of the land) in leading and caring for affected whānau (family members), following the Whakaari / White Island eruption and recovery operation earlier today. ...
The Environment Committee has opened for public submissions on the Urban Development Bill. The bill follows on from the Kāinga Ora–Homes and Communities bill, which disestablished Housing New Zealand and set up a Crown entity in the same name. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Loader, Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Murdoch University, Murdoch University This article is part of our Gender and Christianity series. To understand contemporary Christian ideas about gender, and specifically masculinity, we need to go all the way back to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Gissing, General Manager, Risk Frontiers, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University Calls are growing for a national bushfire plan, including from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who says they are an issue of national security and the federal government must provide hands-on leadership. ...
Pro-democracy lobby group Democracy Action welcome New Zealand First’s commitment to hold firm rejecting the Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene’s bill to entrench the Māori seats. The Bill, which would require any changes to the seats to require the ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.Sometimes you are just doing a podcast as usual and then Colin Mathura-Jeffree gives you a call and throws your world off its axis. In a very special edition of Colin’s Cranny: Live, ...
We get a handle on the artists and artworks that shaped this decade in Aotearoa.As 2019 draws to a close, the four nominees for this year’s Turner Prize subverted the competition – they asked to receive the award as a collective. Meanwhile, at Art Basel Miami Beach, a banana taped ...
The second and final report of Te Uepū Hāpai i te Ora, the Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group, contains nothing we didn’t know 30 years ago. Yet generations of politicians have ignored the same advice, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira.Between the 1950s and 1990s, New Zealand experienced seismic social, economic ...
Fuel company Z Energy has cut its earnings forecast for the year by 10 percent because of tougher competition and falling margins, and is forecasting a big cut in dividends. ...
Liquidators of the hacked cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia have travelled to the United States, to retrieve customers' information and certain crypto-assets. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kath Albury, Professor of Media and Communication, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology Popular commentary on dating apps often associates their use with “risky” sex, harassment and poor mental health. But anyone who has used a dating app ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Grimmer, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, University of Tasmania Australian shoppers are set to spend $52.7 billion this Christmas. In the words of the retail industry, we are “stampeding” to empty our wallets, both online and ...
NZ Herald and many other media outlets ran a story on a man whose farts could repel mosquitos, despite the story coming from a satire news site and not being verified in any way, writes Dan Satherly for Newshub.“Man’s farts so deadly he kills mosquitoes in a 6m radius” is ...
Timing right to borrow our way to a stronger economy in 2020 The Government’s announcement of its intent to invest significantly in the county’s infrastructure could turbo charge an economic recovery that was already showing positive signs for ...
A poem by writer, journalist, and former Manus Island refugee Behrouz Boochani.Forgive me my loveTranslated by Moones Mansoubi, Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, 2018 Forgive me my bird as I am not able to embrace you.But here,in this corner,I know some migrating birds that I smile to at dawn.I embrace them ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Powles, Senior Lecturer in Security Studies, Massey University The Autonomous Region of Bougainville, a chain of islands that lie 959 kilometres northwest of Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, has voted unequivocally for independence. The referendum saw 85% voter turnout during ...
Fisheries New Zealand starts consultation today on proposed changes to catch settings for rock lobster and scallops for the new fishing year beginning 1 April 2020. ...
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. This was the declaration of the pigs who control the government in George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm– a tart comment on the hypocrisy of governments that proclaim the absolute equality of their citizens but gives power and privileges ...
SPCA has been working flat out to desex more than 80 animals a day over the last year, which is the most desexing SPCA has done since recording the figures. ...
“The fact so many families are struggling to pay the rent and put food on the table must be addressed urgently if we’re to provide the foundations for a good life for the next generation of New Zealanders,” says Scott Figenshow, Chief Executive ...
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 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton, $40)Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize.2The Body: ...
This holiday season Te Tari Taiwhenua, Department of Internal Affairs wants to offer parents and caregivers some advice on how to help keep your family safe online. ...
A report released by the Chief Victims advisor Kim McGregor advising there needs to be an Independent Victims body is being welcomed by Victim Rights lobby group Sensible Sentencing Trust. National spokesperson Jess McVicar says the trust have ...
For the third time in five years, the United Kingdom has gone to the polls today. From the summer islands of New Zealand, join The Spinoff as we follow the results rolling in.9.30am: So, with polls about 90 minutes away from closing, the top line is this – we’ve got ...
Winston Peters will back an NZME proposal to buy Stuff with a 'Kiwishare' guarantee the merged news company will keep regional news and separate websites for at least two years. ...
The Executive Director of Dapaanz (Addiction Practitioners’ Association Aotearoa New Zealand), Sue Paton says the announcement that Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment court would become permanent immediately, following successful pilots in Auckland ...
Online marketplace Sidekicker is taking advantage of people who have little choice but to juggle multiple low-paying jobs to make ends meet, writes artist and freelancer Ben Markley.After graduating early this year with one of the least vocational degrees, I didn’t expect the largest array of job prospects. Nevertheless, I ...
National is vowing to bring back and expand health sector targets dropped by the current Government and mulling whether to scrap elected District Health Boards. ...
More than 10,000 people have signed a petition launched a week ago, calling for better support and funding for community midwives. The 10k figure was reached after the first four days. Chief executive of the College of Midwives, Alison Eddy, said last ...
Information obtained by animal rights organisation SAFE has revealed rodeo organisers are refusing to halt calf-roping events in rodeo, despite the Government’s animal welfare advisors’ recommendation that they do so. ...
Subject; Deputy PM said quote; “New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has challenged his Cabinet colleagues for the delay over a Northport decision, criticising it as "paralysis by analysis". https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/405385/paralysis-by-analysis-winston-peters-assessment-of-the-delay-over-northport ...
If the Productivity Commission's report on local government funding, released yesterday, had been relied on by NASA as the basis for getting astronauts to the moon, its greatest achievement by now would have been launching a $2 skyrocket 40 feet into the air ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Mayne, Molecular biologist and bioinformatician, CSIRO Humans have a “natural” lifespan of around 38 years, according to a new method we have developed for estimating the lifespans of different species by analysing their DNA. Extrapolating from genetic studies of species with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Evans, Professor of Governance and Director of Democracy 2025 – bridging the trust divide at Old Parliament House, University of Canberra A new, ongoing survey on how young Australians understand and imagine their democracy is already challenging long-held stereotypes. The survey ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesco Paolucci, Associate Professor; Head of Health Policy Program, Sir Walter Murdoch School of Public Policy and International Affairs, University of Newcastle Private health insurance has come under intense scrutiny in recent months, as it becomes clear health insurers are failing to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Zaphir, Researcher for the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project; and Online Teacher at Education Queensland’s IMPACT Centre, The University of Queensland This is the second of two essays exploring key theories – cognitive load theory and constructivism – underlying teaching ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW On Monday the Australian government will release the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO). This will – as required by the Charter of Budget Honesty – provide an update on the key assumptions made in this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia It seems like every time we switch on the idiot box we are confronted with news footage of another disaster. Bushfires in Australia. A hurricane in North America. A tsunami ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Andrew Little indicates justice system changes after reports, Auckland buses back on the road, and National release health proposals. Two significant reports for the justice sector were released yesterday. The first was Turuki! Turuki! Transforming our Criminal Justice System from the Chester Borrows-led Safe and ...
On Wednesday, the government announced a $12 billion infrastructure package. It turns out that scrapped National Party roading projects are back in consideration for funding under the scheme. ...
Andy Ruiz Jr pulled of a massive shock by KO’ing Anthony Joshua in New York. And then delivered another stunning moment when he stepped onto the scales in Saudi Arabia. ...
What happens when your work is the victim of attempted sabotage by a group of slow-moving middle-aged men? Author and journalist Michelle Duff reveals all.Initially, it was kind of unclear what I was looking at. The disembodied hand loomed from the shaky first-person footage, flipping the cover of the book ...
The National Party leader sits down with Alex Braae to talk political rhetoric, misinformation, and whether he’ll have any dance partners after next year’s election.How cynical is Simon Bridges? It’s a question that has dogged National’s leader over the past year.Being an opposition leader is, of course, a difficult job ...
Sharon Brettkelly calls home to the Bay of Plenty to give us an insight into what Whakatane locals are thinking in the wake of Whakaari-White Island's eruption ...
Open mike 13/03/2019 
by Don Franks Like New Zealand, Britain is officially a country of equal opportunity under the rule of law, with increasing hardship for those at the bottom. When there’s an election, and the party most obviously callous towards poor people wins, decent folks are dismayed and bewildered. “What the hell ...3 hours ago
UKanians went to the polls yesterday in early elections aimed at resolving the Brexit impasse. And they certainly have, delivering a huge majority to the Tories, and (barring internal rebellions of the sort which delayed Brexit) giving them the power to do whatever they want. And thanks to the UK's ...5 hours ago
What other song could we play as the UK's political rule book gets torn up and thrown away?Video courtesy of YouTubeThis post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...1 day ago
Legendary in my own mind, I mean. All times are NZ, which is an hour10.00am (NZ) There's about an hour to go until the exit poll is released. At that point, half of the British voting public will devastated, and the other half celebrating wildly. Unless everyone is simply confused.Turnout seems ...1 day ago
If you want to study propagandist techniques, you are typically told to study Dictatorships. Not unfair, but what’s always been more interesting to me is so-called “democratic” countries and their broader information systems. Why? Because people opt for it, even as they decry “totalitarian regimes!”.. It’s quite an eye ...2 days ago
Below is the longlist of words and phrases generated in the korero phase of Public Address Word of the Year 2019, with some editorial moderation. Now it's time to vote. As you'll doubtless be able to see, you get three ranked choices. Use your power wisely. Or frivolously, whatever.As usual, ...2 days ago
by Daphna Whitmore This week 800 unionised bus drivers in Auckland were suspended from work after they refused to collect fares as part of a campaign of industrial action. Drivers working for Auckland’s largest bus company NZ Bus are asking for more pay and better working conditions after being offered ...2 days ago
As details emerge about what unfolded on Whakaari / White Island two days ago, my thoughts go out to all the families affected by this terrible event. My thoughts are also with the first responders who worked in perilous circumstances to assist and protect those affected. Both local and ...2 days ago
I love data. It’s amazing the sort of “discoveries” I can make given a data set and computer statistical package. It’s just so easy to search for relationships and test their statistical significance. Maybe relationships which ... 4 days ago
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...7 days ago
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...7 days ago
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...1 week ago
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...2 weeks ago
Image credit: The beginner’s guide to blogging I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is ... 2 weeks ago
Paramedics have reiterated their support for New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball's bill to impose mandatory prison sentences on those who assault our first responders and prison officers. There are more than 50 cases of abuse and assault against New Zealand paramedics each week. The figure has remained largely unchanged ...23 hours ago
Just after 2pm on Monday this week, Whakaari / White Island erupted. Read the Prime Minister's statement here, and watch her statement to the House below. ...24 hours ago
Auckland’s growing screen sector is the catalyst for a new partnership between the Ministry of Social Development and Auckland’s economic development agency Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED). The launch today at FilmFX in Henderson, is to celebrate the partnership which looks to capitalise on the social and economic development opportunities ...59 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Tormey, Professor of Politics, University of Bristol So for all the talk of narrowing polls, tactical voting, and possible shocks leading to a hung parliament, Boris Johnson achieved a crushing victory over Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party in the UK’s ...15 mins ago
Sir Peter Snell has died, aged 80, at his home in Dallas, Texas. James McOnie remembers arguably New Zealand’s greatest ever athlete.Sir Peter Snell was so great that small towns still engage in custody battles over the legendary runner.His birthplace Opunake (where he spent his first 11 years) claims him, ...36 mins ago
Māori Injustice Issues Will Have More Visibility Thanks to New Panel Advising Ombudsman A prominent Māori leader, Lady Tureiti Moxon believes Māori injustice issues will be seen much more now thanks to Pūhara Mana Tangata, a first-time Māori panel appointed ...4 hours ago
The government is moving to fast-track billions in funding for rail investments in a change that is being hailed as historic. ...6 hours ago
“It was right there in the waiting room that Jack first told me he was finding it hard to separate his fingers”: a parent’s nightmare, by Dunedin writer Emma Neale. ...9 hours ago
From the pockmarked rugby paddock of Apiti, to the smooth, iridescent-blue turf of Albany, Black Sticks defender Steph Dickins' hockey journey has come a long way. ...10 hours ago
Napoleon demanded that his generals be lucky. Conservative PM Boris Johnson, as he surveys a thumping victory in the British general election, would meet that criterion. His luck bears a resemblance to that of Margaret Thatcher. Like her, he has made a decisive break with orthodox establishment thinking. That presents ...15 hours ago
The ACT leader says his arguments haven't changed - but the circumstances that make them relevant have. ...19 hours ago
Three Otago institutions are teaming up to improve the future of rural health care. ...1 day ago
Fuel company Z Energy has cut its earnings forecast for the year by 10 percent because of tougher competition and falling margins, and is forecasting a big cut in dividends. ...1 day ago
House prices are on the rise again with record increases in 10 regions, but with fewer sales overall. ...1 day ago
Liquidators of the hacked cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia have travelled to the United States, to retrieve customers' information and certain crypto-assets. ...1 day ago
The Government’s homelessness program ‘ Housing First’ has expanded to the top of the South Island. ...1 day ago
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. This was the declaration of the pigs who control the government in George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm – a tart comment on the hypocrisy of governments that proclaim the absolute equality of their citizens but gives power and privileges ...1 day ago
Winston Peters will back an NZME proposal to buy Stuff with a 'Kiwishare' guarantee the merged news company will keep regional news and separate websites for at least two years. ...1 day ago
National wants all Kiwi kids running for 15 minutes a day; and Auckland Council stops issuing urgent property reports until the New Year. ...1 day ago
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50%, or 5/10 headlines topping NZH website today have a dollar sign in them.
40%, or 4/10 mention ‘celebrities’.
NZH, complete and utter shite.
Too true!! WTB
Oh God don’t morph into Paul please!!!!
LOL. Who is Paul, is he handsome and witty?
More recently known as Ed, and probably even more recently (and briefly) known as Jinx. Definitely not witty, in fact completely devoid of any detectable humour whatsoever.
OK. That’s not me. I feel very strongly about comedy. I even got arrested once trying to smuggle comedy into Germany.
That sounds like one of the very best conversation ice breakers ever
Maybe you could try it on Jude?
How is the Judith campaign? We’re cheering for you.
He boycotted the herald and many other things but always new what was on the front page and screeched regularly about it. . Must have been telepathic.
Pseudo-pseudo majorly concentrated on funnelling the USA and world disasters to us. I wondered why he seemed stuck in a rut, but after WtB’s count of its headline groupings, if he looked at the Herlad that would have been predictable.
Just one word of amelioration about the Herald – it does produce some good factual stuff; we aren’t seeing it become the National Enquirer yet.
I believe he boycotted the paper version. Looking at the front page for free to see what topics they were covering was a very smart move by Ed.
WtB
Lol
A good rejoinder and sets a high bar for the rest of us.
NZH New Zealand’s best fush and chip wrapping paper. it is full of RWNJ B/S IMHO
NZH is committed to the Truth so they say, and Read it and Believe it. Thanks granny, Who would not agree to that. (sarc) .
Thank you WtB. You remind me so much of Ed, thank you. We were so fortunate to be graced with his presence here.
and RNZ this morning:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/384585/parents-sending-unimmunised-children-to-school-despite-warnings
Media sending out unhelpful ‘news’ despite 110,000 children dying annually from now preventable disease!
Don’t the anti-vaxxers have questions to answer over this outbreak?
What do they have to say, all those strident opinionsters who for so long harangued others for vaccinating?? Why have they all gone quiet?
What do they say to the outbreak? Surely there are a few anti-vaxxers around these here parts …. come in anti-vaxxers … what say thee
Yes but the rates of Autism are plummeting /sarc
,,,, and Gossie measles are going through the roof another National Party outcome result ?
Eh???? Why are you pinning this on National? In case you missed it, they haven’t been in power for well over a year.
Goss you are are denier of the truth we have had 9 years under the Natzi’s of bleeding our Health System dry IMHO
Hmmmm…in these times, where even expressing an interest into thoroughly investigating all aspects of what are now considered conventional practices (be it vaccination, fluoridation of public water supplies, widespread 1080 use, widespread agrichemical use etc) is going to attract a shit tonne of ‘strident’ pro-ers tearing one to bits and accusing the ‘antis’ of being the cause of all the worlds problems…is it any reason your so called ‘anti – vaxxers’ are keeping a low profile?
Judging by the comments sections of msm articles about all of the above issues…it is the ‘pro’ lobby dishing out the bulk of the shit in a ‘strident’ manner
So. Being a person who was raised to make my own inquiries I’ve gone to the source, so to speak, and downloaded the current Immunisation Handbook from the that august institution the Ministry of Health.
http://www.moh.govt.nz/notebook/nbbooks.nsf/0/5B75258BCFDED7CACC257CF4007CE5B8/$file/immunisation-handbook-may14-v2.pdf a mere 670 pages of everything you didn’t know you needed to know about this very important issue.
The Disclaimer, though, kinda made my eyebrows rise….
“Disclaimer
This publication, which has been prepared for, and is published by, the Ministry of Health, is for the assistance of those involved in providing immunisation services in New Zealand.
While the information and advice included in this publication are believed to be correct, no liability is accepted for any incorrect statement or advice.
No person proposing to administer a vaccine to any other person should rely on the advice given in this publication without first exercising his or her professional judgement as to the appropriateness of administering that vaccine to another person.”
Confidence, much?
Those sort of publications always have that sort of warning.
There are people who simply cannot be given immunizations. There is apparently at least one child in this category at the Christchurch school. Quite why that is so I don’t know.
Anybody reading this publication you have is merely being told to consider the individual health situation of the person concerned before going ahead with the injection.
“No person proposing to administer a vaccine to any other person should rely on the advice given in this publication without first exercising his or her professional judgement as to the appropriateness of administering that vaccine to another person.”
Confidence, much?”
Yes absolutely, this is standard risk management by the MoH, no different from the provision of any medication or medical procedure to a patient. Benefits must out weigh risks…do no harm etc etc
yes. The harm from not immunizing only eventuate if they loudly declare how they are justified they are not to, and enough of the herd follow their lead. It’s like they want to kill lots of people and get a egotistical high of the higher ground.
The Min of Health is just protecting itself from possible expensive legal claims that people who have endless negative cautions, and a positive desire for litigation, are adding to the maelstrom of matters to fear and defend oneself from.
Have only just caught up on this thread Rosemary. Thanks for taking the time to try and take the heat out of the discussion.
I don’t agree with any premise that mandates compulsory medication.
I’m surprised that so many progressives become authoritarian so easily.
“I’m surprised that so many progressives become authoritarian so easily.”
Exactly the concern expressed five minutes ago by a family member…and its not just over this issue.
I find it quite scary, and deeply saddening.
I read some of Linus Pauling’s work on Vitamin C, and remember an article about a vaccination programme in Australia on aboriginal children.
A doctor working with the children, advocated for the administration of Vitamin C before any of the children were vaccinated. He theorised that their diet did not provide their immune system with the ability to respond to the vaccinations as expected. Ridiculed for this procedure, when he left his post the fatality rate for immunised children rose as high as 50% in the Northern Territories. And this was in the 70’s.
A quick google comes up with an article relating to this.
There is a long and terrible history of forced medication or medical intervention. Measles seems to be a very low bar to call for compulsory vaccination.
Many people who have had iatrogenic experiences, don’t have the blind faith in medical institutions and decision making that is required for such clear non-questioning compliance.
Wouldn’t you say that many on this site are authoritarian in their views with regards to the action required to address climate change? And rightly so. Evidence suggests action is required on climate change.
When the evidence overwhelmingly supports the case that vaccines work, and they keep the community safe, then we have a right to be “authoritarian” in those views, and we must always call out those who choose to ignore the evidence. Vaccinate your kids, or stay out of our schools. The exception obviously being those who cannot vaccinate based on medical professional opinion – which is exactly why the rest of us need to vaccinate – to keep those who cannot vaccinate, safe!
“When the evidence overwhelmingly supports the case that vaccines work, and they keep the community safe,..”
Possibly the most recent evidence that that statement is false…
” In spite of protecting against the diseases, DTP-vaccinated children had fivefold higher mortality than children who didn’t receive the vaccine.
We have repeated this finding many times. Protection against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis seems to come at a very high price: increased risk of dying from other infections, such as respiratory infections, particularly for females. Translated into absolute numbers, the results indicate that the use of DTP vaccine in sub-Saharan Africa may cost tens of thousands of female lives every year. ”
The researcher is not saying all vaccines are bad and is not saying that all non live vaccines should be banned. She IS saying there is a very, very real problem with the order in which vaccines are given. She IS saying (well, implying) that because the whole discussion around vaccinations has become so polarised, these vital research findings are very likely to be lost in a(nother) shitstorm of extremist rage.
But. Whatever. I never cease to be awestruck at the absolute, blind commitment of some on these pages to a particular point of view, regardless of any information that might come their way that ordinarily would make a person have a further wee think.
Another frustration is that many here seem almost incapable of actually reading an article or paper all the way through…yet still feel they have the authority to comment, and worse, dismiss it.
It would have been more convincing if you had provided a link to that source before railing against people not reading it.
“Another frustration is that many here seem almost incapable of actually reading an article or paper all the way through…yet still feel they have the authority to comment, and worse, dismiss it.’
Case proven. How about, when you dive into an ongoing conversation, you actually backtrack and actually check out the links?
Or, I can just dish it up to you again….because information is power and all that…..
https://theconversation.com/vaccines-have-health-effects-beyond-protecting-against-target-diseases-106383
Sigh
Protecting children’s health is extremism? Funny old world.
“Protecting children’s health is extremism? Funny old world.”
Of course not, silly! 🙂
Mandatory, forced medical treatment that in far too many cases causes harm or even death to children should be questioned, no?
This is not extremism… but it is treated as if it is.
How many deaths have been avoided over the last few decades due to the vaccines? I would hazard a guess that this far outweighs the risks. It is the risks that you seem so fixated on, even if the evidence suggests the benefit to society outweighs these risks. You are looking for a perfect solution to eradicating these illnesses – I’m sorry, but there will never be one. But to expose the vast majority of the population to these illnesses based on a low level of risk from vaccination would be absurd. I’ll stop arguing at this point – as pro-plague people are extremely painful to argue with.
I would consider myself very concerned about climate change, and an advocate for effective changes, information sharing and planned transition. My personal individual choices reflect that as well as my attendance at a couple of select committee hearings and protests, and my commitment to submitting to government when possible.
Yet, I believe an authoritarian approach is one that treats people like children and dismisses any questions or concerns. Ultimately, it creates division and builds resistance to change. It may be the choice of the frustrated – and satisfy in the short term – but in the long term it takes greater energy to sustain and often results in significant pushback.
I prefer the term “pro-plague” to “anti-vax”
One of the few occasions I fully agree with Duncan Garner:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/03/duncan-garner-anti-vax-murderers-shouldn-t-get-access-to-the-welfare-system.html
Imo, these anti-vaxxers come from the same school of thought as the anti-fluoride crowd and the Climate Change deniers. They never read any of the reputable information available. Instead they follow fringe nutcases who have no scientific or medical credibility whatsoever. Nutbars paying homage to nutbars.
There’s an Aussie woman on her way to NZ to spread her brand of anti-vaxxer poison. She should be banned from entering the country on the grounds she represents a danger to the community at large. In this case I strongly suspect she’s a con artist making a lot of money out of the anti-vaccine campaign.
Perhaps we could follow the example of the Italian Government.
From an Economist daily newsletter I get.
“Italian children can now be turned away from school unless there is proof they have been properly vaccinated. Parents of unvaccinated children aged between six and 16 can also be fined up to €500 ($565). Lorenzin law, introduced following a rise in measles cases, requires immunisation against a number of illnesses including chickenpox, polio, measles, mumps and rubella.”
Come on “Dr” Clark.
Bring this in here.
I would support such a law being introduced here.
Imo, the health and lives of children in particular trumps any freedom of speech concerns.
From what level of understanding would you support such a law, Anne?
That you endorse hate speech views such as garners on this subject signals your understanding of vaccine science is literally zero…
If you actually cared about children, you might take the time to spend learning and undstanding more about the subject…
The global researched and archives issues relating to vaccine science (which is the anti-science) people like to project onto other groups…is building daily in support of maimed, damaged and killed children, Anne…
Or are you comfortable to disregard the body of evidence?
If you would like a discussion, and some links, I can share you many (to peer reviewed research)…
Do it for the children, Anne…you say you care about them…
The global researched and archives issues relating to vaccine science (which is the anti-science) people like to project onto other groups…is building daily in support of maimed, damaged and killed children, Anne…
If I read you correctly then that is one of the most obnoxious pieces of crap I have ever encountered on the subject. It serves to highlight the necessity for a law to prevent that kind of hair-brained garbage from being advocated in public places.
And Nigel Latta expressed the same views as mine on Seven Sharp tonight except in a rather more diplomatic fashion. (Not online yet)
Btw, I was professionally trained in both the physical and psychological health and well being of children.
Anne. Please read/watch the article One Two linked to ….
https://theconversation.com/vaccines-have-health-effects-beyond-protecting-against-target-diseases-106383
Precis….live vaccines good and can have health benefits beyond the target disease. Dead vaccines….not so good…in fact bad in far too many cases…especially for girls.
Very simple precis, and I sincerely hope it gets your attention.
Live vaccines priming the immune system. Absolutely no surprise there though it is a wow moment for me that the coverage is more comprehensive than the targeted disease. And this was found for multiple live vaccines. Wow.
I kinda see why doctors prefer the dead vaccine and why mothers do not. But patient harm in any form needs to be put under serious scrutiny. Is there any test for a pre-condition of immuno-compromised people?
I geek out on tweaking plant immunity with various microbes and fungi, viruses are over my pay grade – we did have a relatively
comprehensive look at HIV in postgrad. Damn thing evolves…
Our tutor was one of the ones that died on flight MH17. Damn shame that was.
About a century ago there was a woman helping Australian Aborigines at a time when polio was being vaccinated agai
Sister Kenny devised a way of treating polio victims that had better outcomes than previously. One of her ideas was that the vaccine shouldn’t be given to someone at a time when they had a cold, or their health was compromised. I think that would fit in with your idea of having a pre-condition that would affect immune systems.
She also did a lot of work keeping their limbs moving so that they didn’t end up as permanently disabled.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Kenny
And yet you’ve offered zero, nothing to counter the comment I made…but go right ahead…you believe it’s “obnoxious crap and hairbrained garbage”… you must be able to back it up…
Surely if you’re supporting punitive laws, endorsing violent hate speech , you must have legitimate counters to my comment, Anne….you must have a level of understanding of the core issues…the research…the harm…the damaged and dead…
Surely, Anne…you must have…or how can you offer written support of such laws coming to Nz…Endorse censorship…you must have knowlegde and understanding to counter…
I’m offering you the opportunity for an open discussion…only you on this subject Anne…because you supported the hate speech I’m calling out…
I also believe you are a higher calibre of commentator on balance, here in comparison to others engaged in this discussion…
With respect…if your training was from your understood generation (based on your comments)…then it will be terribly outdated and in need of a refresh…
So go right ahead, Anne…provide substance of your position to endorse hate speech against children and parents…censorship and punitive legislations…
Your link…your words…your support…back it up…
Here we go… Nigel Latta talking about vaccines on Seven Sharp. Scroll past the weather and it’s the first item. Listen to Hillary and Jeremy after the end of the interview following the brief ASB ad. They make a couple of pertinent points couched in humour:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/live-stream-seven-sharp-2018?variant=tb_v_1
I’ll go with Nigel Latta and the medical authorities every time.
Nigel Latta. He’s a bit akin to a much loved teddy bear isn’t he? Hauled out, dusted off and cuddled so we can all feel comforted and secure. I had no idea he was an expert on immunology and vaccination science.
On second thoughts Anne…DON’T WATCH/READ WHAT DR BENN HAS TO SAY.
Fair enough Anne. That is the level of propaganda which you’re amenable to…that your level of understanding is derived from…
You’re not alone in being fooled…there are too many ‘fools’ …on either side of the discussion…including the paid ones in the link you posted…
You see Anne, it is not a binary discussion…despite your preferred propaganda channels imploring you to believe…it is a deeply nuanced, complicated set of (actual science) , not vaccine science and its pseudoscience relative, psychology…components…deeply personal…
You, and each and every individual…paid or unpaid who share…or pretend to share the same views…are already relegated to the sidelines of the discussion…while the minority goes about what the minorities through history…always go about doing…
That you so callously disregard the global scientific community’s body of archived research, performed and disseminated to those adults and parents who take full responsibility for their offspring, by spending time and energy learning and understanding that research…
Says that you Anne, have chosen…at this point in your life…not to grow…not to further your knowledge…not to gain understanding as to why it is you…and the ‘authorities’ you refer…who will continue to lose ground…who will continue to lack understanding about why…the vaccine science industry…has lost its position…
And you will continue to blame those who do know…who did the research…the science…who suffered the damage and loss…who shared the actual science with other adults from all professional and non professional backgrounds…to decide for themselves, the best choices to make for their children…
While yourself…and all those whose views you relate to…will continue to belittle and berate those…who took the time to grow and expand themselves…for the good of others…
And you and your ilk…will believe it is ‘others’…who are stupid…who are gullible…who are uneducated absorbers of fake news on the internet….
But that, Anne…is already the projections of those who have been sidelined…because real science…is never settled…
It had already moved on from what you ‘believed’ it to be…decades ago…and you’re not interested in updating yourself…
Thanks One Two. It’s reassuring to know that you’ve done all the research because you care so much… and still come up with the wrong outcomes.
Vaccines, amongst other public health methods, have lifted health quality outcomes like being free from communicable diseases and living longer to heights almost unimaginable 100 years ago.
But of course some stupid fuckwits on the internet know better than 97% of health professionals because they’ve done some reading. This is the magic number of scientists that confirm global warming is correct. So how can the same proportion of doctors be so wildly incorrect in your opinion?
Personally I don’t want my kids going to schools with other parents children who are trying to be 3rd world worriers. Vaccines should be legally mandated or no entry into public schools.
You must have paused for a moment to consider what drove your thoughts on legalizing mandatory vaccination…
Can you frame the basis of your thinking in terms of, medical, scientific, legal and ethical constructs…
I’m certainly interested to hear the level of though behind the two sentences…
You’re recently commenting here…which is why I’m taking the time to ask you…
The anti-vaccination movement is, by and large, a first world thing.
Take the polio vaccine, afaik, the oral polio vaccine, which has its risks. And is basically something given in (sometimes literal) shitholes where the disease is rampant anyway.
Vaccines are by definition of “reality” not 100% risk free: You can be allergic and only find out when you go into a seizure. It’s just that those situations are rare.
As in, between 1:1.000.000-2.000.000.
The risks of dying to something like measles, is even less with proper healthcare something like 1:1000, are you young, are you not that strong, you get pneumonia, and sometimes that’s it right there. It happens. In less priviliged societies? It kills.
The simplest and most direct means of discrediting the antivax movement is to give them what they want. Give them an exemption form to sign.
With the caveat that any offspring of their who falls ill and transmits the illness to another who latter on dies from something that could have been prevented with vaccination will be considered a sign of manslaughter and the full weight of the law will act on them in that regard.
As long as the people involved clearly understand the risks of vaccines and why it’s so important to society to be able to control communicable disease down to manageable levels then I don’t see any reason why people can’t live and let live.
Only a single comment to respond with…covers the largest flaw in your core of your thinking…
* vaccinated communities have been proven to spread the same diseases (and mutated versions of) which are supposedly ‘vaccine preventable’ by injecting the vaccines(s) which manufactures, lawmakers and doctors, recommend,advise/force people to inject…to prevent from catching the [virus]…
Get better informed…no excuses for that level of missing data…
I’ll not be responding to you further on this subject…
Bulshit detector: 1+2=4
Translation: Before vaccines the death rate was 100%.
I do not like you using the words ‘hate’ speech One Two. It seems to me that they are being thrown around far too frequently.
Hate speech encourages KKK to go and hang African Americans, and to burn down their churches.
It shouldn’t be used about people who have a different point of view and argue strongly for it. Biased they are, foolish and bigoted perhaps, but hate is another bloody four letter word like rape. There seems little respect for language and meaning when such words are used freely.
Gw…you respond to enough of my comments to have realized that I do not use certain terminologies or insults…or hyperboles…
I call that link out for precisely what it is in this case..
Agree in principle with your view on overused terminology…
Which is why I reserve use of terminologies for genuine and appropriate use of them…
Such as in response to Annes link…and comments of support for the content of garners *.*
One Two: most of us accept that we live in an imperfect world where there are very few perfect solutions. Most of the time we are forced to choose the lesser of two evils, and I think this is one of them.
If all the anti-vax arguments are true, so be it – vaccination is an evil.
But I for one would much rather have had the risky vaccinations I have had, than suffer from just one of the nasty diseases I have been protected against.
For the vast majority of people the nasty diseases have a far more devastating effect than the vaccinations do , and for those who suffer from vaccinations, maybe we have to wait for medical science to help them as well..
Lesser of two evils.
If vaccinations had ever looked like being worse than the disease avoided, a huge majority would have become anti-vax.
Are you now going to tell me I am an innocent victim of propaganda?
In Vino, your comment indicates you’re ok with people making choices with regards to bodily autonomy, and forced medication…that position alone, is a respectable one to hold…
There are many points in your comment which I could address and which I could show are logically incorrect…but they are your perspective and your decisions to take for yourself…
What I would suggest is that no-one who involves themselves in having an opinion on vaccines, should allow themselves or others, the disservice of complacancy , laziness or ignorance by believing what they are told…or believing what they ‘know’…
Western medicine (the corporate consensus variety) has seemingly no interest in accepting why it might be an evolutionary necessity for humans to get sick and self heal, thus gaining genuine full cell immunity through a powered up immune system…it is what our bodies have been doing since day one…our immune systems are amazing just as they are…
Pure hubris to think that short circuiting and tricking the immune system with chemicals is not leading to human beings becoming sicker, with more illness and diseases in younger cohorts than modern medicine provides any answer for other than…more drugs/vaccines and toxic allopathic protocols…
Our spieces has evolved symbiotically over [forever number] of years with the very microbes we believe we have somehow mastered, and can control…and should eradicate from the environment…they can’t be…not by human beings…
To your final question…innocent victim…no not at all…just someone whose comment also indicates they need to invest more time into learning about the flaws in vaccine science…which actual science has now moved to unreservedly, exposing…
So much research and scholarly material available which could assist with helping people to make more well informed decisions for their own well being, and that of their loves ones…
One Two
I have kept an open mind as to your comments and the veracity of the beliefs, information, references etc. But the longer they are and the more you use emotional language, the more wary I become of your statements.
For once Sam comes up with something informative. And it is a serious matter which he takes through giving freedom to anti-vaxers with a waiver of treatment for their children. And a case to answer of involuntary manslaughter when they cause deaths.
The simplest and most direct means of discrediting the antivax movement is to give them what they want. Give them an exemption form to sign.
With the caveat that any offspring of their who falls ill and transmits the illness to another who latter on dies from something that could have been prevented with vaccination will be considered a sign of manslaughter and the full weight of the law will act on them in that regard.
Then he makes the point about plagues that they cause 100% deaths. Which may not apply to measles, instead there will be numerous cases of people being debilitated badly, blind etc.
Measles infections can harm the front or back of the eye, possibly causing vision loss or blindness. Though measles is just re-emerging as a threat in developed countries, the disease has long been a leading cause of childhood blindness worldwide.Mar 5, 2015
(Some American Academy that blacks out everything over cookies)
https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/complications.html
As many as one out of every 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, the most common cause of death from measles in young children.
One in ten will get ear infections and some hearing loss also.
In her book about her travels in early New Zealand colonial times, Florence Harsant travelled in remote areas where Maori had been struck down by measles. She was horrified to find whole households laid low, parents unable to care for children, and no-one in the village with medicines and no help from authorities.
She had to plan to escape herself from a travel limitation set up by either Maori or surrounding colonists, and advised health authorities herself.
As Sam says, this is a first world thing, with emotional people who haven’t been taught decision making, analysing risk, ratios and percentages and means and averages etc. And in life there is risk, and that we are surrounded by unsterile air, and constantly ignoring advice to wash hands after going to the toilet etc. – noticed in public places.
There are irresponsible people, there are ones who despise western medicine, there are others who are fatalists. One woman I knew of was a Pacific Islander of determined decisions, and she would not allow her teenager to use asthma aids, such as an inhaler. When her son died from an asthma sttack, the authorities did not know what to do for the best. I don’t know whether she was even charged with neglect. Some parents can not be reasoned with. Public health is set up to assist us, and has, but they must be watchful to keep up quality. Whatever they do, though there will be criticism – too early, too late, wrong type, over-spent on the wrong virus line.
Gw..and with respect…you’re clearly underinformed on this subject…take responsibility for your weariness…do not transfer your shortcomings onto my commentary…
Others have tried a similar tactic in the 5G discussion…it is a tactic of the disingenuous …
I addressed the logical failings in the core premise of Sams proposal…
Why are you ignoring my response to Sam, regarding known and proven vaccine failure rates?
That is…the spread of the very disease individuls were vaccinated against catching..
Messaging with people who do even tale the time to invest in learning vaccine 101 is not productive…
No emotions Gw…you’ve read me incorrectly…and you’ve written a novel…
Edit. You should stop using derogatory terms…I believe you are above such use of anti-v***
Alwyn for once I entirely agree with your suggestion. Producing proof of vaccination is a good idea which would save lives and prevent illness. I had polio, measles 2 kinds, mumps and chickenpox. There is no advantage having these diseases and every advantage not to.
Join the club. So did I.
Amazing that any of us made it to adulthood isn’t it?
I cannot understand anyone who refuses, or is simply to lazy, to vaccinate their children.
Some still believe that disgraced English doctor with his b*s about a connection between the MMR vaccination and Autism. Now there is a dreadful example of a human being.
One of the things the pro-disease crowd sometimes go on about is Big Pharma make money from vaccines so that inherently makes them suspicious.
Yet that fucking fraud Wakefield was busily patenting his single disease vaccines in order to line his pockets and consulting on lawsuits in order to line his pockets all the while he was fabricating his data that happened to support those activities. But somehow, he’s a hero to the pro-diseasers?
Wakefield. Yes now I remember the name. When I read about his activities at the time he was kicked out of the profession I got so mad at his behaviour I never wanted to read anything more about him, EVER.
When I wrote the comment here I couldn’t recall his name but I refused to google the story because it would simply make me so mad about that vile person again. So rather than do so about all I could think of to say was ” that disgraced English doctor”.
The number of kids who must have suffered so he could attempt to line his pockets.
Whooping cough was best…after the awful coughing the rest of 6 weeks off school to ride bikes up and down SH1 (wartime and almost no traffic. Seriously, they were all dangerous. Think the first immunisations were for diphtheria early 1940’s, done at school.
And to think Heather, our Mum’s put us into contact with other children who had contracted these diseases because it was believed we were better off catching them as children. That is, with the exception of polio and whooping cough.
I remember the school shutdown for some six to eight weeks during the polio epidemic of the early 1950s. As an extra precaution we weren’t supposed to play with one another, so we spent all day whizzing past each other on our scooters. Yeah… there were some bruised and bleeding knees came out of that one. 🙂
The schools closed in 1947 when I caught polio in the last great epidemic, and again in 1953 when June Opie got polio from the failed vaccine, Salk? and spent the rest of her life in an iron lung.
The three drops on the tongue polio vaccine was available in my first year of teaching in 1962.
FYI….
you’re welcome. 🙂
Thanks Rosemary…for sharing that link…
Another doc…if you’re so inclined…
https://icandecide.org/wp-content/uploads/whitepapers/ICAN%20Reply%20-%20December%2031%2C%202018.pdf
June Opie – a great mind who rose above her trials.
https://corpus.nz/inert-body-alive-page-june-opies/
http://pukeariki.com/Learning-Research/Taranaki-Research-Centre/Taranaki-Stories/Taranaki-Story/id/570/title/over-my-dead-body-the-june-opie-story
When June Opie sailed from New Zealand to England in 1957, she was described by her fellow passengers as ‘aggressively healthy’. Yet within a month she was lying in an iron lung, paralysed except for a single eye-lid. Undaunted, she began her slow recovery from polio, fighting to move just the little finger of one hand.
And I mention Alan Marshall Australian another great mind who triumphed over his polio disability.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Marshall_(Australian_author)
I think in Canterbury, right now, that measure should be introduced using the Health Act powers.
“Imo, these anti-vaxxers come from the same school of thought as the anti-fluoride crowd and the Climate Change deniers. They never read any of the reputable information available. Instead they follow fringe nutcases who have no scientific or medical credibility whatsoever. Nutbars paying homage to nutbars.”
Well that’s part of the problem right there, and I referred to this at 2.1.2 .
I struggle with the need to fluoridate all drinking water. To me it makes no sense when tooth decay is not caused by lack of fluoride.
Yes I do agree our climate is changing, the sun is more intense than 20 or even 10 years ago, and that we definitely need to urgently seek and implement ways to try and mitigate the effects. (Although I fear rampant capitalism will see our ultimate doom as a species.)
I exercised discretion when it came to my children’s immuisations, which is not to say I didn’t have them vaccinated. As I mentioned a few days ago….MMR was very new and there were anecdotal cases of serious adverse events (NOT autism…!!!) which made a few folk understandably nervous. Very frustrating that with the release of MMR the old single measles jab became unavailable…even if we were willing to pay. When the Hep B vaccine was being given to newborns there were concerns from some groups. I asked a GP if my 18 month old needed the jab, and was told there was no way he was going to catch Hep B…he wasn’t in the at- risk group. So why the mass vaccination program if the disease is a risk for only specific sections of the population?
I’ve have tried (and failed) to find the official register of significant averse effects from vaccinations…..where is it?
Calling people ‘nutbars’ and ‘murderers’ for vaccine hesitancy is merely going to widen the divide.
Surely respect and open communication would be more productive when engaging with the small percentage of parents who decide to eschew all vaccines for their children?
And as Nikki Turner from the mysterious (and in part funded by the drug companies http://www.immune.org.nz/sites/default/files/IMACSponsorweblistAugust2018.pdf) said…”I don’t think we should ignore the anti-vaccination lobby but I think we should put it into context.
“It is a very small percentage of the New Zealand population.
“We need to understand it and respond to it, and definitely put more resources and thinking into it, but it is a very small part of why we are not getting high immunisation coverage rates.”
Dr Turner said there were other problems with delivering immunisations, beyond what she called vaccine hesitancy, and New Zealand would be better off dealing with those.”
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/384112/hospital-bosses-want-anti-anti-vax-campaign
Now it would be manifestly unreasonable to expect a shock jock media personality to actually take a calming breath or two and actually do some proper research…or even check with the head honcho from IMAC before launching into their lynch mob rousing speech…but I’d expect most of the commentators here to at least keep a tiny portion of their minds ajar.
Surely respect and open communication would be more productive when engaging with the small percentage of parents who decide to eschew all vaccines for their children?
I would have agreed with you say… 20 years ago but not any more.
I’m talking generally and not just about anti-vaxxers. Respect and open conversations do not work with many of these people. Their anti-ness has become ideological to the point of religious fervour. To begin with, they are the ones who refuse to communicate respectfully with the actual experts and denigrate them to the point of defamation and slander.
It is time for them to be called out for what they are – fools. Fools who are putting their children’s – and other people’s children’s – health and a viable future in serious jeopardy.
“To begin with, they are the ones who refuse to communicate respectfully with the actual experts and denigrate them to the point of defamation and slander.”
Is it possible for you to provide a link or two as examples of this? I am seriously interested.
And again….according to the IMAC chief, so called ‘anti-vaxxers’ are a very small part of why we are not getting high rates of immunisation coverage.
So…it may very well be the the anti- vax brigade are as angry/shouty/hate- speechy as the pro- vax lynch mob….but they are not having the effect on immunisation rates you seem to think they are.
According to the experts. 😉
Anne @ 2.1.4.2.1
I’m talking generally and not just about anti-vaxxers.
This is worth a read regarding public uptake of vaccination in Europe if you have the time.
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-018-5103-8
The attacks are becoming more desperate and transparent by the day…
Annes endorsememt of garners hate speech is the lowest of todays misinformed and damagingly ignorant statements…
https://theconversation.com/vaccines-have-health-effects-beyond-protecting-against-target-diseases-106383
The article is one of the most balanced I’ve read in ‘mainstream’, and the author contributes to what is an insightful comments section…
Warning:
For the misinformed, underinformed and ignorant, this article could cause some problems…to what you ‘think you know’…
Well. One Two…thanks for just about ruining our mince and noodle dinner.
What a powerful piece of work, and for those who can spare the time the Ted Talk is totally engrossing.
This should be turning the whole vaccine debate inside out…but as the Doctor Benn says…the whole issue has become so polarised that each side will try and use the findings to give credibility to their stubbornly held point of view. And the very, very real potential benefits of accepting the findings and changing the way we vaccinate will be lost.
Thank you One Two for posting this.
No worries, Rosemary…It was really for people such as yourself…it’s not my role to change anyone’s views…that’s an individual choice to expand…
I was highly surprised such an article was published on TC…and the comments section allowed to continue on…
Some of the comment links are also probable triggers for folks here…
For the time being I’ll limit any linking, as per my comments a few days ago…I’m a long way over this discussion…except to call out those who publish and/or endorse violent hate speech…
The progapanda levels are a signal the establishment has completely lost the decades long control, and they know it…
Real science , research, knowledge and thinking has moved on…people are no longer kept in the dark (unless they willingly choose to be)…and in a few years from now…it will all be over…
Have a good evening…hope you recoverd the meal alright…
‘I was highly surprised such an article was published on TC…and the comments section allowed to continue on…”
I had to check with a scientist the credibility of The Conversation (because I have trust issues ) and was assured that it was ‘… usually OK…much better than the Guardian’.
The comments section I’m going to read right now.
Passionate commitment to one’s point of view/beliefs/ideology is all very well if tempered with an open mind and respect for the commitment of the opposition…blind adherence and all that.
How many more deaths before we can be brave enough to put our dogmatism aside?
Thanks again.
On the subject of vaccination , TC is about as low level as it gets. If you have time…brave some of the other articles over the years…it’s likely that you will pick up the themes and discourse TC publishes…
Often comment sections would mirror the majority on todays thread, here, and then the comments gets closed off…as soon as a counter or two is visible…it is a consistent form of censorship…perhaps due to lack of mods available…but it is an observable occurrence…
I would say that spending prescious time reading anti-scientific and outdated articles about research which only represents established industry position…can be unhealthy…but you’re definitely up to it should you choose to…there is years worth of it on TC…
The piece I linked to, I’ve had to read multiple times in appreciation of the author and her professional yet honest demeanour within the article, as well as her responses in the comments section…gold nuggets can be found…
I’ve been reading through the linked material in comments as some of the linked material and commentary was new for me…I will also watch the ted talk…perhaps TC should leave comments sections open on this subject…
To your question. Many, many magnitudes more than the total global deaths from measles in developed nations…over the past 50 years…
Be well…and you’re welcome…
Thanks for the read. AFAIK the live polio vaccine, which was on the immunisation schedule many years ago was changed to the dead polio vaccine after a couple of incidents where mothers got the disease after immunising their children.
I had read many years ago about the benefits of live vaccines, but can’t remember where. Also, about the difference in immunity robustness from people who had the vaccine compared to those who had recovered from the disease. The immune system was much stronger, and the article/paper was discussing the possibility of the body responding with changes to the respiratory system, or mucous membranes, that is not achieved with vaccinations. Sorry, I can’t remember more, it was a while ago.
Hi Molly…
Salk was to have said the live polio vaccine was responsible for +/- 100% of polio…it was replaced but the damage was done…
The Cutter Incident
With regards to live vaccines and the article in particular…there is also large archives of research of contraindictions resulting from live vaccines, the manufaturing, storage and transport problems including the adjuvants required (similar to attenuated vaccines) which are also problematic…
I linked the article as it is one of the most balanced I’ve encountered in a mainstream web site…and can be understood and progressed from by those who are interested…
Was a good read One Two, and worth the couple of minutes it took to do so.
My children are grown so the vaccination issue is one I don’t look into much anymore. But I am always surprised by the vitriol expressed on this issue, and the calls for mandatory medication. This could be a result of the medium that allows for collective censure, which brings out the bully in all of us, but I can’t remember it being that divisive twenty years ago.
Thanks, Molly…
It certainly is testament to the psychological abuse pushed repeatedly at the public, setting parents against eachother, children against eachother as well as children against their own parents…
It has been ramped up to levels which have essentially exposed vaccine science for what it always was…something masquerading as science…there is a word for that…
The aggressive campaigns through corporate media leading to poorly advised and punitive legislations, have created the situation you describe…
Hostile is an understatement…all aimed in the the wrong directions…
Couldn’t help myself and downloaded Bandim’s pdf. Already at Page 30.
Got to drop off my son at 5.30 am, so should really put it down…
Yes I’ve been working through badim also…
But have put it down in favour of another pdf
Please let me know if the link works…Rosemary may also be interested…link should go direct to document download…
https://icandecide.org/wp-content/uploads/whitepapers/ICAN%20Reply%20-%20December%2031%2C%202018.pdf
Your link cites a study suggesting that, while the DTAP vaccine protects against infection from those three bacteria, it makes children more susceptible to dying from other causes. If this were true, it would certainly concerning however..
It was published in a rather obscure journal. This by itself doesn’t give us an indicator of the quality of the paper, but if we really had data that showed us there was a concern with the DTaP vaccine, an important part of the childhood vaccine schedules worldwide, it should have been published in a higher quality journal.
The study looks at the mortality rate after the vaccine used at that time, which contained the whole-cell version of pertussis. That vaccine was pulled from the market and replaced with an acellular version. Reasons for changing the vaccines are complex, but it was partially because of the higher rate of minor adverse events with the wP version of the pertussis vaccine. There is no evidence I am aware of that the wP version caused more deaths than the current aP version.
The study only examined 1057 children, which is a tiny number in any epidemiological study that tries to compare one group to another to examine a potential effect. Many case control studies that examine vaccine effects (either effectiveness or adverse events) use 100,000 to several million patients and there’s certainly far more data on this vaccine available now at medicine regulators around the world.
The number of deaths that was used in the study was tiny, sometimes only 1 death in a population group (like female unvaccinated children). Because they used such small numbers, unintentional bias could occur.
The deaths were not categorized and may have absolutely nothing to do with vaccination. With such small numbers analyzed, it’s possible that unrelated mortality could have given results that could change dramatically with just a handful of unrelated deaths.
Ironically, the study showed that there was decreased mortality with the children who received oral polio vaccine (separate from the DTP vaccine). If we accept this statistically suspect small sample as unbiased (which we can’t), the overall results are positive with a full vaccination.
This leads me a critical point in the vaccine debate that those critical of vaccination cherry-pick studies that support beliefs about vaccine safety, the antithesis of real science. If we look at larger studies more broadly, what can we say about the safety profile of the DTaP vaccine?
There’s a Danish study that included over 805,000 children looking at various outcomes to getting multiple antigen vaccines, such as DTP or DTaP, came to this conclusion:
‘… results do not support the hypotheses that multiple-antigen vaccines or aggregated vaccine exposure increase the risk of non-targeted infectious disease hospitalization.”
In a meta-review, considered by many as the pinnacle of high quality scientific research hierarchy, which included over 183,000 participants in 58 different trials, the authors concluded that,
‘..Acellular vaccines have fewer adverse effects than whole-cell vaccines for the primary series as well as for booster doses.’
The authors found no vaccine related mortality for either vaccine, which completely contradicts the belief about the lack of safety of the DTaP vaccine.
Hviid A, Wohlfahrt J, Stellfeld M, Melbye M. Childhood vaccination and nontargeted infectious disease hospitalization. JAMA. 2005 Aug 10;294(6):699-705. PubMed PMID: 16091572.
Mogensen SW, Andersen A, Rodrigues A, Benn CS, Aaby P. The Introduction of Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis and Oral Polio Vaccine Among Young Infants in an Urban African Community: A Natural Experiment. EBioMedicine. 2017 Mar;17:192-198. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2017.01.041. Epub 2017 Feb 1. PubMed PMID: 28188123; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5360569.
Zhang L, Prietsch SO, Axelsson I, Halperin SA. Acellular vaccines for preventing whooping cough in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Sep 17;(9):CD001478. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001478.pub6. Review. PubMed
Mullet, good on you for having a genuine go at contributing to the discussion in a meaningful way…
I am responding as a show of appreciation for that comment…
Comments I’ve posted, yesterday and today provide ample starting points for those who are interested and were able to pick up on them…as such I am not going to address the mesh of points you attempted to raise…
Except these few:
* You, nor anyone in the entire human populace is aware of ‘the entire volume of research’ let alone map it all out…so absolutely…you are not aware of ‘evidence’…same applies to any individual or agency who uses that deceptively misleading statement
* Published in a ‘big journal’ is subjective speculation on your part , and your part only. It transparently leads into the next dot points in effort to create a sense of dismissive minimizing of the research team, the report and the findings
* Cherry picking is your projection and does not alter the validity of the findings in the 190 page report, that you’ve actually cherry picked data from in an attempt to further dismiss and minimize the research findings
* The study reported positive and negative outcomes from the research, and you seek to trivialise all findings claiming ‘size bias’ without referencing the duration of the researched study
Ironically, vaccine science and corporate testing protocols and regulatory licensure have achieved approval to market, including recommended schedule vaccines using highly dubious (documented) tactics and inferior ‘research protocols’ from smaller test cohorts alongside truncated , fast tracked timelines
* Danish studies including the link you posted to last week, have a track record of corporate sponsored ‘research’ becoming reference studies of the vaccine science industry, used ad nauseum by vaccine advertising dependant journals and media outlets
It seems you have more to offer the discussion, than the usual remarks and name calling would suggest…
Join the anti-brigade and travel the world! Be like another Jordan Peterson; looking long-suffering and devoting your life to telling other people that what they think is wrong and that you have superior enlightenment; because.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/18-02-2019/the-subtle-art-of-not-giving-a-fuck-about-jordan-b-peterson/
A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. Charles Spurgeon
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/
The power and wisdom from a group of women in simpatico can trounce the findings of any scientist/s. (The same goes for men.) – Quote, Me.
Book: The Poisoned Needle
Well, if you come from a broken home with nothing but shitty role models you might understand the attraction of a man who gives you straight up good advice. The demonisation of Peterson, as some of his views are nonsensical, detract from the fact he’s put a lot of people’s lives back on track.
And the left can’t stand it. He doesn’t preach but it’s based in biblical teaching. He explains why. They don’t care. Utterly shitty people protesting just to protest, you find them at every protest, just wankers looking for excitement in their meaningless lives.
Society, instead of learning what they can from all this, taking the good, made blanket statements of condemnation and all we learned is there’s a lot of judgmental assholes out there prepared to lie and distort things to get their column inches.
It’s trendy to hate Peterson, and banal.
Maybe people think the public will think they’re clever if they one up an intellectual.
you need to watch his talks, not listen to the attention clamoring press.
I’m waiting for the first lawsuits by the kids of
anti-vaxxerspro-plaguers (good point JS). Suing their parents after they catch a fully preventable disease because their parents refused to get them vaccinated.It’ll probably be someone like this dude …
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/07/health/measles-josh-nerius/index.html
… or this one.
https://www.sciencealert.com/oregon-parents-refuse-further-vaccination-after-their-child-nearly-dies-from-tetanus
“110,000 children dying annually from now preventable disease!”
These figures need to be put into context, eg:
Five million children under the age of five, dying from preventable hunger
Yet hunger is not the context here. Because there is other bad shit happening, it does not minimise the stupidity of playing russian roulette with a child’s life.
Yes.
But don’t use random facts without context – unlinked to source – and consider it persuasive argument.
It was a parody of the RNZ headline (a source didn’t go with the style).
It is the most appropriate source for anyone interested in the facts. Someone wih your views ought to know these facts which can then be contrasted with any risk of an adverse effect. Caring and committed child health professionals throughout the world, well appraised with the facts, are entirely convinced by the weight of evidence. Why would you not trust them, but instead trust an anonymous web site spinning crap?
World Health Organisation – not very random.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/measles
Interesting that you know what my views are – since I haven’t articulated them on this thread…
You have such faith in a medical system and drug clinical trials that allows you to accept all information without question. Some ask questions anyway.
Yes you have – and now you have again.
I have faith in the scientific process that utilises qualified people to continually and robustly investigate and test the basis and foundation of knowledge. I trust the motives of people who care for children and I listen carefully to what they say.
For illustration check out the comprehensive and continually expanding list of studies published on the Immunisation Advisory Centre’s website:
http://www.immune.org.nz/research/publications-and-reports
“Why would you not trust them, but instead trust an anonymous web site spinning crap?”
Which anonymous web site?
Not that difficult to find with help of goggle.
I’d like to give another shoutout to Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage for her massive expansion of the National park estate through the Mohikinui River and catchment.
I would also like to give a great big shoutout to all the activists around and in Forest and Bird who campaigned against that dam, squashed those corporate dogs in Meridian, and ensured this great area remains wild and free forever.
For those of you who missed it on tv news,
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/kahurangi-national-park-expanded-area-half-size-auckland?variant=tb_v_1
It includes about 15km of the Mokihinui riverbed, all of the Mokihinui Forks Ecological Area, a large part of the Lyell Range-Radiant Range conservation area and a small part of what remains of North West Nelson Forest Park, most of which became Kahurangi National Park when it was established in 1996.
The Mokihinui addition to Kahurangi National Park is equivalent in size to Abel Tasman and Paparoa National Parks combined and is twice the size of Egmont National Park.
Kahurangi is the country’s second largest park and with the addition of the Mokihinui land, it will increase in size by 14 per cent to 517,335ha. Fiordland National Park, at more than 1,230,000ha, is the largest national park.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12212130
Can’t be too long before there’s a proposal to unite Kahurangi with Abel Tasman National Parks.
Meantime, this is a fine addition, done under Ministerial powers rather than expending legislative time and political capital.
This is great political work from the Minister.
That is bloody good news. I did a couple of long tramps in the Mokinui area back in the 80’s, and they shine bright in my memory.
“Abel Tasman and Kahurangi national parks are now connected by a 169-hectare block of land purchased by the Department of Conservation.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/96599436/land-corridor-connects-abel-tasman-and-kahurangi-national-parks
Not sure why they need to be joined.
Good to increase the national parks.
Having them joined allows for easy species migration.
The ‘corridor’ effect?
I don’t think so. More to keep humans happy.
https://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/science-and-technical/SR34.pdf
6. PROS AND CONS OF CORRIDORS Noss (1987) provided a list of some potential advantages and disadvantages of ecological corridors. The following is an elaboration of his scheme.
33 6.1 Possible Advantages
…
A quick look at the maps shows that AT and Kahurangi NP’s are already very close together; any corridor between the two lies mainly along a relatively short area on the top of the Takaka Hill limestone area, north of the state highway.
From memory most of this area is pretty undeveloped, marginal farmland or regenerating. There are some private dwellings scattered about in the area, but nothing at any scale.
Surely a formal corridor would be feasible, even if it didn’t have the full formal status of a National Park, along with all the restrictions that would imply. Something more like say a Forest Park that permitted existing activities and dwellings, but protected it from further development?
You’re more familiar with the area than I am, would something like that work?
Yeah protection against development is a good reason to protect.
Great news!! Now, we just need to add the Matiri River Valley to the park on its eastern boundary. Oops too late, construction of the hydro scheme is under way. This was one that got the nod from the John Key government – payback to the Talley family for years of National party support.
Lake Matiri is a wildlife refuge and part of Kahurangi NP, the Matiri River Valley was deliberately excluded due to its power generation potential. Despite significant local opposition, the power scheme was consented quite some years ago. The Talley family chose not to make a start (power prices too low?) and recently sold the consent to Pioneer Generation, Talleys still own the land. DOC could have refused the concession due to lack of required reports etc but didn’t. Pressure from above??
.Well done indeed Eugene Thanks Ad. A good post. I see they are leaving the remains of the monster wasp nest in the tree at Hamurana, for fear of poisoning the stream.
Pest control always has fish hooks, but is worth it.
I know there is an issue of scale…but I have dealt to wasp nests by enclosing said structure in a heavy duty plastic bag, tying off the top and cutting the whole caboodle free from it’s anchor. Bag containing wasp nest can then be further contained until inhabitants discorporate. This can be sped up by freezing. Or chemicals.
Of course…the use of a plastic bag might not be acceptable either….oh, life is getting sooo complicated!
Best wasp nest fun I had was three years ago, 3 metres long underground.
Sourced the two entrances at dusk; a deep crack in the clay.
Mixture of diesel and dishwashing liquid.
Match.
Volcano out both ends.
Shoveled clay over top.
Just awesome fun, and neighbourhood improved.
Woulda been even more exciting if there was another undetected entrance that led under the house. Seen that almost happen, not quite under the house but uncomfortably close…
It was at the edge of the forest so we had hose and filled buckets ready for sparks.
Hah! When a neighbour deployed one of those sonic rodent deterrers, our usual non chemical methods of keeping the rat population down in our chook house failed. (The rats moved to our place.) The rats congregating in broad daylight to give us the single digit salute coincided with the failure of a large batch of very hot chili paste to seal properly. We emptied the contents of the bubbling jars down the most used rat runs…..
Back in the day when one could purchase strings of double happy firecrackers….
Surprised to hear those sonic devices even work!
Most animals ,including dogs react the first time they hear them…then ignore them.
Tell me about it. I was developing the ultimate cat collar that warned birds and lizards but not mammals. Didn’t work…
Cats are apex predators. You may as well just euthanise them if you don’t want them to be apex any more.
Humans are apex predators. But I don’t need to kill for food, and nor do domesticated animals. The problem with cats is not killing for food supply so much, as simply killing for fun.
I often wonder if, at some stage, we’d deliberately culled out the ‘cruel’ cats, we’d have a better breed that only killed when hungry.
I’d agree that humans are at the top of the food chain but as far as an apex predator I’d put bears above us. and cats don’t kill for fun, that’s just the human talking. Cats kill vermin that stray in there territory when they not feeding. Cats are cats. I’d suggest people who don’t really understand cats enough to leave them alone instead of dating bits off them and making them carry around fashion accessories, I’d suggest they get a goldfish.
I’d suggest I’m talking to a goldfish.
Do you talk to goldfish often?
They ‘play’ to keep their skills up. You’d need to somehow make them vegan, which would no longer be a cat as such.
Muscled, black with steel green eye
Swishing through the rye grass
With thoughts of mouse and apple pie
Tail balancing at half-mast
And the mouse police never sleeps
Lying in the cherry tree
Savage bed foot warmer
Of purest feline ancestry
Look out, little furry folk
He’s the all night working cat
Eats but one in every ten
Leaves the others on the mat
And the mouse police never sleeps
Waiting by the cellar door
Window-box town crier
Birth and death registrar
With claws that rake a furrow red
Licensed to mutilate
From warm milk on a lazy day
To dawn patrol on hungry hate
No, the mouse police never sleeps
Climbing on the ivy
Windy roof top weathercock
Warm blooded night on a cold tile
The mouse police never sleeps
The mouse police never sleeps
The mouse police never sleeps
…
Songwriters: Ian Anderson
Could we develop a family of cats which are really good mice catchers. That would save me putting down poisoned grain and have mousetraps littering the place. I think the parents have to teach the catching skills, so by careful breeding and initiation procedures, they would be very useful cats and not a disdained predator – they could be as valuable as trained sheep dogs.
Dogs have a lineage of pack hunting and scavenging which made them really suseptable to domestication where as cats are extremely territorial and would savage humans in an instance if it was large enough and it’s a simple as that.
Kind of reminds me of catching bee swarms, except we’d use a milk can. Sit open can below swarm, snip attachment – shoomph – hive in a can.
My encounters with the buzzy things have been during house painting or gardening. I never could see the logic in using chemicals which inevitably infuriate the beasts if one is having to continue working in that area. Hence the containment. Mind you…I don’t have one of those nifty zoot suits.
This wasp nest is right round the trunk of a palm tree and the tree could be damaged. It’s growing on a steep slope, slippery for the blokes, and perhaps slippy if tree died or was removed leaving soil uncovered and exposed to the heavy rain we are getting.
WTF??!!? Somehow I just took it as given that a major government building initiative would include at least include the simplest and basic energy and cost efficient choices. But it seems not …
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/revealed-led-light-bulbs-werent-considered-for-kiwibuild/ar-BBUGzKG?li=BBqdg4K&ocid=mailsignout
Meanwhile, if there’s any readers with any concern whatsoever for their budget that are still using old-skool incandescent bulbs, get yourself to Bunnings or Mitre 10 today and buy replacement LED bulbs for them. Seriously. Do it now. You can get them for $3 each or less.
You’ll want warm white colour (unless you like your house to look like the alien autopsy room in a bad sci-fi movie), for most fixtures look at the existing incandescent bulb and divide the watts by 10. I’ve pretty much replaced all bulbs that were 100W incandescents when I moved in with 9W LEDs and I’m happy with the how much light there is. If you want more tech details, ask and I’ll write up a bit more.
By the $, a 100W incandescent costs $0.02 to $0.03 per hour, so if it’s on an average of 1 hour per day, that’s $7 to $11 per year. Plus incandescents only have a design life of 1000 hours, by industry agreement. Compare to an LED that costs $3 initially to buy, but pays for itself in electricity savings in 3 to 6 months and should last 10,000 hours or longer.
If you’ve now got compact fluorescents, it’s probably still worth changing to LEDs but the payback time is two or four years. And you get full light instantly instead of the fluorescents taking a minute or so to warm up and get to full brightness.
Flourescent bulbs were a massive gyp. i think I posted on them here some time back. The past is past. LED’s must have improved cos last I looked at them (probably a decade) they were good for a few months then diminished capacity was the norm.
I’m certainly open to new improved LED’s.
Yeah there’s been huge improvements in LEDs over the last decade. But if you’re still suspicious, keep the receipt for a warranty or CGA claim if they do start to fade.
Ten years ago I paid $6 each for the nearly best new tech available to make myself mountain bike lights – 1Watt chips mounted on a 23mm aluminium star module heatsink that put out a then amazing 100 lumens/watt. Nowadays if I were inclined to do the same thing I’d be paying about $1.50 each for 10W chips mounted on a 12mm heatsink that would be up around 140 lumens/watt.
The key to long life in LEDs is keeping the chip from getting hot. They’ve learned a lot about getting better thermal paths from the chip to the heatsink, and in turning more of the electrical energy into light so there’s less heat to dissipate.
Interesting info Andre. I knew LED’s had improved, but for a relatively mature tech that’s pretty impressive.
By complete contrast I recall buying my first red LED almost 50 years ago, it took me ages to save for it, and it barely glowed by today’s standards. But it was worth it just to have this amazing new light source in my own hands.
Dunno that I’d call LEDs relatively mature. There’s still a hell of a lot of space for improvement that nobody has found a way into yet.
For general lighting with acceptable colour rendering, a device that turns 100% of input electrical energy into useful light would put out about 370 lumens/watt. At the moment, the best LEDs top out around 200 lumens/watt.
At the moment, most white LEDs are actually a blue LED shining through a yellow phosphor. So there’s significant light energy lost and heat generated for every blue photon that gets turned into a yellow photon.
The next level of energy efficiency is combining blue LEDs shining through a green phosphor with red LEDs (these are commercially available as Phillips Hue LEDs at horrendous price). There’s less energy lost turning a blue photon into a green one and the necessary red photons are separately emitted at high efficiency by the red LED. Our eyes also respond to red, green and blue light, so a light source that directly emits red, green and blue has an inherent efficiency headstart over a light source that’s blue and yellow. It’s also possible to vary how much energy goes into the red vs the blue-and-green, so the light can change from a cozy yellowish warm light to a brighter daylightish white when wanted.
So that naturally raises the question of producing white light with separate red, green, and blue LEDs. Well, nobody has yet found a way to make high-efficiency green LEDs, so that’s an area with potential.
I think my brain just exploded..
I love it when I do that to people. Can I play with the squidgy bits spattered around? Please?
Be my guest. I don’t need them any more.
I agree. Seems like Twyford wants to make the coalition look like luddites, but more likely he has been knee-capped by whoever made the design decision. Twyford ought to apologise to the public, acknowledge that the govt wants to implement Green house designs, and direct his department to operate accordingly. Bad looks like this will hurt the coalition unless swift remedial action is taken.
That a level of detail that should have been dealt to several pay grades below Twyford. As I see it, there’s even a potential messaging opportunity here for Twyford to push change to a new way of doing thing. Where instead of the initial cost ruling all decisions there’s more attention on whole-of-life costs.
Twyford has screwed completely a policy that was 7 years in the making, thru what … lack of any detail to implement, and has not delivered more than a few spec builders would have supplied to the market in the same period.
To limit to 1st home buyers was a mistake imo, and should the time come that we have any volume, many of today’s 1st buyers will already have moved into a place.
Honestly can anyone expect 1st buyers wait until an appropriate house comes available in their town/city?
Why would people say that not having LED bulbs installed in the homes was a case of lacking in energy efficiency? The sockets for the lights are the same as incandescent if looking at the cheapest and safest. My incandescents cost a little over $1 each and last six months. It would seem that buying LEDs is better, so if I can get warm white, (I dislike the stark white-blue alernative), and am not price-limited I will buy them. But I like having incandescents as spares that I keep in reserve for failures.
Not everyone can get cheap LEDs where they shop. Incandescents should be kept as cheap alternartives while education about the LEDs should continue. That easy calculation of dividing by 10 to find the right level of light when choosing LEDs is handy thanks. Looking at the lumens and other terminology is confusing and people have limited time to moon over products gathering information in the shop.
At my place with 2 adults and 3 kids at home on after dark it was quite feasible for 20 or even 30 bulbs to be lit up. At an average of say 75W each (if they were incandescents) that would be a load of 1.5kW to 2.5 kw, at peak time. and maybe 3 to 5 kWhr per day just for lighting.
Swap those to LED and it’s around 0.2 to 0.3 kw lighting load at peak time, and less than 1 kWhr per day usage for lighting.
How is that difference not an energy efficiency issue?
Furthermore in a new build you can design the lighting around the characteristics of LED lighting and the way LEDs are more directional. LEDs also don’t generate enough heat to risk starting fires if something like insulation or wood is too close. The insulation issue can be a big one, it’s surprising how much warmth can get lost through old-skool ceiling downlight fixtures that have to have the insulation set back quite a distance.
Eric the ‘ripper’…Owen Glenn,NZ taxpayer,anyone who had the misfortune to deal with him,it would seem.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/eric-watsons-cullen-group-avoided-51-million-in-tax-high-court-confirms?variant=tb_v_2
Cullen Group? Is that a deliberate thumb-to-the nose cheeky go at Sir Mike the Upright and exemplar of Austerity and Probity?
No.He has used that name for his investment companies for yonks.
Michael Cullen has been involved with finance for yonks. Just to refresh us on old but important history:
When the Prime Minister, David Lange, attempted to limit the influence Douglas had on the government’s direction, Cullen became involved on Lange’s side. After Labour’s re-election in 1987, Cullen was made Associate Minister of Finance (an attempt by Lange to provide an anti-reform counterbalance to the radical Douglas) and Minister of Social Welfare (an attempt to limit the impact of the reforms in that area).
Eventually, Douglas was forced to resign, but a month later the political controversies around the dispute prompted the resignation of Lange himself. Douglas was succeeded as Finance Minister by David Caygill, one of his allies (albeit a considerably less radical one). Cullen was made Associate Minister of Health, again to reduce the effect of reforms on that sector.
When Labour lost the 1990 election (something attributed by many people to public anger at Douglas’ reforms, and disarray within the Labour Party), Cullen returned to being Labour’s spokesperson on social welfare. The following year, he replaced David Caygill as the party’s chief finance spokesperson…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cullen_(politician)
Watson founded Cullen Investments in 1995.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Watson_(businessman)
Watson owned Westbury Stud Karaka…’Cullen to stand at Westbury Stud in the spring’2001.
Cullen was foaled at Segenhoe Stud in Australia in 1996.
Eric the Ripper has a good ring to it, he and Hotchin towelled up a few investors here in NZ and even managed to get Sir Owen Glenn over a barrell. Karma is a bitch isn’t it.
Their was one thing that was missing from this report.
The IRD, in 2002, approved the scheme. They gave an opinion that it was an Approved Issuer and that the 2% was the correct rate.
The in 2010 the reversed their opinion. That, unfortunately is something the IRD do quite commonly. The effect is that people who relied on the opinion given by the IRD find, much later on, that they have changed their mind and claim taxes and penalties for something they said was fine.
I have no objection to them changing their view. However I don’t believe they should be able to backdate the change.
It is rather like them dropping the blood alcohol limit from 80 to 50 and then fining everyone who was measured at a level between 50 and 80 at a time when that was quite legal.
It is, in practice, passing a retrospective law.
ex National P.M not short of a $!
‘Shipley also invests US$50,000 in Richina. According to numbers quoted by Richard Yan during the court case, Shipley’s investment in the Chinese company could now potentially be worth US$14 million ($22 million), on paper at least.’
Reading this,it seems very clear what was going on here.There is a name for it that begins with F.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12210975
female
fortitude
felony
fandangle
flaccid
fart
finagle
fact-finding
foolishness
That’s my stream of consciousness thinking – the f’s that came to mind.
Fraud
Feasting
Festering
Fuckingcorrupt.
Freemarket
Favoured few find fabulous free funds falling fulsomely forever
You win the chocolate fish today.
Here’s a couple of interesting articles on insurance, or not being able to get insurance in specific areas due to risk from natural disasters or the result of CC.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/384579/iag-turning-down-new-property-insurance-in-wellington-region
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-13/climate-data-reveals-australias-worst-affected-regions/10892710
Now remind me of what the role of the former State Insurance was prior to it being sold and what the then muppets said about the market is always right as there is no need to have a Government own/ backed insurance company.
I’m a little bit surprised that the IAG can 50% of the market share in Wellington and if IAG is prepared to do this to Wellington, then what does this say IRT other parts of the country that are at risk from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions?
opening books
At a briefing on the new indictments Tuesday, Andrew Lelling, a U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, said that some parents paid up to $6.5 million “to guarantee admission” for their children to elite colleges. He said that a total of 33 parents have been charged.
“There will not be a separate admissions system for the wealthy. And there will not be a separate criminal justice system, either,” Lelling said.
https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2019/03/12/dozens-indicted-alleged-massive-case-admissions-fraud
The only thing I want to go to California for:
https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/travel/destinations/2019/03/11/california-super-bloom-brings-wildflowers-desert/3133317002/
There’s something magic about a desert suddenly blooming. Enjoy.
Nice WTB – I might refresh a couple of pots with those orange Californian poppies before winter hits.
How about we ditch the lawnmower and plant a range of pasture grasses and flowers instead which wouldgrow unhindered and as the season changes so do the different species?
Seems strange that we spend so much time mowing stuff and annoying the suburbians.
Pro-life my arse.
I can’t quite put in word how much i despise these fucking forced birthers and how much i despite doctors that would let a women develop a sepsis before ‘aborting’ the rotting fetus she carries cause ‘heartbeat’.
https://rewire.news/article/2019/03/07/not-dead-enough-public-hospitals-deny-life-saving-abortion-care-to-people-in-need/
“In one case, a patient who had suffered cardiac arrest shortly before getting pregnant did not meet the hospital’s threshold for life endangerment and was unable to afford to travel and pay for an abortion at the nearest hospital that would see her, about four hours away. She ended up miscarrying in her second trimester. In another case, a patient who was dying from metastatic cancer needed abortion care. The hospital took so long to deliberate, she miscarried too.
“Our conversation should have been like, ‘How can we help you heal and meet whatever your goals are in this terrible situation’, and not about this stupid law,” the doctor said.
“My hands are tied,” she continued. “I can’t do what’s right for the patient.””
yes one can keep roe vs wade ‘legal’ yet put up so many ‘trap’ laws that effectively even a women dying of a septic pregnancy will not get the care she needs. Fucking ghouls hiding behind religion, superstition and simply hate of women. I can’t find other reasons then hate disguised as ‘won’t no one think of the babies’ cause no, you are not fucking thinking of the baby – born or unborn – and you certainly don’t care about the ‘host’ aka the mothers. (hosts – https://www.google.com/search?q=pregnant+women+are+hosts&oq=pregnant+women+are+hosts&aqs=chrome..69i57.4072j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 )
Well I’m pro choice because arguably the fetus is apart of the woman.
That’s why in my opinion consent is more important than pro choice. The age of legal consent should be again, and this is my opinion, but it should be 21 – 25 years old to account for brain development and basically there’s no marked improvement in income until you’re a graduate.
Having to continue carrying a baby that is dead inside you, is one of the joys that the ethical society force on some unfortunate women. It’s not a healthy situation for her, and negates any suggestion that women and their fertility role is respected by society and those in power. A hero – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
What names do others know of who have championed women in their fertility burden?
F$%ken weirdos ?
“Fucking ghouls hiding behind religion, superstition and simply hate of women.”
Yes there are circumstances in which abortion is the only humane option. But I encourage you to watch this. To the end.
Honey, i have had abortions, i also head an emergency hysterectomy and there is nothing this guy will ever tell me.
So no,
if you read the article above you would understand that i am talking about doctors refusing to render aid to women who come to hospital in pain, unable to walk, with fever and because they are not yet ‘actively’ dying do not get the health care they need and should be entitled too.
But maybe you missed the part that i put in quotes ‘ had miscarriages in the second trimester’ cause obviously it is more important for the women to suffer some more month then give them the care they need.
So take your preacher / ob gyn and shove him where its dark. Cause this guy will never be denied healthcare, he will never be left to fester with a dead fetus until he ‘actively is dying’ and he will never have to make the choice of having an abortion at an early stage or when you are told that your child that you wanted is growing with a brain outside the skull or has not lungs and that you can’t have an abortion cause hey, women, you are a host, and as such you would have no issues birthing this child and then watch it die.
Pro life my ass. Forced birth. Once born, pull yerself up by your bootstrap child.
‘…you would understand that i am talking about doctors refusing to render aid to women who come to hospital in pain…”
So why the rant about abortion? The issue you are raising is a valid health issue, not necessarily connected to access to abortions.
“Honey, i have had abortions, i also head an emergency hysterectomy and there is nothing this guy will ever tell me.”
That’s rather closed minded. He has performed thousands of abortions, and is describing the utter inhumanity if the process. It is chilling.
So happy, bye bye secondary tax 🙂 I work two jobs so am thrilled about this.
Thanks government, this was one of the reasons I gave my party vote to Labour last election 🙂
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1903/S00088/an-end-to-unnecessary-secondary-tax.htm
I like this one…
I’m running on 8% kiwisaver at present, and getting some quite reasonable returns. I wouldn’t mind kicking that up as everything is automatic and way less hassle than dealing with other investments on an ongoing basis. Essentially automatic payments really waste my personal time when they come out of my working account. It doesn’t take much to suddenly be providing the bank with extra revenue with fees. And even worse, I get people trying to ring me when I’m coding which is REALLY expensive.
Which is why I’ve pretty well eliminated most of automatic payments including those to other investment funds. Paying as part of my PAYE is way easier which is now the only way I do it. Other bills just get paid when I have a few spare minutes on my phone.
But I would like to push a bit more into investments. It’d be nice to have a 12% or 15%. But 10% is better than 8%
Also I’m not planning on stopping work (or riding my e-bike to work) unless I really really have to. I’m nearly 60 now and still coding well. Life after 65 will probably still involve me working and demonstrating both current coding and antique techniques to those callow youngsters under the age of 40.
😈
“Life after 65 will probably still involve me working and demonstrating both current coding and antique techniques to those callow youngsters under the age of 40.”
🙂
Careful tho’ @ lprent – things like experience and proven record can often account for sweat FA these days
until you turn out to be tho only one who can talk to the machine. #consultancyrates
I have tended to rely less on experience and track records than on companies being desperate to get their projects out of the door.
Most jobs that I have had in programming for the last couple of decades has been after whoever I went to work for had an unfortunate problem of some kind caused by mismanagement of their projects in their staffing, documentation, design, or implementation and needing someone to recover it.
i am so pleased about it. My shop girl studies, works for me and has a few other side digs in summer when the tourist come. I am so pleased for her that she does not have to pay more taxes on her income now then Gareth Morgan.
This is a good inclusion as well:
“- exempt directly funded disability support payments from income tax”
The utterances of Molyneux, Southern and Peterson seem benign compared to the pro-plague propaganda this fucking terrorist is spreading.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/lifestyle/2019/03/australian-blogger-bringing-dangerous-anti-vax-tour-to-nz.html
Seems an attention getter, without having to strip, but it really is part of a porn movement to look at me, I’m good looking and achieving celebrity and you can be like me. Tell people things that make them think, or feel they have gone through the motions.
It’s mental gym here folks, worry about my subject, and don’t waste your energies on the rest of life, which is confusing and debilitating to the mind. Stay with us and reeelaaax your mind, and together we will solve your problems. Half the things you worry about don’t happen. You can have twice as much fun in your life if you just stop worrying about finding the truth and just listen to us; listen to our Foundation; The Foundation of Life.
Watch out for that in your letterbox and on line soon. Someone will pick up on that to sell something to the peeps.
She’s a con artist making big biccies out of gullible parents.
http://morganfoundation.org.nz/capital-gains-tax-political-stunt-no-economics-rationale
Gareth Morgan outlines the arguments against CGT far more cogently than I have done.
poor thing, still trying to get away from tax faster then anyone can say boo.
Can’t have Gareth Morgan pay taxes. Now that would upset the tax evader.
Poor thing, did no one tell him that he would have to pay nothing if he is not selling his assets:? Oh that is how he made his money in the first place? Sucks to be him.
I think you should address the arguments that Morgan puts up if you wish to have any credibility. Poking fun at Morgan himself seems pretty futile.
Morgan is actually proposing a far more radical change to taxing wealth that is unavoidable.
http://morganfoundation.org.nz/capital-gains-tax-political-stunt-no-economics-rationale/ Thanks mikesh
Gareth writes:
“The Economist advocates, as do I, that such transaction taxes be removed and instead annual levies be applied.
This inclusion of taxation upon all income to capital (not just homes but all non-financial capital) properly integrated into the current income tax regime…”
I don’t know what that means. Annual levies? Does that mean like higher Rates?
I have sought an answer for this but does anyone know how this would be better than CGT?
Morgan is not entirely clear on what he means by “annual levies”, but I think he means the tax on imputed rentals. Perhaps The Economixt sees the lack of these as a possible justification for capital gains taxes, but thinks it would be better to apply them on a regular basis rather than as lump sum tax when the property is sold.
Morgan provides a link to the Economist article but it’s behind a paywall. However the headline indicates that what the Economist wanted to replace was stamp duty on the sale of a property.
That would be good – a CGT of reasonable percentage on commercial and rented properties. Then stamp duty of a small percentage on all properties.
Two bites at a luscious cherry. Put that in your pipe and smoke it you lachrymose speculators. (I thought I would throw in a new word to the stewpot with the so many others used in the debate about taxes on housing.)
I think you are misunderstanding the comments. The Economist was writing about the British situation, and recommending that their stamp duty be abandoned, and replaced by an annual payment of some sort. Without having access to the Economist article I cannot say what the nature of that annual payment would be.
This happened middle of Feb. It illustrates attitudes that many on this blog have never come across but shows up many in our culture as having a lack of maturity and respect in attitudes to women. And that might apply to women as well, though it is apparently mainly men who replied.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/rural/2019/02/show-some-respect-finnish-woman-s-nz-farming-ad-draws-scores-of-gross-comments.html
A woman complained that there were’nt jobs available to locals. If it was her personally, she should have put up her own advert. If it was general she should have not butted in, it isn’t the Finnish woman’s fault and it was just bad-mouthing her instead of the politician who should be controlling foreign workers. But she iwould be unlikely to have put her thoughts to the polly, most NZs just vent, full of sour air.
And the men who used the opportunity to make remarks that were sleazy or suggestive, that is so childish. They have no awareness of how to communicate in a public place, as on-line sites are, and that shows lack of maturity too. I wonder where these men learned their attitudes towards women? In the home? Is it being passed on down the generations in some farm families? And the old refrain – just having a joke, some people have no sense of humour.