Jester, you may have found that out via Harawira before I became aware of it last night, but he would have been leaked the info from someone, and is unlikely to be in possession of all the facts. You found out around 10pm, and the MoH had Locations of Interest updated by midnight, if not before (that's just when I saw it). The health minister and his staff may have been a little bit occupied with responding to the unfolding crisis to jump in front of the cameras, in the middle of the night, before having all the facts. I am sure Harawira has enough on his plate today with managing non-consented checkpoints in Northland (not saying I disagree with them, especially given the Auckland pair, but that could turn nasty without someone with mana, not to mention; from Mana, on top of it).
Now if they don't front up at 1pm today, I will join you in your annoyance.
Though, I imagine that this community infection topic will quickly swamp OM, so if any Mods are reading this, maybe a dedicated post about this will prevent that? Not trying to waste your time or tell you how to do your work, but it is a bit off topic to use MS's vaccine post from yesterday.
No I found out at around 5:15pm on Newstalk One ZB via Hone (NOT 10pm).
The ministry had not said anything until Hone basically leaked it to HDPA. Later yesterday evening the ministry jumped into action. So yes, I am still annoyed or at least disappointed.
HDPA? I assume you are not referring to the enzyme, but what it does mean eludes me. Also assume that the ministry was already in action, perhaps too much so to be conducting press meetings on the basis of incomplete information. Unless there are still 24hour testing stations operating in Auckland, there is a limited amount anyone could do after 5pm. Anyway, I feel that Hipkins; more than Bloomfield, should be the focus of your ire, as they were less likely to be actively busy analyzing the data at the time.
I think your comment on yesterday's OM was around 10pm, so just assumed that the interview you heard must have been just before then. See what happens when people jump to conclusions on the basis of too little data? They just have to waste time later correcting the error and distracting from the more pressing issues.
Edit: Your initial comment was just after %pm, but just a reckon that was govt confirmed by 6pm
Police have shut down the Tai Tokerau border control information checkpoint at Waiomio. Hone Harawira said he is “p….. off” and concerned nothing is being done to protect the people of the north.
Out of interest why are you annoyed? Hipkins and Bloomfield should have told us sooner? Someone’s leaking in health?
I remained concerned about these new variants and wonder if we should be going into some sort of level change ASAP. But I still have high trust in our covid response and know this is to do with my personal approach which is with an abundance of caution.
hope I am not being a bore and happy to be told I am. Yesterday posed a question would you attend a largish party with someone who had left managed isolation the week before. Thanks to those who answered.
but McFlook and Peter from Chechnya if you are around would your answer still be yes?
btw this is not some hypothetical for me, real life issue and I thought the standard a good place to do a reality check. Thanks
Hi Anker. Yes, my answer would still be yes, for same reasons as yesterday: we need to keep a sense of perspective and have confidence that the MOH and other associated bodies are on top of this and will.inform us if the risk level changes.
ok accept your point of view Peter, but I have a different view. We are free to get on with our lives here mostly because of people being careful when we need to be. I am not proposing stay home and don't ever go out because of Covid. But if there is some risk take pre-cautions. Parties can be held at a better time. Its not that bigger deal.
Personally I wouldn't want to get Covid because I have had cancer and that increases the risk of me getting a bad dose. I also think every time I take an avoidable risk it is potentially risking our precious health workers. Why should I put them at risk just cause I want to go to a party. BTW I would and have attended parties over the last few months (not in level 2) but would not go to one where someone is a week out from managed isolation. Its a very, very tiny sacrifice to avoid what would be a catastrophe.
Could you, or someone else on here, clarify something. At the hypothetical party, if my Covid app has Bluetooth turned on, and it later transpires someone at the party is infected, does the Bluetooth detect that I was in close proximity to that person?
It's totally dependant on the infected person also having 1/ the COVID app installed and running, and 2/ that person also having the bluetooth functionality enabled. And then it's still a maybe, as in not going to be 100%. But way better than nothing if both are using the app.
For admins notes: Just had to ditch a browser called Bing that came with Windows as I set up Windows. It does not know where NZ is nor any of it's business entities. I simply couldn't get The Standard in a search result despite using all manner of trickery. Stuff I needed to find via Canterbury Press! Garbage browser… Chrome it is.
Yes, I see what you mean. If you search for the standard even confined to Only from New Zealand the ‘hits’ are misses. However, at the bottom of each results page you’ll find Related searches for the standard and that can be more helpful.
Sometime a few months back the ability to search TS comments using Google on Firefox on Windows 10 went away for me.
ie, if I wanted to search for when I've been insulting to Colonel Trotter, I used to be able to use google with the search words Andre bowelly site:thestandard.org.nz and it would give me the rude comments I've made. Now it just gives me a listing of author @Andre search results from TS, and sometimes not even that.
Since the search function here is currently working well, it hasn't been an issue.
I used to use the dual system Ubuntu & Windows option on an old computer before it wore out. Windows was better for gaming (at least for the old strategy games that I play). I like linux-based systems (which Ubuntu & Debian are an offshoot of) more; in theory, than; in practice. Fine for running Open office and webrowsing though. It's just that; I always felt I could do so much more with it if I only took the time to learn, so I really got to feel my age, and digital semi-literacy, whenever I used it. Which is not the operating system's fault.
The Torygraph on the failed array of quangos, management consultancies and outsourcing firms.
Why has Britain fared so poorly with Covid-19? Although blaming this or that minister or official offers an easy answer, the deeper causes lie in the transformation of the British state.
Britain inherited from World War II a “command and control” state; a state that could govern. Whitehall was well-practised in strategic planning, good at the rapid and efficient mobilisation of resources and people, and it regularly took authoritative, direct action to meet society’s needs.
Back then, the state could deliver what democratically elected politicians asked of it – to build the NHS, for instance – because it retained the powers, people and resources to do so.
Today, after 40 years of reform, the “command and control” state has been replaced by a “regulatory state”. Decision-making has shifted from parliament to an archipelago of some 400 “arms-length” quangos, employing more than 278,000 people and costing £205 billion per year. Moreover, the state’s assets – its capacity to execute policy on its own accord – have been outsourced or rationalised.
Does anyone know, in the hotels / MIQ facilities, are for example, day 2 people able to mix with say, day 12 people? eg. at common areas / smoking areas. Hopefully not.
I have had two stints in MIQ. One in Hamilton and one in Auckland
There is no mixing with anyone regardless of the day you arrive.
You are permitted to attend fixed times for exercise but you are l isolated from anyone else, and you wear a mask and are socially distanced. There is a risk at the juncture, but from my experience no one is 'mixing'.
About that drive-through testing … probably make self testing a damn sight easier.
More than a million Beijing residents undergoing coronavirus testing amid a fresh outbreak have been administered anal swabs, which are considered more accurate and raise the chances of detecting COVID-19, said a Chinese disease specialist.
Quite depressing to watch, read and listen to various Liberal 'Left' news sources to again unquestioningly jump on board the US led Venezuela regime change band wagon without missing a step and offering no proof or evidence so soon after these same outlets taking so much effort and time to debunk Trumps obvious bullshit over election fraud in the US…it could make you wonder at some of their other reporting…or so you would think?
US (and NZ) Media Require No Evidence for Claims of Electoral Fraud—in Venezuela
"Venezuela’s December 6 parliamentary election offers an instructive case study, with corporate journalists unquestioningly repeating Trump officials’ unsubstantiated allegations of “fraud” there at the same time that they debunked Trump’s virtually identical claims vis-a-vis the US election. And the right-wing violence that was rightly portrayed as a threat to democracy in the US was heartily endorsed as a democratic campaign in Venezuela, where it served Washington’s foreign policy goals.
The media’s uncritical echoing of fraud allegations is in turn used to justify the continuation of Washington’s regime-change policies. Early signs point to this dynamic continuing in full force under the new Biden administration (Reuters, 1/19/21)."
At least Biden's going to revive the Iran nuclear deal, so that's something, plus hand out some more cheques (USD1400) to US citizens and rejoin the Paris Accord on climate change. But mostly he's a ludicrous relic of a profoundly broken past, and completely unequal to the historical moment he finds himself in.
I'm just about past caring – might go plant some things in the garden and catch a fish. To quote Allen Ginsberg from 65 years ago, “America when will you be angelic?”
Advice from someone who really knows how to do a checkmate:
…the UK was uniquely placed to take action against Putin’s inner circle. He argued that the flow of money from Moscow into London had to cease. “It’s very simple. Stop talking and start acting,” he said.
Kasparov said Russia was at a crossroads following pro-Navalny protests last Saturday in more than 100 Russian cities, with 40,000 people taking to the streets in Moscow. He described the demonstrations as “phenomenal” and the most significant since 1991.
“They happened despite state propaganda and pressure on people,” he said. “In Europe nobody can now send a more vocal message to the Kremlin than the Brits. As long as the money keeps flowing into London and to the free world, Putin’s power is untouched.”
It is hard to be a plutocrat when you can't use the money you have looted. Though it's not quite that simple; as Putin's regime still has a lot of guns, and other more terrifying weapons.
Barfly, if it's not that significant; why has it not happened any other time in the last 40 years? Has Moscow been just so idyllic that there has been nothing to protest, or has a ruthless exKGB officer seized control of the state apparatus to quash dissent through a program (/pogrom) of murder and intimidation? I believe the latter to be closer to the truth.
Well, I can't read Cyrillic; but don't you think that someone would have mentioned it somewhere in an english language source somewhere, if so? I am more inclined to trust Kasparov; a chess grandmaster's memory than your uninformed supposition, unless you can provide a link.
Also that should be; "the last 30 years", not 40. Some clumsy fingers today!
And the newspapers were fooling, and the ash-trays have retired
Cause the keyboard has been drinking…
The point is, if you're only going to read and believe those publications at the head of your google search you're not going to be very well informed are you.
Therefore what you believe is based on poor research so your ignorance is your concern and really doesn't interest me.
Not about dead people (if that's what your image depicts); no, I don't believe Putin does, Joe90. However, I imagine he, and his backers, care very deeply about the state of their bank accounts.
The true thoughts of the heroic Navalny….bit of a racist Nationalist by the looks of it, but hey the Liberals can use him in their anti Russian boogie man McCarthyite hysteria campaign..so who cares right….
“What if we had a different ur-myth about energy and order in the universe? Imagine, for instance, that our intuitions were still informed more by that world of agrarian smallholders, and less by the industrialized cultures that eclipsed it. Letting our worldview shift further still, we could combine such a retrieval of our deeper past with an appreciation of the highly modern. Imagine, that is, a sense of energy informed not by Victorian science but by more recent physics—from cosmic background radiation to the quantum effervescence of space itself. And imagine, too, a feeling for order that derived less from loose notions of entropic decline, and more from recent work on physical self-organization or the way organisms adaptively harness tiny changes in entropy to drive productive chemical reactions.
“Imbued with such a worldview, moved and directed by it much as the Victorians were influenced by thermodynamics and Darwinism, we might think and act less in the vein of industrial agriculture, with its mining of natural gas and unidirectional spill of energy. We might be more inclined to let the flywheel of ecology get spinning and investigate the potential allowances of regenerative agriculture. More generally, perhaps we would begin to see that part of the solution to our planetary crisis lies not in hustle, but in repose. Not in catching the next trans-Atlantic flight to an important conference or meeting, but in staying home, contentedly. Not in buying a new more efficient car, but in leaving the old one parked. Perhaps there are many solutions that do not even occur to us, because they resemble passivity rather than action, and we are so deeply trained to hustle.”
I simply can't see how you can make the majority of NZ car drivers reducing their carbon emissions voluntarily. They are used to cheap, second hand car imports, ideally with as big – means polluting – engine as possible (while NZ petrol is still cheap compared to many Western European countries). On top of it, driving is seen as a god-given right, even if it serves very little to no purpose.
We have now "climate emergency" declared on every level here in Wellington: local, regional and national. Looking forward to the ideas to significantly reduce the transport carbon emission in the near future. Clearly, people have to leave their car at home when going into an office or work from home to achieve any noticeable reduction.
Buggered if I know but her response on this like her response to house prices the other day reminds me of old dont give a fuck key,its I bit depressing.
The thing about short selling is there is literally no limit to how much money a short seller could be on the hook for. I vaguely recall a comment from last year that short sellers in Tesla stock were in the hole for more than the combined market capitalisation of Ford, GM and Volkswagen combined.
Wall St big players have ganged together to stop the free market. Only insider trading allowed now apparently. They shut down the subreddit and Discord on the basis of "hate speech"… because they can't really say the truth: they don't like market manipulation, when it's not themselves doing it.
"What does the stock market do? It provides a convenient method of payment for elevated executive salaries and an avenue to riches for people ― usually organizations of rich people ― who want to bet on stocks. Turns out, that’s a lot of people. "
"The GameStop affair provides an opportunity to update Keynes for the 21st century: If you leave it to professional gamblers to determine the social value of any activity, they will almost always give you the wrong answer, no matter how many of them gamble against each other. They can reward social destruction just as readily as they reward social harmony or a video game store or a well-groomed horse at the starting gate.
Financial markets cannot tell us what is good and what is bad. They can only tell us what a lot of people thought they could make money on at a certain point in time. The real work of determining what kind of world we want to live in is the proper subject of democracy, not high finance. The Redditors have made this brazenly clear to the world, and for that they should be celebrated rather than condemned.
The situation, however, does demand a public policy solution. The Redditors have revealed an absurdity by being absurd. The appropriate response is not to demand an orgy of further absurdity, but to do something sensible."
Yeah suddenly it's a loophole that needs regulating. Wall St & DC have deregulated everything and lined their own pockets, plundering the Earth for decades.
"We have been advised that a small number of people who were in hotel quarantine in the Pullman Hotel in Auckland at the same time as these other cases have since travelled to Australia on green zone flights”
“We know that 12 people who were in quarantine at the Pullman Hotel have arrived in Sydney. Three of these people have travelled on to Hong Kong and the authorities there have been advised.”
I thought people had to disembark once the flight reached NZ. So people transit through NZ and continue on to another destination not leaving the plane?
Pretty simple, there's more quarantine spaces in NZ than Aussie so NZ citizens or residents who have been overseas are using NZ quarantine to get into Australia
Or reverse-501s: grew up in Aus, didn't need paperwork so still technically NZers and not aussies, got kiwi passport, and now have a quicker path back home through NZ MIQ.
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 ...
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Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
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Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
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The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
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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 ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
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. ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
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 ...
Asia Pacific Report Following an open letter by Auckland University academics speaking out in support of their students’ right to protest against the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, a group of academics at Otago University have today also called on New Zealand academic institutions to “repair colonial violence” and end ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda J. Graham, Professor and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology Ryan Tauss/ Unsplash, CC BY Two male students have been expelled from a Melbourne private school for their involvement in a list ranking female students. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Reserve Bank is now assuming Australians will see no interest rate cuts this year – and quite possibly none before the next federal election, due next May. That’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University The Victorian budget offered more of the same on Tuesday, with the only change being how the budget papers were packaged. The usual shrink wrap was gone, hinting at savings in the pages ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition is demanding extensive amendments to the government’s legislation targeting non-citizens who refuse to co-operate with their removal. In a dissenting report to the senate inquiry into the legislation, the Coalition says it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
Disruption to patient care from a nationwide junior doctors strike is bordering on unsafe, a senior doctor claims, despite what health officials say. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Ground Picture/Shutterstock The anti-cancer drug abemaciclib (also known as Vernezio) has this month been added to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to treat certain ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic McAfee, Postdoctoral researcher, marine ecology, University of Adelaide Robbie Porter, OzFish Unlimited Around Australia, hundreds of people are coming together to help a once-prized, but decimated and largely forgotten marine ecosystem. They’re busy restoring Australia’s native oyster and mussel reefs. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Webb, Lecturer, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology Austin Human/Unsplash How does Earth stop meteors from hitting Earth and hurting people? –Asher, 6 years 11 months, New South Wales Alright, let’s embark on a meteor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rory Mulcahy, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of the Sunshine Coast Professional sports organisations regularly promote and develop initiatives to support diversity, equity and inclusion. While sport has the power to change attitudes by sparking conversations about political issues and social ...
Comment: The weekly Monday post-Cabinet press conference is a useful forum for observing Christopher Luxon and how he is developing into the job of Prime Minister. He attempts to convey the impression of a man of action, speaking fast, delivering memorised National Party strategies in a connect-the-slogans kind of way, ...
Double votes, missing ballot boxes, tired tech and stressed staff: how tick-tallying went astray at last year’s election. Cast your mind back to November 2023, that bleary-eyed post-election period duringwhichwewaited, andwaited, for a coalition deal to be hammered out. A distraction from the hotel-hopping of our ...
International audiences are starting to discover what New Zealand already knew about After the Party.When After the Party aired in New Zealand last year, the response was fast and furious. In his preview for Rec Room, Duncan Greive said it was a “gritty, wrenching and highly confronting” series. By ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shahram Akbarzadeh, Convenor of the Middle East Studies Forum (MESF), and Acting Director the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University Iran’s leadership has been a direct beneficiary of the months-long war in Gaza. With every missile that Israel fires ...
Claire Mabey reviews the haunting and sexy debut novel from Sinéad Gleeson, who is about to touch down in Aotearoa for a string of live events.When Irish writer Sinéad Gleeson was in Aotearoa in 2018 with her spectacular collection of essays, Constellations, she told me she was working on ...
PNG Post-Courier Bougainville Affairs Minister Manasseh Makiba has described the Post-Courier’s front page story yesterday regarding a meeting between Bougainville and national government leaders as “sensationalised” and without substance. The Autonomous Bougainville Government (AGB) had warned it might use “other avenues to gain its independence” should the PNG government “continue ...
Where some saw the worst press conference given by the government to date, Anna Rawhiti-Connell recognised girl maths game.Nicola Willis, recently exasperated by comparisons to Ruth Richardson, said she was “a bit sick of being compared with every female finance minister that’s ever been out there.”Some think that’s ...
The March results are reported against forecasts based on the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update 2023 (HYEFU 2023), published on 20 December 2023 and the results for the same period for the previous year. ...
Jamie Arbuckle, the district councillor who became an MP but decided to keep getting paid for both roles, will instead donate one salary to charity. ...
Adding gender to the Human Rights Act would simply make the implicit explicit. So why is it so controversial? Paul Thistoll explain. At present, Aotearoa’s 1993 Human Rights Act (HRA) includes sex, marital status, religious belief, ethical belief (meaning a lack of religious belief), colour, race, ethnicity or national origin, ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, an 18-year-old who’s studying and working in hospo shares their approach to spending and saving. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Transmasc Age: 18 Ethnicity: Pākehā/Māori Role: Student, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Kelsey, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Resources Minister Shane Jones has reportedly asked officials for advice on whether oil and gas companies could be offered “bonds” as compensation if drilling rights offered by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Gleeson, Associate Professor of Law, Macquarie University Shutterstock The Albanese government is weighing up the costs of delivering an election promise to protect religious people from discrimination in Commonwealth law. Such protections were relatively uncontroversial when included in state anti-discrimination ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yen Ying Lim, Associate Professor, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University Pexels/Andrea Piacquadio Dementia is often described as “the long goodbye”. Although the person is still alive, dementia slowly and irreversibly chips away at their memories and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Judy Bush, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne Adam Calaitzis/Shutterstock I met with a friend for a walk beside Merri Creek, in inner Melbourne. She had lived in the area for a few years, and as we walked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Throsby, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Macquarie University Arts companies and individual artists in Australia are supported by government arts agencies, philanthropists, industry bodies, private donors and patrons. However, it is frequently overlooked that a major source of support for the arts ...
Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa, a new incorporated society dedicated to ending harmful drug policies, officially launched today, seeks a new fit-for-purpose drug law for Aotearoa New Zealand, rooted in science, experience and evidence. ...
The Corrections Minister admits he "muddied the water" after he and the Prime Minister repeatedly provided incorrect information about a $1.9 billion prison spend-up. ...
It took a post-post-cabinet statement to confirm that 810 new beds will be built at Waikeria, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Lili Tokaduadua was only 15 when she left her family in Fiji to pursue her netball dream in New Zealand. She’d been playing the sport for 10 years and was offered a netball scholarship at Auckland’s Howick College. Now, in her first year out of high school, the 19-year-old defender ...
The beloved local grocers lost a legal challenge to stop a new cycleway outside their store. Joel MacManus reports. In the annals of New Zealand legal history, there are a few brave people who have dared to stand up to the powers that be, no matter how bleak the odds ...
How what we produce and what we eat connects us to the world beyond our shores, visualised. Walking around a supermarket or vege shop, it might be obvious that everything on the shelves came from somewhere. But you might ...
Professor Jemma Geoghegan, of the University of Otago, Otakou Whakaihu Waka, co-leads a Te Niwha project aimed at understanding how and where avian influenza could affect Aotearoa New Zealand, as the highly infectious H5N1 virus spreads globally. The virus has now spread to all continents except Oceania and was recently ...
Thirty years on from Rwanda’s genocide, is guilt over the atrocities is blinding the world to the true nature of its current leadership? The post The repressive underside of Rwanda’s regime appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: Last week, important recommendations for our criminal justice system were made by the international community. Every five years, each member of the United Nations has its human rights practices reviewed. This rolling event – the Universal Periodic Review – is the culmination of a government reporting on its human ...
Highly pathogenic avian influenza – H5N1, or bird flu – has been flying around the world since the late 1990s. New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands are so far free of it, but now it’s been discovered in mainland Antarctica and scientists say it’s only a matter of time ...
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The following interview with auto electrician and former caver Stu Berendt, 68, of Charleston on the West Coast, came about because he was part of the caving team that found the rare and amazing fossil remains of the giant Haast eagle, the subject of one of the year’s best books, ...
A $1.8b funding boost for Pharmac still won’t enable it to buy more drugs, raising questions about the Government’s approach to the agency The post Can Pharmac do more with the same pot of money? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eric Stokan, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County If you live in one of the most economically deprived neighborhoods in your city, you might think the government is directing a smaller share of public funds to your community. ...
Wansolwara The news media’s crucial role in climate change and environment journalism was the focus of The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme 2024 World Press Freedom Day celebrations. The European Union Ambassador to the Pacific, Barbara Plinkert, and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna were the chief ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Adams, Professor of Corporate Law & Academic Director of UNE Sydney campus, University of New England Last August, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal proceedings against Qantas. The consumer watchdog accused the airline of selling thousands of tickets ...
This episode of A View From Afar was recorded LIVE on May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, May 5, 2024 at 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Taylor, Assistant Professor, Bond University Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures At the crux of the critical response to Luca Guadagnino’s new movie Challengers is one word: “sexy”. The film charts a love triangle between three up-and-coming tennis players: Tashi (Zendaya), ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Stewart, Professor of Public Policy, ADFA Canberra, UNSW Sydney For years, First Nations people have been telling governments they want to be listened to. In particular, they want more ownership of the programs and services that are supposed to help them. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Why do trees have bark? Julien, age 6, Melbourne. This is a great question, Julien. We are so familiar with bark on trees, that most of us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Nasser, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, University of Technology Sydney PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is an important ligament in the knee. It runs from the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia) and helps stabilise ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne I covered the May 2 United Kingdom local government elections for The Poll Bludger. The Blackpool South parliamentary byelection was also held, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna Grant-Smith, Professor of Management, University of the Sunshine Coast The federal government has announced a “Commonwealth Prac Payment” to support selected groups of students doing mandatory work placements. Those who are studying to be a teacher, nurse, midwife or social ...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/27/keep-covid-rescue-programmes-or-risk-triggering-stock-market-crash-warns-imf
And there you have it…..all pretence gone.
Oops – they said the quiet bit out loud.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/01/jacinda-ardern-weighing-options-against-companies-dumping-contaminated-waste-into-sewers.html
The double standard in nz continues . Farmers get hung drawn and quartered for less
Reckon!
Judith seems to be bringing the Nats back to the centre. Her speech at Ellerslie about housing, apparently did not go down too well with the Rotarians. https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/27-01-2021/judith-collins-wants-to-help-solve-the-countrys-housing-crisis-do-people-care/
And now she wants to contest the Maōri seats. There must be a lot of spluttering going on somewhere. Although it does give ACT more room on the right, so maybe part of some plan?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/exclusive-national-party-contest-m-ori-electorate-seats?auto=6226481526001
ACT and National with former leaders like Banks and Brash will struggle to get any votes.
Still very annoyed that we find this out from Hone and not Hipkins or Bloomfield.
Live: Child and adult are the new Covid-19 cases in the community in Auckland | Stuff.co.nz
Jester, you may have found that out via Harawira before I became aware of it last night, but he would have been leaked the info from someone, and is unlikely to be in possession of all the facts. You found out around 10pm, and the MoH had Locations of Interest updated by midnight, if not before (that's just when I saw it). The health minister and his staff may have been a little bit occupied with responding to the unfolding crisis to jump in front of the cameras, in the middle of the night, before having all the facts. I am sure Harawira has enough on his plate today with managing non-consented checkpoints in Northland (not saying I disagree with them, especially given the Auckland pair, but that could turn nasty without someone with mana, not to mention; from Mana, on top of it).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018781204/northland-covid-19-checkpoints-to-go-ahead-without-police
Now if they don't front up at 1pm today, I will join you in your annoyance.
Though, I imagine that this community infection topic will quickly swamp OM, so if any Mods are reading this, maybe a dedicated post about this will prevent that? Not trying to waste your time or tell you how to do your work, but it is a bit off topic to use MS's vaccine post from yesterday.
No I found out at around 5:15pm on Newstalk One ZB via Hone (NOT 10pm).
The ministry had not said anything until Hone basically leaked it to HDPA. Later yesterday evening the ministry jumped into action. So yes, I am still annoyed or at least disappointed.
HDPA? I assume you are not referring to the enzyme, but what it does mean eludes me. Also assume that the ministry was already in action, perhaps too much so to be conducting press meetings on the basis of incomplete information. Unless there are still 24hour testing stations operating in Auckland, there is a limited amount anyone could do after 5pm. Anyway, I feel that Hipkins; more than Bloomfield, should be the focus of your ire, as they were less likely to be actively busy analyzing the data at the time.
I think your comment on yesterday's OM was around 10pm, so just assumed that the interview you heard must have been just before then. See what happens when people jump to conclusions on the basis of too little data? They just have to waste time later correcting the error and distracting from the more pressing issues.
Edit: Your initial comment was just after %pm, but just a reckon that was govt confirmed by 6pm
That should be; "just after 5pm", not %pm!
Anyway this is more important:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300215941/live-child-and-adult-with-covid19-in-the-community-in-auckland-have-south-african-strain
No close contacts test positive so good news so far.
Good wake up call use tracer app wash hands minimise unnecessary contacts .
I remained concerned about these new variants and wonder if we should be going into some sort of level change ASAP. But I still have high trust in our covid response and know this is to do with my personal approach which is with an abundance of caution.
hope I am not being a bore and happy to be told I am. Yesterday posed a question would you attend a largish party with someone who had left managed isolation the week before. Thanks to those who answered.
but McFlook and Peter from Chechnya if you are around would your answer still be yes?
btw this is not some hypothetical for me, real life issue and I thought the standard a good place to do a reality check. Thanks
Hi Anker. Yes, my answer would still be yes, for same reasons as yesterday: we need to keep a sense of perspective and have confidence that the MOH and other associated bodies are on top of this and will.inform us if the risk level changes.
ok accept your point of view Peter, but I have a different view. We are free to get on with our lives here mostly because of people being careful when we need to be. I am not proposing stay home and don't ever go out because of Covid. But if there is some risk take pre-cautions. Parties can be held at a better time. Its not that bigger deal.
Personally I wouldn't want to get Covid because I have had cancer and that increases the risk of me getting a bad dose. I also think every time I take an avoidable risk it is potentially risking our precious health workers. Why should I put them at risk just cause I want to go to a party. BTW I would and have attended parties over the last few months (not in level 2) but would not go to one where someone is a week out from managed isolation. Its a very, very tiny sacrifice to avoid what would be a catastrophe.
Could you, or someone else on here, clarify something. At the hypothetical party, if my Covid app has Bluetooth turned on, and it later transpires someone at the party is infected, does the Bluetooth detect that I was in close proximity to that person?
Sorry I don't know the answer to that Peter
It's totally dependant on the infected person also having 1/ the COVID app installed and running, and 2/ that person also having the bluetooth functionality enabled. And then it's still a maybe, as in not going to be 100%. But way better than nothing if both are using the app.
For admins notes: Just had to ditch a browser called Bing that came with Windows as I set up Windows. It does not know where NZ is nor any of it's business entities. I simply couldn't get The Standard in a search result despite using all manner of trickery. Stuff I needed to find via Canterbury Press! Garbage browser… Chrome it is.
Yes, I see what you mean. If you search for the standard even confined to Only from New Zealand the ‘hits’ are misses. However, at the bottom of each results page you’ll find Related searches for the standard and that can be more helpful.
HTH
Sometime a few months back the ability to search TS comments using Google on Firefox on Windows 10 went away for me.
ie, if I wanted to search for when I've been insulting to Colonel Trotter, I used to be able to use google with the search words Andre bowelly site:thestandard.org.nz and it would give me the rude comments I've made. Now it just gives me a listing of author @Andre search results from TS, and sometimes not even that.
Since the search function here is currently working well, it hasn't been an issue.
It's 'bowalley road' Andre. Does that make a difference to your search?
biochar – Saw this and thought of your enthusiasm for this bleeple.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018781782/new-zealand-s-first-microforest
“We are coastal hillside, so all the natives that are traditionally in that area are from that list.”
He says the key difference between his project and others is the use of bio char to enrich the soil.
At this stage most of their work is to do with making bio char which he says is very growth supporting.
Bing is Windows default search engine. Results for thestandardnz and the standard nz
You could ditch windoze entirely and install a less buggy OS.
https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-desktop#1-overview
Firefox is the default browser and works well.
I used to use the dual system Ubuntu & Windows option on an old computer before it wore out. Windows was better for gaming (at least for the old strategy games that I play). I like linux-based systems (which Ubuntu & Debian are an offshoot of) more; in theory, than; in practice. Fine for running Open office and webrowsing though. It's just that; I always felt I could do so much more with it if I only took the time to learn, so I really got to feel my age, and digital semi-literacy, whenever I used it. Which is not the operating system's fault.
A long(ish) and instructive read…the rules of the game.
https://michael-hudson.com/2021/01/the-rentier-resurgence-and-takeover-finance-capitalism-vs-industrial-capitalism/
The Torygraph on the failed array of quangos, management consultancies and outsourcing firms.
Why has Britain fared so poorly with Covid-19? Although blaming this or that minister or official offers an easy answer, the deeper causes lie in the transformation of the British state.
Britain inherited from World War II a “command and control” state; a state that could govern. Whitehall was well-practised in strategic planning, good at the rapid and efficient mobilisation of resources and people, and it regularly took authoritative, direct action to meet society’s needs.
Back then, the state could deliver what democratically elected politicians asked of it – to build the NHS, for instance – because it retained the powers, people and resources to do so.
Today, after 40 years of reform, the “command and control” state has been replaced by a “regulatory state”. Decision-making has shifted from parliament to an archipelago of some 400 “arms-length” quangos, employing more than 278,000 people and costing £205 billion per year. Moreover, the state’s assets – its capacity to execute policy on its own accord – have been outsourced or rationalised.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/rolls-royce-skoda-pandemic-has-exposed-britains-failed-regulatory/ (free)
Does anyone know, in the hotels / MIQ facilities, are for example, day 2 people able to mix with say, day 12 people? eg. at common areas / smoking areas. Hopefully not.
I understand 'social distancing' applies in MIQ irrespective of time arrived i.e. between and within groups
oh well, it's all good then. 🙂
IF it has transferred through the aircon then obviously not
I have had two stints in MIQ. One in Hamilton and one in Auckland
There is no mixing with anyone regardless of the day you arrive.
You are permitted to attend fixed times for exercise but you are l isolated from anyone else, and you wear a mask and are socially distanced. There is a risk at the juncture, but from my experience no one is 'mixing'.
That is good to know. Thanks
About that drive-through testing … probably make self testing a damn sight easier.
More than a million Beijing residents undergoing coronavirus testing amid a fresh outbreak have been administered anal swabs, which are considered more accurate and raise the chances of detecting COVID-19, said a Chinese disease specialist.
https://www.newsweek.com/covid-anal-swabs-beijing-residents-more-accurate-says-chinese-expert-1564381?
Quite depressing to watch, read and listen to various Liberal 'Left' news sources to again unquestioningly jump on board the US led Venezuela regime change band wagon without missing a step and offering no proof or evidence so soon after these same outlets taking so much effort and time to debunk Trumps obvious bullshit over election fraud in the US…it could make you wonder at some of their other reporting…or so you would think?
US (and NZ) Media Require No Evidence for Claims of Electoral Fraud—in Venezuela
"Venezuela’s December 6 parliamentary election offers an instructive case study, with corporate journalists unquestioningly repeating Trump officials’ unsubstantiated allegations of “fraud” there at the same time that they debunked Trump’s virtually identical claims vis-a-vis the US election. And the right-wing violence that was rightly portrayed as a threat to democracy in the US was heartily endorsed as a democratic campaign in Venezuela, where it served Washington’s foreign policy goals.
The media’s uncritical echoing of fraud allegations is in turn used to justify the continuation of Washington’s regime-change policies. Early signs point to this dynamic continuing in full force under the new Biden administration (Reuters, 1/19/21)."
Depressing and enraging but entirely predictable.
At least Biden's going to revive the Iran nuclear deal, so that's something, plus hand out some more cheques (USD1400) to US citizens and rejoin the Paris Accord on climate change. But mostly he's a ludicrous relic of a profoundly broken past, and completely unequal to the historical moment he finds himself in.
I'm just about past caring – might go plant some things in the garden and catch a fish. To quote Allen Ginsberg from 65 years ago, “America when will you be angelic?”
I like this version; with Waits' melancholy setting for Ginsberg's reading, though there is something to be said for the starkness of the bare words.
Advice from someone who really knows how to do a checkmate:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/27/garry-kasparov-calls-on-uk-to-impose-sanctions-oligarchs-vladmiri-putin-alexei-navalny
It is hard to be a plutocrat when you can't use the money you have looted. Though it's not quite that simple; as Putin's regime still has a lot of guns, and other more terrifying weapons.
Moscow population 12,190,000 approx 40,000 protesters = just over 0.3 % I doubt Putin is losing sleep
Barfly, if it's not that significant; why has it not happened any other time in the last 40 years? Has Moscow been just so idyllic that there has been nothing to protest, or has a ruthless exKGB officer seized control of the state apparatus to quash dissent through a program (/pogrom) of murder and intimidation? I believe the latter to be closer to the truth.
"there has been nothing to protest"
Not necessarily. If the guardian, bbc et al haven't reported an event that doesn't prove no event took place.
Well, I can't read Cyrillic; but don't you think that someone would have mentioned it somewhere in an english language source somewhere, if so? I am more inclined to trust Kasparov; a chess grandmaster's memory than your uninformed supposition, unless you can provide a link.
Also that should be; "the last 30 years", not 40. Some clumsy fingers today!
The point is, if you're only going to read and believe those publications at the head of your google search you're not going to be very well informed are you.
Therefore what you believe is based on poor research so your ignorance is your concern and really doesn't interest me.
My beliefs don't matter to you so much, that you; felt compelled to leave a reply telling me how they don't matter to you? Okayy…
Poots doesn't give a rats….
Not about dead people (if that's what your image depicts); no, I don't believe Putin does, Joe90. However, I imagine he, and his backers, care very deeply about the state of their bank accounts.
They're murdered Russian journalists.
" witnesses saw at least one killer in a parked Lada"
Yep Russia did it.
Does Putin drive a Lada? He might. So yeah he did it.
Check out the #RussiaProtests tag on twitter. This is a massive movement.
https://twitter.com/AlexKokcharov/status/1352999003361857539?s=20
The true thoughts of the heroic Navalny….bit of a racist Nationalist by the looks of it, but hey the Liberals can use him in their anti Russian boogie man McCarthyite hysteria campaign..so who cares right….
https://twitter.com/MarkAmesExiled/status/1354052162570117121
Nalvany looks like he is just another Putin if the Twitter post is to believed .
Who knows Russian bot factories Putins financial contribution to Trump Pence The leave Brexit campaign..
Attn RedLogix 🙂
“What if we had a different ur-myth about energy and order in the universe? Imagine, for instance, that our intuitions were still informed more by that world of agrarian smallholders, and less by the industrialized cultures that eclipsed it. Letting our worldview shift further still, we could combine such a retrieval of our deeper past with an appreciation of the highly modern. Imagine, that is, a sense of energy informed not by Victorian science but by more recent physics—from cosmic background radiation to the quantum effervescence of space itself. And imagine, too, a feeling for order that derived less from loose notions of entropic decline, and more from recent work on physical self-organization or the way organisms adaptively harness tiny changes in entropy to drive productive chemical reactions.
“Imbued with such a worldview, moved and directed by it much as the Victorians were influenced by thermodynamics and Darwinism, we might think and act less in the vein of industrial agriculture, with its mining of natural gas and unidirectional spill of energy. We might be more inclined to let the flywheel of ecology get spinning and investigate the potential allowances of regenerative agriculture. More generally, perhaps we would begin to see that part of the solution to our planetary crisis lies not in hustle, but in repose. Not in catching the next trans-Atlantic flight to an important conference or meeting, but in staying home, contentedly. Not in buying a new more efficient car, but in leaving the old one parked. Perhaps there are many solutions that do not even occur to us, because they resemble passivity rather than action, and we are so deeply trained to hustle.”
https://nautil.us/issue/86/energy/the-idea-of-entropy-has-led-us-astray
Average weekly rent in Auckland now $595pw! Unfortunately I cant see it easing much over the coming year if there is as much demand as they say.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/real-estate/124072625/super-city-rents-hit-new-record
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/01/jacinda-ardern-encourages-higher-spending-on-cars-to-reduce-emissions-as-act-fears-for-less-fortunate.html
I'm starting to think Ardern just can't be bothered trying to solve the big problems.
What solution(s) do you propose?
I simply can't see how you can make the majority of NZ car drivers reducing their carbon emissions voluntarily. They are used to cheap, second hand car imports, ideally with as big – means polluting – engine as possible (while NZ petrol is still cheap compared to many Western European countries). On top of it, driving is seen as a god-given right, even if it serves very little to no purpose.
We have now "climate emergency" declared on every level here in Wellington: local, regional and national. Looking forward to the ideas to significantly reduce the transport carbon emission in the near future. Clearly, people have to leave their car at home when going into an office or work from home to achieve any noticeable reduction.
Buggered if I know but her response on this like her response to house prices the other day reminds me of old dont give a fuck key,its I bit depressing.
Amsterdam Is Embracing a Radical New Economic Theory to Help Save the Environment. Could It Also Replace Capitalism?
https://time.com/5930093/amsterdam-doughnut-economics/
Hope so. Or at least opens a door to good change.
Covid may test the model.
an explainer for those trying to make sense of the redditors taking down the hedge fund dudes. I think I understood this, most of it at least.
https://twitter.com/migbike/status/1354449364463325185
Longer form explanation of what's going on:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/redditors-myth-stock-market_n_6011bd16c5b61cb9535099d6
The thing about short selling is there is literally no limit to how much money a short seller could be on the hook for. I vaguely recall a comment from last year that short sellers in Tesla stock were in the hole for more than the combined market capitalisation of Ford, GM and Volkswagen combined.
Wall St big players have ganged together to stop the free market. Only insider trading allowed now apparently. They shut down the subreddit and Discord on the basis of "hate speech"… because they can't really say the truth: they don't like market manipulation, when it's not themselves doing it.
"What does the stock market do? It provides a convenient method of payment for elevated executive salaries and an avenue to riches for people ― usually organizations of rich people ― who want to bet on stocks. Turns out, that’s a lot of people. "
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/redditors-myth-stock-market_n_6011bd16c5b61cb9535099d6
"The GameStop affair provides an opportunity to update Keynes for the 21st century: If you leave it to professional gamblers to determine the social value of any activity, they will almost always give you the wrong answer, no matter how many of them gamble against each other. They can reward social destruction just as readily as they reward social harmony or a video game store or a well-groomed horse at the starting gate.
Financial markets cannot tell us what is good and what is bad. They can only tell us what a lot of people thought they could make money on at a certain point in time. The real work of determining what kind of world we want to live in is the proper subject of democracy, not high finance. The Redditors have made this brazenly clear to the world, and for that they should be celebrated rather than condemned.
The situation, however, does demand a public policy solution. The Redditors have revealed an absurdity by being absurd. The appropriate response is not to demand an orgy of further absurdity, but to do something sensible."
Nuff said
Yeah suddenly it's a loophole that needs regulating. Wall St & DC have deregulated everything and lined their own pockets, plundering the Earth for decades.
https://twitter.com/rudy_betrayed/status/1354485494445461510?s=20
https://twitter.com/bocxtop/status/1354496988193185806?s=20
"We have been advised that a small number of people who were in hotel quarantine in the Pullman Hotel in Auckland at the same time as these other cases have since travelled to Australia on green zone flights”
“We know that 12 people who were in quarantine at the Pullman Hotel have arrived in Sydney. Three of these people have travelled on to Hong Kong and the authorities there have been advised.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-twelve-travellers-from-virus-hotel-came-to-australia/VDFZ2NXR44TOCEJFHVGI5ASZYY/
What is going on here ? Extrapolation of the quarantine service which was for Kiwis coming home not for others to use and abuse to go elsewhere.
Is it because it is too hard to get direct flights or it is cheaper to fly so they transit through NZ.
Surely immigration could keep track somehow and it cannot be excluded that they paid for their own MIQ.
If that is the case it should be prohibited.
In transit passengers remains air side at the airport. Those flying on to other destinations from MIQ would be NZ citizens with the right to do so.
I thought people had to disembark once the flight reached NZ. So people transit through NZ and continue on to another destination not leaving the plane?
Those flying on to another country never enter NZ, remaining air side in one of Dante's circles of hell, the international transit lounge.
Pretty simple, there's more quarantine spaces in NZ than Aussie so NZ citizens or residents who have been overseas are using NZ quarantine to get into Australia
NZers coming into NZ presumably don't have to tell the govt why, or how long they intend to stay.
I bet it's just global citizens who have scammed a nz resident Visa and are useing nz as a back door to other places ,
heh.
Or reverse-501s: grew up in Aus, didn't need paperwork so still technically NZers and not aussies, got kiwi passport, and now have a quicker path back home through NZ MIQ.