You strike me as a person who looks life’s challenges straight in the eye & lives life to the best & fullest extent possible.
80 years is a significant milestone for anyone & you thoroughly deserve to have got there. May you have many more birthdays & adventures to come.
You’ll no doubt be the star at your party & nosh up today. Wish I could be there to celebrate it with you.
If you post today what time lunch with all the trimmings is expected to be served up, I’ll raise a glass of kahlua & milk & drink a toast to your good health at Gezza’s Bird Café here at Pookden Manor.
Bless, The whole thing kicks off at lunch time. About 12.30. We always begin with a glass raised to absent family and friends, then it is food and music and drinks. We don't dance anymore but we used to do that as well . A good auld c'eilidh. Cheers Gezza You added to my day.
the difference between those two vaccines – the Pfizer vaccine will recode your DNA and turn you into a child-trafficking zombie controlled by Bill Gates whereas the AstraZeneca vaccine will also recode your DNA and turn you into a child-trafficking zombie, but you’ll be controlled by Jeff Bezos.
lol. At some point NZ will have to decide what to do with the people it is currently ridiculing. We might get lucky and they merge back into society. Or we might find they're a monster class by the time of the next election.
Remember when Hungary was censured for building fences to keep migrants and refugees out ?(to my mind they're all refugees, from climate crisis and war)
Now Uk soldiers are being sent to Poland's border .Not to help with processing asylum requests, or provide humanitarian help, but to help"strengthen the border" aka reinforcing fences
It is by no means the first time Putin's Russia has deployed migrants to destabilize peaceable European neighbours – though Boris's motives may well be as self-serving as a desperate shortage of truck drivers.
37 year old niece, who wouldn't get the vaccine because she didn't know what was in it. Diagnosed with covid, and isolating at home had to go into North Shore Hospital after developing breathing problems.
The good news; feels much better after being put on a drip.
No one who needs an IV, ever refuses it because they don't know what is in it.
I got put on one recently, after 6 failed attempts by nurses to get a working cannula into a vein, before a young surgeon finally succeeded & they could pump in the opioid I needed for excruciating abdominal pain. They sent me down to radiology forcan abdominal X-ray & put me on Nil By Mouth until the docs had seen the radiologist’s report.
I needed IV fluids for 12 hours. I didn’t ask what was in it.
A woman walks up to an elevator door, there's a man inside wearing a suit and looking normal. Her intuition says don't get in the elevator, her rational mind says it's the middle of the day, in a busy building, he looks fine, nothing is going to happen. What should she do?
👍🏼
I think that’s the right answer. There’s sometimes a debate about whether women are more intuitive than man. I think they are, when it comes to reading people or situations – for that very reason. They need to protect themselves from physically stronger, predatory men, & so many have highly developed instincts to that end.
On average women are more physically vulnerable than men in any number of ways. But this doesn't necessarily make them victims.
The other side of this equation is that men do most of the protecting and sacrificing for the women. This was a lot more obvious in the pre-industrial world because life then was so much more dangerous.
Looked at this way men evolved via sexual selection to be the somewhat more dangerous sex in order to be useful to women. There is however an inherent risk in having potentially hazardous things lying about the house 🙂
Last line – that’s about how my Friday caregiver described the fathers of her two adult children, except she used the term lazy bastards who saw me coming & noticed I had DOORMAT written all over me. She was a real character. Much prefers looking after herself & living without a man. She was visiting Israel in 1973 when the Arabs attacked.
Because some men are dangerous sexual predators. The thing is you can’t always tell who these bastards are, & and unfortunately neither can those of us men who love & honour women as God’s greatest ever invention, & would would happily castrate these animals if we could.
Because men in suits generally don't use the stairs, even if they can find them
Ha! Agree with the 'generally', but my partner does use the stairs – that's because he's a fitness freak – however, because he runs them noisily, in his suit, it's pretty clear he's no threat to anyone. He'd be appalled if he thought he was, and change his behaviour.
But you touch on a point about intuition. My thoughts are that intuition is not something outside of rationality. It's a sum of things you've learned through experience and stories and the weight you put on the contradictions in the things you've learned.
The difference with rationality is that its generally thought of as a weighing up of the odds in any given situation and choosing to do the action that is most likely to be safe (take the stairs – 99.99% of the time you're safe). Intuition (i.e. the weighing up of experience and stories) may lead to the opposite decision (avoid the stairs). Intuition in these cases is also self-reinforcing (you stayed safe by avoiding the man, therefore it was the right thing to do).
many different answers for many different reasons. (1) it is lunchtime ,so she should take the time and exercise by walking up the stairs. (2) who wants to share a small enclosed space with a normal suit wearer?so, she should let the elevator go, and wait for some interesting company.(3) its her ex-husband, and her intuition is that he;s going to try and borrow money. etc etc
Throughout COP 26, Resilience Frontiers has been challenging participants’ mindsets , aiming to promote a global paradigm shift towards resilience through eight novel pathways.
On Thursday, 11 November, participants considered the final pathway, which focused on developing transformative financial instruments.
Its goal was rethinking prosperity, growth, and value, and nurturing human wellbeing and the environment, while harnessing emerging technologies to transform financial networks and instruments.
The next session was chaired by Robert Filipp, Founder and President of Innovative Finance Foundation, with a panel featuring: Kim Stanley Robinson, Science Fiction Author; Elena Lopez-Gunn, Director of ICATALIST; Alex Gordon-Brander, CEO of Teratree; and Adam Rockefeller-Growald, Co-Founder of Teratree.
Although a cynic would dismiss this as mere leftist consciousness-raising, I get the sense that it does at least launch a geopolitical work in progress:
The final pathway sparked a dialogue on equity, collaboration, and how we value nature. Through group discussions, reflection exercises, and expert panel conversations, the Lab explored thoughts around a subconscious desire to co-exist with the biosphere in a respectful, regenerative, and resilient way.
At a reception celebrating the discussions held at the Lab at COP 26, Youssef Nassef, Founder of Resilience Frontiers, and Director of the Adaptation Division, UNFCCC Secretariat, thanked all participants who had engaged with the themes during the two weeks, welcoming them to the growing Resilience Frontiers community.
Admitted to the bar in 1990, Grey recently fought a losing battle with the High Court on behalf of four aviation security workers who refused to get vaccinated, despite a Government mandate. Her practising certificate was last renewed in July.
She frequently shares misinformation on her social media pages about COVID-19 and the Pfizer vaccine, such as falsely inflating the number of deaths linked to the vaccine, and calling the recent rollout of the vaccine to teenagers "Government-mandated genocide".
I suspect the relevant framing is creative interpretation. That's extremely traditional, of course! Hard-wired as part of the privilege system. The basic idea has always been that justice arrives as an incidental product of the competitive storytelling.
There is an artifice around the notion of fact, and precedence tends to be given to authoritative sources such as scientists & media (I'm not kidding) to establish fact.
I am guessing then, that the Law Society's deliberations may come down to a matter of integrity.
If it can be shown that she guarded her words in court knowing that they could be shown to be proven falsehoods by authoritative sources such as scientists & media. But then spread these falsehoods in public statements outside of court.
It could be evidence of a certain mens rea.
In her defence Sue Grey says that she was speaking as a politician not a lawyer.
Newshub has contacted Grey for a response. In a letter to the Law Society in her own defence, Stuff reports she made the ‘genocide’ comment “in my personal capacity as a political leader”, not a lawyer.
More arcane priesthood than cabal. Extremely important to protect the common interests of members (the principle of territoriality being the antique basis of that). Therefore rulings are normally protectionist.
So it will depend whether they see her as a wolf in sheep's clothing or not. Fear derives from audacious setting of precedents: such adventurism will be sure to come back and bite them in the future. Rationalists will adopt the stance ‘hey, she's one of us, the political clothing is irrelevant'. Protectionists will adopt the stance ‘yeah but the cowboy thing is a bad look, we must always wear suits, sorry – I meant cowgirl'.
Then there’s her `chinese walls in the mind’ rationale to consider. Dunno if there’s legal precedent around that.
she isn't a politician as far as I know. I wanna be but failed politician yes. Unless she is on a local body somewhere and then I guess a local body politician yes.
I do think that Sue Grey is a lawyer and person of high integrity and maybe we are lucky to have some one like her willing take on the contentious – especially the opposite views to that the government departments want to promulgate.
I have no doubt that there will be those out there wanting to cut her down at any opportunity because of her past achievements.
As with anyone who attempts to expose judicial corruption, furtive attempts by the judiciary have been made to discredit her. These have been only minimally effective due to her exemplary legal background, as well as her political savvy in keeping the focus on the negative commercial and economic effect such judicial corruption is having on her major wool producing client.
Dr David Collins QC (Solicitor General)
When allegations of Wilson J’s misconduct originally surfaced, Collins endeared himself to the judiciary by moving quickly to quash it. He orchestrated the firing of whistle-blower Sue Grey from her job at Department of Conservation, filed extensive legal submissions in support of Judge Wilson’s conduct and personally appeared in Court to show his support for Wilson in what was a civil case between two private parties.
My own granddaughter does not want to proceed on with her second vaccination because of what is online about young people and myocarditis in this links such as this.
does she just peddle misinformation on her Facebook and other platforms Janet?
If the story reported about her speculating a death from the pfizer vaccine before the person was vaccinated is correct. must be a pretty strong vaccine to do that.
On Jan. 6, violent insurrectionists erected a gallows, stormed the U.S. Capitol, and chanted “hang Mike Pence!” as they searched for him. Pence’s boss, former President Donald Trump, was totally fine with it.
That’s the revelation from an interview between ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl and Trump, in which the former president defended the people who threatened the life of his vice president. A clip of the interview was released on Friday in advance of the publication of Karl’s book, “Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show,” which comes out next week.
Typical leftist fake news. Trump didn't say anything to indicate he agreed that Pence ought to be hung. The biased reporter uses the `sin by omission' theory to frame Trump as supporting the rabble's call. Trump was clearly supporting the rabble, and just as clearly refraining from comment. Bullshit from Huffpost dude.
Wasn’t just the Trumpanzees pushing those sorts of “alternative facts”. The liberals / Dems were into it just as badly – twisting & bending events & statements to back up prejudices & false assertions.
Maybe you've been following the ignominious unravelling of the so-called "Steele Dossier". Four years of US liberal media calling Trump out as a Russian asset – based on complete bullshit.
It's reasons like this that if another election were held tomorrow, Trump would stand a decent shot at winning. That's pretty damned depressing really.
I consider that whole saga as finalising the decline of journalism, and the public trust in journalism to an unprecedented degree, even including the Iraq war lead up.
Trump winning the election prompted such outrage than any hack could utter any unverifiable crap as gospel , and as long as it was anti Trump it was endorsed and cheered and could build a career
It would go a long way if some media figures had the guts to say – "I was wrong – we fucked that up and we have to do some work to earn back your trust".
“Maybe you’ve been following the ignominious unravelling of the so-called “Steele Dossier”. Four years of US liberal media calling Trump out as a Russian asset – based on complete bullshit.”
……………………….
Yep. I loathe Trump – despicable, narcissistic, bullying lying individual in my eyes – so I didn’t want to know initially, but as it unravelled it was obvious it was both a completely fallacious AND an utterly farcical allegation.
“It’s reasons like this that if another election were held tomorrow, Trump would stand a decent shot at winning. That’s pretty damned depressing really.”
………………………….
The Dems have the same problem with Joe Biden as they did with Hillary Clinton. Both of them compromised candidates. Joe’s obviously well past his prime – when his prime was pretty patchy, to say the least.
Hard to see how Biden’s ongoing muddlesome gaffes & obvious frailty will stand up to a full-on Trump challenge. Harris, an unknown quantity. Cos Joe may be past his best, such as it ever was, but he’s a grumpy old stickler for getting top billing & doing all the (heavily scripted) talking.
The liberal media are likely going to have their work cut out for them trying present Joe as on top of things when he blunders.
Trump’s just as bad for blithering nonsense word salads, as well as spouting out dog whistling rhetoric, but audiences lap that up & don’t expect anything else from that charlatan.
It's a pathetic descent into echo-chamber Tribalism … the Clintonistas as bad as (and far more dominant within the US Establishment than) the Trumpards. Each side deploying their own crude conspiracy theories.
You bet! Trump would have exhibited sanctimony! "Unfortunately my folks got carried away by their enthusiasm. It was god's will that Pence became a martyr for the cause. His heart was in the right place even if his head wasn't."
Pence isn't a strong contender for the nomination next time but it's in Trump's interest to minimise any competitor. He's sending a carefully-nuanced signal to the right: disloyalty to the chief will be punished one way or another…
Technical point to you on that. Trump is forever doing a reframe of the narrative. Rabble chanting is so totally irrelevant to him that the interviewers point gets over-ridden and ignored automatically. He's always telling someone what to think! His irritation that the interviewer is waving a red herring at him gets displaced by the essentiality of having to impose his narrative.
He genuinely doesn't get the concern the interviewer is trying to project. Who cares what the rabble chant? Not him! His gobbledygook trying to explain common sense results from his internal imperative. Narcissism compels that.
Trump didn't condemn the crowd, he didn't back Pence. It's all about Trump really, the mob was doing what Trump wanted, Pence declined to do what Trump wanted. Pretty clear from Trump that it is all about himself, and his delusions and his blow arse self aggrandisement. A 'wasn't very much' wannabe who cannot accept reality of "trump, you're fired".
Actually no. I've worked with about a dozen in both Canada and Latin America. They were generally easy to get to know and good people to work with.
When the topic drifted onto politics – they'd usually concede or openly state that Trump was a flawed, troublesome personality. Or as one guy put it sorrowfully, "how the fuck did the US come down to a choice between these two shitheads?"
We've been over this political ground many times, but for me it comes down to a question of just how accountable are we going to be? Because if the left cannot manage an utter landslide win over someone so blatantly unsuitable as Trump – then exactly what claim to political competence do we have?
Voters need to understand the fundamental differences between liberalism and leftism. It’s the difference between a candidate who believes capitalism, with just a little refereeing, will eventually provide what working people need, versus a candidate who believes serious intervention in the capitalist economy is necessary.
He didn't have to run for the Democrats nomination under any rule. He could have done what Ross Perot did in 1992 and run for a third party. The problem he would have had was two-fold. He didn't have any source of a great deal of money and he didn't have an organisation to carry out the basic tasks like getting on the ballot in all the States. They are all different and the rules are really all there to make it nearly impossible for a third party to get started. For example, when Perot ran –
"In New York, ballot access appeared to be the most difficult to attain. In a five-week summer period, the campaign would be required to compile 20,000 signatures from non-primary voters, including 100 from each of half of the state's Congressional districts"
Perot managed it but it helped that he was a billionaire and was willing to spend enormous amounts of his own money on the campaign. That was when a billion dollars was worth something.
Sanders on the other hand simply didn't have any money or organisation to do such a thing. That meant he became a Democrat as long as he was in the campaign, simply because they had an organisation to do the donkey work, before going back to being an Independent when he dropped out of the campaign which is what he remains, as far as I know.
Sociologist Stephanie Mudge explored the terrain three years ago.
In Leftism Reinvented: Western Parties from Socialism to Neoliberalism, Mudge looks at left parties in advanced capitalist countries over the last century and shows how the experts aligned with those parties pushed them in the direction of spin doctors and markets. In the process, left parties’ ability to represent the interests of their own working-class constituencies was eroded — and ordinary people were shut out of the halls of power.
Political organizer and socialist activist Chase Burghgrave recently spoke with Mudge about her new book, the role of experts in democratic societies, and whether a more vibrant, egalitarian politics is possible.
The Democratic Party is trickier, because of its very different history. It has always been a mass party in a certain sense, but not a socialist or ideological one. I include it because, when the leading liberal or New Deal faction of the Democratic Party embraced Keynesianism around the time of the 1937 recession, it became somewhat comparable to social-democratic and labor parties. And, last but not least, in the 1990s the Democratic Party was a major exporter of “third way” politics to Europe and elsewhere. So that is why it needed to be part of the story.
She goes into why the left defaults to experts, then the future…
The short answer is that left politics needs experts who make spin unnecessary. Left politics should have intuitive appeal because it speaks to people’s real needs and concerns.
That said, I don’t think new experts will magically cure the ills of left politics. Nor is it my place to say who the next left party experts should be. I think that party experts can be anyone — and maybe, in the current moment, left parties should be dedicating their resources to playing the long game by radically broadening the profiles of the people we consider “experts.”
But I will say this: it is absolutely essential that left parties cultivate people’s ability to understand, and critically engage with, the structure and logic of contemporary financial capitalism. I think Alexis de Tocqueville once said that you have to “educate democracy.” I would give this a Marxian twist: you have to educate capitalist democracy. There can be no left politics without a shared understanding of today’s specific economic circumstances
Instead of the bipolar left-right model that's served as the default model for two hundred years, I'm suggesting it's more interesting to use three poles – conservative, liberal and socialist. Like all social models it's not meant to be perfect but I'm using it more and more these days.
I'd have a few quibbles with the details. Haidt is worth reading but that moral framework never struck me as compelling. Metaphysics always strikes me as a surer basis (principles, archetypes, models, assumptions & hypotheses). Although your scheme seems similar to the third way, it would be interesting to know if you see it as different, and how.
I mean, from a metaphysical perspective, triangulation is the common basis. So both have the merit of transcending the binary. I always saw the third way as fake – liberal capitalism and conservative capitalism are the same system. Blair's framing (from Giddens wasn't it?) was basically a pr sham to unhook Labour from socialism.
“The rise of “culture wars” has been incredibly important for the political atmosphere that we are now in. Quite simply it doesn’t lend itself to debate and discussion, or finding middle ground. Instead, it’s more polarising – it lends itself to the labelling of opponents as racists, sexists, or in the case of Hilary Clinton, talking about the masses as “deplorables”. So, there’s a strong strain of sneering from many on the left – especially against those that are seen as socially backward. The old slogan of: “The personal is political” now underpins the focus on how to fix the problems of the world.
good quote. I've been thinking lately that some of the language used to talk about the freedom protestors reminds me of Clinton's use of deplorables. Like we didn't learn anything from the time of Trump. Blows my mind.
i find this funny and interesting at the same time.
Largely it’s an elite top-down model of politics, reflective of the left being made up of the highly-educated stratum of society. They confidently believe that they know best.
later
And this is why it’s somewhat surprising that increasingly the left want either the state or society to put limits on political debate and expression.
lol, it must be hard to understand how someone who fought for the working class – proletariat and precariat' is now demanding no debate on issues that affect predominantly the proletariat and the precariat.
The turning point for me was Jonathan Haidt's ideas on Moral Foundations theory. All humans share a common suite of core moral drivers, but we place different weights on them. And this does seem to be closely linked to innate personality differences:
Researchers have found that people's sensitivities to the five/six moral foundations correlate with their political ideologies. Using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, Haidt and Graham found that libertarians are most sensitive to the proposed Liberty foundation, liberals are most sensitive to the Care and Fairness foundations, while conservatives are equally sensitive to all five/six foundations.
According to Haidt, the differences have significant implications for political discourse and relations. Because members of two political camps are to a degree blind to one or more of the moral foundations of the others, they may perceive morally driven words or behavior as having another basis – at best self-interested, at worst evil, and thus demonize one another.
Haidt and Graham suggest a compromise can be found to allow liberals and conservatives to see eye-to-eye. They suggest that the five foundations can be used as "doorway" to allow liberals to step to the conservative side of the "wall" put up between these two political affiliations on major political issues (i.e. legalizing gay marriage). If liberals try to consider the latter three foundations in addition to the former two (therefore adopting all five foundations like conservatives for a brief amount of time) they could understand where the conservatives' viewpoints stem from and long-lasting political issues could finally be settled.
All too often we make the debate all about these moral weightings – which are fundamentally unresolvable at that level. If instead we accept that the people we perceive as our opponents are simply coming at an issue with a different set of priorities and interests – we're more likely to engage in a constructive negotiation.
And that's how all the great politicians got the results they’re remembered for, they understood their opponents and could make deals with them.
“All too often we make the debate all about these moral weightings – which are fundamentally unresolvable at that level. If instead we accept that the people we perceive as our opponents are simply coming at an issue with a different set of priorities and interests – we’re more likely to engage in a constructive negotiation.”
…………………………
That tends to be how I’ve always looked at issues. At various times in my life it’s seemed like a character flaw, because others with stronger egos & opinions made judgements & decisions (often, needed decisions) faster & with more conviction & certainty than I was comfortable with.
Then I began to notice how many of those decisions subsequently (sometimes a year or two later) turned to be bad ones, with negative blowback effects, from things that were bothering me as risks at the time I felt like a slow-minded fool for wanting more information or discussion.
I like people. I appear to be highly empathetic, at least at times. I seem to have the happy knack of easily getting people to talk to me and explain their viewpoint. Thereafter I find I can sometimes see the issue thru their eyes, from their perspective, as well as my own. I decided in the end that this isn’t a flaw, it’s an inbuilt talent, & I now employ it usefully whenever I can.
I can across this regarding people holding opposing political view but treated each other with respect (that IMO all are due) John Wayne and Mark Rydell.
"“He really wanted to do The Cowboys,” Rydell said. “He treated me with the most respect. I was like this (cringing) waiting for him to say something anti semitic or anti-Indian or anti-anything. I was ready to jump. But he taught me a lesson.
“I know a lot of people with whom I agree politically and otherwise who are jerks,” Rydell said. “And then you take someone like him who I disagreed with in almost every area, except art. And he was a terrific person. The first guy on the set, the last person to leave. The picture was full of kids. They climbed up on him like the monkey bars on a playground. He was available to everybody. We went out to dinner he would sign autographs for everybody. He never was unfair or unpleasant. It was a big lesson to me not to pre-judge.”
youtube 4:15 Mark Rydell director of The Cowboys,The Rose, On Golden Pond etc.
From a social science perspective, the question is if the theory can be validated via research. First, the stats basis would have to be robust in his home nation, then it would have to be replicated in the other western countries.
Since Liberalism morphed historically into separate beasts in the various countries that it invaded (as a meme) from Britain, I would expect the stats to render his thesis context-dependent only. Here, for example, liberalism has manifested only as a strand within the Alliance in the '90s plus economic ideology shared by Nat/Lab since the '80s, since our original Liberal Party died a century ago.
Just realised that there is something good about wearing a mask. Tromp around the supermarket, leave to go to the bike stand and then off with the mask. "Wow!." that first breath of fresh air is so great.
I am amazed by how good people are actually to be honest. I have a strikt no one enters the premise policy, plague door is mounted and all interaction is customer on one side and me on the other and everyone is very very understanding.
It allows me to trade without having to police people on vaccination status or mask wearing. And People are wearing their masks at about 95% rate. And if someone comes without one, i have spares to hand out and they are generally well accepted.
there are more of us doing the right things than not. That is always something we should keep in mind.
I agree, from what I have seen, with mask wearing. But jeez, wearing them indoors all day, thank you (I work on my own out doors mostly, so can slip it on & off).
i have been told by someone whom i trust on these issues tht mask wearing considerably reduces the risk of transmitting covid, as we keep our droplets to our self. And thus i am a great promoter of masks. Specifically indoors. I do tend to have one with me when out and about and will wear it when people are around. I feel naked now without one. Humans get used to this stuff fairly quickly i reckon.
Some useful information about another vaccine, Pandemrix. The following is from Peter Doshi, the associate editor of the BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal):
In October 2009, the US National Institutes of Health infectious diseases chief, Anthony Fauci, appeared on YouTube to reassure Americans about the safety of the “swine flu” vaccine. “The track record for serious adverse events is very good. It’s very, very, very rare that you ever see anything that’s associated with the vaccine that’s a serious event,” he said.
Four months earlier, the World Health Organization had declared H1N1 influenza a pandemic, and by October 2009 the new vaccines were being rolled out across the world. A similar story was playing out in the UK, with prominent organisations, including the Department of Health, British Medical Association, and Royal Colleges of General Practitioners, working hard to convince a reluctant NHS workforce to get vaccinated. “We fully support the swine flu vaccination programme … The vaccine has been thoroughly tested,” they declared in a joint statement.
Except, it hadn’t.
…
The BMJ conducted its own analysis of the adverse events, most of which seem to have been reported spontaneously to GSK. For a range of concerning adverse events, reports were coming in for Pandemrix at a consistently higher rate than for the other two GSK pandemic vaccines–four times the rate of facial palsy, eight times the rate of serious adverse events, nine times the rate of convulsions. Overall, Pandemrix had, proportionally, five times more adverse events reported than Arepanrix and the unadjuvanted vaccine.
But those being vaccinated against swine flu were seemingly unaware of these side-effects, including narcolepsy. The vaccine manufacturer was aware of this side-effect but failed to inform health consumers. One can imagine why they might have been reluctant to provide such information.
Ian Mac, feel for the Covid nurses and doctors, my wife found while training and wearing N95 masks, they are brilliant at protection but it doesn’t take long before one is just recycling ones own CO2 even if it just a little bit every breath, a hard job made harder.
I have three cotton masks. They have an under cotton lining, open at both ends, so that the wearer can insert an extra layer for better protection. I haven't felt the need so far, but with rapidly rising cases I am wondering if it would be a good idea.
Can you recommend something I could slide in between the outer mask and the lining? It would have to be something a bit stiffer then normal.
I’m pretty sceptical of most reports of vaccine reactions, a 30 year old working with me after having her vaccination had just about every reaction you could think of from sunburn, “ Ohh that’s worse than I’ve had before” to tripping on something. “ I don’t usually do that “ ad infinitum …. turns out her mother had been diagnosed with hypochondria, and that’s the thing about hypochondriacs .. you can’t tell them they are sick because that’s exactly what they want to hear.
It's interesting to observe people getting upset about Covid spreading and their attitude towards those who are determined to not follow strictures or suggestions designed to protect.
Then saying that all border controls should go. And people should be trusted because they'll make the right decisions.
A person needs to think for their self and guide those dependent on them when it comes to their health.
There are going to be less health services available for those who already rely on the health system and who will need to enter it. This means longer waiting times and people becoming sicker.
Flag-waving images of protester really disturb me. I've been thinking that the meanings of those flags (United Tribes and Tino Rangatiratanga)
If, as a Pākehā, what is the first thing that would come to mind if I changed my cover photo on Facebook or Twitter to the Tino Rangatiratanga flag?
I support Māori aspirations for their people
I’m a pro-gun rights, anti-1080 anti-vaxxer with possible white supremacist tendencies who thinks the PM should be hung and scientists & health officials should face a Nuremburg trial over covid?
If 2., how do we remind people of the meaning of this symbol of Māori aspiration? How do we remove the re-purposing of the flag as a symbol of disinformation and violence?
“2., how do we remind people of the meaning of this symbol of Māori aspiration? How do we remove the re-purposing of the flag as a symbol of disinformation and violence?”
………………………….
The Tino Rangatiratanga flag turns up at all sorts of rallies and protests against the gummint, councils, private contractors, or Pākehā. It never gets a long term asociation with those because the fact that some Māori people purloin the flag & wave it around at demos as a means of personally expressing just their Māoriness is understood by most people, imo.
It won’t suffer a change of symbolism as result of being raised during the awfully muddled vaccination protests, imo.
It’s a shame this flag is forever associated with a coterie of perennial Pākehā-bashing Māori separatists. It’s iconic – the coolest design. If had a more inclusive cause & meaning I’d vote for it in a heartbeat to be Kiwiland’s new national flag.
Looks like today’s protesters achieve something Wellington Council and Wellington Police failed* to do for decades… the majority of cars driving within the speed limit.
If you want that history raw rather than re-cooked, just go to the Waitangi Tribunal hearing publications on the Ngati Paoa, Ngati Whaua Orakei, Te Kawerau a Maki, and Manukau Tainui. Not a barrel o' laffs necessarily but rich and detailed.
Also the one on the Musket Wars which is just utu manifold.
Also Belich's early Auckland accounts from Marsden etc up the Tamaki River in Making Peoples Vol 1. That spans the worlds old and new.
It's interesting. Typing away online, there's a separation when discussing irritating things. not perfect, but significant.
But talking to someone last night, the topic of covid came up, and I actually surprised myself with how just plain angry I got thinking about how constant white-anting defeatism from the very beginning has put us where we are now.
People are dying now because when people weren't dying, capitalists and the alliance of nutters demanded bubbles and relaxed restrictions and overseas holidays etc etc etc. Fuck 'em all. They managed to trip us up on the final lap.
So now the government is fighting a holding action against progressive expansion of covid in the hope the health system doesn't get overwhelmed. It's just such a pointless waste. We fucking had this thing. Another few months would have drastically changed the game, and much fewer people wouldn't be wondering whether they should go to the hospital because they were coughing up blood.
Same. I have to step away from thinking about it a lot.
Are you think the break was with the border control and delta getting in? Or when Labour gave up on elimination?
how constant white-anting defeatism from the very beginning has put us where we are now.
it still blows my mind. I can generally understand most political positions even the ones I outright hate. But this one I really don't get, that we should just have let a whole lot of people die. Do they not realise it might be them or their loved ones?
Death by a thousand nags, rather than any specific point.
Got lucky a couple of times, lucked out once or twice. But the constant rust eroding every single effort… just corrosive. Even if the govt had stood firm, enforcement would have had to get more drastic and still be less successful.
I think the ones who should know better, but were consultants for an international airport or wanted their nightclubs open 24/7 (or whatever) generally felt they could minimise their personal exposure. Who cares if your bar staff get it, you're isolating on a lifestyle block and working remotely. Isolation from society helps the tamakis. The rest? Just sad.
Seems obvious that Delta got spread by those who crossed borders. Rule-breakers got helped by bureaucrats using privacy law to prevent the public punishing them. Haven't seen much evidence of the system punishing them either, so I got the impression nobody was serious about the rules.
How many other folk got the same impression? If you enforce rules, people take them more seriously. Instead, we got an official sham. Understandably, Labour's poll rating dropped significantly compared to last year's effort.
Delta is endemic globally. Unless you were going to absolutely isolate NZ – and I mean no-one ever entered the border indefinitely into the future – then it was always going to arrive. It was just a matter of time.
There were only ever two justifications for lockdowns and isolation. Initially we needed to apply the precautionary principle in the face of a novel and unknown virus. The second was to buy time in order to prepare as best we could for COVID's inevitable arrival.
As far as the first precautionary principle is concerned that has pretty much expired. (And we might note the irony of the 'vax or die' crowd de-humanising those who would apply the same principle when faced with a novel vaccine with unknowable long term safety.)
As for preparing for the inevitable arrival of Delta, it seems to me that if public health really had been our top priority there was quite a deal more than could have been done.
Any strategy that relied on 90% or more of people complying with it, especially when it came to a novel vaccine technology, was always going to be high stakes politically.
True – but it's come at a cost. The anti-protests in NSW and VIC have been both a lot more politically intense and damaging than anything NZ has experienced.
Last I looked Melbourne was closing in on 280 days of lockdown in the past 12 months – one of the highest in the world.
Would people have taken the rules more seriously without a year of defeatists?
Recognising inevitability is one thing, embracing it is another. Half a dozen people (give or take) are dead because we couldn't hold it together. And that number's only going to increase.
seems like someone within National is cranking up the ABC (anyone but collins) campaign again, stories in the NZHerald about planning a coup. A few % points increase and the Govt having a roughish time with some covid stuff and soneone within National starts sharpening the knife
Yeah I saw that way back then after I read the book by Michael Lewis. He's brilliant every time! Starting with Liar's Poker late '80s. I own around 8/9 books analysing the gfc & have read 3/4 more & it's remarkable how they all reveal new angles.
Although Paulson (a different one than the Paulson in Bush Jr's cabinet who had to mastermind the rescue of the system & his book is also essential) is the main focus, the book includes cameos of several other guys who bet against both the establishment & the market herd & won hugely.
Thanks guy will watch that tomorrow, Just finishing tonight the last from series 3 of Fauda tonight. I know that series and movies have their framing – But taken back by the subject matter, and it has expanded for me the area and issues. I would say in lockdown you get to watch some gems that otherwise you wouldn't watch. I see Margin Call is on youtube.
Just finishing Alexandria by Edmond Richardson – So Dennis will be looking for something different to read so will follow your recommendation.
Cheers, RL, just watched it for the first time this morning on your recommendation … I see one critic called it"easily the best Wall Street movie ever made" & I can see why … hard to believe it's Chandor’s debut as a director.
I think I must have watched it four or five times now. Apart from some of the standout scenes with Jeremy Irons – that boardroom meeting is a masterpiece of scripting, direction and acting – what deeply appeals to me is that it opens up the world of big finance, lays bare it's ugliness and the very human costs -without ever once veering into preachiness or smugness.
The dying dog that bookends the movie is of course a brilliant metaphor.
If anybody is still under the illusion that the guy who harangued the PM in Northland was a "journalist" and she was "avoiding the media", this is from the backgrounder in today's herald:
For a journalist Shane Chafin has interesting ways of dealing with other journalists.
From David Fisher in interviewing Chafin:
"Do you also know I have had Muslim friends for 20 years? And they are willing to go on record." Chafin would not connect the Herald with anyone. "I'm a reporter. I can go on my channel and talk about that content any time I want to." Chafin said he had been a reporter for two months and "I'm the one making news around the world". "I made viral news around the world. When's the last time you did that?”
Chafin floated various claims about Covid-19, which – when challenged – led to him asking: "Are you f***ing stupid? Are you mentally ill? Maybe your meds aren't right. I'm a professional – maybe I could help your psychiatrist.”
The man who wraps his phone and computer in tin foil and puts them in a freezer asks someone else if they are mentally ill? And suggests that they have a psychiatrist?
He came from America because he didn't like the way things were going there. (Under Obama.) I can see he doesn't like the way things are going here. We certainly don't need him here and Northland with its low vaccination rates sure doesn't need him. He should bugger off.
It is claimed that the present ‘shockingly low’ conviction rate [in sexual cases] makes this bill necessary, but what is the evidence for this? The 2019 Justice Ministry ‘Attrition and Progression Report’ appears to be a main source.
This report says that only 11% of “perpetrators” who are reported to the Police by “victims” are convicted, but is based on the erroneous assumption that all allegations are valid. Figures for these “victimisations” include all cases in which the police were unable to act (for example no perpetrator was identified or insufficient evidence to prosecute), but absurdly also those which the police deemed actually “not to be a crime” and those where the accuser recanted. Even verdicts of not guilty are included, where juries had actually found police allegations to be unsubstantiated. The report therefore flies in the face of the presumption of innocence (a basic tenet of justice), not to mention good science.
Another incongruity is the purportedly ‘low’ conviction rate for cases that do make it to court. However, 2020 conviction rates of 39% for sexual violation and 50% for attempted sexual violation are not meagre when viewed against rates for some other violent crimes such as abductions and kidnapping (35%), aggravated robbery (41%), attempted murder (29%) and at the top, murder (56%). In no other crime is undermining defendants’ trial rights proposed to increase conviction rates.
I have insufficient expertise to support the legislation the Professor opposes. Nor am I doing so above.
But when she compares sex crime conviction failure to be comparable to a more general crime conviction failure, and then extrapolates that as a reason to not, essentially, worry, well ….. then I worry.
It's not PC I'm sure, but Police bring people to a court before a judge because they've done the crime.
Twenty or so years ago we had a tv show made here featuring spin doctors. Seemed quite good at the time. Public relations is the old label. Now we have the American beltway thing happening so we're getting a focus on lobbyists:
Good to see Labour & the Greens getting hip to the scene (just kidding) & the revolving door thing revving up. Soon it'll be just like the USA with the same folk switching jobs between industry & regulator constantly.
Stalin is the best model: leading revolutionary & state secret service agent simultaneously. In the middle, you get to play both sides against each other. Shapeshifter technique.
It has been made with the Ardern version for a little while as I have seen it used by RW people. They think it is so smart but I just think that they lack discernment – most of those NZers looking at the hat and logo think of Trump.
The NZ ones may be out of touch and think little of aligning themselves with Trump who many NZers think is a moron. They clearly have forgotten the pounding that Todd Muller got when his Maga hat was on display. He had to say that he collected this kind of memorabilia to get any kind of sympathy for him about having a Maga hat. It just shows how out of touch this rag tag mob was/is. Then the Trump flags ………, the upside down United Tribes flag etc etc.
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
🍾 Happy Birthday, Patricia 🎂
You strike me as a person who looks life’s challenges straight in the eye & lives life to the best & fullest extent possible.
80 years is a significant milestone for anyone & you thoroughly deserve to have got there. May you have many more birthdays & adventures to come.
You’ll no doubt be the star at your party & nosh up today. Wish I could be there to celebrate it with you.
If you post today what time lunch with all the trimmings is expected to be served up, I’ll raise a glass of kahlua & milk & drink a toast to your good health at Gezza’s Bird Café here at Pookden Manor.
Hope you enjoy the gif I chose for your birthday.
https://imgur.com/01MdCKf.gif
All the best
🐧 Sir Gerald Ormsby Battersea Bradders, RSVP, PC 🐧
North Wellington Avian Aviation Authority
Gosh, Labour sure does know how to party! Who knew? If all their conferences were that good recruiting would be a breeze, eh?
might recruit Gezza
Bless, The whole thing kicks off at lunch time. About 12.30. We always begin with a glass raised to absent family and friends, then it is food and music and drinks. We don't dance anymore but we used to do that as well . A good auld c'eilidh. Cheers Gezza You added to my day.
Hey Patricia, congratulations and best wishes. Have a wonderful 80th year.
Patricia,your a good sole and for many more.
Thank you very much.
Thank you I have had a great day, but a bit tired lol
Love the video Gezza and your kind birthday greetings to Patricia. The vid should be used by Labour to kick off its 2023 election campaign … hee hee
Newsroom writer explains
.
😮 😂
At least with Bezos, if they have any promotions, some of us might end up with a cool brief trip into space ….
lol. At some point NZ will have to decide what to do with the people it is currently ridiculing. We might get lucky and they merge back into society. Or we might find they're a monster class by the time of the next election.
Anyone wanting a fuller picture of what's happening on the Belarus /Poland border would do well to read this article.
https://nims360.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-interpreter-belarus-border-crisis.html
Remember when Hungary was censured for building fences to keep migrants and refugees out ?(to my mind they're all refugees, from climate crisis and war)
Now Uk soldiers are being sent to Poland's border .Not to help with processing asylum requests, or provide humanitarian help, but to help"strengthen the border" aka reinforcing fences
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/12/british-troops-sent-to-poland-to-assist-with-belarus-border-situation
Europe pulling the ladder up.
Ironic isn't it
It is by no means the first time Putin's Russia has deployed migrants to destabilize peaceable European neighbours – though Boris's motives may well be as self-serving as a desperate shortage of truck drivers.
Even France, by no means the US's best buddy at present, finds the cynicism of Russia intrigue deplorable.
37 year old niece, who wouldn't get the vaccine because she didn't know what was in it. Diagnosed with covid, and isolating at home had to go into North Shore Hospital after developing breathing problems.
The good news; feels much better after being put on a drip.
No one who needs an IV, ever refuses it because they don't know what is in it.
True.
I got put on one recently, after 6 failed attempts by nurses to get a working cannula into a vein, before a young surgeon finally succeeded & they could pump in the opioid I needed for excruciating abdominal pain. They sent me down to radiology forcan abdominal X-ray & put me on Nil By Mouth until the docs had seen the radiologist’s report.
I needed IV fluids for 12 hours. I didn’t ask what was in it.
Jenny, it is a hard way to learn. Hope she fully recovers.
Thank you Patricia.
She is feeling much better. You have to give it to our health workers, they really are angels.
people are intuitive and emotional as well as rational beings.
👍🏼
More or less, most of us.
Aye – but are also usually self-aware enough to know which is which, and not let them intrude into each others' spaces.
A woman walks up to an elevator door, there's a man inside wearing a suit and looking normal. Her intuition says don't get in the elevator, her rational mind says it's the middle of the day, in a busy building, he looks fine, nothing is going to happen. What should she do?
If there had been a huge background check onto him and highly trusted experts said he was all good , she should ride the elevator.
what if it's that he has covid?
Oooos have misunderstood your comment. Thought you were using an analogy to explain her intuition.
Its a bugger having a weird brain
I was trying to point out that sometimes intuition is the best source of data and out ranks rationality.
Intuition won't tell you rationally why not to get into the elevator. So background checks on the dude are beside the point.
Follow her instinct,I think that's your point
We've learnt self preservation that way
👍🏼
I think that’s the right answer. There’s sometimes a debate about whether women are more intuitive than man. I think they are, when it comes to reading people or situations – for that very reason. They need to protect themselves from physically stronger, predatory men, & so many have highly developed instincts to that end.
On average women are more physically vulnerable than men in any number of ways. But this doesn't necessarily make them victims.
The other side of this equation is that men do most of the protecting and sacrificing for the women. This was a lot more obvious in the pre-industrial world because life then was so much more dangerous.
Looked at this way men evolved via sexual selection to be the somewhat more dangerous sex in order to be useful to women. There is however an inherent risk in having potentially hazardous things lying about the house 🙂
Last line – that’s about how my Friday caregiver described the fathers of her two adult children, except she used the term lazy bastards who saw me coming & noticed I had DOORMAT written all over me. She was a real character. Much prefers looking after herself & living without a man. She was visiting Israel in 1973 when the Arabs attacked.
yes, and that sometimes intuition is more useful than rationality.
I think the question should be:
"Why do women find themselves in this situation"
See my reply above.
Because some men are dangerous sexual predators. The thing is you can’t always tell who these bastards are, & and unfortunately neither can those of us men who love & honour women as God’s greatest ever invention, & would would happily castrate these animals if we could.
I have a male friend who on a lonely dark street ,will cross the road rather than alarm a woman coming towards him , to signal he has no ill intent.
That’s a good idea. Sounds like a really nice guy.
Because men in suits generally don't use the stairs, even if they can find them.
Ha! Agree with the 'generally', but my partner does use the stairs – that's because he's a fitness freak – however, because he runs them noisily, in his suit, it's pretty clear he's no threat to anyone. He'd be appalled if he thought he was, and change his behaviour.
But you touch on a point about intuition. My thoughts are that intuition is not something outside of rationality. It's a sum of things you've learned through experience and stories and the weight you put on the contradictions in the things you've learned.
The difference with rationality is that its generally thought of as a weighing up of the odds in any given situation and choosing to do the action that is most likely to be safe (take the stairs – 99.99% of the time you're safe). Intuition (i.e. the weighing up of experience and stories) may lead to the opposite decision (avoid the stairs). Intuition in these cases is also self-reinforcing (you stayed safe by avoiding the man, therefore it was the right thing to do).
many different answers for many different reasons. (1) it is lunchtime ,so she should take the time and exercise by walking up the stairs. (2) who wants to share a small enclosed space with a normal suit wearer?so, she should let the elevator go, and wait for some interesting company.(3) its her ex-husband, and her intuition is that he;s going to try and borrow money. etc etc
Will she get vaccinated now?
Although a cynic would dismiss this as mere leftist consciousness-raising, I get the sense that it does at least launch a geopolitical work in progress:
Are lawyers allowed to lie in court?
This case may come down to whether or not this conspiracy theorist lawyer used misinformation and proven lies in the courtroom.
Are lawyers allowed to lie in court?
I suspect the relevant framing is creative interpretation. That's extremely traditional, of course! Hard-wired as part of the privilege system. The basic idea has always been that justice arrives as an incidental product of the competitive storytelling.
There is an artifice around the notion of fact, and precedence tends to be given to authoritative sources such as scientists & media (I'm not kidding) to establish fact.
I am guessing then, that the Law Society's deliberations may come down to a matter of integrity.
If it can be shown that she guarded her words in court knowing that they could be shown to be proven falsehoods by authoritative sources such as scientists & media. But then spread these falsehoods in public statements outside of court.
It could be evidence of a certain mens rea.
In her defence Sue Grey says that she was speaking as a politician not a lawyer.
Newshub has contacted Grey for a response. In a letter to the Law Society in her own defence, Stuff reports she made the ‘genocide’ comment “in my personal capacity as a political leader”, not a lawyer.
Are politicians allowed to lie.
Assuredly.
This must rank as one of the greatest defence arguments put up by a lawyer-cum-politician, ever.
‘I am a politician I am allowed to lie’.
Whether this defence will wash with the Law Society might be another matter.
I suspect it will, just from the sheer gall of it.
the Law Society
More arcane priesthood than cabal. Extremely important to protect the common interests of members (the principle of territoriality being the antique basis of that). Therefore rulings are normally protectionist.
So it will depend whether they see her as a wolf in sheep's clothing or not. Fear derives from audacious setting of precedents: such adventurism will be sure to come back and bite them in the future. Rationalists will adopt the stance ‘hey, she's one of us, the political clothing is irrelevant'. Protectionists will adopt the stance ‘yeah but the cowboy thing is a bad look, we must always wear suits, sorry – I meant cowgirl'.
Then there’s her `chinese walls in the mind’ rationale to consider. Dunno if there’s legal precedent around that.
she isn't a politician as far as I know. I wanna be but failed politician yes. Unless she is on a local body somewhere and then I guess a local body politician yes.
It coming to a matter of integrity might take things to a realm outside Sue Grey.
I mean my reading in the news today suggests she doesn't have any.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/126822668/by-positioning-herself-as-a-truth-seeker-lawyer-sue-grey-is-fuelling-covid19-disinformation
I do think that Sue Grey is a lawyer and person of high integrity and maybe we are lucky to have some one like her willing take on the contentious – especially the opposite views to that the government departments want to promulgate.
I have no doubt that there will be those out there wanting to cut her down at any opportunity because of her past achievements.
https://www.kiwisfirst.com/players-woolgate-supreme-court-scandal/
Sue Grey (Saxmere’s counsel
As with anyone who attempts to expose judicial corruption, furtive attempts by the judiciary have been made to discredit her. These have been only minimally effective due to her exemplary legal background, as well as her political savvy in keeping the focus on the negative commercial and economic effect such judicial corruption is having on her major wool producing client.
Dr David Collins QC (Solicitor General)
When allegations of Wilson J’s misconduct originally surfaced, Collins endeared himself to the judiciary by moving quickly to quash it. He orchestrated the firing of whistle-blower Sue Grey from her job at Department of Conservation, filed extensive legal submissions in support of Judge Wilson’s conduct and personally appeared in Court to show his support for Wilson in what was a civil case between two private parties.
My own granddaughter does not want to proceed on with her second vaccination because of what is online about young people and myocarditis in this links such as this.
https://www.myocarditisfoundation.org/myocarditis-and-pericarditis-following-mrna-covid-19-vaccination/?gclid=-qTfuE0nsRjf73XF_weLfLFb_ZOJtRnzJymn7BrqlajeGrYRoCeIcQAvD_BwE
does she just peddle misinformation on her Facebook and other platforms Janet?
If the story reported about her speculating a death from the pfizer vaccine before the person was vaccinated is correct. must be a pretty strong vaccine to do that.
Trump suggested Pence could be well hung?
Typical leftist fake news. Trump didn't say anything to indicate he agreed that Pence ought to be hung. The biased reporter uses the `sin by omission' theory to frame Trump as supporting the rabble's call. Trump was clearly supporting the rabble, and just as clearly refraining from comment. Bullshit from Huffpost dude.
Good on you for calling out fake news & BS.
Wasn’t just the Trumpanzees pushing those sorts of “alternative facts”. The liberals / Dems were into it just as badly – twisting & bending events & statements to back up prejudices & false assertions.
Maybe you've been following the ignominious unravelling of the so-called "Steele Dossier". Four years of US liberal media calling Trump out as a Russian asset – based on complete bullshit.
It's reasons like this that if another election were held tomorrow, Trump would stand a decent shot at winning. That's pretty damned depressing really.
I consider that whole saga as finalising the decline of journalism, and the public trust in journalism to an unprecedented degree, even including the Iraq war lead up.
Trump winning the election prompted such outrage than any hack could utter any unverifiable crap as gospel , and as long as it was anti Trump it was endorsed and cheered and could build a career
The media wasn’t attacked, it was an inside job
It would go a long way if some media figures had the guts to say – "I was wrong – we fucked that up and we have to do some work to earn back your trust".
You’re absolutely right, Red.
“Maybe you’ve been following the ignominious unravelling of the so-called “Steele Dossier”. Four years of US liberal media calling Trump out as a Russian asset – based on complete bullshit.”
……………………….
Yep. I loathe Trump – despicable, narcissistic, bullying lying individual in my eyes – so I didn’t want to know initially, but as it unravelled it was obvious it was both a completely fallacious AND an utterly farcical allegation.
“It’s reasons like this that if another election were held tomorrow, Trump would stand a decent shot at winning. That’s pretty damned depressing really.”
………………………….
The Dems have the same problem with Joe Biden as they did with Hillary Clinton. Both of them compromised candidates. Joe’s obviously well past his prime – when his prime was pretty patchy, to say the least.
Hard to see how Biden’s ongoing muddlesome gaffes & obvious frailty will stand up to a full-on Trump challenge. Harris, an unknown quantity. Cos Joe may be past his best, such as it ever was, but he’s a grumpy old stickler for getting top billing & doing all the (heavily scripted) talking.
The liberal media are likely going to have their work cut out for them trying present Joe as on top of things when he blunders.
Trump’s just as bad for blithering nonsense word salads, as well as spouting out dog whistling rhetoric, but audiences lap that up & don’t expect anything else from that charlatan.
.
It's a pathetic descent into echo-chamber Tribalism … the Clintonistas as bad as (and far more dominant within the US Establishment than) the Trumpards. Each side deploying their own crude conspiracy theories.
I wonder if we don't have an opportunity here at TS to set our own direction against this trend.
Not easy – but it would be the direction to go in I think.
Of course Trump didn't say he agreed that Pence ought to be hung.
Do you reckon Trump hoped that Pence would be hung or something otherwise dire happen to him?
You bet! Trump would have exhibited sanctimony! "Unfortunately my folks got carried away by their enthusiasm. It was god's will that Pence became a martyr for the cause. His heart was in the right place even if his head wasn't."
Pence isn't a strong contender for the nomination next time but it's in Trump's interest to minimise any competitor. He's sending a carefully-nuanced signal to the right: disloyalty to the chief will be punished one way or another…
For those who have not followed this here is a snippet of the interview:
Trump doesn't exactly condemn the insurrectionists does he. In fact he says to hang Pence is common sense!
Technical point to you on that. Trump is forever doing a reframe of the narrative. Rabble chanting is so totally irrelevant to him that the interviewers point gets over-ridden and ignored automatically. He's always telling someone what to think! His irritation that the interviewer is waving a red herring at him gets displaced by the essentiality of having to impose his narrative.
He genuinely doesn't get the concern the interviewer is trying to project. Who cares what the rabble chant? Not him! His gobbledygook trying to explain common sense results from his internal imperative. Narcissism compels that.
Trump didn't condemn the crowd, he didn't back Pence. It's all about Trump really, the mob was doing what Trump wanted, Pence declined to do what Trump wanted. Pretty clear from Trump that it is all about himself, and his delusions and his blow arse self aggrandisement. A 'wasn't very much' wannabe who cannot accept reality of "trump, you're fired".
trump supporters are like anti-vaxxers…
dont have time for either…
both types are the most dangerous people on the planet atm imo
Actually no. I've worked with about a dozen in both Canada and Latin America. They were generally easy to get to know and good people to work with.
When the topic drifted onto politics – they'd usually concede or openly state that Trump was a flawed, troublesome personality. Or as one guy put it sorrowfully, "how the fuck did the US come down to a choice between these two shitheads?"
We've been over this political ground many times, but for me it comes down to a question of just how accountable are we going to be? Because if the left cannot manage an utter landslide win over someone so blatantly unsuitable as Trump – then exactly what claim to political competence do we have?
tbf, the US doesn't really have a political left.
Worth reading for the historical back-story too! Notice that the author definition sorts out pseudo-leftists in Aotearoa rather effectively as well.
Good article. Very clear.
Bernie Sanders? Most seem to consider him poltically left?
He still had to run for the Dems though, who aren't left.
He didn't have to run for the Democrats nomination under any rule. He could have done what Ross Perot did in 1992 and run for a third party. The problem he would have had was two-fold. He didn't have any source of a great deal of money and he didn't have an organisation to carry out the basic tasks like getting on the ballot in all the States. They are all different and the rules are really all there to make it nearly impossible for a third party to get started. For example, when Perot ran –
"In New York, ballot access appeared to be the most difficult to attain. In a five-week summer period, the campaign would be required to compile 20,000 signatures from non-primary voters, including 100 from each of half of the state's Congressional districts"
Perot managed it but it helped that he was a billionaire and was willing to spend enormous amounts of his own money on the campaign. That was when a billion dollars was worth something.
Sanders on the other hand simply didn't have any money or organisation to do such a thing. That meant he became a Democrat as long as he was in the campaign, simply because they had an organisation to do the donkey work, before going back to being an Independent when he dropped out of the campaign which is what he remains, as far as I know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot_1992_presidential_campaign
Sociologist Stephanie Mudge explored the terrain three years ago.
She gets your point…
She goes into why the left defaults to experts, then the future…
I've found it helpful to move toward a tri-polar political model.
Instead of the bipolar left-right model that's served as the default model for two hundred years, I'm suggesting it's more interesting to use three poles – conservative, liberal and socialist. Like all social models it's not meant to be perfect but I'm using it more and more these days.
I'd have a few quibbles with the details. Haidt is worth reading but that moral framework never struck me as compelling. Metaphysics always strikes me as a surer basis (principles, archetypes, models, assumptions & hypotheses). Although your scheme seems similar to the third way, it would be interesting to know if you see it as different, and how.
I mean, from a metaphysical perspective, triangulation is the common basis. So both have the merit of transcending the binary. I always saw the third way as fake – liberal capitalism and conservative capitalism are the same system. Blair's framing (from Giddens wasn't it?) was basically a pr sham to unhook Labour from socialism.
I think this piece by Bryce Edwards is surprisingly good, and has some relevance to the toxic muddles we get into here on TS
https://democracyproject.nz/2021/05/23/bryce-edwards-the-state-of-the-political-left-in-the-age-of-outrage/
an excerpt
“The rise of “culture wars” has been incredibly important for the political atmosphere that we are now in. Quite simply it doesn’t lend itself to debate and discussion, or finding middle ground. Instead, it’s more polarising – it lends itself to the labelling of opponents as racists, sexists, or in the case of Hilary Clinton, talking about the masses as “deplorables”. So, there’s a strong strain of sneering from many on the left – especially against those that are seen as socially backward. The old slogan of: “The personal is political” now underpins the focus on how to fix the problems of the world.
good quote. I've been thinking lately that some of the language used to talk about the freedom protestors reminds me of Clinton's use of deplorables. Like we didn't learn anything from the time of Trump. Blows my mind.
i find this funny and interesting at the same time.
later
lol, it must be hard to understand how someone who fought for the working class – proletariat and precariat' is now demanding no debate on issues that affect predominantly the proletariat and the precariat.
The turning point for me was Jonathan Haidt's ideas on Moral Foundations theory. All humans share a common suite of core moral drivers, but we place different weights on them. And this does seem to be closely linked to innate personality differences:
All too often we make the debate all about these moral weightings – which are fundamentally unresolvable at that level. If instead we accept that the people we perceive as our opponents are simply coming at an issue with a different set of priorities and interests – we're more likely to engage in a constructive negotiation.
And that's how all the great politicians got the results they’re remembered for, they understood their opponents and could make deals with them.
“All too often we make the debate all about these moral weightings – which are fundamentally unresolvable at that level. If instead we accept that the people we perceive as our opponents are simply coming at an issue with a different set of priorities and interests – we’re more likely to engage in a constructive negotiation.”
…………………………
That tends to be how I’ve always looked at issues. At various times in my life it’s seemed like a character flaw, because others with stronger egos & opinions made judgements & decisions (often, needed decisions) faster & with more conviction & certainty than I was comfortable with.
Then I began to notice how many of those decisions subsequently (sometimes a year or two later) turned to be bad ones, with negative blowback effects, from things that were bothering me as risks at the time I felt like a slow-minded fool for wanting more information or discussion.
I like people. I appear to be highly empathetic, at least at times. I seem to have the happy knack of easily getting people to talk to me and explain their viewpoint. Thereafter I find I can sometimes see the issue thru their eyes, from their perspective, as well as my own. I decided in the end that this isn’t a flaw, it’s an inbuilt talent, & I now employ it usefully whenever I can.
I can across this regarding people holding opposing political view but treated each other with respect (that IMO all are due) John Wayne and Mark Rydell.
"“He really wanted to do The Cowboys,” Rydell said. “He treated me with the most respect. I was like this (cringing) waiting for him to say something anti semitic or anti-Indian or anti-anything. I was ready to jump. But he taught me a lesson.
“I know a lot of people with whom I agree politically and otherwise who are jerks,” Rydell said. “And then you take someone like him who I disagreed with in almost every area, except art. And he was a terrific person. The first guy on the set, the last person to leave. The picture was full of kids. They climbed up on him like the monkey bars on a playground. He was available to everybody. We went out to dinner he would sign autographs for everybody. He never was unfair or unpleasant. It was a big lesson to me not to pre-judge.”
youtube 4:15 Mark Rydell director of The Cowboys,The Rose, On Golden Pond etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFcw2ejwQGo
https://outsider.com/news/entertainment/john-wayne-wasnt-the-cowboys-directors-first-choice-star-classic/
From a social science perspective, the question is if the theory can be validated via research. First, the stats basis would have to be robust in his home nation, then it would have to be replicated in the other western countries.
Since Liberalism morphed historically into separate beasts in the various countries that it invaded (as a meme) from Britain, I would expect the stats to render his thesis context-dependent only. Here, for example, liberalism has manifested only as a strand within the Alliance in the '90s plus economic ideology shared by Nat/Lab since the '80s, since our original Liberal Party died a century ago.
I was Given his "The Righteous Mind"
I wish I had been given Cliffs notes along with it.It was complex stuff and requires full commitment.I'll have another go at it
@ Red….Have a read of Michael Tomasky (Left for Dead) it's twenty odd years on but I think a quick read.
Hilary Clinton has been demonstrably accurate for the United States.
Edwards' piece doesn't reflect anything about politics to me.
Just realised that there is something good about wearing a mask. Tromp around the supermarket, leave to go to the bike stand and then off with the mask. "Wow!." that first breath of fresh air is so great.
Exactly ianmac, and the opportunity to put your glasses back on!
You have no idea how lovely that bit of fresh air is once you take the mask of after several hours of wearing them at work.
Appreciate yours & other retailers efforts Sabine, thank you.
I am amazed by how good people are actually to be honest. I have a strikt no one enters the premise policy, plague door is mounted and all interaction is customer on one side and me on the other and everyone is very very understanding.
It allows me to trade without having to police people on vaccination status or mask wearing. And People are wearing their masks at about 95% rate. And if someone comes without one, i have spares to hand out and they are generally well accepted.
there are more of us doing the right things than not. That is always something we should keep in mind.
I agree, from what I have seen, with mask wearing. But jeez, wearing them indoors all day, thank you (I work on my own out doors mostly, so can slip it on & off).
i have been told by someone whom i trust on these issues tht mask wearing considerably reduces the risk of transmitting covid, as we keep our droplets to our self. And thus i am a great promoter of masks. Specifically indoors. I do tend to have one with me when out and about and will wear it when people are around. I feel naked now without one. Humans get used to this stuff fairly quickly i reckon.
Some useful information about another vaccine, Pandemrix. The following is from Peter Doshi, the associate editor of the BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal):
In October 2009, the US National Institutes of Health infectious diseases chief, Anthony Fauci, appeared on YouTube to reassure Americans about the safety of the “swine flu” vaccine. “The track record for serious adverse events is very good. It’s very, very, very rare that you ever see anything that’s associated with the vaccine that’s a serious event,” he said.
Four months earlier, the World Health Organization had declared H1N1 influenza a pandemic, and by October 2009 the new vaccines were being rolled out across the world. A similar story was playing out in the UK, with prominent organisations, including the Department of Health, British Medical Association, and Royal Colleges of General Practitioners, working hard to convince a reluctant NHS workforce to get vaccinated. “We fully support the swine flu vaccination programme … The vaccine has been thoroughly tested,” they declared in a joint statement.
Except, it hadn’t.
…
The BMJ conducted its own analysis of the adverse events, most of which seem to have been reported spontaneously to GSK. For a range of concerning adverse events, reports were coming in for Pandemrix at a consistently higher rate than for the other two GSK pandemic vaccines–four times the rate of facial palsy, eight times the rate of serious adverse events, nine times the rate of convulsions. Overall, Pandemrix had, proportionally, five times more adverse events reported than Arepanrix and the unadjuvanted vaccine.
But those being vaccinated against swine flu were seemingly unaware of these side-effects, including narcolepsy. The vaccine manufacturer was aware of this side-effect but failed to inform health consumers. One can imagine why they might have been reluctant to provide such information.
https://archive.hshsl.umaryland.edu/bitstream/handle/10713/8270/Doshi_Pandermrix2018.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/narcolepsy-case-raises-important-questions-about-vaccine-approval-1.4088792
https://www.mcgarrsolicitors.ie/2012/06/05/pandemrix/
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/high-court/swine-flu-cases-settlements-totalling-over-4-5m-approved-by-high-court-1.4634179
Ian Mac, feel for the Covid nurses and doctors, my wife found while training and wearing N95 masks, they are brilliant at protection but it doesn’t take long before one is just recycling ones own CO2 even if it just a little bit every breath, a hard job made harder.
Mask use for year 4 up next week in schools at level 3 step 2 lockdown I have been giving this some thought.
I can manage a mask better when seated than when walking.
I am sewing material masks again today for family, 100% cotton needs to be used.
@ Treetop.
I have three cotton masks. They have an under cotton lining, open at both ends, so that the wearer can insert an extra layer for better protection. I haven't felt the need so far, but with rapidly rising cases I am wondering if it would be a good idea.
Can you recommend something I could slide in between the outer mask and the lining? It would have to be something a bit stiffer then normal.
Coffee and tea filters are used as inserts for masks. They can be organic and made of cotton. Probably non reusable as they collect moisture.
Paper towels can be used as well.
There is a lot online.
I’m pretty sceptical of most reports of vaccine reactions, a 30 year old working with me after having her vaccination had just about every reaction you could think of from sunburn, “ Ohh that’s worse than I’ve had before” to tripping on something. “ I don’t usually do that “ ad infinitum …. turns out her mother had been diagnosed with hypochondria, and that’s the thing about hypochondriacs .. you can’t tell them they are sick because that’s exactly what they want to hear.
New Covid case in Taupo.
Was to be expected as they found hte samples in the waste water.
mask, physical distance, sanitze, jab and hopefully it works.
Wairarapa is my pick for the next region.
See super spreader events on again
It's interesting to observe people getting upset about Covid spreading and their attitude towards those who are determined to not follow strictures or suggestions designed to protect.
Then saying that all border controls should go. And people should be trusted because they'll make the right decisions.
Interesting huh!! Deranged more like it!!
A person needs to think for their self and guide those dependent on them when it comes to their health.
There are going to be less health services available for those who already rely on the health system and who will need to enter it. This means longer waiting times and people becoming sicker.
But my Freedoms!
Thankfully people still have the freedom to think for their self.
450 wide?
couldn't edit for some reason as there was no edit button. Had to leave it.
Flag-waving images of protester really disturb me. I've been thinking that the meanings of those flags (United Tribes and Tino Rangatiratanga)
If, as a Pākehā, what is the first thing that would come to mind if I changed my cover photo on Facebook or Twitter to the Tino Rangatiratanga flag?
If 2., how do we remind people of the meaning of this symbol of Māori aspiration? How do we remove the re-purposing of the flag as a symbol of disinformation and violence?
“2., how do we remind people of the meaning of this symbol of Māori aspiration? How do we remove the re-purposing of the flag as a symbol of disinformation and violence?”
………………………….
The Tino Rangatiratanga flag turns up at all sorts of rallies and protests against the gummint, councils, private contractors, or Pākehā. It never gets a long term asociation with those because the fact that some Māori people purloin the flag & wave it around at demos as a means of personally expressing just their Māoriness is understood by most people, imo.
It won’t suffer a change of symbolism as result of being raised during the awfully muddled vaccination protests, imo.
It’s a shame this flag is forever associated with a coterie of perennial Pākehā-bashing Māori separatists. It’s iconic – the coolest design. If had a more inclusive cause & meaning I’d vote for it in a heartbeat to be Kiwiland’s new national flag.
I hope you're right about the lack of association with this set of protests. I live in hope.
I wouldn't comment on how Maori use their flag, I'm only commenting on the misappropriation by Pakeha in this set of protests.
Looks like today’s protesters achieve something Wellington Council and Wellington Police failed* to do for decades… the majority of cars driving within the speed limit.
___
* Although you can only fail if you try.
This looks interesting, despite Auckland being a foreign land to me.
https://twitter.com/BWB_NZ/status/1458996728422563848
If you want that history raw rather than re-cooked, just go to the Waitangi Tribunal hearing publications on the Ngati Paoa, Ngati Whaua Orakei, Te Kawerau a Maki, and Manukau Tainui. Not a barrel o' laffs necessarily but rich and detailed.
Also the one on the Musket Wars which is just utu manifold.
Also Belich's early Auckland accounts from Marsden etc up the Tamaki River in Making Peoples Vol 1. That spans the worlds old and new.
I need the story telling. Raw history is just too hard at this point.
That does sound interesting
Then again it might be just too damned depressing
I'm hoping that the way she connects land and people will lift it. But yeah, we'll see.
Gridlock protest held up an ambulance. Scum.
https://mobile.twitter.com/drivethrupod/status/1459319708784623616
User name
Sorry. It seems to be an auto-fill problem on another device that I keep forgetting about..
yeah, seems to affect quite a few people.
Unsurprising. He does it every day on his podcast.
https://www.sportbible.com/australia/mma-joe-rogan-reveals-he-can-perform-auto-fellatio-20211112
It's interesting. Typing away online, there's a separation when discussing irritating things. not perfect, but significant.
But talking to someone last night, the topic of covid came up, and I actually surprised myself with how just plain angry I got thinking about how constant white-anting defeatism from the very beginning has put us where we are now.
People are dying now because when people weren't dying, capitalists and the alliance of nutters demanded bubbles and relaxed restrictions and overseas holidays etc etc etc. Fuck 'em all. They managed to trip us up on the final lap.
So now the government is fighting a holding action against progressive expansion of covid in the hope the health system doesn't get overwhelmed. It's just such a pointless waste. We fucking had this thing. Another few months would have drastically changed the game, and much fewer people wouldn't be wondering whether they should go to the hospital because they were coughing up blood.
Gah. Fuck everything.
Same. I have to step away from thinking about it a lot.
Are you think the break was with the border control and delta getting in? Or when Labour gave up on elimination?
it still blows my mind. I can generally understand most political positions even the ones I outright hate. But this one I really don't get, that we should just have let a whole lot of people die. Do they not realise it might be them or their loved ones?
Death by a thousand nags, rather than any specific point.
Got lucky a couple of times, lucked out once or twice. But the constant rust eroding every single effort… just corrosive. Even if the govt had stood firm, enforcement would have had to get more drastic and still be less successful.
I think the ones who should know better, but were consultants for an international airport or wanted their nightclubs open 24/7 (or whatever) generally felt they could minimise their personal exposure. Who cares if your bar staff get it, you're isolating on a lifestyle block and working remotely. Isolation from society helps the tamakis. The rest? Just sad.
Seems obvious that Delta got spread by those who crossed borders. Rule-breakers got helped by bureaucrats using privacy law to prevent the public punishing them. Haven't seen much evidence of the system punishing them either, so I got the impression nobody was serious about the rules.
How many other folk got the same impression? If you enforce rules, people take them more seriously. Instead, we got an official sham. Understandably, Labour's poll rating dropped significantly compared to last year's effort.
Delta is endemic globally. Unless you were going to absolutely isolate NZ – and I mean no-one ever entered the border indefinitely into the future – then it was always going to arrive. It was just a matter of time.
There were only ever two justifications for lockdowns and isolation. Initially we needed to apply the precautionary principle in the face of a novel and unknown virus. The second was to buy time in order to prepare as best we could for COVID's inevitable arrival.
As far as the first precautionary principle is concerned that has pretty much expired. (And we might note the irony of the 'vax or die' crowd de-humanising those who would apply the same principle when faced with a novel vaccine with unknowable long term safety.)
As for preparing for the inevitable arrival of Delta, it seems to me that if public health really had been our top priority there was quite a deal more than could have been done.
This is not encouraging.
https://twitter.com/dgurdasani1/status/1459245078543802376
Not it isn't. That last sentence nails it for me.
Any strategy that relied on 90% or more of people complying with it, especially when it came to a novel vaccine technology, was always going to be high stakes politically.
But that isn't what either New Zealand or Australia have done.
True – but it's come at a cost. The anti-protests in NSW and VIC have been both a lot more politically intense and damaging than anything NZ has experienced.
Last I looked Melbourne was closing in on 280 days of lockdown in the past 12 months – one of the highest in the world.
Would people have taken the rules more seriously without a year of defeatists?
Recognising inevitability is one thing, embracing it is another. Half a dozen people (give or take) are dead because we couldn't hold it together. And that number's only going to increase.
But some people wanted xmas holidays, boo hoo.
and they will get them again this year.
The best and smartest thing anyone can do is staying at home for the holidays.
but not holding my breath.
seems like someone within National is cranking up the ABC (anyone but collins) campaign again, stories in the NZHerald about planning a coup. A few % points increase and the Govt having a roughish time with some covid stuff and soneone within National starts sharpening the knife
Lock down in Auckland for 12 weeks-and its raining !!
If you have a spare 2 hours I recommend The Big Short. Great to view what was happening 2007-8 and a great cast, with a movie that makes you think.
Yeah I saw that way back then after I read the book by Michael Lewis. He's brilliant every time! Starting with Liar's Poker late '80s. I own around 8/9 books analysing the gfc & have read 3/4 more & it's remarkable how they all reveal new angles.
The best is this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Trade_Ever
Although Paulson (a different one than the Paulson in Bush Jr's cabinet who had to mastermind the rescue of the system & his book is also essential) is the main focus, the book includes cameos of several other guys who bet against both the establishment & the market herd & won hugely.
Another fabulous movie on the same theme is Margin Call.
Tight direction, strong cast, great story-telling and in the end very moving. One of my all-time favourites.
Thanks guy will watch that tomorrow, Just finishing tonight the last from series 3 of Fauda tonight. I know that series and movies have their framing – But taken back by the subject matter, and it has expanded for me the area and issues. I would say in lockdown you get to watch some gems that otherwise you wouldn't watch. I see Margin Call is on youtube.
Just finishing Alexandria by Edmond Richardson – So Dennis will be looking for something different to read so will follow your recommendation.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018801419/edmund-richardson-finding-the-lost-city-of-alexandria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauda
.
Cheers, RL, just watched it for the first time this morning on your recommendation … I see one critic called it "easily the best Wall Street movie ever made" & I can see why … hard to believe it's Chandor’s debut as a director.
I think I must have watched it four or five times now. Apart from some of the standout scenes with Jeremy Irons – that boardroom meeting is a masterpiece of scripting, direction and acting – what deeply appeals to me is that it opens up the world of big finance, lays bare it's ugliness and the very human costs -without ever once veering into preachiness or smugness.
The dying dog that bookends the movie is of course a brilliant metaphor.
If anybody is still under the illusion that the guy who harangued the PM in Northland was a "journalist" and she was "avoiding the media", this is from the backgrounder in today's herald:
https://twitter.com/MattNippert/status/1459271101947826178
For a journalist Shane Chafin has interesting ways of dealing with other journalists.
From David Fisher in interviewing Chafin:
"Do you also know I have had Muslim friends for 20 years? And they are willing to go on record." Chafin would not connect the Herald with anyone. "I'm a reporter. I can go on my channel and talk about that content any time I want to." Chafin said he had been a reporter for two months and "I'm the one making news around the world". "I made viral news around the world. When's the last time you did that?”
Chafin floated various claims about Covid-19, which – when challenged – led to him asking: "Are you f***ing stupid? Are you mentally ill? Maybe your meds aren't right. I'm a professional – maybe I could help your psychiatrist.”
The man who wraps his phone and computer in tin foil and puts them in a freezer asks someone else if they are mentally ill? And suggests that they have a psychiatrist?
He came from America because he didn't like the way things were going there. (Under Obama.) I can see he doesn't like the way things are going here. We certainly don't need him here and Northland with its low vaccination rates sure doesn't need him. He should bugger off.
Piece of structural sadness for the day:
Of 100 adult sexual victimisations,
Less than 10 of those are reported to the Police.
Of that less-than-ten number, 31% get to Court,
and of that 31% of the less-than-ten who get the perp into Court,
"11 per cent resulted in a conviction and
6 per cent had a prison sentence imposed."
(according to the 2014 New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey).
Survivor of child sexual abuse finally gets justice by secretly recording abuser's confession – NZ Herald
The other side of the same coin:
It is claimed that the present ‘shockingly low’ conviction rate [in sexual cases] makes this bill necessary, but what is the evidence for this? The 2019 Justice Ministry ‘Attrition and Progression Report’ appears to be a main source.
This report says that only 11% of “perpetrators” who are reported to the Police by “victims” are convicted, but is based on the erroneous assumption that all allegations are valid. Figures for these “victimisations” include all cases in which the police were unable to act (for example no perpetrator was identified or insufficient evidence to prosecute), but absurdly also those which the police deemed actually “not to be a crime” and those where the accuser recanted. Even verdicts of not guilty are included, where juries had actually found police allegations to be unsubstantiated. The report therefore flies in the face of the presumption of innocence (a basic tenet of justice), not to mention good science.
Another incongruity is the purportedly ‘low’ conviction rate for cases that do make it to court. However, 2020 conviction rates of 39% for sexual violation and 50% for attempted sexual violation are not meagre when viewed against rates for some other violent crimes such as abductions and kidnapping (35%), aggravated robbery (41%), attempted murder (29%) and at the top, murder (56%). In no other crime is undermining defendants’ trial rights proposed to increase conviction rates.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/06/21/guest-blog-professor-felicity-goodyear-smith-faulty-assumptions-underpin-sexual-violence-bill/
I have insufficient expertise to support the legislation the Professor opposes. Nor am I doing so above.
But when she compares sex crime conviction failure to be comparable to a more general crime conviction failure, and then extrapolates that as a reason to not, essentially, worry, well ….. then I worry.
It's not PC I'm sure, but Police bring people to a court before a judge because they've done the crime.
NZLS | Conviction, sentencing and imprisonment of adults in 2019 (lawsociety.org.nz)
Twenty or so years ago we had a tv show made here featuring spin doctors. Seemed quite good at the time. Public relations is the old label. Now we have the American beltway thing happening so we're getting a focus on lobbyists:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/bryce-edwards-the-government-lobbying-revolving-door-just-keeps-on-turning/OK2TRISU6A2LAURUIC2KQKXX2Q/
Good to see Labour & the Greens getting hip to the scene (just kidding) & the revolving door thing revving up. Soon it'll be just like the USA with the same folk switching jobs between industry & regulator constantly.
Stalin is the best model: leading revolutionary & state secret service agent simultaneously. In the middle, you get to play both sides against each other. Shapeshifter technique.
Oh I get it – not the Trump meme, it's morphed into homegrown:
It has been made with the Ardern version for a little while as I have seen it used by RW people. They think it is so smart but I just think that they lack discernment – most of those NZers looking at the hat and logo think of Trump.
The NZ ones may be out of touch and think little of aligning themselves with Trump who many NZers think is a moron. They clearly have forgotten the pounding that Todd Muller got when his Maga hat was on display. He had to say that he collected this kind of memorabilia to get any kind of sympathy for him about having a Maga hat. It just shows how out of touch this rag tag mob was/is. Then the Trump flags ………, the upside down United Tribes flag etc etc.