George Webb explaining the confusing mess behind the global Clinton web. It’s like Iran-Contra but instead of going North to South, it’s going East to West
Funding to reduce rheumatic fever in New Zealand has been halved in this week’s Budget.
That is despite the Government’s failure to reach a target of reducing hospitalisations for the serious illness, which is one of its top 10 priorities for the public sector.
The Budget shows funding for rheumatic fever has fallen from $10 million a year to $5 million a year.
“the polls have narrowed, with the latest from YouGov showing just a five point Conservative lead (less than the margin in 2015). It may be an outlier but it is not that much of an outlier; another poll on the same day showed an eight-point lead. If the YouGov poll were translated into seats, the Conservatives would have an overall majority of just two seats. And the poll was taken after the Manchester bombing, an event that people thought would boost Mrs May’s appeal.”
There is an interesting report from the London School of Economics that recently came out.
.
“The results of this study show that Jeremy Corbyn was represented unfairly by the British press through a process of vilification that went well beyond the normal limits of fair debate and disagreement in a democracy. Corbyn was often denied his own voice in the reporting on him and sources that were antiCorbyn tended to outweigh those that support him and his positions. He was also systematically treated with scorn and ridicule in both the broadsheet and tabloid press in a way that no other political leader is or has been. Even more problematic, the British press has repeatedly associated Corbyn with terrorism and positioned him as a friend of the enemies of the UK. The result has been a failure to give the newspaper reading public a fair opportunity to form their own judgements about the leader of the country’s main opposition.”
. http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/pdf/JeremyCorbyn/Cobyn-Report-FI…
.
Someone on radionz telling about himself in USA. He just said that some people don’t listen to facts or reason with any change of perceptions, because they NEED their beliefs to be right. His father said that it wasn’t enough to be right but to be able to present your thinking in a way that gets heard. He is a scientist interested in space. I thought his thoughts about dealing with science-twisters interesting.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. He’s a best-selling author, Emmy Award winner, recipient of 19 honorary doctorates, and a man who was once named “Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive”.
Since 1996, he has been the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City. The centre is part of the American Museum of Natural History, where Tyson founded the Department of Astrophysics in 1997 and has been a research associate in the department since 2003.
From 1995 to 2005, Tyson wrote monthly essays in the ‘Universe’ column for Natural History magazine, some of which were published in his book Death by Black Hole (2007); a second book, Astrophysics For People in a Hurry, has just been released. He will be in New Zealand for the first time in early June to present his show, A Cosmic Perspective, at both Christchurch’s Horncastle Arena and the Spark Arena in Auckland.
Here is a principled man who reflects on himself and the world bravely and sometimes painfully. This will resonate with some of the people who comment here, who choose the path least trod.
10:20 Prof Michael Jackson – The wherewithal of life
Professor Michael D Jackson is a New-Zealand-born anthropologist and creative writer. He has published 30 books of poetry, fiction, ethnography and memoir, and is internationally known for his vast body of work. Most notably, he has helped define the field of ‘existential anthropology’ – looking at how groups of humans make meaning of their lives in the face of adversity.
In New Zealand, Jackson is best known for his poetry and creative non-fiction (Latitudes of Exile was awarded the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1976, and Wall won the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry in 1981). Since 1969 he has conducted extensive fieldwork among the Kuranko of Sierra Leone, the Warlpiri and Kuku-Yalanji of Australia, and African migrants in Europe. Jackson is currently Distinguished Professor of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School.
Data that is easily stored and retrievable is supposed to be one of the great pluses of the modern technological era that we live in, bringing knowledge and facts so that we can solve complex problems! And all that hyperbole.
Follow the link below for a interesting and, I think, largely on target, analysis of the US political situation by Paul Street. He considers the reasons behind the failure of the Democratic party and liberals (I know “liberal” is a label in dispute, but read the article to see what the author means by it) — their failure to get why so many working class Americans voted Trump and their consequent failure to re-think their own approach.
Does the Northland doctor who became enraged and invaded the stage at the Kaitaia screening of Vaxxed earnestly believe people will take his criticism seriously considering he hasn’t even viewed the film?
IMO, he exposed his bias, thus weaken his credibility, bringing into question those who supported his outburst.
He would have had far more credibility if he had actually viewed the film and directly addressed its assertions.
Poor Dr Lance O’Sullivan can’t lance a boil from school sores.
He is sore because he devotes his life trying to bring better health to poor people who have not the health education to understand how important it is to try and protect yourself against the might of the mites that are viruses etc.
And then the causality thing, the percentages thing is used to galvanise the populace against taking protective measures. One thing goes wrong, is done wrong and suddenly no thing must be done despite the foreseeable results of damaging sickness and community infection spread, which the so-called carers will then present to the doctor for hopeful healing.
We live with causality all the time, can’t people understand it. We don’t always wash our hands even, we allow our children and ourselves to suffer from tooth decay spreading germs throughout the body. The atmosphere is full of spores of fungus, dead skin has been said to swirl around us with bacteria riding on it like surfboarders.
There are problems lining up for us whether viruses or car ‘accidents’ from deliberate acts or actually real accidents, such as children being run over by cars in driveways, by enraged, maddened or drugged people, by those affected by traumatic breakdown of heart attacks. We don’t ban cars, we have to go to the lav, we can’t continue using germicide hand washes at home because the growth in their use affects the processes dealing with sewage to stop it putrefying etc., the inability to control meningitis, tuberculosis that is untreatable is looming, and we have wails mostly from women, that they can’t take the risk of vaccination.
It would be the stuff of fiction one would think, but no. (And I haven’t mentioned those who have taken bible readings to mean that they shouldn’t allow their children to have blood transfusions and instead watch them die rather than enable them so they can have a full life as an independent human.)
Dr Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) died through trying to help woman to have safer childbirth. He should be a woman’s hero known by all.
Despite various publications of results where hand washing reduced mortality to below 1%, Semmelweis’s observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings, and some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands.
Semmelweis’s practice earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory and Joseph Lister, acting on the French microbiologist’s research, practiced and operated, using hygienic methods, with great success.
In 1865, Semmelweis was committed to an asylum, where he died at age 47 of pyaemia, after being beaten by the guards, only 14 days after he was committed.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
Also Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior was forthright and was attacked by the medical profession because of his efforts to help prevent disease and death in the general public. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_Sr.
In 1843, Holmes published “The Contagiousness of puerperal fever” in the short-lived publication New England Quarterly Journal of Medicine and Surgery. The essay argued—contrary to popular belief at the time, which predated germ theory of disease—that the cause of puerperal fever, a deadly infection contracted by women during or shortly after childbirth, stems from patient to patient contact via their physicians.[61] Holmes gathered a large collection of evidence for this theory, including stories of doctors who had become ill and died after performing autopsies on patients who had likewise been infected.[62] In concluding his case, he insisted that a physician in whose practice even one case of puerperal fever had occurred, had a moral obligation to purify his instruments, burn the clothing he had worn while assisting in the fatal delivery, and cease obstetric practice for a period of at least six months.[63]
A few years later, Ignaz Semmelweis would reach similar conclusions in Vienna, where his introduction of prophylaxis (handwashing in chlorine solution before assisting at delivery) would considerably lower the puerperal mortality rate.
Though it largely escaped notice when first published, Holmes eventually came under attack by two distinguished professors of obstetrics—Hugh L. Hodge and Charles D. Meigs—who adamantly denied his theory of contagion.[64] In 1855, Holmes chose to republish the essay in the form of a pamphlet under the new title Puerperal Fever as a Private Pestilence.
In a new introduction, in which Holmes directly addressed his opponents, he wrote: “I had rather rescue one mother from being poisoned by her attendant, than claim to have saved forty out of fifty patients to whom I had carried the disease.”[65] He added, “I beg to be heard in behalf of the women whose lives are at stake, until some stronger voice shall plead for them.”[66] The then controversial work is now considered a landmark in germ theory of disease.[28]
People who propose a blanket refusal to vaccinate are totally irresponsible.
There have been cases where the vaccination has been unsatisfactory, has had toxic elements, and when if the person receiving it is not in good health with good immune response, they can contract the disease, this perhaps when there has been a live though weakened sample given. So there is a necessity to ensure that the procedures be followed carefully. Saying no to all will get the response from caring medicos that they despair as they try and save suffering children who are presented by these mothers from utopia who won’t take responsibility for guarding their children against serious disease.
Organisers of the New Zealand screenings, WavesNZ, say: “If Dr. O’Sullivan had watched it he would know it’s not anti-vaccine, rather pro safe-vaccine.
piss off. That suggests that vaccines aren’t about the safest medical treatment there is – can you name a safer one? Vaccines make panadol or aspirin look like arsenic, and their benefits save millions – provided as many people as possible use them.
I also thought he lessened his credibility by arguing from his emotion and his authority and his ideology. Calling the people who organised the film to come here ‘vile’ said heaps. Interesting to see so many people support O’Sullivan from such emotive places instead of using logical arguments. The dishonesty about ideology is a problem.
I think the people who brought the film here did a massive disservice to the people who want to retain the choice to not vaccinate. Afaik there is no connection between MMR and autism. But there are other good reasons for some people to choose not using that vaccine. The anti-vaxxers are further polarising the whole thing by using false science and that’s going to lose in the end.
The pro-vaxxers are also polarising the situation, which shows them to be just as irrational. I want to bang their heads together (both groups).
And yes, it was interesting to see so many people support O’Sullivan from such emotive places instead of using logical arguments. Unfortunately, it tends to be an emotive topic.
no. I’m mildly curious so that I can critique it and have a better argument against the MMR causes autism thing, but I suspect I won’t bother, too many other more interesting things to look at 🙂
Dr Lance is there at the bottom of the cliff doing the best he can to clean up the mess left by those that did not vaccinate. Far North poor Maori represent a hot-spot. Dr Lance, New Zealander of the year, could do whatever medical job he wishes. He chooses to bring his skills to impoverished Far North Maori.
Day in, day out he is helping parents and treating children that didn’t need to have lifetimes of carrying the ailments that vaccination would of stopped dead. I suspect he has met a couple of people that have had unfortunate side-effects as a result of vaccination. He points to his 100’s of patient files.
He doesn’t need to see the movie. If it’s bringing any message to the Far North that isn’t ‘Give your baby the jab.’ Up here, it’s dangerous propaganda, it is his enemy, mine too. Most of us with the ability to make an educated choice can watch the movie anytime we wish online.
If you know that the basis of the movie is that very discredited debarred ex doctor who started the whole anti vaccination process based on thoroughly discredited data, you would have to be a fool to accept the basic premise. Some would argue that climate change is a myth but you shouldn’t say so unless you have looked at the films produced by the Deniers.
Go Dr O’Sullivan. A good man.
“If you know that the basis of the movie is that very discredited debarred ex doctor who started the whole anti vaccination process based on thoroughly discredited data, you would have to be a fool to accept the basic premise.”
From my understanding that is not the basis of the film.
“Thus one can’t claim it’s dangerous propaganda when one doesn’t actually know what the film has asserted.”
In this case, one can. The MMR vaccine/autism connection is based on really bad science. There comes a time when one doesn’t need to see that rehashed in order to have an opinion about it.
I haven’t seen Cowspiracy. But I know enough about the issues and I’ve read enough reviews of the film to know that it’s vegan propaganda.
Wakefield *did direct the film and it *is about the MMR/autism link. That video says it’s not about Wakefield, which is fine. I was talking about the whole issue. The film isn’t for instance about vaccines in general.
The big problem there is that even if there are issues with the CDC and new research, the fact that it’s Wakefield that has made the film means that there is zero chance of scientifically literate people taking it seriously. Seriously bad own goal, and it fucks me off because now it’s almost impossible to talk about real issues that exist with vaccines.
“one can’t claim it’s dangerous propaganda when one doesn’t actually know what the film has asserted.”
Ridiculous. Enough people and organisations who I trust have responded by now. I only need to be able to read.
The guy was struck off for breaching ethical standards, not for being a lovable misunderstood radical.
His position harms the public’s understanding about autistic people. I won’t tolerate that, and I do not need to sit through his little movie to come to that position any more than I need to read Atlas Shrugged to detest libertarians or Mein Kampf to grasp that Adolf wasn’t a nice chap.
Please read any of the many legit articles describing what the film is about – it’s Wakefield trying to defend his position that vaccines cause autism (which they do not). You’re wasting our time here. Surely you have something better to be defending?
My understanding is it’s about a CDC whistle-blower exposing a cover-up within the CDC, highlighting the conflict of interest the CDC has in their core role of promoting vaccines while also overseeing there safety.
I’ll judge it myself when I get round to viewing it.
I wasn’t defending it. I was highlighting the NZ Doctor’s outburst and how he failed to address the film directly, which IMO hurt his credibility on the matter.
It might be. Look at the Fat Hypothesis issue. It is possible for health authorities to get things very wrong, and that’s not always innocent mistakes but can be pinned on the culture and how the various processes work (or don’t work). I’m not arguing that the film is right, just the principle that there are no conflicts of interest in how public health gets developed.
For instance, I’d like to see a better reporting system for vaccine reactions (think we’ve had this conversation before), and IMO the reason we haven’t had that historically is because of the pro-vaccine bias didn’t want to look at the problems that closely (and probably some patronising stance about parents not knowing what they’re talking about).
There’s a difference between coming to a wrong conclusion and failing to declare and accommodate for a conflict of interest. One is being human, the other is Wakefield-level corruption.
A review is largely based on the opinion of the reviewer and can potentially be presented in an unbalanced manner. Therefore, it’s no substitute to the full publication. Especially when one publicly challenges the publication and wants to be taken seriously.
That one is getting borderline OAB. It’s been great having so many people commenting on the weekends again, can you please try and not make things unpleasant.
One Two’s pointless personal attack on Dr. O’Sullivan already made things unpleasant long before I arrived.
I made a movie that denies climate change. You have to watch it or you’re a symptom of wider societal issues. Pretty sure that’s a ‘pwned’ argument, eh.
The pointless personal attack was seemingly from O’Sullivan against the makers of the documentary, those who are showing it, and those who are watching it…
My comment was that if an MD make such irrational, emotive and one sided comments, that his credibility is zero..was not a personal attack…
Making comments (general statement) or taking a position on the documentary, when not having seen it..ridiculous…
His attacks on them have a point: that more children will die or be harmed as a result of their actions.
His credibility is bolstered by his being able to point to the facts of the matter, which support his position. That, and the fact of his personal and professional commitments, and the oath he took.
Which of us is the one having comprehension problems?
Cripes you critics!!
While you criticise someone for caring too much about something and shouting about a film that encourages doubt and denial which isn’t justified by science, though it appears to be scientific, it cuts into the credibility of a rare person trying to do well in a bad world.
Why such keenness to criticise good people in this post? Are there millions of people out there rising up to do the hard yakker of helping others and society and trying to set up systems that give vulnerable people better chances in life? Answer, no, numbers are far less than the uncaring, and struggling.
It’s so bloody middle class to be dissecting someone because they didn’t follow best practice or the regs in exactly the right way. They may have committed some offence against propriety or the law and they must be villified and exposed and cleansed before they are allowed to continue with their efforts to do good, a shamed figure with clay feet. The upper class, where the most money is, are less likely than the middle class to take any interest, so it tends to be the middle class that supplies the socially conscious and able to do the good works, but also the cutting critics and nitpickers.
Give it a rest – it’s like counting the angels dancing on the head of a pin. Better still get your own head so far down working to improve conditions in this rotten world that you don’t have time for this ridiculous and unseemly patter as you watch the passing parade from your superior positions.
Greywarshark, I respect and enjoy the thought you put into your comments here, but specifically around this, I am not in agreement with you (which is ok)
If O’Sillivan wished to make sincere and genuine difference, he would be encouraging open debate, not seeking to close it down pathways which are a necessary component, leading to wider more inclusive discussions..
It sounds like O’Sullivan was seeking to subvert the right of adults to take onboard information, which despite what yourself or others think, is critical to widening the thinking and awareness around vaccinations, and the gaping holes in the ‘science’
Such actions, in my opinion are not the actions/methods of a medical professional (or any rational human being) who seeks to deliver the most caring health service and advice possible. He made a big error of judgment, and in the process has exposed his true level and intent…not good enough, not not at all and he deserves all the criticism he gets (I’ve not criticized him, I’ve called out his actions and question them)
There is an abundance of medical and scientific literature, backed by wide sections of professionals across many specific fields, who are challenging the dogma of the ‘vaccine industry’, yet the pretence is that ‘evidence’ does not exist..
That is a lie of the most cynical nature, which fewer and fewer are believing..no you don’t need to be a ‘scientist’ or ‘doctor to identify the gaping holes in the ‘protocols’ or the curruption…most ‘doctors’ do not understand even fundamentals…
The challenge to orthodoxy includes detailing the degradation through revolving doors, conflict of interest ladened farce that are the FDA, Congress, and the worlds largest franchise of the ‘vaccine industry’, The CDC. All who hold patents, with profit generating vaccines in use, or in the pipeline
Researches and scientists are speaking out faster and in higher numbers which the establishment can’t keep the lid on, and people are now hearing the alarms, and taking control of their own well being and that of their family
In rapidly increasing numbers the awareness is spreading far and wide, that the toxins peddled by the chemical companies, have little of nothing to do with science or health. Nutrition and sanitation are the understood and clear leaders in overall general health improvements, the importance of clean food, water and air is clearly understood, and spreading rapidly
The poisons will not be going back in the needles, the current thinking is over, no matter how hysterical the largest lobby group on earth, with their advertising money dependent media outlets, paid for university departments, researches and controlled publishers yell, insult, abuse or call for the deaths of those who ‘speak out and speak up’…it’s over
The ‘irony’ is that ‘real science’ will be the end of the ‘vaccine industry’, as it is currently modeled…
The issues are much wider than the controlled narritive of vaccine/ASD…O’Sullivan needs to either talk about it honestly, or get out of the profession
5-10 years and that industry is over and done with
One Two
Thank you for your considered reply at 2 pm. Unfortunately I think you have become paranoid and I am sure that you have some good evidence of things that have gone wrong with vaccinations and people affected badly or even have died. But when it comes to mass treatment, which we need to build up barriers to the ‘germs’, there is a hopefully very small likelihood of someone’s system reacting even when everything is done well.
And when there are revelations that authorities and companies have been allowing second and third grade treatment it angers greatly.
This subject is clearly one which there is a gap between our levels of understanding. I don’t say that categorically, it is the sense I get. I would say the same to many others on this site..
It’s dismissive to use the word ‘paranoid’, not to mention disrespectful to the millions of families around the world whom have had direct and indirect experience with adverse reactions including death. If you had spent some time on this subject, you would likely be more considered in the word selection…many of them completely trusted the ‘industry’…
So vast are the numbers impacted, that the true paranoia exists, within the industry, which through its paranoia has managed to subvert co-opt and essentially monopolize law makers, regulatory bodies and indeed ‘vaccine science’..
If you had spent some time on this subject you would understand the deep conflicts inside the industry..these are mainstream understandings supported by studys from ivy league schools into the corruptive practices inside the industry which has subverted and co-opted regulatory bodies, turning them into corporate extensions..
This includes putting the legal liability onto an unsuspecting public, through ‘vaccine court’ under which the industry has no liability since 1986, and all costs are paid for by the taxpayers, and cases defended by the public servants..again funded by taxpayers…
Another mainstream aspect is the under-reporting of adverse reactions. Again this is a subject widely documented and easily ‘researched’ that at best it reporting is 1/10.
This alone makes the entire model in support of ‘safe & effective’ almost entirely useless, at best..it is 90% unknown what/who/where/why, at a minimum…
Still another mainstream issue, is the ‘industry’ lobby groups, which have ‘given’ more ‘donations’ to legislators between 1998-2012 than any other lobbying industry..by a wide margin
I don’t feel it’s nesessary to list the ‘settlements’ the industry has made over the decades of being outed peddling voodoo , which many believe in as ‘science’..
It’s nothing of the sort, and now even more millions, probably tens of millions around the world are growing in awareness about the industry practices, and what ‘health’ actually is for organic biological beings…
They can’t all be paranoid, and they can’t all be ‘wrong’
All the best, and please keep writing, because I’ll keep reading your comments
Not only are you having comprehension difficulty, but logic, reasoning as well….
Then there the logical fallicies you make…alongside snide personal remarks, simultaneously deflecting and smearing, and offering justification of the ‘attacks’…so it is supporting vilification and bullying, as well..
What a model ‘professional’…must be in the oath to ‘attack, vilify and bully’
Your comment history is ‘laudible’…O’Sullivan is just as defunct, given his performance!
No actual substantive argument then? Just a series of empty ad hominem assertions? I mustn’t hurt your feelings, so I’ll just refer you to the substance of my position, which you can find here.
[there’s no rule against hurting people’s feelings. There is a rule about getting away with rudeness so long as you make a political point. i.e. don’t do personal abuse alone (and don’t use politics to attack people personally). Can you please both stop the personal shit and argue the points. That applies to you too One Two. – weka]
O’Sullivan was seeking to subvert the right of adults to take onboard information
Two lies in that sentence.
1. Dr. O’Sullivan did not try to prevent people watching the calculated fraud. He advised them that doing so would result in children dying, because that’s the truth.
2. Calculated fraud is not “information”.
Mr. Andrew Wakefield tells lies for money. Helping him makes you an accessory to fraud.
The desperstion you exhibit in your comments on this site, going back many years is remarkable in its consistency
That you keep focusing on Wakefield serves only to illustrate just how limited in value your contributions on the subject, actually are..
Argue all you like, throw insults and projection as if the ranting tantrum thrower is anyone other than yourself…
The industry is bunk, it’s a fraudulent mesh of corporate corruption..peddled on the back of voodoo ‘science’ and neurotoxins injected directly into the blood stream of baby’s and pregnant women and youngsters..
Believe what you want.it’s over, regardless of what you or I have to say!
Funny how Wakefield’s movie invites mention of Wakefield. Almost as though they’re connected in some way 🙄
Have you contacted the police with your story about neurotoxins? Why not try a private prosecution? At least then when you get costs awarded against you, you’ll be able to say you’ve actually risked something personal, as opposed to merely endangering others.
Or is it more a case of, you’re convinced they’re poisoning children and you’re too gutless to act?
I’ve provided you with several coherent points of reference, from the foundations of Dr. O’Sullivan’s credibility, to the overwhelming messages from the medical community.
In response, you have advanced the idea that they are all corrupt or symptomatic of an undefined societal malaise, made vague and sinister allegations about neurotoxins, and declared victory, like George W Bush minus the aircraft carrier.
All smothered in snide bluster sauce.
What you’ve failed to do is advance a single substantive point of argument. And yes, I dine out on your rhetorical corpse. Boo hoo.
No, it’s not. Promotion of public health is the task. Assessing the safety of different interventions and promoting those that are safe and highly beneficial are not contradictory functions relating to that task, therefore no conflict exists.
If “big dead cat” paid the cdc to distribute massive quantities of dead cats and also paid the cdc to assess safety of dead cats, that would be a conflict. But that’s not the case.
The CDC see vaccines as one of our best defenses in promoting public health, therefore they promote their uptake. Thus, being critical of their safety risks discouraging their uptake, hence the potential conflict.
No, it’s not a conflict. Because if there were any safety risks of note, promoting vaccination would be inconsistent with promoting health.
That’s why people run a checklist for contraindications before vaccination (as with any drug intervention). The hazards of contraindicators mean that a particular vaccine (or anything) is not promoted in that case.
It would also be inconsistent with the promotion of one of their main defenses in promoting good health.
And while they do concede to some health concerns, thus don’t recommend certain people be vaccinated, or vaccination be delayed in certain cases, doesn’t mean there isn’t a potential conflict being weighed in their decision process.
One agency charged with overseeing both is likely to have unfortunate consequences.
If one test was manipulated, what’s to say there hasn’t been others?
I would suggest that the actual practise of discouraging vaccination in the case of evident contraindications means that your concern is more paranoid than rational.
Campbell and Nigel Latter are about to do this whole NZ in 2037 interactive telly thing. One of the questions is whether you would give up eating beef and eat ‘bugs’ instead for the sake of the environment.
It’s a nonsense question. I’ll eat local beef in small amounts ahead of imported, highly processed cricket flour. For environmental reasons.
I’d eat the ones from the dude in Dunedin though! Eat local, the less processed the better, so many ecological benefits.
‘Bugs’ bugs me. In NZ we have insects. Bugs are what you get when you have the flu or a cold.
[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.]
[going by the fact that last time you raised this you ended up banned for flaming, posting offensively and refusing to back up claims. You also appeared incapable of adhering to the site’s Policy and ignored moderation. So you’re getting exactly one warning on this. If you do the same behaviour again, I will ban you until the end of the year. If you are unsure what that means, ask, but I suggest first you read the Policy esp the bit about wasting moderator time. – weka]
Any word on the Waterview Tunnel which was meant to have opened in April, heard it was full of water and the pumps are not working as the Chinese electrics had failed?
Ant truth to the rumour the NZ Press, Auckland Council, and commentators are deftly quiet over what is happening, another White Elephant perhaps?
Didn’t Mr Joyce say something to media yesterday about it being a couple of weeks away? Can’t remember where I read it. NZTA have said it was the pumps and fans not being set up right to handle a vehicle fire rather than normal operations.
There have been other rumours but can’t have been enough evidence uncovered to be publishable news. No incentive for the tunnel contractors or funders to talk or leak about it at this stage.
I think they’re like a sports team playing the clock. I know little about traffic science but I’m guessing the opening of the tunnel will provide a temporary noticeable difference to Auckland’s congestion. National campaign gold, commuters hopping out of their cars and saying to a reporter: “Wow, I got to work in 20 minutes, I haven’t done that this millennium.” I reckon count back about four-five weeks from the election date for the tunnel opening.
Heh. Given what the uncontrollable public have said since Welli’s new Kapiti expressway opened, I’m not sure Joyce would count on positive stories. Installing ramp lights and scrambling to add extra lanes at the last minute are hardly a vote of confidence.
Change to New Zealand’s drug laws is “inevitable” – and associate health minister Peter Dunne says he’s willing to lead the debate on it.
Dunne envisions an Aotearoa where the drug trade is no longer controlled by gangs, but by the law – with licenced drug sellers able to cultivate and distribute tested and approved class C drugs such as cannabis.
He cautions he is not calling for the legalisation and decriminalisation of cannabis and other class C drugs, but rather a change to the way they’re classified.
Like any conservative he’s looking at a social change that he doesn’t actually like and is so working to slow it down. This is causing further damage as the gangs and other criminal organisations keep reaping super-profits from illegality of more or less harmless drugs.
That and the fact that he got seriously burned when he was supportive of artificial marijuana which turned out to be even more harmful. He seems to have an inbuilt bias against marijuana based upon it’s illegal therefore it must be bad and isn’t questioning why it became illegal in the first place.
NZ never made marijuana illegal on our own but through the accordance with its international obligations under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, New Zealand passed the Narcotics Act in 1965, which banned a number of drugs, including cannabis which was, we can assume, fully driven by the US.
Dunne doesn’t have the numbers to change the current law, but to his credit he has been learning about the evidence base supporting change. Ask Ross Bell from the Drug Foundation, for instance.
My last brother died from cancer 6 months ago. His son asked about medicinal cannabis products for pain relief about 6 weeks prior to his death. He was advised his father would be dead before an approval would be made. Fuck you Peter Dunne.
Things that are on the nose are being questioned.
There is something called vaping which sounds like sniffing something.
But below is a radio item on how much perfume is around us all the time, and now constitutes a hazard to more than the super-sensitive (I remember someone collapsing on an ocean-side walk from a sniff of patchouli in the past few years.
She blocked the narrow path which was part of a well-known walk and people had to step over her, which upset her and them.)
science health
30 Jan 2017
Should fragrance be regulated?
From Nine To Noon, 9:30 am on 30 January 2017
An Australian writer who discovered she was one of about 35 percent of people affected by perfumes argues there should be more conversation about regulating the industry. Award-winning author Kate Grenville told Nine to Noon that research for her latest book, The Case Against Fragrance, began after she realised perfumes were giving her headaches. Looking into the problem, she found it was very widespread.
Grenville says a study from Melbourne University suggested about 35 percent of people were affected by scents, with other possible effects including hormone disruption and cancer.
The problem was to do with the chemicals created by companies to make their perfumed products, she said.
“Essential oils cost about 1,000 times more than the comparable sythetics.
“Even though many of these chemicals are well known scientifically to be irritants of various kinds and possibly worse, they don’t have to be tested before they’re put on the market, the ingredients do not have to be fully declared on the label.
“Just the one word fragrance [or parfum] can cover up to a couple of hundred chemicals. And frighteningly… the only real regulation is by the fragrance industry itself.”
She says much of the testing was performed by the industry itself, and while the industry freely admitted that the chemicals were known to be bad for humans they also claimed to have safe measures of the chemicals.
“I don’t know where we go with it, but I wanted to start the conversation.”
“There’s nothing therapeutic about the fragrances, and of course it’s well known in other industries beside fragrance that if you’ve put an enormous amount of time and money into researching something unique, a unique product, you should not be deprived of the benefit of that by listing the formula.”
(I know someone who has canisters up near the ceiling in a corner that puff out some sort of fragrance every 5 minutes. It seems most unhealthy to me. It is unnerving too, like someone lurking with a breathing problem.)
weka
I saw you referring to people being affected by ‘vaping’ and thought about hearing this about perfume and chemicals a while ago on radionz but had not looked closely at it. It is interesting isn’t it and I also wonder about the health of people with these puffing ‘billies’ in houses and offices putting out their chemicals all the time.
When it comes to perfume I remember visiting Grasse in France and the Fragonard perfume factory in the early 1970s. They had been making perfume from flowers for yonks there and growers of flowers were well established with their small intensive farms in that seemingly rocky region. Then I read that they were replacing flower use with chemical synthetics and that the flower growers had lost their place in the business enterprise world there. Very sad.
And going further into it all, it is part of the chemical business advance which got such a boost around WW2 with, amongst other malpractices, making the chemicals sprinkled on the Jews in the charnel houses of the Nazis. We might well label the last 50 years the (Noxious) Chemical Demi-century.
ZyklonB (hydrogen cyanide used in the death camps)
(NB – Hydrogen cyanide had been used as a pesticide for agricultural purposes by California orange growers since the 1880s.) http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/zyklon_b_en_2
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
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 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Beaglehole, Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago niphon/Getty Images The number of people accessing medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Aotearoa New Zealand increased significantly between 2006 and 2022. But the disorder is still under-diagnosed and ...
To celebrate the start of New Zealand music month, we look back at the best local tuneage that managed to weasel its way into Hollywood productions. There’s nothing quite like the thrilling zap of recognition when New Zealand weasels its way into a glamorous Hollywood production. Crack open a Tui ...
People trust other people more than institutions. So how can the media gain that trust through journalists without losing what’s important about the institution? Anna Rawhiti-Connell reflects on two years of curating the news for The Bulletin.Amonth ago, armed cops descended on my neighbourhood as calls to “lock your ...
Opinion: PFAS – per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are a class of thousands of man-made chemicals used widely in everyday consumer items such as textiles, packaging, and cookware, popular for their water, grease and stain-repellent properties. However, the very properties that make PFAS so attractive to manufacturers are also what ...
NONFICTION 1 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)’ This is the hottest book in New Zealand, number one with a bullet in its first week, selling more than any overseas title, and demand is so huge that it’s already been reprinted. A ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 3 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
A warning – suicide is discussed in this podcast New Zealand’s own long-running soap Shortland Street doesn’t hesitate to kill off its much-loved characters. But would TVNZ dare to kill off our favourite soap? That’s the fear as times get tough in television – even though it’s been pointed out ...
Essay: If the Crown harms children, how do you hold it accountable? Analysis by Aaron Smale in light of the Waitangi Tribunal court decision. The post The Crown versus Māori Children appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report A West Papuan resistance leader has condemned the United Nations role in allowing Indonesia to “integrate” the Melanesian Pacific region in what is claimed to be an “egregious act of inhumanity” on 1 May 1963. In an open letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Organisasi Papua Merdeka-OPM ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A key part of the Albanese government’s political strategy is to fill the news cycle with its presence and messaging. Ministers are deployed to the maximum, even when they’ve little to say. This week ...
Recent extreme weather events showed the importance of a well-functioning insurance system, says Commerce and Consumer Affairs minister Andrew Bayly. ...
By Jo Moir, RNZ News political editor, and Craig McCulloch, deputy political editor New Zealand’s Labour Party is demanding Winston Peters be stood down as Foreign Minister for opening up the government to legal action over his “totally unacceptable” attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. In an interview on RNZ’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Brakenridge, Postdoctoral research fellow at Swinburne University, Centre for Urban Transitions, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute The Conversation, Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock People have a pretty intuitive sense of what is healthy – standing is better than sitting, exercise is great for overall ...
The Wellington-based Reserve Force soldier is now almost three years into his New Zealand Army career with 5th/7th Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment. ...
"The Government needs to release the review immediately as this reckless approach to change risks disjointed decision making and creates more distress and uncertainty for staff," Fitzsimons said. ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Jeremiah Manele has been elected Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, polling 31 votes to 18 over rival candidate and former opposition leader Mathew Wale with one abstention. The final result of the election by secret ballot was announced by the Governor-General, Sir David Vunagi, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Priestley Habru, PhD candidate, public diplomacy, University of Adelaide Former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele has been elected the next prime minister of Solomon Islands, defeating the opposition leader, Matthew Wale, in a vote in parliament. The result is a mixed bag for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shaun Eaves, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Jamey Stutz, CC BY-SA How often do mountains collapse, volcanoes erupt or ice sheets melt? For Earth scientists, these are important questions as we try ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Flood, Professor of Sociology, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock Most young adult men in Australia reject traditional ideas of masculinity that endorse aggression, stoicism and homophobia. Nonetheless, the ongoing influence of those ideas continues to harm men and the people ...
The NZQA proposal released to staff today would involve a net loss of 35 roles. There are 66 roles being disestablished with 13 of those currently vacant, and 31 new roles proposed, said Fleur Fitzsimons Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga ...
Alex Casey talks to Loren Taylor, the writer, director and star of new film The Moon is Upside Down, about assembling her dream ensemble cast, toilet paper pads and turning literal dreams into reality. There’s a moment in The Moon is Upside Down where frazzled anaesthetist Briar (Loren Taylor) gets ...
George Webb explaining the confusing mess behind the global Clinton web.
It’s like Iran-Contra but instead of going North to South, it’s going East to West
Sort of bizarre.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11864132
Funding to reduce rheumatic fever in New Zealand has been halved in this week’s Budget.
That is despite the Government’s failure to reach a target of reducing hospitalisations for the serious illness, which is one of its top 10 priorities for the public sector.
The Budget shows funding for rheumatic fever has fallen from $10 million a year to $5 million a year.
“the polls have narrowed, with the latest from YouGov showing just a five point Conservative lead (less than the margin in 2015). It may be an outlier but it is not that much of an outlier; another poll on the same day showed an eight-point lead. If the YouGov poll were translated into seats, the Conservatives would have an overall majority of just two seats. And the poll was taken after the Manchester bombing, an event that people thought would boost Mrs May’s appeal.”
http://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2017/05/markets-and-british-election-0?cid1=cust/ddnew/n/n/n/20170526n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/ap/Daily_Dispatch/email&etear=dailydispatch
There is an interesting report from the London School of Economics that recently came out.
.
“The results of this study show that Jeremy Corbyn was represented unfairly by the British press through a process of vilification that went well beyond the normal limits of fair debate and disagreement in a democracy. Corbyn was often denied his own voice in the reporting on him and sources that were antiCorbyn tended to outweigh those that support him and his positions. He was also systematically treated with scorn and ridicule in both the broadsheet and tabloid press in a way that no other political leader is or has been. Even more problematic, the British press has repeatedly associated Corbyn with terrorism and positioned him as a friend of the enemies of the UK. The result has been a failure to give the newspaper reading public a fair opportunity to form their own judgements about the leader of the country’s main opposition.”
.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/pdf/JeremyCorbyn/Cobyn-Report-FI…
.
Glenn
Thanks for the info.
Someone on radionz telling about himself in USA. He just said that some people don’t listen to facts or reason with any change of perceptions, because they NEED their beliefs to be right. His father said that it wasn’t enough to be right but to be able to present your thinking in a way that gets heard. He is a scientist interested in space. I thought his thoughts about dealing with science-twisters interesting.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. He’s a best-selling author, Emmy Award winner, recipient of 19 honorary doctorates, and a man who was once named “Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive”.
Since 1996, he has been the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City. The centre is part of the American Museum of Natural History, where Tyson founded the Department of Astrophysics in 1997 and has been a research associate in the department since 2003.
From 1995 to 2005, Tyson wrote monthly essays in the ‘Universe’ column for Natural History magazine, some of which were published in his book Death by Black Hole (2007); a second book, Astrophysics For People in a Hurry, has just been released. He will be in New Zealand for the first time in early June to present his show, A Cosmic Perspective, at both Christchurch’s Horncastle Arena and the Spark Arena in Auckland.
linky – http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/201845400/neil-degrasse-tyson-a-cosmic-perspective
TripeMarketingBoard @TripeUK
BREAKING: Stocks of dead cats ‘perilously low’ says dead cat trade body, as Tory Party HQ are accused of hoarding supplies.
https://twitter.com/TripeUK/status/868011128676286465
I put up a comment referring to Radionz interview with scientist.
Here is the link –
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/201845400/neil-degrasse-tyson-a-cosmic-perspective
Here is a principled man who reflects on himself and the world bravely and sometimes painfully. This will resonate with some of the people who comment here, who choose the path least trod.
10:20 Prof Michael Jackson – The wherewithal of life
Professor Michael D Jackson is a New-Zealand-born anthropologist and creative writer. He has published 30 books of poetry, fiction, ethnography and memoir, and is internationally known for his vast body of work. Most notably, he has helped define the field of ‘existential anthropology’ – looking at how groups of humans make meaning of their lives in the face of adversity.
In New Zealand, Jackson is best known for his poetry and creative non-fiction (Latitudes of Exile was awarded the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1976, and Wall won the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry in 1981). Since 1969 he has conducted extensive fieldwork among the Kuranko of Sierra Leone, the Warlpiri and Kuku-Yalanji of Australia, and African migrants in Europe. Jackson is currently Distinguished Professor of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School.
Link also for Prof Jackson –
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/201845402/prof-michael-jackson-the-wherewithal-of-life
Accused of underpaying women, Google says it’s too expensive to get wage data
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/26/google-gender-discrimination-case-salary-records
Data that is easily stored and retrievable is supposed to be one of the great pluses of the modern technological era that we live in, bringing knowledge and facts so that we can solve complex problems! And all that hyperbole.
Cowards of Our Time
No. 1: RICHARD HORTON
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2017/05/25/in-the-annals-of-sacks-of-shit-it-cannot-be-doubted-that-richard-horton-will-forever-occupy-a-place-of-honor/
Follow the link below for a interesting and, I think, largely on target, analysis of the US political situation by Paul Street. He considers the reasons behind the failure of the Democratic party and liberals (I know “liberal” is a label in dispute, but read the article to see what the author means by it) — their failure to get why so many working class Americans voted Trump and their consequent failure to re-think their own approach.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/26/its-not-gonna-be-okay-the-nauseating-nothingness-of-neoliberal-capitalist-and-professional-class-politics/
Does the Northland doctor who became enraged and invaded the stage at the Kaitaia screening of Vaxxed earnestly believe people will take his criticism seriously considering he hasn’t even viewed the film?
IMO, he exposed his bias, thus weaken his credibility, bringing into question those who supported his outburst.
He would have had far more credibility if he had actually viewed the film and directly addressed its assertions.
Poor Dr Lance O’Sullivan can’t lance a boil from school sores.
He is sore because he devotes his life trying to bring better health to poor people who have not the health education to understand how important it is to try and protect yourself against the might of the mites that are viruses etc.
And then the causality thing, the percentages thing is used to galvanise the populace against taking protective measures. One thing goes wrong, is done wrong and suddenly no thing must be done despite the foreseeable results of damaging sickness and community infection spread, which the so-called carers will then present to the doctor for hopeful healing.
We live with causality all the time, can’t people understand it. We don’t always wash our hands even, we allow our children and ourselves to suffer from tooth decay spreading germs throughout the body. The atmosphere is full of spores of fungus, dead skin has been said to swirl around us with bacteria riding on it like surfboarders.
There are problems lining up for us whether viruses or car ‘accidents’ from deliberate acts or actually real accidents, such as children being run over by cars in driveways, by enraged, maddened or drugged people, by those affected by traumatic breakdown of heart attacks. We don’t ban cars, we have to go to the lav, we can’t continue using germicide hand washes at home because the growth in their use affects the processes dealing with sewage to stop it putrefying etc., the inability to control meningitis, tuberculosis that is untreatable is looming, and we have wails mostly from women, that they can’t take the risk of vaccination.
It would be the stuff of fiction one would think, but no. (And I haven’t mentioned those who have taken bible readings to mean that they shouldn’t allow their children to have blood transfusions and instead watch them die rather than enable them so they can have a full life as an independent human.)
Dr Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) died through trying to help woman to have safer childbirth. He should be a woman’s hero known by all.
Despite various publications of results where hand washing reduced mortality to below 1%, Semmelweis’s observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings, and some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands.
Semmelweis’s practice earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory and Joseph Lister, acting on the French microbiologist’s research, practiced and operated, using hygienic methods, with great success.
In 1865, Semmelweis was committed to an asylum, where he died at age 47 of pyaemia, after being beaten by the guards, only 14 days after he was committed.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
Also Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior was forthright and was attacked by the medical profession because of his efforts to help prevent disease and death in the general public.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_Sr.
In 1843, Holmes published “The Contagiousness of puerperal fever” in the short-lived publication New England Quarterly Journal of Medicine and Surgery. The essay argued—contrary to popular belief at the time, which predated germ theory of disease—that the cause of puerperal fever, a deadly infection contracted by women during or shortly after childbirth, stems from patient to patient contact via their physicians.[61] Holmes gathered a large collection of evidence for this theory, including stories of doctors who had become ill and died after performing autopsies on patients who had likewise been infected.[62] In concluding his case, he insisted that a physician in whose practice even one case of puerperal fever had occurred, had a moral obligation to purify his instruments, burn the clothing he had worn while assisting in the fatal delivery, and cease obstetric practice for a period of at least six months.[63]
A few years later, Ignaz Semmelweis would reach similar conclusions in Vienna, where his introduction of prophylaxis (handwashing in chlorine solution before assisting at delivery) would considerably lower the puerperal mortality rate.
Though it largely escaped notice when first published, Holmes eventually came under attack by two distinguished professors of obstetrics—Hugh L. Hodge and Charles D. Meigs—who adamantly denied his theory of contagion.[64] In 1855, Holmes chose to republish the essay in the form of a pamphlet under the new title Puerperal Fever as a Private Pestilence.
In a new introduction, in which Holmes directly addressed his opponents, he wrote: “I had rather rescue one mother from being poisoned by her attendant, than claim to have saved forty out of fifty patients to whom I had carried the disease.”[65] He added, “I beg to be heard in behalf of the women whose lives are at stake, until some stronger voice shall plead for them.”[66] The then controversial work is now considered a landmark in germ theory of disease.[28]
People who propose a blanket refusal to vaccinate are totally irresponsible.
There have been cases where the vaccination has been unsatisfactory, has had toxic elements, and when if the person receiving it is not in good health with good immune response, they can contract the disease, this perhaps when there has been a live though weakened sample given. So there is a necessity to ensure that the procedures be followed carefully. Saying no to all will get the response from caring medicos that they despair as they try and save suffering children who are presented by these mothers from utopia who won’t take responsibility for guarding their children against serious disease.
Organisers of the New Zealand screenings, WavesNZ, say: “If Dr. O’Sullivan had watched it he would know it’s not anti-vaccine, rather pro safe-vaccine.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/health/2017/05/new-zealander-of-the-year-dr-lance-o-sullivan-storms-stage-at-anti-vaccine-film-screening.html?ref=ves-nextauto
Here’s an interview with the film’s producer
https://youtu.be/tvcdh7KlgPI?t=1m38s
“pro safe vaccine”.
piss off. That suggests that vaccines aren’t about the safest medical treatment there is – can you name a safer one? Vaccines make panadol or aspirin look like arsenic, and their benefits save millions – provided as many people as possible use them.
I also thought he lessened his credibility by arguing from his emotion and his authority and his ideology. Calling the people who organised the film to come here ‘vile’ said heaps. Interesting to see so many people support O’Sullivan from such emotive places instead of using logical arguments. The dishonesty about ideology is a problem.
I think the people who brought the film here did a massive disservice to the people who want to retain the choice to not vaccinate. Afaik there is no connection between MMR and autism. But there are other good reasons for some people to choose not using that vaccine. The anti-vaxxers are further polarising the whole thing by using false science and that’s going to lose in the end.
The pro-vaxxers are also polarising the situation, which shows them to be just as irrational. I want to bang their heads together (both groups).
Indeed, he let his emotion get the better of him.
And yes, it was interesting to see so many people support O’Sullivan from such emotive places instead of using logical arguments. Unfortunately, it tends to be an emotive topic.
Have you seen the film?
no. I’m mildly curious so that I can critique it and have a better argument against the MMR causes autism thing, but I suspect I won’t bother, too many other more interesting things to look at 🙂
The Doctor’s outburst has inspired me to view it.
Dr Lance is there at the bottom of the cliff doing the best he can to clean up the mess left by those that did not vaccinate. Far North poor Maori represent a hot-spot. Dr Lance, New Zealander of the year, could do whatever medical job he wishes. He chooses to bring his skills to impoverished Far North Maori.
Day in, day out he is helping parents and treating children that didn’t need to have lifetimes of carrying the ailments that vaccination would of stopped dead. I suspect he has met a couple of people that have had unfortunate side-effects as a result of vaccination. He points to his 100’s of patient files.
He doesn’t need to see the movie. If it’s bringing any message to the Far North that isn’t ‘Give your baby the jab.’ Up here, it’s dangerous propaganda, it is his enemy, mine too. Most of us with the ability to make an educated choice can watch the movie anytime we wish online.
Thanks for standing up Doc, you rock.
“He doesn’t need to see the movie.”
He does if he wants people to take his criticism of it seriously.
Thus one can’t claim it’s dangerous propaganda when one doesn’t actually know what the film has asserted.
If you know that the basis of the movie is that very discredited debarred ex doctor who started the whole anti vaccination process based on thoroughly discredited data, you would have to be a fool to accept the basic premise. Some would argue that climate change is a myth but you shouldn’t say so unless you have looked at the films produced by the Deniers.
Go Dr O’Sullivan. A good man.
” very discredited debarred ex doctor who started the whole anti vaccination process based on thoroughly discredited data”
That’s the MMR vaccine debate. It’s not the vaccine debate in general, which predates that issue by many years.
“If you know that the basis of the movie is that very discredited debarred ex doctor who started the whole anti vaccination process based on thoroughly discredited data, you would have to be a fool to accept the basic premise.”
From my understanding that is not the basis of the film.
Yeah, it is,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaxxed
“Thus one can’t claim it’s dangerous propaganda when one doesn’t actually know what the film has asserted.”
In this case, one can. The MMR vaccine/autism connection is based on really bad science. There comes a time when one doesn’t need to see that rehashed in order to have an opinion about it.
I haven’t seen Cowspiracy. But I know enough about the issues and I’ve read enough reviews of the film to know that it’s vegan propaganda.
“In this case, one can.”
But as we have both yet to see the film how can we be sure that this is what the film is totally based upon?
I’d be surprised if the medical people were outright lying about that, but it could be true.
The film is directed by Andrew Wakefield, the guy who did the bad science on the MMR vaccine. And it’s clearly about that,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaxxed
This says otherwise.
https://youtu.be/_KrpK0rbl9w?t=12m45s
Wakefield *did direct the film and it *is about the MMR/autism link. That video says it’s not about Wakefield, which is fine. I was talking about the whole issue. The film isn’t for instance about vaccines in general.
The big problem there is that even if there are issues with the CDC and new research, the fact that it’s Wakefield that has made the film means that there is zero chance of scientifically literate people taking it seriously. Seriously bad own goal, and it fucks me off because now it’s almost impossible to talk about real issues that exist with vaccines.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/88323
‘Government Concedes Vaccine-Autism Case in Federal Court – Now What?’
“Seriously bad own goal.”
Indeed.
Government Concedes Vaccine-Autism Case in Federal Court – Now What?
Now what? Corrupt ghouls will sell more books and movie screenings to dupes, and more children will die of preventable diseases. That’s what.
“one can’t claim it’s dangerous propaganda when one doesn’t actually know what the film has asserted.”
Ridiculous. Enough people and organisations who I trust have responded by now. I only need to be able to read.
The guy was struck off for breaching ethical standards, not for being a lovable misunderstood radical.
His position harms the public’s understanding about autistic people. I won’t tolerate that, and I do not need to sit through his little movie to come to that position any more than I need to read Atlas Shrugged to detest libertarians or Mein Kampf to grasp that Adolf wasn’t a nice chap.
“The guy was struck off…”
What guy?
The film’s director, Andrew Wakefield.
But apparently he’s not the topic of the film.
https://youtu.be/_KrpK0rbl9w?t=12m45s
Please read any of the many legit articles describing what the film is about – it’s Wakefield trying to defend his position that vaccines cause autism (which they do not). You’re wasting our time here. Surely you have something better to be defending?
Andrew Wakefield is also a good mate of Trump’s. This is not surprising as they are both unethical and dangerous people .
My understanding is it’s about a CDC whistle-blower exposing a cover-up within the CDC, highlighting the conflict of interest the CDC has in their core role of promoting vaccines while also overseeing there safety.
I’ll judge it myself when I get round to viewing it.
I wasn’t defending it. I was highlighting the NZ Doctor’s outburst and how he failed to address the film directly, which IMO hurt his credibility on the matter.
Yes, but it’s not any vaccine. It’s the MMR one, and the supposed coverup is about a link with autism. That’s the problem.
That’s not a conflict of interest.
It might be. Look at the Fat Hypothesis issue. It is possible for health authorities to get things very wrong, and that’s not always innocent mistakes but can be pinned on the culture and how the various processes work (or don’t work). I’m not arguing that the film is right, just the principle that there are no conflicts of interest in how public health gets developed.
For instance, I’d like to see a better reporting system for vaccine reactions (think we’ve had this conversation before), and IMO the reason we haven’t had that historically is because of the pro-vaccine bias didn’t want to look at the problems that closely (and probably some patronising stance about parents not knowing what they’re talking about).
There’s a difference between coming to a wrong conclusion and failing to declare and accommodate for a conflict of interest. One is being human, the other is Wakefield-level corruption.
Anyone who doesn’t have a “bias” about dead babies is fucked in the head.
I was referring to his bias against the film.
As he put it, that film will contribute to more dead children.
Yet, he wouldn’t really know as he hasn’t viewed it. But the comment did expose his bias.
For all he knows the film may lead to better oversight, hence safer vaccines, thus improve their uptake.
Even if he hadn’t so much as checked wikipedia or a review of it, even just the title and the director is leading enough.
Seriously, you don’t need to lick a turd to come to a conclusion about its taste.
“he wouldn’t really know as he hasn’t viewed it”
You do not need to endure a publication to know where you stand on it. That’s what reviews and so on are for.
A review is largely based on the opinion of the reviewer and can potentially be presented in an unbalanced manner. Therefore, it’s no substitute to the full publication. Especially when one publicly challenges the publication and wants to be taken seriously.
Which is why his credibility, is at zero!
Those who comment on the film without having seen it, are a symptom of wider societal issues!
Can someone with zero credibility, credibly assess the credibility of others?
No, you can’t. Oh dear, how sad. Never mind.
That one is getting borderline OAB. It’s been great having so many people commenting on the weekends again, can you please try and not make things unpleasant.
One Two’s pointless personal attack on Dr. O’Sullivan already made things unpleasant long before I arrived.
I made a movie that denies climate change. You have to watch it or you’re a symptom of wider societal issues. Pretty sure that’s a ‘pwned’ argument, eh.
Raise the double standard.
The pointless personal attack was seemingly from O’Sullivan against the makers of the documentary, those who are showing it, and those who are watching it…
My comment was that if an MD make such irrational, emotive and one sided comments, that his credibility is zero..was not a personal attack…
Making comments (general statement) or taking a position on the documentary, when not having seen it..ridiculous…
Surely you understand that..
Perhaps not…why not?
Is it deliberate?
His attacks on them have a point: that more children will die or be harmed as a result of their actions.
His credibility is bolstered by his being able to point to the facts of the matter, which support his position. That, and the fact of his personal and professional commitments, and the oath he took.
Which of us is the one having comprehension problems?
Cripes you critics!!
While you criticise someone for caring too much about something and shouting about a film that encourages doubt and denial which isn’t justified by science, though it appears to be scientific, it cuts into the credibility of a rare person trying to do well in a bad world.
Why such keenness to criticise good people in this post? Are there millions of people out there rising up to do the hard yakker of helping others and society and trying to set up systems that give vulnerable people better chances in life? Answer, no, numbers are far less than the uncaring, and struggling.
It’s so bloody middle class to be dissecting someone because they didn’t follow best practice or the regs in exactly the right way. They may have committed some offence against propriety or the law and they must be villified and exposed and cleansed before they are allowed to continue with their efforts to do good, a shamed figure with clay feet. The upper class, where the most money is, are less likely than the middle class to take any interest, so it tends to be the middle class that supplies the socially conscious and able to do the good works, but also the cutting critics and nitpickers.
Give it a rest – it’s like counting the angels dancing on the head of a pin. Better still get your own head so far down working to improve conditions in this rotten world that you don’t have time for this ridiculous and unseemly patter as you watch the passing parade from your superior positions.
Greywarshark, I respect and enjoy the thought you put into your comments here, but specifically around this, I am not in agreement with you (which is ok)
If O’Sillivan wished to make sincere and genuine difference, he would be encouraging open debate, not seeking to close it down pathways which are a necessary component, leading to wider more inclusive discussions..
It sounds like O’Sullivan was seeking to subvert the right of adults to take onboard information, which despite what yourself or others think, is critical to widening the thinking and awareness around vaccinations, and the gaping holes in the ‘science’
Such actions, in my opinion are not the actions/methods of a medical professional (or any rational human being) who seeks to deliver the most caring health service and advice possible. He made a big error of judgment, and in the process has exposed his true level and intent…not good enough, not not at all and he deserves all the criticism he gets (I’ve not criticized him, I’ve called out his actions and question them)
There is an abundance of medical and scientific literature, backed by wide sections of professionals across many specific fields, who are challenging the dogma of the ‘vaccine industry’, yet the pretence is that ‘evidence’ does not exist..
That is a lie of the most cynical nature, which fewer and fewer are believing..no you don’t need to be a ‘scientist’ or ‘doctor to identify the gaping holes in the ‘protocols’ or the curruption…most ‘doctors’ do not understand even fundamentals…
The challenge to orthodoxy includes detailing the degradation through revolving doors, conflict of interest ladened farce that are the FDA, Congress, and the worlds largest franchise of the ‘vaccine industry’, The CDC. All who hold patents, with profit generating vaccines in use, or in the pipeline
Researches and scientists are speaking out faster and in higher numbers which the establishment can’t keep the lid on, and people are now hearing the alarms, and taking control of their own well being and that of their family
In rapidly increasing numbers the awareness is spreading far and wide, that the toxins peddled by the chemical companies, have little of nothing to do with science or health. Nutrition and sanitation are the understood and clear leaders in overall general health improvements, the importance of clean food, water and air is clearly understood, and spreading rapidly
The poisons will not be going back in the needles, the current thinking is over, no matter how hysterical the largest lobby group on earth, with their advertising money dependent media outlets, paid for university departments, researches and controlled publishers yell, insult, abuse or call for the deaths of those who ‘speak out and speak up’…it’s over
The ‘irony’ is that ‘real science’ will be the end of the ‘vaccine industry’, as it is currently modeled…
The issues are much wider than the controlled narritive of vaccine/ASD…O’Sullivan needs to either talk about it honestly, or get out of the profession
5-10 years and that industry is over and done with
One Two
Thank you for your considered reply at 2 pm. Unfortunately I think you have become paranoid and I am sure that you have some good evidence of things that have gone wrong with vaccinations and people affected badly or even have died. But when it comes to mass treatment, which we need to build up barriers to the ‘germs’, there is a hopefully very small likelihood of someone’s system reacting even when everything is done well.
And when there are revelations that authorities and companies have been allowing second and third grade treatment it angers greatly.
Greywarshark…
This subject is clearly one which there is a gap between our levels of understanding. I don’t say that categorically, it is the sense I get. I would say the same to many others on this site..
It’s dismissive to use the word ‘paranoid’, not to mention disrespectful to the millions of families around the world whom have had direct and indirect experience with adverse reactions including death. If you had spent some time on this subject, you would likely be more considered in the word selection…many of them completely trusted the ‘industry’…
So vast are the numbers impacted, that the true paranoia exists, within the industry, which through its paranoia has managed to subvert co-opt and essentially monopolize law makers, regulatory bodies and indeed ‘vaccine science’..
If you had spent some time on this subject you would understand the deep conflicts inside the industry..these are mainstream understandings supported by studys from ivy league schools into the corruptive practices inside the industry which has subverted and co-opted regulatory bodies, turning them into corporate extensions..
This includes putting the legal liability onto an unsuspecting public, through ‘vaccine court’ under which the industry has no liability since 1986, and all costs are paid for by the taxpayers, and cases defended by the public servants..again funded by taxpayers…
Another mainstream aspect is the under-reporting of adverse reactions. Again this is a subject widely documented and easily ‘researched’ that at best it reporting is 1/10.
This alone makes the entire model in support of ‘safe & effective’ almost entirely useless, at best..it is 90% unknown what/who/where/why, at a minimum…
Still another mainstream issue, is the ‘industry’ lobby groups, which have ‘given’ more ‘donations’ to legislators between 1998-2012 than any other lobbying industry..by a wide margin
I don’t feel it’s nesessary to list the ‘settlements’ the industry has made over the decades of being outed peddling voodoo , which many believe in as ‘science’..
It’s nothing of the sort, and now even more millions, probably tens of millions around the world are growing in awareness about the industry practices, and what ‘health’ actually is for organic biological beings…
They can’t all be paranoid, and they can’t all be ‘wrong’
All the best, and please keep writing, because I’ll keep reading your comments
Not only are you having comprehension difficulty, but logic, reasoning as well….
Then there the logical fallicies you make…alongside snide personal remarks, simultaneously deflecting and smearing, and offering justification of the ‘attacks’…so it is supporting vilification and bullying, as well..
What a model ‘professional’…must be in the oath to ‘attack, vilify and bully’
Your comment history is ‘laudible’…O’Sullivan is just as defunct, given his performance!
No actual substantive argument then? Just a series of empty ad hominem assertions? I mustn’t hurt your feelings, so I’ll just refer you to the substance of my position, which you can find here.
[there’s no rule against hurting people’s feelings. There is a rule about getting away with rudeness so long as you make a political point. i.e. don’t do personal abuse alone (and don’t use politics to attack people personally). Can you please both stop the personal shit and argue the points. That applies to you too One Two. – weka]
Ranty tanty aside, they certainly are.
And with good reason too.
Measles…
Nope, that does not qualify as “good reason”…
Except to those with an agenda!
As for the ‘polio’ hysteria..
Again…Nope, and the more it’s all pushed, the greater numbers who join and examine the discussion
The pushers/pushing is appreciated!
O’Sullivan was seeking to subvert the right of adults to take onboard information
Two lies in that sentence.
1. Dr. O’Sullivan did not try to prevent people watching the calculated fraud. He advised them that doing so would result in children dying, because that’s the truth.
2. Calculated fraud is not “information”.
Mr. Andrew Wakefield tells lies for money. Helping him makes you an accessory to fraud.
Stay classy.
On-site for the event, were you?
The desperstion you exhibit in your comments on this site, going back many years is remarkable in its consistency
That you keep focusing on Wakefield serves only to illustrate just how limited in value your contributions on the subject, actually are..
Argue all you like, throw insults and projection as if the ranting tantrum thrower is anyone other than yourself…
The industry is bunk, it’s a fraudulent mesh of corporate corruption..peddled on the back of voodoo ‘science’ and neurotoxins injected directly into the blood stream of baby’s and pregnant women and youngsters..
Believe what you want.it’s over, regardless of what you or I have to say!
Funny how Wakefield’s movie invites mention of Wakefield. Almost as though they’re connected in some way 🙄
Have you contacted the police with your story about neurotoxins? Why not try a private prosecution? At least then when you get costs awarded against you, you’ll be able to say you’ve actually risked something personal, as opposed to merely endangering others.
Or is it more a case of, you’re convinced they’re poisoning children and you’re too gutless to act?
Clearly you don’t have basic comprehension let alone critical thinking capabilities
There is a blockage somewhere, and that’s for you to work through
With all the bluster there is not a coherent ‘point of reference’ for which to have a meaningful discussion
But that’s your modus operandi, which has been outed by multiple others on this site, going back many years and until present time
I’ll leave you to it!
I’ve provided you with several coherent points of reference, from the foundations of Dr. O’Sullivan’s credibility, to the overwhelming messages from the medical community.
In response, you have advanced the idea that they are all corrupt or symptomatic of an undefined societal malaise, made vague and sinister allegations about neurotoxins, and declared victory, like George W Bush minus the aircraft carrier.
All smothered in snide bluster sauce.
What you’ve failed to do is advance a single substantive point of argument. And yes, I dine out on your rhetorical corpse. Boo hoo.
“That’s not a conflict of interest.”
Clearly it is, but why don’t you believe so?
“clearly it is”.
No, it’s not. Promotion of public health is the task. Assessing the safety of different interventions and promoting those that are safe and highly beneficial are not contradictory functions relating to that task, therefore no conflict exists.
If “big dead cat” paid the cdc to distribute massive quantities of dead cats and also paid the cdc to assess safety of dead cats, that would be a conflict. But that’s not the case.
The CDC see vaccines as one of our best defenses in promoting public health, therefore they promote their uptake. Thus, being critical of their safety risks discouraging their uptake, hence the potential conflict.
No, it’s not a conflict. Because if there were any safety risks of note, promoting vaccination would be inconsistent with promoting health.
That’s why people run a checklist for contraindications before vaccination (as with any drug intervention). The hazards of contraindicators mean that a particular vaccine (or anything) is not promoted in that case.
It would also be inconsistent with the promotion of one of their main defenses in promoting good health.
And while they do concede to some health concerns, thus don’t recommend certain people be vaccinated, or vaccination be delayed in certain cases, doesn’t mean there isn’t a potential conflict being weighed in their decision process.
One agency charged with overseeing both is likely to have unfortunate consequences.
If one test was manipulated, what’s to say there hasn’t been others?
I would suggest that the actual practise of discouraging vaccination in the case of evident contraindications means that your concern is more paranoid than rational.
Is this a good idea? It reminds me of book The Day of the Triffids where they were grown and developed for the valuable oil they produced and became a deadly pest when liberated by disaster.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thiswayup/audio/201845275/bugs-for-breakfast
Campbell and Nigel Latter are about to do this whole NZ in 2037 interactive telly thing. One of the questions is whether you would give up eating beef and eat ‘bugs’ instead for the sake of the environment.
It’s a nonsense question. I’ll eat local beef in small amounts ahead of imported, highly processed cricket flour. For environmental reasons.
I’d eat the ones from the dude in Dunedin though! Eat local, the less processed the better, so many ecological benefits.
‘Bugs’ bugs me. In NZ we have insects. Bugs are what you get when you have the flu or a cold.
obviously you’ve never been a victim of stare rape!
~ tui
http://themorningwood.co.uk/index.php/2017/03/19/feminists-call-for-action-against-man-who-committed-stare-rape/
[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.]
[going by the fact that last time you raised this you ended up banned for flaming, posting offensively and refusing to back up claims. You also appeared incapable of adhering to the site’s Policy and ignored moderation. So you’re getting exactly one warning on this. If you do the same behaviour again, I will ban you until the end of the year. If you are unsure what that means, ask, but I suggest first you read the Policy esp the bit about wasting moderator time. – weka]
So, I should have reported all the women who’ve looked at me over the last 30+ years?
And, yes, women do look and they put quite a lot of emphasis simple physical attractiveness.
Drip drip drip drip. More Trump campaign/Russia stuff keep trickling out. And getting closer to Trump himself.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kushner-russia-contact_us_5928d740e4b0df57cbfbd7db?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Any word on the Waterview Tunnel which was meant to have opened in April, heard it was full of water and the pumps are not working as the Chinese electrics had failed?
Ant truth to the rumour the NZ Press, Auckland Council, and commentators are deftly quiet over what is happening, another White Elephant perhaps?
Didn’t Mr Joyce say something to media yesterday about it being a couple of weeks away? Can’t remember where I read it. NZTA have said it was the pumps and fans not being set up right to handle a vehicle fire rather than normal operations.
There have been other rumours but can’t have been enough evidence uncovered to be publishable news. No incentive for the tunnel contractors or funders to talk or leak about it at this stage.
I think they’re like a sports team playing the clock. I know little about traffic science but I’m guessing the opening of the tunnel will provide a temporary noticeable difference to Auckland’s congestion. National campaign gold, commuters hopping out of their cars and saying to a reporter: “Wow, I got to work in 20 minutes, I haven’t done that this millennium.” I reckon count back about four-five weeks from the election date for the tunnel opening.
Heh. Given what the uncontrollable public have said since Welli’s new Kapiti expressway opened, I’m not sure Joyce would count on positive stories. Installing ramp lights and scrambling to add extra lanes at the last minute are hardly a vote of confidence.
Liberalising NZ’s drug laws ‘inevitable’: Dunne
Like any conservative he’s looking at a social change that he doesn’t actually like and is so working to slow it down. This is causing further damage as the gangs and other criminal organisations keep reaping super-profits from illegality of more or less harmless drugs.
Methinks Dunne has had some focus groups done in an election year where he might lose his seat 😉
That and the fact that he got seriously burned when he was supportive of artificial marijuana which turned out to be even more harmful. He seems to have an inbuilt bias against marijuana based upon it’s illegal therefore it must be bad and isn’t questioning why it became illegal in the first place.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dope/etc/cron.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-influence/real-reasons-marijuana-is-banned_b_9210248.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_New_Zealand#History
NZ never made marijuana illegal on our own but through the accordance with its international obligations under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, New Zealand passed the Narcotics Act in 1965, which banned a number of drugs, including cannabis which was, we can assume, fully driven by the US.
Dunne is not the one slowing things down – try the Nat caucus.
Really? What’s been all the drama about people like Helen Kelly getting permission for medical marijuana then?
(and yes the Nats).
Dunne doesn’t have the numbers to change the current law, but to his credit he has been learning about the evidence base supporting change. Ask Ross Bell from the Drug Foundation, for instance.
You don’t think that telling people that it would take years when it should be done in months isn’t actively slowing things down?
My last brother died from cancer 6 months ago. His son asked about medicinal cannabis products for pain relief about 6 weeks prior to his death. He was advised his father would be dead before an approval would be made. Fuck you Peter Dunne.
Things that are on the nose are being questioned.
There is something called vaping which sounds like sniffing something.
But below is a radio item on how much perfume is around us all the time, and now constitutes a hazard to more than the super-sensitive (I remember someone collapsing on an ocean-side walk from a sniff of patchouli in the past few years.
She blocked the narrow path which was part of a well-known walk and people had to step over her, which upset her and them.)
science health
30 Jan 2017
Should fragrance be regulated?
From Nine To Noon, 9:30 am on 30 January 2017
An Australian writer who discovered she was one of about 35 percent of people affected by perfumes argues there should be more conversation about regulating the industry. Award-winning author Kate Grenville told Nine to Noon that research for her latest book, The Case Against Fragrance, began after she realised perfumes were giving her headaches. Looking into the problem, she found it was very widespread.
“One in three people have some sort of health problem from fragrance, either headaches or asthma, very common asthma trigger, nausea or various other symptoms.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201831283/should-fragrance-be-regulated
Listen to the interview duration 8′ :34″
Grenville says a study from Melbourne University suggested about 35 percent of people were affected by scents, with other possible effects including hormone disruption and cancer.
The problem was to do with the chemicals created by companies to make their perfumed products, she said.
“Essential oils cost about 1,000 times more than the comparable sythetics.
“Even though many of these chemicals are well known scientifically to be irritants of various kinds and possibly worse, they don’t have to be tested before they’re put on the market, the ingredients do not have to be fully declared on the label.
“Just the one word fragrance [or parfum] can cover up to a couple of hundred chemicals. And frighteningly… the only real regulation is by the fragrance industry itself.”
She says much of the testing was performed by the industry itself, and while the industry freely admitted that the chemicals were known to be bad for humans they also claimed to have safe measures of the chemicals.
“I don’t know where we go with it, but I wanted to start the conversation.”
“There’s nothing therapeutic about the fragrances, and of course it’s well known in other industries beside fragrance that if you’ve put an enormous amount of time and money into researching something unique, a unique product, you should not be deprived of the benefit of that by listing the formula.”
(I know someone who has canisters up near the ceiling in a corner that puff out some sort of fragrance every 5 minutes. It seems most unhealthy to me. It is unnerving too, like someone lurking with a breathing problem.)
Also here is a story of a NZr making perfume. It would be good if it isn’t based on synthetics.
technology science
13 Dec 2016
Making Perfume the New Zealand Way
From Jesse Mulligan, 1–4pm, 1:21 pm on 13 December 2016
Listen duration 11′ :28″
Our guest is making perfume, in a decommissioned toilet block, complete with a urinal. Perfumer, Vanessa York, has just taken up a residency at Auckland Council community arts facility Studio One: Toi Tū. And her aim is to continue developing a New Zealand perfumery.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/201827527/making-perfume-the-new-zealand-way
also
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/201831060/perfume-playground
thanks! That’s very interesting (the first one). 35% is a pretty high rate, I hadn’t seen a figure put on it before.
weka
I saw you referring to people being affected by ‘vaping’ and thought about hearing this about perfume and chemicals a while ago on radionz but had not looked closely at it. It is interesting isn’t it and I also wonder about the health of people with these puffing ‘billies’ in houses and offices putting out their chemicals all the time.
When it comes to perfume I remember visiting Grasse in France and the Fragonard perfume factory in the early 1970s. They had been making perfume from flowers for yonks there and growers of flowers were well established with their small intensive farms in that seemingly rocky region. Then I read that they were replacing flower use with chemical synthetics and that the flower growers had lost their place in the business enterprise world there. Very sad.
And going further into it all, it is part of the chemical business advance which got such a boost around WW2 with, amongst other malpractices, making the chemicals sprinkled on the Jews in the charnel houses of the Nazis. We might well label the last 50 years the (Noxious) Chemical Demi-century.
Perfumes and aromatic chemicals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragrance_extraction
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0898140X15354161
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530113-600-would-you-wear-yeast-perfume-microbes-used-to-brew-scent/
http://mymerrymessylife.com/2013/04/homemade-all-natural-perfume.html
DIY
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_p083.shtml#materials
and
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/diy-chemical-free-perfume-and-cologne-alternatives/
and
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Natural-Perfume
Noxious or killing chemicals.
USA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_Corps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_chemical_weapons_program
http://ss.sites.mtu.edu/mhugl/2015/10/11/the-dow-chemical-company-midland-mi/
Germany
http://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i41/Nazi-origins-deadly-nerve-gases.html
(Third Reich chemists invented the devastating chemical weapons, but the Nazis didn’t deploy them against the Allies during World War II but did in the death camps)
ZyklonB (hydrogen cyanide used in the death camps)
(NB – Hydrogen cyanide had been used as a pesticide for agricultural purposes by California orange growers since the 1880s.)
http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/zyklon_b_en_2
Also:
Ebook NZ$175 The Chemical Century: Molecular Manipulation and Its Impact on the 20th Century
By Richard J. Sundberg
and
Lethal Mists: An Introduction to the Natural and Military Sciences of …
By Eric R. Taylor (print book)