Here is a good interview that helps in damping down the general slightly hysterical MSM reportage and allowing for a more balanced look at the overall situation in the Ukraine….
A rare and lone voice in the Guardian reminds readers of the Minsk accords signed years ago , but never implemented suggests they are the only way out of the Ukraine mess
Should I believe some random person on Tik Tok, insightful as it is, or this guy?
In October 2020, Professor Peter Doshi, the associate editor of the BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal), claimed: “None of the [phase 3] trials currently under way are designed to detect a reduction in any serious outcome such as hospital admissions, use of intensive care, or deaths. Nor are the vaccines being studied to determine whether they can interrupt transmission of the virus”.
More recently, he’s complained that Pfizer has refused to release the raw data until 2025. That’s four years since rollout here began. Why should we have to wait until 2025 to get the raw data? And what if the data contradicts the picture painted by Pfizer?
Doshi made the following comment earlier this month:
As well as [getting] access to the underlying data, transparent decision making is essential. Regulators and public health bodies could release details such as why vaccine trials were not designed to test efficacy against infection and spread of SARS-CoV-2. Had regulators insisted on this outcome, countries would have learnt sooner about the effect of vaccines on transmission and been able to plan accordingly.
Big pharma is the least trusted industry. At least three of the many companies making covid-19 vaccines have past criminal and civil settlements costing them billions of dollars. One pleaded guilty to fraud. Other companies have no pre-covid track record. Now the covid pandemic has minted many new pharma billionaires, and vaccine manufacturers have reported tens of billions in revenue.
The BMJ supports vaccination policies based on sound evidence. As the global vaccine rollout continues, it cannot be justifiable or in the best interests of patients and the public that we are left to just trust ‘in the system,’ with the distant hope that the underlying data may become available for independent scrutiny at some point in the future. The same applies to treatments for covid-19. Transparency is the key to building trust and an important route to answering people’s legitimate questions about the efficacy and safety of vaccines and treatments and the clinical and public health policies established for their use…There is no place for wholesale exemptions from good practice during a pandemic. The public has paid for covid-19 vaccines through vast public funding of research, and it is the public that takes on the balance of benefits and harms that accompany vaccination. The public, therefore, has a right and entitlement to those data, as well as to the interrogation of those data by experts.
What possible reason could they have for not releasing the data? Pfizer’s revenue reportedly could top $100 billion in 2022, the first pharmaceutical company to reach that figure.
Doshi leads the RIAT Support Center, funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. The Restoring Invisible and Abandoned Trials (RIAT) initiative enables researchers everywhere to address two long-standing problems in the biomedical literature: non-publication and misreporting of trials. The RIAT Support Center aims to accelerate the correction of the scientific record of clinical trials by making publications more accurate and more complete, addressing these problems of publication bias and reporting bias.
I can see how a child may faint in and around getting vaccinated.
Imagine at home you have parents on opposing sides of the administration of Pfizer's drugs.
One parent has lost their job and other domestic tensions arise because they don't have a passport. Can't go to that family wedding, dinner with the family etc.
Children aren't oblivious to these stresses and then they are put in a situation that implies choosing one parent over another.
I imagine any "passing out" that may have occurred, if in fact there was any at all, will have been the result of something like that, or the general tension that exists around the process, or perhaps the heat – not though, because of the contents of the needle, coursing through the child's veins, reacting badly and causing a physical reaction, as implied by the antivaxxers.
How the antivaxxer propagandists take advantage of slightest of scientific disputes and side shows to sneakilly sow seeds of doubt to encourage vaccine hesitancy, to undermine our nation's collective health response to the pandemic.
More fodder for anti-vaxxers
H. Holden Thorp – 11 November 2021
I talk about the extraordinary scrutiny that science is under and how any ineptness can be magnified and distorted in the public eye. Normal revisions to hypotheses and conclusions based on new data are being preyed upon by antiscience forces to sow doubt.
…….Moderna and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) are at odds on inventorship of the COVID-19 vaccine. Inventorship is a highly technical and legal determination, and the collaborators have been trying to hash this out for a year. If patent issues are not resolved, the dispute will go to court. The quarrel feeds into anti-vaxxer beliefs that pharmaceutical companies and government scientists are willing to distort facts and harm the public in exchange for money and glory.
No probs Gsays. Any time. You're very welcome to butt in. As we will most likely not be getting any straight answers from our resident closet anti-vaxxers any time soon.
I reckon a "litmus test" here on TS would be: Do you believe children have collapsed here in New Zealand, as a result of the Pfizer's vaccine (rather than other factors)?
Gsays; "I can see how a child may faint in and around getting vaccinated." ie other factors.
Good, you have passed the test and are not an antivaxxer troll sneakily trying to sow doubt and muddy the waters, with screeds of irrelevant marginal studies.
So many causes why a child could faint. Just waiting in a queue in hot weather to needing questions answered about being vaccinated and not feeling as though questions can be asked.
Not an easy time for parents (especially single parents or parents who have parents overseas) and school has not opened yet.
I would not want to be a 5 year old starting school or a parent who has been told to work from home with a baby, a preschooler and a primary age child and a partner who is an essential worker.
[lprent: don’t write teasers like this – state why why you think others should look at an external link. If I see too many of these, then I’ll add a rule that requires at least a attached paragraph before a video link will be accepted.]
Jenny – before blazer “pleads the fifth” and you start claiming a pwned victory. And before I start getting annoyed with pig-fucker questions…
Like everything else in medicine and public health, vaccinations against infectious diseases are a question about balancing multiple risks against each other. Medical practices aren’t magic – they are a question of probabilities.
So rather than posing “why did you kill your baby?” questions, perhaps you might consider that the pig-fucker tactic is a two way path, causes really stupid flame wars, and I’m likely to land hard on whoever does it.
So getting whatever conversation that this is back to a reasonable level…
Are you aware that children get hospitalised and die from covid-19? Have you looked at the numbers? Can you understand the numbers?
The study – published in JAMA Network Open this week – followed more than 3000 children who presented to emergency departments and tested positive to the virus from 10 countries, including New Zealand, Canada and the United States.
It aimed to find out how frequently children presenting to emergency departments and infected with the virus experienced severe outcomes (such as myocarditis, neurological, respiratory, or infectious problems) and what were the risk factors.
Nearly a quarter of those observed in the emergency deparments required hospitalisation, four died, and three percent experienced severe outcomes within two weeks of being admitted to an emergency department.
“There is a perception that Covid-19 is only a very mild infection in children. However, as the pandemic has progressed, we are seeing greater numbers of children being infected and presenting to hospital worldwide,” Prof Dalziel said.
“There is certainly some benefit to adults with immunising children but I think what we forget with this discussion is that they also give protection to children.
“If we look at the US, there have 8,700,000 children diagnosed with Covid and of those 747 have died so that means one in 11,000 children who get Covid are likely to die, and we know that immunisations give us over 90 percent protection against hospitalisation, against severe outcomes and against death.”
parent – in Jenny's defence, the question was mine, and posed as a "litmus test", not in connection to pigs, as you put it. My proposal was that the response to the question would sort respondents into distinct "camps", cutting through the fog of multiple opinions, cutting to the chase, so to speak. It was intended as a clarifying device, but seems to fit the purpose badly. My apologies to Jenny for dropping her/you into it.
Provide clarity, in my view. What anyone does from that point on, is up to them. It seems to me that the reports of "children collapsing" were delivered and received differently and that acceptance, one way or the other, is indicative. It's like asking if a person accepts that humans have exacerbated the warming of the climate, or had no role in the change. My concept may well be flawed (seems so) but the opportunity seems a good one, to me, as it's quite clear-cut, in my opinion. Finding common ground is a fair objective, but so is honest declaration of position.
And sorry, Iprent, “parent” is the default spelling on my machine.
Into 'camps', 'declaration of position' are nice, harmless sounding euphemisms for othering. I have been fortunate through my life to mostly not be othered and if I was on the outer, it was my choice and I was confortable with it.
I have noticed no matter how many times it is pointed out, there is a world of difference between 'anti-vax' and against the mandates, passports and the state's power to coerce an individual into a medication they do not want. They may have folk in both camps, but being one does not necessarily make you the other.
sorting commenters on TS into camps is likely to lead to flamewars. And create an antagonistic atmosphere that puts other people off from commenting.
There are good reasons to nip that in the bud (which is what Lynn is doing).
You can see from how Lynn framed his question, that it elicits better debate, better information, and gives people room to learn and change (or even just back down). Putting people into camps does the opposite.
For the reasons you’ve given, the vaccine should really be called a drug, not a vaccine.
Another definition worth checking is “vaccine.” I am one of the academics that argues that these mRNA products which everybody calls vaccines are qualitatively different than standard vaccines. And so I found it fascinating to learn that Merriam-Webster changed its definition of vaccine early this year. mRNA products did not meet the definition of vaccine that has been in place for 15 years at Merriam-Webster. But the definition was expanded such that the mRNA products are now vaccines.
I highlight this to ask a question: how would you feel about mandating covid vaccines if we didn’t call them “vaccines”? What if these injections were called “drugs” instead?
So here’s the scenario: we have this DRUG – and we have evidence that it doesn’t prevent infection, nor does it stop viral transmission. But the drug is understood to reduce your risk of becoming very sick and dying of covid. Would you take a dose of this drug every six months or so for possibly the rest of your life, if that’s what it took for the drug to stay effective? Would you not just take this drug yourself, but support regulations mandating that everybody else around you take this drug? Or would you say “hold on a sec.” Maybe you’d say that if that’s all the drug does, why not use a normal medicine instead – the kind we take when we’re sick and want to get better? And why would you mandate it?
I don't think I am a RW, but I do think that it would have been helpful to have given urls for the "reports," and the question relates to the post it follows.
This Doshi guy appears to have no idea. Administering the vaccine to infected people won't make them better at all. It needs to be administered before infection to be effective and calling it a drug doesn't alter this one bit.
So here’s the scenario: we have this DRUG – and we have evidence that it doesn’t prevent infection, nor does it stop viral transmission. But the drug is understood to reduce your risk of becoming very sick and dying of covid.
Basically a completely spurious argument based on nitpicking word definitions.
Most vaccines ever developed during the initial phases of development required decades of development before they became capable of producing long-lasting effects. The goes for polio all the way through to the most recent ones. Some vaccines lose their efficacy regularly ever after decades of development – influenza vaccines for instance.
Whoever this Peter Doshi is, they either don’t know the history of vaccines or they are a PR wanker pushing a line for fooling illiterates.
Peter Doshi is an associate professor of pharmaceutical health services research in the School of Pharmacy and associate editor at The BMJ. His research focuses on policies related to drug safety and effectiveness evaluation in the context of regulation, evidence-based medicine, and debates over access to data. Doshi also has strong interests in journalism as a vehicle for encouraging better practice and improving the research enterprise.
So I think this guy does know what he is on about.
Doshi also has strong interests in journalism as a vehicle for encouraging better practice and improving the research enterprise.
So I think this guy does know what he is on about.
Actually I never said that they didn't know what they were speaking about. I was pretty specific.
The three I pointed out as probable explanations were.. Nitpicky word definitions. PR wanker. Lack of history on vaccine development.
First two sound probable.
The most effective way to make a name for yourself in academic circles if you can't do research, is to provide a new word definition and attach it to a field of study.
Another other effective way (especially in the US) is to become a talking head who spends time greasing up the media.
No particular evidence on knowing the history of vaccines. May have skipped those classes. From what I have heard, history of medicine and the development side of the medical profession is a low attendance set of classes.
What I was pointing at was that by the quoted definition and even my limited knowledge of the development history of vaccines, his statement doesn't stand up under even a basic scrutiny.
Simply claiming authority based on straight academic training and qualification isn't authoritative on its own. You have to have a argument that stands up to scrutiny and challenge.
Otherwise we'd still be living in a world dominated by the rather rigid scientific views of Lord Kelvin who at the end of the 19th century was proclaiming that physics was virtually all known and that the pesky experimental evidence of rays of radiation penetrating solid matter were irrelevant.
So I think this guy does know what he is on about.
A fine example of authority bias.
For obvious reasons, the Merriam-Webster dictionary is not on any list of recommended reading for any student of Immunology.
Doshi conveniently ignores that both science and language are not fixed but evolve over time and need constant revision to stay up-to-date and accurate.
For the reasons you’ve given, the vaccine should really be called a drug, not a vaccine.
lols
Merriam-webster changed their definition beyond virus.
OED describes the use of the word to include virus products from an example published in 1983:
1983 Sci. Amer. Feb. 48/2 There has been increasing interest in the preparation of synthetic vaccines, which is to say vaccines containing not intact viruses but merely peptides..that have been constructed in the laboratory to mimic a very small region of the virus's outer coat
Sounds like targeting the spike protein to me.
Yes, word definitions change over time, for example as new technology emerges. But either the board of M-W were a bit slow in keeping up with the technical literature around vaccines and then the MrNA use hit the spotlight, or they're the slow peddlers in a global conspiracy to inject people with "drugs".
To make your case, you've covered a lot of ground there Blazer
How conspiracists exploited [exploit] COVID-19 science
Kathleen Hall Jamieson – 01 November 2021
……on topics that range from mask wearing and COVID-19 treatments to vaccine safety and the funding of coronavirus research. Understanding the susceptibilities that conspiracists exploit should help us to identify ways to better safeguard both the trustworthiness of health science and public trust in it.
….conspiracy theorists have exploited the provisional nature of scientific consensus and the realities of how science is conducted to paint scientists and public health leaders as malign actors.
….The fluid nature of emergent science provides fuel for conspiracy theorists who offer certainty in place of the provisional, sometimes-updated statements of health experts.
Should I believe some random person on Tik Tok, insightful as it is, or this guy?
The irony is that the short Tik Tok clip is about confirmation bias and said nothing about COVID-19 as such, which you ‘countered’ using the words “believe” and “random” plus a strawman pulled out of Doshi’s rabbit hole (i.e. demonstrating his own strong bias and prejudice).
You might as well have asked “should I believe in Taylor Swift or Santa Claus”, which would have made for a more entertaining discussion than your idiosyncratic diatribe.
Here is a response refuting Doshi's comments. His basic claim that efficacy is less than claimed, seems well refuted to me. Technical complaints about data availability etc – I have not followed up.
In the real world, a consistent (and global) pattern has emerged of vaccinated people having far better Covid19 outcomes than unvaccinated people. This confirms that the efficacy of the vaccines (as claimed in the trials) is true in the real world.
The proof of the pudding is in in the eating.
Note that Doshi’s qualifications are in Anthropology, East Asian Studies and his PhD was in “history, anthropology, and science, technology and society”. He does not have specific health, pharmaceutical, vaccine, statistics or immunology qualifications, nor does he conduct original research in these fields (i.e. he doesn’t develop drugs, vaccines, trials – or publish in immunology etc).
Thanks uncooked good that someone looks beyond the clickbait.
Real World the world has had a unprecedented pandemic in our life times.
A vaccine was needed many companies vied to produce vaccines.
The mRNA was the quickest to be developed using nano technology.
And is highly effective not perfect no vaccine is.
Luckily the vast majority is very happy it's been developed.
A very small but extremely vocal minority have pushed lies like sheading of vaccines will cause spread.5 g cell towers,then it was ivermectin, so and so on.
None of the antivax propaganda has stood the test of time.
Yeah, nah, he had time to stop and think about that one but reacted instead. It wasn't self defense. He could have stopped the bus and called the police instead of assaulting him back. Given he knows that the CCTV is there, I'd guess he lost it, which means he needs to sort out his ability to do that job that often involves people being arseholes. I hope he gets some support though, because that's a really shitty situation to be in.
he needs to sort out his ability to do that job that often involves people being arseholes.
Well, some people are arseholes but I suspect that a driver being punched in the head is rather rare. Yeah I guess he could have called police but he might have wondered when they would turn up. As it was, the attacked quickly departed and hasn’t been identified.
A wee observation from the psychologist that dare not speak his Canadian name.
Underlying male-male conversations, is the understanding that if a certain (changeable) line is crossed, it may be met with a physical violent response.
When I heard him discuss this, a light went on. It wasn't a blatant, obvious not readily apparent thing, but I knew what he was talking about.
Doesn't forgive or excuse either persons actions but may shed light on them.
makes sense to me. Thing is, it's still against the law to assault someone physically, and there was time to make a choice.
If the passenger had punched him and then stood there leaning over him and shouting and basically boxing him in and threatening him, getting physical would seem appropriate. Cf to the Mitre10 staff manhandling the anti-mask dude out of the shop. Or someone defending themselves.
Was Peterson saying that men can't help themselves? or just that it's socialised in men to behave like that? Or was he saying it's biological?
yes, and men make choices all the time to not harm the rugby players in the opposing team. The issue then is whether and to what extent men have choice in the moment. I think socialisation around emotion, entitlement, maleness and manhood all play a significant part.
Except there wasn't much in the way of talking prior to violence.
The problem generally isn't that a line might be crossed – that's basically a tautology. Every social interaction has a threat of violence, therefore there is always a "line". It's just that in nonviolent society, that line is rarely crossed.
Thing is, the drive for status and dealing with the physiological reactions to confrontation involve learned techniques: impulse control, using your words, or being somewhat inoculated to the stress of violence. Having a constant threat of violence to conversations isn't actually the norm.
Passenger dude had impulse control issues, maybe status issues and felt the crappy drive was a sign of disrespect. Driver was similarly controlled by his anger.
One thing I always found funny was watching many of the stupid late teens street fights at 3am. There was definitely a social script, it was basically rams butting horns. Each idiot had opportunities to walk away, the buildup was call:response in pattern, then the mutual approach, while maybe hoping friends would drag them away.
In contrast were folks who had obviously been around a bit. Very little in the way of puffing up, very quick to throw a punch (like passenger). They were a lot of work. If it was a status thing, they knew the winner was the person who could escalate first, so they didn't screw around.
My comment was in response to weka's observation a woman would have handled it differently. While there are a few exceptions, you'd like to think Hi-Vis man would not have coward punched a woman driver.
Spent six years running a rural town pub, what you say is very familiar. Especially the ‘been around a bit folks’. I had a memorable Christmas Eve ‘dance’ with one of them.
Makes me damn grateful I met a good partner early in life and that massively informed a lot of decisions I made through my adolescence.
timestamps suggest otherwise. Weka brought up the idea a woman would have handled it differently well after the comment I replied to.
I think women, on average would have handled being suckerpunched differently, but I also think that most men would have handled it differently. Not really judging the driver, but it was likely not his best work.
out of curiosity, do you see that playing out in online places like TS, or is it just a more superficial comparison?
Every social interaction has a threat of violence, therefore there is always a "line". It's just that in nonviolent society, that line is rarely crossed.
Hmm, really? Do you mean potentially has a threat of violence?
out of curiosity, do you see that playing out in online places like TS, or is it just a more superficial comparison?
Well, I know I've been pissed off at some stuff personally, as opposed to just frustration at not getting my point across. Especially if it's an issue that I know about in real life, and the other party is talking bullshit. that definitely creates a reaction similar to instances that happened face to face. That's when I on occasion go do something else, or let a comment mellow overnight. And I've seen other folks throw their toys out of the cot – e.g. the folks who just start abusing moderators to get a permaban.
But mostly online it's people talking past each other and barking at the moon, in my opinion.It's also safer than in real life, so that can encourage the naturally timid to over-express their machismo.
Every social interaction has a threat of violence, therefore there is always a "line". It's just that in nonviolent society, that line is rarely crossed.
Hmm, really? Do you mean potentially has a threat of violence?
Might be a definition difference there – potential is threat, in my context. So has a small possibility of violence.
I knew a lecturer who had some anxiety issues. He once had to duck out of a hobnob drinkies event because he became worried that people would start throwing chocolate eclairs at him and laughing at him. Now, that's highly unlikely, but if there were chocolate eclairs at that do, it's possible that could have happened. But it's highly unlikely unlikely enough for most people to not even have the possibility of violence cross their mind at a do like that.
I was working at a 21st when a young dude, sober (as everyone was at that stage), called the barman… names. So I told him to leave. He did, of his own accord, but it turned out he was the party person's ex, and was just looking to make life difficult for her because he didn't know how to deal with his own shit. That entire situation – happy people, still sober, all there for a birthday celebration, had a non-trivial potential for violence. Sure, it was guy/guy to start with, but he could have easily insulted a female bartender. Similarly, I saw a woman slap another woman's face in broad daylight, in a public hallway. That was unexpected, and almost certainly a learned way to express her own anger and pain.
I don't catch the bus and spend all the trip worried that the bus driver will screw up so a passenger thumps him. But there's always the possibility that someone has issues, or I piss someone off.
right, there are lots of situations that have potential violence, but were you saying there are none that don't have that? Because I can think of most social interactions I've had this week and I would rate the chance of them being violent at so close to zero may as well be zero.
Yeah, walking away from the keyboard at need is a very useful skill. The safer therefore more acting out thing makes sense.
I mean sure, the odds in any particular instance might be essentially infinitesimal, but that's the problem with the angle of "that" canadian, which was:
Underlying male-male conversations, is the understanding that if a certain (changeable) line is crossed, it may be met with a physical violent response.
I mean sure, on one level that's true, if problematic: essentially it's the "fighting words" doctrine, where a statement that is outrageous enough will obviously start a fight.
But on the other hand, no, most people use their words, and there is not the ever-present knowledge that a faux pas could suddenly provoke a physical attack is not the norm.
It's bit weirder with strangers, but that's just because I don't want to make a dick of myself, rather than a worry about getting thumped.
Can't hear enough of the bleeped dialogue to know exactly who's saying what to whom after the punch was thrown. Also we have no idea whether there was any exchange between the two before the punch incident from this short video.
It was a hard punch to the side of the face, though. Nothing justified that. Lots of guys would react to that with a rush of blood to the head and retaliate at least once.
"He received a final written warning for serious misconduct for allegedly not waiting until all passengers were seated before setting off, and verbally abusing and assaulting the man who punched him."
We don't know the driver's employment history. The bit about not waiting until all passengers were seated might be more significant than it seems, for example. I'm also wondering, after watching the clip several times, whether the driver's assailant is drunk or has mental health issues.
There's possibly a bit more to this story than the limited information given in the article. Maybe someone might identify the puncher after seeing the clip?
Best thing is for the driver to appeal the warning.
Whenever I have used public transport, which is a horrid experience I don't recommend to anyone, the bus driver sometimes moves the bus before passengers are seated. I have found both drivers and passengers can be obnoxious to deal with.
The perpetrator looks like the usual suspect and started this physical confrontation.. The bus driver made one mistake…he kicked the offender in the back. He should have run up; pivoted 90 degrees and stomped the calf or ankle. That would have been the end of the confrontation. The bus driver is lucky this feral didn't pull a knife or weapon after being kicked in the back.
Blade is a very blunt simplist. He won't see anything wrong with assaulting someone for assaulting someone.
If there is a vicious cycle, he will participate..
Well, a kick like blade describes would definitely leave a victim, but I'm not sure one actually needs a victim as such. The problem is that the fact the guy could walk off suggests we're not looking at any of the crimes that carry weight, maybe some summary offences act thing like common assault or fighting in a public place. Not likely worth court, with no complainant or victim impact statement.
So maybe a police warning, or diversion. If that.
If the dude gets identified from the video and it turns out he walked into ed in a few days after with a screwed vertebrae that was a miracle away from making him paraplegic, the story might change.
My grandson just asked me what concrete was made from. I was astonished to read, on Wikipedia, this:
"…Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most widely used building material. Its usage worldwide, ton for ton, is twice that of steel, wood, plastics, and aluminum combined …This widespread use results in a number of environmental impacts. Most notably, the production process for cement produces large volumes of greenhouse gas emissions, leading to net 8% of global emissions.""
Cement itself is mostly calcium carbonate (CaCO3) – ie usually mined from limestone or marble, mixed in with some fly ash. The usual process for making cement involved driving out water and any of its carbon dioxide at reasonably high temperatures (the first phase to clinker is CaCO3 -> CaO + CO2.
The most typical way of doing that is to use very very large fossil fuelled open ended or ventilated rotatory ovens.
But if you look at the whole process of cement making and producing concrete, the greenhouse gas emissions go up markedly. Mining and moving large quantities of stone for concrete, cement and limestone for cement around are a large chunk of our transport emissions. Alternatives like shaped stone, steel, glass and even wood don’t cut that part of the building emission process.
They’re starting to develop ways of doing the limestone burn without direct fossil fuels. But it is bloody hard to get alternative methods of producing the equivalent of those strong calcium bonds in construction materials.
Hempcrete is an interesting product that helps to minimise the carbon costs, both in production and also after installation.
Just like any crop, hemp absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere while growing, so hempcrete is considered a carbon-storing material. Accordingly, this CO2 will be stored in the hempcrete block after fabrication and for the duration of the block's life allowing positive environmental benefits. The specific amount of carbonates in the blocks actually increases with the age of the block.The amount of CO2 capture within the net life cycle CO2 emissions of hempcrete is estimated to be between -1.6 to -79 kg CO2e/m2.
I was well into adulthood before I learned that concrete "drying" was actually a specific chemical reaction forming a whole thing, rather than just being like a really good mud brick.
Not that I ever considered concrete all that much, but still – funny the things we carry over from childhood.
Concrete today with acrylic moderfiers is much stronger than earlier forms of concrete except maybe early forms of concrete used in the Eastern Mediterranean.
In the river valley where I live, there is a concrete arch bridge built in the 1920s there are only two left of this type, the other is in Canada. It's protected as an Historic Place. Our local roading contractor is responsible for maintenance and he says the concrete is much stronger than that used today. The only maintenance needed has been repairs after a milk tanker clipped the approach to the bridge.
His great great grandfather built the bridge – he couldn't read or write but also built a railway tunnel on the Nelson railway line!
I always heard the name "Horse Terrace Bridge" was a bit of a joke – a reference to the ladies of a nearby house of ill-repute, serving the local mining community.
It's not a joke!! Original name was Whores Terrace back when it was a tree trunk over the river for access and all the associated deaths by drowning. Fascinating to read all the lobbying of parliament to get the bridge built – William Massey was PM in those days.
"And, because all Covid variants surge, and peak, and then, after a few months of mayhem, go into decline,…"
Which addresses a question I've been nursing for a while – do the Cover family of viruses "fade" naturally, and why?"
Trotter goes on to say,
"..the Prime Minister’s heroic after-image will remain imprinted upon the voters’ retinas long after they have entered, and left, the polling-booths in 2023."
It didn’t take long until the idiosyncrasies of the new self-isolation system to rear their head:
Staff at the Motueka medical centre that saw patients linked to the Omicron outbreak don’t have to isolate.
Patients who visited Greenwood Health on Friday between 11.40am to 1.45pm are considered close contacts and should isolate and get tested immediately and again on day five.
Greenwood Health clinical manager Naomi Rosamond told Morning Report the staff members would have regular testing.
If staff are wearing all the appropriate PPE and distance as much as practicable, they're probably as protected as anyone. Health staff not isolating in these circumstances has been standard for months.
A field blooming with thousands of sunflowers, intended to subdue speeding motorists, appears to be having the desired effect.
Abbe Hoare planted 47,000 sunflower seeds in a half-hectare block near the roadside of her farm at Mangamaire, south of Pahīatua. The sunflowers started flowering about 10 days ago and now the field is filled with bright yellow heads all facing east, which are expected to last until the end of February.
“I wanted to slow the traffic down. No-one ever stops at this railway crossing. This is meant to be 70kmh but no-one ever goes 70kmh.”
If anyone is inclined to check the blooms out 'in the flesh', I heartily recommend Marima Domain just a little bit up the road. A beautiful river spot with the Mangahao River and lots of swimming holes.
Using money to control others seems as old as the hills. Good that taking it for granted seems to have been replaced by an effort to specify it…
BNZ identified 12,000 abusive online banking transactions in the space of just six months last year. While there are no official figures about how widespread economic abuse is in New Zealand, experts believe it is just as prevalent as other types of domestic abuse.
Holly Carrington, from the domestic abuse organisation Shine, said economic abuse did not happen in isolation. "It's important to understand that where there's economic abuse happening, it's almost always part of a larger pattern of behaviour where one person is controlling someone else," she said. Economic abuse has been added to the legal definition of family violence. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/460141/bnz-finds-12-000-abusive-online-banking-transactions-over-six-months
We're told that cloth masks are no longer fit for purpose, surgical masks not fully effective for covid , and more expensive disposable respirator masks like N95 the most effective.
Is there any move to subsidise ?
Even surgical masks can cost up to $25 a week if used correctly.Thats for one person, a family at least $50.How many families can even afford the less effective surgical masks?
Weekly cost for one person wearing one N95 mask a day ..up to $70
Another hazard for the poor, cramped deficient housing(or a car), rising food costs, inflation, and now the ability to stay alive via masks
We got several hundred KN95 masks for work (loops around the ears rather than the back of the head). These cost around $30 per box of 10. So, nothing like the prices you are talking about.
We're told that cloth masks are no longer fit for purpose, surgical masks not fully effective for covid , and more expensive disposable respirator masks like N95 the most effective.
Really wish people would stop saying that. Cloth masks, wellfitted and with an insert or doubled up reduce risk of covid transmission. Likewise surgical.
Yes, N95/P2 are more effective, if fitted properly, but this doesn't mean the other masks are useless.
Given there is a shortage of P2s already, I'm saving mine for when I really need them. I'm not using them yet, because there is no covid in the community where I live, and once there is I'll use them selectively eg when in town and people won't socially distance.
Why are the right wing almost universally opposed to our current government's world beating covid strategy?
The Merchants of Doubt
In their new book, Merchants of Doubt, historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway explain how a loose–knit group of high-level scientists, with extensive political connections, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. In seven compelling chapters addressing tobacco, acid rain, the ozone hole, global warming, and DDT, Oreskes and Conway roll back the rug on this dark corner of the American scientific community, showing how the ideology of free market fundamentalism, aided by a too-compliant media, has skewed public understanding of some of the most pressing issues of our era.
“A well-documented, pulls-no-punches account of how science works and how political motives can hijack the process by which scientific information is disseminated to the public.”—Kirkus Review
The relevance to the dispute of vaccine mandates, vaccine passports, Red light restrictions, lockdowns, is that prioritising public health comes at a cost to business, (and if not managed properly to the average citizen as well).
However our government's response to the pandemic has wide public support, which is hard for the right to confront directly.
Unable to confront the government directly, manufacturing doubt in our government's response to the pandemic has become a cottage industry among the right and far right..
"Rationing tests is something that may well happen during a surge, he said, and rapid antigen tests will be an important part of the response.
"When we have high levels of the virus circulating in the community the false negative and false positive side of the rapid antigen test doesn't matter so much."
But rapid antigen tests won't keep businesses operating, he said.
"It's not the golden chalice, it's a tool in the toolkit."
Professor Michael Baker said 4.5 million rapid antigen tests won't be enough to regularly screen essential workers to keep operations functioning.
According to Bill O'Reilly on Newstalk ZB last night (on demand at 5 about 7 minutes in), businesses have been trying for months to get tests approved to import. Only 4 brands approved here in New Zealand compared to 65 in Australia.
Surely the farmers didnt hve to do any extra "work " they just got paid more for their product .
From what i can make out riding arround on a quad all day constitutes "work" these days in fact i wouldnt be supprized if some of them drive down the hallway to take a dump ! .
typical day would involve getting on the quad ride 50 meters to the cowshed drain the cows of their milk ,then ride back home partake of a leisurely breakfast watch daytime tv til 3 jump back on the quad trundle up the race to open a gate reach down with a device that measures how long the grass is an tells you how much artificial nitrogen you are gonna have to put on to make the grass grow as much as you want it to , then back down to the cowshed again .etc .
If theres any actual "work" done it gets done by contractors doesnt it ?
Relax tricledrown was only a semi serious comment ! I know quite a few hard working farmers too an ive worked for some wonderful ones an some arseholes .
At its heart tho the dairy industry is ruthless in the extreme .Essentially you engineer all of your cows to get pregnant at the same time then as soon as the calves are born you steal them off the mothers truck off most of them to be killed and keep all the milk yourself .Before organizations such as Farmsafe came along the rules arround how a farmer could deal with bobby calves were almost non existant and pretty much nobody cared certainly not the farmers .Theres some truely awfull vids out there of goings on in the processing plants where they take the calves pretty sure it would chill most people to the marrow unless youve already sold your soul .
Your right about the two hrs i couldnt work on a dairy farm at least not a conventional one i wouldnt want the karma .
Blade, at #18 below, you'll find reference to farmers seeking workers to pick crops. No mention of wages paid by the farmers but reference made to highlight incentives for the work aiding farmers by the Seasonal Work Scheme.
65 years ago we ( not me, too tough) were dropping like flies during some random immunisation gig at school around mid 50s, most of them before they got anywhere near the front of the queue. Perfectly normal, and that was decades before Social Fucking Media putting the arse- clenching smoteing with lightning threat into us poor little buggers. Mind you we had just cause, vaccination needles then were just hollowed out 4 inch nails that had been used about a thousand times already, there was precautions ,they were wiped with an oily rag between shots. Happy days!.
Aye! Driven in and then extracted with a claw hammer. Then they went all soft and introduced an oral vaccine. My mother still made me face the needle though.
My uncle during WW2 was a sapper in the first echelon and stationed in North Africa. When blood was required urgently which was often men were pulled out of the ranks randomly and frog marched to the nearest field hospital and were required to give up their blood for the betterment of the sick. No pussy footing around and PC nonsense. He said the needles were like you were describing and he said he just got on with the job and put up with it. They had four years of that before they got their first furlough home. We are 2 and a bit years into this pandemic and many are still complaining and going on about loss of freedom. Beggars belief.
Yes Tricledrown and on top of that they laid mines under bridges etc and had to defuse them as well. He was strafed often and had to huddle in ditches. He lost his hard hat on one trip into a ditch and ran back for it, the ditch was obliterated and he lost mates while retrieving his tin hat. We haven't had anything serious like that to affect us for so many years we have all gone soft on it. I do hope we have the fortitude to endure this pandemic and can stay with the PM to get through it. We all need to harden up.
I wish no disrespect to your uncle, his response to his environment makes me think of a Jiddu Krishnamurti observation.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
I am starting to realise this may apply to our current situation, re Covid, in other ways. It may explain some of the resolve found in folk with dissenting views. The Public Health response may be one too many sacrifices or adjustments in this profoundly sick society.- Inequality, CC, environment degradation…
BTW, there was no escape, no matter how daring, it was a convent school and we were all sheparded into the biggest classroom and the exits were well guarded by nuns dressed with the full flying kit and carrying the most evil yard long leather-soaked-in-vinegar-for-days straps and just itching to use them. Deliriously happy days! Strangely enough we Mickey Doolans had the best immunisation numbers in the country.
There are those of us interested in urban affairs such as transport and housing. The Greater Auckland blog is a great example of writers who are knowledgeable and passionate about their subject.
The latest post takes a good look at road safety. Let’s hope is a blog read by Michael Wood and the mandarins at Waka Kowhai.
”In addition to the progressive safety programmes of work that are already underway, Waka Kotahi’s leaders need to let Vision Zero guide the entire programme. It isn’t something to “squeeze into” a sector feeling the pinch of funding pressures; it’s a way to critique everything in order to reprioritise funding. The scale of change required is immense, and some entirely new programmes are needed, based on Vision Zero principles and harnessing traffic circulation changes. Many programmes should also be discontinued, with their budgets reallocated.”
No mention when you go to the Pick Nelson/Tasman website either except for 'good' wages and mention of government supplied incentives such as accommodation supplements.
The site says, "These include the possibility of financial assistance for relocation costs, travel costs and work gear; an accommodation supplement; and up to $1,000 in cash incentives."
With Omicron appearing in the Motueka/Golden Bay Area, famous for it's unvaxxed, unmasked, unhinged freedumb-fighter underbelly, it'll be very interesting to watch what happens over the next couple of weeks.
I know a lot of those people, kind, compassionate, committed to low carbon footprints,and simple lives, organic gardeners, permaculture teachers,health practitioners, teachers , nurses, many of them.I wouldn't call them an underbelly, and I will stay friends with them although I may not see them close up for some time.
On another note it's fantastic to see what a tiny country under savage sanctions for decades can do with it's medical research
My own Riverton community mirrors the Golden Bay community closely. I call my unhinged friends just that and we all laugh – they think I'm a danger to society, just as I do them.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Opinion: New Health NZ commissioner Lester Levy is authorised to assume operational leadership – chief executive Margie Apa is effectively relegated to his operational deputy The post All-powerful Levy is feudal baron of a $28b fiefdom appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Here is a good interview that helps in damping down the general slightly hysterical MSM reportage and allowing for a more balanced look at the overall situation in the Ukraine….
Thanks Adrian
Will watch
The calibre of the likes of Boris Johnson means that this nonsense will not be resolved soon
The UK's naming of a Russian puppet succeeding Zelensky post invasion is vile, war mongering crap and legal proceedings may follow .
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-yevhen-murayev-b1999067.html
A rare and lone voice in the Guardian reminds readers of the Minsk accords signed years ago , but never implemented suggests they are the only way out of the Ukraine mess
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/24/autonomy-eastern-ukraine-crisis-nato-russia-minsk
So disappointing that the NZ media merely repeats the one sided rubbish coming from the UK 's "intelligence services" via Boris Johnson
Really good interview Adrian, with a very credible academic who knows his subject through and through
I too, will watch this soon. But I think it’s more than’Slightly Hysterical’ the BS spouted by the Imperialist West.
The euphemism 'Lethal Aid'. Sickening.
https://twitter.com/USEmbassyKyiv/status/1484709938807070721
Genius Tik Tok video in my inbox this morning.
https://www.facebook.com/100000611617500/videos/298844738722921
Love it.
Other trigger words for me include "theory" and "opinion. " (To which my wife said, "why stop there?)
Yes Jenny, Dr. Google and Dr. Facebook have a lot to answer for!
Should I believe some random person on Tik Tok, insightful as it is, or this guy?
In October 2020, Professor Peter Doshi, the associate editor of the BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal), claimed: “None of the [phase 3] trials currently under way are designed to detect a reduction in any serious outcome such as hospital admissions, use of intensive care, or deaths. Nor are the vaccines being studied to determine whether they can interrupt transmission of the virus”.
More recently, he’s complained that Pfizer has refused to release the raw data until 2025. That’s four years since rollout here began. Why should we have to wait until 2025 to get the raw data? And what if the data contradicts the picture painted by Pfizer?
Doshi made the following comment earlier this month:
What possible reason could they have for not releasing the data? Pfizer’s revenue reportedly could top $100 billion in 2022, the first pharmaceutical company to reach that figure.
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4037
https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o102
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/pfizer-to-exceed-100b-revenue-2022-thanks-to-covid-19-drug-and-vaccine-analyst
Sounds like useful research.
https://faculty.rx.umaryland.edu/pdoshi/
Hi Ross, a question for you;
Do you believe children have collapsed here in New Zealand, as a result of the Pfizer's vaccine (rather than other factors)?
Excuse me for butting in…
I can see how a child may faint in and around getting vaccinated.
Imagine at home you have parents on opposing sides of the administration of Pfizer's drugs.
One parent has lost their job and other domestic tensions arise because they don't have a passport. Can't go to that family wedding, dinner with the family etc.
Children aren't oblivious to these stresses and then they are put in a situation that implies choosing one parent over another.
That's a very good observation, gsays.
I imagine any "passing out" that may have occurred, if in fact there was any at all, will have been the result of something like that, or the general tension that exists around the process, or perhaps the heat – not though, because of the contents of the needle, coursing through the child's veins, reacting badly and causing a physical reaction, as implied by the antivaxxers.
I rather object to Jenny's question though, in response to a post that is essentially a long quote from the associate editor of the BMJ
The Merchants of Doubt
How the antivaxxer propagandists take advantage of slightest of scientific disputes and side shows to sneakilly sow seeds of doubt to encourage vaccine hesitancy, to undermine our nation's collective health response to the pandemic.
As to the contents of that needle, it is pointed out above that Pfizer are not releasing the raw data until 2025.
I have read/heard (possibly Andrew Campbell), Pfizer were obliged or implied the data information would be made available well before then.
Medsafe already knows what’s “in the needle” and there’s no need to wait until 2025!?
https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/Datasheet/c/comirnatyinj.pdf
I think I am getting my wires crossed with needle contents and metadata from early trials.
No probs Gsays. Any time. You're very welcome to butt in. As we will most likely not be getting any straight answers from our resident closet anti-vaxxers any time soon.
Gsays; "I can see how a child may faint in and around getting vaccinated." ie other factors.
Good, you have passed the test and are not an antivaxxer troll sneakily trying to sow doubt and muddy the waters, with screeds of irrelevant marginal studies.
So many causes why a child could faint. Just waiting in a queue in hot weather to needing questions answered about being vaccinated and not feeling as though questions can be asked.
Not an easy time for parents (especially single parents or parents who have parents overseas) and school has not opened yet.
I would not want to be a 5 year old starting school or a parent who has been told to work from home with a baby, a preschooler and a primary age child and a partner who is an essential worker.
Alot of trust vested in Big Pharma.
I recall when the virus was first identified, it was supposedly spread by touch.
Sanitisation of surfaces and washing hands was the recommended response.
Nek minit….transmitted by air.
Nek minit …vaccine will protect you
Nek minit….you need 2 shots
Nek minit…it won't protect you from getting it or spreading it…but it will lessen the chances.
Nek minit….the main benefit of vaccines is to prevent the health system from being over whelmed.
Nek minit…there is another new variant…2 shots will not protect you.
Nek minit…you must have a booster shot.
Nek minit…the booster will not protect you from getting or spreading Omicron.
Nek minit….if you do contract Omicron,isolate at home and rest for 10-14 days…
Nek minit…you may need ongoing…boo$ter$.
Trust Big Pharma?
Billions in Govt funding for vaccines….4 mins in…
[lprent: don’t write teasers like this – state why why you think others should look at an external link. If I see too many of these, then I’ll add a rule that requires at least a attached paragraph before a video link will be accepted.]
https://youtu.be/6ucuOvJOO0I
Hey, Blazer, before he pleads the Fifth. Maybe you would like to answer the question, I asked Ross above;
Do you believe children have collapsed here in New Zealand, as a result of the Pfizer's vaccine (rather than other factors)?
Jenny – before blazer “pleads the fifth” and you start claiming a pwned victory. And before I start getting annoyed with pig-fucker questions…
Like everything else in medicine and public health, vaccinations against infectious diseases are a question about balancing multiple risks against each other. Medical practices aren’t magic – they are a question of probabilities.
So rather than posing “why did you kill your baby?” questions, perhaps you might consider that the pig-fucker tactic is a two way path, causes really stupid flame wars, and I’m likely to land hard on whoever does it.
So getting whatever conversation that this is back to a reasonable level…
Are you aware that children get hospitalised and die from covid-19? Have you looked at the numbers? Can you understand the numbers?
Study observes severe Covid-19 infections in children
parent – in Jenny's defence, the question was mine, and posed as a "litmus test", not in connection to pigs, as you put it. My proposal was that the response to the question would sort respondents into distinct "camps", cutting through the fog of multiple opinions, cutting to the chase, so to speak. It was intended as a clarifying device, but seems to fit the purpose badly. My apologies to Jenny for dropping her/you into it.
So do we want to find common ground , or do we just want to divide people into "tents" so we can ignore them?
Provide clarity, in my view. What anyone does from that point on, is up to them. It seems to me that the reports of "children collapsing" were delivered and received differently and that acceptance, one way or the other, is indicative. It's like asking if a person accepts that humans have exacerbated the warming of the climate, or had no role in the change. My concept may well be flawed (seems so) but the opportunity seems a good one, to me, as it's quite clear-cut, in my opinion. Finding common ground is a fair objective, but so is honest declaration of position.
And sorry, Iprent, “parent” is the default spelling on my machine.
no-one is obligated to state their position though. Have to run, will come back to this later.
Into 'camps', 'declaration of position' are nice, harmless sounding euphemisms for othering. I have been fortunate through my life to mostly not be othered and if I was on the outer, it was my choice and I was confortable with it.
I have noticed no matter how many times it is pointed out, there is a world of difference between 'anti-vax' and against the mandates, passports and the state's power to coerce an individual into a medication they do not want. They may have folk in both camps, but being one does not necessarily make you the other.
sorting commenters on TS into camps is likely to lead to flamewars. And create an antagonistic atmosphere that puts other people off from commenting.
There are good reasons to nip that in the bud (which is what Lynn is doing).
You can see from how Lynn framed his question, that it elicits better debate, better information, and gives people room to learn and change (or even just back down). Putting people into camps does the opposite.
Spot on, Blazer.
For the reasons you’ve given, the vaccine should really be called a drug, not a vaccine.
https://faculty.rx.umaryland.edu/pdoshi/files/2021/11/Peter-Doshi-testimony.pdf
So what do you think of reports that children in this country have been collapsing after receiving the childhood covid vaccination?
No comment?
I'd be very surprised if you get a reply, Jenny.
These RWs are very adept at believing what they want to, and ignoring inconvenient facts.
I don't think I am a RW, but I do think that it would have been helpful to have given urls for the "reports," and the question relates to the post it follows.
I very much doubt them seeing as one lot that I read were promulgated by arch anti vaxxer Liz Gunn.
She is one of those featured in David Farrier's Loopy article from October 2021.
https://www.webworm.co/p/loopy
This Doshi guy appears to have no idea. Administering the vaccine to infected people won't make them better at all. It needs to be administered before infection to be effective and calling it a drug doesn't alter this one bit.
Which reasons did Blazer give @ 2.3.2 that support your confirmation bias and logical fallacy?
Basically a completely spurious argument based on nitpicking word definitions.
Most vaccines ever developed during the initial phases of development required decades of development before they became capable of producing long-lasting effects. The goes for polio all the way through to the most recent ones. Some vaccines lose their efficacy regularly ever after decades of development – influenza vaccines for instance.
Whoever this Peter Doshi is, they either don’t know the history of vaccines or they are a PR wanker pushing a line for fooling illiterates.
Quick search and
Peter Doshi is an associate professor of pharmaceutical health services research in the School of Pharmacy and associate editor at The BMJ. His research focuses on policies related to drug safety and effectiveness evaluation in the context of regulation, evidence-based medicine, and debates over access to data. Doshi also has strong interests in journalism as a vehicle for encouraging better practice and improving the research enterprise.
So I think this guy does know what he is on about.
He appears to have no specific expertise or research experience in:
Actually I never said that they didn't know what they were speaking about. I was pretty specific.
The three I pointed out as probable explanations were.. Nitpicky word definitions. PR wanker. Lack of history on vaccine development.
First two sound probable.
The most effective way to make a name for yourself in academic circles if you can't do research, is to provide a new word definition and attach it to a field of study.
Another other effective way (especially in the US) is to become a talking head who spends time greasing up the media.
No particular evidence on knowing the history of vaccines. May have skipped those classes. From what I have heard, history of medicine and the development side of the medical profession is a low attendance set of classes.
What I was pointing at was that by the quoted definition and even my limited knowledge of the development history of vaccines, his statement doesn't stand up under even a basic scrutiny.
Simply claiming authority based on straight academic training and qualification isn't authoritative on its own. You have to have a argument that stands up to scrutiny and challenge.
Otherwise we'd still be living in a world dominated by the rather rigid scientific views of Lord Kelvin who at the end of the 19th century was proclaiming that physics was virtually all known and that the pesky experimental evidence of rays of radiation penetrating solid matter were irrelevant.
A fine example of authority bias.
For obvious reasons, the Merriam-Webster dictionary is not on any list of recommended reading for any student of Immunology.
Doshi conveniently ignores that both science and language are not fixed but evolve over time and need constant revision to stay up-to-date and accurate.
lols
Merriam-webster changed their definition beyond virus.
OED describes the use of the word to include virus products from an example published in 1983:
Sounds like targeting the spike protein to me.
Yes, word definitions change over time, for example as new technology emerges. But either the board of M-W were a bit slow in keeping up with the technical literature around vaccines and then the MrNA use hit the spotlight, or they're the slow peddlers in a global conspiracy to inject people with "drugs".
I think the former is more likely.
Fuck I love books – they appear today as they did when published on the date on the front pages.
Collins Gem (as in "pocket") Dictionary and Thesaurus, London, 1995:
Justifies the book hoarding for another 30 years, lol
The Merchants of Doubt II
To make your case, you've covered a lot of ground there Blazer
I suppose the only question I have for you Blazer, is your motive malign or are you just naively ignorant of how science works?
I am not a scientist.
I just posted a chronological sequence of my personal…observations.
The irony is that the short Tik Tok clip is about confirmation bias and said nothing about COVID-19 as such, which you ‘countered’ using the words “believe” and “random” plus a strawman pulled out of Doshi’s rabbit hole (i.e. demonstrating his own strong bias and prejudice).
You might as well have asked “should I believe in Taylor Swift or Santa Claus”, which would have made for a more entertaining discussion than your idiosyncratic diatribe.
What makes you think Medsafe and its overseas equivalents don't have access to the raw data? If they have access, why do I need it today?
Here is a response refuting Doshi's comments. His basic claim that efficacy is less than claimed, seems well refuted to me. Technical complaints about data availability etc – I have not followed up.
In the real world, a consistent (and global) pattern has emerged of vaccinated people having far better Covid19 outcomes than unvaccinated people. This confirms that the efficacy of the vaccines (as claimed in the trials) is true in the real world.
The proof of the pudding is in in the eating.
Note that Doshi’s qualifications are in Anthropology, East Asian Studies and his PhD was in “history, anthropology, and science, technology and society”. He does not have specific health, pharmaceutical, vaccine, statistics or immunology qualifications, nor does he conduct original research in these fields (i.e. he doesn’t develop drugs, vaccines, trials – or publish in immunology etc).
Thanks uncooked good that someone looks beyond the clickbait.
Real World the world has had a unprecedented pandemic in our life times.
A vaccine was needed many companies vied to produce vaccines.
The mRNA was the quickest to be developed using nano technology.
And is highly effective not perfect no vaccine is.
Luckily the vast majority is very happy it's been developed.
A very small but extremely vocal minority have pushed lies like sheading of vaccines will cause spread.5 g cell towers,then it was ivermectin, so and so on.
None of the antivax propaganda has stood the test of time.
Bang on! Confirmation Bias is running rampant these days.
I feel sorry for the bus driver and they give him a final warning! I guess he must have said something to provoke the punch.
Bus driver punched, given final warning after act of revenge caught on CCTV | Stuff.co.nz
Yeah, nah, he had time to stop and think about that one but reacted instead. It wasn't self defense. He could have stopped the bus and called the police instead of assaulting him back. Given he knows that the CCTV is there, I'd guess he lost it, which means he needs to sort out his ability to do that job that often involves people being arseholes. I hope he gets some support though, because that's a really shitty situation to be in.
Also hope they find the guy who punched him.
he needs to sort out his ability to do that job that often involves people being arseholes.
Well, some people are arseholes but I suspect that a driver being punched in the head is rather rare. Yeah I guess he could have called police but he might have wondered when they would turn up. As it was, the attacked quickly departed and hasn’t been identified.
and the driver is potentially going to lose this job.
Let's just say that a woman would probably have handled it differently and not seen kicking someone in the back as the first response.
A wee observation from the psychologist that dare not speak his Canadian name.
Underlying male-male conversations, is the understanding that if a certain (changeable) line is crossed, it may be met with a physical violent response.
When I heard him discuss this, a light went on. It wasn't a blatant, obvious not readily apparent thing, but I knew what he was talking about.
Doesn't forgive or excuse either persons actions but may shed light on them.
makes sense to me. Thing is, it's still against the law to assault someone physically, and there was time to make a choice.
If the passenger had punched him and then stood there leaning over him and shouting and basically boxing him in and threatening him, getting physical would seem appropriate. Cf to the Mitre10 staff manhandling the anti-mask dude out of the shop. Or someone defending themselves.
Was Peterson saying that men can't help themselves? or just that it's socialised in men to behave like that? Or was he saying it's biological?
The origin I took was biological/evolutional.
A socialised example might be rugby, union or league, where there is all sorts of physical domination and aggression within an understanding.
yes, and men make choices all the time to not harm the rugby players in the opposing team. The issue then is whether and to what extent men have choice in the moment. I think socialisation around emotion, entitlement, maleness and manhood all play a significant part.
Habituated, inculcated behaviour, imo.
yep.
"I think socialisation around emotion, entitlement, maleness and manhood all play a significant part."
I agree. More and more of that socialisation isn't been done by men. Something Celia Lashlie was big on.
I'm a fan of Celia Lashlie's work 🙂
Except there wasn't much in the way of talking prior to violence.
The problem generally isn't that a line might be crossed – that's basically a tautology. Every social interaction has a threat of violence, therefore there is always a "line". It's just that in nonviolent society, that line is rarely crossed.
Thing is, the drive for status and dealing with the physiological reactions to confrontation involve learned techniques: impulse control, using your words, or being somewhat inoculated to the stress of violence. Having a constant threat of violence to conversations isn't actually the norm.
Passenger dude had impulse control issues, maybe status issues and felt the crappy drive was a sign of disrespect. Driver was similarly controlled by his anger.
One thing I always found funny was watching many of the stupid late teens street fights at 3am. There was definitely a social script, it was basically rams butting horns. Each idiot had opportunities to walk away, the buildup was call:response in pattern, then the mutual approach, while maybe hoping friends would drag them away.
In contrast were folks who had obviously been around a bit. Very little in the way of puffing up, very quick to throw a punch (like passenger). They were a lot of work. If it was a status thing, they knew the winner was the person who could escalate first, so they didn't screw around.
My comment was in response to weka's observation a woman would have handled it differently. While there are a few exceptions, you'd like to think Hi-Vis man would not have coward punched a woman driver.
Spent six years running a rural town pub, what you say is very familiar. Especially the ‘been around a bit folks’. I had a memorable Christmas Eve ‘dance’ with one of them.
Makes me damn grateful I met a good partner early in life and that massively informed a lot of decisions I made through my adolescence.
timestamps suggest otherwise. Weka brought up the idea a woman would have handled it differently well after the comment I replied to.
I think women, on average would have handled being suckerpunched differently, but I also think that most men would have handled it differently. Not really judging the driver, but it was likely not his best work.
Aahh true. I agree, he didn't cover himself in glory.
out of curiosity, do you see that playing out in online places like TS, or is it just a more superficial comparison?
Hmm, really? Do you mean potentially has a threat of violence?
Well, I know I've been pissed off at some stuff personally, as opposed to just frustration at not getting my point across. Especially if it's an issue that I know about in real life, and the other party is talking bullshit. that definitely creates a reaction similar to instances that happened face to face. That's when I on occasion go do something else, or let a comment mellow overnight. And I've seen other folks throw their toys out of the cot – e.g. the folks who just start abusing moderators to get a permaban.
But mostly online it's people talking past each other and barking at the moon, in my opinion.It's also safer than in real life, so that can encourage the naturally timid to over-express their machismo.
Might be a definition difference there – potential is threat, in my context. So has a small possibility of violence.
I knew a lecturer who had some anxiety issues. He once had to duck out of a hobnob drinkies event because he became worried that people would start throwing chocolate eclairs at him and laughing at him. Now, that's highly unlikely, but if there were chocolate eclairs at that do, it's possible that could have happened. But it's highly unlikely unlikely enough for most people to not even have the possibility of violence cross their mind at a do like that.
I was working at a 21st when a young dude, sober (as everyone was at that stage), called the barman… names. So I told him to leave. He did, of his own accord, but it turned out he was the party person's ex, and was just looking to make life difficult for her because he didn't know how to deal with his own shit. That entire situation – happy people, still sober, all there for a birthday celebration, had a non-trivial potential for violence. Sure, it was guy/guy to start with, but he could have easily insulted a female bartender. Similarly, I saw a woman slap another woman's face in broad daylight, in a public hallway. That was unexpected, and almost certainly a learned way to express her own anger and pain.
I don't catch the bus and spend all the trip worried that the bus driver will screw up so a passenger thumps him. But there's always the possibility that someone has issues, or I piss someone off.
right, there are lots of situations that have potential violence, but were you saying there are none that don't have that? Because I can think of most social interactions I've had this week and I would rate the chance of them being violent at so close to zero may as well be zero.
Yeah, walking away from the keyboard at need is a very useful skill. The safer therefore more acting out thing makes sense.
I mean sure, the odds in any particular instance might be essentially infinitesimal, but that's the problem with the angle of "that" canadian, which was:
I mean sure, on one level that's true, if problematic: essentially it's the "fighting words" doctrine, where a statement that is outrageous enough will obviously start a fight.
But on the other hand, no, most people use their words, and there is not the ever-present knowledge that a faux pas could suddenly provoke a physical attack is not the norm.
It's bit weirder with strangers, but that's just because I don't want to make a dick of myself, rather than a worry about getting thumped.
Can't hear enough of the bleeped dialogue to know exactly who's saying what to whom after the punch was thrown. Also we have no idea whether there was any exchange between the two before the punch incident from this short video.
It was a hard punch to the side of the face, though. Nothing justified that. Lots of guys would react to that with a rush of blood to the head and retaliate at least once.
"He received a final written warning for serious misconduct for allegedly not waiting until all passengers were seated before setting off, and verbally abusing and assaulting the man who punched him."
We don't know the driver's employment history. The bit about not waiting until all passengers were seated might be more significant than it seems, for example. I'm also wondering, after watching the clip several times, whether the driver's assailant is drunk or has mental health issues.
There's possibly a bit more to this story than the limited information given in the article. Maybe someone might identify the puncher after seeing the clip?
Best thing is for the driver to appeal the warning.
Whenever I have used public transport, which is a horrid experience I don't recommend to anyone, the bus driver sometimes moves the bus before passengers are seated. I have found both drivers and passengers can be obnoxious to deal with.
The perpetrator looks like the usual suspect and started this physical confrontation.. The bus driver made one mistake…he kicked the offender in the back. He should have run up; pivoted 90 degrees and stomped the calf or ankle. That would have been the end of the confrontation. The bus driver is lucky this feral didn't pull a knife or weapon after being kicked in the back.
stomping on someone's foot is still assault and in this case would also lead to a warning.
Quite true, but the time for allowing these pricks to hit people at will should be over.
Lordy! The lack of self-awareness is breath-taking!
You will need to expand on that Robert because I have no self-awareness.
This should be riveting.![laugh laugh](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png?x42494)
Robert's response to that reply should be "I rest my case."
Yes, I agree. Robert does get into difficulties with me with his selective quotes and pretzel logic.
It's pretty clear. You are advocating assaulting someone for assaulting someone.
Blade is a very blunt simplist. He won't see anything wrong with assaulting someone for assaulting someone.
If there is a vicious cycle, he will participate..
Nah.
Firing and likely charges.
Permanent damage to the guy's legs is even more of an escalation than kicking him (poorly) in the back.
The driver shouldn't have to put up with that stuff, but that means "get off my bus" and/or calling the cops, not attacking him from behind.
Yep. I was meaning the work fairness side.
Would the police still charge for the kick? I'm guessing not having a victim to make a complaint makes that harder?
Well, a kick like blade describes would definitely leave a victim, but I'm not sure one actually needs a victim as such. The problem is that the fact the guy could walk off suggests we're not looking at any of the crimes that carry weight, maybe some summary offences act thing like common assault or fighting in a public place. Not likely worth court, with no complainant or victim impact statement.
So maybe a police warning, or diversion. If that.
If the dude gets identified from the video and it turns out he walked into ed in a few days after with a screwed vertebrae that was a miracle away from making him paraplegic, the story might change.
yes, there was a victim, but they couldn't find him.
Story might change, and, punch dude gets arrested as well.
There's been more than one fight where everyone involved got charged for their bit, yep
That comment is a curious mix of being ever so butch, yet also being too delicate to mix with normal people.
Reminded me of this:
https://terrypratchettappreciation.tumblr.com/post/653903384354684928/thats-horrid-horrible-thought-susan-the
As in, "Blade is having a horrid day on TS"?
That may be unkind and counterproductive Robert, but it's probably an accurate observation.
Blade should do a runner.
My grandson just asked me what concrete was made from. I was astonished to read, on Wikipedia, this:
"…Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most widely used building material. Its usage worldwide, ton for ton, is twice that of steel, wood, plastics, and aluminum combined …This widespread use results in a number of environmental impacts. Most notably, the production process for cement produces large volumes of greenhouse gas emissions, leading to net 8% of global emissions.""
How did you miss that! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cement
Cement itself is mostly calcium carbonate (CaCO3) – ie usually mined from limestone or marble, mixed in with some fly ash. The usual process for making cement involved driving out water and any of its carbon dioxide at reasonably high temperatures (the first phase to clinker is CaCO3 -> CaO + CO2.
The most typical way of doing that is to use very very large fossil fuelled open ended or ventilated rotatory ovens.
But if you look at the whole process of cement making and producing concrete, the greenhouse gas emissions go up markedly. Mining and moving large quantities of stone for concrete, cement and limestone for cement around are a large chunk of our transport emissions. Alternatives like shaped stone, steel, glass and even wood don’t cut that part of the building emission process.
They’re starting to develop ways of doing the limestone burn without direct fossil fuels. But it is bloody hard to get alternative methods of producing the equivalent of those strong calcium bonds in construction materials.
Hempcrete is an interesting product that helps to minimise the carbon costs, both in production and also after installation.
I was well into adulthood before I learned that concrete "drying" was actually a specific chemical reaction forming a whole thing, rather than just being like a really good mud brick.
Not that I ever considered concrete all that much, but still – funny the things we carry over from childhood.
Concrete today with acrylic moderfiers is much stronger than earlier forms of concrete except maybe early forms of concrete used in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The soil beneath concrete, I believe, is dead.
There's a lot of soil lying dead, beneath concrete!
Tragedy.
In the river valley where I live, there is a concrete arch bridge built in the 1920s there are only two left of this type, the other is in Canada. It's protected as an Historic Place. Our local roading contractor is responsible for maintenance and he says the concrete is much stronger than that used today. The only maintenance needed has been repairs after a milk tanker clipped the approach to the bridge.
His great great grandfather built the bridge – he couldn't read or write but also built a railway tunnel on the Nelson railway line!
https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/21234
I live not far from you.
I always heard the name "Horse Terrace Bridge" was a bit of a joke – a reference to the ladies of a nearby house of ill-repute, serving the local mining community.
It's not a joke!! Original name was Whores Terrace back when it was a tree trunk over the river for access and all the associated deaths by drowning. Fascinating to read all the lobbying of parliament to get the bridge built – William Massey was PM in those days.
Like most things we create, wonderful! Until we over-do it.
Discretion! It's the challenge we face as a species.
Chris Trotter writes:
"And, because all Covid variants surge, and peak, and then, after a few months of mayhem, go into decline,…"
Which addresses a question I've been nursing for a while – do the Cover family of viruses "fade" naturally, and why?"
Trotter goes on to say,
"..the Prime Minister’s heroic after-image will remain imprinted upon the voters’ retinas long after they have entered, and left, the polling-booths in 2023."
Which sounds reasonable to me.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2022/01/omicron-has-come.html
Oh dear. Chris has been reading his favourite poetry again.
Whenever he starts reading the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam he gets into this mood and stops writing prose and starts trying to write poetry.
Read a bit of the Fitzgerald translation and you will see what I mean.
https://www.therubaiyatofomarkhayyam.com/rubaiyat-full-text/
That's right, alwyn, attack the messenger, not the message!
It didn’t take long until the idiosyncrasies of the new self-isolation system to rear their head:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/460148/staff-at-motueka-clinic-linked-to-omicron-cases-not-isolating
If staff are wearing all the appropriate PPE and distance as much as practicable, they're probably as protected as anyone. Health staff not isolating in these circumstances has been standard for months.
If the cases presented with symptoms they might have been seen outside too.
Novel traffic-calming method:
If anyone is inclined to check the blooms out 'in the flesh', I heartily recommend Marima Domain just a little bit up the road. A beautiful river spot with the Mangahao River and lots of swimming holes.
Using money to control others seems as old as the hills. Good that taking it for granted seems to have been replaced by an effort to specify it…
We're told that cloth masks are no longer fit for purpose, surgical masks not fully effective for covid , and more expensive disposable respirator masks like N95 the most effective.
Is there any move to subsidise ?
Even surgical masks can cost up to $25 a week if used correctly.Thats for one person, a family at least $50.How many families can even afford the less effective surgical masks?
Weekly cost for one person wearing one N95 mask a day ..up to $70
Another hazard for the poor, cramped deficient housing(or a car), rising food costs, inflation, and now the ability to stay alive via masks
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/127579055/approved-respirators-most-effective-against-omicron–but-are-they-affordable
We got several hundred KN95 masks for work (loops around the ears rather than the back of the head). These cost around $30 per box of 10. So, nothing like the prices you are talking about.
I'm using a quote from the article .Not many households can afford to buy in bulk
These are disposable masks. But if you are only using them to go out to the shops or whatever, then a mask should last a week at least I would expect.
BTW, the masks we purchased are identical to the one the person is wearing in the picture in the article you linked to.
Really wish people would stop saying that. Cloth masks, wellfitted and with an insert or doubled up reduce risk of covid transmission. Likewise surgical.
Yes, N95/P2 are more effective, if fitted properly, but this doesn't mean the other masks are useless.
Given there is a shortage of P2s already, I'm saving mine for when I really need them. I'm not using them yet, because there is no covid in the community where I live, and once there is I'll use them selectively eg when in town and people won't socially distance.
Follow the money.
Public Health vs. Private Wealth
Why are the right wing almost universally opposed to our current government's world beating covid strategy?
The Merchants of Doubt
The relevance to the dispute of vaccine mandates, vaccine passports, Red light restrictions, lockdowns, is that prioritising public health comes at a cost to business, (and if not managed properly to the average citizen as well).
However our government's response to the pandemic has wide public support, which is hard for the right to confront directly.
Unable to confront the government directly, manufacturing doubt in our government's response to the pandemic has become a cottage industry among the right and far right..
According to Michael Baker we need a lot more RAT tests:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/460152/covid-19-isolation-rules-should-ease-once-omicron-takes-off-more-rapid-antigen-tests-needed-baker
"Rationing tests is something that may well happen during a surge, he said, and rapid antigen tests will be an important part of the response.
"When we have high levels of the virus circulating in the community the false negative and false positive side of the rapid antigen test doesn't matter so much."
But rapid antigen tests won't keep businesses operating, he said.
"It's not the golden chalice, it's a tool in the toolkit."
Professor Michael Baker said 4.5 million rapid antigen tests won't be enough to regularly screen essential workers to keep operations functioning.
According to Bill O'Reilly on Newstalk ZB last night (on demand at 5 about 7 minutes in), businesses have been trying for months to get tests approved to import. Only 4 brands approved here in New Zealand compared to 65 in Australia.
By the time we get enough, we won't need them.
Excellent. Thanks farmers for your hard work. You get no thanks from this government. Hopefully his may make things a little better.
Robbo will love this.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/127587120/fonterra-lifts-farmgate-milk-price-to-record-level-sees-138b-economic-boost
Surely the farmers didnt hve to do any extra "work " they just got paid more for their product .
From what i can make out riding arround on a quad all day constitutes "work" these days in fact i wouldnt be supprized if some of them drive down the hallway to take a dump ! .
typical day would involve getting on the quad ride 50 meters to the cowshed drain the cows of their milk ,then ride back home partake of a leisurely breakfast watch daytime tv til 3 jump back on the quad trundle up the race to open a gate reach down with a device that measures how long the grass is an tells you how much artificial nitrogen you are gonna have to put on to make the grass grow as much as you want it to , then back down to the cowshed again .etc .
If theres any actual "work" done it gets done by contractors doesnt it ?
Weston this agriculture boom couldn't have come at a better time.
All farmers I know work 60hr plus weeks.
You would last a couple of hrs at best.
We have lost tourism,hospitality,education etc
We are lucky to have farmer's otherwise what do we export, 60% of our export earnings, probably higher now other areas have collapsed
Relax tricledrown was only a semi serious comment ! I know quite a few hard working farmers too an ive worked for some wonderful ones an some arseholes .
At its heart tho the dairy industry is ruthless in the extreme .Essentially you engineer all of your cows to get pregnant at the same time then as soon as the calves are born you steal them off the mothers truck off most of them to be killed and keep all the milk yourself .Before organizations such as Farmsafe came along the rules arround how a farmer could deal with bobby calves were almost non existant and pretty much nobody cared certainly not the farmers .Theres some truely awfull vids out there of goings on in the processing plants where they take the calves pretty sure it would chill most people to the marrow unless youve already sold your soul .
Your right about the two hrs i couldnt work on a dairy farm at least not a conventional one i wouldnt want the karma .
Blade, at #18 below, you'll find reference to farmers seeking workers to pick crops. No mention of wages paid by the farmers but reference made to highlight incentives for the work aiding farmers by the Seasonal Work Scheme.
https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/nz-seasonal-work-scheme.html
No thanks from this government indeed!
I wanted a decent explanation of what’s going on in the Ukraine, and why. Got it here.
https://youtu.be/QbBiFAzz-C8
I liked the other explanation better thank goodness it didnt contain silly musac in the background either .
65 years ago we ( not me, too tough) were dropping like flies during some random immunisation gig at school around mid 50s, most of them before they got anywhere near the front of the queue. Perfectly normal, and that was decades before Social Fucking Media putting the arse- clenching smoteing with lightning threat into us poor little buggers. Mind you we had just cause, vaccination needles then were just hollowed out 4 inch nails that had been used about a thousand times already, there was precautions ,they were wiped with an oily rag between shots. Happy days!.
"hollowed out 4 inch nails"
Luxury!
Another…Yorkshire man!
Aye! Driven in and then extracted with a claw hammer. Then they went all soft and introduced an oral vaccine. My mother still made me face the needle though.
My uncle during WW2 was a sapper in the first echelon and stationed in North Africa. When blood was required urgently which was often men were pulled out of the ranks randomly and frog marched to the nearest field hospital and were required to give up their blood for the betterment of the sick. No pussy footing around and PC nonsense. He said the needles were like you were describing and he said he just got on with the job and put up with it. They had four years of that before they got their first furlough home. We are 2 and a bit years into this pandemic and many are still complaining and going on about loss of freedom. Beggars belief.
Thanks whispering Kate for the best comment on this subject.
Those soldiers endured that so we can have the freedoms of today.
The freedoms of the self entitled seem to have no bounds.
My parents were young teenagers who ran from abject poverty in Ireland to help the War effort in London circa 1943to 45.
They endured bombing,V1doodle bugs and v2 rockets.Stupendously high rents as many houses we're uninhabitable.
Landlords profiteered.
Put today's antvaxxers and public health underminers back into that scenario.
They would not even make a sound.
Yes Tricledrown and on top of that they laid mines under bridges etc and had to defuse them as well. He was strafed often and had to huddle in ditches. He lost his hard hat on one trip into a ditch and ran back for it, the ditch was obliterated and he lost mates while retrieving his tin hat. We haven't had anything serious like that to affect us for so many years we have all gone soft on it. I do hope we have the fortitude to endure this pandemic and can stay with the PM to get through it. We all need to harden up.
Thanks WK for those recollections.
I wish no disrespect to your uncle, his response to his environment makes me think of a Jiddu Krishnamurti observation.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
I am starting to realise this may apply to our current situation, re Covid, in other ways. It may explain some of the resolve found in folk with dissenting views. The Public Health response may be one too many sacrifices or adjustments in this profoundly sick society.- Inequality, CC, environment degradation…
BTW, there was no escape, no matter how daring, it was a convent school and we were all sheparded into the biggest classroom and the exits were well guarded by nuns dressed with the full flying kit and carrying the most evil yard long leather-soaked-in-vinegar-for-days straps and just itching to use them. Deliriously happy days! Strangely enough we Mickey Doolans had the best immunisation numbers in the country.
There are those of us interested in urban affairs such as transport and housing. The Greater Auckland blog is a great example of writers who are knowledgeable and passionate about their subject.
The latest post takes a good look at road safety. Let’s hope is a blog read by Michael Wood and the mandarins at Waka Kowhai.
”In addition to the progressive safety programmes of work that are already underway, Waka Kotahi’s leaders need to let Vision Zero guide the entire programme. It isn’t something to “squeeze into” a sector feeling the pinch of funding pressures; it’s a way to critique everything in order to reprioritise funding. The scale of change required is immense, and some entirely new programmes are needed, based on Vision Zero principles and harnessing traffic circulation changes. Many programmes should also be discontinued, with their budgets reallocated.”
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2022/01/25/a-safer-course/
Another bullshit "Labour Shortage" (aka "WAGES shortage") campaign.
Pick Nelson-Tasman to work, campaign urges
Not a single mention of pay and conditions anywhere in the article!
that's unfortunate timing, not sure there will be many people wanting to flock to that area just now.
No mention when you go to the Pick Nelson/Tasman website either except for 'good' wages and mention of government supplied incentives such as accommodation supplements.
The site says, "These include the possibility of financial assistance for relocation costs, travel costs and work gear; an accommodation supplement; and up to $1,000 in cash incentives."
Government funded under the Seasonal Work Scheme.
Bloody socialists.
Excellent observation.
Private business expecting everyone else to contribute to their profit margin because they won't pay the actual cost of labour.
Parasites.
With Omicron appearing in the Motueka/Golden Bay Area, famous for it's unvaxxed, unmasked,
unhingedfreedumb-fighter underbelly, it'll be very interesting to watch what happens over the next couple of weeks.(Apologies to the other good folk of Te Tauihu).
Unhinged eh
I know a lot of those people, kind, compassionate, committed to low carbon footprints,and simple lives, organic gardeners, permaculture teachers,health practitioners, teachers , nurses, many of them.I wouldn't call them an underbelly, and I will stay friends with them although I may not see them close up for some time.
On another note it's fantastic to see what a tiny country under savage sanctions for decades can do with it's medical research
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO2201/S00131/effective-and-cheap-cubas-vaccines-brings-hope-to-poorer-countries.htm
Also , this will go down like a cup of cold sick but comparative studies of different vaccines, show Sputnik looking pretty damn good
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220120000928
Endorsed by US vaccine experts
https://www.rt.com/russia/547239-us-vaccine-researcher-sputnik-pfizer-omicron/
My own Riverton community mirrors the Golden Bay community closely. I call my unhinged friends just that and we all laugh – they think I'm a danger to society, just as I do them.
I'm still seeing them face to face.
Yay thats all gd to hear francesca always wished we,d had more choice but nah we had to trot along behind mother america like obedient little sheep .!