Two academic heavyweights give Biden public advice: " Robert Alexander is a professor of political science and founding director of the Institute for Civics and Public Policy at Ohio Northern University. He is also the author of "Representation and the Electoral College." David B. Cohen is a professor of political science and assistant director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at The University of Akron." https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/26/opinions/three-women-who-should-be-at-the-top-of-bidens-vp-list-alexander-cohen/index.html
Biden already made history by committing to choose a female running mate. Fortunately for him, there are a number of talented and experienced women who are legitimate contenders for the spot. We believe California Sen. Kamala Harris, Florida Rep. Val Demings and former National Security Adviser Susan Rice should be at the top of Biden's list.
An emerging consensus is that Biden should select a woman of color. University of Virginia Professor Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball ranks all five of Biden's top vice presidential choices as women of color, with Harris, Demings, and Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth leading the way. USA Today's Jill Lawrence argues that Biden should choose either Harris or Demings.
We concur with 538's Perry Bacon's assessment that choosing a Black woman is an important acknowledgment of both descriptive (how much a candidate looks like the electorate) and symbolic representation (how a candidate exemplifies an idea that resonates with the electorate). Such a choice would likely shore up positive perceptions of Biden among the Democratic base — a base riled by racial unrest and protests across the country. Failing to do so may dampen turnout among marginal voters that could prove costly in a close contest.
Given the likelihood of Biden dying in office if elected president, the choice is critical. The one chosen must be able to retain public support via mana and competence. Healing the racial divide will take at least that, but the prospects of rebuilding goodwill on the basis of a renewal of ethos compel the right choice.
"We believe California Sen. Kamala Harris, Florida Rep. Val Demings and former National Security Adviser Susan Rice should be at the top of Biden's list."
????!!??? People who write something like that are not "academic heavyweights"; they're nothing but Democratic Party jobsworths.
Harris thinks it's funny to lock up black parents if their kids don't go to school.
Fine Gael’s leader and former taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the coalition’s formation marked the end of civil war politics in the Dáil. “I believe civil war politics ended a long time ago in our country, but today civil war politics ends in our parliament,” he said. “Two great parties coming together with another great party, the Green party, to offer what this country needs: a stable government for the betterment of our country and for the betterment of our world.”
Sinn Féin responded with a conspiracy theory:
The Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald, whose party won the second-highest number of Dáil seats, said that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had conspired to exclude Sinn Féin from government.
Cabinet posts have been divvied up along expected lines. Fine Gael getting the finance, justice, foreign affairs, economic development portfolios while Fianna Fáil gets the social stuff, education, health, housing plus ag & fish. Greens have done pretty well actually with 3 cabinet posts including environment, climate change, arts & culture, transport, youth & children.
Martin and Varadkar will swap roles halfway through the term when Varadkar takes over as Taoiseach.
By the way the election was way back at the beginning of February. It’s taken 4 & a half months to put the government together.
You got to feel for Mary Lou McDonald she’s taken Sinn Fein almost into government.
Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are like our Labour and National so it remains to be seen how well the coalition will go.
My (admittedly rather sketchy) understanding is that their Labour Party is more akin to our old Alliance under Anderton. Fianna Fáil is a broad church centrist, republican party; that split-off from Sinn Fein after that movement went all in for armed resistance. Fine Gael is the Conservative party in the same mould as National here or the Tories in the UK.
Never a good sign for Major Parties when they're forced into a Grand Coalition by a dynamic Opposition Party on an upward trajectory.
As for the Irish Greens … wiped out last time they went into Govt … support more than halved at the following Election … no TDs at all … about as welcome to Irish voters as a Baby Arctic Seal Vol-au-vent served at a Green Party Annual Conference.
Would be good to have an explanation of the shift in voter views of them. A mix of negatives sufficient to overwhelm these positives?
"In almost four years in Government, from 2007 to 2011, the Green Party contributed to the passage of civil partnership for same-sex couples, the introduction of major planning reform, a major increase in renewable energy output, progressive budgets, and a nationwide scheme of home insulation retrofitting." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Party_(Ireland)
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All very interesting and perhaps we should be more Irish. They have been oppressed badly and still have spirit. We have been oppressed and seem to go into dour as a default. They worked like billy-oh to make their way and initiated the word 'navvies' short for those who dug out England's navigation canals for transporting production.
We worked hard cutting down the forest in our own land for profit. The working man here found a voice in the Labour Party but that turned out to be more interested in being socially mobile, going up a class, and left its supporters behind. It has now to turn back from representing nature's despoilers targeting wealth, and return to its core role of acting for working people, and the underpaid and underemployed and find a way to get enterprise in NZ working for NZs providing for NZs needs, with some export as well, instead of the present reverse situation.
Now Labour must combine with the Green Party in implementing policies good for us all. And for the strugglers; be about healthy housing same as when it began, and relating to the new Climate Change menace which has penetrated our consciousness with trepidation.
If you listen to the Irish music it can be soulful but also the jigs really get everyone going, along with Irish whisky. Our music was more about gold-mining failures 'Farewell to the Gold' or a waltz, Save the Last Dance for Me. The Kokatahi Band played a mix of music that they remembered to bring some light and rest from toil, fuelled by beer and home-made spirit and refreshments. Then another lot of music crazed us up with rock and roll, and drugs. We had a chance to break the pattern of poor and drunken, rich and self-satisfied after WW2, but our horizons were too low. Now the size of the problem is huge but looking at how we can pull together to cope with Covid-19, this will likely act as a spur to carry the spirit further.
Problems can be dealt to rather than crush us, so let's show Ireland we can do better, let's compete in a sporting fashion to have the best policies performing successfully like well-oiled machines, for all the people and the country. We should keep in touch with Ireland, is there a group uniting the two countries? We can learn from them, the jigs, the determination, the national closeness as in, 'If You're Irish come into the Parlour, There's a Welcome here for you'! We will say, 'Naumai, Haeremai' but with the same meaning and effect. Let's do it.
According to Worldometer this morning, 10 million cases occurred overnight, both the US and Brazil recorded 42 thousand new cases each, the total death toll is now 500 thousand.
Exponential increase in the infections rate and countries still not taking the virus seriously.
Just more evidence that NZ has applied the best response to this pandemic of any country, we've got a Govt that has saved us from potentialy the worst disaster in any of our life times.
We are the lucky country for having the Govt and response we've had, wake up NZ media, get your head out of the sand.
As the situation deteriorates overseas the public here will have cast into clear definition, the foolish position taken by the National Party, Todd Muller and much of the media.
Audrey Young in the Herald yesterday pretty much admitted that National’s best hope now is community transmission and a second wave of covid so they can call Jacinda a failure. Astonishingly cynical really.
Tawdrey lets the mask slip and out comes the 'power at all costs' even if that cost is kiwis lives. Cynicals not the word more like inhumane and a view that doesn’t get the airplay it deserves.
MSM are lock step with nationals messaging as Joyce (Mr 20Bill hole that didn't exist) gets a pulpit in granny today and Judiths book will no doubt provide exposure through till sept GE.
Remember that one the dark lords of DP is employed by them now with all his media contacts and all that money from swallowing rats gives them a lot of resources.
Apparently testing rates have gone through the roof again in Auckland as people start to get nervous about covid again on the back of National’s scaremongering.
One would think after going through the unpleasant experience of being nose swabbed and being all clear they'd get a bit pissed off at the hysteria inducing media and opp party. My kids mum rang sick at her work and they asked her to go get tested, she said the test is absolutely awful.
IIRC three of the Oz states haven't had any cases for weeks so they may want to keep their borders closed to Victoria until community transmission ceases.
Just read 50,000 tests conducted in Ak of late , all negative. Slim hope then for the Nats. Shocking to think they are likely hoping for community transmission.
Just read an article from the Daily Telegraph which quotes Michael Baker, saying he was the designer of the worlds most successful lockdown. Things aren't looking to great in Australia. I remember when we were in lockdown zooming friends over there and thinking theres was a pretty loose lockdown……
I feel frightened about what all. this is going to mean for billions of people
Politics of disaster is politics of fear and this never makes for good policy. This is consistent with the absence of coherent and detailed policy from National. It is also another reason why I’m happy-ish that the Government didn’t push for major reform, besides the fact that they should obtain a clear mandate for it and campaign on it.
It generally doesn't, Just Is. Instead, the dread generated by events in America, Brazil and so on, will overshadow the fear being stirred up by National et al and New Zealanders will reassess their views accordingly. I reckon.
Well said Just In. Talking to a rabid brain dead Tory yesterday I got the impression that he was very bitter that we had no community transmission of the virus as it was more down to good luck than good management as this incompetent pack of no-hopers could not organise a piss up in a brewery. He wanted National to fix things. Yeah, like Mullet was screaming for letting students in and then in the next breath claim that we were letting the virus in and it was shambolic
Not surprised really by his comments after the last week of hysteria lead by the pathetic excuse for shit house paper called the Herald.
As I said to him I am very grateful for living in a country run by people who could not organise a piss up and their good luck, Sooner be here mate than some of these so-called countries where the right is soooo organised like Australia (held up as a sample how we should do it ) UK run by Bozo and top of the hit parade USA and Brazil run by pea brained ultra right wing fuckwits.
I get the impression that most Kiwis are aware of our success and why we've been successful, it's really only the rusted on Nat supporters making a lot of noise, many of those supporters are of course the media its self, I doubt wether ordinary Kiwis are interested in "tipping the baby out with the bath water" better off sticking with Govt that has got us to where we are today, history proves the Nats don't have what it takes in a natural disater, never did.
" Nats don't have what it takes in a natural disaster, never did."
You can say that again pal. Only have to study how the Christchurch earthquake was run by Jerry Brownarse Minister of Disasters one almighty big disaster.
Incidentally, my answer was to your comment @3 not @3.1.2 as written. 8. 48 am on a Sunday is a bit early for me
+1. This of course could all be destroyed if National win in September. New Zealand is in great danger of pandemic disaster should that happen and I think the public know this.
"This of course could all be destroyed if National win in September. New Zealand is in great danger of pandemic disaster should that happen and I think the public know this".
We hope so Mutton because there are one hell of a lot of fuckwits out there who are brain dead to this and are more interested in point-scoring against the government.
Like prat Garner one morning last week kept asking Premier Ardern if she was going to apologise. What for? I ask, apologise for keeping the pandemic at bay in NZ.
Prime Minister Ardern please. Premier is Australian term.
What does Premier mean in Australia?
The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive branch of government in the Australian state of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions. Wikipedia
"Prime Minister Ardern please. Premier is Australian term"
You are not quite right there me old son
I quote the Oxford Concise Dictionary
Premier Prime Minister in Great Britain or some British dominions. so it is NOT an Ozzie term but a British term so I will stick with what I said Premier Ardern.
On Friday, the Australian Federal Police raided the Sydney home and parliamentary offices of the NSW Labor MP and the home of his part-time staffer John Zhang.
Federal politics under the Libs has seen multiple police raids, often targeting Labor or Union offices, most, if not all have no outcome whatsoever, but the negative publicity is always damaging to the Labor Party and the mostly right wing media go along for the ride
I lived in Sydney from 2011 to 2018 and saw how the media can destroy a whole country for the sake of political point scoring.
Is this the media cosying up to ScoMo? Chomp on your pavlova while you watch this fascinating culinary masterpiece unfold, and hear about the latest passion – date syrup! But which date was that?
No, I didn't, but he was minister of Tourism under the Howard Govt and was suddenly sacked from the position, only very recently the reason for his demise was revealed, Fraudulent Activity, recieving kickbacks for favourable contracts, basically, completely dishonest, he's a Pentecostal Christian, say no more, right wing conservatism.
"Green Party senator Pippa Hackett will be Super Junior Minister in Agriculture with responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity." Obviously a new form of political creature, Super Junior Ministers – ought we to get some? Chloe seems a contender, eh?
Could be. The label implies minister-with-training-wheels-on, yet I wonder why the Super gets put on the front – as if to imply a better product that the consumer ought to buy. Perhaps they will wear a badge with their title on it (as a marketing device).
This story needs to be on Page 1 of every newspaper for a month. Putin put a bounty on the lives of American soldiers–and Trump rewarded Putin by trying to pull our soldiers out of Germany and put Russia back in the G7. #TraitorTrumphttps://t.co/EYWhSB1p10
— Guy says BLACK LIVES MATTER (@speechwriterguy) June 27, 2020
WSJ didn't confirm their reporting either. Just more uncritical parroting of the same evidence-free assertions by anonymous sources we have no reason to believe are different from NYT's sources. pic.twitter.com/lSQVthmudo— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) June 27, 2020
The minatory deep voice and the ominous timpani percussion obviously affected you deeply. But where are the links you talk about? Did those dastardly Russian masterminds steal the links as well?
After 3 weeks of poor journalism and some appalingly ignorant commentary as a result – about as poor a service from the media estate as one should ever have to experience.
The story that should have been written weeks ago.
There was a government of a country that was coronavirus free. It was at Level 2 of its management regime and because it was community transmission free for some weeks was under pressure to move to level 1 and open up its borders to foreign students and bubble with a neighbouring country (Oz).
It had already buckled to pressure to allow early exit from the two week quarantine it ran to be kind. Early release without testing.
So it announced a move to Level 1, but aware of the greater risk of cluster growth (and also the likelihood of returning Kiwis having infections because of the greater numbers returning as overseas lockdown rules eased) under Level 1 moved to a requirement for testing on day 3 and day 12 of the managed isolation.
However it did so with only one days notice. June 8 with the new rules from June 9.
Until June 8 all testing was run by the local Health Boards at its testing sites. It had organised the staff, the safety equipment and training for this. There was some testing of those moving into quarantine hotels because of their symptoms – but these numbers were low and testing was in very small numbers on an occasional ad hoc basis (without any time pressure) and so had no implications for other testing capability.
It was of course not practically possible to have a testing regime in place from June 9 for those who arrived June 7 (June 9 was their third day for testing). Not with one days notice June 8. So operations management staff made the presumption that the policy was meant to only apply for those who arrived from June 9 (not making this presumption would have inferred those making the policy decision were so out of touch as not to realise what they asked could not be done in practice). And so they would apply it from June 11th for those who arrived on June 9. And if they could not organise this with the local Health Board who supplied such staff by June 11th, they would have the first test as early as possible afterward (as they had operated the earlier testing of those with symptoms in quarantine before June 8, when this was in synch with local Health Board staff availability).
As we know this all came to public notice because a pair of sisters who arrived before June 9 were let out early, and without a test (as people were in May and still were if they arrived before June 9 – unknown to government which seemed to presume that a day 3 or day 12 test would have prevented this).
And as we know, it was not until about June 16 that the managed isolation system set up a testing regime for those for day 3 and day 12 – even those who arrived on June 9 were not tested on June 11 as the testing took a while to put in place).
So what actually went wrong.
Cabinet made a collective decision to do something that could not be done in practice.
Did Cabinet receive advice from the Ministry of Health about how long it would take to set up the system to apply day 3 and day 12 testing? Or did it make the decison expecting it to apply from June 9 (with one days notice June 8 Cabinet for those who arrived in June 7 – like those sisters from the UK), without any knowledge that there was little chance this could be done. Blaming the Minister or the Ministry or the management regime officials for not implementing the impossible is stupid.
Did the Ministry inform the Minister about what was possible? Did Cabinet know what they needed to know about the practicality of their policy being implemented in a timely way?
These are the relevant questions. And yet no one has asked them. Well served by our media, hardly.
PS Now there are people criticising the Health Minister for not visiting management isolation facilities. There is a reason we do not allow interface with others in the hotel (just necessary isolation regime staffing). There is a pandemic. A person going from such a place to a hospital (to meet a health need) means everyone in the hospital they meet has to be in a suit and the place they go is isolated out until they get a negative test result.
"These are the relevant questions. And yet no one has asked them."
Well, did you listen to the RNZ political panel this morning? Linda Clark & Richard Harman reviewing the past week. Those here trying to whitewash Labour, who anticipate a pleasant sunday, ought not to listen to it!
It's almost as if Labour presumes a cover-up of public service lying to the govt is in everyone's best interests. Yes, I know Labour MPs are mostly clueless – but that bad?? Really? It puzzles me. What does Jacinda gain by promoting this perception?
1. Cabinet made a policy decision asking for something from June 9 with one days notice that would take a week to roll out in practice (did they know that ion June 8 or not?).
2. The risk of community spread resulting was no greater than that from releaase from managed isolation without a test during May and the first eweek of June.
All of the back testing done is really to prove Muller's beliefs to be wrong. A bit like science – archeology etc has done to creation science belief.
It's almost as if Labour presumes a cover-up of public service lying to the govt is in everyone's best interests. Yes, I know Labour MPs are mostly clueless – but that bad?? Really? It puzzles me. What does Jacinda gain by promoting this perception?
Have a KitKat, Dennis, your comment is projecting so much ‘perception’ that I almost thought it was advanced baiting.
Before I get into the nitty-gritty, it’s worth noting that we’ve had more than 20,000 people go through managed isolation since the beginning of April. Almost all of those would have left without being tested. There is no evidence any of those people have transmitted the virus to anyone in the wider New Zealand community. On top of that, in the last week or so more than 45,000 tests have been processed and the only positives have come from people in managed isolation facilities at the border.
Fourteen days in managed isolation is our first line of border defence, not testing
Because of what we now know about how this virus infects people, lots of countries have settled on 14 days as the time at which if someone doesn’t show symptoms of Covid-19 then it is highly unlikely they will have the virus and be infectious. In other words, they are at very low risk of transmitting the virus to others or “seeding” the virus back into the community. We have been using this 14-day isolation period for several months. This is our first line of defence.
She gives this very useful interactive graphic to also explain why after over 2 weeks of the new border restrictions (implemented on 9 June) there is very little chance of there being community transmission in Aotearoa
ooops sorry about the graphic – seems to have gained extra pixels. 🙁
[lprent: Fixed. The source image was large. You just need to constrain it (as was probably done at sciblog). Just add the width attribute into the img tag (eg width=”550″). If you’re the first in the hierarchy you can get away with 600. If you’re 10 down in the replies then 500 px will do. ]
Yep, we even had Selway on here getting his test and his Dr telling him "you don't need one" after 2 weeks quarantine, the medical experts must despair at the public sometimes. So basically, all these people getting tests after 2 weeks is for political reasons, to assuage the fears of the public.
I mean, if we're within capacity and it's not going to fuck logistics, you might as well test them. It might throw something up once every 50 years.
But the scaremongerers like Muller can go fuck themselves. Spidey-sense is not an effective screening test for community transmission. Their intention is to sow alarm and despondency. It's disgusting.
Hey SPC, have you ever thought about becoming a reporter, this concise and informative turn of events describes the whole dilema in a way most people can understand, it wasn't a bungle, it was a case of not everyone understanding the process and the time frame for implementation, probably the key thing was simple lack of good communication between everyone concerned.
There were/are no subsequent negative outcomes as a result and hopefully communication lines will improve.
I once did, long ago back in the 1980's. I did offer to write a column back in 1999, but got rejected for a black fairy who tried out for the Lord of the Rings.
It was the Singles column at the Dominion Post, they were replacing the original colunmist EG, later City Girl (a blonde) , with another. The column was published with the pseudonym Sarah Duffy. Duffy means black fairy in Gaelic (dubh fey) The person chosen as Sarah Duffy no 2 (a brunette) wrote a first column about them trying out for a role in Lord of the Rings.
I find the PC reaction to the term black fairy – especially in reference to the Lord of the Rings so very 20th Creactionary.
Dunno about that, I know folks who speak Klingon. But if you're going to be obscure, don't take it bad when people think you're just openly saying the quiet bits out loud.
Excellent comment SPC and just published on RNZ a good review on the Report of the country's Managed Isolation and Quarantine system.
While the review found the system wasn't "broken'' it revealed the increased number of people returning to New Zealand and going into managed isolation was putting pressure on accommodation facilities and staff were only able to respond to daily challenges.
"The resources required to support the Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) function have failed to keep pace with the increased volume of returnees. This has resulted in a very dedicated team having to confront immediate issues with limited capacity to plan ahead," the review said.
…
"The Ministry of Health will be increasing the number of clinical and non-clinical staff, such as nurses, at each facility to ensure health checks, testing and other health services are consistently delivered to the standards required," Woods said.
Air Commodore Webb last week announced a doubling of the on-the-ground Defence Force staff of 32, across 18 facilities.
"As of today, we have 168 NZDF personnel across 21 facilities providing 24/7 coverage. There are also more government and defence staff across the end-to-end system.
"This increased resourcing has had an immediate impact on the ground in terms of making sure our people are well supported to carry out their roles and ensure the safe transfer of returnees into managed isolation," he said.
Other improvements rolling out now include:
Increased security for transferring returnees to managed isolation facilities
The standardisation of procedures across all facilities
The introduction of better information for returnees – from flight boarding through to entry into New Zealand and their exit from Managed Isolation.
Better information to communities where those facilities are located.
Strengthening of demand forecasting, reporting functions and coordination between agencies.
Health responses include:
More staff in facilities
Improved model of care – including taking into account issues like mental health and addiction issues
More clinical oversight to ensure a consistent quality of service in facilities
Monitoring to ensure there is consistency across facilities
My wife dragged in a Weekend Herald this morning, she purchaed it yesterday, I asked her why on earth she had bought the Herald, she knows I refuse to read it, she replied, I know, but we're running out of newspaper to start the fire and the Saturday edition is quite thick and quite good value.
Ha ha I like it, better than tearing it up into small squares punching a hole in the corner and tying it with a bit of rope on the back of the Loo door which is the natural home for it.
It was well worth reading Matt Nippert's background coverage of how the government organised a response to Covid-19, including lengthy interviews with Ardern and Peters. That was good, in-depth journalism. You'd be much better informed and would have the details to rebut the RW line that "any government would have done the same".
Simon Wilson's lunch with Muller and Kaye was a good read too.
There's plenty of rubbish in the Herald but only a fool would refuse to eat the fish because they don't like the chips.
SPC, good to read some proper background to the situation. Where oh where are intelligent, balanced reporters who can investigate without getting hysterical?
Have any investigated and got hysterical at Bridges & Muller over them wanting to bring in thousands of students? Where would they be put up? Who would manage and staff these facilities, bearing in mind the huge management of thousands of returning Kiwis has not always been easy, which is understandable given there was no rehearsal for this pandemic.
I have been heartened by some sensible letters to Dom Post, and people I know more and more are saying the media has lost the plot and NZ has done extremely well. Muller and Co have never acknowledged this.
It is hard not to come to the conclusion that the govt, somewhat bungled the switch from Level 2 to Level 1. We now know Jacinda Ardern was under enormous pressure to make that switch and it came from all quarters but especially from National. In the end she relented despite Bloomfield's note of caution that Level 2 should run for another two weeks.
The public has to take their share of the blame too because we were all sick and tired of lockdown and we wanted more freedom and we said so – every last one of us.
Who was to blame?
We were all to blame from the PM downwards. So lets stop scapegoating individuals which, from my experiences, is the art of the guilty trying to distract attention away from themselves.
We're all to blame … Let's sack EVERYONE! Then we can start with a clean slate back where we were before, with everyone in the same positions.
One exception: Let's have EVERYONE this time round saying "We don't know how f…..n lucky we are."
The doom merchants, the "Everyone with responsibilities has cocked up" mob?
Put them in a leaky boat, give Michael Woodhouse the oars, stand Odd Job Muller on the poop deck with a telescope to hold up to his ear, and push them off towards Antarctica.
The triumph of reason has happened within Labour in the UK. Apparently…
I don’t want to rub salt into the wound, because that would sterilise it and help it heal, but the sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey was one of those rare moments of shocking leadership. For those of us who think a broad-based egalitarian government would be a good idea, it has been a long time since a Labour leader has surprised us with such moral clarity.
It does not diminish Keir Starmer’s decisiveness that Long-Bailey brought it on herself. By refusing to delete her tweet praising Maxine Peake’s interview, with its antisemitic implication that Israel was to blame for the death of George Floyd, she made Starmer’s choice clear. Indeed, it makes the triumph of reason all the sweeter that the other side contributed to its own defeat with such a misjudgement. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/keir-starmer-rebecca-long-bailey-tony-blair-corbyn-defeated-blairite-triumph-a9588896.html
So the long arm of Mossad thesis, eh? I doubt she really implied that, but when UK politics persists in a morass of paranoia, conspiracy theories will inevitably whirl around in the vortex of competing perceptions. And yes, moral clarity in a Labour leader is indeed shocking. As a suggestion. Not sure if the reality has been validated.
An alternative action for Keir Starmer would be to keep following the foolish and fractious Jeremy Corbyn into a defeat so deep it will take years to get Labour out:
… with its antisemitic implication that Israel was to blame for the death of George Floyd…
That was not the implication at all. What was at issue here was whether or not this murderous chokehold technique being used by U.S. police against peaceful and unarmed civilians was taught to them by Israeli police. You probably are aware that Israeli “policing” of the Occupied Territories is even more oppressive and lethal than what is being inflicted on the citizens of the United States by another vicious police culture.
The wild allegation that "Israel was to blame" is entirely the fabrication of Jeremy Rentoul, the Indescribablyboring hack you have ill-advisedly chosen to quote. Rentoul is a shameless backer of the right wing Blairite faction which has managed to grab control of the Party again after its democratic deviation. It would have been hard for you to choose a more devious and dishonorable source; in 2015 he was forced to publicly apologise after another of his outrageous canards aimed about Corbyn.
I wrote a post on Twitter last night that I regret, and for which I apologise. I suggested that Jeremy Corbyn might say that France had brought the Paris attacks on itself. I ought to know the danger of spending too much time on Twitter, and I make no excuses.
I apologise without reservation to Mr Corbyn, to my colleagues and to readers. It was a stupid and offensive thing to say, especially at that time, and I am mortified by it.
My sympathy goes to the families and friends of all those killed and injured in the attacks.
That's quite a different tone isn't it? Air flight staff in PPE, wake up breakfasts, nurse visits every day, social distancing, security watching all the time, grateful to be back in NZ. What a shambles & David Clark should resign!
Clearly National are ignorant of basic accounting. The cost of doing this is far lower than cost of dealing with a minor outbreak.
Or they are ignorant of human behaviour when constrained – there will always be idiots who care less for the common good than they do for their own personal interests.
Or both.
But I suspect that it is simply because the National strategists are so focused on their spiteful politics of envy because it allows them to stop looking at the horrors that a full-blown epidemic brings. We really should send some of their MPs on a fact finding mission to the US at present (or even after our election) so that they do start to understand it.
Nah, National will be saying that private enterprise can better organise border controls than civil servants and the military, and anyway the money should be going to our mates…..
Toss-up? Far too uncertain. Deals behind closed doors is how you do it, with knighthoods and cushy retirement jobs, and even a little earner writing for the Herald………
[Exasperatedly] Look, it's perfectlysimple, opposition National party politicians are simply saying that NZ's Covid-19 outcomes would be much better if only our government had adopted policies closer to Sweden'sAustralia's New Zealand's – that's all they're yakking on about; give them a break, and while you’re at it read Chris Penk's simple book why don't yah!
In sum, and on the evidence, Australia has done no better than us in economic outcomes, is doing worse than us in public health outcomes and is headed in the wrong direction in controlling the disease. Yet this failed model is what the National Party has been promoting all along, and is what would have adopted had a National government been in power here. Perhaps the media could begin to raise this credibility problem, now that we’re on the verge of an election campaign where National’s main pitch to voters is that it is a safer pair of hands in a crisis, and is a better manager of the economy. In its dreams. For the past three decades there is absolutely no evidence that has been the case, beyond its provision of an occasional sugar hit to the economy in the shape of tax cuts and asset part-sales. Sure, you can always keep warm for a while by burning the furniture, but this isn’t a sustainable way of running the economy. http://werewolf.co.nz/2020/06/gordon-campbell-on-the-media-collusion-with-nationals-attack-lines/
Or keep warm by exporting swamp kauri 'furniture' to China; or live sheep to the Middle East, or kiwi fruit plants to the competition- that kind of sustainable?
Then there's education. Knock off a few diplomas, certificates and degrees to all in-comers. (What did Prof Jim Flynn say on RNZ? No-one reads anymore at Uni.)
Solving a housing crisis, one bankruptcy at a time.
(Bloomberg) — Blackstone Group Inc. is more than 30 days delinquent on $273.7 million of debt tied to a portfolio of business hotels, a sign that large real estate investors are considering walking away from properties in the pandemic economy.
Jeremy Corbyn’s Opponents Burned the House Down to Stop Him — Now Keir Starmer Is King of the Ashes
by DANIEL FINN, Jacobin, 25 June 2020
By sacking Rebecca Long-Bailey on a trumped-up pretext, Keir Starmer has set the seal on a drastic shift to the right for the British Labour Party. That shift comes just as the key arguments by Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents to justify a break with his left leadership have been falling apart in the face of overwhelming evidence. ….
Keir Starmer is making the right moves, and it's a helluva lot better than that fucking moron Jeremy Corbyn who was so utterly loathed by both marginal voters and deeply loyalLaobour voters alike. Corbyn lost every voter age category from 25-44 upwards.
Corbyn deserves a statue of himself on a pedestal put up outside Labour UK headquarters central London with feet made of tin, so that Labour supporters can organise crowds to pull it down with tractors and chains every year and sing sings about "never again" and explain to the youngest of supporters this is how to avoid wasting millions of supporter hours and millions of supporter money and a huge 2017 voter surge into stupid policies and catastrophic defeat within 2 years and allow Boris Fucking Johnson to rule the country into ruin instead.
Or, of course, you could read Norman Finkelstein instead.
The Health and Disability system review was finally released last week to mixed reception. We all know that the MOH is dysfunctional, and successive governments have failed to either take charge of this rogue organisation or properly fund our public health and disability system to ensure systemic inequities do not cost further lives.
What gladdens my cynical and bitter old heart is how finally, finally, disabled people have raised their voices both individually and collectively to express their bitter disappointment at the failure of this review to address the very real inadequacies in the Ministry of Health Disability Support Services.
There were no disabled people on the Review's steering committee and as Gerri Pomeroy, President of DPA says…
Disabled people have the right to have their views taken into consideration and be heard, particularly now the government is a signatory to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons."
While she and others supported many of the health system changes the report suggested, she said the review was "as we feared, a health review with disability tacked on".
(Kudos to Gerri. She is an ACC client and it became clear she had little understanding of the struggles faced by those who have no rights or entitlements to disability supports enshrined by law. A while after we challenged her on this, she did approach us and admitted that she really had no idea how tough it is under MOH. Very pleased to see her stepping up.)
I remember as a young disability activist at the time this went against the consensus view of disabled people who believed it would represent a regression to the medical model of disability. Simply, the medical model holds that disabled people should be treated as people with bodily and mental deficits which needed to be addressed through treatment – rather than as people who need to have our rights upheld and requirement for individualised support respected.
As time has shown, the government's claims turned out to be but fine rhetoric.
The reality for disabled people like me is that we still have to go through bureaucratic hoops to prove to the Ministry of Health (which controls funding for non-accident related disability) that we need essential mobility equipment such as, for example, wheelchairs or housing modifications.
This having to go through hoops has been compounded by successive governments failing to increase disability support funding substantially – at least not until this year's Budget which saw the most significant boost to disability funding in decades.
Chris doesn't just criticize he suggests a solution…one that has been on the disability wishlist for many years.
I would like to see a government entity called Disability New Zealand established (replacing both the Ministry of Health DSS and ACC), whose operations and governance are be led by disabled people.
This agency would administer disability support funding and allow disabled people and their whānau to both create and hold individualised support budgets.
Moreover, an independent, autonomous Disability Commission, which would also be disabled person-led, would provide policy advice and monitor all government policy which impacted on disabled people.
We could have had all these recommendations had the Health and Disability System Review included disabled people's representation on it – something that I and other disabled people and our organisations called for constantly, including to Health Minister David Clark and Review Chair Heather Simpson.
Our views were ignored, hence the limited recommendations.
Responses from both Carmel MIA Sepuloni as Minister for Disability Issues and Jenny 'I don't really want this hot potato thrown at me by JAG' Salesa have been predictably dismissive.
'Just fuck off and wait..' sums it up.
I might be being over optimistic, but this might be one of those make or break issues for this Current Mob occupying the gummint benches.
Perhaps someone close to them could whisper in their ear that some of us out here do understand that the Misery of Health has been a rogue entity for quite some time now so we don't necessarily blame the MPs and the PM directly for this continued shitting on of disabled New Zealanders. What would be great…and very possibly vote winning… would be the massive purge of the entrenched bureaucracy at the Mystery that is desperately needed.
Start again with new blood, and this time use the word "entitled" in all of their policies.
A Disability Authority and Disability Commission (advocacy) does seem to be the way to go.
Not that this should be needed to make these moves.
1. move long term support (disability benefit) to super rate level
2. allow those who meet criteria for disability support to receive a minimum of the dole rate when living with working partners.
3. super rate support to those unable to work while they are facing illness likely that incapacitate them, or cause death (heart attacks and late stage cancer)
4. more than benefit level support to workers no longer able to work for health reasons (outside the current ACC model).
Advocacy for those with disability, birth or ACC orbit, or non ACC criteria sickness/deterioration in terms of medical and treatment support is necessary, especially when we are still under the funding constraint management regime of health services model.
how did @RNZSunday manage to interview Caralise Trayes on her book on the End of Life Choice Bill and not talk about disabled people's views? Really interesting interview, which was about preparing NZ for the vote in Sept by making sure we know what the issues are. Wtaf @radionz?
and writing that I went to the RNZ website and see the front page is plastered with the DA review critiques, which is fantastic except for the fact that the disability activist sector appears to be sacrificing people whose disability stems from health issues. Or maybe they just don't know about them.
…the disability activist sector appears to be sacrificing people whose disability stems from health issues….
You're going to have to expand on that weka. Am I right in thinking this is to do with the difference between the social and medical models of disability?
Can be a bit tricky….no disabled person…especially those born with impairments…wants to be seen solely as someone who needs treatment or fixing. Chris Ford's piece discusses this a little. I'll let him explain.
OTOH…if disabled people do not get the supports they need then their health can go rapidly to shit. So there is the medical to consider.
In all our dealings with the Misery of Health over the years one of the expectations that Peter and I wrongly held was that provision of good supports for disabled people would be seen as an investment. The cost of fixing someone through through the health system can be seriously expensive. Much more than funding adequate supports.
But no. It seems the bastards don't care if a person with spina bifida (who survived the near compulsory termination protocols) gets repeated bladder and kidney infections because they are forced to use single use catheters multiple times. Kidney failure? Shortens their lives. In the Ministry's book this would be a win.
And as for the End of Life Choice Bill….this should be ditched until ALL disabled New Zealanders who need disability supports have those supports funded as of right.
the RNZ headlines and having a quick read through are pushing the separate Disability from Health. Which I actually support, but you *have to take health disability people with that, not create a further ghettoisation of chronically ill people. We already have discrimination with Health on that basis around who can get disability funding. I can totally see that if Disability were given its own ministry that Labour would fuck this up and chronically ill people would be sacrificed yet again.
I agree there are issues on what framing/narratives are used too, especially around ‘fixing’. It's complex. I completely agree with the position that the govt should be putting disabled people in charge, and this needs to include those with health disabilities (which will present another whole set of challenges). I don't think the disability sector (govt, NGO or activist) is particularly good on this.
I can totally see that if Disability were given its own ministry that Labour would fuck this up and chronically ill people would be sacrificed yet again.
Very quickly…because I have stuff to do outside while it is not raining…you might want to have a look at the MOH DSS definition of disability as pertains to accessing services.
For many years now mental health has been accepted into the disability tent..but not, you say chronic health conditions.
Why…I guess this is about the 'condition lasting for longer than six months' part of the definition. Could it be than many with these health conditions resist the definition of 'disability' because of the negative connotations of the word? They are hoping to be cured?
"… the medical model holds that disabled people should be treated as people with bodily and mental deficits which need to be addressed through treatment – rather than as people who need to have our rights upheld…"
Which would be bad enough on its own – but is compounded when the treatment recommended is far from the best available. For example, the scandalous reluctance of the medical profession to recommend and advocate for the the funding of Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) for children with cerebral palsy. Combined with follow-up physiotherapy, gym-work and strengthening, it is by far the best, modern treatment for cerebral palsy of the diplegic type. The long-term burden of disability on the individuals concerned, and the taxpayer (though the health economics studies have not been done) is substantially reduced. Existing protocols of multiple, repeated orthopaedic operations with poor cumulative outcomes are protected and maintained – because that is where the current medical expertise and government funding sits. Families are self-funding or running lengthy fund-raising campaigns to obtain this procedure overseas – then paying again for physiotherapy or gym sessions while injured rugby players get covered by ACC.
And then there was 9.06 am Media Watch which I didn't find easy to reach as usual. There seems to be some reshuffling of how things are presented, not sure just what. However here is the audio which is very interesting as it is about Cambridge Analytica et al. Did you know that Margaret Thatcher used the services of the political mixers for her three elections? And there's more….
Those who wish to be politically informed, and those who wish to be up with all the sly ways of undermining our political process and elections, and those who want to find out who is who and who's paying should listen to this. Journalists are out there with 'truly epic stories', and that's not puffing them up. Knowing about this is important for those with dreams of maintaining a good, functioning democracy that keeps itself in good condition, and clean its boots topside, and soles regularly.
It would be interesting to know what others here thought after hearing this, did everyone find something new they hadn't heard?
Air nz really doesn't get it- starting to look like they might be a paid up member of the Nats.
Do they need to have government regulation on every little thing or could they not err on the side of caution and wear and handout masks. No aircraft filtration system is going to save you from the person next to you coughing all over you.
An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said crew on international flights are required to wear masks and gloves during food and drink service and face-to-face interactions with passengers.
However, there was no government requirement for staff to wear masks in Queensland.
"Our jet aircraft are fitted with hospital-grade air systems that filter out viruses, and hand sanitiser is also available in airports and on aircraft for customers and staff to use as they wish," she said.
And on a wider note we probably really don't need further infections from in transit and aircraft transmission. If we get too much or find it towards the end of quarantine it will delay departure from quarantine of more people and clog up the spaces we do have.
LC: "I think it's inevitably a combination of both… Labour has made a lot of mistakes in the last couple of weeks". She's saying Muller's achievement isn't solely the cause of the 9% switch in the poll. "A lot of public confidence has been shaken by a whole series of mistakes, and they are going to be punished for that."
RH: "we learnt this morning that both Shane Jones & Nikki Kaye want the legislation to be amended to let Auckland take more water from the Waikato River". After mentioning that the RMA amendments are still in select committee. And "it's looking less & less likely that the shovel-ready projects are going to be ready before the election."
LC: "Winston is in the petty politics phase at the moment, and I don't think it's working for him."
RH on the border shambles: "I think they need to explain just how the decisions were made… Go back to Tuesday, and in the House, Jacinda Ardern quite clearly stated that the Ministry of Health had misled her… now, for a ministry to mislead the prime minister herself on something like this [testing done] is very, very important. And so yes, Clark is guilty of not asking enough questions". [Re the DGoH] "The prime minister said he was reporting, but what he was reporting was wrong."
Yet the public servant who think they've got away with lying to their minister, the DGoH, and the PM are sitting there rubbing their hands with glee, saying to each other "Way cool, dudes! Public service is fun, eh?"
RH: "I think it would be unfair to sack the minister for this, yet the government has not presented a case in its own defense."
Then re Newshub and "throwing Dr Bloomfield under the bus"…
LC: "As an old television reporter I have to take my hat off to the cameraman… an absolute master, because that really caught a moment – and he was being thrown under a bus, I don't think there's any denying that… there's no question that the prime minister has been misled by the ministry, and it may be that Bloomfield has been too – by his officials". "I think the most responsible thing that David Clark could do is resign."
As you know, I think Linda Clark's perspective is very ignorant.
As to the question to the Minister while alongside Bloomfield, and the cameraman’s filming of Bloomfield at that moment, speaks to the very fact of this being a pre planned sting. The story of it effectively written before the question was even asked.
Taking off their hat to the cameraman, in that context, is disingenuous.
Yeah, incantations do work via repetition. Just like advertising. Yet people en masse still have this old idea in their heads; magical thinking is ineffective.
Mass perceptions of a shambles are likewise influential. Weight of numbers – politics being a numbers game.
What a couple of poisonous weeds. There have been a number of people who appeared to be sensible reporters revealed when they leave government jobs, as deeply troubled by the idea of a fair democracy, and honest, balanced reporting with both negative and positive observations!
Loud noise in MSM does not equal mass perception although NZ’s megaphone media would like you to believe it and, sadly, it seems to be working. You seem to be scared that critical thinking might be conflated with defending the Government/Clark/DGoH. Walk and chew gum at the same time.
"Sensors in Sweden …" is how the Chernobyl news kicked off in 1986.
Radiation sensors in Stockholm have detected higher-than-usual but still harmless levels of isotopes produced by nuclear fission, probably from somewhere on or near the Baltic Sea, a body running a worldwide network of the sensors said on Friday.
People who visited a bar in East Lansing, Michigan, are being asked to self-quarantine because roughly 85 people contracted Covid-19 after visiting the establishment this month, a health official says.
That number is up from the 34 reported Wednesday and is expected to rise, Ingham County Health officer Linda S. Vail told CNN.
The Health Department is asking patrons who visited Harper's Restaurant & Brew Pub between June 12 and June 20 to self-quarantine, and report cases of Covid-19, the department said in a statement.
"Given the number of cases in this outbreak, we consider this a higher risk exposure than a typical visit to a restaurant or bar," Vail said. "There are likely more people infected with Covid-19 not yet identified."
Well, does that mean it isn't a UBI?? Perhaps you could write up & post an essay explaining what sort of critter it is. Sounds good tho, & a radical move… 👍
UBIs are generally paid to everyone. The GP GMI is for those that need it (essentially everyone not in full time work). I tempted to say Gareth Morgan won't be getting it 😈 but I haven't seen yet if the GMI is asset tested.
I took it as a question from someone who hadn't read the policy yet.
The debate around UBI has been dominant, so it's going to be useful to compare the two different things and point out they are apples and oranges but they're still both fruit 🙂 Especially when it comes to examining TOP's UBI policy 😈
Fair comment. Talking about TOP’s UBI policy is specific, at least. I still don’t see much point in a head-to-head comparison other than to show and highlight (?) the differences? I think it is a reductionist trap and an exercise in futility (AKA waste of time) but I’m sure some pundits and MSM won’t be able to resist 😉 Just my 2 cents, of course.
Given TOP will be going after GP votes, and that too many lefties have been singing the praises of TOP's UBI, I find it instructive to look at them side by side. I'm putting up a post tomorrow about the GP policy alone, might do a separate one on the comparison with TOP at some point (might not be necessary).
It's also because I've written about the serious short comings of UBI models (including TOP's) and the GP basically fills the gaps that others haven't been able to. This isn't about the GP so much (apart from pointing out the value in voting for them), it's more about keeping visible the need for welfare to be bolted on to any model. A distinction that too many on the left had failed to grasp. Will be really interesting to see who gets it now, once presented with an integrated and costed policy.
I am writing a post as we speak. It's a beautiful policy and yes, radical but not so much as to scare the horses. Not perfect, but really good. Tt's not a UBI. It's a guaranteed minimum income for those that need it, plus lots of other good stuff for welfare.
I used to support UBI, but now prefer Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI). GMI means you can afford to give more to those who need it, while maintaining the other desirable aspects of UBI (no test or expectations other than having sufficiently low income). All of us are eligible for GMI when we need it.
Listening to this from Max Rashbrooke explained the UBI / GMI issue well.
I gave Melanie a call once and suggested that instead of Equity for 'Illness' it was reworded to be inclusive of those who were disabled from birth and those whose injuries predated ACC…she wouldn't have a bar of it. Different communities and different needs.
At the end of the day we're all humans whose minds or bodies have some degree of impairment because of whatever and who need a some degree of support.
Not sure if those words are from the Party or clumsy paraphrasing by the media. The release to members reads:
That means we’re making big changes to how we support students and people out of work, giving extra help to parents, those who are sick or disabled, and making sure all whānau have what they need to thrive.
✅Extra support for people who are sick or disabled
By reforming ACC as the Agency for Comprehensive Care, our plan ensures that those who find themselves unable to work due to sickness or disability are properly supported, and have enough to live on.
GREEN PARTY candidate Chris Ford says he's "reassessing" his membership of the Green Party in the light of the leadership shifting the party further to the right and signing up for Labour's 'Budget Responsibility Rules'. He's also angry that this was done without any consultation with the party membership.
Ford, who stood for the Green's in 2014, said: "I'm very disappointed with the party I belong to for doing this! In fact, I know that many other members -like me – are disappointed and angry. I am reassessing my membership. I knew that this statement (Labour and Greens' joint Budget Responsibility Rules agreement) was being developed but party members seem to have been largely bypassed in doing so.”
Ford is expressing a widespread dissatisfaction within the Green Party rank and file who believe that the party has strayed far from its progressive roots, For many, the sight of co-leaders James Shaw and Metiria Turei signing up to the 'Budget Responsibility Rules' may be the final straw.
Look! I'm having an affair with Starmer now! I never flirted with Corbyn like this lol but then again he never offered me a tax cut! 😍😍😍pic.twitter.com/m2czMOiPdl
— Laura Kuenssberg is back! ᵖᵃʳᵒᵈʸ (@LKTranslator) June 27, 2020
For mine they should reduce pressure on the managed isolation facilities by turning them into second week stays.
They should locate first week stays in hotels not currently used (rent by floor). Just the day 3 test to interface with the confined without symptoms.
And if they bus – either level 3 spacing, or provide masks to passengers and PPE to staff.
We should if at all possible have special flights for Kiwis in Oz coming here, they do not leave Oz with it and are at risk on the journey to the hotel and others they are isolated with.
Very good, clear press conference by Woods and Webb (most of which will never make the headlines, because it was too sensible).
Expecting 5,000 arriving in the next 1-2 weeks? Capacity for 6,000, give or take.
So let's invite thousands more people in, we can cope easily, said no sane person, ever. But National are saying exactly that. So what do the journos at press conference ask about instead? "Is anybody bringing in drugs?" FFS.
Better questions from the media might be, "Why are all these people returning home to New Zealand?" and "What are the returnees reporting on how conditions are in the countries they are returning from in terms of Covid-19 and social risk?" or "What percentage of returnees have furnished substantive complaints about treatment on return?"
can anyone explain this payment structure in the @NZGreens new ACC as WINZ replacement policy for disabled people? Last sentence isn't clear. pic.twitter.com/JB85xcEv9c
Personally I would have brought those who lost employment through ill health (sickness/physical decay and heart attacks etc) into the ACC employer funded system. This also has a focus on funding treatment/recovery to get people back to work.
Savings for MSD then used for more generous funding to those with earlier and other circumstance inability to work (often permanent) – 80% of the MW is generous ($600 a week before tax). And I thought moving those on disability (now around $300) to the super rate $425 was the bold move. I can however agree younger folk need more than someone on super who owns a home, so there is a case for the higher amount.
The last sentence may refer to the ACC payment system, how to put a cap on the payments it currently makes to injured workers to reduce its costs to afford the expansion of coverage. The 80% payment amount maximum frozen until it reduces to 1/2 times the average wage as a maximum.
thanks, I did wonder if it was about high income earners going onto ACC. Can you please explain how that works?
SLP current rate is $307 for an adult. GP policy is to increase this to $390 before April (60% of min wage), then once merged with ACC to increase it to 80% of net minimum wage, $604/wk or $484 depending on whether they are talking about 80% of net or gross.
Surprises me that this woman had worked for MSD and was shocked and disappointed when her employer treated her like shit, sorry, with less than kindness when she became sick.
All I know about ACC is that its based at 80% of the former wage.
correction to the original post
until it reduces to 1 1/2 times the average as a maximum.
I presume that under the ACC system there is a maximum former wage allowed and thus there would be savings made if that was fixed/unadjusted until it was no more than 1 1/2 times the average. Thus a future maximum amount at 80% of that amount, which would be a maxmum of (at current average somewhere around 60,000, 80% would be c$48,000 near $1000 per week).
PS above I put it at $600 a week for 80% of the MW, it would at next years rate of $20 an hour be c$640 per week before tax.
This post is by a city council member in Yelm, Washington. Earlier this afternoon, Sacha Baron Cohen crashed the event of Washington 3% – a right-wing group of armed insurrectionists and white supremacists – in Olympia.
The "vote" to approve changes to the Russian Constitution to make Putin's dictator for life status official is on July 1. But the Constitution with the changes is already published! Should be in the fiction section.. pic.twitter.com/Fdfql9bt7Q
Oh how could police do this in a supposedly civilised country. If they had a spark of decency left in the USA they would be ashamed. It's a disgrace at present, sick outside and in. That was in Florida with a lot of coronavirus. A good slogan for their protests would be Cough on a Cop. A violence free way of retaliating. What sort of reaction did Ghandi and his followers get? It takes a lot of resolve to face this sort of viciousness.
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The decision by Jacinda Ardern to end her term as Prime Minister on February 7 has come as a stunning surprise. It turns the task of a centre-left government winning re-election this year from difficult to nigh on impossible. No-one else among the Labour caucus has Ardern’s ability to explain ...
Jacinda Ardern’s first press conference as Labour leader in August 2017 was a defining moment in the past decade of New Zealand politics. A young woman (by the standards of politics) who had long been tipped for higher office, she had underperformed as a minister and Andrew Little’s noble resignation ...
An Astonishing Rapport: Jacinda Ardern's "Politics of Kindness" raised so many progressive possibilities. Her own tragedy, and New Zealand's, is that so few of them were realised.MUCH WILL BE WRITTEN in the coming days about "The Ardern Years", some of it sympathetic and insightful, most of it spiteful and wrong.For ...
The Herald this morning reports on the rich's efforts to buy this year's election. And you'll never guess who their chosen vehicle is: The National Party may start election year with a $2.3 million war chest raised from 24 big donors in 2022, while Labour has declared just $150,000 ...
Christopher Luxon’s National Party are the odds-on favourites to win the general election this year. They have been consistently ahead of Labour in the polls in recent months, and have a firm coalition partner in Act, which is often polling about 10 per cent. Betting agencies can’t take bets on ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler You walk into your kitchen to make pasta. After filling a pot with water, you place a small silicone mat in the middle of your counter, then set the pot above it and open a stovetop app on your phone. ...
You know it as well as I, the famous Ring Verse from The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien: Three Rings for the Elven Kings under the sky Seven for the Dwarf Lords in their halls of stone Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die One ...
The Herald has an annual roundup of electric vehicle stats this morning, and it shows us that the government's clean-car-discount - which sees buyers of dirty vehicles pay to subsidies purchases of clean ones - has been a hugely successful policy: New Zealand broke two records for electric vehicles ...
She’s Such A Scream! The Prime Minister’s enemies, those who want us to hate her, suffer from the not insubstantial handicap of being more than a little hateful themselves. Rendered nonsensical by their unwavering belief in the most absurd conspiracy theories, and dangerous by their relentless peddling of fake news ...
Me, Myself, Eye: The great irony of individualism is that the nearer humanity comes to the point where every person can make their own life, the more doubtful many intellectuals become of its merit. But, before embracing the moral oblivion of collective identity; and the strictures of tribal tradition, they ...
Ever since Christopher Luxon became leader, National has adopted a “small target” strategy. This consists of offering nothing to distract the media from its focus on the government’s shortcomings and the public’s discontent with its performance. In particular, the strategy involves releasing no policy alternatives whose own failings might then ...
Japan is a country on the move. Since World War II, Tokyo has largely been happy to outsource its security needs to Washington. But this is now changing to a more equal partnership. On Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called his country’s alliance with the United States ‘stronger than ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 8, 2023 thru Sat, Jan 14, 2023. Story of the Week Relentless Rise of Ocean Heat Content Drives Deadly ExtremesThe heat of global warming will keep penetrating deeper into the oceans ...
The two most comprehensive forecasts of the New Zealand economy are by the Reserve Bank and the Treasury. They are especially important because they inform monetary and fiscal policy. What do they say?Shortly after the Reserve Bank and Treasury published their end-of-year forecasts, Statistics New Zealand announced a 2.0 percent ...
On Tuesday, the Herald broke the news of a massive increase in ANPR surveillance by police, from mere dozens of uses in 2020 to thousands in 2022, and that police had lied in their internal documentation when they said the system was audited to ensure use was legal. And today ...
There’s the joke that the difference between the Victorians and our current era is that the Victorians were obsessed with Death and acted as though Sex didn’t exist, whereas current modernity is the other way around. It’s not actually true, of course, but it’s still amusing. Today, I’m going ...
The next recession is shaping up as the most predicted event since the Second Coming. While we have to take it on faith that it will arrive someday, it is hard to say when it will happen, or how great/how bad it will be if and when it ever does. ...
I was going to write about something else to start off the KP year but current events have intruded in the form of the craziness surrounding the selection of US House Speaker and the storming of the Brazilian seats of power (Congress, the Supreme Court and Presidential Palace) by (so-called ...
Stuff reports that Tasman Steel - the latest name for what used to be NZ Steel - made a $340 million profit last year. The kicker? $117 million of that was from government pollution subsidies: New Zealand Steel’s holding company Tasman Steel increased its profit by 153% to a ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson and Jeff Masters A series of Pacific storms that’s taken aim on California since late December is on track to continue into mid-January. Ferocious winds will slam much of the state on Wednesday and Thursday, accompanied by heavy rain likely ...
In this article from the website Radicalism of Fools Daniel Ben-Ami looks at some of the limitations of the new anti-racism movement One of the key tasks I have set myself this year is to examine the arguments around anti-Semitism in more depth. That is both those used by anti-Semites ...
For wealthier New Zealanders and Australians, Fiji is just one option among many for their tourism resort experiences, poolside. Obviously, the country amounts to a lot more to the people who actually live there. It also happens to be the Pacific’s key diplomatic listening post, the home of the Pacific ...
What is it with Prince Harry?. Most of us would probably acknowledge that he has a legitimate cause for complaint at the way he and his wife have been treated by the British media. But there is more to it than that. Harry seems to harbour resentment against the media ...
One of the most popular moves Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ever made was the pay freeze her government imposed on politicians back in 2018. The freeze may have only been grudgingly agreed to by other MPs and parties, but it had universal public support. The pay freeze is due to ...
Two years ago, supporters of failed presidential candidate Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overthrow America's democracy and overturn the results of an election they had lost. And today, just a few days after the anniversary of that event, supporters of Trump's ally Jair Bolsonaro did ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 1, 2023 thru Sat, Jan 7, 2023. Story of the Week Scientists Report a Dramatic Drop in the Extent of Antarctic Sea Ice Links between global warming and the decline of sea ...
About half an hour ago, I became a very happy writer. My long-running effort at writing a sequel to Wise Phuul has finally borne fruit. Specifically, the draft manuscript for Old Phuul – starring Teltö’s elder sister, Rhea Phuul – is now complete at 102,172 words. This ...
The Green Party has a habit of sabotaging their election-year campaigns, risking electoral oblivion. Could the same thing happen in 2023? The last two election campaigns were particularly painful for the party. In 2017 then co-leader Metiria Turei had her story about her past as a welfare beneficiary unravel during ...
Open access notables In Conservation Biology, snapshots of two books that will probably launch a lot of objections, one by Vaclav Smil and the other yet more Bill Gates. Two doses of carbon budget realism review author Vojtech Novotny sums them up: "Sober assessments of our options for reducing carbon emissions in ...
Members of Parliament for the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand have today written to Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Khamenei to condemn the ongoing violence and killing of women’s rights and democracy protesters, and to call on him to intervene immediately. ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
The Government is maintaining its strong trade focus in 2023 with Trade and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visiting Europe this week to discuss the role of agricultural trade in climate change and food security, WTO reform and New Zealand agricultural innovation. Damien O’Connor will travel tomorrow to Switzerland to attend the ...
The Government has extended its medium-scale classification of Cyclone Hale to the Wairarapa after assessing storm damage to the eastern coastline of the region. “We’re making up to $80,000 available to the East Coast Rural Support Trust to help farmers and growers recover from the significant damage in the region,” ...
The Government is making an initial contribution of $150,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Tairāwhiti following ex-Tropical Cyclone Hale, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “While Cyclone Hale has caused widespread heavy rain, flooding and high winds across many parts of the North Island, Tairāwhiti ...
Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor has classified this week’s Cyclone Hale that caused significant flood damage across the Tairāwhiti/Gisborne District as a medium-scale adverse event, unlocking Government support for farmers and growers. “We’re making up to $100,000 available to help coordinate efforts as farmers and growers recover from the heavy ...
A vaccine for people at risk of mpox (Monkeypox) will be available if prescribed by a medical practitioner to people who meet eligibility criteria from Monday 16 January, says Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall. 5,000 vials of the vaccine have been obtained, enough for up to 20,000 ...
The Government is seeking feedback on measures to help reduce the number of young people vaping. “Youth vaping is becoming increasingly popular, with many choosing to vape despite never having smoked,” Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said. “Alongside our efforts to reduce tobacco smoking, we want to ensure vaping ...
Learning to drive in Germany was expensive and hard – and then I failed the test. Aotearoa was kind of the opposite.I spent 2022 making my way through Germany’s incredibly rigorous and extremely expensive learner driver programme. After clocking up 40 hours’ driving time, keeping control of a car ...
Today is Jacinda Ardern’s last day as prime minister of New Zealand. To mark the occasion, here’s some terrible tat.How do you immortalise six years of leadership and countless media moments? In the spirit of capitalist fandom, you make merchandise. Online marketplace Redbubble made the news in 2017 for ...
There were 13,880 new cases of Covid-19 over the past week, a drop on the seven days prior. On average, 1,979 new infections were recorded each day. There were 5,357 reinfections over the same time period. As of midnight Sunday, there were 242 people in hospital with Covid-19, and seven ...
National’s leader has reiterated his party’s views on co-governance, after being challenged not to be afraid of it. Christopher Luxon has just wrapped up his address at Rātana – the first time he has spoken at the commemorations. Acknowledging issues around diversity within National, Luxon said there was still work ...
Plans to build 81 apartments in the Auckland suburb of Beach Haven have upset some locals. Stuff has reported on a public meeting attended by 180 people, most seemingly opposed to the new development. That included one woman who reportedly fought back tears at the prospect of “bedroom commuters” with ...
Buzz from the Beehive Yet another day has passed without Ministers of the Crown posting something to show they are still working for us on the Beehive website. Nothing new has been posted since January 17. Perhaps the ministers are all engaged in the bemusing annual excursion ...
Despite a tropical cyclone and generally unsettled weather patterns ushering in 2023 for much of the country, Southern Cross Pet Insurance (Southern Cross) cautions that heat and humidity remains something to be aware of when it comes to the safety ...
Sharemarkets around the world are up big to start the year, while crypto is on another tear. Weren’t we supposed to be in a recession? Duncan Greive explains.Economist Shamubeel Eaqub sounded grim on Newshub last week. “I think we’re probably in recession already,” he said, attributing it to low ...
The nation’s favourite soap returned for 2023 last night with plenty of familiar old faces. Tara Ward recaps the best bits. Last year’s Shortland Street cliffhanger left our favourite fictional hospital in a flaming hot state of peril. A terrible fire swept through Ferndale that burnt Shortland Street hospital to ...
Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins are speaking at Rātana Pā in what is a de facto farewell for the outgoing Labour leader - and a test for her replacement. ...
Incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has already indicated he intends making the tax system “fairer”. That points to the route a government facing an election could take to tilt the odds towards winning in its favour, given Labour’s support in the last months of the Ardern era had been ...
When nootropics drink Ārepa was being formulated, the team needed someone with the expertise to ensure their product was making a real, positive impact on the brain. Neuroscientist Andrew Scholey was that person.Professor Andrew Scholey is an expert on the effects of food and plants on brain health, having ...
While Jacinda Ardern is preparing for her final official engagement as prime minister, she won’t entirely exit politics until April. As the local MP for Mount Albert, her departure from parliament now would trigger a costly byelection. However, with this year’s election now set down for mid-October, hanging around until ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is giving Kiwis the means to send their own ‘brief’ to the incoming Prime Minister outlining the policies that they would like to see ditched. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager Callum Purves says: “New leaders ...
With the vast majority of Kiwis seeing Three Waters for what it is – Higher water costs, more bureaucracy, no local control, and less democracy – Mr Hipkins should scrap it, says the Taxpayers’ Union. “Thee Waters is not implemented, and there ...
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Items of interest and importance todayGOVERNMENT, PARLIAMENT Simon Wilson (Herald): Chippy vs the donors de Luxe (paywalled) Rachel Smalley (Today FM): The power of vulnerability ...
It’s Tuesday, January 24 and welcome along to The Spinoff’s live updates. I’m Stewart Sowman-Lund and you can reach me via email on [email protected] The agenda Today is Jacinda Ardern’s final full day as prime minister. She will attend Rātana commemorations alongside incoming leader Chris Hipkins. First ...
The Clean Car Discount has helped record numbers into more sustainable transport. But what about those who can’t afford a hybrid or EV?Since 2021, the government’s Clean Car Discount scheme has gotten record numbers of New Zealanders out of gas guzzlers and into electric vehicles. Thanks to the discount, ...
We’re counting down the days until Laneway Festival 2023. You can read all about the festival’s upscale from Albert Park to Western Springs here, but if you’re just after the event day map, look no further. Weather predictions for Monday are looking a bit shaky at this point, though a ...
The Government should bin proposed changes to the Crown Minerals Act as it jeopardises investment in mining, including in critical minerals needed to fuel a low emissions future, says Straterra CEO Josie Vidal. Straterra has made a submission on the Crown ...
The Financial Services Council of New Zealand (FSC) congratulates the incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni and welcomes their commitment to focussing on the cost of living and inflation. FSC CEO, Richard Klipin, ...
Bigger stages, better sound, more food and bars and twice the crowd capacity. Everything at Laneway’s first event in three years is going to be bigger than before. It doesn’t look like much. Watercare has a major project underway in the middle of the field and graffiti covers its hoardings. ...
It’s probably time we covered ChatGPT in the Bulletin. ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool driven by artificial intelligence (AI) technology. AI is one of those things that either inspires a panic spiral of foreboding or wildly unfounded enthusiasm. The truth probably lies in the middle. Dylan Reeve asked ...
Today marks the final day of Jacinda Ardern’s premiership, as she prepares to formally pass the baton to incoming leader Chris Hipkins. The pair will both head to Rātana today for what’s anticipated to be an emotional farewell for Ardern. It’s the first in-person Rātana event since the Covid-19 pandemic ...
Described as a generation’s nuclear free moment by Jacinda Ardern, Chris Hipkins says it’s a major intergenerational challenge. Progress on climate was made under Ardern but a long list remains, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday morning, sign up here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fred Jourdan, Professor, Curtin University Itokawa, image taken by Hayabusa in 2005.JAXA A vast amount of rocks and other material are hurtling around our Solar System as asteroids and comets. If one of these came towards us, could we successfully prevent ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sussex, Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Michael Sohn/AP German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been under tremendous pressure to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine. The government in Kyiv has long argued it desperately needs them to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natasha Yates, Assistant Professor, General Practice, Bond University Shutterstock Semaglutide, sold in the forms of Ozempic and Wegovy, shot into public consciousness as an effective weight-loss medication last year, thanks to spruiking from social media influencers and people such as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bei Cui, Research fellow, Monash University Shutterstock At the end of last year, the world’s average price to emit one tonne of greenhouse gases was around US$5.29 (AU$7.77). For pricing to work as we want – to wean us off ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Power, Associate Professor in Coastal and Marine Science, University of Newcastle Ali Jam Productions Photography, Author providedEnvironmental scientists see flora, fauna and phenomena the rest of us rarely do. In this series, we’ve invited them to share their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Wade, Research Affiliate, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney Shutterstock The teenage years can be among the trickiest times for a parent. You have been used to being your child’s voice of reason. Then, all of a sudden, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carl Rhodes, Professor of Organization Studies, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock Diversity, inclusion and equity policies are now broadly endorsed in Australian organisations. But not all diversities are equal. Our research suggests while programs for women and some racial minorities ...
When Pete Gillespie co-founded Garage Project in 2011, over 50% of craft beer in New Zealand was consumed in Wellington. Now, his passion for beer is shared nationwide. Pete talks us through how Garage Project brewed their way to success through constant experimentation. ...
The Side Eye zooms in a tiny but telling detail: the glitchy macron.The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read the rest of the series here. ...
The wild and wet summer weather has wreaked havoc in our gardens with bees staying home and beans going mouldy on the vine. As for those precious tomatoes, seasoned grower Brit Stembridge tells Olivia Sisson not all hope is lost.La Niña is messing with us. We’ve had serious flooding. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The debate over enshrining an Indigenous Voice in the Constitution is being impeded by the Alice Springs crime crisis, according to the Indigenous Labor member for the Northern Territory seat of Lingiari, Marion Scrymgour. ...
Incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins intends to be an "ordinary Kiwi" as much as his new role allows - but how many homes does he own, and what was his biggest achievement of the summer? ...
ANALYSIS:By Richard Naidu Who’s broken the law? “Separation of powers” and all that stuff. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s hour-long news conference on Saturday, January 21, seems mostly to have followed the usual FijiFirst party format. He pontificated at length while his party’s MPs stood silently behind him. From what I could ...
ANALYSIS:By Richard Naidu Who’s broken the law? “Separation of powers” and all that stuff. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s hour-long news conference on Saturday, January 21, seems mostly to have followed the usual FijiFirst party format. He pontificated at length while his party’s MPs stood silently behind him. From what I could ...
They say a week is a long time in politics—what a week it’s been. Jacinda Ardern’s resignation as Prime Minister shocked many, given that she said she had “no plans to quit her job.” Her resignation wasn’t the only surprise; now we have a new ...
An online hate tracker found Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was the target of 93 percent of toxic posts against seven high profile politicians and officials, with a total of 5438 abusive messages. ...
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 A new poll has given Labor a sizeable 56% to 44% two-party preferred lead over the Coalition, two months ahead of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Hunter, Lecturer in Art and Performance, Deakin University Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre CompanyReview: Sunday, directed by Anne-Louise Sarks, Melbourne Theatre Company Sunday is a glimpse into the private world of the philanthropist and art patron Sunday Reed. Sunday, ...
Our morning news shows are back for another year. Tara Ward tuned in bright and early to bring us these highlights. There’s only one place to turn for your life lessons these days, and that is breakfast television. It’s the only show where you can learn about inflation and ...
For those of you wondering where the typical Monday Covid stat release is, you’re a day early. Due to Wellington Anniversary Day, the Ministry of Health has held off publishing the weekly Covid numbers. They should be released tomorrow at the usual time of 1pm. Last week saw close to ...
Books editor Claire Mabey offers some bibliotherapy for when Jacinda Ardern can flick on her out of office and enjoy a cuppa tea and a lie down.If anyone deserves to lounge in a deckchair by the pool with a tangy cocktail and a stack of books, it’s soon-to-be-former prime ...
We have allowed a prime minister to be subjected to an unprecedented level of violent, sexist attacks – it would only be worse if they were Māori, writes Tina Ngata.A version of this article was first published on the author’s website.When I first heard that prime minister Ardern ...
Alex Casey speaks to the driving force behind Send Our Socks about his “audacious” goal to send thousands of NZ-made wool socks to Ukraine. Last year Wellington advertising creative Chris Childerhouse was reading news from Ukraine and, like many of us, feeling a deep sense of despair. “I just couldn’t ...
In the wake of Thursday’s astonishing announcement, Duncan Greive sits down with Jacinda Ardern biographer Mad Chapman and Gone By Lunchtime host Toby Manhire to discuss Ardern’s complicated relationship with both mainstream and social media. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Parwinder Kaur, Associate Professor | Director, DNA Zoo Australia, The University of Western Australia Conor O’Reagan/Unsplash For years, scientists have known bird flu kills every black swan it infects. This means if the disease made it to the Australian continent, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Beckett, Senior Lecturer (Food Science and Human Nutrition), School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle Shutterstock Parents of young children today were raised during some of the most damaging periods of diet culture. From diet and “lite” ...
In the digital age, online activity can be a conduit for abusive behaviours. But secure digital tools can also offer a lifeline for victims. It’s no secret that New Zealand has a family violence epidemic, with one third of women physically or sexually assaulted by a partner over their lifetimes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tanya Latty, Associate professor, University of Sydney Shutterstock Have you ever been in the garden and found a large, white, C-shaped grub with a distinctive brown head and six legs clustered near the head? If so, you’ve had an ...
RNZ News Incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins of Aotearoa New Zealand has signalled tackling the “inflation pandemic” will be a top priority for his cabinet’s slimmed-down work programme. Hipkins and new Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni — the first with a Pasifika heritage — will take the reins on Wednesday, ...
By Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific journalist More than 100 activist groups, including Greenpeace, Veterans for Peace, and the Arms Control Association have signed a letter calling on US President Joe Biden to apologise for nuclear tests conducted in the Marshall Islands. The letter urges Biden to deliver on promises his ...
Some major (to some of you, anyway) news that understandably got buried during the flurry at the end of last week: M3GAN will officially have a sequel. The comedy-horror film was helmed by New Zealand’s own Gerard Johnstone, with local young actress Amie Donald in the starring role as killer ...
Chris Hipkins has revealed he had a bit of forewarning that the prime minister was considering her future. It came as a shock to many when Jacinda Ardern announced she would be stepping down as PM on Thursday last week. While she formally told her caucus earlier that day, Hipkins, ...
New statistics reveal that nearly 40% of Pasifika people live in a home that’s short on bedrooms. Sela Jane Hopgood takes you into her overcrowded family home and asks whether it’s large extended families that are the problem.It’s no secret in Aotearoa that the majority of Pasifika people come ...
While we wait for sensible drug law reform, we can thank our lucky stars for the NZ Drug Foundation and the lifesaving – or at the very least, bad-trip-preventing – work they do testing drugs at music festivals. Aotearoa’s summers are typically marked by an influx of sketchy party drugs ...
National party leader Christopher Luxon responded to the news of Labour’s leadership change by saying that the new prime minister has been part of a government which has not delivered. Speaking to media yesterday, Luxon said he sent his congratulations to the new PM by text. “There is not change, it is ...
New Zealand needs a government who "can get things done" but Christopher Luxon wouldn't go as far as to say he would beat the new prime minister in this year's election. ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes: The days of the Labour Government being associated with middle class social liberalism look to be numbered. Soon-to-be Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni are heralding a major shift in emphasis away from the constituencies and ideologies of liberal Grey ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: Labour shifts focus from Grey Lynn to West AucklandChris Hipkins, Minister of Education, speaking at NZEI Te Riu Roa strike rally on the steps of the New Zealand Parliament, 15th August 2018. Then, Labour Party deputy leader Kelvin Davis looks on. Image; Wiki ...
Chris Hipkins as doubled down on his intentions to rein in government projects and “run a ruler” over the work programme. It’s the day after Hipkins was officially voted in as Labour Party leader and presumptive prime minister. He’ll officially be sworn in on Wednesday, following attendance – alongside Jacinda ...
Two academic heavyweights give Biden public advice: " Robert Alexander is a professor of political science and founding director of the Institute for Civics and Public Policy at Ohio Northern University. He is also the author of "Representation and the Electoral College." David B. Cohen is a professor of political science and assistant director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at The University of Akron." https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/26/opinions/three-women-who-should-be-at-the-top-of-bidens-vp-list-alexander-cohen/index.html
Given the likelihood of Biden dying in office if elected president, the choice is critical. The one chosen must be able to retain public support via mana and competence. Healing the racial divide will take at least that, but the prospects of rebuilding goodwill on the basis of a renewal of ethos compel the right choice.
They're giving him advice like those three haven't been on the top of the list for months.
How timesomely irrelevant of them.
????!!??? People who write something like that are not "academic heavyweights"; they're nothing but Democratic Party jobsworths.
Harris thinks it's funny to lock up black parents if their kids don't go to school.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/31/kamala-harris-laughed-jailing-parents-truancy
During Israel's 2014 massacre of civilians in Gaza, Rice spoke out—in favour of the Israelis.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/29/susan-rice-gaza-hamas-israel-defends-john-kerry
And Demings is—surprise, surprise—just like the other two, a Russiagate truther….
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/hr1404
Greens enter govt in Ireland: "The three-way coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green party is the first time the first two parties – former civil war rivals – have been in government together." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/27/micheal-martin-irish-taoiseach-coalition-fianna-fail-fine-gael
Sinn Féin responded with a conspiracy theory:
Cabinet posts have been divvied up along expected lines. Fine Gael getting the finance, justice, foreign affairs, economic development portfolios while Fianna Fáil gets the social stuff, education, health, housing plus ag & fish. Greens have done pretty well actually with 3 cabinet posts including environment, climate change, arts & culture, transport, youth & children.
Martin and Varadkar will swap roles halfway through the term when Varadkar takes over as Taoiseach.
By the way the election was way back at the beginning of February. It’s taken 4 & a half months to put the government together.
You got to feel for Mary Lou McDonald she’s taken Sinn Fein almost into government.
Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are like our Labour and National so it remains to be seen how well the coalition will go.
Although they do actually have a Labour Party: it has 5 senators (same as Sinn Fein), Green Party only has two.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seanad_%C3%89ireann
However in the more powerful elected lower house things are very different:
Sinn Fein 37, Greens 12, Labour only 6.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A1il_%C3%89ireann
My (admittedly rather sketchy) understanding is that their Labour Party is more akin to our old Alliance under Anderton. Fianna Fáil is a broad church centrist, republican party; that split-off from Sinn Fein after that movement went all in for armed resistance. Fine Gael is the Conservative party in the same mould as National here or the Tories in the UK.
Interesting. There's also the Social Democrats – due to an apparent necessity to fill the void between "broad church centrist, republican" and Labour.
A void so huge they have 6 members currently in the lower house. Very Irish.
Never a good sign for Major Parties when they're forced into a Grand Coalition by a dynamic Opposition Party on an upward trajectory.
As for the Irish Greens … wiped out last time they went into Govt … support more than halved at the following Election … no TDs at all … about as welcome to Irish voters as a Baby Arctic Seal Vol-au-vent served at a Green Party Annual Conference.
Would be good to have an explanation of the shift in voter views of them. A mix of negatives sufficient to overwhelm these positives?
"In almost four years in Government, from 2007 to 2011, the Green Party contributed to the passage of civil partnership for same-sex couples, the introduction of major planning reform, a major increase in renewable energy output, progressive budgets, and a nationwide scheme of home insulation retrofitting." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Party_(Ireland)
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All very interesting and perhaps we should be more Irish. They have been oppressed badly and still have spirit. We have been oppressed and seem to go into dour as a default. They worked like billy-oh to make their way and initiated the word 'navvies' short for those who dug out England's navigation canals for transporting production.
We worked hard cutting down the forest in our own land for profit. The working man here found a voice in the Labour Party but that turned out to be more interested in being socially mobile, going up a class, and left its supporters behind. It has now to turn back from representing nature's despoilers targeting wealth, and return to its core role of acting for working people, and the underpaid and underemployed and find a way to get enterprise in NZ working for NZs providing for NZs needs, with some export as well, instead of the present reverse situation.
Now Labour must combine with the Green Party in implementing policies good for us all. And for the strugglers; be about healthy housing same as when it began, and relating to the new Climate Change menace which has penetrated our consciousness with trepidation.
If you listen to the Irish music it can be soulful but also the jigs really get everyone going, along with Irish whisky. Our music was more about gold-mining failures 'Farewell to the Gold' or a waltz, Save the Last Dance for Me. The Kokatahi Band played a mix of music that they remembered to bring some light and rest from toil, fuelled by beer and home-made spirit and refreshments. Then another lot of music crazed us up with rock and roll, and drugs. We had a chance to break the pattern of poor and drunken, rich and self-satisfied after WW2, but our horizons were too low. Now the size of the problem is huge but looking at how we can pull together to cope with Covid-19, this will likely act as a spur to carry the spirit further.
Problems can be dealt to rather than crush us, so let's show Ireland we can do better, let's compete in a sporting fashion to have the best policies performing successfully like well-oiled machines, for all the people and the country. We should keep in touch with Ireland, is there a group uniting the two countries? We can learn from them, the jigs, the determination, the national closeness as in, 'If You're Irish come into the Parlour, There's a Welcome here for you'! We will say, 'Naumai, Haeremai' but with the same meaning and effect. Let's do it.
The group uniting the two countries would be all the dour Irishmenwomen who came out here and cut down our forests.
Sounds like a typical NZ-aligned comment.
According to Worldometer this morning, 10 million cases occurred overnight, both the US and Brazil recorded 42 thousand new cases each, the total death toll is now 500 thousand.
Exponential increase in the infections rate and countries still not taking the virus seriously.
Just more evidence that NZ has applied the best response to this pandemic of any country, we've got a Govt that has saved us from potentialy the worst disaster in any of our life times.
We are the lucky country for having the Govt and response we've had, wake up NZ media, get your head out of the sand.
As the situation deteriorates overseas the public here will have cast into clear definition, the foolish position taken by the National Party, Todd Muller and much of the media.
Robert, are there courses in Riverton on your stuff that I can do?
Got any links for accommodation and bookings in Riverton?
Audrey Young in the Herald yesterday pretty much admitted that National’s best hope now is community transmission and a second wave of covid so they can call Jacinda a failure. Astonishingly cynical really.
Tawdrey lets the mask slip and out comes the 'power at all costs' even if that cost is kiwis lives. Cynicals not the word more like inhumane and a view that doesn’t get the airplay it deserves.
MSM are lock step with nationals messaging as Joyce (Mr 20Bill hole that didn't exist) gets a pulpit in granny today and Judiths book will no doubt provide exposure through till sept GE.
Remember that one the dark lords of DP is employed by them now with all his media contacts and all that money from swallowing rats gives them a lot of resources.
Apparently testing rates have gone through the roof again in Auckland as people start to get nervous about covid again on the back of National’s scaremongering.
Well let's hope the ministry manage to keep track of how many, and passes accurate truthful info to the govt.
One would think after going through the unpleasant experience of being nose swabbed and being all clear they'd get a bit pissed off at the hysteria inducing media and opp party. My kids mum rang sick at her work and they asked her to go get tested, she said the test is absolutely awful.
I had it a few weeks ago. Certainly uncomfortable but not so bad.
Melbourne has second wave of Covid mostly from community Transmission.
Also 30% of those leaving quarantine hotels refusing testing.
National ,Hosking were pushing the Aussie version of partial lockdown.
Muller claiming NZ was at fault for delay in Australia/NZ bubble.
Now Victorian health authorities say this maybe the new normal ongoing community Transmission.
Tova will be interviewing the Horeskin about his expert opinion any .. moment.. now..
IIRC three of the Oz states haven't had any cases for weeks so they may want to keep their borders closed to Victoria until community transmission ceases.
Just read 50,000 tests conducted in Ak of late , all negative. Slim hope then for the Nats. Shocking to think they are likely hoping for community transmission.
Just read an article from the Daily Telegraph which quotes Michael Baker, saying he was the designer of the worlds most successful lockdown. Things aren't looking to great in Australia. I remember when we were in lockdown zooming friends over there and thinking theres was a pretty loose lockdown……
I feel frightened about what all. this is going to mean for billions of people
Politics of disaster is politics of fear and this never makes for good policy. This is consistent with the absence of coherent and detailed policy from National. It is also another reason why I’m happy-ish that the Government didn’t push for major reform, besides the fact that they should obtain a clear mandate for it and campaign on it.
Let's hope Robert, let's hope common sense prevails over manufactured scaremongering.
It generally doesn't, Just Is. Instead, the dread generated by events in America, Brazil and so on, will overshadow the fear being stirred up by National et al and New Zealanders will reassess their views accordingly. I reckon.
Just In @3.1.2
Well said Just In. Talking to a rabid brain dead Tory yesterday I got the impression that he was very bitter that we had no community transmission of the virus as it was more down to good luck than good management as this incompetent pack of no-hopers could not organise a piss up in a brewery. He wanted National to fix things. Yeah, like Mullet was screaming for letting students in and then in the next breath claim that we were letting the virus in and it was shambolic
Not surprised really by his comments after the last week of hysteria lead by the pathetic excuse for shit house paper called the Herald.
As I said to him I am very grateful for living in a country run by people who could not organise a piss up and their good luck, Sooner be here mate than some of these so-called countries where the right is soooo organised like Australia (held up as a sample how we should do it ) UK run by Bozo and top of the hit parade USA and Brazil run by pea brained ultra right wing fuckwits.
I get the impression that most Kiwis are aware of our success and why we've been successful, it's really only the rusted on Nat supporters making a lot of noise, many of those supporters are of course the media its self, I doubt wether ordinary Kiwis are interested in "tipping the baby out with the bath water" better off sticking with Govt that has got us to where we are today, history proves the Nats don't have what it takes in a natural disater, never did.
" Nats don't have what it takes in a natural disaster, never did."
You can say that again pal. Only have to study how the Christchurch earthquake was run by Jerry Brownarse Minister of Disasters one almighty big disaster.
Incidentally, my answer was to your comment @3 not @3.1.2 as written. 8. 48 am on a Sunday is a bit early for me
+1. This of course could all be destroyed if National win in September. New Zealand is in great danger of pandemic disaster should that happen and I think the public know this.
Mutton said @ 3.3
"This of course could all be destroyed if National win in September. New Zealand is in great danger of pandemic disaster should that happen and I think the public know this".
Reply
We hope so Mutton because there are one hell of a lot of fuckwits out there who are brain dead to this and are more interested in point-scoring against the government.
Like prat Garner one morning last week kept asking Premier Ardern if she was going to apologise. What for? I ask, apologise for keeping the pandemic at bay in NZ.
Prime Minister Ardern please. Premier is Australian term.
What does Premier mean in Australia?
The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive branch of government in the Australian state of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions. Wikipedia
"Prime Minister Ardern please. Premier is Australian term"
You are not quite right there me old son
I quote the Oxford Concise Dictionary
Premier Prime Minister in Great Britain or some British dominions. so it is NOT an Ozzie term but a British term so I will stick with what I said Premier Ardern.
On Friday, the Australian Federal Police raided the Sydney home and parliamentary offices of the NSW Labor MP and the home of his part-time staffer John Zhang.
Federal politics under the Libs has seen multiple police raids, often targeting Labor or Union offices, most, if not all have no outcome whatsoever, but the negative publicity is always damaging to the Labor Party and the mostly right wing media go along for the ride
I lived in Sydney from 2011 to 2018 and saw how the media can destroy a whole country for the sake of political point scoring.
It may well be political point scoring, yet the Party didn't seem to come to their defence while quickly attempting to distance themselves.
Is this the media cosying up to ScoMo? Chomp on your pavlova while you watch this fascinating culinary masterpiece unfold, and hear about the latest passion – date syrup! But which date was that?
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sJyb5zAOi4
Did you know ScoMoFo used to work for Munter McMutton?
No, I didn't, but he was minister of Tourism under the Howard Govt and was suddenly sacked from the position, only very recently the reason for his demise was revealed, Fraudulent Activity, recieving kickbacks for favourable contracts, basically, completely dishonest, he's a Pentecostal Christian, say no more, right wing conservatism.
I wonder if he saw out his contract under McMutton.
The new Irish Cabinet
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/norma-foley-to-be-minister-for-education-with-helen-mcentee-minister-for-justice-1.4290632
"Green Party senator Pippa Hackett will be Super Junior Minister in Agriculture with responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity." Obviously a new form of political creature, Super Junior Ministers – ought we to get some? Chloe seems a contender, eh?
Equivalent of Parliamentary Under-Secretaries?
Could be. The label implies minister-with-training-wheels-on, yet I wonder why the Super gets put on the front – as if to imply a better product that the consumer ought to buy. Perhaps they will wear a badge with their title on it (as a marketing device).
Ha. Maybe Ardern should have had training wheels on a few of hers?
We must keep a watching brief on this – how does Ireland manage their agriculture etc?
I refer to my earlier https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-28-06-2020/#comment-1723533 comment about the Irish.
Are they just a mass of dash, or strong contenders in a clash for the perkiest political policies and performance for the peeps?
Watching Q+A this morning.
Gosh Jian Yang is a dodgy MP. Why won't he front for any interviews? Especially in an election year.
Is there any other list MP in the history of NZ who hasn't fronted for interviews for years?
Why is he even on the national party list collecting around $170,000 a year of our tax payer money?
Why aren't media calling out muller on this and asking him questions about it?
It stinks of CCP manipulation deep in the roots of the national party.
Comrade Colonel has people to talk for him.Why own a dog and bark yourself?
Do he and Winston go in for cafe conversations?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/419989/use-of-chinese-communist-party-associated-phrase-inappropriate-winston-peters
Video.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/invisible-man-national-mp-jian-yang-reporters-two-year-attempt-get-him-front
Treason.
Gullible.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Cait's consulted her astrology book?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2925449-the-complete-book-of-astrology
Nah. Her astrology book is prob'ly more accurate and objective than her other writing.
… but her emails.
Luckily the Lincoln Project makes the links:
The minatory deep voice and the ominous timpani percussion obviously affected you deeply. But where are the links you talk about? Did those dastardly Russian masterminds steal the links as well?
After 3 weeks of poor journalism and some appalingly ignorant commentary as a result – about as poor a service from the media estate as one should ever have to experience.
The story that should have been written weeks ago.
There was a government of a country that was coronavirus free. It was at Level 2 of its management regime and because it was community transmission free for some weeks was under pressure to move to level 1 and open up its borders to foreign students and bubble with a neighbouring country (Oz).
It had already buckled to pressure to allow early exit from the two week quarantine it ran to be kind. Early release without testing.
So it announced a move to Level 1, but aware of the greater risk of cluster growth (and also the likelihood of returning Kiwis having infections because of the greater numbers returning as overseas lockdown rules eased) under Level 1 moved to a requirement for testing on day 3 and day 12 of the managed isolation.
However it did so with only one days notice. June 8 with the new rules from June 9.
Until June 8 all testing was run by the local Health Boards at its testing sites. It had organised the staff, the safety equipment and training for this. There was some testing of those moving into quarantine hotels because of their symptoms – but these numbers were low and testing was in very small numbers on an occasional ad hoc basis (without any time pressure) and so had no implications for other testing capability.
It was of course not practically possible to have a testing regime in place from June 9 for those who arrived June 7 (June 9 was their third day for testing). Not with one days notice June 8. So operations management staff made the presumption that the policy was meant to only apply for those who arrived from June 9 (not making this presumption would have inferred those making the policy decision were so out of touch as not to realise what they asked could not be done in practice). And so they would apply it from June 11th for those who arrived on June 9. And if they could not organise this with the local Health Board who supplied such staff by June 11th, they would have the first test as early as possible afterward (as they had operated the earlier testing of those with symptoms in quarantine before June 8, when this was in synch with local Health Board staff availability).
As we know this all came to public notice because a pair of sisters who arrived before June 9 were let out early, and without a test (as people were in May and still were if they arrived before June 9 – unknown to government which seemed to presume that a day 3 or day 12 test would have prevented this).
And as we know, it was not until about June 16 that the managed isolation system set up a testing regime for those for day 3 and day 12 – even those who arrived on June 9 were not tested on June 11 as the testing took a while to put in place).
So what actually went wrong.
Cabinet made a collective decision to do something that could not be done in practice.
Did Cabinet receive advice from the Ministry of Health about how long it would take to set up the system to apply day 3 and day 12 testing? Or did it make the decison expecting it to apply from June 9 (with one days notice June 8 Cabinet for those who arrived in June 7 – like those sisters from the UK), without any knowledge that there was little chance this could be done. Blaming the Minister or the Ministry or the management regime officials for not implementing the impossible is stupid.
Did the Ministry inform the Minister about what was possible? Did Cabinet know what they needed to know about the practicality of their policy being implemented in a timely way?
These are the relevant questions. And yet no one has asked them. Well served by our media, hardly.
PS Now there are people criticising the Health Minister for not visiting management isolation facilities. There is a reason we do not allow interface with others in the hotel (just necessary isolation regime staffing). There is a pandemic. A person going from such a place to a hospital (to meet a health need) means everyone in the hospital they meet has to be in a suit and the place they go is isolated out until they get a negative test result.
"These are the relevant questions. And yet no one has asked them."
Well, did you listen to the RNZ political panel this morning? Linda Clark & Richard Harman reviewing the past week. Those here trying to whitewash Labour, who anticipate a pleasant sunday, ought not to listen to it!
It's almost as if Labour presumes a cover-up of public service lying to the govt is in everyone's best interests. Yes, I know Labour MPs are mostly clueless – but that bad?? Really? It puzzles me. What does Jacinda gain by promoting this perception?
There are two real takeouts
1. Cabinet made a policy decision asking for something from June 9 with one days notice that would take a week to roll out in practice (did they know that ion June 8 or not?).
2. The risk of community spread resulting was no greater than that from releaase from managed isolation without a test during May and the first eweek of June.
All of the back testing done is really to prove Muller's beliefs to be wrong. A bit like science – archeology etc has done to creation science belief.
Have a KitKat, Dennis, your comment is projecting so much ‘perception’ that I almost thought it was advanced baiting.
Perhaps you and Linda and Richard should read Soiuxsie Wiles' excellent article on why she is confident there is no community transmission of Covid in NZ
She gives this very useful interactive graphic to also explain why after over 2 weeks of the new border restrictions (implemented on 9 June) there is very little chance of there being community transmission in Aotearoa
ooops sorry about the graphic – seems to have gained extra pixels. 🙁
[lprent: Fixed. The source image was large. You just need to constrain it (as was probably done at sciblog). Just add the width attribute into the img tag (eg width=”550″). If you’re the first in the hierarchy you can get away with 600. If you’re 10 down in the replies then 500 px will do. ]
Thanks Lynn I see how to do that now 🙂
I have to say that is a good graphic. What it needs emphasizing is the median time of the onset of any symptoms is days after the infectious period.
Yep, we even had Selway on here getting his test and his Dr telling him "you don't need one" after 2 weeks quarantine, the medical experts must despair at the public sometimes. So basically, all these people getting tests after 2 weeks is for political reasons, to assuage the fears of the public.
I mean, if we're within capacity and it's not going to fuck logistics, you might as well test them. It might throw something up once every 50 years.
But the scaremongerers like Muller can go fuck themselves. Spidey-sense is not an effective screening test for community transmission. Their intention is to sow alarm and despondency. It's disgusting.
I heard it. Basically they said he should resign because it looked bad cos of the cllever camera work. Surely you didn't fall for that crap.
Hey SPC, have you ever thought about becoming a reporter, this concise and informative turn of events describes the whole dilema in a way most people can understand, it wasn't a bungle, it was a case of not everyone understanding the process and the time frame for implementation, probably the key thing was simple lack of good communication between everyone concerned.
There were/are no subsequent negative outcomes as a result and hopefully communication lines will improve.
I once did, long ago back in the 1980's. I did offer to write a column back in 1999, but got rejected for a black fairy who tried out for the Lord of the Rings.
"black fairy"? WTAF dude?
"but got rejected for a black fairy who tried out for the Lord of the Rings."
Please explain what you mean by this.
It was the Singles column at the Dominion Post, they were replacing the original colunmist EG, later City Girl (a blonde) , with another. The column was published with the pseudonym Sarah Duffy. Duffy means black fairy in Gaelic (dubh fey) The person chosen as Sarah Duffy no 2 (a brunette) wrote a first column about them trying out for a role in Lord of the Rings.
I find the PC reaction to the term black fairy – especially in reference to the Lord of the Rings so very 20th C reactionary.
Forgive me for not reading Gaelic, singles columns from 20 years ago, or LOTR. That shifts it to a lowercase "wtaf".
Yeah I know, I am a walking/hobbling relic of yesteryear.
Dunno about that, I know folks who speak Klingon. But if you're going to be obscure, don't take it bad when people think you're just openly saying the quiet bits out loud.
Excellent comment SPC and just published on RNZ a good review on the Report of the country's Managed Isolation and Quarantine system.
Something for a Sunday morning laugh.
My wife dragged in a Weekend Herald this morning, she purchaed it yesterday, I asked her why on earth she had bought the Herald, she knows I refuse to read it, she replied, I know, but we're running out of newspaper to start the fire and the Saturday edition is quite thick and quite good value.
Ha! Indeed!
Ha ha I like it, better than tearing it up into small squares punching a hole in the corner and tying it with a bit of rope on the back of the Loo door which is the natural home for it.
It was well worth reading Matt Nippert's background coverage of how the government organised a response to Covid-19, including lengthy interviews with Ardern and Peters. That was good, in-depth journalism. You'd be much better informed and would have the details to rebut the RW line that "any government would have done the same".
Simon Wilson's lunch with Muller and Kaye was a good read too.
There's plenty of rubbish in the Herald but only a fool would refuse to eat the fish because they don't like the chips.
They were two of the best back-ground stories I have read in a long time.
Maybe what Anne states is true, rare appearances of professional journalism, makes the paper a bit of a lucky dip.
Good fuel and the puzzle section is OK if you like word games
Aus fearing their "second wave", be interesting if Nats/Hooton start screaming "close the border!!!!".
SPC, good to read some proper background to the situation. Where oh where are intelligent, balanced reporters who can investigate without getting hysterical?
Have any investigated and got hysterical at Bridges & Muller over them wanting to bring in thousands of students? Where would they be put up? Who would manage and staff these facilities, bearing in mind the huge management of thousands of returning Kiwis has not always been easy, which is understandable given there was no rehearsal for this pandemic.
I have been heartened by some sensible letters to Dom Post, and people I know more and more are saying the media has lost the plot and NZ has done extremely well. Muller and Co have never acknowledged this.
Yes. I concur with SPC too.
But who was to blame?
It is hard not to come to the conclusion that the govt, somewhat bungled the switch from Level 2 to Level 1. We now know Jacinda Ardern was under enormous pressure to make that switch and it came from all quarters but especially from National. In the end she relented despite Bloomfield's note of caution that Level 2 should run for another two weeks.
The public has to take their share of the blame too because we were all sick and tired of lockdown and we wanted more freedom and we said so – every last one of us.
Who was to blame?
We were all to blame from the PM downwards. So lets stop scapegoating individuals which, from my experiences, is the art of the guilty trying to distract attention away from themselves.
Interesting point Anne, we are all to blame, fair enough.
We're all to blame … Let's sack EVERYONE! Then we can start with a clean slate back where we were before, with everyone in the same positions.
One exception: Let's have EVERYONE this time round saying "We don't know how f…..n lucky we are."
The doom merchants, the "Everyone with responsibilities has cocked up" mob?
Put them in a leaky boat, give Michael Woodhouse the oars, stand Odd Job Muller on the poop deck with a telescope to hold up to his ear, and push them off towards Antarctica.
19 September
For the record, I was not sick and tired of the lockdown, so count me out of the collective breastbeating thanks.
The triumph of reason has happened within Labour in the UK. Apparently…
So the long arm of Mossad thesis, eh? I doubt she really implied that, but when UK politics persists in a morass of paranoia, conspiracy theories will inevitably whirl around in the vortex of competing perceptions. And yes, moral clarity in a Labour leader is indeed shocking. As a suggestion. Not sure if the reality has been validated.
An alternative action for Keir Starmer would be to keep following the foolish and fractious Jeremy Corbyn into a defeat so deep it will take years to get Labour out:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/18/key-points-from-review-of-2019-labour-election-defeat
… with its antisemitic implication that Israel was to blame for the death of George Floyd…
That was not the implication at all. What was at issue here was whether or not this murderous chokehold technique being used by U.S. police against peaceful and unarmed civilians was taught to them by Israeli police. You probably are aware that Israeli “policing” of the Occupied Territories is even more oppressive and lethal than what is being inflicted on the citizens of the United States by another vicious police culture.
The wild allegation that "Israel was to blame" is entirely the fabrication of Jeremy Rentoul, the Indescribablyboring hack you have ill-advisedly chosen to quote. Rentoul is a shameless backer of the right wing Blairite faction which has managed to grab control of the Party again after its democratic deviation. It would have been hard for you to choose a more devious and dishonorable source; in 2015 he was forced to publicly apologise after another of his outrageous canards aimed about Corbyn.
Shame on you for quoting such a callous and calculated liar, Dennis.
The facts are getting out there.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300041626/coronavirus-life-in-a-highsecurity-quarantine-facility-in-new-zealand
That's quite a different tone isn't it? Air flight staff in PPE, wake up breakfasts, nurse visits every day, social distancing, security watching all the time, grateful to be back in NZ. What a shambles & David Clark should resign!
The new natsy line will have to be that the expense of this mollycoddling is A NATIONAL DISGRACE.
Clearly National are ignorant of basic accounting. The cost of doing this is far lower than cost of dealing with a minor outbreak.
Or they are ignorant of human behaviour when constrained – there will always be idiots who care less for the common good than they do for their own personal interests.
Or both.
But I suspect that it is simply because the National strategists are so focused on their spiteful politics of envy because it allows them to stop looking at the horrors that a full-blown epidemic brings. We really should send some of their MPs on a fact finding mission to the US at present (or even after our election) so that they do start to understand it.
Nah, National will be saying that private enterprise can better organise border controls than civil servants and the military, and anyway the money should be going to our mates…..
A toss-up between Serco and Novopay?
Toss-up? Far too uncertain. Deals behind closed doors is how you do it, with knighthoods and cushy retirement jobs, and even a little earner writing for the Herald………
[Exasperatedly] Look, it's perfectly simple, opposition National party politicians are simply saying that NZ's Covid-19 outcomes would be much better if only our government had adopted policies closer to
Sweden'sAustralia'sNew Zealand's – that's all they're yakking on about; give them a break, and while you’re at it read Chris Penk's simple book why don't yah!Or keep warm by exporting swamp kauri 'furniture' to China; or live sheep to the Middle East, or kiwi fruit plants to the competition- that kind of sustainable?
How about exporting NZ bulk wine overseas for the GB supermarket trade??
Or, selling Argentinian bulk wine in NZ under NZ brand labels?
Or well water to the Chinese?
Or cheap power to Aussie smelters?
Then there's education. Knock off a few diplomas, certificates and degrees to all in-comers. (What did Prof Jim Flynn say on RNZ? No-one reads anymore at Uni.)
All good little earners for the steakholders
Or smuggling in diseased bees and rabbit viruses of course.
Virus smuggling – now there's an idea for this time of troubles.
Solving a housing crisis, one bankruptcy at a time.
Americans can get a house for under $100K. But John Key ( & Clark before that) "saved" us from the GFC by importing a million people
Jeremy Corbyn’s Opponents Burned the House Down to Stop Him — Now Keir Starmer Is King of the Ashes
by DANIEL FINN, Jacobin, 25 June 2020
By sacking Rebecca Long-Bailey on a trumped-up pretext, Keir Starmer has set the seal on a drastic shift to the right for the British Labour Party. That shift comes just as the key arguments by Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents to justify a break with his left leadership have been falling apart in the face of overwhelming evidence. ….
Read more…
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/06/keir-starmer-rebecca-long-bailey-sacked-labour
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2020/06/26/the-sordid-truth-about-jeremy-corbyns-defeat/
Keir Starmer is making the right moves, and it's a helluva lot better than that fucking moron Jeremy Corbyn who was so utterly loathed by both marginal voters and deeply loyalLaobour voters alike. Corbyn lost every voter age category from 25-44 upwards.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/18/key-points-from-review-of-2019-labour-election-defeat
Corbyn deserves a statue of himself on a pedestal put up outside Labour UK headquarters central London with feet made of tin, so that Labour supporters can organise crowds to pull it down with tractors and chains every year and sing sings about "never again" and explain to the youngest of supporters this is how to avoid wasting millions of supporter hours and millions of supporter money and a huge 2017 voter surge into stupid policies and catastrophic defeat within 2 years and allow Boris Fucking Johnson to rule the country into ruin instead.
Or, of course, you could read Norman Finkelstein instead.
Keir Starmer is making the right moves… that fucking moron Jeremy Corbyn … Boris Fucking Johnson to rule the country into ruin
?
https://i0.wp.com/bobcesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/cant-tell-if-serious.jpg
Or, of course, you could read Norman Finkelstein instead.
Of course. And who do YOU read, sir?
Well I read the actual review of the Labour Party's performance for a start, rather than an outsider's reckons.
And you should expect more sackings from Starmer as well, if anyone so much as puts a hair out of place.
And you should expect more sackings from Starmer as well, if anyone so much as puts a hair out of place.
You're quite right there, Ad.
He’ll call belonging to a union “anti-Semitic” next. It would make as much sense as anything else he’s said.
Further down the thread, one Alistair Craig sums up this disastrous capture of the Labour Party by the right wing:
The Health and Disability system review was finally released last week to mixed reception. We all know that the MOH is dysfunctional, and successive governments have failed to either take charge of this rogue organisation or properly fund our public health and disability system to ensure systemic inequities do not cost further lives.
https://systemreview.health.govt.nz/
What gladdens my cynical and bitter old heart is how finally, finally, disabled people have raised their voices both individually and collectively to express their bitter disappointment at the failure of this review to address the very real inadequacies in the Ministry of Health Disability Support Services.
There were no disabled people on the Review's steering committee and as Gerri Pomeroy, President of DPA says…
Disabled people have the right to have their views taken into consideration and be heard, particularly now the government is a signatory to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons."
While she and others supported many of the health system changes the report suggested, she said the review was "as we feared, a health review with disability tacked on".
(Kudos to Gerri. She is an ACC client and it became clear she had little understanding of the struggles faced by those who have no rights or entitlements to disability supports enshrined by law. A while after we challenged her on this, she did approach us and admitted that she really had no idea how tough it is under MOH. Very pleased to see her stepping up.)
This long form article on RNZ is by a journalist unknown to me. He's done an excellent job. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/419956/disability-sector-calls-for-separate-ministry-support-unshackled-from-health-system
And yesterday another writer and long time disability advocate Chris Ford made this contribution…also on the RNZ site. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/419994/opinion-time-to-liberate-disability-from-health
I remember as a young disability activist at the time this went against the consensus view of disabled people who believed it would represent a regression to the medical model of disability. Simply, the medical model holds that disabled people should be treated as people with bodily and mental deficits which needed to be addressed through treatment – rather than as people who need to have our rights upheld and requirement for individualised support respected.
As time has shown, the government's claims turned out to be but fine rhetoric.
The reality for disabled people like me is that we still have to go through bureaucratic hoops to prove to the Ministry of Health (which controls funding for non-accident related disability) that we need essential mobility equipment such as, for example, wheelchairs or housing modifications.
This having to go through hoops has been compounded by successive governments failing to increase disability support funding substantially – at least not until this year's Budget which saw the most significant boost to disability funding in decades.
Chris doesn't just criticize he suggests a solution…one that has been on the disability wishlist for many years.
I would like to see a government entity called Disability New Zealand established (replacing both the Ministry of Health DSS and ACC), whose operations and governance are be led by disabled people.
This agency would administer disability support funding and allow disabled people and their whānau to both create and hold individualised support budgets.
Moreover, an independent, autonomous Disability Commission, which would also be disabled person-led, would provide policy advice and monitor all government policy which impacted on disabled people.
We could have had all these recommendations had the Health and Disability System Review included disabled people's representation on it – something that I and other disabled people and our organisations called for constantly, including to Health Minister David Clark and Review Chair Heather Simpson.
Our views were ignored, hence the limited recommendations.
Responses from both Carmel MIA Sepuloni as Minister for Disability Issues and Jenny 'I don't really want this hot potato thrown at me by JAG' Salesa have been predictably dismissive.
'Just fuck off and wait..' sums it up.
I might be being over optimistic, but this might be one of those make or break issues for this Current Mob occupying the gummint benches.
Perhaps someone close to them could whisper in their ear that some of us out here do understand that the Misery of Health has been a rogue entity for quite some time now so we don't necessarily blame the MPs and the PM directly for this continued shitting on of disabled New Zealanders. What would be great…and very possibly vote winning… would be the massive purge of the entrenched bureaucracy at the Mystery that is desperately needed.
Start again with new blood, and this time use the word "entitled" in all of their policies.
A Disability Authority and Disability Commission (advocacy) does seem to be the way to go.
Not that this should be needed to make these moves.
1. move long term support (disability benefit) to super rate level
2. allow those who meet criteria for disability support to receive a minimum of the dole rate when living with working partners.
3. super rate support to those unable to work while they are facing illness likely that incapacitate them, or cause death (heart attacks and late stage cancer)
4. more than benefit level support to workers no longer able to work for health reasons (outside the current ACC model).
Advocacy for those with disability, birth or ACC orbit, or non ACC criteria sickness/deterioration in terms of medical and treatment support is necessary, especially when we are still under the funding constraint management regime of health services model.
Thanks SPC for your considered response.
You should send that to the PM, Sepuloni and Salesa.
Maybe even Reverend Clark…but that might be a waste of a stamp.
+100
"'Just fuck off and wait..'"
rolfnui.
I just tweeted this
and writing that I went to the RNZ website and see the front page is plastered with the DA review critiques, which is fantastic except for the fact that the disability activist sector appears to be sacrificing people whose disability stems from health issues. Or maybe they just don't know about them.
Not impressed, it's a shit show all round.
…the disability activist sector appears to be sacrificing people whose disability stems from health issues….
You're going to have to expand on that weka. Am I right in thinking this is to do with the difference between the social and medical models of disability?
Can be a bit tricky….no disabled person…especially those born with impairments…wants to be seen solely as someone who needs treatment or fixing. Chris Ford's piece discusses this a little. I'll let him explain.
OTOH…if disabled people do not get the supports they need then their health can go rapidly to shit. So there is the medical to consider.
In all our dealings with the Misery of Health over the years one of the expectations that Peter and I wrongly held was that provision of good supports for disabled people would be seen as an investment. The cost of fixing someone through through the health system can be seriously expensive. Much more than funding adequate supports.
But no. It seems the bastards don't care if a person with spina bifida (who survived the near compulsory termination protocols) gets repeated bladder and kidney infections because they are forced to use single use catheters multiple times. Kidney failure? Shortens their lives. In the Ministry's book this would be a win.
And as for the End of Life Choice Bill….this should be ditched until ALL disabled New Zealanders who need disability supports have those supports funded as of right.
Just like those on ACC.
the RNZ headlines and having a quick read through are pushing the separate Disability from Health. Which I actually support, but you *have to take health disability people with that, not create a further ghettoisation of chronically ill people. We already have discrimination with Health on that basis around who can get disability funding. I can totally see that if Disability were given its own ministry that Labour would fuck this up and chronically ill people would be sacrificed yet again.
I agree there are issues on what framing/narratives are used too, especially around ‘fixing’. It's complex. I completely agree with the position that the govt should be putting disabled people in charge, and this needs to include those with health disabilities (which will present another whole set of challenges). I don't think the disability sector (govt, NGO or activist) is particularly good on this.
I can totally see that if Disability were given its own ministry that Labour would fuck this up and chronically ill people would be sacrificed yet again.
Very quickly…because I have stuff to do outside while it is not raining…you might want to have a look at the MOH DSS definition of disability as pertains to accessing services.
For many years now mental health has been accepted into the disability tent..but not, you say chronic health conditions.
Why…I guess this is about the 'condition lasting for longer than six months' part of the definition. Could it be than many with these health conditions resist the definition of 'disability' because of the negative connotations of the word? They are hoping to be cured?
A minefield.
"… the medical model holds that disabled people should be treated as people with bodily and mental deficits which need to be addressed through treatment – rather than as people who need to have our rights upheld…"
Which would be bad enough on its own – but is compounded when the treatment recommended is far from the best available. For example, the scandalous reluctance of the medical profession to recommend and advocate for the the funding of Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) for children with cerebral palsy. Combined with follow-up physiotherapy, gym-work and strengthening, it is by far the best, modern treatment for cerebral palsy of the diplegic type. The long-term burden of disability on the individuals concerned, and the taxpayer (though the health economics studies have not been done) is substantially reduced. Existing protocols of multiple, repeated orthopaedic operations with poor cumulative outcomes are protected and maintained – because that is where the current medical expertise and government funding sits. Families are self-funding or running lengthy fund-raising campaigns to obtain this procedure overseas – then paying again for physiotherapy or gym sessions while injured rugby players get covered by ACC.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/95874406/120k-cerebral-palsy-surgery-worth-it-to-give-3yearold-hugo-a-chance-at-a-normal-life
Interesting…and it seems this is an accepted treatment in the States…so why not here?
Some interesting stuff on media on Radionz today.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018752161/midweek-mediawatch-reporters-criticised-for-being-too-critical 7.51 am
And then there was 9.06 am Media Watch which I didn't find easy to reach as usual. There seems to be some reshuffling of how things are presented, not sure just what. However here is the audio which is very interesting as it is about Cambridge Analytica et al. Did you know that Margaret Thatcher used the services of the political mixers for her three elections? And there's more….
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018752569
Those who wish to be politically informed, and those who wish to be up with all the sly ways of undermining our political process and elections, and those who want to find out who is who and who's paying should listen to this. Journalists are out there with 'truly epic stories', and that's not puffing them up. Knowing about this is important for those with dreams of maintaining a good, functioning democracy that keeps itself in good condition, and clean its boots topside, and soles regularly.
It would be interesting to know what others here thought after hearing this, did everyone find something new they hadn't heard?
Air nz really doesn't get it- starting to look like they might be a paid up member of the Nats.
Do they need to have government regulation on every little thing or could they not err on the side of caution and wear and handout masks. No aircraft filtration system is going to save you from the person next to you coughing all over you.
An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said crew on international flights are required to wear masks and gloves during food and drink service and face-to-face interactions with passengers.
However, there was no government requirement for staff to wear masks in Queensland.
"Our jet aircraft are fitted with hospital-grade air systems that filter out viruses, and hand sanitiser is also available in airports and on aircraft for customers and staff to use as they wish," she said.
And on a wider note we probably really don't need further infections from in transit and aircraft transmission. If we get too much or find it towards the end of quarantine it will delay departure from quarantine of more people and clog up the spaces we do have.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/121957033/coronavirus-passenger-dismayed-at-air-new-zealands-casual-attitude-to-virus
From the RNZ political panel this morning (https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018752565/the-panel-with-linda-clark-and-richard-harman – jump to 6.5 mins in to skip the world cup bit):
LC: "I think it's inevitably a combination of both… Labour has made a lot of mistakes in the last couple of weeks". She's saying Muller's achievement isn't solely the cause of the 9% switch in the poll. "A lot of public confidence has been shaken by a whole series of mistakes, and they are going to be punished for that."
RH: "we learnt this morning that both Shane Jones & Nikki Kaye want the legislation to be amended to let Auckland take more water from the Waikato River". After mentioning that the RMA amendments are still in select committee. And "it's looking less & less likely that the shovel-ready projects are going to be ready before the election."
LC: "Winston is in the petty politics phase at the moment, and I don't think it's working for him."
RH on the border shambles: "I think they need to explain just how the decisions were made… Go back to Tuesday, and in the House, Jacinda Ardern quite clearly stated that the Ministry of Health had misled her… now, for a ministry to mislead the prime minister herself on something like this [testing done] is very, very important. And so yes, Clark is guilty of not asking enough questions". [Re the DGoH] "The prime minister said he was reporting, but what he was reporting was wrong."
Yet the public servant who think they've got away with lying to their minister, the DGoH, and the PM are sitting there rubbing their hands with glee, saying to each other "Way cool, dudes! Public service is fun, eh?"
RH: "I think it would be unfair to sack the minister for this, yet the government has not presented a case in its own defense."
Then re Newshub and "throwing Dr Bloomfield under the bus"…
LC: "As an old television reporter I have to take my hat off to the cameraman… an absolute master, because that really caught a moment – and he was being thrown under a bus, I don't think there's any denying that… there's no question that the prime minister has been misled by the ministry, and it may be that Bloomfield has been too – by his officials". "I think the most responsible thing that David Clark could do is resign."
As you know, I think Linda Clark's perspective is very ignorant.
As to the question to the Minister while alongside Bloomfield, and the cameraman’s filming of Bloomfield at that moment, speaks to the very fact of this being a pre planned sting. The story of it effectively written before the question was even asked.
Taking off their hat to the cameraman, in that context, is disingenuous.
there was no shambles, I'll keep repeating that everytime I see it.
Yeah, incantations do work via repetition. Just like advertising. Yet people en masse still have this old idea in their heads; magical thinking is ineffective.
Mass perceptions of a shambles are likewise influential. Weight of numbers – politics being a numbers game.
What a couple of poisonous weeds. There have been a number of people who appeared to be sensible reporters revealed when they leave government jobs, as deeply troubled by the idea of a fair democracy, and honest, balanced reporting with both negative and positive observations!
Loud noise in MSM does not equal mass perception although NZ’s megaphone media would like you to believe it and, sadly, it seems to be working. You seem to be scared that critical thinking might be conflated with defending the Government/Clark/DGoH. Walk and chew gum at the same time.
Dennis: Why are you buying into the "border shambles" line when it was nothing of the sort?
Green have a policy announcement at 1pm
Live stream https://www.facebook.com/nzgreenparty/videos/723007115124045/
"Sensors in Sweden …" is how the Chernobyl news kicked off in 1986.
Radiation sensors in Stockholm have detected higher-than-usual but still harmless levels of isotopes produced by nuclear fission, probably from somewhere on or near the Baltic Sea, a body running a worldwide network of the sensors said on Friday.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nuclear-particles-baltic/sensors-detect-rise-in-nuclear-particles-on-baltic-sea-global-body-says-idUSKBN23X2TN
Half-price piss, though.
People who visited a bar in East Lansing, Michigan, are being asked to self-quarantine because roughly 85 people contracted Covid-19 after visiting the establishment this month, a health official says.
That number is up from the 34 reported Wednesday and is expected to rise, Ingham County Health officer Linda S. Vail told CNN.
The Health Department is asking patrons who visited Harper's Restaurant & Brew Pub between June 12 and June 20 to self-quarantine, and report cases of Covid-19, the department said in a statement.
"Given the number of cases in this outbreak, we consider this a higher risk exposure than a typical visit to a restaurant or bar," Vail said. "There are likely more people infected with Covid-19 not yet identified."
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/27/us/michigan-coronavirus-bar-harpers/index.html
Greens new social security policy:
Guaranteed Minimum Income replacing all core benefits and student allowance.
Increases in income support for those with children
ACC replaced with Agency for Comprehensive Care
Taxing uber wealthy, as well as new tax brackets for $100,000 and $150,000
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/420016/election-2020-green-party-unveils-plans-to-tackle-poverty
https://www.greens.org.nz/green_party_proposes_transformational_poverty_action_plan
Guaranteed Minimum Income
Well, does that mean it isn't a UBI?? Perhaps you could write up & post an essay explaining what sort of critter it is. Sounds good tho, & a radical move… 👍
Is there a single clear definition of UBI, in NZ context? If not, this is a red herring, IMHO.
UBIs are generally paid to everyone. The GP GMI is for those that need it (essentially everyone not in full time work). I tempted to say Gareth Morgan won't be getting it 😈 but I haven't seen yet if the GMI is asset tested.
No one on super (or in FT work) would get.
Ta
GMI =//= UBI and comparing the two would be like apples & orange AKA a red herring 😉
I took it as a question from someone who hadn't read the policy yet.
The debate around UBI has been dominant, so it's going to be useful to compare the two different things and point out they are apples and oranges but they're still both fruit 🙂 Especially when it comes to examining TOP's UBI policy 😈
Fair comment. Talking about TOP’s UBI policy is specific, at least. I still don’t see much point in a head-to-head comparison other than to show and highlight (?) the differences? I think it is a reductionist trap and an exercise in futility (AKA waste of time) but I’m sure some pundits and MSM won’t be able to resist 😉 Just my 2 cents, of course.
Given TOP will be going after GP votes, and that too many lefties have been singing the praises of TOP's UBI, I find it instructive to look at them side by side. I'm putting up a post tomorrow about the GP policy alone, might do a separate one on the comparison with TOP at some point (might not be necessary).
It's also because I've written about the serious short comings of UBI models (including TOP's) and the GP basically fills the gaps that others haven't been able to. This isn't about the GP so much (apart from pointing out the value in voting for them), it's more about keeping visible the need for welfare to be bolted on to any model. A distinction that too many on the left had failed to grasp. Will be really interesting to see who gets it now, once presented with an integrated and costed policy.
The link says $325 base rate (singles) for benefits and srtudent allowance. It also shows higher support payments per child.
And no GMI has nothing to do with UI.
I am writing a post as we speak. It's a beautiful policy and yes, radical but not so much as to scare the horses. Not perfect, but really good. Tt's not a UBI. It's a guaranteed minimum income for those that need it, plus lots of other good stuff for welfare.
I used to support UBI, but now prefer Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI). GMI means you can afford to give more to those who need it, while maintaining the other desirable aspects of UBI (no test or expectations other than having sufficiently low income). All of us are eligible for GMI when we need it.
Listening to this from Max Rashbrooke explained the UBI / GMI issue well.
Does he talk about a GMI specfically?
Absolutely, listen at 12:20
It would support people who were injured or sick …
Arrgghhh!!!!
What about those born with a disability? This is what some of the disability activists are on about.
As if your disability being literally lifelong makes you less deserving.
Hardly inclusive language is it?
We must all try harder.
While yet another rainstorm passes through…remember this?
https://info.scoop.co.nz/Equity_For_Illness
I gave Melanie a call once and suggested that instead of Equity for 'Illness' it was reworded to be inclusive of those who were disabled from birth and those whose injuries predated ACC…she wouldn't have a bar of it. Different communities and different needs.
At the end of the day we're all humans whose minds or bodies have some degree of impairment because of whatever and who need a some degree of support.
Goodness me..our tribalism is our downfall.
Not sure if those words are from the Party or clumsy paraphrasing by the media. The release to members reads:
There does seem to be some unclarity of language in the policy documents.
Just working my way through the details, but it looks good for all disabled, impaired, unwell people that can't work full time.
all in a context of manaaki, give people what they need rather than making them jump hoops. It's bold as.
couples rates would be gone too. Can't see the details on abatement rates yet, but they'd change those too.
And maybe, just maybe the Greens can win back quality candidates such as this…
https://nzagainstthecurrent.blogspot.com/2017/03/i-am-reassessing-my-membership.html
GREEN PARTY candidate Chris Ford says he's "reassessing" his membership of the Green Party in the light of the leadership shifting the party further to the right and signing up for Labour's 'Budget Responsibility Rules'. He's also angry that this was done without any consultation with the party membership.
Ford, who stood for the Green's in 2014, said: "I'm very disappointed with the party I belong to for doing this! In fact, I know that many other members -like me – are disappointed and angry. I am reassessing my membership. I knew that this statement (Labour and Greens' joint Budget Responsibility Rules agreement) was being developed but party members seem to have been largely bypassed in doing so.”
Ford is expressing a widespread dissatisfaction within the Green Party rank and file who believe that the party has strayed far from its progressive roots, For many, the sight of co-leaders James Shaw and Metiria Turei signing up to the 'Budget Responsibility Rules' may be the final straw.
Maybe. Greens decided to reverse the BRR support some time ago.
Thank heavens
Increase in base benefit rate to $390/wk
$390 or $325?
$325 after tax.
Base rate for people who can't work due to disability/illness would be higher than everyone else.
Bold indeed. Looking good…let's see it explicit in their manifesto.
Might have a party to vote for after all.
Who is the Green candidate for the Far North?
The unwelcome re-emergence of Unity Mitford
A lot of pressure on the managed isolation system from increased numbers coming across the border.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/420020/covid-19-nz-s-managed-isolation-system-not-broken-but-under-extreme-stress-review
For mine they should reduce pressure on the managed isolation facilities by turning them into second week stays.
They should locate first week stays in hotels not currently used (rent by floor). Just the day 3 test to interface with the confined without symptoms.
And if they bus – either level 3 spacing, or provide masks to passengers and PPE to staff.
We should if at all possible have special flights for Kiwis in Oz coming here, they do not leave Oz with it and are at risk on the journey to the hotel and others they are isolated with.
First week stays confined to their room.
Very good, clear press conference by Woods and Webb (most of which will never make the headlines, because it was too sensible).
Expecting 5,000 arriving in the next 1-2 weeks? Capacity for 6,000, give or take.
So let's invite thousands more people in, we can cope easily, said no sane person, ever. But National are saying exactly that. So what do the journos at press conference ask about instead? "Is anybody bringing in drugs?" FFS.
Better questions from the media might be, "Why are all these people returning home to New Zealand?" and "What are the returnees reporting on how conditions are in the countries they are returning from in terms of Covid-19 and social risk?" or "What percentage of returnees have furnished substantive complaints about treatment on return?"
Can anyone explain this to me?
Personally I would have brought those who lost employment through ill health (sickness/physical decay and heart attacks etc) into the ACC employer funded system. This also has a focus on funding treatment/recovery to get people back to work.
Savings for MSD then used for more generous funding to those with earlier and other circumstance inability to work (often permanent) – 80% of the MW is generous ($600 a week before tax). And I thought moving those on disability (now around $300) to the super rate $425 was the bold move. I can however agree younger folk need more than someone on super who owns a home, so there is a case for the higher amount.
The last sentence may refer to the ACC payment system, how to put a cap on the payments it currently makes to injured workers to reduce its costs to afford the expansion of coverage. The 80% payment amount maximum frozen until it reduces to 1/2 times the average wage as a maximum.
thanks, I did wonder if it was about high income earners going onto ACC. Can you please explain how that works?
SLP current rate is $307 for an adult. GP policy is to increase this to $390 before April (60% of min wage), then once merged with ACC to increase it to 80% of net minimum wage, $604/wk or $484 depending on whether they are talking about 80% of net or gross.
And this just landed on the Natrad website…https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/420040/woman-with-chronic-illness-calls-out-employer-s-double-standard
Surprises me that this woman had worked for MSD and was shocked and disappointed when her employer treated her like shit, sorry, with less than kindness when she became sick.
Other surprising little snippet from this article is that although 24% of the population have some sort of disability…only 4.8% of MSD employees identify as disabled. (https://www.odi.govt.nz/home/about-disability/key-facts-about-disability-in-new-zealand/ )
Explains a lot.
All I know about ACC is that its based at 80% of the former wage.
correction to the original post
until it reduces to 1 1/2 times the average as a maximum.
I presume that under the ACC system there is a maximum former wage allowed and thus there would be savings made if that was fixed/unadjusted until it was no more than 1 1/2 times the average. Thus a future maximum amount at 80% of that amount, which would be a maxmum of (at current average somewhere around 60,000, 80% would be c$48,000 near $1000 per week).
PS above I put it at $600 a week for 80% of the MW, it would at next years rate of $20 an hour be c$640 per week before tax.
heh
https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article243834242.html
ACT are doing their bit to increase diversity in Parliament. Gun nuts and climate cranks deserve representation too!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12343678
And one of Hooton’s acolytes on no. 2. Will Paul ‘the Muss’ Goldsmith stand aside again in Epsom?
Poots don't care.
/
Urgent water summit too short notice for double-booked Auckland Council
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12343660
So many ‘surprised’ people, so little action, so late …
Can we please bang some heads together?
She miscarried.
Looks like an intentional piece of Balkans-style ethnic cleansing – deliberate termination of a foetus for being black
Oh how could police do this in a supposedly civilised country. If they had a spark of decency left in the USA they would be ashamed. It's a disgrace at present, sick outside and in. That was in Florida with a lot of coronavirus. A good slogan for their protests would be Cough on a Cop. A violence free way of retaliating. What sort of reaction did Ghandi and his followers get? It takes a lot of resolve to face this sort of viciousness.
Well, I expect all of you will talk about the Greens's beneficiary package tomorrow. It was a late announcement (?).
It depends how much they insist on it in their coalition negotiations. I'll accept all party's positions — a bidding war for the neediest.