What this illustrates is how fucked up the American health system is, how driven by the dollar, how politicised.
I have been lambasted on here for promoting the videos of Chris Martensen, who months ago suggested HCQ + Ivermectin + zinc given early at the onset of covid-19 and before hospitalisation was the prophylactic which would have most beneficial effects.
Time will tell, and I don’t expect apologies, but I do reserve the right to say: I told you so.
You've been criticised for uncritically posting lengthy videos by Martenson, without doing even the simplest courtesy of a basic couple of sentences of why the video might be worth watching. As it turns out, Martenson does not appear to base his recommendations on sound science, but overhypes limited results from poorly designed studies. A brief look at Martenson's past stuff, from gold-bugging to doomie preparation, suggests he's a clickbait artist on the topics-du-jour rather than a credible expert with insight on a complex specialist topic.
How about providing some links to actual studies backing up your implication that HCQ + ivermectin + zinc given early is beneficial?
Your link to the Lyin' King's twitter account doesn't seem to go to anything like what you've described, and frankly, that you would suggest that any information coming through the Drumpf/Fox sewer line might possibly be taken at face value suggests an extreme deficit in the skepticism and information assessment department.
But if it's about the latest miracle cure touted by Donnie Dumpsterfire, convalescent plasma treatment, here's a look at the actual numbers showing how even the relatively small improvements for something touted as article are in fact an overhype of the tiny improvements actually observed. Let alone the difficulties in obtaining useful quantities of the miracle substance.
Andre, did you hold your nose and actually watch the linked video?
I've no time for Drumpf and I'm not suggesting he has any answers (no matter what the question) but there does seem to be a quickness to jump on HCQ as a prophylactic given early in the onset of covid – merely because trump in one of his meanderings promoted it.
The Harvard professor cites case studies which show the effectiveness of HCQ – yet the profit-driven health system slams the drug and goes after other drugs which cost an arm and a leg.
Nor is your say-so reason to waste ten minutes watching a video, particularly given your history of posting lengthy misinformation videos from clickbait artists that don't have substance behind them.
When it comes to HCQ, there is a large weight of evidence from the better-designed studies showing it has negligible beneficial effect, and is actually likely increase the risk of death due to HCQ's well-known side-effects on heart function.
You have attempted to boost the apparent credibility of your post by saying "Harvard professor" but declined to provide a name nor any info about about the case studies to check out whether there's any substance to the study. It could be a Harvard professor of DrumpfDivinity citing case studies at Liberty University for all we know – and the track record of Trump, Fox, and the clickbait artists you post suggest it's really not worth wasting the time to watch the video to find out.
If you want to provide actually useful info rather than likely amplifying misinformation and worsening the misinformation epidemic, post actual names and links to actual studies.
edit: meanwhile a search for actual hydroxychloroquine evidence turns up a veritable cornucopia of articles such as:
Here are the first three hits from googling risch yale hydroxychloroquine study:
First is a defensively toned memo from Yale defending Risch academic right to opine on topics outside his expertise:
Dr. Harvey Risch is a distinguished cancer epidemiologist who has opined on the topic of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and COVID-19 out-patient therapy. He has written a review article in the American Journal of Epidemiology that cites evidence that he believes supports HCQ use for out-patient infection with SARS-CoV-2. Studies that indicate no effect or harmful effects, Dr. Risch believes, enrolled patients too sick to benefit from HCQ.
Yale-affiliated physicians used HCQ early in the response to COVID-19, but it is only used rarely at present due to evidence that it is ineffective and potentially risky…
Yale School of Public Health professor Harvey Risch has been a vocal supporter of the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, despite a lack of scientific evidence that it works.
In a July 23 opinion piece in Newsweek, Risch argued for the use of hydroxychloroquine, in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin, to treat high-risk COVID-19 patients without waiting for further testing on the effectiveness of the treatment. He published this piece after his May 27paper in the American Journal of Epidemiology was widely criticized due to a lack of evidence from randomized trials. Both articles argued this combination of drugs can effectively prevent hospitalization for most symptomatic high-risk outpatients and that it is safe for short-term use early in the course of infection. This claim is now widely disputed.
Risch points readers to his review — he is the only author — published in late May in the American Journal of Epidemiology that cites five studies in support of HCQ, particularly when used early in the course of COVID-19.
None are randomized controlled trials. One is the heavily publicized and now discredited French study by Didier Raoult, MD, and colleagues in March that sparked initial hopes for HCQ. Two have no corresponding data or publications.
I'm not defensive. I'm disgusted with your promotion of misinformation that you didn't even make a rudimentary attempt to fact-check. Or even have the courtesy to drop a few breadcrumbs as to the actual substantive content. Or even provide a clean link to the video you expect people to waste time watching. (Your twitter link went to the Twittertwat's general twitter cesspit, leaving your reader to try to figure out which turd you expected them to pick out)
I'm not defensive. I'm disgusted with your promotion of misinformation …
Having been on the receiving end of your spew Andre, I am disgusted at your continuing propensity to declare any information or opinion which has not got The Establishment's tick of approval as "misinformation".
You worship at the altar of mainstream and official, and seem blind to the fact that practically nothing we see, hear or read on the internet can be relied on unless supported by personal knowledge or experience…or the personal knowledge or experience of others we personally trust.
Sometimes, Andre, what we are told is 'fact' simply does not add up and we have to do our own research and draw on our own knowledge.
Case in point are the discussions you and I have had over the history of measles in the developed world,and the safety and efficacy of the flu vaccine. I'm not going to provide you with links (again) as you will refuse to read or listen to anything that might challenge the comfortable position you cling to.
Taking second information from Harvey's boss and some colleagues as gospel, all the while ignoring what Harvey is actually saying is pretty piss poor fact checking imo.
Thanks Tony, the proof is in the pudding as they say. Minnesota is the second state to revoke the ban and allow HCQ use as a treatment. You would think more states to follow…
Before you start gloating, claim bragging rights, and elevate your YouTube hero to superhero status you may just want to read this balanced piece for a general audience that came out today:
There’s still much we don’t know about this virus and anybody who claims they know (better or best) and they are right are taking a punt, at best, because to the best of knowledge, there is no conclusive evidence for many claims yet. Even a safe and effective vaccine may never eventuate despite enormous efforts (and investments). I think people will have to accept the limits of what is possible but many seem to have huge faith in science and technology to deal with if not solve all issues that are plaguing humankind, sooner or later. That includes CC, by the way.
That truly was an excellent episode of Sunday and word around the staffroom is we need more shows like that, because we here in NZ have no idea what it's really like during a pandemic.
So there seems to be a concerted attempt building, whether by design or by accident, to present Jacinda Ardern as a bit lame and patronising. I agree to a reasonable extent; in manner, she's like John Key with slightly less mangling of the English language, and mercifully minus the doofus dickhead dimension. Having said that, I find it rather off-putting to see David Seymour homing on on her use of the word 'tricky' to describe COVID-19, followed by Luke Malpass at Stuff parroting the line, saying that she 'insists on calling [it] “tricky” as if it somehow deliberately sneaks in the back window […]'. Mr. Seymour, Mr. Malpass, 'tricky' is usually just a synonym for 'difficult'. Look it up, you pair of nitwits.
Malpass is either an idiot (a distinct possibility) or deliberately manufacturing trivial hits on Ardern. 'Tricky' is used all the time colloquially to describe something that is difficult to achieve, handle, or respond to in an effective way. As in 'a tricky problem', 'a tricky corner', 'a tricky situation', 'a tricky climb' etc. etc. In none of these examples does the use of 'tricky' attribute intent to something that is incapable of having intent.
What's happening here is that Malpass doesn't like being reminded that the whole Covid response is immensely difficult. If everything is mixed, nuanced, problematic, evolving as it goes, etc, then simple-minded gotcha journalism is off the table – making it harder for him to shill for the Nats without appearing like a complete loon.
Thanks AB I didn't have a good feeling about Malpass from what I had read and then found that he had been set up as Political Editor made me wonder. He's a bit tricky I feel.
He is an imported neoliberal writer of financial articles and agenda setting news in Australia. Setting the agenda ?? Moved back here in John Key’s time. Nuff said!!
Oh thanks. I thought he must be getting encouragement from somewhere to counter his unfortunate name Malpass. Mal in French is bad. Some surnames are discouraging.
Yes Matiri isn't he good and I'm glad he pops along to Kim and she feeds him questions, of which there are more than he can answer. But promises to come back. You feel that you have heard a well-balanced informed background to the tricky Covid-19 behaviour.
My new phrase around Covid is if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.
This govt has done an outstanding job and the figures speak for themselves
Let Mof H and Govt mostly get on with it. They are leading a very strong health response which is best for the economy
each individual needs to work out what they can do for the covid response. Wear a mask, socially distance, stay home if your sick if at all possible , support local business, get out and see NZ, donate to a Foodbank, get a test if you are asked to do so. That is the job of each and every one of us, to whatever capacity we have to do it. And those of us that have more capacity need to step up.
For the arm chair critics eg the gotcha journos, the likes of Gorman Shut the fuck up
My new phrase around Covid is if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.
This govt has done an outstanding job and the figures speak for themselves
Let Mof H and Govt mostly get on with it. They are leading a very strong health response which is best for the economy
each individual needs to work out what they can do for the covid response. Wear a mask, socially distance, stay home if your sick, support local business, get out and see NZ, donate to a Foodbank, get a test if you are asked to do so. That is the job of each and every one of us, to whatever capacity we have to do it. And those of us that have more capacity need to step up.
For the arm chair critics eg the gotcha journos, the likes of Gorman Shut the fuck up
as with smart comebacks, not all professors of medicine are without fault. a good professor of ANYTHING will say that they dont know enough, they are still learning.
Perhaps Anker might might take some notice of your wisdom. Maybe better to do that rather than insist that anyone who doesn't agree with his/her narrow viewpoint should STFU.
Its really not about who agrees with me Alan. I go by what the scientists say and trust in the MofH and our Govts directives as they have served and continue to serve us well…It is the arm chair critics I was taking aim at. These are mostly the journos who look to have gotcha moments. The journo who asked Ashleigh B if he was going to resign needs to be told how dangerous the idea is. Re Professor Gorman, see my comments below.
I never said I knew more that a Professor in Medicine and certainly I know very little about medicine for divers and brain injury. These are the two areas Professor Gorman has his qualifications in.
Professor Gorman seems to have held a number of positions in health funding, workforce development and health system design. He held these from around 2010 and it appears from his CV he is no longer used so much by the current govt.
Given he had so much time and influence to sort the health system, if his criticisms are to be believed, he clearly failed to do so in when he was in a position to implement the changes.
By his own admission in the Radio NZ interview, the govt are using the right strategies, contract tracing, quarantine, high testing rates…………..
Right now is not the time for the health system to re-structure or to set up new agencies…………..We are in acute crisis mode. And despite any failings or inadequacies Mr Gorman sees, our health system which has been woefully underfunded is coping and adapting spectacularly well as seen by our Covid response and the statistics that don’t lie….. So no I have no time for Mr Gorman
Hee hee cleverer than you Alan. When you feel the urge to write all you can say is yah-boo. Doh! And yet you are upset at the STFU! When you write you don’t say anything of any assistance in the toil and tribulations we are in. You are not using your great powers to help so why worry about it.
Our misinformation crisis – how can we stop ourselves from falling for it and spreading it?
Fact-checkers, they found, didn’t fall prey to the same missteps as other groups. When presented with the American College of Pediatricians task, for example, they almost immediately left the site and started opening new tabs to see what the wider web had to say about the organization. Wineburg has dubbed this lateral reading: if a person never leaves a site–as the professor failed to do–they are essentially wearing blinders. Fact-checkers not only zipped to additional sources, but also laid their references side by side, to better keep their bearings.
In another test, the researchers asked subjects to assess the website MinimumWage.com. In a few minutes’ time, 100% of fact-checkers figured out that the site is backed by a PR firm that also represents the restaurant industry, a sector that generally opposes raising hourly pay. Only 60% of historians and 40% of Stanford students made the same discovery, often requiring a second prompt to find out who was behind the site.
Another tactic fact-checkers used that others didn’t is what Wineburg calls “click restraint.” They would scan a whole page of search results–maybe even two–before choosing a path forward. “It’s the ability to stand back and get a sense of the overall territory in which you’ve landed,” he says, “rather than promiscuously clicking on the first thing.” This is important, because people or organizations with an agenda can game search results by packing their sites with keywords, so that those sites rise to the top and more objective assessments get buried.
Perhaps we should keep coming to The Standard and someone will raise a point about error as a rule, but not always. I have asked for help now and then and no-one replied so the blog is only partially useful at sorting into piles all the words and sentences that roll out endlessly.
The site still isn't right. But I've fixed most of the speed issue which appears to have been something triggering cache access issues at the database level. Mostly by taking out some of the obsessive protection that used the database as persistent storage and substituting other tools.
I still haven't located the root cause which is kind of irritating. I'll look at that again this evening. There are much higher than usual general (ie non-site aware) attempts to crack into the site. But it is no more than about 5x the usual rate. It averaged at about 20 per minute. Didn't look like a denial of service attack.
However I need to get back to paid employment (had to take a day off yesterday). So it will have do for the moment.
There are much higher than usual general (ie non-site aware) attempts to crack into the site.
Forgive me my technical illiteracy, but are they attempts to interfere with the ability of the site to continue providing a forum for political debate? Not so long ago one of our local experts warned it was inevitable there would be foreign political interference in the election – not unlike what has been experienced elsewhere.
a lot to consider about the site and possible election based interference, we know it isn't fairy dust to consider this. Thanks for your work LPrent, would money help? Nothing else we could do I imagine.
Ok, I have just seen the problem now that I am looking wider.
One of the SSD drives in the array for The Standard has been locked into a very very long SMART data scan – it is currently at 140% of the expected time. It is running at 49C (its partner is at 29C).
Failing it from the array so the spare kicks in.
Yep, and the really problematic issue is fixed. saving comments and updating them is now fast again.
I really don’t tend to view SSDs as being a possible problem. I just lean in the SMART monitoring I’ll add some notifier diagnostics to scan them over-running tests and getting too hot.
The chickns have come home to roost in Auckland. The delays of putting in decent public transport in Auckland that began in Mayor Robbie's* time 1959 on have now led to problems about Covid-19 spread, as well as making it difficult for just ordinary citizens to get to work and have some time for having a life.
According to Auckland Regional Public Health, the trip took two and a half hours. The reason for this was because "there was very bad traffic congestion that morning as people were heading home before the midday lockdown," the Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) said.
They said the two people sat on the bus for an hour at Symonds Street.
About his rail ideas: Robinson's main focus during his second period as mayor was his advocacy for rapid transit system for Auckland. Robinson's proposal for a bus-rail rapid transit plan was "to provide fast, modern electrified railways through the main traffic corridors of the region". The proposal had passenger trains every three minutes running from an underground subway terminal in the city centre with above ground tracks leading to Howick, Auckland Airport and a tunnel to the North Shore. The scheme was heavily criticized for its cost (an estimated $273 million in 1973) and both the ARA chairman Tom Pearce and most of its members opposed the scheme. The Third Labour Government reneged on an election pledge to pay for the scheme and the rapid rail proposal disappeared. Retrospectively, Robinson's idea to implement rapid rail was seen as a possible long-term solution to Auckland's subsequent transportation difficulties. The phrase; "If we'd only listened to Robbie…" has become common speech in Auckland whenever the city's transport system is debated.
It seems to me that the struggle to get important work carried out for the overall good of a community is a harder goal than to climb Mt Everest. We love Sir Edmund Hillary for doing something quite notable but unnecessary.
We fail to catch the importance of pushing through a future-looking transport system for a growing, major city like Auckland. And Dove-Myer was also prominent in preventing the city's sewage and meat offcuts from manufacturing being dumped out at sea untreated. Apparently he was a feisty man with a big ego, quite interesting reading about him. But he was a thinker; if they had left the tunnel to North Shore out and gone with the rest, they would have been winners instead of losers as they are now.
Let's hope they don't end up like Los Angeles (City of Angels).
“There’s simply not enough places for these people to go, there’s obviously a lot of mental health and addiction problems. “A lot of people flood to California because of the weather and I think the problem has just overwhelmed the system here. “And I think the city of dreams really has turned into the city of nightmares at the moment.” It is a city-wide problem, she says.
“Friends of mine that live I Santa Monica only four blocks from the beach say they can’t take their children to the local park because the homeless situation is so bad that there are people passed out in the park doing drugs, there are syringes everywhere…
“It’s a big city problem across America and I think it’s a socio-economic problem that the rich are getting richer, certainly under Trump, and the poor are getting poorer. “There’s a great sense of social injustice here at the moment.” Homeless encampments are legal in Los Angeles and have blossomed as the city’s chronic housing shortage worsens.
And this is the next step of the epidemic likely to cross our borders carrying all the shit that comes out the actions of the wealthy and malignant in the USA to foul our country's wellbeing, only managed by being the opposite to them in their feckless drive for capital accretion and power.
Wealthy Americans looking for a safe haven in a turbulent Covid-19 world are flocking to invest in New Zealand – and move their businesses here. The number of investor visa applications has soared since the coronavirus outbreak, and the government agency working to attract overseas money says New Zealand's successful public health strategy is behind the ten-fold surge in interest.
I've read that some people in Queenstown are having trouble with the Lords of Creation who have homes with helipads attached that they have wangled on the basis of serving them for arriving and departing. But they have visitors and are restless and on the go so the very loud noise of a helicopter next door can be heard numerous times a week.
When I hear one here it is usually the rescue one going across to land at the hospital set-down spot. They are doing God's work so to speak, and I can put up with that, in fact I find it comforting that we have this service for the needy. There are often trampers who fall, get caught in bad weather, a windy road out of town, Golden Bay and distant communities – so that's different from the wealthy and their taking ways.
If you're prone to COVID panic, don't read further.
Covid reinfection of a healthy 33 year old has been confirmed by the genome of his second infection being different to the genome of his first, with the spike proteins being different between the two strains. The good news, for him anyway, was that the second infection was asymptomatic.
Yep. Still too soon to be making definitive plans about the future and what NZ should be doing with the borders and so on. There's more to learn here about the virus, immunity, transmission before we get to rearranging society again.
And this. South Korea was an early success at controlling Covid-19 and then had a huge outbreak with a religion at its core. I had thought South Koreans religious but well-balanced, now its becoming twisted and political. Their psychology is not too different from what has arisen all over the world, looking for conspiracies and malign agents connected with Covid-19, but it appears so passionate that the country is spiralling out of control.
The latest outbreak of coronavirus cases centred around a right-wing Presbyterian church has spread to all 17 provinces throughout the country for the first time….
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has admitted that about 20 percent of all new cases are of unknown origin – despite the country's efficient contact tracing system which can track down around 1000 potentially infected patients in an hour.
South Korea's fight against Covid-19 began in February after an outbreak at a Christian cult called the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the city of Daegu, about 200km south of Seoul. Within weeks, the outbreak was under control…
The majority of new cases are all close to the heavily populated capital city which is home to more than 10 million people.
And one of the biggest concerns is that many of the far-right worshippers who are potentially infected believe the virus was planted as part of a conspiracy to close it down. Many are refusing to be contacted, let alone tested.
And there is also one other major risk factor. Infected members of the Shincheonji church were mostly young – in their 20s. But the current outbreak is affecting a much older age group.
Members of the Sarang Jeil Church, which roughly translates as "Love Comes First", are right-wing conservatives and maintain that President Moon Jae-in is a communist and a puppet of China and North Korea.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, they would gather in their hundreds in the centre of Seoul each Saturday loudly rallying and marching past the Blue House to denounce the South Korean leader.
This is really frightening. If the South Korean government tries to have a total lockdown which appears to be the only way to stop spread, these people could riot in another one of their protests aimed at bringing down the government. They refuse to believe in the facts of the virus and its spread, and if they were in charge would probably impose BAU by force, yet the report is that the hospitals are nearly at capacity. Who can break through this web of lies and hysteria that all South Koreans respect and will pay attention to?
South Korea is somewhat used to dealing with mass protests – and they are mostly very well-behaved. They never run out of police because the police claim a proportion of the two-year military service all Korean men must do – if they need another 100 000 they only need to make a few phone calls. The protest culture, which is a Confucian tradition, really took hold under Chun do Hwan, who was somewhat in the Duterte mould, and police under his leadership killed several thousand protestors. It's not like that these days, and the church cannot muster a large crowd in Korean terms.
they would gather in their hundreds
By Korean standards that makes them look as lonely asBilly TK's meagre handful of supporters.
Well that all sounds very calming, which is good for me. But still the spread and the lack of contact tracing that they can do is going to be a worry.
Perhaps they can all go into their church and close the doors and be together and safe from the government forces. But they must care for their sick with the equipment that will be available on request, food delivered in raw state so they can't blame deaths on poisoning.
Perhaps they will come to their senses as people fall sick while under their care. No evil eye to blame it on.
One of my former students just told me there's a weird group in Korea now that may be deliberately spreading Covid – the rationale is apparently that "we have to share the pain with our ally (United States)". It may be a troll cell behind it, but it's the kind of trouble no country needs.
On Monday, the Democratic super PAC American Bridge released a new ad to run during the Republican convention — starring President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen, who minced no words in blasting his former boss.
Replying to greywarshark @ 12. (for the last 6 months or so I’ve only been able to use the reply function on my iPhone not the iPad I normally use, but now can’t even use iPhone?).
Ironically the reason the cases sat for an hour on the bus on Symonds St is because there was an almighty traffic jam in that area of Symonds St, New North Road, Mt Eden Road and Newton Road after a Covid testing station was set up in a small ex-used car yard on New North Road. It was chaos every day until they moved the testing station to the Eden Park car park. All the bus services routed through that area eventually had to be detoured.
Notwithstanding that I fully agree that Auckland’s cheapskate approach to public transport and planning generally is a growing disaster.
That's awful Scott GN. I think authorities need a knowledgeable outsider who just watches and listens to all the plans re Covid 19 in each area, and steps in before all go away from the meeting room and asks the pertinent questions as to how effective they'll be in that spot, because of this, and this and this? 'I want us to look at these points now, before anything is done and explain to me how these problems can be overcome.'
Someone who has a reinforced spine, and can assert themselves and has knowledge of planning and people, would be useful to spot such things as traffic congestion.
It destroyed the lives of several pro-Corbyn students sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. It also triggered Labour’s “anti-Semitism crisis” in earnest. The manufactured crisis continues today, even with Corbyn now marginalized. After an internal Labour disciplinary investigation, some of the accused were cleared of anti-Semitism the following year.
But by that time the damage had been done.
After a four-year investigation, The Electronic Intifada has obtained the full Rubin report, which has never been published.
I found this yesterday in a promo for The Telegraph and found it very instructive about nice people in the UK and the lengths they will go to maintain their nice lives, and the rationalisation they use for being tricky.
…Every week, when I sit down to write my Wednesday column in The Telegraph, concerns like those are at the forefront of my mind. I see my job as speaking up for the silent majority, for men and women who lack a voice in a world where, if you don’t subscribe to fashionable left-wing causes, you’re called “inappropriate” or “something-phobic”.
People like us have been made to feel like a beleaguered minority. But who gave the Conservatives a whacking majority at the general election and protected our country from the lunatic extremism of Jeremy Corbyn? We did.
I’m proud that readers email to say it’s a huge relief to know that they’re not alone. I rejoice that Telegraph subscribers call the paper a “haven” for those who don’t get offended by views other than their own. Whenever possible, I try to see the funny side. Let’s face it, with the coronabeast laying waste to life as we know it, people are incredibly grateful for a laugh. Allison Pearson, Telegraph Columnist
People like this are irritated at changes including the constant nitpicking of word sensitivity at the moment and regard it as OTT. But they don't see that their own behaviour is similar on the other side of the see-saw.
Sturmer, the King of Nothing, can't get more support than Boris Johnson, even though Johnson is possibly the most obnoxious and incompetent British prime minister in history. He and his cronies have expelled anyone with a moral compass from the Labour Party—people like Asa Winstanley, who wrote this article, and Michael Rosen, and without a doubt would have drummed out Sir Gerald Kaufman if he was still alive….
"It is the nature of human existence that shared sacrifice is the glue that binds disparate individuals and groups into a unified and thus powerful entity."
"Profound disunity is characterized by the recognition that favored elites make no sacrifices, and this injustice consumes the bonds of civil unity."
fuck this. seriously fuck this bullshit, and someone please go to Winz and start weeding some of these drones out and send them to the unemployment queue, also Government (Labour/Green/NZFirst) do fucking better.
Most people know the Emergency Accommodation scheme put people in motels and hotels at market rates of over $120 per night for every room rented.
What they don't know is from 2018 – within this current term of government – the Ministry of Social Development extended this scheme to include private homes.
The catch is that MSD continued to pay the same motel room rates to landlords for every room in the house they would rent.
A three-bedroom house rented out at a "hotel" rate of up to $150 per room per night could bring in $3000 per week in areas of the country where median rent for those was $550. The rent was capped at the $3000 mark.
MSD did not visit the properties to check if they met basic living standards.
Once a provider joined the Emergency Housing scheme through providing a motel or hotel, it could then rent out extra rooms or houses into the scheme – and the status of those would not be checked.
Mangere East Family Services social worker Alastair Russell said the houses MSD paid penthouse apartment rates for were often "marginal to uninhabitable".
He was well aware of the scheme because a large number of properties in South Auckland were tied up in it.
"Houses without stoves and ovens [and] houses that were essentially building sites with debris scattered both in and outside the house.
"You're talking planks of wood with nails sticking out of them. Broken glass. And families with kids that had to go into those houses.
"No one was going in there and checking the places out."
Landlords knew, agent claims
It seems to have happened with the full knowledge of the ministry.
someone said something the other day that 'we know have well being as a priority a new social contract with the government', reading this article it occurs to me that some have a social contract with the government and it makes them very very rich while those that are too poor to be of importance to anyone (unless its an election year) can go live in a dump paid for by the tax payer 3000$ per pop.
But we can't increase unemployment and social benefits to the level of the wage subsidy casue we don't have the money, right? We seem to have the money, for landlords, real estate agents and winz drones who probably did well on kick backs. But hey, surely this is all a great misunderstanding, someone mis spoke, and someone mis appropriated funds and and and and.
Pigeon-holes? People with children thrust into some sort of covered dwelling or room. Is that how it is with MSD? No wonder they need guards on their offices. When people get distraught enough with no end in sight to their condition, they can feel they have nothing to lose!
Can we get our smug backsides off our seats as seen in twitter Hellhole, 'Oh I'm at the beach, on my balcony, on my lifestyle block, walking along this nature reserve'. It was sickening after the first laugh at giving the finger to Trump or some overblown liar about how bad NZ is. For some it bloody well is bad and we shouldn't forget that.
I mention a difficulty that I think is common, and that is authority will say that some remedial program won't fix the problem, so it's no good. That is such a copout to say nothing can be done till it is the perfect solution. "Oh we can't waste money here if more has to be spent later." We are not prepared to divide the problem into sections, start with the worst difficulty, and work up to bigger and better outcomes. Put everything on a graph from axes of 0 so as things improve they'll show up, why not measure that way.
So get up you bums and open your minds, every meeting has to result in a beneficial outcome for people who really need it, and receive enough of your budget to succeed, and be properly monitored with encouragement and support to achieve what is wanted by the recipients.
Sabine, So lazy or overworked people in MSD let greedy landlords and their agents rort the system of the Government trying to find shelter for people. This has come to light, and yet you paint this as a failure by this Government, when you know the rot is endemic, and will take time to overcome, as so many are gaining.
You threw my "social contract comment" back in my face inferring I am one of those who is making $3000 a week!! I realise you mispoke in anger and frustration. I was talking about covid, you have taken that out of context.
This is housing situation is upsetting and not good enough. Who else have you sent a complaint to? Megan Woods? or just us?
PS I could have ignored that remark, but it is not fair.
We must not forget the power of the officials who implement the policy passed but in THEIR OWN way, or do they. There is mention of National gaining power in 1961 and it going to their heads. Do politicians have control or do they face some humiliating discussion with the head of the State Services Commission after they have got nowhere with their head of department?
I have been looking at some columns from Chris Trotter in past years. He said this in 2016 at the time Trump and Farage were looking very pleased with themselves.
The Last Laugh: As Plato predicted, more than 2,000 years ago, a democratic citizenry that loses faith in its own efficacy will voluntarily entrust its destiny to the first demagogue who learns to speak its language of despair. In 2016, this annus horribilis, those demagogues’ names were Nigel Farage and Donald Trump.
These from May 2017.
Not Just At The Gates – Within The Walls! Dr J.C. Beaglehole, writing in 1961, recorded with considerable disdain: “The naïve, the almost childish brutality, with which the chiefs of the National Party fell upon power may seem quite surprising, until one remembers how famished for power they were, and with what an innocency of experience they faced the world about them ….. [Their] insensitiveness to administrative delicacies was quite appalling.”
And The Truth Shall Set You Free: Moving beyond the thirty-year-old neoliberal order in New Zealand can only be achieved by confronting and disproving its explanations and excuses for the inequality, poverty and powerlessness it perpetuates.
New Labour or Coalition government – what will confront them?
The simple answer is: The Past. A government elected on the strength of public misgivings about rampant homelessness and the lack of affordable housing; out-of-control immigration; and a despoiled natural environment; will be presented with thirty-year-old government machinery designed specifically to make effective state intervention as difficult as possible.
Any attempt to deploy this machinery in pursuit of social and economic objectives for which it was not designed is highly likely to end in failure – and, quite possibly, disaster. Arrayed against a government in which only a handful of ministers possess Cabinet experience will be a bristling phalanx of public servants, National Party appointees, corporate and special interest lobbyists and public relations firms – all of whom have a vested interest in preserving the status quo…
When, after staggering into their minister’s offices under the weight of multiple reports, studies and surveys, the representatives of Treasury, MFAT, MBIE and MPI advise the new progressive government that its programme will wreck the economy and/or bankrupt the nation, how will Labour, NZ First and the Greens respond? Will they be able to offer their own stack of reports, studies and surveys in rebuttal?
I am throwing nothing back in your face, i just called it up because we need a social contract. A real contract that covers all of us all the time and not just some of us some of the time.
I am not speaking in anger nor frustration, but i am tired of the misery that we cause by not holding our government accountable and the price of that is paid by those that have the least to give or to loose. I have never ever even mentioned covid, You did. I am constantly talking about unemployment, homelessness and the lack of the government in regards to these issue.
Do i believe that the wage subsidy is / was not enough. I do. Do i think the government did an adequit job re Covid given the circumstances, yes, have i ever said open the borders or relax quarantine? No i never did and you would be hard pressed to find anything in regards to this. The problem is that currently every critisism by us vs Labour is shut down literally with words of 'shut up, national is worse and do you want us all to die". Talk about a nice way of telling people to shut up and just vote. 🙂 Ain't happening.
As for complaining, i spoke to the person who hopes to get elected in my area, lol, not talking policy, don't you think we did well, is this not enough, I leave comments of FB pages and i give money as far as i can to the community where i live which btw has a huge homeless problem, a huge over crowding problem and a huge poverty problem and it will only get worse with raising unemployment and no jobs to apply for. So no i don't see any reason to really talk to labour nor the greens nor nzfirst, as non of them listen when it comes to these issues. Shut up and vote, lest National wins.
So yes, i did took your 'applies to covid only' social contract comment and i applied it to our homeless and jobless. And if that is what upsets you then i can't help you there, because this article again just showed the truth, that in this country some are in it knee deep and others are not, some have a social contract and others don't. And the very poor in this country seem to be disregarded by all parties. We are not all in this together.
MSD isn't that incompetent, they are lacking something vital that should be searched for in their CVs at the time of getting the job, but perhaps the agency that does the human resources work doesn't bother with anything except the right ed and previous employers. That's how a serial fraudster got through recently. Does the department concerned claim the money back:? I believe they get quite a dosh per person. Anyone know what and how it is calculated?
"The Ministry of Social Development has admitted the scheme made the rental crisis worse – as people took rental properties off the market and used them instead to rent out to MSD to earn thousands more."
this is not incompetence it is no one in charge giving a shit. That would be the bosses of the kinder gentler still full of bullshit Winz. Carmel Sepuloni is her name and last i checked she was the minister of social development and if you read the article all the way to the end you will see that she is 'waiting to be briefed and can not answer questions'.
read everything about it, and then maybe understand where i am coming from when i lament the utter failure of the current government (Labour/NZFIRST/Green – and no any one person in particular) in regards to unemployment, social welfare starvation rates and housing. And i am being charitable calling it 'failure'.
if three thousand dollar a week is a strategy to house someone in unsanitary hovels without any security then that is not a strategy, but feel free to educate me about the strategy that i am missing. As i said above, please read all the way to the end where it states that the Minister of social development refuses to answer questions as to the strategy of this particular program.
Please weka, enlighten me. Cause i have been syaing this already under National, where this 'emergency programme' started under Paula Benefit.
The government changed nothing. did nothing, and is now being called out for having done nothing and chances are wasted millions to enrich a handful of in my book criminal land lords and real estate agents.
But i am happy to read your explanation of the strategy that i am missing.
Unless utter failure and disperagement of people going to winz for help is the strategy, then yes i must admit i totally did not see that.
funny that you think this is about Labour's strategy rather than yours or mine or the left's. I've been talking about strategy around this for years. Like I said, you don't get it.
Just to change the conversation, a cool wind blowing through the groves. Eddie Izzard and others having a discussion Europe and UK. Boris was a Daily Telegraph columnist and found Thatcher as the genesis of Eddie's career as a comedian.
I think Boris says he is a socialist about 5 mins in. I don't think he spends the time when he is not speaking, listening to the others, but thinking up what he wants to put over next.
From our archives. 1997 debate. Do we hate the French? What is the UK's place in Europe? Hosted by Jeremy Paxman, with Boris Johnson, comedian Eddie Izzard and Labour MEP Carole Tongue. More Newsnight archives here
Various media channels have sought the views of business leaders in Auckland to what the affects of extending Level 3 'til Sunday will be. And Chamber of Commerce Barnett appeared to be reading from a prepared-script-of-anticipation. Also spokespeople for the hospitality industry, in unison, have said that it is going to be catastrophic and that there will be massive permanent closures as a result.
I hope the media channels will seek these same people out again in a fortnight or so to get their assessments and to check if their predictions were anywhere even close.
I hope the media channels will seek these same people out again in a fortnight or so to get their assessments and to check if their predictions were anywhere even close.
Media Release 10 August 2020
New Zealand’s total fertility rate has reached an all-time low, with an average of 1.71 children per woman in New Zealand, well below population replacement level….
Report author Lindsay Mitchell says, “In the past, government policy could positively affect the size of families. The Universal Family Benefit strongly influenced peak fertility in 1961 when women had an average of 4.3 children. But as females have become better educated and increased their work force participation, more have chosen to have fewer or no children. Economic pressures like student debt and insecure employment play a role. And now they face additional pressure from environmentalists. Meanwhile, policy interventions appear less and less effective.”..
“Without population replacement or growth, economies decline. A nation’s strength lies in its young: their energy, innovation, risk-taking and entrepreneurship.
The new blood drives the exchange of ideas and experimentation. If these attributes aren’t home-grown, they have to be imported. At an individual level, single person households are the fastest growing household type in New Zealand. Increasingly people face old-age with few or no family supports.”
It doesn't take Lindsay Mitchell long to extrapolate opinions from fact. Now environmentalists are causing additional pressures on family numbers. And a nation relying on its young – it shows how far Mitchell is from reality. The PtB are quite happily importing the people it wants, making it difficult for parents especially mothers alone to bring up their children to utilise their, e, i, rt and ent. It's more efficient and valuable to the economy, to teach other people's children for a fee than to ensure good education for well-rounded minds of young NZ. And the future is not with people at the helm, it is as servants to machines and vast conglomerates situated overseas, now with holiday homes in NZ. The jobs that people could do and hold their heads up high as independent people are being deleted. It suits the neolib cohort to virtually delete people! The schools are preparing children for this future by making them do their learning on computers, laptops. Manual, hand work, is out, and jobs are just a number to indicate the movements of the market.
The trouble with these narrow-minded people, is that they are against the lone woman, and will punish her by keeping her poor and lonely, and they regard sex as sinful if not sanctified by marriage. And the actions of such as Family First match this prejudice. They will back the right wing who would rather single women were working at a low-level and tiring job, than to be available to their children and being supported to become first-rate parents, home managers, and have skills training enabling them to earn and improve their lifestyles and work status over the years.
That would be the ideal but it would seem to be encouraging the women and the right wing don't want this to happen. They don't like the idea of beneficiaries being happy – how dare they enjoy living off my hard-won earnings is the mean refrain. So they won't even back them to get a good start in life, along with their children. When they talk about beneficiary mothers it is the children they mention, not the person trying to cope with responsibilities on one pair of shoulders. This has been made worse by the demand to advise the father's identity or lose benefit payment.
After time passes and some wisdom gained, plus the experience of bearing and birthing their child, many women know the man concerned will have a negative affect on them and the child. But money and stiff morality have equal places in the minds of the right wing, and I think it is money that is paramount really. It's a toxic world in there when you get a glimpse into the depths of such people's minds, no matter how pleasant they look and sound.
Hi LP, thanks as ever for your site. I’ve had problems viewing the articles for a while now. I see the headline, and the comments, but not the article itself. Not always, but often. Now, today, the ‘design’ is missing too, your banner for example. A ‘template’ problem? I can switch to desktop version, but that doesn’t work so well either on a phone. I’m using safari, latest iOS 13x, on iPhone se. Hope this info is helpful.
You are absolutely correct. I’ve been mostly concerned with other things (like the site running like a dog due to what turned out to be a failing SSD in a RAID array) for the last day or so.
But I’m seeing the same things on a Android Samsung S10+. I’ll clean it up after I get through inserting new SSDs. However it may be tomorrow (he says looking at the time).
It is now ok now on my samsung. Checked it on my partners iphone. Her front page is still wrong but the rest is as it should be. I’m presuming that is a caching issue. My android suddenly came right a while after I did a update for the appearance.
Is New Zealand chicken production as disgusting as this?
'The UK slaughters 20 million broilers every week, the vast majority of which are fast- growing breeds, reaching slaughter weight in just 35 days – four times faster than in the 1950s. This, according to the RSPCA, is responsible for contributing to severe welfare problems such as chronic leg disorders and heart and circulatory problems.
The data revealed that more than 3 million chickens were rejected at slaughter due to ascites or heart failure. “The main contributor is believed to be an increased oxygen demand by the fast-growing muscle. The body simply can’t keep up,” said Vicky Bond, veterinarian and director of the Humane League. CIWF have called for a ban on the use of fast-growing broiler breeds.
Dr Ed Van Klink, senior lecturer at Bristol Veterinary School, said: “Some of these issues are clearly welfare related … There will always be sick animals, certainly given the enormous numbers that are being processed. Poultry is kept in large flocks, therefore attention for individual disease issues is generally not possible.”
I think Ardern has a 20% advantage in the next election over National. Lets press her to implement the Welfare Advisory Group's recommendations. If not now for our kin, when?
Don't vote for her , talk against her, unless she helps the neediest NOW after 36 years.
Disgusted I have to make a case here.
We are too far near to America's set-up.
When Jacinda bullshits about poverty and can't talk for Godzone.
I despise her because I know her, and reality, unlike others.
Ardern baited her hooks for middle NZ… being the daughter of a white cop in Mangakino does not give her insight into the lives of those the WEAG were trying to champion.
The reality is, just like NZ voted National back in time and time again despite the water in the pot getting hotter all the time, there will be flesh falling from the bones of Godzone's most vulnerable and still the bulk will vote for the popular and telegenic.
Ross Ardern worked in a number of towns in the Waikato region (Murupapa, Piako-Matamata, Morrinsville, etc.) So he was "a white cop in Mangakino" too, eh? SSDD.
However…do you think this government has addressed the needs of the most vulnerable New Zealanders Drowsy M.Kram?
Do you think it is OK for this government to have largely ignored the recommendations of the WEAG?
Do you think it is OK that the most vulnerable have been told since forever…'just wait, be patient, your day will come when there's enough money in the coffers…'
…only to see that when Business is threatened by the effects of a virus there's suddenly mega billions in the coffers?
Do you think that Ardern's(and most of our other elected 'representatives') privileged upbringing has prepared her to be able to properly empathize with those who has been discarded by government for the past twenty five years?
Because if its not to do with her lack of experience of life in the outer margins…?
IMHO it's a bit rich to have a go at Ardern for not being able to "properly empathize", but whatever floats your boat.
I do think that our Government should be aiming to address "the needs of the most vulnerable New Zealanders" as a priority, and then the needs of the less vulnerable, and lastly the needs of the invulnerable should they have any.
No, I don't "think it is OK for this government to have largely ignored the recommendations of the WEAG", nor do I think it's OK that various NZ governments have avoided making recommended changes to MMP, and have avoided alcohol law reform, and have privatised public assets in the face of strong public opposition, and have said no to introducing a CGT, or a Fart Tax, or indeed whatever progressive tax(es) might be needed to adequately address the many and varied needs of all citizens and the wider environment.
But there are only so many things that I can rail against at any one time.
I do think its OK that NZ governments resisted popular attempts to overturn the 'anti-smacking' legislation introduced to the house by Sue Bradford, and it's OK that the current Government introduced stricter gun control laws in the wake of the Christchurch massacre, and that they are also doing a reasonable-to-good job (indeed, an excellent job if current international comparisons of health outcomes are valid) of addressing the immediate public health and welfare issues relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, not to mention record investment in mental health, building classrooms and new schools, fixing hospitals, introducing the winter energy payment, extending paid parental leave…
But something's gotta give, and when it does most of us who are able to look back on past times will realise just how good we had it. Just my opinion, of course, and thanks for asking.
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 ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
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 ...
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OMG we live in very strange times!
Here I am linking to a Fox News clip and suggesting that Donald Trump is right!
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
(10 minutes long)
What this illustrates is how fucked up the American health system is, how driven by the dollar, how politicised.
I have been lambasted on here for promoting the videos of Chris Martensen, who months ago suggested HCQ + Ivermectin + zinc given early at the onset of covid-19 and before hospitalisation was the prophylactic which would have most beneficial effects.
Time will tell, and I don’t expect apologies, but I do reserve the right to say: I told you so.
You've been criticised for uncritically posting lengthy videos by Martenson, without doing even the simplest courtesy of a basic couple of sentences of why the video might be worth watching. As it turns out, Martenson does not appear to base his recommendations on sound science, but overhypes limited results from poorly designed studies. A brief look at Martenson's past stuff, from gold-bugging to doomie preparation, suggests he's a clickbait artist on the topics-du-jour rather than a credible expert with insight on a complex specialist topic.
How about providing some links to actual studies backing up your implication that HCQ + ivermectin + zinc given early is beneficial?
Your link to the Lyin' King's twitter account doesn't seem to go to anything like what you've described, and frankly, that you would suggest that any information coming through the Drumpf/Fox sewer line might possibly be taken at face value suggests an extreme deficit in the skepticism and information assessment department.
But if it's about the latest miracle cure touted by Donnie Dumpsterfire, convalescent plasma treatment, here's a look at the actual numbers showing how even the relatively small improvements for something touted as article are in fact an overhype of the tiny improvements actually observed. Let alone the difficulties in obtaining useful quantities of the miracle substance.
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2020/08/trump-misleads-the-nation-yet-again-about-covid-19-miracle-cure/
Andre, did you hold your nose and actually watch the linked video?
I've no time for Drumpf and I'm not suggesting he has any answers (no matter what the question) but there does seem to be a quickness to jump on HCQ as a prophylactic given early in the onset of covid – merely because trump in one of his meanderings promoted it.
The Harvard professor cites case studies which show the effectiveness of HCQ – yet the profit-driven health system slams the drug and goes after other drugs which cost an arm and a leg.
No I didn't watch the video because the evidence shows that statements from Trump are more likely to be false than true by a ratio of about two to one.
Nor is your say-so reason to waste ten minutes watching a video, particularly given your history of posting lengthy misinformation videos from clickbait artists that don't have substance behind them.
When it comes to HCQ, there is a large weight of evidence from the better-designed studies showing it has negligible beneficial effect, and is actually likely increase the risk of death due to HCQ's well-known side-effects on heart function.
You have attempted to boost the apparent credibility of your post by saying "Harvard professor" but declined to provide a name nor any info about about the case studies to check out whether there's any substance to the study. It could be a Harvard professor of DrumpfDivinity citing case studies at Liberty University for all we know – and the track record of Trump, Fox, and the clickbait artists you post suggest it's really not worth wasting the time to watch the video to find out.
If you want to provide actually useful info rather than likely amplifying misinformation and worsening the misinformation epidemic, post actual names and links to actual studies.
edit: meanwhile a search for actual hydroxychloroquine evidence turns up a veritable cornucopia of articles such as:
https://medcitynews.com/2020/08/why-hydroxychloroquines-appeal-endures-despite-evidence-it-doesnt-work-for-covid-19/
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2020388 (looking at HCQ for prophylaxis)
Here are the first three hits from googling risch yale hydroxychloroquine study:
First is a defensively toned memo from Yale defending Risch academic right to opine on topics outside his expertise:
Next is:
Third is:
I'm not defensive. I'm disgusted with your promotion of misinformation that you didn't even make a rudimentary attempt to fact-check. Or even have the courtesy to drop a few breadcrumbs as to the actual substantive content. Or even provide a clean link to the video you expect people to waste time watching. (Your twitter link went to the Twittertwat's general twitter cesspit, leaving your reader to try to figure out which turd you expected them to pick out)
I'm not defensive. I'm disgusted with your promotion of misinformation …
Having been on the receiving end of your spew Andre, I am disgusted at your continuing propensity to declare any information or opinion which has not got The Establishment's tick of approval as "misinformation".
You worship at the altar of mainstream and official, and seem blind to the fact that practically nothing we see, hear or read on the internet can be relied on unless supported by personal knowledge or experience…or the personal knowledge or experience of others we personally trust.
Sometimes, Andre, what we are told is 'fact' simply does not add up and we have to do our own research and draw on our own knowledge.
Case in point are the discussions you and I have had over the history of measles in the developed world,and the safety and efficacy of the flu vaccine. I'm not going to provide you with links (again) as you will refuse to read or listen to anything that might challenge the comfortable position you cling to.
Taking second information from Harvey's boss and some colleagues as gospel, all the while ignoring what Harvey is actually saying is pretty piss poor fact checking imo.
Thanks Tony, the proof is in the pudding as they say. Minnesota is the second state to revoke the ban and allow HCQ use as a treatment. You would think more states to follow…
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/08/17/mn_governor_quietly_reverses_course_on_hydroxychloroquine__143978.html
…the proof is in the pudding" as they say. Some might say. Others say
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating…" but it seems to be passé now.
Before you start gloating, claim bragging rights, and elevate your YouTube hero to superhero status you may just want to read this balanced piece for a general audience that came out today:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2020-08-25/covid-19-repurposed-treatments/12587250?section=health
There’s still much we don’t know about this virus and anybody who claims they know (better or best) and they are right are taking a punt, at best, because to the best of knowledge, there is no conclusive evidence for many claims yet. Even a safe and effective vaccine may never eventuate despite enormous efforts (and investments). I think people will have to accept the limits of what is possible but many seem to have huge faith in science and technology to deal with if not solve all issues that are plaguing humankind, sooner or later. That includes CC, by the way.
It's started already advertorials for those set to take advantage of Collins; clear intention, given the chance, & shows her limited capacity to do anything other than tender the virus out https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sponsored-stories/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503708&objectid=12358168
That truly was an excellent episode of Sunday and word around the staffroom is we need more shows like that, because we here in NZ have no idea what it's really like during a pandemic.
I found her column really thoughtful and more people ought to have access to it.
Who is she? And where is Sunday – on tv?
Eaxactly. That photography exhibition was also a winner.
So there seems to be a concerted attempt building, whether by design or by accident, to present Jacinda Ardern as a bit lame and patronising. I agree to a reasonable extent; in manner, she's like John Key with slightly less mangling of the English language, and mercifully minus the doofus dickhead dimension. Having said that, I find it rather off-putting to see David Seymour homing on on her use of the word 'tricky' to describe COVID-19, followed by Luke Malpass at Stuff parroting the line, saying that she 'insists on calling [it] “tricky” as if it somehow deliberately sneaks in the back window […]'. Mr. Seymour, Mr. Malpass, 'tricky' is usually just a synonym for 'difficult'. Look it up, you pair of nitwits.
Malpass is either an idiot (a distinct possibility) or deliberately manufacturing trivial hits on Ardern. 'Tricky' is used all the time colloquially to describe something that is difficult to achieve, handle, or respond to in an effective way. As in 'a tricky problem', 'a tricky corner', 'a tricky situation', 'a tricky climb' etc. etc. In none of these examples does the use of 'tricky' attribute intent to something that is incapable of having intent.
What's happening here is that Malpass doesn't like being reminded that the whole Covid response is immensely difficult. If everything is mixed, nuanced, problematic, evolving as it goes, etc, then simple-minded gotcha journalism is off the table – making it harder for him to shill for the Nats without appearing like a complete loon.
Thanks AB I didn't have a good feeling about Malpass from what I had read and then found that he had been set up as Political Editor made me wonder. He's a bit tricky I feel.
He is an imported neoliberal writer of financial articles and agenda setting news in Australia. Setting the agenda ?? Moved back here in John Key’s time. Nuff said!!
Oh thanks. I thought he must be getting encouragement from somewhere to counter his unfortunate name Malpass. Mal in French is bad. Some surnames are discouraging.
in manner, she's like John Key
????![angry angry](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/angry_smile.png)
![sad sad](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/sad_smile.png)
Your reading of "manner" is most eccentric. Key never seemed bright or particularly pleasant. Ardern doesn't come across as oafish or malicious.
Jacinda has never come across as a sleazy car-salesman!
Nor has she ever coolly and repeatedly told a lie such as "Jon Stephenson rang me up and harassed me on the phone at home."
He was a one, wasn't he! Still is, I bet.
Tricky is the adjective science seems to have given it. They were going with evil however inferring intent isn't allowed so ‘tricky’ it is.
Seymour and science not in the same room, no surprises there.
Dr Chris Smith, superb communicator, virologist from Cambridge, and regular on Kim Hill RNZ – describes coronavirus as 'tricky'.
Yes Matiri isn't he good and I'm glad he pops along to Kim and she feeds him questions, of which there are more than he can answer. But promises to come back. You feel that you have heard a well-balanced informed background to the tricky Covid-19 behaviour.
so you know more than a Professor of Medicine, gee you must be clever
as with smart comebacks, not all professors of medicine are without fault. a good professor of ANYTHING will say that they dont know enough, they are still learning.
Perhaps Anker might might take some notice of your wisdom. Maybe better to do that rather than insist that anyone who doesn't agree with his/her narrow viewpoint should STFU.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/a-message-for-our-scientists?utm_source=Friends+of+the+Newsroom&utm_campaign=5d49fddc3a-Daily+Briefing+25.8.20&utm
[lprent: removed the dot at the end of your handle. I’ll do it on the first of the other comments as well. Could you correct on your side please. ]
So sorry Iprent. Will try not to have that happen again
Its really not about who agrees with me Alan. I go by what the scientists say and trust in the MofH and our Govts directives as they have served and continue to serve us well…It is the arm chair critics I was taking aim at. These are mostly the journos who look to have gotcha moments. The journo who asked Ashleigh B if he was going to resign needs to be told how dangerous the idea is. Re Professor Gorman, see my comments below.
Have a nice day
I never said I knew more that a Professor in Medicine and certainly I know very little about medicine for divers and brain injury. These are the two areas Professor Gorman has his qualifications in.
Professor Gorman seems to have held a number of positions in health funding, workforce development and health system design. He held these from around 2010 and it appears from his CV he is no longer used so much by the current govt.
Given he had so much time and influence to sort the health system, if his criticisms are to be believed, he clearly failed to do so in when he was in a position to implement the changes.
By his own admission in the Radio NZ interview, the govt are using the right strategies, contract tracing, quarantine, high testing rates…………..
Right now is not the time for the health system to re-structure or to set up new agencies…………..We are in acute crisis mode. And despite any failings or inadequacies Mr Gorman sees, our health system which has been woefully underfunded is coping and adapting spectacularly well as seen by our Covid response and the statistics that don’t lie….. So no I have no time for Mr Gorman
Hee hee cleverer than you Alan. When you feel the urge to write all you can say is yah-boo. Doh! And yet you are upset at the STFU! When you write you don’t say anything of any assistance in the toil and tribulations we are in. You are not using your great powers to help so why worry about it.
Literally all you have is an appeal to authority, when that authority disagrees with most of his peers.
Best campaign ad of 2020, probably
https://twitter.com/TheDailyShow/status/1296620499385163777?s=20
That was a lot of fun.
Also fair.
Really appreciate The Standard. Feeling of loss when it has a few hiccups, so thankyou Lprent for giving us this outlet.
+1000 for LPrent and team.
Yes well done Lprent. Much appreciated.
Many thanks to Iprent and team!
Our misinformation crisis – how can we stop ourselves from falling for it and spreading it?
Videos seem to be particularly pernicious for misinformation, at least partly because of the extra obstacles in the way of fact-checking:
https://factcheckingday.com/articles/13/10-tips-for-verifying-viral-social-media-videos
More useful reading on different kinds of misinformation:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/misinformation-has-created-a-new-world-disorder/
Perhaps we should keep coming to The Standard and someone will raise a point about error as a rule, but not always. I have asked for help now and then and no-one replied so the blog is only partially useful at sorting into piles all the words and sentences that roll out endlessly.
The site still isn't right. But I've fixed most of the speed issue which appears to have been something triggering cache access issues at the database level. Mostly by taking out some of the obsessive protection that used the database as persistent storage and substituting other tools.
I still haven't located the root cause which is kind of irritating. I'll look at that again this evening. There are much higher than usual general (ie non-site aware) attempts to crack into the site. But it is no more than about 5x the usual rate. It averaged at about 20 per minute. Didn't look like a denial of service attack.
However I need to get back to paid employment (had to take a day off yesterday). So it will have do for the moment.
Forgive me my technical illiteracy, but are they attempts to interfere with the ability of the site to continue providing a forum for political debate? Not so long ago one of our local experts warned it was inevitable there would be foreign political interference in the election – not unlike what has been experienced elsewhere.
a lot to consider about the site and possible election based interference, we know it isn't fairy dust to consider this. Thanks for your work LPrent, would money help? Nothing else we could do I imagine.
See the "Donate" button at the top right.
https://thestandard.org.nz/contact-us/donate/
not targeted.
Okay. I thought "aware" might have been a typo.
Pretty much not targeted.
If they were then the main point of any login seeking would be to get the super admin logins. I'm not seeing that.
It looks like a general increase in intrusion attacks. I'd say that new botnets have been activated.
Ok, I have just seen the problem now that I am looking wider.
One of the SSD drives in the array for The Standard has been locked into a very very long SMART data scan – it is currently at 140% of the expected time. It is running at 49C (its partner is at 29C).
Failing it from the array so the spare kicks in.
Yep, and the really problematic issue is fixed. saving comments and updating them is now fast again.
I really don’t tend to view SSDs as being a possible problem. I just lean in the SMART monitoring I’ll add some notifier diagnostics to scan them over-running tests and getting too hot.
" I still haven't located the root cause…"
This is a catastrophe….more testing please.
🙂 See 11.2
"its a shambles"
The chickns have come home to roost in Auckland. The delays of putting in decent public transport in Auckland that began in Mayor Robbie's* time 1959 on have now led to problems about Covid-19 spread, as well as making it difficult for just ordinary citizens to get to work and have some time for having a life.
According to Auckland Regional Public Health, the trip took two and a half hours. The reason for this was because "there was very bad traffic congestion that morning as people were heading home before the midday lockdown," the Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) said.
They said the two people sat on the bus for an hour at Symonds Street.
According to Auckland Transport's website, the trip from Stop 7162 to Stop 8200 can be walked in 11 minutes. By bus, albeit with no traffic, it takes 3 minutes.
On Google Maps, from one stop to the other, it is 750 metres.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/424334/more-details-around-bus-trip-with-covid-19-emerge
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove-Myer_Robinson
About his rail ideas: Robinson's main focus during his second period as mayor was his advocacy for rapid transit system for Auckland. Robinson's proposal for a bus-rail rapid transit plan was "to provide fast, modern electrified railways through the main traffic corridors of the region". The proposal had passenger trains every three minutes running from an underground subway terminal in the city centre with above ground tracks leading to Howick, Auckland Airport and a tunnel to the North Shore. The scheme was heavily criticized for its cost (an estimated $273 million in 1973) and both the ARA chairman Tom Pearce and most of its members opposed the scheme. The Third Labour Government reneged on an election pledge to pay for the scheme and the rapid rail proposal disappeared. Retrospectively, Robinson's idea to implement rapid rail was seen as a possible long-term solution to Auckland's subsequent transportation difficulties. The phrase; "If we'd only listened to Robbie…" has become common speech in Auckland whenever the city's transport system is debated.
Greywarshark
I remember the rhetoric at the time, even the media put the boot in.
I seem to remember it was his last term as mayor.
In the last 50 yrs Robinson was the only person that I can recall that "Had a Vision for the Future of Auckland and NZ",
NZ has suffered from a Visionary" deficit ever since.
It seems to me that the struggle to get important work carried out for the overall good of a community is a harder goal than to climb Mt Everest. We love Sir Edmund Hillary for doing something quite notable but unnecessary.
We fail to catch the importance of pushing through a future-looking transport system for a growing, major city like Auckland. And Dove-Myer was also prominent in preventing the city's sewage and meat offcuts from manufacturing being dumped out at sea untreated. Apparently he was a feisty man with a big ego, quite interesting reading about him. But he was a thinker; if they had left the tunnel to North Shore out and gone with the rest, they would have been winners instead of losers as they are now.
Let's hope they don't end up like Los Angeles (City of Angels).
“There’s simply not enough places for these people to go, there’s obviously a lot of mental health and addiction problems.
“A lot of people flood to California because of the weather and I think the problem has just overwhelmed the system here.
“And I think the city of dreams really has turned into the city of nightmares at the moment.”
It is a city-wide problem, she says.
“Friends of mine that live I Santa Monica only four blocks from the beach say they can’t take their children to the local park because the homeless situation is so bad that there are people passed out in the park doing drugs, there are syringes everywhere…
“It’s a big city problem across America and I think it’s a socio-economic problem that the rich are getting richer, certainly under Trump, and the poor are getting poorer.
“There’s a great sense of social injustice here at the moment.”
Homeless encampments are legal in Los Angeles and have blossomed as the city’s chronic housing shortage worsens.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018760720/los-angeles-has-turned-into-a-city-of-nightmares
And this is the next step of the epidemic likely to cross our borders carrying all the shit that comes out the actions of the wealthy and malignant in the USA to foul our country's wellbeing, only managed by being the opposite to them in their feckless drive for capital accretion and power.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018760983/covid-19-wealthy-americans-flock-to-invest-in-nz
Wealthy Americans looking for a safe haven in a turbulent Covid-19 world are flocking to invest in New Zealand – and move their businesses here.
The number of investor visa applications has soared since the coronavirus outbreak, and the government agency working to attract overseas money says New Zealand's successful public health strategy is behind the ten-fold surge in interest.
and you can bet that those wealthy americans will hide in gated communities here, if they get the chance.
I've read that some people in Queenstown are having trouble with the Lords of Creation who have homes with helipads attached that they have wangled on the basis of serving them for arriving and departing. But they have visitors and are restless and on the go so the very loud noise of a helicopter next door can be heard numerous times a week.
When I hear one here it is usually the rescue one going across to land at the hospital set-down spot. They are doing God's work so to speak, and I can put up with that, in fact I find it comforting that we have this service for the needy. There are often trampers who fall, get caught in bad weather, a windy road out of town, Golden Bay and distant communities – so that's different from the wealthy and their taking ways.
If you're prone to COVID panic, don't read further.
Covid reinfection of a healthy 33 year old has been confirmed by the genome of his second infection being different to the genome of his first, with the spike proteins being different between the two strains. The good news, for him anyway, was that the second infection was asymptomatic.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/08/first-confirmed-case-of-sars-cov-2-reinfection-reported-in-hong-kong/
Yep. Still too soon to be making definitive plans about the future and what NZ should be doing with the borders and so on. There's more to learn here about the virus, immunity, transmission before we get to rearranging society again.
And this. South Korea was an early success at controlling Covid-19 and then had a huge outbreak with a religion at its core. I had thought South Koreans religious but well-balanced, now its becoming twisted and political. Their psychology is not too different from what has arisen all over the world, looking for conspiracies and malign agents connected with Covid-19, but it appears so passionate that the country is spiralling out of control.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/424345/south-korea-on-brink-of-nationwide-virus-outbreak-officials-warn
The latest outbreak of coronavirus cases centred around a right-wing Presbyterian church has spread to all 17 provinces throughout the country for the first time….
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has admitted that about 20 percent of all new cases are of unknown origin – despite the country's efficient contact tracing system which can track down around 1000 potentially infected patients in an hour.
South Korea's fight against Covid-19 began in February after an outbreak at a Christian cult called the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the city of Daegu, about 200km south of Seoul. Within weeks, the outbreak was under control…
The majority of new cases are all close to the heavily populated capital city which is home to more than 10 million people.
And one of the biggest concerns is that many of the far-right worshippers who are potentially infected believe the virus was planted as part of a conspiracy to close it down. Many are refusing to be contacted, let alone tested.
And there is also one other major risk factor. Infected members of the Shincheonji church were mostly young – in their 20s. But the current outbreak is affecting a much older age group.
Members of the Sarang Jeil Church, which roughly translates as "Love Comes First", are right-wing conservatives and maintain that President Moon Jae-in is a communist and a puppet of China and North Korea.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, they would gather in their hundreds in the centre of Seoul each Saturday loudly rallying and marching past the Blue House to denounce the South Korean leader.
This is really frightening. If the South Korean government tries to have a total lockdown which appears to be the only way to stop spread, these people could riot in another one of their protests aimed at bringing down the government. They refuse to believe in the facts of the virus and its spread, and if they were in charge would probably impose BAU by force, yet the report is that the hospitals are nearly at capacity. Who can break through this web of lies and hysteria that all South Koreans respect and will pay attention to?
South Korea is somewhat used to dealing with mass protests – and they are mostly very well-behaved. They never run out of police because the police claim a proportion of the two-year military service all Korean men must do – if they need another 100 000 they only need to make a few phone calls. The protest culture, which is a Confucian tradition, really took hold under Chun do Hwan, who was somewhat in the Duterte mould, and police under his leadership killed several thousand protestors. It's not like that these days, and the church cannot muster a large crowd in Korean terms.
they would gather in their hundreds
By Korean standards that makes them look as lonely as Billy TK's meagre handful of supporters.
Well that all sounds very calming, which is good for me. But still the spread and the lack of contact tracing that they can do is going to be a worry.
Perhaps they can all go into their church and close the doors and be together and safe from the government forces. But they must care for their sick with the equipment that will be available on request, food delivered in raw state so they can't blame deaths on poisoning.
Perhaps they will come to their senses as people fall sick while under their care. No evil eye to blame it on.
One of my former students just told me there's a weird group in Korea now that may be deliberately spreading Covid – the rationale is apparently that "we have to share the pain with our ally (United States)". It may be a troll cell behind it, but it's the kind of trouble no country needs.
?
https://twitter.com/MichaelCohen212/status/1298025781310955520
On Monday, the Democratic super PAC American Bridge released a new ad to run during the Republican convention — starring President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen, who minced no words in blasting his former boss.
“For more than a decade, I was President Trump’s right-hand man, fixer, and confidante,” said Cohen, who went to prison over the scheme to make hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf. “I was complicit in helping conceal the real Donald Trump. I was part of creating an illusion.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/michael-cohen-stars-in-new-anti-trump-ad-to-run-during-rnc-convention/
Watching tRump jnr and his squeeze's speeches at the RNC. They’re baked.
edit:
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1298075982595842048
Barking nuts
Replying to greywarshark @ 12. (for the last 6 months or so I’ve only been able to use the reply function on my iPhone not the iPad I normally use, but now can’t even use iPhone?).
Ironically the reason the cases sat for an hour on the bus on Symonds St is because there was an almighty traffic jam in that area of Symonds St, New North Road, Mt Eden Road and Newton Road after a Covid testing station was set up in a small ex-used car yard on New North Road. It was chaos every day until they moved the testing station to the Eden Park car park. All the bus services routed through that area eventually had to be detoured.
Notwithstanding that I fully agree that Auckland’s cheapskate approach to public transport and planning generally is a growing disaster.
That's awful Scott GN. I think authorities need a knowledgeable outsider who just watches and listens to all the plans re Covid 19 in each area, and steps in before all go away from the meeting room and asks the pertinent questions as to how effective they'll be in that spot, because of this, and this and this? 'I want us to look at these points now, before anything is done and explain to me how these problems can be overcome.'
Someone who has a reinforced spine, and can assert themselves and has knowledge of planning and people, would be useful to spot such things as traffic congestion.
The bogus anti-Semitism report that sank Jeremy Corbyn
by ASA WINSTANLEY, The Electronic Intifada, 24 August 2020
The road to Jeremy Corbyn’s political downfall began at Oxford University Labour Club in February 2016. A rogue inquiry by a Labour staffer with close ties to the Israeli embassy included fabricated allegations of anti-Semitism.
It destroyed the lives of several pro-Corbyn students sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. It also triggered Labour’s “anti-Semitism crisis” in earnest. The manufactured crisis continues today, even with Corbyn now marginalized. After an internal Labour disciplinary investigation, some of the accused were cleared of anti-Semitism the following year.
But by that time the damage had been done.
After a four-year investigation, The Electronic Intifada has obtained the full Rubin report, which has never been published.
Michael Rubin, who wrote it, was chair of the right-wing group Labour Students. But the “inquiry” was his own initiative and had not been mandated by either Labour’s leader or its ruling National Executive Committee. Rubin was also collaborating with Shai Masot, an Israeli “diplomat” who would be kicked out of the UK the following year.
Soon after writing the report, Rubin was hired by Labour Friends of Israel, a group which secretly coordinates with the Israeli embassy in London.
Masot was caught in undercover footage recruiting to the Israeli front group.
Read more…
https://electronicintifada.net/content/bogus-anti-semitism-report-sank-jeremy-corbyn/31026
I found this yesterday in a promo for The Telegraph and found it very instructive about nice people in the UK and the lengths they will go to maintain their nice lives, and the rationalisation they use for being tricky.
…Every week, when I sit down to write my Wednesday column in The Telegraph, concerns like those are at the forefront of my mind. I see my job as speaking up for the silent majority, for men and women who lack a voice in a world where, if you don’t subscribe to fashionable left-wing causes, you’re called “inappropriate” or “something-phobic”.
People like us have been made to feel like a beleaguered minority. But who gave the Conservatives a whacking majority at the general election and protected our country from the lunatic extremism of Jeremy Corbyn? We did.
I’m proud that readers email to say it’s a huge relief to know that they’re not alone. I rejoice that Telegraph subscribers call the paper a “haven” for those who don’t get offended by views other than their own. Whenever possible, I try to see the funny side. Let’s face it, with the coronabeast laying waste to life as we know it, people are incredibly grateful for a laugh. Allison Pearson, Telegraph Columnist
People like this are irritated at changes including the constant nitpicking of word sensitivity at the moment and regard it as OTT. But they don't see that their own behaviour is similar on the other side of the see-saw.
Jeremy Corbyn. Wikipedia narrates him us as the Hilary Clinton of UK politics.
Take a sure thing, fuck it up, blame everyone else.
Just wait for the book no one will read.
Whereas in the real world, Keir Starmer is leading Labour already close to even pegging with the Conservatives already; Conservative 40%, Labour 38%:
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/political_party/Labour_Party
Sturmer, the King of Nothing, can't get more support than Boris Johnson, even though Johnson is possibly the most obnoxious and incompetent British prime minister in history. He and his cronies have expelled anyone with a moral compass from the Labour Party—people like Asa Winstanley, who wrote this article, and Michael Rosen, and without a doubt would have drummed out Sir Gerald Kaufman if he was still alive….
"It is the nature of human existence that shared sacrifice is the glue that binds disparate individuals and groups into a unified and thus powerful entity."
"Profound disunity is characterized by the recognition that favored elites make no sacrifices, and this injustice consumes the bonds of civil unity."
The best thing I have read today.
fuck this. seriously fuck this bullshit, and someone please go to Winz and start weeding some of these drones out and send them to the unemployment queue, also Government (Labour/Green/NZFirst) do fucking better.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/landlords-paid-3k-a-week-by-government
someone said something the other day that 'we know have well being as a priority a new social contract with the government', reading this article it occurs to me that some have a social contract with the government and it makes them very very rich while those that are too poor to be of importance to anyone (unless its an election year) can go live in a dump paid for by the tax payer 3000$ per pop.
But we can't increase unemployment and social benefits to the level of the wage subsidy casue we don't have the money, right? We seem to have the money, for landlords, real estate agents and winz drones who probably did well on kick backs. But hey, surely this is all a great misunderstanding, someone mis spoke, and someone mis appropriated funds and and and and.
Pigeon-holes? People with children thrust into some sort of covered dwelling or room. Is that how it is with MSD? No wonder they need guards on their offices. When people get distraught enough with no end in sight to their condition, they can feel they have nothing to lose!
Can we get our smug backsides off our seats as seen in twitter Hellhole, 'Oh I'm at the beach, on my balcony, on my lifestyle block, walking along this nature reserve'. It was sickening after the first laugh at giving the finger to Trump or some overblown liar about how bad NZ is. For some it bloody well is bad and we shouldn't forget that.
I mention a difficulty that I think is common, and that is authority will say that some remedial program won't fix the problem, so it's no good. That is such a copout to say nothing can be done till it is the perfect solution. "Oh we can't waste money here if more has to be spent later." We are not prepared to divide the problem into sections, start with the worst difficulty, and work up to bigger and better outcomes. Put everything on a graph from axes of 0 so as things improve they'll show up, why not measure that way.
So get up you bums and open your minds, every meeting has to result in a beneficial outcome for people who really need it, and receive enough of your budget to succeed, and be properly monitored with encouragement and support to achieve what is wanted by the recipients.
Sabine, So lazy or overworked people in MSD let greedy landlords and their agents rort the system of the Government trying to find shelter for people. This has come to light, and yet you paint this as a failure by this Government, when you know the rot is endemic, and will take time to overcome, as so many are gaining.
You threw my "social contract comment" back in my face inferring I am one of those who is making $3000 a week!! I realise you mispoke in anger and frustration. I was talking about covid, you have taken that out of context.
This is housing situation is upsetting and not good enough. Who else have you sent a complaint to? Megan Woods? or just us?
PS I could have ignored that remark, but it is not fair.
This government is committed to the Middle. Always was. Always will be. Case in point the pathetically embarrassing launch of Kiwibuild.
Channeling Savage…shame.
Should have hit the ground running housing the homeless.
Should have implemented the recommendations of the Welfare Experts Advisory Group.
Should have listened to those at the front line rather than the bureaucrats from the various Ministries.
Patricia you are right. How do we stop the rot
We must not forget the power of the officials who implement the policy passed but in THEIR OWN way, or do they. There is mention of National gaining power in 1961 and it going to their heads. Do politicians have control or do they face some humiliating discussion with the head of the State Services Commission after they have got nowhere with their head of department?
I have been looking at some columns from Chris Trotter in past years. He said this in 2016 at the time Trump and Farage were looking very pleased with themselves.
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2016/12/2016-annus-horribilis.html
The Last Laugh: As Plato predicted, more than 2,000 years ago, a democratic citizenry that loses faith in its own efficacy will voluntarily entrust its destiny to the first demagogue who learns to speak its language of despair. In 2016, this annus horribilis, those demagogues’ names were Nigel Farage and Donald Trump.
These from May 2017.
Not Just At The Gates – Within The Walls! Dr J.C. Beaglehole, writing in 1961, recorded with considerable disdain: “The naïve, the almost childish brutality, with which the chiefs of the National Party fell upon power may seem quite surprising, until one remembers how famished for power they were, and with what an innocency of experience they faced the world about them ….. [Their] insensitiveness to administrative delicacies was quite appalling.”
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2017/05/insensitiveness-to-administrative.html
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2017/05/our-path-to-future-is-blocked-by-past.html
Our path to the future is blocked by the past.
And The Truth Shall Set You Free: Moving beyond the thirty-year-old neoliberal order in New Zealand can only be achieved by confronting and disproving its explanations and excuses for the inequality, poverty and powerlessness it perpetuates.
New Labour or Coalition government – what will confront them?
The simple answer is: The Past. A government elected on the strength of public misgivings about rampant homelessness and the lack of affordable housing; out-of-control immigration; and a despoiled natural environment; will be presented with thirty-year-old government machinery designed specifically to make effective state intervention as difficult as possible.
Any attempt to deploy this machinery in pursuit of social and economic objectives for which it was not designed is highly likely to end in failure – and, quite possibly, disaster. Arrayed against a government in which only a handful of ministers possess Cabinet experience will be a bristling phalanx of public servants, National Party appointees, corporate and special interest lobbyists and public relations firms – all of whom have a vested interest in preserving the status quo…
When, after staggering into their minister’s offices under the weight of multiple reports, studies and surveys, the representatives of Treasury, MFAT, MBIE and MPI advise the new progressive government that its programme will wreck the economy and/or bankrupt the nation, how will Labour, NZ First and the Greens respond? Will they be able to offer their own stack of reports, studies and surveys in rebuttal?
I am throwing nothing back in your face, i just called it up because we need a social contract. A real contract that covers all of us all the time and not just some of us some of the time.
I am not speaking in anger nor frustration, but i am tired of the misery that we cause by not holding our government accountable and the price of that is paid by those that have the least to give or to loose. I have never ever even mentioned covid, You did. I am constantly talking about unemployment, homelessness and the lack of the government in regards to these issue.
Do i believe that the wage subsidy is / was not enough. I do. Do i think the government did an adequit job re Covid given the circumstances, yes, have i ever said open the borders or relax quarantine? No i never did and you would be hard pressed to find anything in regards to this. The problem is that currently every critisism by us vs Labour is shut down literally with words of 'shut up, national is worse and do you want us all to die". Talk about a nice way of telling people to shut up and just vote. 🙂 Ain't happening.
As for complaining, i spoke to the person who hopes to get elected in my area, lol, not talking policy, don't you think we did well, is this not enough, I leave comments of FB pages and i give money as far as i can to the community where i live which btw has a huge homeless problem, a huge over crowding problem and a huge poverty problem and it will only get worse with raising unemployment and no jobs to apply for. So no i don't see any reason to really talk to labour nor the greens nor nzfirst, as non of them listen when it comes to these issues. Shut up and vote, lest National wins.
So yes, i did took your 'applies to covid only' social contract comment and i applied it to our homeless and jobless. And if that is what upsets you then i can't help you there, because this article again just showed the truth, that in this country some are in it knee deep and others are not, some have a social contract and others don't. And the very poor in this country seem to be disregarded by all parties. We are not all in this together.
Incompetence (MSD) meets corruption (REI)
MSD isn't that incompetent, they are lacking something vital that should be searched for in their CVs at the time of getting the job, but perhaps the agency that does the human resources work doesn't bother with anything except the right ed and previous employers. That's how a serial fraudster got through recently. Does the department concerned claim the money back:? I believe they get quite a dosh per person. Anyone know what and how it is calculated?
"The Ministry of Social Development has admitted the scheme made the rental crisis worse – as people took rental properties off the market and used them instead to rent out to MSD to earn thousands more."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/landlords-paid-3k-a-week-by-government
this is not incompetence it is no one in charge giving a shit. That would be the bosses of the kinder gentler still full of bullshit Winz. Carmel Sepuloni is her name and last i checked she was the minister of social development and if you read the article all the way to the end you will see that she is 'waiting to be briefed and can not answer questions'.
Had read the article in full (twice) hours before you posted the link…and incompetence it surely is
I've only read the first third of that so far, and I feel sick.
read everything about it, and then maybe understand where i am coming from when i lament the utter failure of the current government (Labour/NZFIRST/Green – and no any one person in particular) in regards to unemployment, social welfare starvation rates and housing. And i am being charitable calling it 'failure'.
pretty sure we disagree on strategy not on political views of what is happening.
honestly i can't see the strategy here, all i see is 'nothing was done, nothing at all'.
that's right, you can't see strategy.
if three thousand dollar a week is a strategy to house someone in unsanitary hovels without any security then that is not a strategy, but feel free to educate me about the strategy that i am missing. As i said above, please read all the way to the end where it states that the Minister of social development refuses to answer questions as to the strategy of this particular program.
Please weka, enlighten me. Cause i have been syaing this already under National, where this 'emergency programme' started under Paula Benefit.
The government changed nothing. did nothing, and is now being called out for having done nothing and chances are wasted millions to enrich a handful of in my book criminal land lords and real estate agents.
But i am happy to read your explanation of the strategy that i am missing.
Unless utter failure and disperagement of people going to winz for help is the strategy, then yes i must admit i totally did not see that.
funny that you think this is about Labour's strategy rather than yours or mine or the left's. I've been talking about strategy around this for years. Like I said, you don't get it.
Is the National Party feeding questions to Mike Hosking for his interviews with the Prime Minister?
You don't seriously think that would happen do you? Oh, okay, of course it would.
Maybe it's Newshub, they seem to be part of the National Party.![wink wink](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png)
if so, he should be renamed patsy hoskings… perhaps someone with twitter can start that one.
Not sure they're smart enough to do that – maybe someone they've hired eh.
Just to change the conversation, a cool wind blowing through the groves. Eddie Izzard and others having a discussion Europe and UK. Boris was a Daily Telegraph columnist and found Thatcher as the genesis of Eddie's career as a comedian.
I think Boris says he is a socialist about 5 mins in. I don't think he spends the time when he is not speaking, listening to the others, but thinking up what he wants to put over next.
From our archives. 1997 debate. Do we hate the French? What is the UK's place in Europe? Hosted by Jeremy Paxman, with Boris Johnson, comedian Eddie Izzard and Labour MEP Carole Tongue. More Newsnight archives here
Various media channels have sought the views of business leaders in Auckland to what the affects of extending Level 3 'til Sunday will be. And Chamber of Commerce Barnett appeared to be reading from a prepared-script-of-anticipation. Also spokespeople for the hospitality industry, in unison, have said that it is going to be catastrophic and that there will be massive permanent closures as a result.
I hope the media channels will seek these same people out again in a fortnight or so to get their assessments and to check if their predictions were anywhere even close.
I wouldn't hold my breath.
https://www.familyfirst.org.nz/2020/08/nz-fertility-rate-is-at-all-time-low/
Media Release 10 August 2020
New Zealand’s total fertility rate has reached an all-time low, with an average of 1.71 children per woman in New Zealand, well below population replacement level….
Report author Lindsay Mitchell says, “In the past, government policy could positively affect the size of families. The Universal Family Benefit strongly influenced peak fertility in 1961 when women had an average of 4.3 children. But as females have become better educated and increased their work force participation, more have chosen to have fewer or no children. Economic pressures like student debt and insecure employment play a role. And now they face additional pressure from environmentalists. Meanwhile, policy interventions appear less and less effective.”..
“Without population replacement or growth, economies decline. A nation’s strength lies in its young: their energy, innovation, risk-taking and entrepreneurship.
The new blood drives the exchange of ideas and experimentation. If these attributes aren’t home-grown, they have to be imported. At an individual level, single person households are the fastest growing household type in New Zealand. Increasingly people face old-age with few or no family supports.”
It doesn't take Lindsay Mitchell long to extrapolate opinions from fact. Now environmentalists are causing additional pressures on family numbers. And a nation relying on its young – it shows how far Mitchell is from reality. The PtB are quite happily importing the people it wants, making it difficult for parents especially mothers alone to bring up their children to utilise their, e, i, rt and ent. It's more efficient and valuable to the economy, to teach other people's children for a fee than to ensure good education for well-rounded minds of young NZ. And the future is not with people at the helm, it is as servants to machines and vast conglomerates situated overseas, now with holiday homes in NZ. The jobs that people could do and hold their heads up high as independent people are being deleted. It suits the neolib cohort to virtually delete people! The schools are preparing children for this future by making them do their learning on computers, laptops. Manual, hand work, is out, and jobs are just a number to indicate the movements of the market.
The trouble with these narrow-minded people, is that they are against the lone woman, and will punish her by keeping her poor and lonely, and they regard sex as sinful if not sanctified by marriage. And the actions of such as Family First match this prejudice. They will back the right wing who would rather single women were working at a low-level and tiring job, than to be available to their children and being supported to become first-rate parents, home managers, and have skills training enabling them to earn and improve their lifestyles and work status over the years.
That would be the ideal but it would seem to be encouraging the women and the right wing don't want this to happen. They don't like the idea of beneficiaries being happy – how dare they enjoy living off my hard-won earnings is the mean refrain. So they won't even back them to get a good start in life, along with their children. When they talk about beneficiary mothers it is the children they mention, not the person trying to cope with responsibilities on one pair of shoulders. This has been made worse by the demand to advise the father's identity or lose benefit payment.
After time passes and some wisdom gained, plus the experience of bearing and birthing their child, many women know the man concerned will have a negative affect on them and the child. But money and stiff morality have equal places in the minds of the right wing, and I think it is money that is paramount really. It's a toxic world in there when you get a glimpse into the depths of such people's minds, no matter how pleasant they look and sound.
Replying to Logie97 at 21.
The media interview businesses, and the opposition. For the sake of balance they should be also interviewing those whose lives are being saved.
Hi LP, thanks as ever for your site. I’ve had problems viewing the articles for a while now. I see the headline, and the comments, but not the article itself. Not always, but often. Now, today, the ‘design’ is missing too, your banner for example. A ‘template’ problem? I can switch to desktop version, but that doesn’t work so well either on a phone. I’m using safari, latest iOS 13x, on iPhone se. Hope this info is helpful.
You are absolutely correct. I’ve been mostly concerned with other things (like the site running like a dog due to what turned out to be a failing SSD in a RAID array) for the last day or so.
But I’m seeing the same things on a Android Samsung S10+. I’ll clean it up after I get through inserting new SSDs. However it may be tomorrow (he says looking at the time).
It is now ok now on my samsung. Checked it on my partners iphone. Her front page is still wrong but the rest is as it should be. I’m presuming that is a caching issue. My android suddenly came right a while after I did a update for the appearance.
Is New Zealand chicken production as disgusting as this?
'The UK slaughters 20 million broilers every week, the vast majority of which are fast- growing breeds, reaching slaughter weight in just 35 days – four times faster than in the 1950s. This, according to the RSPCA, is responsible for contributing to severe welfare problems such as chronic leg disorders and heart and circulatory problems.
The data revealed that more than 3 million chickens were rejected at slaughter due to ascites or heart failure. “The main contributor is believed to be an increased oxygen demand by the fast-growing muscle. The body simply can’t keep up,” said Vicky Bond, veterinarian and director of the Humane League. CIWF have called for a ban on the use of fast-growing broiler breeds.
Dr Ed Van Klink, senior lecturer at Bristol Veterinary School, said: “Some of these issues are clearly welfare related … There will always be sick animals, certainly given the enormous numbers that are being processed. Poultry is kept in large flocks, therefore attention for individual disease issues is generally not possible.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/25/over-60-million-chickens-in-england-and-wales-rejected-over-disease-and-defects
Don't buy it or consume it.
(Hat tip to Mary from The Lifeboat News.)
I think Ardern has a 20% advantage in the next election over National. Lets press her to implement the Welfare Advisory Group's recommendations. If not now for our kin, when?
Don't vote for her , talk against her, unless she helps the neediest NOW after 36 years.
Disgusted I have to make a case here.
We are too far near to America's set-up.
When Jacinda bullshits about poverty and can't talk for Godzone.
I despise her because I know her, and reality, unlike others.
Just about sums it up, sumsuch.
Ardern baited her hooks for middle NZ… being the daughter of a white cop in Mangakino does not give her insight into the lives of those the WEAG were trying to champion.
The reality is, just like NZ voted National back in time and time again despite the water in the pot getting hotter all the time, there will be flesh falling from the bones of Godzone's most vulnerable and still the bulk will vote for the popular and telegenic.
SSDD
“In 2002 Mr Ardern received a Police Commissioner’s Commendation after he negotiated for three hours with a man armed with a machete in an incident in Morrinsville’s main street. The stand-off ended peacefully.”
https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/waikato-times/20131120/281689727589313
Ross Ardern worked in a number of towns in the Waikato region (Murupapa, Piako-Matamata, Morrinsville, etc.) So he was "a white cop in Mangakino" too, eh? SSDD.
Murupara/Mangakino
I always confuse the two…my bad.
However…do you think this government has addressed the needs of the most vulnerable New Zealanders Drowsy M.Kram?
Do you think it is OK for this government to have largely ignored the recommendations of the WEAG?
Do you think it is OK that the most vulnerable have been told since forever…'just wait, be patient, your day will come when there's enough money in the coffers…'
…only to see that when Business is threatened by the effects of a virus there's suddenly mega billions in the coffers?
Do you think that Ardern's(and most of our other elected 'representatives') privileged upbringing has prepared her to be able to properly empathize with those who has been discarded by government for the past twenty five years?
Because if its not to do with her lack of experience of life in the outer margins…?
IMHO it's a bit rich to have a go at Ardern for not being able to "properly empathize", but whatever floats your boat.
I do think that our Government should be aiming to address "the needs of the most vulnerable New Zealanders" as a priority, and then the needs of the less vulnerable, and lastly the needs of the invulnerable should they have any.
No, I don't "think it is OK for this government to have largely ignored the recommendations of the WEAG", nor do I think it's OK that various NZ governments have avoided making recommended changes to MMP, and have avoided alcohol law reform, and have privatised public assets in the face of strong public opposition, and have said no to introducing a CGT, or a Fart Tax, or indeed whatever progressive tax(es) might be needed to adequately address the many and varied needs of all citizens and the wider environment.
But there are only so many things that I can rail against at any one time.
I do think its OK that NZ governments resisted popular attempts to overturn the 'anti-smacking' legislation introduced to the house by Sue Bradford, and it's OK that the current Government introduced stricter gun control laws in the wake of the Christchurch massacre, and that they are also doing a reasonable-to-good job (indeed, an excellent job if current international comparisons of health outcomes are valid) of addressing the immediate public health and welfare issues relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, not to mention record investment in mental health, building classrooms and new schools, fixing hospitals, introducing the winter energy payment, extending paid parental leave…
But something's gotta give, and when it does most of us who are able to look back on past times will realise just how good we had it. Just my opinion, of course, and thanks for asking.
The neediest matter most.
You won't confuse the two if you ever go through and 'stop' at Murupara (don't), Rosemary. It's Ardern's Dorian Gray portrait.
The 1980 ruling class by right of 'merit' has everything but 'right'.
And we remember, and, what's more, have the personnel to turn around our country, unlike America, their model.
https://youtu.be/QAB6aXOfUmU
https://youtu.be/REXeJAdQ68c
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU