So it's ok for airlines to have concerns about 5G technology, but anyone from the public voicing concerns about 5G is consigned to being a nutter who probably isn't vaxxed as well.
There is a world of difference between concern about potential interference in sensitive aircraft equipment and radical, unproven and alarmist complaints about electromagnetic interference causing cancer.
Correct. But… 5G needs way more transmission power. That means way more cell towers. I was going to post a clip of burnt tress around a cell tower. But it seems Google has deleted those clips. Yep, the supposed free internet is cleaning house.
These days I find the AI-assisted YouTube searches sometimes make finding videos you've seen before harder. I remember you once posting that video elsewhere – but it may not have been a 5G tower.
There are plenty of hits on YouTube video searches about cell towers & also about 5G concerns, so I don't think YouTube's got a policy of deleting them. You might just need to be more persistent and creative in wording your searches?
In the meantime, here's something totally unrelated that might cheer you up a bit. Remember this one?
Bro on Bro…chur bro! Yes, I remember that one well. That officer had no doubt done time in South Auckland.
''You might just need to be more persistent and creative in wording your searches?''
That's a problem for someone time poor and in a creative drought. Clips that were once shown first up upon typing a specific request are now lost in a quagmire of peripheral results.
Talking of unrelated issues, I have been listening to mortgage brokers and the public voice concerns around this ill thought out lending criteria for banks. The latest is a woman to who it was suggested curtail her maternity leave so she could start earning again. Seymour was written to David Clark who has started an inquiry.
Dave's mind is on the trail. He's traversing hostile terrain while his fingers feverishly click gear shifts to accommodate the ever changing conditions. Mud and chain lube assail his face. He has to dig deep to find new reserves of energy. He happens upon some hapless Tory in front of him. He draws level and pushes them over the bank. The Tory screams out in pain as blood soaks the National Party logo plastered on the buckled frame of his bike. One less enemy in the ''People's Socialist Republic Of Aotearoa,'' he grins . He sees the finish line ahead. The whanau and a few admirers cheer him on as he crosses the line. Another successful mission in the bag he thinks to himself.
His thoughts are brought back to reality when a bubbly PA tells him the head of his enquiry is on the phone.
What? What enquiry, he asks?
The one you ordered minister. The one enquiring into why people wanting a mortgage had to disclose their toilet roll usage to the banks, she says.
Oh, for Pete's sake, house ownership is so yesterday. Haven't these morons heard of rental accommodation, he muses?
That minister, will be determined by your next enquiry, the PA says dryly.
The only burning around 5 g cell towers is by luddites who don't understand basic physics.
The reason more towers are needed is because of the size of the radio waves.
Line of sight because shorter wave lengths don't bend around the earth's curvature.
Then the power to transmit 5g waves is much smaller milli amps .miniscule.
So the capacity no pun intended for damage is massively reduced.
Look up basic physics energy wave lengths before being sucked in by the anti everything brigade.Luddites
So the energy used is much lower than 4 g or your 1960's TV transmission towers etc.
Your Microwaves are thousands of more times powerful and more likely to cause problems.
The magnetron uses 1000watts the transmitter on a cell tower uses milliwatts.
''Look up basic physics energy wave lengths before being sucked in by the anti everything brigade. Luddites.''
I'm reasonably well schooled in physics. I'm not being sucked in by anything. I look at all the facts where possible. Physics and medicine are full of Luddites.
France recorded 464,769 Covid cases today-incredible.
It's weird how the cases are dropping off so steeply in the UK compared to this. Though a little reported fact is that Covid deaths in the UK have risen from an annual rate of 50k a year to 100k a year due to Omicron.
Looking at your graphs for the previous spike in deaths in Dec 2020 – March 2021:
January 21 2021 had the highest daily toll at 1,824, reported infections were 1,852,135.
Infections on 15 Jan 2022, assumed to be mostly Omicron, 3,694,647 and seems to be starting to trend down. Fatalities on that date, 287. Much lower than last years spike. (If we link deaths to a two week notification, the December 31 reported cases were: 2,472,318)
There are reasons to consider that case numbers may be under-reported which may account for the apparent peak.
I can only agree with Mollys scepticism and statement that the data is not in for this yet. In particular your extending a rate across to the general population which is collected from a sub population who died earliest (even if it was all Omicron). The demographics of the worst hit by Omicron are unlikely to match the general population so this extrapolation is not valid.
Statisticians get this kind of crap projection from prominant anti-vaxers primarily and don't need to also get it from all sides.
Those things are both true and insufficient to make that extrapolation valid. What I was saying is its not valid even if all UK cases since December were Omicron.
"Number people who died within 28 days of their first positive test for COVID-19. Data from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales use different methodologies, so can’t be directly compared."
I don't think there is sufficient data to identify the true impact of Omicron at this stage, but we will be acquiring it in the coming weeks.
Currently ~58 million active cases of COVID-19 (and rising rapidly) reported worldwide, i.e. a bit less than 1% of the global population.
It's encouraging that the most recent surge of cases in:
South Africa (91,000 active cases and falling; 130 deaths per day*), UK (3.6 million active cases – just peaked?; 260 deaths per day), Italy (2.5 million active cases and rising; 300 deaths per day) France (4.9 million active cases and rising; 220 deaths per day), US (24 million active cases and rising; 1,800 deaths per day), and Australia (1.8 million active cases and rising; 45 deaths per day)
has so far resulted in only a smallish (but still tragic) increase in daily COVID deaths. Hope that 'immunity' due to prior infection or vaccination, and improved medical treatments, will keep the number of deaths associated with this latest surge low compared to previous peaks in the pandemic.
Imho any death from COVID-19 (or 'flu) is regrettable. COVID definitely ain't like 'flu yet, but we can hope (for the best, plan for the worst.) It's just luck that this pandemic hit during the term of a left-leaning govt, or NZ could have been 'led' down the path the US, UK and so many others are following.
If it was up to me I'd push the length of stay in MIQ back to 14 days (would involve increasing the number of MIQ facilities available, or cancelling some existing MIQ vouchers), with a PCR test at least every second day.
It's evident that NZ MIQ staff are doing an excellent job, but they're only human, and yesterday’s record 77 Australian lives lost to COVID certainly gave me pause for thought.
Public health expert Professor Michael Baker also thought they’d be “pretty close to 100 per cent”, given this is group “most exposed>/em>” to the threat of Omicron.
“Given the incredibly high level of exposure likely to take place, you’d expect [boosters] were being promoted very vigorously” at the border, as an outbreak could happen “any day now”, he said.
It's possible, but they're also in the middle of winter and fuck knows what's going on in the UK re: distancing, xmas parties, and so on.
It could just be that delta is still enough to be the bulk of the deaths a month after omicron popped up, while omicron is massively popular but not nearly as lethal – albeit so far.
tl,dr: The italics mean "who knows? Like, maybe?".
Late last year the new National Party leader told the media that his favourite animal is the hamster, and I reported the news here at the time. He may choke on his corn flakes this morning if he spots this on his iPad:
Unlike many other places, Hong Kong has maintained a "zero Covid" strategy focused on eliminating the disease. Officials said it may be an example of animal-to-human Covid transmission. Only the hamsters at the pet shop seemed to be affected, with negative results for other animals there such as rabbits and chinchillas. But as a "preventative measure", 2,000 hamsters and other small mammals will be killed.
The animals are spread across 34 different pet shops and animal storage centres. And any new pet owners who bought a hamster since 22 December, perhaps as a Christmas gift, will need to hand the animal over to authorities for euthanasia.
So here's an excellent opportunity for him to speak up for animal rights and lead a fightback against the Hong Kong authorities. If he doesn't, the guy's a wimp.
It's all because 11 hamsters tested positive for covid. Using the same logic, all the citizens of Hong Kong would have to be killed due to some of them testing positive. The Nat leader ought to issue a press release pointing that out. Thin end of the wedge. Someone is likely to spot the logic, pass it on to Soros & Gates, & we'll get the globalist cabal lurching into action in all infected cities…
That is being mean. You are demonstrating the Dennis doesn't read very well.
I suppose they are both rodents of course. If I remember correctly confusing hamsters and guinea pigs would be like saying that all monkeys are human beings because they are both primates.
Perhaps that is fair though. Dennis would certainly seem to qualify as a howler monkey given that mistake. After all a definition of howler is "a very stupid or glaring mistake, especially an amusing one".
On the other hand I might qualify. I never did study Zoology and I might have the levels of the taxonomic ranks all wrong.
Does that mean that by some miracle I got it right? Amazing.
I tried, but never could master, all the levels and their sequence. As to what was a class and order or a family and where a "primate" fitted was totally beyond me. I studied Physics for my first attempt at a discipline as you could avoid all those things.
Zoology seemed to be like Geology. The subjects, and the students who chose to study them, seemed to be the most boring in the whole University.
Sorry to anyone I might have insulted. On the other hand I won't be like a politician and I won't say "I'm sorry to anyone who might have felt they were offended"
Primate variation is interesting! It was once thought humans were different due to tools, then archaeologists found tools in proto-human sites, so the earliest toolmaker became homo habilis.
The story I liked, and I don't remember where I first read it, was than humans developed because the learnt to cook food, particularly meat. This was supposed to increase the energy they could get from food and meant that they developed bigger brains.
It is certainly my excuse when vegetarian friends wince when I say I like a large, juicy steak. I refuse to listen to people who claim that cooking vegetables provides all the same benefits.
I hadn't realised that they had found 7 different species of hominids in the the same small area though. Evolution was really running amok in that part of the world. It must have been like Grand Central Station in New York. If you spend any time there you will meet everybody you have ever known.
Hey, Luxon said hamster – the quote was in the news report I reproduced onsite here. What part of that are you having trouble figuring out??
Anyway, the important thing is that the communist regime's reps in HK have decided that the best way to deal with covid is to eliminate the entire infected population. Of hamsters. Anytime now they'll be saying to each other "The experiment works well for hamsters. May as well apply it to people too."
Nostalgia for Stalin is a thing in Russia so no surprise if nostalgia for Mao is a thing in China. Expect western dissidents to connect the dots to Soros etc…
:Worse than gangs? Really? Why not move next door to gang members, it must be a lot less dangerous than moving next to an unvaccinated person."
Gangs have actually been supporting the vaccine rollout in Auckland and Northland and assisting Hone Harawira at checkpoints with Police, not causing trouble at vax centres. That's community support in my view.
I have lived in "the hood" New Plymouth for 10 years. Surrounded by state houses with regular visits from Gang members next door, never had a problem. As a male I do feel intimidated by them but no hassles whatsoever. Drugs and crime is a separate issue, I am only referring to anti vax protest behaviour, nothing else, and only a minority at that. Lets not confuse the overall Gang scene with AV protest. I do not condone Gangs at all.
Reply to RedLogix 13.1.1.1- Jan 18
"Time to snap out of the trance Greenbus – before you do something you will be eternally shamed for."
Sorry to disappoint you RL but I'm the type of citizen that will step in to help others being assaulted by morons causing trouble, at considerable personal risk I might add. I've done so on 4 occasions while onlookers did just that.
Aggressive male anti vaxxers inside mobile vans with elderly woman medical staff is not peaceful protest, which I support. I would do my best to protect innocent woman and children from these trouble makers until Police arrived. If that's something to be ashamed of then I will surely go straight to hell when the time comes.
Please link now to the conversations. If you are copy and pasting from another thread, it's easy enough to copy and paste the URLs as well. It's a requirement here to provide a link when you quote.
Aggressive male anti vaxxers inside mobile vans with elderly woman medical staff is not peaceful protest, which I support
Please provide a link to something that shows this. I just did a quick google and couldn't find anything. I've seen multiple claims in the past week that anti-vax protestors are stepping over a line, and none of those provided a link for back up.
Hence why some of us are calling on the Government to enforce its rules by having police out and about in the streets and at entrances of shopping centres so they better can randomly ask people for their vax passes and remove those or fine those that have no passport on them and thus can't prove they are vaxed. Scenes of the police doing so will provide for riveting evening entertainment for those who like to clap when low paid staff on the ground is trying to keep these evil people out of their businesses. Surely, i mean someone could pitch that to the Government, a new Cop Show if you so will, maybe with funding from Creative NZ?
The reason the government looks lost is because on one side they can arrest Brian Tamaki as the most dangerous person in the country, and on the other side the expect retail staff and take away staff to enforce its laws.
Vote Labour, we will write bad bad laws, and then we expect the lowest paid member of society to enforce our really bad bad laws.
I think I have been asked for my vaccine passport 3 times. It seems noone can be bothered checking anymore. And the minimal checking that was done was never enough to ensure it was valid for the person presenting it.
My score is zero. I wasn't asked for it when I got my booster – I waved it at the woman on the desk & all she did was read my name off it.
I haven't been asked for it any of the times I've been to the public library (where they use a security guard). Yet on the news recently some other civic center showed up with them checking the vaccine passes at the entrance. Seems kinda random…
Five times for me over the past seven weeks – twice at the local cinema (they're diligent, including checking ID), and three times at eateries.
Nearly two years in to this on-going pandemic, much of the opposition to measures designed to safeguard public health is mystifying. A small minority (e.g.Plan B and Voices for Freedom) has been fighting consensus expert opinion every step of the way, despite a growing body of evidence that NZ's COVID health outcomes have been exceptionally good.
The contrarians must have their reasons, but dissent grounded on disinformation and baseless hypotheticals is worthless, imho. Vaccine passport requirements will come and go as needed.
The language in your original comment was straight out of the 'dirty Jew' playbook. Invoking disgust and revulsion to dehumanise people you disagree with during an epidemic is playing with fire.
And now claiming virtue because you're the kind of tough guy who 'stands up for women and children' is a most transparent ploy.
"In my view these anti-vax protesters are the true "Deplorables". Far worse than the Gangs and lower down the picking order than a drunk pissing in a doorway at lunchtime. Far worse"
This is in my view constitutes a hate message. Free speech and expression of an opinion within the legal framework are hall marks of a free society. And lets be clear, these people do not break the law by what their view is. (I don't agree with them but that is not subject to the issue). Obviously, under the left this is becoming increasingly an endangered concept. Anti vax people might be wrong, maybe not. Spring book tour protesters might have been wrong maybe not, gender assignment protests might be wrong maybe not. All these voices have a RIGHT in a free society to show their color. If free speech and assembly is to be forbidden because the opposing party does not like what they hear, than you have officially called it quits on democracy. I will not comment any further on that issue, thanks.
The 10 biggest US airlines have warned that the impending switch-on of 5G mobile phone services will cause "major disruption" to flights. They said the start of Verizon and AT&T 5G mobile phone services, planned for Wednesday, would cause a "completely avoidable economic calamity".
Airlines fear C-band 5G signals will disrupt planes' navigation systems, particularly those used in bad weather. The warning was issued in a letter sent to US aviation authorities.
The chief executives of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines were joined by others in saying: "Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies", including vaccine distribution.
The BBC has seen the letter outlining their urgent concerns. It was sent to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, as well as the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the chair of the Federal Communications Commission and the director of the National Economic Council.
Always fun when one establishment titan butts heads with another! Gates & Soros must be irritated: "These dinosaurs just don't get it! We already have them beat, they oughta just admit it. We'll have to get Biden to jawbone them."
Al Jazeera has a bit more detail on the part of the aircraft avionics the industry is concerned will be disrupted by 5G signals – the altimeters.
The new high-speed wireless service uses a segment of the radio spectrum, C-Band, that is close to that used by altimeters, which are devices that measure the height of aircraft above the ground. Altimeters are used to help pilots land when visibility is poor, and they link to other systems on planes.
AT&T and Verizon say their equipment will not interfere with aircraft electronics, and that the technology is being safely used in many other countries.
… This was a crisis that was years in the making. The airline industry and the FAA say that they have tried to raise alarms about potential interference from 5G C-Band, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ignored them.
The telecom companies, the FCC and their supporters argue that C-Band and aircraft altimeters operate far enough apart on the radio spectrum to avoid interference. They also say that the aviation industry has known about C-Band technology for several years but did nothing to prepare — airlines chose not to upgrade altimeters that might be subject to interference, and the FAA failed to begin surveying equipment on planes until the last few weeks.
This is frankly bizarre – not because of the technical issues, which have been standard telecommunication management fare since forever, nor for the very real safety concerns the airlines have.
But that a major Federal agency is being seen to drop the ball on a matter that is their bread and butter core business, has to speak to systemic competency issues.
I was kind of taken aback that the FCC’s attitude was that airlines could just upgrade any altimeters that might be subject to interference. I dunno what costs are involved in that for the airlines.
Al Jazzera tv news interviewed some US aviation expert who pointed out that, while it’s claimed other countries are using 5G technology without any problems, EU countries (he specifically mentioned France, seeing everybody else is) and Canada, as examples, have very stringent restrictions on the use of 5G towers around airports. They’re not permitted to have 5G towers too close to airports.
I was kind of taken aback that the FCC’s attitude was that airlines could just upgrade any altimeters that might be subject to interference. I dunno what costs are involved in that for the airlines.
Exactly. The general rule is that existing bandwidth users have priority rights and if any changes are going to be imposed on them, there will be ample time and resources made available to assist with any technical costs.
Especially if the existing user is can demonstrate a safety critical profile as aviation altimeters obviously are.
This just looks like the 5G telecommunications giants simply had more political clout and got their way over the public interest.
post from Redline about a public servant who attended a work place training run byInside Out, who were talking about diversity. This issue of lesbians and same sexed attraction came up at the end and the public servant asked should her lesbian sister be told she would have to consider sex with a male bodied person who was trans. The facilitator told her we don’t like terms like male bodied. The public servant then got a letter from the Deputy CE chastising her and telling her she offended the facilitator for using the term male bodied.
Narcissism is prevalent here. Same rules as always with narcissists. Do not get embroiled in discussion of their identity, their identity is not relevant to you and outside making clear you do not see yourself reflected in their identity it serves no function but to prevent discussion.
All accusations are admissions. This is a very reliable compass. They will attribute their own motivations and actions to you because their identity is the only thing they can see and they can only see you as a reflection or threat to it. They are accusing themselves. Let them. Loudly.
Take every word at face value. Do not get dragged into debating it. They say women’s consent doesn’t matter? Take it at face value. They say they have the right to redefine lesbian to include them and they have pushed women to assert their sexual boundaries by misgendering? They are telling you they cannot recognise consent, boundaries, or female sexuality. This is an admission. Not a debate.
Do not treat a boundary as a negotiation. It is not/. You set the boundary and when they breach it, gaslighting, coercion, threats, you are receiving an admission of how far they will go to cross your boundaries. Take this at face value.
Do not be derailed from key points or boundaries, and use all admissions made. They will try to derail from the thing that injures them. Usually the reality of their identity and the threat you pose to it. Stick to their behaviour. The words they have used. Do not get embroiled in discussion of their identity. A narcissists identity is always the hill they will die. Accept when they tell you they cannot separate their identity from your reality.
You do not have to debate being a woman. You are one. Your biology, the inequality you lived, the knowledge you have that came from this. You do not need to debate whether you are a woman. Or their definition of woman. Outside being clear you do not see yourself reflected in them, you do not need to debate this. They do.
When you are discussing systems and laws that evolved over 70 years to protect women and girls you do not need to centre their identity in that discussion. It is irrelevant to that discussion. Those systems were fought for and created by women you dont know, they did that so you dont have to. You do not need to have arguments that are already done and are reflected in equality legislation.
Do not have arguments you dont need to have. It is ridiculous to use failure to validate males as an insult. It is ridiculous to treat ‘you didnt think of males when you thought about inequality so you are a TERF’ as valid. You dont need to defend the right of women to self assembly without male supervision, it is yours already, they need to explain why they think it should end. If hearing about their male biology is offensive, that is not your fault. They are male. That cannot be altered. You are not required to repeat things you know to be untrue because of the threat of violence and coercion. You are not required to be ‘inclusive’ and ‘nice’ at a cost of your own safety and rights. EVER.
Do not defend yourself from accusations which are not accusations. It is not an accusation or a crime to refuse to ignore abusive behaviour, it is not an accusation that you didnt orbit a males identity and validate him.
Misgendering and transphobia are insults designed to give men the right to abuse women and claim they are being oppressed. A nonsense. Stick to literal meanings, neither of this things is violent, neither metaphorical or literal and neither of these things warrant a violent response.
Remember what you are responsible for. You are not responsible for managing their well being, not responsible for their threats of violence, not responsible for harm they do themselves or threaten to do themselves to control a situation. You are entitled to boundaries, to define yourself, and anyone threatened by this is telling you something.
Remember abusive behaviour is well understood. It is always a problem. It is legally and socially unacceptable to subordinate women with abusive behaviour. Nothing in the word trans changes this and any trans women suggesting it does is telling you ‘she’ is an abusive male.
I guess that is what the public servant did. She used factual statements like male bodied. Still got the letter from the Deputy CE. Does this manager not realize how outrageous this is.
I don't understand why public servants need to receive this "training". Trans people make up .8% of the population. Gender Ideology is a belief system.
If called a bigot it is best not to respond or defend yourself. Calling someone a bigot in this context is merely a strategy do scare people into not speaking up.
Over xmas caught up with a lot of friends and family. I made a point of raising gender ideolgy and self id. All of these people were Labour and Green voters. All disagreed with what is going on with the imposition of gender ideology on others. None of these people are bigots. As one of these people said to me (he is a personal trainor) that he worked with women and also had a transwoman client. The trans client was esily able to lift weights that were simply not possible for the fitest of women.
It was a great idea, tv shows paid for by the people, written and produced for the people.
Then wokeness took over.
If the BBC continued to make programming for all people then the licencing fee would be justified but they don't so soon they'll have to stand on their own feet (unless Labour get back in and change it)
However they really are shooting themselves in the foot, this is a good article explaining why:
'Sony Pictures Television has officially bought Bad Wolf, the company set to produce Doctor Who series 14.'
'Russell T Davies, who will return as showrunner for Doctor Who’s 60th year, will be enlisting the help of Bad Wolf to produce the next season, set to air on BBC One in 2023 with a brand new Doctor.'
The rollback of woke programming is slowly happening, hopefully not too many more franchises will be ruined and some might even be able to be saved
The broadcaster is advertising a one-year, £17,810 trainee production management assistant role with the position “only open to black, Asian and ethnically diverse candidates”.
Positive discrimination is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010 but “positive action” is permitted for trainee and internship roles in areas where there is under-representation.
'BBC Studios has introduced an “inclusion rider” for all new productions, which will mean that all new productions have to meet a 20% diversity target.
'On all new BBC and third-party shows, the Doctor Who and Top Gear producer will ensure that a fifth of on-screen talent and production teams come from a BAME – Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic – background, have lived experience of a disability, or are from a low-income background.'
'There will also be an additional commitment to having at least one senior role on scripted and unscripted production teams being appointed from one of these three backgrounds.'
I find it "woke" that only jewish people can act as jewish characters, or black as blacks, or white as whites etc … so you're a woke PR, ha! You're welcome. & yes, "woke" pretty much means whatever you want it to mean, to the point of pointlessness.
I don't think it's that important in some cases, especially in well known stories. (eg. Jesus Christ is most often portrayed as a pale skinned European, despite being from the Middle East, it hasn't disrupted the narrative.)
I also enjoyed the recent reworking of David Copperfield, which I have read numerous times, and watch a couple of other adaptations.
The main actor's personal ethnicity was not used to disrupt the storyline based still in Victorian England, he just played the part. If I want to revisit the other adaptations I can, but this gave me another version to enjoy of an old favourite.
Really, the writing and humour were good.
I admit to preferring the actor looks somewhat like the character they're portraying.
I'm not always hard and fast about the rule, for instance I thought Michael Clarke Duncan was a very good Kingpin (untill Vincent D'Onofrio came along…) but I'm against changing the ethnicity unless its for a specific reason especially when its an historical figure
Now what would happen if you changed other ethnicities around, for example the new Rosa Parks:
But I'm more of the view it depends on the quality of writing and context. Given the African American race struggles are integral to Rosa Parks’ story. it's hard to see how they will make a change there successfully.
West Side Story works as a Romeo and Juliet retelling because it retained the tribalism, romance and tragedy. That story can be retold in almost any culture and timeframe and still be recognisable.
(It was a picture of Fan BingBing, google her if you like)
Thats the issue I have.
Its 'ok' to have a black actress play a white, historically important person but you try that with other ethnicities and see how long before you're cancelled
It used to be that having white actors play diverse characters was 'ok' and then the film makers, eventually, worked out its not a good idea.
By the way bad luck if you're red head, they're not popular at the moment:
"Its 'ok' to have a black actress play a white, historically important person but you try that with other ethnicities and see how long before you're cancelled"
For me it depends on the relevance to the story being told. The story of Rosa Parks is about the African American experience, so it'd hard to see how that would work.
Copperfield was about class and poverty, so its a tale replicated in many cultures.
(Don't understand the aversion to redheads myself, my youngest is one.)
(I have a thing for red heads and I blame Megan Follows)
Copperfield could work sure but Anne Boleyn?
Doesn't it seem like being the Queen of England in the 1500s would need a white actress?
If they wanted to do that because 'representation' then surely they just could have the story set in the 'near future' and base it on the history instead?
I don't want to keep going back to Orwell but:
'Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future.'
History, to me anyway, should be as accurate as possible and the BBC have been messing around with history for quite sometime now:
@PR. Didn't pick you for an Anne fan, but kudos for that.
"Doesn't it seem like being the Queen of England in the 1500s would need a white actress?"
If we were going for authenticity above all else, but we are being told a story. I'd watch for the storytelling, the characters and the acting. For me, I don't think it would influence my enjoyment one way or the other. I can understand how it would for others, though..
History, to me anyway, should be as accurate as possible and the BBC have been messing around with history for quite sometime now:"
As I consider much of history as persistent stories rather than facts, I agree on the aim of accuracy. But I consider such works as shown to be entertainment not reenactments. We only have to compare recent personal histories with other family members to see hoe quickly stories diverge.
No hard and fast rules, but a known historical person imo best played by someone of the correct ethnicity. Otherwise what is the purpose .eg. with the black Anne Boylyn. I think I would find it would get in the way of the story.
White washing in movies and tv programs was and is bad, black washing is just as bad
What makes it worse is the suggestion that black people don't have any interesting stories of their own so the only way to get black people in is to swop them with well known white characters
Are there really no interesting stories from Africa to be told?
The BBC had a hard-earned reputation for quality, both in terms of news and drama. It was good enough that Al Jazeera took it as a model. America rarely reaches comparable production values.
No doubt the destruction is a favour to Rupert – the fool behind much of the trouble in the world.
It didn't entirely give it up – its professionalism constantly irked public embarrassments like Boris Johnson, who, having no self-awareness of his mediocrity, resented it.
Of the self-inflicted wounds, a pious but entirely insincere pretense of woke virtue was costly, but should not have been fatal. Dr Who could be revived – just not by the clowns that destroyed it. Top Gear not so much.
Media law seems to be a growing industry – and a bit like Gunfight at the OK Corral, with guns replaced by lawyers.
Broadcaster Tova O'Brien is taking her employer Discovery NZ to the Employment Relations Authority today in an eleventh hour legal bid to escape a three-month restraint of trade clause. At stakes is her high-profile launch of a new MediaWorks radio breakfast show – the date hasn't been publicly confirmed, but is tipped for this month.
That would steal the thunder from the return of TV3's new-look AM Show, which isn't expected back on air until February with its new line-up led by Melissa Chan-Green and Ryan Bridge.
MediaWorks boss Cam Wallace announced in November last year that Magic Talk would be mothballed and replaced with Today FM under the leadership of talk radio veteran Dallas Gurney – and proceeded to unveil a string of high profile hires from Discovery. MediaWorks announced O'Brien, Duncan Garner, Mark Richardson, Lloyd Burr and Wilhelmina Shrimpton would all host shows on the new radio station.
Contractual restraint of trade clauses can be hard to uphold… Discovery may have an uphill battle convincing the Employment Relations Authority that O'Brien, in hosting a radio show, will be doing a similar job to that of a television political editor.
You'd think the ERA would be likely to spot the difference, eh? Depends how many bureaucrats are on board perhaps. The logic that an elephant & a mouse both have four legs so can be put in the same category is always tempting.
And erstwhile broadcaster Sean Plunket has made restraint of trade battles his trademark, fighting his first one on his departure from TV3 to Radio NZ in 1996, to host Morning Report. And then he took an unsuccessful Employment Relations Authority case against Radio NZ in 2009, when the public broadcaster tried to stop him writing a monthly column for the magazine Metro.
Plunket left a talkback role at Magic Talk a year ago, after a string of broadcasting standards complaints. He is expected to launch his own streaming radio channel late next month, featuring fellow hosts Leanne Malcolm, Martin Devlin and Michael Laws, which he says is privately bankrolled by "patriots". And he too will return to the breakfast slot, with an eponymous show named Plunket Uncancelled. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/tova-obrien-goes-to-court-in-radio-v-tv-employment-tussle
Best to call the channel PatriotsUncancelled then…
Consider the immense scrutiny and condemnation the US has rightfully received over the Julian Assange affair. Now compare with the virtual silence on this:
The Safeguard Defenders report detailed 62 returns from Australia, the US, Canada, South-East Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere.
It argues the vast majority of the thousands of returns have been involuntary — "non-traditional, often illegal, means of forcing someone to return to China against their will, most often to face certain imprisonment".
Observers say Chinese courts have a conviction rate of more than 99.9 per cent.
"There is the possibility that there are some corrupt officials, but the main problem is under China's legal system, it is utterly untrustworthy," Chen Yen-ting, the Taiwan-based Safeguard Defenders researcher who wrote the report, told the ABC.
A very biased story,part of the U.S/Taiwan demonise China narrative.
Heres a clue…'It cites the case of Dong Feng, a resident of the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley who was approached by Chinese police officers in 2014 over alleged bribery in China.
And yes I do understand anything that casts a less than ideal light on the CCP is of course biased. I well understand that for the authoritarian left any Court system with a 99.9% conviction rate is inherently wonderful. /sarc
Rather than rely on one source that gives the answer you want, how about some basic data from wikipedia?
In 2018, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that among defendants charged with a felony, 68% were convicted (59% of a felony and the remainder of a misdemeanor) with felony conviction rates highest for defendants originally charged with motor vehicle theft (74%), driving-related offenses (73%), murder (70%), burglary (69%), and drug trafficking (67%); and lowest for defendants originally charged with assault (45%).
Still I am impressed at your vigorous efforts to divert from the original point.
The conviction rate in Israel is around 93%.[when?] Around 72% of trials end with a conviction on some charges and acquittal on others, while around 22% end with a conviction on all charges. These statistics do not include plea bargains and cases where the charges are withdrawn, which make up the vast majority of criminal cases.[7]
The conviction rate is 99.3%. By only stating this high conviction rate it is often misunderstood as too high—however, this high conviction rate drops significantly when accounting for the fact that Japanese prosecutors drop roughly half the cases they are given. If measured in the same way, the United States' conviction rate would be 99.8%.[8][9][1
Compare this now with China. All the evidence is that once the police arrest you in that country – you are entirely at the mercy of the system. Even if you do have a lawyer, the chances of the case being dropped or a deal being made are close to zero. This is a widely recognised reality.
While in most other nations, usually it's the cases that stand a good chance of a conviction that reach the Courts. And even then there is a robust appeals process. And indeed it's the peculiar circumstances of the Assange case where due to 'national security concerns' these conditions do not apply that lie at the heart of the matter.
The government needs to get these people home, not keep changing the rules on them and shutting borders. These people have been made 'stateless' by our kind and caring government.
Do you know how many people per day are turning up at the border with covid-19? Today it was 56 – that means 56 rooms need to be found in quarantine to house those people and their room mates. That's almost 800 rooms tied up every fortnight for roughly a fortnight. A typical up-scale hotel in the States has, on average, 330 rooms.
It is not the govt's fault that all these people who have supposedly tested negative are coming back infectious and the govt has to make room for them with limited available resources e.g. health care workers.
Self-isolating at home has proven to be unmanageable because people don't do as they are told.
Absolutely right. We moan about being a dumping ground for 501s yet every day numbers arrive with Covid. No doubt including some who have grizzled about their right to 'come home'.
If provision were to be made right now, today, to take all those coming back, and let them come now we'd need resources to accept about 25,000 people. Clearly some think that should happen.
Can't provide enough MIQ? Self-isolation at home because people can be trusted? Rubbish, they can't be. And so we blame the government acting on people not being able to do the right thing. If it was open slather to get in and people trusted to do the right thing the virus would sweep the country
It is in some cases tragic but overseas residents have been asked 2 years ago to come home if they want to but many have chosen not to. It was very well documented what the consequences are under a worldwide pandemic with MIQ places not unlimitless available. To now say that they have been made stateless is absolutely not true. They still have their NZ passport, no? But they have made choices to suit their wanting to have the job/income, scenery, culture etc. in an other country and now find that the economic and general circumstances have profoundly changed over these 2 years. Of cause they have all the right and will be welcome but they also have to now abide by the rules governed by infection not crossing into the population and resources this country can afford. This is a state of 5 million people who have to pay for their safe return to NZ. So given that the population size of Sydney has to find the tax funds, its going pretty well.
Having been obliged to admit that Luxon's off the hook & doesn't need to go in to bat for hamsters in HK, I'll give him a wee pat on the back for a nuanced stance here:
The proposed Three Waters reforms are another area where he’s been very critical of the Government, which is due to make a final decision this year. He instead supports tailored solutions where there are problems in water management, a national regulator (as per the Government’s plans), and local control and solutions in the three waters space.
Looks like the authority of the regulator could be the point of difference he's aiming for. However defaulting to "local control and solutions" is merely conservatism. Hasn't worked in too many places. He's vulnerable there.
Luxon said that he supports tailored solutions where there are problems in water management.
Yet he doesn't support 'creeping centralisation' so the questions that come to my mind are how many problems are there in water management, and who will 'tailor' the solutions?
Is he envisaging a local authority by local authority approach where an individual authority has problems with water quality, and how many would there be with how many individual solutions? How hard for that to be effectively managed by both central and local government?
Or, is he advocating a tailored solution to each particular problem for all local authorities? For example, solutions for faecal contamination, for urban and rural runoff, water borne diseases, silting, forestry slash and waste. If it's a solution for each identified problem over the entire country, how does he get 'local input and influence' involved?
Is this just another slow and unwieldy bureaucratic 'solution' to a set of problems requiring faster action than that wanted by reluctant and poorly resourced local authorities with oversight of large but sparely populated areas like Marlborough of the West Coast, for example?
Will those opposed, for sector interests for example. be basically left to find slow and unsatisfactory solutions?
So many questions. We won't know, probably, until the select committee thrashes out a consensus on whatever legislation Labour finalises. It would be helpful if all those horrified by looming centralisation were to get over complaining & start to come up with feasible alternatives instead…
I guess my point was that it is easy to criticise, and to finger solutions, but there is no evidence of thinking through the sticking points to a viable outcome in his interview. Maybe that will come later, and he is on the stump around the country where I hope to hear him, being a political junkie…..
In the last 3 days many credible, multi-sourced links have been provided here to inform people about the behaviour of protesters at vaccination clinics. Despite that – and the fact that it takes only a few seconds of searching to find them – there still seems to be some reluctance to acknowledge what is happening. Whether that is genuine ignorance or wilful denial, I don't know.
So here is a selection of eyewitness accounts from this week (since Monday, when children became eligible – they are the targets for the protesters now).
I'm not going to do this every day, because it's a truism of online debates that life is wasted pointing out that 2 +2 = 4, when somebody else has a link to Liz Gunn or Joe Rogan saying 2 +2 =5, and nothing will ever change their closed minds. That's their choice.
But now nobody can say they didn't know, or it didn't happen. So please stop it.
This is only a small selection, you've all got the internet if you want more. Note that I have not relied on "random internet bot" but doctors, councillors, people with names who cannot hide.
(it will be spread over several comments, bear with me)
Meanwhile, the liars spread their lies, even (or especially?) when every credible source corrects them. Here, for example, is the manager of the vaccination centre (in red circle).
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
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Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
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Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
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Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
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Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
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Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
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When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
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Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
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A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
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Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
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The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
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A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
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The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist A former Tuvalu prime minister says while the New Zealand government’s oil and gas plans show it is concerned about its economy, he is more concerned about the livelihoods and survival of the Tuvalu people. Enele Sopoaga — who still serves as an MP ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Many people who follow federal budgets know about the magnificent “budget tree” in a parliamentary courtyard, which turns a glorious red in time for the May event. This week Treasurer Jim Chalmers posed by ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University This week American rapper Macklemore released a new track, Hind’s Hall, which has gained a lot of attention because of its explicitly political nature. The track is unapologetically pro-Palestine. It declares the artist’s ...
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RNZ Pacific Former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has been sentenced to one year in prison, Fiji media are reporting. Bainimarama, alongside suspended Fiji Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho appeared in the High Court in Suva today for their sentencing hearing for a case involving their roles in blocking a police ...
Acting Chief Human Rights Commissioner Saunoamaali’i Dr Karanina Sumeo says, “Addressing violence and abuse remains New Zealand’s most significant human rights issue affecting women. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Symons, Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University Michael Schiffer / Unsplash Life has transformed our world over billions of years, turning a dead rock into the lush, fertile planet we know today. But human activity is currently transforming Earth ...
One woman’s quest to watch Challengers without ruining her body clock. Every Saturday morning, I wake up with a screaming demon inside my head urging me to “Do. Something. This. Weekend.” I run through the possibilities in my head in a defensive mental crouch, reminiscent of that one time I ...
The PSA is alarmed that ACC is proposing to shed 309 jobs including 29 dedicated injury prevention jobs at a time when the number and cost of injuries is rising. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Baker, Associate Professor in Human Geography, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images As local and regional councils struggle with inadequate infrastructure and unsustainable costs, New Zealand will be hearing a lot more about the potential solution offered by ...
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Fears that New Zealand is relying too heavily on low-cost forests to absorb its carbon dioxide emissions have been reignited by a report from the OECD. ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed the total dollar savings target from public sector cuts has been met, but the reductions have not been felt evenly across public agencies. Government departments were told to make savings set at 6.5 percent or 7.5 percent where headcount had grown by more than ...
She doesn’t have a single kind word for me and it’s getting under my skin.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,I have two amazing friends that I absolutely adore. Grace (all names have been changed) and I lived together across 2023 and Olivia moved in with us this ...
Can Western science and Māori science work together to support our well-being? The Te Ohu Mō Papatūānuku (TOMP) Trials Project was a landmark case for healing the land and people with the guidance of Māori science and leadership. This is what happened when Papatūānuku (Earth) was contaminated by toxic discharge, ...
The District Plan is a blueprint for a bigger, better Wellington, through tens of thousands of new apartments and townhouses and a new approach to urban growth. Joel MacManus lays out the vision. The process of putting together Wellington’s new District Plan has been long and excruciating. As a city, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Williams Veazey, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, University of Sydney DavideAngelini/Shutterstock In the 2007 film The Bucket List Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play two main characters who respond to their terminal cancer diagnoses by rejecting experimental treatment. Instead, they go ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohan Singh, Professor of Agri-Food Biotechnology, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Melbourne., The University of Melbourne Tanja Esser/Shutterstock Australia’s vital agriculture sector will be hit hard by steadily rising global temperatures. Our climate is already ...
The Acumen Edelman Trust barometer reported that New Zealand’s political trust score now sits below the global average, a topic explored in a recent discussion paper by Maxim Institute. ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Russel Norman says, "The Fast-Track Bill is the most damaging piece of environmental legislation any Government has introduced in living memory. People are angry, and it’s time to march." ...
The school lunches programme has been retained – and will be extended to some preschoolers. So how is it going to cost $107 million less? To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. The minister with many hats David Seymour wears a number of hats, but this week ...
“Show us the bird,” I found myself muttering at times while reading Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker, a deeply thoughtful, often hilarious, at times rambling – but somehow delightfully so – search for the story of a big bird. But not just any bird: the bird. This ...
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So it's ok for airlines to have concerns about 5G technology, but anyone from the public voicing concerns about 5G is consigned to being a nutter who probably isn't vaxxed as well.
https://www.popsci.com/technology/5g-airline-interference-concerns/
There is a world of difference between concern about potential interference in sensitive aircraft equipment and radical, unproven and alarmist complaints about electromagnetic interference causing cancer.
Correct. But… 5G needs way more transmission power. That means way more cell towers. I was going to post a clip of burnt tress around a cell tower. But it seems Google has deleted those clips. Yep, the supposed free internet is cleaning house.
These days I find the AI-assisted YouTube searches sometimes make finding videos you've seen before harder. I remember you once posting that video elsewhere – but it may not have been a 5G tower.
There are plenty of hits on YouTube video searches about cell towers & also about 5G concerns, so I don't think YouTube's got a policy of deleting them. You might just need to be more persistent and creative in wording your searches?
In the meantime, here's something totally unrelated that might cheer you up a bit. Remember this one?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WJeu7-7vUIY
I don't care what anyone says, size matters.
Bro on Bro…chur bro! Yes, I remember that one well. That officer had no doubt done time in South Auckland.
''You might just need to be more persistent and creative in wording your searches?''
That's a problem for someone time poor and in a creative drought. Clips that were once shown first up upon typing a specific request are now lost in a quagmire of peripheral results.
Talking of unrelated issues, I have been listening to mortgage brokers and the public voice concerns around this ill thought out lending criteria for banks. The latest is a woman to who it was suggested curtail her maternity leave so she could start earning again. Seymour was written to David Clark who has started an inquiry.
I haven't heard from Luxon yet??
I wouldn't hold your breath for anything getting done when you hear the two words "David Clark".
Or the five words 'English Bridges Muller Collins Luxon' – Strong Team
Dave's mind is on the trail. He's traversing hostile terrain while his fingers feverishly click gear shifts to accommodate the ever changing conditions. Mud and chain lube assail his face. He has to dig deep to find new reserves of energy. He happens upon some hapless Tory in front of him. He draws level and pushes them over the bank. The Tory screams out in pain as blood soaks the National Party logo plastered on the buckled frame of his bike. One less enemy in the ''People's Socialist Republic Of Aotearoa,'' he grins . He sees the finish line ahead. The whanau and a few admirers cheer him on as he crosses the line. Another successful mission in the bag he thinks to himself.
His thoughts are brought back to reality when a bubbly PA tells him the head of his enquiry is on the phone.
What? What enquiry, he asks?
The one you ordered minister. The one enquiring into why people wanting a mortgage had to disclose their toilet roll usage to the banks, she says.
Oh, for Pete's sake, house ownership is so yesterday. Haven't these morons heard of rental accommodation, he muses?
That minister, will be determined by your next enquiry, the PA says dryly.
.
The only burning around 5 g cell towers is by luddites who don't understand basic physics.
The reason more towers are needed is because of the size of the radio waves.
Line of sight because shorter wave lengths don't bend around the earth's curvature.
Then the power to transmit 5g waves is much smaller milli amps .miniscule.
So the capacity no pun intended for damage is massively reduced.
Look up basic physics energy wave lengths before being sucked in by the anti everything brigade.Luddites
So the energy used is much lower than 4 g or your 1960's TV transmission towers etc.
Your Microwaves are thousands of more times powerful and more likely to cause problems.
The magnetron uses 1000watts the transmitter on a cell tower uses milliwatts.
''Look up basic physics energy wave lengths before being sucked in by the anti everything brigade. Luddites.''
I'm reasonably well schooled in physics. I'm not being sucked in by anything. I look at all the facts where possible. Physics and medicine are full of Luddites.
France recorded 464,769 Covid cases today-incredible.
It's weird how the cases are dropping off so steeply in the UK compared to this. Though a little reported fact is that Covid deaths in the UK have risen from an annual rate of 50k a year to 100k a year due to Omicron.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR3gp6yv7rvSWynvpdFjNL5Qb6j-hlSQcitFh7Chy5M02JuD6TiJpMq6Oq4
"Though a little reported fact is that Covid deaths in the UK have risen from an annual rate of 50k a year to 100k a year due to Omicron."
How did you discern that from the data in your link for the UK?
Delta was first detected on 24 November 2021 (Deaths 144,286), and didn't become the dominant strain till mid December (15 Dec – Deaths 146,937). There were still Delta cases included in hospitalisations and death data for a period after that.
I don't think the data is available yet to make such a claim.
Apologies, that should have been:
Omicron was first detected on 24 November 2021
Molly: In fact it is worse in the UK than I thought:
December 28 7-day rolling average deaths 85 that is 31k per annum
January 17 7-day rolling average deaths 264 that is 96k per annum.
The January 17 7-day average does not include the 438 deaths on January 18, which would push the deaths average over 100k per annum.
I think these figures are compelling. You will be aware that there is a time lag between Omicron arriving and deaths increasing.
Where is your data for deaths from Omicron vs Delta in the UK?
I couldn't find it.
I haven't attempted to split this out because the vast majority of cases in the UK are now Omicron as I am sure you are aware
So, there is no data source regarding the split for deaths?
(I couldn't find one, and thought you may have).
I also can't find a timeline for Delta or Omicron deaths from a positive result, that would indicate the lag.
Everything at the moment is speculation and extrapolation on a short period of uncategorised data.
Looking at your graphs for the previous spike in deaths in Dec 2020 – March 2021:
January 21 2021 had the highest daily toll at 1,824, reported infections were 1,852,135.
Infections on 15 Jan 2022, assumed to be mostly Omicron, 3,694,647 and seems to be starting to trend down. Fatalities on that date, 287. Much lower than last years spike. (If we link deaths to a two week notification, the December 31 reported cases were: 2,472,318)
There are reasons to consider that case numbers may be under-reported which may account for the apparent peak.
However, deaths are also trending down.
Deaths are not trending down in the UK….see my figures above and check out the graph in the link I supplied.
I am using your link, went to the UK page.
Apart from the inexplicable spike of 438 on Jan 18, which wasn't graphed when I looked.
Cumulative deaths/year.
I can only agree with Mollys scepticism and statement that the data is not in for this yet. In particular your extending a rate across to the general population which is collected from a sub population who died earliest (even if it was all Omicron). The demographics of the worst hit by Omicron are unlikely to match the general population so this extrapolation is not valid.
Statisticians get this kind of crap projection from prominant anti-vaxers primarily and don't need to also get it from all sides.
Presumably both you and Molly accept that the rolling 7 day death rates have tripled in the UK between December and January.
Isn't it obvious that the most likely reason for this is the massive surge in Omicron cases?
Those things are both true and insufficient to make that extrapolation valid. What I was saying is its not valid even if all UK cases since December were Omicron.
Twenty-eight day lag in deaths from positive test – gov.uk
"Number people who died within 28 days of their first positive test for COVID-19. Data from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales use different methodologies, so can’t be directly compared."
I don't think there is sufficient data to identify the true impact of Omicron at this stage, but we will be acquiring it in the coming weeks.
Currently ~58 million active cases of COVID-19 (and rising rapidly) reported worldwide, i.e. a bit less than 1% of the global population.
It's encouraging that the most recent surge of cases in:
South Africa (91,000 active cases and falling; 130 deaths per day*),
UK (3.6 million active cases – just peaked?; 260 deaths per day),
Italy (2.5 million active cases and rising; 300 deaths per day)
France (4.9 million active cases and rising; 220 deaths per day),
US (24 million active cases and rising; 1,800 deaths per day), and
Australia (1.8 million active cases and rising; 45 deaths per day)
has so far resulted in only a smallish (but still tragic) increase in daily COVID deaths. Hope that 'immunity' due to prior infection or vaccination, and improved medical treatments, will keep the number of deaths associated with this latest surge low compared to previous peaks in the pandemic.
* 'Deaths per day' numbers are current 7-day moving averages
Drowsy: I'm sure the Australians will appreciate your conclusion that the recent 650% rise in deaths due to Covid is "a smallish increase".
Question: Does the rise to over 100k deaths a year in the UK due to Covid merit treating Covid like ‘flu, which causes 15k deaths a year?
Because Boris is shortly going to lift all Covid restrictions thus treating Covid like ‘flu.
[all figures based on 7-day rolling averages]
Imho any death from COVID-19 (or 'flu) is regrettable. COVID definitely ain't like 'flu yet, but we can hope (for the best, plan for the worst.) It's just luck that this pandemic hit during the term of a left-leaning govt, or NZ could have been 'led' down the path the US, UK and so many others are following.
If it was up to me I'd push the length of stay in MIQ back to 14 days (would involve increasing the number of MIQ facilities available, or cancelling some existing MIQ vouchers), with a PCR test at least every second day.
It's evident that NZ MIQ staff are doing an excellent job, but they're only human, and yesterday’s record 77 Australian lives lost to COVID certainly gave me pause for thought.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300498473/covid19-one-in-five-miq-border-workers-yet-to-get-booster-as-omicron-looms
It's possible, but they're also in the middle of winter and fuck knows what's going on in the UK re: distancing, xmas parties, and so on.
It could just be that delta is still enough to be the bulk of the deaths a month after omicron popped up, while omicron is massively popular but not nearly as lethal – albeit so far.
tl,dr: The italics mean "who knows? Like, maybe?".
Late last year the new National Party leader told the media that his favourite animal is the hamster, and I reported the news here at the time. He may choke on his corn flakes this morning if he spots this on his iPad:
So here's an excellent opportunity for him to speak up for animal rights and lead a fightback against the Hong Kong authorities. If he doesn't, the guy's a wimp.
It's all because 11 hamsters tested positive for covid. Using the same logic, all the citizens of Hong Kong would have to be killed due to some of them testing positive. The Nat leader ought to issue a press release pointing that out. Thin end of the wedge. Someone is likely to spot the logic, pass it on to Soros & Gates, & we'll get the globalist cabal lurching into action in all infected cities…
guinea pig.
That is being mean. You are demonstrating the Dennis doesn't read very well.
I suppose they are both rodents of course. If I remember correctly confusing hamsters and guinea pigs would be like saying that all monkeys are human beings because they are both primates.
Perhaps that is fair though. Dennis would certainly seem to qualify as a howler monkey given that mistake. After all a definition of howler is "a very stupid or glaring mistake, especially an amusing one".
On the other hand I might qualify. I never did study Zoology and I might have the levels of the taxonomic ranks all wrong.
yes….'that his favourite animal is the hamster, and I reported the news here at the time.
I don't think monkeys are primates. Primates are apes, and apes are a different classification from monkeys.
Sorry. On checking I find that primates are the overall name for the group, and that monkeys and apes are different species within that group.
That’s correct. And the ape classification includes the Lesser Apes apes: gibbons and siamangs (SE Asia) & the Great Apes.
The Great Apes are: gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, bonobos, and humans!
Does that mean that by some miracle I got it right? Amazing.
I tried, but never could master, all the levels and their sequence. As to what was a class and order or a family and where a "primate" fitted was totally beyond me. I studied Physics for my first attempt at a discipline as you could avoid all those things.
Zoology seemed to be like Geology. The subjects, and the students who chose to study them, seemed to be the most boring in the whole University.
Sorry to anyone I might have insulted. On the other hand I won't be like a politician and I won't say "I'm sorry to anyone who might have felt they were offended"
Primate variation is interesting! It was once thought humans were different due to tools, then archaeologists found tools in proto-human sites, so the earliest toolmaker became homo habilis.
Then a decade ago it got shifted back a million years to an earlier species: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100811135039.htm
Those austrolopithecines were sort of half-way between ape & human. Walked upright but only around 1m high, brain-size same as chimp.
https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-family-tree
Plus genetics has confirmed that we have some neanderthal & denisovan genes – proof of interbreeding between the three species.
The story I liked, and I don't remember where I first read it, was than humans developed because the learnt to cook food, particularly meat. This was supposed to increase the energy they could get from food and meant that they developed bigger brains.
It is certainly my excuse when vegetarian friends wince when I say I like a large, juicy steak. I refuse to listen to people who claim that cooking vegetables provides all the same benefits.
I hadn't realised that they had found 7 different species of hominids in the the same small area though. Evolution was really running amok in that part of the world. It must have been like Grand Central Station in New York. If you spend any time there you will meet everybody you have ever known.
Hey, Luxon said hamster – the quote was in the news report I reproduced onsite here. What part of that are you having trouble figuring out??
Anyway, the important thing is that the communist regime's reps in HK have decided that the best way to deal with covid is to eliminate the entire infected population. Of hamsters. Anytime now they'll be saying to each other "The experiment works well for hamsters. May as well apply it to people too."
Nostalgia for Stalin is a thing in Russia so no surprise if nostalgia for Mao is a thing in China. Expect western dissidents to connect the dots to Soros etc…
Luxon said guinea pig….everyone makes…mistakes.
Oh, okay. My bad.
Reply to Foreign waka 13.2 – 18 Jan
:Worse than gangs? Really? Why not move next door to gang members, it must be a lot less dangerous than moving next to an unvaccinated person."
Gangs have actually been supporting the vaccine rollout in Auckland and Northland and assisting Hone Harawira at checkpoints with Police, not causing trouble at vax centres. That's community support in my view.
I have lived in "the hood" New Plymouth for 10 years. Surrounded by state houses with regular visits from Gang members next door, never had a problem. As a male I do feel intimidated by them but no hassles whatsoever. Drugs and crime is a separate issue, I am only referring to anti vax protest behaviour, nothing else, and only a minority at that. Lets not confuse the overall Gang scene with AV protest. I do not condone Gangs at all.
Reply to RedLogix 13.1.1.1- Jan 18
"Time to snap out of the trance Greenbus – before you do something you will be eternally shamed for."
Sorry to disappoint you RL but I'm the type of citizen that will step in to help others being assaulted by morons causing trouble, at considerable personal risk I might add. I've done so on 4 occasions while onlookers did just that.
Aggressive male anti vaxxers inside mobile vans with elderly woman medical staff is not peaceful protest, which I support. I would do my best to protect innocent woman and children from these trouble makers until Police arrived. If that's something to be ashamed of then I will surely go straight to hell when the time comes.
Please link now to the conversations. If you are copy and pasting from another thread, it's easy enough to copy and paste the URLs as well. It's a requirement here to provide a link when you quote.
weka 4.1
Ok thanks, will do going forward.
Please provide a link to something that shows this. I just did a quick google and couldn't find anything. I've seen multiple claims in the past week that anti-vax protestors are stepping over a line, and none of those provided a link for back up.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/127072641/fast-food-workers-call-on-government-for-protection-against-antivax-customers
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/12/covid-19-bay-of-plenty-bar-owner-worried-anti-vaxxers-using-fake-vaccine-passes-to-enter-hospitality-businesses.html
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/457373/newmarket-shop-owners-fearful-of-further-anti-vaccine-mandate-protests-i-had-to-lock-the-door
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/mitre-10-new-zealand-anti-masker-video-b1983255.html
Hence why some of us are calling on the Government to enforce its rules by having police out and about in the streets and at entrances of shopping centres so they better can randomly ask people for their vax passes and remove those or fine those that have no passport on them and thus can't prove they are vaxed. Scenes of the police doing so will provide for riveting evening entertainment for those who like to clap when low paid staff on the ground is trying to keep these evil people out of their businesses. Surely, i mean someone could pitch that to the Government, a new Cop Show if you so will, maybe with funding from Creative NZ?
The reason the government looks lost is because on one side they can arrest Brian Tamaki as the most dangerous person in the country, and on the other side the expect retail staff and take away staff to enforce its laws.
Vote Labour, we will write bad bad laws, and then we expect the lowest paid member of society to enforce our really bad bad laws.
Be kind Sabine
I thought Sabine's response was exceptionally kind.
I was being facetious, playing on Arderns be kind
(Speaking as kindly as I can..)
I know, I was attempting facetiousness myself. Failed, obviously.
Yeah so much information is lost when communicating by words alone
thanks, I'm aware of the private business issues. I was asking about the attacks on vaccine clinics.
Lol NZ police checking identity papers, we're not quite there yet.
Judging by responses here, lots of people would be keen on it though.
I can't think of a time where that never turned out badly
Didn't turn out too badly in the UK.
Sure, there was the impulse to keep it, but it was gone at about the same time as rationing (far more invasive restrictions imposed for the duration).
Really? I don't think I've seen anyone saying that. If that is what people believe then we probably should be talking about it.
Two years ago the idea of a vaccine passport was not being talked about either. Yet step by step here we are.
It's a tiny step to the police checking them on demand – and honestly I think most people would passively accept that step too.
I think I have been asked for my vaccine passport 3 times. It seems noone can be bothered checking anymore. And the minimal checking that was done was never enough to ensure it was valid for the person presenting it.
My score is zero. I wasn't asked for it when I got my booster – I waved it at the woman on the desk & all she did was read my name off it.
I haven't been asked for it any of the times I've been to the public library (where they use a security guard). Yet on the news recently some other civic center showed up with them checking the vaccine passes at the entrance. Seems kinda random…
Some corporate chains like cinemas and fast food seem pretty diligent. Most of my regular haunts sighted them once and left it like that.
Five times for me over the past seven weeks – twice at the local cinema (they're diligent, including checking ID), and three times at eateries.
Nearly two years in to this on-going pandemic, much of the opposition to measures designed to safeguard public health is mystifying. A small minority (e.g. Plan B and Voices for Freedom) has been fighting consensus expert opinion every step of the way, despite a growing body of evidence that NZ's COVID health outcomes have been exceptionally good.
The contrarians must have their reasons, but dissent grounded on disinformation and baseless hypotheticals is worthless, imho. Vaccine passport requirements will come and go as needed.
Covid-19: Vaccine pass or negative test no longer required to leave Auckland [17 January 2022]
The U.S. Has Had 'Vaccine Passports' Before—And They Worked
weka 4.2
This is the article. It was on TV news as well, at the time.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/456863/taranaki-vaccination-events-moving-indoors-after-physical-and-verbal-attacks
ok, so nothing in the past week? I've been seeing people talking about issues but no actual details.
The language in your original comment was straight out of the 'dirty Jew' playbook. Invoking disgust and revulsion to dehumanise people you disagree with during an epidemic is playing with fire.
And now claiming virtue because you're the kind of tough guy who 'stands up for women and children' is a most transparent ploy.
You stated:
"In my view these anti-vax protesters are the true "Deplorables". Far worse than the Gangs and lower down the picking order than a drunk pissing in a doorway at lunchtime. Far worse"
This is in my view constitutes a hate message. Free speech and expression of an opinion within the legal framework are hall marks of a free society. And lets be clear, these people do not break the law by what their view is. (I don't agree with them but that is not subject to the issue). Obviously, under the left this is becoming increasingly an endangered concept. Anti vax people might be wrong, maybe not. Spring book tour protesters might have been wrong maybe not, gender assignment protests might be wrong maybe not. All these voices have a RIGHT in a free society to show their color. If free speech and assembly is to be forbidden because the opposing party does not like what they hear, than you have officially called it quits on democracy. I will not comment any further on that issue, thanks.
Globalists vs fossil-fuel addicts:
Always fun when one establishment titan butts heads with another! Gates & Soros must be irritated: "These dinosaurs just don't get it! We already have them beat, they oughta just admit it. We'll have to get Biden to jawbone them."
Al Jazeera has a bit more detail on the part of the aircraft avionics the industry is concerned will be disrupted by 5G signals – the altimeters.
The new high-speed wireless service uses a segment of the radio spectrum, C-Band, that is close to that used by altimeters, which are devices that measure the height of aircraft above the ground. Altimeters are used to help pilots land when visibility is poor, and they link to other systems on planes.
AT&T and Verizon say their equipment will not interfere with aircraft electronics, and that the technology is being safely used in many other countries.
…
This was a crisis that was years in the making. The airline industry and the FAA say that they have tried to raise alarms about potential interference from 5G C-Band, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ignored them.
The telecom companies, the FCC and their supporters argue that C-Band and aircraft altimeters operate far enough apart on the radio spectrum to avoid interference. They also say that the aviation industry has known about C-Band technology for several years but did nothing to prepare — airlines chose not to upgrade altimeters that might be subject to interference, and the FAA failed to begin surveying equipment on planes until the last few weeks.
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/1/18/att-verizon-delay-some-5g-rollouts-after-airlines-warn-of-chaos
…………….
I sure wouldn’t be keen to fly in a passenger plane in the US until they’ve fully investigated and resolved this issue.
This is frankly bizarre – not because of the technical issues, which have been standard telecommunication management fare since forever, nor for the very real safety concerns the airlines have.
But that a major Federal agency is being seen to drop the ball on a matter that is their bread and butter core business, has to speak to systemic competency issues.
I presume you’re referring to the FAA?
I was kind of taken aback that the FCC’s attitude was that airlines could just upgrade any altimeters that might be subject to interference. I dunno what costs are involved in that for the airlines.
Al Jazzera tv news interviewed some US aviation expert who pointed out that, while it’s claimed other countries are using 5G technology without any problems, EU countries (he specifically mentioned France, seeing everybody else is) and Canada, as examples, have very stringent restrictions on the use of 5G towers around airports. They’re not permitted to have 5G towers too close to airports.
Seems like the FAA & FCC may operate in silos.
I was kind of taken aback that the FCC’s attitude was that airlines could just upgrade any altimeters that might be subject to interference. I dunno what costs are involved in that for the airlines.
Exactly. The general rule is that existing bandwidth users have priority rights and if any changes are going to be imposed on them, there will be ample time and resources made available to assist with any technical costs.
Especially if the existing user is can demonstrate a safety critical profile as aviation altimeters obviously are.
This just looks like the 5G telecommunications giants simply had more political clout and got their way over the public interest.
Huawei has the best 5G technology.
The U.K were ordered by the U.S.A not to use it for spurious reasons,but most Euro nations went ahead with it.
Patent registrations are one way to look at this. There is no clear cut measure of 'best' here.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/19-01-2022/how-covid-vaccines-upend-our-assumptions-about-protecting-kids
From my understanding the modeling that was the basis for govt policy had a low VE of 50% from todays article we have after 6 months 10% protection, why then are what we are experiencing in case numbers so low compared to the forecast modeling ? From my work experiences in finance/treasury we review what we expected with actual to see why there was any differences and if so make needed changes to continuous improve .
https://cpb-ap-se2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.auckland.ac.nz/dist/d/75/files/2017/01/modelling-to-support-a-future-covid-19-strategy.pdf
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/459790/over-1000-eligible-miq-workers-yet-to-get-covid-19-vaccine-booster-dose
And after 9 weeks the efficiency for a booster drops to 50% what then winter is comming
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2022/01/18/fsu-defend-public-service-advisor-censored-for-using-term-male-bodied/
post from Redline about a public servant who attended a work place training run byInside Out, who were talking about diversity. This issue of lesbians and same sexed attraction came up at the end and the public servant asked should her lesbian sister be told she would have to consider sex with a male bodied person who was trans. The facilitator told her we don’t like terms like male bodied. The public servant then got a letter from the Deputy CE chastising her and telling her she offended the facilitator for using the term male bodied.
Everything that clearly defines what is, is claimed to be offensive.
Why? The conversation cannot be derailed if communication is clear.
I read a good piece yesterday on this topic, in regards to women talking to gender ideologists: –
The Guide To Dealing With/’Debating’ Transactivists – The Idge of Reason
Narcissism is prevalent here. Same rules as always with narcissists. Do not get embroiled in discussion of their identity, their identity is not relevant to you and outside making clear you do not see yourself reflected in their identity it serves no function but to prevent discussion.
Thanks Molly, that's useful.
I guess that is what the public servant did. She used factual statements like male bodied. Still got the letter from the Deputy CE. Does this manager not realize how outrageous this is.
I don't understand why public servants need to receive this "training". Trans people make up .8% of the population. Gender Ideology is a belief system.
If called a bigot it is best not to respond or defend yourself. Calling someone a bigot in this context is merely a strategy do scare people into not speaking up.
Over xmas caught up with a lot of friends and family. I made a point of raising gender ideolgy and self id. All of these people were Labour and Green voters. All disagreed with what is going on with the imposition of gender ideology on others. None of these people are bigots. As one of these people said to me (he is a personal trainor) that he worked with women and also had a transwoman client. The trans client was esily able to lift weights that were simply not possible for the fitest of women.
Interesting news:
https://www.nme.com/news/tv/bbc-licence-fee-abolished-2027-cost-frozen-next-two-years-3138982
I'm in two minds about this, the BBC created some of the greatest shows on TV, timeless shows, dramas, comedies, documentaries
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:BBC_television_sitcoms
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:BBC_television_dramas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_for_Today
It was a great idea, tv shows paid for by the people, written and produced for the people.
Then wokeness took over.
If the BBC continued to make programming for all people then the licencing fee would be justified but they don't so soon they'll have to stand on their own feet (unless Labour get back in and change it)
However they really are shooting themselves in the foot, this is a good article explaining why:
https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/jodie-whittaker-leaving-wont-fix-doctor-who-94646.htm
The reason its a problem is just how much money the BBC made from merchandising and now its virtually gone.
However there is a glimmer of hope:
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-bad-wolf-sony-newsupdate/
'Sony Pictures Television has officially bought Bad Wolf, the company set to produce Doctor Who series 14.'
'Russell T Davies, who will return as showrunner for Doctor Who’s 60th year, will be enlisting the help of Bad Wolf to produce the next season, set to air on BBC One in 2023 with a brand new Doctor.'
The rollback of woke programming is slowly happening, hopefully not too many more franchises will be ruined and some might even be able to be saved
"then wokeness took over"
Get it right Pukish.
In fact Netflix Amazon and Disney took over while the Tory government of the last 12 years starved the BBC.
Close.
Disney is to blame for a lot of bad entertainment of late.
But Netflix and Amazon Prime do have some good stuff on them (they also have things like Cuties just to balance it out.
But the BBCs demise is one of their own making.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/bbc-discrimination-row-advertising-job-ethnic-monorities-b941600.html
The broadcaster is advertising a one-year, £17,810 trainee production management assistant role with the position “only open to black, Asian and ethnically diverse candidates”.
Positive discrimination is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010 but “positive action” is permitted for trainee and internship roles in areas where there is under-representation.
https://deadline.com/2020/11/bbc-studios-diversity-target-1234623162/
'BBC Studios has introduced an “inclusion rider” for all new productions, which will mean that all new productions have to meet a 20% diversity target.
'On all new BBC and third-party shows, the Doctor Who and Top Gear producer will ensure that a fifth of on-screen talent and production teams come from a BAME – Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic – background, have lived experience of a disability, or are from a low-income background.'
'There will also be an additional commitment to having at least one senior role on scripted and unscripted production teams being appointed from one of these three backgrounds.'
Which means you get things like this:
Or how Dr Who has decided on retconning the origins of the Doctor
https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/bbc-responds-to-the-timeless-children-canon-complaints-93292.htm
Make no mistake, the BBC ruined two of its biggest cash cows (Dr Who and Top Gear) and is now, finally, reaping its reward
I find it "woke" that only jewish people can act as jewish characters, or black as blacks, or white as whites etc … so you're a woke PR, ha! You're welcome. & yes, "woke" pretty much means whatever you want it to mean, to the point of pointlessness.
Thats fine. You're entitled to your opinion and thats ok. You're opinion is wrong, as long as you realise that its all good.
I don't think it's that important in some cases, especially in well known stories. (eg. Jesus Christ is most often portrayed as a pale skinned European, despite being from the Middle East, it hasn't disrupted the narrative.)
I also enjoyed the recent reworking of David Copperfield, which I have read numerous times, and watch a couple of other adaptations.
https://youtu.be/xXh53I-Sdsk
The main actor's personal ethnicity was not used to disrupt the storyline based still in Victorian England, he just played the part. If I want to revisit the other adaptations I can, but this gave me another version to enjoy of an old favourite.
Really, the writing and humour were good.
I admit to preferring the actor looks somewhat like the character they're portraying.
I'm not always hard and fast about the rule, for instance I thought Michael Clarke Duncan was a very good Kingpin (untill Vincent D'Onofrio came along…) but I'm against changing the ethnicity unless its for a specific reason especially when its an historical figure
Now what would happen if you changed other ethnicities around, for example the new Rosa Parks:
https://cdn.businessinsider.nl/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/503bbf901dcea2b712cc06963669982ba1648a52-800×400.jpg
(Link doesn't work for me)
But I'm more of the view it depends on the quality of writing and context. Given the African American race struggles are integral to Rosa Parks’ story. it's hard to see how they will make a change there successfully.
West Side Story works as a Romeo and Juliet retelling because it retained the tribalism, romance and tragedy. That story can be retold in almost any culture and timeframe and still be recognisable.
(It was a picture of Fan BingBing, google her if you like)
Thats the issue I have.
Its 'ok' to have a black actress play a white, historically important person but you try that with other ethnicities and see how long before you're cancelled
It used to be that having white actors play diverse characters was 'ok' and then the film makers, eventually, worked out its not a good idea.
By the way bad luck if you're red head, they're not popular at the moment:
https://boundingintocomics.com/2020/12/15/every-single-redheaded-comic-book-character-that-has-been-race-swapped/
"Its 'ok' to have a black actress play a white, historically important person but you try that with other ethnicities and see how long before you're cancelled"
For me it depends on the relevance to the story being told. The story of Rosa Parks is about the African American experience, so it'd hard to see how that would work.
Copperfield was about class and poverty, so its a tale replicated in many cultures.
(Don't understand the aversion to redheads myself, my youngest is one.)
(I have a thing for red heads and I blame Megan Follows)
Copperfield could work sure but Anne Boleyn?
Doesn't it seem like being the Queen of England in the 1500s would need a white actress?
If they wanted to do that because 'representation' then surely they just could have the story set in the 'near future' and base it on the history instead?
I don't want to keep going back to Orwell but:
'Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future.'
History, to me anyway, should be as accurate as possible and the BBC have been messing around with history for quite sometime now:
@PR. Didn't pick you for an Anne fan, but kudos for that.
"Doesn't it seem like being the Queen of England in the 1500s would need a white actress?"
If we were going for authenticity above all else, but we are being told a story. I'd watch for the storytelling, the characters and the acting. For me, I don't think it would influence my enjoyment one way or the other. I can understand how it would for others, though..
History, to me anyway, should be as accurate as possible and the BBC have been messing around with history for quite sometime now:"
As I consider much of history as persistent stories rather than facts, I agree on the aim of accuracy. But I consider such works as shown to be entertainment not reenactments. We only have to compare recent personal histories with other family members to see hoe quickly stories diverge.
I guess for me the issue is the further away the actor is from the character the quicker it takes me out of the story.
Meryl Streep might be the greatest actor ever but I don't want to see her in drag playing Nelson Mandela
No hard and fast rules, but a known historical person imo best played by someone of the correct ethnicity. Otherwise what is the purpose .eg. with the black Anne Boylyn. I think I would find it would get in the way of the story.
White washing in movies and tv programs was and is bad, black washing is just as bad
What makes it worse is the suggestion that black people don't have any interesting stories of their own so the only way to get black people in is to swop them with well known white characters
Are there really no interesting stories from Africa to be told?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansa_Musa
How about Asia?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saragarhi
Instead of Anne Boleynwhy not one of these:
https://www.pulse.ng/bi/lifestyle/7-most-powerful-african-queens-in-history-you-need-to-know/dwhncf5
Clarkson should take some blame – but Dr Who was entirely self-inflicted.
For sure (with Clarkson) but it was, like Dr Who, a cash cow, international, merchandising hit that the BBC let go
While its a good thing the BBC is going to fall it does make me sad…Boys From The Blackstuff, Blackadder, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, The Young Ones, Dr Who…
All fantastic programs, (mostly) family viewing and we're unlikely to see their likes again
Is that progress?
The BBC had a hard-earned reputation for quality, both in terms of news and drama. It was good enough that Al Jazeera took it as a model. America rarely reaches comparable production values.
No doubt the destruction is a favour to Rupert – the fool behind much of the trouble in the world.
It had a reputation but it gave up that reputation and for what exactly, better programs?
It had quality programming (maybe even the best) then it gave it up and it only has itself to blame
It didn't entirely give it up – its professionalism constantly irked public embarrassments like Boris Johnson, who, having no self-awareness of his mediocrity, resented it.
Of the self-inflicted wounds, a pious but entirely insincere pretense of woke virtue was costly, but should not have been fatal. Dr Who could be revived – just not by the clowns that destroyed it. Top Gear not so much.
Rules for some
Media law seems to be a growing industry – and a bit like Gunfight at the OK Corral, with guns replaced by lawyers.
You'd think the ERA would be likely to spot the difference, eh? Depends how many bureaucrats are on board perhaps. The logic that an elephant & a mouse both have four legs so can be put in the same category is always tempting.
Best to call the channel Patriots Uncancelled then…
This happens alot at the exec level where they take gardening leave and wait for the date as per their contracted notice period.
No surprise tova, Sean etc challenge it as being off air must be such a handicap in life for them they need to end it asap.
Consider the immense scrutiny and condemnation the US has rightfully received over the Julian Assange affair. Now compare with the virtual silence on this:
A remarkable double standard no?
A very biased story,part of the U.S/Taiwan demonise China narrative.
Heres a clue…'It cites the case of Dong Feng, a resident of the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley who was approached by Chinese police officers in 2014 over alleged bribery in China.
We have seen here in NZ –Chinese-Canadian businessman Xiao Hua Gong cuts record-breaking $70m deal with New Zealand police over frozen assets – NZ Herald
Then theres Bill Wiu and others.
China takes a dim view of those who embezzle funds and hide out in the West.
Literally 100's flee with ill gotten gains.
The West have extradition treaties but alot of fraudsters are not persued….the Gold Coast is full of NZ cons.
And yes I do understand anything that casts a less than ideal light on the CCP is of course biased. I well understand that for the authoritarian left any Court system with a 99.9% conviction rate is inherently wonderful. /sarc
You should read Conrad Blacks (ex Media mogul)assessment of the U.S justice system.
From memory the conviction rate was 95%.
I'm all in favour of going hard on white collar crime.
Its almost a rite of passage in the West…looking at the rap sheet of…Wall St.
Rather than rely on one source that gives the answer you want, how about some basic data from wikipedia?
Still I am impressed at your vigorous efforts to divert from the original point.
from Wiki…
Israel[edit]
The conviction rate in Israel is around 93%.[when?] Around 72% of trials end with a conviction on some charges and acquittal on others, while around 22% end with a conviction on all charges. These statistics do not include plea bargains and cases where the charges are withdrawn, which make up the vast majority of criminal cases.[7]
Japan[edit]
The conviction rate is 99.3%. By only stating this high conviction rate it is often misunderstood as too high—however, this high conviction rate drops significantly when accounting for the fact that Japanese prosecutors drop roughly half the cases they are given. If measured in the same way, the United States' conviction rate would be 99.8%.[8][9][1
Compare this now with China. All the evidence is that once the police arrest you in that country – you are entirely at the mercy of the system. Even if you do have a lawyer, the chances of the case being dropped or a deal being made are close to zero. This is a widely recognised reality.
While in most other nations, usually it's the cases that stand a good chance of a conviction that reach the Courts. And even then there is a robust appeals process. And indeed it's the peculiar circumstances of the Assange case where due to 'national security concerns' these conditions do not apply that lie at the heart of the matter.
Do you really think the U.S cares less about the conviction rate in China?
Tracking down white collar criminals and holding them to account is a good thing imo.
This guy hid out in NZ for 15 yrs….cultivated 'friends' in high places…
'Fugitive' Chinese businessman living in New Zealand for 15 years arrested in China | Stuff.co.nz
Move to the Left, or fall to the Right.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/01/17/liberal-promises-biden-midterm/?fbclid=IwAR3cfegG56a_Fu09Q__OFk-LhHVpOaTDPqimQq5jiZ5ah6g2ZurBDxHdcgM
The government needs to get these people home, not keep changing the rules on them and shutting borders. These people have been made 'stateless' by our kind and caring government.
Covid-19 Delta outbreak: Stranded Kiwis 'angry', 'stressed' after latest MIQ room release scrapped – NZ Herald
During pandemics parameters and resource usage can change quickly, requiring a pivot in terms of response.
If an assurance was given, perhaps it should not have been. Individuals still should understand there remained an element of risk.
However, if that assurance was quantified with conditions, the conditions needed to be noted as well.
Do you know how many people per day are turning up at the border with covid-19? Today it was 56 – that means 56 rooms need to be found in quarantine to house those people and their room mates. That's almost 800 rooms tied up every fortnight for roughly a fortnight. A typical up-scale hotel in the States has, on average, 330 rooms.
It is not the govt's fault that all these people who have supposedly tested negative are coming back infectious and the govt has to make room for them with limited available resources e.g. health care workers.
Self-isolating at home has proven to be unmanageable because people don't do as they are told.
Absolutely right. We moan about being a dumping ground for 501s yet every day numbers arrive with Covid. No doubt including some who have grizzled about their right to 'come home'.
If provision were to be made right now, today, to take all those coming back, and let them come now we'd need resources to accept about 25,000 people. Clearly some think that should happen.
Can't provide enough MIQ? Self-isolation at home because people can be trusted? Rubbish, they can't be. And so we blame the government acting on people not being able to do the right thing. If it was open slather to get in and people trusted to do the right thing the virus would sweep the country
It is in some cases tragic but overseas residents have been asked 2 years ago to come home if they want to but many have chosen not to. It was very well documented what the consequences are under a worldwide pandemic with MIQ places not unlimitless available. To now say that they have been made stateless is absolutely not true. They still have their NZ passport, no? But they have made choices to suit their wanting to have the job/income, scenery, culture etc. in an other country and now find that the economic and general circumstances have profoundly changed over these 2 years. Of cause they have all the right and will be welcome but they also have to now abide by the rules governed by infection not crossing into the population and resources this country can afford. This is a state of 5 million people who have to pay for their safe return to NZ. So given that the population size of Sydney has to find the tax funds, its going pretty well.
Having been obliged to admit that Luxon's off the hook & doesn't need to go in to bat for hamsters in HK, I'll give him a wee pat on the back for a nuanced stance here:
Looks like the authority of the regulator could be the point of difference he's aiming for. However defaulting to "local control and solutions" is merely conservatism. Hasn't worked in too many places. He's vulnerable there.
Luxon said that he supports tailored solutions where there are problems in water management.
Yet he doesn't support 'creeping centralisation' so the questions that come to my mind are how many problems are there in water management, and who will 'tailor' the solutions?
Is he envisaging a local authority by local authority approach where an individual authority has problems with water quality, and how many would there be with how many individual solutions? How hard for that to be effectively managed by both central and local government?
Or, is he advocating a tailored solution to each particular problem for all local authorities? For example, solutions for faecal contamination, for urban and rural runoff, water borne diseases, silting, forestry slash and waste. If it's a solution for each identified problem over the entire country, how does he get 'local input and influence' involved?
Is this just another slow and unwieldy bureaucratic 'solution' to a set of problems requiring faster action than that wanted by reluctant and poorly resourced local authorities with oversight of large but sparely populated areas like Marlborough of the West Coast, for example?
Will those opposed, for sector interests for example. be basically left to find slow and unsatisfactory solutions?
So many questions. We won't know, probably, until the select committee thrashes out a consensus on whatever legislation Labour finalises. It would be helpful if all those horrified by looming centralisation were to get over complaining & start to come up with feasible alternatives instead…
I guess my point was that it is easy to criticise, and to finger solutions, but there is no evidence of thinking through the sticking points to a viable outcome in his interview. Maybe that will come later, and he is on the stump around the country where I hope to hear him, being a political junkie…..
In the last 3 days many credible, multi-sourced links have been provided here to inform people about the behaviour of protesters at vaccination clinics. Despite that – and the fact that it takes only a few seconds of searching to find them – there still seems to be some reluctance to acknowledge what is happening. Whether that is genuine ignorance or wilful denial, I don't know.
So here is a selection of eyewitness accounts from this week (since Monday, when children became eligible – they are the targets for the protesters now).
I'm not going to do this every day, because it's a truism of online debates that life is wasted pointing out that 2 +2 = 4, when somebody else has a link to Liz Gunn or Joe Rogan saying 2 +2 =5, and nothing will ever change their closed minds. That's their choice.
But now nobody can say they didn't know, or it didn't happen. So please stop it.
This is only a small selection, you've all got the internet if you want more. Note that I have not relied on "random internet bot" but doctors, councillors, people with names who cannot hide.
(it will be spread over several comments, bear with me)
Emma Espiner, a doctor –
https://twitter.com/emmawehipeihana/status/1482928211147501569
A reply: [unlinked quote deleted]
That was the North Shore. Also in Auckland, Westgate –
Nathan Rarere (broadcaster)
https://twitter.com/oldmannato/status/1483263281683116032
Also Westgate, Darien Fenton (ex-MP, union)
https://twitter.com/DarienFenton/status/1483217697291005952
Sign saying "Jacinda is a child murderer". At the place where children go. Lovely people, who only want "freedom", right?
Some examples from the media: Herald and Newshub.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-parents-shocked-by-anti-vaccine-protesters/WFFZVRVKS22UEFB4YSDYMYIQEQ/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-delta-outbreak-labour-party-auckland-mp-shanan-halbert-harassed-getting-vaccination/U3KEW3TWJKFLTMNGI24JHHPUHA/
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/01/coronavirus-terrifying-voices-for-freedom-protesters-descend-on-vaccine-centre-but-healthcare-workers-inside-ease-children-s-fears.html
Auckland is the main location reported, though it has also been reported elsewhere e.g. Wellington
https://twitter.com/stueethedog/status/1482855644952776709
[broken link fixed]
Meanwhile, the liars spread their lies, even (or especially?) when every credible source corrects them. Here, for example, is the manager of the vaccination centre (in red circle).
https://twitter.com/Devonportian/status/1483250484568031232
Thanks for your observations in this thread – well worth highlighting, imho.
mod note: I've deleted the unlinked text. Find me the link to the actual tweet and I'll insert it back into your comment.
btw, don't use the tags for tweets, just paste the tweet's URL into the comment box and it will embed without mistakes (the one I fixed).
All quiet on the eastern front – & long may it remain so. Stray animals boost morale on Ukraine’s front lines as Russia and Nato remain at odds – YouTube
Interesting, quirky clip.