Winston Peters insists his party is principled with commonsense as the central premise. But the reality is, Peters is sending a signal to centre-voters (and conservatives who believe Labour is going to win the 2020 General Election) that he and New Zealand First will be their insurance policy. That he, post-election, will stop any non-centrist/conservative policies from getting off the ground.
Labour strategists must decide whether to campaign as genuinely transformational or try to fake it via sloganeering as usual. Their decision will hinge on perceptions of centrism. Will centrists collectively support progress? Or is Winston right, and they are more likely to use NZF as a handbrake again?
National was able to juxtaposition Labour as the cause of the fiasco.
Huh. If the cap fits… Selwyn is a Labour man, of course, so it makes sense for him to blame the Nats. Whereas the public would have formed the same opinion even if the Nats had said nothing!
day after day for over a week, the public has heard calls from National that the Minister of Health David Clark should resign
So? Hey Selwyn, are you trying to suggest that incompetent Labour ministers ought to evade responsibility? If so, have the guts to spit the dummy & say so! Don't weasel around the point.
But then he does conclude sensibly: "it will be in Labour’s and the nation’s interests to paint Winston Peters and his party as disruptive and disloyal to a handshake made in good faith."
Except that only James Shaw was sufficiently on the ball to make that point last week. All the Labour ministers (including the PM) were too inept.
Winnie is national light so they're anything but progressive and not seeking to level the playing field at all.
They're stymied and obstructed genuine progressive policies pre covid and are now showing the true colour that Jones, Marks etc all represent.
Time to stand alone IMO and leave the right wing parties fighting for that vote because you'll never get a better setting for a socially responsible and humane second term using nationals wrecking job in housing, health, education under key/blinglish as starters.
Frank, or they were busy with the real issues of keeping a tricky virus at bay and supporting business workers and infrastructure.
We are the second most successful country to tackle covid according to WHO.
Like him or not, David Clarke is in the governance role, Ashley is in the implementation role and Jacinda took the communications role. They excelled until Ashley became too comfortable with no evident community transmission, and gave 55 people exemptions and let 2000 leave after 14 days with no testing.
The rules had been changed, and Ashley's team were lax in the early implementation. Due to David's earlier personal missteps, he was a great fall guy for the media. Having made a hero of Ashley Bloomfield many in the media were conflicted and wanted David Clarke to be the bad guy. It was not David Clarke who listened to why 2 women should leave isolation early on grounds of compassion.
The other players in that senario were senior members of the National opposition, Woodhouse Bishop and Muller backing him, ably advised by Hooten? They told an 80% truthful delayed story about the two women, and a mythical tale of a homeless man getting a free stay through tricking the staff and security.
As the previous story had grains of truth, this second story was examined closely by seconded help from Megan Woods, who then asked in writing, MP Woodhouse for proof. His answer, "It must be true as you spent all that effort looking" Wow, and he wants to be Minister of Health? Playing games in a Pandemic?
Opposition attacks have been amplified by attack journalism. The journalists in question were incensed that David Clarke did not take Ashley Bloomfield's error as his problem, so they said that denigrated hero Ashley and in their denial they started a flowers for Ashley page. Almost comedy.
Meanwhile the minister for Health the DGoH and the Prime Minister are proving to be an excellent team in spite of a few learning curves, and they all value each other, and accept each has areas of expertise, and they don't encroach.
83% approval from New Zealanders. USA AND UK Leaders would love to get that backing for their efforts, but that is unlikely any time soon.
The thing that shines here is, this Government shows a willingness to take criticism seriously, to put measures in place as quickly as possible, and to answer to the media questions. In the house Winston has backed the Goverment’s efforts
For a brief moment I thought that Clark had once beaten up Woodhouse in the sandpit at pre-school but I had to rule out that possibility. Shame though, because it could have explained so much.
Thank you for your succinct and accurate analysis Patricia Bremner. Dr Bloomfield oversees operations, and any flaws in the quarantine system are down to him and his team. Dr Clark's job as Minister of Health is to make sure that Government policy is being carried out properly and efficiently on the ground, which means he needs to have all the facts and figures on a weekly, if not daily basis. It is his job however to ask the right questions of the systems put in place. so that he can reassure the public that we aren't going to see outbreaks of Covid-19 in the community due to any laxness. In the end the ultimate responsibility does lie with the Minister, and I'm sure that Dr Clark knows that very well.
Thank you Jane. I agree , though in this case reports to both men appear to have been misleading , that should have been picked up through spot checks by Ashley Bloomfield's team.
David Clark may have asked the questions and he and Ashley received mixed messages during the change over from L2 to L1. At least that appears partly the cause, a well as slow implementation of the changes.
David has over all responsibility, and Ashley implementation of the health edicts. Ashley apologised as his implementation had flaws.
Rather than expect Ministers or Public Servants to fall on their swords, the press would in these circumstances be better to ask how the situation could be remedied rather than calling "Off with their heads"
In this case we are at nearly one full 14 day cycle since L1 and it seems we have escaped bad outcomes, unlike Victoria.
The Kumquat PolPot must be spewing mad. His most obsequious rectal-resident media toady served him up a question so difficult, so far beyond anything he's ever thought about, that Grampa Rage Nappies couldn't even summon up an off-the-cuff lie in response:
Sean Hannity asked Trump about his "top priority items for a second term."
But Trump could not answer.
Instead, he talked about talent being more important than experience, how he had not spent much time in Washington, DC before being elected president and called former National Secrurity Advisor John Bolton an "idiot."
He could have said "Build a wall around my star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame." "Transparent kryptonite would be good."
Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been defaced yet again, this time in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Since the reality TV host became US president in 2016, there have been a number of attempts to vandalise his star including, most successfully, a pickaxe attack in 2018. In 2016, James Lambert Otis, 53, was also recorded using a jackhammer and a pickaxe to remove Trump’s name. The star has also been the subject of protest art, with a wall erected around it in 2016 to symbolize the president’s policy on immigration. The Celebrity Apprentice host, accused of sexually harassing or abusing 25 women, received his star in 2007. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/08/trump-hollywood-walk-of-fame-star-defaced-protests
USA must have ramped up the testing (Sarc) as the number of new cVirus cases is 32k with 5 hrs to go. Looks like they will get 40k today for the first time cf to 20k a week or so back.
You want shambles, look across the ditch and checkout the celebrations in the UK Liverpool fans are indulging in.
Epic failure from both govt's to get the right responses from their citizens this far into it because they never treated it with the correct approach so many people took the 'she'll be right' attitude leaders showed (till one nearly died from it) and look where they are.
As for Brazil, USA etc well you get the chumps up top at the time and hope they’re competent and humane….methinks the Jurys back in on a few of those cases.
the term "behavioural sink " in its pop meaning comes to mind
"The sights and smell were horrendous, like nothing I’ve ever come across before. There was the smell of weed, urine and excrement, and we found so many empty beer bottles. There were cans, wrappers, wet wipes and even underpants. It was horrific.”
Now the Texas and Florida Rep governors are asking people to wear masks and delaying opening their states, which they're going to get a lot of push back from because of their attitude and recent denials.
Siberia has seen “zombie fires” reignited from deep smouldering embers in peatland. This is bad news, releasing particulate air pollution and more carbon in 18 months than in the past 16 years. The immediate cause? Here in the mid-high northern latitudes, we live in unstable weather under the influence of the polar jet stream. This rapid current of air high above our heads drags weather in a conveyor belt from west to east, with alternating patches of cold and warm air, low and high pressure. Sometimes the weather patterns get stuck, creating a stable period of weather, like a heatwave.
Dr Tamsin Edwards is a senior lecturer in physical geography at King’s College London – not a climate scientist, but reasons like one. Worth a read.
Expecting the latest Roy Morgan to be released in the next day or two (they've already released the June Consumer Confidence results … their Party Support figures usually follow within 48 hours).
Seems RM have been polling continuously since the last Election … but until very recently (ie Jan 2018-May 2020) only made their results available to paying clients.
"Simon Wilson: My lunch with Todd Muller and Nikki Kaye"
Crikey! I have just read a long column by Simon Wilson which is sadly under Premium. If I tried to sum it up then neither Kaye or Muller had anything clear or emphatic to say. Status quo and ambiguous and mostly agreeing with what is currently being done although they would "do it better."
Am I allowed to quote directly from Simon's column?
Pending an opinion from a moderator, Ian, I expect you can. Premium just means available to subscribers only. Unless you signed up to terms & conditions that have a breach of copyright clause, no problem…
We talked about the post-Covid rebuild and Kaye said, "What I would say is you can trust the public. If you look at business owners, some of them know they will be all right and some of them know, deep down, that they won't. And there's a lot in the middle. So we need clarity. It's important to know that we have to Build Back Better."
That sounded good. Or did it? What did it mean? Who knows how to provide clarity right now? Build back better: how? ……
….What he (Muller) gives you, sitting in a sunny restaurant on a Saturday afternoon, speaking quietly and being so earnest, is a sense of his own exceptionalism. He thinks he's got something that no one else has.
What is it? He talked and talked, he shared ideas, he's good for that, but he said so little. I still don't know.
That's what Woodhouse said the other day, he would have done the same but "better". I'm curious, is "Build Back Better" in capitals like that? Just if he's sitting at a cafe transcribing what's being said seems strange to cap that phrase.
Sounds like a puff piece by a paid acolyte. Maybe he is and maybe he isn't but it doesn't say much for Simon Wilson's supposedly good thoughtful journalism.
"He thinks he's got something that no one else has."
Which immediately disqualifies him from any role where he can exercise any power, of any sort, over anyone else. i.e. delusional Messiahs not required.
"What I would say is you can trust the public." Yes Nikki Kaye. You show us how much you trust the public.
Why do I say that? Well you've got Woodhouse saying that when a claim is made against someone the accused has to prove it isn't true. He does that and you support it knowing that much of the public will accept it. That is unbelievable. Do you want him to be your Minister of Justice?
The same public also won't be screaming for Woodhouse's head on a stake for acting as he did when he believed there was the possibility of someone spreading covid-19 through the community. There was a need for urgent action. Did he scream the house down, ring all the alarm bells immediately with the agencies dealing with such things? Of course not. An extreme moment for instant action to protect the public? Or time to play political games? You want him to be your Minister of Health?
Given just those two instances, you can only trust the public to support you or him or your party if you think they're thick. If they are thick they will support you.
Ms Kaye made sure the public could not stay at a particular hotel, because they might not obey the rules and would infect the residents. That kind of trust.
edit
I think that our present situation can be understood if we look at a particular Monty Python skit. The one where the guys knows a lot of facts, repeats them, is fascinated by them, but doesn't see what relation the facts are to him or herself, real life and society. But when I look for it on google I can't find it.
These days we are not relating to other humans in an open, accepting way, hence my concern about the word 'mosque' referred to below. We repeat words but don't feel them, talking community but not doing it.
I remember a line from it – the information freak says that he got mixed up in his mind after reading the encyclopaedia because mosque and mosquito were listed together. (Now I can't find it on youtube and wonder if it has been dropped because of the sensitivity of mentioning the cultural icon).
We are concentrating on science and progress in that direction, ie technology, 5G, abandonment of interest in human work, ie reading on kindle rather than holding a book made by skilled craftspeople. Being human and living a good, full life appreciating other humans and our hand work and our own, and each others' small achievements. I think it is essential. Get Humanities brought back into tertiary study with a 101 level inserted into every degree! And don’t follow the Waikato University idea of withdrawing from much face to face teaching. Rightfully, protests have been strong from students. ‘People who need people, are the loveliest people in the world’ – song.
one of your comments seems to have disappeared. It got caught in the filter, I removed the bits with all the links, but it doesn't seem to be in the front or back end now, sorry.
A prosecutor investigating crimes committed during Kosovo‘s 1998-99 independence war with Serbia has indicted Kosovo’s president, Hashim Thaçi, for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The indictment was announced as Thaçi was on his way to Washington for a White House meeting with Serbia’s president organised by Richard Grenell, Donald Trump’s controversial ambassador to Germany who was also appointed as the administration’s Balkan peace envoy.
The meeting had been scheduled for Saturday, but Grenell announced on Twitter on Wednesday evening that Thaçi had cancelled his visit following the announcement. “I respect his decision not to attend the discussions until the legal issues of those allegations are settled,” Grenell wrote. Kosovo’s new prime minister, Avdullah Hoti, will represent the country at the White House meeting.
Hoti’s predecessor, Albin Kurti, accused Grenell of helping to bring down his government because it had resisted a US-backed deal with Serbia.
Another day, another connection to the world's worst people.
A MYSTERY IN KOSOVO: Matt Whitaker, who briefly served as President Donald Trump’s acting attorney general, made an appearance on Tuesday at a rally in Kosovo for Kadri Veseli, who is a candidate for prime minister in the county’s elections on Sunday, according to a video of his appearance broadcast on Facebook. (His appearance was first reported by Vice News.) What was he doing there?
Building methods is something that ordinary people need to take an interest in seeing there are so many examples of failures in modern buildings. And note NZ input – something we can take up ourselves – we must sell this to the overseas entities or private equity obese-capitalists who own most building businesses.
Casa Adelante, a breakthrough building in San Francisco, is showing it doesn't have to cost a fortune to build resilient housing that keeps functioning in a big earthquake.
David Mar, a low-damage design expert from the US, told Kathryn Ryan this social housing project used relatively low-tech techniques combined with an invention by a Professor Geoffrey Rogers at the University of Canterbury.
"The government is deciding if and how they will require returning New Zealanders to partially pay for their Covid-19 managed isolation costs."
I have never received 2 weeks free food and accommodation at any time and anywhere in the world. Of course anyone in quarantine should be paying at least the ordinary costs of daily living in New Zealand and not the tax payer.
Revolutions tend to be very good at destruction, less good at rebuilding. All that most of them succeed in doing is tearing up the rule-book, allowing the psychopaths free rein, with the inevitable distressing results.
And yet without revolutions, you'd be stuck in a field eking out merely an existence, bowing your head to a lord who's cock you will suck when they tell you to.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
What a shame adam that you have had such awful experiences that you write about so clearly. There is a commission looking into the misuse of children while in care. Can you save your anecdotes for your submission.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
You’re no fun and if you come to my fun-filled music night I’d expect you to crack a wry smile at least at the poor Aucklanders whose houses are flooded by the rain but who are not allowed to wash their cars or water their gardens. It is tough being an Aucklander in times of drought.
Diabetes is already known to be a key risk factor for developing severe COVID-191 and people with the condition are more likely to die2. “Diabetes is dynamite if you get COVID-19,” says Paul Zimmet, who studies the metabolic disease at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Now Zimmet is among a growing number of researchers who think that diabetes doesn’t just make people more vulnerable to the coronavirus, but that the virus might also trigger diabetes in some3. “Diabetes itself is a pandemic just like the COVID-19 pandemic. The two pandemics could be clashing,” he says.
[…]
The study in pancreatic organoids shows how SARS-CoV-2 could be damaging the organ8. Shuibing Chen, a stem-cell biologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and her colleagues showed that the virus can infect the organoid’s α- and β-cells, some of which then die. Whereas β-cells produce insulin to decrease blood-sugar levels, α-cells produce the hormone glucagon, which increases blood sugar. The virus can also induce the production of proteins known as chemokines and cytokines, which can trigger an immune response that might also kill the cells, according to the study8 published in Cell Stem Cell on 19 June.
Chen says the experiments suggest that the virus can disrupt the function of key cells involved in diabetes — either by directly killing them or by triggering an immune response that attacks them.
The virus also attacked pancreatic organoids that had been transplanted into mice, and cells in liver organoids. The liver is important for storing and releasing sugar into the blood stream when it senses insulin.
So much worse than the murderous clusterf*ck National would have given us – by not locking down properly because they just couldn't bring themselves to even temporarily turn off the flow of profit to their donors and cronies.
Just stumbling back through the echo chamber. Are SPC and Professor Drowsy still here?
[I tend to feel sorry for trapped trolls who accidentally stumble back into echo chambers and can’t seem to find their way out. I’m more than willing to show them the Exit. You must be tired from all the trolling you did here the other day so why don’t take a well-deserved rest over the weekend until Monday? – Incognito]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
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If our strategic position was already challenging, it just got worse. Reliability of the US as an ally is in question, amid such actions by the Trump administration as calling for annexation of Canada, threating ...
Small businesses will be exempt from complying with some of the requirements of health and safety legislation under new reforms proposed by the Government. The living wage will be increased to $28.95 per hour from September, a $1.15 increase from the current $27.80. A poll has shown large opposition to ...
Summary A group of senior doctors in Nelson have spoken up, specifically stating that hospitals have never been as bad as in the last year.Patients are waiting up to 50 hours and 1 death is directly attributable to the situation: "I've never seen that number of patients waiting to be ...
Although semiconductor chips are ubiquitous nowadays, their production is concentrated in just a few countries, and this has left the US economy and military highly vulnerable at a time of rising geopolitical tensions. While the ...
Health and Safety changes driven by ACT party ideology, not evidence said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff. Changes to health and safety legislation proposed by the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden today comply with ACT party ideology, ignores the evidence, and will compound New ...
In short in our political economy this morning:Fletcher Building is closing its pre-fabricated house-building factory in Auckland due to a lack of demand, particularly from the Government.Health NZ is sending a crisis management team to Nelson Hospital after a 1News investigation exposed doctors’ fears that nearly 500 patients are overdue ...
Exactly 10 years ago, the then minister for defence, Kevin Andrews, released the First Principles Review: Creating One Defence (FPR). With increasing talk about the rising possibility of major power-conflict, calls for Defence funding to ...
In events eerily similar to what happened in the USA last week, Greater Auckland was recently accidentally added to a group chat between government ministers on the topic of transport.We have no idea how it happened, but luckily we managed to transcribe most of what transpired. We share it ...
Hi,When I look back at my history with Dylan Reeve, it’s pretty unusual. We first met in the pool at Kim Dotcom’s mansion, as helicopters buzzed overhead and secret service agents flung themselves off the side of his house, abseiling to the ground with guns drawn.Kim Dotcom was a German ...
Come around for teaDance me round and round the kitchenBy the light of my T.VOn the night of the electionAncient stars will fall into the seaAnd the ocean floor sings her sympathySongwriter: Bic Runga.The Prime Minister stared into the camera, hot and flustered despite the predawn chill. He looked sadly ...
Has Winston Peters got a ferries deal for you! (Buyer caution advised.) Unfortunately, the vision that Peters has been busily peddling for the past 24 hours – of several shipyards bidding down the price of us getting smaller, narrower, rail-enabled ferries – looks more like a science fiction fantasy. One ...
Completed reads for March: The Heart of the Antarctic [1907-1909], by Ernest Shackleton South [1914-1917], by Ernest Shackleton Aurora Australis (collection), edited by Ernest Shackleton The Book of Urizen (poem), by William Blake The Book of Ahania (poem), by William Blake The Book of Los (poem), by William Blake ...
First - A ReminderBenjamin Doyle Doesn’t Deserve ThisI’ve been following posts regarding Green MP Benjamin Doyle over the last few days, but didn’t want to amplify the abject nonsense.This morning, Winston Peters, New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister, answered the alt-right’s prayers - guaranteeing amplification of the topic, by going on ...
US President Donald Trump has shown a callous disregard for the checks and balances that have long protected American democracy. As the self-described ‘king’ makes a momentous power grab, much of the world watches anxiously, ...
They can be the very same words. And yet their meaning can vary very much.You can say I'll kill him about your colleague who accidentally deleted your presentation the day before a big meeting.You can say I'll kill him to — or, for that matter, about — Tony Soprano.They’re the ...
Back in 2020, the then-Labour government signed contracted for the construction and purchase of two new rail-enabled Cook Strait ferries, to be operational from 2026. But when National took power in 2023, they cancelled them in a desperate effort to make the books look good for a year. And now ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to scrap proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, after attending a petition calling for the Government to ‘Put tamariki at the heart of decisions about ECE’. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill today that will remove the power of MPs conscience votes and ensure mandatory national referendums are held before any conscience issues are passed into law. “We are giving democracy and power back to the people”, says New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters. ...
Welcome to members of the diplomatic corp, fellow members of parliament, the fourth estate, foreign affairs experts, trade tragics, ladies and gentlemen. ...
In recent weeks, disturbing instances of state-sanctioned violence against Māori have shed light on the systemic racism permeating our institutions. An 11-year-old autistic Māori child was forcibly medicated at the Henry Bennett Centre, a 15-year-old had his jaw broken by police in Napier, kaumātua Dean Wickliffe went on a hunger ...
Confidence in the job market has continued to drop to its lowest level in five years as more New Zealanders feel uncertain about finding work, keeping their jobs, and getting decent pay, according to the latest Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index. ...
The Greens are calling on the Government to follow through on their vague promises of environmental protection in their Resource Management Act (RMA) reform. ...
“Make New Zealand First Again” Ladies and gentlemen, First of all, thank you for being here today. We know your lives are busy and you are working harder and longer than you ever have, and there are many calls on your time, so thank you for the chance to speak ...
Hundreds more Palestinians have died in recent days as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, is blocked. ...
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...
At 2.30am local time, Israel launched a treacherous attack on Gaza killing more than 300 defenceless civilians while they slept. Many of them were children. This followed a more than 2 week-long blockade by Israel on the entry of all goods and aid into Gaza. Israel deliberately targeted densely populated ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
The Government’s new planning legislation to replace the Resource Management Act will make it easier to get things done while protecting the environment, say Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court. “The RMA is broken and everyone knows it. It makes it too hard to build ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay has today launched a public consultation on New Zealand and India’s negotiations of a formal comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. “Negotiations are getting underway, and the Public’s views will better inform us in the early parts of this important negotiation,” Mr McClay says. We are ...
More than 900 thousand superannuitants and almost five thousand veterans are among the New Zealanders set to receive a significant financial boost from next week, an uplift Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says will help support them through cost-of-living challenges. “I am pleased to confirm that from 1 ...
Progressing a holistic strategy to unlock the potential of New Zealand’s geothermal resources, possibly in applications beyond energy generation, is at the centre of discussions with mana whenua at a hui in Rotorua today, Resources and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is in the early stages ...
New annual data has exposed the staggering cost of delays previously hidden in the building consent system, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I directed Building Consent Authorities to begin providing quarterly data last year to improve transparency, following repeated complaints from tradespeople waiting far longer than the statutory ...
Increases in water charges for Auckland consumers this year will be halved under the Watercare Charter which has now been passed into law, Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Auckland Minister Simeon Brown say. The charter is part of the financial arrangement for Watercare developed last year by Auckland Council ...
There is wide public support for the Government’s work to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity protections, says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. “The Ministry for Primary Industries recently completed public consultation on proposed amendments to the Biosecurity Act and the submissions show that people understand the importance of having a strong biosecurity ...
A new independent review function will enable individuals and organisations to seek an expert independent review of specified civil aviation regulatory decisions made by, or on behalf of, the Director of Civil Aviation, Acting Transport Minister James Meager has announced today. “Today we are making it easier and more affordable ...
The Government will invest in an enhanced overnight urgent care service for the Napier community as part of our focus on ensuring access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown has today confirmed. “I am delighted that a solution has been found to ensure Napier residents will continue to ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey attended a sod turning today to officially mark the start of construction on a new mental health facility at Hillmorton Campus. “This represents a significant step in modernising mental health services in Canterbury,” Mr Brown says. “Improving health infrastructure is ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has welcomed confirmation the economy has turned the corner. Stats NZ reported today that gross domestic product grew 0.7 per cent in the three months to December following falls in the June and September quarters. “We know many families and businesses are still suffering the after-effects ...
The sealing of a 12-kilometre stretch of State Highway 43 (SH43) through the Tangarakau Gorge – one of the last remaining sections of unsealed state highway in the country – has been completed this week as part of a wider programme of work aimed at improving the safety and resilience ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters says relations between New Zealand and the United States are on a strong footing, as he concludes a week-long visit to New York and Washington DC today. “We came to the United States to ask the new Administration what it wants from ...
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has welcomed changes to international anti-money laundering standards which closely align with the Government’s reforms. “The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) last month adopted revised standards for tackling money laundering and the financing of terrorism to allow for simplified regulatory measures for businesses, organisations and sectors ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour says he welcomes Medsafe’s decision to approve an electronic controlled drug register for use in New Zealand pharmacies, allowing pharmacies to replace their physical paper-based register. “The register, developed by Kiwi brand Toniq Limited, is the first of its kind to be approved in New ...
The Coalition Government’s drive for regional economic growth through the $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund is on track with more than $550 million in funding so far committed to key infrastructure projects, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. “To date, the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) has received more than 250 ...
[Comments following the bilateral meeting with United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; United States State Department, Washington D.C.] * We’re very pleased with our meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this afternoon. * We came here to listen to the new Administration and to be clear about what ...
The intersection of State Highway 2 (SH2) and Wainui Road in the Eastern Bay of Plenty will be made safer and more efficient for vehicles and freight with the construction of a new and long-awaited roundabout, says Transport Minister Chris Bishop. “The current intersection of SH2 and Wainui Road is ...
The Ocean Race will return to the City of Sails in 2027 following the Government’s decision to invest up to $4 million from the Major Events Fund into the international event, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown says. “New Zealand is a proud sailing nation, and Auckland is well-known internationally as the ...
Improving access to mental health and addiction support took a significant step forward today with Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announcing that the University of Canterbury have been the first to be selected to develop the Government’s new associate psychologist training programme. “I am thrilled that the University of Canterbury ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened the new East Building expansion at Manukau Health Park. “This is a significant milestone and the first stage of the Grow Manukau programme, which will double the footprint of the Manukau Health Park to around 30,000m2 once complete,” Mr Brown says. “Home ...
The Government will boost anti-crime measures across central Auckland with $1.3 million of funding as a result of the Proceeds of Crime Fund, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee say. “In recent years there has been increased antisocial and criminal behaviour in our CBD. The Government ...
The Government is moving to strengthen rules for feeding food waste to pigs to protect New Zealand from exotic animal diseases like foot and mouth disease (FMD), says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. ‘Feeding untreated meat waste, often known as "swill", to pigs could introduce serious animal diseases like FMD and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held productive talks in New Delhi today. Fresh off announcing that New Zealand and India would commence negotiations towards a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, the two Prime Ministers released a joint statement detailing plans for further cooperation between the two countries across ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the forestry sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the horticulture sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new Family Court Judges. The new Judges will take up their roles in April and May and fill Family Court vacancies at the Auckland and Manukau courts. Annette Gray Ms Gray completed her law degree at Victoria University before joining Phillips ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened Wellington Regional Hospital’s first High Dependency Unit (HDU). “This unit will boost critical care services in the lower North Island, providing extra capacity and relieving pressure on the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and emergency department. “Wellington Regional Hospital has previously relied ...
Namaskar, Sat Sri Akal, kia ora and good afternoon everyone. What an honour it is to stand on this stage - to inaugurate this august Dialogue - with none other than the Honourable Narendra Modi. My good friend, thank you for so generously welcoming me to India and for our ...
Ngāi Tahu’s senior lawyer was in full flight on the final day of an eight-week High Court hearing when the judge brought him to a screeching halt.Barrister Chris Finlayson KC led the case for Ngāi Tahu, the South Island iwi that said a wai māori (freshwater) crisis prompted it to ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on a week of bleak reading. Nothing in life is free. Everyone knows that. But for a blissful eight months, my commute was. After closing Mount Eden station nearly a decade ago to redevelop it, Auckland Transport eventually opened a new, frequent bus route (64) to connect ...
Out of the little playground kiosk at Petone beach, Mariana’s Kitchen is serving up perfect, authentic empanadas. It was a perfect Wellington day: the sun was shining and the wind was blowing. In its gust the word “OPEN” flashed on a red and yellow banner on the Petone foreshore. From ...
As Daylight Saving comes to an end, let us remember the local naturalist who came up with the idea so he could spend more time searching for insects in the Karori Bush.Here in the south, the signs are everywhere. Beanies are creeping onto heads and people are starting to ...
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith chats to Marlon Williams about the six-year journey to releasing Te Whare Tīwekaweka, his first album entirely in te reo Māori.Singer-songwriter Marlon Williams (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāi Tai) remembers a childhood where speaking “household Māori” was as everyday as the waves which crash into the harbour of Ōhinehou. ...
The journalist and author takes us through her life in television, including her biggest live TV regret and the Succession moment she witnessed first hand. This week, journalist and broadcaster Ali Mau released No Words For This, a “gripping, generous, revelatory and layered” memoir that reveals shocking family secrets, explores ...
After ten rings Tracey hung up. She started the car; an orange petrol light appeared. It appeared yesterday on the way home, but Tracey decided to deal with it today. She opened her phone and first looked for specials on the BP app and then on Caltex, but there was ...
It has all the qualities of an aircraft but with its rocket engine, the Dawn Mk-II Aurora can fly faster and higher than any jet.“We have a real path to this being the first vehicle that flies to 100km altitude – the border of space – twice in a day,” ...
The agitated and perpetually frightened right wingBy spending a lot of time online while eating spaghetti on toast in small rooms and staying up all hours, illuminated by the ghostly white screen of the PC, and worrying about what could go wrong in the world if the left wing got ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese has announced that the government will ensure the Port of Darwin, currently leased by the Chinese company Landbridge, is returned to Australian hands. “Australia needs to own the Port of Darwin,” the prime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese has announced that the government will ensure the Port of Darwin, currently leased by the Chinese company Landbridge, is returned to Australian hands. “Australia needs to own the Port of Darwin,” the prime ...
Now that Phil Goff has ended his term as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to the UK, he is officially free to speak his mind on the damage he believes the Trump Administration is doing to the world. He has started with these comments he made on the betrayal of Ukraine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Draper, Professor, and Executive Director: Institute for International Trade, and Jean Monnet Chair of Trade and Environment, University of Adelaide On April 2, United States President Donald Trump unveiled a sweeping new “reciprocal tariff” regime he says will level the playing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Toby Murray, Professor of Cybersecurity, School of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne Several of Australia’s biggest superannuation funds have suffered a suspected coordinated cyberattack, with scammers stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars of members’ retirement savings. Superannuation funds ...
Democracy Now! Jewish students at Columbia University chained themselves to a campus gate across from the graduate School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) this week, braving rain and cold to demand the school release information related to the targeting and ICE arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a former SIPA student. ...
We stand in solidarity with all communities impacted by Islamophobia, racism, and discrimination. We call for genuine accountability, not empty apologies. It is imperative that the government takes decisive action to restore integrity to the Human Rights ...
"This is a broken promise to the public. People demand the right to choose and want products from gene editing to be labelled,” said Jon Carapiet, spokesman for GE-Free New Zealand (in Food and Environment). ...
Public submissions potentially ignored and unrecorded were a focus this week. We background how the process usually works and what will happen now. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Trembath, Professor of Speech Pathology, Griffith University Lukas/Pexels If your child is struggling with certain everyday activities – such as playing with other kids, getting dressed or paying attention – you might want to get them assessed to see if ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Norfolk Island sees its United States tariff as an acknowledgment of independence from Australia. Norfolk Island, despite being an Australian territory, has been included on Trump’s tariff list. The territory has been given a 29 percent tariff, despite Australia getting only 10 percent. It ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, The University of Melbourne alybaba/Shutterstock Street trees usually grow in appalling soils, have little space for their roots, are rarely watered and often get aggressively trimmed by road authorities ...
A new poem by Amanda Faye Martin. reluctant heterosexual one time i got snowed in with a guy i thought i didn’t want to sleep with but then he said something that felt true like clarity could be simple like things could be known like picking fruit in warm weather ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30) More of that good Hunger Games stuff: ...
Three’s new local comedy is definitely not the same old song and dance, writes Tara Ward. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. Charlie Summers has barely set foot on New Zealand soil before the flash mob begins. As he glides down the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The federal election will be held in four weeks. A national YouGov poll, conducted March 28 to April 3 from a sample ...
The Commission makes 149 reform recommendations to the Government. They include a new Act to replace the current law governing preventive detention, extended supervision orders and public protection orders. ...
With NZF in free-fall, Winston now fights for his political survival. Selwyn Manning examines the situation here: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/06/26/must-read-election-campaign-looms-is-it-time-for-labour-to-abandon-nzf/
Labour strategists must decide whether to campaign as genuinely transformational or try to fake it via sloganeering as usual. Their decision will hinge on perceptions of centrism. Will centrists collectively support progress? Or is Winston right, and they are more likely to use NZF as a handbrake again?
Huh. If the cap fits… Selwyn is a Labour man, of course, so it makes sense for him to blame the Nats. Whereas the public would have formed the same opinion even if the Nats had said nothing!
So? Hey Selwyn, are you trying to suggest that incompetent Labour ministers ought to evade responsibility? If so, have the guts to spit the dummy & say so! Don't weasel around the point.
But then he does conclude sensibly: "it will be in Labour’s and the nation’s interests to paint Winston Peters and his party as disruptive and disloyal to a handshake made in good faith."
Except that only James Shaw was sufficiently on the ball to make that point last week. All the Labour ministers (including the PM) were too inept.
Winnie is national light so they're anything but progressive and not seeking to level the playing field at all.
They're stymied and obstructed genuine progressive policies pre covid and are now showing the true colour that Jones, Marks etc all represent.
Time to stand alone IMO and leave the right wing parties fighting for that vote because you'll never get a better setting for a socially responsible and humane second term using nationals wrecking job in housing, health, education under key/blinglish as starters.
tc +1
Frank, or they were busy with the real issues of keeping a tricky virus at bay and supporting business workers and infrastructure.
We are the second most successful country to tackle covid according to WHO.
Like him or not, David Clarke is in the governance role, Ashley is in the implementation role and Jacinda took the communications role. They excelled until Ashley became too comfortable with no evident community transmission, and gave 55 people exemptions and let 2000 leave after 14 days with no testing.
The rules had been changed, and Ashley's team were lax in the early implementation. Due to David's earlier personal missteps, he was a great fall guy for the media. Having made a hero of Ashley Bloomfield many in the media were conflicted and wanted David Clarke to be the bad guy. It was not David Clarke who listened to why 2 women should leave isolation early on grounds of compassion.
The other players in that senario were senior members of the National opposition, Woodhouse Bishop and Muller backing him, ably advised by Hooten? They told an 80% truthful delayed story about the two women, and a mythical tale of a homeless man getting a free stay through tricking the staff and security.
As the previous story had grains of truth, this second story was examined closely by seconded help from Megan Woods, who then asked in writing, MP Woodhouse for proof. His answer, "It must be true as you spent all that effort looking" Wow, and he wants to be Minister of Health? Playing games in a Pandemic?
Opposition attacks have been amplified by attack journalism. The journalists in question were incensed that David Clarke did not take Ashley Bloomfield's error as his problem, so they said that denigrated hero Ashley and in their denial they started a flowers for Ashley page. Almost comedy.
Meanwhile the minister for Health the DGoH and the Prime Minister are proving to be an excellent team in spite of a few learning curves, and they all value each other, and accept each has areas of expertise, and they don't encroach.
83% approval from New Zealanders. USA AND UK Leaders would love to get that backing for their efforts, but that is unlikely any time soon.
The thing that shines here is, this Government shows a willingness to take criticism seriously, to put measures in place as quickly as possible, and to answer to the media questions. In the house Winston has backed the Goverment’s efforts
I say it again, "We don't know how lucky we are"
good factual post. too many on here get sucked in to running here and there, putting out non existing fires.
Absolutely! Most countries would love to be in the kind of shambles we are in right now.
For more context: https://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2017/electorate-details-08.html [HT to exhALANt]
Thanks incognito, that explains the bile. I had missed they were from the same electorate.
Yes. Same electorate. Aha. Woodhouse a poor loser???
For a brief moment I thought that Clark had once beaten up Woodhouse in the sandpit at pre-school but I had to rule out that possibility. Shame though, because it could have explained so much.
+99.5%
Seems obvious but
And now back to resting on me laurels
+1. Great summary.
[Fixed typo in e-mail address]
Excellent laurels to rest on .
Thank you for your succinct and accurate analysis Patricia Bremner. Dr Bloomfield oversees operations, and any flaws in the quarantine system are down to him and his team. Dr Clark's job as Minister of Health is to make sure that Government policy is being carried out properly and efficiently on the ground, which means he needs to have all the facts and figures on a weekly, if not daily basis. It is his job however to ask the right questions of the systems put in place. so that he can reassure the public that we aren't going to see outbreaks of Covid-19 in the community due to any laxness. In the end the ultimate responsibility does lie with the Minister, and I'm sure that Dr Clark knows that very well.
Thank you Jane. I agree , though in this case reports to both men appear to have been misleading , that should have been picked up through spot checks by Ashley Bloomfield's team.
David Clark may have asked the questions and he and Ashley received mixed messages during the change over from L2 to L1. At least that appears partly the cause, a well as slow implementation of the changes.
David has over all responsibility, and Ashley implementation of the health edicts. Ashley apologised as his implementation had flaws.
Rather than expect Ministers or Public Servants to fall on their swords, the press would in these circumstances be better to ask how the situation could be remedied rather than calling "Off with their heads"
In this case we are at nearly one full 14 day cycle since L1 and it seems we have escaped bad outcomes, unlike Victoria.
Labour is more right wing in the sense of neo-liberal than NZF in many cases.
The Kumquat PolPot must be spewing mad. His most obsequious rectal-resident media toady served him up a question so difficult, so far beyond anything he's ever thought about, that Grampa Rage Nappies couldn't even summon up an off-the-cuff lie in response:
He could have said "Build a wall around my star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame." "Transparent kryptonite would be good."
Wut, his Space Farce haven't deployed one of their invisible force fields to protect it? They must be deep state traitors too!
USA must have ramped up the testing (Sarc) as the number of new cVirus cases is 32k with 5 hrs to go. Looks like they will get 40k today for the first time cf to 20k a week or so back.
Yet according to some NZ is in a "shambles" !!! & our health minister should resign!
Notably, that "some" includes a prominent individual that seems inordinately proud of possessing a red hat.
You want shambles, look across the ditch and checkout the celebrations in the UK Liverpool fans are indulging in.
Epic failure from both govt's to get the right responses from their citizens this far into it because they never treated it with the correct approach so many people took the 'she'll be right' attitude leaders showed (till one nearly died from it) and look where they are.
As for Brazil, USA etc well you get the chumps up top at the time and hope they’re competent and humane….methinks the Jurys back in on a few of those cases.
the term "behavioural sink " in its pop meaning comes to mind
"The sights and smell were horrendous, like nothing I’ve ever come across before. There was the smell of weed, urine and excrement, and we found so many empty beer bottles. There were cans, wrappers, wet wipes and even underpants. It was horrific.”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/26/the-atmosphere-was-ugly-bournemouth-aghast-beach-chaos
https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Behavioral_sink
Ecosystemic behaviour of tory voters then, eh? But no mega hats…
Now the Texas and Florida Rep governors are asking people to wear masks and delaying opening their states, which they're going to get a lot of push back from because of their attitude and recent denials.
I Feel Love, I felt that needed an answer see 1.2
https://twitter.com/sarahcpr/status/1276623987624366080
Arctic heatwave: it’s 38°C in Siberia. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/25/arctic-heatwave-38c-siberia-science
Dr Tamsin Edwards is a senior lecturer in physical geography at King’s College London – not a climate scientist, but reasons like one. Worth a read.
Expecting the latest Roy Morgan to be released in the next day or two (they've already released the June Consumer Confidence results … their Party Support figures usually follow within 48 hours).
Seems RM have been polling continuously since the last Election … but until very recently (ie Jan 2018-May 2020) only made their results available to paying clients.
do we know who that is? TVNZ, but will it be others too?
"Simon Wilson: My lunch with Todd Muller and Nikki Kaye"
Crikey! I have just read a long column by Simon Wilson which is sadly under Premium. If I tried to sum it up then neither Kaye or Muller had anything clear or emphatic to say. Status quo and ambiguous and mostly agreeing with what is currently being done although they would "do it better."
Am I allowed to quote directly from Simon's column?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12342318
Pending an opinion from a moderator, Ian, I expect you can. Premium just means available to subscribers only. Unless you signed up to terms & conditions that have a breach of copyright clause, no problem…
Is this the Sirjonkyponyboy approach to winning over the press?
PS: From Simon:
That's what Woodhouse said the other day, he would have done the same but "better". I'm curious, is "Build Back Better" in capitals like that? Just if he's sitting at a cafe transcribing what's being said seems strange to cap that phrase.
Election slogan BBB
From the B team?
Is that for a Hoarding?
Build Back Better
Nikki Kaye referred to a couple of big announcements coming soon when the interview started. Is that going to be their campaign slogan.
Oh bring it on. Sounds like the title of a kids TV programme.
Todd the Builder: Can we fix it? Yes, we can!
Sounds like a puff piece by a paid acolyte. Maybe he is and maybe he isn't but it doesn't say much for Simon Wilson's supposedly good thoughtful journalism.
"He thinks he's got something that no one else has."
Which immediately disqualifies him from any role where he can exercise any power, of any sort, over anyone else. i.e. delusional Messiahs not required.
"What I would say is you can trust the public." Yes Nikki Kaye. You show us how much you trust the public.
Why do I say that? Well you've got Woodhouse saying that when a claim is made against someone the accused has to prove it isn't true. He does that and you support it knowing that much of the public will accept it. That is unbelievable. Do you want him to be your Minister of Justice?
The same public also won't be screaming for Woodhouse's head on a stake for acting as he did when he believed there was the possibility of someone spreading covid-19 through the community. There was a need for urgent action. Did he scream the house down, ring all the alarm bells immediately with the agencies dealing with such things? Of course not. An extreme moment for instant action to protect the public? Or time to play political games? You want him to be your Minister of Health?
Given just those two instances, you can only trust the public to support you or him or your party if you think they're thick. If they are thick they will support you.
Ms Kaye made sure the public could not stay at a particular hotel, because they might not obey the rules and would infect the residents. That kind of trust.
edit
I think that our present situation can be understood if we look at a particular Monty Python skit. The one where the guys knows a lot of facts, repeats them, is fascinated by them, but doesn't see what relation the facts are to him or herself, real life and society. But when I look for it on google I can't find it.
These days we are not relating to other humans in an open, accepting way, hence my concern about the word 'mosque' referred to below. We repeat words but don't feel them, talking community but not doing it.
I remember a line from it – the information freak says that he got mixed up in his mind after reading the encyclopaedia because mosque and mosquito were listed together. (Now I can't find it on youtube and wonder if it has been dropped because of the sensitivity of mentioning the cultural icon).
We are concentrating on science and progress in that direction, ie technology, 5G, abandonment of interest in human work, ie reading on kindle rather than holding a book made by skilled craftspeople. Being human and living a good, full life appreciating other humans and our hand work and our own, and each others' small achievements. I think it is essential. Get Humanities brought back into tertiary study with a 101 level inserted into every degree! And don’t follow the Waikato University idea of withdrawing from much face to face teaching. Rightfully, protests have been strong from students. ‘People who need people, are the loveliest people in the world’ – song.
"I will tell you an interesting fact…"
Oh thanks Drowsy M Kram – I think I searched on 'fact' but couldn't bring it up.
Yes get rid of all money systems. Make a play for a World without money. Free download can show a possibility at;
http://byd0nz.com
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Mod note above. You're really welcome to explain your thinking in response to the post. Get rid of money system, then what?
My response is to long(4pges) thats why I put a link. The idea is too simple for humanity to grasp at this stage of our evolution.lol
your link went to a website that as far as I can tell only sells things.
This is all i could see on that link BydOnz
one of your comments seems to have disappeared. It got caught in the filter, I removed the bits with all the links, but it doesn't seem to be in the front or back end now, sorry.
Sorry, you need to go to the store to find the free download.
Sherson, someone else, and the program's host doing another complete team beatup on labour again on the Nation.
Lucky nobody watches it.
A few do but any leftie should take a bucket. Prior interviews with Megan Woods, then Tracey Martin, then Chloe Swarbrick (sp?) ok
Courts have ruled tRump's transfer of DoD funds to his wall was illegal.
https://twitter.com/WangCecillia/status/1276548381075103744
https://twitter.com/chaser/status/1276031022711189504
tRump likes war criminals.
https://twitter.com/HashimThaciRKS/status/1176843832937328640
A prosecutor investigating crimes committed during Kosovo‘s 1998-99 independence war with Serbia has indicted Kosovo’s president, Hashim Thaçi, for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The indictment was announced as Thaçi was on his way to Washington for a White House meeting with Serbia’s president organised by Richard Grenell, Donald Trump’s controversial ambassador to Germany who was also appointed as the administration’s Balkan peace envoy.
The meeting had been scheduled for Saturday, but Grenell announced on Twitter on Wednesday evening that Thaçi had cancelled his visit following the announcement. “I respect his decision not to attend the discussions until the legal issues of those allegations are settled,” Grenell wrote. Kosovo’s new prime minister, Avdullah Hoti, will represent the country at the White House meeting.
Hoti’s predecessor, Albin Kurti, accused Grenell of helping to bring down his government because it had resisted a US-backed deal with Serbia.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/24/kosovo-president-hashim-thaci-indicted-on-war-crimes-charges
Another day, another connection to the world's worst people.
A MYSTERY IN KOSOVO: Matt Whitaker, who briefly served as President Donald Trump’s acting attorney general, made an appearance on Tuesday at a rally in Kosovo for Kadri Veseli, who is a candidate for prime minister in the county’s elections on Sunday, according to a video of his appearance broadcast on Facebook. (His appearance was first reported by Vice News.) What was he doing there?
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2019/10/04/why-was-matt-whitaker-in-kosovo-485598
https://europeanwesternbalkans.com/2020/06/24/specialist-prosecutors-office-in-the-hague-announces-indictments-for-war-crimes-against-thaci-and-veseli/
Building methods is something that ordinary people need to take an interest in seeing there are so many examples of failures in modern buildings. And note NZ input – something we can take up ourselves – we must sell this to the overseas entities or private equity obese-capitalists who own most building businesses.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018752365/earthquake-design-beyond-code
Casa Adelante, a breakthrough building in San Francisco, is showing it doesn't have to cost a fortune to build resilient housing that keeps functioning in a big earthquake.
David Mar, a low-damage design expert from the US, told Kathryn Ryan this social housing project used relatively low-tech techniques combined with an invention by a Professor Geoffrey Rogers at the University of Canterbury.
Some pretty heroic assumptions from Audrey in the Herald today. The media Nat boosters are really hitting their stride.
"By their deeds shall ye know them"
Anne Tolley quits. To spend time with family, blah blah.
Translation: I wanted to be Speaker but I know we won't win, so why bother?
I think she doesn't like the new Leader or something lol
Did you know that druids are an oppressed minority?
It's The Sun. Why bother?
You reckon their support of minority rights via publicity is just a ruse to make more money? How could I possibly disagree?
In today's Herald.
"The government is deciding if and how they will require returning New Zealanders to partially pay for their Covid-19 managed isolation costs."
I have never received 2 weeks free food and accommodation at any time and anywhere in the world. Of course anyone in quarantine should be paying at least the ordinary costs of daily living in New Zealand and not the tax payer.
And yet without revolutions, you'd be stuck in a field eking out merely an existence, bowing your head to a lord who's cock you will suck when they tell you to.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
What a shame adam that you have had such awful experiences that you write about so clearly. There is a commission looking into the misuse of children while in care. Can you save your anecdotes for your submission.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Music is the food of soul.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-27/music-memory-song-that-takes-you-back-to-a-moment-in-time/12391160
The last link in the piece takes you to another article that refers to a great documentary Alive Inside. I posted a comment about this almost exactly two years ago: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30-06-2018/#comment-1498653
I feel a night filled with music coming on, if I can hear it through the rain and thunder.
Speaking of rain and thunder; would all those people in Auckland who have been praying for rain, please stop now. Enough already!
You’re no fun and if you come to my fun-filled music night I’d expect you to crack a wry smile at least at the poor Aucklanders whose houses are flooded by the rain but who are not allowed to wash their cars or water their gardens. It is tough being an Aucklander in times of drought.
An odd article that looks like another rehash (copy & paste) from somewhere else. Note that it is Mr Tegnell vs. Dr Kluge; it is deviously subtle
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/300043738/swedish-expert-lashes-out-at-who-over-virus-resurgent-claims
Did I read that right – the Swedes only started testing everyone with symptoms in June?
I wonder what his excuse will be when it's 400 cases a day in Sweden.
I haven’t been following Sweden in detail but a quick search confirms it: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-sweden-free-virus-symptoms.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwBjF_VVFvE&feature=youtu.be
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2020/06/the-dixie-chicks-drop-dixie-from-name-thank-nz-band-the-chicks-for-letting-them-share-name.html
Bloody awesome.
41 new cases in the Australian state of Victoria today.
https://www.twitter.com/covidliveau/status/1276736717626761217
Todmunter reckons it's A NATIONAL DISGRACE.
And the Ockers are shitting themselves again. Runs on loo paper. Again.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-53196525
Charming.
Diabetes is already known to be a key risk factor for developing severe COVID-191 and people with the condition are more likely to die2. “Diabetes is dynamite if you get COVID-19,” says Paul Zimmet, who studies the metabolic disease at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Now Zimmet is among a growing number of researchers who think that diabetes doesn’t just make people more vulnerable to the coronavirus, but that the virus might also trigger diabetes in some3. “Diabetes itself is a pandemic just like the COVID-19 pandemic. The two pandemics could be clashing,” he says.
[…]
The study in pancreatic organoids shows how SARS-CoV-2 could be damaging the organ8. Shuibing Chen, a stem-cell biologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and her colleagues showed that the virus can infect the organoid’s α- and β-cells, some of which then die. Whereas β-cells produce insulin to decrease blood-sugar levels, α-cells produce the hormone glucagon, which increases blood sugar. The virus can also induce the production of proteins known as chemokines and cytokines, which can trigger an immune response that might also kill the cells, according to the study8 published in Cell Stem Cell on 19 June.
Chen says the experiments suggest that the virus can disrupt the function of key cells involved in diabetes — either by directly killing them or by triggering an immune response that attacks them.
The virus also attacked pancreatic organoids that had been transplanted into mice, and cells in liver organoids. The liver is important for storing and releasing sugar into the blood stream when it senses insulin.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01891-8
https://twitter.com/antihobbes/status/1276616481870974976
So much worse than the murderous clusterf*ck National would have given us – by not locking down properly because they just couldn't bring themselves to even temporarily turn off the flow of profit to their donors and cronies.
Agreed but National will lie and pretend "we would have done it better"
Very funny antihobbes. So true. (You are kidding aren't you?)
I'm confident he's kidding but that does reflect the disconnection of a large number of people.
Just stumbling back through the echo chamber. Are SPC and Professor Drowsy still here?
[I tend to feel sorry for trapped trolls who accidentally stumble back into echo chambers and can’t seem to find their way out. I’m more than willing to show them the Exit. You must be tired from all the trolling you did here the other day so why don’t take a well-deserved rest over the weekend until Monday? – Incognito]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
See my Moderation note @ 6:19 PM.
I've been reading adult books since age 7
That's terrible Dennis, that is far too young to be reading porn. That you have done so continuously since suggests you have a real problem.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
More kindness from the left
I suggest thinking for at least 3 seconds before you post such vile filth.
Reading's not vile. It's A NATIONAL DISGRACE.