We don't seem to hear much about Fiji on the news. How are their hospitals coping as they seem to have 150 new cases a day but I have never heard how many have had to be hospitalised.
"What we already know – and officials are saying – it's going to get worse, and the reason that they know that is because people who are turning up positive come from really crowded settlements and so there is this huge fear, and rightly so, that there's just so many more people who are infected," she said.
Targeted containment areas have been put in place in lieu of strict lockdown measures.
Dreaver said many of the medical authorities have been infected with Covid-19 and the hospital "is a Covid centre," with New Zealand and Australian teams deployed to provide aid.
"I am seriously worried about Fiji, as is everybody."
She added that while 45 per cent of the population have received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, both doses must be taken to be effective.
Dreaver called for stronger leadership, with Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama "missing in action", leaving Health Secretary Dr James Fong to front the crisis.
"I think the medical authorities there are fighting a losing battle and they're doing the best they can."
Yeah, but Fiji is bigger than just Suva – so the temperature controlled infrastructure may not be there for the Pfizer vaccine. Weren't there other candidate vaccines that were being distributed to neighbouring pacific islands? Targeting those to Fiji on a priority basis might achieve more than disrupting our own distribution organisation,
On Fiji, Bloomfield says it's not for him to say if Fiji will be able to get its Covid-19 outbreak under control.
"I think it will be a challenge for them and a big focus … is vaccination. We're working as fast as possible to ensure that our approval of AstraZeneca goes through and that we're expecting over the coming weeks, and we're able to then get deliveries of AstraZeneca into the country, and able to on-donate them to Fiji and other countries."
Hipkins says Australia is helping with vaccine supply for Fiji in the interim.
So why does NZ need to approve the AstraZeneca vaccine to on-donate it? If Fiji is willing to take the risk, then I'd say that's up to them. At least it only needs fridge temperature storage.
I'd be kinda queasy about the idea of donating stuff we hadn't yet approved as being good enough to use on our own population. To me, it would kinda feel like sending pet food to alleviate a famine.
ISTR several years ago the local hospital got rid of their old-style wooden crutches (the ones that go up to your armpits) because they cause nerve damage, and replaced them with the ones with the ring that goes around your upper arm and all the weight is on the handgrip.
Folks suggested we donate the old ones to developing nations. The DHB said they weren't going to dump harmful items onto developing nations, and trashed the old ones. Which seemed fair enough. "Here, have some nerve damage to salve my conscience" seems a bit odd.
Australians aged under 60 will no longer receive first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to the rare risk of a serious blood clotting disorder among people aged 50 to 59.
The government has accepted the advice of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), which recommends those aged under 60 now receive the Pfizer vaccine. It previously recommended Pfizer to those aged under 50.
The change is based on the advisory group’s assessment of the risks of the clotting disorder, called thrombosis and thrombocytopenia syndrome or TTS, versus benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in protecting against COVID-19.
While the risk of TTS is still very low overall, it is more common in younger age groups. And younger people are less likely to die or become seriously ill from COVID-19.
Or else they should / could get the astra vaccines, or the johnson and johnson, both whom do not need to be stored at – 80 odd degrees.
Just because we in NZ have failed to certify these two vaccines does not mean that they can't be used, and should be used, after all the rest of the world does use them, inclusive Oz.
Hopefully soon they will certify a second or even third vaccines.
New Zealand could have another locally approved vaccine available by August, with MedSafe expected to make a decision on Johnson & Johnson's shot within a fortnight.
But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Pfizer vaccine remained the predominant Covid-19 shot that Kiwis could expect to receive this year.
The compassionate part of me thought: right now, we have the pfizer, we have freezers, we have the generators and their need is far more urgent than ours.
Indonesia and South Africa (among others) face new Covid waves – meanwhile, Morning Report's Susie Ferguson refers to "chaos as the capital city tries to clear itself of mā te [?] corona".
"Chaos" people! Keep it together World, and keep it together Team of Five Million – Fiji has an outbreak; Sydney has an outbreak – Wellington has a potential outbreak.
If I was there and trying to get to work and plan my life, my life would be in chaos. NZ has been getting along comfortably, now worries, and the health authorities have to sharpen us up FTTT, and this variant is just the latest and greatest!
Chaos ("complete disorder and confusion") just sounds so alarmist, so over-the-top, at least to me. If chaos is an accurate/representative descriptor for what's occurring in Wellington now, then how best to describe what Peru (!), Belgium, Italy, the UK, USA, Brazil, India et al. have been through – extreme chaos?
Hear/use 'chaos' often enough and belief may make it so. This will sound very presumptuous, but I believe what most Wellingtonians are currently experiencing is not chaos, nor catastrophe, but rather a mild-to-moderate inconvenience associated with the precautionary move to Covid alert level 2; we've all been there.
Just my opinion, as always. I really hope that Wellington, Kapiti Coast and the Wairarapa get back to level 1 ASAP.
Okay, so Chris Hipkins is responsible – isn’t he a busy boy?
Hipkins told Newsroom the Government’s third Partnership plan had been developed before he took the open government portion of the portfolio from Clare Curran, and he felt the document could have been more ambitious.
So far, so good.
While the initiatives around the flow of information had generally gone well, there was more work to be done on participatory democracy.
“Open government isn't just about telling people what you're doing, it's also about actually being more inclusive and involving people more in the decision-making process.”
Yup, agree 100% with that.
The complications of Covid-19 and alert level restrictions had “accelerated massively” progress on digital inclusion, Hipkins said.
“Take Zoom: I don't think we would be using Zoom and video-conferencing as extensively in parliamentary proceedings now, had it not been for Covid-19 …
“It makes it more accessible to the public, because once upon a time, if you were hearing a bill and you wanted to make a submission, and you were in Tauranga, you might be lucky if the committee came to Auckland and you'd have to drive to Auckland to do it … whereas video-conferencing means that you can actually be there in person without having to leave your living room.”
While this is true, it has also shown the limitations of online meetings. Nothing yet replaces direct face-to-face contact of being in the same room at the same time and have a coffee or lunch break, to get to know each other.
Inclusion, be it digital or real-life, is a necessary but not sufficient step towards truly open government and we’re some way off still, obviously.
Please do better, Mr Hipkins, than pointing to pathetic things such as Zoom meetings.
Sounds good – now does it include politicians having done a short course in people management, project management, priorities in decision making and social anthropologyabout what human society is, and needs to have a healthy-minded civilisation. Perhaps Hipkins and others can concentragte on this while they are thinking about better government. And we could look at having a second house of citizens who have also done that course and done a test to show that they can make intelligent choices and devise ways to meet the needs of the country and improve conditions and make good choices putting practical first, and theoretical second, so that things chosen will be done in the most appropriate way for good outcomes. Whew. That's a lot of advancement for NZ. I don't think we are up to that yet, or will ever be.
"A draft of the IPCC report apparently from early this year was leaked to Agence France-Presse, which reported on its findings on Thursday. The draft warns of a series of thresholds beyond which recovery from climate breakdown may become impossible. It warns: “Life on Earth can recover from a drastic climate shift by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems … humans cannot.”"
You wouldn't know it by the distinct lack of urgency being displayed anywhere
Yep – one of those rare alignments of the stars when our shallow player base produces a really good team (with a bit of help this time from the South African talent diaspora). It's happened before – the 1949 team to England, the 1985 team that crushed Australia at the Gabba, and again in 2021. A neat 36-year gap between each one.
Surely mainstream news outlets should use correct facts. Both these articles reference population projections for Wellington that were always at the top end of any projected range and have been modified when challenged
Again, who wants to have kids if you can't even afford to house them? But then, we can always import some cheap labour to man our hospitals, our old folk homes, wash our dishes, cook our food etc, while our young be economic migrants in England or so. The wheel keeps on turning.
Maybe the government should roll the cost of housing homeless over to the towns. I wonder how long it would take for the motels to be empty, the parks to be full and the nimby’s to be pooping their pants? Same of course counts for a great many places that are too good to be build up.
Around Wellington those excessive population projections plus Labour rolling out "one size fits all" transport plans demanding building around hubs have raised huge issues that go beyond nimbyism.
Unlikely that that amount of intensification will ever be needed but
The pipes won't take extra intensification except in four areas.
Earthquakes are a real hazard and some areas have ground that is too soft to intensify easily and/or the insurance premiums are going to be massive.
Plus with too dense a housing an earthquake would render even more people homeless than the 17000 or so that are currently in high rise.
The lack of existing green spaces would be even more of an issue.
demanding houses next to transport guts any discussion on retirement housing that is needed and doesn't have the same transport impact. The northern suburbs could be intensified for retirement and get people out of bigger houses.
What I really don't understand though is why labour are so keen on shooting themselves in the foot ( or is it the Greens they are targeting?) with the intensification over such narrow footprints in the existing city. Wellington is a high labour greens voting area and there have been a number of thoughtful contributions put forward by the various suburbs to increase housing supply and have workable transport.
If it had started with engaging locals with realistic population increases then we are likely to have less division and more solutions. Nor has labour done anything to push back at unused or lights out housing, overseas ownership or
As to awful rental housing – some of it at least demands health/ building inspection and the filing with the tenancy tribunal of any notices to upgrade. And here I think councils do have a role – it is the dwelling that needs fixing not the tenants being moved on.
but in saying that, if the towns had to via their rates to pay for the upkeep of the people they can't or won't house then maybe they could find alternatives that suits them.
Can someone tell me why the media outlets won't name the bastards responsible? Name them and shame them. It might stop others from doing it. If we didn't have so many gullible souls it wouldn't matter but unfortunately we do.
A small glossy flyer appeared in my (Palmerston North) letterbox about a week ago.
8 IMPORTANT COVID VACCINE FACTS you probably haven't heard
[unrepeatable rubbish] WILL YOU TAKE THE RISK?
[and, on the other side] Because we believe in backing up our claims…
LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE
The 'organisation' behind this flyer is the so-called 'Voices for Freedom', but I reckon this 'voice' about sums them up:
Absolute trash (which is where it's going now; only kept it in case others posted about similar misinformation – thanks Anne). The 'minds' behind such campaigns are intent on pushing NZers under the 'Covid bus' to get their way – in a word; disgusting.
Use in pregnancy and while breast feeding
Use in immunocompromised patients
Use in frail patients with co-morbidities (eg, chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease [COPD], diabetes, chronic neurological disease,
cardiovascular disorders)
Use in patients with autoimmune or inflammatory disorders
Interaction with other vaccines
Long-term safety data
Rosemary, thanks for that list of potential risks – if I experience those or any other side-effects I'll post details here, unless the vaccine polishes me off first. At least I survived this year’s batch of influenza vaccine
As to the missing information, the reason I'm able to get the Pfizer vaccine now is because of my autoimmune disorders, so that's something to be thankful for.
And yes, it's regrettable that long-term safety data is necessarily missing, but frankly some countries just couldn't wait.
With 2.8 billion doses administered so far, I reckon there'll be a big dataset of side effects, and I'm happy to contribute to that data set – no pussyfooting around for this lad.
Anyone hesitant about the Covid-19 vaccine may choose not to get vaccinated – but don't worry, someone else will be lining up for your doses.
Why am I choosing to be given COMIRNATY?
COMIRNATY is a vaccine given to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in adults and adolescents from 12 years of age and older. COMIRNATY contains the active ingredient BNT162b2 [mRNA].
COMIRNATY works by triggering/training your immune system to produce antibodies and blood cells that work against the virus, to protect against COVID-19 disease.
Average risk of death from COVID-19 infection without vaccination: 2%. Your choice.
I don’t like the approach they have taken. Completely inappropriate and confusing..that said..
I don't want to aggravate anyone but the evidence for Ivermectin is not going away at this point, and has been available since around Aug/Sept 2020. Unless you focus on studies that have been deliberately designed to make it look ineffective (eg by waiting until just before death to dose someone with it, they die and therefore the conclusion is that Ivermectin is useless) there is no reason not to approve this drug for Covid treatment. If proper public debate were permitted perhaps medical doctors that agree Ivermectin works and is safe could have made their point logically, the way science used to be done.
Ivermectin can be taken at home therefore saving hospital costs and risks of transmission. It would be well worth the MoH's time to conduct a proper look at Ivermecting which they either haven't done, or they only looked at studies guiding them to a specific outcome.
This NZ Doctor speaks about Ivermectin, thus putting his career on the line because he has assessed the information and has a medical opinion that is contrary to the government line, I guess with the intention that things could change and lives would be saved by the use of this drug (approved in NZ for human use, just not for Covid btw) https://odysee.com/@NZDSOS:2/Dr-Shelton:5
Instead of treating doctors not following the status quo we seek to punish for speaking out when really they are stating a medical opinion, a right they earned when they completed training and began practicing medicine. Where is the respect? And does anyone honestly think NZ can afford to loose all the doctors and nurses who signed the open letter critising NZ's response? It's madness.
There is a larger study including Ivermectin happening in the UK, that should help resolve the question of its efficacy. It makes sense that while testing one proposed treatment against a control group, you may as well test other treatments against the same control. At least it's safer than synthetic quinine.
Led by the University of Oxford, PRINCIPLE is investigating treatments for people at more risk of serious illness from COVID-19 which can speed up recovery, reduce the severity of symptoms and prevent the need for hospital admission. The study has so far recruited more than 5,000 volunteers from across the UK…
Following a screening questionnaire to confirm eligibility, participants enrolled in the study will be randomly assigned to receive a three-day course of oral ivermectin treatment. They will be followed-up for 28 days and will be compared with participants who have been assigned to receive the usual standard of NHS care only. People aged 18 to 64 with certain underlying health conditions or shortness of breath from COVID-19, or aged over 65, are eligible to join the trial within the first 14 days of experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or receiving a positive test.
Of the six other drugs in the Principle study of Covid treatments to be taken at home, only one – inhaled steroid budesonide – has so far proved effective.
Although, sister project the Recovery trial, of treatments for hospital patients, also discovered another steroid, dexamethasone, could treat Covid, which has been credited with saving more than 20,000 lives in the UK.
I hardly think that dexamethasone has just been discovered as an effective treatment. It's been used for yonks as an anti-inflammatory medication for a myriad of conditions from asthma to brain inflammation.
Approved for treatment of COVID19 in UK hospitals, rather than discovered as a new substance, Brigid. Likewise; Ivermectin, is widely used to treat lice and other parasites, but not as yet reached the evidential threshold for domestic mild COVID19 treatment. People do need to feel they are doing something though, so it is used fairly frequently for that purpose in places where there are no other options. The results from those ad-hoc uncontrolled experiments have been mixed.
Hmm.. Its taken long enough, I wonder why they're only doing this study now when there have been reports for a year or more that there was success with this drug, (see the FLCCC Alliance for example).
"Deliberately undermine.., does make no sense." – Maui @9:31 PM
Maui, the 'Voices for Freedom' flyer that I read is unquestionably aimed at deliberately undermining the vaccine roll out in NZ.
Imho, 'Voices for Freedom' is acting much like a fifth column in NZ's fight against Covid-19. They are traitors to their country and their fellow citizens – their aim is to sabotage the public health vaccination programme by undermining public confidence in the most effective long-term 'weapon' NZ has for combatting the spread and severity of symptoms of Covid-19, including long-Covid.
Whether 'Voices for Freedom' and their ilk are sincere in their beliefs makes no difference – their contemptible actions condemn them.
Otago Faculty of Law Professor Andrew Geddis, who researches constitutional and public law, said that while “people do have a right to believe and say manifestly wrong things – it shouldn’t be illegal to go around telling everyone that the world is flat, for instance… the difference here is that if these anti-vax messages get currency, they could undermine our vaccination effort and this will hurt us all collectively in a way that some people believing the earth is flat will not.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Deeks
Imho the only redeeming feature of the proselytising anti-vax brigade is that, by not getting vaccinated themselves, they will free up much-needed vaccine doses for others. If they develop a serious vaccine-preventable Covid-related illness, they will of course be entitled to the best treatment our excellent but highly stressed universal public health system can provide. Such selfish and thoughtless behaviour is reprehensible and indefensible, and should be called out at every opportunity.
I've also read the flyer, and though I probably wouldnt agree with the wording of it. They back up each claim with references, some of the references are from experienced people in the field too. You have written them off as conspiracy theorists, and I think that's wrong as some, but maybe not all of their concerns are valid.
Bee said Voices for Freedom has "many doctors, nurses and medical professionals reaching out to us".
"We also are in contact with scientists, epidemiologists, virologists, molecular biologists, psychiatrists, and legal teams from within New Zealand and around the world. We see these voices and opinions as just as valid as those that regularly appear in NZ news stories."
Liar.
They remind me of the Climate Deniers. They used to make similar claims about their supporters. 97% of Climate Scientists and Meteorologists around the world advocated urgent action against CC for decades. Only 3% were against – for ideological and religious reasons – yet the deniers made grossly exaggerated claims they had lots of scientists on their side.
Neither the Science Educator or the Vaccinologist "experts" in your link directly address the concerns and research raised by the group. But that is hardly surprising.. they're too busy giving their own opinion.
Huh? They debunk every single claim and you deny that!? You sound desperate to defend them. You have a forum here at your disposal to debate any concerns you have and state your arguments. So far, only hand waving.
Experts give their expert opinion and put their credentials and professional trust on the line in MSM. That’s how it works: argument vs. counter-argument, claim vs. debunk.
We may have different ideas about what debunking means… For instance from the Newshub article let's take, "Claim #6: "It is unknown if the vaccine will cause cancer, sterility or mutate cells.""
The response byDr Petousis-Harris is that no previous vaccine has caused these harms before.. therefore we are to believe that this one is fine too even though it's a completely different tech to older vaccines.
Followed by a strange statement about fairies in the garden, that seems to indicate that they can't guarantee what future effects a vaccine might have.
Now after all that.. would you say Claim #6 really is debunked??
“Deliberately misleading,” said Dr Campbell. “Because the mRNA in the vaccine can’t enter the nucleus, let alone integrate with DNA, then changes in DNA (i.e. mutation) can’t happen.”
…
Dr Campbell said on the other hand, there is evidence the SARS-CoV-2 virus – which causes COVID-19 – can affect male fertility.
So, yes, Claim #6 has been debunked as “[d]eliberately misleading”.
'Voices for Freedom' is a 5th column group deliberately undermining confidence in public health vaccination strategies designed to protect all NZers, imho.
I will feel (a lot) safer once I've been vaccinated. Only 4 more days until my first dose of the Comirnaty vaccine – super excited.
Against my better judgement, I followed the link to evidence purporting to support VfF ‘fact’ 1: “Deaths and cases of serious injury are being reported around the world at an alarming rate!”
Children's Health Defense is an American activist group mainly known for anti-vaccine activities and has been identified as one of the main sources of misinformation on vaccines. It was founded and is chaired by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Established under the name World Mercury Project in 2016, it has been campaigning against various public health programs, such as vaccination and fluoridation of drinking water. The group has been contributing to vaccine hesitancy in the United States, encouraging citizens and legislators to support anti-vaccine regulations and legislation. Arguments against vaccination are contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.
…
On May 8, 2019, while some areas in the United States were struggling with a resurgence of measles due to low vaccination rates, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Joseph P. Kennedy and Maeve Kennedy McKean publicly stated that while their relative Robert has championed many admirable causes, he "has helped to spread dangerous misinformation over social media and is complicit in sowing distrust of the science behind vaccines."
VfF are anti-vaxxers par-excellence; Andrew Wakefield would be proud.
The Herculean efforts of so many researchers during COVID-19 have been marred by a few individuals going well beyond their areas of expertise and endorsing outlandish hypotheses.
Conflating anti-vaxxers with people who have legitimate concerns about this particular new mRNA technology, in the novel context we are using it in – is a dirty trick.
Personally I've got a little yellow booklet with my vax record full up to the wazoo – but that doesn't mean I have to turn my critical faculties off and line up like a good little sheep for my dose without asking some crucial questions.
And good luck with your shot. Personally where I work I watched two healthy individuals take many days of work very sick afterwards. Well past any 'normal' reaction.
…people who have legitimate concerns about this particular new mRNA technology, in the novel context we are using it in…”
What are some of the “legitimate concerns” of these people?
And good luck with your shot. Personally where I work I watched two healthy individuals take many days of work very sick afterwards. Well past any 'normal' reaction.
Thanks for those kind words of comfort RL – great bedside manner. Will report back on Thursday, if I can rise from my deathbed
22.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 2.8 billion doses have been administered globally, and 41.2 million are now administered each day.
Only 0.9% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
The primary reason for the bewildering antithesis towards Ivermectin (and other existing drugs) is that the Emergency Use Authorisation under which the novel Covid 19 vaccines are allowed to be used in the US is dependent on there being No Alternatives.
Sadly, and for reasons I cannot explain, most of the world seems to follow the USA in these matters.
I would provide links to some very sound research and meta analyses of research and studies that point to the very safe and widely used Ivermectin as being a potential preventative as well as a treatment for Covid 19 and its variants, but I won't because the usual mob will indulge in another 'you're just a dirty anti-vaxxer' pile on.
The fight back against any treatment for Covid has been rabid from day one…and I find it peculiar that so many people have bought into the "a vaccine is our only hope!!!" narrative.
Meanwhile, therapies other than an antiparasitic are being rolled out.
REGEN-COV is available for free from the U.S. government to treat patients aged 12 years or older with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.
BRUSSELS, June 3 (Reuters) – The European Union has secured about 55,000 doses of a potential treatment for COVID-19 based on a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies developed by U.S. drugmaker Regeneron (REGN.O) and Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche (ROG.S), an EU spokesman said.
At AIG Hospitals in Hyderabad, 50 patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 were, in the last three weeks, given a dose of Regen-Cov, a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies designed by American biotech firm Regeneron. Symptoms in all the patients subsided within 24 to 48 hours of being administered the therapy.
Budesonide & dexamethasone have been demonstrated to be non-vaccine treatments for mild COVID, and were approved after rigorous trials. Ivermectin has some mixed results thus far (positive and negative) so is undergoing further testing before any definitive conclusion can be reached. But it's cheap and; if not exactly risk-free, better than drinking bleach. Vitamin D is a better placebo to my mind, because it might do you some good for other things while it's doing nothing about the virus.
But the most important thing is that treatments, even if effective (in mild cases), only treat symptoms. Vaccines not only prevent you (well okay – probably not you; RMcD) from developing symptoms requiring treatment in the first place, they also prevent you from infecting others.
As of 14 June, there have been 73 deaths in England of people who were confirmed as having the Delta variant and who died within 28 days of a positive test, and of these:
34 (47%) were unvaccinated
10 (14%) were more than 21 days after their first dose of vaccine
26 (36%) were more than 14 days after their second dose
Vaccines are not the magic bullet. They are just one tool in the toolbox.
Of 806 people infected with the Delta variant who ended up hospital in England between 1 February and 14 June 2021:
527 (65%) people were unvaccinated
135 (17%) were more than 21 days after their first dose of vaccine
84 (10%) were more than 14 days after their second dose
But the Delta variant does seem to be more resistant to the Astrazeneca vaccine that was developed against the Alpha (or prior) variant. The UK vaccination program means that more people are now vaccinated than not, yet the unvaccinated disproportionately lead the death statistics, if not so disproportionately as hospital admissions:
So far, more than 43 million people have had a first vaccine dose – about 80% of the adult population – and over 31 million have had a second…
Public Health England has estimated that 14,000 deaths have been averted in people aged 60 years or older in England up to 30 May 2021, as a direct effect of being vaccinated.
I'm kinda curious how many of the vaccinated that ended up getting covid and were hospitalised, were immunocompromised in some way.
For the US, the rough numbers I've seen are that about 10 million, or 3% of the population, are expected to be sufficiently immunocompromised that the vaccine is unlikely to do them much good. It seems likely UK numbers are similar.
Those highish numbers of immunocompromised, coupled with the known lower efficacy of the AZ vaccine, make it at least plausible that what could be happening is a substantial portion of those hospitalised and dying are immunocompromised people paying the entirely predictable horrific price of antisocial anti-vax arseholes refusing to to be reasonable and responsible members of the community and do their bit to try to get to herd immunity.
Those highish numbers of immunocompromised, coupled with the known lower efficacy of the AZ vaccine, make it at least plausible that what could be happening is a substantial portion of those hospitalised and dying are immunocompromised people paying the entirely predictable horrific price of antisocial anti-vax arseholes refusing to to be reasonable and responsible members of the community and do their bit to try to get to herd immunity.
Right on cue, and everso predicable. Andre theorizes, guesses, surmises and opines with no attempt to provide links to research or actual medical advice.
The slurs Andre casts say more about him than the people he is accusing of causing the deaths of the fully vaccinated.
Rosemary, if anyone chooses not to be vaccinated, that's entirely up to them – NZers can't be forced to protect their health, and the health of others, by choosing to get vaccinated.
The proselytising activities of anti-vax groups, such as 'Voices of Freedom', aim to deliberately undermine public health initiatives, and during an on-going global pandemic that just makes no sense to me – it's nonsense. But then I’m naturally risk-adverse.
Deliberately undermine.., does make no sense. Perhaps a group like Voices for Freedom would go to all that effort because… they think they have an alternative and an alternate viewpoint that is worthy of being shared?
Interesting that the medical facists out there find this so threatening.
Mashing all those numbers together, looks to me like unvaccinated folk are hospitalised at 18 times the rate and die at almost 4 times the rate as folk who have received both jabs.
It has been very interesting watching how Science has been done since Te Virus hit. How Science is presented in and by MSM, and how history seems to have simply ceased to exist.
There are few drugs that can seriously lay claim to the title of ‘Wonder drug’, penicillin and aspirin being two that have perhaps had greatest beneficial impact on the health and wellbeing of Mankind. But ivermectin can also be considered alongside those worthy contenders, based on its versatility, safety and the beneficial impact that it has had, and continues to have, worldwide—especially on hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest people.
The very basic approach to the use of IVM consists in its distribution to entire communities through annual or biannual mass drug administration (MDA) campaigns provided its excellent safety profile [4], whose only significant severe adverse reaction has been determined by its use in Loa loa infected individuals due to the life-threatening adverse events in this group [5].
Although the broad-spectrum anti-parasitic effects of the avermectin derivative ivermectin are well documented, its anti-inflammatory activity has only recently been demonstrated. For over 25 years, ivermectin has been used to treat parasitic infections in mammals, with a good safety profile that may be attributed to its high affinity to invertebrate neuronal ion channels and its inability to cross the blood-brain barrier in humans and other mammals. Numerous studies report low rates of adverse events, as an oral treatment for parasitic infections, scabies and head lice. Ivermectin has been used off-label to treat diseases associated with Demodex mites, such as blepharitis and demodicidosis. New evidence has linked Demodex mites to rosacea, a chronic inflammatory disease. Ivermectin has recently received FDA and EU approval for the treatment of adult patients with inflammatory lesions of rosacea, a disease in which this agent has been shown to be well tolerated. After more than 25 years of use, ivermectin continues to provide a high margin of safety for a growing number of indications based on its anti-parasitic and anti-inflammatory activities.
There's more…and many only accessible though downloading the pdf.
I would suggest hopping into the Time Machine and reading some papers from before Ivermectin became politicised. There's even a 2016 paper from our friends at the WHO who were seriously considering a mass roll out of Ivermectin to help prevent malaria…again mentions the very good safety profile.
FFS. And sorry to shout, but I'm kind of over this assumption that I am "anti-vax". I'm not, but I am most definitely hesitant about these very rushed, experimental and poorly tested mRNA jabs.
The source of this hesitancy is the fact that from just about day one of the pandemic being declared, the official narrative has been that there is no treatment for those seriously affected by Covid 19. The only hope was a vaccine.
And the only hope for these vaccines to gain that vital EUA from the FDA is that there were no alternate treatments.
And when Youtube and Facebook are busy removing posts and sometimes entire pages that dare to discuss treatments or prophylaxis for Covid or goddess forbid they discuss some of the scarier side effects of the vaccines… my 'there's shit going on here' radar goes off.
KJT's comment on the (very recent) safety report for Ivermectin is a case in point.
Ivermectin has a very good safety profile…or it did until doctors started using it to treat Covid. With some success.
Then, all of a sudden, this drug used by millions with a very high degree of safety over four decades, " has much worse potential side effects rates than a vaccine. "
Pointing this out to others, and providing links to a couple of papers who may be interested in facts, does not make me anti-vaccine.
Rosemary, can you pinpoint why my reply gave you the impression that I assume you're "anti-vax"? It's true that some of your past comments gave me that impression, but no longer.
The source of this hesitancy is the fact that from just about day one of the pandemic being declared, the official narrative has been that there is no treatment for those seriously affected by Covid 19. The only hope was a vaccine.
The fact is that from just about day one of the pandemic being declared, there has been a MASSIVE amount of research focussed on identifying any effective treatment and strategy to combat the spread of COVID-19 and to treat the life-threatening symptoms of infection.
The expert medical consensus is that (mass) vaccination offers the most efficient and effective means of minimising the spread and severity of COVID-19 infections – when you think about it, that's not surprising. As for the rush to use effective vaccines, there's a good reason:
You have your reasons to mistrust expert medical consensus on the pandemic and public health initiatives, but I don't (genuinely, I just don't), and that's why I'm plumping for te vaccine. Just 5 days and counting – excited!
Ivermectin and Covid-19: how a cheap antiparasitic became political [19April 2021]
The drug’s manufacturer, pharma giant MSD, also warned that its analysis of ivermectin identified “no scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against Covid-19 from pre-clinical studies”, “no meaningful evidence for clinical activity or clinical efficacy in patients with Covid-19 disease” and “a concerning lack of safety data” in most studies.
Individuals aged 18 to 64 years with some underlying health conditions or shortness of breath from Covid-19, or those aged above 65 years, can participate in the trial.
The trial will enrol subjects within the initial 14 days of Covid-19 symptoms or a positive test.
However, individuals with severe liver disease who are taking the blood-thinning drug warfarin, or other therapies known to interact with ivermectin, will not be eligible.
Ivermectin is the seventh therapy to be evaluated in the PRINCIPLE study, along with the influenza antiviral favipiravir.
I started looking at the journal articles for "alternative" treatments when friends, some of which are of the woo persuasion, starting advocating for them.
Just about everyone they cited as an authority, have no idea how vaccines work, how statistical probability works and how the adverse effects reporting systems work. If they weren't verifiably, lying. So don't expect me to take them seriously.
Ivermectin’s margin of safety is way below that of the Pfizer vaccine.
Which has now been administered safely to millions. After being tested on 43 000 volunteers. Many times the number that tested ivermectin, and indeed most other medications. 800 or even less is a more normal trial number. The idea that covid vaccines have been "rushed and poorly tested" is totally false.
Vaccines effects and side effects, even for new types, are well understood.
We have been using them for a long time now.
If the people who go on about vaccines being dangerous were correct, we would be hiding tens of millions of vaccine damaged people worldwide. Secret hospitals full of vaccine injuries on the desert road? Hell they couldn't even hide the effects of thalidomide for too long, when things were much less rigorous. The variants of the polio vaccine that did have a greater rate of side effects, were figured out by medical statisticians in the 50's.
The reason behind preferring vaccines is that they have been our most effective agent against virus since Jenner 1796 and earlier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner
You are correct that ivermectin has a known and good safety profile. However, this only applies to the approved indications such as parasitic infections in mammals. It does not necessarily follow from this that it also has a good safety profile in Covid-19 patients who may also receive other concomitant treatments. Only safety trials can test this in the appropriate patient population.
The second point is efficacy. There is very little point, in fact it is unethical, in giving Covid-19 patients ivermectin if it has not treatment benefits.
Ivermectin is a well-known medicine that is
approved as an antiparasitic by the World Health
Organization and the US Food and Drug Administra-
tion. It is widely used in low- and middle-income
countries (LMICs) to treat worm infections. 2,3 Also
used for the treatment of scabies and lice, it is one of
the World Health Organization’s Essential Medicines. 4
With total doses of ivermectin distributed apparently
equaling one-third of the present world population, 5
ivermectin at the usual doses (0.2–0.4 mg/kg) is con-
sidered extremely safe for use in humans. 6,7 In addi-
tion to its antiparasitic activity, it has been noted to
have antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties.
Developing new medications can take years; there-
fore, identifying existing drugs that can be repurposed
against COVID-19 that already have an established
safety profile through decades of use could play a crit-
ical role in suppressing or even ending the SARS-CoV-
2 pandemic. Using repurposed medications may be
especially important because it could take months,
possibly years, for much of the world’s population to
get vaccinated, particularly among LMIC populations.
Currently, ivermectin is commercially available and
affordable in many countries globally. 6 A 2018 appli-
cation for ivermectin use for scabies gives a direct cost
of $2.90 for 100 12-mg tablets. 22 A recent estimate from
Bangladesh 23 reports a cost of US$0.60—US$1.80 for a
5-day course of ivermectin. For these reasons, the
exploration of ivermectin’s potential effectiveness
against SARS-CoV-2 may be of particular importance in setting with limited resources.
27 pages of fine print, lots of graphs and charts and references for Africa… Fill your booties.
Moderate-certainty evidence finds that large reductions in COVID-19 deaths are possible using ivermectin. Using ivermectin early in the clinical course may reduce numbers progressing to severe disease. The apparent safety and low cost suggest that ivermectin is likely to have a significant impact on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic globally.
Fair enough Rosemary, and even hotter off the 'press':
Ivermectin is the new hydroxychloroquine, take 2
"This basically shows that without those two studies, the analysis demonstrates no benefit for ivermectin at all compared to placebo, with a confidence interval that includes everything from a big benefit to a large harm from the drug. Interestingly, the between-study heterogeneity also reduces when you do this from about 50% to 6.6%, which is lower than the value the authors give in their sensitivity analysis in the paper.
What this means is that, if you exclude some of the low-quality research on ivermectin, the paper goes from showing a massive benefit to no benefit at all. On top of this, there’s an interesting point — even if you don’t agree with these assessments, taking the only three studies that the authors of the meta-analysis considered to be at a “low risk of bias” (i.e. high-quality), you find that these high-quality studies have failed to find any benefit for ivermectin."
This is, of course, what those of us who’ve questioned whether ivermectin works for COVID-19 have been saying all along. The few existing higher quality clinical trials testing ivermectin against the disease uniformly have failed to find a positive result. It’s only the smaller, lower-quality trials that have been positive. This is a good indication that the drug probably doesn’t work.
Tbh, I doubt any amount of evidence will convince believers that ivermectin isn't the latest wonder drug in the fight against COVID-19. I for one will be very pleased if evidence from high-quality clinical trials, such as the Oxford University PRINCIPLE trial for Covid-19, demonstrates ivermectin's efficacy.
In the meantime, however, a higher effective preventative treatment is being made available in NZ – marvellous.
I took the time to read that article you quoted. It's pretty typical of this sort of 'debunking' effort – looks impressive until you look for something past the handwaving and smearing.
Basically it relies on two dead on arrival arguments. One is that the proven effectiveness of Ivermectin in the petri dish was done with dose rates unachievable in live humans. It's one of those handwaving tricks that depends on people not understanding that the pharmokinetics of the two cases – lab vs live – are almost certainly going to be totally different.
Secondly it makes the old claim that the only valid means to progress medical science is the large double blind RCT study. Which of course is a nonsense as almost all progress in medicine originates from observation and clinical trial. Insisting that RCT's that cost a minimum of many tens of millions of dollars to run are the only valid form of evidence of course hands the entire field over to either governments or big pharma – who can readily tilt matters to suit their interests and the outcomes they want.
Then there is all the twitter quotes – again typical – and I just treat them as red flags and ignore them. But that's just me and my obdurate refusal to engage with anything from twitter at all.
Respect your opinion RL – let's agree to disagree, OK?
Again, I concede that it is possible that ivermectin has clinically relevant in vivo antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. Based on current evidence, however, it seems unlikely that it does, when pharmacokinetics considerations are taken into account. As I routinely used to say when discussing hydroxychloroquine, I’d be happy to change my mind if compelling scientific evidence for ivermectin were published. It’s just that neither of these reviews qualify, nor do any of the clinical trials I’ve seen thus far. That’s why I agree that ivermectin shouldn’t be used to treat COVID-19 outside of the context of a well-designed clinical trial with a strong scientific rationale. [David Gorski (PhD, MD, and Rosemary's "at best a fuckwit")]
Consider the possibilty that Gorski has a bit more hands-on experience of applied pharmacokinetics than either of us.
Thanks again Rosemary for your mahi around being wary of the vaccines.
It takes courage to maintain a view, despite the column inches, ad campaigns etc to not be persuaded because TINA!, and not bite at the 'anti-vax' baits that are put out.
I am confident there are many reading these exchanges with interest.
Appreciate the shot in the arm, gsays. I check, recheck and check again references and articles that I come across. Hanging around here has taught me that so many folk simply don't do that. If it's in the MSM on on a govenrnment website it must be true. I would have thought a bunch of political commentators would be more inquiring.
I did follow DMK's link… even though I had already read it. Very unfortunate that in the minds of some of the 'experts' Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine seem to be in the same stable.
Hydroxychloroquine shall forever be associated with Trump…sadly… but to use this association to bolster a derisory piece about another drug is just plain gutter stuff. It is not research…its opinion.
And someone who begins a piece about Ivermectin with referencing it as a ‘veterinary wormer’ (as if it has not been safely prescribed to literally millions of humans for over thirty years) is at best a fuckwit. At worst its appalling dishonest.
Indeed, an opinion based on knowledge, expertise, and evidence in hand, with well-laid out arguments and counter-arguments.
Again, I concede that it is possible that ivermectin has clinically relevant in vivo antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. Based on current evidence, however, it seems unlikely that it does, when pharmacokinetics considerations are taken into account. As I routinely used to say when discussing hydroxychloroquine, I’d be happy to change my mind if compelling scientific evidence for ivermectin were published. It’s just that neither of these reviews qualify, nor do any of the clinical trials I’ve seen thus far. That’s why I agree that ivermectin shouldn’t be used to treat COVID-19 outside of the context of a well-designed clinical trial with a strong scientific rationale.
Certainly, the conspiracy mongering by Bret Weinstein, Pierre Kory, and their fans are not leading me to reconsider that opinion.
You seem to have missed, or ignored, the similarities between the advocacy, or faith rather, for ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.
I don’t see why you feel the need to bolster any links with Trump; he’s mentioned only once in the linked piece, which is quite long, may I add. A red herring and a strawman, IMO, to suit your narrative, no doubt.
For over 25 years, ivermectin has been used to treat parasitic infections in mammals, with a good safety profile that may be attributed to its high affinity to invertebrate neuronal ion channels and its inability to cross the blood-brain barrier in humans and other mammals.
I thought you were open-minded and keen to discuss this in good faith, but obviously you’re neither 🙁
Frankly, I cannot take seriously any longer your selective quoting (AKA lying by omission) and character assassinations to make your points. Of course, you will continue peddling your misguided opinions just like Historian Pete does.
In the meantime:
Can hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin be used to treat COVID-19?
Medsafe has not received any applications for approval of these medicines for treatment of COVID-19. Refer to the medicine’s data sheet for the approved indications.
We're all entitled to our opinions, although I'd hazard a guess that if I declared someone commenting on The Standard to be "at best a fuckwit", then I might cop a bit of flak – and rightly so, imho. Let's have a read of what the "fuckwit" wrote – remember, Rosemary's already read this:
Again, I concede that it is possible that ivermectin has clinically relevant in vivo antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. Based on current evidence, however, it seems unlikely that it does, when pharmacokinetics considerations are taken into account. As I routinely used to say when discussing hydroxychloroquine, I’d be happy to change my mind if compelling scientific evidence for ivermectin were published. It’s just that neither of these reviews qualify, nor do any of the clinical trials I’ve seen thus far. That’s why I agree that ivermectin shouldn’t be used to treat COVID-19 outside of the context of a well-designed clinical trial with a strong scientific rationale.
Once again, fear and the need for control. They're afraid of the vaccine. They're afraid of the virus, whether they admit it or not. They HAVE to believe that their health is under their own control, and that people who die of COVID are just too weak, stupid or deluded to do the "right things."
Eat the right foods, take the right vitamins, take the right magic pill that Big Pharma and the other conspiracies don't want you to know about, and bam! COVID is nothing to be afraid of.
It's wrong, it's harmful, and it's downright cruel to the people who suffer and die while trying to be healthy.
Andy Kessler’s excellent “Follow Michael Crichton’s Rule” (Inside View, Nov. 4) on the dumbing down of “science, the data and the studies” brings to mind the great Nobel physicist Richard Feynman’s 1974 Caltech commencement address entitled “Cargo Cult Science.” Feynman’s instructive words to the students (many of them future scientists) echoes strongly today: “For example, if you’re doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid—not only what you think is right about it: other causes that could possibly explain your results; and things you thought of that you’ve eliminated by some other experiment, and how they worked—to make sure the other fellow can tell they’ve been eliminated. Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them. You must do the best you can—if you know anything at all wrong, or possibly wrong—to explain it. . . . In summary, the idea is to give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution [theory]; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another.”
It is unfortunate that most research, even research that the public has paid for, is published in pay walled journals. A whole another issue.
Which members of the general public cannot easily access, making them reliant on “science” and other “Journalists” who often have an incomplete understanding of the science they are reporting.
Even worse when “Journalists” these days seem to consider that “the news” is their own opinion.
I would provide links to some very sound research and meta analyses of research and studies that point to the very safe and widely used Ivermectin as being a potential preventative as well as a treatment for Covid 19 and its variants
I stumbled across the Xmas Senate Hearing on Youtube shortly after the title had been 'edited' to the one I've linked to. Kory was suitably apoplectic after being labeled thus by crusty old guy. I watched because I had heard about ivermectin being on the list of possible therapeutics mid last year. And of course who (and WHO) hasn't heard about it's exemplary efficacy and safety?
I get that folks are scared about the virus, and I kinda get that they'll cling to what they have decided is the safe and true. And many here think the sun rises and sets on the Current Incumbents. (No surprises that I have little faith in Governments and even less trust in our Ministry of Health.) What concerns me a little is that Later, when the dust has settled and the critical faculties have be restored, we're all supposed to get along again. Going to require a big dose of grace and forgiveness to get past the slurs and the name calling and the derision and the cheerfully spoken desire to see those not willing to be guinea pigs (or worse, allowing their children to be test subjects) cast into the dark margins. Losing jobs and access to healthcare and education….
I don't care about the pile on crowd – so far they've proven wrong at every point.
In your opinion?
Don't really care about chloroquine, vitamin D and ivermectin snake oil merchants, or the anti-vax humbugs – they've been wrong at every point, imho.
Clinical Trials Ivermectin As a COVID-19 Therapy I think that WHO page does a solid job of evaluating the literature to that point, and overall, the better the quality of the evidence, the more it tends to show little or no effect of ivermectin. [Derek Lowe (PhD)]
Ivermectin is the new hydroxychloroquine, take 2
This is, of course, what those of us who’ve questioned whether ivermectin works for COVID-19 have been saying all along. The few existing higher quality clinical trials testing ivermectin against the disease uniformly have failed to find a positive result. It’s only the smaller, lower-quality trials that have been positive. This is a good indication that the drug probably doesn’t work.
…
Again, I concede that it is possible that ivermectin has clinically relevant in vivo antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. Based on current evidence, however, it seems unlikely that it does, when pharmacokinetics considerations are taken into account. As I routinely used to say when discussing hydroxychloroquine, I’d be happy to change my mind if compelling scientific evidence for ivermectin were published. It’s just that neither of these reviews qualify, nor do any of the clinical trials I’ve seen thus far. That’s why I agree that ivermectin shouldn’t be used to treat COVID-19 outside of the context of a well-designed clinical trial with a strong scientific rationale. [David Gorski (PhD, MD, and Rosemary's "at best a fuckwit")]
RL, I don't understand (really, I don't) why intelligent people who clearly have much valuable expertise across a wide range of areas are so confident that the considered consensus of medical and academic experts on a range of treatments for COVID-19 must be wrong. I wouldn't second guess my surgeon on the safest way to achieve the best outcome of an operation, or, for that matter, my excellent anaesthetist on what and how much anaesthetic to use – I trust them.
Nor would I challenge an oncologist on the most appropriate treatments and dosing regimes to shrink and inoperable tumour, although if I was really frightened I might seek a second opinion.
And yet, when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the best ways to minimise its tragic impact on human health, suddenly expert medical consensus counts for squat. Doesn't that seem bizarre to you? I just don't get it.
(Some seriously nasty experiences in the healthcare system led me to that particular site some years ago. Very disturbing to read that our very distressing near death experiences were at the low end of the shit-gets-real spectrum. Peter didn't die.)
You and Peter have my sympathies Rosemary – when our healthcare system makes a mistake, the consequences can be dire.
No healthcare system will ever be perfect, and yet with (very) few exceptions NZ healthcare staff do their best for us all. Maybe I've been unusually lucky in regard to my six general anaesthetic procedures in NZ (starting with a tonsillectomy, and including a life-saving operation) spread over 60 years.
And thanks for the link, but at first glance it looks like a catalogue of woe. I believe that a positive pre-operative attitude helps to reduce post-operative pain, so won't be delving any further. Not the best pre-op approach for everyone, of course, but sometimes ignorance really can be bliss.
I think part of what is being described "…I don't understand (really, I don't) why intelligent people who clearly have much valuable expertise across a wide range of areas are so confident that the considered consensus of medical and academic experts on a range of treatments for COVID-19 must be wrong."
It isn't so much they are wrong, more that they can be slow to see that someone is also right, for different reasons.
Most of the experts we are talking about are conservative by nature. By conservative I mean resistant to change and are not comfortable outside of the consensus. After all they have degrees and masters which reinforces how correct they must be.
None of this is to denigrate said experts, just to point out they are not the sole keepers of truth.
Yes, experts "are not the sole keepers of truth", but don't outcomes (and logic) suggest that they tend to be right about matters relating to their area(s) of expertise more often than non-experts? Various expert consensuses on COVID have developed and continue to evolve rapidly.
COVID-19 genome sequencing and epidemiological analyses, development and evaluation of vaccines and other treatments for COVID-19, advising on strategies to limit virus transmission and how best to communicate these strategies, etc. etc. All just common sense?
None of this is to denigrate the essential role of the general public in combatting this pandemic, just to point out that good pandemic outcomes are heavily dependent on expertise – it’s a partnership.
The idea of being (overly) reliant on (pushy, know-it-all) experts will generate some psychological pushback, akin to concerns that your car mechanic might be ripping you off. Are we all COVID experts now?
What I would point out is commerce underpins and funds most experts and that touches on one of the points Rosemary is making; Ivermectin endorsements are frowned upon because it would bring into doubt TINA, "…the only hope for these vaccines to gain that vital EUA from the FDA is that there were no alternate treatments."
"I wouldn't second guess my surgeon on the safest way to achieve the best outcome of an operation, or, for that matter, my excellent anaesthetist on what and how much anaesthetic to use – I trust them.
Nor would I challenge an oncologist on the most appropriate treatments and dosing regimes to shrink and inoperable tumour, although if I was really frightened I might seek a second opinion."
You are in a comfortable position. Good for you.
Now, try to encompass the idea that others in the same system have had direct experience of harm and lies, and acknowledge they are justifiably critical and no longer take the word of every health practitioner at face value.
Molly, don't know about "comfortable" (good for me!), but thanks anyway.
Having encompassed the idea that negative personal experiences due to mistakes can colour perceptions of NZ's health services, I'd hope this wouldn't lead to an impression that causing harm and lying are commonplace – healthcare workers are under enough stress as it is. We depend on them, and they are there for us – to the best to their abilities.
There is a difference between colouring perceptions, and actually realising there are some harmful aspects to our health system.
Health practitioners have egos and biases and institutional conditioning just like anyone else. If the health system does not focus on the patient – like ours – these human aspects can, and do, cause harm.
Consider yourself privileged that you have not be on the receiving end, but try not to dismiss others knowledge and experience as perception. There have been many reports of the failures of our health system. Criticism and cynicism is often valid.
Health practitioners have egos and biases and institutional conditioning just like anyone else.
I guess "just like anyone else" is where I'm coming from Molly. The people who we depend on to make the health system work (or not work) for us are only human.
You say/think 'privileged', I say/think 'lucky' (there but for the grace of God…) – either way NZers are, on average, better off thanks to the efforts of nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals. Naturally, it may be difficult to some who have personally experienced a serious failure of our healthcare system to acknowledge the truth that for every failure there might be – what? – five successes, 10, 20?
If not the aspirational "first do no harm", then at least "do more good than harm". Each year in NZ tens of thousands of people die while under the care of nurses and doctors – only some of those deaths are due to medical misadventure/negligence, and even fewer are down to deliberate harm, imho.
There have been many reports of the failures of our health system. Criticism and cynicism is often valid.
Indeed, “failures of our health system” are reported much more often than its successes. Valid criticism is usually helpful, as is having realistic expectations. Not sure about ‘valid cynicism’ – maybe useful as a coping mechanism?
A Scoping Review of Research into the Origins of Cynicism Among Medical Trainees [June 2021] From Kopelman’s perspective, the presence of cynicism verifies that students’ ideals are still alive because they recognize that things could be better and are disappointed that they are not; cynicism may be preferable to despair. This review revealed that trainees have not suffered a death of their ideals, but a burial. Corrective action may be able to excavate what was lost—an idealistic approach to medical training.
I knew that Westpac (are they still the government bank? or whatever the jargon is) were looking at moving out of Aotearoa. But the coincident timing of this announcement alongside the apparently sudden resignation of McLean suggests that there is a bigger story under the surface here.
It was hardly sudden, or a surprise. It was actually announced about two months ago after all.
It is quite normal to appoint an acting CEO and look outside the organisation for possible people even if you then go ahead and appoint someone from inside the company when you need a new CEO.
There aren't a bunch of people sitting around doing nothing until the CEO quits and they can replace him/her.
I wouldn't bet against Simon Power getting the job permanently. He has been in the running for the job for a while after all.
Westpac where going to float the NZ business on the stock exchange weren't they/ Yes I do wonder what changed their mind. Too much profit from New Zealand no doubt? IMHO though it's high time the reserve bank attached a whole host of service conditions to a banking licence – before we wind up with services available only to the favoured few high net profit people.
"Westpac where going to float the NZ business on the stock exchange weren't they/Yes …/".
Perhaps you can provide a link to where they said they were going to do that? I have never seen anything as definitive as the claim you make.
The strongest statement I ever saw was back in March when they advised the Stock Exchange that
“Westpac is also assessing the appropriate structure for its New Zealand business and whether a demerger would be in the best interests of shareholders. Westpac is in the very early stage of this assessment and no decisions have been made"
Westpac are required to tell the Stock Exchange, and the investing public anything like this that could have an effect on the value of the firm. They were considering it, along with the entire structure of the Bank and its activities outside Australia. That is a vastly different thing from saying they were going to actually do it.
The / was meant to be a ?, as I was uncertain whether Westpac was looking at a stock market listing or whether it was someone else's suggestion. Happy to be advised by you of course.
Incognito:A few thoughts in my final post in the standard. I feel I am casting pearls before swine anyway- so my banning is timely!
Between 1967-1970 I was involved in the struggle with the neo-fascist right in New Zealand , along with others on the left, to bring about free speech . Many of us were arrested, some jailed, and beaten by Police. But we were successful. Now 50 years later all we achieved has been destroyed by the woke left. Like you see on the standard. Left blog sites are exclusive rather than inclusive .Moderators who are like Political Commissars from the Soviet Union, act like political high priests , pontificating on what is considered a heresy .Freedom of speech is no longer with us, nor does it appear on TV, radio, or web sites such as Twitter, Facebook,, Utube. All enabled by our woke left in Western countries. And for the benefit of Giant corporations owned and controlled by the 1% Oligarchic Right .In effect the destruction of Democracy.
The upside is that those responsible, like yourself, will soon be exterminated by the Covid vaccines .The Spike Protein will destroy your innate immunity that you are born with and you will be open to attack by any toxic virus or bacteria and you will die. A great pity about the completely innocent people who will be extinguished by the actions of the Oligarchic Right and their Woke enablers.
You will have 2-3 years to live according to the latest Scientific Prognosis.[ After you have received your jab.] So , as you get ready in the near future to climb into your pine box , fully understand that your timely demise is because of your arrogance and stupidity. Huzzah!!!
[I’m fully supportive of freedom of expression, so I’ll let this through, unedited, so that others can marvel as well – Incognito]
Why do you claim this particular vaxxine is so bad for us compared to all the 'invasive' cures that we have had since World War 2, including those for Smallpox, Polio, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, and all the rest?
You are more than welcome to be non-pc on my posts, so long as you bring cited facts.
I am not against those vaccines. I am against this jab because It is not a vaccine. It is experimental. It has been manufactured in haste at the behest of Big Pharma, most of whom have convictions for fraud from previous manufactured products. The regulatory authorities have not scrutinized these so called "vaccines" with a normal tested scrutiny. The side effects , that are frankly horrific, are hidden and buried by our authorities. NZ does not publish toxic side effects, we are not allowed to know. Strangely this is not the case in the US,UK, and Australia. In previous articles I have itemized the efforts of authorities in the Canada to threaten medical staff with termination if they whistle blow .I have a close confidant who has an intimate knowledge of a care facility. in NZ where similar is happening. Serious side effects ending in hospitalisation are happening but never reported. Expert medical staff like Dr Robert Malone,who invented the m RNA have stated the covid jabs are lethally toxic . How much more do you want?
[Still not a single decent link, just hot air and utter bollocks.
A “close confidant who has an intimate knowledge of a care facility”? Yeah, right!
You are an ignorant incorrect conspiracy nutbar, as far as I can see, and my parsnip agrees:
HPete, I haven't read that much bile since, since ….this morning on tdb. Another crusty old bastard spewing out venom and bullshit, probably because you don't like all this quite minor change, really. No wonder the moderator gives you stick. It's offensive. The old rednecks in this country are slowly being reined in and oh shit do they complain and cry like little babies. But much louder. Left leaning blogsites like TS are very tolerant towards old crusties like me having a go at old crusties like you, but isn't that the freedom of speech that you want? TS is not the CPP.
When I am called shit for brains by one poster, and hysterical Pete and nut job by the moderator, and then my post is expunged in its entirety, my feminine gentle side disappears, and I go feral !
Between 1967-1970 I was involved in the struggle with the neo-fascist right in New Zealand.
What a load of old crock. The neo fascist movement didn't exist back then. It wasn't until well into the 1980s before neo Nazism started to rear its ugly head. Ok there might have been a few tiny pockets of left-over Nazis around in the 60s but they had no power or sway.
As an historian you are certainly a lousy example. Good riddance and… don't slam the door as you exit!
Edit: Ok, so you fought the National Front Party which had its earliest manifestation around the late 1960s. About 10 of them I think. Wow, what a mighty brave fella you were.
I see. So you print my main article to let your pathetic sycophants have a go at me and then expunge my responses. That is the kind of dirty pool/ slimy tactics I would expect from a second rate woke tosspot.
[Excuse me? Do Moderators have to be at your beck and call 24/7? We are volunteers with jobs and other commitments.
You were told a couple of days ago that you are in Pre-Moderation until you lift your game – I’m still waiting and the signs are not good.
Not a single comment of yours has been “expunged” today, so an apology might be in place, don’t you think? – Incognito]
In what has been one of her most important diplomatic mission, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has opened the door for a visit to Beijing by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins later this year. Such a mission is regarded as vital with a new Prime Minister Li Qiang settling into office. ...
Saturday morning, we went to Albert Park.We were there to show support, to challenge words of demonisation.To repeat those words from Michèle A’Court:Making them sound “other” is a technique used by racists and homophobes to dehumanise whole groups of people who “aren’t like them”. If you dehumanise people, it is ...
Too Strong For The Law’s Web: But, if the USA is too big to punish, why isn’t the Russian Federation? Russia’s economy may be roughly the size of Italy’s, but it’s nuclear arsenal is more than capable of laying human civilisation to waste. Threatening to arrest Vladimir Putin - especially when ...
Nobody likes a fascist, except other fascist’s of course. Thankfully they were completely outnumbered in Auckland last Saturday when a supposed advocate for women’s rights, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull aka Posie Parker, tried to give a public speech about how transgender people are worthy of persecution.You can understand why Parker and her ...
On Friday I sent out a newsletter called Posie Parker vs Transgender Rights to provide information about the visit to our shores of Ms Parker. I attempted to show there were multiple points of view but on balance my sympathies were strongly with the counter protest group standing up for ...
Brian Easton writes – Evaluating the recent crashes of Silicon Valley Bank in the US and Credit Suisse in Switzerland plus two other banks (perhaps more by the time you read this) needs to begin with a review of the inevitable instability in the financial sector. The financial sector ...
Oh, the irony. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull has made a career out of inciting public hostility against the trans community, only to find herself on the receiving end of public hostility at her Auckland rally. In a further case of karmic justice, the people who brought her into the country ended up ...
In 1972, British soldiers tortured a false confession out of Liam Holden, resulting in him being given Britain's last death sentence. While it was commuted to life imprisonment, Holden was wrongly imprisoned for 17 years. Now, the courts have finally recognised that it was torture: In 1973 Liam Holden ...
Taxpayers are not only subsidising already-very-profitable private banks via the cheap ‘Funding For Lending’ loans that helped pumped up house prices in 2021, but are also paying the banks upwards of $2 billion a year in interest for cash kept with the Reserve Bank. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: ...
This weekend saw a showdown between two tribes of contemporary gender politics: those in favour of progressing transgender rights versus women wishing to defend their spaces. It’s a debate with huge passion, outrage and consequences. The figure at the centre of the clash was the British “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” Posie ...
Tomorrow the Auckland Transport board meet again. Here are some of the highlights from their board papers. The open session starts at 9am and can be watched on this Teams link. Closed Session The closed session is typically where the most interesting items are discussed. Items for Approval ...
Mutual Support: Democracy in New Zealand will not be saved by pitting Pakeha against Māori, but by joining together with every other citizen who still understands the meaning of working together to build something good that will last. Call that co-governance if you like, or call it something else – ...
Imagine being a great big business success enjoying your lavish Waiheke island property with infinity pool and ballroom and riparian rights and heli-pad. Sweeeet. But imagine, also, having to take orders from some little bureaucratic oik about how often you can land a chopper on it.I can’t, really, but it ...
Hi,New Zealand’s Life megachurch has confirmed to Webworm it was paid $10,000 by Hillsong for investigating Brian Houston’s sexual misconduct allegations.Following Webworm publishing this piece about the $10,000 payment, Life’s Corporate Communications Manager Phil Irons has confirmed what it was for:Paul [de Jong] was engaged by Hillsong to assist in ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Mar 19, 2023 thru Sat, Mar 25, 2023. Story of the Week Q&A: IPCC wraps up its most in-depth assessment of climate change The final part of the world’s most comprehensive assessment of ...
by Daphna Whitmore I thought the #LetWomenSpeak meeting would be a good time to talk about free speech and why it is important for the left. Then the mob stampeded the open-air gathering and no one got to speak. Here’s what I was had prepared. Today I want to talk ...
By Don Franks Today my friend Ani O’Briien went to a meeting in Auckland and wrote: “No sooner had Kellie-Jay Keen Minshull arrived at the Rotunda, a protestor (who had managed to get past the barrier) ran at her and threw a red substance all over her and a security ...
Jonathan Milne, managing editor for Newsroom Pro, has expressed his indignation about the outcome of a court decision yesterday in an article headed Posie Parker wins the beautiful freedom to make an ugly argument.Newsroom Pro laments: High Court Justice David Gendall has regretfully allowed an outspoken anti-trans activist to enter New ...
imagine my surprise this week when the National Party, in their infinite wisdom, decided to release an education policy. As you can imagine, this got us so riled up here in the office that we dusted off our Windows XP laptop, waiting 17 hours for all the updates to be ...
Come on Jess thought Mr Evans come on. He watched the large clock on the wall tick closer to 8:40am. Come on girl.In two minutes he had to submit the class attendance report and with Jess having already been late once that term it’d mean an automatic visit from the ...
This week’s UN IPCC report warned climate emissions will need to be cut by almost half by 2030, if warming is to be limited to 1.5°C. Bronwyn Hayward points out in The Hoon podcast how far behind NZ’s government and councils are now on climate action compared to the rest ...
Chris Hipkins, after he became prime minister, committed to defeating the cost-of- living crisis. He proceeded to make a bonfire of policies that were at the heart of Jacinda Ardern’s administration. But, as Richard Prebble pointed out this week, “the government has not just U-turned, it has repudiated the ...
There are some wellness, crystal-gazing, holistic spiritual guidance types in my disaster-hit coastal community who insist that the power of positive thinking will overcome the physical and material damages incurred by the community. They object to restrictions on road travel … Continue reading → ...
Evaluating the recent crashes of Silicon Valley Bank in the US and Credit Suisse in Switzerland plus two other banks (perhaps more by the time you read this) needs to begin with a review of the inevitable instability in the financial sector. The financial sector is inherently unstable, like military ...
1. We see here new police minister Ginny Andersen. Which larger than life NZ political figure was her great-uncle?a. Rob Muldoonb. Bill Andersenc. Richard John Seddond. Norman Kirk2. We see here archival footage of Ginny Andersen coming out of her electorate office to ask ex-tobacco lobbyist Chris Bishop if he ...
Buzz from the Beehive Stuart Nash, speaking as Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, one of his remaining portfolios after he was dropped down the Hipkins Government batting order, has drawn attention to the blue economy and its potential. Nash says the government is investing in the blue economy, or – ...
Photo by Josh Mills on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for the next hour, including:The runs on Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank on the west coast of the United States that forced the ...
Roundup is back! We skipped last week’s Friday post due to a shortage of person-power – did you notice? Lots going on out there… Our header image this week shows a green street that just happens to be Queen St, by @chamfy from Twitter. This week (and last) in ...
After threatening Prime Minister Chris Hipkins of consequences if he dared to bar her entry, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull has been given her visa, regardless. This will enable her to hold rallies in Auckland and Wellington this weekend, and spread her messages of hostility against an already marginalised trans community. Neo-Nazis may, ...
* Bryce Edwards writes – The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The deal was struck by the Albanese Labor Government as ...
Boomers voted him in, but Brown’s Trumpish moments might spook Aucklanders worried about what a change to National nationally might mean. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR:Auckland MayorWayne Brown has become our version of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, except without any of the insatiable appetite for media appearances. He ...
The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The deal was struck by the Albanese Labor Government as part of its Aukus pact with the ...
Recently you might have heard of a person called Posie Parker and her visit to Aotearoa. Perhaps you’re not quite sure what it’s all about. So let’s start with who this person is, why their visit is controversial, and what on earth a TERF is.Posie Parker is the super villain ...
The chair of Parliament’s Select Committee looking at the Government’s resource management legislation wants the bills sent back for more public consultation. The proposal would effectively kill any chance of the bills making it into law before the election. Green MP, Eugenie Sage, stressing that she was speaking as ...
Open access notables The United States experienced some historical low temperature records during the just-concluded winter. It's a reminder that climate and weather are quite noisy; with regard to our warming climate,, as with a road ascending a mountain range we may steadily change our conditions but with lots of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The Nanny State has scored some wins (or claimed them) in the past day or two but it faltered when it came to protecting Kiwi citizens from being savaged by one woman armed with a sharp tongue. The wins are recorded by triumphant ministers on the ...
Sometimes you see your friends making the case so well on social media you think: just copy and share.On acceptance and decency, from Michèle A’CourtA notable thing about anti-trans people is they way they talk about transgender women and men as though they are strangers “over there” when in fact ...
Not that long ago, things were looking pretty good for climate change policy in Aotearoa. We finally had an ETS, and while it was full of pork and subsidies, it was delivering high and ever-rising carbon prices, sending a clear message to polluters to clean up or shut down. And ...
Comparing (and switching) electricity providers has become easier, but bundling power up with broadband and/or gas makes it more challenging. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā TL;DR: The new Consumer Advocacy Council set up as a result of the Labour Government’s Electricity Price Review in 2019 has called on either ...
Hokitika-based Westland Milk Products has put the heat on dairy giant Fonterra with a $120m profit turnaround in 2022, driven by record sales. Westland paid its suppliers a 10c premium above the forecast Fonterra price per kilo, contributing $535m to the West Coast and Canterbury economies. The dairy ...
* Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealanders are uncomfortable with the high level of influence corporate lobbyists have in New Zealand politics, and demands are growing for greater regulation. A recent poll shows 62 per cent of the public support having a two-year cooling off period between ministers leaving public ...
New Zealanders are uncomfortable with the high level of influence corporate lobbyists have in New Zealand politics, and demands are growing for greater regulation. A recent poll shows 62 per cent of the public support having a two-year cooling off period between ministers leaving public office and becoming lobbyists and ...
This is a guest post by accessibility and sustainable transport advocate Tim Adriaansen It originally appeared here. A friend calls you and asks for your help. They tell you that while out and about nearby, they slipped over and landed arms-first. Now their wrist is swollen, hurting like ...
Floating offshore wind turbines offer incredible opportunities to capture powerful winds far out at sea. By unlocking this wind energy potential, they could be a key weapon in our arsenal in the fight against climate change. But how developed are these climate fighting clean energy giants? And why do I ...
Over the past two or three weeks, a procession of Maori iwi and hapu in a series of little-noticed appearances before two Select Committees have been asking for more say for Maori over resource management decisions along the co-governance lines of Three Waters. Their submissions and appearances run counter ...
The decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue war crimes arrest warrants for the Russian President and the Russia Children Ombudsman may have been welcomed by the ideologically committed but otherwise seems to have been greeted with widespread cynicism (see Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants ...
Let’s say you’re clasping your drink at a wedding, or a 40th, or a King’s Birthday Weekend family reunion and Drunk Uncle Kevin has just got going.He’s in an expansive frame of mind because we’re finally rid of that silly girl. But he wants to ask an honest question about ...
National Party leader Christopher Luxon may be feeling glum about his poll ratings, but he could be tapping into a rich political vein in describing the current state of education as “alarming”. Luxon said educational achievement has been declining, with a recent NCEA pilot exposing just how far it has ...
Way Beyond Reform: Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have no more interest in remaining permanent members of “New Zealand’s” House of Representatives than did Lenin and Trotsky in remaining permanent members of Tsar Nicolas II’s “democratically-elected” Duma. Like the Bolsheviks, Te Pāti Māori is a party of revolutionaries – not reformists.THE CROWN ...
Buzz from the Beehive Auckland was wiped off the map, when Education Minister Jan Tinetti delivered her speech of welcome as host of the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers “here in Tāmaki Makaurau”. But – fair to say – a reference was made later in the speech to a ...
Morning mate, how you going?Well, I was watching the news last night and they announced this scientific report on Climate Change. But before they got to it they had a story about the new All Blacks coach.Sounds like important news. It’s a bit of a worry really.Yeah, they were talking ...
Always a bailout: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Government would fully guarantee all savers in all smaller US banks if needed. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: No wonder an entire generation of investors are used to ‘buying the dip’ and ‘holding on for dear life’. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ...
Wealthy vested interests have an oversized influence on political decisions in New Zealand. Partly that’s due to their use of corporate lobbyists. Fortunately, the influence lobbyists can have on decisions made by politicians is currently under scrutiny in Guyon Espiner’s in-depth series published by RNZ. Two of Espiner’s research exposés ...
Yesterday afternoon it rained and traffic around the region ground to a halt, once again highlighting why it is so important that our city gets on with improving the alternatives to driving. For additional irony, this happened on the same day the IPCC synthesis report landed, putting the focus on ...
The Beginning: Anti-Co-Governance agitator, Julian Batchelor, addresses the Dargaville stop of his travelling roadshow across New Zealand . Fascism almost always starts small. Sadly, it doesn’t always stay that way. Especially when the Left helps it to grow.THERE IS A DREADFUL LOGIC to the growth of fascism. To begin with, it ...
Hi,From an incredibly rainy day in Los Angeles, I just wanted to check in. I guess this is the day Trump may or may not end up in cuffs? I’m attempting a somewhat slower, less frenzied week. I’ve had Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new record on non-stop, and it’s been a ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
RNZ has been shining their torch into corners where lobbyists lurk and asking such questions as: Do we like the look of this?and Is this as democratic as it could be?These are most certainly questions worth asking, and every bit as valid as, say:Are weshortchanged democratically by the way ...
RNZ has continued its look at the role of lobbyists by taking a closer look at the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Andrew Kirton. He used to work for liquor companies, opposing (among other things) a container refund scheme which would have required them to take responsibility for their own ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has left for Beijing for the first ministerial visit to China since 2019. Mahuta is to meet China’s new foreign minister Qin Gang where she might have to call on all the diplomatic skills at her command. Almost certainly she will face questions on what role ...
TL;DR:The Opportunities Party’s Leader Raf Manji is hopeful the party’s new Teal Card, a type of Gold card for under 30s, will be popular with students, and not just in his Ilam electorate where students make up more than a quarter of the voters and where Manji is confident ...
When I was a kid New Zealand was actually pretty green. We didn’t really have plastic. The fruit and veges came in a cardboard box, the meat was wrapped in paper, milk came in a glass bottle, and even rubbish sacks were made of paper. Today if you sit down ...
Looking back through the names of our Police Ministers down the years, the job has either been done by once or future party Bigfoots – Syd Holland, Richard Prebble, Juduth Collins, Chris Hipkins – or by far lesser lights like Keith Allen, Frank Gill, Ben Couch, Allen McCready, Clem Simich, ...
Chris Trotter writes – The Crown is a fickle friend. Any political movement deemed to be colourful but inconsequential is generally permitted to go about its business unmolested. The Crown’s media, RNZ and TVNZ, may even “celebrate” its existence (presumably as proof of Democracy’s broad-minded acceptance of diversity). ...
Four out of the five people who have held the top role of Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff since 2017 have been lobbyists. That’s a fact that should worry anyone who believes vested interests shouldn’t have a place at the centre of decision making. Chris Hipkins’ newly appointed Chief of ...
Feedback on Auckland Council’s draft 2023/24 budget closes on March 28th. You can read the consultation document here, and provide feedback here. Auckland Council is currently consulting on what is one of its most important ever Annual Plans – the ‘budget’ of what it will spend money on between July ...
by Molten Moira from Motueka If you want to be a woman let me tell you what to do Get a piece of paper and a biro tooWrite down your new identification And boom! You’re now a woman of this nationSpelled W O M A Na real trans woman that isAs opposed ...
Buzz from the Beehive New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti is hosting the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers for three days from today, welcoming Education Ministers and senior officials from 18 Pacific Island countries and territories, and from Australia. Here’s hoping they have brought translators with them – or ...
Let’s say you’ve come all the way from His Majesty’s United Kingdom to share with the folk of Australia and New Zealand your antipathy towards certain other human beings. And let’s say you call yourself a women’s rights activist.And let’s say 99 out of 100 people who listen to you ...
James Shaw gave the Green party's annual "state of the planet" address over the weekend, in which he expressed frustration with Labour for not doing enough on climate change. His solution is to elect more Green MPs, so they have more power within any government arrangement, and can hold Labour ...
RNZ this morning has the first story another investigative series by Guyon Espiner, this time into political lobbying. The first story focuses on lobbying by government agencies, specifically transpower, Pharmac, and assorted universities, and how they use lobbyists to manipulate public opinion and gather intelligence on the Ministers who oversee ...
Nick Matzke writes – Dear NZ Herald, I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. I teach evolutionary biology, but I also have long experience in science education and (especially) political attempts to insert pseudoscience into science curricula in ...
MINISTER DAVIDSON MUST RESIGN AFTER 'VIOLENCE' COMMENTS Marama Davidson should stand down as ‘Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence’ for the clear and outrageous statement she made at the Posie Parker protest that ‘white straight men’ are the cause of violence. Her offensive, racist, and sexist remarks ...
In response to Newshub and Amelia Wade’s obvious and ham-fisted attempt at a typical and predicted political hit job. As any politically aware reporter would know, any Cabinet subcommittee has a duty and obligation as a part of any government to respond to any UN declaration, in this case ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today and in your busy lives turning up to this meeting. Forty five years ago, in Howick, often described as racist, and where few Maori lived because it had been a ‘Fencible’ settlement at the time of the Anglo-Maori ...
The Green Party has marked the National Party’s new education policy and given it a fail, especially for its failure to address the underlying drivers of school performance. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised in their State of the Planet speech today. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party after the election must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised today. ...
You will never truly understand, from the pictures you’ve seen in the newspapers or on the six o-clock news, the sheer scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle. ...
We’re boosting incomes and helping ease cost of living pressures on Kiwis through a range of bread and butter support measures that will see pensioners, students, families, and those on main benefits better off from the start of next month. ...
The error Labour Ministers made by stopping work on a beverage container return scheme will be reversed by the Greens at the earliest opportunity as part of the next Government. ...
“Cabinet needs to do better - and today has shown exactly why we need Green Ministers in cabinet, so we can prioritise action to cut climate pollution and support people to make ends meet,” says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. ...
Biggest increase in food prices for over three decades shows the need for an excess profit tax on corporations to help people put food on the table. ...
The Green Party has today launched a submission guide to help Aucklanders give crucial input and prevent potentially disastrous Auckland Council budget proposals. ...
With calls growing for inquiries and action on bank profits, the Greens say the Government has all the information it needs to act now and put a levy on banks. ...
The Government has introduced the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Bill to further support the recovery and rebuild from the recent severe weather events in the North Island. “We know from our experiences following the Canterbury and Kaikōura earthquakes that it will take some time before we completely understand the ...
Further assistance is now available to businesses impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle, with Customs able to offer payment plans and to remit late-payments, Customs Minister Meka Whaitiri has announced. “This is part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to assist economic recovery in the regions,” Meka Whaitiri said. “Cabinet has approved the ...
More than 41,000 sole parent families will be better off with a median gain of $20 a week Law change estimated to help lift up to 14,000 children out of poverty Child support payments will be passed on directly to people receiving a sole parent rate of main benefit, making ...
A major investment by Government-owned New Zealand Green Investment Finance towards electrifying the public bus fleet is being welcomed by Climate Change Minister James Shaw. “Today’s announcement that NZGIF has signed a $50 million financing deal with Kinetic, the biggest bus operator in Australasia, to further decarbonise public transport is ...
A world-leading payments system is expected to provide a significant cash flow boost for Kiwi innovators, Minister of Research, Science, and Innovation Ayesha Verrall says. Announcing that applications for ‘in-year’ payments of the Research and Development Tax Incentive (RDTI) were open, Ayesha Verrall said it represented a win for businesses ...
Minister of Transport Michael Wood joined crowds of keen cyclists and walkers this morning to celebrate the completion of the Te Awa shared path in Hamilton. “The Government is upgrading New Zealand’s transport system to make it safer, greener, and more efficient for now and future generations to come,” Michael ...
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little has delivered the Crown apology to Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua for its historic breaches of Te Tiriti of Waitangi today. The ceremony was held at Queen Elizabeth Park in Masterton, hosted by Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua, with several hundred ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta has concluded her visit to China, the first by a New Zealand Foreign Minister since 2018. The Minister met her counterpart, newly appointed State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qin Gang, who also hosted a working dinner. This was the first engagement between the two ...
World-class satellite positioning services that will support much safer search and rescue, boost precision farming, and help safety on construction sites through greater accuracy are a significant step closer today, says Land Information Minister Damien O’Connor. Damien O’Connor marked the start of construction on New Zealand’s first uplink centre for ...
Attorney-General David Parker has announced the appointment of Christopher John Dellabarca of Wellington, Dr Katie Jane Elkin of Wellington, Caroline Mary Hickman of Napier, Ngaroma Tahana of Rotorua, Tania Rose Williams Blyth of Hamilton and Nicola Jan Wills of Wellington as District Court Judges. Chris Dellabarca Mr Dellabarca commenced his ...
A new Government-backed project will help ocean-related businesses in the Nelson Tasman region to accelerate their growth and boost jobs. “The Nelson Tasman region is home to more than 400 blue economy businesses, accounting for more than 30 percent of New Zealand’s economic activity in fishing, aquaculture, and seafood processing,” ...
After three years of COVID-19 disruptions schools are finally settling down and National want to throw that all in the air with major disruption to learning and underinvestment. “National’s education policy lacks the very thing teachers, parents and students need after a tough couple of years, certainty and stability,” Education ...
People aged over 50 with innovative business ideas will now be able to receive support to advance their ideas to the next stage of development, Minister for Seniors Ginny Andersen said today. “Seniors have some great entrepreneurial ideas, and this programme will give them the support to take that next ...
A cross government target for relevant government procurement contracts for goods and services to be awarded to Māori businesses annually will increase to 8%, after the initial 5% target was exceeded. The progressive procurement policy was introduced in 2020 to increase supplier diversity, starting with Māori businesses, for the estimated ...
77,000 fewer children living in low income households on the after-housing-costs primary measure since Labour took office Eight of the nine child poverty measures have seen a statistically significant reduction since 2018. All nine have reduced 28,700 fewer children experiencing material hardship since 2018 Measures taken by the Government during ...
Deputy Prime Minister Kamikamica; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Tēnā koutou katoa, ni sa bula vinaka saka, namaste. Deputy Prime Minister, a very warm welcome to Aotearoa. I trust you have been enjoying your time here and thank you for joining us here today. To all delegates who have travelled to be ...
$2.9 million convertible loan for Scapegrace Distillery to meet growing national and international demand $4.5m underwrite to support Silverlight Studios’ project to establish a film studio in Wanaka Gore’s James Cumming Community Centre and Library to be official opened tomorrow with support of $3m from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has today launched the first national EV (electric vehicle) charging strategy, Charging Our Future, which includes plans to provide EV charging stations in almost every town in New Zealand. “Our vision is for Aotearoa New Zealand to have world-class EV charging infrastructure that is accessible, affordable, ...
Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan has today launched the Love Better campaign in a world-leading approach to family harm prevention. Love Better will initially support young people through their experience of break-ups, developing positive and life-long attitudes to dealing with hurt. “Over 1,200 young kiwis told ...
Hon Rino Tirikatene, Minister for Courts, welcomes the Ministry of Justice’s appointment of Dr Garry Clearwater as New Zealand’s first Chief Clinical Advisor working with the Coroners Court. “This appointment is significant for the Coroners Court and New Zealand’s wider coronial system.” Minister Tirikatene said. Through Budget 2022, the Government ...
The Government via the Cyclone Taskforce is working with local government and insurance companies to build a picture of high-risk areas following Cyclone Gabrielle and January floods. “The Taskforce, led by Sir Brian Roche, has been working with insurance companies to undertake an assessment of high-risk areas so we can ...
E te huia kaimanawa, ko Ngāpuhi e whakahari ana i tau aupikinga ki te tihi o te maunga. Ko te Ao Māori hoki e whakanui ana i a koe te whakaihu waka o te reo Māori i roto i te Ao Ture. (To the prized treasure, it is Ngāpuhi who ...
113,400 exits into work in the year to June 2022 Young people are moving off Benefit faster than after the Global Financial Crisis Two reports released today by the Ministry of Social Development show the Government’s investment in the COVID-19 response helped drive record numbers of people off Benefits and ...
The Government’s priority to keep New Zealand at the cutting edge of food production and lift our sustainability credentials continues by backing the next steps of a hi-tech vertical farming venture that uses up to 95 per cent less water, is climate resilient, and pesticide-free. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visited ...
E nga mana, e nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga hau e wha, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou kātoa. Warm Pacific greetings to all. It is an honour to host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Aotearoa is delighted to be hosting you ...
The new renal unit at Taranaki Base Hospital has been officially opened by the Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall this afternoon. Te Huhi Raupō received around $13 million in government funding as part of Project Maunga Stage 2, the redevelopment of the Taranaki Base Hospital campus. “It’s an honour ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little has marked the arrival of the country’s second P-8A Poseidon aircraft alongside personnel at the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Base at Ohakea today. “With two of the four P-8A Poseidons now on home soil this marks another significant milestone in the Government’s historic investment in ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will provide further humanitarian support to those seriously affected by last month’s deadly earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, says Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. “The 6 February earthquakes have had devastating consequences, with almost 18 million people affected. More than 53,000 people have died and tens of thousands more ...
Migrant communities across New Zealand are represented in the new Migrant Community Reference Group that will help shape immigration policy going forward, Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced today. “Since becoming Minister, a reoccurring message I have heard from migrants is the feeling their voice has often been missing around policy ...
Construction has begun on major works that will deliver significant safety improvements on State Highway 3 from Waitara to Bell Block, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan announced today. “This is an important route for communities, freight and visitors to Taranaki but too many people have lost their lives or ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has today appointed Ginny Andersen as Minister of Police. “Ginny Andersen has a strong and relevant background in this important portfolio,” Chris Hipkins said. “Ginny Andersen worked for the Police as a non-sworn staff member for around 10 years and has more recently been chair of ...
Six further bailey bridge sites confirmed Four additional bridge sites under consideration 91 per cent of damaged state highways reopened Recovery Dashboards for impacted regions released The Government has responded quickly to restore lifeline routes after Cyclone Gabrielle and can today confirm that an additional six bailey bridges will ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for China tomorrow, where she will meet with her counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in Beijing. This will be the first visit by a New Zealand Minister to China since 2019, and follows the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions between New Zealand and China. ...
Education Ministers from across the Pacific will gather in Tāmaki Makaurau this week to share their collective knowledge and strategic vision, for the benefit of ākonga across the region. New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti will host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) for three days from today, ...
A vital transport link for communities and local businesses has been restored following Cyclone Gabrielle with the reopening of State Highway 5 (SH5) between Napier and Taupō, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan says. SH5 reopened to all traffic between 7am and 7pm from today, with closure points at SH2 (Kaimata ...
Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds has thanked generous New Zealanders who took part in the special Lotto draw for communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Held on Saturday night, the draw raised $11.7 million with half of all ticket sales going towards recovery efforts. “In a time of need, New Zealanders ...
The Government has announced funding of $3 million for providers to help people, and whānau access community-based Building Financial Capability services. “Demand for Financial Capability Services is growing as people face cost of living pressures. Those pressures are increasing further in areas affected by flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle,” Minister for ...
Minister of Education, Hon Jan Tinetti, has announced appointments to the Board of Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao. Tracey Bridges is joining the Board as the new Chair and Dr Therese Arseneau will be a new member. Current members Dr Linda Sissons CNZM and Daniel Wilson have ...
Fifteen ākonga Māori from across Aotearoa have been awarded the prestigious Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships and Awards for 2023, Associate Education Minister and Ngarimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today. The recipients include doctoral, masters’ and undergraduate students. Three vocational training students and five wharekura students, ...
High Court Judge Jillian Maree Mallon has been appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal, and District Court Judge Andrew John Becroft QSO has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Mallon graduated from Otago University in 1988 with an LLB (Hons), and with ...
A joint force of Indonesian military and police are claiming to have shot dead a member of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) in Central Papua Province on Wednesday last week. Jubi TV Papua reports the joint force was conducting aerial surveillance after a motorcycle taxi driver had been ...
By Kelvin Anthony, RNZ Pacific lead digital and social media journalist The Fiji government is signalling that it will not completely tear down the country’s controversial media law which, according to local newsrooms and journalism commentators, has stunted press freedom and development for more than a decade. Ahead of the ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby The production and trafficking of methamphetamine (meth), cocaine and now heroin is on the rise with Pacific countries now becoming what many are calling the “Pacific drug highway”. And Papua New Guinea has over three years seen a plane crash, a hotel laboratory, a ...
A requiem for Shiv and Tom, who would like to make love one last time (but can’t).Major spoilers follow for the first episode of Succession’s fourth season. Her eyes flared. His voice wobbled. “Do you want to… talk?” said Tom Wambsgans, the corporate ladder-climbing schmuck who could see his ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute Shutterstock Labor and the Greens have reached a compromise on the safeguard mechanism after months of tense negotiations, giving the government the numbers it needs to pass the bill into law. Greens leader ...
Wayne Brown vowed to stop new roading projects until existing ones finish - and to unclog the city centre's streets - but he now finds himself enthusiastically backing new upheaval for the key crossroad of Victoria St A $50 million beautification project for CBD's Victoria St - which will disrupt businesses from ...
The Green Party co-leader says she was in shock from being hit by a motorcycle, and her comments about white men committing violence should have been clearer. ...
The prime minister has labelled comments made by one of his ministers over the weekend as inappropriate, and revealed his office asked her to walk them back. Marama Davidson, co-leader of the Green Party and a minister, was captured on video ahead of a rally against anti-trans speaker Posie Parker ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Becky Freeman, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, University of Sydney Shutterstock On Friday, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) updated its review of proposed reforms to the regulation of nicotine vaping products. It reported the federal government is now “actively ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam John, Senior Lecturer in Neural Engineering, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Since it was founded in 2016, Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface (BCI) company Neuralink has had its moments in biotech news. Whether it was the time Musk promised ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Chart by Keith Rankin. The ‘Young Elderly’ are in essence the post-war baby-boomers. An average young elderly person in these charts was born around 1950 to 1952. The charts look at ‘quarterly excess deaths’, so do not show week-by-week fluctuations in deaths. For example, data ...
The co-leader of the Green Party has clarified comments she made at Saturday’s counter-protest against anti-trans speaker Posie Parker. Caught on camera by a representative for the conspiracy theorist website Counterspin, Marama Davidson claimed: “I am the prevention violence minister, and I know who causes violence in the world, and ...
A friendly reminder that your best intentions of promoting a New Zealand-made film are not actually supporting the artists behind it.For many of us, documenting our day or sharing highlights of our week is a common occurrence on social media. For some, that meant uploading full scenes onto TikTok ...
After two and a half weeks, the Auckland Arts Festival comes to a close with another eclectic week. Sam Brooks reviews (with assistance from Shanti Mathias).The headline show of the week was undoubtedly The Unruly Tourists, which has had more coverage than any opera I can think of in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yu Tao, Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies, The University of Western Australia State Library of Western Australia Does the discovery of a Ming Dynasty Buddha sculpture found near Shark Bay in remote Western Australia “rewrite history” and suggest the Chinese ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert G. Patman, Professor of International Relations, University of Otago Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.Getty Images Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appears to be a defining moment in the evolution of the post-Cold War world. In particular, it is highlighting problems that do ...
If you saw the demonstration at Pasifika Festival – or if you’ve just always wanted to know how it’s done – here’s a step-by-step guide to preparing your own umu oven.A Sāmoan umu is an above-ground oven of hot volcanic rocks. Traditionally, an umu was laid out three times ...
The official Covid-19 death toll has risen by 33 this week, bumping the total to 2,662. The Ministry of Health’s latest update reports 76 new Covid-attributed deaths, but the overall death toll rises by 33 when adjusted to include non-Covid and other unrelated deaths. The daily average number of new ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock Global warming has led to higher summer temperatures across Sydney over the past 30 years. However, our data analysis shows very hot summer days are ...
Two of the best games of the Super Rugby Aupiki season were saved for finals weekend in Hamilton. Alice Soper recaps.Third/fourth playoff: Blues vs Hurricanes Poua Sometimes a bronze playoff can be a bit of a flop. Still in recovery from the disappointment of missing out on the ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: The Ugly stoking of a culture war in election year This weekend saw a showdown between two tribes of contemporary gender politics: those in favour of progressing transgender rights versus women wishing to defend their spaces. It’s a debate with huge passion, outrage and ...
One of New Zealand’s spy agencies foiled three possible terror events on our shores, it’s been revealed. The Security and Intelligence select committee met today, with bosses from the SIS and GCSB facing questions from MPs including prime minister Chris Hipkins. It was during this hearing that Andrew Hampton, the ...
An anonymous lawyer for children explains what she does, and why it matters. I’m a lawyer who is appointed by courts to represent children in cases where there are concerns about their safety or where the court thinks it necessary. In almost all cases involving disputes around the care of ...
As banks face scrutiny over the size of their profits, it’s been revealed the finance minister looked at a possible “bank tax”. The Herald’s Jenée Tibshraeny reported this morning that Grant Robertson asked for advice from the Reserve Bank on whether it would be possible to save the Crown money ...
The Green Party has announced Neelu Jennings as the candidate for Hutt South. Neelu Jennings is a disabled disability advocate and former athlete. The mother of two aims to use her platform to call for a fair and inclusive Aotearoa where disabled ...
Marama Davidson should stand down as ‘Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence’ for the clear and outrageous statement she made at the Posie Parker protest that ‘white straight men’ are the cause of violence. Her offensive, racist, ...
ColensoBBDO has been appointed as the new creative agency of record by pay-gap advocacy group MindTheGap to bring renewed attention to the issue of gender and ethnic pay gaps within New Zealand businesses and government. In the 50 years since the Equal ...
Thousands of women across the country are joining Facebook groups that seek to answer one simple question. This article contains reference to domestic violence and emotional abuse, please take care.A quick scroll through the biggest “Do We Have The Same Boyfriend” Facebook group in the country reveals a sea ...
Bluebridge’s Connemara ferry was back in service yesterday after a mechanical issue caused a string of cancellations on Saturday. It was the third time Connemara had broken down in less than two months of service, according to the NZ Herald. “We understand this is very disruptive to our customers’ travel plans ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marie-Claire Seeley, PhD Candidate, Australian Dysautonomia and Arrhythmia Research Collaborative, University of Adelaide Shutterstock There is growing interest in a connective tissue condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. As more adults are diagnosed with autism, some might not be aware their history ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hattie, Professor, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock In 2008, I published my book Visible Learning, which aimed to explain what works best to help student learning. At the time, others claimed it was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Naylor, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Massey University Getty Images As New Zealand considers how to better prepare for a future affected by climate change, the insurance sector needs to be part the discussion on where and how we build ...
The scenes that unfolded at Auckland’s Albert Park on Saturday morning were, according to counter-protesters, largely peaceful and non-violent. British anti-trans campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen Minshull (or Posie Parker) fled New Zealand after her attempts to host a rally in Auckland city were stopped by thousands of protesters. Keen-Minshull has claimed ...
He’s got one of the most prestigious journalism careers in the country, but RNZ’s Guyon Espiner is not slowing down anytime soon. His new series “Mate, Comrade, Brother” on political lobbying in New Zealand has already exposed a number of troubling incidents. He sits down with Duncan Greive to discuss why he ...
Posie Parker said she wanted to ‘speak up for women’. Hundreds of protesters spoke up for trans rights instead, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.A day of anger and joy ...
The foreign minister has returned from a visit to China saying the relationship is very important and complex, requiring "continual management" to make sure the two countries do not lose sight of each others' views and perspectives. ...
Shock but not surprise – that’s how an Auckland woman reacted to a racist depiction of a black person up for sale at a Mt Eden auction house Diana Phillips felt "immediate straight-up fury" on seeing a racist caricature of a black person for sale in the window of a Mt ...
The inquiry into forestry slash destruction in Tairāwhiti, and review of the Emissions Trading Scheme, should prioritise the state of the planet not the balance sheets of global corporations, writes Dame Anne Salmond. Over the past few weeks, New Zealanders have been exposed to shocking images of local landscapes ravaged ...
Exclusive: A new report into the cultural and economic benefits of Shortland Street shows its power – but as with any good soap, trouble is coming. Duncan Greive reports on its findings.When Shortland Street debuted in 1992, no one could have predicted what it would become. NZ on Air, ...
Keep calm and charge up: an etiquette guide for those wanting to use public EV chargers without leaving a trail of chaos in their wake. It looks like a petrol pump. It is like a petrol pump. But this one doesn’t have any fossil fuels flowing out the hose. Electric ...
Newsroom's Nikki Mandow went hunting for organisations run using a co-governance model and found some have been doing it quietly for years. No power grab, no stolen assets. The Detail hears from leaders of these bodies about what co-governance looks like in practice, and asks - does it work? For Bob ...
The explosive opening chapter of a new novel Identity remains secretA thirty-nine-year-old Point Heed businessman and father of two convicted for possession and distribution of child pornography has been granted permanent name suppression. Bridget’s throat caught. Point Heed: lovely, leafy Point Heed. Her neighbourhood. It was ...
The explosive opening chapter of a new novel Identity remains secretA thirty-nine-year-old Point Heed businessman and father of two convicted for possession and distribution of child pornography has been granted permanent name suppression. Bridget’s throat caught. Point Heed: lovely, leafy Point Heed. Her neighbourhood. It was ...
The explosive opening chapter of a new novel Identity remains secretA thirty-nine-year-old Point Heed businessman and father of two convicted for possession and distribution of child pornography has been granted permanent name suppression. Bridget’s throat caught. Point Heed: lovely, leafy Point Heed. Her neighbourhood. It was ...
Watch video: In part 5 of our video series, The Way Forward, Rod Oram looks at big new ideas that can lead our response to climate change and improve sustainability. If we humans are to stand any chance of a liveable future, we must transform everything we do so ...
The Government's Emissions Trading Scheme incentivises the planting of pine forest. But a company looking to cash in on the scheme has left a farm on the East Coast prone to significant erosion within months of taking over. Aaron Smale reports. Satellite images of a former sheep station on the East Coast show a stark ...
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By Johnny Blades, RNZ The House journalist An increased appetite to learn te reo Māori among members and staff from different parts of the Parliamentary system means the work of Parliament’s Māori Language Service is in demand more than ever. Compared to several years ago there’s now also significantly more acknowledgement ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andy Marks, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Strategy, Government and Alliances, Western Sydney University Dean Lewins/AAP Sometimes defeat can come with small victories. In his NSW election concession speech, defeated Liberal-National Coalition Premier Dominic Perrottet remarked the campaign had been a “race to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Mikey Burnet Byelections for leaders are rather like steeplechases for horses: there is always the risk of serious injury. Ahead of the 2018 super-Saturday contests, Bill Shorten had an impatient Anthony Albanese ...
National Party leader Christopher Luxon says a controversial British activist has the right to free speech in New Zealand, following the clash at Auckland's counter protest on Saturday. ...
The Queer Endurance / Defiance group had organised this rally for trans acceptance and reproductive rights as soon as they heard Posie Parker planned to come to Wellington. And while the anti-trans campaigner never ended up making it to the nation’s capital after her failed Auckland event, around 3,000 members ...
ANALYSIS:By Nicholas Khoo, University of Otago Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating’s recent strident criticism of the A$368 billion nuclear-powered submarine deal announced under the AUKUS security pactwill have little effect on Australian policy. Canberra’s deepening level of security cooperation is underpinned by a deep political consensus. But the ...
RNZ News British gender activist Posie Parker has left New Zealand, calling it the “worst place for women she has ever visited”. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, shared a photo on social media showing her being escorted by police through Auckland Airport. She left her rally at Albert ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff (right) is now the only non-Labor leader at federal or state level.Mick Tsikas/AAP When Dominic Perrottet gave a gracious concession speech after ...
Hundreds of people have gathered by Christchurch’s Bridge of Remembrance to show support for the trans community in the wake of anti-transgender activist Posie Parker’s brief visit to Aotearoa. Bubbles filled the air against a backdrop of trans rights flags and hundreds of signs of support for the LGBTQIA+ community, ...
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 Dean Lewins/AAPThis article was updated March 26. With 36% of enrolled voters counted in today’s New South Wales ...
Coated in two spices and ready in five minutes. Easy as.I first heard of marsala chicken when I moved to New Zealand as a 15-year-old. The dish confused me as it didn’t have any spices in it except for garlic. In my head I had confused it with the ...
Author Marty Smith writes from her home, the flood-damaged region of Hawke’s Bay, excavating the extraordinary facets of life amid a disaster.Wednesday 22 February 22, eight days after the flood.It’s easy to drive down Puketitiri Rd: diggers cleared silt and slips on the second day. Looters slide at ...
My trainer said she was happier than she’d ever been. I wanted that.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Illustrations by Note: This essay discusses and describes disordered eating. Please take care.Just 10 burpees to go.I threw myself against the carpet. ...
Bard Billot on the bumbling BaronRace for the Polls Baron Luxon speeds across the polar wastes aboard his electric blue jet sled “Titanic.” The sky is cloudless and the way is clear and the Baron is well in the lead. In his toasty warm fine mink cossack hat ...
Māori women are the backbone of the Warriors and always have been, writes Briar Pomana.Since before I can remember, my mum has been a Warriors fan. Her and other wāhine Māori I know are some of the staunchest supporters out and, in my opinion, are the true face of ...
Reports have described the protest held at Albert Park on Saturday as angry, chaotic and ugly. This attendee found it to be joyful, life-affirming and full of love.Climbing the stairs up to Saturday’s counter-rally where anti-trans activist Posie Parker was meant to speak, my husband and I were hit ...
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 Dean Lewins/AAP With 36% of enrolled voters counted in today’s New South Wales state election, the Poll Bludger’s results currently ...
Fair enough to worry about ourselves, but the Fiji outbreak is now 150 a day and climbing.
We don't seem to hear much about Fiji on the news. How are their hospitals coping as they seem to have 150 new cases a day but I have never heard how many have had to be hospitalised.
from today:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/covid-outbreak-has-fijis-infrastructure-brink-collapse
I'd be in favour of NZ sending some of our vaccines to Fiji. They have a pretty serious need over there.
Yeah, but Fiji is bigger than just Suva – so the temperature controlled infrastructure may not be there for the Pfizer vaccine. Weren't there other candidate vaccines that were being distributed to neighbouring pacific islands? Targeting those to Fiji on a priority basis might achieve more than disrupting our own distribution organisation,
All true.
I just reckon that if it's practical to do, I wouldn't be opposed to NZ making the offer. Shoot, we're ahead of schedule anyway.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/445439/covid-19-no-cases-in-the-community-after-nearly-7000-tests-chris-hipkins
So why does NZ need to approve the AstraZeneca vaccine to on-donate it? If Fiji is willing to take the risk, then I'd say that's up to them. At least it only needs fridge temperature storage.
I'd be kinda queasy about the idea of donating stuff we hadn't yet approved as being good enough to use on our own population. To me, it would kinda feel like sending pet food to alleviate a famine.
ISTR several years ago the local hospital got rid of their old-style wooden crutches (the ones that go up to your armpits) because they cause nerve damage, and replaced them with the ones with the ring that goes around your upper arm and all the weight is on the handgrip.
Folks suggested we donate the old ones to developing nations. The DHB said they weren't going to dump harmful items onto developing nations, and trashed the old ones. Which seemed fair enough. "Here, have some nerve damage to salve my conscience" seems a bit odd.
According to the Aussies, Astra Zeneca vaccine for over 60s only.
Australians aged under 60 will no longer receive first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to the rare risk of a serious blood clotting disorder among people aged 50 to 59.
The government has accepted the advice of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), which recommends those aged under 60 now receive the Pfizer vaccine. It previously recommended Pfizer to those aged under 50.
The change is based on the advisory group’s assessment of the risks of the clotting disorder, called thrombosis and thrombocytopenia syndrome or TTS, versus benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in protecting against COVID-19.
While the risk of TTS is still very low overall, it is more common in younger age groups. And younger people are less likely to die or become seriously ill from COVID-19.
Surely the infrastructure (freezers) needed for the virus can be transported with a decent generator…
Or else they should / could get the astra vaccines, or the johnson and johnson, both whom do not need to be stored at – 80 odd degrees.
Just because we in NZ have failed to certify these two vaccines does not mean that they can't be used, and should be used, after all the rest of the world does use them, inclusive Oz.
Hopefully soon they will certify a second or even third vaccines.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-medsafe-could-approve-second-vaccine-within-fortnight/A6WWPUUTPM4TUPKER7ZBHVIBFA/
True that.
The compassionate part of me thought: right now, we have the pfizer, we have freezers, we have the generators and their need is far more urgent than ours.
as for having the Pfizer…not so fast Jose!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-nz-extends-new-south-wales-travel-halt-some-wellington-flyers-not-welcome-in-cook-islands/2KEMG2P4DS4A2PZ7SDSJM5LXDA/
Tucked in at the very end of the long article:
When we tell Maori health providers to slow down vaccinating we might really don't have enough to send anywhere.
https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/publications/media/2021/comirnaty-storage-conditions.asp
might be a bit costly as these are quite special it seems.
https://www.labcompare.com/General-Laboratory-Equipment/141-minus-80-Freezer-86-Freezer/
thinks to himself
"Resist the overwhelming urge to make a comparison between the freezers and a woman's heart…"
We first have to have vaccines to send, do you not think?
We have our delivery schedule for millions of people. We can on-ship a couple of deliveries.
Daily new cases in the UK are at their highest level in four months.
Indonesia and South Africa (among others) face new Covid waves – meanwhile, Morning Report's Susie Ferguson refers to "chaos as the capital city tries to clear itself of mā te [?] corona".
"Chaos" people! Keep it together World, and keep it together Team of Five Million – Fiji has an outbreak; Sydney has an outbreak – Wellington has a potential outbreak.
If I was there and trying to get to work and plan my life, my life would be in chaos. NZ has been getting along comfortably, now worries, and the health authorities have to sharpen us up FTTT, and this variant is just the latest and greatest!
Chaos ("complete disorder and confusion") just sounds so alarmist, so over-the-top, at least to me. If chaos is an accurate/representative descriptor for what's occurring in Wellington now, then how best to describe what Peru (!), Belgium, Italy, the UK, USA, Brazil, India et al. have been through – extreme chaos?
Hear/use 'chaos' often enough and belief may make it so. This will sound very presumptuous, but I believe what most Wellingtonians are currently experiencing is not chaos, nor catastrophe, but rather a mild-to-moderate inconvenience associated with the precautionary move to Covid alert level 2; we've all been there.
Just my opinion, as always. I really hope that Wellington, Kapiti Coast and the Wairarapa get back to level 1 ASAP.
Too much chaos and you may end up devastated.
Okay, so Chris Hipkins is responsible – isn’t he a busy boy?
So far, so good.
Yup, agree 100% with that.
While this is true, it has also shown the limitations of online meetings. Nothing yet replaces direct face-to-face contact of being in the same room at the same time and have a coffee or lunch break, to get to know each other.
Inclusion, be it digital or real-life, is a necessary but not sufficient step towards truly open government and we’re some way off still, obviously.
Please do better, Mr Hipkins, than pointing to pathetic things such as Zoom meetings.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/openness-fundamental-to-democracy
Sounds good – now does it include politicians having done a short course in people management, project management, priorities in decision making and social anthropologyabout what human society is, and needs to have a healthy-minded civilisation. Perhaps Hipkins and others can concentragte on this while they are thinking about better government. And we could look at having a second house of citizens who have also done that course and done a test to show that they can make intelligent choices and devise ways to meet the needs of the country and improve conditions and make good choices putting practical first, and theoretical second, so that things chosen will be done in the most appropriate way for good outcomes. Whew. That's a lot of advancement for NZ. I don't think we are up to that yet, or will ever be.
"A draft of the IPCC report apparently from early this year was leaked to Agence France-Presse, which reported on its findings on Thursday. The draft warns of a series of thresholds beyond which recovery from climate breakdown may become impossible. It warns: “Life on Earth can recover from a drastic climate shift by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems … humans cannot.”"
You wouldn't know it by the distinct lack of urgency being displayed anywhere
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/23/climate-change-dangerous-thresholds-un-report
Best Cricket team we've ever had.
Yep – one of those rare alignments of the stars when our shallow player base produces a really good team (with a bit of help this time from the South African talent diaspora). It's happened before – the 1949 team to England, the 1985 team that crushed Australia at the Gabba, and again in 2021. A neat 36-year gap between each one.
Surely mainstream news outlets should use correct facts. Both these articles reference population projections for Wellington that were always at the top end of any projected range and have been modified when challenged
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/22-06-2021/wellington-city-councillors-need-to-ask-themselves-who-are-you-really-serving/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/125471532/wellington-a-city-divided-as-spatial-plan-thriller-plays-out-beneath-bureaucracys-lights
All these population growth projections and yet our fertility rate is below replacement level…….go figure.
Again, who wants to have kids if you can't even afford to house them? But then, we can always import some cheap labour to man our hospitals, our old folk homes, wash our dishes, cook our food etc, while our young be economic migrants in England or so. The wheel keeps on turning.
Maybe the government should roll the cost of housing homeless over to the towns. I wonder how long it would take for the motels to be empty, the parks to be full and the nimby’s to be pooping their pants? Same of course counts for a great many places that are too good to be build up.
Around Wellington those excessive population projections plus Labour rolling out "one size fits all" transport plans demanding building around hubs have raised huge issues that go beyond nimbyism.
Unlikely that that amount of intensification will ever be needed but
The pipes won't take extra intensification except in four areas.
Earthquakes are a real hazard and some areas have ground that is too soft to intensify easily and/or the insurance premiums are going to be massive.
Plus with too dense a housing an earthquake would render even more people homeless than the 17000 or so that are currently in high rise.
The lack of existing green spaces would be even more of an issue.
demanding houses next to transport guts any discussion on retirement housing that is needed and doesn't have the same transport impact. The northern suburbs could be intensified for retirement and get people out of bigger houses.
What I really don't understand though is why labour are so keen on shooting themselves in the foot ( or is it the Greens they are targeting?) with the intensification over such narrow footprints in the existing city. Wellington is a high labour greens voting area and there have been a number of thoughtful contributions put forward by the various suburbs to increase housing supply and have workable transport.
If it had started with engaging locals with realistic population increases then we are likely to have less division and more solutions. Nor has labour done anything to push back at unused or lights out housing, overseas ownership or
As to awful rental housing – some of it at least demands health/ building inspection and the filing with the tenancy tribunal of any notices to upgrade. And here I think councils do have a role – it is the dwelling that needs fixing not the tenants being moved on.
Next time i will add a s/ tag. I forgot. My bad.
but in saying that, if the towns had to via their rates to pay for the upkeep of the people they can't or won't house then maybe they could find alternatives that suits them.
This infuriates me. Not only because it is crap but it is so dangerous if taken internally.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hanmer-springs-healthcare-clinic-handing-out-anti-vaccine-material/GTTI3EY7ZILUARV5T5RC2ILQOM/
Can someone tell me why the media outlets won't name the bastards responsible? Name them and shame them. It might stop others from doing it. If we didn't have so many gullible souls it wouldn't matter but unfortunately we do.
A small glossy flyer appeared in my (Palmerston North) letterbox about a week ago.
The 'organisation' behind this flyer is the so-called 'Voices for Freedom', but I reckon this 'voice' about sums them up:
Absolute trash (which is where it's going now; only kept it in case others posted about similar misinformation – thanks Anne). The 'minds' behind such campaigns are intent on pushing NZers under the 'Covid bus' to get their way – in a word; disgusting.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/444644/deeply-misleading-covid-19-leaflets-cause-distress-to-at-risk-resident
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
http://www.healthdata.org/special-analysis/estimation-excess-mortality-due-covid-19-and-scalars-reported-covid-19-deaths
And a few more facts about the Pfizer vaccine can be found here. Its a pdf so just click on the Risk Management Plan link.
All information contained therein is Medsafe approved. Including…
Important identified risks
Anaphylaxis
Important potential risks
Vaccine-associated enhanced disease (VAED) including vaccine-
associated enhanced respiratory disease (VAERD)
Missing information
Use in pregnancy and while breast feeding
Use in immunocompromised patients
Use in frail patients with co-morbidities (eg, chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease [COPD], diabetes, chronic neurological disease,
cardiovascular disorders)
Use in patients with autoimmune or inflammatory disorders
Interaction with other vaccines
Long-term safety data
Rosemary, thanks for that list of potential risks – if I experience those or any other side-effects I'll post details here, unless the vaccine polishes me off first. At least I survived this year’s batch of influenza vaccine
As to the missing information, the reason I'm able to get the Pfizer vaccine now is because of my autoimmune disorders, so that's something to be thankful for.
And yes, it's regrettable that long-term safety data is necessarily missing, but frankly some countries just couldn't wait.
Coronavirus Cases: 180,370,780
Deaths: 3,907,592
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
With 2.8 billion doses administered so far, I reckon there'll be a big dataset of side effects, and I'm happy to contribute to that data set – no pussyfooting around for this lad.
Anyone hesitant about the Covid-19 vaccine may choose not to get vaccinated – but don't worry, someone else will be lining up for your doses.
Average risk of death from COVID-19 infection without vaccination: 2%. Your choice.
I don’t like the approach they have taken. Completely inappropriate and confusing..that said..
I don't want to aggravate anyone but the evidence for Ivermectin is not going away at this point, and has been available since around Aug/Sept 2020. Unless you focus on studies that have been deliberately designed to make it look ineffective (eg by waiting until just before death to dose someone with it, they die and therefore the conclusion is that Ivermectin is useless) there is no reason not to approve this drug for Covid treatment. If proper public debate were permitted perhaps medical doctors that agree Ivermectin works and is safe could have made their point logically, the way science used to be done.
Ivermectin can be taken at home therefore saving hospital costs and risks of transmission. It would be well worth the MoH's time to conduct a proper look at Ivermecting which they either haven't done, or they only looked at studies guiding them to a specific outcome.
This NZ Doctor speaks about Ivermectin, thus putting his career on the line because he has assessed the information and has a medical opinion that is contrary to the government line, I guess with the intention that things could change and lives would be saved by the use of this drug (approved in NZ for human use, just not for Covid btw) https://odysee.com/@NZDSOS:2/Dr-Shelton:5
Instead of treating doctors not following the status quo we seek to punish for speaking out when really they are stating a medical opinion, a right they earned when they completed training and began practicing medicine. Where is the respect? And does anyone honestly think NZ can afford to loose all the doctors and nurses who signed the open letter critising NZ's response? It's madness.
There is a larger study including Ivermectin happening in the UK, that should help resolve the question of its efficacy. It makes sense that while testing one proposed treatment against a control group, you may as well test other treatments against the same control. At least it's safer than synthetic quinine.
https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/undoctored/ivermectin-be-investigated-adults-aged-18-possible-treatment-covid-19-principle
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57570377
https://www.thelancet.com/article/S2213-2600(21)00160-0/fulltext
I hardly think that dexamethasone has just been discovered as an effective treatment. It's been used for yonks as an anti-inflammatory medication for a myriad of conditions from asthma to brain inflammation.
Approved for treatment of COVID19 in UK hospitals, rather than discovered as a new substance, Brigid. Likewise; Ivermectin, is widely used to treat lice and other parasites, but not as yet reached the evidential threshold for domestic mild COVID19 treatment. People do need to feel they are doing something though, so it is used fairly frequently for that purpose in places where there are no other options. The results from those ad-hoc uncontrolled experiments have been mixed.
Hmm.. Its taken long enough, I wonder why they're only doing this study now when there have been reports for a year or more that there was success with this drug, (see the FLCCC Alliance for example).
Maui, the 'Voices for Freedom' flyer that I read is unquestionably aimed at deliberately undermining the vaccine roll out in NZ.
Imho, 'Voices for Freedom' is acting much like a fifth column in NZ's fight against Covid-19. They are traitors to their country and their fellow citizens – their aim is to sabotage the public health vaccination programme by undermining public confidence in the most effective long-term 'weapon' NZ has for combatting the spread and severity of symptoms of Covid-19, including long-Covid.
Whether 'Voices for Freedom' and their ilk are sincere in their beliefs makes no difference – their contemptible actions condemn them.
Imho the only redeeming feature of the proselytising anti-vax brigade is that, by not getting vaccinated themselves, they will free up much-needed vaccine doses for others. If they develop a serious vaccine-preventable Covid-related illness, they will of course be entitled to the best treatment our excellent but highly stressed universal public health system can provide. Such selfish and thoughtless behaviour is reprehensible and indefensible, and should be called out at every opportunity.
I've also read the flyer, and though I probably wouldnt agree with the wording of it. They back up each claim with references, some of the references are from experienced people in the field too. You have written them off as conspiracy theorists, and I think that's wrong as some, but maybe not all of their concerns are valid.
Yeah, nah.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/04/coronavirus-every-claim-about-covid-19-made-by-anti-lockdown-group-voices-for-freedom-debunked-by-scientists.html
From the link:
Liar.
They remind me of the Climate Deniers. They used to make similar claims about their supporters. 97% of Climate Scientists and Meteorologists around the world advocated urgent action against CC for decades. Only 3% were against – for ideological and religious reasons – yet the deniers made grossly exaggerated claims they had lots of scientists on their side.
Neither the Science Educator or the Vaccinologist "experts" in your link directly address the concerns and research raised by the group. But that is hardly surprising.. they're too busy giving their own opinion.
Huh? They debunk every single claim and you deny that!? You sound desperate to defend them. You have a forum here at your disposal to debate any concerns you have and state your arguments. So far, only hand waving.
Experts give their expert opinion and put their credentials and professional trust on the line in MSM. That’s how it works: argument vs. counter-argument, claim vs. debunk.
We may have different ideas about what debunking means… For instance from the Newshub article let's take, "Claim #6: "It is unknown if the vaccine will cause cancer, sterility or mutate cells.""
The response by Dr Petousis-Harris is that no previous vaccine has caused these harms before.. therefore we are to believe that this one is fine too even though it's a completely different tech to older vaccines.
Followed by a strange statement about fairies in the garden, that seems to indicate that they can't guarantee what future effects a vaccine might have.
Now after all that.. would you say Claim #6 really is debunked??
I see what you did there 🙁
So, yes, Claim #6 has been debunked as “[d]eliberately misleading”.
You’re grasping at straws.
Next.
When the inventor of mRNA vaccines expresses his reservations – maybe it's not all tin-foil hattery after all.
But by now everyone has formed up into neat little tribes and the science be damned.
'Voices for Freedom' is a 5th column group deliberately undermining confidence in public health vaccination strategies designed to protect all NZers, imho.
https://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/medicines/c/comirnaty-covid-19-vaccine/
I will feel (a lot) safer once I've been vaccinated. Only 4 more days until my first dose of the Comirnaty vaccine – super excited.
Against my better judgement, I followed the link to evidence purporting to support VfF ‘fact’ 1: “Deaths and cases of serious injury are being reported around the world at an alarming rate!”
That link took me to an article on the Children's Health Defense website.
VfF are anti-vaxxers par-excellence; Andrew Wakefield would be proud.
Conflating anti-vaxxers with people who have legitimate concerns about this particular new mRNA technology, in the novel context we are using it in – is a dirty trick.
Personally I've got a little yellow booklet with my vax record full up to the wazoo – but that doesn't mean I have to turn my critical faculties off and line up like a good little sheep for my dose without asking some crucial questions.
And good luck with your shot. Personally where I work I watched two healthy individuals take many days of work very sick afterwards. Well past any 'normal' reaction.
What are some of the “legitimate concerns” of these people?
Thanks for those kind words of comfort RL – great bedside manner. Will report back on Thursday, if I can rise from my deathbed
https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines/
The primary reason for the bewildering antithesis towards Ivermectin (and other existing drugs) is that the Emergency Use Authorisation under which the novel Covid 19 vaccines are allowed to be used in the US is dependent on there being No Alternatives.
Sadly, and for reasons I cannot explain, most of the world seems to follow the USA in these matters.
I would provide links to some very sound research and meta analyses of research and studies that point to the very safe and widely used Ivermectin as being a potential preventative as well as a treatment for Covid 19 and its variants, but I won't because the usual mob will indulge in another 'you're just a dirty anti-vaxxer' pile on.
The fight back against any treatment for Covid has been rabid from day one…and I find it peculiar that so many people have bought into the "a vaccine is our only hope!!!" narrative.
Meanwhile, therapies other than an antiparasitic are being rolled out.
REGEN-COV is available for free from the U.S. government to treat patients aged 12 years or older with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.
https://www.healio.com/news/infectious-disease/20210607/fda-authorizes-lower-dose-of-regeneron-antibody-cocktail-for-covid19
BRUSSELS, June 3 (Reuters) – The European Union has secured about 55,000 doses of a potential treatment for COVID-19 based on a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies developed by U.S. drugmaker Regeneron (REGN.O) and Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche (ROG.S), an EU spokesman said.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/europe-secures-55000-doses-roche-regeneron-covid-drug-hope-2021-06-03/
At AIG Hospitals in Hyderabad, 50 patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 were, in the last three weeks, given a dose of Regen-Cov, a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies designed by American biotech firm Regeneron. Symptoms in all the patients subsided within 24 to 48 hours of being administered the therapy.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/antibody-cocktail-treatment-held-up-as-potential-game-changer-in-indias-fight
Budesonide & dexamethasone have been demonstrated to be non-vaccine treatments for mild COVID, and were approved after rigorous trials. Ivermectin has some mixed results thus far (positive and negative) so is undergoing further testing before any definitive conclusion can be reached. But it's cheap and; if not exactly risk-free, better than drinking bleach. Vitamin D is a better placebo to my mind, because it might do you some good for other things while it's doing nothing about the virus.
But the most important thing is that treatments, even if effective (in mild cases), only treat symptoms. Vaccines not only prevent you (well okay – probably not you; RMcD) from developing symptoms requiring treatment in the first place, they also prevent you from infecting others.
Vaccines not only prevent you … from developing symptoms requiring treatment in the first place,
Err…that's not exactly true…https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57525891
As of 14 June, there have been 73 deaths in England of people who were confirmed as having the Delta variant and who died within 28 days of a positive test, and of these:
Vaccines are not the magic bullet. They are just one tool in the toolbox.
The text preceding your quote:
But the Delta variant does seem to be more resistant to the Astrazeneca vaccine that was developed against the Alpha (or prior) variant. The UK vaccination program means that more people are now vaccinated than not, yet the unvaccinated disproportionately lead the death statistics, if not so disproportionately as hospital admissions:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55274833
I'm kinda curious how many of the vaccinated that ended up getting covid and were hospitalised, were immunocompromised in some way.
For the US, the rough numbers I've seen are that about 10 million, or 3% of the population, are expected to be sufficiently immunocompromised that the vaccine is unlikely to do them much good. It seems likely UK numbers are similar.
Those highish numbers of immunocompromised, coupled with the known lower efficacy of the AZ vaccine, make it at least plausible that what could be happening is a substantial portion of those hospitalised and dying are immunocompromised people paying the entirely predictable horrific price of antisocial anti-vax arseholes refusing to to be reasonable and responsible members of the community and do their bit to try to get to herd immunity.
Those highish numbers of immunocompromised, coupled with the known lower efficacy of the AZ vaccine, make it at least plausible that what could be happening is a substantial portion of those hospitalised and dying are immunocompromised people paying the entirely predictable horrific price of antisocial anti-vax arseholes refusing to to be reasonable and responsible members of the community and do their bit to try to get to herd immunity.
Right on cue, and everso predicable. Andre theorizes, guesses, surmises and opines with no attempt to provide links to research or actual medical advice.
The slurs Andre casts say more about him than the people he is accusing of causing the deaths of the fully vaccinated.
We have addressed the issue of the immunocompromised and work is being done already.
I guess if such a person died from Norovirus it would be the fault of a sociopathic anti- vaxxer?
Vaccines are not a magic bullet for all ills. I don't know how many times this needs to be said.
I guess its much easier, simpler, to blame "antisocial anti-vax arseholes".
Rosemary, if anyone chooses not to be vaccinated, that's entirely up to them – NZers can't be forced to protect their health, and the health of others, by choosing to get vaccinated.
The proselytising activities of anti-vax groups, such as 'Voices of Freedom', aim to deliberately undermine public health initiatives, and during an on-going global pandemic that just makes no sense to me – it's nonsense. But then I’m naturally risk-adverse.
Deliberately undermine.., does make no sense. Perhaps a group like Voices for Freedom would go to all that effort because… they think they have an alternative and an alternate viewpoint that is worthy of being shared?
Interesting that the medical facists out there find this so threatening.
Obviously they think that.
A bit like Ender's Game, where (spoilers) the kid thought it was a simulation and he wasn't actually killing millions.
Oops – risk-averse!
Mashing all those numbers together, looks to me like unvaccinated folk are hospitalised at 18 times the rate and die at almost 4 times the rate as folk who have received both jabs.
yup.
I would provide a link to some sound research, but i won't because it's bollocks.
Thanks for the belly laugh.
People against vaccines want to use Ivermecton.
Which has much worse potential side effects rates than a vaccine.
https://www.drugs.com/sfx/ivermectin-side-effects.html
Noting that it has been used on much less people than any vaccine.
?????
Not to mention all those “natural” remedies.
There is always bleach, I suppose. Chlorine occurs “Naturally”.
It has been very interesting watching how Science has been done since Te Virus hit. How Science is presented in and by MSM, and how history seems to have simply ceased to exist.
In the Beforetimes…Ivermectin was described as a Wonderdrug.
That paper is from 2011.
There are few drugs that can seriously lay claim to the title of ‘Wonder drug’, penicillin and aspirin being two that have perhaps had greatest beneficial impact on the health and wellbeing of Mankind. But ivermectin can also be considered alongside those worthy contenders, based on its versatility, safety and the beneficial impact that it has had, and continues to have, worldwide—especially on hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest people.
and another…https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0006020#pntd.0006020.ref005
The very basic approach to the use of IVM consists in its distribution to entire communities through annual or biannual mass drug administration (MDA) campaigns provided its excellent safety profile [4], whose only significant severe adverse reaction has been determined by its use in Loa loa infected individuals due to the life-threatening adverse events in this group [5].
and another…https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26954318/
Although the broad-spectrum anti-parasitic effects of the avermectin derivative ivermectin are well documented, its anti-inflammatory activity has only recently been demonstrated. For over 25 years, ivermectin has been used to treat parasitic infections in mammals, with a good safety profile that may be attributed to its high affinity to invertebrate neuronal ion channels and its inability to cross the blood-brain barrier in humans and other mammals. Numerous studies report low rates of adverse events, as an oral treatment for parasitic infections, scabies and head lice. Ivermectin has been used off-label to treat diseases associated with Demodex mites, such as blepharitis and demodicidosis. New evidence has linked Demodex mites to rosacea, a chronic inflammatory disease. Ivermectin has recently received FDA and EU approval for the treatment of adult patients with inflammatory lesions of rosacea, a disease in which this agent has been shown to be well tolerated. After more than 25 years of use, ivermectin continues to provide a high margin of safety for a growing number of indications based on its anti-parasitic and anti-inflammatory activities.
There's more…and many only accessible though downloading the pdf.
I would suggest hopping into the Time Machine and reading some papers from before Ivermectin became politicised. There's even a 2016 paper from our friends at the WHO who were seriously considering a mass roll out of Ivermectin to help prevent malaria…again mentions the very good safety profile.
Rosemary, if you're concerned that you and yours may fall victim to the next outbreak of COVID-19, then maybe consider purchasing Ivermectin tablets?
Not for everyone though – I'm plumping for te vaccine; only 5 days to go!
https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines
FFS. And sorry to shout, but I'm kind of over this assumption that I am "anti-vax". I'm not, but I am most definitely hesitant about these very rushed, experimental and poorly tested mRNA jabs.
The source of this hesitancy is the fact that from just about day one of the pandemic being declared, the official narrative has been that there is no treatment for those seriously affected by Covid 19. The only hope was a vaccine.
And the only hope for these vaccines to gain that vital EUA from the FDA is that there were no alternate treatments.
And when Youtube and Facebook are busy removing posts and sometimes entire pages that dare to discuss treatments or prophylaxis for Covid or goddess forbid they discuss some of the scarier side effects of the vaccines… my 'there's shit going on here' radar goes off.
KJT's comment on the (very recent) safety report for Ivermectin is a case in point.
Ivermectin has a very good safety profile…or it did until doctors started using it to treat Covid. With some success.
Then, all of a sudden, this drug used by millions with a very high degree of safety over four decades, " has much worse potential side effects rates than a vaccine. "
Pointing this out to others, and providing links to a couple of papers who may be interested in facts, does not make me anti-vaccine.
Rosemary, can you pinpoint why my reply gave you the impression that I assume you're "anti-vax"? It's true that some of your past comments gave me that impression, but no longer.
The fact is that from just about day one of the pandemic being declared, there has been a MASSIVE amount of research focussed on identifying any effective treatment and strategy to combat the spread of COVID-19 and to treat the life-threatening symptoms of infection.
The expert medical consensus is that (mass) vaccination offers the most efficient and effective means of minimising the spread and severity of COVID-19 infections – when you think about it, that's not surprising. As for the rush to use effective vaccines, there's a good reason:
You have your reasons to mistrust expert medical consensus on the pandemic and public health initiatives, but I don't (genuinely, I just don't), and that's why I'm plumping for te vaccine. Just 5 days and counting – excited!
"high margin of safety" NOT, absolute safety.
I started looking at the journal articles for "alternative" treatments when friends, some of which are of the woo persuasion, starting advocating for them.
Just about everyone they cited as an authority, have no idea how vaccines work, how statistical probability works and how the adverse effects reporting systems work. If they weren't verifiably, lying. So don't expect me to take them seriously.
Ivermectin’s margin of safety is way below that of the Pfizer vaccine.
Which has now been administered safely to millions. After being tested on 43 000 volunteers. Many times the number that tested ivermectin, and indeed most other medications. 800 or even less is a more normal trial number. The idea that covid vaccines have been "rushed and poorly tested" is totally false.
Vaccines effects and side effects, even for new types, are well understood.
We have been using them for a long time now.
If the people who go on about vaccines being dangerous were correct, we would be hiding tens of millions of vaccine damaged people worldwide. Secret hospitals full of vaccine injuries on the desert road? Hell they couldn't even hide the effects of thalidomide for too long, when things were much less rigorous. The variants of the polio vaccine that did have a greater rate of side effects, were figured out by medical statisticians in the 50's.
Ten reasons we got Covid-19 vaccines so quickly without 'cutting corners' | Adam Finn | The Guardian
Pretty much agrees with the research papers.
The reason behind preferring vaccines is that they have been our most effective agent against virus since Jenner 1796 and earlier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner
Hi Rosemary,
You are correct that ivermectin has a known and good safety profile. However, this only applies to the approved indications such as parasitic infections in mammals. It does not necessarily follow from this that it also has a good safety profile in Covid-19 patients who may also receive other concomitant treatments. Only safety trials can test this in the appropriate patient population.
The second point is efficacy. There is very little point, in fact it is unethical, in giving Covid-19 patients ivermectin if it has not treatment benefits.
HTH
There is very little point, in fact it is unethical, in giving Covid-19 patients ivermectin if it has not treatment benefits.
Hot off the press.
https://journals.lww.com/americantherapeutics/Abstract/9000/Ivermectin_for_Prevention_and_Treatment_of.98040.aspx
Ivermectin is a well-known medicine that is
approved as an antiparasitic by the World Health
Organization and the US Food and Drug Administra-
tion. It is widely used in low- and middle-income
countries (LMICs) to treat worm infections. 2,3 Also
used for the treatment of scabies and lice, it is one of
the World Health Organization’s Essential Medicines. 4
With total doses of ivermectin distributed apparently
equaling one-third of the present world population, 5
ivermectin at the usual doses (0.2–0.4 mg/kg) is con-
sidered extremely safe for use in humans. 6,7 In addi-
tion to its antiparasitic activity, it has been noted to
have antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties.
Developing new medications can take years; there-
fore, identifying existing drugs that can be repurposed
against COVID-19 that already have an established
safety profile through decades of use could play a crit-
ical role in suppressing or even ending the SARS-CoV-
2 pandemic. Using repurposed medications may be
especially important because it could take months,
possibly years, for much of the world’s population to
get vaccinated, particularly among LMIC populations.
Currently, ivermectin is commercially available and
affordable in many countries globally. 6 A 2018 appli-
cation for ivermectin use for scabies gives a direct cost
of $2.90 for 100 12-mg tablets. 22 A recent estimate from
Bangladesh 23 reports a cost of US$0.60—US$1.80 for a
5-day course of ivermectin. For these reasons, the
exploration of ivermectin’s potential effectiveness
against SARS-CoV-2 may be of particular importance in setting with limited resources.
27 pages of fine print, lots of graphs and charts and references for Africa… Fill your booties.
What you conclude from it?
Fair enough Rosemary, and even hotter off the 'press':
Tbh, I doubt any amount of evidence will convince believers that ivermectin isn't the latest wonder drug in the fight against COVID-19. I for one will be very pleased if evidence from high-quality clinical trials, such as the Oxford University PRINCIPLE trial for Covid-19, demonstrates ivermectin's efficacy.
In the meantime, however, a higher effective preventative treatment is being made available in NZ – marvellous.
https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines
You spoil all the fun 🙁
I took the time to read that article you quoted. It's pretty typical of this sort of 'debunking' effort – looks impressive until you look for something past the handwaving and smearing.
Basically it relies on two dead on arrival arguments. One is that the proven effectiveness of Ivermectin in the petri dish was done with dose rates unachievable in live humans. It's one of those handwaving tricks that depends on people not understanding that the pharmokinetics of the two cases – lab vs live – are almost certainly going to be totally different.
Secondly it makes the old claim that the only valid means to progress medical science is the large double blind RCT study. Which of course is a nonsense as almost all progress in medicine originates from observation and clinical trial. Insisting that RCT's that cost a minimum of many tens of millions of dollars to run are the only valid form of evidence of course hands the entire field over to either governments or big pharma – who can readily tilt matters to suit their interests and the outcomes they want.
Then there is all the twitter quotes – again typical – and I just treat them as red flags and ignore them. But that's just me and my obdurate refusal to engage with anything from twitter at all.
Respect your opinion RL – let's agree to disagree, OK?
Consider the possibilty that Gorski has a bit more hands-on experience of applied pharmacokinetics than either of us.
Thanks again Rosemary for your mahi around being wary of the vaccines.
It takes courage to maintain a view, despite the column inches, ad campaigns etc to not be persuaded because TINA!, and not bite at the 'anti-vax' baits that are put out.
I am confident there are many reading these exchanges with interest.
Appreciate the shot in the arm, gsays.
I check, recheck and check again references and articles that I come across. Hanging around here has taught me that so many folk simply don't do that. If it's in the MSM on on a govenrnment website it must be true. I would have thought a bunch of political commentators would be more inquiring.
I guess its fear. Its the mind-killer. The little death that brings total obliteration.…
You’re not the only one here who checks, rechecks and checks again references and articles that you come across.
Indeed, so why don’t you be their role model and read the link provided by Drowsy M. Kram in their reply to you late last night?
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/ivermectin-is-the-new-hydroxychloroquine-take-2
Any open-minded intelligent person who values evidence-based information would appreciate that critical piece for what it is. Fill your booties.
@Incognito… reply button expired.
I did follow DMK's link… even though I had already read it. Very unfortunate that in the minds of some of the 'experts' Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine seem to be in the same stable.
Hydroxychloroquine shall forever be associated with Trump…sadly… but to use this association to bolster a derisory piece about another drug is just plain gutter stuff. It is not research…its opinion.
And someone who begins a piece about Ivermectin with referencing it as a ‘veterinary wormer’ (as if it has not been safely prescribed to literally millions of humans for over thirty years) is at best a fuckwit. At worst its appalling dishonest.
Indeed, an opinion based on knowledge, expertise, and evidence in hand, with well-laid out arguments and counter-arguments.
You seem to have missed, or ignored, the similarities between the advocacy, or faith rather, for ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.
I don’t see why you feel the need to bolster any links with Trump; he’s mentioned only once in the linked piece, which is quite long, may I add. A red herring and a strawman, IMO, to suit your narrative, no doubt.
You consider David Gorski an appallingly dishonest fuckwit because he states a well-known fact? You wrote essentially the same thing above (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-24-06-2021/#comment-1799883):
I thought you were open-minded and keen to discuss this in good faith, but obviously you’re neither 🙁
Frankly, I cannot take seriously any longer your selective quoting (AKA lying by omission) and character assassinations to make your points. Of course, you will continue peddling your misguided opinions just like Historian Pete does.
In the meantime:
https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/q-and-a.asp#medicines [Revised 20 April 2021]
We're all entitled to our opinions, although I'd hazard a guess that if I declared someone commenting on The Standard to be "at best a fuckwit", then I might cop a bit of flak – and rightly so, imho. Let's have a read of what the "fuckwit" wrote – remember, Rosemary's already read this:
Fwiw, I found a couple of comments under breast cancer surgeon David Gorski’s (PhD, MD, and Rosemary's "at best a fuckwit") article "Ivermectin is the new hydroxychloroquine, take 2" (on the Science-Based Medicine website) helpful, but science isn't everyone's cup of tea.
It is unfortunate that most research, even research that the public has paid for, is published in pay walled journals. A whole another issue.
Which members of the general public cannot easily access, making them reliant on “science” and other “Journalists” who often have an incomplete understanding of the science they are reporting.
Even worse when “Journalists” these days seem to consider that “the news” is their own opinion.
I would provide links to some very sound research and meta analyses of research and studies that point to the very safe and widely used Ivermectin as being a potential preventative as well as a treatment for Covid 19 and its variants
Well here is the most recent one.
I don't care about the pile on crowd – so far they've proven wrong at every point.
I stumbled across the Xmas Senate Hearing on Youtube shortly after the title had been 'edited' to the one I've linked to. Kory was suitably apoplectic after being labeled thus by crusty old guy. I watched because I had heard about ivermectin being on the list of possible therapeutics mid last year. And of course who (and WHO) hasn't heard about it's exemplary efficacy and safety?
I get that folks are scared about the virus, and I kinda get that they'll cling to what they have decided is the safe and true. And many here think the sun rises and sets on the Current Incumbents. (No surprises that I have little faith in Governments and even less trust in our Ministry of Health.) What concerns me a little is that Later, when the dust has settled and the critical faculties have be restored, we're all supposed to get along again. Going to require a big dose of grace and forgiveness to get past the slurs and the name calling and the derision and the cheerfully spoken desire to see those not willing to be guinea pigs (or worse, allowing their children to be test subjects) cast into the dark margins. Losing jobs and access to healthcare and education….
Wise words. Typing on my phone is conducive to brevity, but yes to everything you've said so far.
In your opinion?
Don't really care about chloroquine, vitamin D and ivermectin snake oil merchants, or the anti-vax humbugs – they've been wrong at every point, imho.
RL, I don't understand (really, I don't) why intelligent people who clearly have much valuable expertise across a wide range of areas are so confident that the considered consensus of medical and academic experts on a range of treatments for COVID-19 must be wrong. I wouldn't second guess my surgeon on the safest way to achieve the best outcome of an operation, or, for that matter, my excellent anaesthetist on what and how much anaesthetic to use – I trust them.
Nor would I challenge an oncologist on the most appropriate treatments and dosing regimes to shrink and inoperable tumour, although if I was really frightened I might seek a second opinion.
And yet, when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the best ways to minimise its tragic impact on human health, suddenly expert medical consensus counts for squat. Doesn't that seem bizarre to you? I just don't get it.
Another example; Rosemary's characterisation of Helen Petousis-Harris (PhD) as a dogmatic egotist who enjoys basking in the media spotlight – simply bizarre; how to make sense of it?
I wouldn't second guess my surgeon …
….or my anaesthetist.
A little light reading for you DMK.
(Some seriously nasty experiences in the healthcare system led me to that particular site some years ago. Very disturbing to read that our very distressing near death experiences were at the low end of the shit-gets-real spectrum. Peter didn't die.)
You and Peter have my sympathies Rosemary – when our healthcare system makes a mistake, the consequences can be dire.
No healthcare system will ever be perfect, and yet with (very) few exceptions NZ healthcare staff do their best for us all. Maybe I've been unusually lucky in regard to my six general anaesthetic procedures in NZ (starting with a tonsillectomy, and including a life-saving operation) spread over 60 years.
And thanks for the link, but at first glance it looks like a catalogue of woe. I believe that a positive pre-operative attitude helps to reduce post-operative pain, so won't be delving any further. Not the best pre-op approach for everyone, of course, but sometimes ignorance really can be bliss.
I think part of what is being described "…I don't understand (really, I don't) why intelligent people who clearly have much valuable expertise across a wide range of areas are so confident that the considered consensus of medical and academic experts on a range of treatments for COVID-19 must be wrong."
It isn't so much they are wrong, more that they can be slow to see that someone is also right, for different reasons.
Most of the experts we are talking about are conservative by nature. By conservative I mean resistant to change and are not comfortable outside of the consensus. After all they have degrees and masters which reinforces how correct they must be.
None of this is to denigrate said experts, just to point out they are not the sole keepers of truth.
Yes, experts "are not the sole keepers of truth", but don't outcomes (and logic) suggest that they tend to be right about matters relating to their area(s) of expertise more often than non-experts? Various expert consensuses on COVID have developed and continue to evolve rapidly.
COVID-19 genome sequencing and epidemiological analyses, development and evaluation of vaccines and other treatments for COVID-19, advising on strategies to limit virus transmission and how best to communicate these strategies, etc. etc. All just common sense?
None of this is to denigrate the essential role of the general public in combatting this pandemic, just to point out that good pandemic outcomes are heavily dependent on expertise – it’s a partnership.
The idea of being (overly) reliant on (pushy, know-it-all) experts will generate some psychological pushback, akin to concerns that your car mechanic might be ripping you off. Are we all COVID experts now?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivermectin#COVID-19_misinformation
No beef with any of that.
What I would point out is commerce underpins and funds most experts and that touches on one of the points Rosemary is making; Ivermectin endorsements are frowned upon because it would bring into doubt TINA, "…the only hope for these vaccines to gain that vital EUA from the FDA is that there were no alternate treatments."
Nope, because its effectivity is not yet proven in this setting and clinical trials are underway to test this hypothesis.
Reply to Incognito:
"Nope, because its effectivity is not yet proven in this setting and clinical trials are underway to test this hypothesis."
To deny the influence of commerce in this is naive.
Just as well I didn’t then.
"I wouldn't second guess my surgeon on the safest way to achieve the best outcome of an operation, or, for that matter, my excellent anaesthetist on what and how much anaesthetic to use – I trust them.
Nor would I challenge an oncologist on the most appropriate treatments and dosing regimes to shrink and inoperable tumour, although if I was really frightened I might seek a second opinion."
You are in a comfortable position. Good for you.
Now, try to encompass the idea that others in the same system have had direct experience of harm and lies, and acknowledge they are justifiably critical and no longer take the word of every health practitioner at face value.
Molly, don't know about "comfortable" (good for me!), but thanks anyway.
Having encompassed the idea that negative personal experiences due to mistakes can colour perceptions of NZ's health services, I'd hope this wouldn't lead to an impression that causing harm and lying are commonplace – healthcare workers are under enough stress as it is. We depend on them, and they are there for us – to the best to their abilities.
There is a difference between colouring perceptions, and actually realising there are some harmful aspects to our health system.
Health practitioners have egos and biases and institutional conditioning just like anyone else. If the health system does not focus on the patient – like ours – these human aspects can, and do, cause harm.
Consider yourself privileged that you have not be on the receiving end, but try not to dismiss others knowledge and experience as perception. There have been many reports of the failures of our health system. Criticism and cynicism is often valid.
I guess "just like anyone else" is where I'm coming from Molly. The people who we depend on to make the health system work (or not work) for us are only human.
You say/think 'privileged', I say/think 'lucky' (there but for the grace of God…) – either way NZers are, on average, better off thanks to the efforts of nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals. Naturally, it may be difficult to some who have personally experienced a serious failure of our healthcare system to acknowledge the truth that for every failure there might be – what? – five successes, 10, 20?
If not the aspirational "first do no harm", then at least "do more good than harm". Each year in NZ tens of thousands of people die while under the care of nurses and doctors – only some of those deaths are due to medical misadventure/negligence, and even fewer are down to deliberate harm, imho.
Indeed, “failures of our health system” are reported much more often than its successes. Valid criticism is usually helpful, as is having realistic expectations. Not sure about ‘valid cynicism’ – maybe useful as a coping mechanism?
Only human, like the rest of us.
Anne – NZ Skeptics have been naming a few via their free newsletter. They do that think where they link people by association too.
Does anyone have the context for this?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/445421/westpac-banks-will-stay-linked-to-australian-parent
I knew that Westpac (are they still the government bank? or whatever the jargon is) were looking at moving out of Aotearoa. But the coincident timing of this announcement alongside the apparently sudden resignation of McLean suggests that there is a bigger story under the surface here.
McLean's retirement is hardly sudden, or a surprise. He is 61 and has been in the job for 7 years.
61 isn't that old. If it wasn't sudden, or a surprise, then why wasn't there a permanent replacement ready to go?
It was hardly sudden, or a surprise. It was actually announced about two months ago after all.
It is quite normal to appoint an acting CEO and look outside the organisation for possible people even if you then go ahead and appoint someone from inside the company when you need a new CEO.
There aren't a bunch of people sitting around doing nothing until the CEO quits and they can replace him/her.
I wouldn't bet against Simon Power getting the job permanently. He has been in the running for the job for a while after all.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/business-insider-fmas-growing-army-simon-power-tipped-as-possible-next-westpac-ceo/LQA6JIQ4ZMBYUAME6SL57ZWAXY/
Westpac where going to float the NZ business on the stock exchange weren't they/ Yes I do wonder what changed their mind. Too much profit from New Zealand no doubt? IMHO though it's high time the reserve bank attached a whole host of service conditions to a banking licence – before we wind up with services available only to the favoured few high net profit people.
"Westpac where going to float the NZ business on the stock exchange weren't they/Yes …/".
Perhaps you can provide a link to where they said they were going to do that? I have never seen anything as definitive as the claim you make.
The strongest statement I ever saw was back in March when they advised the Stock Exchange that
“Westpac is also assessing the appropriate structure for its New Zealand business and whether a demerger would be in the best interests of shareholders. Westpac is in the very early stage of this assessment and no decisions have been made"
Westpac are required to tell the Stock Exchange, and the investing public anything like this that could have an effect on the value of the firm. They were considering it, along with the entire structure of the Bank and its activities outside Australia. That is a vastly different thing from saying they were going to actually do it.
The / was meant to be a ?, as I was uncertain whether Westpac was looking at a stock market listing or whether it was someone else's suggestion. Happy to be advised by you of course.
Incognito:A few thoughts in my final post in the standard. I feel I am casting pearls before swine anyway- so my banning is timely!
Between 1967-1970 I was involved in the struggle with the neo-fascist right in New Zealand , along with others on the left, to bring about free speech . Many of us were arrested, some jailed, and beaten by Police. But we were successful. Now 50 years later all we achieved has been destroyed by the woke left. Like you see on the standard. Left blog sites are exclusive rather than inclusive .Moderators who are like Political Commissars from the Soviet Union, act like political high priests , pontificating on what is considered a heresy .Freedom of speech is no longer with us, nor does it appear on TV, radio, or web sites such as Twitter, Facebook,, Utube. All enabled by our woke left in Western countries. And for the benefit of Giant corporations owned and controlled by the 1% Oligarchic Right .In effect the destruction of Democracy.
The upside is that those responsible, like yourself, will soon be exterminated by the Covid vaccines .The Spike Protein will destroy your innate immunity that you are born with and you will be open to attack by any toxic virus or bacteria and you will die. A great pity about the completely innocent people who will be extinguished by the actions of the Oligarchic Right and their Woke enablers.
You will have 2-3 years to live according to the latest Scientific Prognosis.[ After you have received your jab.] So , as you get ready in the near future to climb into your pine box , fully understand that your timely demise is because of your arrogance and stupidity. Huzzah!!!
[I’m fully supportive of freedom of expression, so I’ll let this through, unedited, so that others can marvel as well – Incognito]
I think we have just witnessed the logic of free speech.
2-3 years? Hah. My cholesterol will get me long before then!
Why do you claim this particular vaxxine is so bad for us compared to all the 'invasive' cures that we have had since World War 2, including those for Smallpox, Polio, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, and all the rest?
You are more than welcome to be non-pc on my posts, so long as you bring cited facts.
I just remembered Homer saying something along the lines of "why are we vaccinating Maggie for diseases she doesn't have?".
Very good remembrance I Feel Love. That is the sort of question that lots of people worry over! It's just common-sense – isn't it? /sarc
I am not against those vaccines. I am against this jab because It is not a vaccine. It is experimental. It has been manufactured in haste at the behest of Big Pharma, most of whom have convictions for fraud from previous manufactured products. The regulatory authorities have not scrutinized these so called "vaccines" with a normal tested scrutiny. The side effects , that are frankly horrific, are hidden and buried by our authorities. NZ does not publish toxic side effects, we are not allowed to know. Strangely this is not the case in the US,UK, and Australia. In previous articles I have itemized the efforts of authorities in the Canada to threaten medical staff with termination if they whistle blow .I have a close confidant who has an intimate knowledge of a care facility. in NZ where similar is happening. Serious side effects ending in hospitalisation are happening but never reported. Expert medical staff like Dr Robert Malone,who invented the m RNA have stated the covid jabs are lethally toxic . How much more do you want?
[Still not a single decent link, just hot air and utter bollocks.
A “close confidant who has an intimate knowledge of a care facility”? Yeah, right!
You are an ignorant incorrect conspiracy nutbar, as far as I can see, and my parsnip agrees:
https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/vaccine-report-overview.asp
This is your last warning, as you keep on wasting Moderator time – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 3:18 pm.
HPete, I haven't read that much bile since, since ….this morning on tdb. Another crusty old bastard spewing out venom and bullshit, probably because you don't like all this quite minor change, really. No wonder the moderator gives you stick. It's offensive. The old rednecks in this country are slowly being reined in and oh shit do they complain and cry like little babies. But much louder. Left leaning blogsites like TS are very tolerant towards old crusties like me having a go at old crusties like you, but isn't that the freedom of speech that you want? TS is not the CPP.
When I am called shit for brains by one poster, and hysterical Pete and nut job by the moderator, and then my post is expunged in its entirety, my feminine gentle side disappears, and I go feral !
NZ are test cricket world champions, Nothing more earth-shattering can possibly occur so it's a perfect time to climb into that pine box.
What a load of old crock. The neo fascist movement didn't exist back then. It wasn't until well into the 1980s before neo Nazism started to rear its ugly head. Ok there might have been a few tiny pockets of left-over Nazis around in the 60s but they had no power or sway.
As an historian you are certainly a lousy example. Good riddance and… don't slam the door as you exit!
Edit: Ok, so you fought the National Front Party which had its earliest manifestation around the late 1960s. About 10 of them I think. Wow, what a mighty brave fella you were.
Things you don't say to a judge in a bunny boilover:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300337900/i-sleep-with-a-loaded-gun-rabbit-breeders-admission-alarms-judge
Oh my…
Rabbits have teeth and can be quite feral. Just saying…
Skulduggery!
Got bored half way down though. Garden variety skulduggery
New martyr, conspiracy theory?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/23/john-mcafee-dead-spain-prison-extradition
He was an anti-virus computer developer, and bizarre. Madmen like him are running the world it seems.
I see. So you print my main article to let your pathetic sycophants have a go at me and then expunge my responses. That is the kind of dirty pool/ slimy tactics I would expect from a second rate woke tosspot.
[Excuse me? Do Moderators have to be at your beck and call 24/7? We are volunteers with jobs and other commitments.
You were told a couple of days ago that you are in Pre-Moderation until you lift your game – I’m still waiting and the signs are not good.
Not a single comment of yours has been “expunged” today, so an apology might be in place, don’t you think? – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 3:48 pm.