Professor Sharon Peacock, the director of Public Health England's National Infection Service, told MPs the kits were in the final stages of testing at a laboratory in Oxford and could be approved for mass distribution by the end of this week.
That and other anti-body tests are what will eventually kill the spread first, with antivirals and then vaccines. It will be interesting on what the max time is between exposure, initial infection and antibodies.
But the tests will be at least month away from any real levels of distribution. It takes time to scale up any kind of mass distribution. But if it works ok, then I suspect that there will be a big push to replicate it.
Yes, this is quite promising. I was just about to link to the same article.
and i like that they patentend the valves and then liberated the blue prints so everyone can print these valves. Also good on Decathlon for supplying the diving mask.
Transit is the issue. We mostly transit through Singapore and Hong Kong for most destinations. Singapore has largely shut transit. So has Hong Kong. Planes have a lot of range but it has limits and the limit is if you can land and refuel to get back again.
We are long way from anywhere apart from aussie and the islands.
Basically there was a reasonable level of warning. Some people didn't heed it.
Oh. 🙁
That’s a pity. I didn’t think about transits/fuel
Thought it was just a matter of organising between officials. It was a fast developing situation and bound to catch some of us out. Can’t help but worry for those caught overseas in places like Sri Lanka.
well he crowned himself bishop, so obviously he will have what ever doctorates he will need.
he too will kill people, just as the prosperity preachers do in the US. After all the man has bills to pay so the flock needs to hand over 10% of that sweet government money that they received in order to tide them over.
A grifter is gonna grift. Those harleys don't come cheap.
Rapper M.I.A. has revealed she is anti-vaccination and would 'choose death' over getting a coronavirus vaccination amid the ongoing pandemic.
The Paper Planes hitmaker, 44, declared her stance on vaccinations and expressed her regret at being 'made to' vaccinate her son, 11, before he started school in a series of tweets on Wednesday.
The musician, real name Mathangi Arulpragasam, wrote: 'If I have to choose the vaccine or chip I'm gonna choose death.'
""Satan has control of atmospheres unless you're a born-again, Jesus-loving, bible-believing, Holy Ghost-filled, tithe-paying believer," Bishop Tamaki said on Sunday morning."
From my contact who lives in the Coromandel: last couple of days a lot of people have arrived to stay in their holiday homes for the lock down. My contact is not bothered by this as they will not be mixing with them and are all prepared to stay at home.
Some of the arrivees live in apartments in the city, so it is understandable, but others don't and they would be better off in the city. Coromandel emergency services are already stretched and if these city-dwellers had an emergency, they'd be better off in the city.
The permanent population of the Coromandel is around 30,000. Over the summer months that population swells by around 100,000. Every year. I know when our local emergency services are busy because the siren sounds 3 – 4 times a day to call in the volunteers. Over the past week we have not heard the siren at all. There has not been a helicopter flying urgent cases out of the hospital. I visited my beach property this past week to do some preparatory maintenance before the shut down. There were far fewer people about than over the summer months. I spoke to my doctor just this week to delay my 1/2 yearly WOF, and confirm my 3 monthly prescriptions, and they are now doing consultations over the phone where possible. My friend who is a public health nurse has only had a staff of 2 for some time now and has a community to service from Te Aroha across to Waihi and north, and she is certainly run off her feet. But she has been for some time. Those moving in to holiday baches for the duration would be unlikely to be adding to her burden, if they were needing constant care I'm sure people would be remaining at their primary place of residence. Serious injuries are not handled at the Thames Base Hospital, all major surgery is immediately transferred to Hamilton after triage.
My sister-in-law, is in her seventies and at home with cold so I delivered food and panadol to her on Tuesday morning. She has sold her house, with a settlement date for next Friday, and will be moving into a unit in a Somerset retirement village in Hamilton. Tuesday afternoon, the real estate agent arrived and booted her out of the house for an hour while they did the final inspection. She drove down the road, still ill, and sat in her car until they texted her that they had left.
I had suggested that she get in touch with her lawyer and confirm that both deals are postponed until after the lockdown – however long that may be, and then make sure she is alright for the duration.
After calling this morning to see how she was going, she informs me that she has been unable to speak to her lawyer, but the office rang her to go in and sign some papers. When I asked what they were for, she said she didn't really know, and that the associate was unable to provide any information.
She also received a phone call yesterday from the retirement village, saying that they will be sending the scheduled movers to her place next Wednesday to pack and move her from Auckland to Hamilton. When I said this would not be regarded as an essential service, she said the retirement home said that they were an essential service and so the move would be permissible. I asked if she really wanted several people in her home touching all her stuff, which she would then have to unpack, and move during the lockdown. She said – not really. And so, I had to convince her that she has a right to stay where she is and advise her lawyer to postpone the settlement of both deals. My partner, who works in transport – reinforced that despite retirement homes being essential services – moving to one would be unlikely to be included in that criteria.
I am hoping she now has some confidence in dealing with this stressful situation in an already stressful time for her.
I consider she is being failed by three professional services at present. Her real estate company, her lawyer and the retirement village.
(In contrast, another experience, from a work colleague of my partner, had his lawyer ring him the same day as the Alert 4 notice to say – don’t worry, house settlement is on hold until the lockdown is over).
She is fairly independent and healthy, and the most we can do is give her some information and/or ammunition to deal with unreasonable or uncomfortable requests. Although it is very frustrating, to have your exceptional advice ignored, hah!, she is capable of making her own decisions and can make those choices and deal with the consequences.
As for the agent, they probably called her as they came over. It wouldn't occur to her to say "No, not at this time".
"New guidelines issued by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand said owners and tenants would not be able to move into or out of properties during the lock-down period and the Auckland District Law Society had recommended that all settlements be deferred until after the lock-down is lifted."
If you are ok with advocating for her, is it possible to do conference calls, between her the resthome/lawyer, with you sitting in on the call? All she would need to do is tell them she gives her consent for you to be present as your advocate.
That way she can still make decisions etc, and you could speak up if you felt something was being overlooked or distorted.
It's really cool that she is able to share with you what's happening to her, that's so awesome. Like it’s obvious she values your advice, so she might be quite open to the advocate idea.
Thanks, Cinny. She knows that we will step in for her, and I think she will ask if she gets distressed. But there is a fine line between being helpful and being overbearing – and it's one I try to keep note of. She is – in normal circumstances – very independent. Although, these are not normal times.
Hope you and your girls are doing well with your plans.
That's good to hear Molly, yay, cheers for the update, so good it's working out for her.
The girls and I are having daily games of scrabble and they are loving it, thanks 🙂 They haven't left the house since Sunday, I'm contemplating take them out for a walk, the beach is a block away, so I figure that's a walk around the block, masks on girls, anti bacterial spray in our pockets 🙂 Hope all is well for you too.
Quick update: After phone calls to numerous relatives, she has been reassured and has accepted that she is to stay put for the duration. Which has almost removed any anxiety from the situation. So, the persuasive power of a wealth of similar advice from non-legal persons has a silver lining sometimes. (The lawyer is still to return the message left for them on Tuesday. )
The second thing he says is "govt/civil service that is competent, prepared, deserving of our trust and is actually trusted"
Unfortunately we seem to have a Police Commissioner who believes he is Wyatt Earp. Did you hear him on Morning Report this morning?
I was absolutely appalled by the what he was saying. I think he should be relieved of his duties until he can demonstrate that he has read and understood what we are allowed to do.
This morning he seemed more like a character out of a B-grade Western movie. He had the “I am the law in Dodge City” approach.
For example he seemed to think no one should be out of their home and that somehow using an ATM was a forbidden activity.
What does the official website say? You can
“Access essential services, like buying groceries, or going to a bank or pharmacy.
Go to work if you work for an essential service.
Go for a walk, or exercise and enjoy nature.”
What is using an ATM except going to a bank?
Just listen to the man. https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018740208
I have decided to keep a copy of the material on the official website with me when I go out for my daily exercise. I have to drive there because I live on a hill in Wellington and walking, other than on the flat, is very difficult. I am, on the other hand only too willing to keep a safe distance from other people. Indeed, if a Policeman approaches me, I plan on ordering him to stay at least 2 metres away from me and I will show him id but I am not going to let him touch it. Why should I get this disease because the Police Commissioner hasn’t told his staff how to do their job properly?
[please provide a time stamp for this “For example he seemed to think no one should be out of their home and that somehow using an ATM was a forbidden activity.”. In premod until that happens – weka]
I haven't listened to him but you are correct Alwyn, basically we can do anything as long as we keep our distance, and I laughed at the keeping the police at a distance too. I'm in South Dunedin, just took kids for walk to park and back, people about, all walking around each other, fairly cheerful, friendly. Take care mate.
Hope the kids didn't use any play equipment at the park. If so, an educational chat and Police warning would be in order. And no, you can't do anything as long as you keep your distance.
You're right, I only can go for walk, go to chemist, supermarket, vets, go check on my gran, go see my designated friend, check and exercise my horse, go to my workplace, drop off and pick up my kid, that's all.
Can I see my family and friends during the lockdown?
From 11.59pm "everyone must stay at home unless they are working in essential services", Government Controller John Ombler said during yesterday's press conference.
He said that meant no socialising with people outside their households.
"The police (and the army, if needed to support the police) are empowered to order any person to stop any activity that contributes to the current emergency – essentially, spreading Covid-19 in the community. Government ministers may set aside virtually any legislative provision that becomes impracticable to apply while the epidemic is in force."
Bush did sound a bit hard-line. I guess it was a psychological play to knock people into line early on – rather than have to try and put the lid on later if people start out by flouting the rules.
You seem to cause disquiet often. I couldn't understand why you have found yourself at odds with a Policeman.
He did not hand you a baby blanket. Was that the problem ?
Why don't you get in touch with your excellent friends – Sir John Key (experienced in touching ); Sir William English (experienced in settling issues with female staff ); and Paula Bennett ( expert at releasing any, I mean any, private material ).
She maybe able to take you in person to that outstanding Simon Bridges, trained in numerous Universities both in the Northern Hemisphere and apparently has strong roots in China. Well established in Law, and nearly perfect in speech. He could get you up the Hill in Wellington . When he is not counting out his bit of National money.
Taking into account a large number of New Zealanders see "laws, rules and regulations" more like "suggestions" at best, a strong wording at the start of the lockdown sounds sensible to me. And I'm definitely not a supporter of strong authority / heavy hand etc.
It's easier to loosen things up a bit, when it works well, then tighten things up, when required.
Prosecutions for repeat offenders, can enter buildings if they think gatherings are being held…all framed with the expectation most people have complied anyway.
Seemed pretty laid back to me given it is a nationwide quarantine. Most stressy part was the interviewer pushing for answers around armed checkpoints which don't seem to be on table yet.
The Commissioner sounds pretty tame alwyn – explaining expectations, outlining the consequences and generally fulfilling the requirements of his role. Some of those at risk of idiots who want to cause an extended shut-down would rather the NZ Police adopted the tactics of the Indian Police. Beat the hell out of suspected transgressors, no explanations, questions or warnings.
I bet you still have happy memories of the great days of the Red Squad. Is the Commissioner bound by the rules the Government has laid down, as I quoted, or is he at liberty do order his troops to do anything he wants? Is he above the law?
Red Squad, unrestrained powers of a Commissioner, ordering Police to act with disregard of the law, not allowing people to use ATMs? Most of us are more concerned with reality and stopping the ravages of a pandemic and haven't too much time for those who want warm fuzzies from the backstop put there by the Government to constrain fools. Go join your kindred spirits on Bondi Beach – they'll love you there.
I, for one, am shocked and appalled at this situation. Several comments into a thread about police gone amok and Alwyn has not yet raised the spectre of the police commissioner personally performing summary executions upon people who just wanted to use an ATM. In this time of worry and tribulation we need everyone to perform at their best, including the tory pearl-clutchers. /sarc
Chill out, dude. If you're genuinely worried, get cash out at the supermarket.
Exercise isn't meant to be easy. Walk on your hill. If the baby jesus had wanted you to exercise on the flat he wouldn't have out of his bounty given you a hillside residence.
I've heard him twice today and got the Wyatt Earp feeling too. Two things calmed me.
The first was thinking about the first antenatal classes I went to years ago. I felt for the woman taking it. She had a disparate group to inform. A wide group of ages 40ish to 16ish, a couple of teachers, a lawyer, a couple of shop assistants, a 17 year old who exhibited signs of not knowing how she became pregnant. How to pitch the message to such a group?
Second was thinking about other life saving measures we have and how messages of those are received, understood and acted on. Don't drink and drive, wear a seat belt, don't use a mobile while driving don't go too fast, drive to the conditions. What could you say and how could you say it? How should you say it?
To me the tone of the Commissioner made him sound a bit of a wooden plonker. Some of what he said made it sound like he thought we were plonkers. A lot of us are.
I thought about his 'style' and while thinking it was one I didn't find ideal I guess others would find it just right. I'm sure as hell pleased I don't have his job.
I've seen a few people comment in various places that this is mostly about the risk of creating unnecessary rescue callouts, but I think there's far more to it than that.
The government messaging about this has changed a lot in the last couple of days. That's probably a direct response to so many people asking and talking about how they can find loopholes to get away with doing whatever it is they want to do, so long as [blah blah 2 metres blah blah]. It's obvious that lots of people out there still want to convince themselves that stuff they want to do is perfectly okay, according to their own interpretation. It should frighten all of us if we're letting anyone and everyone interpret this as they want to, because that undermines the whole point.
A solo tramp or going hunting or going fishing might be technically okay if it were carried out perfectly, but that sidesteps the point. Allowing exceptions to the general and simple rule creates new problems. Every time someone acts like they're getting an exception, other people expect it should also apply to them. The messaging and the enforcement become orders of magnitude harder, and confusion increases.
There's a big responsibility we all have here, to lead by example, so that other people have less ammo for rationalising their own excuses to bend rules. Trying to rationalise loopholes, undermines the whole effort of getting the population to do something consistent for extremely important reasons.
I am in the food business, so yeah, food poisoning and such is an issue in any commercial kitchen and thus we are all a bit 'special' when it comes to scrubbing down our kitchens. Its one of the professional traumas that come with making food for public consumption.
however, you can just feel free to ignore anything that is posted by me in regards to food safety and handling and only do what you feel comfortable, but it has been established that the virus is quite happily living on certain surfaces and that no matter what you bring in from the supermarket will be as safe as the food control plan implemented by the supermarket and executed by the staff. 🙂
I, too, have been round food preperation and service most my life. When the hand wash message was being hammered, I was thinking ' surely y'all do this already?'
I hope post outbreak, folk will keep washing hands thoroughly.
Speaking of sanitiser: I use a 70% methylated spirits 30% water in a spray bottle as a contact sanitiser for my home brew equipment. Would work for most surfaces.
bleach will do and i have a liter of 60% cointreau cooking alcohol that i happily donate to the cause.
I finished scrubbing my kitchen down, first with very hot soapy water and then with a 70% bleach/30% water solution.
coffee now and then on to the bathroom/toilet as these are the areas that i think will be most sensitive.
I consider myself sick and quarantined, and thus will stay home for the 4 weeks. I have enough food to cook several big boil ups that should get us through this. No fancy meals, but good wholesome home cooked food.
i did splash some money tho on potting mix and compost to supplement mine and will tomorrow spend getting my veggie patch winter ready.
And yeah, quite a few home brewers and distillers are currently making sanitizer.
You have diluted the meths by about 40% making it useless against C-19 only 72% i.e pure meths or other alcohol is strong enough apparently to do the job. This shit isn't salmonella.
On Saturday I started notifying physicians and other staff at our hospital that they have contracted COVID. Today- we called more employees in one day than I have called the last three days combined. I spoke with sick physicians, scared staff who have put themselves on the front line to save all of you. I know eventually some healthcare workers will need to be admitted to the hospital, some may need intensive care…
Our hospital is filling up. We have expanded the number of ICU's. We are expanding the number of COVID floor units to take optimal care of our patients.
We are on calls daily to increase our physician and nursing teams to care for an ever increasing number of patients, while some are "on the bench" because they have fallen ill with COVID. We are cycling teams trying to maintain staffing, preserving our staff, and trying to keep everyone healthy.
We have doctors making hard decisions about time while they are on hospital service for 2 weeks at a time. I have to decide if I will live away from my family when I am on hospital service so that I do not expose them (including one with asthma and one on immunosuppressants). Know that your healthcare providers are making many sacrifices at this time, working extremely long hours, time away from family, and worrying that it is still not going to be enough. We are running as fast as we can and we can't keep up.
I know everyone is making sacrifices and I thank you. Please shelter in place. This will last a few months. check in with your family and friends via FaceTime or Zoom meetings. Take one trip to the grocery store per week. Help us help you.
[USA] With the FDIC now playing calming piano music in the background as they urge people not to take their money out of banks, I'd say we are on the verge of a rather spectacular corporate bond market collapse or it's been happening in the background.
The bond market is significantly bigger than the sharemarket where most people's focus is directed.
When depositing money in a bank it is considered an unsecured loan to the bank. If the bank was going under due to massive corporate bond write off's why continue taking the risk? Not like those deposits are earning much in the way of interest.
A nationwide shortage of two drugs touted as possible treatments for the coronavirus is being driven in part by doctors inappropriately prescribing the medicines for family, friends and themselves, according to pharmacists and state regulators.
“It’s disgraceful, is what it is,” said Garth Reynolds, executive director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association, which started getting calls and emails Saturday from members saying they were receiving questionable prescriptions. “And completely selfish.”
Demand for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine surged over the past several days as President Donald Trump promoted them as possible treatments for the coronavirus and online forums buzzed with excitement over a small study suggesting the combination of hydroxychloroquine and a commonly used antibiotic could be effective in treating COVID-19.
Reynolds said the Illinois Pharmacists Association has started reaching out to pharmacists and medical groups throughout the state to urge doctors, nurses and physician assistants not to write prescriptions for themselves and those close to them.
You seriously have to wonder where and how those doctors, nurses and physician assistants got their ‘qualifications’. Perhaps it was at Trump University.
A question for standardistas. My employer has just confirmed that they will be paying us the Covid 19 wage subsidy during the period we are closed for the lockdown. On top of that they also say they will be using our annual leave to top up wages/salaries to 80%. I thought that the government had said that annual leave could only be used in this way if agreed by both parties? Can anyone advise me? Can’t find any info online.
If an employee, who is required to self-isolate under Ministry of Health guidelines for COVID-19, can’t practicably work from home, then special paid leave should be considered. Other forms of paid leave can be considered (such as paid sick leave) and used by agreement between the employer and the employee. The COVID-19 Leave Payment Scheme is available to support employers to pay employees in these circumstances. All workers who left New Zealand prior to 15 March 2020 will be eligible for the COVID-19 Leave Payment Scheme.
We will see 100+ new cases a day for at least the next fortnight. The number of clusters is rising rapidly, so a lot of community transfer is only starting from now. No way will places like cafes be opening any time soon.
Looks that way. Is there a metric for dropping back to level 3? e.g. zero new cases for n consecutive days? Decline in new cases for n consecutive days? At some point it might be useful to have a metric that is science-based and to publicise it – just to stop the endless speculation that's gonna happen. But I guess they don't have a sense of what it is yet.
criteria are probably a) no further community transmission b) medical resources, masks, treatments are available c) secured the borders d) figured out tech for contact tracing & surveillance
i see the us being under one level or another for about 2 years. Until we have access to safe and fast testing, we will actually never know if one has it until that person shows symptons. Then followed by antivirals and vaccine. Hopefully.
So maybe a going up and down the 4 levels according to need. And any other flare up could and should result in lock downs again, hopefully then tho at a more local level rather then nation wide.
Apparently there was a national emergency alert sent out yesterday to mobile phones, I have 2 degrees data is disabled and I don't seem to have got it . Just curious but did others?
Got the alert with mobile data turned off. I'm on Vodafone. Phone is about 18 months old, on Android. IIRC it was at 6:30 and didn't leave anything on my phone when it finished playing. Maybe you didn't have your phone on you at that moment?
I hope you come through this with business intact, and will be a customer next time I'm in Rotorua after this is over (very fond of chocolate, serious problem for a diabetic but the dark stuff is reasonably safe as well as being the best choc).
I think when we all come out of this, we are going to see a lot more people working from home, as both employees and employers see the benefits. The company I work for has a lot of people working from home, and it seems that from what I heard, it seems to be going fine.
Having more people who can work from home, do so would have a lot of benefits. Perhaps the government should spend more money on better internet connectivity rather than roads?
A federal judge handed down a major victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota on Wednesday, ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving federal permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The USACE must complete a full environmental impact study of the pipeline, including full consideration of concerns presented by the Standing Rock Tribe, the judge ruled. The tribe has asked the court to ultimately shut the pipeline down.
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. ...
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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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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This looks interesting
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120576908/britain-days-away-from-releasing-millions-of-coronavirus-finger-prick-tests
Professor Sharon Peacock, the director of Public Health England's National Infection Service, told MPs the kits were in the final stages of testing at a laboratory in Oxford and could be approved for mass distribution by the end of this week.
That and other anti-body tests are what will eventually kill the spread first, with antivirals and then vaccines. It will be interesting on what the max time is between exposure, initial infection and antibodies.
But the tests will be at least month away from any real levels of distribution. It takes time to scale up any kind of mass distribution. But if it works ok, then I suspect that there will be a big push to replicate it.
solution to the shortage of ventilators
https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-covid19-hospital-ventilator-snorkeling-mask-italy-3d-printing-isinnova-1494150?fbclid=IwAR2FXmvdgh62GJb4S2VNQiESyMJwyzvFYYY1H1jmmoBW32Q01XEA1xrXs2c
Yes, this is quite promising. I was just about to link to the same article.
and i like that they patentend the valves and then liberated the blue prints so everyone can print these valves. Also good on Decathlon for supplying the diving mask.
More inovation.
https://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/czech-researchers-develop-top-grade-respirator-for-3d-printing
https://jalopnik.com/fords-quickly-designed-powered-air-purifying-respirator-1842476673?
Wishing that NZ would do some rescue flights for those stranded overseas. It just seems like our govt has given up too early on this.
I understand the lockdowns in other countries prevent NZ planes passing through them.
Transit is the issue. We mostly transit through Singapore and Hong Kong for most destinations. Singapore has largely shut transit. So has Hong Kong. Planes have a lot of range but it has limits and the limit is if you can land and refuel to get back again.
We are long way from anywhere apart from aussie and the islands.
Basically there was a reasonable level of warning. Some people didn't heed it.
Is transit shut because they want staff to stay home?
Part of them shutting down their borders to all foreigners.
Yes, but are they still letting in flights for goods?
A plane on the tarmac that is refueling and no-one disembarks is not the same as letting in people from overseas.
Oh. 🙁
That’s a pity. I didn’t think about transits/fuel
Thought it was just a matter of organising between officials. It was a fast developing situation and bound to catch some of us out. Can’t help but worry for those caught overseas in places like Sri Lanka.
Hi A
You seem displeased with the Government. Even though you are clearly aware that Landing Rights became inaccessible due to Sovereign Border Controls.
Why do you demand the impossible from the Government. Is it part of your fealty to the wonderful National Party ?
My son just made it back from Switzerland this morning; it was looking very sketchy for a while.
He has been covid19 tested then put in quarantine in a hotel near Auckland airport.
Phew! Glad to hear he's home.
The Bish goes all Trumpian on us.
"Im not a PhD but I have the highest doctorates, in whatever you, in the word of God. Nobody bigger in the nation right now."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/119861726/coronavirus-brian-tamaki-blames-satanic-airborne-demons-drinking-of-bats-blood?fbclid=IwAR0lhh6avd4phXAl-BtC0qeGpM4sEGmt7eI-UlfBV7VGOsx3nyxHVwPfbfY
well he crowned himself bishop, so obviously he will have what ever doctorates he will need.
he too will kill people, just as the prosperity preachers do in the US. After all the man has bills to pay so the flock needs to hand over 10% of that sweet government money that they received in order to tide them over.
A grifter is gonna grift. Those harleys don't come cheap.
And the $1.8 million home. https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/98196636/destiny-churchs-brian-and-hannah-tamaki-move-into-15m-luxury-home
I’ll tithe you but don't tax me.
He doesn't deserve the name Brian lest that be misspelt and it believed he has one and uses it….
Anti-vaxxers say it's 5G that's to blame.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/03/a-fake-pandemic-antivaxxers-are-spreading-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories/
Pro-rhonas say the darndest things.
Rapper M.I.A. has revealed she is anti-vaccination and would 'choose death' over getting a coronavirus vaccination amid the ongoing pandemic.
The Paper Planes hitmaker, 44, declared her stance on vaccinations and expressed her regret at being 'made to' vaccinate her son, 11, before he started school in a series of tweets on Wednesday.
The musician, real name Mathangi Arulpragasam, wrote: 'If I have to choose the vaccine or chip I'm gonna choose death.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8152925/M-choose-death-coronavirus-vaccination.html
Darwin Award.
""Satan has control of atmospheres unless you're a born-again, Jesus-loving, bible-believing, Holy Ghost-filled, tithe-paying believer," Bishop Tamaki said on Sunday morning."
(My bold)
From my contact who lives in the Coromandel: last couple of days a lot of people have arrived to stay in their holiday homes for the lock down. My contact is not bothered by this as they will not be mixing with them and are all prepared to stay at home.
Some of the arrivees live in apartments in the city, so it is understandable, but others don't and they would be better off in the city. Coromandel emergency services are already stretched and if these city-dwellers had an emergency, they'd be better off in the city.
The permanent population of the Coromandel is around 30,000. Over the summer months that population swells by around 100,000. Every year. I know when our local emergency services are busy because the siren sounds 3 – 4 times a day to call in the volunteers. Over the past week we have not heard the siren at all. There has not been a helicopter flying urgent cases out of the hospital. I visited my beach property this past week to do some preparatory maintenance before the shut down. There were far fewer people about than over the summer months. I spoke to my doctor just this week to delay my 1/2 yearly WOF, and confirm my 3 monthly prescriptions, and they are now doing consultations over the phone where possible. My friend who is a public health nurse has only had a staff of 2 for some time now and has a community to service from Te Aroha across to Waihi and north, and she is certainly run off her feet. But she has been for some time. Those moving in to holiday baches for the duration would be unlikely to be adding to her burden, if they were needing constant care I'm sure people would be remaining at their primary place of residence. Serious injuries are not handled at the Thames Base Hospital, all major surgery is immediately transferred to Hamilton after triage.
My sister-in-law, is in her seventies and at home with cold so I delivered food and panadol to her on Tuesday morning. She has sold her house, with a settlement date for next Friday, and will be moving into a unit in a Somerset retirement village in Hamilton. Tuesday afternoon, the real estate agent arrived and booted her out of the house for an hour while they did the final inspection. She drove down the road, still ill, and sat in her car until they texted her that they had left.
I had suggested that she get in touch with her lawyer and confirm that both deals are postponed until after the lockdown – however long that may be, and then make sure she is alright for the duration.
After calling this morning to see how she was going, she informs me that she has been unable to speak to her lawyer, but the office rang her to go in and sign some papers. When I asked what they were for, she said she didn't really know, and that the associate was unable to provide any information.
She also received a phone call yesterday from the retirement village, saying that they will be sending the scheduled movers to her place next Wednesday to pack and move her from Auckland to Hamilton. When I said this would not be regarded as an essential service, she said the retirement home said that they were an essential service and so the move would be permissible. I asked if she really wanted several people in her home touching all her stuff, which she would then have to unpack, and move during the lockdown. She said – not really. And so, I had to convince her that she has a right to stay where she is and advise her lawyer to postpone the settlement of both deals. My partner, who works in transport – reinforced that despite retirement homes being essential services – moving to one would be unlikely to be included in that criteria.
I am hoping she now has some confidence in dealing with this stressful situation in an already stressful time for her.
I consider she is being failed by three professional services at present. Her real estate company, her lawyer and the retirement village.
(In contrast, another experience, from a work colleague of my partner, had his lawyer ring him the same day as the Alert 4 notice to say – don’t worry, house settlement is on hold until the lockdown is over).
I'm betting there's a hefty chunk of patronising an old person in there too 🙁
Are the Community Law Centres open for calls? Sounds like she needs some independent legal advice.
It's her home, the agent can't come in at will, that's bullshit.
She is fairly independent and healthy, and the most we can do is give her some information and/or ammunition to deal with unreasonable or uncomfortable requests. Although it is very frustrating, to have your exceptional advice ignored, hah!, she is capable of making her own decisions and can make those choices and deal with the consequences.
As for the agent, they probably called her as they came over. It wouldn't occur to her to say "No, not at this time".
"New guidelines issued by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand said owners and tenants would not be able to move into or out of properties during the lock-down period and the Auckland District Law Society had recommended that all settlements be deferred until after the lock-down is lifted."
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/104245/real-estate-agents-self-isolation-means-no-open-homes-no-auctions-and-no-property
Thanks, pat. That kind of information is gold.![wink wink](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png)
youre welcome…hope it works out
If you are ok with advocating for her, is it possible to do conference calls, between her the resthome/lawyer, with you sitting in on the call? All she would need to do is tell them she gives her consent for you to be present as your advocate.
That way she can still make decisions etc, and you could speak up if you felt something was being overlooked or distorted.
It's really cool that she is able to share with you what's happening to her, that's so awesome. Like it’s obvious she values your advice, so she might be quite open to the advocate idea.
Thanks, Cinny. She knows that we will step in for her, and I think she will ask if she gets distressed. But there is a fine line between being helpful and being overbearing – and it's one I try to keep note of. She is – in normal circumstances – very independent. Although, these are not normal times.
Hope you and your girls are doing well with your plans.
That's good to hear Molly, yay, cheers for the update, so good it's working out for her.
The girls and I are having daily games of scrabble and they are loving it, thanks 🙂 They haven't left the house since Sunday, I'm contemplating take them out for a walk, the beach is a block away, so I figure that's a walk around the block, masks on girls, anti bacterial spray in our pockets 🙂 Hope all is well for you too.
Very unsettling for her. Glad she has someone around to help.
Quick update: After phone calls to numerous relatives, she has been reassured and has accepted that she is to stay put for the duration. Which has almost removed any anxiety from the situation. So, the persuasive power of a wealth of similar advice from non-legal persons has a silver lining sometimes. (The lawyer is still to return the message left for them on Tuesday. )
https://twitter.com/keith_ng/status/1242926157508431872
The second thing he says is "govt/civil service that is competent, prepared, deserving of our trust and is actually trusted"
Unfortunately we seem to have a Police Commissioner who believes he is Wyatt Earp. Did you hear him on Morning Report this morning?
I was absolutely appalled by the what he was saying. I think he should be relieved of his duties until he can demonstrate that he has read and understood what we are allowed to do.
This morning he seemed more like a character out of a B-grade Western movie. He had the “I am the law in Dodge City” approach.
For example he seemed to think no one should be out of their home and that somehow using an ATM was a forbidden activity.
What does the official website say? You can
“Access essential services, like buying groceries, or going to a bank or pharmacy.
Go to work if you work for an essential service.
Go for a walk, or exercise and enjoy nature.”
What is using an ATM except going to a bank?
Just listen to the man.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018740208
I have decided to keep a copy of the material on the official website with me when I go out for my daily exercise. I have to drive there because I live on a hill in Wellington and walking, other than on the flat, is very difficult. I am, on the other hand only too willing to keep a safe distance from other people. Indeed, if a Policeman approaches me, I plan on ordering him to stay at least 2 metres away from me and I will show him id but I am not going to let him touch it. Why should I get this disease because the Police Commissioner hasn’t told his staff how to do their job properly?
[please provide a time stamp for this “For example he seemed to think no one should be out of their home and that somehow using an ATM was a forbidden activity.”. In premod until that happens – weka]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4YGotz_MoA
I haven't listened to him but you are correct Alwyn, basically we can do anything as long as we keep our distance, and I laughed at the keeping the police at a distance too. I'm in South Dunedin, just took kids for walk to park and back, people about, all walking around each other, fairly cheerful, friendly. Take care mate.
Hope the kids didn't use any play equipment at the park. If so, an educational chat and Police warning would be in order. And no, you can't do anything as long as you keep your distance.
You're right, I only can go for walk, go to chemist, supermarket, vets, go check on my gran, go see my designated friend, check and exercise my horse, go to my workplace, drop off and pick up my kid, that's all.
ya reckon?
/
Can I see my family and friends during the lockdown?
From 11.59pm "everyone must stay at home unless they are working in essential services", Government Controller John Ombler said during yesterday's press conference.
He said that meant no socialising with people outside their households.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12319477
yep "
"Ardern said people needed to establish what their "bubble" was for the self-isolation period and they must stick to only interacting with each other.
She said this must be a very small group and everyone must remain "faithful" to only having contact with each other." The PM. Just use common sense.
Your bubble is your household.
But hey, good luck, vector.
Not quite. But close. And bubbles mustn't intersect, otherwise they're just bigger bubbles.
"The police (and the army, if needed to support the police) are empowered to order any person to stop any activity that contributes to the current emergency – essentially, spreading Covid-19 in the community. Government ministers may set aside virtually any legislative provision that becomes impracticable to apply while the epidemic is in force."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/412583/covid-19-state-of-national-emergency-explained
Bush did sound a bit hard-line. I guess it was a psychological play to knock people into line early on – rather than have to try and put the lid on later if people start out by flouting the rules.
It may be worth considering that in a state of emergency the authorities have neither the time nor inclination to debate your views
Of course, that was my point.
Mental note…..take the tape measure when visiting essential services in case one has interaction with the police… maybe a high viz vest too 🙂
Hi Alwyn
You seem to cause disquiet often. I couldn't understand why you have found yourself at odds with a Policeman.
He did not hand you a baby blanket. Was that the problem ?
Why don't you get in touch with your excellent friends – Sir John Key (experienced in touching ); Sir William English (experienced in settling issues with female staff ); and Paula Bennett ( expert at releasing any, I mean any, private material ).
She maybe able to take you in person to that outstanding Simon Bridges, trained in numerous Universities both in the Northern Hemisphere and apparently has strong roots in China. Well established in Law, and nearly perfect in speech. He could get you up the Hill in Wellington . When he is not counting out his bit of National money.
All the best.
?
Taking into account a large number of New Zealanders see "laws, rules and regulations" more like "suggestions" at best, a strong wording at the start of the lockdown sounds sensible to me. And I'm definitely not a supporter of strong authority / heavy hand etc.
It's easier to loosen things up a bit, when it works well, then tighten things up, when required.
Prosecutions for repeat offenders, can enter buildings if they think gatherings are being held…all framed with the expectation most people have complied anyway.
Seemed pretty laid back to me given it is a nationwide quarantine. Most stressy part was the interviewer pushing for answers around armed checkpoints which don't seem to be on table yet.
The Commissioner sounds pretty tame alwyn – explaining expectations, outlining the consequences and generally fulfilling the requirements of his role. Some of those at risk of idiots who want to cause an extended shut-down would rather the NZ Police adopted the tactics of the Indian Police. Beat the hell out of suspected transgressors, no explanations, questions or warnings.
"The Commissioner sounds pretty tame"
I bet you still have happy memories of the great days of the Red Squad. Is the Commissioner bound by the rules the Government has laid down, as I quoted, or is he at liberty do order his troops to do anything he wants? Is he above the law?
Red Squad, unrestrained powers of a Commissioner, ordering Police to act with disregard of the law, not allowing people to use ATMs? Most of us are more concerned with reality and stopping the ravages of a pandemic and haven't too much time for those who want warm fuzzies from the backstop put there by the Government to constrain fools. Go join your kindred spirits on Bondi Beach – they'll love you there.
I, for one, am shocked and appalled at this situation. Several comments into a thread about police gone amok and Alwyn has not yet raised the spectre of the police commissioner personally performing summary executions upon people who just wanted to use an ATM. In this time of worry and tribulation we need everyone to perform at their best, including the tory pearl-clutchers. /sarc
Chill out, dude. If you're genuinely worried, get cash out at the supermarket.
Exercise isn't meant to be easy. Walk on your hill. If the baby jesus had wanted you to exercise on the flat he wouldn't have out of his bounty given you a hillside residence.
I've heard him twice today and got the Wyatt Earp feeling too. Two things calmed me.
The first was thinking about the first antenatal classes I went to years ago. I felt for the woman taking it. She had a disparate group to inform. A wide group of ages 40ish to 16ish, a couple of teachers, a lawyer, a couple of shop assistants, a 17 year old who exhibited signs of not knowing how she became pregnant. How to pitch the message to such a group?
Second was thinking about other life saving measures we have and how messages of those are received, understood and acted on. Don't drink and drive, wear a seat belt, don't use a mobile while driving don't go too fast, drive to the conditions. What could you say and how could you say it? How should you say it?
To me the tone of the Commissioner made him sound a bit of a wooden plonker. Some of what he said made it sound like he thought we were plonkers. A lot of us are.
I thought about his 'style' and while thinking it was one I didn't find ideal I guess others would find it just right. I'm sure as hell pleased I don't have his job.
Here's an excellent comment from another forum:
'Murica
https://twitter.com/StevenTDennis/status/1242877676827836418
https://twitter.com/ChadPergram/status/1242865232206323715
"They worry that would create an incentive for low-wage workers to get laid off and stay laid off"
That is actually one of the things you most want a UBI implementation to do – weaken employer power.
They are talking about $200 p/w per person in NZ. Those on Super would be very diminished.
Perhaps the world will come to it's senses.
https://twitter.com/JihadiJew/status/1242878765811879937
a bit of good information about food and how to sanitize it before using it.
the smell of sanitizer will be the one thing that will define this period of time to me. That and the fear in the eyes of people.
Stay safe all of youse.
Croatian friend reckons we Kiwis are getting a taste of the fear that gripped people in Sarajevo during the Bosnian war.
Paranoia?
I am in the food business, so yeah, food poisoning and such is an issue in any commercial kitchen and thus we are all a bit 'special' when it comes to scrubbing down our kitchens. Its one of the professional traumas that come with making food for public consumption.
however, you can just feel free to ignore anything that is posted by me in regards to food safety and handling and only do what you feel comfortable, but it has been established that the virus is quite happily living on certain surfaces and that no matter what you bring in from the supermarket will be as safe as the food control plan implemented by the supermarket and executed by the staff. 🙂
I, too, have been round food preperation and service most my life. When the hand wash message was being hammered, I was thinking ' surely y'all do this already?'
I hope post outbreak, folk will keep washing hands thoroughly.
Speaking of sanitiser: I use a 70% methylated spirits 30% water in a spray bottle as a contact sanitiser for my home brew equipment. Would work for most surfaces.
bleach will do and i have a liter of 60% cointreau cooking alcohol that i happily donate to the cause.
I finished scrubbing my kitchen down, first with very hot soapy water and then with a 70% bleach/30% water solution.
coffee now and then on to the bathroom/toilet as these are the areas that i think will be most sensitive.
I consider myself sick and quarantined, and thus will stay home for the 4 weeks. I have enough food to cook several big boil ups that should get us through this. No fancy meals, but good wholesome home cooked food.
i did splash some money tho on potting mix and compost to supplement mine and will tomorrow spend getting my veggie patch winter ready.
And yeah, quite a few home brewers and distillers are currently making sanitizer.
You have diluted the meths by about 40% making it useless against C-19 only 72% i.e pure meths or other alcohol is strong enough apparently to do the job. This shit isn't salmonella.
Thanks, I will strengthen it up ie leave out the water.
The good thing is that a Defended case would have been agonising. Sentencing in May.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12319961
[Sorry Ianmac but we have a policy not to name him – MS]
Thank goodness he at last admitted his obvious guilt. That will be a small blessing to the large number of survivors and victims
Ooops. Sorry MS.
Trump on Easter:
Thank god we are not living in the States.
From a US health worker's FB.
(no link for privacy)
[USA] With the FDIC now playing calming piano music in the background as they urge people not to take their money out of banks, I'd say we are on the verge of a rather spectacular corporate bond market collapse or it's been happening in the background.
The bond market is significantly bigger than the sharemarket where most people's focus is directed.
When depositing money in a bank it is considered an unsecured loan to the bank. If the bank was going under due to massive corporate bond write off's why continue taking the risk? Not like those deposits are earning much in the way of interest.
On their way to being a failed state.
https://twitter.com/azeen/status/1242862701661036545
A nationwide shortage of two drugs touted as possible treatments for the coronavirus is being driven in part by doctors inappropriately prescribing the medicines for family, friends and themselves, according to pharmacists and state regulators.
“It’s disgraceful, is what it is,” said Garth Reynolds, executive director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association, which started getting calls and emails Saturday from members saying they were receiving questionable prescriptions. “And completely selfish.”
Demand for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine surged over the past several days as President Donald Trump promoted them as possible treatments for the coronavirus and online forums buzzed with excitement over a small study suggesting the combination of hydroxychloroquine and a commonly used antibiotic could be effective in treating COVID-19.
Reynolds said the Illinois Pharmacists Association has started reaching out to pharmacists and medical groups throughout the state to urge doctors, nurses and physician assistants not to write prescriptions for themselves and those close to them.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/doctors-are-hoarding-unproven-coronavirus-medicine-by-writing-prescriptions-for-themselves-and-their-families_n_5e7a13e4c5b62f90bc51ae3b
That could easily backfire. Chqlne has some serious side effects that need to be monitored.
You seriously have to wonder where and how those doctors, nurses and physician assistants got their ‘qualifications’. Perhaps it was at Trump University.
Where upon graduation they take the hypocrite oath
A question for standardistas. My employer has just confirmed that they will be paying us the Covid 19 wage subsidy during the period we are closed for the lockdown. On top of that they also say they will be using our annual leave to top up wages/salaries to 80%. I thought that the government had said that annual leave could only be used in this way if agreed by both parties? Can anyone advise me? Can’t find any info online.
Looks like you're correct.
If an employee, who is required to self-isolate under Ministry of Health guidelines for COVID-19, can’t practicably work from home, then special paid leave should be considered. Other forms of paid leave can be considered (such as paid sick leave) and used by agreement between the employer and the employee. The COVID-19 Leave Payment Scheme is available to support employers to pay employees in these circumstances. All workers who left New Zealand prior to 15 March 2020 will be eligible for the COVID-19 Leave Payment Scheme.
https://www.employment.govt.nz/about/news-and-updates/workplace-response-coronavirus-covid-19/
Racist stupidity abounds.
https://twitter.com/John_Hudson/status/1242917105256800258
https://twitter.com/bad_takes/status/1242911229267660802
Everything has to go through the MAGA disinformation machine. Equally, the 'Spanish flu' could be renamed to the "Kansas Virus"?
Probably too early, but how do people see the lockdown coming off/
I can't see it being overnight, possibly down to level 3,then 2, the 1 over say 2-4 weeks?
Scuttlebutt says >12 weeks.
It will be extended after 4 weeks, guaranteed.
We will see 100+ new cases a day for at least the next fortnight. The number of clusters is rising rapidly, so a lot of community transfer is only starting from now. No way will places like cafes be opening any time soon.
This is a long, hard road.
Yeah an extension is a definite possibility. Looks like it's gotten away on us within some communities, rather than just travellers.
Looks that way. Is there a metric for dropping back to level 3? e.g. zero new cases for n consecutive days? Decline in new cases for n consecutive days? At some point it might be useful to have a metric that is science-based and to publicise it – just to stop the endless speculation that's gonna happen. But I guess they don't have a sense of what it is yet.
criteria are probably a) no further community transmission b) medical resources, masks, treatments are available c) secured the borders d) figured out tech for contact tracing & surveillance
pretty Orwellian
i see the us being under one level or another for about 2 years. Until we have access to safe and fast testing, we will actually never know if one has it until that person shows symptons. Then followed by antivirals and vaccine. Hopefully.
So maybe a going up and down the 4 levels according to need. And any other flare up could and should result in lock downs again, hopefully then tho at a more local level rather then nation wide.
Up to date info here on all NZ cases, locations and flight numbers of any aircraft they may have been on lately
This is excellent that the government is sharing such.
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-cases
Thanks for that link – excellent info there 🙂
Some good advice for all.
Heh. Since we've all got time on our hands …
Internet access and broadband speed is a nightmare (hit and miss) at the moment 🙁
Internet's good, essential service working from home, but the phone is damn near unusable.
http://vodafonespeedtest.speedtestcustom.com/result/96df5a30-6efe-11ea-be9c-21fae30469d3
ADSL here and it is even more patchy than usual.
PM to speak at 3 pm, usual channels.
good announcment here for emergency and essential staff.
Countdown has set up shopping times for these groups of people
https://www.facebook.com/
Morning 8 – 9
Evening 8 – 9
please pass this on if you know people that fall into this category.
New World will also have dedicated hours for emergency staff – please check with them if this were to apply to you.
Apparently there was a national emergency alert sent out yesterday to mobile phones, I have 2 degrees data is disabled and I don't seem to have got it . Just curious but did others?
I didn't but I have an older phone and never get them. You can look online to see if your phone will receive them.
Don't think it's data dependent. Some people get those alerts even without a sim card (no idea how that works).
Got the alert with mobile data turned off. I'm on Vodafone. Phone is about 18 months old, on Android. IIRC it was at 6:30 and didn't leave anything on my phone when it finished playing. Maybe you didn't have your phone on you at that moment?
I'm on 2 degrees Prepay and I didn't get it either.
Thanks every one. No I wasn't near my phone at the time – nothing unusual in that for me.
Seems a waste if it just played and then vanished – lots of people then maybe didn't get it. and it is a national emergency alert.
Unfortunately all those special offers and texts reminding me to top up never seem to dematerialise.
Hi RBCV, I am with 2 degrees and a huawei and didn't receive txt.
The other two in the house on Apple and spark did.
I think it may depend on whether or not your phone can do 4g
This might explain why you didn't get it
https://getready.govt.nz/prepared/stay-informed/emergency-mobile-alert/ema-faqs/
The sociopathic POS doesn’t give a rats about the lives of ordinary people because it's all about him.
A pandemic is detrimental to his election success.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1242905328209080331
This Marist College case shows the ease of speed of this virus.
We are in the same integrated school community and at staff level my kids' schools have significant contact with Marist College.
Just days ago one staff member having travel overseas was diagnosed with Covid-19, now there are 11 cases.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/03/coronavirus-ministry-of-health-confirms-78-new-cases-in-new-zealand.html
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/03/coronavirus-marist-college-confirms-11-cases-of-covid-19.html
Some day …………
The Spinoof cheesey or what
good all the same
This could be a game changer
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO2003/S00125/queensland-researchers-find-coronavirus-cure.htm
If we're running out of cigarettes then it's an essential service.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120561976/coronavirus-work-continues-at-cigarette-factory-through-lockdown
Is ANZ bank site down?
Can't open it.
Can log on now!!!
Yours truly.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1501138&gal_cid=1501138&gallery_id=218398
Interview with the local herald crew and small businesses in Rotorua.
funnily enough the one person not coming through my doors was the Labour Candidate from Rotorua. 🙂
I hope you come through this with business intact, and will be a customer next time I'm in Rotorua after this is over (very fond of chocolate, serious problem for a diabetic but the dark stuff is reasonably safe as well as being the best choc).
as they say, you can't kill weed, and i consider myself weed.
Identify yourself when you come and i find you a nice 80% or maybe that little 70% Ecuadorian single origine. ….one of my faves.
Uganda has the best Covid 19 PSA.
awesome.
I think when we all come out of this, we are going to see a lot more people working from home, as both employees and employers see the benefits. The company I work for has a lot of people working from home, and it seems that from what I heard, it seems to be going fine.
Having more people who can work from home, do so would have a lot of benefits. Perhaps the government should spend more money on better internet connectivity rather than roads?
The other thing that would be good to see post Covid is a patient/nurse ratio implemented and adhered to.
Big win.
A federal judge handed down a major victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota on Wednesday, ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving federal permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The USACE must complete a full environmental impact study of the pipeline, including full consideration of concerns presented by the Standing Rock Tribe, the judge ruled. The tribe has asked the court to ultimately shut the pipeline down.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/25/huge-victory-standing-rock-sioux-tribe-federal-court-rules-dapl-permits-violated-law?
Industrial scale suffering ahoy.
https://twitter.com/sunny_hundal/status/1242856226943381504
The wealthiest nation on the planet.
/
https://twitter.com/SarahDadouch/status/1242877475547418625