I imagine that we’re going to get a delay to the election today. And probably it’s for the best, if only to shut the Opposition up. But part of me really wants Jacinda to call the bluff of all those losers. Especially Winston (he practically is part of the Opposition now) with his empty threats and posturing. Just had Judith on Morning Report acting like it’s up to her.
This Stuff piece goes into some of the details of what could come of the political silly buggers games Peters could play. In short, Peters could actually force a delay and trigger some weird shit by withdrawing confidence and bringing down the government. But that's in Winnie's hands, not Judthulhu's.
He said yesterday though that he wouldn’t withdraw confidence from the government. He can wave the threat around all he likes but it’s the nuclear option and will likely blow up in his face.
Welcome humour in these difficult times is Jane Bowron's column in DomPost today.
To quote "Brownlee as former Canterbury earthquake recovery minister went lower than a base isolator when he said he was puzzled….. and "Collins having to put her eyebrows into managed isolation after a bruising and brow-beating interview with Kim Hill on RNZ's Morning Report".
But what's the chance they got the PM in the numbers she's an Aucklander too – what's she going to have said "I love it, it's simply marvellous"? I doubt it she thinks it's anything other than a big pain in the butt like anyone else. I wonder how it was worded?
How many people actually believe that this latest outbreak came from frozen food? How many people believe that it came from a breach of the border measures? The revelation that 63% of those working on the border had NOT been tested was a real indication that despite fervent declarations that the borders were tighter than a duck's posterior, the "system" had failed. This, despite, a senior Labour MP installed as Minister of Border Control or Managed Isolation. And the problem is, if the borders are not tight, then this virus will spread like wildfire. We have been compromised and I get the real sense that there are a few people scrambling as hard as they can to cover up failings.
Pretty much no-one. FFS this dimwit seems to be using troll techniques that were old in 2008.
For starter in their breathless stupidity, they neglected to distinguish between front-facing border staff and those who have no realistic way to pick up the virus. Why stick a large swab up peoples noses when they have no realistic way of getting the virus – by that definition you'd want to do it to every person in NZ.
Of course with Goodgrief that would probably just find vacant space.
Sounds like a thick as pigshit troll – but hey everyone should have a chance to learn. I'd suggest educating the dimwit to the limits of their capabilities.
After all with this kind of antique breathless waffling, he is almost as amusing as Gerry Brownlee trying to do the same trick. Look that where it got him.
Essentially be dumb enough to think that simple insinuation with no details and no backing or links just means that everyone will ignore their ranting, except as an opportunity to play the comedian. Minless waffle like this simply isn’t a basis for robust debate.
Gee Lprent, it would be great if you were able to make a post occasionally that was not comprised of infantile abuse linked together to vaguely resemble a thought.
And you criticise Goodgrief? Goodgrief indeed.
[lprent: *sigh* Read the policy again, and read my reply to gsays further down this thread.
If you don’t like it, then leave. Next time I see you do this again – under any name, I’ll assume you’re trying to tell us how to run this site and I’ll ban you under any name until well after any possible election date. Your writing style is so consistent that it isn’t hard to recognize.
I’m getting a bit annoyed with dealing with someone who after all these years still can’t think rationally and is most noticeable for their considerable abilities at whining. ]
It’s called a “stress test” and sorts out genuine commenters who might be lacking adequate language skills from genuine trolls who lack in other departments.
It ain’t pretty, like a bowel dissection to remove a huge tumour, but it is effective and needs to be done from time to time.
Don’t watch it if you cannot stand the gore and don’t get involved is my advice 😉
This 'stress testing' has an awful lot in common with bullying.
From Bullyingfree NZ "Most widely-accepted definitions of bullying are based on four elements: bullying is deliberate, harmful, involves a power imbalance, and has an element of repetition."
Yeah, it carries a small risk but nobody is chasing this ‘victim’ on-line on this site. If they change their commenting behaviour, they will be left alone here, except for the ‘counter opinions’ from other commenters, of course, which can be equally if not more harmful.
I think we should leave this between the people involved.
You're correct in the intent. However it is a pretty specific tactic on my part. I just try to reflect the behaviour of whomever I am bullying, not only as they present themselves, but also as I expect them to continue. I've been in online forums for more than 40 years now – the tactics are pretty obvious after you've seen them tens of thousands of times.
I just do it harder, much more personally and in a exaggerated level to push the message home that the behaviour is both obvious and I'm perfectly willing to escalate it. This is a classic sysop ploy to get people to either shape up to the sites expectations or to leave the site without dumbarse flame wars.
In this case, if you read roughly through GG's comment and mine and bother to look past the obvious you'd see exactly what I did. I'll paraphrase the two sets of comments together, GGs sentence preface and my replacement assertion.
"How many people actually believe that…" GoodGrief is a "dimwit".
"The revelation that …" that GoodGrief is "thick as pigshit troll".
"This, despite …" the remote possibility that GoodGrief "should have a chance to learn".
"And the problem is …" "with this kind of antique breathless waffling, he is almost as amusing as Gerry Brownlee".
"… and I get the real sense that …" GoodGrief would be "dumb enough to think that simple insinuation with no details and no backing or links..".
In other words, I just played back GoodGrief's playbook – but I substituted them as the target and then pushed an extreme version of the kind of unsubstantiated assertion crap they were pushing into their comment directly back on to them. I made it immediately personal.
If you don't do this kind of approach then people using GG's tactics will try to take over the site in the comments section. The standard play is by making straight assertions that are in effect slogans with bothering to argue the basis of their opinion. Mostly anyone who does this will then proceed on to attacking anyone who argues against them – and they will do it personally. It then usually deteriorates into boring flame wars.
It is the standard playbook on online forums. I just abbreviate the process for a selected few who exhibit the boring predictable behaviours.
While bans will work – they are a lot of work. You also find that the whiners sit around revving each other up in their local sewer to try to count coup by occasional forays to get a ban.
With my approach, I find the reputation of what behaviour is expected on this site gets around and we have less moderation work. Also fewer bans.
I've been doing it since I saw that comments section here was going to the dogs after the first quarter of 2008. It took 2 years of work to get the message across and for the workload to diminish. I still pick the worst 'new' offenders out and demonstrate that the site hasn't changed that approach – if it needs to be handled that way.
peter chch There, there, dear, dear. We are all a bit overwrought what with the decline in political standards, our election looming, Covid 19 twisting our health system, stressing our relationships even in families and wrecking our economy. Better put up if you can stand the strain, it won't get better for some time to come. Otherwise take a powder, try sherbert.
…distinguish between front-facing border staff and those who have no realistic way to pick up the virus. Why stick a large swab up peoples noses when they have no realistic way of getting the virus – by that definition you'd want to do it to every person in NZ….
That is the point which has not been clearly outlined enough by Hipkins. If I deliver
Goodgrief – the saying actually is 'those who will not see', and it is an old saying from the times when 'will' meant 'want to', as it still does in modern German. (English and German come from the same roots.)
So, the point is that the person who does not want to see is blindest of all. It seems to me that it is you who have strong, naive, youthful visions, rather than the far more cultured Robert.
Refuse is a conscious decision, which ruins the saying. Not wanting to reflects the all too frequent practice of wishful thinking. To me you sound more wishful.
The balance of probabilities Robert it is the border. Americold manager tells us that order have not been shipped from their Vic site to Mt Wtgn for weeks. It may not be anybody’s fault, all it would take is a false negative on the last test Does any one know how reliable is the test re false positives and negatives Saying all of that inexcusable mistakes have been made
Americold manager tells us that order have not been shipped from their Vic site to Mt Wtgn for weeks
That would be useful to know if the genomic sequence said that this strain of the virus had come from Victoria. Since that hasn't been stated, then that would have to be considered as being irrelevant. Essentially the statement was issued because some mindless fools in the advance of data had been speculating wildly and irresponsibly.
What would be relevant would be a list of destinations from which freight had been received, when it was dispatched and what temperatures they were stored at.
Viable corona viruses have been detected years after being frozen. At low but not freezing temperatures, they have been detected as being viable more than a month (and even months) after being chilled.
The outbreak strain is called the B.1.1.1 strain, which is found in Oz and the UK, as well as places like Peru, Uruguay, Bangladesh etc. But not in the US or China or India.
It is going to be interesting if they can track it down. If it got picked up by a warm body handling chilled or frozen goods, they may find it on goods stored.
But it may also show up in an associated shipment without an infected warm body link back to the cold storage. Which hopefully that chain could show the link.
What doesn't seem likely at present is that it came from our warm body border protection system. But if that did happen, then we should see showing up in further infections already from the possible earlier index source than the one we know about already. They caught this cluster really early.
The worst case would be that no source was found. Then it means tat we're probably going to need to start testing cold imports and more intense warm body testing as well.
Well, suppose B.1.1.1 is found in Americold's Melbourne staff. Is that a smoking gun, or one that just feels maybe a bit warmish to the touch?
Suppose they find it on something in the cold store here. Is that a smoking gun, or maybe it's from our local staff that got infected and transferred it while pre-symptomatic?
I don't find it implausible it came through the border in self-propelled meat. Suppose patient zero got it in transit and the virus was a bit slow to take hold. So day 3 test is negative (quite reasonably). Then for whatever reason the day 12 test is a false negative (false negative rates for PCR testing have sometimes been stated as high as 5%). Now patient zero is out loose. Suppose patient zero then passes it on to someone that is asymptomatic/low symptom that doesn't get checked (maybe 50% of cases). Who then passes it on to our first known index case, with no traceability to the border.
Sure that's a longish chain of low probability bad-luck links so it's very unlikely, looking at it from the perspective of an individual. But looking at it from the perspective of the country with thousands of people coming through the border, it's a bit more plausible that something like that has happened once or more.
Let alone the possibility it came in on aircrew on the Oz run (who haven’t been routinely tested before now because Oz was allegedly safe) who passed it on while asymptomatic to an asymptomatic/low symptom link.
I kinda look at it as a heads up that there's a lot of gaps we've left for the virus to get through, including maybe a frozen goods gap we hadn't thought of. We're never going to plug them all, but we certainly can do a better job of plugging the biggest gaps.
And maybe the first person with it at Americold was asymptomatic and work was pretty much their only "close contact", that could add another full generation to the timeframe.
If "weeks" means "mid-March", that would make it doubtful because I'd have expected the phenomenon to have been discovered earlier as a source of multiple clusters around the world.
But if "weeks" means "a month", the math is close enough to keep it in mind as a slim but valid possibility when the cluster seems to heavily involve a freight agency.
People have an odd relationship with probability. If there's an 80% chance it was a border control issue, and a 20% chance it was imported food, then both have to be addressed given the nature of the risk.
They're actually excusable and understandable mistakes. Everyone is on a big learning curve here and as far as I can see nearly every time a mistake has been made, the relevant people have stepped up and remedied it. There are some exceptions to that. The MoH handling of PPE for disabled people and care workers being notable. But those came about because of systems that existed before covid that we were apparently happy enough to live with despite the negative impacts.
Not testing front line staff and been told by the MOH is inexcusable Weka. On the basis of it is hardly and unknown risk, likewise it is highly likely and a high risk so government a f ministry should have all over it. If this was an OSH case the managing and mitigating risk the kitchen sink works be thrown at you. The minister of health told us he was advised by the ministry this was happening and it wasn’t There is also a similar theme with PEP, flu vaccine distribution etc hence possibly a systemic issue her the needs to be addressed and some accountability as with our it, things won’t change
Not testing front line staff and been told by the MOH it is happening and it is not is inexcusable Weka. On the basis of it is hardly and unknown risk, likewise it is highly likely and a high risk so government and the ministry should have been all over it. If this was an OSH investigation re the managing and mitigating of risk, the kitchen sink would be thrown at you. There is also a similar theme with PEP, flu vaccine distribution etc hence possibly a systemic issue here that needs to be addressed and some accountability as with out it, things won’t change
If it's inexcusable, what should happen? All the people involved should be fired? How will that help?
As I said, there were pre-existing issues in our health system and people weren't jumping up and down about those before covid.
Not testing more at the border wasn't a high risk, or we would have had an outbreak much earlier. It's good they've looked at it and have tightened up. This is what we do when mistakes are made, we learn from them, remedy them and create more robust situations. It's all new, there are going to be mistakes and things people haven't thought about.
Red…my understanding is that the 37% of the workers that were tested on the border were the high risk people who had face to face (or close to) contact with incoming travellers.
The other 63% were not tested because they had no direct contact with travellers.
Approx 40% of cases need to be determined by medical observation and assessment of symptoms hence why our numbers are about 40% higher than that reported to WHO, Testing only gives assurance of incidence in about 63% of cases although I did hear a figure of 80% confidence yesterday by Bloomfield. The true front line staff have been getting daily temperature and symptom interviews since this shit fight stared.
The government might be making deliberate mistakes just to keep a heightened sense of anxiety and caution going to prevent complacency! Not likely; I think they felt they had done with that and were looking at the next thing, but leaky politics will turn up when new ways are being tried, just like leaky roofs.
Be still wild and woolly Gg, government is still here trying to get it right and watertight, not like the pesky private sector who could sail away on The Crimson Permanent Assurance.
Where'sthe border leak?
"50,468 vehicles had been stopped at checkpoints and of those 676 were turned around for undertaking non-essential travel". And these figures are only after the set up of road blocks around the Auckland region. Travellers' reasons at the border stops are taken at face value.
I don't see grounds for pointing the finger at any one of the several possibilities for how the new outbreak started. Nor do I see grounds to exclude that it got in through the coldstore or through the border somehow.
In all of the feasible scenarios, it's a very very small probability of something happening multiplied by a large number of times for that tiny probability to come through. Kinda like buying Powerball tickets, realistically you're almost certainly going to be better off just burning that cash for a bit of warmth on a cold day than buying the ticket, but dozens of people win multiple millions each year.
"Illusory knowledge" – had a good chat to the tweens about all this, beware of any "This is stuff THEY don't want you to know" statements, there's only a few amongst us (like GG above) that know the TRUTH!!!!
You're the type of person who, during a war, would complain that not all of our defence personnel have bullets flying at them aren't you?
To put that in context I once heard that it required 8 support personnel to put one front-line person on a battlefield. That was awhile ago admittedly and it may have changed since but there's still going to be more support personnel than soldiers.
Now, here's an important point: If all of our defence personnel actually had bullets flying at them there would only be one reason – that we'd lost.
Same goes with our quarantine facilities. If we need to have the support personnel tested its because the virus is rampant and we're all fucked.
There's another lesson here as well that you need to learn. That lesson is just how important those support personnel are to have an effective front-line which is why, in any good organisation, there's more support personnel.
Those leaky borders will be a thing of the past….Hone Harawira is on the case. Iwi should in in charge of checkpoints….the army and the cops are just too soft, polite.
“The police, the army and Ngāti Whātua’s massive checkpoints just north of Te Hana, they’ve done a good job, a very bold effort. Unfortunately, because it’s driven by the police, with the support of iwi, rather than by iwi with the support of police, the tenor of the questions has been a little light. Not as demanding as they would be if we were running them,” he said.
Harawira says that plans are now being made on “how best to get rid of” those who shouldn’t be sheltering in Northland.
“We can put in the check points we had last time. We can work with the police as another option, with mobile patrols, or we might consider other action like a sweep right through Te Tai Tokerau, from the Cape [Reinga] all the way down. Basically call in at every tourist camp and holiday park and say ‘pack up you’re moving’.
Despite his reputation as a man of action, Harawira’s not looking to be a vigilante. “We’ve worked really well with the police and our aim is to maintain that good relationship with them. Our aim is not to be kicking down doors and throwing people out onto the road. But it is to be firm and positive and clear. Who cares what their reasons are, we really don’t care. They shouldn’t have come up in the first place.”
Many Kiwis who live in their campervans and caravans winter over up here…bringing steady income to the campgounds and a casual labour force for some of the local businesses. There must be a better way.
Interesting. I can see the point for L3 Aucklanders. Not sure about everyone else, and they presumably could to a 2 week self isolation with a bit of planning. Would be interested to see what other Māori are saying. I certainly went through a bit of a thing about the rumours that Aucklanders were escaping and flying south, so I get the impetus to close regional borders. I'd be good with that the other way too, if it had been my area that had an outbreak.
If you were the opposition or an opposition sympathiser, suffered from severe Jacinda Derangement Syndrome and was determined to sabotage her re-election chances by re-introducing Coronavirus to the country, how would you do it?
Q: What are the variables for how long the virus stays on certain surfaces?
Dr. Nasia Safdar: It depends on how wet the environment is. It tends to dry up pretty quickly. That's one reason why, in the case of a confirmed COVID-19 case, the recommendation is not to rush in to clean that right away, but actually to leave the room be for a little bit so the viral particles can dry out and be less infectious. Then, the individual can go in and clean. So a few days, I would say is the best we can say, but it's not a few weeks, by any means.
You must suffering from something much worse than “severe Jacinda Derangement Syndrome” to willingly and knowingly put the lives of fellow Kiwis at risk and cause huge economic damage. That said, drug smugglers/traffickers put their own lives at risk so those sorts of people are out there, tormented & desperate souls that are ripe for the picking by unscrupulous agents of death & doom 🙁
NZ is rife with conspiracy theories at the moment. Some spread by senior politicians no less, for political purposes. Thought I would just add another one, holding up a mirror to that.
But they, the authorities, still seem focussed on patient zero at the Mt Wellington cool-store. In the absence of a patient further down the tree, what else have they to go on?
It's been suggested by other conspiracy theorists that they are just covering up a MIQ breach but I don't think their behaviour so far supports this theory. MoH so far have been very careful to get as much information out there as possible, consistent with their Covid eradication approach throughout. I think they'd own up to a verified mistake if that is confirmed.
While the mystery around the August outbreak continues there will be speculation.
One other thing to note is the hardcore testing of port workers and truck drivers out of Tauranga…
There are two things here: 1) containing the outbreak; 2) finding the source and prevent it from happening again.
If it was an ‘accident’ then the chances of this happening again could be quite slim given that we enjoyed 102 days of no community outbreak.
Wider, more frequent, and less intrusive (and laborious!) testing might be a good way forward even if it comes with a slightly lower accuracy and sensitivity.
Whenever anyone takes time off because of symptoms – they inform the workplace and their colleagues are stood down until the test result is known. This would speed up people getting tests and reduce the risk of spread at the workplace (and related homes – partners workplaces and childrens schools). Thus we prevent cluster growth at the begining.
In addition to doubling sick leave to 2 weeks, the government should compensate business for the days staff are not at work while waiting for a colleageu's test result.
Another WTAF moment from Doltistan. After all the ranting from the Fanta Fascist about how fraudulent mail-in voting is, his campaign in North Carolina sends out forms for requesting mail-in ballots to voters. With the genital-grabbing gargoyle's mug plastered all over them.
It's an interesting question as to why Kim Jong Orange has any say whatsoever over the postal service. Article 1 section 8 clause 7 of the constitution specifically tells congress to set up a postal service, and doesn't say anything about the preznit having anything to do with it.
I'spose the likeliest explanation is congressional laziness and once they had set it up, they figured job done, and handed it over the the prez to run. That a prez might choose to sabotage it to try to gain electoral advantage would never have occurred to anybody.
There are some laws making it a felony to interfere with the postal service. It'll be worth a few tubs of popcorn if anyone tries to invoke those in the pushback against the vandalism that's happening.
Trump is desperate and he will use any tactic to increase his chance of being re elected. Postal interference from the Prez and everything was well thought out.
Our global leadership moment about Covid-19 hasn’t popped …….. yet.
ABC news puts it like this:
"For 102 days New Zealand stood out as the global poster child of the COVID-19 era.
It was a nation at one with its "elimination" strategy, with a leader who enlisted the cooperation of citizens while Facetiming in lockdown from the frontline of her family life, and in turn delivered a virus-free return to business-as-more-or-less-usual in record time.
There are plenty of experts who agree that the Ardern Government's approach to coronavirus offers a masterclass in the management of a public health crisis.
The urgent question now facing Jacinda Ardern and New Zealanders — as cases appear to be growing quickly in a nation with a population the size of Sydney — is what this second wave will reveal about the broader effectiveness of that strategy and perhaps most importantly, how sustainable it is — politically, as well as for public health.
Apart from the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, Covid-19 is just a mild illness, isn’t it? Think again. JUDITH GRANT, who was to have presented at this year’s Safeguard conference, outlines her personal experience.
In a review published online in JAMA Neurology, researchers from Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut examined available case reports and clinical studies and found that the most commonly observed neurological effects in COVID-19 to date are headache, anosmia, and ageusia.5 Headache may affect up to one-third of patients, while prevalence rates of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction vary widely across settings. In addition, more severe events including impaired consciousness, seizure, stroke, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and encephalopathy have also been noted in COVID-19 patients.
The symptoms of ischaemia in a limb cannot be ignored and the sooner symptoms are reported the greater the chance of saving a limb. Blood clots else where can be missed.
Why blood clots form in Covid needs to be understood.
Why the blood clots form does need to be understood and it looks like inflammation is a major factor. Reassuringly, trials to explore treatment options for people at risk for covid-linked blood clots are underway.
"The triggers responsible for COVID-19–associated coagulopathy remain elusive. Potential triggers include cytokine-induced overexpression of tissue factor, endothelial dysfunction with loss of its antithrombotic phenotype, stasis, and hypoxia (see figure). This study confirms the correlation between markers of inflammation and coagulation and supports the concept that inflammation is a major driver of the hypercoagulable state. An inflammation-driven hypercoagulable state has also been reported in critically ill patients with viral pneumonia caused by H1N1 or SARS-CoV-1.7 The VTE rate in such patients ranged from 5% to 25%, which is similar to the rates observed in patients with COVID-19.8–10Although intensified anticoagulation regimens may reduce the risk of a thrombotic event, the results of this study raise the possibility that they may increase major bleeding rates to unacceptable levels in critically ill patients. As the world waits for the second wave of COVID-19, randomized trials comparing anticoagulation dosing strategies are urgently needed. Fortunately, several such trials are under way."
Martyred Saint Julian will be feeling the sting of betrayal. Especially since Jules actually worked to help Twitterfinger J. Putinpussy and Snowden didn't.
OMG Ashley Bloomfield displaying the patience of a saint in answering the inane questions from the journos – intent on finding some fault in the government's management of the borders.
I feel like McFlock from the other day – a deep temptation to fell them to fuck off!
If you've ever had to deliver a difficult project, or recover one that was in a mess, then had to endure ignorant senior managers question your competence and integrity and demand impossible levels of certainty – you've had a tiny taste of what Ashley is enduring. (Disclaimer: my handle is only coincidentally the same Dr B's initials)
Something that I have not heard put forward as a possibility is the dumping of frozen shit from an aircraft. It used to happen but may have been contained in more modern systems.
Any aircraft experts about?
Mt Wellington off course close to the flightpath to Mangere
It'd been a very very long time since waste dumping from commercial aircraft was a routine thing. Nowadays it needs valves to fail and leak. So blue ice incidents are only a few per year worldwide.
Also there’s very few passengers on inbound flights these days, so well within the holding capacity of the aircraft’s systems. Those passengers are all being tested as well and that strain hasn’t come up in border testing. Still a possibility from crew but they wouldn’t be going to the loo over Auckland
Those dickhead reporters are trying hard to discredit Dr Bloomfield or trying to trip him up on the testing at the border, this seems to be their angle to help the Nats to make inroads for their election chances, but it's a bit boring listening to some of these reporters questions, lots of those questions have previously asked and answered, but still they persist on this line. Where is the quality of reporters at. Fn zero.
Government should note the questions with answers and present them at the start of every media show with the FAQ and if the same question comes up again, that person goes to the back of the queue – that'd larn them.
While it makes sense to delay I believe if labour werent forced by nzf with threats of a no confidence vote they would have stayed the course, Winston needs to be fired from Cabinet, he's been spreading conspiracy's to foreign media and threatening govt instability. We need an upper house (NZs parliament has far too much centralized executive power, do we really want the likes of a Nat/act coalition under Collins having unchecked power? Extend the parliamentary term by a year and add two extra boxes to tick (under MMP or STV ) Australia and USA can do it why not us?
A constitution (the fact that Winston could install Judith Collins if he really wanted to just because he doesn't like the election date needs to be a law, should he able to do that to a dying govt in the middle of a crisis or show the no Waka jumping extend to coalition partners , if a small party jumps ship should an election immediately be required? )
i believe jacinda was forced by Winston otherwise its interesting because The American left is busy trying to prove to the world that social distanced voting and postal voting is reliable, Jacinda one of the most popular world leaders inadvertently gave Trump a gift, Trump can now say "the kiwis delayed their election because they don't trust mail voting or social distancing voting during a pandemic, why should the USA"
What a mess. I just want the NZ election and the us election over. We've been hearing about both for years. Let's keep moving I guess.
Other countries have had elections in the last few months, some have delayed, it's really no big deal, at least now it's been delayed, we have a date, hopefully plans in place if further lockdown, the opposition want dissent and confusion, Adern once again shuts the trap.
Same if a time travel machine were possible, wouldn't one have popped up sometime in our past (unless, of course, it got stomped on by a dinosaur and is on an endless loop).
& here's proof we have slipped into a parallel universe, there are 5 Young Ones, not 4, in the first series there's another long haired hippy flatmate who just sits there and doesn't say anything, he pops up in every episode, it's bloody spooky!!! (Father Time has to step around him in the Time episode).
We are always thinking and watching the USA and Trump. Let's ignore Trump and replace him with Julian Assange. Now there is a martyred hero who deserves support.
US decision to file new charges against Julian Assange ‘astonishing and potentially abusive’
Lawyer for WikiLeaks founder slams US decision to serve a second indictment at the 11th hour alleging that Assange conspired with hackers, as a potential abuse of process
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This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
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1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
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I imagine that we’re going to get a delay to the election today. And probably it’s for the best, if only to shut the Opposition up. But part of me really wants Jacinda to call the bluff of all those losers. Especially Winston (he practically is part of the Opposition now) with his empty threats and posturing. Just had Judith on Morning Report acting like it’s up to her.
This Stuff piece goes into some of the details of what could come of the political silly buggers games Peters could play. In short, Peters could actually force a delay and trigger some weird shit by withdrawing confidence and bringing down the government. But that's in Winnie's hands, not Judthulhu's.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300083701/election-2020-decision-day-looms-for-jacinda-ardern-as-winston-peters-threatens-retaliation-if-election-not-delayed
He said yesterday though that he wouldn’t withdraw confidence from the government. He can wave the threat around all he likes but it’s the nuclear option and will likely blow up in his face.
It is kind of irrelevent if the writ day was immediate.
He would effectively be withdrawing confidence in his own party as being part of the "Government"
Pretty silly idea on his part.
Welcome humour in these difficult times is Jane Bowron's column in DomPost today.
To quote "Brownlee as former Canterbury earthquake recovery minister went lower than a base isolator when he said he was puzzled….. and "Collins having to put her eyebrows into managed isolation after a bruising and brow-beating interview with Kim Hill on RNZ's Morning Report".
Tonight DPF will release his "exclusive scientific poll" (!!!) on what Aucklanders think of their lockdown. He's very excited!
DPF has some scientific ! That's funny, are we sure it's not scientology ?
But what's the chance they got the PM in the numbers she's an Aucklander too – what's she going to have said "I love it, it's simply marvellous"? I doubt it she thinks it's anything other than a big pain in the butt like anyone else. I wonder how it was worded?
Geddis on Morning Report just now picking Oct 17 for Election Day.
Lucky pick.
How many people actually believe that this latest outbreak came from frozen food? How many people believe that it came from a breach of the border measures? The revelation that 63% of those working on the border had NOT been tested was a real indication that despite fervent declarations that the borders were tighter than a duck's posterior, the "system" had failed. This, despite, a senior Labour MP installed as Minister of Border Control or Managed Isolation. And the problem is, if the borders are not tight, then this virus will spread like wildfire. We have been compromised and I get the real sense that there are a few people scrambling as hard as they can to cover up failings.
How many people actually believe Goodgrief's breathless scaremongery?
How many people believe Goodgrief's intentions here are good. Good grief!
Pretty much no-one. FFS this dimwit seems to be using troll techniques that were old in 2008.
For starter in their breathless stupidity, they neglected to distinguish between front-facing border staff and those who have no realistic way to pick up the virus. Why stick a large swab up peoples noses when they have no realistic way of getting the virus – by that definition you'd want to do it to every person in NZ.
Of course with Goodgrief that would probably just find vacant space.
Sounds like a thick as pigshit troll – but hey everyone should have a chance to learn. I'd suggest educating the dimwit to the limits of their capabilities.
After all with this kind of antique breathless waffling, he is almost as amusing as Gerry Brownlee trying to do the same trick. Look that where it got him.
Essentially be dumb enough to think that simple insinuation with no details and no backing or links just means that everyone will ignore their ranting, except as an opportunity to play the comedian. Minless waffle like this simply isn’t a basis for robust debate.
Gee Lprent, it would be great if you were able to make a post occasionally that was not comprised of infantile abuse linked together to vaguely resemble a thought.
And you criticise Goodgrief? Goodgrief indeed.
[lprent: *sigh* Read the policy again, and read my reply to gsays further down this thread.
If you don’t like it, then leave. Next time I see you do this again – under any name, I’ll assume you’re trying to tell us how to run this site and I’ll ban you under any name until well after any possible election date. Your writing style is so consistent that it isn’t hard to recognize.
I’m getting a bit annoyed with dealing with someone who after all these years still can’t think rationally and is most noticeable for their considerable abilities at whining. ]
It’s called a “stress test” and sorts out genuine commenters who might be lacking adequate language skills from genuine trolls who lack in other departments.
It ain’t pretty, like a bowel dissection to remove a huge tumour, but it is effective and needs to be done from time to time.
Don’t watch it if you cannot stand the gore and don’t get involved is my advice 😉
Despite the advice in yr last sentence…
This 'stress testing' has an awful lot in common with bullying.
From Bullyingfree NZ "Most widely-accepted definitions of bullying are based on four elements: bullying is deliberate, harmful, involves a power imbalance, and has an element of repetition."
Deliberate check.
Power imbalance check.
Repetition check.
I can't speak for the harm in this case.
https://www.bullyingfree.nz/about-bullying/what-is-bullying/
Yeah, it carries a small risk but nobody is chasing this ‘victim’ on-line on this site. If they change their commenting behaviour, they will be left alone here, except for the ‘counter opinions’ from other commenters, of course, which can be equally if not more harmful.
I think we should leave this between the people involved.
Roger, wilco.
Just planting seeds.
You're correct in the intent. However it is a pretty specific tactic on my part. I just try to reflect the behaviour of whomever I am bullying, not only as they present themselves, but also as I expect them to continue. I've been in online forums for more than 40 years now – the tactics are pretty obvious after you've seen them tens of thousands of times.
I just do it harder, much more personally and in a exaggerated level to push the message home that the behaviour is both obvious and I'm perfectly willing to escalate it. This is a classic sysop ploy to get people to either shape up to the sites expectations or to leave the site without dumbarse flame wars.
In this case, if you read roughly through GG's comment and mine and bother to look past the obvious you'd see exactly what I did. I'll paraphrase the two sets of comments together, GGs sentence preface and my replacement assertion.
"How many people actually believe that…" GoodGrief is a "dimwit".
"The revelation that …" that GoodGrief is "thick as pigshit troll".
"This, despite …" the remote possibility that GoodGrief "should have a chance to learn".
"And the problem is …" "with this kind of antique breathless waffling, he is almost as amusing as Gerry Brownlee".
"… and I get the real sense that …" GoodGrief would be "dumb enough to think that simple insinuation with no details and no backing or links..".
In other words, I just played back GoodGrief's playbook – but I substituted them as the target and then pushed an extreme version of the kind of unsubstantiated assertion crap they were pushing into their comment directly back on to them. I made it immediately personal.
If you don't do this kind of approach then people using GG's tactics will try to take over the site in the comments section. The standard play is by making straight assertions that are in effect slogans with bothering to argue the basis of their opinion. Mostly anyone who does this will then proceed on to attacking anyone who argues against them – and they will do it personally. It then usually deteriorates into boring flame wars.
It is the standard playbook on online forums. I just abbreviate the process for a selected few who exhibit the boring predictable behaviours.
While bans will work – they are a lot of work. You also find that the whiners sit around revving each other up in their local sewer to try to count coup by occasional forays to get a ban.
With my approach, I find the reputation of what behaviour is expected on this site gets around and we have less moderation work. Also fewer bans.
I've been doing it since I saw that comments section here was going to the dogs after the first quarter of 2008. It took 2 years of work to get the message across and for the workload to diminish. I still pick the worst 'new' offenders out and demonstrate that the site hasn't changed that approach – if it needs to be handled that way.
Thanks for shining a light on yr motives and intent.
peter chch There, there, dear, dear. We are all a bit overwrought what with the decline in political standards, our election looming, Covid 19 twisting our health system, stressing our relationships even in families and wrecking our economy. Better put up if you can stand the strain, it won't get better for some time to come. Otherwise take a powder, try sherbert.
None so blind as those that refuse to see Robert.
That is the point which has not been clearly outlined enough by Hipkins. If I deliver
cabbages to a hotel need I be tested?
Goodgrief – the saying actually is 'those who will not see', and it is an old saying from the times when 'will' meant 'want to', as it still does in modern German. (English and German come from the same roots.)
So, the point is that the person who does not want to see is blindest of all. It seems to me that it is you who have strong, naive, youthful visions, rather than the far more cultured Robert.
Refuse is a conscious decision, which ruins the saying. Not wanting to reflects the all too frequent practice of wishful thinking. To me you sound more wishful.
The balance of probabilities Robert it is the border. Americold manager tells us that order have not been shipped from their Vic site to Mt Wtgn for weeks. It may not be anybody’s fault, all it would take is a false negative on the last test Does any one know how reliable is the test re false positives and negatives Saying all of that inexcusable mistakes have been made
That would be useful to know if the genomic sequence said that this strain of the virus had come from Victoria. Since that hasn't been stated, then that would have to be considered as being irrelevant. Essentially the statement was issued because some mindless fools in the advance of data had been speculating wildly and irresponsibly.
What would be relevant would be a list of destinations from which freight had been received, when it was dispatched and what temperatures they were stored at.
Viable corona viruses have been detected years after being frozen. At low but not freezing temperatures, they have been detected as being viable more than a month (and even months) after being chilled.
The outbreak strain is called the B.1.1.1 strain, which is found in Oz and the UK, as well as places like Peru, Uruguay, Bangladesh etc. But not in the US or China or India.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/08/it-s-b-1-1-1-kiwi-scientists-identify-virus-family-of-mystery-covid-19-outbreak.html
It is going to be interesting if they can track it down. If it got picked up by a warm body handling chilled or frozen goods, they may find it on goods stored.
But it may also show up in an associated shipment without an infected warm body link back to the cold storage. Which hopefully that chain could show the link.
What doesn't seem likely at present is that it came from our warm body border protection system. But if that did happen, then we should see showing up in further infections already from the possible earlier index source than the one we know about already. They caught this cluster really early.
The worst case would be that no source was found. Then it means tat we're probably going to need to start testing cold imports and more intense warm body testing as well.
Well, suppose B.1.1.1 is found in Americold's Melbourne staff. Is that a smoking gun, or one that just feels maybe a bit warmish to the touch?
Suppose they find it on something in the cold store here. Is that a smoking gun, or maybe it's from our local staff that got infected and transferred it while pre-symptomatic?
I don't find it implausible it came through the border in self-propelled meat. Suppose patient zero got it in transit and the virus was a bit slow to take hold. So day 3 test is negative (quite reasonably). Then for whatever reason the day 12 test is a false negative (false negative rates for PCR testing have sometimes been stated as high as 5%). Now patient zero is out loose. Suppose patient zero then passes it on to someone that is asymptomatic/low symptom that doesn't get checked (maybe 50% of cases). Who then passes it on to our first known index case, with no traceability to the border.
Sure that's a longish chain of low probability bad-luck links so it's very unlikely, looking at it from the perspective of an individual. But looking at it from the perspective of the country with thousands of people coming through the border, it's a bit more plausible that something like that has happened once or more.
Let alone the possibility it came in on aircrew on the Oz run (who haven’t been routinely tested before now because Oz was allegedly safe) who passed it on while asymptomatic to an asymptomatic/low symptom link.
I kinda look at it as a heads up that there's a lot of gaps we've left for the virus to get through, including maybe a frozen goods gap we hadn't thought of. We're never going to plug them all, but we certainly can do a better job of plugging the biggest gaps.
also, "weeks" might well be in the right timeframe for this outbreak.
Why? Because of the B.1.1.1 divergence? I thought that was a reasonably early strain.
Long survival time on a frozen surface plus long incubation period in the index case.
And maybe the first person with it at Americold was asymptomatic and work was pretty much their only "close contact", that could add another full generation to the timeframe.
If "weeks" means "mid-March", that would make it doubtful because I'd have expected the phenomenon to have been discovered earlier as a source of multiple clusters around the world.
But if "weeks" means "a month", the math is close enough to keep it in mind as a slim but valid possibility when the cluster seems to heavily involve a freight agency.
Not sure what you consider a “reasonably early strain”. It is a few sub-lineages down from the main trunk, obviously.
From the Feeds, I happened to read this: https://sciblogs.co.nz/code-for-life/2020/08/17/covid-19-sequence-the-viral-genomes-of-all-border-cases/
In there, some links to tweets that contained these links to info on B.1.1.1:
https://nextstrain.org/ncov/oceania/2020-08-11?c=pangolin_lineage&d=tree&label=clade:20A [click on Pangolin lineage under Phylogeny in the top LH corner of the interactive graph to highlight B.1.1.1]
https://cov-lineages.org/lineages/lineage_B.1.1.1.html
BTW, the tweets themselves are informative too, not the usual Twitter ‘banter’.
Have fun 😉
Ah I see what you mean. On the timeline, it was pretty early.
For some reason, I usually look at the mutational divergence. That B1.1.x is one of the branches with quite a lot of generic divergence for covid-19.
People have an odd relationship with probability. If there's an 80% chance it was a border control issue, and a 20% chance it was imported food, then both have to be addressed given the nature of the risk.
They're actually excusable and understandable mistakes. Everyone is on a big learning curve here and as far as I can see nearly every time a mistake has been made, the relevant people have stepped up and remedied it. There are some exceptions to that. The MoH handling of PPE for disabled people and care workers being notable. But those came about because of systems that existed before covid that we were apparently happy enough to live with despite the negative impacts.
Not testing front line staff and been told by the MOH is inexcusable Weka. On the basis of it is hardly and unknown risk, likewise it is highly likely and a high risk so government a f ministry should have all over it. If this was an OSH case the managing and mitigating risk the kitchen sink works be thrown at you. The minister of health told us he was advised by the ministry this was happening and it wasn’t There is also a similar theme with PEP, flu vaccine distribution etc hence possibly a systemic issue her the needs to be addressed and some accountability as with our it, things won’t change
Sorry tidied above up
Not testing front line staff and been told by the MOH it is happening and it is not is inexcusable Weka. On the basis of it is hardly and unknown risk, likewise it is highly likely and a high risk so government and the ministry should have been all over it. If this was an OSH investigation re the managing and mitigating of risk, the kitchen sink would be thrown at you. There is also a similar theme with PEP, flu vaccine distribution etc hence possibly a systemic issue here that needs to be addressed and some accountability as with out it, things won’t change
If it's inexcusable, what should happen? All the people involved should be fired? How will that help?
As I said, there were pre-existing issues in our health system and people weren't jumping up and down about those before covid.
Not testing more at the border wasn't a high risk, or we would have had an outbreak much earlier. It's good they've looked at it and have tightened up. This is what we do when mistakes are made, we learn from them, remedy them and create more robust situations. It's all new, there are going to be mistakes and things people haven't thought about.
Red…my understanding is that the 37% of the workers that were tested on the border were the high risk people who had face to face (or close to) contact with incoming travellers.
The other 63% were not tested because they had no direct contact with travellers.
Approx 40% of cases need to be determined by medical observation and assessment of symptoms hence why our numbers are about 40% higher than that reported to WHO, Testing only gives assurance of incidence in about 63% of cases although I did hear a figure of 80% confidence yesterday by Bloomfield. The true front line staff have been getting daily temperature and symptom interviews since this shit fight stared.
Please try to keep up.
The government might be making deliberate mistakes just to keep a heightened sense of anxiety and caution going to prevent complacency! Not likely; I think they felt they had done with that and were looking at the next thing, but leaky politics will turn up when new ways are being tried, just like leaky roofs.
Be still wild and woolly Gg, government is still here trying to get it right and watertight, not like the pesky private sector who could sail away on The Crimson Permanent Assurance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYac8ngF1vg
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSO9OFJNMBA
+100 Robert.
Where'sthe border leak?
"50,468 vehicles had been stopped at checkpoints and of those 676 were turned around for undertaking non-essential travel". And these figures are only after the set up of road blocks around the Auckland region. Travellers' reasons at the border stops are taken at face value.
How is nearly 50000 vehicles of passengers as potential virus carriers crossing lock down borders to travel widely not a concern? If a person is an essential traveller presumably the Covid19 virus leaves them alone.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/122465088/two-auckland-men-crossed-checkpoints-to-visit-skycity-hamilton-casino?cid=app-android
I don't see grounds for pointing the finger at any one of the several possibilities for how the new outbreak started. Nor do I see grounds to exclude that it got in through the coldstore or through the border somehow.
In all of the feasible scenarios, it's a very very small probability of something happening multiplied by a large number of times for that tiny probability to come through. Kinda like buying Powerball tickets, realistically you're almost certainly going to be better off just burning that cash for a bit of warmth on a cold day than buying the ticket, but dozens of people win multiple millions each year.
The system has failed! and the virus is now pouring through the border. The public is panicing… Not!
Gerry GoodGrief . A concerned citizen with no ulterior motives. Just asking questions.
"Illusory knowledge" – had a good chat to the tweens about all this, beware of any "This is stuff THEY don't want you to know" statements, there's only a few amongst us (like GG above) that know the TRUTH!!!!
You're the type of person who, during a war, would complain that not all of our defence personnel have bullets flying at them aren't you?
To put that in context I once heard that it required 8 support personnel to put one front-line person on a battlefield. That was awhile ago admittedly and it may have changed since but there's still going to be more support personnel than soldiers.
Now, here's an important point: If all of our defence personnel actually had bullets flying at them there would only be one reason – that we'd lost.
Same goes with our quarantine facilities. If we need to have the support personnel tested its because the virus is rampant and we're all fucked.
There's another lesson here as well that you need to learn. That lesson is just how important those support personnel are to have an effective front-line which is why, in any good organisation, there's more support personnel.
Od Dear Old Jerry. What have you done lad? The first part of a poem by Victor Billot on Newsroom
There's poetic licence abounding. In The Press Jeff Bell calls on Dr Seuss's type of plain speaking, with rhyme and reason.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/114832270/jeff-bell-cartoons
Those leaky borders will be a thing of the past….Hone Harawira is on the case. Iwi should in in charge of checkpoints….the army and the cops are just too soft, polite.
“The police, the army and Ngāti Whātua’s massive checkpoints just north of Te Hana, they’ve done a good job, a very bold effort. Unfortunately, because it’s driven by the police, with the support of iwi, rather than by iwi with the support of police, the tenor of the questions has been a little light. Not as demanding as they would be if we were running them,” he said.
Harawira says that plans are now being made on “how best to get rid of” those who shouldn’t be sheltering in Northland.
“We can put in the check points we had last time. We can work with the police as another option, with mobile patrols, or we might consider other action like a sweep right through Te Tai Tokerau, from the Cape [Reinga] all the way down. Basically call in at every tourist camp and holiday park and say ‘pack up you’re moving’.
Despite his reputation as a man of action, Harawira’s not looking to be a vigilante. “We’ve worked really well with the police and our aim is to maintain that good relationship with them. Our aim is not to be kicking down doors and throwing people out onto the road. But it is to be firm and positive and clear. Who cares what their reasons are, we really don’t care. They shouldn’t have come up in the first place.”
https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/17-08-2020/iwi-leaders-are-hoping-for-the-best-and-preparing-for-the-worst/
Many Kiwis who live in their campervans and caravans winter over up here…bringing steady income to the campgounds and a casual labour force for some of the local businesses. There must be a better way.
Interesting. I can see the point for L3 Aucklanders. Not sure about everyone else, and they presumably could to a 2 week self isolation with a bit of planning. Would be interested to see what other Māori are saying. I certainly went through a bit of a thing about the rumours that Aucklanders were escaping and flying south, so I get the impetus to close regional borders. I'd be good with that the other way too, if it had been my area that had an outbreak.
With a nod to Gerry.
If you were the opposition or an opposition sympathiser, suffered from severe Jacinda Derangement Syndrome and was determined to sabotage her re-election chances by re-introducing Coronavirus to the country, how would you do it?
Through a frozen goods logistics firm?
Something in the post – same as calici. But introduced to South Auckland to benefit from the disparagement that end of town routinely suffers.
If that happened, the DNA testing must be scaring the pants off the perpetrator.
You'd have to have specialist temperature controlled transport rather than normal post..?
I wouldn't count on that – a little moisture could probably keep it viable long enough.
https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/sars-calculator
Nice. Or, for the less technical:
Q: What are the variables for how long the virus stays on certain surfaces?
Dr. Nasia Safdar: It depends on how wet the environment is. It tends to dry up pretty quickly. That's one reason why, in the case of a confirmed COVID-19 case, the recommendation is not to rush in to clean that right away, but actually to leave the room be for a little bit so the viral particles can dry out and be less infectious. Then, the individual can go in and clean. So a few days, I would say is the best we can say, but it's not a few weeks, by any means.
https://www.wpr.org/where-does-novel-coronavirus-hang-out-how-long-does-it-stay-and-how-do-i-get-rid-it
You must suffering from something much worse than “severe Jacinda Derangement Syndrome” to willingly and knowingly put the lives of fellow Kiwis at risk and cause huge economic damage. That said, drug smugglers/traffickers put their own lives at risk so those sorts of people are out there, tormented & desperate souls that are ripe for the picking by unscrupulous agents of death & doom 🙁
The outbreak strain was a new one in NZ.
NZ is rife with conspiracy theories at the moment. Some spread by senior politicians no less, for political purposes. Thought I would just add another one, holding up a mirror to that.
But they, the authorities, still seem focussed on patient zero at the Mt Wellington cool-store. In the absence of a patient further down the tree, what else have they to go on?
It's been suggested by other conspiracy theorists that they are just covering up a MIQ breach but I don't think their behaviour so far supports this theory. MoH so far have been very careful to get as much information out there as possible, consistent with their Covid eradication approach throughout. I think they'd own up to a verified mistake if that is confirmed.
While the mystery around the August outbreak continues there will be speculation.
One other thing to note is the hardcore testing of port workers and truck drivers out of Tauranga…
There are two things here: 1) containing the outbreak; 2) finding the source and prevent it from happening again.
If it was an ‘accident’ then the chances of this happening again could be quite slim given that we enjoyed 102 days of no community outbreak.
Wider, more frequent, and less intrusive (and laborious!) testing might be a good way forward even if it comes with a slightly lower accuracy and sensitivity.
On the issue of our past complacency.
It's time for a new workplace policy.
Whenever anyone takes time off because of symptoms – they inform the workplace and their colleagues are stood down until the test result is known. This would speed up people getting tests and reduce the risk of spread at the workplace (and related homes – partners workplaces and childrens schools). Thus we prevent cluster growth at the begining.
In addition to doubling sick leave to 2 weeks, the government should compensate business for the days staff are not at work while waiting for a colleageu's test result.
Another WTAF moment from Doltistan. After all the ranting from the Fanta Fascist about how fraudulent mail-in voting is, his campaign in North Carolina sends out forms for requesting mail-in ballots to voters. With the genital-grabbing gargoyle's mug plastered all over them.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/16/politics/postal-service-trump-absentee-ballot-request-mail-usps/index.html
If Trump cannot provide a postal service which is capable of handing postal votes, he does not deserve to be a nominated candidate for President.
It's an interesting question as to why Kim Jong Orange has any say whatsoever over the postal service. Article 1 section 8 clause 7 of the constitution specifically tells congress to set up a postal service, and doesn't say anything about the preznit having anything to do with it.
I'spose the likeliest explanation is congressional laziness and once they had set it up, they figured job done, and handed it over the the prez to run. That a prez might choose to sabotage it to try to gain electoral advantage would never have occurred to anybody.
There are some laws making it a felony to interfere with the postal service. It'll be worth a few tubs of popcorn if anyone tries to invoke those in the pushback against the vandalism that's happening.
Trump is desperate and he will use any tactic to increase his chance of being re elected. Postal interference from the Prez and everything was well thought out.
25 deaths overnight in Victoria. Jesus.
Scott…at least the case numbers are falling slowly…285 yesterday.
The fatalities obviously lag the case numbers.
There’s still over 2000 active cases in Victoria’s aged care sector. Sadly there will be many more deaths before this is over there.
There’s still over 2000 active cases in Victoria’s aged care sector. Sadly there will be many more deaths before this is over there.
When we do the right thing.
https://twitter.com/yaneerbaryam/status/1294722809621553152
going to be really interesting to see what the world makes of us getting a second outbreak under control (assuming that we do).
Our global leadership moment about Covid-19 hasn’t popped …….. yet.
ABC news puts it like this:
"For 102 days New Zealand stood out as the global poster child of the COVID-19 era.
It was a nation at one with its "elimination" strategy, with a leader who enlisted the cooperation of citizens while Facetiming in lockdown from the frontline of her family life, and in turn delivered a virus-free return to business-as-more-or-less-usual in record time.
There are plenty of experts who agree that the Ardern Government's approach to coronavirus offers a masterclass in the management of a public health crisis.
The urgent question now facing Jacinda Ardern and New Zealanders — as cases appear to be growing quickly in a nation with a population the size of Sydney — is what this second wave will reveal about the broader effectiveness of that strategy and perhaps most importantly, how sustainable it is — politically, as well as for public health.
Australia must watch closely."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-15/new-zealand-coronavirus-new-cases-elimination-ardern/12559070
it most certainly is nothing like the flu
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/doctors-see-rise-in-limb-threatening-blood-clots-during-19-crisis/
Indeed, it's frightening AF.
Apart from the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, Covid-19 is just a mild illness, isn’t it? Think again. JUDITH GRANT, who was to have presented at this year’s Safeguard conference, outlines her personal experience.
https://www.safeguard.co.nz/databases/modus/sgfree/sgmagfree/JRNL-182-SG-56?
In a review published online in JAMA Neurology, researchers from Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut examined available case reports and clinical studies and found that the most commonly observed neurological effects in COVID-19 to date are headache, anosmia, and ageusia.5 Headache may affect up to one-third of patients, while prevalence rates of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction vary widely across settings. In addition, more severe events including impaired consciousness, seizure, stroke, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and encephalopathy have also been noted in COVID-19 patients.
https://www.neurologyadvisor.com/topics/general-neurology/critical-insights-into-the-neurologic-effects-of-covid-19/
The symptoms of ischaemia in a limb cannot be ignored and the sooner symptoms are reported the greater the chance of saving a limb. Blood clots else where can be missed.
Why blood clots form in Covid needs to be understood.
Why the blood clots form does need to be understood and it looks like inflammation is a major factor. Reassuringly, trials to explore treatment options for people at risk for covid-linked blood clots are underway.
"The triggers responsible for COVID-19–associated coagulopathy remain elusive. Potential triggers include cytokine-induced overexpression of tissue factor, endothelial dysfunction with loss of its antithrombotic phenotype, stasis, and hypoxia (see figure). This study confirms the correlation between markers of inflammation and coagulation and supports the concept that inflammation is a major driver of the hypercoagulable state. An inflammation-driven hypercoagulable state has also been reported in critically ill patients with viral pneumonia caused by H1N1 or SARS-CoV-1.7 The VTE rate in such patients ranged from 5% to 25%, which is similar to the rates observed in patients with COVID-19.8–10Although intensified anticoagulation regimens may reduce the risk of a thrombotic event, the results of this study raise the possibility that they may increase major bleeding rates to unacceptable levels in critically ill patients. As the world waits for the second wave of COVID-19, randomized trials comparing anticoagulation dosing strategies are urgently needed. Fortunately, several such trials are under way."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7378461/
Trump raises the issue of a pardon for Snowden
One way to divide the neo-liberal multi-lateral global market Deep State from patriots – divide the opposition to the regime.
https://twitter.com/RachBlevins/status/1295004785003749376
i don't think anyone not planning on voting for the orange shitshow will do so because of this.
Martyred Saint Julian will be feeling the sting of betrayal. Especially since Jules actually worked to help Twitterfinger J. Putinpussy and Snowden didn't.
OMG Ashley Bloomfield displaying the patience of a saint in answering the inane questions from the journos – intent on finding some fault in the government's management of the borders.
I feel like McFlock from the other day – a deep temptation to fell them to fuck off!
If you've ever had to deliver a difficult project, or recover one that was in a mess, then had to endure ignorant senior managers question your competence and integrity and demand impossible levels of certainty – you've had a tiny taste of what Ashley is enduring. (Disclaimer: my handle is only coincidentally the same Dr B's initials)
Bloomfield is smart enough to know that the media would love it if he rose to the bait.
Tova, in particular, is a legend in her own mind.
Something that I have not heard put forward as a possibility is the dumping of frozen shit from an aircraft. It used to happen but may have been contained in more modern systems.
Any aircraft experts about?
Mt Wellington off course close to the flightpath to Mangere
It'd been a very very long time since waste dumping from commercial aircraft was a routine thing. Nowadays it needs valves to fail and leak. So blue ice incidents are only a few per year worldwide.
Also there’s very few passengers on inbound flights these days, so well within the holding capacity of the aircraft’s systems. Those passengers are all being tested as well and that strain hasn’t come up in border testing. Still a possibility from crew but they wouldn’t be going to the loo over Auckland
Those dickhead reporters are trying hard to discredit Dr Bloomfield or trying to trip him up on the testing at the border, this seems to be their angle to help the Nats to make inroads for their election chances, but it's a bit boring listening to some of these reporters questions, lots of those questions have previously asked and answered, but still they persist on this line. Where is the quality of reporters at. Fn zero.
In the US the health experts (Fauci etc) all need armed guards, get hate mail & death threats, heaps of them are quitting.
Government should note the questions with answers and present them at the start of every media show with the FAQ and if the same question comes up again, that person goes to the back of the queue – that'd larn them.
While it makes sense to delay I believe if labour werent forced by nzf with threats of a no confidence vote they would have stayed the course, Winston needs to be fired from Cabinet, he's been spreading conspiracy's to foreign media and threatening govt instability. We need an upper house (NZs parliament has far too much centralized executive power, do we really want the likes of a Nat/act coalition under Collins having unchecked power? Extend the parliamentary term by a year and add two extra boxes to tick (under MMP or STV ) Australia and USA can do it why not us?
A constitution (the fact that Winston could install Judith Collins if he really wanted to just because he doesn't like the election date needs to be a law, should he able to do that to a dying govt in the middle of a crisis or show the no Waka jumping extend to coalition partners , if a small party jumps ship should an election immediately be required? )
i believe jacinda was forced by Winston otherwise its interesting because The American left is busy trying to prove to the world that social distanced voting and postal voting is reliable, Jacinda one of the most popular world leaders inadvertently gave Trump a gift, Trump can now say "the kiwis delayed their election because they don't trust mail voting or social distancing voting during a pandemic, why should the USA"
What a mess. I just want the NZ election and the us election over. We've been hearing about both for years. Let's keep moving I guess.
Other countries have had elections in the last few months, some have delayed, it's really no big deal, at least now it's been delayed, we have a date, hopefully plans in place if further lockdown, the opposition want dissent and confusion, Adern once again shuts the trap.
Finally some good news for all those hard working citizens who have been gouged for decades by these non-performing troughers.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12357124
Just Wondering
If Judith Collins visited 51 Muslim deaths on mid March in Christchurch ?
A lot of Injuries. It would have been nice if Judith Collins had acknowledged the proceedings on Friday 15th March 2019, and its Awful carnage.
A very good restatement of the Fermi Paradox![image](https://talk.whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/default/original/2X/5/539134dcc1478a0cb6593e722d83d5c53df8a893.png)
Same if a time travel machine were possible, wouldn't one have popped up sometime in our past (unless, of course, it got stomped on by a dinosaur and is on an endless loop).
& here's proof we have slipped into a parallel universe, there are 5 Young Ones, not 4, in the first series there's another long haired hippy flatmate who just sits there and doesn't say anything, he pops up in every episode, it's bloody spooky!!! (Father Time has to step around him in the Time episode).
I always thought The Young Ones needed a science nerd as well.
Wouldn't you travel to the future?
We are always thinking and watching the USA and Trump. Let's ignore Trump and replace him with Julian Assange. Now there is a martyred hero who deserves support.
US decision to file new charges against Julian Assange ‘astonishing and potentially abusive’
Lawyer for WikiLeaks founder slams US decision to serve a second indictment at the 11th hour alleging that Assange conspired with hackers, as a potential abuse of process
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252487666/US-decision-to-file-new-charges-against-Julian-Assange-astonishing-and-potentially-abusive-court
https://7news.com.au/news/crime/lawyers-call-for-julian-assange-release-c-1243830
Trump is doing this (looking at pardoning Assange) to take the heat off the postal fiasco.