Never mind used car salesmen..Those stalwarts of moral virtue have got a deal 4 u!
ANZ has upped the ante, launching an advertised cashback offer with its home loans. The country's biggest bank is offering a $3,000cash contribution for certain home loans taken out. The cash contribution is only available on new home loans fully approved by December 2. They must be 'new' and for $200,000+ with new residential security provided.'
What next minimum trade ins…up to $5000 minimum towards your deposit when you trade in your old banger on a shiny new 30 year mortgage.
lol – pale is racist? stale is ageist? and male is sexist? ffs what a stupid line of reasoning imo – strange you've taken the bait so easily there waggy.
oh and use fulla not falla is my advice for street cred
Why would you use that sentence? Seems to me you are so insecure that you are trying to be a try hard – how about growing up and using the tiny brain you have to debate the point or are you too dim for even that eh boy
btw you sicko – no one would insult a ‘white’ person by saying that to them – shows a lot about you and your deep issues imo
I didn't call it racist, either, and whatever the flavour, the chips on some people's shoulders are always their own head balancers to me, but the articles are quite clear their is a perception pale stale male is used as an insult.
Nope. For certainty, best wait ten minutes before replying. I’ll add an edit only if someone replies before I’ve finished and it changes their comeback. Ta.
I must have gotten distracted after hitting reply. That is not really the point. The point is that people should have a right to know if something has changed since the first time they read it, and that replies may have been drafted based on the original.
It's not my problem how you post comments on The Standard, though as I've written above, if my edit changes the meaning or understanding of another comment made before I've finished, I will tag it as edited.
In this case, in adding two links reporting how pale stale male is recognised as an insult, in context with the thread, no disclaimer was needed. It doesn't or wouldn't have changed your reply, quite clearly, as you haven't mentioned them once since.
On other sites I use, posts are freely editable until someone posts after, at which time they’re tagged and time stamped as edited. Maybe you should petition lprent for something similar.
Akin to the climate around here when controversial moral subjects come up e.g. pot, euthanasia, abortion.
Lump someone with a view at odds with one's own, into a group – anti vaxxers, Trumpians (Trumpets?). Sorted, you can now imply all sorts of undesirable attributes to them and their arguement.
othering? lol – you don't know what that means I think – think about the power dynamics that will help sort it for you imo
Othering is not about liking or disliking someone. It is based on the conscious or unconscious assumption that a certain identified group poses a threat to the favoured group.
I think we're approaching a time when we need to take more care. I don't agree with the reverse racism/sexism part of the article, but I generally agree with his summation, which is what I think he was trying to get at.
Despite the rise of "pale, male and stale" within media discourse and popular culture, it is time to stop and reflect on what it actually is, which is immature name-calling.
Name-calling doesn't advance social causes or arguments. In fact, it does the opposite – it shuts down dialogue. Even worse, it can mean losing allies who were supportive of particular social causes and arguments. Let's return to arguing points, not people.
And of course, the Boomer pejorative fails on class (as well as ageism), because that whole rhetoric makes invisible the elderly poor. Much like Generation Rent which seemed geared towards making gains that previous generations had without acknowledging that poor people have always rented. Didn't hear much about that, or what happens to people who currently retire with no savings and massive rent.
Liberals in particular need to be rethinking this. At the moment we are acting like we're naturally going to win the progressive vs regressive war (because we're righteous, right?), and seem to think we're justified in treating people like shit who aren't on board with whatever issue from a liberal pov. Rising fascism suggests this is a dangerous strategy.
The number of left wing people radicalising away from liberals in the past few years is scary. We can't force people to be liberal and we can't insult them into it either.
I think much of this is a function of social media, and we haven't evolved healthy social norms for dealing with things like the fast pace of change enabled by that, or how to limit the damage from pile ons.
Not suggesting we stop holding wealthy people to account, nor white people for racism and so on. But I do think being more nuanced in our analyses would help, and we desperately need to move to a politics of compassion, calling in, and building relationships across difference.
don't let someone be racist, but address the racism rather than putting the person down? Not saying that is absolute for every situation, but am pointing to the problem we have at the moment of polarisation and how the left tends to think we can force people to change into something we consider better. It's brutal at times and that brutality will not serve society well.
thinking about it, I haven't heard it talked about in a while. It was a concept that arose a few years ago when people started to realise how much damage was being done on social media with pile ons. People were being righteous and calling out racism, sexism, all the isms, but because of the nature of social media the person being called out often ended up humiliated or worse.
So people started talking about the importance of calling people in. Address the racism, sexism etc, in a way that calls people in, helps them belong, enables them to feel like positive change is possible and that they're still valuable as a human being.
From memory, this shift from call out culture to calling in culture arose out of black culture in the US. Or at least that's where I was seeing it come from predominantly, although I saw it spread into other communities as people realised the importance of human connection. I'll see if I can dig up some links.
yeah nah – it's all about who has the power – it is a power trip from the powerful on the less powerful to keep them less powerful and thus retain the power with the powerful.
Othering is not about liking or disliking someone. It is based on the conscious or unconscious assumption that a certain identified group poses a threat to the favoured group.
Well i guess people could say instead "you are a member of the dominant social group and hold the dominant viewpoint of people of that group and this viewpoint has been dominant for a very long time and you should open your mind to the viewpoint and participation of others" but that does sound rather long winded.
For a male, being called, "male" can be completely exposing and once said, can't be unsaid. To avoid being revealed in this way, "one" should dress and act suitably.
There’s a huge mythology that native people here were simpletons, they were primitive, half-naked nomads running around the forest, eating hand-to-mouth whatever they could find. That’s how Europe portrays us. And it’s portrayed us that way for so many centuries that even we’ve started to believe that that’s who we were. The reality is, indigenous nations on this Turtle Island were highly organized.
Articles like these are my bread and butter, marty mars. I wonder if you've read this little extract from somewhere (sorry weka, can't find the link
"I think so many of us have agreements. What I’d like to remind folks is that there was a time on Earth when agriculture didn’t exist. There was the wild plants and animals. People have always been in relationship to them, and I think agriculture as a current concept looks very different in lots of ways. We humans have been shaping the landscape since time immemorial, and we have been in collaboration with all manner of different wild plants and animals for a long, long time. But there was a time in history—some people say it was around 10,000 years ago, although you never know—that there were wild plants. I feel like it was an invitation from the wild, and this is how it’s been told to me. There were wild plants who could see the potential of being in a different sort of relationship with humans, and they invited us into this co-creative dance that we call agriculture.
The plants gave up a little of their wildness, and we humans gave up a little of our wildness too, and we came into this covenant, this sacred covenant or this marriage. In some cultures, it’s spoken of as a marriage. We came into this relationship, and part of those agreements were to take care of one another. We were going to be bound in this reciprocal relationship, to care intimately for one another as we move forward. So that is the foundation of those agreements—that understanding of reciprocity, understanding that when you do well, I do well, and that it is a courtship. There’s an aspect of wanting to ensure that they’re well taken care of, not just because it means nourishment and food for us, but because there’s a deeper sense of love and relationality in that connection."
If you copy and paste a small section of your quote (one sentence will usually do it), and put it in google with " " around each end, it will bring up the link that your quote is from.
There is an expectation here that the person quoting will do that mahi, so that others don't have to. Esp important for people reading on phones because it's much harder to do that kind of search.
That you don't do this puts me in a awkward position, because if you were someone else I'd be moderating by now. I'd appreciate it if you trust the moderators on this, that it's important to cite (with a link where possible) even if it doesn't seem so to you. cheers.
Thanks Incognito. Part of my annoyance at the moment (not with RG specifically, but with how much this is an issue on TS now) is the time I just spent writing that comment could have been spent reading Robert's quote 😉
"Within days of rebel-supplied videos of dead children and adults in the aftermath of the alleged attack in Douma Francois DeLattre, France’s representative at the UN Security Council, said the videos and photos showed victims with “symptoms of a potent nerve agent combined with chlorine gas”.
The Douma fact-finding team quickly discovered this was wrong. Blood and other biological samples taken from alleged victims examined in Turkey (where some had fled after government forces regained control of Douma in mid-April) showed no evidence of nerve agents. Nor was there any in the surrounding buildings or vegetation in Douma. As the Interim Report, published on July 6 2018, put it: “No organophosphorus nerve agents or their degradation products were detected, either in the environmental samples or in plasma samples from the alleged casualties”."
"On July 4 there was another intervention. Fairweather, the chef de cabinet, invited several members of the drafting team to his office. There they found three US officials who were cursorily introduced without making clear which US agencies they represented. The Americans told them emphatically that the Syrian regime had conducted a gas attack, and that the two cylinders found on the roof and upper floor of the building contained 170 kilograms of chlorine. The inspectors left Fairweather’s office, feeling that the invitation to the Americans to address them was unacceptable pressure and a violation of the OPCW’s declared principles of independence and impartiality."
"An open letter to every delegate at the forthcoming OPCW conference calling for the inspectors to be heard has been signed by
Jose Bustani, first Director General of the OPCW
Hans von Sponeck, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator (Iraq)
George Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury
Scott Ritter, UNSCOM Weapons Inspector 1991-1998.
Noam Chomsky, Emeritus Professor, MIT.
John Pilger, Journalist and documentary film maker
Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
Oliver Stone, Film Director, Producer and Writer."
The thing is that anyone with an unbiased view will see that the report that the OPCW did release was full of inconsistencies and omissions.
Very disturbing the appearance of the American officials ,in no uncertain terms dictating the "facts" to those OPCW staff about to write the final report on Douma
Substitute "Russian officials" or "Syrian officials" and stand back for no end of squawking
Just as disturbing UK prosecutors taking instruction from American representatives in the latest Assange court appearance
"What happened next was very instructive. There were five representatives of the US government present (initially three, and two more arrived in the course of the hearing), seated at desks behind the lawyers in court. The prosecution lawyers immediately went into huddle with the US representatives, then went outside the courtroom with them, to decide how to respond on the dates"
I don't worship him – but if you were progressive instead of being the menkurt servants of a murderous kleptiarch you'd have supported the white helmets, and their efforts to help Syrian people.
The common thread between the "dodgy practices of the OPCW " and your demonization of the white helmets of course is that both are part of Moscow created narrative you repeat as thoughtlessly as the sheep in Animal Farm.
Of all the reports and articles provided by on this site it seems you've read none. Of all the Youtube videos the White Helmets have published showing their thuggery and pathetic false flag acting it seems you've chosen to view none.
I guess you dare not for fear of having your ignorance tested, as all you seem to be able to say is "Russia did it. Assad gassed his own people. I don't like Craig Murray."
You're a fool Stuart. That's not an insult just a mere observation.
I wont respond to your comments again. You've nothing to say worth reading let alone replying to.
You're just a parrot Brigid. People who want your perspective need only read RT – it's not as if you analyze anything – which means your opinion is less than worthless, it is in fact a kind of pollution.
The less you intrude your ignorance into grown-up discussion the better.
A very apt connection Stuart After all it was the White Helmets who claimed Douma residents had been killed by nerve agent at the hands of the Syrian govt. The harrowing and widely distributed video was found to be quite misleading. The OPCW found no nerve agent in environmental samples or "victims" who'd made their way to Turkey .The bodies were nowhere to be found
The narrative then changed to weaponised chlorine.This too is disputed by the very team who collected samples in Douma
It also happens to be the only OPCW investigation actually on site with the required chain of custody rules observed
I think I've lost count of the times the Russians have accused the OPCW of lying.
Just as they accused everyone else of lying about MH17, while they produced an endless series of bullshit explanations not realizing how comprehensively contemporary technology had documented their actions.
The Russians are incapable of telling the truth – it has no value to them. And having earned that reputation, they only win mudslinging wars among the credulous 🙂 .
I think it goes a little deeper in fact – to Marxist theory or possibly even to Tzarist times. Back when I was MAF observing, Russian vessels typically kept three or four different sets of books – even asked me on occasion what they should write in the quota record books. The idea that they might record what actually occurred was alien to them.
I am of course aware that international discourse includes a great many lies, but there is a fundamental unconcern for truth in some cases – clarified here if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lArA7nMIqSI
Bit harsh – it's more of a conceptual difference that brings military deception into the strategic and diplomatic level.
When runned by competent leaders, the West tend to tell planned fibs if they want to keep something secret. "Don't believe that, believe this" sort of thing. And then most of the time the actual story leaks out decades later.
The Russians prefer to have multiple arms-length sources make up their own shit about any notable event, so decision-makers get lost in fog. This has the advantage of not just delaying the decision makers, but randoms around the world can pick the theory they like best and adamantly preach it.
No go with your 'conceptual thinking' …they are all bare faced liars …full stop. Only a small portion 'gets out'
in the middle east its the same whether it was Saddam , Erdogan, Assad or Netanyahu.
Have you seen the recent bare faced lies by NZDF …and they couldnt shoot down a low flying balloon…..and the con job they do do on the taxpayer here about 'highly trained but not well equipped'
I relate the habit of untruth in part to the severity of Soviet and quite probably preSoviet oppression. Telling the truth under Stalin was an almost suicidal level of romantic excess. But western countries have traditionally extended some kind of protection, however imperfect, to truth tellers and whistleblowers, so that the notion is, whatever else it might be, not absurd.
NZDF changed their story multiple times, but said only one story at a time.
If they'd followed maskirovka, they'd have said fuckall while various publications were slipped conflicting and massively unlikely alternative explanations to "hit and run".
Things were obviously pretty stressful for us yesterday so I've just caught up with OM. Disappointing, but not at all surprising to see that some people don't consider 'only' 4 possible related deaths aren't enough to satisfy them. And variations on the theme of 'oh well x number of epileptics die every year anyway'. Talking points that are currently being seen in several commenting sections on social media/message boards, and that have originated with Pharmac. So either you're just not creative enough to come up with your own arguments, or you're on the payroll of certain government agencies who are desperately trying to deflect. At least try to be original, ok??
If people STILL sincerely believe Pharmac are in the right over this one, despite ALL the evidence against them, then all I can do is feel very, very sorry for you, suggest you get yourself some intensive counselling for your denial problems and hope that you are never at their mercy.
I'm not going to engage anymore on this for the time being, the stress has made me really ill, and watching Guyon's interview with "Dr" Ken Clark yesterday left me wanting to physically harm the man and I'm not a violent person. Debriefing with my colleagues later, I was not alone!
But a brief summay/conclusion/points to dwell on.
*Medsafe said it's dangerous, don't do it.
*International best practice guidelines said it's dangerous to switch brands, don't do it.
*Pharmac did it
*It's subsequently proven to be dangerous to some people, including possible deaths,
*There are OIA documents showing Pharmac knew there were likely to be problems
*This is all about money, not best clinical practice, not what's best for NZers, as Dr Clark says.
*There is NOT an issue with generics. There is just some categories of drugs where it's not safe to switch brands. Like heavy duty brain drugs. Pharmac will try this again, this is not the first time people have been harmed by this practice
*Pharmac keep crying '"capped budget." We have to ask why does it have to be capped with no real increases for years?
*We should be concerned that senior public servants blatantly lie and deliberately mislead the media, the public, their Ministers and the Health Select Committee, even while being showing the documents that state evidence to the contrary. Is there no code of ethics? Where does employment law come into this? HOW can this keep happening and they don't lose their jobs?
Thanks Kay, appreciate your work on this. I hadn't been following so it was an eye opener yesterday to read one of the comments and a link that showed how many people with epilepsy die (I had no idea) i.e we already know that people are at risk, and how unbelievably stupid Pharmac have been over this given what was known ahead of time.
I was pretty surprised to see the unusually insensitive only 4 deaths comment too.
Those families that have had this happen doesnt help them if there has been a change of meds to something that is chemically the same, but its ‘not considered to be the same’
Epilepsy New Zealand president and neurologist Peter Bergin said the switch could have "major consequences" for a "small but significant" group of people. "I think it's an unnecessary risk that Pharmac have taken.
He said in theory Logem should be the same as the Arrow and Lamictal brands Pharmac had been funding, but the issue was whether it was absorbed into the body at the same rate. "As a neurologist, I'm slightly uncertain about whether the absorption characteristics in the different tablets are going to be exactly the same." He said for most people there would be a 10-20 percent difference in absorption and that would not cause problems, but for some people who had been seizure-free but "who are just on the edge", it could be enough to cause seizure recurrence.
"The real difficulty is that we won't know whether people who have seizures have done so because they've changed the drug. The reality is that even if someone has been seizure-free for a year, there's no guarantee they'll remain seizure-free for the next year."
Thanks for that , I understand its not clear cut if they are identical even if the chemical formula is the same.
I just thought the people scare mongering over 'getting the Police people are dying' side needed to know epilepsy can always cause your death in a number of ways.
In one radio interview a woman said she was carefully making the transition but being easily scared had become very fearful listening the doom laden rhetoric. Maybe we should wait and see if the fault can be identified.
My son's friend died at 27years from a nightime epilepsy event some 5 years ago. Tragic but part of the awful risk from epilepsy but nothing to do with the current changes.
This question has been addressed and was buried in a link in a discussion thread in Open mike 13/11/2019:
SIGNIFICANCE:
Some neurologists question whether bioequivalence in healthy volunteers ensures therapeutic equivalence of brand and generic antiepileptic drugs in patients with epilepsy, who may be at increased risk for problems with brand-to-generic switching. Bioequivalence results in "generic-brittle" patients with epilepsy under clinical conditions support the soundness of the FDA bioequivalence standards. Adverse events on generic were not related to the small, allowable PK differences between generic and brand.
Following up with the bit about necessary health rationing also came across a bit like 'some people have to die'. Which is brutally true but again framing matters.
The thing I'm with most right now is the number of people with a very stressful and scary condition who must be additionally stressed by not knowing what is going on. Just on that level alone questions should be being asked about how this whole thing has been handled.
Fair enough. I think I read it reasonably right at the time and it seemed out of character for you. Not the wanting to apply rationality, but the insensitivity.
"And that fear will in no small part be encouraged by the headlines about deaths that imply causation without evidence"
I was under the impression that critiques in the 12 months before the change that it was clear that there would be negative effects from the change (albeit Pharmac presumably wasn't expecting deaths). Even without MSM current focus on deaths, this was a widely discussed issue for those that were paying attention (i.e. people with epilepsy) and the deaths would have been known about on social media anyway (but with less scrutiny perhaps). I'm sure there's always room for improvement in MSM coverage.
Do you know why they didn't leave existing patients on the old medicine and have new patients on the generic? I gather part of the issue is that where people with epilepsy are stable on one med it's best practice to not mess with that.
They would have wanted as many people on the cheaper labels as possible. This would free up more funds to improve the quality and length of life for other patients.
From what I gather, Pharmac normally go through a pretty solid analysis that does account for quality of life as well as lives extended. So if that process wasn't followed, that would be a bad decision. Alternatively, if they did the transfer and it had worse repercussions than calculated, the question arises as to why the predictions were off.
If that system is broken, fair call. There will be investigations, maybe resignations and hearings, and compensation claims. Otherwise, basically people are lobbying to get more than their fair allocation of health funds.
And there's a conflict between my (admittedly thin) impulse to listen to the fears of people who are about as safe yesterday as they are today, and my impulse to ask how much money we will spend to allay those fears when other people have more demonstrable drug needs.
I'm saying that the declared number seems to be within the range of what one would expect without any label change (40-60 per year). A closer analysis of person/years might demonstrate that change from four cases (or at least make a reasonable basis for concerns it despite wide confidence intervals).
But at this stage there are a lot of discussions on a variety of platforms seemingly suggesting that the label change killed 4 people. Which is a load of bullshit given the available information (and pharmac/carm probably don't have too much more information than already released: specific dates and doses, but possibly not much more).
The number of deaths may be an anomaly but apparently 26 reports of adverse reactions to lamotrigine since brand switch began in May have been reported to the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM).
There's reasonably evidence that the theory is right, yeah? (seizures are dangerous for a % of sufferers, changing meds can make seizures more likely).
How would they establish causation in specific cases?
Around 4 people or so die every month who have no obvious causes other than they have epilesy . Some dont even have a siezure and just die in their sleep.
Maybe 5x that number each month have early death due to the burden epilepsy puts on their personal health.
That seems to be unrelated to the brand name of their medications
I haven't engaged in the debate partly because I'm having trouble understanding that they continue in the face of overwhelming evidence, and even death.
YES – police need to be involved as this is criminal.
PHARMAC has reversed their decision so they are not continuing.
At this stage, nobody knows if and how the brand switch may have contributed to any of the four deaths. All we know, from the media reports, is that they had in common being epilepsy sufferers and had switched brands. The deaths have been referred to the coroner.
What “overwhelming evidence” are you referring to?
Hmmm, maybe it’s clearer when reading PHARMAC’s latest press release.
Patients taking lamotrigine who have concerns about the change can talk with their doctor about remaining on their current brand as PHARMAC has widened the criteria for lamotrigine exceptional circumstances.
…
PHARMAC will continue to fund the brand those people are currently on or were originally on before the change through the exceptional circumstances process.
…
“If people have concerns, we encourage them to talk to their doctor. Their doctor can apply to PHARMAC, through our exceptional circumstances process, for continued funding of the brand they took before the funding change,” concludes Dr Clark.
I read this as being a reversal, albeit a temporary one possibly, and patients and their GP’s now have the choice; I’d assume the application process will be swift and nothing more than a formality. The unspoken issue is that, as always, effective healthcare depends on effective communication between patient and GP. It may not always be crystal clear where the onus is and who takes responsibility for what. A good relationship with your doctor is important.
A press release is not a substitute for information to doctors and patients. As I said, the onus is on them to find out relevant information, if they don’t already have it, and do what they think is best for them. Medical decisions, such as prescriptions and patient care are not the responsibility of PHARMAC.
In a statement, Pharmac's medical director Dr Ken Clark said "we understand the news of the three deaths of patients taking Lamotrigine will concern people. We don't know if this is linked to the brand change – and we don't want people to stop taking their medication out of fear so we're making it easier for people to stay on their current brand if their doctor believes it is the right thing for them."
Nevertheless, the Medsafe advice to Pharmac against forcing a switch to Logem makes sobering reading. Not because an increased risk of death, which hasn't been demonstrated, but because of the extreme adverse effects on the quality of life that would be suffered by those whose epilepsy went from well-controlled to not well-controlled because of the switch.
People who are experts on medical statistics have a field day with the bizarre health claims in most media . It works both ways on 'deaths from' and 'saved by'.
This big fiddle with the numbers has been revealed in 'Sports Science' which is a small part of the Cult of Statistical Significance
eg ‘How many molecules do you suppose you share with William Shakespeare? We mean molecules in your body that were once in his? Surprisingly, the correct answer, in view of the immense number of molecules in a human body and the operation of decay and Brownian motion, is “quite a few.”. but its meaningless of course , even if you live in England like he did.
Yeah. That's why I find the "quality of life" argument put forward by Medsafe to be compelling, while my initial reaction to the reports of deaths is I don't yet see a reason to believe those are anything more than the normal background rate of incidences of SUDEP.
In the case of lamotrigine, it seems that most of those that need it would successfully switch. I'll speculate that due to the complexity and variability of humans and what ails us, there may even be some who would do better from switching.
But now with the enormous adverse publicity that has come about, significant nocebo effects are probably in play by now.
I think that there’s enough information to raise suspicion and act upon it based on the precautionary principle, which is exactly what happened. From what I’ve read, it does look like PHARMAC made a few debatable judgement calls.
‘Some experts state that the nocebo effect may have a larger effect on clinical outcomes than the placebo effect as negative perceptions are formed much faster than positive ones.’
Grateful thanks to you, Kay for the frequent postings and warnings about the change-over to generics. Sympathy to all those who have now suffered because Pharmac did not listen or seemingly care. Any life lost is a tragedy. Hoping you are all back on your previous medication now.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director Ian Powell says annual DHB budget planning processes have become farcical.
“DHBs are being pressured to find mythical savings that are then not realised. It is a wasteful and futile exercise in wishful thinking, he says.
“Proper budget planning to meet the predicted actual operational costs of providing quality and accessible patient care would avoid the necessity for equity injections and would enable DHBs to engage in long-term planning, rather than chasing short-term savings that risk the standard of and access to patient care.”
Mr Powell says Health Minister David Clark must show leadership and encourage the Ministry of Health to face reality. “He must ensure that health funding in next year’s Budget meets the estimated operational costs of district health boards providing quality care to their patients.
“At present Dr Clark is busy trying to have it both ways. He blames the previous National government for underfunding, but at the same time implies that DHBs should be able to make ends meet.
Compared with the Nats health budget tricks, where 'new money' was only given to DHBs to pay off debt, and even when the debt was transferred to the Crown accounts , the DHBs still had to pay interest on the debt transferred !
But the headlines for Steven 'Hole in his pocket' Joyce before the election said "$900 mill more for DHBs. Actual money may vary ."
Anyway the whole DHB budget thing is an exercise in Theology, as they have to fund depreciation and the Crown asset charge from operational expenditure. They can never keep up, as they replace old buildings just opening the doors on new pushes their deficit through the roof.
Seems as though Treasury dont tell publically what it is .
In reality, the cost of government debt is say less than 2%
The capital charge along with its handmaiden for erosion of public service – the 2% annual spending efficiency savings often met by just dropping regulatory or other tasks
AOC's onto it. The dayglo swampzilla isn't happy with just a piddling one article of impeachment, he wants the bestest and bigliest impeachment of them all.
'Get me Roger Stone' is a morbidly fascinating look at this political operator and his shenanagins.
Going right back to before Nixon was president, Stone has been manipulating, including using a younger Trump to split candidate selection to ensure the horse he was backing got picked.
'Get me Roger Stone' is a morbidly fascinating look at this political operator and his shenanagins.
Watched it again last night to remind me of the history behind Stone, Manafort, Trump etc, to put into context the events of the last year or so (and this morning's verdict). Talk about what goes round comes round. I still think Trump may survive impeachment, and win 2020, but my hope that I'm wrong is increasing. The whole body politic over there is awash with corporate money and corruption, and transformational change is required. Go Bernie.
Why do all the pictures you take underwater look blandly blue-green? The answer has to do with how light travels through water. Derya Akkaynak, an oceangoing engineer, has figured out a way to recover the colorful brilliance of the deep.
Love it – that will tear the imposter up big time – very nice move – he will react very poorly I think and overstep the mark – hopefully bigtime cos the scarlet pimplesmell has to go
Another multistorey fire in the UK, this time a student dorm. Apparently everyone got out. Suggestions that building cladding might be an issue again.
If the cladding really is an issue after Grenfell, that's outrageous.
Additionally, the uni is relocating students and providing support, but pulling the line that the block isn't owned or operated by them. Gotta love that "plausible capitalist deniability".
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
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Never mind used car salesmen..Those stalwarts of moral virtue have got a deal 4 u!
ANZ has upped the ante, launching an advertised cash back offer with its home loans. The country's biggest bank is offering a $3,000 cash contribution for certain home loans taken out. The cash contribution is only available on new home loans fully approved by December 2. They must be 'new' and for $200,000+ with new residential security provided.'
What next minimum trade ins…up to $5000 minimum towards your deposit when you trade in your old banger on a shiny new 30 year mortgage.
Hardly news . Similar cash backs of various amounts have been around for mortgages for ages.
Well nothing is 'news' to you DOE…..that's for sure.
Im pretty sure Kiwi Bank are also offering $3k
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/117416630/punching-up-with-ok-boomer-and-pale-male-stale-may-get-a-laugh-but-theyre-just-air-swings
This maori falla reakons "pale ,stale ,male" is sexist ,ageist and racist!!
lol – pale is racist? stale is ageist? and male is sexist? ffs what a stupid line of reasoning imo – strange you've taken the bait so easily there waggy.
oh and use fulla not falla is my advice for street cred
Funny that you so quickly jumped in to defend name calling towards us honkies.
I thought progressives are the better people who rise above name calling.
As for street cred, I have always been so uncool that I'm almost hip. 😎
well ok then how is pale racist? In your own words if you can would be good mate.
Pale on it's own is just a word . Context is everything.
You look a bit pale.
You pale old cunt.
Why would you use that sentence? Seems to me you are so insecure that you are trying to be a try hard – how about growing up and using the tiny brain you have to debate the point or are you too dim for even that eh boy
btw you sicko – no one would insult a ‘white’ person by saying that to them – shows a lot about you and your deep issues imo
Humm so you've made it personal and I'm the one with the problem??
You are just a sad little bully
Perhaps if you actually attempted to explain how pale is racist marty would have something substantive to reply to.
Isn't pale stale male the same as old white old man?
Jenkin’s law.
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/12/white-men-dehumanising-insult-times/
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/15/pale-stale-males-blamed-brexit-trump
I've put what i understand it to mean at 2.4 below.
But i wouldn't have thought "old white man" was racist either.
please put "edit" before your links, they weren't there when i replied.
I didn't call it racist, either, and whatever the flavour, the chips on some people's shoulders are always their own head balancers to me, but the articles are quite clear their is a perception pale stale male is used as an insult.
Nope. For certainty, best wait ten minutes before replying. I’ll add an edit only if someone replies before I’ve finished and it changes their comeback. Ta.
I suggested that bwag "explain how pale is racist" and then you jump in so reasonable to assume you thought so.
For certainty, best wait ten minutes before replying.
Oh yes what a good idea we should all do that
As it happens, my post at 10.47, with a 10 minute edit window, means your post at 11.01 was made 14 minutes later. Just saying.
I must have gotten distracted after hitting reply. That is not really the point. The point is that people should have a right to know if something has changed since the first time they read it, and that replies may have been drafted based on the original.
It's not my problem how you post comments on The Standard, though as I've written above, if my edit changes the meaning or understanding of another comment made before I've finished, I will tag it as edited.
In this case, in adding two links reporting how pale stale male is recognised as an insult, in context with the thread, no disclaimer was needed. It doesn't or wouldn't have changed your reply, quite clearly, as you haven't mentioned them once since.
On other sites I use, posts are freely editable until someone posts after, at which time they’re tagged and time stamped as edited. Maybe you should petition lprent for something similar.
It is the same as calling someone darkie, it is a racist slur.
blub blub no one forced you to write what you wrote – take responsibility and debate the topic like you said you wanted to
how is pale racist?
depends on context
example given that isn't an example
try again?
Marty and bwaghorn, please stop with the ad homs and personal attacks There's plenty of politics here without getting personal.
You are the most toxic piece of shit who is obviously over compensating for something.
Pale becomes racist once you use it as part of a put down .
Age becomes ageist once it's used as a put down
[24 hour time out for continuing abuse when asked to stop. This is flame war stuff and I don’t want to spend my weekend putting out fires – weka]
yeah it's called brains.
Pale can be racist when used as a put-down.
Stale can be ageist when used as a put-down.
Male can be sexist when used as a put-down.
But isn't it relatively mild stuff – like water off a Don's back.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/314556/don-brash-a-tragicomedy-in-five-parts
If I don't particularly warm to the phrase, that might be because I'm a pale male – and we're all of us getting 'stale'
https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/m/male_pale_stale.asp
https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1044247-old-man-yells-at-cloud
Marty and bwaghorn, please stop with the ad homs and personal attacks There's plenty of politics here without getting personal.
"They're PASSIONATE about what they do"
(which kind of leaves me worrying about what sort of relationships they have – since I'm just such a caring, sharing kinda guy)
Apologies in advance
The bald truth, eh!
Hirsuitist as!
Yes, at its best it's 'othering'.
Akin to the climate around here when controversial moral subjects come up e.g. pot, euthanasia, abortion.
Lump someone with a view at odds with one's own, into a group – anti vaxxers, Trumpians (Trumpets?). Sorted, you can now imply all sorts of undesirable attributes to them and their arguement.
othering? lol – you don't know what that means I think – think about the power dynamics that will help sort it for you imo
I think we're approaching a time when we need to take more care. I don't agree with the reverse racism/sexism part of the article, but I generally agree with his summation, which is what I think he was trying to get at.
And of course, the Boomer pejorative fails on class (as well as ageism), because that whole rhetoric makes invisible the elderly poor. Much like Generation Rent which seemed geared towards making gains that previous generations had without acknowledging that poor people have always rented. Didn't hear much about that, or what happens to people who currently retire with no savings and massive rent.
Liberals in particular need to be rethinking this. At the moment we are acting like we're naturally going to win the progressive vs regressive war (because we're righteous, right?), and seem to think we're justified in treating people like shit who aren't on board with whatever issue from a liberal pov. Rising fascism suggests this is a dangerous strategy.
The number of left wing people radicalising away from liberals in the past few years is scary. We can't force people to be liberal and we can't insult them into it either.
I think much of this is a function of social media, and we haven't evolved healthy social norms for dealing with things like the fast pace of change enabled by that, or how to limit the damage from pile ons.
Not suggesting we stop holding wealthy people to account, nor white people for racism and so on. But I do think being more nuanced in our analyses would help, and we desperately need to move to a politics of compassion, calling in, and building relationships across difference.
"and seem to think we're justified in treating people like shit who aren't on board with whatever issue from a liberal pov"
Not sure what you mean by this.
If we don't hold the line then what's the point. If I let someone be racist then why bother trying to stop others.
don't let someone be racist, but address the racism rather than putting the person down? Not saying that is absolute for every situation, but am pointing to the problem we have at the moment of polarisation and how the left tends to think we can force people to change into something we consider better. It's brutal at times and that brutality will not serve society well.
You know about the calling in thing right?
No I'm not sure I do know what that means – I think I do but…
thinking about it, I haven't heard it talked about in a while. It was a concept that arose a few years ago when people started to realise how much damage was being done on social media with pile ons. People were being righteous and calling out racism, sexism, all the isms, but because of the nature of social media the person being called out often ended up humiliated or worse.
So people started talking about the importance of calling people in. Address the racism, sexism etc, in a way that calls people in, helps them belong, enables them to feel like positive change is possible and that they're still valuable as a human being.
From memory, this shift from call out culture to calling in culture arose out of black culture in the US. Or at least that's where I was seeing it come from predominantly, although I saw it spread into other communities as people realised the importance of human connection. I'll see if I can dig up some links.
At it's heart, othering is the reinforcement of the idea that 'they' are not like 'me', therefore 'I' can lack empathy or care for 'them'.
Be it red heads, spectacle wearers, tories, folk who lisp, LGBTQQIA etc.
I am heartened that my son's generation (he is nearly 18) are a lot more inclusive than I was at his age.
yeah nah – it's all about who has the power – it is a power trip from the powerful on the less powerful to keep them less powerful and thus retain the power with the powerful.
Well i guess people could say instead "you are a member of the dominant social group and hold the dominant viewpoint of people of that group and this viewpoint has been dominant for a very long time and you should open your mind to the viewpoint and participation of others" but that does sound rather long winded.
Pale surely is a complexionist term and can be dwedfilly hurtful.
For a male, being called, "male" can be completely exposing and once said, can't be unsaid. To avoid being revealed in this way, "one" should dress and act suitably.
Ha! Yes, exactly.
Interesting series of articles
Articles like these are my bread and butter, marty mars. I wonder if you've read this little extract from somewhere (sorry weka, can't find the link
"I think so many of us have agreements. What I’d like to remind folks is that there was a time on Earth when agriculture didn’t exist. There was the wild plants and animals. People have always been in relationship to them, and I think agriculture as a current concept looks very different in lots of ways. We humans have been shaping the landscape since time immemorial, and we have been in collaboration with all manner of different wild plants and animals for a long, long time. But there was a time in history—some people say it was around 10,000 years ago, although you never know—that there were wild plants. I feel like it was an invitation from the wild, and this is how it’s been told to me. There were wild plants who could see the potential of being in a different sort of relationship with humans, and they invited us into this co-creative dance that we call agriculture.
The plants gave up a little of their wildness, and we humans gave up a little of our wildness too, and we came into this covenant, this sacred covenant or this marriage. In some cultures, it’s spoken of as a marriage. We came into this relationship, and part of those agreements were to take care of one another. We were going to be bound in this reciprocal relationship, to care intimately for one another as we move forward. So that is the foundation of those agreements—that understanding of reciprocity, understanding that when you do well, I do well, and that it is a courtship. There’s an aspect of wanting to ensure that they’re well taken care of, not just because it means nourishment and food for us, but because there’s a deeper sense of love and relationality in that connection."
https://emergencemagazine.org/story/reseeding-the-food-system/
I'm causing so much trouble!
"water off a Don's back" was classic!
"sorry weka, can't find the link"
If you copy and paste a small section of your quote (one sentence will usually do it), and put it in google with " " around each end, it will bring up the link that your quote is from.
There is an expectation here that the person quoting will do that mahi, so that others don't have to. Esp important for people reading on phones because it's much harder to do that kind of search.
That you don't do this puts me in a awkward position, because if you were someone else I'd be moderating by now. I'd appreciate it if you trust the moderators on this, that it's important to cite (with a link where possible) even if it doesn't seem so to you. cheers.
Yes, good point, weka, that’s what I did and by doing so, I was doing Robert a favour and making it easier on the moderators 😉
Thanks Incognito. Part of my annoyance at the moment (not with RG specifically, but with how much this is an issue on TS now) is the time I just spent writing that comment could have been spent reading Robert's quote 😉
Gee thanks Weka. I learned from you how to find the source of quotes. Very handy!
You're welcome!
More trouble at the OPCW
Undue political interference on the final Douma report
Seems like the chlorine samples found were minimal and no different to environmental samples collected from outside the impact area
I have a feeling this isn't going to go away.
Written by Jonathan Steele, long time writer for the Guardian , and Middle East eye
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/15/the-opcw-and-douma-chemical-weapons-watchdog-accused-of-evidence-tampering-by-its-own-inspectors/
This is fairly serious
"Within days of rebel-supplied videos of dead children and adults in the aftermath of the alleged attack in Douma Francois DeLattre, France’s representative at the UN Security Council, said the videos and photos showed victims with “symptoms of a potent nerve agent combined with chlorine gas”.
The Douma fact-finding team quickly discovered this was wrong. Blood and other biological samples taken from alleged victims examined in Turkey (where some had fled after government forces regained control of Douma in mid-April) showed no evidence of nerve agents. Nor was there any in the surrounding buildings or vegetation in Douma. As the Interim Report, published on July 6 2018, put it: “No organophosphorus nerve agents or their degradation products were detected, either in the environmental samples or in plasma samples from the alleged casualties”."
"On July 4 there was another intervention. Fairweather, the chef de cabinet, invited several members of the drafting team to his office. There they found three US officials who were cursorily introduced without making clear which US agencies they represented. The Americans told them emphatically that the Syrian regime had conducted a gas attack, and that the two cylinders found on the roof and upper floor of the building contained 170 kilograms of chlorine. The inspectors left Fairweather’s office, feeling that the invitation to the Americans to address them was unacceptable pressure and a violation of the OPCW’s declared principles of independence and impartiality."
"An open letter to every delegate at the forthcoming OPCW conference calling for the inspectors to be heard has been signed by
Jose Bustani, first Director General of the OPCW
Hans von Sponeck, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator (Iraq)
George Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury
Scott Ritter, UNSCOM Weapons Inspector 1991-1998.
Noam Chomsky, Emeritus Professor, MIT.
John Pilger, Journalist and documentary film maker
Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
Oliver Stone, Film Director, Producer and Writer."
The thing is that anyone with an unbiased view will see that the report that the OPCW did release was full of inconsistencies and omissions.
Very disturbing the appearance of the American officials ,in no uncertain terms dictating the "facts" to those OPCW staff about to write the final report on Douma
Substitute "Russian officials" or "Syrian officials" and stand back for no end of squawking
Just as disturbing UK prosecutors taking instruction from American representatives in the latest Assange court appearance
"What happened next was very instructive. There were five representatives of the US government present (initially three, and two more arrived in the course of the hearing), seated at desks behind the lawyers in court. The prosecution lawyers immediately went into huddle with the US representatives, then went outside the courtroom with them, to decide how to respond on the dates"
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/10/assange-in-court/
I notice the mysterious death of the white helmet founder did not disturb you – doesn't fit your narrative I guess.
Russia's intelligence forces are off the leash, and you're cheering them on.
What is the connection between Le Mesurier and the dodgy practices of the OPCW ?
Or do you know something we don't?
Do tell.
Actually I doubt you know anything much of consequence which is why you need to try to deflect from the topic.
I'd say though, that your worship of Le Mesurier is not shared by many Syrians.
Or Kosovoians.
I don't worship him – but if you were progressive instead of being the menkurt servants of a murderous kleptiarch you'd have supported the white helmets, and their efforts to help Syrian people.
The common thread between the "dodgy practices of the OPCW " and your demonization of the white helmets of course is that both are part of Moscow created narrative you repeat as thoughtlessly as the sheep in Animal Farm.
Of all the reports and articles provided by on this site it seems you've read none. Of all the Youtube videos the White Helmets have published showing their thuggery and pathetic false flag acting it seems you've chosen to view none.
I guess you dare not for fear of having your ignorance tested, as all you seem to be able to say is "Russia did it. Assad gassed his own people. I don't like Craig Murray."
You're a fool Stuart. That's not an insult just a mere observation.
I wont respond to your comments again. You've nothing to say worth reading let alone replying to.
You're just a parrot Brigid. People who want your perspective need only read RT – it's not as if you analyze anything – which means your opinion is less than worthless, it is in fact a kind of pollution.
The less you intrude your ignorance into grown-up discussion the better.
A very apt connection Stuart After all it was the White Helmets who claimed Douma residents had been killed by nerve agent at the hands of the Syrian govt. The harrowing and widely distributed video was found to be quite misleading. The OPCW found no nerve agent in environmental samples or "victims" who'd made their way to Turkey .The bodies were nowhere to be found
The narrative then changed to weaponised chlorine.This too is disputed by the very team who collected samples in Douma
It also happens to be the only OPCW investigation actually on site with the required chain of custody rules observed
Oh dear , it seems the White Helmets were lying
It's amazing what can seem to be made to seem like lies, if one humours the disinformatsia of professional propagandists.
So now the OPCW team at Douma are liars
hokay
I think I've lost count of the times the Russians have accused the OPCW of lying.
Just as they accused everyone else of lying about MH17, while they produced an endless series of bullshit explanations not realizing how comprehensively contemporary technology had documented their actions.
The Russians are incapable of telling the truth – it has no value to them. And having earned that reputation, they only win mudslinging wars among the credulous 🙂 .
Yep . And the Ukrainians lied when they shot down the Russian airliner over the Black Sea
And US lied when the US Navy shot down a Iranian civil airliner on its scheduled route…some bull%$#@ about diving on to them
Airliner shootdown are more common than you would think….of course you are fully aware of ALL these …not
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airliner_shootdown_incidents#1990s
I think it goes a little deeper in fact – to Marxist theory or possibly even to Tzarist times. Back when I was MAF observing, Russian vessels typically kept three or four different sets of books – even asked me on occasion what they should write in the quota record books. The idea that they might record what actually occurred was alien to them.
I am of course aware that international discourse includes a great many lies, but there is a fundamental unconcern for truth in some cases – clarified here if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lArA7nMIqSI
Bit harsh – it's more of a conceptual difference that brings military deception into the strategic and diplomatic level.
When runned by competent leaders, the West tend to tell planned fibs if they want to keep something secret. "Don't believe that, believe this" sort of thing. And then most of the time the actual story leaks out decades later.
The Russians prefer to have multiple arms-length sources make up their own shit about any notable event, so decision-makers get lost in fog. This has the advantage of not just delaying the decision makers, but randoms around the world can pick the theory they like best and adamantly preach it.
No go with your 'conceptual thinking' …they are all bare faced liars …full stop. Only a small portion 'gets out'
in the middle east its the same whether it was Saddam , Erdogan, Assad or Netanyahu.
Have you seen the recent bare faced lies by NZDF …and they couldnt shoot down a low flying balloon…..and the con job they do do on the taxpayer here about 'highly trained but not well equipped'
I relate the habit of untruth in part to the severity of Soviet and quite probably preSoviet oppression. Telling the truth under Stalin was an almost suicidal level of romantic excess. But western countries have traditionally extended some kind of protection, however imperfect, to truth tellers and whistleblowers, so that the notion is, whatever else it might be, not absurd.
NZDF changed their story multiple times, but said only one story at a time.
If they'd followed maskirovka, they'd have said fuckall while various publications were slipped conflicting and massively unlikely alternative explanations to "hit and run".
Things were obviously pretty stressful for us yesterday so I've just caught up with OM. Disappointing, but not at all surprising to see that some people don't consider 'only' 4 possible related deaths aren't enough to satisfy them. And variations on the theme of 'oh well x number of epileptics die every year anyway'. Talking points that are currently being seen in several commenting sections on social media/message boards, and that have originated with Pharmac. So either you're just not creative enough to come up with your own arguments, or you're on the payroll of certain government agencies who are desperately trying to deflect. At least try to be original, ok??
If people STILL sincerely believe Pharmac are in the right over this one, despite ALL the evidence against them, then all I can do is feel very, very sorry for you, suggest you get yourself some intensive counselling for your denial problems and hope that you are never at their mercy.
I'm not going to engage anymore on this for the time being, the stress has made me really ill, and watching Guyon's interview with "Dr" Ken Clark yesterday left me wanting to physically harm the man and I'm not a violent person. Debriefing with my colleagues later, I was not alone!
But a brief summay/conclusion/points to dwell on.
*Medsafe said it's dangerous, don't do it.
*International best practice guidelines said it's dangerous to switch brands, don't do it.
*Pharmac did it
*It's subsequently proven to be dangerous to some people, including possible deaths,
*There are OIA documents showing Pharmac knew there were likely to be problems
*This is all about money, not best clinical practice, not what's best for NZers, as Dr Clark says.
*There is NOT an issue with generics. There is just some categories of drugs where it's not safe to switch brands. Like heavy duty brain drugs. Pharmac will try this again, this is not the first time people have been harmed by this practice
*Pharmac keep crying '"capped budget." We have to ask why does it have to be capped with no real increases for years?
*We should be concerned that senior public servants blatantly lie and deliberately mislead the media, the public, their Ministers and the Health Select Committee, even while being showing the documents that state evidence to the contrary. Is there no code of ethics? Where does employment law come into this? HOW can this keep happening and they don't lose their jobs?
Thanks Kay, appreciate your work on this. I hadn't been following so it was an eye opener yesterday to read one of the comments and a link that showed how many people with epilepsy die (I had no idea) i.e we already know that people are at risk, and how unbelievably stupid Pharmac have been over this given what was known ahead of time.
I was pretty surprised to see the unusually insensitive only 4 deaths comment too.
Take care, hope you get some restorative time.
Appreciate what Kay has said , but 60 people die in NZ every year from Epilepsy related 'causes' ( SUDEP).
https://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/health-a-z/e/epilepsy/
Others say Sudep is only 18% of all epilepsy related deaths, as just having epilepsy is considerable burden on your system
https://www.otago.ac.nz/bhrc/news/otago629839.html
Those families that have had this happen doesnt help them if there has been a change of meds to something that is chemically the same, but its ‘not considered to be the same’
My emphasis.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/399908/seizures-driving-stand-downs-as-pharmac-pulls-epilepsy-drug-funding
Thanks for that , I understand its not clear cut if they are identical even if the chemical formula is the same.
I just thought the people scare mongering over 'getting the Police people are dying' side needed to know epilepsy can always cause your death in a number of ways.
In one radio interview a woman said she was carefully making the transition but being easily scared had become very fearful listening the doom laden rhetoric. Maybe we should wait and see if the fault can be identified.
My son's friend died at 27years from a nightime epilepsy event some 5 years ago. Tragic but part of the awful risk from epilepsy but nothing to do with the current changes.
This question has been addressed and was buried in a link in a discussion thread in Open mike 13/11/2019:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26201987
However, there are still some lingering (and legal) doubts about the current regulatory requirements:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31626574
Please note the years of publication; the first link was cited in the second one.
I didn't say "only" 4.
I asked if the rate was any different from what it would have been without any change in label.
It might be "insensitive", but it's a necessary question when it comes to judging health funding decisions.
could have been framed a bit differently I think.
Following up with the bit about necessary health rationing also came across a bit like 'some people have to die'. Which is brutally true but again framing matters.
The thing I'm with most right now is the number of people with a very stressful and scary condition who must be additionally stressed by not knowing what is going on. Just on that level alone questions should be being asked about how this whole thing has been handled.
And that fear will in no small part be encouraged by the headlines about deaths that imply causation without evidence.
I do try to consider criticism of my comments fairly, but I prefer to be criticised on what I actually wrote.
Fair enough. I think I read it reasonably right at the time and it seemed out of character for you. Not the wanting to apply rationality, but the insensitivity.
"And that fear will in no small part be encouraged by the headlines about deaths that imply causation without evidence"
I was under the impression that critiques in the 12 months before the change that it was clear that there would be negative effects from the change (albeit Pharmac presumably wasn't expecting deaths). Even without MSM current focus on deaths, this was a widely discussed issue for those that were paying attention (i.e. people with epilepsy) and the deaths would have been known about on social media anyway (but with less scrutiny perhaps). I'm sure there's always room for improvement in MSM coverage.
Do you know why they didn't leave existing patients on the old medicine and have new patients on the generic? I gather part of the issue is that where people with epilepsy are stable on one med it's best practice to not mess with that.
They would have wanted as many people on the cheaper labels as possible. This would free up more funds to improve the quality and length of life for other patients.
From what I gather, Pharmac normally go through a pretty solid analysis that does account for quality of life as well as lives extended. So if that process wasn't followed, that would be a bad decision. Alternatively, if they did the transfer and it had worse repercussions than calculated, the question arises as to why the predictions were off.
If that system is broken, fair call. There will be investigations, maybe resignations and hearings, and compensation claims. Otherwise, basically people are lobbying to get more than their fair allocation of health funds.
And there's a conflict between my (admittedly thin) impulse to listen to the fears of people who are about as safe yesterday as they are today, and my impulse to ask how much money we will spend to allay those fears when other people have more demonstrable drug needs.
so you think there is no increased risk for a % of that group? What are you basing that on?
I'm saying that the declared number seems to be within the range of what one would expect without any label change (40-60 per year). A closer analysis of person/years might demonstrate that change from four cases (or at least make a reasonable basis for concerns it despite wide confidence intervals).
But at this stage there are a lot of discussions on a variety of platforms seemingly suggesting that the label change killed 4 people. Which is a load of bullshit given the available information (and pharmac/carm probably don't have too much more information than already released: specific dates and doses, but possibly not much more).
The number of deaths may be an anomaly but apparently 26 reports of adverse reactions to lamotrigine since brand switch began in May have been reported to the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM).
See also https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/safety/Alerts/Lamotrigine.asp
Is that more or less than usual? And if it's more, is the increase in the acceptable bounds of the decision to switch funding in the first place?
We simply don't have the information available to assess the decision or the response.
It's like an engineer is told to "build a bridge 25 units long". Are those units metres, yards, or kilometres? All anyone can do is wait.
"imply causation without evidence."
There's reasonably evidence that the theory is right, yeah? (seizures are dangerous for a % of sufferers, changing meds can make seizures more likely).
How would they establish causation in specific cases?
Stuffed if I know at a clinical level. Which leaves the comparison between rates as an indicator.
Needs a Police investigation into Pharmac.
Four deaths, and very little accountability.
Even if no charges were laid afterwards, it sends the right signal.
Ya can't bloody do that @Ad!!!!!!!!!!
Not even Ministers or elected Councillors
Don't you know all senior public service officials are above reproach?
And that's even when/after the 'good and proper' processes have been exhausted and nothing has been done. It could be construed as bullying
(/sarc – just in case)
BTW ….. Here's a tribute to our senior public service officials:
Let us pray
Stuck record et al
Here he is in person! Absolutely brilliant performance and parody of an American revivalist evangelical preacher
Remember this from the radio in the 40s or 50s. Very clever even then.
Around 4 people or so die every month who have no obvious causes other than they have epilesy . Some dont even have a siezure and just die in their sleep.
Maybe 5x that number each month have early death due to the burden epilepsy puts on their personal health.
That seems to be unrelated to the brand name of their medications
I haven't engaged in the debate partly because I'm having trouble understanding that they continue in the face of overwhelming evidence, and even death.
YES – police need to be involved as this is criminal.
PHARMAC has reversed their decision so they are not continuing.
At this stage, nobody knows if and how the brand switch may have contributed to any of the four deaths. All we know, from the media reports, is that they had in common being epilepsy sufferers and had switched brands. The deaths have been referred to the coroner.
What “overwhelming evidence” are you referring to?
Has Pharmac reversed its decision? I thought they had just said that if people had concerns they could apply to go back to the old brand.
Hmmm, maybe it’s clearer when reading PHARMAC’s latest press release.
https://www.pharmac.govt.nz/news/pharmac-to-widen-access-to-the-exceptional-circumstances-process/
I read this as being a reversal, albeit a temporary one possibly, and patients and their GP’s now have the choice; I’d assume the application process will be swift and nothing more than a formality. The unspoken issue is that, as always, effective healthcare depends on effective communication between patient and GP. It may not always be crystal clear where the onus is and who takes responsibility for what. A good relationship with your doctor is important.
I guess to clear up any sort of ambiguity going forward, we should probably talk to their 'comms people'
A press release is not a substitute for information to doctors and patients. As I said, the onus is on them to find out relevant information, if they don’t already have it, and do what they think is best for them. Medical decisions, such as prescriptions and patient care are not the responsibility of PHARMAC.
Perhaps from this I put up yesterday
I don't see "overwhelming evidence" anywhere.
Whipping up a storm on the basis of 4 deaths over a period of several months, when " Epilepsy affects 48,000 New Zealanders. It's a serious condition – every year about 40 people in this country die from sudden unexplained death due to epilepsy. ", strikes me as decision-making based on loud emotional shouting, not rational examination of the evidence.
Nevertheless, the Medsafe advice to Pharmac against forcing a switch to Logem makes sobering reading. Not because an increased risk of death, which hasn't been demonstrated, but because of the extreme adverse effects on the quality of life that would be suffered by those whose epilepsy went from well-controlled to not well-controlled because of the switch.
People who are experts on medical statistics have a field day with the bizarre health claims in most media . It works both ways on 'deaths from' and 'saved by'.
This big fiddle with the numbers has been revealed in 'Sports Science' which is a small part of the Cult of Statistical Significance
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-shoddy-statistics-found-a-home-in-sports-research/
and more broadly , in this book, which covers economics as well.
"The Cult of Statistical Significance: How the Standard Error Costs Us Jobs, Justice, and Lives"
eg ‘How many molecules do you suppose you share with William Shakespeare? We mean molecules in your body that were once in his? Surprisingly, the correct answer, in view of the immense number of molecules in a human body and the operation of decay and Brownian motion, is “quite a few.”. but its meaningless of course , even if you live in England like he did.
Yeah. That's why I find the "quality of life" argument put forward by Medsafe to be compelling, while my initial reaction to the reports of deaths is I don't yet see a reason to believe those are anything more than the normal background rate of incidences of SUDEP.
In the case of lamotrigine, it seems that most of those that need it would successfully switch. I'll speculate that due to the complexity and variability of humans and what ails us, there may even be some who would do better from switching.
But now with the enormous adverse publicity that has come about, significant nocebo effects are probably in play by now.
I think that there’s enough information to raise suspicion and act upon it based on the precautionary principle, which is exactly what happened. From what I’ve read, it does look like PHARMAC made a few debatable judgement calls.
Or its the Nocebo effect , as mentioned by Andre
‘Some experts state that the nocebo effect may have a larger effect on clinical outcomes than the placebo effect as negative perceptions are formed much faster than positive ones.’
The nocebo effect can be influenced by ‘media storms’. Widespread dissemination of concerns about an adverse reaction to a medicine leads to an increase in the number of reports of the adverse reaction.
https://medsafe.govt.nz/profs/PUArticles/March2019/The%20nocebo%20effect.htm
Id hate to think we are seeing a Media Storm whipped up by the Hidden Hand of the Big Pharma whos product is replaced by a generic
Grateful thanks to you, Kay for the frequent postings and warnings about the change-over to generics. Sympathy to all those who have now suffered because Pharmac did not listen or seemingly care. Any life lost is a tragedy. Hoping you are all back on your previous medication now.
https://www.asms.org.nz/news/asms-news/2019/11/12/dhb-bailouts-symptomatic-of-underfunding/
Once again, Ian Powell is on the money. We now look to Dr Clark and the Government to put it right.
Compared with the Nats health budget tricks, where 'new money' was only given to DHBs to pay off debt, and even when the debt was transferred to the Crown accounts , the DHBs still had to pay interest on the debt transferred !
But the headlines for Steven 'Hole in his pocket' Joyce before the election said "$900 mill more for DHBs.
Actual money may vary ."Anyway the whole DHB budget thing is an exercise in Theology, as they have to fund depreciation and the Crown asset charge from operational expenditure. They can never keep up, as they replace old buildings just opening the doors on new pushes their deficit through the roof.
Do you know off the top of your head how high the Crown Asset charge is? I thought it was 7% but that seems too high.
Seems you are right
https://croakingcassandra.com/2019/03/11/in-defence-of-capital-charges-and-higher-public-sector-discount-rates/
Seems as though Treasury dont tell publically what it is .
In reality, the cost of government debt is say less than 2%
The capital charge along with its handmaiden for erosion of public service – the 2% annual spending efficiency savings often met by just dropping regulatory or other tasks
Dodgy roger stone, caught out lying to congress, guilty on seven criminal counts.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/trump-ally-roger-stone-guilty-lying-congress-191115165033067.html
Meanwhile as the ex USA ambassador to the Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, testifies
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/trump-impeachment-inquiry-public-hearings-latest-updates-191113130549252.html
dirty donald trump who says he isn't going to watch the hearings, starts slamming her in real time on twitter by going on a retweeting frenzy.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
AOC's onto it. The dayglo swampzilla isn't happy with just a piddling one article of impeachment, he wants the bestest and bigliest impeachment of them all.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/470678-ocasio-cortez-trump-himself-is-clearly-not-satisfied-with-only-one-article-of
'Get me Roger Stone' is a morbidly fascinating look at this political operator and his shenanagins.
Going right back to before Nixon was president, Stone has been manipulating, including using a younger Trump to split candidate selection to ensure the horse he was backing got picked.
Watched it again last night to remind me of the history behind Stone, Manafort, Trump etc, to put into context the events of the last year or so (and this morning's verdict). Talk about what goes round comes round. I still think Trump may survive impeachment, and win 2020, but my hope that I'm wrong is increasing. The whole body politic over there is awash with corporate money and corruption, and transformational change is required. Go Bernie.
Put your hand up if you believed Trump when he said he wasn't going to watch.
Was it about him?
There was more chance of him going to sign up for the military to seek a posting in a war zone than there was of him not watching.
One of the makers of Get me Roger Stone opines.
https://twitter.com/morganpehme/status/1195397216799731713
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1195397216799731713.html
Women being used in war is nothing new (except there is no war in this case)
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/chinese-government-assigning-han-men-to-live-and-sleep-with-uighur-women-whose-husbands-have-been-detained-report
there is war, it is simply a war without bombs dropping.
But there is a war, an extermination war. And yes, non of these women will speak up. Why on earth would they?
Take the water out and wow..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExOOElyZ2Hk&feature=youtu.be
Why do all the pictures you take underwater look blandly blue-green? The answer has to do with how light travels through water. Derya Akkaynak, an oceangoing engineer, has figured out a way to recover the colorful brilliance of the deep.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sea-thru-brings-clarity-to-underwater-photos1/
That's cool.
If anyone is interested, this is how aquatic creatures deal with seeing underwater – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982217302816
Now who says tRump isn't in love with Putti..
https://twitter.com/brett_mcgurk/status/1195368417777242112
Anti-choice propagandists lose bigly.
https://twitter.com/AngryBlackLady/status/1195452275851812864
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/403437/wwf-warns-of-impact-of-new-caledonian-fires
Sad. How can the ground be kept green, with juicy non flammable undergrowth. Could bindweed come into its own??
Ha!
Imposter
A deliberate shift in language?
https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1195481643978498049
Love it – that will tear the imposter up big time – very nice move – he will react very poorly I think and overstep the mark – hopefully bigtime cos the scarlet pimplesmell has to go
Another multistorey fire in the UK, this time a student dorm. Apparently everyone got out. Suggestions that building cladding might be an issue again.
If the cladding really is an issue after Grenfell, that's outrageous.
Additionally, the uni is relocating students and providing support, but pulling the line that the block isn't owned or operated by them. Gotta love that "plausible capitalist deniability".