This link was posted yesterday by one of the rw idiots who frequent this site.
It’s (in my opinion) one of the more perceptive and positive articles about combatting climate catastrophe, and was, predictably, described as a totalitarian hell hole by the poster.
But BAU will end in killing us all! At least this article offers a glimmer of hope, a possible way out of the mess we’ve created for ourselves.
First, we have to nationalize the fossil fuel industry and the energy companies, bringing them under public control, just like any other essential service or utility.
We need to focus the economy on what is required for human well-being and ecological stability, rather than on corporate profits and elite consumption.
Third, we need to tax the rich out of existence.
Fourth, we need a massive public mobilization to achieve our ecological goals.
Finally, we need a strong commitment to climate reparations. Rich countries have colonized the atmosphere for their own enrichment, while inflicting the majority of the costs onto the global South.
This article deserves wider readership and comment.
A final quote:
We cannot afford to just sit back and wait to see what happens. We have to capture political power where we can, or otherwise force incumbents to change course.
Yes. Its racing towards us…at horrifying pace. Well, horrifying to ..you, me and… how many others?
For most, the prime concern is fuel the car (not public transport)….buy heaps of food (incl fast food ! ), pay the rent (to landlord/gougers), and watch the rugby, (build a new stadium Fucks sake ! ) Oh also ditch your mask…because : selfish.
And of course Clustopher Luxon's blowing his Special Dog Whistle for all he's worth…
Years ago I read an insight…for some (most?) people, the pain of their cut finger…means more than the death of thousands…."somewhere else".
Anyway…I aint gonna stop doing my best…and trying to change this.
During the review two interviewees said when they were out in the field and radioed for immediate backup because they were at risk, bully officers failed to provide backup.
"The interviewees subsequently verified that these other officers had been in radio contact and not involved in any other urgent job," the IPCA added.
The senior officer went as far as to tell the prosecutor to call the complainant (the girlfriend) and tell her there was "little evidence of an assault," the IPCA report said.
I still see this as a Top Down problem. As in the toxic culture seeps down from “some” embedded toxic Police. I wonder what happened to the Senior Policeman who “advised” the Prosecutor ?
NZ SMEs are from this month going to have to find an additional 50 million (plus) a month for the next 3 years…..how do we think that additional income will be sourced?
The government has lent around 2 billion to SMEs to help them survive the covid demand crunch..those loans were over 5 years with a 2 year grace period…as of this month they have to begin repaying them (if they havnt already, though given the circumstances most will not have)…that equates to around 50 million a month that SMEs will have to find that they previously didnt have to.
The customers of those SMEs will ultimately be funding it.
Not that Ive seen….though I expect the likes of the RBNZ are well aware of it, Treasury will have advised on it when the Gov decided to implement the scheme.
We’re one of those SMEs and don’t see the repayments as an issue. We knew it was coming and have planned accordingly
We are also incredibly grateful to our Government for the assistance. Right through the COVID emergency the aupport for our business has been sufficient to allow us to continue and transition our business to a more sustainable model in the face of a very uncertain tourism market
Traditional sources of financial support just weren’t there, and without the Government support it would have got very ugly very fast
As for any inflationary impact of the repayment, it should be deflationary as the 2 billion is going out of the economy, just what we need right now. I seem to remember Grant Robertson saying pretty much the same thing in one of the 1:00 pm briefings at the time it happened.
Pat dealt with the 2B but it's money that's going to the government presumably to pay down the debt they incurred for the programme, rather than re-circulated in the economy on goods or services.
We managed to see out our lease at the end of March and moved the Gallery totally online with a proper full service web store. We didn't have a brick and mortar business post covid, that was bleeding 5-10K / month for the 2 years which support payments assisted but our retirement savings took a huge hit, and the customer dynamic had become so toxic around masks and scanning, along with just plain nastiness, that we were glad to be out of there. Another couple of months of it and it would have killed my partner, she had enough going on with her health without crap from the public, all that kept her going was preparing to get out.
The web store we built ourselves on an online platform (Shopify) with strategic advice and some implementation funding through the Tourism Regeneration programmes. We got 5K funding for strategy and another 5K to implement that strategy, but only ended up drawing down a fraction of that because we had the time and ability to do so much ourselves. Came across a lot of people who wanted to spend the funding but couldn't identify an outcome though.
The web store is going quite well, we're making sales and Shopify's metrics say we're in the top 20% of stores that launched in the same week as us (there must be some real fizzers in the e-commerce world). Site visitors are more than we had through the gallery, and engagement is probably similar, but you don't have the same interaction that drives sales. That's making it hard for some of our more tactile lines / artists which aren't doing so well online, others are doing as well, maybe better online. a huge learning curve and we're loving it.
Cashflow and profitability are much better without the brick and mortar expenses, we're saving money and have time and weekends. But it's hard to get out of the 7 day work habits but we're getting there, kinda…
Strategy is to go back into premises once things settle with covid, and we start seeing what the future of tourism holds and can put a value on leased premises. The online store will make that easier. Way too soon to be able to do that yet, think there's more pain for the sector yet. Maybe later this year at the soonest, but more like end of next year.
Right now really happy to be at home watching it all unfold. The way covid's going, the Queenstown tourism sector could get really messed up this winter.
We dont know that 2 billion will be removed from the economy…yes the original debt will be repaid but the Government may choose to leave the money in the economy in another form….i.e. not reduce gov debt by the 2 billion paid back…but meanwhile the businesses that have to pay it back still need to earn it.
I expect that when the decision was made there was no expectation that inflation was going to be a problem 2 years into reduced demand.
Well yes, no one has a crystal ball and international ‘Events’ are certainly supplying extra stresses, but such is life everywhere.
As Graeme stated above SME’s knew this was a loan, knew this had to be repaid and planned accordingly. That seems to me to be the bare minimum that anyone taking out credit is required to do.
Unless you are suggesting a Jubilee? In which case it should be for individual debts not commercial ones.
I think there was an acknowledgement by Robertson that Government didn't expect all the borrowers to be able to repay the loan. There's provision to talk about it if you can't repay, and I know of several businesses that have gone tits up and everyone's out of pocket, particularly the owners.
But SMEs that were severely affected got a lot of cash from Government by way of Support Payments etc, which generally went to meeting existing contractual payments, like lease and loan payments. Mass defaults wouldn't have been pretty and especially with lease payments would have cascaded badly and easily taken out the economy. Justifiable support for businesses and quite successful.
Sorry arkie…my reply was supposed to be to weka, however, im not advocating for a jubilee for SMEs (though I personally would benefit) I am simply pointing out that on top of all the other pressures on SMEs they from this month have to find collectively an additional 50 million a month for the next 3 years….and all that flows from that.
As is often noted the cure for high prices is high prices….read recession.
I assume that many (?) of those businesses that took a loan under this scheme may not have survived without it. Surely, businesses going belly-up is not good for the economy and wouldn’t this be inflationary?
Our unemployment would have been higher. Less tax and so it goes.
Pat it is scary to face a debt not anticipated before covid, but would you have coped without it?
Has it given you time to strengthen aspects of your business and pivot if you needed to?
Did it help cashfow, and are you now building that into your costs? Yes some inflation involved, but what would have been without it?
People have accepted we need to pay more to give people a better standard of life and to cope wth the stresses of covid.
People are making home more attractive, spending savings on what they see as essential to survive then thrive and at the same time build in a premium for borrowing and climate adjustments. You are not alone.
frankly it made no difference to my situation…like many I accepted it as I had no idea how the pandemic and its impact on the economy was going to play out. I'll also add my situation is not typical.
None of which changes the fact that there is 50 million additional dollars a month now needed within the SME sector.
I read Bowalley this morning. Rings a bell regarding Woke and Civil War. But hard to connect the dots re NZ.
"But there is one thing they will not tolerate: losing status in a place they believe is theirs. In the 21st century, the most dangerous factions are once-dominant groups facing decline.”
Think the rise of Trumpism and in NZ the Antivax crowd.
interesting read, thanks. Important to look at the other factions in NZ especially the loose collection of 'freedom' protest movements. Groundswell, the anti-mandate protests, rising white supremacy. In all of that, it's the people yet to be radicialised one way or the other that concerns me. The left/liberals appear to think that they can force people to like their values and beliefs. I don't believe this is true, and the biggest progress we could make at this point is how to engage with people who think differently from us and learn how to work with them.
"and the biggest progress we could make at this point is how to engage with people who think differently from us and learn how to work with them."
I posted this approach a couple of weeks ago, but don't know if you saw it. It was the process used in 1971 to resolve a school provision issue between a prominent black rights activist, and a Ku Klux Klan leader.
You would expect many of those on the left to possess such skills and be able to facilitate similar processes. However, I think those skills may have been undervalued and lost.
What needs to come first, is the desire to engage respectfully.
I read it, and I couldn't get past the fact that one of the most well known civil wars, the American Civl War, is described like this:
The central cause of the war was the status of slavery, especially the expansion of slavery into territories acquired as a result of the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican–American War. On the eve of the Civil War in 1860, four million of the 32 million Americans (~13%) were enslaved black people, almost all in the South.
I don't know a lot about it but presumably the super faction in that case is Lincoln and the Union demanding an end to slavery.
We'd all agree I hope that the American Civil war was inevitable and necessary because the Confederacy seceded and thankfully they and their ideologies were largely defeated.
What does Chris Trotter expect us to do in the case of New Zealand, not progress on Treaty partnership because it might offend the racists?
You can't placate these idiots. Best to make the changes and they will fall into line.
The crucial difference between the North and the South was that the economy of the plantations was essentially still pre-industrial – and like all such societies throughout history slavery was a regrettable but necessary part of life.
The northern states by contrast were too cold for the plantations and were compelled to industrialise in order to grow. And in that context the chattel slavery of the south was not necessary – burning coal in boilers replaced the raw muscle power of slaves very effectively.
It is unnecessary to introduce modern moral judgements into this. The US Civil War is best thought of as a conflict between two economic systems, one rooted in the old agricultural, sunshine based economies – and a new fossil fuel based one about to replace it.
I read a different explanation – that wages were suppressed in the South, by the availability of a cheaper alternative. This left little incentive for the kind of development that craftsmen had in the North.
Pretty sure it was here – sorry I don't recall the page.
Or you could equally argue that by industrialising the Northerners were making labour far more productive – and raising wages by comparison to the South.
I rest my argument on the simple observation that in pre-Industrial times almost all expansive societies depended on chattel slavery to succeed – because the only sources of energy available to them were essentially muscle power or burning wood or charcoal. And while domesticating animals like horses or cattle harnessed lots of useful power in a rural setting – anything indoors or complex needed humans to accomplish. The problem was not so much economic as thermodynamic.
By contrast once a society was able to harness steam power and to mechanise it – essentially the primal forms of automation – chattel slavery within several generations disappears and never returns.
Industrialisation in the South in the form of the cotton gin resulted in an explosion of slave labour.
The invention of the cotton gin caused massive growth in the production of cotton in the United States, concentrated mostly in the South. Cotton production expanded from 750,000 bales in 1830 to 2.85 million bales in 1850. As a result, the region became even more dependent on plantations that used black slave labor.
While it took a single slave about ten hours to separate a single pound of fiber from the seeds, a team of two or three slaves using a cotton gin could produce around fifty pounds of cotton in just one day. The number of slaves rose in concert with the increase in cotton production, increasing from around 700,000 in 1790 to around 3.2 million in 1850.
Because of its inadvertent effect on American slavery, and on its ensuring that the South's economy developed in the direction of plantation-based agriculture (while encouraging the growth of the textile industry elsewhere, such as in the North), the invention of the cotton gin is frequently cited as one of the indirect causes of the American Civil War.
For the first generation of cotton gins this would be true – but very quickly they became more sophisticated and mechanised, needing less and less labour to run. Modern textile machinery is almost completely automated to an astonishing extent. No slaves needed to operate them – indeed it will usually be skilled and rather well paid operators and maintenance techs.
The transition to industrialisation was complex and had many moving parts running on different timelines – and the resulting social and economic shifts were turbulent. But once you have gotten through it, no-one sane wants to revert back to the previous conditions.
Ok. I thought for a moment you were saying industrialisation ended slavery, but I pointed to an example where industrialisation actually increased slavery.
Also, Victorian Britain during the industrial revolution was about as exploitative of labour as you can get in modern times. Ever read Dickens?
It is not industrial revolution which ends practices like slavery and exploitation, it is social revolution.
I thought for a moment you were saying industrialisation ended slavery, but I pointed to an example where industrialisation actually increased slavery.
For a period yes – but the key to understanding slavery is that yes it harnesses muscle power – but unlike domesticated animals it also harnesses intelligence. So as I explained above the first generation of primitive machines did increase slavery for a period, but then very quickly after that it was eliminated once their mechanisms became more sophisticated and required less labour to run.
Modern highly automated textile machines requiring no direct labour – and certainly no slaves.
It is not industrial revolution which ends practices like slavery and exploitation, it is social revolution.
So why then did 'social revolution' only occur after the industrial revolution? You had 10,000 years of known history for your social revolution to eliminate slavery – but either it never happened or in those few locations where it did fall out of favour, it never stuck for one reason or another.
The Wikipedia article I linked to says the cotton gin caused a massive increase in slave numbers from 700,000 in 1790 to 3.2 million in 1850. On the eve of the US civil war in 1860, 4 million of the 32 million inhabitants were enslaved (13%). When was it the more sophisticated machines eliminated slavery?
I imagine because the industrial revolution accelerated exploitation for private profit, as shown in the example of the cotton gin. Industry bosses would have carried on were it not for the demands of social conscience.
I know the point you are trying to make, that it is businessmen and engineers responsible for ending all the world’s ills.
I’m saying it social and political movements just like the ones Trotter is decrying in the article ianmac posted @ 4.
"Up to twelve times less risk of contamination in the classroom if there is air purifier" If there is an air purifier in the classroom, the chance of a child infecting another child with the coronavirus decreases by a factor of twelve.
This is evident from the first results of the project of engineer Bert Blocken (KU Leuven / TU Eindhoven), virologist Marc Van Ranst (KU Leuven) and Leen Peeters (Th! Nk E), in which air purifiers were placed in classrooms. Blocks gives the concrete example of a class with 25 students. If an infected student airborne the other 24 students in a class without an air purifier, he would only infect two if the class is equipped with a filter.
The engineer bases this calculation on an internationally recognized formula that determines the risk of infection. In order to be able to assess the risk of contamination with and without air purifiers even more accurately, additional data is needed, Blocken emphasizes.
The project therefore runs until the end of December this year. A total of 100 schools participate: 47 in Flanders, 3 in Wallonia and 50 in the Netherlands. A total of one thousand classrooms are monitored: 500 received a filter, 500 did not.
Ah. Marc Van Ranst. Famous he is as that guy hired to scare the Belgian population into compliance during the 2009 H1N1 epidemic. Cold, calculating and deeply cynical bastard who boasts about the importance of timing and the imperative of gaining and exploiting 100% capture of mainstream media.
A proud Big Pharma shill…he heavily promoted the new vaccine, and he jokes in this speech how many people protested that the new vaccine was unsafe and the pandemic response was over egged.
However….IN MARCH, 2012 A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE in the rate of childhood narcolepsy associated with the influenza vaccine Pandemrix (GlaxoSmithKline) was reported in Finland.1 ….
but …
...the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control commissioned two reports to investigate the rates of narcolepsy in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. The report concluded that:2
There was no increase in the rates of narcolepsy due to the 2009 pandemic itself
An increase in the rate of childhood narcolepsy in Finland and Sweden had occurred with Pandemrix vaccination
There was no detectable association between influenza vaccination and childhood or adult narcolepsy in the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom, Norway* and Denmark**
A significantly increased risk of narcolepsy in adults, associated with Pandemrix vaccination did occur in France, although the risk of selection bias could not be excluded. This result should be interpreted with caution and is being investigated further. https://bpac.org.nz/bpj/2013/april/h1n1-vaccination.aspx
Despite inconsistencies across age groups and countries that tended to suggest the risk of childhood narcolepsy associated with Pandemerix was exaggerated, this vaccine is no longer given to under 20 year olds.
Van Ranst's contemptuous manipulation of the Belgian population during the 2009 epidemic, his overweening ego and his smug demeanor actually created a fertile breeding ground for a lack of trust in the responses to the current shit-show. People have long memories.
As is typical of such persons…he hasn't learned from his past blunders.
ok, so what's the connection between the Air Purifiers in Schools project and Joe's tweet?
Have you spent much time cooking over open fires or inside on smokey fires? It's hard on the lungs, eyes and skin, which improves with ventilation. Can't see the connection here either. Smoke and viruses are completely different challenges to the human body.
Its his name that leapt out at me when I scanned joe90's post. I'm pretty sure the expression 'mind-fuckery' was invented to describe his (Mr Van Ranst's) tactics during the 2009 pandemic. Some folks might think that the circumstances warranted such callous and unethical manipulation of the population, but it had such a negative effect at the time that it effectively (and ironically) inoculated a sizeable portion of the population against such campaigns. He did more harm than good (in some peoples opinion) with respect to uniting the nation against a killer virus. Folks don't like being manipulated and don't enjoy being treated like fuckwits. Unless they're of very nervous constitutions and fear has incapacitated their thought processes.
For him to speak as he did at the Chatham House gig in early 2019 … fwiw I found it almost obscene. A person with such obvious deep disdain of the population should not, in my opinion, be in charge of setting the tone and rallying the troops in the face of a national or worldwide health crisis. Yet there he is.
And speaking of inappropriate message delivery, there's another 'scientist' with a seeming fixation for treating the population like infants (and acting like a dork)…
After that painful little effort you'd think a performer scientist would quietly fade away into the mists. Or the smoke. But no…here he is telling us that there's almost certain death or disability in every particle of someone else's breath we may inhale.
For goodness sakes. We human beings have been doing this cohabiting and breathing thing for eons. Rather than population annihilation we have a planet bulging at the seams. Metaphorically speaking. Surely we can collate and process the knowledge gathered over this time to issue some simple and suitably non-scary advice.
Open the windows and doors and let the fresh air circulate. In your home, your workplace, in a vehicle.
Cover coughs and sneezes you dirty buggers. Don't do that disgusting hoick and spit thing so beloved of sportspeople. And as for the blowing snot forcibly from the nostril onto the footpath or playing field….off with his head!!
If you feel you are at risk from Te Virus, or any virus, or any other nasty pathogen, then for heaven's sake wear a mask. Wear two. Mount a fan on your head to force the breath of others away from yourself. Wear gloves and goggles and a full body condom if that will make you feel safe.
But for the Goddess's sake…don't force healthy folk to do likewise.
Our immune systems are more efficient than we have been led to believe. Let the healthy get on with their lives. Let the children and young people breathe the air and exercise their immune systems. Or is the plan to actually weaken the population?
ok, so no connection between Joe's tweet and Marc Van Ranst other than something obscure about some dude you don't like.
Open the windows and doors and let the fresh air circulate. In your home, your workplace, in a vehicle.
This more than anything tells me you are way off base. We're getting regular snow on the hills and heavy frosts this winter. Suggesting that opening windows and doors is a replacement for masks and filtration is daft.
MHRV delivers outside filtered fresh air into your building without creating uncomfortable drafts and mitigates excessive demand on your heating and cooling systems.
The health benefits to the occupants cannot be understated.
Protects your internal building and furnishing investment.
Modern airtight buildings need to ventilate to remove moisture, CO2 and dirty air more than ever before. For those who have investigated ventilation, understand that MHRV is not only the best option to ensure a clean environment, but also in achieving thermal comfort
The incoming air is filtered before it is introduced into the buildings. MHRV has two airflows (supply & exhaust) that pass one another parallel within the heat-recovery heat exchanger without mixing physically. The heat from "stale" extracted outgoing air is transferred to the "fresh" air introduced from outside.
The overall MHRV process exhausts moisture laden air from wet rooms such as bathrooms, kitchen, laundries and supplies fresh air into all habitable living areas and bedrooms. Thereby replacing the need for independent bathroom and laundry extraction fans.
I put an early version of one of these into one our rental units 20 years ago as an experiment. While I was local and able to service the filters it worked really well, but I turned it off when we came to Aus.
Basic systems are not terribly expensive and a tiny fraction of the total build cost. Essentially they allow you to 'open the windows' and get fresh air into the dwelling – without freezing your arse off.
In other words, you flip your lid at a research project that is still in progress in Belgium and the Netherlands aimed at reducing Covid-19 infections in classrooms through air purification because you recall something one of the three core members may have said/done in 2009.
And you flip your lid at an aerosol chemist from Auckland who’s trying to inform and educate us about the air we breathe. Are there no bounds to your bias and negativity and have you lost all sound perspective on causes that you choose to be upset by?
Have you ever seen the crap (aka soot) that they trap in filters in those measuring stations in downtown Auckland to measure air pollution? The outside air is not as ‘fresh’ as you seem to think it is.
And while we're on the topic of Pure Air….how on earth did we humans survive the caves? And smoked filled earth lodges through winter?
We developed respiratory diseases.
Here, we have argued that the extensive changes to human ecology and unprecedented physiological consequences brought about by the controlled use of fire in the Pleistocene created ideal conditions for the emergence of TB. It is possible that during this period of significant ecological and social change, range extensions leading to the consumption of novel food sources and altered energy requirements increased exposure of early humans to the natural reservoir of ancestral MTBC, likely the soil. This increased exposure brought about an increasing number of infections and stuttering transmission chains, both of which provided new opportunities for within-host adaptive evolution. Coupled with increasing host-susceptibility to mycobacterial infection attributable to biomass smoke-induced lung damage and the increased opportunities for transmission brought about by the developing social culture that fire use encouraged, we hypothesize that the MTBC precursor evolved an R0 greater than unity relatively quickly, almost guaranteeing MTBC's emergence as a specialized human pathogen.
Histological assessment of the lungs of ancient human mummies has shown that anthracosis was a regular disorder in many ancient societies, including the Egyptian, Peruvian, and Aleutian. The only human mummy recovered from ancient Rome (the so-called Grotta Rossa mummy) shows severe anthracosis despite the young age of the person at the time of death.
Thus, indoor pollution produced chronic reduction of the function of the ciliated respiratory epithelium with an increase in the incidence of inflammatory disease of the pulmonary tree. Therefore, the idea that air pollution and its effects is an exclusively modern phenomenon is probably incorrect.
what's the connection between Joe's tweet and Marc Van Ranst?
There's no connection. Just the usual extremist fuckery.
In the last months of 2020, several Flemish newspapers also published articles about Van Ranst’s 2019 lecture, commenting on how the video corresponds to how he managed communication in the event of a new health crisis.
Mid-December, former president of the Flemish extreme-right Vlaams Belang party, Filip Dewinter, posted a compilation video with excerpts from Van Ranst’s conference in London.
[…]
What actually happened?
On 22 January 2019, Van Ranst took part in a conference of the “Centre on Global Health Security” at Chatham House in partnership with the European Scientific Group on Influenza (ESWI).
The conference was held “to mark the 100th anniversary of the influenza pandemic and to discuss future challenges,” Chatham House told RTBF. “It was a full-day event with guest speakers, including Marc Van Ranst, who spoke about communication in the event of a pandemic.”
In his speech, which lasted just over 23 minutes and can be watched in full here, Van Ranst explained how he managed crisis communication during the outbreak of the swine flu in 2009.
Back then, the authorities were very concerned about the swine flu – the H1N1 virus – and they took great precautions, including the mass purchase of vaccines. However, the announced epidemic proved to be much less severe than initially feared.
In front of an audience of experts, Van Ranst explained how he made sure he was the reference point for various media during that period, using the slogan “one voice, one message.”
“You have to be omnipresent, the first day or days,” he said. “In order to attract the attention of the media, you make an agreement with them: you will tell them everything, and if they call you, you pick up the phone.”
He explained that, by doing so, there will be maximum coverage, and the media will not look for alternative voices. “If you do that, it will be much easier to convey the message.”
Falling over yourself to shoot a messenger while failing to do the research, again, because you’ve already found enough ammunition to blow the other sucker out of the water, metaphorically speaking.
Pandemrix (Pandemic Influenza Vaccine), suspension for injection GlaxoSmithKline (NZ) Ltd
Consent is given subject to the following restriction:
The vaccine may only be marketed, or distributed in accordance with the directives contained in the current version of the New Zealand Influenza Pandemic Action Plan.
An association was found in 2010 between narcolepsy and one H1N1 pandemic vaccine (Pandemrix, an adjuvanted vaccine not licensed or used in New Zealand). Data from various European countries support a temporal link.[118, 119, 120] The onset of narcolepsy may be confounded by other factors, such as genetic predisposition, A(H1N1)pdm09 influenza and/or other environmental factors.[121, 122, 123] A 2018 systematic review found that although the risk of narcolepsy type 1 increased in association with this particular vaccine, it remains a rare disease and the benefit of the influenza vaccination outweighs the risk.[124] [my italics]
The investigations led to a vaccine Pandemrix, that featured a specific adjuvant, which is a means to enhance the impact of the vaccine. It turned out that the vaccine was working as a trigger for young people in Scandinavia who had a genetic predisposition to narcolepsy.
Some comments do not age well. This from well known sports expert on Kiwblog, Kimbo. On the Irish Rugby TV You Tube site. On the comments section of the first test highlights.
Kimbo
13 days ago
You can clearly see NZ is the stronger and faster team. Ireland competitive but not close contest.
The key thing being Ireland were the better "team". They were clearly more organised on both attack and defence from set play. Thus they had better go forward (Sexton and Aki had it all over Barrett and Havili) – while we had individual athletes (ASavea AIoane and WJordan). And the MOM was Beirne for his breakdown disruption.
Some parallels in winning both in rugby and politics:
1. It's not about hair styles, or posturing.
2. Choose a wise and charismatic leader as captain. Appoint good selectors who in turn should select good team players.
3 Get good advice and have a plan B. If plan B doesn't work, then going back to plan A probably won't either.
4, Safe hands. Don't drop the ball. Keep the opposition pinned well in their half. It's only a game of two halves if you are losing!
5. Discipline and commitment. Turn up, practise, maintain fitness.
6. Support, encourage, have self belief. Never underestimate the opposition.
7. Revisit your strategies, and try to please your fans. The role of the commentators and writers is fairest when neutral. While the referee is fair, learn and play by the rules. The public can be fickle, but you need their money, support and attendance.
8. Remember you will lose eventually. That's the time to relearn 1-7.
And business confidence will plummet, domestic abuse will rise and Mac1 will celebrate his fourth generation Irishness, to the dismay of his walking companions this morning.
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
The pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...
Tree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...
The amount of paint needed to paint a car depends on a number of factors, including the size of the car, the number of coats you plan to apply, and the type of paint you are using. In general, you will need between 1 and 2 gallons of paint for ...
Jump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, 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. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
This link was posted yesterday by one of the rw idiots who frequent this site.
It’s (in my opinion) one of the more perceptive and positive articles about combatting climate catastrophe, and was, predictably, described as a totalitarian hell hole by the poster.
But BAU will end in killing us all! At least this article offers a glimmer of hope, a possible way out of the mess we’ve created for ourselves.
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/11/what-would-it-look-like-if-we-treated-climate-change-as-an-actual-emergency
Some selective quotes:
This article deserves wider readership and comment.
A final quote:
Yes. Its racing towards us…at horrifying pace. Well, horrifying to ..you, me and… how many others?
For most, the prime concern is fuel the car (not public transport)….buy heaps of food (incl fast food ! ), pay the rent (to landlord/gougers), and watch the rugby, (build a new stadium Fucks sake ! ) Oh also ditch your mask…because : selfish.
And of course Clustopher Luxon's blowing his Special Dog Whistle for all he's worth…
Years ago I read an insight…for some (most?) people, the pain of their cut finger…means more than the death of thousands…."somewhere else".
Anyway…I aint gonna stop doing my best…and trying to change this.
Stalin (I think) said: "One death a tragedy, a million deaths, a statistic!"
Which goes a long way to explaining why we simply cannot (yet) envisage an end to the human species!
1000+ Psycling Left. Always
I still see this as a Top Down problem. As in the toxic culture seeps down from “some” embedded toxic Police. I wonder what happened to the Senior Policeman who “advised” the Prosecutor ?
Back of the envelope thought for the day.
NZ SMEs are from this month going to have to find an additional 50 million (plus) a month for the next 3 years…..how do we think that additional income will be sourced?
details and context would help.
K.
The government has lent around 2 billion to SMEs to help them survive the covid demand crunch..those loans were over 5 years with a 2 year grace period…as of this month they have to begin repaying them (if they havnt already, though given the circumstances most will not have)…that equates to around 50 million a month that SMEs will have to find that they previously didnt have to.
The customers of those SMEs will ultimately be funding it.
Inflationary? (on top of everything else)
that doesn't sound good. Have MSM been talking about this?
Not that Ive seen….though I expect the likes of the RBNZ are well aware of it, Treasury will have advised on it when the Gov decided to implement the scheme.
We’re one of those SMEs and don’t see the repayments as an issue. We knew it was coming and have planned accordingly
We are also incredibly grateful to our Government for the assistance. Right through the COVID emergency the aupport for our business has been sufficient to allow us to continue and transition our business to a more sustainable model in the face of a very uncertain tourism market
Traditional sources of financial support just weren’t there, and without the Government support it would have got very ugly very fast
As for any inflationary impact of the repayment, it should be deflationary as the 2 billion is going out of the economy, just what we need right now. I seem to remember Grant Robertson saying pretty much the same thing in one of the 1:00 pm briefings at the time it happened.
how is the 2B going out of the economy?
What did you do re a more sustainable model if you don't mind sharing?
Pat dealt with the 2B but it's money that's going to the government presumably to pay down the debt they incurred for the programme, rather than re-circulated in the economy on goods or services.
We managed to see out our lease at the end of March and moved the Gallery totally online with a proper full service web store. We didn't have a brick and mortar business post covid, that was bleeding 5-10K / month for the 2 years which support payments assisted but our retirement savings took a huge hit, and the customer dynamic had become so toxic around masks and scanning, along with just plain nastiness, that we were glad to be out of there. Another couple of months of it and it would have killed my partner, she had enough going on with her health without crap from the public, all that kept her going was preparing to get out.
The web store we built ourselves on an online platform (Shopify) with strategic advice and some implementation funding through the Tourism Regeneration programmes. We got 5K funding for strategy and another 5K to implement that strategy, but only ended up drawing down a fraction of that because we had the time and ability to do so much ourselves. Came across a lot of people who wanted to spend the funding but couldn't identify an outcome though.
The web store is going quite well, we're making sales and Shopify's metrics say we're in the top 20% of stores that launched in the same week as us (there must be some real fizzers in the e-commerce world). Site visitors are more than we had through the gallery, and engagement is probably similar, but you don't have the same interaction that drives sales. That's making it hard for some of our more tactile lines / artists which aren't doing so well online, others are doing as well, maybe better online. a huge learning curve and we're loving it.
Cashflow and profitability are much better without the brick and mortar expenses, we're saving money and have time and weekends. But it's hard to get out of the 7 day work habits but we're getting there, kinda…
Strategy is to go back into premises once things settle with covid, and we start seeing what the future of tourism holds and can put a value on leased premises. The online store will make that easier. Way too soon to be able to do that yet, think there's more pain for the sector yet. Maybe later this year at the soonest, but more like end of next year.
Right now really happy to be at home watching it all unfold. The way covid's going, the Queenstown tourism sector could get really messed up this winter.
Ultimately deflationary….I suspect not so in terms of CPI.
Profit seeking knows no bounds.
We dont know that 2 billion will be removed from the economy…yes the original debt will be repaid but the Government may choose to leave the money in the economy in another form….i.e. not reduce gov debt by the 2 billion paid back…but meanwhile the businesses that have to pay it back still need to earn it.
I expect that when the decision was made there was no expectation that inflation was going to be a problem 2 years into reduced demand.
Events.
Well yes, no one has a crystal ball and international ‘Events’ are certainly supplying extra stresses, but such is life everywhere.
As Graeme stated above SME’s knew this was a loan, knew this had to be repaid and planned accordingly. That seems to me to be the bare minimum that anyone taking out credit is required to do.
Unless you are suggesting a Jubilee? In which case it should be for individual debts not commercial ones.
I think there was an acknowledgement by Robertson that Government didn't expect all the borrowers to be able to repay the loan. There's provision to talk about it if you can't repay, and I know of several businesses that have gone tits up and everyone's out of pocket, particularly the owners.
But SMEs that were severely affected got a lot of cash from Government by way of Support Payments etc, which generally went to meeting existing contractual payments, like lease and loan payments. Mass defaults wouldn't have been pretty and especially with lease payments would have cascaded badly and easily taken out the economy. Justifiable support for businesses and quite successful.
I make no judgement on the effectiveness or need for the scheme and I have no trouble repaying the loan….the original point remains.
Sorry arkie…my reply was supposed to be to weka, however, im not advocating for a jubilee for SMEs (though I personally would benefit) I am simply pointing out that on top of all the other pressures on SMEs they from this month have to find collectively an additional 50 million a month for the next 3 years….and all that flows from that.
As is often noted the cure for high prices is high prices….read recession.
I assume that many (?) of those businesses that took a loan under this scheme may not have survived without it. Surely, businesses going belly-up is not good for the economy and wouldn’t this be inflationary?
Our unemployment would have been higher. Less tax and so it goes.
Pat it is scary to face a debt not anticipated before covid, but would you have coped without it?
Has it given you time to strengthen aspects of your business and pivot if you needed to?
Did it help cashfow, and are you now building that into your costs? Yes some inflation involved, but what would have been without it?
People have accepted we need to pay more to give people a better standard of life and to cope wth the stresses of covid.
People are making home more attractive, spending savings on what they see as essential to survive then thrive and at the same time build in a premium for borrowing and climate adjustments. You are not alone.
frankly it made no difference to my situation…like many I accepted it as I had no idea how the pandemic and its impact on the economy was going to play out. I'll also add my situation is not typical.
None of which changes the fact that there is 50 million additional dollars a month now needed within the SME sector.
ditto.
Think the rise of Trumpism and in NZ the Antivax crowd.
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2022/07/rumours-of-civil-war.html
interesting read, thanks. Important to look at the other factions in NZ especially the loose collection of 'freedom' protest movements. Groundswell, the anti-mandate protests, rising white supremacy. In all of that, it's the people yet to be radicialised one way or the other that concerns me. The left/liberals appear to think that they can force people to like their values and beliefs. I don't believe this is true, and the biggest progress we could make at this point is how to engage with people who think differently from us and learn how to work with them.
"and the biggest progress we could make at this point is how to engage with people who think differently from us and learn how to work with them."
I posted this approach a couple of weeks ago, but don't know if you saw it. It was the process used in 1971 to resolve a school provision issue between a prominent black rights activist, and a Ku Klux Klan leader.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/04/05/ann-atwaters-amazing-rise-poverty-teen-pregnancy-best-enemies-stardom/
You would expect many of those on the left to possess such skills and be able to facilitate similar processes. However, I think those skills may have been undervalued and lost.
What needs to come first, is the desire to engage respectfully.
There seems little evidence that this exists.
about to have a read, here's a free access version
https://archive.ph/BPV6C
Really moving reading about this. brought a tear to my eye. Thanks for posting Weka
good read. Both sides needed to change their approach, yeah?
would love to know what happened when they met with the kids. Have you watched the film?
Yes, on Netflix at the moment.
Had watched a documentary which had Ann Atwater and Claiborne Ellis on it a while ago and remembered the story.
The man called in to facilitate the charette is worth researching too:
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/the-inherent-value-of-a-charrette-a-discussion-with-bill-riddick
He's written a handbook of the process:
https://www.amazon.com/Charrette-Handbook-Bill-Lennertz/dp/1611901472
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzGz7zTdv74
I think the recent work with marginalised groups was aimed at this, but "Soft on crime" is the meme which often derails it.
I think this is different. You are working with groups in opposition.
The work with gangs is analysis and solution oriented.
username typo
Thanks, late night phone fat finger syndrome.
I read it, and I couldn't get past the fact that one of the most well known civil wars, the American Civl War, is described like this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War
I don't know a lot about it but presumably the super faction in that case is Lincoln and the Union demanding an end to slavery.
We'd all agree I hope that the American Civil war was inevitable and necessary because the Confederacy seceded and thankfully they and their ideologies were largely defeated.
What does Chris Trotter expect us to do in the case of New Zealand, not progress on Treaty partnership because it might offend the racists?
You can't placate these idiots. Best to make the changes and they will fall into line.
The crucial difference between the North and the South was that the economy of the plantations was essentially still pre-industrial – and like all such societies throughout history slavery was a regrettable but necessary part of life.
The northern states by contrast were too cold for the plantations and were compelled to industrialise in order to grow. And in that context the chattel slavery of the south was not necessary – burning coal in boilers replaced the raw muscle power of slaves very effectively.
It is unnecessary to introduce modern moral judgements into this. The US Civil War is best thought of as a conflict between two economic systems, one rooted in the old agricultural, sunshine based economies – and a new fossil fuel based one about to replace it.
You call for us not to judge Confederates because they were too agricultural to know any better.
Future generations of Kiwis might call not to judge Groundswell & Co. for the same reason.
I read a different explanation – that wages were suppressed in the South, by the availability of a cheaper alternative. This left little incentive for the kind of development that craftsmen had in the North.
Pretty sure it was here – sorry I don't recall the page.
Or you could equally argue that by industrialising the Northerners were making labour far more productive – and raising wages by comparison to the South.
I rest my argument on the simple observation that in pre-Industrial times almost all expansive societies depended on chattel slavery to succeed – because the only sources of energy available to them were essentially muscle power or burning wood or charcoal. And while domesticating animals like horses or cattle harnessed lots of useful power in a rural setting – anything indoors or complex needed humans to accomplish. The problem was not so much economic as thermodynamic.
By contrast once a society was able to harness steam power and to mechanise it – essentially the primal forms of automation – chattel slavery within several generations disappears and never returns.
Industrialisation in the South in the form of the cotton gin resulted in an explosion of slave labour.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_gin
For the first generation of cotton gins this would be true – but very quickly they became more sophisticated and mechanised, needing less and less labour to run. Modern textile machinery is almost completely automated to an astonishing extent. No slaves needed to operate them – indeed it will usually be skilled and rather well paid operators and maintenance techs.
The transition to industrialisation was complex and had many moving parts running on different timelines – and the resulting social and economic shifts were turbulent. But once you have gotten through it, no-one sane wants to revert back to the previous conditions.
Ok. I thought for a moment you were saying industrialisation ended slavery, but I pointed to an example where industrialisation actually increased slavery.
Also, Victorian Britain during the industrial revolution was about as exploitative of labour as you can get in modern times. Ever read Dickens?
It is not industrial revolution which ends practices like slavery and exploitation, it is social revolution.
I thought for a moment you were saying industrialisation ended slavery, but I pointed to an example where industrialisation actually increased slavery.
For a period yes – but the key to understanding slavery is that yes it harnesses muscle power – but unlike domesticated animals it also harnesses intelligence. So as I explained above the first generation of primitive machines did increase slavery for a period, but then very quickly after that it was eliminated once their mechanisms became more sophisticated and required less labour to run.
Modern highly automated textile machines requiring no direct labour – and certainly no slaves.
It is not industrial revolution which ends practices like slavery and exploitation, it is social revolution.
So why then did 'social revolution' only occur after the industrial revolution? You had 10,000 years of known history for your social revolution to eliminate slavery – but either it never happened or in those few locations where it did fall out of favour, it never stuck for one reason or another.
I know the point you are trying to make, that it is businessmen and engineers responsible for ending all the world’s ills.
I’m saying it social and political movements just like the ones Trotter is decrying in the article ianmac posted @ 4.
The article you linked to answers your question.
Blame whoever you like for high fuel prices but oil companies know demand for their product is waning.
https://twitter.com/climate/status/1546955682225819648
If Ian Foster is still All Black Coach next year please, please schedule the election before the Quarter Finals start.
1000+ Barfly.
Masks and filtration work.
"Up to twelve times less risk of contamination in the classroom if there is air purifier" If there is an air purifier in the classroom, the chance of a child infecting another child with the coronavirus decreases by a factor of twelve.
This is evident from the first results of the project of engineer Bert Blocken (KU Leuven / TU Eindhoven), virologist Marc Van Ranst (KU Leuven) and Leen Peeters (Th! Nk E), in which air purifiers were placed in classrooms. Blocks gives the concrete example of a class with 25 students. If an infected student airborne the other 24 students in a class without an air purifier, he would only infect two if the class is equipped with a filter.
The engineer bases this calculation on an internationally recognized formula that determines the risk of infection. In order to be able to assess the risk of contamination with and without air purifiers even more accurately, additional data is needed, Blocken emphasizes.
The project therefore runs until the end of December this year. A total of 100 schools participate: 47 in Flanders, 3 in Wallonia and 50 in the Netherlands. A total of one thousand classrooms are monitored: 500 received a filter, 500 did not.
google translation
https://www.hln.be/wetenschap-en-planeet/tot-twaalf-keer-minder-risico-op-besmetting-in-de-klas-als-er-luchtreiniger-is~a82b2594/
The Belgian/Dutch Air purification in the classroom project in English.
https://www.aircleaningintheclassroom.eu/
edit:
We need to protect youngsters if we’re to break the cycle.
https://twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1546907336526237698
https://twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1546907353437585408
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1546907336526237698.html
Can we have ads like this?
https://twitter.com/JohnSnowProject/status/1546245019702640641
https://johnsnowproject.org/
Ah. Marc Van Ranst. Famous he is as that guy hired to scare the Belgian population into compliance during the 2009 H1N1 epidemic. Cold, calculating and deeply cynical bastard who boasts about the importance of timing and the imperative of gaining and exploiting 100% capture of mainstream media.
A proud Big Pharma shill…he heavily promoted the new vaccine, and he jokes in this speech how many people protested that the new vaccine was unsafe and the pandemic response was over egged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07lXyl9-Rs0
However….IN MARCH, 2012 A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE in the rate of childhood narcolepsy associated with the influenza vaccine Pandemrix (GlaxoSmithKline) was reported in Finland.1 ….
but …
...the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control commissioned two reports to investigate the rates of narcolepsy in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. The report concluded that:2
Despite inconsistencies across age groups and countries that tended to suggest the risk of childhood narcolepsy associated with Pandemerix was exaggerated, this vaccine is no longer given to under 20 year olds.
Van Ranst's contemptuous manipulation of the Belgian population during the 2009 epidemic, his overweening ego and his smug demeanor actually created a fertile breeding ground for a lack of trust in the responses to the current shit-show. People have long memories.
As is typical of such persons…he hasn't learned from his past blunders.
what's the connection between Joe's tweet and Marc Van Ranst?
Van Ranst is one of the folks involved in the 'Air Purifiers in Schools' project.
With his unashamed connections to Those Who Profit from Pandemics, I'd be suspicious of any project he is involved with.
And while we're on the topic of Pure Air….how on earth did we humans survive the caves? And smoked filled earth lodges through winter?
Are we not supposed to be evolving?
We died at 30.
ok, so what's the connection between the Air Purifiers in Schools project and Joe's tweet?
Have you spent much time cooking over open fires or inside on smokey fires? It's hard on the lungs, eyes and skin, which improves with ventilation. Can't see the connection here either. Smoke and viruses are completely different challenges to the human body.
Marc Van Ranst.
Its his name that leapt out at me when I scanned joe90's post. I'm pretty sure the expression 'mind-fuckery' was invented to describe his (Mr Van Ranst's) tactics during the 2009 pandemic. Some folks might think that the circumstances warranted such callous and unethical manipulation of the population, but it had such a negative effect at the time that it effectively (and ironically) inoculated a sizeable portion of the population against such campaigns. He did more harm than good (in some peoples opinion) with respect to uniting the nation against a killer virus. Folks don't like being manipulated and don't enjoy being treated like fuckwits. Unless they're of very nervous constitutions and fear has incapacitated their thought processes.
For him to speak as he did at the Chatham House gig in early 2019 … fwiw I found it almost obscene. A person with such obvious deep disdain of the population should not, in my opinion, be in charge of setting the tone and rallying the troops in the face of a national or worldwide health crisis. Yet there he is.
And speaking of inappropriate message delivery, there's another 'scientist' with a seeming fixation for treating the population like infants (and acting like a dork)…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5OA1bo1h9g
…that has stepped up to terrify us out of breathing.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/470690/whose-breath-are-you-breathing
After that painful little effort you'd think a
performerscientist would quietly fade away into the mists. Or the smoke. But no…here he is telling us that there's almost certain death or disability in every particle of someone else's breath we may inhale.For goodness sakes. We human beings have been doing this cohabiting and breathing thing for eons. Rather than population annihilation we have a planet bulging at the seams. Metaphorically speaking. Surely we can collate and process the knowledge gathered over this time to issue some simple and suitably non-scary advice.
But for the Goddess's sake…don't force healthy folk to do likewise.
Our immune systems are more efficient than we have been led to believe. Let the healthy get on with their lives. Let the children and young people breathe the air and exercise their immune systems. Or is the plan to actually weaken the population?
ok, so no connection between Joe's tweet and Marc Van Ranst other than something obscure about some dude you don't like.
This more than anything tells me you are way off base. We're getting regular snow on the hills and heavy frosts this winter. Suggesting that opening windows and doors is a replacement for masks and filtration is daft.
Heat Recovery Ventilation Systems
I put an early version of one of these into one our rental units 20 years ago as an experiment. While I was local and able to service the filters it worked really well, but I turned it off when we came to Aus.
Basic systems are not terribly expensive and a tiny fraction of the total build cost. Essentially they allow you to 'open the windows' and get fresh air into the dwelling – without freezing your arse off.
In other words, you flip your lid at a research project that is still in progress in Belgium and the Netherlands aimed at reducing Covid-19 infections in classrooms through air purification because you recall something one of the three core members may have said/done in 2009.
https://www.aircleaningintheclassroom.eu/over [in English]
And you flip your lid at an aerosol chemist from Auckland who’s trying to inform and educate us about the air we breathe. Are there no bounds to your bias and negativity and have you lost all sound perspective on causes that you choose to be upset by?
Have you ever seen the crap (aka soot) that they trap in filters in those measuring stations in downtown Auckland to measure air pollution? The outside air is not as ‘fresh’ as you seem to think it is.
We developed respiratory diseases.
Here, we have argued that the extensive changes to human ecology and unprecedented physiological consequences brought about by the controlled use of fire in the Pleistocene created ideal conditions for the emergence of TB. It is possible that during this period of significant ecological and social change, range extensions leading to the consumption of novel food sources and altered energy requirements increased exposure of early humans to the natural reservoir of ancestral MTBC, likely the soil. This increased exposure brought about an increasing number of infections and stuttering transmission chains, both of which provided new opportunities for within-host adaptive evolution. Coupled with increasing host-susceptibility to mycobacterial infection attributable to biomass smoke-induced lung damage and the increased opportunities for transmission brought about by the developing social culture that fire use encouraged, we hypothesize that the MTBC precursor evolved an R0 greater than unity relatively quickly, almost guaranteeing MTBC's emergence as a specialized human pathogen.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1603224113
Histological assessment of the lungs of ancient human mummies has shown that anthracosis was a regular disorder in many ancient societies, including the Egyptian, Peruvian, and Aleutian. The only human mummy recovered from ancient Rome (the so-called Grotta Rossa mummy) shows severe anthracosis despite the young age of the person at the time of death.
Thus, indoor pollution produced chronic reduction of the function of the ciliated respiratory epithelium with an increase in the incidence of inflammatory disease of the pulmonary tree. Therefore, the idea that air pollution and its effects is an exclusively modern phenomenon is probably incorrect.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)71971-1/fulltext
In NZ?
There's no connection. Just the usual extremist fuckery.
In the last months of 2020, several Flemish newspapers also published articles about Van Ranst’s 2019 lecture, commenting on how the video corresponds to how he managed communication in the event of a new health crisis.
Mid-December, former president of the Flemish extreme-right Vlaams Belang party, Filip Dewinter, posted a compilation video with excerpts from Van Ranst’s conference in London.
[…]
What actually happened?
On 22 January 2019, Van Ranst took part in a conference of the “Centre on Global Health Security” at Chatham House in partnership with the European Scientific Group on Influenza (ESWI).
The conference was held “to mark the 100th anniversary of the influenza pandemic and to discuss future challenges,” Chatham House told RTBF. “It was a full-day event with guest speakers, including Marc Van Ranst, who spoke about communication in the event of a pandemic.”
In his speech, which lasted just over 23 minutes and can be watched in full here, Van Ranst explained how he managed crisis communication during the outbreak of the swine flu in 2009.
Back then, the authorities were very concerned about the swine flu – the H1N1 virus – and they took great precautions, including the mass purchase of vaccines. However, the announced epidemic proved to be much less severe than initially feared.
In front of an audience of experts, Van Ranst explained how he made sure he was the reference point for various media during that period, using the slogan “one voice, one message.”
“You have to be omnipresent, the first day or days,” he said. “In order to attract the attention of the media, you make an agreement with them: you will tell them everything, and if they call you, you pick up the phone.”
He explained that, by doing so, there will be maximum coverage, and the media will not look for alternative voices. “If you do that, it will be much easier to convey the message.”
https://www.brusselstimes.com/155486/how-to-sell-an-epidemic-a-marc-van-ranst-conspiracy-theory-explained-chatham-house-pandemic-vlaams-belang-h1n1
QFT
Falling over yourself to shoot a messenger while failing to do the research, again, because you’ve already found enough ammunition to blow the other sucker out of the water, metaphorically speaking.
https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/riss/restrict.asp
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/immunisation-handbook-2020/11-influenza
https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2022/01/24/global-guardian-for-vaccine-surveillance.html
Astute as ever.
https://twitter.com/lailaharre/status/1548165963484647424
lol
https://twitter.com/LouisHenwood/status/1548047108363628548
Some comments do not age well. This from well known sports expert on Kiwblog, Kimbo. On the Irish Rugby TV You Tube site. On the comments section of the first test highlights.
"Yeah that aged like milk"
The key thing being Ireland were the better "team". They were clearly more organised on both attack and defence from set play. Thus they had better go forward (Sexton and Aki had it all over Barrett and Havili) – while we had individual athletes (ASavea AIoane and WJordan). And the MOM was Beirne for his breakdown disruption.
It was shocking, the amount of AB passes, Smith included, that went above the shoulder, behind the shoulder, below the knee…
There were very few players running onto the ball and catching it at pace – a la league.
Far too many handling errors.
Cane still looks a little underdone for test rugby.
Then there are some selection issues, too many players playing out of their position and a roster that looks to be creaking with age.
Great performance from Ireland, their competitiveness at the breakdown and the never say die attitude even with the occasional momentum swing.
Congrats to Andy Farrell, Johnathon Sexton, coaches and players for their series win.
Some parallels in winning both in rugby and politics:
1. It's not about hair styles, or posturing.
2. Choose a wise and charismatic leader as captain. Appoint good selectors who in turn should select good team players.
3 Get good advice and have a plan B. If plan B doesn't work, then going back to plan A probably won't either.
4, Safe hands. Don't drop the ball. Keep the opposition pinned well in their half. It's only a game of two halves if you are losing!
5. Discipline and commitment. Turn up, practise, maintain fitness.
6. Support, encourage, have self belief. Never underestimate the opposition.
7. Revisit your strategies, and try to please your fans. The role of the commentators and writers is fairest when neutral. While the referee is fair, learn and play by the rules. The public can be fickle, but you need their money, support and attendance.
8. Remember you will lose eventually. That's the time to relearn 1-7.
As you well know Mac, all failures on the sporting field are down to the government.
And business confidence will plummet, domestic abuse will rise and Mac1 will celebrate his fourth generation Irishness, to the dismay of his walking companions this morning.