Yesterday I lifted a broken path out with a spade and a wheelbarrow. It took just over an hour.
Friday I met a Government contractor who, when I suggested a spade instead of a 3 ton digger looked horrified and said “But, that’s manual labor”.
Herein lies a very large problem. So called grown men, so called working men, who are in fact: babies. Where did they learn to be so shit?
Where I come from hard work is its own reward with fitness and pride coming as well as cash and camaraderie – it’s all good. Who is teaching people to be so shit?
Something seriously wrong when people are afraid of real work, then half of them go to the gym. Mentally ill?
It’s a class thing. Modern men drive machines, get out of their cars to exercise and keep strong, and get on an expensive mountain or touring bike, pedal or fancy Harley Davidson. They don’t pick up a yard broom to sweep leaves, you
point a mechanised blower at them. Manual work is for losers.
It’s the attitude that grew the turncoat treasonable Labour defectors, Douglas et al. That is how they convinced themselves they were being progressive.
Fuck I’ve grafted all my days but id take a digger over a spade any day . I work for an old falla who insists I drag sheep over the board instead of use the sheep handler .
Maybe you should live in a cave and walk every where as you obviously long for the good old days
Say that worker damages his back on the spade to the point he can’t do his job . His boss will have to let him go at some point ,80% of his wages is all acc will pay and it’s possible a chunk of his wages will be in nontaxable allowances so he may actually be down to 60% of his take home wage .
Now as he s not an all black or rich he’ll only get the minimum of medical help at it will take ages to get it .
I am with bwaghown in this debate, as I aklso was all my life a ‘graffter’ and now at 73 have a broken back shoulders, knees and hands.
I suffered from a hernia when I worked at manapouri as a electrician and got a type of hernia lifting a very large battery out of a tunnel drilling platform that no other machine nor digger could extract out of the craddle it was siiting in under the engine all while , the drillking platform was kept in oeration.
Later when I was in pain, at the surgeons clinic afterwards he said in Winton,
– “sir this is an injury that is so risky to operate on and I advise you learn to live with it, and not lift heavy objects any more” – I was 22 yrs old then.
Do not engage in heavy work or dangerous activities when you rely a ‘trade or activity’ – for income is my advice as you will be ruined by it.
Balance in everything. That ole’ farmer is no doubt the sort that is behind the determination of a significant group of farmers to not follow the sensible rules set by government with obvious negative outcomes and further does not treat his workers or his animals with respect.
Illustrative?….yes ,it appears overkill to use machinery for a job that is relatively easy to do by hand and yes there is risk of injury and worn bodies from manual labour….and then theres the ongoing complaints of the skill levels and costs of having work done.
Its a grey old world, perception is reality and theres always decisions to be made.
Excellent. It is good to get the perspective of others on this. I’ve grafted a few decades but I also switched it up a lot to keep myself interested and to rest some muscles while thrashing others. While due care and attention is required, there’s also an element of luck to not being knackered after hard graft. I put my back out under load one time, only twisted the slightest bit and that was me gone for months. Another time I’m hauling some gib and the wind caught it and twisted for me. Not good…
I loved getting in the trucks loading out rock concerts banging out 10, 20, 30 containers of gear and breaking tour records. Some of those boys I met died on the road. There’s an element of risk to anything really. But it’s a matter of pride being good at what you do. Those boys know how to graft. Graft hard at whatever you do what’s the point in being fucking mediocre.
Safety I get, these guys, nope.
This issue is also about grift, as well as graft. One contractor with the (3 1/2 ton, ~ $100 per hour) digger, and the truck to transport it. Another contractor, with a helper, to do the boxing. I’m hoping he’ll also lay the concrete… Maybe it is someone else I’m sure they’ll need to use a wheelbarrow at some stage the truck won’t fit down there so there’s that quandary (manual labor) for him. Maybe even a separate gravel contractor, then the pour. The concrete pour will be followed by an inspector and more than likely an inspector inspector. I am not kidding one bit.
When they painted (eaves, windows, under eaves): One lot put up the scaffold. Another lot trimmed (pulled out, while contracted not to) the plants. Another lot painted – Lack of basic cutting in, etc. Then an inspector. Then an inspectors inspector. Then they always try to bring the painter back to do something again to justify the inspectors inspector bullshit role. So you see a small job turns into a massive clusterfuck of nonsense – and billing.
When lifting concrete it’s actually easier than other heavy stuff that you can’t hit with a hammer when it’s too big. This was just over an hours work for one, there was two of them.
There’s certainly the risk of wrist injuries when trying to increase your pecs haha. But I’ve worked in a gym (cleaner, but got gym tickets and loads of time with trainers cos go hard when you’re there you know). I’ve done a shit ton of stuff…
I do agree with comments that life on the tools is harsh on bodies, and improvements in that direction can only be good.
Am I a dinosaur? Maybe. For the most part I’ve been able to call the shots on laboring where I’d do a stint get the cheque and go do something different once I’d had enough (styled after Barry Crump’s Sam Cash). So labor (mostly) kept me in great shape instead of taxed me. Perhaps I could exhibit the art of humping rocks at MOTAT.
A lot of work used to have decent contract rates, so you could go like the clappers to do x amount, then stop. Today, boss owns you for the hours, not the work. And the hours are long just to make ends meet. That’ll break a body. Rest is a crucial part of exercise.
Just not ALL day. Balance. I’m not totally against progress, just…
That’s right – no benefit. It could be done by machine without causing serious damage to the person doing it and be done faster.
Money, good relations, health, getting fit as.
Taking longer to get more money isn’t particularly efficient.
I’m pretty sure that the people who turn up to do the job will get on reasonably well.
It damages peoples health which is my point and the point of the articles I linked to. You’re just spouting belief that is wrong.
And what the fuck good is a worker who won’t work.
They do work – just not in the way you expect because things have moved on in the last several decades.
It is not a life threatening situation and requires no high tech. Just a bit of common sense and effort saved considerable wreckage of my gardens as well as time and money. This should be a contractors concern, not to unnecessarily trash the place.
However, ethically, I cannot deny that it needs to be people over property.
Ironic that.
I cede that saving backs is commendable practice.
I still think they’re a pack of shiftless mongrels, this job is to repair damage from 2 years back when the last lot were let in with a digger. No compensation for considerable property loss at the time, and now they tried to dig up a perfectly good driveway as well as the broken path. That’s when I’d had enough. Moved the concrete myself, enough, is enough.
I suspect many of us have acquaintances that are over 50 and have been building for most of their lives. Of the half dozen I know they all have 1 thing in common: Buggered backs. More than should wrestle with skin cancer issues. There seem to be many peripheral advantages to pre-fab house building.
Foul weather costs everyone money on a building site. Painters rained off etc. Health and Safety is much easier to manage when we’re keeping an eye on a factory rather than a suburb. Building outside in the depth of winter….yuck…warm factory, Nice! Neighbours don’t need to put up with the noise, mess, somebody else’s musical taste etc for 2-3 months. Can be built around the clock, 3 x 8 hour shifts every day, 7 days a week. Economy of scale, all costs come down when you’re buying building materials by the tonne and kilometre.
Your points about mechanization are important particularly if they are in a tight space or section as you describe. Sometimes hand-work is safest and most accurate.
If there were a machine that could do tie-ins for rebar and foundation/slab work we would definitely use them on our sites (construction of rail, motorways, water and wastewater plants, heavy marine etc). But right now there isn’t, even with using as much prefab offsite as we can.
But if I need jobs done on my section here in Titirangi I tend to specify as little machinery as possible – I would rather confine the impact as much as possible just as you are proposing.
Nothing like the good old days of work, so long as we also do the basics that decrease injury;
– make sure everyone is clear about their methodology and tasks
– set out the steps to take in a ‘toolbox talk’ at the beginning of each day
– Get them decent lunch so they don’t forget you
– Make sure everyone is wearing gloves and steel capped boots and strong pants and shirts (you know the drill)
– But still stay on the phone to the business and make your specifications and your cost control rigidly clear. It’s your show after all.
I’d say the real reason is the amount of money they can rip taxpayers off by getting in a digger at $150 an hour plus disposal plus this plus that. Money is more desirable than hard physical work.
I’ve had problems logging into and commenting on TS for a few months. Usually on the browser I use most (Firefox), but eventually it hits every browser.
Firefox on one or 2 laptops now regularly get bad request notices no matter how many times I clear the cache and history.
I logged in for this comment using the Vivaldi browser. But, I have pretty much given up commenting on TS. It’s just too much hassle.
Since the last break-down about a week ago I lost my details and have to insert them each time I comment. Some comments have also disappeared into spam bin. Mentioned it the other day and a few commenters confirmed they were having the same problem. I use Google Chrome.
Anne
You may already know about this. But for anyone who doesn’t, I too lost my embedded details and was entering each time. Then realised I could get in easier with the dropdown option so just put the first letter, it drops down and I click on appropriate info.
I found nothing that was helpful and you can believe when I say that I would have shared it here if I had 😉
I have to type in my details for each & every comment but I’ve also lost the ability to see who replied to my comments; the Replies option on the RH side is gone and only Comments and Opinions are available!?
I’ve tried different browsers with different settings (on a laptop) but so far no luck 🙁
It’s like digging a (small) hole manually each time 😉
Hi lprent
When you have time could you advise what you think is leading to our problems here. Jenny is wanting to talk about the latest political stuff and is getting paranoid that she can’t get through.
I have felt the same about things that I have written.
GCSB must have a lot of stuff that they want to trial.
I’m with Vodafone and using the very latest Firefox web browser.
I have to enter my details in the name and mail fields again every time I hit reply and no longer get to see that useful tab that would show me when someone has replied to one of my comments.
All the problems seemed to start after the website was unavailable for a day or two to me.
No problems Jenny I have had it as well. Clearing my browser history helped for a while.
It is strange though. I find if I tether to Vodafone or use some wireless networks it plays up but then when I use my work or home wireless networks it is fine.
The broadcasting/communication minister should be fired for this!!!!
We sufferd some similar inter-ruption also and what is happening over our internet services as in the last two days our service provider was called by us for disruption of services, several times.
We saw the stupid stuff over Clare Curran screwing up our plans for a new media channel so this is just a coontinuatiioon of these problems faced by us all because of failing communicatiion systems.
The big question on broacasting/communications right now is this;
Why did the PM Jacinda Ardern ‘eagerly’ dismiss the Minister of transport from his Air Transport portfolio when she didn’t fire Clare Curran as Minister of Broadcasting when she ‘communicated’ with those she was legally prevented not to communicate with with??????
Jacinda needs to fix this now because Clare Curran was the most destructive MP for the Labour coalition Government cause to allow them to setup a new public broadcasting channel that the new Government urgently needs most of all right to counter the negative tone of all the media coverage, as media is right now accusing all the issues around what the new government it doing???
Request Timeout
Server timeout waiting for the HTTP request from the client.
Apache/2.4.33 (Ubuntu) Server at thestandard.org.nz Port 443
What I am trying to show you, is that Greenpeace has had to cancel all protests against deep sea oil and gas drilling in New Zealand waters under threat of $200,000 fines.
This is being done under the Anadarko Amendment, the legislation brought in at the behest of the oil companies by the last National Government.
Why hasn’t Jacinda “the priness of our world climate change” cancelled the former national Government agreementn with this highly aggessive oil company Anadarko?
Are they afraid of showing us what faces us all under ISDS under TPP?
Jenny, I’ve found I can’t cut and paste anything more than http:// addies into the comment box, or I’ll get the whole time out as well. I’ve also noticed that I need to space out any links, with me writing stuff in between. And as a last kicker don’t have any text too close to a hyperlink.
See if that helps. I know the frustration, you are not alone.
No. It has nothing to do with links. I now seem to be permanetly getting
Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
Size of a request header field exceeds server limit.
Apache/2.4.33 (Ubuntu) Server at thestandard.nz Port 443
I just tried to type a couple of sentences reply to you on Firefox, without logging in, and got the above.
It used to help clearing the cache and history (for a while), but after a while that didn’t seem to work either.
I get that response when I try to log in to TS on firefox.
I have logged in OK today and commenting here via Vivaldi
But continually trying to find work arounds becomes too tiresome.
PS: just cleared cache and history, closed firefox then reopened it and got the above message again just trying to access TS.
“What I am trying to show you, is that Greenpeace has had to cancel all protests against deep sea oil and gas drilling in New Zealand waters under threat of $200,000 fines.”
So all they have to do now is not break the law and they won’t get fined. Easy really.
Who was the young woman on today’s Q&A panel? When asked what her “miss of the week was” she said it was Phil Twyford and his behaviour on the aeroplane. “Not a good look” she said. If she thinks that is the most serious ‘miss’ of the week’ then she is uninformed and politically very naive. What was she doing there?
I think your wrong twyford was the biggest miss of the week . The nats are doing what opposition parties do (Just they a better at dirty than the others) but twyford was just plain dumb .
Spot on Robert. I noticed the usual suspects weren’t here today and conversations were passing back and forth and then James popped up and contributed … nothing. Except his usual negative, sniping trolling of course.
What the hell are you talking about? What’s “holier than thou” about critiquing a person who came across to me as a bit of a twit – or twat of you prefer. Apart from that, listen to who is talking. You spend your whole time critiquing and running down people on this site!
Could be one of those religious righties who believe national are god’s gift. The type who excuse homelessness and decaying infrastructure that kills New Zealanders because national are born again “winners” and are conservative like them. They just block out the continual lies that are preached to them I spose.
Some good stuff from Radionz Wallace Chapman this am.
life and society author interview
11:04 am today
Jeremy Heimans: the power of new power
From Sunday Morning, 11:04 am today
Listen duration 32′ :04″ http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018646695/jeremy-heimans-the-power-of-new-power
Jeremy Heimans is the co-author, with Henry Timms, of a book called “New Power” . He says Harvey Weinstein is a typical example of old power and the #metoo movement is an example of new power. Heimans says there’s been a fundamental shift in the balance of power in the world and we have major structural problems that could benefit from the kinds of mass participation and peer coordination that “new power” players know how to generate. He says “the facts just aren’t enough”.
****************************
Civil Defence environment
10:04 am today
Ann Brower: critical conscience
From Sunday Morning, 10:04 am today
Listen duration 32′ :18″ http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018646691/ann-brower-critical-conscience
On 31 May, Dr Ann Brower will deliver a lecture at the University of Canterbury, titled: A Little Guy’s Guide to Making a Difference after receiving the Critic and Conscience of Society Award earlier this month. Dr Brower is probably best known for her advocacy for more stringent regulation of earthquake-prone buildings, a campaign informed by her experience of being on a bus crushed by falling masonry in Christchurch’s 2011 earthquake. Twelve passengers died on or beside the bus. She’s also been prominent in highlighting high country land being transferred from Crown to private ownership.
Fucked if I know don’t watch much rugby .
Hadn’t noticed the rfu forcing Maori to play for them as the word taking implies. As for the haka didn’t the sort something out with Te Raprahas tribe a few years ago . ( wouldn’t bother me if they dropped the haka as once you’ve watched it for 40 odd years it’s lost it’s thrill )
ACC is undertaking a secretive review into the conduct of its chief executive and the organisation’s culture…
ACC chair Dame Paula Rebstock refused to discuss the investigation beyond a short statement, saying the allegations were “without merit”.
…
The allegations also asserted a flagship project to overhaul ACC was delivering only a fraction of the benefits originally claimed.
I had a quick look at Heidrick & Struggles’ website. The ‘about us’ section is showing “404 not found”, so obviously they didn’t spend our $100k on that.
I saw the National Media Party rorting is so bad, it has put in question New Zealand being kicked out of the 5 eyes for being a communist liability.
The change the flag, no record on land sales, flogging off the water, record immigration, spies in cabinet ‘elite’ network etc is clearly the culprit here.
NZ society needs honest lobbying via local custom driving govt. oversight & policy, formal employee firms as part of specialised product chains where necessary, and self-regulating business associations bound by autonomous democratic control in designating levels of conduct.
Capitalism has a place for lesser practises, but they should be a niche, not state run (or overrun as the case may be) monopolies.
Any truth to the rumour this government is going to open the doors wide to overseas buyers as long as they plant trees . I was told mp mcelvie addressed a fed farmers meeting and that was one of his talking points.
Last Friday it was 40 years since Day 507 when Bastion Point got stormed and the Ngati whatua protesters were arrested and their makeshift whare wrecked.
” The stand at Bastion Point is a prevailing benchmark for protest in Aotearoa, which led to the first successful retrospective claim hearing at the Waitangi Tribunal. It is a move that Joe Hawke, leader of the 1977 protest, has never regretted. “I went onto the Point, not to invite an arrest, but to arrest a wrong, and 40 years on, all of Ngāti Whātua are benefiting from that stand”, he said. ”
You can still see the ‘Not One More Acre!’ photographic exhibition at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
This clip from Te Karere a few years ago gives a sense of what this was like.
Also here, and there was the army on standby, air force helicopters in the air, and a navy ship close by just to intimidate:
Ngati Whatua are now one of the largest landowners in downtown Auckland, so good on them.
If you ever find it, check out the documentary by Merata Mita: Takaparawha Day 507. It’s chilling. Anyone says racism was long gone in the 1950s, take a look at that one and weep.
I think their action, together with the Motonui Plant coastal decisions, were the things that really started the reconciliation process as we now know it. Helluva day, just watching Philip Sherry front that on the news.
You’re saying Bridges is toast. Thanks for that but we knew it already.
What’s more alarming for the Nats is the upcoming rapid turnover of leaders and the blood-letting which is about to commence in the impending series of power vacuums.
Your only faint hope is Nicola Willis as far as I can see and she’s only been in the game for a few short weeks. Several leader changes before she gets the nod I would think.
I’m not saying Bridges is toast. I simply made the point that it’s very difficult to predict elections based on a single poll two to two and a half years before the election.
I’m not impressed with Bridges, but it’s early days for him. National support holding up with give him a while to step up, but I haven’t seen that he has what it takes yet.
I don’t have any hopes, faint or otherwise, about future leaders of any party, nor of future elections.
I do hope the current Government does a good job generrally. There are some promising signs, and some concerning signs, and a lot yet unknown.
“Bridges is struggling be be seen or liked.” – Pete George
“I’m not saying Bridges is toast. I simply made the point that it’s very difficult to predict elections based on a single poll two to two and a half years before the election.” – Pete George
I don’t know what point you’re trying to make Robert.
Collins hasn’t had any success standing for leader so far and may or may not have any chance in the future. She may have decided to settle in as a support MP, or may still have ambitions. I have no idea, and i don’t know what her chances are.
It’s far too soon to know how Willis will go. Most MPs never get anywhere near being party leader, and almost all don’t make it to PM.
There’s as much certainty (none) of knowing whether Marama Davidson will help grow the Green Party, or deter vital support if they are to survive next election.
Sooo much uncertainty, Pete! Could be this or it could be that, might be up, might be down, maybe good, maybe bad – the only reasonable thing we can do is stay balanced, give everyone an equal chance, look at both sides, weigh up the arguments for as long as it takes to see they are the same underneath it all.
Aye.
Robert Guyton. I was halfway through a very similar comment on how many times Pete had equivocated;
“not impressed, but early days”
“has a while to step up, but (hasn’t got) what it takes yet”
“I don’t have any hopes”, then “I do hope”
“There are promising signs, and concerning signs”
“may or may not”
“may have decided to settle”, yet “may still have ambitions”
“It’s far too soon”
“There’s (no) certainty”
In fact Pete said the word ‘may’ 4 times in one short, beige paragraph.
I was going to post a comment like this but then suddenly became crushed by the weight of tan, and lost interest 🙂
PS. You might like this from the wiki page on beige:
Beige is notoriously difficult to produce in traditional offset CMYK printing due to the low levels of inks used on each plate; often it will print in purple or green and vary within a print run.
With NZ First below the threshold, it makes the Greens the king/Queen-maker. This is a shift from the situation where NZF was always shown as a PM-Maker during the last term of government.
I think Muttonbird’s point though, was, that barring a massive change of heart the Greens aren’t planning on installing any National Party leader PM anytime soon, especially Collins! So this poll, like all the polls since the election just continues to confirm National’s hapless position and puts Ardern fully in the drivers seat.
That’s right it’s dishonest reporting, the Greens aren’t a NZ First or Māori Party ‘kingmaker’ party that could go either way. They’re apparently our version of hard left. So only an idiot media would classify them as a potential coalition partner of the right wing nats.
Yes. There is zero chance of the Greens being king-maker because there is zero chance of them forming a government with National no matter how hard National party proxies try to make it so.
You can see why they are so very very desperate to sow the seeds of this narrative because the Labour/Greens bloc is now quite powerful.
For New Shub to pretend a National Green government is possible is further evidence the right wing media is attempting to invent this impossibility.
I wouldn’t necessarily blame the Greens if they didn’t immediately come out and destroy the idea but Marama Davidson must be seething it is even in print.
The other error is that they gift a seat to poor people hater, David Seymour. Surely at just 0% of the party vote even the many many bigots of Epsom will start to choke on what they are fed.
While they won’t go with the nats, the greens might be tempted to make Labour work as a minority government and look at things on an issue-by-issue basis. Threatening a snap election at any time.
If Labour want security, they need to work to keep the greens onside
The people of Epsom will continue to gift a seat to a poor-people hater until they are told not to by someone wearing a blue rosette. Even at 0.2% of the vote, it’s in their interest to deliver an overhang seat that will reliably support the Nats.
Being that Twyford doesn’t seem to want to take advice from anyone not on the opposite side of his mirror it won’t be long before he has to fall on his own sword
Collins is out there. She can’t be bargained with. She can’t be reasoned with. She doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And she absolutely will not stop, ever, until she becomes leader.
Statement by UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl, the Gaza Strip
Good morning,
Thank you for joining us for this press briefing.
My current visit took place in the aftermath of the weeks of protests and marches here in the Gaza Strip and the appalling impact of the events that followed.
Yesterday, I visited an UNRWA health centre in Khan Younis, a partner rehabilitation centre in Deir El-Balah and the Al-Shifa hospital. These were shocking and deeply disturbing visits.
Allow me to describe this is some detail, focusing on three main dimensions.
First, I truly believe that much of the world completely underestimates the extent of the disaster in human terms that occurred in the Gaza Strip since the marches began on 30 March.
117 people were killed by Israeli forces – of which 13 were children – and over 13,000 people were injured, of which an estimated 3,500 by live ammunition. Let me put this in context.
During the 51 days of the military assault in Gaza in 2014, approximately 12,000 people were injured. In other words, as many people or even slightly more were injured during a total of 7 days of protests than were injured during the full duration of the 2014 conflict. That is truly staggering.
During the visits, I was also struck not only by the number of injured but also by the nature of the injuries. The demonstrators had been systematically shot either in the lower limbs (shattering femurs, knees and ankles), in the abdomen, the back, or the head.
The pattern of small entry wounds and large exit wounds, indicates ammunition used caused severe damage to internal organs, muscle tissue and bones.
Both the staff or the MoPH hospitals, NGOs, and UNRWA clinics are struggling to deal with extremely complex wounds and care.
Second, the direct consequence of the number of injured and nature of wounds has brought the health-care system in Gaza to a breaking point. It is a health system already plagued by the multiple health pressures and severe medical stock limitations under regular circumstances.
What is the fair price for an item? So it can be made in NZ using NZ labour?
The charities selling second hand clothes complain at the rubbish that is put out to them to dispose of, so poorly looked after that they can’t sell them on. If we bought one thing and wore it for three seasons instead of three times, we could afford to pay more.
This shoe maker has been in business for 25 years. She has to sell up and carries on the remnant of her business with manufacturing done in China in a factory that seems ethically run. On line buying has also made an impact on her business she thinks. She sadly sold one machine that she imported for $1000’s to a tryer in another city for $100.
We need people in jobs, we need to support our own people, our country, if we want to have one that is. And we may need to save up for items instead of having instant cheap gratification. What do you think?
business
25 May 2018
Fast fashion kills Auckland shoemaker Minnie Cooper
From Checkpoint, 5:37 pm on 25 May 2018
Zac Fleming, Checkpoint Producer
zacflemng zac.fleming@radionz.co.nz
The usual cries will be heard about offshore exploitation, entrepreneur greed and supporting local production…..until they hear the price, then it all goes out the window.
Her parting comment in the interview is on the mark…..make do with less (and demand quality and long lived products)
My household has at least 20 pairs of Minnie Coopers. She had a good run.
But any clothing manufacturer still going in New Zealand is in a spiral as the skills aren’t being replaced. Zulu can’t even find them. Icebreaker’s long gone. Even Nom’d. And of course World can’t even lie straight let alone hem straight.
It’s ridiculous to try to hold more than the designers and owners in this country, because they are the only jobs that are rewarded properly by the global industry. We’ve long since lost any clustering effect apropos Porter that could have sustained comparative advantage.
I find that so depressing. We can’t lie down and let the world roll over us.
There are some good things being tried. We have to trial things from the grass roots up I think. We are just going round in ever-decreasing circles. And to join the competition from vast runs from overseas, plus low wages and conditions, we have the image of robots moving forward, slightly smiling and as dangerous as triffids.
I think we will have to turn NZ made stuff into a club that people join as core buyers saying they will buy one thing a year from certain manufacturers so they can get the loyalty effect and the buyers and manufacturers be alongside with a definite level of demand. Would you have agreed to this as customer of Minnie Cooper?
greywarshark. Never, in a million years, can most of us ever afford over three hundred bucks for a pair of shoes. Nice for you if you can…but most of us, no. If those who have been paying those eye watering sums for slippers are no longer doing so…take it up with them…but you’re probably not going to find many of those sort here on TS.
It is not about ‘instant cheap gratification’, its about limited incomes and kids to feed and clothe and school fees and power bills, and if there’s any savings they’ll go to the ‘coax the old car through the next warrant’ fund. Poncy boots are so far down the list…
I was a loyal member of a ‘buy NZ Club’ for foot wear. Commandos. Remember them? Bought one particular model for nearly three decades when it was first marketed as the quintessential roofers’ shoe. Comfortable, stable and truly non slip. Retailing at $39.95, they were at the upper limit of my budget, but I did save because having safe footing is vital when you’re having to move another fully grown human from bed to wheelchair etc two or three times a day.
Anyway..the buggers have doubled the price, and the quality it just not the same.
So its down to K-Mart and their $10 canvas throwaways.
Rosemary
There may have been cheaper footwear sold by Minnie Cooper. And I am not wealthy and have been quite poor so I’m not ignoring the issues of affordability. But the quite poor (above the level of being homeless, addicted or mentally sick and unemployable) are not the only people in NZ, and never will be. We are going through a slow Depression, and in the last one there were people who were not badly affected. So because something doesn’t apply to you or the people you know, doesn’t mean that the idea has no credibility.
Why are we so poor and destitute in NZ? Because our whole economy
has been sliced and diced by overseas cheap stuff and the direction that RW neolibs have taken us with determination, that is to low wages, ‘flexible-to-none’ hours, voluntary unionism and anti unionism by businesses. We have to think of how we are going to improve things for ourselves, and not just be charity cases patronised by self-centred, arrogant, callous people who are in the better-off category. And unfortunately these are the very same people who once were poor. The book Affluenza talks about the lure of continually wanting more, the driven psychology of aiming ‘to be the best you can be’ and and feeling superior and entitled once success is achieved, and finding fault with those who haven’t.
Nothing will change unless we apply our minds and do things differently from now, and also not try to return to what seems to have been a better time and way. What if the people who want good non-slip shoes find someone, perhaps retired and on superannuation and with time from pressing home or care duties, to run a Facebook page that keeps people in touch who have particular interests and wants. In your case you would say that you need certain shoes at about a certain price, others who know where these can be obtained would advise the group.
We are going to have to show some mettle or lose all the way in this country. I have tried to help particular groups and found they will hardly help themselves, they can’t make the effort, allow the present to swamp them and want a miracle to happen that will solve the situation. If we think of how few people come to this blog and talk over the problems and then come up with a project to improve things, not just with protest to various government agencies but with direct activity, do-it-yourself stuff,
the biggest task is to get people to set aside some time and whatever money they can afford and put their hands to the wheel. But that’s physical labour! And sitting on the fence chewing over the problems, or lining up with the outrage in-group is about where most of NZ is at I am afraid.
It is not impossible …indeed it wasnt so long ago that we did …however the culture change required from both (esp) consumers and manufacturers is such that it is highly unlikely…the easy option is exactly that.
Woman asks judge for $15M condo after deadbeat hubby skips town with mistress.
Great heading on that piece fender.
Everything has a label so it can be dismissed easily – one in the USA is deadbeat dad. She has been rich, married to a man with lots of money and now it is slipping away and she wants to ensure she stays rich, calling on the legal services and the law to assist her to have her rights for herself and children.
The label for so many of us in NZ is worthless, lazy, unproductive, unworthy and expressed as single parent, druggie, Maori, unemployable. Oh if only we poor people could claim our entitlement from the wealthy who have managed to screw us and disappear our jobs, our living wages, our affordable houses, our public services both affordable and accessible, our opportunity to have an enjoyable secure life, to hold our heads up and be pleased and proud with ourselves and our achievements.
The elite in NZ, the robber barons and their groupies, have ‘skipped town’ with our entitlement to share in the rockstar economy enabling us to have our rights for ourselves and children.
Good morning The Am Show Mark it was national that ran a circus and the way shonky ran the show was shocking his trick was to take putea from the poor and give it to the rich another trick of shonkys was he could tell a lie and everyone believed his lie even thought the truth was stearing them in the face.
Eco Maori is still assessing Bryce Edwards something keeps changing his view ?????????.
Duncan the meat from cows with that Bovine virus will be fine we use to eat the cows culled for TB back in the day .
I could survive 3 days in the wild but I learnt how to harvest the kai from te whenua in the Waiapu Vally my whano don’t realize how important the Waiapu Vally is to Maori tupuna history I have learnt these facts.
The abortion debate in Ireland is also about Whine rights Mana Whine ka pai.
You are right M8 hypocrisy runs rife in OUR society you just have a look at ———– and it pokes one in the eyes.
Ka kite ano
The Am Show Mark Sainsbury gambling on those pokie machines is a big scam the house always wins thats the way it all ways works with gambling if the house lost all the time they would go broke and be gone.
The poor people you see gambling are trying to win there way into a more prosperous life and odds are very low on one achieving that feat.
ka kite ano
When I read a artificial I scroll down and read the comments made by other people on the given topic The welfare overhaul panel of 11 they look like they have the credentials for the task this is a win for Te Green Party.
I can see the national trolls easy as trolls paid to stir up peoples emotions they start with a line saying they were or did vote for Labour but have changed there view so easy to read you trolls.
Its that bad at winz that people have to get a advocate just to get a benefit which should be guaranteed in a wealthy country like NZ NO.
Whats wrong with everyone having a healthy happy life style trolls tell me why yous don’t think other people have the right to be treated humanly .
If the story is true if someone is on a sickness benefit for seven years than that person is sick they are probable sick of being put down by employers put down by the system these people are not fortunate like me to have a thick skin and a strong mind as well I have this site and my tipunas genetics to help keep me off a benefit the sandflys are trying there hardest to push me onto one but I won’t give up.
So national trolls know this Eco Maori is watching you . Ka kite ano link is below.
Rodger I did not have the time to watch Dancing I have been to busy m8 now you have done good you know that saying if the horse bucks you off one just has to get back on m8 . I ;v been thrown off a horse many times I would catch my breath because most times one gets the wind knocked out of them when thrown off a horse and get back on it . Kia Kaha Rodger Ka kite ano
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of a pretty flower, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a cute animal video. . . . =fs= ...
. . April 2: Day eight of living in lock-down… Today, my work day starts late. Our rosters and clients have been dramatically changed, lessening (theoretically) the number of people in our work “bubble”. If just one of us catches covid19 the impact could be considerable as Grey Base Hospital ...
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” Lenin Don’t we all know that feeling now.
Prospect Magazine alerted me to this particularly apt quote. It is a much more evocative quote than Hemingway’s “gradually then suddenly” which is also doing ...
Yesterday was the day the consequences of the lockdown suddenly got very real for many. Firms have been closing and laying people off since the outset of the quarantine but this has mostly been happening out of the public eye. The mass closure of a number of iconic New Zealand ...
Brian Williamson1, Prof Nick Wilson2 (1Economic consultant, UK; 2University of Otago Wellington)In this blog, we outline how a win-win social contract could be forged to address the major dimensions of response to the COVID-19 pandemic when using a mitigation strategy: the particular need to protect older people from high ...
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...
No Free Society Without A Free And Functioning News Media: If we are to surrender our civil rights to the broader cause of defeating Covid-19, then foreign corporations must, likewise, surrender their right to inflict immense economic and cultural harm on New Zealanders simply because it improves their bottom line.I’M ...
by Daphna Whitmore A third of the world is under lockdown and a clear assessment of this measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 is urgently needed. With any high-stakes decisions it has to be asked what are we dealing with here? Are the measures warranted? Will they achieve their ...
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...
The swan politicians may be gliding on the water, occasionally snapping at one another. Meanwhile, as the Covid19 crisis illustrates, the officials are desperately paddling below providing the real locomotion. One of the most fatuous recent grandstanding comments (of about a week ago), adding to the public’s anxieties, was ...
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it at any length. In particular, I point to the evidence ...
Today has felt surreal. I was all set to touch base online with my science communication students when a colleague shared the news that Bauer Media would be shutting down its publications immediately. The first link I saw implied it was Woman’s Weekly affected, and even that shocked me. But ...
Bogeymen, Real And Imagined: Is the number of psychopathic and sociopathic individuals in any given society truly as vanishingly small as we like to tell ourselves? Isn’t it more likely that the mass-shooters and serial-killers filling the headlines represent only the tip of a much, much larger iceberg of frightfulness? ...
Outgoing Police Commissioner Mike Bush appeared before the Epidemic Response Committee today, who asked him for the rules police are using to enforce the lockdown. He refused:Police Commissioner Mike Bush has admitted the advice given to Kiwis about what they're able to do during the lockdown hasn't been clear enough. ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of my cat, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a pretty flower. . . . =fs= ...
. . April 1: Day seven of living in lock-down… This morning I had a brief chat with one of my neighbours, “D” (social distance between us, a good three or four metres). I learned he had resigned from his previous job and had been hired by another company – ...
Funnily enough, my thought as I start this post is whether it will be well written enough. Or should that be well enough written? Because so much of what I know about good writing came from my two stints at The Listener, which this morning was shut down due to ...
With normal democratic procedures in abeyance, there were two ways to go. First, it was open for the government to dissolve itself and invite the National Party to join a ministry of national salvation. That would have lessened the democratic deficit of the times by having a team of rivals without ...
Dr Kirsty Ross Children and young people can respond differently in times of distress. This also varies by age and developmental stage, with younger children having more magical and imaginative thinking, and older children having more awareness and knowledge of the issues our communities are facing (which brings up ...
Hungary has been a virtual dictatorship for a decade now, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has gradually eroded its democracy. But now, its official, with the passage of an indefinite emergency law allowing rule by decree:Hungary’s parliament has passed a new set of coronavirus measures that includes jail terms for ...
While the economy is on pause under lockdown, the government is beginning to plan how to cope with the post-lockdown, post-tourism, post-export education world we will eventually find ourselves in. They're planning a lot of infrastructure spending as economic stimulus, and have asked for proposals which can start the moment ...
It's my distraction, setting up tiny scenes to photograph. I've got stuck on the Babushka dolls for now. Something about their bubble shape. Something about their never changing, smiling features, suggesting persistent equanimity. Can we get through everything that is being thrown at us and keep at least a tiny ...
. . March 31: Day six of living in lock-down… This time I managed to sleep a little longer and the alarm woke me at the pre-set time: 6.55am. Then remembered I was working a later shift and could’ve slept in. Oh well, there are things to do at home. ...
Image credit:Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ...
Yesterday's Horizon poll showing support for a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum sliding into the majority for the first time in a year looked like good news for reformers – and it probably is. But the result warrants some scrutiny.The poll is the fifth in a series commissioned ...
For almost a week now, every one of us who isn’t an essential worker has been confined to their bubble. We are allowed to go shopping for groceries, to visit the doctor, and to get a bit of exercise if we stay local. The reason we are doing this is ...
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...
In the absence of a vaccine or a cure for a deadly disease, staying home in your bubble is what you do, the concept is not new. To the best of my knowledge last time we did this in NZ was for polio, in the years before a vaccine came ...
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...
This has been a terrible summer for Hector’s dolphins. The first indication was very low numbers of dolphin sightings during late spring and early summer. The Otago University Marine Mammal Research Team has carried out routine dolphin surveys at Banks Peninsula for more than 30 years. In all that time, ...
On March 17, Finance Minister Grant Robertson was quick out of the blocks with an economic rescue package to help businesses through the inevitable recession resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Robertson had pulled together a scheme in short order that so far seems to have saved many jobs. In his ...
The purpose of the lockdown is to save lives, by reducing the spread of covid-19. We won't know if its really working for another week, but given the devastation that will result if it doesn't - 14,000 dead is the optimistic scenario - its definitely worth trying. But pausing the ...
. . March 30: Day five of living in lock-down… Woke up still in darkness. Alarm hadn’t gone off. Turn to radio clock; it’s a few minutes after 6am… I lie there in the dark, waiting to drift off to sleep… but it ain’t happening. Clock ticks over to 6.55 ...
The story of Les Gray, the public sector psychologist who told the truth about his use of cannabis and set off a storm, has a special place in the lore of cannabis reform in New Zealand.When Paul Shannon interviewed Gray for the 'Dope and Hope' issue of Planet magazine in ...
by Phil Duncan For Marxists, a key concern about social trends is their context – not just their causes, but why they happen when they do. Events and phenomena have causes, but they also are time or period-specific. While much of the left have capitulated recently to postmodernism, most notably ...
Since the lockdown began, we've all suddenly been reminded who the actually essential workers in our society are: not the people at the top who pay themselves the big bucks and rort the perks, but the people at the bottom they screw over and squeeze: cleaners, warehouse staff, truck drivers ...
Kia ora! As I've watched nearly all my remaining work vanish over the past couple of days, it has occured to me that one good way to keep me away from arguing with fools on Twitter all the time (in the knowledge that all we're really doing is processing our ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to extirpate the virus that causes COVID-19 from its shores. To do that, as a society we’ve moved to “Level 4”. That means adapting to unprecedented restrictions on our personal freedoms, particularly to our rights to move freely and associate with friends and ...
When the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency last week, she handed the police powers to enforce it. And almost immediately, we started hearing about heavy-handed, arbitrary "enforcement" by police who (at best) cared more about order than law, or (more likely) had no idea what the rules were ...
. . Lock Down: Day 4 – A photo essay with observations . March 29: Usual wake up routine as RNZ snaps on my radio-clock. Jim Mora’s voice slowly enters my conciousness; there’s talk of a second wave of covid19 taking hold in South Korea; the week in Parliament – ...
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... ‘Misinformation kills’: The link between coronavirus conspiracies and climate denialGrist / Rob Kim / Stringer / CSA Images Scientific ...
The kids did surprisingly well today – meltdown count was about 3, and mostly fairly short ones. (And a fourth while I was writing.) Game-wise I had a go at Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark. It’s a fairly standard RPG with turn-based combat and what they call a “mature storyline” (it ...
by Don Franks Hi David, Nice hearing from you, I’m glad to hear you’re getting by okay in these grim times. You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand. You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and ...
. . Lock Down: Day 3 – A photo essay with observations . March 28: First day of the first weekend in Lock Down. It feels like it’s been weeks since only Level 3 was declared last Tuesday, only four days ago. Woke up this morning to RNZ; coffee; toast, ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 22, 2020 through Sat, Mar 28, 2020Articles Linked to on FacebookSun, Mar 22, 2020In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of Disasters by Chelsea Harvey, ...
I’m here in lockdown with my flatmate and her two girls (6 and 2) and it. is. a time. They’re usually really active so to start with the only boardgame in the house is the copy of Guess Who that the 6 year old got for her birthday. Flatmate commented ...
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...
. . Lock Down: Day 2 – A photo essay with observations . March 27 – Day 2 of our Strange New World. The Park and Ride near my suburb, usually filled with hundreds of vehicles, had just… four; . . Another drive into Wellington City on a highway nearly ...
Fortune's Children: Under extraordinary pressure, the leader of the Government and the leader of the Opposition will each show us what they are made of. Have they been blessed with intelligence, grace, wit, poise, toughness, empathy and humour – and in what measure? More importantly, to what extent have they ...
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of having to rent a property on the open market in New Zealand, which is one of the most expensive in the entire world, you’ll likely be keenly aware of just how arrogant and entitled landlords and their real estate agents can be.Unfortunately for ...
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights:In this legal blog we outline some ...
by Equipo Jurídico Pueblos and Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (25/03/2020) An escape plan in question On the night of March 21st and the early morning of the 22nd, the forces of the Colombian state stormed into the Modelo prison in Bogotá, murdering 23 prisoners and injuring 83, in response to the ...
When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...
. . Lock Down: Day 1 – A photo essay with observations . Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief ...
Broad, Sunlit Uplands: How those words fired my young imagination! Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say: how those words fused, in my young mind, with the image printed on every packet of Fielder’s Cornflour. Always fascinated by history, especially modern history, I cannot hear Churchill’s wonderfully evocative words, even ...
. . 24 March 2020 9.46AM Number of covid19 cases in Aotearoa New Zealand: 102 . As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home. I will not be ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections A respected research group, Project Drawdown, finds that deploying solutions consistent with meeting the Paris climate targets would cost tens of trillions of dollars globally. But crucially, those outlays would also yield long-term savings many times larger than the up-front costs. The new 2020 Drawdown ...
It will pass. What happens next? Not immediately, but longer term. There are many opinions, fewer certainties. Will it “change everything!” as many confidently, and contradictorily predict? In this post I look at how foresight can help bound some of the uncertainties so you can more objectively consider the future. ...
We’ve been meaning t write something on Cuba and the coronavirus but have just discovered a very good article on the subject in the US left publication Jacobin. The article looks at how Cuba, a poor country but one where capitalism has been done away with, is leading the way ...
In 2018, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey - two British citizens who had purportedly been stripped of their citizenship by the British government - were captured while fighting for Isis in Syria. The British government then conspired to hand them over to the US, and agreed to provide evidence ...
Transformers: The disaster of the Great Depression was transformed into a new and fairer society by the democratic socialism of the First Labour Government. The disaster of the Covid-19 Pandemic offers a similar transformative possibility to the Labour-NZ First-Green Government. Seize the time, Jacinda! You will never have a better ...
Tamper with The System? Well, we already are. But there's a difference between accidentally trickling sand into a precision gearbox versus formulating a plan to alter it on the fly with improvements in mind. One action is more or less innocently unscrupulous, the other amenable to earning an easy ...
Associate Prof George Thomson, Louise Delany, Prof Nick WilsonWhile it is possible that New Zealand can use intense public health controls to eradicate COVID-19 from the country – we must also plan for other scenarios where thousands of New Zealanders are sick – including many urgently hospitalised.1 Better resilience ...
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...
We're about to do something unprecedented as a nation. We hope that by taking this extraordinary action before a single life in New Zealand has been lost to the deadly novel virus we will save tens of thousands of lives. Our lives. We'll do it together, in households, in isolation ...
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”So writes the author of Ecclesiastes, a book in the Old Testament that’s counted as a ‘wisdom’ book and written as if by an unnamed king of Jerusalem. But who would have thought there would be a time ...
I was surprised when the prime minister described the Economic Response to Covid-19 package as the ‘largest peacetime government spend in New Zealand's history’. Reflecting – checking through history – I realised that the term ‘spend’ was crucial and the package had no income tax cuts. Even so, it has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world".Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...
The domestic travel ban has been lifted for stranded foreign tourists trying to get to international airports to fly home, after the Coalition Government announced a plan to help the tens of thousands of foreigners stranded here. Foreign Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters spoke with RNZ's Susie Ferguson said foreign ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters believes the country is rediscovering its resilience and self-reliance through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.He says he is heartened that the mass majority of New Zealanders are following lockdown rules and that the government looking at the future, including paying to keep much ...
New Zealand can emulate the success of the US after the Great Depression by exploiting our own resources to turn the economy around quickly, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr. Peters told Magic Talk that New Zealand has an opportunity to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic a "superior, ...
All 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel are either on their way back to New Zealand, or already in the country, according to Defence Minister Ron Mark."Twenty-eight personnel arrived back in New Zealand last week and are in isolation at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in ...
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...
We know people are feeling anxious about COVID-19. While the situation is serious, New Zealand has a world-class health system and we’re well-prepared to keep New Zealanders safe. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
As New Zealanders brace for a global downturn due to Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says his Coalition Government’s rescue package "more significant" than any other he's seen around the world. The Coalition is to reveal a multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan on Tuesday afternoon designed to cushion the economic blow ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government.This article ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Welcome to the second edition of our lockdown Top 10s. A reminder that this chart has nothing to do with sales or launches or the publishing cycle; these are just books the Unity team love – and this week it’s westerns, full of big skies and long rides and showdowns.AUCKLANDAll ...
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster’s plan to cover revenue shortfalls through borrowing without cutting low priority spending is immoral, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “Businesses and households across the country are meeting financial challenges ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin John Brophy, Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, University of Melbourne “Katrina, I had in mind a prayer, but only this came,” Bruce Dawe wrote to his infant daughter, new-born, in intensive care, her life in the balance, declaring as poets must ...
The shock closure of Bauer NZ – and with it all of the country’s current affairs magazines – is a stark reminder of the fragile state of local media, writes Mel Bunce, the author of a book on the subject.It is a dark week for journalism in New Zealand, with ...
Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Rāmere/FridayWe made it to the end of week one e te whānau. It wasn’t that hard! In fact it was… Māori made easy.To end our week of pronunciation practice we’re going to revisit everything we ...
India faces more challenges battling Covid-19 than any other country in the world. With 1.3 billion inhabitants, hundreds of different languages spoken, and an estimated 80% of the workforce daily wage earners currently without jobs, it could be a recipe for disaster.I’ve been living in India for more than three ...
By Sri Krishnamurthi of Pacific Media Watch The Vanuatu government is using the Covid-19 to impose draconian measures and authoritarian rule by end of last month. Wholesale censorship of all Covid-19 related content has been instituted. Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) took the extraordinary step to ...
People with lower credit scores increased their borrowing upon news of the lockdown, while those with higher scores dropped away. March data from the credit-reporting agency Centrix, which runs credit checks on behalf of banks, finance companies, online lenders, and buy now pay later schemes, showed credit inquiries dropped sharply ...
Small business owners say commercial rent relief is desperately needed if they are to survive past the Covid-19 disruptions. While the wage subsidy helped with staff costs, there is currently no government assistance for commercial rent - which typically accounts for 40 percent of a firm's fixed costs. Landlords and ...
SkyCity is making 200 staff redundant as part of cost cutting because of the Covid-19 virus. The casino operator said it had no choice but to cut the size of the workforce given that once business resumes it will be at much reduced level. Chief executive Graeme Stephens said it's ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Glikson, Earth and paleo-climate scientist, Australian National University At several points in the history of our planet, increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have caused extreme global warming, prompting the majority of species on Earth to die out. In ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand. Today’s contentMedia Henry Cooke (Stuff): There’s no easy way for Government to save media drowning. But a fast fix is ...
Just after midday a cyclist was killed on a straight road on a clear day, after being hit by a van in North Canterbury. Lucinda Rees from NZ School Speeds is asking for the mandatory cyclist/vulnerable road user passing gap, which is in consultation, ...
By Indra Singh in Suva Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says that if Fijians continue to disregard the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic directives from authorities, a nationwide 24-hour curfew could be imposed. His comments come as Fiji yesterday recorded its two latest coronavirus cases, taking the total to seven. Bainimarama said ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Ōtaki author Renée.Yes, a few cyclists out and about. I remember my first bike bought from Farmers around 1942, five shillings a ...
Internal memos from NZ’s biggest magazine company, which announced its sudden closure yesterday, state they were lobbying to change a ban on publication. But the minister responsible, Kris Faafoi, has doubled down on rejecting that position, calling those internal communications ‘contradictory’ to what they said to him directly.Magazine publishing giant ...
Up to 100,000 foreigners could be seeking to leave the country in coming weeks, now the Government has relaxed domestic travel restrictions for them. ...
The loss of a loved one can be difficult in the best of times. But it’s even more painful when the planes are grounded.Late on Saturday night, three days into New Zealand’s level four lockdown, Harish got a call from his sister in India telling him that his father had ...
Health Minister David Clark has flouted the Government's advice to exercise locally after confirming he drove to a park to go mountain biking on Thursday. ...
Covid-19 cases top 1m; Trump brags he's #1 on Facebook and says he knows about the virus because a 'friend' got it; UK testing scandal grows; Cats more vulnerable to virus than dogsTicking up to a million cases: A gruesome landmark was passed today when we go over one million ...
“So do not fear, I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” Isaiah 41:10 COVID-19 - Lock down: one week on Welcome to the latest Policy Watch ...
Workers at the Port of Lyttelton are resisting the introduction of casual cargo handlers due to concerns about COVID19. RMTU South Island Organizer John Kerr says there is concern about a Lyttelton Port Company (LPC) proposal to "bring in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Strangio, Associate Professor of Politics, Monash University One of Australia’s preeminent historians, Stuart Macintyre, once observed of John Curtin, the Labor Party leader revered for navigating this nation through the dangers of the second world war, that he would have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoff Hanmer, Adjunct Professor of Architecture, University of Adelaide New research the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that SARS CoV 2, which causes the disease known as COVID-19 coronavirus, is more stable on plastic and stainless steel than on cardboard or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW The Australian government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy, estimated to cost A$130 billion, is a crucial measure to help keep the economy from completely cratering. But, even if COVID-19 is sufficiently under control for the economy to return ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gordon Menzies, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Technology Sydney During this pandemic, our twin health and economic crises require two different types of concern, and they operate differently. For the health crisis, a high level of concern is necessary. Saving lives ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Harriette Richards, University of Melbourne Times of instability and crisis produce increased nostalgia for the past. We long for a time that no longer exists, or never existed. Like melancholy, nostalgia is a sentiment of loss – one that’s particularly familiar to ...
RBNZ bans bank dividends; Who is next after Bauer's shock closure? Vital plan blocked; Commission wins in real estate price fixing case; Softbank walks out WeWorkNo you won’t: The Reserve Bank took the unprecedented step of prohibiting the banks from paying dividends during the coronavirus crisis or redeeming any ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Media reels after horror week, Wellington Council facing massive budget crunch, and highest single day of new Covid-19 cases.It had always been clear that this was going to be a difficult time for the media, with the Covid-19 downturn hitting ...
Former National Finance Ministers Steven Joyce and Bill English question the severity of the Covid-19 lockdown and ask whether the Government has an exit strategy. Andrew Patterson reports. Steven Joyce and Bill English have seen their fair share of financial crises and natural disasters as the last National Government's finance ...
There is no sign the government will tighten quarantine controls for those arriving at the border, in response to calls from the Opposition to quarantine and test everyone. ...
Two new cases of Covid-19 have been identified in Fiji, prompting a lockdown of its capital. Teuila Fuatai reports. Fijian health authorities are scrambling to identify close contacts of its latest two Covid-19 cases. The couple, from Nabua, Suva, appear unrelated to the country’s previous five. Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama ...
Christchurch is a city of contrasts, as some stretch their legs with smiles and others with suspicion. David Williams reports It was no surprise it happened in Christchurch’s student quarter. The smiles of those standing at their gates in Ilam Road broadened as a baby kayak strapped to a skateboard ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Suzanne McFadden speaks to two Kiwi 'bubbles' who have unanticipated - but serendipitous - housemates. Sue Bremner has found a silver lining to the brooding cloud of lockdown – it’s meant getting to know the sister who never knew she existed for almost 65 years. Englishwoman Bremner has found herself holed ...
As the walls go up around the world, global trade is feeling the effects. But beyond the short-term pain, what systemic change might we see? Sam Sachdeva reports. International trade was already facing headwinds before the spread of coronavirus - but the pandemic has knocked it well and truly off-course. ...
The decisions by German media giant Bauer to shut its New Zealand magazine operation and NZME’s axing of Radio Sport have been precipitated by the coronavirus. But, as Mark Jennings and Tim Murphy write, the closures are also due to the deeper problems of the local media industry. The sudden announcement ...
How long does it take to recover, how do you know you’ve recovered and can you catch Covid-19 twice? If you’ve had Covid-19 when are you officially recovered? Turns out there’s no test in New Zealand. It's judged by time of onset and last symptoms. How do I tick the ...
The first thing to note about the partying Queenstown backpackers is these acts of youthful rebellion are not an isolated phenomenon. As I write this on April 1, The Guardian is reporting on a group of people in their 20s who took the opportunity to celebrate Spring Break in the ...
Every Friday of lockdown, LockerRoom will share posts from Kiwi sportswomen who've caught our eye with novel ways of keeping on top of their game at home. This week we have Black Ferns making their own training equipment, a Kiwi professional cyclist virtually racing against riders around the world, and ANZ Premiership netballers calling their ...
Steve Braunias pays tribute to the Listener, closed yesterday in the wake of Covid-19's devastation of the economy. This piece to mark the end of the Listener is exactly how I started writing for the Listener: late at night, with instant coffee, in a state of shock. The shock then ...
The shockingly fast collapse of Bauer presents the government with a momentous choice, says Duncan Greive. Will it save the media industry, or concentrate on its own?This moment was always coming. The long, steady flow of advertising revenue to the tech giants has left the private sector media gaunt, much ...
A new app unveiled by the Government to dispense information about Covid-19 can be scaled up to help with pandemic tracking and diagnosing the illness, Marc Daalder reportsA Government WhatsApp channel revealed today will help carry information pertinent to the Covid-19 pandemic to the nation's smartphones - but that's ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As the COVID-19 transforms our individual lives, we are learning a few new things about ourselves as a society. We’ve known Australians suspect authority and, like other Western countries, have come to trust government less ...
About those handles and rails and communal areas …The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 crisis is only possible because of the support of members. If you can, please consider joining Spinoff Members here.As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Quinn, Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is changing how we live. With a rapid increase in cases, we are now isolating in our homes to “flatten the curve”. However, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In this special hour long podcast presented by Mark Evans, professor of governance and director of Democracy 2025, the panel discusses Australian democracy with Emeritus Professor Ian Chubb and Michelle Grattan. The panel dissects the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government will provide free child care in a move aimed at ensuring parents, especially in essential services, are able to keep working. More than 945,000 families with 1.3 million children will benefit. The new ...
Open Mike 27/05/2018 
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...5 hours ago
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of a pretty flower, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a cute animal video. . . . =fs= ...6 hours ago
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...8 hours ago
Yesterday was the day the consequences of the lockdown suddenly got very real for many. Firms have been closing and laying people off since the outset of the quarantine but this has mostly been happening out of the public eye. The mass closure of a number of iconic New Zealand ...9 hours ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...11 hours ago
by Daphna Whitmore A third of the world is under lockdown and a clear assessment of this measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 is urgently needed. With any high-stakes decisions it has to be asked what are we dealing with here? Are the measures warranted? Will they achieve their ...17 hours ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...21 hours ago
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it at any length. In particular, I point to the evidence ...23 hours ago
46 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Global response of evapotranspiration ratio to climate conditions and watershed characteristics in a changing environment Greenhouse effect: the relative contributions of emission height and total absorption Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Climate change induced a ...2 days ago
Image credit: Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ... 2 days ago
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...2 days ago
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...3 days ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...4 days ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...6 days ago
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...7 days ago
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...7 days ago
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...1 week ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world". Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...4 hours ago
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...6 days ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...1 week ago
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...3 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government. This article ...36 mins ago
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...1 hour ago
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...1 hour ago
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...1 hour ago
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...2 hours ago
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...2 hours ago
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...2 hours ago
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...3 hours ago
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...3 hours ago
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...3 hours ago
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...3 hours ago
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...3 hours ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...4 hours ago
Vodafone says its continuing to see significant increases in calls and data on its networks after the first week of level 4 lockdown. ...5 hours ago
The Opposition says the government should be more generous with its wage and business subsidies to help companies survive the economic shutdown. ...6 hours ago
People with lower credit scores increased their borrowing upon news of the lockdown, while those with higher scores dropped away. March data from the credit-reporting agency Centrix, which runs credit checks on behalf of banks, finance companies, online lenders, and buy now pay later schemes, showed credit inquiries dropped sharply ...7 hours ago
Small business owners say commercial rent relief is desperately needed if they are to survive past the Covid-19 disruptions. While the wage subsidy helped with staff costs, there is currently no government assistance for commercial rent - which typically accounts for 40 percent of a firm's fixed costs. Landlords and ...7 hours ago
SkyCity is making 200 staff redundant as part of cost cutting because of the Covid-19 virus. The casino operator said it had no choice but to cut the size of the workforce given that once business resumes it will be at much reduced level. Chief executive Graeme Stephens said it's ...7 hours ago
Up to 100,000 foreigners could be seeking to leave the country in coming weeks, now the Government has relaxed domestic travel restrictions for them. ...9 hours ago
Health Minister David Clark has flouted the Government's advice to exercise locally after confirming he drove to a park to go mountain biking on Thursday. ...9 hours ago
Covid-19 cases top 1m; Trump brags he's #1 on Facebook and says he knows about the virus because a 'friend' got it; UK testing scandal grows; Cats more vulnerable to virus than dogs Ticking up to a million cases: A gruesome landmark was passed today when we go over one million ...9 hours ago
RBNZ bans bank dividends; Who is next after Bauer's shock closure? Vital plan blocked; Commission wins in real estate price fixing case; Softbank walks out WeWork No you won’t: The Reserve Bank took the unprecedented step of prohibiting the banks from paying dividends during the coronavirus crisis or redeeming any ...10 hours ago
Former National Finance Ministers Steven Joyce and Bill English question the severity of the Covid-19 lockdown and ask whether the Government has an exit strategy. Andrew Patterson reports. Steven Joyce and Bill English have seen their fair share of financial crises and natural disasters as the last National Government's finance ...11 hours ago
Two new cases of Covid-19 have been identified in Fiji, prompting a lockdown of its capital. Teuila Fuatai reports. Fijian health authorities are scrambling to identify close contacts of its latest two Covid-19 cases. The couple, from Nabua, Suva, appear unrelated to the country’s previous five. Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama ...11 hours ago
Christchurch is a city of contrasts, as some stretch their legs with smiles and others with suspicion. David Williams reports It was no surprise it happened in Christchurch’s student quarter. The smiles of those standing at their gates in Ilam Road broadened as a baby kayak strapped to a skateboard ...12 hours ago
Suzanne McFadden speaks to two Kiwi 'bubbles' who have unanticipated - but serendipitous - housemates. Sue Bremner has found a silver lining to the brooding cloud of lockdown – it’s meant getting to know the sister who never knew she existed for almost 65 years. Englishwoman Bremner has found herself holed ...12 hours ago
As the walls go up around the world, global trade is feeling the effects. But beyond the short-term pain, what systemic change might we see? Sam Sachdeva reports. International trade was already facing headwinds before the spread of coronavirus - but the pandemic has knocked it well and truly off-course. ...12 hours ago
The decisions by German media giant Bauer to shut its New Zealand magazine operation and NZME’s axing of Radio Sport have been precipitated by the coronavirus. But, as Mark Jennings and Tim Murphy write, the closures are also due to the deeper problems of the local media industry. The sudden announcement ...12 hours ago
How long does it take to recover, how do you know you’ve recovered and can you catch Covid-19 twice? If you’ve had Covid-19 when are you officially recovered? Turns out there’s no test in New Zealand. It's judged by time of onset and last symptoms. How do I tick the ...12 hours ago
The first thing to note about the partying Queenstown backpackers is these acts of youthful rebellion are not an isolated phenomenon. As I write this on April 1, The Guardian is reporting on a group of people in their 20s who took the opportunity to celebrate Spring Break in the ...12 hours ago
Every Friday of lockdown, LockerRoom will share posts from Kiwi sportswomen who've caught our eye with novel ways of keeping on top of their game at home. This week we have Black Ferns making their own training equipment, a Kiwi professional cyclist virtually racing against riders around the world, and ANZ Premiership netballers calling their ...12 hours ago
Steve Braunias pays tribute to the Listener, closed yesterday in the wake of Covid-19's devastation of the economy. This piece to mark the end of the Listener is exactly how I started writing for the Listener: late at night, with instant coffee, in a state of shock. The shock then ...12 hours ago
A new app unveiled by the Government to dispense information about Covid-19 can be scaled up to help with pandemic tracking and diagnosing the illness, Marc Daalder reports A Government WhatsApp channel revealed today will help carry information pertinent to the Covid-19 pandemic to the nation's smartphones - but that's ...13 hours ago
Yesterday I lifted a broken path out with a spade and a wheelbarrow. It took just over an hour.
Friday I met a Government contractor who, when I suggested a spade instead of a 3 ton digger looked horrified and said “But, that’s manual labor”.
Herein lies a very large problem. So called grown men, so called working men, who are in fact: babies. Where did they learn to be so shit?
Where I come from hard work is its own reward with fitness and pride coming as well as cash and camaraderie – it’s all good. Who is teaching people to be so shit?
Something seriously wrong when people are afraid of real work, then half of them go to the gym. Mentally ill?
Mental ill… no….. lazy maybe, or possibly the lack of an audience, unlike the gym.
It’s a class thing. Modern men drive machines, get out of their cars to exercise and keep strong, and get on an expensive mountain or touring bike, pedal or fancy Harley Davidson. They don’t pick up a yard broom to sweep leaves, you
point a mechanised blower at them. Manual work is for losers.
It’s the attitude that grew the turncoat treasonable Labour defectors, Douglas et al. That is how they convinced themselves they were being progressive.
Thanks, Grey for explaining, appreciate that 🙂
Was thinking later on that if I had a digger/access to one, or money was no issue then absolutely I would use it/hire a digger over a spade.
Depends on the tools available.
Fuck I’ve grafted all my days but id take a digger over a spade any day . I work for an old falla who insists I drag sheep over the board instead of use the sheep handler .
Maybe you should live in a cave and walk every where as you obviously long for the good old days
That’s why the work costs so much and takes so long waggy. Compliance issues with a spade would take up little smootharse time.
Say that worker damages his back on the spade to the point he can’t do his job . His boss will have to let him go at some point ,80% of his wages is all acc will pay and it’s possible a chunk of his wages will be in nontaxable allowances so he may actually be down to 60% of his take home wage .
Now as he s not an all black or rich he’ll only get the minimum of medical help at it will take ages to get it .
Say that worker drives the digger into overhead lines waggy. Or tips it into the ditch. Or backs out into traffic. Or ruptures a gas line.
I am with bwaghown in this debate, as I aklso was all my life a ‘graffter’ and now at 73 have a broken back shoulders, knees and hands.
I suffered from a hernia when I worked at manapouri as a electrician and got a type of hernia lifting a very large battery out of a tunnel drilling platform that no other machine nor digger could extract out of the craddle it was siiting in under the engine all while , the drillking platform was kept in oeration.
Later when I was in pain, at the surgeons clinic afterwards he said in Winton,
– “sir this is an injury that is so risky to operate on and I advise you learn to live with it, and not lift heavy objects any more” – I was 22 yrs old then.
Do not engage in heavy work or dangerous activities when you rely a ‘trade or activity’ – for income is my advice as you will be ruined by it.
Balance in everything. That ole’ farmer is no doubt the sort that is behind the determination of a significant group of farmers to not follow the sensible rules set by government with obvious negative outcomes and further does not treat his workers or his animals with respect.
Illustrative?….yes ,it appears overkill to use machinery for a job that is relatively easy to do by hand and yes there is risk of injury and worn bodies from manual labour….and then theres the ongoing complaints of the skill levels and costs of having work done.
Its a grey old world, perception is reality and theres always decisions to be made.
Excellent. It is good to get the perspective of others on this. I’ve grafted a few decades but I also switched it up a lot to keep myself interested and to rest some muscles while thrashing others. While due care and attention is required, there’s also an element of luck to not being knackered after hard graft. I put my back out under load one time, only twisted the slightest bit and that was me gone for months. Another time I’m hauling some gib and the wind caught it and twisted for me. Not good…
I loved getting in the trucks loading out rock concerts banging out 10, 20, 30 containers of gear and breaking tour records. Some of those boys I met died on the road. There’s an element of risk to anything really. But it’s a matter of pride being good at what you do. Those boys know how to graft. Graft hard at whatever you do what’s the point in being fucking mediocre.
Safety I get, these guys, nope.
This issue is also about grift, as well as graft. One contractor with the (3 1/2 ton, ~ $100 per hour) digger, and the truck to transport it. Another contractor, with a helper, to do the boxing. I’m hoping he’ll also lay the concrete… Maybe it is someone else I’m sure they’ll need to use a wheelbarrow at some stage the truck won’t fit down there so there’s that quandary (manual labor) for him. Maybe even a separate gravel contractor, then the pour. The concrete pour will be followed by an inspector and more than likely an inspector inspector. I am not kidding one bit.
When they painted (eaves, windows, under eaves): One lot put up the scaffold. Another lot trimmed (pulled out, while contracted not to) the plants. Another lot painted – Lack of basic cutting in, etc. Then an inspector. Then an inspectors inspector. Then they always try to bring the painter back to do something again to justify the inspectors inspector bullshit role. So you see a small job turns into a massive clusterfuck of nonsense – and billing.
When lifting concrete it’s actually easier than other heavy stuff that you can’t hit with a hammer when it’s too big. This was just over an hours work for one, there was two of them.
Not safety, softies.
“This issue is also about grift, as well as graft.”
Theres that…..and corporate advantage…and greywarshark’s point of manual work being for losers has its place as well.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions (and unintended(?) consequences)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11766950
oh the irony
There’s certainly the risk of wrist injuries when trying to increase your pecs haha. But I’ve worked in a gym (cleaner, but got gym tickets and loads of time with trainers cos go hard when you’re there you know). I’ve done a shit ton of stuff…
I do agree with comments that life on the tools is harsh on bodies, and improvements in that direction can only be good.
Am I a dinosaur? Maybe. For the most part I’ve been able to call the shots on laboring where I’d do a stint get the cheque and go do something different once I’d had enough (styled after Barry Crump’s Sam Cash). So labor (mostly) kept me in great shape instead of taxed me. Perhaps I could exhibit the art of humping rocks at MOTAT.
A lot of work used to have decent contract rates, so you could go like the clappers to do x amount, then stop. Today, boss owns you for the hours, not the work. And the hours are long just to make ends meet. That’ll break a body. Rest is a crucial part of exercise.
Just not ALL day. Balance. I’m not totally against progress, just…
YOU KIDS NEED TO GET OUT OF MY DAMN YARD!
DB
You would enjoy George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London if you haven’t read it.
It’s available on Gutenberg for Australia but don’t know if NZ allows it.
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100171h.html
This is Chapter 14. I found it good if I put it into Page preview for printing, and then easily adjust size of font and good for reading.
http://www.telelib.com/authors/O/OrwellGeorge/prose/DownandOut/downandout_14.html
“Whenever one pays more than, say, ten francs for a dish of meat in Paris, one may be certain that it has been fingered in this manner.”
So many amazing quotes. That is gold, thank you.
And I can see the first link too. Excellent.
And in the real world manual labour destroys people’s bodies and shortens their life:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2092511/
http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/19/physically-demanding-jobs-are-linked-to-higher-risk-of-heart-disease/
Why are you demanding that people sacrifice themselves for no benefit?
Sacrificing themselves for no benefit?
You also quoted me. Do you need a paraphrase?
Money, good relations, health, getting fit as. Exercise is also linked to many health benefits, there’s always a spectrum.
I aint asking them to go down the mines.
And what the fuck good is a worker who won’t work. Really?
That’s right – no benefit. It could be done by machine without causing serious damage to the person doing it and be done faster.
Taking longer to get more money isn’t particularly efficient.
I’m pretty sure that the people who turn up to do the job will get on reasonably well.
It damages peoples health which is my point and the point of the articles I linked to. You’re just spouting belief that is wrong.
They do work – just not in the way you expect because things have moved on in the last several decades.
It is not a life threatening situation and requires no high tech. Just a bit of common sense and effort saved considerable wreckage of my gardens as well as time and money. This should be a contractors concern, not to unnecessarily trash the place.
However, ethically, I cannot deny that it needs to be people over property.
Ironic that.
I cede that saving backs is commendable practice.
I still think they’re a pack of shiftless mongrels, this job is to repair damage from 2 years back when the last lot were let in with a digger. No compensation for considerable property loss at the time, and now they tried to dig up a perfectly good driveway as well as the broken path. That’s when I’d had enough. Moved the concrete myself, enough, is enough.
Common Sense is neither common nor sense.
To some degree yes.
And that is a concern. Someone is milking it which needs a proper investigation. But how to get one started and properly done?
I suspect many of us have acquaintances that are over 50 and have been building for most of their lives. Of the half dozen I know they all have 1 thing in common: Buggered backs. More than should wrestle with skin cancer issues. There seem to be many peripheral advantages to pre-fab house building.
Foul weather costs everyone money on a building site. Painters rained off etc. Health and Safety is much easier to manage when we’re keeping an eye on a factory rather than a suburb. Building outside in the depth of winter….yuck…warm factory, Nice! Neighbours don’t need to put up with the noise, mess, somebody else’s musical taste etc for 2-3 months. Can be built around the clock, 3 x 8 hour shifts every day, 7 days a week. Economy of scale, all costs come down when you’re buying building materials by the tonne and kilometre.
Lot of good points David.
I think I am pining for the ‘good old days’. Prefab building makes a lot of sense in the light of production and preservation of people.
And preservation of people is where my rant falls over.
There’s a line though – a nanny state if you will. I’ll throw blocks if I wanna!
Your points about mechanization are important particularly if they are in a tight space or section as you describe. Sometimes hand-work is safest and most accurate.
If there were a machine that could do tie-ins for rebar and foundation/slab work we would definitely use them on our sites (construction of rail, motorways, water and wastewater plants, heavy marine etc). But right now there isn’t, even with using as much prefab offsite as we can.
But if I need jobs done on my section here in Titirangi I tend to specify as little machinery as possible – I would rather confine the impact as much as possible just as you are proposing.
Nothing like the good old days of work, so long as we also do the basics that decrease injury;
– make sure everyone is clear about their methodology and tasks
– set out the steps to take in a ‘toolbox talk’ at the beginning of each day
– Get them decent lunch so they don’t forget you
– Make sure everyone is wearing gloves and steel capped boots and strong pants and shirts (you know the drill)
– But still stay on the phone to the business and make your specifications and your cost control rigidly clear. It’s your show after all.
And. Yet another skilled independent tradesman gets turned into a minimum wage factory worker.
Yay!
Done properly no persons would be involved in the construction.
Will need highly intelligent, well trained and well paid people to keep the factory going though.
I’d say the real reason is the amount of money they can rip taxpayers off by getting in a digger at $150 an hour plus disposal plus this plus that. Money is more desirable than hard physical work.
This fault preventing me making a comment about the New Zealand campaign against climate change and offshore oil and gas prospecting.
Will try again
Nope.
It seems that comments about Syria as well as deep sea oil protests are being captured by this fault.
Will try again.
Nope. No luck this time either.
Maybe I should take the hint and restrict myself to making comments about the Royal wedding.
Related comments:
I will not agree to self censorship
Request Timeout
Server timeout waiting for the HTTP request from the client.
Apache/2.4.33 (Ubuntu) Server at thestandard.org.nz Port 443
Related comments:
Dead Whales, Continued deep sea oil and gas exploration, Climate Change.
Which network do you use for your internet feed Jenny?
Telecom’s Spark email.
No change there.
This is the server I have always used.
I’ve had problems logging into and commenting on TS for a few months. Usually on the browser I use most (Firefox), but eventually it hits every browser.
Firefox on one or 2 laptops now regularly get bad request notices no matter how many times I clear the cache and history.
I logged in for this comment using the Vivaldi browser. But, I have pretty much given up commenting on TS. It’s just too much hassle.
And re your question to Jenny, micky. Spark IP.
Since the last break-down about a week ago I lost my details and have to insert them each time I comment. Some comments have also disappeared into spam bin. Mentioned it the other day and a few commenters confirmed they were having the same problem. I use Google Chrome.
I’m also Spark IP.
Anne
You may already know about this. But for anyone who doesn’t, I too lost my embedded details and was entering each time. Then realised I could get in easier with the dropdown option so just put the first letter, it drops down and I click on appropriate info.
@ greywarshark 27 May 2018 at 12:24 pm:
I suspect this is something to do with your browser settings and I’ll use this comment to test it out.
Edit: Nope, it didn’t work 🙁
Incognito
Unfortunately i have to learn my computer program management
on the run. So what do you find through your browser settings
check?
I struggle with damn technology. I can’t use my cellphone easily apparently because my little finger hasn’t enough area to
drive the system etc.
Hi greywarshark,
I found nothing that was helpful and you can believe when I say that I would have shared it here if I had 😉
I have to type in my details for each & every comment but I’ve also lost the ability to see who replied to my comments; the Replies option on the RH side is gone and only Comments and Opinions are available!?
I’ve tried different browsers with different settings (on a laptop) but so far no luck 🙁
It’s like digging a (small) hole manually each time 😉
Hi lprent
When you have time could you advise what you think is leading to our problems here. Jenny is wanting to talk about the latest political stuff and is getting paranoid that she can’t get through.
I have felt the same about things that I have written.
GCSB must have a lot of stuff that they want to trial.
I’m with Vodafone and using the very latest Firefox web browser.
I have to enter my details in the name and mail fields again every time I hit reply and no longer get to see that useful tab that would show me when someone has replied to one of my comments.
All the problems seemed to start after the website was unavailable for a day or two to me.
Thank you for your concern at all my travails MS.
You are an angel.
Lucifer?
Better the devil you know, aye.
No problems Jenny I have had it as well. Clearing my browser history helped for a while.
It is strange though. I find if I tether to Vodafone or use some wireless networks it plays up but then when I use my work or home wireless networks it is fine.
Will try again.
The broadcasting/communication minister should be fired for this!!!!
We sufferd some similar inter-ruption also and what is happening over our internet services as in the last two days our service provider was called by us for disruption of services, several times.
We saw the stupid stuff over Clare Curran screwing up our plans for a new media channel so this is just a coontinuatiioon of these problems faced by us all because of failing communicatiion systems.
The big question on broacasting/communications right now is this;
Why did the PM Jacinda Ardern ‘eagerly’ dismiss the Minister of transport from his Air Transport portfolio when she didn’t fire Clare Curran as Minister of Broadcasting when she ‘communicated’ with those she was legally prevented not to communicate with with??????
Jacinda needs to fix this now because Clare Curran was the most destructive MP for the Labour coalition Government cause to allow them to setup a new public broadcasting channel that the new Government urgently needs most of all right to counter the negative tone of all the media coverage, as media is right now accusing all the issues around what the new government it doing???
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018619322/new-government-new-plans-for-broadcasting
Nope no luck.
What I am trying to show you, is that Greenpeace has had to cancel all protests against deep sea oil and gas drilling in New Zealand waters under threat of $200,000 fines.
This is being done under the Anadarko Amendment, the legislation brought in at the behest of the oil companies by the last National Government.
Why hasn’t Jacinda “the priness of our world climate change” cancelled the former national Government agreementn with this highly aggessive oil company Anadarko?
Are they afraid of showing us what faces us all under ISDS under TPP?
Jenny, I’ve found I can’t cut and paste anything more than http:// addies into the comment box, or I’ll get the whole time out as well. I’ve also noticed that I need to space out any links, with me writing stuff in between. And as a last kicker don’t have any text too close to a hyperlink.
See if that helps. I know the frustration, you are not alone.
No. It has nothing to do with links.
Typing this without attempting to login
[k. For info, that one was sitting in pending. I’ve left a note for Lynn in the back end and referred him to this sub-thread.] – Bill
Thanks, Bill. yes. that’s what I typed on Firefox, without logging in, and got a bad request notice.
No. It has nothing to do with links. I now seem to be permanetly getting
I just tried to type a couple of sentences reply to you on Firefox, without logging in, and got the above.
It used to help clearing the cache and history (for a while), but after a while that didn’t seem to work either.
I get that response when I try to log in to TS on firefox.
I have logged in OK today and commenting here via Vivaldi
But continually trying to find work arounds becomes too tiresome.
PS: just cleared cache and history, closed firefox then reopened it and got the above message again just trying to access TS.
That error doesnt sound like a block from TS
Try chrome or IE
Or try to make sure you are only pasting the url and not other stuff
Has this gone on to Facebook set for public – world Jenny? It needs to be known by others.
“What I am trying to show you, is that Greenpeace has had to cancel all protests against deep sea oil and gas drilling in New Zealand waters under threat of $200,000 fines.”
So all they have to do now is not break the law and they won’t get fined. Easy really.
No answer eh?
I will fight for our freedom as our solders did for us as these greedy assholes like Anadarko will kill land rape a country to extract what they want.
Then leave it spoiled and polluted, – I dont want that for our children as I want to protect the planet for future generations.
Do you?
No answer eh?
I will fight for our freedom as our solders did for us as these greedy assholes like Anadarko will kill land rape a country to extract what they want.
Then leave it spoiled and polluted, – I dont want that for our children as I want to protect the planet for future generations.
Do you?
Who was the young woman on today’s Q&A panel? When asked what her “miss of the week was” she said it was Phil Twyford and his behaviour on the aeroplane. “Not a good look” she said. If she thinks that is the most serious ‘miss’ of the week’ then she is uninformed and politically very naive. What was she doing there?
What she was brought in to do by the sounds of things – misdirect from the major issues of the day.
I think your wrong twyford was the biggest miss of the week . The nats are doing what opposition parties do (Just they a better at dirty than the others) but twyford was just plain dumb .
So her opinion was wrong according to you. Therefore she is uninformed and niave.
Gee you sure got a case of “self importance” and holier than tho going on today Anne.
So Anne’s opinion is wrong according to you, James …
I reckon, 3 – 0.
You need to work on your trolling Robert.
At least put some effort in.
You joined the TS discussion today, James, just to tell Anne that she’s “got a case of self importance”?
Good effort.
Spot on Robert. I noticed the usual suspects weren’t here today and conversations were passing back and forth and then James popped up and contributed … nothing. Except his usual negative, sniping trolling of course.
Nope popped in here for a quick read – just happened that Anne’s self righteous comment stood out so I commented.
Oarsome!
What the hell are you talking about? What’s “holier than thou” about critiquing a person who came across to me as a bit of a twit – or twat of you prefer. Apart from that, listen to who is talking. You spend your whole time critiquing and running down people on this site!
Could be one of those religious righties who believe national are god’s gift. The type who excuse homelessness and decaying infrastructure that kills New Zealanders because national are born again “winners” and are conservative like them. They just block out the continual lies that are preached to them I spose.
Some good stuff from Radionz Wallace Chapman this am.
life and society author interview
11:04 am today
Jeremy Heimans: the power of new power
From Sunday Morning, 11:04 am today
Listen duration 32′ :04″
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018646695/jeremy-heimans-the-power-of-new-power
Jeremy Heimans is the co-author, with Henry Timms, of a book called “New Power” . He says Harvey Weinstein is a typical example of old power and the #metoo movement is an example of new power. Heimans says there’s been a fundamental shift in the balance of power in the world and we have major structural problems that could benefit from the kinds of mass participation and peer coordination that “new power” players know how to generate. He says “the facts just aren’t enough”.
****************************
Civil Defence environment
10:04 am today
Ann Brower: critical conscience
From Sunday Morning, 10:04 am today
Listen duration 32′ :18″
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018646691/ann-brower-critical-conscience
On 31 May, Dr Ann Brower will deliver a lecture at the University of Canterbury, titled: A Little Guy’s Guide to Making a Difference after receiving the Critic and Conscience of Society Award earlier this month. Dr Brower is probably best known for her advocacy for more stringent regulation of earthquake-prone buildings, a campaign informed by her experience of being on a bus crushed by falling masonry in Christchurch’s 2011 earthquake. Twelve passengers died on or beside the bus. She’s also been prominent in highlighting high country land being transferred from Crown to private ownership.
Begs the question, why is New Zealand Rugby so backwards in support of our indigenous culture?
Big ups to the AFL and all the families, artist and players involved in this.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-05-27/art-footy-and-indigenous-culture-collide
Hmmmm the Maori all blacks ? A race based team isn’t enough for you
And how much coverage do they get? We’ll take your haka and your best players thanks very much.
Fucked if I know don’t watch much rugby .
Hadn’t noticed the rfu forcing Maori to play for them as the word taking implies. As for the haka didn’t the sort something out with Te Raprahas tribe a few years ago . ( wouldn’t bother me if they dropped the haka as once you’ve watched it for 40 odd years it’s lost it’s thrill )
So how is “New Zealand Rugby so backwards in support of our indigenous culture? “?
What kind of shallow empty gesture did you have in mind addy? Bearing in mind the perils of cultural misappropriation.
Rebstock.
I had a quick look at Heidrick & Struggles’ website. The ‘about us’ section is showing “404 not found”, so obviously they didn’t spend our $100k on that.
Rebstock = hired gun
Results of fully anonymised staff surveys get pretty bracing.
Management won’t come out of this unscathed.
I saw the National Media Party rorting is so bad, it has put in question New Zealand being kicked out of the 5 eyes for being a communist liability.
The change the flag, no record on land sales, flogging off the water, record immigration, spies in cabinet ‘elite’ network etc is clearly the culprit here.
NZ society needs honest lobbying via local custom driving govt. oversight & policy, formal employee firms as part of specialised product chains where necessary, and self-regulating business associations bound by autonomous democratic control in designating levels of conduct.
Capitalism has a place for lesser practises, but they should be a niche, not state run (or overrun as the case may be) monopolies.
Any truth to the rumour this government is going to open the doors wide to overseas buyers as long as they plant trees . I was told mp mcelvie addressed a fed farmers meeting and that was one of his talking points.
Do you mean Ian McKelvie, National MP?
Yip sorry for the miss spell
No answer eh?
I will fight for our freedom as our solders did for us as these greedy assholes like Anadarko will kill land rape a country to extract what they want.
Then leave it spoiled and polluted, – I dont want that for our children as I want to protect the planet for future generations.
Do you?
Last Friday it was 40 years since Day 507 when Bastion Point got stormed and the Ngati whatua protesters were arrested and their makeshift whare wrecked.
” The stand at Bastion Point is a prevailing benchmark for protest in Aotearoa, which led to the first successful retrospective claim hearing at the Waitangi Tribunal. It is a move that Joe Hawke, leader of the 1977 protest, has never regretted. “I went onto the Point, not to invite an arrest, but to arrest a wrong, and 40 years on, all of Ngāti Whātua are benefiting from that stand”, he said. ”
http://ngatiwhatuaorakei.com/bastion-point-40-years
You can still see the ‘Not One More Acre!’ photographic exhibition at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
This clip from Te Karere a few years ago gives a sense of what this was like.
Also here, and there was the army on standby, air force helicopters in the air, and a navy ship close by just to intimidate:
Ngati Whatua are now one of the largest landowners in downtown Auckland, so good on them.
If you ever find it, check out the documentary by Merata Mita: Takaparawha Day 507. It’s chilling. Anyone says racism was long gone in the 1950s, take a look at that one and weep.
I think their action, together with the Motonui Plant coastal decisions, were the things that really started the reconciliation process as we now know it. Helluva day, just watching Philip Sherry front that on the news.
The first poll since the budget, from Newshub/Reid Research:
– National 45.1% (up 0.6%)
– Labour 42.6% (up 0.3%)
– Greens 5.7% (down 0.3%)
– NZ First 2.4% (down 1.2%)
ACT, Maori Party and The Opportunities Party were not mentioned.
Preferred Prime Minister:
– Jacinda Ardern 40.2%
– Simon Bridges 9.0%
– Winston Peters 4.6%
– Judith Collins 3.7%
39% said Peters would do ok in the top job.
Boy, how matey are Judith Collins and Tova 0’Brien?
Preferred Prime Minister:
Jacinda Ardern 40.2%
Simon Bridges 9.0%
Go Simon you superstar!
I remember the days, just one year ago, when Andrew Little was hounded as a complete loser when on 7%.
Remember when Labour was written off two months before the election?
Remember when Greens were written off one month before the election?
It’s over two years until the next election.
You’re saying Bridges is toast. Thanks for that but we knew it already.
What’s more alarming for the Nats is the upcoming rapid turnover of leaders and the blood-letting which is about to commence in the impending series of power vacuums.
Your only faint hope is Nicola Willis as far as I can see and she’s only been in the game for a few short weeks. Several leader changes before she gets the nod I would think.
I’m not saying Bridges is toast. I simply made the point that it’s very difficult to predict elections based on a single poll two to two and a half years before the election.
I’m not impressed with Bridges, but it’s early days for him. National support holding up with give him a while to step up, but I haven’t seen that he has what it takes yet.
I don’t have any hopes, faint or otherwise, about future leaders of any party, nor of future elections.
I do hope the current Government does a good job generrally. There are some promising signs, and some concerning signs, and a lot yet unknown.
“Bridges is struggling be be seen or liked.” – Pete George
“I’m not saying Bridges is toast. I simply made the point that it’s very difficult to predict elections based on a single poll two to two and a half years before the election.” – Pete George
“Your only faint hope is Nicola Willis” – Muttonbird
“Judith Collins makes her debut – she has been the most prominent and effective Opposition MP, and liked by some in the National Party.” – Pete George
I don’t know what point you’re trying to make Robert.
Collins hasn’t had any success standing for leader so far and may or may not have any chance in the future. She may have decided to settle in as a support MP, or may still have ambitions. I have no idea, and i don’t know what her chances are.
It’s far too soon to know how Willis will go. Most MPs never get anywhere near being party leader, and almost all don’t make it to PM.
There’s as much certainty (none) of knowing whether Marama Davidson will help grow the Green Party, or deter vital support if they are to survive next election.
Sooo much uncertainty, Pete! Could be this or it could be that, might be up, might be down, maybe good, maybe bad – the only reasonable thing we can do is stay balanced, give everyone an equal chance, look at both sides, weigh up the arguments for as long as it takes to see they are the same underneath it all.
Aye.
Robert Guyton. I was halfway through a very similar comment on how many times Pete had equivocated;
“not impressed, but early days”
“has a while to step up, but (hasn’t got) what it takes yet”
“I don’t have any hopes”, then “I do hope”
“There are promising signs, and concerning signs”
“may or may not”
“may have decided to settle”, yet “may still have ambitions”
“It’s far too soon”
“There’s (no) certainty”
In fact Pete said the word ‘may’ 4 times in one short, beige paragraph.
I was going to post a comment like this but then suddenly became crushed by the weight of tan, and lost interest 🙂
PS. You might like this from the wiki page on beige:
Substitute inks with convictions.
“I was halfway through…”
🙂
Check out this graphic!
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/05/simon-bridges-failing-to-connect-with-voters-newshub-poll/_jcr_content/par/image_640870606.dynimg.full.q75.jpg/v1527401762952/D-POLL-GFX-SEATS-IN-THE-HOUSE-TOB-27-05.jpg
A couple of assumptions so wrong that you have to wonder if whoever did it is just trolling with the best of them.
They had to make the facts fit the preferred narrative somehow Muttonbird?
They’re not trolling, this is snubbery’s goal in life to invent support for national to make them look like they’re in the driver’s seat at all times.
As Ed said so aptly the other day, “the media is scum”.
With NZ First below the threshold, it makes the Greens the king/Queen-maker. This is a shift from the situation where NZF was always shown as a PM-Maker during the last term of government.
I think Muttonbird’s point though, was, that barring a massive change of heart the Greens aren’t planning on installing any National Party leader PM anytime soon, especially Collins! So this poll, like all the polls since the election just continues to confirm National’s hapless position and puts Ardern fully in the drivers seat.
That’s right it’s dishonest reporting, the Greens aren’t a NZ First or Māori Party ‘kingmaker’ party that could go either way. They’re apparently our version of hard left. So only an idiot media would classify them as a potential coalition partner of the right wing nats.
Yes. There is zero chance of the Greens being king-maker because there is zero chance of them forming a government with National no matter how hard National party proxies try to make it so.
You can see why they are so very very desperate to sow the seeds of this narrative because the Labour/Greens bloc is now quite powerful.
For New Shub to pretend a National Green government is possible is further evidence the right wing media is attempting to invent this impossibility.
I wouldn’t necessarily blame the Greens if they didn’t immediately come out and destroy the idea but Marama Davidson must be seething it is even in print.
The other error is that they gift a seat to poor people hater, David Seymour. Surely at just 0% of the party vote even the many many bigots of Epsom will start to choke on what they are fed.
While they won’t go with the nats, the greens might be tempted to make Labour work as a minority government and look at things on an issue-by-issue basis. Threatening a snap election at any time.
If Labour want security, they need to work to keep the greens onside
Agreed. However, there was only ever about a 5% chance NZF would go with National in the last few years, IMO.
It is interesting that the GP is becoming more indispensable to Labour than previously. And NZF seems to be on a slide.
The people of Epsom will continue to gift a seat to a poor-people hater until they are told not to by someone wearing a blue rosette. Even at 0.2% of the vote, it’s in their interest to deliver an overhang seat that will reliably support the Nats.
And I see that Jo Moir is already up with a piece on Stuff.
The Collins gang are getting ready to roll…
What the hell.
This country has issues.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/104238587/real-estate-agency-harcourts-staff-filmed-in-blackface-at-national-conference
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104248900/judith-collins-joins-preferred-pm-rankings–labour-greens-still-ahead
Yes!
First she’ll take out Twyford, second will be Bridges and last but not least Ardern, Collins coming for the crown!
Rotten swamp kauri or finished table top? When she knifes shouty, the electorate will judge.
But she’ll need more than a phone call and an overhead locker to knife Twyford.
Being that Twyford doesn’t seem to want to take advice from anyone not on the opposite side of his mirror it won’t be long before he has to fall on his own sword
lol we’ll see
With those words, Chris 73, you have formed the perfect basis of a greatly comedic irony.
Collins is out there. She can’t be bargained with. She can’t be reasoned with. She doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And she absolutely will not stop, ever, until she becomes leader.
Yup. She’s like a cancer in the nat caucus.
Chris she has hardly taken out Twyford. He’s just lost a relatively minor part of his workload and is probably quite grateful for that.
On an on-line poll the majority of people didn’t think Twyford should have lost his portfolio. It’s not that big
Something very unusual happened in the Occupied West Bank last week…
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2018/05/27/im-so-shattered-im-so-shaken-i-might-be-up-all-night-partying/
Statement by UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl, the Gaza Strip
Good morning,
Thank you for joining us for this press briefing.
My current visit took place in the aftermath of the weeks of protests and marches here in the Gaza Strip and the appalling impact of the events that followed.
Yesterday, I visited an UNRWA health centre in Khan Younis, a partner rehabilitation centre in Deir El-Balah and the Al-Shifa hospital. These were shocking and deeply disturbing visits.
Allow me to describe this is some detail, focusing on three main dimensions.
First, I truly believe that much of the world completely underestimates the extent of the disaster in human terms that occurred in the Gaza Strip since the marches began on 30 March.
117 people were killed by Israeli forces – of which 13 were children – and over 13,000 people were injured, of which an estimated 3,500 by live ammunition. Let me put this in context.
During the 51 days of the military assault in Gaza in 2014, approximately 12,000 people were injured. In other words, as many people or even slightly more were injured during a total of 7 days of protests than were injured during the full duration of the 2014 conflict. That is truly staggering.
During the visits, I was also struck not only by the number of injured but also by the nature of the injuries. The demonstrators had been systematically shot either in the lower limbs (shattering femurs, knees and ankles), in the abdomen, the back, or the head.
The pattern of small entry wounds and large exit wounds, indicates ammunition used caused severe damage to internal organs, muscle tissue and bones.
Both the staff or the MoPH hospitals, NGOs, and UNRWA clinics are struggling to deal with extremely complex wounds and care.
Second, the direct consequence of the number of injured and nature of wounds has brought the health-care system in Gaza to a breaking point. It is a health system already plagued by the multiple health pressures and severe medical stock limitations under regular circumstances.
……….
https://www.unrwausa.org/unrwa-usa-press-releases/2018/5/22/dehumanizing-an-entire-community-will-bring-no-peace
What is the fair price for an item? So it can be made in NZ using NZ labour?
The charities selling second hand clothes complain at the rubbish that is put out to them to dispose of, so poorly looked after that they can’t sell them on. If we bought one thing and wore it for three seasons instead of three times, we could afford to pay more.
This shoe maker has been in business for 25 years. She has to sell up and carries on the remnant of her business with manufacturing done in China in a factory that seems ethically run. On line buying has also made an impact on her business she thinks. She sadly sold one machine that she imported for $1000’s to a tryer in another city for $100.
We need people in jobs, we need to support our own people, our country, if we want to have one that is. And we may need to save up for items instead of having instant cheap gratification. What do you think?
business
25 May 2018
Fast fashion kills Auckland shoemaker Minnie Cooper
From Checkpoint, 5:37 pm on 25 May 2018
Zac Fleming, Checkpoint Producer
zacflemng zac.fleming@radionz.co.nz
After nearly 30 years, Auckland women’s shoe label Minnie Cooper has closed for good, citing fast fashion and no GST on online purchases as the final nails in its coffin.
Checkpoint visited Ms Cooper at Minnie Cooper’s former workshop today. Watch here:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018646562/fast-fashion-kills-auckland-shoemaker-minnie-cooper
The usual cries will be heard about offshore exploitation, entrepreneur greed and supporting local production…..until they hear the price, then it all goes out the window.
Her parting comment in the interview is on the mark…..make do with less (and demand quality and long lived products)
IT IS BECAUSE THERE IS NO SHARED LOCAL LOOP FRAMEWORK IN THE VALUE (IDENTITY) SYSTEMS OF SIGNIFICANCE. !!!
My household has at least 20 pairs of Minnie Coopers. She had a good run.
But any clothing manufacturer still going in New Zealand is in a spiral as the skills aren’t being replaced. Zulu can’t even find them. Icebreaker’s long gone. Even Nom’d. And of course World can’t even lie straight let alone hem straight.
It’s ridiculous to try to hold more than the designers and owners in this country, because they are the only jobs that are rewarded properly by the global industry. We’ve long since lost any clustering effect apropos Porter that could have sustained comparative advantage.
I find that so depressing. We can’t lie down and let the world roll over us.
There are some good things being tried. We have to trial things from the grass roots up I think. We are just going round in ever-decreasing circles. And to join the competition from vast runs from overseas, plus low wages and conditions, we have the image of robots moving forward, slightly smiling and as dangerous as triffids.
I think we will have to turn NZ made stuff into a club that people join as core buyers saying they will buy one thing a year from certain manufacturers so they can get the loyalty effect and the buyers and manufacturers be alongside with a definite level of demand. Would you have agreed to this as customer of Minnie Cooper?
greywarshark. Never, in a million years, can most of us ever afford over three hundred bucks for a pair of shoes. Nice for you if you can…but most of us, no. If those who have been paying those eye watering sums for slippers are no longer doing so…take it up with them…but you’re probably not going to find many of those sort here on TS.
It is not about ‘instant cheap gratification’, its about limited incomes and kids to feed and clothe and school fees and power bills, and if there’s any savings they’ll go to the ‘coax the old car through the next warrant’ fund. Poncy boots are so far down the list…
I was a loyal member of a ‘buy NZ Club’ for foot wear. Commandos. Remember them? Bought one particular model for nearly three decades when it was first marketed as the quintessential roofers’ shoe. Comfortable, stable and truly non slip. Retailing at $39.95, they were at the upper limit of my budget, but I did save because having safe footing is vital when you’re having to move another fully grown human from bed to wheelchair etc two or three times a day.
Anyway..the buggers have doubled the price, and the quality it just not the same.
So its down to K-Mart and their $10 canvas throwaways.
Rosemary
There may have been cheaper footwear sold by Minnie Cooper. And I am not wealthy and have been quite poor so I’m not ignoring the issues of affordability. But the quite poor (above the level of being homeless, addicted or mentally sick and unemployable) are not the only people in NZ, and never will be. We are going through a slow Depression, and in the last one there were people who were not badly affected. So because something doesn’t apply to you or the people you know, doesn’t mean that the idea has no credibility.
Why are we so poor and destitute in NZ? Because our whole economy
has been sliced and diced by overseas cheap stuff and the direction that RW neolibs have taken us with determination, that is to low wages, ‘flexible-to-none’ hours, voluntary unionism and anti unionism by businesses. We have to think of how we are going to improve things for ourselves, and not just be charity cases patronised by self-centred, arrogant, callous people who are in the better-off category. And unfortunately these are the very same people who once were poor. The book Affluenza talks about the lure of continually wanting more, the driven psychology of aiming ‘to be the best you can be’ and and feeling superior and entitled once success is achieved, and finding fault with those who haven’t.
Nothing will change unless we apply our minds and do things differently from now, and also not try to return to what seems to have been a better time and way. What if the people who want good non-slip shoes find someone, perhaps retired and on superannuation and with time from pressing home or care duties, to run a Facebook page that keeps people in touch who have particular interests and wants. In your case you would say that you need certain shoes at about a certain price, others who know where these can be obtained would advise the group.
We are going to have to show some mettle or lose all the way in this country. I have tried to help particular groups and found they will hardly help themselves, they can’t make the effort, allow the present to swamp them and want a miracle to happen that will solve the situation. If we think of how few people come to this blog and talk over the problems and then come up with a project to improve things, not just with protest to various government agencies but with direct activity, do-it-yourself stuff,
the biggest task is to get people to set aside some time and whatever money they can afford and put their hands to the wheel. But that’s physical labour! And sitting on the fence chewing over the problems, or lining up with the outrage in-group is about where most of NZ is at I am afraid.
It is not impossible …indeed it wasnt so long ago that we did …however the culture change required from both (esp) consumers and manufacturers is such that it is highly unlikely…the easy option is exactly that.
How did this Venezuelan couple get so rich so fast – they must have been overcharging for their insurance.?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/104246642/us-husband-and-wife-do-battle-over-fortune-stashed-away-in-new-zealand
He’s described as a banking and insurance magnate in this unflattering piece .
Woman asks judge for $15M condo after deadbeat hubby skips town with mistress.
Great heading on that piece fender.
Everything has a label so it can be dismissed easily – one in the USA is deadbeat dad. She has been rich, married to a man with lots of money and now it is slipping away and she wants to ensure she stays rich, calling on the legal services and the law to assist her to have her rights for herself and children.
The label for so many of us in NZ is worthless, lazy, unproductive, unworthy and expressed as single parent, druggie, Maori, unemployable. Oh if only we poor people could claim our entitlement from the wealthy who have managed to screw us and disappear our jobs, our living wages, our affordable houses, our public services both affordable and accessible, our opportunity to have an enjoyable secure life, to hold our heads up and be pleased and proud with ourselves and our achievements.
The elite in NZ, the robber barons and their groupies, have ‘skipped town’ with our entitlement to share in the rockstar economy enabling us to have our rights for ourselves and children.
I read “Collins made her first ever appearance as preferred prime minister with 3.7 per cent support, Newshub reported.”
And here and there I read thaty means she’s the next big thing, she’s going to lead National to victory in the next election.
What d’ya reckon, she’ll put Cameron Slater in as Human Rights Commissioner?
Good morning The Am Show Mark it was national that ran a circus and the way shonky ran the show was shocking his trick was to take putea from the poor and give it to the rich another trick of shonkys was he could tell a lie and everyone believed his lie even thought the truth was stearing them in the face.
Eco Maori is still assessing Bryce Edwards something keeps changing his view ?????????.
Duncan the meat from cows with that Bovine virus will be fine we use to eat the cows culled for TB back in the day .
I could survive 3 days in the wild but I learnt how to harvest the kai from te whenua in the Waiapu Vally my whano don’t realize how important the Waiapu Vally is to Maori tupuna history I have learnt these facts.
The abortion debate in Ireland is also about Whine rights Mana Whine ka pai.
You are right M8 hypocrisy runs rife in OUR society you just have a look at ———– and it pokes one in the eyes.
Ka kite ano
The Am Show Mark Sainsbury gambling on those pokie machines is a big scam the house always wins thats the way it all ways works with gambling if the house lost all the time they would go broke and be gone.
The poor people you see gambling are trying to win there way into a more prosperous life and odds are very low on one achieving that feat.
ka kite ano
When I read a artificial I scroll down and read the comments made by other people on the given topic The welfare overhaul panel of 11 they look like they have the credentials for the task this is a win for Te Green Party.
I can see the national trolls easy as trolls paid to stir up peoples emotions they start with a line saying they were or did vote for Labour but have changed there view so easy to read you trolls.
Its that bad at winz that people have to get a advocate just to get a benefit which should be guaranteed in a wealthy country like NZ NO.
Whats wrong with everyone having a healthy happy life style trolls tell me why yous don’t think other people have the right to be treated humanly .
If the story is true if someone is on a sickness benefit for seven years than that person is sick they are probable sick of being put down by employers put down by the system these people are not fortunate like me to have a thick skin and a strong mind as well I have this site and my tipunas genetics to help keep me off a benefit the sandflys are trying there hardest to push me onto one but I won’t give up.
So national trolls know this Eco Maori is watching you . Ka kite ano link is below.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104255326/government-appoints-11strong-advisory-panel-to-overhaul-welfare-system P.S Whats wrong with the wealty having a bit less to help all these people on the streets I see them everywere in Auckland enough said
Rodger I did not have the time to watch Dancing I have been to busy m8 now you have done good you know that saying if the horse bucks you off one just has to get back on m8 . I ;v been thrown off a horse many times I would catch my breath because most times one gets the wind knocked out of them when thrown off a horse and get back on it . Kia Kaha Rodger Ka kite ano