With a dearth of political news over the past 3 weeks, what an opportunity for our wonderful media to look at some of the issues facing our country in depth; some real investigative journalism looking at water quality, poverty, mental health, housing, the gas pipe leak…….. there’s quite a list of subjects calling out for enquiry from the 4th estate.
Traditional media continue to deliver the biggest audiences in New Zealand, however these audiences have declined since 2014 and nearly all online media and especially SVOD services have grown significantly.
The consumers are fine – it’s the people in there ivory towers (CEOs, PMs, and other hierarchical types) complaining about the consumers not liking what they’ve been told to like.
Also there’s autobots writing and publishing pieces now. Bezos has used his ownership of washington post to roll out the tech behind it.
Feed it some numbers, it’s normally hooked into a data stream, throw in some key phrases to use in a meta structure and shazam ! Auto ‘journalism’ as you get full control over theme and structure without pesky salaries.
The kind of dross our media has churned out since election day could’ve come from a creative writing class it’s so lacking in facts and keeps circling the same themes.
Friend of mine did a PhD on this. Journalism quality is crucial to readership – she was able to lift circulation in two different papers by over 70% by pursuing quality indicators like freshness, newsworthiness, depth and so forth.
Hi rhinocrates – this is completely off topic but… I know your handle is to be read, “rye – nok – rat- ees”, and is a play on “Hippocrates” but I can’t help but mouthing, “rhino – crates” every time I see it; you know, a rhino in a crate, being moved from one African location to another. Fyi 🙂
This one was quite safe in the Auckland zoo. I got to feed a giraffe and see her baby born on xmas day at the same time.
Yes we are in the midst of the 6th great extinction…
Zoos are now seen more as sanctuaries rather than exhibition places – at least that is how the keepers view their task.
We try to keep them on their toes though.
Buyers in Auckland with agreements as to their ability to buy to a certain price are being turned down when they apply often because the bank considers the price too high, or that the income is too low to service it. Unless you get a fully analysed agreement taking into account your debts and reliable wage, and some of the middle class precariat are contractors, part time workers with variable salaries, then it might be thumbs down. Don’t count your chickens until they are hatched, or you may end up living in the henhouse and be glad of it! Our
brighter future may come, but not before we have a storm. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/341696/bank-caution-leaves-home-buyers-high-and-dry
Somebody that’s got a $120,000 deposit gets pre-approved for a $500,000 mortage; they go out and find a property to buy around the $600,000 mark; they go back to their lender, who’s pre-approved them, and then they get turned down.
“They get told, ‘well, actually we don’t value it to where you do. We think that we’ll loan you $480,000’.”
‘It can no longer continue’: mental health service cuts beds over staff woes.’
‘The only acute mental health unit on Auckland’s North Shore has been forced to close five beds because it can’t find staff.
For months, staff at He Puna Waiora have worked double shifts of 16 hours or longer, often dealing with violent and aggressive patients.
A Public Service Association spokesperson said the shortage of nurses had forced the ward to reduce its bed numbers for seven weeks.
The shortage of nurses had forced the ward to reduce its beds for seven weeks, the PSA said. It’s understood four nurses left their jobs last week.
Ms Polaczuk said the staff shortages had placed pressure on staff to work double shifts.
“A week recently … there were 35 double shifts worked. There would almost be no days where there is not somebody on shift who has a double.
“It’s been going on for some months and obviously it’s at the point now where it can no longer continue,” she said.
The union said the pressure on staff had increased the risk of violent and aggressive behaviour by patients.
This is the sort of issue that James and other right wing ‘contributors’ to this site do not care about.
Instead they care abut the betting odds for a National government. How can someone not care about this?
Nice attitude iceman – you don’t care about others unless you’re moaning that they haven’t got your latte right. Sad. Fake carer about people especially mental health workers and patients is outed – nice slow clap for James.
So, perhaps health funding should have been raised so that wages for nurses could go up so that people would be encouraged to become nurses rather than cutting them, as National did, so as to give tax cuts to the rich?
So what you are saying is the government has failed to provide sufficient resources to have the service function properly.
Thank you for admitting that National has failed.
Because in the majority’s just-world, the betting odds for a National government are a damn sight more important than the needs of those enduring an acute mental health crisis.
The real evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the Famine, but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the people.
British colonial administrator Charles Trevelyan, on the victims of The Great Hunger.
It’s not the money, it’s all about the work stress, lack of opportunity to work with your patients, the inability to take leave or days off, all leading to burnout and loss of skilled educated people to the health professions. On a double shift I could bring home a thousand dollars a day but its not worth it. Excess overtime is a killer.
Been there in the past year. 14 hr plus days, 21 days on end without a break. Then 7 days off and repeat 6 times over a period of 7 months. In an environment with no sunlight for most of the period.
Short answer is it breaks people. It damages memory, concentration, metabolism and breaks down their immune system. The ability to cope with distractions and aggravations diminishes, they make mistakes for which they get blamed which only adds another layer of stress.
Looking back I’m kind of amazed at how the whole team survived it without anyone falling completely apart on the project, but fortunately it has come to a definitive end.
I’m still recovering mentally. As Pysch Nurse puts it … just not really worth it. And the liability totally sits with the employers who manipulate people into doing this kind of shit.
A few high profile prosecutions are really needed.
To many bureaucrats sitting in front of a PC all day over analyzing whatever with those trusty spreadsheets and ending up completely depraved of humanity.
I wonder who the “they” in that statement is intended to represent? Because you’re a partisan supporter of the “they” who could pay them more, but won’t, and who pretend “won’t” is a virtue. You might as well write “Then let them eat cake.”
Many thanks to the staff at Rotorua Hospital for the care they gave my family.
I take my hat off to you ladys whom raise our children as I would rather work the hardest job I have worked for free than care for sick children its a hard task.
Many thanks to the rest home in Napier whom are caring for my mother.
In my view our high suicide rate is directly linked to broken family’s .
As one needs love and guidance from mothers fathers and grandparents in our world as this love helps one lift there wairua and one can learn a lot from our experienced elderly people. So we need to make changes to our society that encourage the the family to stay together. ie reward 2 parent family’s as this financial reward will help prevent many problems we have with our youth and we will gain substantially from this minor adjustment to Winz . We will avoid having to many people end up in the ambulance at the bottom of the hill E,C,T. Many thanks to all the people who support me
Did Trump say he’s going to make other countries pay more for medicines so the U.S pays less? (CNN post cabinet meeting) I think he did. That’s not something to ignore – especially in terms of avoiding the non-existent Trans-Pacific partnership.
tRump blames drug companies for the cost of prescription drugs….. but it’s the rest of the world’s fault.
.
As far as — and I didn’t speak to Mitch about this today, but a priority of mine, and you know that this is coming up, will be the cost of prescription drugs. We’re going to get the costs way down, way down — and those drug companies. So you have the insurance companies on the one case (ph). In the other case, actually with regard to both you have the drug companies.
They contribute massive amounts of money to political people. I don’t know, Mitch, maybe even to you. But I have to tell you, they contribute massive amounts of money.
Me? I’m not interested in their money. I don’t need their money.
I will tell you, you have prescription drugs — you go to England, you go to various places, Canada, you go to many, many countries, and the same exact pill from the same company, the same box, same everything is a tiny fraction of what it costs in the United States. We are going to get drug prices — prescription drug prices way down, because the world is taking advantage of us. The world is taking advantage of us when that happens, so that’s going to be very important.
They murdered the Panama papers writer today so we have a bad world full of crooks now, so time for a revolution is moving closer with this murder of free press.
So what do we now make of John Key’s reluctance to cast light on secret foreign trusts in NZ, the existence of which was disclosed in the Panama Papers?
Does this make him a grubby enabler of the sorts of criminals who would conspire to murder a journalist?
Not directly responsible in any way of course, just a low-level enabler of a rotten system.
There’s shock and anger in Malta as news spreads about the death in a car bomb of the Maltese journalist and blogger who led the investigation into the Panama Papers scandal. Daphne Caruana Galizia died overnight when a powerful explosive device blew her car into pieces and threw the debris into a nearby field. She spoke to Nine to Noon last April. Her most recent revelations pointed the finger at Malta’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, and two of his closest aides, connecting offshore companies linked to the three men with the sale of Maltese passports and payments from the government of Azerbaijan. David Thake is a former Nationalist party general election candidate and radio presenter in Malta, who knew Daphne Caruana Galizia well.
John Keys legacy is like an abscess …. poisons the blood.
“Income inequality is one of the defining issues of our time,” the statement begins, asking why its “sudden acceleration” has many people “helpless to stop its steady growth.”
“The Panama Papers provide a compelling answer to these questions: massive, pervasive corruption,”…. : John Doe
“Confronted with the blatant nature of the grubby pillaging of 1MDB, however, and the huge sums flushed through property, businesses and the art market, countries like the United States, Switzerland and Singapore have taken action and are punishing financial facilitators in their regions.
Yet, down south, Australia and New Zealand are still doing their best to pretend none of this was to do with them.” …..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And Lignite Bill has no problems with facilitating theft from Mexican or Maltese children …
Hon BILL ENGLISH: …… “In this case, the concerns about tax avoidance are concerns held by the Mexican Government and the Maltese Government, not by the New Zealand Government. There is no suggestion that these trusts are used to erode New Zealand’s tax base” …
Helping steal from poor kids …..English and Key have the class of dog shit.
Well now Peter Dunny’s getting in on the act I see.
Pretty rich coming from that guy about anything to do with NZ First is doomed to failure… he left because he knew Peters had his number ,… and has been a one man band like ACTS leaders have for years as well…
This is my interpretation of the 2 choices that New Zealand First has to make for our future and how I view that future under the 2 different choices .
Nzf Lab Grn We have many sports stars of Maori descent and every Maori in our world is proud to be Maori. Because we change our system to divert most of our young from the clutches of the judicial system . In my view we are locking up our sports stars whom could be making millions around our world. We are all talking about movies made about our past and how proud everyone in NZ is about our Maori culture these movies are all based on fact and show how advanced Maori were in the 1800 and we have movies about Apirana Ngata as it is the media and movies that makeup our reality .That movie that say that we could control our weather is a farce as we will only be able to predict our weather more accurately in the future not control it on a large scale.
Year 10 we have 25 % electric cars on our roads our 50 % less trucks we have plans for high speed rail that links our major city’s. Our oil use has been cut by a third we have had many surpluses on our trade with the rest of the world as everyone around the world no that our clean and green image in true and we are looking after everything in our country and everyone around our world is making the changes to there systems to copy our successful systems.
Our hospital waiting list is 7 days long as we have made change that have cut management cost and stream lined the systems back to a models like our hosptial boards we have saved millions everyone is treated before they develop more complicated health issues .We have next to no homeless people as we have come up with idea’s to give them employment and housing all our bad stats have droped down the OECD charts
All our sports stadiums are full as everyone has some spare money in a more equal society our racing industry’s and all our other regional industry’s are thriving and because of this we don’t have to much exposure to Dairy as all our exports are trading well and not just Dairy .Our electricity is 100 % renewable we have banned plastic in everything but the essentials products 1/3 of our houses have solar power
as the electricity company’s pay a fair price for net metering of power. Everyone is talking about the right choices that our governments. All the wealthy people from around our world flock to our shores but they can only lease our land and this stops us from being tenants in our own country there are many positive scenarios in this partnership and in every partnership everyone has to give and take to get along.
In 40 years we will be view Winston Peters in the same light as Apirana Ngata.
Nzf nat they have poured more money into our health system and because its not cutting our waiting list there are plans to privatize parts of our health systems look at the USA do we want to go there. Our exports are still dominated by dairy the old saying to many eggs in one basket is not logically Ideal we have huge and expensive highways that are not coping with the traffic all our bad stats on the OECD charts are getting worse but no one is talking about it because national have total control of our media/reality our major city’s are bursting at the seams and not even the middle class people can afford to buy a house as all the rich and famous have flocked to our shores and pushed up the price of everything We can look around our world now and see this effect now we have spent millions trying to clean up our enviroment but national are just keeping the image that everything is fine a new oil well has bursted and ruined our hoki fisheries our jails are costing more and half of them are privatized and no one is talking about the bad atrocities in private prisons.
Even some middle class could be classed as home less in our big city’s they have banned homeless people from all the tourist destinations there has been a lot of bad press about NZF as natianal set them up ie sex scandal money scandal and because natianal don’t want a great Maori leader to shine they minuplate the media to portray Winston as a maverick that just used his power to line his own pockets.
Look at the Maori party they had good intentions with there smoke price hike but national new that this move would upset and cost the Maori party there support as Maori have the highest percentage of smokes It would have been better to ban smoking but this would not go down with the tobacco companys .
Another underarm to the Maori party was the whano ora policy .The Maori party had good intentions with this policy but all national did was take from other health budgets and transfer the money to whano ora and everyone was moaning about the the other needed health services that were missing out on funding and this was going to Maori a lot of my elderly clients were talking about this fact.
national will show you a to good to be true deal up front but as soon as they get the chance they will throw you under the bus as they don’t like to share anything and especially power and if we get more immigrants the will vote national and with tec advancing so fast that could swing voters 5 % more to national. The left will never have a another chance to get into power this is happening all around our world Kia Kaha
A Spanish judge has ordered two leaders of Catalonia’s pro-independence movement jailed while they are being investigated on possible charges of sedition.
The judge jailed Jordi Sanchez of the Catalan National Assembly and Jordi Cuixart of the Omnium Cultural group after questioning them and two senior law enforcement officials on Monday.
I like the rail bit, but you will need to break up the high powered Trucking lobby as they have taken over the National Government and intend to kill rail dead as rail poses a threatn to their road freight transport policy going forward.
Top ex national ministers are hired to run the trucking lobby groups and use ‘greenwashing’ to convince politicians that truck freight is so very environemntally responsible, but it is full of lies and deception.
Note rail do not use tyres;
The trucks run up to 32 tyres each truck, that cause the worst tyre pollution in our times, now as tyre dust is entering our streams,rivers, lakes, aqifers and into our drinking water as we speak, and tyre pollution causes cancer and nervous system damage and reproductive damage.
look up 1,3, butadiene which is one of the main components in tyres today.
1,3-Butadiene
Recommend on FacebookTweetShare May 1994
Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health Concentrations (IDLH)
CAS number: 106-99-0
NIOSH REL: Exposure level; None established; NIOSH considers 1,3-butadiene to be a potential occupational carcinogen as defined by the OSHA carcinogen policy [29 CFR 1990].
You’re worried about the 1,3-Butadiene, huh? Here’s how your data sheet describes it: “Description of Substance: Colorless gas with a mild aromatic or gasoline-like odor.”
A gas isn’t much use for making a tyre. So the butadiene is a precursor component that gets polymerised into the final solid rubber. The properties and hazard profile of a polymer are very different to the properties of the monomers that go into it.
edit: If you really feel like having a freakout about hazardous chemicals, look up the hazards of styrene, than ponder how much food spends time in contact with polystyrene.
The 1,3, butadiene is also an “inert” component traced in the final composition as you can verify it when you go to NZTA site for tyre materials review of the final composition of the tyre material, or any other data study of components found therin.
Many studies have been done of tyre repairers and workshops where tyre dust is prevelent so your point is very simplistic and flawed.
“Due to their volatility, carcinogens such as N-nitrosamines, which cause cancer,
are able to segregate from tyre rubber into the atmosphere as dust and fine aerosol during tyre use.
The research of chemical content of tyre dust and fine aerosol from different tyres (manufactured by domestic and foreign manufacturers), performed in the Russian Federation in 1999-2000 [2], allowed to determine that each kilogram of tyre dust and fine aerosol may contain different value of volatile N-nitrosamines, which may reach up to 70μg.
Thus, during vehicle operation with wear of tyres considerable values of not only tyre dust, but also the carcinogenic substances causing various oncology diseases are allocated in environment.”
For example, how do you consider the “butadiene/styrene” as being cited as the primary components in tyre material when the tyre is placed in a laboratory analysis under GCMS as Spectrometry mass testing prodedure?
Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is an analytical method that combines the features of gas-chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify different substances within a test sample.
Applications of GC-MS include drug detection, fire investigation, environmental analysis, explosives investigation, and identification of unknown samples, including that of material samples obtained from planet Mars during probe missions as early as the 1970s. GC-MS can also be used in airport security to detect substances in luggage or on human beings. Additionally, it can identify trace elements in materials that were previously thought to have disintegrated beyond identification. Like liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, it allows analysis and detection even of tiny amounts of a substance.
Please be careful not to send the message falsely that tyre dust is not harmful as you appear to suggest as it is widely known now in Europe as a major human hazard and cancer causing air and water pollutant.
If you want to talk about the hazards of tyre dust, then by all means give us information about tyre dust. Hazard information about a constituent precursor is relevant to workers compounding the rubber, but not relevant to the hazard from the wear debris of the final product.
Similarly the volatiles given off by tyres, especially new ones, are relevant to workers in the tyre industry who are exposed to them in high concentrations during their workday through working in enclosed spaces where they are stored. They are much less relevant to the general public who spend 15 minutes in a tyre shop every four years or so, and the rest of the time their vehicle is outdoors where the volatiles quickly disperse.
Andre,
I am astouded that you fail to see the affects of tyre particulates as being importent here as I told you for the last time the inert coumpouds including styrene and 1,3, butadiene are traced inside the final polymer compounds of the tyre not the monomer (precursor) and and I did not say a ‘new tyre’ which you seem to be centering your comments on as irrelevent to my comments..
I have begun my post discssing the truck tyre has become a largest polutant in “road runoff” from our roads now going into our waterways and you failed sadly had no concerns about this as to see the connection.
So I cannot get through to you about this new (so far “out of sight”) “public health” issue of tyre dust pollution which is now being ignored by some agencies and some industries (perhaps those who produce those tyres or trucking interests) that I have suggested already.
It is puzzling why you do not show any health concerns about tyre dust?
I quote again for the last time; https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/doc/2013/wp29grpe/GRPE-65-20e.pdf
“Automobile tyres as a source of deterioration products till now remain out of sight of the experts engaged in technical rationing. For a long time was considered, that tyre protector deterioration product particle sizes are large enough and do not pose a health hazard. However, research of the American doctors [1], who noticed a higher sensibility to allergic and oncology diseases of inhabitants of the houses located near to motorways in cities, had allowed to assume, that at natural wear of automobile tyres significant amount of aerosol is emitted to the atmosphere. After thorough research of the air at highway with moderate traffic, the researchers found between 3,800 and 6,900 tyre particles per cubic meter of air while more the 58% of them are under 10 microns in size and therefore are able to penetrate into human lungs causing bronchial asthma, allergic reactions, as a result of skin and mucosa contact – rhinitis, conjunctivitis and urticaria. Such tyre particles almost cannot be excreted from the body. According to the research carried out in Moscow [2] the core pollutant of the city air (up to 60% of hazardous matter) is the rubber of automobile tyre used up in a small dust. The performed analysis of various tyres in operation, had allowed to define weights of a worn out parts of tyres of different sizes, which are resulted in the Tables”
NZTA documents show one truck tyre sheds 0.2mgs per km and a car 0.07mgs every day so 32 tyres are emitting a considerable amount of these dust compounds.
The studies show on any road carrying an average of 20 000 vehicles every day sheds 9kilos per km along that road.
It washes off the road in rain and enters our aqifers and waterways so think when you drink that water.
So we know this has a dramatic effect truck freight traffic has on our environmental health over rail what uses no tyres at all.
Congratulations. You’ve finally isolated the relevant hazard of the dust to show the rest of us.
Now do you want to have a go at putting some context around how that hazard compares to other everyday hazards, such as the volatiles you breathe in when you fill your tank? Or the particulates from diesel and petrol exhaust? Interestingly, the latest generations of direct injection petrol engines may be worse than diesels… http://gas2.org/2017/05/27/gasolne-engines-emit-particulates-diesels/
Andre did I say tyre dust was the only toxic exposure? = answer = no.
And you failed mostly to read the posts as your responses were wildly off the focus of my subject. Rail vs road freight.
Lastly – as I have asked you several times before in other words, ‘what is your interest in the subject of Trucking – rail which was my subject here in case you forgot?
What is your interest in these exposures to toxins or are you representing some ‘bussiness interests like road freight industry or representing a chemical industry or associated client?
My interest is in hazard assessment and mitigation. Most of the places I’ve worked deal with a variety of hazardous substances, and understanding and managing the risks of those substances usually ends up on my plate.
Saying something is hazardous and treating that as an argument against that activity is meaningless, I can’t think of anything I do or have contact with that doesn’t have some kind of hazard. It’s the relative size of the hazard compared to the alternatives that matters.
So when you start your argument with an assertion about tyre dust, then present information about a substance totally unrelated to the hazard of tyre dust, well, it’s a crap argument.
As it happens, I have a very poor opinion of the trucking industry and agree that improving rail would bring huge benefits to NZ. But weird scaremongering about tyre dust that doesn’t even correctly identify the hazard, let alone put it context, is more likely to set the cause back than help it.
You are entitled to your opinions, unfounded as they are, and i can see that you are of the opinion that tyre dust is harmless which is sadly very misguided;
You have no evidence to support or prove that tyre dust is harmless other than just simple words claiming such.
I have a post grad in Occupatioal Health & Safety at a NZ University and spent seven years preceeding this in Florida and Toronto studying Chemical toxicology, so you have just insulted my intellegence.
I was involved in a six month workplace chemical poisoning incident in an unventillated workplace which damaged/disabled the health of several wokers and myself, before this so I know something about hazardous chemicals.
You are relying on academic rubbish only as if it was an exact science we should never had been damaged nor should many other workers have been in the past.
So while unlike you I do have personal expierience on the toxic effects of chemicals without being to specific at this time.
If you were personally chemically poisoned as I was you would not be so ‘cavalier’ as you are now.
So I end this exchange now, and will carry on making ‘tyre dust road runnoff pollution’ one of my continued studies just as the rest of the world is becomming ‘enlighted’ even if some in NZ is not prepared to be engaged in presently.
Have a careful read through my comments. At no point did I assert tyre dust is harmless.
I asked you to correctly identify what the hazard is, instead of scaremongering with data about irrelevant substances. I also asked you to provide some context about how great the hazard of tyre dust is compared to other everyday hazards.
Surely that shouldn’t be difficult for someone as learned and qualified as yourself.
Now do you want to have a go at putting some context around how that hazard compares to other everyday hazards, such as the volatiles you breathe in when you fill your tank? Or the particulates from diesel and petrol exhaust? Interestingly, the latest generations of direct injection petrol engines may be worse than diesels…
I’d be more interested in studies on cumulative effect. Can you point to any?
Since I have been chemically poisoned my role in life is to save every other soul from suffering my demise, so I will attempt to give you some idea of how serious the issue of Truck emissions as ‘dust sources from tyres and brake dust’, using the latest OECD data and cost as relative to other emissions of other hazardous chemicals/compounds.
My Environmental Monitoring Company chooses now to target 2.5 micrograms airborne sized particles from transport sources such as truck routes/roads through urban locations where they can affect the lives of many than a rural are would.
Particulates that are of a lower weighted form such as 2.5 micrograms is more dangerous than is the more common 10 micrograms sized particles as they travel lower down into our lungs causing more agressive forms of cancer.
It shows the actual cost of human damages from this form of air pollution.
Good reading regards.
OECD report The cost of air pollution. – transport http://www.oecd.org/env/the-cost-of-air-pollution-9789264210448-en.htm http://www.oecd.org/env/the-cost-of-air-pollution-9789264210448-en.htm
Air pollution: Tyre and brake fatigue compound an exhausting problem
8 September 2016
tags: air pollution, road transport, rubber
by Guest author
Danger ahead
Shayne MacLachlan, OECD Environment Directorate
Anyone else feeling exhausted by all this drum humming about air pollution? Indeed it appears the fumes won’t be dissipating any time soon as we consider the extent to which tyre and brake rubbish exacerbate the problem. The European Commission says exhaust and non-exhaust sources may contribute almost equally to total traffic-related PM10 emissions. A few months ago, I was proposing (on this very Insights blog) that electric cars are essential in fighting filthy air pollution in urban areas because humans are unwilling to relinquish the comfort of their vehicles. Since then, I find myself mulling hard after this “alarmingly obvious” realisation that electric cars use tyres and brakes too! Even if they emit less of the harmful fine particles than conventional vehicles, please do feel free to file that blog in the “seemed like a good idea at the time” folder. And to turn insult to injury, I see that my own colleagues at the OECD have just published new data on PM2.5 emissions which did little to ease my blushes.
Fine particles vs coarse particles
A lot of non-exhaust pollution from tyres and brakes winds up in rivers, streams and lakes. They produce particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) which is more harmful for humans than gas pollutants like ozone and NO2. Fine particulate matter penetrates deep into your lungs and cardiovascular system. New research has even discovered tiny particles of pollution inside samples of brain tissue. The OECD is amongst a few international organisations proudly leading the fight against ambient air pollution. And rightly so, with 80% of the world population exposed to PM2.5. Outdoor air pollution causes 3.7 million premature deaths a year and 1 in 8 people die from filthy air. OECD Environment Director, Simon Upton recently stated that air pollution is not just an economic issue, but also a moral one. He urges governments to stop fussing over the costs of efforts to limit pollution and start worrying more about the even larger costs they will incur if they continue to allow it to go unchecked.
You mind making it a bit clearer what are your own words and what is quoting from elsewhere? Also, do you mean micron or micrometre where you mention 2.5 microgram and 10 microgram size particles?
Since you got me curious, I went looking for more info and found this.
So far I’ve only skimmed most of it and just stopped at interesting looking bits. The consensus seems to be most of the tyre dust mass is in particles much larger than 10 microns, and falls to the ground very quickly. Those larger particles are not a major respiratory hazard. I didn’t see anything that suggests to me that tyre dust should be raised in priority compared to exhaust issues, or fireplace smoke or a variety of other pollution problems.
However, the reported size and composition distribution of brake dust particles has me somewhat more concerned than I was this morning.
Andre
I am now to busy for any more, so for any more I suggest you use this study (below) as I use several others in references for our Company when sizing tyre particulates in micrograms when measuring tyre dust collection of busy roads.
We have detected tyre dust down to 0.5 micrograms though our gravimetric filters in our air pollution monitors .
You are reading everything wrong here, as the road surface, amount of times the particulates are run over with other vehicles when settling of roads and other variables that can reduce particulate size.
Dust Resulting from Tire Wear and the Risk of Health Hazards
http://file.scirp.org/pdf/JEP_2013061711221865.pdf
Page 514
Dust particles, suspended particulate matter, with a diameter of 10 μm or less, are also produced from some types of tire.
Page 515
Finally, the study discussed the possible effects of tire dust absorbed into the human body. Tire dust particles with a small diameter enter the human body. As particulate substances of 10 μm or smaller reach the alveoli, they may cause a variety of respiratory disorders, such as bronchitis and bronchial asthma.
Do the math on how a 1 microgram particle or 0.5 microgram particle relates in size to a PM10 (10 micrometres maximum diameter). Hint: it’s an order of magnitude larger. So the particles you’re filtering and making a fuss over are much much larger than the PM10 and PM2.5 particles that are of particular concern to lung health.
weka, I’d need to google it and I’m fairly sure your google skills are as good or better than mine.
The last time I had occasion to look into something close to that question was decades ago. I vaguely recall effects were more or less cumulative for particles that were effectively inert, but the hazards increased rapidly as particle size got smaller (deeper lung penetration) and hazards increased rapidly with increasing exposure if the particles had any kind of biological activity.
That report in my reply to cleangreen suggests that a lot of brake dust particles are very small and can be chemically active, hence my concern level rising. But that’s also a problem that will reduce with electric cars that primarily use regenerative braking so the old-school friction brakes will become emergency-only use.
Sorry, that wasn’t what I meant (if I understood what you said). I meant that single substance studies are useful, but they don’t tell us about the risk associated with multiple substance and stressor exposures over time. e.g. the tyre dust and the petrol fumes and the new building off gassing and all the sugar in the diet and the stress of being unemployed or overworked and the endogenous oestrogens and nitrates in the water ( 😉 ) and so on.
Ha! I had a dream last night that Labour were going to screw over the disenfranchised and all the middle class people were doing ok so no-one was taking any notice. Peters wasn’t even an issue in the dream.
Steve Maharey, posting on the Pundit website, reports that Peters’ has said that his forthcoming announcement could be ” written on the wall”. Is this a reference to Book of Daniel, where the writing on the wall predicted the fall of the ruling regime?
What a careful chap is Bill. Know as little as possible. Remember very little. Say as few words as possible.
Good advice for any of us picked up even if with a guilty conscience.
(Mind you human nature would have caused Bill to ask a fair bit more of his “pupil”.)
Good grief. How ridiculous. Whats your name…. what’s your occupation… where do you live (no he didn’t ask that but he might as well have)… do you know Glenys
Dickson… how long have you known her… did you know she was recorded… did you hear the recordings.
English answers ‘yes”to the second to last question and “no” to the last one. So, he’s trying to kid that he never heard the recordings? And the police officer never asked whether he knew what was on them?
Whats your name…. what’s your occupation… where do you live (no he didn’t ask that but he might as well have)… do you know Glenys
Dickson… how long have you known her… did you know she was recorded… did you hear the recordings.
That’s how the plods do it when they take statements.
A huge, American-owned oil and gas company is suing the Canadian government for $250 million for protecting the St Lawrence River from fracking exploration. This week, Lone Pine Resources is in court to try to force Canada to pay for Quebec’s decision to protect one of the most important waterways in the country.
“Council acting chair Steve Lowndes said he, like many, struggled with the twin targets the council had to meet under planning rules to increase the amount of irrigated land on the Canterbury Plains while at the same time improving water quality.
Irrigation would not be used to grow grass for cows in the future, he said.
True, but we know what the cause is and the reason it’s not being solved is not for lack of a solution, it’s because some people want to be able to make money by activities that are highly polluting. Putting in ambulance at the bottom of the cliff tech just encourages them. We already know how to farm without causing this degree of damage.
“ECan has been run by commissioners since 2010, when the Government sacked its councillors, citing apparent mismanagement of water issues.
Canterbury will be the only region [in the country] where the Government thinks it has the right to appoint the people who govern our region rather than let the voters decide.”
I’m guessing that’s it too, although it would be interesting to see if other regional councils have likewise bound themselves in via their regional plan.
😎 That’s a great article, lots of gems in that. I’ve been to that piece of swamp. Don’t think we saw any fern birds but the ecology was fantastic. They’re doing very good work. Interesting it is now closed to the public.
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
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Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
Gee that born-to-rule triumphalism we saw from National and their mates on election night seems a long, long time ago now…
Great eh! ScottGN
“silence is golden.”
With a dearth of political news over the past 3 weeks, what an opportunity for our wonderful media to look at some of the issues facing our country in depth; some real investigative journalism looking at water quality, poverty, mental health, housing, the gas pipe leak…….. there’s quite a list of subjects calling out for enquiry from the 4th estate.
But no…..
Reality TV is more important
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11933580
And foreign celebrities
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2017/10/ed-sheeran-breaks-arm-after-being-hit-by-car.html
We need a better media.
Or better consumers. After all they write what people read.
No they write what they’re told to, readership isn’t a factor.
Surely you’ve got more nuanced memes than that lazy ill fitting one James ?
James = national trolll
Nah. Simple soul.
No they don’t:
The consumers are fine – it’s the people in there ivory towers (CEOs, PMs, and other hierarchical types) complaining about the consumers not liking what they’ve been told to like.
Also there’s autobots writing and publishing pieces now. Bezos has used his ownership of washington post to roll out the tech behind it.
Feed it some numbers, it’s normally hooked into a data stream, throw in some key phrases to use in a meta structure and shazam ! Auto ‘journalism’ as you get full control over theme and structure without pesky salaries.
The kind of dross our media has churned out since election day could’ve come from a creative writing class it’s so lacking in facts and keeps circling the same themes.
I’m pretty sure those are Decepticons, not Autobots…
Friend of mine did a PhD on this. Journalism quality is crucial to readership – she was able to lift circulation in two different papers by over 70% by pursuing quality indicators like freshness, newsworthiness, depth and so forth.
Your logic is what nearly killed TV3.
And the lie that did kill TV7.
IIRC, TV7 was doing well and then National killed it.
Nope, newspapers make most of their money from advertisers, so they write what the advertisers want. They’re their market.
Hi rhinocrates – this is completely off topic but… I know your handle is to be read, “rye – nok – rat- ees”, and is a play on “Hippocrates” but I can’t help but mouthing, “rhino – crates” every time I see it; you know, a rhino in a crate, being moved from one African location to another. Fyi 🙂
it’s the brilliance of the name 🙂
My Oath! 😈
Actually I got to touch a Rhino earlier this year. Mind you there were 6″ steel bars between me and him! Impressive animals.
We’re annihilating them though, right? Hippos are next.
This one was quite safe in the Auckland zoo. I got to feed a giraffe and see her baby born on xmas day at the same time.
Yes we are in the midst of the 6th great extinction…
Zoos are now seen more as sanctuaries rather than exhibition places – at least that is how the keepers view their task.
I think we’re annihilating everything. Apparently we will escape into space when we need to.
“Technology will fix it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnzzWGcdMqY
That’s bm’s response to climate change…..
Yup – that’s who I was thinking of.
But I find myself liking this movie more and more – at some level it’s kindof faithful to Mœbius’s vision of the future.
Hollywood should have a crack at one of Druillet’s maybe…
James, “they” would then be story tellers but by no means reporters. Mind you, looking at the caliber on offer, lets leave it at story tellers.
What we need is real journalism but that’s a rare thing in NZ these days…..
We try to keep them on their toes though.
Buyers in Auckland with agreements as to their ability to buy to a certain price are being turned down when they apply often because the bank considers the price too high, or that the income is too low to service it. Unless you get a fully analysed agreement taking into account your debts and reliable wage, and some of the middle class precariat are contractors, part time workers with variable salaries, then it might be thumbs down. Don’t count your chickens until they are hatched, or you may end up living in the henhouse and be glad of it! Our
brighter future may come, but not before we have a storm.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/341696/bank-caution-leaves-home-buyers-high-and-dry
Somebody that’s got a $120,000 deposit gets pre-approved for a $500,000 mortage; they go out and find a property to buy around the $600,000 mark; they go back to their lender, who’s pre-approved them, and then they get turned down.
“They get told, ‘well, actually we don’t value it to where you do. We think that we’ll loan you $480,000’.”
Cleangreen’s 15/10 piece on downward trend of the world economy fits with this.
link https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15102017/#comment-1400592
‘It can no longer continue’: mental health service cuts beds over staff woes.’
‘The only acute mental health unit on Auckland’s North Shore has been forced to close five beds because it can’t find staff.
For months, staff at He Puna Waiora have worked double shifts of 16 hours or longer, often dealing with violent and aggressive patients.
A Public Service Association spokesperson said the shortage of nurses had forced the ward to reduce its bed numbers for seven weeks.
The shortage of nurses had forced the ward to reduce its beds for seven weeks, the PSA said. It’s understood four nurses left their jobs last week.
Ms Polaczuk said the staff shortages had placed pressure on staff to work double shifts.
“A week recently … there were 35 double shifts worked. There would almost be no days where there is not somebody on shift who has a double.
“It’s been going on for some months and obviously it’s at the point now where it can no longer continue,” she said.
The union said the pressure on staff had increased the risk of violent and aggressive behaviour by patients.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/341695/mental-health-service-cuts-beds-over-staff-woes
This is the sort of issue that James and other right wing ‘contributors’ to this site do not care about.
Instead they care abut the betting odds for a National government.
How can someone not care about this?
Ed , as BM and James will tell you,it’s all about personal choices (sarc).
It is.
If they don’t offer enough money for a job – people won’t work there. (Unless there is nothing better around).
So people are choosing to work elsewhere.
Nice attitude iceman – you don’t care about others unless you’re moaning that they haven’t got your latte right. Sad. Fake carer about people especially mental health workers and patients is outed – nice slow clap for James.
So, perhaps health funding should have been raised so that wages for nurses could go up so that people would be encouraged to become nurses rather than cutting them, as National did, so as to give tax cuts to the rich?
So what you are saying is the government has failed to provide sufficient resources to have the service function properly.
Thank you for admitting that National has failed.
James it’s all about brainwashing by the Corporatge controlled media or are you just so blind you can’t see or are you representing Corporate media?
Because in the majority’s just-world, the betting odds for a National government are a damn sight more important than the needs of those enduring an acute mental health crisis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis#Illness
This is not a new thing.
British colonial administrator Charles Trevelyan, on the victims of The Great Hunger.
100000% Ed, fully agree.
National and their media dont want to raise throrny issues that would show them up as being inept and ineffectual.
“Money talks while truth walks” – is best given as the motto that belongs to the National Party.
They could just pay the staff more. Then they would get staff. Easy really.
Then. They would have to raise taxes!
There’s plenty of money in the public sector both now and in the forecasts.
This is all on Coleman’s head.
It’s not the money, it’s all about the work stress, lack of opportunity to work with your patients, the inability to take leave or days off, all leading to burnout and loss of skilled educated people to the health professions. On a double shift I could bring home a thousand dollars a day but its not worth it. Excess overtime is a killer.
+111
My son-in-law is on a double shift today – 14 hours straight. How anyone can be expected to make good decisions at end of that, I fail to see.
Been there in the past year. 14 hr plus days, 21 days on end without a break. Then 7 days off and repeat 6 times over a period of 7 months. In an environment with no sunlight for most of the period.
Short answer is it breaks people. It damages memory, concentration, metabolism and breaks down their immune system. The ability to cope with distractions and aggravations diminishes, they make mistakes for which they get blamed which only adds another layer of stress.
Looking back I’m kind of amazed at how the whole team survived it without anyone falling completely apart on the project, but fortunately it has come to a definitive end.
I’m still recovering mentally. As Pysch Nurse puts it … just not really worth it. And the liability totally sits with the employers who manipulate people into doing this kind of shit.
A few high profile prosecutions are really needed.
Yep – by offering days off in lieu and same money for apparently less work employers avoid penal rates and a host of other worker conditions.
To many bureaucrats sitting in front of a PC all day over analyzing whatever with those trusty spreadsheets and ending up completely depraved of humanity.
They could just pay the staff more.
I wonder who the “they” in that statement is intended to represent? Because you’re a partisan supporter of the “they” who could pay them more, but won’t, and who pretend “won’t” is a virtue. You might as well write “Then let them eat cake.”
By the way Ed – did you place a bet ?
You could do a lot of good with those profits – or don’t you care ?
I can’t think of anything stupider then to place such a bet.
And, if you are right-wing, surely it’s irrational to waste money on such an unproductive endeavour.
mpledger ++++++
James – Psych Nurse said,
“It’s not the money…”
Geddit???
Many thanks to the staff at Rotorua Hospital for the care they gave my family.
I take my hat off to you ladys whom raise our children as I would rather work the hardest job I have worked for free than care for sick children its a hard task.
Many thanks to the rest home in Napier whom are caring for my mother.
In my view our high suicide rate is directly linked to broken family’s .
As one needs love and guidance from mothers fathers and grandparents in our world as this love helps one lift there wairua and one can learn a lot from our experienced elderly people. So we need to make changes to our society that encourage the the family to stay together. ie reward 2 parent family’s as this financial reward will help prevent many problems we have with our youth and we will gain substantially from this minor adjustment to Winz . We will avoid having to many people end up in the ambulance at the bottom of the hill E,C,T. Many thanks to all the people who support me
Did Trump say he’s going to make other countries pay more for medicines so the U.S pays less? (CNN post cabinet meeting) I think he did. That’s not something to ignore – especially in terms of avoiding the non-existent Trans-Pacific partnership.
tRump blames drug companies for the cost of prescription drugs….. but it’s the rest of the world’s fault.
.
As far as — and I didn’t speak to Mitch about this today, but a priority of mine, and you know that this is coming up, will be the cost of prescription drugs. We’re going to get the costs way down, way down — and those drug companies. So you have the insurance companies on the one case (ph). In the other case, actually with regard to both you have the drug companies.
They contribute massive amounts of money to political people. I don’t know, Mitch, maybe even to you. But I have to tell you, they contribute massive amounts of money.
Me? I’m not interested in their money. I don’t need their money.
I will tell you, you have prescription drugs — you go to England, you go to various places, Canada, you go to many, many countries, and the same exact pill from the same company, the same box, same everything is a tiny fraction of what it costs in the United States. We are going to get drug prices — prescription drug prices way down, because the world is taking advantage of us. The world is taking advantage of us when that happens, so that’s going to be very important.
http://time.com/4984507/donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell-rose-garden-press-conference/
Ahh – thanks joe90.
Yes, that was it… he was free-wheeling a lot in that briefing. So he’s going to threaten the UK first. May will be heart-broken.
Easier to bully other countries than to look at why the US can’t negotiate better pharma pricing in the US, I guess.
They murdered the Panama papers writer today so we have a bad world full of crooks now, so time for a revolution is moving closer with this murder of free press.
Fortieth this year.
https://cpj.org/killed/2017/
So what do we now make of John Key’s reluctance to cast light on secret foreign trusts in NZ, the existence of which was disclosed in the Panama Papers?
Does this make him a grubby enabler of the sorts of criminals who would conspire to murder a journalist?
Not directly responsible in any way of course, just a low-level enabler of a rotten system.
Link?
On Nine-to-Noon:
https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC_8970bw3.jpg
John Keys legacy is like an abscess …. poisons the blood.
“Income inequality is one of the defining issues of our time,” the statement begins, asking why its “sudden acceleration” has many people “helpless to stop its steady growth.”
“The Panama Papers provide a compelling answer to these questions: massive, pervasive corruption,”…. : John Doe
http://www.sarawakreport.org/2017/07/australia-and-new-zealand-slide-from-their-responsibilities-over-mass-corruption-and-malaysia/
“Confronted with the blatant nature of the grubby pillaging of 1MDB, however, and the huge sums flushed through property, businesses and the art market, countries like the United States, Switzerland and Singapore have taken action and are punishing financial facilitators in their regions.
Yet, down south, Australia and New Zealand are still doing their best to pretend none of this was to do with them.” …..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And Lignite Bill has no problems with facilitating theft from Mexican or Maltese children …
Hon BILL ENGLISH: …… “In this case, the concerns about tax avoidance are concerns held by the Mexican Government and the Maltese Government, not by the New Zealand Government. There is no suggestion that these trusts are used to erode New Zealand’s tax base” …
Helping steal from poor kids …..English and Key have the class of dog shit.
Shocking – unbelievable really that they could murder this hero. RIP and I hope her family are well supported.
https://www.icij.org/blog/2017/10/investigative-malta-journalist-killed-bomb-blast/?utm_content=buffera3787&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Well now Peter Dunny’s getting in on the act I see.
Pretty rich coming from that guy about anything to do with NZ First is doomed to failure… he left because he knew Peters had his number ,… and has been a one man band like ACTS leaders have for years as well…
Sour Grapes all around , … that’s what this is.
Peter Dunne was a dispicable character;
While he was a well groomed man he was in fact just another Corporate puppet .
Nothing else was there to see in him as just another National “hollow man” that Nicky Hagar will write about in his next book.
Dunne summed himself up best with the ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ line.
Confirmed what everybody already knew about Dunnster, a whore with a pricetag who is not too bothered about morality.
Perfect national coalition partner really.
This is my interpretation of the 2 choices that New Zealand First has to make for our future and how I view that future under the 2 different choices .
Nzf Lab Grn We have many sports stars of Maori descent and every Maori in our world is proud to be Maori. Because we change our system to divert most of our young from the clutches of the judicial system . In my view we are locking up our sports stars whom could be making millions around our world. We are all talking about movies made about our past and how proud everyone in NZ is about our Maori culture these movies are all based on fact and show how advanced Maori were in the 1800 and we have movies about Apirana Ngata as it is the media and movies that makeup our reality .That movie that say that we could control our weather is a farce as we will only be able to predict our weather more accurately in the future not control it on a large scale.
Year 10 we have 25 % electric cars on our roads our 50 % less trucks we have plans for high speed rail that links our major city’s. Our oil use has been cut by a third we have had many surpluses on our trade with the rest of the world as everyone around the world no that our clean and green image in true and we are looking after everything in our country and everyone around our world is making the changes to there systems to copy our successful systems.
Our hospital waiting list is 7 days long as we have made change that have cut management cost and stream lined the systems back to a models like our hosptial boards we have saved millions everyone is treated before they develop more complicated health issues .We have next to no homeless people as we have come up with idea’s to give them employment and housing all our bad stats have droped down the OECD charts
All our sports stadiums are full as everyone has some spare money in a more equal society our racing industry’s and all our other regional industry’s are thriving and because of this we don’t have to much exposure to Dairy as all our exports are trading well and not just Dairy .Our electricity is 100 % renewable we have banned plastic in everything but the essentials products 1/3 of our houses have solar power
as the electricity company’s pay a fair price for net metering of power. Everyone is talking about the right choices that our governments. All the wealthy people from around our world flock to our shores but they can only lease our land and this stops us from being tenants in our own country there are many positive scenarios in this partnership and in every partnership everyone has to give and take to get along.
In 40 years we will be view Winston Peters in the same light as Apirana Ngata.
Nzf nat they have poured more money into our health system and because its not cutting our waiting list there are plans to privatize parts of our health systems look at the USA do we want to go there. Our exports are still dominated by dairy the old saying to many eggs in one basket is not logically Ideal we have huge and expensive highways that are not coping with the traffic all our bad stats on the OECD charts are getting worse but no one is talking about it because national have total control of our media/reality our major city’s are bursting at the seams and not even the middle class people can afford to buy a house as all the rich and famous have flocked to our shores and pushed up the price of everything We can look around our world now and see this effect now we have spent millions trying to clean up our enviroment but national are just keeping the image that everything is fine a new oil well has bursted and ruined our hoki fisheries our jails are costing more and half of them are privatized and no one is talking about the bad atrocities in private prisons.
Even some middle class could be classed as home less in our big city’s they have banned homeless people from all the tourist destinations there has been a lot of bad press about NZF as natianal set them up ie sex scandal money scandal and because natianal don’t want a great Maori leader to shine they minuplate the media to portray Winston as a maverick that just used his power to line his own pockets.
Look at the Maori party they had good intentions with there smoke price hike but national new that this move would upset and cost the Maori party there support as Maori have the highest percentage of smokes It would have been better to ban smoking but this would not go down with the tobacco companys .
Another underarm to the Maori party was the whano ora policy .The Maori party had good intentions with this policy but all national did was take from other health budgets and transfer the money to whano ora and everyone was moaning about the the other needed health services that were missing out on funding and this was going to Maori a lot of my elderly clients were talking about this fact.
national will show you a to good to be true deal up front but as soon as they get the chance they will throw you under the bus as they don’t like to share anything and especially power and if we get more immigrants the will vote national and with tec advancing so fast that could swing voters 5 % more to national. The left will never have a another chance to get into power this is happening all around our world Kia Kaha
Shit’s getting serious.
.
A Spanish judge has ordered two leaders of Catalonia’s pro-independence movement jailed while they are being investigated on possible charges of sedition.
The judge jailed Jordi Sanchez of the Catalan National Assembly and Jordi Cuixart of the Omnium Cultural group after questioning them and two senior law enforcement officials on Monday.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catalonia-independence-leaders-jailed-spain-judge-sedition-jordi-sanchez-jordi-cuixart-latest-news-a8004001.html
Thoughtful analogy Eco maori,
I like the rail bit, but you will need to break up the high powered Trucking lobby as they have taken over the National Government and intend to kill rail dead as rail poses a threatn to their road freight transport policy going forward.
Top ex national ministers are hired to run the trucking lobby groups and use ‘greenwashing’ to convince politicians that truck freight is so very environemntally responsible, but it is full of lies and deception.
Note rail do not use tyres;
The trucks run up to 32 tyres each truck, that cause the worst tyre pollution in our times, now as tyre dust is entering our streams,rivers, lakes, aqifers and into our drinking water as we speak, and tyre pollution causes cancer and nervous system damage and reproductive damage.
look up 1,3, butadiene which is one of the main components in tyres today.
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/idlh/106990.html
1,3-Butadiene
Recommend on FacebookTweetShare May 1994
Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health Concentrations (IDLH)
CAS number: 106-99-0
NIOSH REL: Exposure level; None established; NIOSH considers 1,3-butadiene to be a potential occupational carcinogen as defined by the OSHA carcinogen policy [29 CFR 1990].
Thanks for your excellent post.
You’re worried about the 1,3-Butadiene, huh? Here’s how your data sheet describes it: “Description of Substance: Colorless gas with a mild aromatic or gasoline-like odor.”
A gas isn’t much use for making a tyre. So the butadiene is a precursor component that gets polymerised into the final solid rubber. The properties and hazard profile of a polymer are very different to the properties of the monomers that go into it.
edit: If you really feel like having a freakout about hazardous chemicals, look up the hazards of styrene, than ponder how much food spends time in contact with polystyrene.
Wrong Andre,
The 1,3, butadiene is also an “inert” component traced in the final composition as you can verify it when you go to NZTA site for tyre materials review of the final composition of the tyre material, or any other data study of components found therin.
Many studies have been done of tyre repairers and workshops where tyre dust is prevelent so your point is very simplistic and flawed.
Tyre dust is very hazardous read this;
https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/doc/2013/wp29grpe/GRPE-65-20e.pdf
“Due to their volatility, carcinogens such as N-nitrosamines, which cause cancer,
are able to segregate from tyre rubber into the atmosphere as dust and fine aerosol during tyre use.
The research of chemical content of tyre dust and fine aerosol from different tyres (manufactured by domestic and foreign manufacturers), performed in the Russian Federation in 1999-2000 [2], allowed to determine that each kilogram of tyre dust and fine aerosol may contain different value of volatile N-nitrosamines, which may reach up to 70μg.
Thus, during vehicle operation with wear of tyres considerable values of not only tyre dust, but also the carcinogenic substances causing various oncology diseases are allocated in environment.”
For example, how do you consider the “butadiene/styrene” as being cited as the primary components in tyre material when the tyre is placed in a laboratory analysis under GCMS as Spectrometry mass testing prodedure?
Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is an analytical method that combines the features of gas-chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify different substances within a test sample.
Applications of GC-MS include drug detection, fire investigation, environmental analysis, explosives investigation, and identification of unknown samples, including that of material samples obtained from planet Mars during probe missions as early as the 1970s. GC-MS can also be used in airport security to detect substances in luggage or on human beings. Additionally, it can identify trace elements in materials that were previously thought to have disintegrated beyond identification. Like liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, it allows analysis and detection even of tiny amounts of a substance.
Please be careful not to send the message falsely that tyre dust is not harmful as you appear to suggest as it is widely known now in Europe as a major human hazard and cancer causing air and water pollutant.
WHO even recognises this fact.
If you want to talk about the hazards of tyre dust, then by all means give us information about tyre dust. Hazard information about a constituent precursor is relevant to workers compounding the rubber, but not relevant to the hazard from the wear debris of the final product.
Similarly the volatiles given off by tyres, especially new ones, are relevant to workers in the tyre industry who are exposed to them in high concentrations during their workday through working in enclosed spaces where they are stored. They are much less relevant to the general public who spend 15 minutes in a tyre shop every four years or so, and the rest of the time their vehicle is outdoors where the volatiles quickly disperse.
Andre,
I am astouded that you fail to see the affects of tyre particulates as being importent here as I told you for the last time the inert coumpouds including styrene and 1,3, butadiene are traced inside the final polymer compounds of the tyre not the monomer (precursor) and and I did not say a ‘new tyre’ which you seem to be centering your comments on as irrelevent to my comments..
I have begun my post discssing the truck tyre has become a largest polutant in “road runoff” from our roads now going into our waterways and you failed sadly had no concerns about this as to see the connection.
So I cannot get through to you about this new (so far “out of sight”) “public health” issue of tyre dust pollution which is now being ignored by some agencies and some industries (perhaps those who produce those tyres or trucking interests) that I have suggested already.
It is puzzling why you do not show any health concerns about tyre dust?
I quote again for the last time;
https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/doc/2013/wp29grpe/GRPE-65-20e.pdf
“Automobile tyres as a source of deterioration products till now remain out of sight of the experts engaged in technical rationing. For a long time was considered, that tyre protector deterioration product particle sizes are large enough and do not pose a health hazard. However, research of the American doctors [1], who noticed a higher sensibility to allergic and oncology diseases of inhabitants of the houses located near to motorways in cities, had allowed to assume, that at natural wear of automobile tyres significant amount of aerosol is emitted to the atmosphere. After thorough research of the air at highway with moderate traffic, the researchers found between 3,800 and 6,900 tyre particles per cubic meter of air while more the 58% of them are under 10 microns in size and therefore are able to penetrate into human lungs causing bronchial asthma, allergic reactions, as a result of skin and mucosa contact – rhinitis, conjunctivitis and urticaria. Such tyre particles almost cannot be excreted from the body. According to the research carried out in Moscow [2] the core pollutant of the city air (up to 60% of hazardous matter) is the rubber of automobile tyre used up in a small dust. The performed analysis of various tyres in operation, had allowed to define weights of a worn out parts of tyres of different sizes, which are resulted in the Tables”
NZTA documents show one truck tyre sheds 0.2mgs per km and a car 0.07mgs every day so 32 tyres are emitting a considerable amount of these dust compounds.
The studies show on any road carrying an average of 20 000 vehicles every day sheds 9kilos per km along that road.
It washes off the road in rain and enters our aqifers and waterways so think when you drink that water.
So we know this has a dramatic effect truck freight traffic has on our environmental health over rail what uses no tyres at all.
Congratulations. You’ve finally isolated the relevant hazard of the dust to show the rest of us.
Now do you want to have a go at putting some context around how that hazard compares to other everyday hazards, such as the volatiles you breathe in when you fill your tank? Or the particulates from diesel and petrol exhaust? Interestingly, the latest generations of direct injection petrol engines may be worse than diesels…
http://gas2.org/2017/05/27/gasolne-engines-emit-particulates-diesels/
Andre did I say tyre dust was the only toxic exposure? = answer = no.
And you failed mostly to read the posts as your responses were wildly off the focus of my subject. Rail vs road freight.
Lastly – as I have asked you several times before in other words, ‘what is your interest in the subject of Trucking – rail which was my subject here in case you forgot?
What is your interest in these exposures to toxins or are you representing some ‘bussiness interests like road freight industry or representing a chemical industry or associated client?
Guess you are reluctant to respond are you?
My interest is in hazard assessment and mitigation. Most of the places I’ve worked deal with a variety of hazardous substances, and understanding and managing the risks of those substances usually ends up on my plate.
Saying something is hazardous and treating that as an argument against that activity is meaningless, I can’t think of anything I do or have contact with that doesn’t have some kind of hazard. It’s the relative size of the hazard compared to the alternatives that matters.
So when you start your argument with an assertion about tyre dust, then present information about a substance totally unrelated to the hazard of tyre dust, well, it’s a crap argument.
As it happens, I have a very poor opinion of the trucking industry and agree that improving rail would bring huge benefits to NZ. But weird scaremongering about tyre dust that doesn’t even correctly identify the hazard, let alone put it context, is more likely to set the cause back than help it.
Andre,
You are entitled to your opinions, unfounded as they are, and i can see that you are of the opinion that tyre dust is harmless which is sadly very misguided;
You have no evidence to support or prove that tyre dust is harmless other than just simple words claiming such.
I have a post grad in Occupatioal Health & Safety at a NZ University and spent seven years preceeding this in Florida and Toronto studying Chemical toxicology, so you have just insulted my intellegence.
I was involved in a six month workplace chemical poisoning incident in an unventillated workplace which damaged/disabled the health of several wokers and myself, before this so I know something about hazardous chemicals.
You are relying on academic rubbish only as if it was an exact science we should never had been damaged nor should many other workers have been in the past.
So while unlike you I do have personal expierience on the toxic effects of chemicals without being to specific at this time.
If you were personally chemically poisoned as I was you would not be so ‘cavalier’ as you are now.
So I end this exchange now, and will carry on making ‘tyre dust road runnoff pollution’ one of my continued studies just as the rest of the world is becomming ‘enlighted’ even if some in NZ is not prepared to be engaged in presently.
Have a careful read through my comments. At no point did I assert tyre dust is harmless.
I asked you to correctly identify what the hazard is, instead of scaremongering with data about irrelevant substances. I also asked you to provide some context about how great the hazard of tyre dust is compared to other everyday hazards.
Surely that shouldn’t be difficult for someone as learned and qualified as yourself.
Now do you want to have a go at putting some context around how that hazard compares to other everyday hazards, such as the volatiles you breathe in when you fill your tank? Or the particulates from diesel and petrol exhaust? Interestingly, the latest generations of direct injection petrol engines may be worse than diesels…
I’d be more interested in studies on cumulative effect. Can you point to any?
O/K Andre,
Since I have been chemically poisoned my role in life is to save every other soul from suffering my demise, so I will attempt to give you some idea of how serious the issue of Truck emissions as ‘dust sources from tyres and brake dust’, using the latest OECD data and cost as relative to other emissions of other hazardous chemicals/compounds.
My Environmental Monitoring Company chooses now to target 2.5 micrograms airborne sized particles from transport sources such as truck routes/roads through urban locations where they can affect the lives of many than a rural are would.
Particulates that are of a lower weighted form such as 2.5 micrograms is more dangerous than is the more common 10 micrograms sized particles as they travel lower down into our lungs causing more agressive forms of cancer.
It shows the actual cost of human damages from this form of air pollution.
Good reading regards.
OECD report The cost of air pollution. – transport http://www.oecd.org/env/the-cost-of-air-pollution-9789264210448-en.htm
http://www.oecd.org/env/the-cost-of-air-pollution-9789264210448-en.htm
Air pollution: Tyre and brake fatigue compound an exhausting problem
8 September 2016
tags: air pollution, road transport, rubber
by Guest author
Danger ahead
Shayne MacLachlan, OECD Environment Directorate
Anyone else feeling exhausted by all this drum humming about air pollution? Indeed it appears the fumes won’t be dissipating any time soon as we consider the extent to which tyre and brake rubbish exacerbate the problem. The European Commission says exhaust and non-exhaust sources may contribute almost equally to total traffic-related PM10 emissions. A few months ago, I was proposing (on this very Insights blog) that electric cars are essential in fighting filthy air pollution in urban areas because humans are unwilling to relinquish the comfort of their vehicles. Since then, I find myself mulling hard after this “alarmingly obvious” realisation that electric cars use tyres and brakes too! Even if they emit less of the harmful fine particles than conventional vehicles, please do feel free to file that blog in the “seemed like a good idea at the time” folder. And to turn insult to injury, I see that my own colleagues at the OECD have just published new data on PM2.5 emissions which did little to ease my blushes.
Fine particles vs coarse particles
A lot of non-exhaust pollution from tyres and brakes winds up in rivers, streams and lakes. They produce particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) which is more harmful for humans than gas pollutants like ozone and NO2. Fine particulate matter penetrates deep into your lungs and cardiovascular system. New research has even discovered tiny particles of pollution inside samples of brain tissue. The OECD is amongst a few international organisations proudly leading the fight against ambient air pollution. And rightly so, with 80% of the world population exposed to PM2.5. Outdoor air pollution causes 3.7 million premature deaths a year and 1 in 8 people die from filthy air. OECD Environment Director, Simon Upton recently stated that air pollution is not just an economic issue, but also a moral one. He urges governments to stop fussing over the costs of efforts to limit pollution and start worrying more about the even larger costs they will incur if they continue to allow it to go unchecked.
You mind making it a bit clearer what are your own words and what is quoting from elsewhere? Also, do you mean micron or micrometre where you mention 2.5 microgram and 10 microgram size particles?
Since you got me curious, I went looking for more info and found this.
http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC89231/jrc89231-online%20final%20version%202.pdf
So far I’ve only skimmed most of it and just stopped at interesting looking bits. The consensus seems to be most of the tyre dust mass is in particles much larger than 10 microns, and falls to the ground very quickly. Those larger particles are not a major respiratory hazard. I didn’t see anything that suggests to me that tyre dust should be raised in priority compared to exhaust issues, or fireplace smoke or a variety of other pollution problems.
However, the reported size and composition distribution of brake dust particles has me somewhat more concerned than I was this morning.
Andre
I am now to busy for any more, so for any more I suggest you use this study (below) as I use several others in references for our Company when sizing tyre particulates in micrograms when measuring tyre dust collection of busy roads.
We have detected tyre dust down to 0.5 micrograms though our gravimetric filters in our air pollution monitors .
You are reading everything wrong here, as the road surface, amount of times the particulates are run over with other vehicles when settling of roads and other variables that can reduce particulate size.
Journal of Environmental Protection, 2013, 4, 509-515 http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jep.2013.46059 Published Online June 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/jep)
Dust Resulting from Tire Wear and the Risk of Health Hazards
http://file.scirp.org/pdf/JEP_2013061711221865.pdf
Page 514
Dust particles, suspended particulate matter, with a diameter of 10 μm or less, are also produced from some types of tire.
Page 515
Finally, the study discussed the possible effects of tire dust absorbed into the human body. Tire dust particles with a small diameter enter the human body. As particulate substances of 10 μm or smaller reach the alveoli, they may cause a variety of respiratory disorders, such as bronchitis and bronchial asthma.
Do the math on how a 1 microgram particle or 0.5 microgram particle relates in size to a PM10 (10 micrometres maximum diameter). Hint: it’s an order of magnitude larger. So the particles you’re filtering and making a fuss over are much much larger than the PM10 and PM2.5 particles that are of particular concern to lung health.
weka, I’d need to google it and I’m fairly sure your google skills are as good or better than mine.
The last time I had occasion to look into something close to that question was decades ago. I vaguely recall effects were more or less cumulative for particles that were effectively inert, but the hazards increased rapidly as particle size got smaller (deeper lung penetration) and hazards increased rapidly with increasing exposure if the particles had any kind of biological activity.
That report in my reply to cleangreen suggests that a lot of brake dust particles are very small and can be chemically active, hence my concern level rising. But that’s also a problem that will reduce with electric cars that primarily use regenerative braking so the old-school friction brakes will become emergency-only use.
Sorry, that wasn’t what I meant (if I understood what you said). I meant that single substance studies are useful, but they don’t tell us about the risk associated with multiple substance and stressor exposures over time. e.g. the tyre dust and the petrol fumes and the new building off gassing and all the sugar in the diet and the stress of being unemployed or overworked and the endogenous oestrogens and nitrates in the water ( 😉 ) and so on.
test
test 2
wrong reply button.
test 3
test 4
test 5
Is this one of those IQ tests? If so, I failed, obviously 😉
Lol, only an IQ test for me. I think I figured it out.
Phew!
The green one suits you best, if I may say so 😉
Which green one 😉 I like test and test 1. I briefly considered seeing if I can trick the system into making that my avatar.
This one @ 12.2.1.1.1.1.
I probably feel the need for a change. Doesn’t Lynn occasionally randomly change the avatars?
It could be Freudian or something; you may really want a change of government or some other change(s) …
Ha! I had a dream last night that Labour were going to screw over the disenfranchised and all the middle class people were doing ok so no-one was taking any notice. Peters wasn’t even an issue in the dream.
I agree Incognito, #4 Weka.
Steve Maharey, posting on the Pundit website, reports that Peters’ has said that his forthcoming announcement could be ” written on the wall”. Is this a reference to Book of Daniel, where the writing on the wall predicted the fall of the ruling regime?
A giant NO sign perhaps ?
His sign on his election poster was “Had Enough”?
We hope Winston joins ‘the coalition of the willing’ to sack this evil National carpetbagger treasonous National Government.
Winston Peters is Banksy? Well, I’d never guessed that.
Well we’ve certainly had seven lean years.
I like Corbyn’s work against religious extremism here:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/16/jeremy-corbyn-tells-twitter-and-facebook-to-tackle-racial-abuse
Well overdue that Facebook and Twitter demonstrated themselves to be subject to advertising regulators and media regulators in Britain.
BY CRIKEY….
Listen: Bill English’s police statement on Todd Barclay
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/97962326/listen-bill-englishs-police-statement-on-todd-barclay
What a careful chap is Bill. Know as little as possible. Remember very little. Say as few words as possible.
Good advice for any of us picked up even if with a guilty conscience.
(Mind you human nature would have caused Bill to ask a fair bit more of his “pupil”.)
Him, and his cronies certainly think ahead of any potential ramifications in their actions. Sly comes to mind.
Good grief. How ridiculous. Whats your name…. what’s your occupation… where do you live (no he didn’t ask that but he might as well have)… do you know Glenys
Dickson… how long have you known her… did you know she was recorded… did you hear the recordings.
English answers ‘yes”to the second to last question and “no” to the last one. So, he’s trying to kid that he never heard the recordings? And the police officer never asked whether he knew what was on them?
I smell one big jack-up!
That’s how the plods do it when they take statements.
I know it is, but when you’re dealing with the Prime Minister it comes across as damm stupid.
But that’s the plods for you.
A huge, American-owned oil and gas company is suing the Canadian government for $250 million for protecting the St Lawrence River from fracking exploration. This week, Lone Pine Resources is in court to try to force Canada to pay for Quebec’s decision to protect one of the most important waterways in the country.
https://actions.sumofus.org/a/lone-pine-drop-usd250-million-lawsuit-against-canada-now?sp_ref=342557391.99.183682.f.0.2&source=fb
Yep SAVENZ,
More the reason why we need winston here to stop Multi-national companies from doing this to us in NZ as they will if given half a chance.
Re Weka’s Blue Babies Post last week:
“Council acting chair Steve Lowndes said he, like many, struggled with the twin targets the council had to meet under planning rules to increase the amount of irrigated land on the Canterbury Plains while at the same time improving water quality.
Irrigation would not be used to grow grass for cows in the future, he said.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/341701/concerns-raised-over-nitrates-effects-on-babies
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/97527503/denitrificaton-wall-could-be-answer-to-silverstreams-nitrate-problems
this might help
tech that allows farmers to keep polluting is not the answer.
tech that helps mitigate a problem while working out how to solve the cause is though.
True, but we know what the cause is and the reason it’s not being solved is not for lack of a solution, it’s because some people want to be able to make money by activities that are highly polluting. Putting in ambulance at the bottom of the cliff tech just encourages them. We already know how to farm without causing this degree of damage.
Interesting. So the council is bound into its own Regional Plan to increase irrigation? How did that happen I wonder.
Here’s a Clue…
“ECan has been run by commissioners since 2010, when the Government sacked its councillors, citing apparent mismanagement of water issues.
Canterbury will be the only region [in the country] where the Government thinks it has the right to appoint the people who govern our region rather than let the voters decide.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/67438119/Democratic-ECan-carries-too-many-risks-says-Nick-Smith
I’m guessing that’s it too, although it would be interesting to see if other regional councils have likewise bound themselves in via their regional plan.
Robert??
Weka, some Great bed time reading for you, (if you didn’t catch it)
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/10/16/53699/southland-couples-safe-haven-for-birds
😎 That’s a great article, lots of gems in that. I’ve been to that piece of swamp. Don’t think we saw any fern birds but the ecology was fantastic. They’re doing very good work. Interesting it is now closed to the public.