At 10 am (NZ time) Trump will be holding a press conference about opening America up again – aka how the USA will commit economic suicide and plunge the whole world into depression.
Go on to Trump's twitter to watch what might prove to be a turning point in 'Merican civilisation! History being made from the mouth of a narcissist idiot genius!
Only relatively small and isolated nations like NZ are going to be able to eradicate CV19 by lockdown. (And look at how difficult we are finding it.) Everywhere else it's going to become endemic until we can implement at least one of three other strategies, high intensity testing, effective treatment or vaccination at scale.
(Big Fat Caveat. This is a thoroughly damned nasty disease that you don't want to get. Researchers are still learning unwelcome aspects, silent asymptomatic transmission is more common than thought and long term chronic complications are appearing.)
Lifting the lockdown does not mean abandoning all defense. There will still be social distancing, increased hygiene, restrictions on gatherings, and testing will continue to ramp up. Each state of the USA will adapt their measures to their circumstances. It will continue to be messy and inconsistent and almost certainly there will be more deaths and suffering than necessary.
It will be made worse by a political system that was in turmoil anyway, although I would argue the shock of this will crisis precipitate a more rapid resolution of the culture wars than might have otherwise been the case.
But from every other perspective the USA is on the cusp of a massive regeneration. They have physical security, food security, energy security and still by far the largest military. Their economy is not highly dependent on the rest of the world. No matter how hard they try to stuff it up, the USA will remain the largest and most prosperous nation.
The big one I am watching for is the return of industry into the NAFTA region. Watch for a resurgence of high end manufacturing into the USA itself. Watch for petrochem processing to take off on the back of almost free natural gas supplies. Watch for Mexico to become the centre of low end industry within NAFTA. Watch for the financial expertise within the City of London merge into Wall Street.
The Americans have so much wriggle room they can afford to make mistakes that would be the finish of many other nations.
" the USA is on the cusp of a massive regeneration..."
That is the populist vision that got Trump elected – a fortress USA much less dependent on the world, with well-paying jobs repatriated from Asia, immigration tightly controlled, and an ability to impose its will on others through military power (or the threat of it) that is unrestrained by international norms and institutions.
Internally it is likely to be accompanied by further consolidation of monopoly capitalism into stronger corporate entities that are have penetrated all the organs of state power – creating a state-corporate nexus immune to the democratic will. Economic inequality would become greater, life more precarious for many, policing more militarised and surveillance ramped up. While the front-end would continue the displays, conventional pieties and formal showpieces of the American republic, the back-end starts to look proto-fascist. The whole society then resembles an Amazon warehouse. This was all happening anyway – but a Trump regeneration accelerates it, and a Biden regeneration does nothing to stop it.
That is the populist vision that got Trump elected – a fortress USA much less dependent on the world, with well-paying jobs repatriated from Asia, immigration tightly controlled, and an ability to impose its will on others through military power (or the threat of it) that is unrestrained by international norms and institutions.
It's not so much a vision as a reality. Let's deconstruct that para:
1. The North America is a geographic fortress, few large countries have such defendable borders.
2. It always has been relatively independent of the world, it's exports as a fraction of GDP are among the very lowest in the world.
3. It is strategically energy independent. If you include Alberta and the Latin American countries where it can source oil from very easily, it's totally secure.
4. As a by-product of the shale oil revolution it has unlimited quantities of natural gas at extremely low prices. This is the ideal feedstock for a vast range of materials.
5. As the CCP became increasingly strident and overtly hostile, the US was already starting to move it's supply chains back to the USA. CV19 will only accelerate this move dramatically. Some will land up in SE Asia, Vietnam, Thailand and some to Mexico … but the high end, high tech industries will come back to the USA. As the CCP continues to threaten Taiwan, the semiconductor industry will relocate to somewhere more secure.
6. In an increasingly unstable world there is every incentive to co-locate your supply chains into the most secure place possible.
7. The demographics of the NAFTA region (and wider Latin America) support a consumption led growth pattern for decades to come. Not only will they make stuff again, they have the markets to sell it to … again all within their own security envelope.
8. And from Clinton onward the USA has been gradually withdrawing from these global institutions, either from neglect or by side-stepping them. Trump is now taking a wrecking hammer to what is left and insulting all their old allies to boot.
I don't mean to suggest the USA is invulnerable, but it's geopolitical fundamentals are so much better than anywhere else. The logic of an economic resurgence in a period where it is clearly re-trenching it's connections with the wider world is hard to argue against.
Whether this translates into a social regeneration is another question; and that greatly depends on how their political turmoil resolves itself over the next 5 -10 years. Because right now the USA doesn't even know what it wants for itself, much less anywhere else in the world.
Climaction is more or less right. While the USA is as physically vulnerable to ICBM's as anyone else, only Russia is a serious peer in terms of MAD. While US foreign policy in the past two decades has been appallingly negligent toward them, unless the Americans criminally provoke their homeland directly, a slowly decaying Russia is very unlikely to attack the USA
Anyone else attacking the USA with nuclear weapons must have a death inviting annihilation on themselves. And the question is why? Such weapons are only used as a last resort. An America withdrawing from the world is less likely than ever to provoke a first strike by any nation. (The open exception might well be non-state actors such as terrorists.)
The thought scratching the back of my brain is that maybe some section of repugs, like Stephen Miller, are actually hoping covid helps address what they see as their demographic problem: i.e. kills or controls many of the melanin-advantaged poorer USians.
After reading primary sources, studying documents and history of the border, talking to people across the immigration spectrum etc., there is no other conclusion. The immigration discussion was hijacked by eugenicists years ago, and now they're in the Trump administration.
This is the former executive director of FAIR — that exact organization — and she tapped many others to join her before stepping down. https://t.co/7MS8fsdYCL
That would just be an indicator of intracranial malfunction among America's Pest and Blightest. Since the data indicates the strongest correlation of dying from COVID is old age, and old age is very strongly correlated with an increased likelihood of voting Repug.
He promised yesterday it would be a big day today…. I wonder if he will be on time for a change.
Will there be slides???? Dim the lights and all that lololz.
There are many live streams to watch it on, will post a couple when it starts, some streams leave their live chat open should people wish to troll participate or educate the MAGA crowd.
Back hair is very hard to shave. Maybe you should get someone to help you get the bits between your shoulders if your part of the country goes down to level 3 next week? 😉
No you can’t RL @ 2.1, it’ll look like something the cat dragged in.
Phil Goff had a beautiful head of long thick wavy dark brown hair. I thought it was a bit rich that a bloke could have hair like that while mine had to remain short because it was so fine.
Yes. This was always the one I liked the most; it penalised those actors using money purely for it's commodity value more than anyone else because they tend to make far more transactions.
To be seriously effective however it needs to be seen in the context of a global trading currency and common rules that apply to all tax jurisdictions.
Nope. The general idea of an FTT is that the rate would be set so low as to be less than chump change for the kind of transaction most people would do. (Wild arse guess, something in the region of 0.1%)
It really only have an impact on the the big players in the financial sector. Imagine what it could do to dampen the high frequency stock market traders.
You're numbers seem to be too large by a factor of 100.
500b at 0.1% is 0.5b
But this is going about it backwards. Politically I'd detemine how much tax I wanted to raise (and it only needs to be some fraction of the total tax take, an FTT is never intended to replace all other taxes) and then do the numbers back from there.
I don't know the current numbers. However I believe that in 2017 interbank transactions between the New Zealand based banks were about $1.2 trillion.
I would guess that intrabank values would probably be another $500 billion. This would be about $1.7 trillion which was about 6 times New Zealand GDP. Each of these would comprise a credit and a debit between 2 accounts so you double the amount to allow for both legs.
At your 1% therefore you would therefore be coming up with a tax of $34 billion/year if I have the decimal place in the right place and my numbers are anywhere accurate. That is about the same as the total personal income tax paid in New Zealand.
That would not include transactions between an individuals different accounts. Are you going to tax me for putting money into a TD? And then tax me again when the TD matures?
None of these numbers include foreign exchange transactions. Those come to about another $4 trillion/year I think. Certainly in March 2020, according to the Reserve Bank they averaged more than $14 billion/day
Big bickies aren't they?
I haven't bothered with too many links. These are partly memory and partly my guesses. However some of the figures come from these two links.
and i wonder who pays that at the end of the day. The same consumers who have taken pay cuts to keep their jobs and the business they work for afloat.
it never means much to non front line public servants like professors with tenure and ministry analysts who haven't had to do there bit with a 20% reduction. but what a FTT is is the same as GST. it's broad based with no exceptions and is always paid by the final consumer as it's essentially a consumption tax.
You'd be better to drop GST to 10% to encourage spending and help out the poorest who spend the most of their income on consumption.
Simplistic. Costs are either over the line or below the line. above the line are direct costs and get priced in as a direct cost. FTT's are below the line costs as part of the EBIT. they'll be passed on in the form of increased margin requirements that will be probably be over compensated for in the oncharge to consumers as the banks know the maximum liability due for it, but not the actual.
broadening the base spreads in many directions. so have all working tax citizens paying positive tax. happy to scrap WFF as well as implement an FTT? it's the same thing.
This government should look at being bold and not just reverting to lame, socialist responses like socking it to industry and the wealthy.
Why not cut tax at lower incomes, remove similar benefits to the lose income tax payers so they are net not affected and get rid of that layer of red tape with it's inherent cost to tax and administer the benefits?
it'd certainly help develop the manufacturing base you are so fond.
Unfortunately we need the red tape, to keep large private companies, honest.
Right wing memories are so short.
Socking it to the wealthy makes them use their money on something useful, like productive businesses, or Government spending on infrastructure.
Cutting tax to low income earners, obviously increases demand. Glad you agree.
Or, we could have "simplistic" right wing solutions, like tax cuts for the wealthy and austerity for everyone else, which are playing out horribly right now in the USA.
So red tape has to penalise the lowest paid in society to keep private companies honest. Strange logic base you start from, as long as it’s assume you start from anything logical
my suggestion has nothing to do with private enterprise. If we can reduce red tape 20% here, 20% there, we’ll be a much better country if we target those savings.
and fuck the msd workers. Low and middle income workers shouldn’t pay tax just to give box tickers a job
Such false equivalence really demonstrates your lack of understanding of my point.
removing bureaucratic red tape administering welfare that only adds to the cost of welfare, reducing the amount to those who need it, is not the same as not having a comprehensive enforced building code.
but resort to puerile whataboutisms. A clear demonstration of the shallowness of other people’s slogans masquerading as your own ideas
if we look at the burdensome cost of administration as a tax like any other, we can then really evolve our thinking as to what tax, our economy and the interplay with the government all look like to the benefit of the whole nation. Not just the mandarins in ivory towers in Wellington who have budgets to spend, jut not to earn
No, I favour lower taxes for all as there is less administration cost (tax)
letting more people keep more of their money. a few rich people will benefit, but a greater number of people on lower incomes will benefit more in proportion. Something that always seems to be forget in the rush to condemn tax cuts.
letting more people keep more of their money. a few rich people will benefit, but a greater number of people on lower incomes will benefit more in proportion. Something that always seems to be forget in the rush to condemn tax cuts.
It's a balance. At the extremes we know that zero tax is unsustainable because there is no social infrastructure to enable people or businesses to function. At the other extreme 100% income tax eliminates any individual incentive to improve their condition. The optimum tax rate must logically lie in between.
The right consistently places a higher value on individual freedom of action and favours lower taxes, while the left correspondingly values collective action and higher taxes. You could argue that if both factions are unhappy then you probably have it about right.
Having said that NZ's govt fraction of the economy is much lower than most people think. Most developed nations lie in the range of 35 – 45% of the economy, while NZ lies very much at the lower end. Worse still we include retirement provision (NZ Super) into our core govt figures, while in most other nations it's some mix of govt, business and private provision.. This distorts our figures substantially and means core govt taxation in this country is a lot lower than is commonly assumed.
We are emphatically not an overtaxed socialist hell-hole … we would have a lot of room to increase taxes.
Even less so, when the result is less money for the State services that non wealthy people, need.
Tax cuts in New Zealand, have always resulted in increased costs to the less wealthy, as Government services disappear, or become more expensive, from the replacement private provision.
Power and housing are the obvious examples.
The history of tax cuts from 1984, on, has been a massive transfer of wealth from communities, to shareholders, land speculators, and bankers.
lumping one policy (tax cuts) in with all the others post 1984 paints a terrible picture. Removing it and looking at lowering the lower tax rates paints a completely different picture.
2% reduction in tax on income of 50,000 gives someone on about the average wage an extra thousand dollars a year. Huge for someone on 50k a year. Someone on 200k a year also gets it, but it only represents .5% of their gross income.
but fuck everyone on 50k because 1984 and rich people will also get 1000 right KJT?
it’s like watching someone dying of thirst refuse a drink of water as it comes from their worst enemy. Excruciating in modern society. I often think unreformed geriatrics and boomers pose the greatest threat to a cohesive society. You keep on reinforcing that view.
If it doesn't make too much extra work for the moderators, it might be nice if the site had a COVID-free commenting space. Obviously it's the most important thing in the world to most people (including myself). However, there are still issues of social inequality and climate change (amongst others) that tend to get drowned out with bewailing every swoop of the Crow.
It was a while back now when I used to comment under a different name (not Dspare – which got autosuggested to my spam-mail, something else I can't recall now), there used to be a politics-free Weekend Social, and during one election a second evening OM ("Daily Review"?). So it's not like there is no precedence for such compartmentalization.
Leaving aside Garner's opinion, are you referring to the same ambassador who on the 18th February 2020 it was reported that she admonished NZ for continuing the ban on travelers from China?
Not very friendly of us since at the time the World Health Organisation was holding the line that all was well and China had this pesky wee greebly well in hand.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, eh?
OT, it may very well be you have personal and vested interest in the preservation of the pre Covid 19 status quo…to some of us this is a wonderful opportunity for a much needed reset.
My personal opinion is that being isolated, again, will be the best thing that's happened to Aotearoa since….ages.
David Parker is working to ensure that NZ's blessed isolation doesn't happen. He was a guest at the epidemic committee yesterday. He, and the NACTs are wedded to international trade relations for business.
Parker was talking about regional trade blocks rather than global ones. He has been communicating with relevant representatives and officials in south east Asian countries. There is an "not all eggs in one basket" approach.
His mic or audio feed was not very clear some times. But he seemed to be saying that TPPA requirements were being (temporarily?) waived or ignored – especially with respect to each country trying to ensure their own supplies of PPE and other medical requirements.
Could Covid-19 be doing what all our protests couldn't? Kill the TPPA?
You know, the lightening speed at which this government signed the 'revised' TPPA after all their pre election mouthings convinced me that not voting for Labour was the right choice.
I very nearly relented and put aside the memories of the betrayals of the last two Labour led governments…but simply couldn't….and gave the Greens both votes instead.
But back to trade…I'd like us to do a complete reset. If we can manufacture or grow it here…
New Zealand needs to be able to sell its primary products, they are now our only exports. CPTPPA makes it easier to sell them. That was always the gain for New Zealand in TPPA. And will remain so.
I dint say everything would be normal. I said our principal exports for the next two years will be primary exports, no tourism, no international students.
CPTPP will help boost that. While you might think it a bad thing and should be scrapped, clearly the government doesn't.
And thank you for your thoughts (ignoring the irony in them).
While it might be sensible to have a bit more production in NZ of some essentials, that is not going to be a generally applicable proposition. Physical trade of goods and IT services will continue, and in the latter case will expand.
Everyone senses that the post WW2 period of global growth and relative stability is ending … and everyone is planning to retrench their supply lines to more secure zones.
But only a some countries will be able to do this without significant cost and without reversion to the economic and conditions that prevailed before WW2.
'relative stability'….this sums up U.S foreign policy post WW2…(37 invasions).
Henry Kissinger, U.S. Secretary of State, said the following regarding Chile: “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people.” (1)
David Parker was present as a member of the select committee. at a hearing I attended for the TPPA roadshow. I stayed for a few different presentations, as well as accompanying a friend.
His body language – and actual language – for those who had concerns and raised them was boredom in the extreme, dismissive and arrogant. But how he – and others – perked up when the Association for International Business did their presentation – which consisted of no detail, but Go Ahead ASAP.
I left at that point, having been given confirmation that the ill-organised badly implemented TPPA submission roadshow was the farce I thought it was going to be.
I agree with you that being isolated again will be the best thing that,s happened to Aotearoa since ages….. And Lock down has given so many people a break from the grindstone and space to enjoy their families and most importantly the space to think a bit. Its not all bad.
Rantings to get ratings, emotional V rational, welcome to the NZ media.
I thought Bradbury had a point worth considering in amalgamating TVNZ/RNZ leave Mediaworks etc all the ad revenue and let the market decide.
Watching them grovel for assistance given their immersion in DP, ponytail gate etc is f'n priceless. Yesterday's business model, time to move on and not at taxpayers expense.
I no it's wrong of me but I just cant take to tv1s morning show and watch garner and richardson even though I wouldnt cross the road to piss in their hair if it was on fire.
Just to prove the point that so called 'moderate' centrists on the Left are in fact extremists who will defend their sick depraved Liberal ideology to the determent of the entire planet (let alone their own countries) just like their counterparts on the Right…
‘The People Have Spoken. Bastards’: Leaked Labour Report Shows Party’s Own Senior Staff Acted To Keep Corbyn Out Of Power
There are some who don't like being around others that show them in a bad light. Rather than admit failings, and make changes, they will endeavour to pull those people down. The UK Labour Party, unfortunately consisted primarily of this personality type. God forbid they had someone they could trust to do the right thing – their comfortable lives were predicated on being able to act in the blurred lines.
I'm curious as to whether that document makes reference to advice being given to Kezia Dugdale during that time – her teaming up with the Tory Party to campaign against the SNP in Scotland is arguably what swung that election (the Tories enjoyed their biggest gains of a generation at the expense of the SNP, UK Labours natural 'coalition' partner, while Scottish Labour more or less just treaded water)
Would like some advice please on why I can’t click on Reply. I have to go to the end of the thread. Thanks.
Re earlier comments on hair – waking soon after 5 I sometimes tune into Kate Hawkesbury’s ZB session (usually have to tune out quite quickly). Twice I have heard her complain at not being able to go to her hairdresser. Her blonde (or lack of) tresses are causing her great angst! She was complaining this morning Jacinda is talking to us like toddlers and that it must be because she lives with one. What a self obsessed pair she and her husband are.
I’m using an iPad weka and I can’t use the reply function with it either (though I can do a primary comment). If I want to reply to someone I have to use my iPhone, it’s really bloody annoying. Be great if it could be fixed.
I'll point Lynn in the direction of this conversation, but I suspect if it's not a new thing it might come down to the numbers of people using certain devices.
I find the mobile version is pretty janky when it comes to editing comments. Especially if I leave the tab to confirm a fact or quote. Sometimes the comment gets kicked down to the bottom of the thread. Other times (despite the timer having minutes left) I will get that; "you can no longer edit this comment", message.
The code has a deliberate search for some phrases in the browser string for the type of browser for "bot", "spider" or "crawler" and turns off the Reply link if they are present.
That was to prevent spiders from crawling down every possible link on the system and in this case triggering replies. I'll turn that off as I suspect that what we have now in hardware wasn't what we had back in 2011 when that check was put in.
Here is a link for watching the live stream of POTUS at 10am our time. FYI, he is not always on time. The comments will be closed for that particular stream.
Here’s a link for watching it with live chat open, FYI it’s a MAGA chat, and they get very upset when a person shares any facts and doesn’t lament the POTUS. It’s rather amusing if one is in the mood.
Ok so he's going to open up the country, has a four phase plan, much like ours.
He bragged about doing the most tests, thanks to the worldometer link I had a fun time sharing all the countries who have carried out more tests per capita than the USA.
Trump bragged about ventilators, said he wasn't and hasn't been campaigning (never mind that little film earlier on in the week).
Fauci was there.
Judging from the right wing chat, people really want to get back to work, it seems they don't get paid sick leave.
And yes he is very pale around the eyes, like he's being wearing sunglasses on a tanning bed.
The MAGA crowd don't want to listen to the health professionals, they calling Fauci and the 'scarf lady' traitors etc. That's how desperate they are to believe trump and validate their own support of him. It's nuts.
Much more restrained today. The minders must have got him at his most malleable and mild and persuaded him to wind it back a touch with the big shots already fired this week.
Those shots proved he's not just the King of America but King of the World. You only have to convince one person that that is the case – him.
From the entertainment perspective the best stuff is from just out the back, off screen.
The U.S. Navy Captain Brett Crozier was sacked from his job on aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. He wrote a 'five page letter' that he apparently shouldn't have written. "I mean who writes five page letters. It's not a literature class," according to the Commander-in-Chief. (Turns out it was four pages.)
The Literate-in-Chief was very upset. Crozier's crime really, wasn't that he wrote it or didn't follow the chain of command, but he didn't send out a tweet.
Unfortunately the crew on the ship did not realise they are military people, they are dispensable. A secret enemy might even get them. Ain't no vaccine or bone spurs going to save them.
"Sailor dies from Covid-19 and almost 600 of crew test positive."
True. Gallows humour, laugh-otherwise-you'd-cry stuff. I've indulged on occasion.
The fascinating part is the medical experts trying to cope with the child, while holding on to their jobs and the facts, which are diametrically opposed …
Trump: "2 + 2 = 198!"
Reporter: "Doctor, is that right?
Doc: "As the president rightly says, 2 + 2 = 4."
They do this with a straight face, which is truly Oscar-worthy.
He is staying on a script though he states how wonderful his leadership has been to save the USA (lies) and how well he is helping the Governors to achieve great things.
Someone else wrote this. Trump does not look well either because he had to give such a speech or because he has a bug.
The bully boy won't answer questions properly and he won't let anybody else answer questions properly either.
Its all about being great, stupendous, incredible, fantastic, unbelievable, geniuses, beautiful….. and America is the best at everything and has the best doctors and the best hospitals and the best government and lots and lots of ventilators (did you know they cost as much as cars) and everyone is working wonderfully together and we need to build a lot more bridges… we need bridges. The people of America are the bravest people in the world and its all going to be so wonderful yes… its going to be beautiful. You just wait and see.
Would someone like to tell me what the hell he's actually taking about? 😕
Edit: He mentioned all the dead people in his opening gambit then forgot about them. Needed to get that bit out of the way as soon as poss?
It's setting up storylines to be able to take personal credit for giving them the tools to succeed if it goes well, or put all the blame onto them if it goes bad.
Notably absent is anything around getting federal and state and local resources working together to try for the best outcome for people on the ground.
Would someone like to tell me what the hell he's actually taking about?
How magnificent he thinks he is, pretty much sums it up.
Lolz Miss 15 is like… mum you only watch the trump show so you can troll….. no darling I'm trying to educate myself… she's like… nah mum you're trolling 🙂 Smart girl 🙂
Edit…. It’s disturbing how trump praises himself saying he’s saved so many lives, meanwhile he forgets and seems to dismiss the thousands who have died, apart from as you said a short mention at the start.
Not sure what kind of education you might get from watching Donny Dingleberry. Truth and facts simply bear no relationship to the words erupting from his sphincter.
If you have reason to be interested in which particular big spiny bug up his ass is wriggling at that particular moment, then you might get a clue about that. But otherwise, it's just null data, random noise emitted for the purpose of self-pleasuring.
He is talking Authentic American, a language in which the correct syntax and phrasing are entirely superlatives. I was trapped in an AirBnB overseas for a few days with some 20 something Americans and fuck it was tiring.
Still his three or four phase plan is a recipe for disaster. States like Wyoming have few cases, but no border controls (or very few) and Americans, by and large, don't wear face masks.
Cases will spread into those states who open up too early (which means all of them) and another surge is almost guaranteed.
I hope I'm wrong, and time will tell, but I can't help being grateful I'm living in New Zealand and we have a competent PM and government.
The Mighty Guru has spoken from his throne in Parnell.
Sir John Key has sounded a warning about how New Zealand's economy will struggle as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but believes New Zealand is in a better position than many countries to beat it.
Oh boy! Actually he added nothing to that which is general knowledge and that underlines just how his content has always been so vacuous.
Shonky speaks and granny herald echoes it with zero analysis or critique as usual.
Joyce /Blinglish getting an airing also with the usual waffle from nat’s current crop.
How many former labour PM's and finance ministers have been asked ?
We'll Dunne was a former labour MP (however embarrassing that fact may be, still better than Prebble). If they were to interview a former labour finance minister, you know it would be Roger Douglas. Former labour PM would probably be Palmer or Moore (actually are they still alive? I have been away from the NZ politics scene for a while).
Mike Moore died in February this year. The official opening of parliament was changed into a series of valedictory speeches from all sides of the house
Well I've seen statements by Helen Clark on several occasions. She doesn't need to ba asked, does she? She will bloviate without ever being asked.
Mostly about the UN these days. She rants on about how useless they are. The pain of discovering that no-one had the slightest interest in having her as Secretary General still rankles.
Palmer seems to have shut up shop. Perhaps he is redrafting his proposed Constitution for a post-Coronavirus future.
As for the Ministers of Finance. I would be interested to see what Caygill and Douglas have to say. Is Cullen still alive? Last I saw about him was that he had cancer but I'm not sure what happened to him.
That's about it though. Not a terribly interesting lot except for Douglas though are they?
I would be cautious about lobbing accusations of bloviation from your conservatory there alwyn. I have found that Clark errs towards the terse rather than verbose in her statements, but perhaps she's mellowed with age.
Clark will bloviate without ever being asked? Ive seen statements by Clark. I presume that's because she was asked her opinion. I heard that she used to be Prime Minister and worked overseas for a while. I assume that gives her certain unique perspectives and why the media might seek her out.
Clark was involved with and spent a significant part of her life involved with the very organisations she was talking about.
Key meanwhile was involved with the ANZ's capital rule breaking and their corrupt dealings with the Briscoe family. And he was personally involved in this.
He's been shown to be an absent director on the issue of ANZ's capital holdings, and involved in personal property deals with a corrupt CEO David Hisco.
This is why Key's language is so conciliatory. He knows that to go all, 'get some guts' on the government would be to attract serious criticism.
His post-political failings have rendered him useless to the National Party's campaign strategy.
In the back-end I can only see a date & time stamp but I will have a look in the front-end later. I like being enlightened, especially by Alwyn. I will fasten my seatbelt so that I won’t fall off my chair.
Would have been more convincing, and less obviously partisan, if you had also reported the above comment about Moore, which states almost exactly the same thing.
“Palmer or Moore (actually are they still alive?”
“Is Cullen still alive? Last I saw about him was that he had cancer but I’m not sure what happened to him.”
More ignorant than stupid surely, Muttonbird? Lazy too, as I chose to ask the community rather than look it up myself (though I honestly couldn't be bothered what with the janky commenting system for mobile contributors).
BTW; "theirs", not; "his".
[How about you learn to argue your point rather than insult people. First warning – MS]
I am not allowed to call myself ignorant and lazy MS? Wow, things have changed a bit around here!
That reminds me of a bloke in prison ,who was in for armed robbery because; he'd gone into a dairy and threatened to cut himself up unless they gave him some smokes. Unpleasant sure, but you have to look at the rules from a really strange angle to get to that interpretation.
Ditto. If you want to talk motivation, it looks like you're picking sides because of the commentary here around the way England cheated their way to the CWC trophy.
Edit: You edited. The original comment I was replying to was one word, “Unconvincing”.
That never even occurred to me. I was not "playing" anything.
Even if it had I wouldn't have thought that John Key selling a beach house to him for what would seem to have been fair market value was somehow "corrupt". I suppose if you have KDS anything seems to be corrupt.
I realise that you aren't going to accept this but when I saw "Briscoe family" the only thing that came to mind was Rod Duke's empire.
Haven't you ever heard a group of related companies, such as Briscoes and Rebel Sport being referred to as a family? That is what I thought he (or she) meant and I even googled them, and Rod Duke, to see if their was any connection to John Key.
And no there wasn't.
The idea that someone could mean Hisco, when they typed Briscoe never occurred to me.
I mean to say. If I identified someone in a comment as "Mark Cooksley" would you think I was talking about the former All Black lock or would you automatically think I was talking about Michael Cullen?
On the other hand when somebody says things like
"alwyn knows Michael Cullen is alive and in the biggest battle of his life yet decided to put the boot in anyway.
It was a trashy comment by a trashy commenter. I think The Standard would be better off without him."
and
"alwyn's comment was deliberate and lazy and happened to troll a pretty important member of the NZ political community while he fights cancer."
I don't need an explanation of that. I don't have to accept that they telling the truth or that they are making any sense though.
[I think that you were trying to say that you realise you’re on thin ice, which is correct.
Your tone-deaf comment about Michael Cullen was a factor in the creation of a rather unpleasant thread that also indirectly led to one commenter being banned for a month. However, you don’t take any responsibility for how others may perceive your comment(s), which is why I classify it as tone-deaf.
I find your excuse about the Briscoe-Hisco mix-up rather weak. Given the context of the comments and the absence of any known connection between Key and Briscoe, it would not have taken rocket science to figure out what was meant. In any case, this had nothing to do with your tone-deaf comment and all this does is make you sound like a whiny child.
So, here we are again, you wasting Moderator time for the wrong reasons and trying to wriggle your way out of it. I’m getting quite sick of this, I have to confess, but short bans don’t seem to work with recidivist commenters such as you. That said, I won’t Blacklist you this time – Incognito]
Why the fuck does Helen Clark feel the need to tell us what she thinks about Trump anyway? Everyone knows Trump's an idiot. We don't need the likes of Helen fucking Clark to tell us what we already know. In fact, why do we need to hear from her at all? She's obviously bored and in need of a bit of attention. I'm sick to death of her throwing her views around as if she's some kind of old wise woman. I wish she'd piss off.
Maybe we hear from her for the same reason we hear from you.
To paraphrase just in case you get a sense of it:
"Why the fuck does Chris feel the need to tell us what he thinks about Trump? Everyone knows Trump's an idiot. We don't need the likes of Chris fucking whoever to tell us what we already know. In fact, why do we need to hear from him at all? He's obviously bored and in need of a bit of attention. I'm sick to death of him throwing his views around as if he's some kind of old wise man. I wish he'd piss off."
I would have thought Clark's background in Health, and the UN, would make her opinions useful. She holds a position of power and knows how to use it, in this case she's acting appropriately in criticising Trump and networking to pressure other powerholders to step up and do what is necessary. This isn't some random reckon, this is deliberate criticism designed to have impact.
I feel similar when hearing John Key spouting off but accept that as a former PM of 8 years he is always going to be asked for his opinion.
While Key has his moments, the thing about Helen is that she is super-intelligent and, with that and her background, she is likely to bring an interesting and useful perspective to the debate.
Perhaps, although I've never really noticed anything overly spectacular in what she's said since leaving NZ politics, but again that doesn't mean much.
What gets me about Helen Clark is how she presided over welfare reform that was a continuation of what Richardson/Shipley/Bolger did in the 1990s, and at a time when everyone was expecting the Labour government to at least begin fixing the damage, not continue it. I don't want to say she's 'intelligent' but she certainly knew what she was doing which makes it worse. So much of it went under the radar because we weren't expecting it from a Labour government, but the consequences were immense. She could've at least put the brakes on, but instead we've ended up with way more mess than was necessary because the scene was set for Key et al to go to the next level, which of course they did. We now, of course, have so much more to wind back.
Whether justified or not that's my main bias against Helen Clark. When I see or hear her I just think hypocrisy.
Does it help anyone for a current USA President to attack World Leaders? It is certainly something he doesn't go out of his way to avoid.
Clark has as much right to make comment as the guy living over our back fence. Or you. Are you pissed off because her views get attention? Her views get prominence while yours are in places like this for people like me who put carping in the place it belongs?
Some don't want to hear from the 'been there done that mob' who have some experience and knowledge. We;; not if it's Clark I mean, If it's Key it's fine. Or Rodney Hide. Or Peter Dunne. Or Steven Joyce.
You didn't listen to this one through to the end did you alwyn. If you had you would have known that Helen Clark was talking from a position of immense knowledge and experience. Considering the appalling conduct and gross incompetence of the the current POTUS, I thought her choice of words in respect of him were quite diplomatic.
Given she is an integral member of a group of former world leaders and that her standing among them is very high, I would have thought you would be interested in the behind the scenes information she was able to reveal. I certainly was, but you prefer to remain ignorant of the truth because you presumably don't care.
"Shonky speaks and granny herald echoes it with zero analysis or critique as usual.
Joyce /Blinglish getting an airing also with the usual waffle from nat’s current crop."
Don't despair the heralds very good at publishing equal opportunity nonsense from both sides of the track.
Key's gonna Key, but he doesn't even get the gold or silver medals in today's Herald Idiocy Contest. Hosking (obviously) and Peter Dunne (absurdly) have the awards sewn up. World-class levels of stupidity there.
The guys an arsehole – even worse he's yesterdays arsehole – KDS should be associated with the fawning sycophants of his bygone era lamenting the passing of whatever they imagined him to be.
“I find the older I get the more politicians all sound the same and the less I give a toss about them “.'
Agree with that Stunned though I do have time for the two National MP's in Hamilton, and the very principled (he was, but also meant to be a pun ) as he was the head of Hamilton Boys High Tony Steele.
Was that The Tony Steele? In the 50s Tony Steele was a top sprinter and I think was in the All Blacks briefly but snapped his archillies and disappeared.
Who knows? But I heard a rumour that pretty well all the staff at HBHS (normally left-trending?) in his electorate voted for Tony to become an MP. Think about it and see if you can work out why.
There's a certain nostalgia for Key (Mike Hosking is president of the fan club) and a misguided belief that things would be so much better under good ol' John.
So for the record, here's Key in March 2020, when the daily news was dominated by the discussion about closing NZ borders to keep out Covid19 …
Caricaturing is the weakest of debating points. You can do better.
No Satan. Not even as bad as Bridges. But the point (as I'm sure you know) is that the nostalgics claim Key would have had some special awareness, and they are exactly the same people who say "Ardern should have known in Jan/Feb! Close the borders, problem solved."
It was BAU for Key in March – as it was for most of us.
But the point (as I'm sure you know) is that the nostalgics claim Key would have had some special awareness, and they are exactly the same people who say "Ardern should have known in Jan/Feb! Close the borders, problem solved."
I'm sorry but where in that story you've linked to is anyone claiming
Key would have had some special awareness, and they are exactly the same people who say "Ardern should have known in Jan/Feb! Close the borders, problem solved." ?
From what I've seen of reports in the media there's been general consensus that whoever was in government the timelines and actions would've been broadly the same.
Maybe we should be grateful for Mike Hosking? As right-wing C-19 denialists go, he is relatively harmless compared to these gun-toting loons in Lansing Michigan. Though I'd encourage Mike to do a similar drive-by protest outside the Beehive in his Ferrari – proclaiming his divine right to buy ripped jeans even in the face of disease and death.
Recently he was distraught that it was taking him so long to get to his hairdresser because of traffic and roads. Cruelly, when the roads became much more open hairdressers were off limits.
I see his picture briefly on flicking through the Herald online but have never particularly looked at his hair. Maybe he'll let it go, let it grow and he'll be all woolly. Sort of symbolic of his thinking.
New Lynn might be a tougher ask for Labour too. It’s lost New Windsor and a bit of Blockhouse Bay and picked up all of the Waitakere Ranges out to the west coast beaches.
The Elections NZ website doesn't have a listing for the Taieri electorate yet, and your link doesn't have a map. But from the description, it sounds like it is likely to go National. It's a good thing we have a (semi)proportional voting system!
As an aside, I found it amusing that ENZ puts "democracy" in quote marks in its own definition. I am sure that it's not meant this way, but that reads like an admission that our system isn't truly democratic. What with: the 5% threshold, a minimum of 18 years at time of election voting age, and denial of voting rights to some prisoners (there was a recent change so those with less than 3 years remaining till release can vote wasn't there?).
There’s a map on votenz. Though it is really hard to use. Looks like Dunedin South has shed all of Otago Peninsula, keeps South Dunedin and suburbs west of there. And picks up a big swathe of South Otago down to Balclutha and west towards Lawrence and over the Clutha River towards the Blue Mtns all off Clutha-Southland which is renamed Southland.
Urgh! The low resolution on that really hurts my eyes.
From what I can tell; Taieri will go all the way down to the Clutha – that's farmland, a big crop of National voters. But low population density.
More interesting to me was the boundary between Dunedin – which seems to have picked up not just the Peninsula, but all of Waverly and Musselburgh. Tainui and Tomahawk too?; Also there's a strange kink around King Edward st, that I'd have to see in finer detail to understand. Otherwise it seems they are keeping the railway as boundary line.
Who is turd-in-humanish-form Hamish Price? Who benefitted from his fuckwitted political advice? Is he on a bottle of meths a day now? Does he screech at pigeons in the park?
He accused Jacinda Ardern of "holocaust denial". That isn't just an insult, it may be the worst thing anyone has said about a New Zealand PM. Truly vile.
Turd-in-humanish-form? Good analogy. Something you might accidentally stand in if an errant dog walker isn't responsible and you have to scrape him off your shoe.
So it is difficult to give praise to the Chinese. They are not quite like we lazy Kiwis, with our long noses, and minds locked firmly in the past. Like when got ourselves Slaughted in Gallipoli for some obscure reason.
One of the good things about the Chinese is that they actually do things, and many of them are staying in New Zealand. They are remarkably intelligent too.
But I must not go into that. It offends Kiwis.
The Chinese, if you look at them with justice, are remarkably Peaceful. Compare them over the past century to 100s of other Nations. Or compare them to Aussie ratbags.
Anyway, Duncan Garner and his female assistant, threw the Kiwi shit- house at the Chinese Ambassador this morning. He kept going and going and going. I was ashamed of him.
Not much of a one for stereotypes based on nationality, whether they be they negative or positive.
But the rarely implied suggestion that xenophobia has become more or less woven into the fabric of NZ society is both noted and appreciated by this reader.
A youngish Berner talks about things that AOC understands that Bernie and his campaign never got their heads around. It's a longish piece in interview format, but well worth the read.
Look, the Democratic party is a coalition party with five partners: African-American groups, Latino groups, women’s groups, unions and progressive groups. If you’re only one of five factions, maybe one fourth of the party, you should only expect to win about one fourth or one fifth of the victories. You need to work with other groups in the coalition to achieve political success. Sometimes you’ll win, sometimes you’ll lose, that’s how life works. Ocasio-Cortez has figured that out, but not all progressives have.
No mention in that snippet of the overarching corporate dominance and how that determines the make up and political expression of those "five partners" – or is that teased out in the full piece?
The Economist on excess mortality as a measure of the true toll of the Covid19 crisis.
New perspective on the alleged under counting of fatalities in China and Iran, too.
So far, Italy’s national statistical bureau has published figures of deaths from all causes for only 1,450 of the country’s 7,900 municipalities, covering the period until March 28th. We have analysed a sample of these areas, including Bergamo, that contain 6.7m of the 10m residents in Lombardy, a region that has suffered nearly half the country’s official fatalities. By March 28th, the excess deaths in this sample had reached more than 9,000 in the previous five weeks, covering the entire period of the outbreak. At that point, the official covid-19 tally was 4,000. This suggests that the true toll was about 120% higher.
[…]
Spain has experienced a similar epidemic, with its official death toll approaching 19,000 on April 15th, according to data from hospitals. Like Italy, the country’s overall mortality data imply that the actual number is higher, although the extent of the undercounting is less severe. Spain’s national epidemiology centre is publishing regular figures for deaths from all causes in each region. By March 31st, these showed that there had been 13,000 excess fatalities nationwide that month, covering the entire period of the outbreak. The official covid-19 tally at that point was 8,000. This suggests that the true toll was about 60% higher.
[…]
So far, the number of official covid-19 deaths in the Netherlands has shown a much flatter trajectory than in other western European countries. On April 15th the tally stood at 3,100. However, this is because the national institute for public health, which publishes the daily figures, includes only people who have tested positive for the virus and died in hospital (often with a delay). By April 5th, the latest date for which the national statistical bureau has published data about deaths from all causes, there had been 4,000 excess deaths during the previous four weeks, covering the entire period of the outbreak. The official covid-19 tally at that point was 1,700. This suggests that the true toll was about 140% higher.
"This morning on Twitter, Gayford said: "Spare a thought today for anyone suffering a form of cognitive dissonance causing dismay that the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff is empty because the fence at the top is working."
A bit of marxist analysis of where the economy is at. I know the liberals don't want to hear how much their vaunted economic model stuffed up – but three times this century already. It is the time we looked for a more robust and equatable system.
It's the first 20 min of video, other stuff after that.
How much of this really applies to us – or to Australia – or indeed to China? Or India. Those surely are our relevant economic poles for the next decade.
I get that the 'nationalization of the credit system" applies to the US Federal Reserve actions. But does that apply to a Reserve Bank reaction like ours? Or the RBA?
I would be more interested to hear economists talk about mixed economies like ours with states that have vastly expanded in reaction to successive crises. Particularly small economies. And on top of that, whether some of those mixed small economies will do better or worse from the grealy differing economic impacts of the virus.
I also find it really strange that as a marxist with some grounding in economic history he doesn't cite the Marxists who went through the Depression and World War 2 and came out with the really nuance versions of Marxism appropriate to the new cultural contexts – the Frankfurt Marxists like Adorno and Habermas.
He would be interesting if he could turn Marxism to the Post-Covid context that we find ourselves in, or to countries other than the United States.
the credit system is overseen by the RBNZ (and RBA) but operated by the trading banks….and the real problem is the attached financial derivatives that have been progressively bolted on to that system and now overwhelms it…the banks are now caught in a trap of their own making….unfortunately we are caught with them.
Given the expected collapse in asset values and employment there is probably no better time to rid ourselves of that burden…along with the political influencers that benefit from it.
Rodney Howard-Browne, a Tampa megachurch pastor who says he’ll cure coronavirus will continue holding services at his church during the coronavirus pandemic because his church apparently has 13 sneeze spotters/virus neutralizers? pic.twitter.com/YSZvLilaki
There is little being said about asymptimatic…spelling? cases. Those that distribute the virus with every touch, everyone unaware.
I think this may be the barb in the hook.
I also think the argument for us staying hard to the course makes fabulous sense.
If this muck lingers around the world and we can irradicate it in NZ entirely we will become global darlings, our lamb, milk and heavily screened at the border holidays will become premium products all over the world.
Lock it down for 4 more weeks, eradicate the mongrel in our island nation and set NZ's Huckleberry trajectory for the next century.
David Mac – you are utterly stupid if you think that any European will eat our Watties Baked Beans. Many years ago I gave a sample to my French lady-friend. She spat it out, and said, "Berk! C'est sucré!" (Yuk! It's had sugar added!) She was quite right. Europeans generally have good taste, and will not relish our bad English-inherited sugar-added rubbish. The only baked beans I now like here are Delmaine's no-sugar-added Baked beans with garlic and olive oil added instead.
I think you are dreaming about virus-free food. I thought most people knew that the Covid19 virus infects us through nose and eyes, unless we manage to breathe it through mouth to nose… If we take the virus through our mouth with food, it goes to the stomach where it is killed by digestive juices – no chance of infection.
And I sympathise with Forget Now: You mis-spelt asymptomatic and put a (spelling?) admission afterwards. When Forget Now explains it to you, you insult him/her for it. Not admirable.
We can bottle just about anything and sell it overseas for a premium price as 100% Pure COVID-Free. Medical tourism could become the new market with packages including 14 days quarantine in a hotel of your choice.
With bullet-proof speedy testing at the border we could become the international holiday destination for many.
We could be so popular we could shape our incoming guests to suit our offerings and environment, as demand climbs, so would prices. Lets get housekeepers on $40 an hour.
And do you seriously think we can stop people coming to New Zealand from possibly being infected? Suppose that a rigorous quarantine period of 20 days was enough.
I give you a couple of scenarios.
Australian PM comes to hold talks with New Zealand Government. Do we lock him (or her) up for 20 days in solitary confinement before the talks can start?
Our PM goes to New York for a meeting of the General Assembly. When she (or he) returns will we lock them up in solitary confinement for 20 days?
We get all people stepping over our border tested. Lab at the airport. Result back in 20 mins. Get off the plane swab, by the time customs are cleared, results back.
You're a smart guy Alwyn, it's a shame your mental capacity is wasted on why things can't be done.
Some COVID-19 antibody tests, including those used by public health depts. in Denver and Los Angeles, were supplied by Chinese manufacturers not approved by China's Center for Medical Device Evaluation, the country's equivalent to the FDA, @NBCNews found. https://t.co/M4Bs3TtejD
Government officials are scrambling for a refund after paying £16 million for coronavirus testing kits that did not work. Downing Street paid the huge sum to two Chinese companies despite the technology behind the kits being unproven, the New York Times reports. AllTest Biotech and Wondfo Biotech, both said their products met the health, safety and environmental standards set by the European Union. Public health officials reviewed the specifications on paper while the foreign office dispatched diplomats in China to ensure the companies existed and to examine their products.
The majority of rapid test coronavirus test kits supplied by China to Spain and the Czech Republic are faulty, local news outlets reported.
Up to 80 percent of the 150,000 portable, quick coronavirus test kits China delivered to the Czech Republic earlier this month were faulty, according to local Czech news site Expats.cz. The tests can produce a result in 10 or 15 minutes but are usually less accurate than other tests. Because of the high error rate, the country will continue to rely on conventional laboratory tests, of which they perform about 900 a day.
The country’s Health Ministry paid $546,000 for 100,000 of the test kits, while the Interior Ministry paid for the other 50,000.
Tests are reliant on detecting RNA, which is time sensitive to infection incidence and incubation period. Also even if the sample is adequately harvested and prepared, there is a significant risk of a false negative.
At what point the viral shedding remains infectious is still hotly debated in the scientific community. As this reply to a comment to a previous study last week (just happens to be in an open tab – there are links to the previous pieces) indicates:
Yup, tests as they are today. We need to be preparing for tomorrow, that's where our fortune lies.
I don't think spotting the tiniest of traces of this virus in someone is a science quantum leap. Once we can do that, test them at home before they step on the plane with their domestic system and once here, they undergo the $250 test they paid for in their ticket.
Your Chicken Little concern is based on testing as it stands. Can you not imagine improvements? Look for solutions, not roadblocks.
The world is focused on how bad everything is, it aches with opportunity.
I'd also be wary of basing our safety on tests conducted overseas.
Look, if you know of this realtime covid detection technology being realistically in the works and deliverable in the next few years, fine, maybe, if it passes muster. But until then it's not "chicken little" to point out that you're dreaming.
[This is supposed to be a reply to MS’ moderation comment two slots above]
Okay, I have left this till the morning, on the basis of; less said, soonest mended. Also didn't take my night's codeine to make sure my thoughts aren't muzzy (though my tooth is really starting to ache again and there's no chance of getting back to sleep, so I might be slightly on edge).I see there is a new OM up, so hopefully only the moderators will be paying any notice to this thread now. Really don't want to be doing this…
Please tell me that I am not seeing what I think I am seeing here! That's just horrible. I want to be able to read Mickey Savage's posts or comments without feeling like this. In fact the entire site feels a bit tainted to me if so. I don't know if I will be commenting here again if I don't get an explanation. I'd like to convince myself that it's just coincidence, but that seems improbable.
I'd say that's exactly what should be done. But then, I don't believe in this whole "betters" shit that would have supposedly 'important' people treated differently to anyone else.
Zoom's wearing pretty damned thin for me now, I must confess.
But if we do get covid-free, we'll be going to them rather than them coming to us. And at least isolation if not "quarantine" upon return.
An interesting idea might be a slight tweak to hotels/conference facilities. The normal layout is to have the hotel rooms in a lump, a restaurant, and an adaptable conference section that can be split up for multiple small events or one big one with breakout rooms. Might be more useful to have function rooms on every floor and suites that can be switched to breakout rooms depending on the booking. The function rooms can then act as that floor's restaurant/ lounge during covid lockdowns.
Idea being a cohort get off a flight, go into the same floor, have a bit more to stare at than the walls of one room and can interact with each other, and if there are no cases/positive tests then they can all be on their way.
Kruger visitors that tourists do not normally see. #SALockdown This lion pride are usually resident on Kempiana Contractual Park, an area Kruger tourists do not see. This afternoon they were lying on the tar road just outside of Orpen Rest Camp. 📸Section Ranger Richard Sowry pic.twitter.com/jFUBAWvmsA
I don’t have a telly so I don’t watch the 6 pm bulletins but I check online about 7 pm to see what the networks have run with. Haven’t seen anything from Tova on newshub for about a week now.
kShe got slammed about a week ago on Twitter for her tweet about a mother not going to her fathers funeral because Jacinda is a meany, people were rightly chastising her for using the death of someone to attack the Govt, making money out of others misery, so to speak. I'll try find a link.
But behind the scenes, JTF-NCR is responsible for what the military calls "homeland defense": what to do in the face of an armed attack on the United States, everything from guarding Washington's skies to preparing for the civil unrest that could occur if a nuclear weapon were detonated in the capital. But most immediate, JTF-NCR is charged with facilitating continuity of government, particularly moving civil and military leaders to secret locations were the order given to evacuate the city.
Ever since National Guards started to activate countrywide, Pentagon officials have insisted that men and women in uniform are not conducting secret missions and that they will not administer or enforce "stay at home" quarantines. The Pentagon has also rejected reports, including articles in Newsweek, about martial law or other extreme contingency plans, arguing that the Guard remains under strict control of state governors, while federal troops support civil agencies like FEMA.
And yet the activation of Joint Task Force National Capital Region, including almost 10,000 uniformed personnel to carry out its special orders, contradicts those assurances. JTF-NCR is not only real and operating, reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense for some of its mission, but some of its units are already on 24/7 alert, specially sequestered on military bases and kept out of coronavirus support duties to ensure their readiness.
A relative tells me that the industrial supply company he works for was stripped of masks, too.
As the coronavirus took hold in Wuhan earlier this year, staff from the Chinese government-backed global property giant Greenland Group were instructed to put their normal work on hold and source bulk supplies of essential medical items to ship back to China.
A whistleblower from the company has told the Herald it was a worldwide Greenland effort – and the Sydney office was no different, sourcing bulk supplies of surgical masks, thermometers, antibacterial wipes, hand sanitisers, gloves and Panadol for shipping.
The company even posted its efforts of packing pallets in the company’s Sydney headquarters on social media.
True to form for the CCP but Australian based minions hoovering up every bit of PPE just prior to the inevitable arrival of the virus in Oz and shipping it back to China?
I would be comfortable reuniting those folk with where their hearts lay. I'd charter a flight and invoice the Chinese Embassy.
I'm not sure the CCP represent the will of the 14000000 anymore.
“We’ve got to remember, this is Covid-19! Presumably there’s been 18 other coronaviruses, on the way to get to 19!” – Michelle Boag, a moment ago, confirming that the RNZ Panel policy of only having on informed people is very much over.
I'm a bit worried about Michelle Boag, I fear she has the Kath and Kim virus. Wallace tried to throw her a lifeline but it wasn't until the end of their talk he was able to say, 'I don't think there have been 18 former Covids Michelle, the current one got going in 2019.'
Have to agree with Toby, if this is informed opinion, we're doomed.
But at the same time I'm thinking (yet again) how the local community committee dullards who maneuver and connive their way to the "big time" – people fucking well enable them! Why?
Boag. She was El Presidente for the suited ones in the blue clown car, yes?
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Prof John Potter*Elimination has been an effective strategy for New Zealand in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic virus (SARS-CoV-2). Most other countries have not pursued this goal and are ignoring the opportunity even now. SARS-CoV-2 is not manageable by the influenza playbook; its longer incubation period makes tracing ...
This is a re-post from Weather Underground by Bob HensonAbove: This rainbow appears unusually low in the sky because it has formed early in the afternoon, rather than toward sunset. For a rainbow to form, water droplets must be present in the air in front of an observer ...
On Monday, Todd Muller gave an important speech to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, He spoke firmly about his belief in the need for foreign investment, for the public sector to partner with the private sector rather than boss it around and, crucially, demanded the government deliver a clear strategy ...
Todd Muller's first act on become party leader was to appoint an all-white front bench. This understandably raised eyebrows, so he is now apparently reconsidering caucus and list rankings. Which is obviously necessary, but there's still the underlying problem: National doesn't have a lot of Māori MP's. And the reason ...
Meridian energy has been caught manipulating the electricity market for fun and profit: Meridian Energy pushed up power prices by unnecessary spilling water from its south dams in December that could have been used for generation, the Electricity Authority has ruled in a preliminary decision. The authority said the ...
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...
Hearing the Prime Minister castigate the Warehouse for laying off 1,000 workers after receiving $52 million in wage subsidies reminds me of the fabled frog who agreed to carry a scorpion across a river. The scorpion stings the frog halfway across, dooming both to drown. The frog cries “Why on ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael BakerCompared with other OECD countries NZ is a stand-out success story by ending community transmission of COVID-19. While there have been some well-publicised recent deficiencies (eg, quarantine organisation), there has still been no evidence of community transmission for many weeks. Nevertheless, ...
It’s June 30th, marked as Asteroid Day by many people of an astronomical bent around the globe. On this date in 1908, early in the morning in a remote part of central Siberia, the sky fell in. Well, not literally. What happened is a substantially-sized lump of cosmic detritus ...
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...
Don Franks Poverty, inequality – really – aren’t politicians paid to sort that stuff ? Why can’t they just get it together and come up with something fair and sensible? A cold rainy 2020 morning, a headline showed promise. “Green Party’s $8b plan would guarantee an income of $325 a ...
A guest repost by Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF) staff attorney Augusta Wilson. Fundraising is not the objective of this article but readers may wish to know that CSLDF is currently conducting a summer fundraiser to support defense of research scientists and research integrity from anti-science interference by politicians and industrial interests. The COVID-19 pandemic ...
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...
The US state of Mississippi has finally voted to remove the Confederate emblem from its state flag. Good. Its appalling that it was put there in the first place, but even more appalling that it took so long to remove it. Its basicly as if a German Länder still had ...
No one could have predicted when David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill was passed by Parliament last November that the referendum required to bring the legislation into force would be held against the backdrop of a deadly global pandemic. Since then, the mounting tally of casualties around the world ...
Paul GoldsmithYou can often tell just how effective a progressive policy proposal will be by how much the right wing criticise it. The more socially beneficial, the more vitriolic and unhinged they seem to become.That was the case when the Green Party announced their Poverty Action Plan yesterday. The response ...
Back at the beginning of April, when we had much else on our minds, I wrote this post urging some caution in interpreting the results of the latest Horizon poll, conducted in February, on voting intentions in this year's cannabis referendum, which was paid for by Helius Therapeutics.I wrote that ...
Over the weekend the Greens made their first election policy announcement, and promised transformational change: a more progressive tax system, with new rates applying to incomes of $100,000 and $150,000; a new wealth tax on net wealth over $1 million; and a guaranteed minimum income to eliminate poverty. Its bold, ...
Story of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Global Warming Is Melting Our Sense of Time Satellite image of smoke from active fires burning near the ...
. . Plague town? There are two things right now in Aotearoa New Zealand that are guaranteed to piss people off. Firstly, it’s National playing silly-bugger politics with the covid-19 pandemic. This cost Simon Bridges his job as National’s Leader. Lately, Michael Woodhouse has been playing fast and loose with ...
Tertiary fees in New Zealand versus Australia: Fees Are Important, but not as Important as Financing In Australia, the Education Minister Dan Tehan has proposed an overhaul of the existing higher education funding system to offer 39,000 additional study places by 2023 and 100,000 by 2030. The proposal has been ...
The latest opinion poll forecasts a landslide win by Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party, but when taken alongside other polling, it illustrates New Zealand politics remains volatile and the contest is still very open. According to the Colmar Brunton poll published by TVNZ last night, Labour would easily romp back ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, June 21 through Sat, June 27, 2020Editor's ChoiceFacebook creates fact-checking exemption for climate deniers Facebook is "aiding and abetting the spread of climate misinformation,” said Robert Brulle, an ...
The images and reports delivered to us by the world’s media leave us in no doubt that the rest of the world is still in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic that shows no signs of slackening, but is actually uncontrolled and picking up pace in many countries; and even ...
Minister of Health - David ClarkIf you follow politics at all in New Zealand, David Clark is likely a name you’re a bit familiar with. The current Minister of Health is perhaps the most disliked Member of Parliament at the moment, which amongst very stiff competition is really saying something. ...
SUNDAY JUNE 28Beat the Chasers (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). Judging by the tweets, which is probably a bad idea, over lockdown, all of New Zealand found itself in front of The Chase every night at 5pm. It is a brilliant fomat: hardly anyone wins any money ...
SATURDAY JUNE 27Banksy and the Rise of Outlaw Art (Sky Arts, Sky 017, 8.00pm). There was graffiti before Banksy, but perhaps his pungent political messages hit home a bit harder. Anyways, a doco about his influence on street art featuring a bunch of cool people.SUNDAY JUNE 28Beat the Chasers (TVNZ 1, ...
We have been assailed by Fox News-style headlines, lurid stories of “a breach!”. An almost nuclear level disaster on the horizon scream, “Fiasco!” here, “Hero to Zero!” there… Oh quick, panic everyone!This has fueled an unbelievably stupid environment of panic among some, and spurred useless, counterproductive political ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters A massive dust storm formed over the Sahara Desert last week and invaded the Caribbean over the June 20-21 weekend, bringing dangerous levels of air pollution and low visibility to the islands. The dust is accompanied by a large amount ...
Will the Covid Crisis lead to a dramatic redirection for New Zealand and the World? A hinge in history occurs where the past and present are connected but they point in different directions. Big hinges are rare but crucial in the development of humankind. Not in Narrow Seas identifies six. ...
RNZ reports that Refining NZ is considering shutting down Marsden Point and effectively turning itself into a fuel distribution service. The problem they're immediately trying to address is that running a refinery is expensive, and it is cheaper just to import processed fuel. But there's a longer-term problem too: climate ...
We all know that the COVID-19 virus is a terrible infectious disease that has already caused untold misery and numerous deaths around the world. Nearly half a million people have already died, and those are just the cases we know about.But how bad could things actually get exactly?Today, the NZ ...
This essay by Alex Hochuli examines the global phenomena of BLM protests . He is a freelance writer and research consultant based in São Paulo, Brazil. He is the co-host of the global politics podcast, Aufhebunga Bunga, and co-author of the forthcoming Politics at the End of the End of History (Zero ...
Are You Still Here? Just like his colleague, Phil Twyford – of KiwiBuild fame – David Clark juts out his chin and shamelessly apportions blame to everybody but himself. Even worse, he has turned viciously on Ashley Bloomfield, the nearest approximation to a competent, decent, humble and accountable public servant ...
. . 20 June The bad news: Aotearoa New Zealand has two new cases of covid-19. The good news: the two cases were picked up at an Auckland quarantine facility. The terrifying news: had the story of the two women leaving quarantine without testing not broken four days ...
Willing Victims: What would all those Americans in MAGA hats be left with if they abandoned Trump? Just the sick feeling of having been cheated. Just the knowledge that the man in the White House is nothing more than a shape-shifting New York grifter; and that they have always been ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Like an earthquake rumbling down the San Andreas Fault, Jeff Gibbs’ and Michael Moore’s controversial film “Planet of the Humans” tore a rift through the environmental movement, a rift its leaders would not yearn for in an election year. After activists have spent ...
There have been a number of articles written about the voting in the final statges of the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill, during which National MPs voted alongside the Green Party to force a change that would prevent the removal of sentenced prisoners from the Electoral Roll. You can ...
Last night should have been a cause for muted celebration in Parliament. The Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Bill’s final passage through the House partially erases a stain on New Zealand’s democratic system. It’s a drum I’ve been beatingfor thepast decade, but denying all sentenced prisoners the right to vote is a ...
Jordan WilliamsIt’s pretty obvious to all and sundry that the Taxpayers Union, run by Jordan Williams, isn’t really a union at all. Instead it’s a small lobby group for privileged white folk, namely the old fools behind the scenes of the corrupt and largely defunct Act Party.With an incorrectly attributed ...
Last year, I highlighted a secrecy problem with the government's Infrastructure Funding and Financing Bill. The Bill would establish a new class of public entity, "special purpose vehicles", to hide debt from local government balance sheets fund infrastructure such as roads and sewers in "high-growth" councils. The SPVs would collect ...
Both the leader of the opposition Todd Muller and University of Auckland Professor Des Gorman have gone on the record as saying they suspect Covid-19 is spreading in the community in New Zealand once again. Let me explain why I don’t agree with them. As best I can tell there ...
By Geoffrey Miller A former MP and Associate Minister of Defence says that New Zealand’s Covid-19 border and quarantine issues illustrate why a new dedicated national security agency is needed. Heather Roy, a former deputy leader of the Act Party who held the associate defence portfolio from 2008-10, told the ...
Annual fishing report It's been about a year since we swapped out the Research News deckhand. It seems longer— particularly the past 4 months— and not because of this particular work. Over the course of the year somewhere in the neighborhood of 17,500 articles have been caught in our net, ...
This article on Feminist Current by Meghan Murphy looks at the Karen/Becky meme and argues it has officially gone too far The male centered progressive left has successfully made woman-hating trendy. Today, yet another “Karen” video went viral online. This time, it seems a woman flipped off a male driver, ...
Over the past few weeks, there's been a lot of attention on the question of why American police are so violent, and so often murder people. There are a pile of reasons for this, including the racist roots of their entire policing system, but part of the answer seems to ...
Last year, the government promised that it would strengthen whistleblower protections. Today, they finally released the bill. There's one major change: "[a] discloser is entitled to protection for a protected disclosure made to an appropriate authority at any time" - an "appropriate authority" being public sector heads, officers of Parliament, ...
Andrew Lorrey, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research; Ben Noll, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, and Lauren Vargo, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Brewster Glacier in New Zealand’s Southern Alps lost 13 million cubic metres of ice between March 2016 and March 2019 – ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThis week, Climate Explained answers two similar questions.If humans ...
This week we moved into the second half of 2020 - and our Government delivered another week of big changes and major progress for New Zealanders. Read below for a wrap of the key things moments from the week - from extending paid parental leave, to making major investments in ...
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson is calling for the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Income to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and prevent more families entering into further debt with the Ministry of Social Development. ...
There has been renewed focus on New Zealand First acting as a handbrake on the Government after our decision to not support Auckland light rail. We are a handbrake for bad ideas, that istrue, but our track record since 2017 has seen New Zealand First constructively also serve as an ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP New Zealand First’s Fair Residency for Superannuation Bill passed its First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill makes a significant change to NZ Super by raising the minimum residency requirement from 10 to 20 years, after age 20. “Currently, a migrant of ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order A New Zealand First member’s bill in the name of Darroch Ball introducing a six-month minimum prison sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its second reading in Parliament. The new offence of "injuring a first responder or corrections officer with ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Deputy Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the launch of the new Criminal Cases Review Commission, gifted with the name from Waikato-Tainui - Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, announced in Hamilton today by Justice Minister Andrew Little. “New Zealand First has long believed in and ...
The Green Party is celebrating over $800m in new funding for green projects, which will get people into jobs while solving New Zealand’s long-term challenges. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is appalled that Meridian seems to have been unnecessarily spilling water from its dams to drive up its profits."While New Zealanders have been coming together in some of our darkest hours, we don’t expect power gentailers to waste water and ...
We wrapped up the first half of 2020 with a busy month, taking additional steps to support New Zealanders as we continue with our economic recovery. We rolled out targeted packages to support key industries like tourism and construction, helped create jobs in the environmental and agriculture sectors, and set ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has welcomed the appointment of Maurice Davis and his deep infrastructure and construction experience to the board of the Infrastructure Commission. Mr Davis (Ngāti Maniapoto), is the seventh and final appointment to the board led by former Reserve Bank Governor ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand’s click bait journalism is taking a turn for the worse, with yet another example of sensationalist, wilful-misrepresentation of the facts. “New Zealand First has worked constructively with its Coalition partner on hundreds of pieces of legislation and policy, and ...
The Green Party is today unveiling its Poverty Action Plan, which includes a Guaranteed Minimum Income to ensure people have enough to live with dignity. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Rotorua Museum redevelopment and Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest projects will be accelerated thanks to a $2.09 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) boost, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
This week, we rolled out the next steps of our recovery plan, with new infrastructure investment, extra support for tourism operators, and a new programme to get Kiwis into agriculture careers. The global economic consequences of COVID-19 will continue to be a challenge, but we have a detailed plan to ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its final reading in Parliament today fulfilling a coalition agreement commitment. “This is an important step in saving the lives of New Zealanders and delivers a key coalition commitment ...
Whakatāne has been given a $2.5 million boost to speed up previously funded projects and create more than 450 jobs in the next decade. Of those, the equivalent of 160 full-time jobs could be delivered in the next six weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is in town to make ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $2.5 million to accelerate three infrastructure projects in Whakatāne, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This package is about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is throwing his weight behind a bid by the Auckland Council to fast-track the more than doubling of the city's water allowance from the Waikato River. And he's coming out strongly against anyone who plans on getting in the way of this campaign. "It is my ...
The Green Party is thrilled to see changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that mean consents for large projects can be declined if they will have significant climate change implications that are inconsistent with the Zero Carbon Act and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Paris Agreement obligations. ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence The Royal New Zealand Navy’s new ship, Aotearoa, set sail for New Zealand on 10 June from the Republic of Korea, and is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, announced Minister of Defence Ron Mark. “Aotearoa is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s new fleet ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters has today welcomed the Racing Industry Bill passing its third reading, creating the legislative framework for revitalising the racing industry while limiting the need for future government intervention. “For too long our domestic racing industry has ...
The Green Party has today put forward an amendment to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill to ensure all people in prisons can vote in general elections. ...
The Green Party welcomes the decision to not proceed with Public Public Investment (PPI) delivery of Auckland’s light rail project and to instead run the process through the public service. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First List MP Hon Ron Mark welcomes the announcement of Provincial Growth Funding investment of $1.4 million to help secure the Wairarapa’s water supply. The funding boost will allow the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), and ...
New Zealand First list MP Mark Patterson has been selected to represent the party in the newly formed Taieri electorate at the upcoming election. Mr Patterson, his wife Jude and two daughters farm sheep and beef at Lawrence and Waitahuna. He previously stood in the Clutha-Southland electorate however boundary changes ...
Hon Shane Jones, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises A new ‘super depot’ to be built for NZ Post in Wellington will create around 350 jobs during construction, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises Shane Jones says. Shane Jones today attended a ground-breaking and blessing ceremony for the parcel-processing depot ...
Our strong economic management prior to COVID-19 - with surpluses, low debt and near-record-low unemployment - put us in a good position to weather the impact of the virus and start to rebuild our economy much earlier than many other countries.Now we're putting our plan to recover and rebuild ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Law and Order Recently released Police fleeing driver statistics have shown yet another increase in incidents with another record-high in the latest quarter. “This new quarterly record-high is the latest in a string of record-high numbers since 2014. The data shows incidents ...
New Zealand First MP Fletcher Tabuteau is pleased to be confirmed today as the party’s candidate for the Rotorua electorate. Speaking at the Rotorua AGM for New Zealand First, Mr Tabuteau said this is an election that is incredibly important for the people of Rotorua. “The founding principles of New ...
The Human Rights Commission’s PRISM report on the issues impacting people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) provides an excellent programme of work for future governments to follow, say the Greens. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the trans-Tasman bubble had not been jeopardised after aborder botch-upresulted in New Zealand having two active cases of COVID-19. On Friday, Mr Peters told RNZ's Morning Report he had heard from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison that borders for trans-Tasman travel would open by ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said today he was pleased the army was now running the quarantine and isolation process - up until now it has been the Ministry of Health. Peters told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that the army knew how to introduce and follow protocols and instil discipline. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First MP and Minister for Defence and Veteran’s Affairs Ron Mark has confirmed his bid for the Wairarapa seat.“The Coalition Government has done a lot of good work throughout the Wairarapa, but many constituents have told ...
New Zealand First is pleased to release the names of its next tranche of candidates for the 2020 election. We’re proud to announce these hardworking New Zealanders that have put their hand up to fight for a commonsense and resilient future.Jamie Arbuckle – Kaikoura Mark Arneil – Christchurch Central Jackie ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence A massive joint effort between New Zealand Government agencies, employers, and the Vanuatu Government is underway to repatriate over 1000 Vanuatu nationals stranded in New Zealand, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development Reprioritised funding of $40 million from the Provincial Growth Fund will support up to 1000 regional apprenticeships, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said today. The Regional Apprenticeship Initiative is part of the wider Apprenticeship Boost announced by Education Minister Chris Hipkins ...
The Green Party welcomes the ACC’s announcement to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 but emphasises the need to go further, and faster to truly meet the climate change challenge. ...
Farmers are rejoicing after Labour agreed to an amendment pushed by New Zealand First in the firearms bill that will allow the use of restricted guns for pest control. Concessions on gun control mean farmers will be able to apply for a licence to use restricted firearms for pest control. ...
A new programme, which sets a firm course for the Building and Construction sector to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been announced by the Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa. “A significant amount of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the building and construction sector. If we’re serious ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing more than $7.5 million in Northland ventures to combat the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment is going to the Northern Adventure Experience and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced significant funding for Auckland’s Northcote College as part of the first wave of a new nationwide school redevelopment programme to upgrade schools over the next 10 years. The $48.5 million project brings the total investment in Northcote College to ...
The Government has opened an urgent response fund to support schools and early learning services to get children and young people back on track after the Covid-19 lockdown. “While we are seeing improvements in attendance under Alert Level 1 Ministry of Education data shows that attendance rates in our schools ...
The law to boost the economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19 by speeding up resource consenting on selected projects has passed its second and third readings in the House today. “Accelerating nationwide projects and activities by government, iwi and the private sector will help deliver faster economic recovery and ...
Five port-related projects in Whanganui will receive a $26.75 million Provincial Growth Fund investment to support local economic recovery and create new opportunities for growth, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This is a significant investment that will support the redevelopment of the Whanganui Port, a project governed ...
Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery will receive an investment of up to $12 million administered by the Provincial Growth Fund to support its redevelopment, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The project is included in a $3 billion infrastructure pipeline announced by Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Shane Jones yesterday. ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing nearly $2.5 million into three Te Ara Mahi programmes to support Manawatū-Whanganui jobseekers and employees to quickly train and upskill, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Up to 154 local people will be supported into employment within the first year by these ...
This morning I have formally tendered my resignation as Minister of Health, which was accepted by the Prime Minister. Serving as Minister of Health has been an absolute privilege – particularly through these extraordinary last few months. It’s no secret that Health is a challenging portfolio. I have given ...
Scholarships for 57 early-career agricultural emissions scientists from 20 developing countries is another example of New Zealand’s international leadership in primary sector sustainability, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. Mr O’Connor, announcing the scholarships today, says hundreds of applications were received for this fourth round of the CLIFF-GRADS programme (Climate, Food ...
A project to help rejuvenate the Horowhenua town of Foxton will receive a Provincial Growth Fund investment of $3.86 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This funding for the Foxton Regeneration project will be used to make the well-known holiday town even more attractive for visitors and ...
Moa bones and other sub-fossil remains of extinct species are set to have improved protection with proposals to prevent the trade in extinct species announced the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. “We have lost too many of our native species, but these lost species, such as moa, remain an ...
The Government’s free and healthy school lunches programme moves south for the first time creating jobs for around 30 people in Otago and Southland. “Eighteen schools with 3000 students are joining the programme – 11 have already begun serving lunches, and seven are preparing to start during Term 3. This is ...
Thousands of Kiwi jobs and investment in New Zealand productions will be protected through a screen sector support package announced today by Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford and Minister for Broadcasting Kris Faafoi. The package also includes investment in broadcasting ...
The Government has established a new $10 million fund for the domestic events sector to help save jobs and protect incomes as it recovers from the impacts of COVID-19, Minister of Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. This funding from Budget 2020 follows talks with the event sector designed to ...
The Government has taken another step in its commitment to making sure New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump with the introduction of legislation to improve competition in the retail fuel market, says Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods. “The fuel market study that this Government ordered ...
New Zealand has joined a global initiative that aims to enable all countries to access a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced today. The COVAX Facility was recently launched by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The Alliance includes the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank ...
From today new legislation takes effect to both restore the right to legal representation at the start of a Care of Children (CoCA) dispute in the Family Court, and allow parties to those proceedings to access legal aid where eligible. During a visit to the Family Court in Auckland today, ...
Home-based early childhood education (ECE) subsidised by the government will transition to a fully qualified workforce by 2025 to ensure better and more consistent quality, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. “Quality early learning helps provide children with a strong foundation for their future,” Chris Hipkins said. From 1 January ...
The new Criminal Cases Review Commission | Te Kāhui Tātari Ture (CCRC) has started work and can now independently investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “Even though we have appeal rights and safeguards against unsafe convictions, from time to time our justice system does get things wrong. The design of the ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatanga maha, tēnā koutou Ki a koutou Te Āti Awa, Taranaki Whānui, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, ngā mana whenua o te rohe nei, tēnā koutou Ko Te Whare Wānanga o Aotearoa ki ngā take o te Ao (NZIIA), Ko te Rōpū Tohu Tono ...
The Government’s increase to paid parental leave kicks in today with another 4 weeks taking New Zealand up to a full 6 months (26 weeks, up from 22 weeks) leave for new parents, and the maximum weekly payment will increase by $20pw, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. ...
A new package of infrastructure investments will help kick-start the post-COVID rebuild by creating more than 20,000 jobs and unlocking more than $5 billion of projects up and down New Zealand. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones today outlined how the $3 billion infrastructure fund in the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today expressed the New Zealand Government’s deep disappointment at the passage by China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee of a national security law for Hong Kong. “New Zealand has consistently emphasised its serious concern about the imposition of this legislation on Hong Kong without inclusive ...
More jobs and more family time with newborns are the centrepiece of a suite of Government initiatives coming into effect today. July 1 is a milestone day for the Government as a host of key policies take effect, demonstrating the critical areas where progress has been made. “The Coalition Government ...
Environment Minister David Parker has today “called in” Auckland’s application to the Waikato Regional Council to take an extra 200 million litres of water a day from the lower reaches of the Waikato River for Auckland drinking water and other municipal uses. The call-in means the application has been referred ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker announced today that New Zealand’s hosting of APEC in 2021 will go ahead using virtual digital platforms. Mr Peters said the global disruption caused by COVID-19, including resultant border restrictions, had been the major factor in the ...
The start of construction on a new link road between Matakana Road and State Highway 1 will create jobs and support the significant population growth expected in the Warkworth area, Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Mayor Phil Goff announced today. Transport Minister Phil Twyford said construction of the Matakana Link ...
The Government is prioritising its latest investment in PPE for frontline health workers, including staff at managed isolation and quarantine facilities, Health Minister David Clark says. “With no community transmission of COVID-19 our response now has a firm focus on keeping our border safe and secure. “We must ensure that ...
The Parihaka Papakāinga Trust in Taranaki will receive up to $14 million for a new visitor centre and other improvements at the historic settlement that will boost the local economy and provide much-needed jobs, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little have ...
Protections for workers who are employees of one employer but working under the direction of another business or organisation have come into force, closing a gap in legislation that made the personal grievance process inaccessible for some workers, says Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. “This Government is working hard to ...
A range of improvements are already underway to address issues identified in the rapid review of the Managed Isolation and Quarantine system released today, Housing Minister Megan Woods said. The review was commissioned just over a week ago to identify and understand current and emerging risks to ensure the end-to-end ...
The important brown kiwi habitat around Whakatāne will receive added protection through an Iwi-led predator free project announced by Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau. “The Government is investing nearly $5 million into Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa’s environmental projects with $2.5 ...
An extra 4,000 tonnes of offcuts and scraps of untreated wood per year will soon be able to be recycled into useful products such as horticultural and garden mulch, playground safety surfacing and animal bedding as a result of a $660,000 investment from the Waste Minimisation Fund, Associate Environment Minister ...
The Governor-General has referred Scott Watson’s convictions for murder back to the Court of Appeal, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Mr Watson was convicted in 1999 of the murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope. His appeal to the Court of Appeal in 2000 was unsuccessful, as was his ...
A new five-year funding agreement for the Reserve Bank will mean it can boost its work to protect New Zealanders’ finances, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. “New Zealand has a strong and stable financial system. Financial stability is an area that we are not prepared to cut corners for, particularly ...
A law change has been introduced to make it easier for forgotten funds in institutional accounts to be returned more easily to their rightful owners. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash has introduced an amendment to the Unclaimed Money Act 1971. It will update the rules controlling forgotten sums of money held ...
The Government is delivering on election commitments and a key recommendation of He Ara Oranga: Report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction with the establishment of a permanent independent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission, Health Minister Dr David Clark says. Legislation enabling the establishment of the fully ...
A Bill to replace New Zealand’s Privacy Act passed its third reading in Parliament today, Justice Minister Andrew Little has announced. “The protections in the Privacy Bill are vitally important. The key purpose of the reforms is to promote and protect people’s privacy and give them confidence that their personal ...
Extra support is being provided to tourism businesses operating on public conservation land announced Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage today. The Government is providing $25m worth of support to tourism operators impacted by COVID-19, with a decision to waive most Department of Conservation tourism related concession ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, ARC Future Fellow, UNSW The term “heatwave” is no stranger to Australians. Defined as when conditions are excessively hot for at least three days in a row, these extreme temperature events have always punctuated our climate. With many of us ...
Pacific Media Watch A senior Indonesian government official and a New Zealand journalism professor have clashed over differing perspectives on access for journalists and media to the West Papua region. Speaking on a webinar organised by the Jubi newspaper in Jayapura, Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ director of the European affairs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barbara Mintzes, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney To beat the coronavirus pandemic, countries need to collaborate. We need the best possible science to develop vaccines and drugs, and to test, track and contain the virus. If we’ve learned anything ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Let’s turn back the hands of time. Before extinction knocked dinosaurs off their pillar, before the “Great Dying” extinction wiped out 95% of all organisms – we had the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Williams, Researcher at the Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine (VELiM), University of Sydney Last week, outgoing chief medical officer Brendan Murphy announced all returned travellers would be tested for COVID-19 before and after quarantine. Some were surprised ...
A new package to help foreign nationals stuck in New Zealand due to Covid-19 is inadequate and needs to be supplemented with the emergency benefit, say Community Law Centres O Aotearoa (CLCA) and the Human Rights Commission (HRC). The assistance ...
With Shortland Street’s 7,000th episode screening tonight, Tara Ward salutes the soap for keeping calm and carrying on through level three lockdown. It’s been one heck of a week on Shortland Street. Leanne lost her winning $8 million Lotto ticket, Louis slipped over in a pile of vomit, and Desi tried ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Clift, Teaching Fellow and PhD candidate, University of Melbourne In recent days, the prime ministers of the UK and Australia each declared they are working toward providing safe haven visas for Hong Kong residents. In the US, lawmakers passed a bill ...
How two multi-millionaires, two pandemic futurists, Air NZ’s former boss, a dairy executive on a break, a retired anaesthetist (and a few others) nearly saved NZ. ...
A commitment from Labour to protect productive farmland from blanket afforestation if re-elected is a step in the right direction, Federated Farmers Meat & Wool Chairperson William Beetham says. "We’re really pleased there is now ...
Tomorrow, 4 July, will see protests in at least nine centres around New Zealand against Israeli plans to steal more Palestinian land (Details are at the end of this media release) “Virtually the entire international community is standing together ...
Pacific Media Watch Australia’s ABC has revealed the Australian Federal Police (AFP) recommendation regarding the Afghan Files investigative journalism report is for the Commonwealth DPP to consider charging journalist Dan Oakes for his role in the leak. The revelation has prompted a renewed call by the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom ...
While we’re growing in confidence that we are in the enviable position of basically eliminating Covid-19, our trading nation at the bottom of the world is also in the unenviable position of locking off our economy to the world. “No is not an answer ...
Netflix’s new adaptations of The Baby-Sitters Club makes long-time fan Tara Ward fall in love with the series all over again. When I was 12 years old, my class had to write a letter to a famous person. Some of my classmates wrote to an All Black, Tom Cruise or ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning the scale and value of the Government’s $230m screen industry recovery package. Union spokesperson Jordan Williams says: “The official justification for this ‘recovery package’ is the impact of COVID-19 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Former Ambassador and Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland Chinese activity in Papua New Guinea was not the only factor behind Australia’s Pacific “Step-Up”. As a former high commissioner to PNG, I know it ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk A Papuan church leader and advocate for social justice has penned an open letter to the Indonesian government calling for justice and an end to racism to enable a genuine self-determination process for the Melanesian region. “The problem of Papua has become increasingly complex and severe ...
Latest from the Beehive – Nine press releases (when we checked this morning) had flowed from the Beehive since we last reported. Eight of them brayed about the money Ministers have been spending and (as they prefer to put it) investing. The sole exception came from Environment Minister David ...
CEAC pre-election review of National Party ‘climate change policy’, is lacking in substance without any clear policy, that will leave voters with no idea of what National Party plans for saving our climate, and glancing at their ‘Transport plans’, ...
Film crews can get exemptions to enter New Zealand, so why not the families and supporters of terror victims, David Williams asks. OPINION: If the public needs a sign last year’s terrorist attack has slipped off the Government’s radar, this is it. A sentencing date has been set for the ...
A new poem by Michaela Keeble.Only the ocean only the oceanturns me overlike this only the oceanturns meon like this only the oceangives warning: what will changeand when so it doesn’t comeacrosslike violence white capsdrift inon the rising tide i feel likeopening my legs i don’t wantto do anything elsetoday i don’t wantto goto work i want to lie downwith ...
As the Covid-19 pandemic rages round the world, New Zealanders are re-discovering food production is the fundamental engine of the economy. And farming is not a sunset industry. Instead of being rubbished by lobby groups for so-called “dirty dairying”, the country’s core export industry has the chance to transform itself ...
The world-famous best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman (Bloomsbury, $34)This is the one that kicks off with the essay about the Tongan ...
The New Zealand Down syndrome community is urging the Government to ignore the recommendations in the recent Health and Disability Sector Review. “New Zealand has made terrific progress to enhance the quality of life for people with Down syndrome and other disabilities ...
The Covid Plan B group says New Zealand can minimise the economic consequences of Covid-19 if it opens its borders following the rest of the world. The group, which has critiqued the Government's lockdown response since March, has today added its ...
Auckland will soon be receiving an additional 75 million litres of water per day from the Waikato River as an interim measure to help ease the worst water shortage in 25 years. A Ngāti Whātua historian says this sharing of resources between Tāmaki Makaurau and Waikato goes back a very ...
Athletes from the Papua New Guinea’s national team joined the peaceful “cry for justice” march in the nation’s capital of Port Moresby. Video: EMTV NewsBy EMTV News Many wore black yesterday in rallies against gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea in a day chosen to remember the young mother ...
The government will remain "cautious" when it comes to the border as despite calls for a pragmatic strategy for reopening, new Health Minister Chris Hipkins says. ...
A new report measuring New Zealanders’ financial wellbeing highlights how key sectors of our population are feeling stressed over money, and how Covid-19 has made that worse.Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can help. After all, it’s what puts food on the table, a roof over our heads, and ...
The Tahr Foundation is asking the Conservation Authority to represent all New Zealanders and their recreational pursuits in National Parks, including the tens of thousands of hunters who flock to them every year. The Foundation’s plea is in response to ...
Councils can now borrow money equivalent to 300% of annual revenue, and the Public Service Association says this will allow them to maintain operational expenditure, invest in important community services and proceed with long-overdue infrastructure ...
Dunedin's mayor says conversations about managed isolation and quarantine can be held in a mature fashion without "getting into an unhelpful conversation about where our citizens might be returning from". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Webb, PhD candidate in Astrophysics, Swinburne University of Technology What does the Sun’s core look like? Sophie, aged 8, Perth What does the Sun’s core look like? This is a fantastic question Sophie, and one we will need ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Spencer Zifcak, Allan Myers Chair of Law/Professor of Law, Australian Catholic University After a lengthy delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, the legal case that constitutes the most significant threat to freedom of expression in this country will soon play out in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Williamson, Professor of Microbiology, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity A cornerstone of containing the COVID-19 pandemic is widespread testing to identify cases and prevent new outbreaks emerging. This strategy is known as “test, trace and isolate”. The standard ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Research Fellow (Food Policy and Law), George Institute for Global Health As you read this, health officials are busy finalising the government’s review of the health star rating system on packaged foods. One of the issues the review is looking ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Briggs, Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney As the global renewables transition accelerates, the future for coal regions has become a big worry. This raises an important question: can renewables create the right jobs in the right ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joel Barnes, Research Associate, Australian Centre for Public History, University of Technology Sydney The government’s recently proposed restructure of university fees would see students pay 113% more for many humanities subjects. The package is not a case of “humanities vs STEM (science, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ross Guest, Professor of Economics and National Senior Teaching Fellow, Griffith University The Australian government is planning to spend A$190 billion to support the economy in response to COVID-19, according to the latest Parliamentary Budget Office estimate. The total impact of COVID-19 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW For all the things we don’t know about COVID-19 one thing is certain: our economic recovery will depend on boosting productivity. Everyone from the Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe to Prime Minister Scott Morrison ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosslyn Almond, Literature Lecturer, Australian Catholic University The Baby-Sitters Club, the popular series by Ann M. Martin, defined my childhood. I collected the books until I was 11. I played it in the school yard (I was Dawn because I had long ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Pickles, Professor of History at the University of Canterbury, University of Canterbury The family of pioneering New Zealand suffragist Kate Sheppard kept an important secret – one that possibly explains a lot about her life, her beliefs and her motivation. The ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. Clark out and Bridges back in, Chinese embassy warns NZ politicians to not speak out on Hong Kong, and terrible new revelations about Oranga Tamariki culture.It has been a day of reshuffling at parliament, with both major parties making significant moves. We’ll start with ...
InterCity is the first company to get government money to help land and maritime transport firms hit by the drop in tourist numbers due to Covid-19. ...
The country’s second-largest early learning business has backed down on an illegal staff contract following a public backlash, Laura Walters reports Evolve Education has decided to do away with a proposed contract that would have cut its teachers’ hours in half. Evolve Education, a publicly listed company which owns 128 ...
The Greens’ tax and welfare package released last weekend is a bold statement designed more to keep the Greens’ party vote above 5 percent, than to ever be implemented. But will it backfire on them? asks Peter Dunne. Without the luxury or likelihood of an electorate seat the Greens ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias.NON-FICTION 1 Vegful by Nadia Lim (Nude Food, $55) Gutsful. 2 The Book of Overthinking by Gwendoline Smith (Allen & Unwin, $24.99) 3 Know Your Place by Golriz Ghahraman ...
The fine art of teaching a rare bird to fish. An extraordinary story of how an abandoned fairy tern chick, RY-BM, was saved from death and taught to fend for himself. It all started on January 10 at the mouth of Te Arai stream. A closely-watched fairy tern nest was ...
David Clark's decision to fall on his sword will rid Jacinda Ardern and Labour of one obvious weakness as the election campaign draws ever closer, Sam Sachdeva writes When it comes to election campaigns, Australian political strategist and boogeyman of the left Lynton Crosby is said to talk about “scraping ...
While lockdown was difficult for everyone, it highlighted how much we rely on schools and early childhood education to enable work in the paid economy How did New Zealand families fare during lockdown, and what can we learn from the experience? A national survey conducted by researchers from Te Herenga Waka ...
Rendering people over 70 as either passive or wilfully irresponsible is unhelpful and ill-considered. University of Auckland researchers discuss a better approach. When the New Zealand Government began to take steps to reduce the impact of Covid-19, people aged 70 and over were singled out as the group most vulnerable. ...
We should be unanimously outraged that in seven short years the number of Māori women on remand has doubled, in part thanks to a pernicious reform. What will you do about it, asks Awatea Mita.In December this year, it will be six years since I was released from prison. Since gaining ...
The Spinoff’s most-viewed article, by far, is an explainer about a drug that probably doesn’t exist. Josie Adams explains why a low-stakes story she wrote in a morning took flight.In early April I wrote this story about adrenochrome, a chemical compound that doesn’t exist in any meaningful way, and how ...
With Covid-19 raging overseas but quiet at home, the view at the Beehive is that it was time for a health minister less prone to gaffes, reports Justin Giovannetti.New Zealand’s coronavirus response has been lauded around the world and yet, in the midst of a worsening global pandemic, the country’s ...
Labour, shackled by NZ First, has been too conservative on welfare reform. Rod Oram says we should thank the Green Party for its bold proposals to address income support and tax. You might be one of the 1.6 million Kiwis who received a weekly wage subsidy during lockdown. Or you ...
The past three years in education might feel like endless reviews, but a lot has happened. Now Covid has presented 'crisitunities' for politicians ahead of the election. ...
Three women's world cups to be played in New Zealand over the next three years - but how well does this country really do when it comes to equity in sport? New Zealand's the place to be when it comes to women’s sport over the next three years - we're playing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Just under two years ago, Anthony Albanese was expectantly awaiting the “Super Saturday” byelections. Of the five contests, the outcomes in two, Longman in Queensland and Braddon in Tasmania, would be critical for Bill Shorten’s ...
The minister in charge of quarantine and isolation facilities Megan Woods has labelled a National MP's comments about New Zealanders returning from Asia as disgraceful and racist. ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Rob Teina from Supreme Plumbing.Social media has become an important tool for all ...
Checkpoint - Todd Muller, having just reshuffled his caucus after Paula Bennett's resignation, says he has plenty of policies "in the can" but is not revealing them yet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Victoria Carruthers, Senior lecturer, Australian Catholic University I have been thinking a lot lately of how many worlds there are contained in very small spaces and how every person is really one world to himself unconnected by anyone or any thing. ...
Open mike 17/04/2020 
Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...6 hours ago
I wrote earlier in the week about the Scientology front organisations Drug Free World and Drug Free Ambassadors and their quite prominent role in anti-cannabis reform "coalition" assembled by Family First and a newloca branch of the American prohibitionist organisation SAM.It turns out Family First aren't the only ones helping ...11 hours ago
Nik Green Much of the public debate about the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on the extent to which government regulations have restricted personal and business activity.
Three years ago the ABC used leaked information to expose war crimes by Australian troops in Afghanistan. Since then the chief of Australia's special forces has admitted that his troops committed war crimes. But guess who the Australian government is prosecuting? Police have referred allegations against an ABC journalist relating ...13 hours ago
15 hours ago
Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I have landed in hospital so am not able to do a current update on the NZ blog statistics. Let’s hope I can get back to this in good time. ...2 days ago
75 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects The response of stratospheric water vapor to climate change driven by different forcing agents (open access) Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Record warming at the South Pole during the past three decades Variability of soil freeze depth ...2 days ago
The Greens have shaken up the election campaign with the announcement of their radical poverty and action plan to reform welfare provision and introduce a new wealth tax for millionaires. It’s a big-thinking, controversial policy and has generated a lot of disagreement over how radical it is, whether it could ...2 days ago
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...4 days ago
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...4 days ago
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...4 days ago
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...4 days ago
Paul GoldsmithYou can often tell just how effective a progressive policy proposal will be by how much the right wing criticise it. The more socially beneficial, the more vitriolic and unhinged they seem to become.That was the case when the Green Party announced their Poverty Action Plan yesterday. The response ...5 days ago
. . Plague town? There are two things right now in Aotearoa New Zealand that are guaranteed to piss people off. Firstly, it’s National playing silly-bugger politics with the covid-19 pandemic. This cost Simon Bridges his job as National’s Leader. Lately, Michael Woodhouse has been playing fast and loose with ...5 days ago
Tertiary fees in New Zealand versus Australia: Fees Are Important, but not as Important as Financing In Australia, the Education Minister Dan Tehan has proposed an overhaul of the existing higher education funding system to offer 39,000 additional study places by 2023 and 100,000 by 2030. The proposal has been ...5 days ago
The images and reports delivered to us by the world’s media leave us in no doubt that the rest of the world is still in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic that shows no signs of slackening, but is actually uncontrolled and picking up pace in many countries; and even ...6 days ago
We have been assailed by Fox News-style headlines, lurid stories of “a breach!”. An almost nuclear level disaster on the horizon scream, “Fiasco!” here, “Hero to Zero!” there… Oh quick, panic everyone! This has fueled an unbelievably stupid environment of panic among some, and spurred useless, counterproductive political ...1 week ago
This week we moved into the second half of 2020 - and our Government delivered another week of big changes and major progress for New Zealanders. Read below for a wrap of the key things moments from the week - from extending paid parental leave, to making major investments in ...8 hours ago
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...1 day ago
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...2 days ago
A new programme, which sets a firm course for the Building and Construction sector to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been announced by the Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa. “A significant amount of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the building and construction sector. If we’re serious ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, ARC Future Fellow, UNSW The term “heatwave” is no stranger to Australians. Defined as when conditions are excessively hot for at least three days in a row, these extreme temperature events have always punctuated our climate. With many of us ...3 hours ago
A new package to help foreign nationals stuck in New Zealand due to Covid-19 is inadequate and needs to be supplemented with the emergency benefit, say Community Law Centres O Aotearoa (CLCA) and the Human Rights Commission (HRC). The assistance ...9 hours ago
With Shortland Street’s 7,000th episode screening tonight, Tara Ward salutes the soap for keeping calm and carrying on through level three lockdown. It’s been one heck of a week on Shortland Street. Leanne lost her winning $8 million Lotto ticket, Louis slipped over in a pile of vomit, and Desi tried ...9 hours ago
How two multi-millionaires, two pandemic futurists, Air NZ’s former boss, a dairy executive on a break, a retired anaesthetist (and a few others) nearly saved NZ. ...10 hours ago
National is promising to revive an old pledge to extend the Waikato Expressway if elected in September. ...12 hours ago
Latest from the Beehive – Nine press releases (when we checked this morning) had flowed from the Beehive since we last reported. Eight of them brayed about the money Ministers have been spending and (as they prefer to put it) investing. The sole exception came from Environment Minister David ...12 hours ago
Film crews can get exemptions to enter New Zealand, so why not the families and supporters of terror victims, David Williams asks. OPINION: If the public needs a sign last year’s terrorist attack has slipped off the Government’s radar, this is it. A sentencing date has been set for the ...13 hours ago
As the Covid-19 pandemic rages round the world, New Zealanders are re-discovering food production is the fundamental engine of the economy. And farming is not a sunset industry. Instead of being rubbished by lobby groups for so-called “dirty dairying”, the country’s core export industry has the chance to transform itself ...14 hours ago
Kathmandu shares surge after retailer reports online sales rose 78 percent in the last six weeks and it was profitable despite Covid-19 hit ...18 hours ago
The country’s second-largest early learning business has backed down on an illegal staff contract following a public backlash, Laura Walters reports Evolve Education has decided to do away with a proposed contract that would have cut its teachers’ hours in half. Evolve Education, a publicly listed company which owns 128 ...19 hours ago
The Greens’ tax and welfare package released last weekend is a bold statement designed more to keep the Greens’ party vote above 5 percent, than to ever be implemented. But will it backfire on them? asks Peter Dunne. Without the luxury or likelihood of an electorate seat the Greens ...20 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias. NON-FICTION 1 Vegful by Nadia Lim (Nude Food, $55) Gutsful. 2 The Book of Overthinking by Gwendoline Smith (Allen & Unwin, $24.99) 3 Know Your Place by Golriz Ghahraman ...20 hours ago
The fine art of teaching a rare bird to fish. An extraordinary story of how an abandoned fairy tern chick, RY-BM, was saved from death and taught to fend for himself. It all started on January 10 at the mouth of Te Arai stream. A closely-watched fairy tern nest was ...20 hours ago
David Clark's decision to fall on his sword will rid Jacinda Ardern and Labour of one obvious weakness as the election campaign draws ever closer, Sam Sachdeva writes When it comes to election campaigns, Australian political strategist and boogeyman of the left Lynton Crosby is said to talk about “scraping ...20 hours ago
While lockdown was difficult for everyone, it highlighted how much we rely on schools and early childhood education to enable work in the paid economy How did New Zealand families fare during lockdown, and what can we learn from the experience? A national survey conducted by researchers from Te Herenga Waka ...20 hours ago
Rendering people over 70 as either passive or wilfully irresponsible is unhelpful and ill-considered. University of Auckland researchers discuss a better approach. When the New Zealand Government began to take steps to reduce the impact of Covid-19, people aged 70 and over were singled out as the group most vulnerable. ...20 hours ago
Labour, shackled by NZ First, has been too conservative on welfare reform. Rod Oram says we should thank the Green Party for its bold proposals to address income support and tax. You might be one of the 1.6 million Kiwis who received a weekly wage subsidy during lockdown. Or you ...20 hours ago
The past three years in education might feel like endless reviews, but a lot has happened. Now Covid has presented 'crisitunities' for politicians ahead of the election. ...20 hours ago
Three women's world cups to be played in New Zealand over the next three years - but how well does this country really do when it comes to equity in sport? New Zealand's the place to be when it comes to women’s sport over the next three years - we're playing ...20 hours ago
Seasonal workers from Tonga are trying to survive a NZ winter as decision-makers in both countries decide what to do with them. ...1 day ago
At 10 am (NZ time) Trump will be holding a press conference about opening America up again – aka how the USA will commit economic suicide and plunge the whole world into depression.
Go on to Trump's twitter to watch what might prove to be a turning point in 'Merican civilisation! History being made from the mouth of a narcissist
idiotgenius!A very stable genius with bigly hands who will have builded the bigliest recovery in the story of the wurld you'll see!
Voldemort: "Now, you put your faith in me."
The yam Voldedolt: " When someone's the president of the United States, the authority is total"
Also the kumquat Pol Pot: "I don't take responsibility at all"
The exact opposite is going to happen.
Only relatively small and isolated nations like NZ are going to be able to eradicate CV19 by lockdown. (And look at how difficult we are finding it.) Everywhere else it's going to become endemic until we can implement at least one of three other strategies, high intensity testing, effective treatment or vaccination at scale.
(Big Fat Caveat. This is a thoroughly damned nasty disease that you don't want to get. Researchers are still learning unwelcome aspects, silent asymptomatic transmission is more common than thought and long term chronic complications are appearing.)
Lifting the lockdown does not mean abandoning all defense. There will still be social distancing, increased hygiene, restrictions on gatherings, and testing will continue to ramp up. Each state of the USA will adapt their measures to their circumstances. It will continue to be messy and inconsistent and almost certainly there will be more deaths and suffering than necessary.
It will be made worse by a political system that was in turmoil anyway, although I would argue the shock of this will crisis precipitate a more rapid resolution of the culture wars than might have otherwise been the case.
But from every other perspective the USA is on the cusp of a massive regeneration. They have physical security, food security, energy security and still by far the largest military. Their economy is not highly dependent on the rest of the world. No matter how hard they try to stuff it up, the USA will remain the largest and most prosperous nation.
The big one I am watching for is the return of industry into the NAFTA region. Watch for a resurgence of high end manufacturing into the USA itself. Watch for petrochem processing to take off on the back of almost free natural gas supplies. Watch for Mexico to become the centre of low end industry within NAFTA. Watch for the financial expertise within the City of London merge into Wall Street.
The Americans have so much wriggle room they can afford to make mistakes that would be the finish of many other nations.
" the USA is on the cusp of a massive regeneration..."
That is the populist vision that got Trump elected – a fortress USA much less dependent on the world, with well-paying jobs repatriated from Asia, immigration tightly controlled, and an ability to impose its will on others through military power (or the threat of it) that is unrestrained by international norms and institutions.
Internally it is likely to be accompanied by further consolidation of monopoly capitalism into stronger corporate entities that are have penetrated all the organs of state power – creating a state-corporate nexus immune to the democratic will. Economic inequality would become greater, life more precarious for many, policing more militarised and surveillance ramped up. While the front-end would continue the displays, conventional pieties and formal showpieces of the American republic, the back-end starts to look proto-fascist. The whole society then resembles an Amazon warehouse. This was all happening anyway – but a Trump regeneration accelerates it, and a Biden regeneration does nothing to stop it.
That is the populist vision that got Trump elected – a fortress USA much less dependent on the world, with well-paying jobs repatriated from Asia, immigration tightly controlled, and an ability to impose its will on others through military power (or the threat of it) that is unrestrained by international norms and institutions.
It's not so much a vision as a reality. Let's deconstruct that para:
1. The North America is a geographic fortress, few large countries have such defendable borders.
2. It always has been relatively independent of the world, it's exports as a fraction of GDP are among the very lowest in the world.
3. It is strategically energy independent. If you include Alberta and the Latin American countries where it can source oil from very easily, it's totally secure.
4. As a by-product of the shale oil revolution it has unlimited quantities of natural gas at extremely low prices. This is the ideal feedstock for a vast range of materials.
5. As the CCP became increasingly strident and overtly hostile, the US was already starting to move it's supply chains back to the USA. CV19 will only accelerate this move dramatically. Some will land up in SE Asia, Vietnam, Thailand and some to Mexico … but the high end, high tech industries will come back to the USA. As the CCP continues to threaten Taiwan, the semiconductor industry will relocate to somewhere more secure.
6. In an increasingly unstable world there is every incentive to co-locate your supply chains into the most secure place possible.
7. The demographics of the NAFTA region (and wider Latin America) support a consumption led growth pattern for decades to come. Not only will they make stuff again, they have the markets to sell it to … again all within their own security envelope.
8. And from Clinton onward the USA has been gradually withdrawing from these global institutions, either from neglect or by side-stepping them. Trump is now taking a wrecking hammer to what is left and insulting all their old allies to boot.
I don't mean to suggest the USA is invulnerable, but it's geopolitical fundamentals are so much better than anywhere else. The logic of an economic resurgence in a period where it is clearly re-trenching it's connections with the wider world is hard to argue against.
Whether this translates into a social regeneration is another question; and that greatly depends on how their political turmoil resolves itself over the next 5 -10 years. Because right now the USA doesn't even know what it wants for itself, much less anywhere else in the world.
Not from air (or space). As vulnerable as any other country.
Fairly ridiculous comment. Are you somehow suggesting nuclear war is the outcome of America retrenching it's economy?
Climaction is more or less right. While the USA is as physically vulnerable to ICBM's as anyone else, only Russia is a serious peer in terms of MAD. While US foreign policy in the past two decades has been appallingly negligent toward them, unless the Americans criminally provoke their homeland directly, a slowly decaying Russia is very unlikely to attack the USA
Anyone else attacking the USA with nuclear weapons must have a death inviting annihilation on themselves. And the question is why? Such weapons are only used as a last resort. An America withdrawing from the world is less likely than ever to provoke a first strike by any nation. (The open exception might well be non-state actors such as terrorists.)
The thought scratching the back of my brain is that maybe some section of repugs, like Stephen Miller, are actually hoping covid helps address what they see as their demographic problem: i.e. kills or controls many of the melanin-advantaged poorer USians.
Someone else has noticed.
That would just be an indicator of intracranial malfunction among America's Pest and Blightest. Since the data indicates the strongest correlation of dying from COVID is old age, and old age is very strongly correlated with an increased likelihood of voting Repug.
He promised yesterday it would be a big day today…. I wonder if he will be on time for a change.
Will there be slides???? Dim the lights and all that lololz.
There are many live streams to watch it on, will post a couple when it starts, some streams leave their live chat open should people wish to
trollparticipate or educate the MAGA crowd.And where is Fauci?
Test
Test
Ad, here's a how-to just for you!
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/quarantine-haircuts_l_5e973402c5b6ead140065d1b
At some point in the 70's I had hair half way down my back. I'm curious now to see if I can repeat this ….
Back hair is very hard to shave. Maybe you should get someone to help you get the bits between your shoulders if your part of the country goes down to level 3 next week? 😉
No you can’t RL @ 2.1, it’ll look like something the cat dragged in.
Phil Goff had a beautiful head of long thick wavy dark brown hair. I thought it was a bit rich that a bloke could have hair like that while mine had to remain short because it was so fine.
That cat nonetheless would be very pleased with itself …
In the discussion about taxes yesterday I didn't see a Transaction tax suggested.
I would be easy to implement, difficult to dodge and would catch money transfers overseas etc.
A bit like the credit card charge
Yes. This was always the one I liked the most; it penalised those actors using money purely for it's commodity value more than anyone else because they tend to make far more transactions.
To be seriously effective however it needs to be seen in the context of a global trading currency and common rules that apply to all tax jurisdictions.
Have you any inkling of how much money flows thru the banks?
Nope. The general idea of an FTT is that the rate would be set so low as to be less than chump change for the kind of transaction most people would do. (Wild arse guess, something in the region of 0.1%)
It really only have an impact on the the big players in the financial sector. Imagine what it could do to dampen the high frequency stock market traders.
500b at 1% is 50 B
1000b at 1% is 100 B
NZ income tax is abt 93 b
You're numbers seem to be too large by a factor of 100.
500b at 0.1% is 0.5b
But this is going about it backwards. Politically I'd detemine how much tax I wanted to raise (and it only needs to be some fraction of the total tax take, an FTT is never intended to replace all other taxes) and then do the numbers back from there.
I was using 1%.
But your idea of how much tax I wanted to raise is better
What is your feeling of how much money moves in and out of the banking system
AND
This would cost at !% on a salary of 100k
abt 2k cf to tax of 23k
(I work on 100k in and 100k out)
You are actually using 10%. 1% of 500 b is 5 b, not the 50 b you have stated.
OOPs thank Alwyn.
?Any idea of the amount of money that goes through the banks alwyn
I don't know the current numbers. However I believe that in 2017 interbank transactions between the New Zealand based banks were about $1.2 trillion.
I would guess that intrabank values would probably be another $500 billion. This would be about $1.7 trillion which was about 6 times New Zealand GDP. Each of these would comprise a credit and a debit between 2 accounts so you double the amount to allow for both legs.
At your 1% therefore you would therefore be coming up with a tax of $34 billion/year if I have the decimal place in the right place and my numbers are anywhere accurate. That is about the same as the total personal income tax paid in New Zealand.
That would not include transactions between an individuals different accounts. Are you going to tax me for putting money into a TD? And then tax me again when the TD matures?
None of these numbers include foreign exchange transactions. Those come to about another $4 trillion/year I think. Certainly in March 2020, according to the Reserve Bank they averaged more than $14 billion/day
Big bickies aren't they?
I haven't bothered with too many links. These are partly memory and partly my guesses. However some of the figures come from these two links.
https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics/b4
https://www.paymentsnz.co.nz/resources/articles/new-zealand-payments-stats-2017-review/
ISTR the old Alliance Party policy was 0.05%, or 5c in every hundred dollars.
So a million dollar house woule garnish a $500 duty (or a grand if it goes from bank to mortgagee to old owners).
In January, EFTPOS transactions alone were $8bil. Basically just shy of $100bil a year.
Thar would get a 0.05% levy of $50million. 1% levy would of course be a $billion.
and i wonder who pays that at the end of the day. The same consumers who have taken pay cuts to keep their jobs and the business they work for afloat.
it never means much to non front line public servants like professors with tenure and ministry analysts who haven't had to do there bit with a 20% reduction. but what a FTT is is the same as GST. it's broad based with no exceptions and is always paid by the final consumer as it's essentially a consumption tax.
You'd be better to drop GST to 10% to encourage spending and help out the poorest who spend the most of their income on consumption.
A large proportion of financial transactions are not to final customers.
They are things like share swaps, fund transactions, interbank transfers, profit taking and the like. Computer share trading being one of the largest.
The problem is without international agreement on FTT, many of these transactions can simply shift to countries without financial transaction taxes.
However that happens now, with income and company tax havens.
Pretty much. Someone who gets $20k a year will pay $100 over the year. The bank that transfers billions offshore will pay millions.
Simplistic. Costs are either over the line or below the line. above the line are direct costs and get priced in as a direct cost. FTT's are below the line costs as part of the EBIT. they'll be passed on in the form of increased margin requirements that will be probably be over compensated for in the oncharge to consumers as the banks know the maximum liability due for it, but not the actual.
Always liked the idea of FTT.
We already have a private FTT, a private tax, charged by the banks on credit card transactions.
Usually buried in the prices everyone pays, so we don't see it.
A bit more than 1%. 2.5% and up from there.
Love to see some modeling of the scheme.
Yes re cc card transactions are already a FTT.
Of course, because your so simplistic in your thinking that you think only those engaged in financial transactions pay it.
Yet you've managed to point out the hidden cost of such taxes. No one gets a discount for paying cash do they? everyone pays the credit card rate.
this recession will only be exacerbated by any measures that restrict demand.
Every tax has a cost where it is levied.
It also has a benefit where it is spent.
Government is going to be driving demand, for some time.
The broader the base they get the money from, to do it, the better.
Even your hero, Bill English, said that recently.
broadening the base spreads in many directions. so have all working tax citizens paying positive tax. happy to scrap WFF as well as implement an FTT? it's the same thing.
This government should look at being bold and not just reverting to lame, socialist responses like socking it to industry and the wealthy.
Why not cut tax at lower incomes, remove similar benefits to the lose income tax payers so they are net not affected and get rid of that layer of red tape with it's inherent cost to tax and administer the benefits?
it'd certainly help develop the manufacturing base you are so fond.
Unfortunately we need the red tape, to keep large private companies, honest.
Right wing memories are so short.
Socking it to the wealthy makes them use their money on something useful, like productive businesses, or Government spending on infrastructure.
Cutting tax to low income earners, obviously increases demand. Glad you agree.
Or, we could have "simplistic" right wing solutions, like tax cuts for the wealthy and austerity for everyone else, which are playing out horribly right now in the USA.
Getting rid of GST, has merit.
So red tape has to penalise the lowest paid in society to keep private companies honest. Strange logic base you start from, as long as it’s assume you start from anything logical
my suggestion has nothing to do with private enterprise. If we can reduce red tape 20% here, 20% there, we’ll be a much better country if we target those savings.
and fuck the msd workers. Low and middle income workers shouldn’t pay tax just to give box tickers a job
Forgotten leaky homes already.
How did removing "red tape" go, there?
Such false equivalence really demonstrates your lack of understanding of my point.
removing bureaucratic red tape administering welfare that only adds to the cost of welfare, reducing the amount to those who need it, is not the same as not having a comprehensive enforced building code.
but resort to puerile whataboutisms. A clear demonstration of the shallowness of other people’s slogans masquerading as your own ideas
Bit of projection there, mate.
By the way I've written whole blog posts about removing the excessive bullshit rules, sanctions and penalties around welfare.
But, that is not what you meant, was it.
It is what I meant.
if we look at the burdensome cost of administration as a tax like any other, we can then really evolve our thinking as to what tax, our economy and the interplay with the government all look like to the benefit of the whole nation. Not just the mandarins in ivory towers in Wellington who have budgets to spend, jut not to earn
So. Do you favour a sufficient, UBI?
No, I favour lower taxes for all as there is less administration cost (tax)
letting more people keep more of their money. a few rich people will benefit, but a greater number of people on lower incomes will benefit more in proportion. Something that always seems to be forget in the rush to condemn tax cuts.
letting more people keep more of their money. a few rich people will benefit, but a greater number of people on lower incomes will benefit more in proportion. Something that always seems to be forget in the rush to condemn tax cuts.
It's a balance. At the extremes we know that zero tax is unsustainable because there is no social infrastructure to enable people or businesses to function. At the other extreme 100% income tax eliminates any individual incentive to improve their condition. The optimum tax rate must logically lie in between.
The right consistently places a higher value on individual freedom of action and favours lower taxes, while the left correspondingly values collective action and higher taxes. You could argue that if both factions are unhappy then you probably have it about right.
Having said that NZ's govt fraction of the economy is much lower than most people think. Most developed nations lie in the range of 35 – 45% of the economy, while NZ lies very much at the lower end. Worse still we include retirement provision (NZ Super) into our core govt figures, while in most other nations it's some mix of govt, business and private provision.. This distorts our figures substantially and means core govt taxation in this country is a lot lower than is commonly assumed.
We are emphatically not an overtaxed socialist hell-hole … we would have a lot of room to increase taxes.
Tax cuts are never neutral.
Even less so, when the result is less money for the State services that non wealthy people, need.
Tax cuts in New Zealand, have always resulted in increased costs to the less wealthy, as Government services disappear, or become more expensive, from the replacement private provision.
Power and housing are the obvious examples.
The history of tax cuts from 1984, on, has been a massive transfer of wealth from communities, to shareholders, land speculators, and bankers.
lumping one policy (tax cuts) in with all the others post 1984 paints a terrible picture. Removing it and looking at lowering the lower tax rates paints a completely different picture.
2% reduction in tax on income of 50,000 gives someone on about the average wage an extra thousand dollars a year. Huge for someone on 50k a year. Someone on 200k a year also gets it, but it only represents .5% of their gross income.
but fuck everyone on 50k because 1984 and rich people will also get 1000 right KJT?
it’s like watching someone dying of thirst refuse a drink of water as it comes from their worst enemy. Excruciating in modern society. I often think unreformed geriatrics and boomers pose the greatest threat to a cohesive society. You keep on reinforcing that view.
Ursula von der Leyen has issued an apology to Italy for the EU’s extraordinary failure of leadership over the Covid crisis.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/apr/16/coronavirus-eu-offers-italy-heartfelt-apology-over-response-video
More typical than extraordinary.
If it doesn't make too much extra work for the moderators, it might be nice if the site had a COVID-free commenting space. Obviously it's the most important thing in the world to most people (including myself). However, there are still issues of social inequality and climate change (amongst others) that tend to get drowned out with bewailing every swoop of the Crow.
It was a while back now when I used to comment under a different name (not Dspare – which got autosuggested to my spam-mail, something else I can't recall now), there used to be a politics-free Weekend Social, and during one election a second evening OM ("Daily Review"?). So it's not like there is no precedence for such compartmentalization.
Be good to have Daily Review back.
Agreed.
It is useful for summing up the day's activities and developments on a separate thread for general discussion.
Who let Madman – Duncan Garner – llose
Duncan Garner like a young teenager, rubbished The Ammbassador from China on RNZ TV at 7:30 this morning. He was Rat. Abusive beyond measure.
He should be Sacked – Permanently. as should the silly woman who assisted him.
It is possible, even likely that China will remove New Zealand from the List of their Friends. Even take us off Trade.
He earlier rubbished the Effort our Nation has undertaken.
duncan is channeling his inner fox news narrative. Fox is hard out blaming china while lamenting agent orange.
Leaving aside Garner's opinion, are you referring to the same ambassador who on the 18th February 2020 it was reported that she admonished NZ for continuing the ban on travelers from China?
Not very friendly of us since at the time the World Health Organisation was holding the line that all was well and China had this pesky wee greebly well in hand.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, eh?
OT, it may very well be you have personal and vested interest in the preservation of the pre Covid 19 status quo…to some of us this is a wonderful opportunity for a much needed reset.
My personal opinion is that being isolated, again, will be the best thing that's happened to Aotearoa since….ages.
David Parker is working to ensure that NZ's blessed isolation doesn't happen. He was a guest at the epidemic committee yesterday. He, and the NACTs are wedded to international trade relations for business.
Parker was talking about regional trade blocks rather than global ones. He has been communicating with relevant representatives and officials in south east Asian countries. There is an "not all eggs in one basket" approach.
His mic or audio feed was not very clear some times. But he seemed to be saying that TPPA requirements were being (temporarily?) waived or ignored – especially with respect to each country trying to ensure their own supplies of PPE and other medical requirements.
Could Covid-19 be doing what all our protests couldn't? Kill the TPPA?
"….what our protests couldn't and kill the TPPA?"
Here's hoping.
You know, the lightening speed at which this government signed the 'revised' TPPA after all their pre election mouthings convinced me that not voting for Labour was the right choice.
I very nearly relented and put aside the memories of the betrayals of the last two Labour led governments…but simply couldn't….and gave the Greens both votes instead.
But back to trade…I'd like us to do a complete reset. If we can manufacture or grow it here…
Rosemary
Here's hoping not.
New Zealand needs to be able to sell its primary products, they are now our only exports. CPTPPA makes it easier to sell them. That was always the gain for New Zealand in TPPA. And will remain so.
Yes dear.
Rest assured that everything is going to back to normal.
Sending you cyber kindness and kuddles at what must be a challenging time for you and your friends.
🙂😊🥰
I dint say everything would be normal. I said our principal exports for the next two years will be primary exports, no tourism, no international students.
CPTPP will help boost that. While you might think it a bad thing and should be scrapped, clearly the government doesn't.
And thank you for your thoughts (ignoring the irony in them).
While it might be sensible to have a bit more production in NZ of some essentials, that is not going to be a generally applicable proposition. Physical trade of goods and IT services will continue, and in the latter case will expand.
The TPPA or CTPAA or whatever it is called now, locks in privatisation, low wages, anti-unionism, etc.
If we can manufacture or grow it here…
Everyone senses that the post WW2 period of global growth and relative stability is ending … and everyone is planning to retrench their supply lines to more secure zones.
But only a some countries will be able to do this without significant cost and without reversion to the economic and conditions that prevailed before WW2.
'relative stability'….this sums up U.S foreign policy post WW2…(37 invasions).
Henry Kissinger, U.S. Secretary of State, said the following regarding Chile: “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people.” (1)
David Parker was present as a member of the select committee. at a hearing I attended for the TPPA roadshow. I stayed for a few different presentations, as well as accompanying a friend.
His body language – and actual language – for those who had concerns and raised them was boredom in the extreme, dismissive and arrogant. But how he – and others – perked up when the Association for International Business did their presentation – which consisted of no detail, but Go Ahead ASAP.
I left at that point, having been given confirmation that the ill-organised badly implemented TPPA submission roadshow was the farce I thought it was going to be.
I agree with you that being isolated again will be the best thing that,s happened to Aotearoa since ages….. And Lock down has given so many people a break from the grindstone and space to enjoy their families and most importantly the space to think a bit. Its not all bad.
Rantings to get ratings, emotional V rational, welcome to the NZ media.
I thought Bradbury had a point worth considering in amalgamating TVNZ/RNZ leave Mediaworks etc all the ad revenue and let the market decide.
Watching them grovel for assistance given their immersion in DP, ponytail gate etc is f'n priceless. Yesterday's business model, time to move on and not at taxpayers expense.
I no it's wrong of me but I just cant take to tv1s morning show and watch garner and richardson even though I wouldnt cross the road to piss in their hair if it was on fire.
Is there a danger that the Chinese government might stop 'investing in' our productive land?
Just to prove the point that so called 'moderate' centrists on the Left are in fact extremists who will defend their sick depraved Liberal ideology to the determent of the entire planet (let alone their own countries) just like their counterparts on the Right…
‘The People Have Spoken. Bastards’: Leaked Labour Report Shows Party’s Own Senior Staff Acted To Keep Corbyn Out Of Power
https://www.medialens.org/2020/the-people-have-spoken-bastards-leaked-labour-report-shows-partys-own-senior-staff-acted-to-keep-corbyn-out-of-power/
There are some who don't like being around others that show them in a bad light. Rather than admit failings, and make changes, they will endeavour to pull those people down. The UK Labour Party, unfortunately consisted primarily of this personality type. God forbid they had someone they could trust to do the right thing – their comfortable lives were predicated on being able to act in the blurred lines.
I'm curious as to whether that document makes reference to advice being given to Kezia Dugdale during that time – her teaming up with the Tory Party to campaign against the SNP in Scotland is arguably what swung that election (the Tories enjoyed their biggest gains of a generation at the expense of the SNP, UK Labours natural 'coalition' partner, while Scottish Labour more or less just treaded water)
Would like some advice please on why I can’t click on Reply. I have to go to the end of the thread. Thanks.
Re earlier comments on hair – waking soon after 5 I sometimes tune into Kate Hawkesbury’s ZB session (usually have to tune out quite quickly). Twice I have heard her complain at not being able to go to her hairdresser. Her blonde (or lack of) tresses are causing her great angst! She was complaining this morning Jacinda is talking to us like toddlers and that it must be because she lives with one. What a self obsessed pair she and her husband are.
What device are you using?
I’m using an iPad weka and I can’t use the reply function with it either (though I can do a primary comment). If I want to reply to someone I have to use my iPhone, it’s really bloody annoying. Be great if it could be fixed.
is this recent or has it been like that for a while?
Can you shift between the desktop and mobile versions on the ipad?
I'll point Lynn in the direction of this conversation, but I suspect if it's not a new thing it might come down to the numbers of people using certain devices.
It’s been like that for ages. I think I just have the desktop version on the iPad??
Can you switch between the two on your phone?
I mostly just open the standard via chrome on my phone. Use the app occasionally. There doesn’t seem to be any difference in the phone?
Reply works using the desktop version on the phone though just not the iPad.
Now that is freaking odd. Needless to say the one thing that I don't have at home is a iPad.
I'll have a look at the site tester sites for something.
Weekend is upon me. I guess that will become apparent.
I use a samsung ph and find I can rarely comment while in desktop,(which I like because I can check replies) so change to mobile for commenting.
Comment at all? Or using the Reply button?
I find the reply button intermittent on the desktop version regardless of device or OS. Seems fine on the mobile version (android).
Desktop version viewed on my phone doesn't let me comment anyway (can't type in comment box).
I've had that not being able to select the text box thing too, but it seems to have some right this year.
How do I open the mobile version on my iPad? Sorry if that’s a dumb question…
I find the mobile version is pretty janky when it comes to editing comments. Especially if I leave the tab to confirm a fact or quote. Sometimes the comment gets kicked down to the bottom of the thread. Other times (despite the timer having minutes left) I will get that; "you can no longer edit this comment", message.
Go to the bottom of any post and it should have desktop/mobile, touch the mobile.
Comment at all .
She just realises her audience includes a fair number of fuckknuckles with the capacity of toddlers, e.g. Horeskin.
Lprent are you seeing this conversation?
Just saw it now after I saw your comment in the author section.
I'll have a look at the comments code.
Ok. I can only find one possible mechanism.
The code has a deliberate search for some phrases in the browser string for the type of browser for "bot", "spider" or "crawler" and turns off the Reply link if they are present.
That was to prevent spiders from crawling down every possible link on the system and in this case triggering replies. I'll turn that off as I suspect that what we have now in hardware wasn't what we had back in 2011 when that check was put in.
Here is a link for watching the live stream of POTUS at 10am our time. FYI, he is not always on time. The comments will be closed for that particular stream.
Here’s a link for watching it with live chat open, FYI it’s a MAGA chat, and they get very upset when a person shares any facts and doesn’t lament the POTUS. It’s rather amusing if one is in the mood.
Going to make a cuppa, see you at 10am 🙂
You won't be seeing me Cinny.
Busy, got shit to do.
And if I did have the time… I can think of about 63,767647 things I'd rather do than watch and listen to that twat make a twat of himself …again.
You enjoy.😄
Lol, me too.
I'd love it if someone live reported the useful bits though, or even just a summary at the end, assuming it's not only more blather and lies.
LMFAO !!!!
Ok so he's going to open up the country, has a four phase plan, much like ours.
He bragged about doing the most tests, thanks to the worldometer link I had a fun time sharing all the countries who have carried out more tests per capita than the USA.
Trump bragged about ventilators, said he wasn't and hasn't been campaigning (never mind that little film earlier on in the week).
Fauci was there.
Judging from the right wing chat, people really want to get back to work, it seems they don't get paid sick leave.
And yes he is very pale around the eyes, like he's being wearing sunglasses on a tanning bed.
The MAGA crowd don't want to listen to the health professionals, they calling Fauci and the 'scarf lady' traitors etc. That's how desperate they are to believe trump and validate their own support of him. It's nuts.
God help 'murica.
Much more restrained today. The minders must have got him at his most malleable and mild and persuaded him to wind it back a touch with the big shots already fired this week.
Those shots proved he's not just the King of America but King of the World. You only have to convince one person that that is the case – him.
From the entertainment perspective the best stuff is from just out the back, off screen.
The U.S. Navy Captain Brett Crozier was sacked from his job on aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. He wrote a 'five page letter' that he apparently shouldn't have written. "I mean who writes five page letters. It's not a literature class," according to the Commander-in-Chief. (Turns out it was four pages.)
The Literate-in-Chief was very upset. Crozier's crime really, wasn't that he wrote it or didn't follow the chain of command, but he didn't send out a tweet.
Unfortunately the crew on the ship did not realise they are military people, they are dispensable. A secret enemy might even get them. Ain't no vaccine or bone spurs going to save them.
"Sailor dies from Covid-19 and almost 600 of crew test positive."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/how-an-outbreak-on-the-uss-roosevelt-became-a-defining-moment-for-the-us-military/2020/04/16/2735f85c-7f24-11ea-8de7-9fdff6d5d83e_story.html
I like it 100%
Perhaps he said we are the top in the world, we are the bestest (in cases and deaths)!!
Have you ever seen the orange one so pale?
"It’s rather amusing if one is in the mood."
True. Gallows humour, laugh-otherwise-you'd-cry stuff. I've indulged on occasion.
The fascinating part is the medical experts trying to cope with the child, while holding on to their jobs and the facts, which are diametrically opposed …
Trump: "2 + 2 = 198!"
Reporter: "Doctor, is that right?
Doc: "As the president rightly says, 2 + 2 = 4."
They do this with a straight face, which is truly Oscar-worthy.
He is staying on a script though he states how wonderful his leadership has been to save the USA (lies) and how well he is helping the Governors to achieve great things.
Someone else wrote this. Trump does not look well either because he had to give such a speech or because he has a bug.
The bully boy won't answer questions properly and he won't let anybody else answer questions properly either.
Its all about being great, stupendous, incredible, fantastic, unbelievable, geniuses, beautiful….. and America is the best at everything and has the best doctors and the best hospitals and the best government and lots and lots of ventilators (did you know they cost as much as cars) and everyone is working wonderfully together and we need to build a lot more bridges… we need bridges. The people of America are the bravest people in the world and its all going to be so wonderful yes… its going to be beautiful. You just wait and see.
Would someone like to tell me what the hell he's actually taking about? 😕
Edit: He mentioned all the dead people in his opening gambit then forgot about them. Needed to get that bit out of the way as soon as poss?
So he capitulated to the governors? Surprise, surprise.
It's setting up storylines to be able to take personal credit for giving them the tools to succeed if it goes well, or put all the blame onto them if it goes bad.
Notably absent is anything around getting federal and state and local resources working together to try for the best outcome for people on the ground.
How magnificent he thinks he is, pretty much sums it up.
Lolz Miss 15 is like… mum you only watch the trump show so you can troll….. no darling I'm trying to educate myself… she's like… nah mum you're trolling 🙂 Smart girl 🙂
Edit…. It’s disturbing how trump praises himself saying he’s saved so many lives, meanwhile he forgets and seems to dismiss the thousands who have died, apart from as you said a short mention at the start.
Not sure what kind of education you might get from watching Donny Dingleberry. Truth and facts simply bear no relationship to the words erupting from his sphincter.
If you have reason to be interested in which particular big spiny bug up his ass is wriggling at that particular moment, then you might get a clue about that. But otherwise, it's just null data, random noise emitted for the purpose of self-pleasuring.
He is talking Authentic American, a language in which the correct syntax and phrasing are entirely superlatives. I was trapped in an AirBnB overseas for a few days with some 20 something Americans and fuck it was tiring.
America is the best at everything ,trump got them to the top of the covid stats in no time at all .
I meant to include that:
Still his three or four phase plan is a recipe for disaster. States like Wyoming have few cases, but no border controls (or very few) and Americans, by and large, don't wear face masks.
Cases will spread into those states who open up too early (which means all of them) and another surge is almost guaranteed.
I hope I'm wrong, and time will tell, but I can't help being grateful I'm living in New Zealand and we have a competent PM and government.
The Mighty Guru has spoken from his throne in Parnell.
Oh boy! Actually he added nothing to that which is general knowledge and that underlines just how his content has always been so vacuous.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12325406
Shonky speaks and granny herald echoes it with zero analysis or critique as usual.
Joyce /Blinglish getting an airing also with the usual waffle from nat’s current crop.
How many former labour PM's and finance ministers have been asked ?
We'll Dunne was a former labour MP (however embarrassing that fact may be, still better than Prebble). If they were to interview a former labour finance minister, you know it would be Roger Douglas. Former labour PM would probably be Palmer or Moore (actually are they still alive? I have been away from the NZ politics scene for a while).
Mike Moore died in February this year. The official opening of parliament was changed into a series of valedictory speeches from all sides of the house
De mortuis nil nisi bonum.
Well I've seen statements by Helen Clark on several occasions. She doesn't need to ba asked, does she? She will bloviate without ever being asked.
Mostly about the UN these days. She rants on about how useless they are. The pain of discovering that no-one had the slightest interest in having her as Secretary General still rankles.
Palmer seems to have shut up shop. Perhaps he is redrafting his proposed Constitution for a post-Coronavirus future.
As for the Ministers of Finance. I would be interested to see what Caygill and Douglas have to say. Is Cullen still alive? Last I saw about him was that he had cancer but I'm not sure what happened to him.
That's about it though. Not a terribly interesting lot except for Douglas though are they?
I would be cautious about lobbing accusations of bloviation from your conservatory there alwyn. I have found that Clark errs towards the terse rather than verbose in her statements, but perhaps she's mellowed with age.
Clark will bloviate without ever being asked? Ive seen statements by Clark. I presume that's because she was asked her opinion. I heard that she used to be Prime Minister and worked overseas for a while. I assume that gives her certain unique perspectives and why the media might seek her out.
What's your excuse?
She certainly has a lot to say though, doesn't she? I'm not sure that she is helping New Zealand though.
Calling Trump foolish about the WHO
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121042512/trump-pulling-who-funding-foolish–helen-clark?rm=a
Trump doesn't have a clue about Coronavirus
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/121079552/coronavirus-nz-podcast-trump-doesnt-have-a-clue-says-helen-clark
Security Council missing in action
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120969978/missing-in-action-the-lack-of-a-globally-coordinated-response-to-covid19
Does it help New Zealand for a former PM to attack World Leaders. It is certainly something that Key has gone out of his way to avoid.
Clark was involved with and spent a significant part of her life involved with the very organisations she was talking about.
Key meanwhile was involved with the ANZ's capital rule breaking and their corrupt dealings with the Briscoe family. And he was personally involved in this.
I'm not surprised he's keeping a low profile…
…he can’t afford not to.
I don't believe Key was on the ANZ Board when the mistakes in the ANZ calculation of Capital adequacy ratios occurred.
He was there when the ANZ voluntarily reported the mistakes to the RBNZ.
Who on earth are this Briscoe Family you talk about?
He's been shown to be an absent director on the issue of ANZ's capital holdings, and involved in personal property deals with a corrupt CEO David Hisco.
This is why Key's language is so conciliatory. He knows that to go all, 'get some guts' on the government would be to attract serious criticism.
His post-political failings have rendered him useless to the National Party's campaign strategy.
Don’t play dumb, you know it was Hisco.
Hi Incognito. Have you read alwyn's comments on Michael Cullen at 11.1.2?
No, not yet. Any good?
Enlightening.
In the back-end I can only see a date & time stamp but I will have a look in the front-end later. I like being enlightened, especially by Alwyn. I will fasten my seatbelt so that I won’t fall off my chair.
I'll help.
Deliberate trolling of Cullen and his family, imo.
This is me reporting the comment by the way.
A bit weak trying to get someone moderated for that. 3.5/10 at worst.
I put myself in the position of a family member reading that. You might like to do the same.
If you think that is weak, well…
Plenty of people on this site and others who have said far more offensive things than that MB.
I doubt Michael Cullen or his friends and family spend much time reading comments on political blogs.
That others have said worse is no excuse.
alwyn knows Michael Cullen is alive and in the biggest battle of his life yet decided to put the boot in anyway.
It was a trashy comment by a trashy commenter. I think The Standard would be better off without him.
I could tell your motivation was 2/3 of the complaint.
Well, we don't comment in a bubble, do we? There was a concerted effort here about a year ago to confine any and all argument to the thread at hand.
This is not workable because it requires each commenter to forget any and everything about the commenter they are responding to.
alwyn's comment was deliberate and lazy and happened to troll a pretty important member of the NZ political community while he fights cancer.
If that was not motivation enough then I gathered all of alwyn's other anti-social comment history as backup.
Sue me.
Would have been more convincing, and less obviously partisan, if you had also reported the above comment about Moore, which states almost exactly the same thing.
“Palmer or Moore (actually are they still alive?”
“Is Cullen still alive? Last I saw about him was that he had cancer but I’m not sure what happened to him.”
I've never read a comment by forget now until now. It looks like his was stupid, while alwyn's was deliberate and stupid.
More ignorant than stupid surely, Muttonbird? Lazy too, as I chose to ask the community rather than look it up myself (though I honestly couldn't be bothered what with the janky commenting system for mobile contributors).
BTW; "theirs", not; "his".
[How about you learn to argue your point rather than insult people. First warning – MS]
I am not allowed to call myself ignorant and lazy MS? Wow, things have changed a bit around here!
That reminds me of a bloke in prison ,who was in for armed robbery because; he'd gone into a dairy and threatened to cut himself up unless they gave him some smokes. Unpleasant sure, but you have to look at the rules from a really strange angle to get to that interpretation.
I think your try is unconverted.
Ditto. If you want to talk motivation, it looks like you're picking sides because of the commentary here around the way England cheated their way to the CWC trophy.
Edit: You edited. The original comment I was replying to was one word, “Unconvincing”.
Yeah, clearly the cricket win and demolition of your rugby team has deeply affected me negatively and made me extra bitter. lol
Or it could just be you're swinging and missing on this one.
Ok. You're fine with what alwyn said. I'll store that away for next time.
Have nice night.
I attribute it the same as you did for the Moore comment, but it's obviously not my decision, so you may yet still have your scalp.
"Hisco" not "Briscoe"
That never even occurred to me. I was not "playing" anything.
Even if it had I wouldn't have thought that John Key selling a beach house to him for what would seem to have been fair market value was somehow "corrupt". I suppose if you have KDS anything seems to be corrupt.
Hisco – wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice.
Former ANZ boss David Hisco's last pay revealed, forgoes millions of dollars
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/personal-finance/news/article.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=12282078
https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/wealth-beyond-the-dreams-of-avarice-consigned-to-the-tomb-news-photo/1003479450
Of course, it never occurred to you. I’m really struggling to give you the benefit of the doubt. You see, you’re always very quick to correct others and pull out info from decades back, e.g. https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-16-04-2020/#comment-1702946 and https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-16-04-2020/#comment-1703001. It is possible, but not plausible IMO, that you had a temporary hiatus in your razor sharp memory and couldn’t connect the dots.
Here are two comments of yours to refresh your memory: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-24-06-2019/#comment-1631369 and https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-24-06-2019/#comment-1631270.
@incognito.
I realise that you aren't going to accept this but when I saw "Briscoe family" the only thing that came to mind was Rod Duke's empire.
Haven't you ever heard a group of related companies, such as Briscoes and Rebel Sport being referred to as a family? That is what I thought he (or she) meant and I even googled them, and Rod Duke, to see if their was any connection to John Key.
And no there wasn't.
The idea that someone could mean Hisco, when they typed Briscoe never occurred to me.
I mean to say. If I identified someone in a comment as "Mark Cooksley" would you think I was talking about the former All Black lock or would you automatically think I was talking about Michael Cullen?
On the other hand when somebody says things like
"alwyn knows Michael Cullen is alive and in the biggest battle of his life yet decided to put the boot in anyway.
It was a trashy comment by a trashy commenter. I think The Standard would be better off without him."
and
"alwyn's comment was deliberate and lazy and happened to troll a pretty important member of the NZ political community while he fights cancer."
I don't need an explanation of that. I don't have to accept that they telling the truth or that they are making any sense though.
[I think that you were trying to say that you realise you’re on thin ice, which is correct.
Your tone-deaf comment about Michael Cullen was a factor in the creation of a rather unpleasant thread that also indirectly led to one commenter being banned for a month. However, you don’t take any responsibility for how others may perceive your comment(s), which is why I classify it as tone-deaf.
I find your excuse about the Briscoe-Hisco mix-up rather weak. Given the context of the comments and the absence of any known connection between Key and Briscoe, it would not have taken rocket science to figure out what was meant. In any case, this had nothing to do with your tone-deaf comment and all this does is make you sound like a whiny child.
So, here we are again, you wasting Moderator time for the wrong reasons and trying to wriggle your way out of it. I’m getting quite sick of this, I have to confess, but short bans don’t seem to work with recidivist commenters such as you. That said, I won’t Blacklist you this time – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 11:45 PM.
Trump has been a complete idiot over many things. Why would Helen not call him foolish?
Most of the world thinks the same.
Why the fuck does Helen Clark feel the need to tell us what she thinks about Trump anyway? Everyone knows Trump's an idiot. We don't need the likes of Helen fucking Clark to tell us what we already know. In fact, why do we need to hear from her at all? She's obviously bored and in need of a bit of attention. I'm sick to death of her throwing her views around as if she's some kind of old wise woman. I wish she'd piss off.
Maybe we hear from her for the same reason we hear from you.
To paraphrase just in case you get a sense of it:
"Why the fuck does Chris feel the need to tell us what he thinks about Trump? Everyone knows Trump's an idiot. We don't need the likes of Chris fucking whoever to tell us what we already know. In fact, why do we need to hear from him at all? He's obviously bored and in need of a bit of attention. I'm sick to death of him throwing his views around as if he's some kind of old wise man. I wish he'd piss off."
I feel much the same about you, Chris…
I'd listen to a wise woman over a wise-ass any day of the week.
Really? Why didn't you say something sooner?
I would have thought Clark's background in Health, and the UN, would make her opinions useful. She holds a position of power and knows how to use it, in this case she's acting appropriately in criticising Trump and networking to pressure other powerholders to step up and do what is necessary. This isn't some random reckon, this is deliberate criticism designed to have impact.
I feel similar when hearing John Key spouting off but accept that as a former PM of 8 years he is always going to be asked for his opinion.
While Key has his moments, the thing about Helen is that she is super-intelligent and, with that and her background, she is likely to bring an interesting and useful perspective to the debate.
Perhaps, although I've never really noticed anything overly spectacular in what she's said since leaving NZ politics, but again that doesn't mean much.
What gets me about Helen Clark is how she presided over welfare reform that was a continuation of what Richardson/Shipley/Bolger did in the 1990s, and at a time when everyone was expecting the Labour government to at least begin fixing the damage, not continue it. I don't want to say she's 'intelligent' but she certainly knew what she was doing which makes it worse. So much of it went under the radar because we weren't expecting it from a Labour government, but the consequences were immense. She could've at least put the brakes on, but instead we've ended up with way more mess than was necessary because the scene was set for Key et al to go to the next level, which of course they did. We now, of course, have so much more to wind back.
Whether justified or not that's my main bias against Helen Clark. When I see or hear her I just think hypocrisy.
Given Key's political 'legacy', I doubt that he would have to go much out of his way at all to avoid making such attacks. Even if they were called for
Does it help anyone for a current USA President to attack World Leaders? It is certainly something he doesn't go out of his way to avoid.
Clark has as much right to make comment as the guy living over our back fence. Or you. Are you pissed off because her views get attention? Her views get prominence while yours are in places like this for people like me who put carping in the place it belongs?
Some don't want to hear from the 'been there done that mob' who have some experience and knowledge. We;; not if it's Clark I mean, If it's Key it's fine. Or Rodney Hide. Or Peter Dunne. Or Steven Joyce.
HC did a good interview as usual. I admire her persistence in the face of so many failures at the 'multi-lateral' level (as she likes to put it).
Her defense of WHO is to be expected if a tad selective, but otherwise I always appreciate her highly informed commentary.
You didn't listen to this one through to the end did you alwyn. If you had you would have known that Helen Clark was talking from a position of immense knowledge and experience. Considering the appalling conduct and gross incompetence of the the current POTUS, I thought her choice of words in respect of him were quite diplomatic.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/121079552/coronavirus-nz-podcast-trump-doesnt-have-a-clue-says-helen-clark
Given she is an integral member of a group of former world leaders and that her standing among them is very high, I would have thought you would be interested in the behind the scenes information she was able to reveal. I certainly was, but you prefer to remain ignorant of the truth because you presumably don't care.
This is a really poor comment from you.
You trivialise the very serious health challenges faced by former minister of finance, Michael Cullen.
It says plenty about you.
"Shonky speaks and granny herald echoes it with zero analysis or critique as usual.
Joyce /Blinglish getting an airing also with the usual waffle from nat’s current crop."
Don't despair the heralds very good at publishing equal opportunity nonsense from both sides of the track.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12325405
Key's gonna Key, but he doesn't even get the gold or silver medals in today's Herald Idiocy Contest. Hosking (obviously) and Peter Dunne (absurdly) have the awards sewn up. World-class levels of stupidity there.
Wow! I don't know whether you are suffering from Confid 19 but you certainly have a very serious dose of KDS don't you?
The guys an arsehole – even worse he's yesterdays arsehole – KDS should be associated with the fawning sycophants of his bygone era lamenting the passing of whatever they imagined him to be.
KDS in extremis… judging by those still suffering from CDS (Clark derangement syndrome) you'll be screeching about Key for many more decades to come.
Really? If its many more decades I will pick up the worlds oldest man title easily!
Oh well in that case hopefully you'll only die with but not of KDS.
I find the older I get the more politicians all sound the same and the less I give a toss about them.
“I find the older I get the more politicians all sound the same and the less I give a toss about them “.'
Agree with that Stunned though I do have time for the two National MP's in Hamilton, and the very principled (he was, but also meant to be a pun
) as he was the head of Hamilton Boys High Tony Steele.
Was that The Tony Steele? In the 50s Tony Steele was a top sprinter and I think was in the All Blacks briefly but snapped his archillies and disappeared.
I am not sure but I know he was an All Black
He would be about 80 now?
Who knows? But I heard a rumour that pretty well all the staff at HBHS (normally left-trending?) in his electorate voted for Tony to become an MP. Think about it and see if you can work out why.
He didn't snap it. The All Black Physio of the time destroyed it.
Have a look at his obituary
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/103714536/obituary-tony-steel–humble-and-hardworking-former-all-black-headmaster-and-mp
key who?
There's a certain nostalgia for Key (Mike Hosking is president of the fan club) and a misguided belief that things would be so much better under good ol' John.
So for the record, here's Key in March 2020, when the daily news was dominated by the discussion about closing NZ borders to keep out Covid19 …
More tourists, more virus, bring it on!
Gosh he was officiating at the opening of a hotel….. truly he must be Satan
Caricaturing is the weakest of debating points. You can do better.
No Satan. Not even as bad as Bridges. But the point (as I'm sure you know) is that the nostalgics claim Key would have had some special awareness, and they are exactly the same people who say "Ardern should have known in Jan/Feb! Close the borders, problem solved."
It was BAU for Key in March – as it was for most of us.
But the point (as I'm sure you know) is that the nostalgics claim Key would have had some special awareness, and they are exactly the same people who say "Ardern should have known in Jan/Feb! Close the borders, problem solved."
Really ? Who exactly are these people ….. ?
They're all over any Covid19 story that opens for comments (which is probably why Stuff has largely given up on doing it … ):
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120731509/coronavirus-how-hard-how-early-the-numbers-behind-new-zealands-quick-lockdown
You can find plenty more examples.
I'm sorry but where in that story you've linked to is anyone claiming
Key would have had some special awareness, and they are exactly the same people who say "Ardern should have known in Jan/Feb! Close the borders, problem solved." ?
From what I've seen of reports in the media there's been general consensus that whoever was in government the timelines and actions would've been broadly the same.
Observer said the comments, not the story itself.
Although I disagree that the monday-morning epidemiologists are all nats: to me the know-it-alls seem to be pretty evenly split, politically.
Fair. I'll retract "exactly". "Often" is accurate – as a read of those comments amply illustrates.
Yep, I seem to remember a few lefties on TS.
Even in the USA, amongst Republican's, socialism, and higher taxes on the wealthy, is preferred.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/16/even-republican-voters-support-2000-month-payments-during-coronavirus-crisis-poll?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=AO&utm_campaign=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_content=email&utm_source=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Email
Maybe we should be grateful for Mike Hosking? As right-wing C-19 denialists go, he is relatively harmless compared to these gun-toting loons in Lansing Michigan. Though I'd encourage Mike to do a similar drive-by protest outside the Beehive in his Ferrari – proclaiming his divine right to buy ripped jeans even in the face of disease and death.
Recently he was distraught that it was taking him so long to get to his hairdresser because of traffic and roads. Cruelly, when the roads became much more open hairdressers were off limits.
I see his picture briefly on flicking through the Herald online but have never particularly looked at his hair. Maybe he'll let it go, let it grow and he'll be all woolly. Sort of symbolic of his thinking.
New electorate boundaries and names confirmed
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/121077366/a-new-auckland-electorate-and-ten-new-electorate-names-confirmed
The new Taieri seat could be marginal Nat leaning now. It’s gone from being mostly souther Dunedin to mostly rural North, West and South Otago.
New Lynn might be a tougher ask for Labour too. It’s lost New Windsor and a bit of Blockhouse Bay and picked up all of the Waitakere Ranges out to the west coast beaches.
The Elections NZ website doesn't have a listing for the Taieri electorate yet, and your link doesn't have a map. But from the description, it sounds like it is likely to go National. It's a good thing we have a (semi)proportional voting system!
As an aside, I found it amusing that ENZ puts "democracy" in quote marks in its own definition. I am sure that it's not meant this way, but that reads like an admission that our system isn't truly democratic. What with: the 5% threshold, a minimum of 18 years at time of election voting age, and denial of voting rights to some prisoners (there was a recent change so those with less than 3 years remaining till release can vote wasn't there?).
https://vote.nz/boundary-review-2019-2020/what-are-the-main-changes/
There’s a map on votenz. Though it is really hard to use. Looks like Dunedin South has shed all of Otago Peninsula, keeps South Dunedin and suburbs west of there. And picks up a big swathe of South Otago down to Balclutha and west towards Lawrence and over the Clutha River towards the Blue Mtns all off Clutha-Southland which is renamed Southland.
Urgh! The low resolution on that really hurts my eyes.
From what I can tell; Taieri will go all the way down to the Clutha – that's farmland, a big crop of National voters. But low population density.
More interesting to me was the boundary between Dunedin – which seems to have picked up not just the Peninsula, but all of Waverly and Musselburgh. Tainui and Tomahawk too?; Also there's a strange kink around King Edward st, that I'd have to see in finer detail to understand. Otherwise it seems they are keeping the railway as boundary line.
Who is turd-in-humanish-form Hamish Price? Who benefitted from his fuckwitted political advice? Is he on a bottle of meths a day now? Does he screech at pigeons in the park?
He accused Jacinda Ardern of "holocaust denial". That isn't just an insult, it may be the worst thing anyone has said about a New Zealand PM. Truly vile.
He's not the lead singer of HomeBrew then.
Turd-in-humanish-form? Good analogy. Something you might accidentally stand in if an errant dog walker isn't responsible and you have to scrape him off your shoe.
I did wonder if he was satire, given the level of fuckwittery.
Rosemary is very Busy
So it is difficult to give praise to the Chinese. They are not quite like we lazy Kiwis, with our long noses, and minds locked firmly in the past. Like when got ourselves Slaughted in Gallipoli for some obscure reason.
One of the good things about the Chinese is that they actually do things, and many of them are staying in New Zealand. They are remarkably intelligent too.
But I must not go into that. It offends Kiwis.
The Chinese, if you look at them with justice, are remarkably Peaceful. Compare them over the past century to 100s of other Nations. Or compare them to Aussie ratbags.
Anyway, Duncan Garner and his female assistant, threw the Kiwi shit- house at the Chinese Ambassador this morning. He kept going and going and going. I was ashamed of him.
He is not very Intelligent ! Neither was she.
Not much of a one for stereotypes based on nationality, whether they be they negative or positive.
But the rarely implied suggestion that xenophobia has become more or less woven into the fabric of NZ society is both noted and appreciated by this reader.
Doing things for the sake of it isn't necessarily the wise course.
A youngish Berner talks about things that AOC understands that Bernie and his campaign never got their heads around. It's a longish piece in interview format, but well worth the read.
Still punching down I see.
How is that punching down adam? Genuinely curious how you saw that.
No mention in that snippet of the overarching corporate dominance and how that determines the make up and political expression of those "five partners" – or is that teased out in the full piece?
That's one experienced operator for a 27 year old guy with his own stats business.
Like a quant version of Hooten, or Nate Silver with actual commitment and experience.
Great interview.
You could probably get a job at the Clinton News Network or any other elite propaganda troll farm.
The Economist on excess mortality as a measure of the true toll of the Covid19 crisis.
New perspective on the alleged under counting of fatalities in China and Iran, too.
So far, Italy’s national statistical bureau has published figures of deaths from all causes for only 1,450 of the country’s 7,900 municipalities, covering the period until March 28th. We have analysed a sample of these areas, including Bergamo, that contain 6.7m of the 10m residents in Lombardy, a region that has suffered nearly half the country’s official fatalities. By March 28th, the excess deaths in this sample had reached more than 9,000 in the previous five weeks, covering the entire period of the outbreak. At that point, the official covid-19 tally was 4,000. This suggests that the true toll was about 120% higher.
[…]
Spain has experienced a similar epidemic, with its official death toll approaching 19,000 on April 15th, according to data from hospitals. Like Italy, the country’s overall mortality data imply that the actual number is higher, although the extent of the undercounting is less severe. Spain’s national epidemiology centre is publishing regular figures for deaths from all causes in each region. By March 31st, these showed that there had been 13,000 excess fatalities nationwide that month, covering the entire period of the outbreak. The official covid-19 tally at that point was 8,000. This suggests that the true toll was about 60% higher.
[…]
So far, the number of official covid-19 deaths in the Netherlands has shown a much flatter trajectory than in other western European countries. On April 15th the tally stood at 3,100. However, this is because the national institute for public health, which publishes the daily figures, includes only people who have tested positive for the virus and died in hospital (often with a delay). By April 5th, the latest date for which the national statistical bureau has published data about deaths from all causes, there had been 4,000 excess deaths during the previous four weeks, covering the entire period of the outbreak. The official covid-19 tally at that point was 1,700. This suggests that the true toll was about 140% higher.
http://archive.li/hVWo9
Skills.
Charming,
How true is that for the naysayers?
I'll see you and raise you with an appetising opportunity..
https://twitter.com/travisakers/status/1250810107694395395
Goodness me Joe. 2-3% is insignificant. Yuck!
There are approcimately 50 million kids aged 6-17 in the USA.
He's guesstimating a million to one and a half million dead kids. In media punditese, the same character for "statistic" also means "opportunity".
Did Dr Oz plagiarize this line from the Pro-vaxxers Handbook?
With enemies like these, who needs friends?
Jacinda Ardern being sued by the kind of guys you avoid at parties
Hope they can afford to pay her costs.
Any idea who is funding these two to take this action? And who is their lawyer?
Legal aid and probono from some Right wing Lawyer I expect. Weird eh?
Maybe they will get a real lock up term!!!
NZ Herald story
The man ultimately compared Ardern to Hitler and the lockdown to the holocaust.
Of course he did. It's only logical.
A bit of marxist analysis of where the economy is at. I know the liberals don't want to hear how much their vaunted economic model stuffed up – but three times this century already. It is the time we looked for a more robust and equatable system.
It's the first 20 min of video, other stuff after that.
How much of this really applies to us – or to Australia – or indeed to China? Or India. Those surely are our relevant economic poles for the next decade.
I get that the 'nationalization of the credit system" applies to the US Federal Reserve actions. But does that apply to a Reserve Bank reaction like ours? Or the RBA?
I would be more interested to hear economists talk about mixed economies like ours with states that have vastly expanded in reaction to successive crises. Particularly small economies. And on top of that, whether some of those mixed small economies will do better or worse from the grealy differing economic impacts of the virus.
I also find it really strange that as a marxist with some grounding in economic history he doesn't cite the Marxists who went through the Depression and World War 2 and came out with the really nuance versions of Marxism appropriate to the new cultural contexts – the Frankfurt Marxists like Adorno and Habermas.
He would be interesting if he could turn Marxism to the Post-Covid context that we find ourselves in, or to countries other than the United States.
the credit system is overseen by the RBNZ (and RBA) but operated by the trading banks….and the real problem is the attached financial derivatives that have been progressively bolted on to that system and now overwhelms it…the banks are now caught in a trap of their own making….unfortunately we are caught with them.
Given the expected collapse in asset values and employment there is probably no better time to rid ourselves of that burden…along with the political influencers that benefit from it.
What do you predict will be the next thing that will occur to the Australasian banking system?
prediction is a mugs game, especially when the players are using a stacked deck….and why specifically Australian Banks?
Because they dominate our banking and mortgage system.
Indeed they do….we best hope the RBA has the inclination and resources to nationalise them if needed…as we should also hope with the RBNZ.
Some insight into immune response, vaccines, and antibodies.
We've never made a successful vaccine for a coronavirus before. This is why it's so difficult
https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2020-04-17/coronavirus-vaccine-ian-frazer/12146616
And more here…
https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/coronaviruses-therapeutics-vaccines
https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/coronaviruses
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/coronavirus/2020/04/15/IRGC-unveils-new-alleged-coronavirus-detection-device.html
Well the detection problem is solved.
Oh wow. That's gotta have some serious woo juju powering it.
Yeah, but it uses 5G so it'll give everyone cancer.
That and a sneeze spotter and you're good to go.
There is little being said about asymptimatic…spelling? cases. Those that distribute the virus with every touch, everyone unaware.
I think this may be the barb in the hook.
I also think the argument for us staying hard to the course makes fabulous sense.
If this muck lingers around the world and we can irradicate it in NZ entirely we will become global darlings, our lamb, milk and heavily screened at the border holidays will become premium products all over the world.
Lock it down for 4 more weeks, eradicate the mongrel in our island nation and set NZ's Huckleberry trajectory for the next century.
Not wishing to be a killjoy but why if we become free of this virus will our primary produce be in any greater demand than it is at present ?
It is not as if there is a defined risk from primary produce in those countries affected by coronavirus and as far as I know ?
If most of the world struggles to be rid of this virus and there is none here we will attract international exposure because of this.
The can of food grown on an Italian farm may pose no less or more risk than a can from NZ.
If his Grandad Luigi died from the virus, I can see Antonio reaching for the Watties can on his Milano supermarket shelf and paying a bit more.
I am not saying you are wrong, but; cynical much?
Also; asymptomatic, without symptoms. If you can spell symptom, just put on an a- prefix and -atic suffix.
Cynical or realist? Most people in Italy are going to know a person that died in the last 30 days.
Are you sure you're concerned about what is important? Assymtabloodymatic You know what I mean, We communicated accurately.
You were the one who asked what the spelling of asymptomatic was. I will remember not to offer any help to you in the future.
David Mac – you are utterly stupid if you think that any European will eat our Watties Baked Beans. Many years ago I gave a sample to my French lady-friend. She spat it out, and said, "Berk! C'est sucré!" (Yuk! It's had sugar added!) She was quite right. Europeans generally have good taste, and will not relish our bad English-inherited sugar-added rubbish. The only baked beans I now like here are Delmaine's no-sugar-added Baked beans with garlic and olive oil added instead.
I think you are dreaming about virus-free food. I thought most people knew that the Covid19 virus infects us through nose and eyes, unless we manage to breathe it through mouth to nose… If we take the virus through our mouth with food, it goes to the stomach where it is killed by digestive juices – no chance of infection.
And I sympathise with Forget Now: You mis-spelt asymptomatic and put a (spelling?) admission afterwards. When Forget Now explains it to you, you insult him/her for it. Not admirable.
We can bottle just about anything and sell it overseas for a premium price as 100% Pure COVID-Free. Medical tourism could become the new market with packages including 14 days quarantine in a hotel of your choice.
With bullet-proof speedy testing at the border we could become the international holiday destination for many.
We could be so popular we could shape our incoming guests to suit our offerings and environment, as demand climbs, so would prices. Lets get housekeepers on $40 an hour.
I like your thinking but there is one slight catch with the testing aspect of it 😉
I should have read further down but I put the solution to the testing aspect at 23.2
I can't tell if you're being serious…
It follows a pattern
https://www.france24.com/en/20180927-thai-junta-says-no-lessons-needed-bogus-bomb-detector-order
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29459896
And do you seriously think we can stop people coming to New Zealand from possibly being infected? Suppose that a rigorous quarantine period of 20 days was enough.
I give you a couple of scenarios.
Australian PM comes to hold talks with New Zealand Government. Do we lock him (or her) up for 20 days in solitary confinement before the talks can start?
Our PM goes to New York for a meeting of the General Assembly. When she (or he) returns will we lock them up in solitary confinement for 20 days?
If not why not?
We get all people stepping over our border tested. Lab at the airport. Result back in 20 mins. Get off the plane swab, by the time customs are cleared, results back.
You're a smart guy Alwyn, it's a shame your mental capacity is wasted on why things can't be done.
Tests produce results in 20 min or so do they? Didn't know that.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/121054345/coronavirus-are-blood-tests-the-future-of-travel
Hmm. So those are blood tests. Meaning, I guess, that it's testing for something other than what a swab test would be looking for.
Antigen versus antibody test?
Limitations of each being? Accuracy of each being? Usefulness of each being?
But hey. I can fully understand an airline wanting to get back in the air and either pulling out all the stops or, well… winging it with b/s.
I don’t know but I would not have much confidence in the results based on whatever current test they use.
Here’s why:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/121090127/coronavirus-ministry-of-health-clampdown-on-covid19-antibody-tests-likely
Lots of money to be made flogging bogus tests.
Government officials are scrambling for a refund after paying £16 million for coronavirus testing kits that did not work. Downing Street paid the huge sum to two Chinese companies despite the technology behind the kits being unproven, the New York Times reports. AllTest Biotech and Wondfo Biotech, both said their products met the health, safety and environmental standards set by the European Union. Public health officials reviewed the specifications on paper while the foreign office dispatched diplomats in China to ensure the companies existed and to examine their products.
https://metro.co.uk/2020/04/16/uk-spent-16000000-coronavirus-tests-didnt-work-12567736/
The majority of rapid test coronavirus test kits supplied by China to Spain and the Czech Republic are faulty, local news outlets reported.
Up to 80 percent of the 150,000 portable, quick coronavirus test kits China delivered to the Czech Republic earlier this month were faulty, according to local Czech news site Expats.cz. The tests can produce a result in 10 or 15 minutes but are usually less accurate than other tests. Because of the high error rate, the country will continue to rely on conventional laboratory tests, of which they perform about 900 a day.
The country’s Health Ministry paid $546,000 for 100,000 of the test kits, while the Interior Ministry paid for the other 50,000.
https://news.yahoo.com/china-supplied-faulty-coronavirus-test-162306412.html
Ah, yes, supply and demand and the self-correcting market that doesn’t need rules & regulations.
On the futility of unreliable testing.
https://www.minghella.com/ramping-up-the-rubbish-three-reasons-covid-19-testing-is-useless/
As a thought experiment, where would we be now here in NZ without testing?
Didn't take long for China to learn, "Vulture" capitalism.
Who gave them the example…….
Do you imagine the Chinese people are such children they have to learn everything by the 'example' set by others?
https://effectiviology.com/straw-man-arguments-recognize-counter-use/
I don't know much about the test regime Bill but I suspect it's a process that is being internationally honed by the hour.
No! No. NONONO… Do not do this!
Tests are reliant on detecting RNA, which is time sensitive to infection incidence and incubation period. Also even if the sample is adequately harvested and prepared, there is a significant risk of a false negative.
At what point the viral shedding remains infectious is still hotly debated in the scientific community. As this reply to a comment to a previous study last week (just happens to be in an open tab – there are links to the previous pieces) indicates:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30869-2/fulltext
Yup, tests as they are today. We need to be preparing for tomorrow, that's where our fortune lies.
I don't think spotting the tiniest of traces of this virus in someone is a science quantum leap. Once we can do that, test them at home before they step on the plane with their domestic system and once here, they undergo the $250 test they paid for in their ticket.
Your Chicken Little concern is based on testing as it stands. Can you not imagine improvements? Look for solutions, not roadblocks.
The world is focused on how bad everything is, it aches with opportunity.
In case you didn't hear, Theranos was a bust.
I'd also be wary of basing our safety on tests conducted overseas.
Look, if you know of this realtime covid detection technology being realistically in the works and deliverable in the next few years, fine, maybe, if it passes muster. But until then it's not "chicken little" to point out that you're dreaming.
I don't need to catch any virus DM, you already sicken me.
…ah choo, sorry.
[Just catching up with your commenting style. Chill it. This is not a testosterone competition – MS]
You need to lighten up sport, I mean you no malice
Comment deleted.
Still not sorry.
[This is supposed to be a reply to MS’ moderation comment two slots above]
Okay, I have left this till the morning, on the basis of; less said, soonest mended. Also didn't take my night's codeine to make sure my thoughts aren't muzzy (though my tooth is really starting to ache again and there's no chance of getting back to sleep, so I might be slightly on edge).I see there is a new OM up, so hopefully only the moderators will be paying any notice to this thread now. Really don't want to be doing this…
Please tell me that I am not seeing what I think I am seeing here! That's just horrible. I want to be able to read Mickey Savage's posts or comments without feeling like this. In fact the entire site feels a bit tainted to me if so. I don't know if I will be commenting here again if I don't get an explanation. I'd like to convince myself that it's just coincidence, but that seems improbable.
Hello? Anyone there? Hellooo?
Okay then. I will put the comment I have just finished typing up on today's OM. Would have preferred to have handled this quietly.
This comment is for anybody who reads it and wonders what on Earth happened here.
I am disappointed the way this has escalated and spiralled out of control 🙁
When I feel ‘agitated’, I usually walk away from it for a good while, which is
not alwaysnever easy.The written word can be very powerful but also very confusing and easily lead to ‘misunderstandings’.
At the end of the day, it pays to stop digging altogether (i.e. in & out), even when you think you’re 100% in the right, and heed Moderator notes.
We need to be preparing for tomorrow, that's where our fortune lies.
Deep stuff. 😉
Cool. Let's wait and see.
With the best people.
(but not really)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theranos
edit: great minds, McFlock
I'd say that's exactly what should be done. But then, I don't believe in this whole "betters" shit that would have supposedly 'important' people treated differently to anyone else.
The Covid-19 pandemic is a 'signal' that we should do things differently. Zoom's great.
Zoom's wearing pretty damned thin for me now, I must confess.
But if we do get covid-free, we'll be going to them rather than them coming to us. And at least isolation if not "quarantine" upon return.
An interesting idea might be a slight tweak to hotels/conference facilities. The normal layout is to have the hotel rooms in a lump, a restaurant, and an adaptable conference section that can be split up for multiple small events or one big one with breakout rooms. Might be more useful to have function rooms on every floor and suites that can be switched to breakout rooms depending on the booking. The function rooms can then act as that floor's restaurant/ lounge during covid lockdowns.
Idea being a cohort get off a flight, go into the same floor, have a bit more to stare at than the walls of one room and can interact with each other, and if there are no cases/positive tests then they can all be on their way.
Zoom should come with inbuilt nose-trimmer and compulsory media training.
Yes, and yes.
Cats being cats.
Apparently they also took in a round of golf at the local golf course. Good luck in getting them to pay green fees though.
I loved that. Apparently the grass was wet from rain so they just lay about on the road.
Anyone seen Tova lately?
I don’t have a telly so I don’t watch the 6 pm bulletins but I check online about 7 pm to see what the networks have run with. Haven’t seen anything from Tova on newshub for about a week now.
kShe got slammed about a week ago on Twitter for her tweet about a mother not going to her fathers funeral because Jacinda is a meany, people were rightly chastising her for using the death of someone to attack the Govt, making money out of others misery, so to speak. I'll try find a link.
https://mobile.twitter.com/tovaobrien/status/1247445867906252800
Though I see she has been active on Twitter though looks like she's pulled her head in a bit, not so News of the World.
Bit late for any continuity of government.
But behind the scenes, JTF-NCR is responsible for what the military calls "homeland defense": what to do in the face of an armed attack on the United States, everything from guarding Washington's skies to preparing for the civil unrest that could occur if a nuclear weapon were detonated in the capital. But most immediate, JTF-NCR is charged with facilitating continuity of government, particularly moving civil and military leaders to secret locations were the order given to evacuate the city.
Ever since National Guards started to activate countrywide, Pentagon officials have insisted that men and women in uniform are not conducting secret missions and that they will not administer or enforce "stay at home" quarantines. The Pentagon has also rejected reports, including articles in Newsweek, about martial law or other extreme contingency plans, arguing that the Guard remains under strict control of state governors, while federal troops support civil agencies like FEMA.
And yet the activation of Joint Task Force National Capital Region, including almost 10,000 uniformed personnel to carry out its special orders, contradicts those assurances. JTF-NCR is not only real and operating, reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense for some of its mission, but some of its units are already on 24/7 alert, specially sequestered on military bases and kept out of coronavirus support duties to ensure their readiness.
https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-washington-dc-faces-coronavirus-spike-secret-military-task-force-prepares-secure-1498276?
Just caught a report that states that 60% of the fit young sailors aboard the USS Roosevelt that tested positive are A sympto hoosey handle.
Show no symptoms, feel great, no idea their breath could kill their Grandad.
I can't get away from thinking that this is the sting in the tail.
Vaccine or an easy way to test everyone on an ongoing basis. eg: A toothpaste that changes colour on 19 exposure.
A relative tells me that the industrial supply company he works for was stripped of masks, too.
As the coronavirus took hold in Wuhan earlier this year, staff from the Chinese government-backed global property giant Greenland Group were instructed to put their normal work on hold and source bulk supplies of essential medical items to ship back to China.
A whistleblower from the company has told the Herald it was a worldwide Greenland effort – and the Sydney office was no different, sourcing bulk supplies of surgical masks, thermometers, antibacterial wipes, hand sanitisers, gloves and Panadol for shipping.
The company even posted its efforts of packing pallets in the company’s Sydney headquarters on social media.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/chinese-backed-company-s-mission-to-source-australian-medical-supplies-20200325-p54du8.html
True to form for the CCP but Australian based minions hoovering up every bit of PPE just prior to the inevitable arrival of the virus in Oz and shipping it back to China?
I would be comfortable reuniting those folk with where their hearts lay. I'd charter a flight and invoice the Chinese Embassy.
I'm not sure the CCP represent the will of the 14000000 anymore.
Fuck these people so deeply stupid.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018743090
(@ 1:10)
I'm a bit worried about Michelle Boag, I fear she has the Kath and Kim virus. Wallace tried to throw her a lifeline but it wasn't until the end of their talk he was able to say, 'I don't think there have been 18 former Covids Michelle, the current one got going in 2019.'
Have to agree with Toby, if this is informed opinion, we're doomed.
Boag's not the only one:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/15/politics/kellyanne-conway-covid-19-coronavirus/index.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/kellyanne-conway-covid-19-meaning-coronavirus-trump-who-funding-a9467561.html
Laughing my arse off.
But at the same time I'm thinking (yet again) how the local community committee dullards who maneuver and connive their way to the "big time" – people fucking well enable them! Why?
Boag. She was El Presidente for the suited ones in the blue clown car, yes?