Looking at the demands of returning Kiwis. To be honest, they have made the runner when things got tough years back instead of contributing and pulling up the sleeves. Now that the going gets tough at the other end, they come home asking the taxpayer to foot the bill for all their needs. Really?
Well, my vote is now going to Winston, hands down. The only one not espousing political correct nonsense but rather dealing with the obvious. Logic and reason please.
That irony, coming back because we've been so successful in fighting this, yet not willing to help with that fight. Again, grateful to those that are just getting on with it, and all the staff and support people dealing with this, thank you.
I can remember Winston telling the Kiwis abroad to come back home.
Maybe the military should set up a tent / container city on an isolated island (maybe an unused ex-prison place). No fags, no booze, three meals from a field kitchen. That's the free option for returning Kiwis, otherwise you pay (and complain to) the quarantine hotel management, which is a private business, instead bitching and moaning about the government not providing you champagne and caviar for breakfast.
They probably want first class public government services and tax cuts at the same time.
I know of two New Zealanders that were not able to get to the "rescue" from China, and are still in China, hoping to be able to get to New Zealand in July, depending on flights . . .
The suggestion to return was heeded by a lot of New Zealanders – flights here were filled very quickly, and some may not have heard the warning in time. Certainly we now know there were a very large number of New Zealanders who were not able to get back to NZ at that time.
Or unwilling… when the NZ government took COVID seriously and sent out clear warning signs, most other countries played the impacts of the pandemic down.
While some might have "missed the boat/plane", as you describe, many overseas Kiwis ignored those warning and only now, after so many countries are seriously impacted, they decide to come home.
Also interesting to note, that in the early stages the incoming people would have had to organise their own self-isolation accommodation, either squeeze in with NZ family, pay for rental home or pay for a hotel. So not sure why they seriously expect the government to pay for their 2 week isolation/quarantine luxury hotels (like Stamford, Pullman, Novotel, which cost – when I stayed their last for work – several hundreds of dollars a day!).
That was a month ago and yes, perhaps the flights are cancelled but some repatriate flights were undertaken.
The point is: Many NZlaenders were going overseas because the grass was greener and they felt they did not get enough money to compensate for their work in their home country. Many were also fleeing the student loan repayments. Some might have gone on an OE.
In all cases – I bluntly refuse to pay for their keep. Full stop, end of story.
I mused that it was rather unfair of the Nat leader to call National a disgrace when the quarantine shambles was a govt failure. I wonder how many others did likewise. Tricky, these contagious complex memes, they get into peoples heads and do their subversive thing. Perhaps Todd needs a competent media adviser? Oh wait, he's got Hooton for that… 🤩
Apocalypse now? No. Soon? Maybe – another pandemic, driven by a more contagious bug could do it. Eventually? Yeah, later this century though, so no worries…
O’Connell zips around the world to meet people who are different in every way but their singular fixation on Armageddon. The book’s apocalyptic world tour journeys from the Scottish Highlands to the foothills of South Dakota, where a community of luxury bunkers built from missile silos peek out from grassy knolls, and onwards to New Zealand, the escape pod of choice for Silicon Valley’s millionaire tech-bros.
Capitalism takes a beating in the book, a critique filtered through characters like Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal and was one of Facebook’s earliest investors. Looking at the ultra-rich through the lens of crisis is enough to disgust anyone. In the middle of a pandemic during which shortages on PPE are killing people daily, Jeff Bezos is set to become the world’s first trillionaire. But O’Connell knows that blaming capitalism can be a cop-out: “My editor suggested I reduce the number of times I refer to the evils of capitalism, so I went through and took out about 50 per cent of them,” he says.
Naomi Klein and David Wallace-Wells have both produced seminal works laying out what a future on earth could look like post-climate catastrophe – and it’s pretty apocalyptic… Doomsday capitalism is reaching younger generations, with designer face masks and Kardashian-endorsed bug-out bags stuffed with duct tape, waterproof matches and a 400-calorie apple cinnamon food bar with a five-year shelf-life. “Which Kardashian?” asks O’Connell.
Many of O’Connell’s most astute ruminations are framed through parenting, something which has always been a challenge but lately has become even more so. “You often hear people say, ‘Well you can’t protect your kids from the world forever’,” says O’Connell, ”but I do feel that you have to try.”
“You create this world that’s magical, good and safe. My kids believe in the tooth fairy and gnomes and Santa Claus, so does that mean I’m lying? Objectively speaking I am, but it’s also not that simple. You’re shaping their reality and I think it’s important not to let too much horror in at an early age,” he explains. “I suppose the job is to sort of mediate reality for kids that age, not terrify them and also not reveal how terrifying you yourself find the world.”
Sounds like he's got the right idea. The world has always been part imaginal, part real. It's how the psyche operates. To co-create a better world we must first imagine it.
Dennis is right, I can’t imagine Hell on Earth without gatekeepers to keep a lid on things the way they are. If not for them, all Hell would break loose.
Corin Dann doing a good job on Morning Report right now asking Muller why the border control system is broken when NZ has no community transmission at all. Muller floundering.
National’s problem is that they are attacking border controls that, by and large, are working very well.
Chris Trotter’s latest article on Bowalley Road is very odd where it attacks Labour’s performance and supports National’s hollow claims. Talk about over-egging it.
Note the "are working very well"…..earlier for a short period they were slow to implement the 3-day and 12-day testing but without military involvement I think this would have happened anyway.
So there was a small window where border controls were less-than-adequate but (as you say tc) this was quickly fixed. (Megan Woods was superb on Morning Report yesterday).
Muller and Woodhouse are whinging about controls that have prevented any community transmission-that is the acid test.
If Muller is floundering all it proves is that he is a git.
The fact remains that the significant number of people who left isolation without a test followed by the amount of time taken to find out what happened and source the data is an appalling failure and we've escaped another outbreak by good luck rather than good management.
There must be no more failures of this nature and i'm certainly pleased that the Minister Woods is now in charge from an oversight perspective rather than the Minister of Health.
Agree totally about Woods-she is a safe pair of hands. But the "appalling failure" line is the media's beat-up take on the situation-see my posts above.
You are correct in that. But nowadays perception prevails over reality much of the time, and the media are driven more by perception. Reality bores too many media consumers. They need more than that. So beat-ups get produced by human nature.
Be assured it is an appalling failure if this kind of stuff up had occurred in a secondary healthcare setting think missing this many cancers etc … there would be hell to pay.
In ODT today headline "quarantine possible in south island" or something and mentions hotels in Queenstown, & Queenstown mayor saying "I don't think so" (paraphrased), so fuk knows what National are on about.
It’s quite odd, Jim Boult, Queenstown Lakes Mayor, was all in favour of overseas students coming into town and doing their 14 days quarantine in Queenstown a couple of weeks ago.
In this morning's interviews Muller doubled down on the Woodhouse claims. He backed his MP so strongly that he can't now separate his own leadership from the allegations. (A more experienced leader would say "he's just asking the questions" or similar waffle, keeping his distance).
If he has evidence that Woodhouse is right, then Muller gets a win. If he doesn't then he is shooting himself in the foot, for no political gain. There are enough real issues with quarantine for National to focus on. They don't need to be making them up.
Woodhouse has backed himself and Muller into a corner, you are right, the only way out now is to comply because Woodhouse already looks slippery as an eel and it's all downhill from here if he tries weasal words again. In one sense I hope they front up with proof it happened, to demonstrate they don't have the best interests of the public in mind at all and are only interested in the political game.
The picture National is trying to paint is that the quarantine system is like a revolving door and people can just walk in and out as they please, all on the Taxpayers’ expense, while having unprotected kisses and cuddles.
National’s homeless person is a variation of their bene bashing theme, a no-hoper bottom-dweller who hacked the system and got something from the Taxpayer that they’re not entitled to without harsh consequences. JC would crush their carton board home, dirty old sleeping bag and all, with a swamp Kauri log covered in milk powder.
The story is a dead cat on the table unless the homeless person is a super spreader, which makes no sense because they have just self-isolated for 14 days in a posh hotel. I’ve heard that those isolation hotels are almost as posh as our prisons. Can somebody please ask National how much it costs per day to be in prison?
I hope they’ll find the homeless person and lock them up in prison. That’ll teach them what welfare is for: hardworking law-abiding citizens who find themselves in trouble through no fault of their own.
I may be wrong but wasn’t the original story based on the person in question not being able to provide an address when leaving isolation. That doesn’t mean they were a homeless person who walked off the street. They may genuinely not have known where they were going to be staying once released if they hadn’t lived in NZ for a while. With friends, family, or they needed a rental. I have family who moved back before lockdown who have been staying at multiple addresses while they work out where they will stay permanently.
If so, the story has morphed somewhat. As stories do. There was a children's game where everyone sat in a circle and the starter whispered something to the person on one side who then repeated the whisper to the child on their other side & so on. When it reached around the circle back to the source the message is never the same as it was.
Assuming Woodhouse is spinning it deliberately seems unfair. However if there was a Nat-sympathiser in the chain of messaging between him and the departmental source, or if that source was a Nat voter, spin becomes understandable.
The claim was that the person was not entitled (or presumably required!) to go into isolation but tagged along behind some people who had come from a flight to quarantine, and was given a room. Whether they were prepared to give an address when leaving is another matter entirely. Woodhouse needs to give his sources of information, or be seen as a liar.
Here is another one calling for perspective and good on Gehan Gunasekara:
Consider the attitudes of many of the very people now criticising the Government for its laxity in managing quarantine facilities towards bureaucracy and red tape. Those on the right of the political spectrum have tended not only to advocate for less regulation of business and society generally but have also blamed excessive regulation and administrative requirements for everything from the lack of affordable housing to business failures.
The new National leadership have been unclear about how much of the baggage they inherited from Bridges/Bennett is still their party's policy.
But we have to assume it still is, unless they tell us it's been dumped. So National still want to have a "bonfire of red tape", and scrap 2 rules for every new one.
Muller on Morning Farce this morning claimed that no evidence that anything actually happened did not mean that there was no evidence that something did happen. On that logic we should just bin the entire Justice system because Everything Did Happen. Or as the greatest philosopher of our time Walter Sobchak in The big Lebowski opines " Say what you like about National (ist ) Socialism Dude, at least it was an ethos ", meaning Todd is obliquely advocating that we should go straight to the firing squad anytime anybody says anything about anybody else.
And of course Universities should bring in overseas students immediately because they have plenty of Houses of Residence where they can isolate them. I'm 71 but I would be joining the thousands of students in the streets protesting that one, should be more fun than the 60s.
Remember those stories a while back about how Ardern was damaging NZ's relationship with Australia? That our reputation would suffer, across the Tasman?
Good to see this. Science is ruled more by convention than discovery – resistance to Gaia remains entrenched in the establishment.
Many meteorology textbooks still teach a caricature of the water cycle, with ocean evaporation responsible for most of the atmospheric moisture that condenses in clouds and falls as rain. The picture ignores the role of vegetation and, in particular, trees, which act like giant water fountains. Their roots capture water from the soil for photosynthesis, and microscopic pores in leaves release unused water as vapor into the air. The process, the arboreal equivalent of sweating, is known as transpiration. In this way, a single mature tree can release hundreds of liters of water a day. With its foliage offering abundant surface area for the exchange, a forest can often deliver more moisture to the air than evaporation from a water body of the same size.
The Amazon flying river is now reckoned to carry as much water as the giant terrestrial river below it, says Antonio Nobre, a climate researcher at Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research.
This is paradigm-shifting research, so expect resistance from scientists who need proof to shift them. They will await replication.
China gets 80% of its water from the west, mostly Atlantic moisture recycled by the boreal forests of Scandinavia and Russia. The journey involves several stages—cycles of transpiration followed by downwind rain and subsequent transpiration—and takes 6 months or more. “It contradicted previous knowledge that you learn in high school,” he says. “China is next to an ocean, the Pacific, yet most of its rainfall is moisture recycled from land far to the west.”
I recall being taught the physics of atmospheric convection cells (but recall no details) so it's easy for me to intuitively accept this new paradigm. It deepens our grasp of how Gaia operates as a global system. Then just factor in all the emerging evidence of airborne bacterial flows in the upper levels and you will find it increasingly difficult to retain the old science view that only parts matter. Rejection of whole systems has become increasingly untenable with the rise of the science of complexity.
The Amazon flying river is now reckoned to carry as much water…
There are 'pineapple expresses' everywhere aloft. This summer's Fiordland flooding event, for example. In fact multiple floods in recent times on the West Coast.
Thanks, very interesting. Just described those deriving from Hawaii & northern hemisphere consequences though. Would be good to read the equivalent backgrounder for the effects in Aotearoa you mentioned eh?
I learnt about coriolis during my student days (physics grad) & it derives from global symmetry, but there's more to weather production than the spin of the planet. Land imbalance: more in the north than south. So weather becomes regional in consequence. Dunno how hemispherical assymetry affects/produces upper atmosphere flows…
How interesting. Making rain, making wind. What makes the wind blow?
Hanging washing this morning on a still winter's sunny morning. I played with the idea of making wind so as to get my washing dry and swept the rotary clothes line round and repeated, then change direction. When it stopped the clothes were moving slightly in a small breeze. By creating a small vortex could I affect the weather I wondered. Just a thought.
Looked up wind related things on google. Some of what I found:
For idle reading and learning this stack exchange post about USA parts, calling a very cold wind 'the hawk' is a great example of exchanging info about history and culture and knowledge from the past.
"I played with the idea of making wind so as to get my washing dry and swept the rotary clothes line round and repeated, then change direction."
Do I have the solution for you @Grey!
You just line the current crop of the National Party up adjacent to your clothesline and get them to let loose. Votices and directional changes come naturally
OwT That would require a sheep dog of enormous size and skill. And they would prove to have hollow lungs, even without Covid-19 they would run out of puff, useless puffters.
By the way, in your memory, have you heard of a contraption that can be put on a rotary clothes line to create air movement for faster drying. I think it was based on a spring attached to the line, that stretches and retracts which keeps the line going back and forth. I feel that some nifty craftsman in his shed once came up with that.
Don't be a wimp DMK -it's tiring that some are always looking for something to find fault with.
I was pleased to hear that killing people during rough sex is something that is going to be made illegal in Britain – now that was something to complain about.
Rome wasn't built in a day @Micky. It might have been quicker to have just given him a knighthood along with his BFF in the last QB Honours list, and an offer of some prestigious pozzy on the Whurl stage representing lil 'ole NuZull that punches above its weight.
As far as a quick, 'efficient and effective' option in this space going forward, I'm still not sure why we're not looking/haven't looked at alternative options for passenger travel from that bustling international metropolis of Orcas to the Earport.
Such as maybe getting on with 3rd railing where existing geography allows, and things like Tramtrains – off the heavy rail network at say Papatoetoe, down Wylie Road and then Puhinui Road. Bob's your Auntie. The freight stuff can come later after we've worried ourselves silly considering every other conceivable option.
Could even work in places like Dunners City and points north to Dunners Mosgiel Earport. Even Lyttleton and/or Rolleston to Christ's Church Earport.
Might even work work elsewhere – the Puke via Tearanga to points north.
Great OwT, you should have been writing the reports for this matter.
Seeing nothing was ever going to happen about it, at least the participants could have had a laugh and some lively discussion. And it may have actually led to some really practical ideas. I understand the light rail was going to decimate the shopping areas it went through so that would not have been positive, going forward.
DCC councillors have actually been looking at commuter rail over the recent few years. Apparenlty the delay is because schedulling a trial between heavy freight seasons needs to be done precisely, because it will have to use the main trunk line for the initial mosgiel/dunners (possibly not even palmerston) route
In image I'm viewing it has a wide area – two trains can pass side by side there is a vehicle lane each side; one has one lane plus along kerb parking and the other has two lanes plus a wide red area presumably for cycles, mobility carts.
This Australian farmers initiative is raising funds and worth supporting. It's one of the few positive things coming out of Australia at present. As all of we townies know, farmers are all-knowing and custodians of the land and wouldn't do anything that would harm it, wouldn't make sense would it?
However there may be some farmers who aren't really aware of what they could do better. I think that Australians are getting behind this group with new practices that they have proved work, and so are becoming more effective and more sustainable. Why they may become better at farming than we are, and burst that happy little thought bubble that has been floating above NZ heads for yonks.
So find out what they are doing, the farming fraternity in both countries may yet be able to turn around and adopt better ways that allow them to last out long droughts and high temperatures – Australians farming inland know about those, and we have had a regional taste in recent years.
Woodhouse gets clobbered in Parliament at Question Time and starts to backtrack. This, only hours after Muller was on TV insisting Woodhouse was telling the truth.
It is simply not good enough to shrug and "move on", the media have happily spread the lie, now they need to follow it up and spread the facts.
They seem to be saying that the info came from inside the Health Department. A good exchange of question and answer on QT today ridiculing Woodhouse included across the whole 3minutes. of Q5
Maybe Muller has a deep laid plan to basically kneecap Woodhouse. He keeps supporting him until the allegations prove false then he dumps on him hard, moves him down list places, out of shadow roles etc. Does Woodhouse belong to the same Nact faction as Muller or is he on the far right Judith Collins side?
But is Britain’s sensible, silent majority now awakening from its slumber? Could it be that Poole and Oxford are the first signs of a great conservative fightback?…Sensible small-c conservatism is the prevailing view in Britain – the Tories must not forget this
There are some statues toppled which I think should be thought about rather than Taliban-like torn down in a flurry. But while Conservatives are rallying themselves for a cause, could they do something about the inroads that neolib is having on the UK lower class? If they have a vestige of pride and care for their fellow citizens in their great country, then employ it on behalf of those suffering very poor conditions and treatment from govt.
Further from UK. First they came for Little Britain and I shrugged and said: “Fair enough, I suppose – although they could have just edited out the dodgy sketches and left the rest.”…
Yes, a week of Black Lives Matter-inspired purging of British comedies featuring white performers in blackface has reached its nadir with news that “The Germans” episode of Fawlty Towers has been removed from UKTV’s archives.
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
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Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
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Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
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Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
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In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
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Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
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Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
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Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
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Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
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TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
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Looking at the demands of returning Kiwis. To be honest, they have made the runner when things got tough years back instead of contributing and pulling up the sleeves. Now that the going gets tough at the other end, they come home asking the taxpayer to foot the bill for all their needs. Really?
Well, my vote is now going to Winston, hands down. The only one not espousing political correct nonsense but rather dealing with the obvious. Logic and reason please.
That irony, coming back because we've been so successful in fighting this, yet not willing to help with that fight. Again, grateful to those that are just getting on with it, and all the staff and support people dealing with this, thank you.
Or they could have just been on their OE
Yet waited til now to come back …
I guess the consolation is that a few Student Loan Dodgers will get their comeuppance.
I can remember Winston telling the Kiwis abroad to come back home.
Maybe the military should set up a tent / container city on an isolated island (maybe an unused ex-prison place). No fags, no booze, three meals from a field kitchen. That's the free option for returning Kiwis, otherwise you pay (and complain to) the quarantine hotel management, which is a private business, instead bitching and moaning about the government not providing you champagne and caviar for breakfast.
They probably want first class public government services and tax cuts at the same time.
I agree with that, as I said on another post reopen Somes Island.
Because obviously wealthy 'kiwis' should be able to buy a luxury quarantine.
I know of two New Zealanders that were not able to get to the "rescue" from China, and are still in China, hoping to be able to get to New Zealand in July, depending on flights . . .
The suggestion to return was heeded by a lot of New Zealanders – flights here were filled very quickly, and some may not have heard the warning in time. Certainly we now know there were a very large number of New Zealanders who were not able to get back to NZ at that time.
Or unwilling… when the NZ government took COVID seriously and sent out clear warning signs, most other countries played the impacts of the pandemic down.
While some might have "missed the boat/plane", as you describe, many overseas Kiwis ignored those warning and only now, after so many countries are seriously impacted, they decide to come home.
Also interesting to note, that in the early stages the incoming people would have had to organise their own self-isolation accommodation, either squeeze in with NZ family, pay for rental home or pay for a hotel. So not sure why they seriously expect the government to pay for their 2 week isolation/quarantine luxury hotels (like Stamford, Pullman, Novotel, which cost – when I stayed their last for work – several hundreds of dollars a day!).
But Winston invited them back.
That was a month ago and yes, perhaps the flights are cancelled but some repatriate flights were undertaken.
The point is: Many NZlaenders were going overseas because the grass was greener and they felt they did not get enough money to compensate for their work in their home country. Many were also fleeing the student loan repayments. Some might have gone on an OE.
In all cases – I bluntly refuse to pay for their keep. Full stop, end of story.
I saw, on One News last night, Todd say "it's a national disgrace". The meme must be stuck in his head now: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/419646/covid-19-national-party-demands-answers-on-covid-19-testing-in-isolation
I mused that it was rather unfair of the Nat leader to call National a disgrace when the quarantine shambles was a govt failure. I wonder how many others did likewise. Tricky, these contagious complex memes, they get into peoples heads and do their subversive thing. Perhaps Todd needs a competent media adviser? Oh wait, he's got Hooton for that… 🤩
Muller taking the, 'we don't have to prove it, just trust us' line.
Not sure that will wash with most Kiwis weary of National Party untruths over the last 12 years.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/06/coronavirus-todd-muller-backs-michael-woodhouse-despite-doubt-over-homeless-man-claim.html
""it's a national disgrace" I see. You mean "its a National disgrace." So right.
mullers one liner reminds me of a protest sign that I've used for a couple of elections… it reads
"nick smith is a national disaster"
Apocalypse now? No. Soon? Maybe – another pandemic, driven by a more contagious bug could do it. Eventually? Yeah, later this century though, so no worries…
Notes from an Apocalypse: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/mark-o-connell-interview-the-notes-from-an-apocalypse-to-be-a-machine-a9578961.html
Sounds like he's got the right idea. The world has always been part imaginal, part real. It's how the psyche operates. To co-create a better world we must first imagine it.
Thankfully the world's remaining centrists, liberals and statists will save us.
Dennis is right, I can’t imagine Hell on Earth without gatekeepers to keep a lid on things the way they are. If not for them, all Hell would break loose.
Has it not broken loose?
Ain't seen nothing yet. Plenty left behind that could still break loose.
Corin Dann doing a good job on Morning Report right now asking Muller why the border control system is broken when NZ has no community transmission at all. Muller floundering.
National’s problem is that they are attacking border controls that, by and large, are working very well.
Chris Trotter’s latest article on Bowalley Road is very odd where it attacks Labour’s performance and supports National’s hollow claims. Talk about over-egging it.
Ahh no they weren't that's why JA put the military in charge, sorted now.
We have consistent themes; strong leadership from JA, DP and media assisted spin from national.
Woodhouse and his politics over people needs to be held accountable on behalf of honest kiwis if nothing else…..rip open the deception.
Note the "are working very well"…..earlier for a short period they were slow to implement the 3-day and 12-day testing but without military involvement I think this would have happened anyway.
So there was a small window where border controls were less-than-adequate but (as you say tc) this was quickly fixed. (Megan Woods was superb on Morning Report yesterday).
Muller and Woodhouse are whinging about controls that have prevented any community transmission-that is the acid test.
If Muller is floundering all it proves is that he is a git.
The fact remains that the significant number of people who left isolation without a test followed by the amount of time taken to find out what happened and source the data is an appalling failure and we've escaped another outbreak by good luck rather than good management.
There must be no more failures of this nature and i'm certainly pleased that the Minister Woods is now in charge from an oversight perspective rather than the Minister of Health.
Agree totally about Woods-she is a safe pair of hands. But the "appalling failure" line is the media's beat-up take on the situation-see my posts above.
You are correct in that. But nowadays perception prevails over reality much of the time, and the media are driven more by perception. Reality bores too many media consumers. They need more than that. So beat-ups get produced by human nature.
There’s also this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law
So 90% of journos will always be crap. Labour MPs likewise. Nat MPs? More than 95%. 😎
Agreed Dennis. Siouxsie Wills is doing a good job of putting the issue in perspective on Morning Report right now-well worth a listen.
Be assured it is an appalling failure if this kind of stuff up had occurred in a secondary healthcare setting think missing this many cancers etc … there would be hell to pay.
"This many cancers"
And how many is that?
🙄
If cancers were contagious.
Are you retarded ?
Wash your mouth out.
National knew there was no testing pre the move to Level 1 and argued for a move to Level 1 long before this was done – they are empty suits.
National say they would be more competent but the faulty repairs to houses in the Canterbury earthquake show National would be worse.
The report shows most repairs were as bad as the leaky homes another National failure.
Woodhouse should put up or shut up!
Natz more compeent.
HUH
Remember when the NATZ back in feb? wanted
To Have a bonfire of regulations
AND
Tax cuts.
And NZ should open the borders to foster trade and allow thousands of students in.
Tens of thousands of students
In ODT today headline "quarantine possible in south island" or something and mentions hotels in Queenstown, & Queenstown mayor saying "I don't think so" (paraphrased), so fuk knows what National are on about.
It’s quite odd, Jim Boult, Queenstown Lakes Mayor, was all in favour of overseas students coming into town and doing their 14 days quarantine in Queenstown a couple of weeks ago.
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/southland/quarantine-students-queenstown-plan-backedhttps://www.odt.co.nz/regions/southland/quarantine-students-queenstown-plan-backed
In this morning's interviews Muller doubled down on the Woodhouse claims. He backed his MP so strongly that he can't now separate his own leadership from the allegations. (A more experienced leader would say "he's just asking the questions" or similar waffle, keeping his distance).
If he has evidence that Woodhouse is right, then Muller gets a win. If he doesn't then he is shooting himself in the foot, for no political gain. There are enough real issues with quarantine for National to focus on. They don't need to be making them up.
Surely the easiest way to show that Woodhouse is right is to comply with Wood request.
Woodhouse has backed himself and Muller into a corner, you are right, the only way out now is to comply because Woodhouse already looks slippery as an eel and it's all downhill from here if he tries weasal words again. In one sense I hope they front up with proof it happened, to demonstrate they don't have the best interests of the public in mind at all and are only interested in the political game.
The picture National is trying to paint is that the quarantine system is like a revolving door and people can just walk in and out as they please, all on the Taxpayers’ expense, while having unprotected kisses and cuddles.
Right or wrong, Labour should be pushing the issue of the expense Woodlouse is putting the public to with his coyness.
National’s homeless person is a variation of their bene bashing theme, a no-hoper bottom-dweller who hacked the system and got something from the Taxpayer that they’re not entitled to without harsh consequences. JC would crush their carton board home, dirty old sleeping bag and all, with a swamp Kauri log covered in milk powder.
The story is a dead cat on the table unless the homeless person is a super spreader, which makes no sense because they have just self-isolated for 14 days in a posh hotel. I’ve heard that those isolation hotels are almost as posh as our prisons. Can somebody please ask National how much it costs per day to be in prison?
I hope they’ll find the homeless person and lock them up in prison. That’ll teach them what welfare is for: hardworking law-abiding citizens who find themselves in trouble through no fault of their own.
I may be wrong but wasn’t the original story based on the person in question not being able to provide an address when leaving isolation. That doesn’t mean they were a homeless person who walked off the street. They may genuinely not have known where they were going to be staying once released if they hadn’t lived in NZ for a while. With friends, family, or they needed a rental. I have family who moved back before lockdown who have been staying at multiple addresses while they work out where they will stay permanently.
If so, the story has morphed somewhat. As stories do. There was a children's game where everyone sat in a circle and the starter whispered something to the person on one side who then repeated the whisper to the child on their other side & so on. When it reached around the circle back to the source the message is never the same as it was.
Assuming Woodhouse is spinning it deliberately seems unfair. However if there was a Nat-sympathiser in the chain of messaging between him and the departmental source, or if that source was a Nat voter, spin becomes understandable.
Seems perfectly fair to assume a woodlouse doesn't change its stripes.
The claim was that the person was not entitled (or presumably required!) to go into isolation but tagged along behind some people who had come from a flight to quarantine, and was given a room. Whether they were prepared to give an address when leaving is another matter entirely. Woodhouse needs to give his sources of information, or be seen as a liar.
Here is another one calling for perspective and good on Gehan Gunasekara:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/06/24/1245867/well-need-that-red-tape-if-we-want-to-beat-covid?utm_source=Friends+of+the+Newsroom&utm_campaign=e74bfd9258-Daily+Briefing+23.6.20_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_71de5c4b35-e74bfd9258-95522477
Yes, good piece.
The new National leadership have been unclear about how much of the baggage they inherited from Bridges/Bennett is still their party's policy.
But we have to assume it still is, unless they tell us it's been dumped. So National still want to have a "bonfire of red tape", and scrap 2 rules for every new one.
Muller on Morning Farce this morning claimed that no evidence that anything actually happened did not mean that there was no evidence that something did happen. On that logic we should just bin the entire Justice system because Everything Did Happen. Or as the greatest philosopher of our time Walter Sobchak in The big Lebowski opines " Say what you like about National (ist ) Socialism Dude, at least it was an ethos ", meaning Todd is obliquely advocating that we should go straight to the firing squad anytime anybody says anything about anybody else.
And of course Universities should bring in overseas students immediately because they have plenty of Houses of Residence where they can isolate them. I'm 71 but I would be joining the thousands of students in the streets protesting that one, should be more fun than the 60s.
Remember those stories a while back about how Ardern was damaging NZ's relationship with Australia? That our reputation would suffer, across the Tasman?
Let's ask the Australians how that panned out …
https://poll.lowyinstitute.org/charts/confidence-in-political-leaders
"So-called flying rivers are prevailing winds that pick up water vapor exhaled by forests and deliver rains to distant water basins."
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/controversial-russian-theory-claims-forests-don-t-just-make-rain-they-make-wind?
Good to see this. Science is ruled more by convention than discovery – resistance to Gaia remains entrenched in the establishment.
This is paradigm-shifting research, so expect resistance from scientists who need proof to shift them. They will await replication.
I recall being taught the physics of atmospheric convection cells (but recall no details) so it's easy for me to intuitively accept this new paradigm. It deepens our grasp of how Gaia operates as a global system. Then just factor in all the emerging evidence of airborne bacterial flows in the upper levels and you will find it increasingly difficult to retain the old science view that only parts matter. Rejection of whole systems has become increasingly untenable with the rise of the science of complexity.
Agreed. Nice response, Dennis. My fellow councillors were somewhat less forthcoming with encouraging words 🙂
Would be a waste of time telling them that even dinosaurs can dance. Would be fun watching them try to process that though! 🤣
There are 'pineapple expresses' everywhere aloft. This summer's Fiordland flooding event, for example. In fact multiple floods in recent times on the West Coast.
Thanks, very interesting. Just described those deriving from Hawaii & northern hemisphere consequences though. Would be good to read the equivalent backgrounder for the effects in Aotearoa you mentioned eh?
I learnt about coriolis during my student days (physics grad) & it derives from global symmetry, but there's more to weather production than the spin of the planet. Land imbalance: more in the north than south. So weather becomes regional in consequence. Dunno how hemispherical assymetry affects/produces upper atmosphere flows…
How interesting. Making rain, making wind. What makes the wind blow?
Hanging washing this morning on a still winter's sunny morning. I played with the idea of making wind so as to get my washing dry and swept the rotary clothes line round and repeated, then change direction. When it stopped the clothes were moving slightly in a small breeze. By creating a small vortex could I affect the weather I wondered. Just a thought.
Looked up wind related things on google. Some of what I found:
For idle reading and learning this stack exchange post about USA parts, calling a very cold wind 'the hawk' is a great example of exchanging info about history and culture and knowledge from the past.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/481458/origin-of-the-saying-the-hawk-is-out
New ideas called for in the green economy – this one, what to do with old wind turbines.
https://www.politico.eu/article/small-old-wind-towers-make-for-big-new-problems 2018
and
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51325101 What happens to all the old wind turbines? 2020
This on google was interesting – ebook. "The Botanical Lore of the California Indians: with Side Lights on Historical …By John Bruno Romero"
On weather – folk lore: https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/22-old-weather-proverbs-that-are-actually-true/
Interesting on google: ‘The Lore of New Mexico by Marta Weigle and Peter White’
Apparently there was a Little Ice Age between 1450-1850 and that affected New Mexico and resulted in some extreme weather conditions. Studying those and how they dealt with them could be informative for now – my thought.
Publisher:Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, ©2003.
At the Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Library.
"I played with the idea of making wind so as to get my washing dry and swept the rotary clothes line round and repeated, then change direction."
Do I have the solution for you @Grey!
You just line the current crop of the National Party up adjacent to your clothesline and get them to let loose. Votices and directional changes come naturally
OwT That would require a sheep dog of enormous size and skill. And they would prove to have hollow lungs, even without Covid-19 they would run out of puff, useless puffters.
By the way, in your memory, have you heard of a contraption that can be put on a rotary clothes line to create air movement for faster drying. I think it was based on a spring attached to the line, that stretches and retracts which keeps the line going back and forth. I feel that some nifty craftsman in his shed once came up with that.
"useless puffters" – sailing a bit close to the wind there, but I like your style.
Don't be a wimp DMK -it's tiring that some are always looking for something to find fault with.
I was pleased to hear that killing people during rough sex is something that is going to be made illegal in Britain – now that was something to complain about.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018751998/uk-to-ban-rough-sex-gone-wrong-should-new-zealand-follow
You've ‘outed‘ me Grey; I am indeed a wimp, although I can be persuaded to 'get in behind' just causes.
MoT have just put put a note saying that Cabinet have failed to agree on a light rail decision, so it will be put to the next government.
Part of me says that sanity has prevailed, the other part says OMG another transport non-delivery.
Bloody Winston …
what would the Labour Party do without 'bloody winston'? Maybe try harder to get consensus? lol
Among others:
– The senior NZSuperfund execs who actively sabotaged the NZTA proposal.
– Twyford for entertaining the alternative in the first place
– Treasury for not stomping all over this with boots
– Infrastructure Commission for being conspicuously silent
– MoT and DPMC for not smacking heads together well before it got to the Cabinet table.
and of course…
– The Greens for getting smashed on a key transport issue, again
It's a big loss for the thousands who would have been employed on the job as well.
Rome wasn't built in a day @Micky. It might have been quicker to have just given him a knighthood along with his BFF in the last QB Honours list, and an offer of some prestigious pozzy on the Whurl stage representing lil 'ole NuZull that punches above its weight.
As far as a quick, 'efficient and effective' option in this space going forward, I'm still not sure why we're not looking/haven't looked at alternative options for passenger travel from that bustling international metropolis of Orcas to the Earport.
Such as maybe getting on with 3rd railing where existing geography allows, and things like Tramtrains – off the heavy rail network at say Papatoetoe, down Wylie Road and then Puhinui Road. Bob's your Auntie. The freight stuff can come later after we've worried ourselves silly considering every other conceivable option.
Could even work in places like Dunners City and points north to Dunners Mosgiel Earport. Even Lyttleton and/or Rolleston to Christ's Church Earport.
Might even work work elsewhere – the Puke via Tearanga to points north.
Patience! These things take time!!
Great OwT, you should have been writing the reports for this matter.
Seeing nothing was ever going to happen about it, at least the participants could have had a laugh and some lively discussion. And it may have actually led to some really practical ideas. I understand the light rail was going to decimate the shopping areas it went through so that would not have been positive, going forward.
DCC councillors have actually been looking at commuter rail over the recent few years. Apparenlty the delay is because schedulling a trial between heavy freight seasons needs to be done precisely, because it will have to use the main trunk line for the initial mosgiel/dunners (possibly not even palmerston) route
It is not only Winston’s fault…the Nats should be backing this too…look at the fantastic light-rail system they have put in in recent years in Sydney
Light rail in Sydney.
https://sydneylightrail.transport.nsw.gov.au/
In image I'm viewing it has a wide area – two trains can pass side by side there is a vehicle lane each side; one has one lane plus along kerb parking and the other has two lanes plus a wide red area presumably for cycles, mobility carts.
Wikpedia on it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_rail_in_Sydney
OK Winston you classic Boomer. You've had some good moments and some not so good.
https://twitter.com/kylemacd/status/1275575719838355457?s=21
This Australian farmers initiative is raising funds and worth supporting. It's one of the few positive things coming out of Australia at present. As all of we townies know, farmers are all-knowing and custodians of the land and wouldn't do anything that would harm it, wouldn't make sense would it?
However there may be some farmers who aren't really aware of what they could do better. I think that Australians are getting behind this group with new practices that they have proved work, and so are becoming more effective and more sustainable. Why they may become better at farming than we are, and burst that happy little thought bubble that has been floating above NZ heads for yonks.
So find out what they are doing, the farming fraternity in both countries may yet be able to turn around and adopt better ways that allow them to last out long droughts and high temperatures – Australians farming inland know about those, and we have had a regional taste in recent years.
https://themullooninstitute.org/donate
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwJWXQcJfqjJtSqLfBhdBNMPwJD
It's drawing people in to tell the story. So why not take the opportunity to listen?
https://themullooninstitute.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsJjHtfJv1c
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1woTLy4m2uw
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRPsS_Y36zM
Woodhouse gets clobbered in Parliament at Question Time and starts to backtrack. This, only hours after Muller was on TV insisting Woodhouse was telling the truth.
It is simply not good enough to shrug and "move on", the media have happily spread the lie, now they need to follow it up and spread the facts.
They seem to be saying that the info came from inside the Health Department. A good exchange of question and answer on QT today ridiculing Woodhouse included across the whole 3minutes. of Q5
https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=213277
Maybe Muller has a deep laid plan to basically kneecap Woodhouse. He keeps supporting him until the allegations prove false then he dumps on him hard, moves him down list places, out of shadow roles etc. Does Woodhouse belong to the same Nact faction as Muller or is he on the far right Judith Collins side?
Popcorn is toasting.
I look forward on labour campaigning on how they can deliver ….. anything they promise.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
At least ya won't get spaghetti and pineapple.
Tbh, I'd settle for Labour and National not campaigning on lies.
Find the $11.7 billion fiscal hole – come on boy, find it!
https://thestandard.org.nz/about-the-7-5-billion-surplus/
Nice to see you again James. You know better than to troll my posts though.
edit
Dear me.
But is Britain’s sensible, silent majority now awakening from its slumber? Could it be that Poole and Oxford are the first signs of a great conservative fightback?…Sensible small-c conservatism is the prevailing view in Britain – the Tories must not forget this
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/11/poole-oxford-seeing-first-stirrings-silent-majority/
There are some statues toppled which I think should be thought about rather than Taliban-like torn down in a flurry. But while Conservatives are rallying themselves for a cause, could they do something about the inroads that neolib is having on the UK lower class? If they have a vestige of pride and care for their fellow citizens in their great country, then employ it on behalf of those suffering very poor conditions and treatment from govt.
Further from UK.
First they came for Little Britain and I shrugged and said: “Fair enough, I suppose – although they could have just edited out the dodgy sketches and left the rest.”…
Yes, a week of Black Lives Matter-inspired purging of British comedies featuring white performers in blackface has reached its nadir with news that “The Germans” episode of Fawlty Towers has been removed from UKTV’s archives.
It’s a move as misguided as Basil Fawlty mounting a stuffed moose head on the wall or thrashing his Austin Countryman with a tree branch….
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/ze-germans-can-see-joke-fawlty-towers-earth-cant/
Kia Ora
Newshub.
Learning more about Aotearoa history.
Drones spotting Sharks it's cool how new technologies changes the Papatuanuku..
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama.
Its good to see more Wahine Shearing the leadership roles.
Cartoons being made in Te reo is good.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
The Am Show.
That's great.
Duncan you can't count.
The Labour lead government has handled the virus issues much better than the previous government could dream of.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Newshub.
A tornado wow.
That's good to hear Tova.
That's the way welcome home be kind.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama.
I just hope Maori journalists get more putea for their mahi.
Toi tu toi ora contemporary art looks awesome is is great to see more Maori toi.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Newshub.
Yes lawyers can chew through the cash in litigation cases.
That's is cool the timelaps video of the Sun.
Ka kite Ano