Open mike 30/04/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:00 am, April 30th, 2020 - 170 comments
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170 comments on “Open mike 30/04/2020 ”

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ScottGN 1

30 April 2020 at 6:53 am

Here we go…another day on Facebook doing battle with increasingly unhinged wild-eyed National voters.
- Enough is Enough 1.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 9:07 am
  
  Maybe get off Facebook?
  - Anne 1.1.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 9:56 am
    
    Don't get on it to start with.
    - RedLogix 1.1.1.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 10:04 am
      
      Yup. Back in the early 90's I was working for a US based company that had a very early footprint on the internet. (At that time it had a whole Class A address range (136.xxx.xxx.xxx) allocated to it …). We rolled out laptops across the whole organisation in 1991 and a US based training guy came over for a week to introduce us to the internet and where it was going.
      
      I recall very clearly just how prescient he was, especially around personal privacy and the many implications it would have in the future.
      
      Entities like FB and Google have far more information on you than any government, except maybe the CCP, who probably have fat files on every participant here. Hell if they don't I've been wasting my time 🙂
      - Anne 1.1.1.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 10:14 am
        
        … the CCP, who probably have fat files on every participant here. Hell if they don't I've been wasting my time
        
        There's nothing more satisfying than rubbing official noses up the wrong way. Its what makes life worth while. 😀
      - Gabby 1.1.1.1.2
        
        30 April 2020 at 2:21 pm
        
        You're helping them gather information? I thought as much.
  - ScottGN 1.1.2
    
    30 April 2020 at 9:59 am
    
    Nah, it’s how I keep in touch with people all over. The Tories flailing around on it at the moment are just a minor irritant.
    - bwaghorn 1.1.2.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 11:36 am
      
      Nothing like a bit nat baiting although I've noticed if you point out the national parties failings thier pages stop appearing on my feed .
      - Westykev 1.1.2.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 4:36 pm
        
        Thanks, might have to try that with bloody Greenpeace spamming of my Facebook every day.
  - millsy 1.1.3
    
    30 April 2020 at 11:06 am
    
    Words of wisdom. I quit FB before Xmas last year and have never looked back. Same with Twitter.
- McFlock 1.2
  
  30 April 2020 at 11:32 am
  
  I don't mind the randos on the community pages. What occasionally gets me down is "argh, shit, 20 years ago Jamie was a bit mad but fun, caught up with him a year or two back, but now it's becoming obvious that he's apparently a Nazi-adjacent and I have to defriend him" sadness.
  - woodart 1.2.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 12:31 pm
    
    good post mcflock. that has happened-is happening to me . but, the way I look at it, jamie would still be someone to run from. with facebook, you can find that out without having to share oxygen (and other things) with them.
    - McFlock 1.2.1.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 5:49 pm
      
      It's not like the most recent one had runes and 14 words on his profile pics. I started to notice lots of dogwhistling, and then linked comments to a south island far-right-dirtbag publishing house.
      
      Such a shame – didn't spout any of that back in the day, he was good fun. But how someone gets from there to here over the decades is a frequent mystery.
Dennis Frank 2

30 April 2020 at 7:10 am

The bomber's feeling a tad plaintive this morn: "Please tell me the Left have an economic response beyond middle class identity politics. Please." https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/04/30/next-election-fought-on-the-economy-not-identity-politics-why-that-will-hurt-the-left/

No, nobody will tell him that. For a start, the left aint unified, so it would be false advertising. For seconders, the left aint even attempting unification, so any general left-wing response to covid-19 terminating neoliberalism will remain a wish & a hope.

"I've suggested that the NZ Left urgently put together a virtual conference to thrash out a basic policy agenda platform as a response to this unprecedented crisis of free market capitalism and that should be getting planed right now". Good idea, eh? Well, no. Leftists talkfests never go anywhere. Factoring in a plan would be sufficiently audacious to spook participants.

Consciousness-raising has been the norm in leftist meetings in recent decades. The idea that everyone gets conscious enough to agree to a plan would require the left to adopt consensus politics. The left has never agreed to become that Green. Not here, nor anywhere else.
- OnceWasTim 2.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 7:49 am
  
  🙂
  
  Not a bad summation @ Denis, and one only has to look at a few blogs and new media for evidence of you claims.
  
  Que sera sera, and we get what we deserve all things considered. I only wish we could all be a bit less tribal about it all. It doesn't need to be such a war of egos.
- Ad 2.2
  
  30 April 2020 at 8:00 am
  
  How very defeatist of you.
  
  As noted in the post below, when in recent history New Zealanders have been given the opportunity to contribute new ideas that assist in response to a crisis, they absolutely do, and they are effective.
  
  https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/04/30/1149880/post-lockdown-democracy-lessons-from-chch
  
  The New Zealand left are in government (together with NZF).
  
  They have shown that they are outstanding at managing a crisis with a plan that has saved the entire country. Our Prime Minister – previously a global leader of socialism – has done nothing but effective consciousness-raising for the last 40 days straight.
  
  Through the Budget 2020 they are about to show that they have an economic recovery plan for many sectors of New Zealand particularly the public sector.
  
  The bitter and resolutely defeated left that you describe have no place in New Zealand political life right now.
  - Dennis Frank 2.2.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 10:07 am
    
    Yeah, there is that bright side – which you have described well. The left are succeeding via collaboration with centrists. The PM's leadership has been exemplary through the saga. My point was directed at the bomber's complaint – which you haven't addressed.
    
    It rather highlights the current divide between those into pragmatic response and managing consensus decision-making, and those seeking a sensible plan for the future. The closest the govt have got to the latter is making vague noises that they are getting around to it. I shall keep reminding myself that patience is a virtue.
    - RedLogix 2.2.1.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 10:55 am
      
      The problem with demanding a plan is that many of the important parameters and constraints are going to be outside of this govts control.
      
      pat linked to this good summary from Roubini last night.
      
      1. Excessive debt bubbles everywhere in every sector. (China being off the charts)
      
      2. The demographic transition that means consumption led recoveries become increasingly unlikely
      
      3. Growing risk of deflation
      
      4. Currency de-stabilisation as a result of heroic central bank attempts to prop everything up
      
      5. The digital disruption, increased pace of automation changing the nature of work and the value of labour
      
      6. De-globalisation. The collapse of the US-led post-WW2 global alliance will result in regionalisation and a major reduction in global trade, with tighter trade restrictions in many important sectors
      
      7. Increasing populism as the relative prosperity and peace of the past 70 years ebbs away. People react badly to seeing their standard of living slide backwards
      
      8. The geostrategic standoff between the US and China. Both nations are facing major risks of quite different kinds. China is much weaker than it looks and it's authoritarian leadership will do anything to retain power; while the USA is getting it's ass handed to it as the direct result of 30 years of self-indulgent, narcissistic culture wars.
      
      9. Increasing probability of food and fuel disruptions in the traditional zones of conflict, the Northern European Plain, The Middle East and the Far East. As the US withdraws local hegemons will be aggressively playing to fill the vacuum. Expect more wars.
      
      10. And the ever present risk of climate change and environmental mismanagement disrupting human development.
      
      All of these clusters of threat have been previously spoken to here at length. Roubini condenses them into a concise, chilling summary. All of them are real threats, and we should resist the temptation to dismiss the sum of them as catastrophising; whichever way you cut it, this looks like being a high entropy decade.
      
      Aus/NZ have some incredibly fortunate strategic advantages going into this; any plan we make should look to play to them. But we have to accept that the outcomes could be wildly different to what we might hope for.
      - Ad 2.2.1.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 11:03 am
        
        Plans in small and medium-sized countries have obviously worked before, and in more dire global circumstances than this.
        
        There's no doubt we are in a catastrophe.
        
        There's also no doubt that both Australia and New Zealand as exceedingly good at forming plans – even plans on the fly – and making them work.
        
        So we should plan, and we should expect that plan to succeed.
        
        Time you quit Brisbane Red, and started proper tramping again here.
        
        RedLogix 2.2.1.1.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 11:17 am
        
        Time you quit Brisbane Red, and started proper tramping again here.
        
        Funny you should say that. Working on it.
        
        lprent …
        
        30 April 2020 at 11:38 am
        
        Ah tramping. I wish that I could still do it.. Actually just walking more than a kilometre without the bones grinding together in my right foot and causing pain twinges for days afterwards would be nice.
        
        RedLogix …
        
        30 April 2020 at 12:01 pm
        
        Plan B. Electric mountain bikes. … really.
        
        While the NZ system of trails is pretty good now, the Aussies have a fabulous network.
    - Ad 2.2.1.2
      
      30 April 2020 at 11:00 am
      
      Bryce Edwards proposes that:
      
      "These non-economic issues – debates on everything from nuclear weapons, abortion, sexual politics, racism and environmentalism – never fitted easily into the traditional left-right spectrum."
      
      This shows Mr Edwards understands nothing of the left in New Zealand since the late 1970s. It now consists near-entirely of these groups. The current Cabinet is the full summation of this set of idealisms.
      
      Bomber just builds on that ignorant sentiment. Bomber wants the union movement back so he can remember the proletariat as they ought to be. It's not coming back.
      
      Bomber is welcome to invite the entire left to a conference in which all ideas are invited. He can frame it any way he wants. Who knows maybe it would be as successful as that which occurred in Christchurch.
      
      Meanwhile, the left in government publish another budget, another nation-wide recovery plan (as they have done often throughout history), another moral recovery through a gentle return to national resilience and communitarian ideals, and on current polls another parliamentary term.
- Incognito 2.3
  
  30 April 2020 at 10:27 am
  
  Does the Left want to unite-unify everybody?
  
  The schizophrenia of MMP is that coalitions require a certain level of consensus while the other side of the politics is highly adversarial and polarised (and polarising). IMHO, this is a design flaw stemming from FPP mentality and political history in the Anglo-Saxon parts of the World.
  
  What is badly needed, and has been for a long time, is a coherent and cohesive policy platform. Ironically, the rebuild of the Economy will help this Government to focus, which will create an impression of direction, purpose, and integration, on paper, at least. The Devil is always in the detail as the pandemic response has shown so well; gaps and errors will become clear once the behemoth is set in motion and if not dealt with adequately, the wheels will start to fall off and undo the whole thing.
  
  Last, but not least, they need to sell it to the voters.
  
  What could go wrong?
  - Ad 2.3.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 11:05 am
    
    Through our Prime Minister, the left have united and unified the entire country.
    
    Like you I keenly await the united policy platforms. Two weeks to budget and we'll see.
    - Incognito 2.3.1.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 11:12 am
      
      Sure, the PM and Dr Bloomfield took centre stage in their daily updates over the last month or so. The COVID-19 crisis made us pull together; we’re all in the same boat together. Crises have this effect on communities and even whole nations. As do wars …
      
      I’m not holding out for too many specifics in Budget-2020 and I expect more ‘broad brush strokes’ and aspirational stuff (AKA planning & modelling) than in a usual Budget.
  - Dennis Frank 2.3.2
    
    30 April 2020 at 11:46 am
    
    Does the Left want to unite-unify everybody?
    
    Good question (if everybody refers to all on the left). I guess I was showing my age: my first awareness of the left was in the era when unity was written and chanted as a mantra routinely ("the people, united, will never be defeated").
    
    I observed rather acidly here a while back, in respect of sheeple subservience to the control system, that the people, defeated, will never be united.
    
    I agree that the semblance of a plan is as good as the reality of one, from the perspective of giving assurance to a sufficient number of voters. So, as political strategy, painting it with a broad brush would enable the left to cruise on past the devil lurking in the details.
    
    However the gist must be sufficiently effective as a prescription to withstand critical appraisal from the media, as well as leftist supporters & fellow-travellers such as myself. If the design is that clever and robust, it will constellate a semblance of unity.
    - pat 2.3.2.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 11:56 am
      
      the reason the people united could never be defeated was because that assumes no adversary….the adversary is the (other) people
      - Dennis Frank 2.3.2.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 12:32 pm
        
        True enough. Although the leftists in those days would probably argue that it was just a pitch for idealism, and all you really need is a majority under FPP.
        
        I think the origin of that idealism lies in the notion of liberation, deriving from the revolutions in France & the USA: a bipolar frame in which the people are considered separately from the ruler(s). When the rulers are an entire class (ruling class, aristocracy, nobility, etc) they attract hangers-on, sycophants, who nowadays constitute the right wing along with business (the days when business folk were a despised component of the people are long gone). So the people are indeed structurally divided in the real world.
        
        pat 2.3.2.1.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 12:46 pm
        
        yes you do need a majority…and given there are a lot more losers at the moment we may get it.
        
        It is the tension between competition and co-operation that is key….if you perceive (or are in fact) 'winning' in the contest you wish it to continue, if you are 'losing' you are more likely to wish to co-operate.
        
        Unfortunately co-operation requires consensus….competition does not
        
        And sadly those that are by nature competitive tend to end up in positions of power…go figure.
        
        NZ can be as co-operative as it likes but unless it separates itself from the world it is still subject to competition from without.
        
        The ultimate expression of competitiveness is war.
        
        Should we be competitive?….we are constantly told we need to be.
gsays 3

30 April 2020 at 7:28 am

I watched Planet of the Humans last night. I thoroughly recommend it.

I thought it was a Michael Moore film, so hadn't watched it earlier as I wasn't feeling up to being lectured at for an hour an a half.

The film is by Jeff Gibbs and the messages are delivered in a far gentler manner than Moore's style.

It tackles the major problems we as a species are facing, and pulls the covers back on some of the sneakier aspects of the 'Green' shenanagins going on in the U.S.

Al Gore, amongst others, doesn't come out well.
- Andre 3.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 7:36 am
  
  Nah. The reviews from people that actually know a bit about the topics covered are kinda negative. A lot of the info is simply way out of date and misleadingly presented.
  
  https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/michael-moores-green-energy-takedown-worse-than-netflixs-goop-series/
  
  https://www.vox.com/2020/4/28/21238597/michael-moore-planet-of-the-humans-climate-change
  - Morrissey 3.1.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 9:12 am
    
    VOX? The hipsters on that site "actually know a bit", do they? Like they do about Venezuela?
    
    And…. have you actually watched the documentary? Let's assume you did.
    
    1.) Do you think the producers faked the scenes where Al Gore and Bill McKibben compromise themselves? (I use the word "compromise" as a euphemism in this instance.)
    
    2.) Do you think they faked the investigation which finds the Koch Brothers have received more money by far for "green" energy than any other entity?
    - Andre 3.1.1.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 9:26 am
      
      Leah Stokes, the author of the Vox piece is indeed a credible expert on clean energy and environmental policy.
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leah_Stokes
      
      No, I haven't watched it. A few minutes reading of reviews from experts that actually understand the topic persuaded me to not waste one hour forty minutes on it.
      
      But thanks, the way it evidently appeals to your motivated unreason is an even stronger indication I shouldn't waste my time on it.
      - Morrissey 3.1.1.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 12:27 pm
        
        No, I haven't watched it.
        
        That was obvious, but thanks for confirming it for us.
        
        A few minutes reading of reviews from experts that actually understand the topic persuaded me to not waste one hour forty minutes on it.
        
        That time is of course better spent trawling Twitter and Facebook in search of that one zinger epithet to hurl at Trump. How's that working out, by the way?
  - RedLogix 3.1.2
    
    30 April 2020 at 9:49 am
    
    Agreed. While it supports my contention that solar PV and wind power have serious limits that have been too often ignored or underplayed, there are too many inaccuracies and distortions in this doco for it to be useful.
    
    Worse still it doesn't take us anywhere; it's depressing and nihilistic. It makes virtually no mention of next generation nuclear which is the most promising way through this bottleneck.
    
    There is an important message in here, but it's been buried by a lack of balance and accuracy.
    - Morrissey 3.1.2.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 12:46 pm
      
      …. too many inaccuracies and distortions in this doco for it to be useful.
      
      ????!!? Could you give us one example of either?
      
      … it's depressing and nihilistic.
      
      It's certainly depressing. No surprises about the corrupt and foolish Al Gore, but I was depressed to see just how compromised and how evasive Bill McKibben was. How is it nihilistic?
      
      … no mention of next generation nuclear which is the most promising way through this bottleneck.
      
      "Next generation nuclear." Now that sounds like a sane and rational option.
      - RedLogix 3.1.2.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 1:18 pm
        
        Andre has already covered off the inaccuracies aspect.
        
        I've already spoken frequently to the fact that renewables have serious limitations, and the reasons why can be conveyed in cool, accurate terms as this David McKay's presentation does.
        
        The difference is that I don't take the ideological position that any energy source is rubbish. They all serve a role both in time and place. Wood and muscle power sustained our recorded history, coal got us out of absolute poverty, oil gave us industrialisation. Renewables work well in specific locations and contexts; both Australia and NZ are among the relatively few countries almost perfectly placed to exploit them well.
        
        But globally the numbers on renewables are not promising, and this is a cold hard fact that many 'clean energy' advocates are not keen on confronting. In this the doco serves a purpose, Moore confronts this reluctance like a kick to the nuts, but in doing so he goes off track too often for my liking.
        
        As for the nuclear energy aspect. Again I've written to this extensively in the past year and I'm not going to do it justice in one comment. But already the cold hard numbers prove that even existing nuclear energy technologies are by far the safest form of power generation.
        
        And this is before we look at a whole raft of next generation nuclear technologies, that by any informed analysis are at least several orders of magnitude safer again. In my career I've participated in four major (multi-day) HAZOP analyses from a control and automation perspective, so I have real heavy industry experience in evaluating risk.
        
        Morrissey 3.1.2.1.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 1:25 pm
        
        Andre has already covered off the inaccuracies aspect.
        
        ???? Andre did nothing of the sort. Your statement's almost as funny, and as worrying, as your expression of support for nuclear power.
        
        RedLogix …
        
        30 April 2020 at 1:35 pm
        
        You complained above that Andre had not 'watched the doco'. Well I have and I found it a curate's egg. I agree with it's underlying message, but I don't like the approach Moore used. Maybe that's just the engineer in me protesting the absence of hard numbers, and clear headed analysis that McKay does in his presentation.
        
        I presume you haven’t watched the McKay link I gave yet?
        
        And I'm guessing you really haven't yet spent several hundred hours reading up on MSR's? Or watched a single one of Gordon McDowell's many video's?
        
        Get back to me when you have.
        
        Morrissey …
        
        30 April 2020 at 7:18 pm
        
        You complained above that Andre had not 'watched the doco'.
        
        I didn't complain, I actually thanked him for confirming what I had suspected: that he was commenting from a position of ignorance.
        
        I agree with it's underlying message, but I don't like the approach Moore used.
        
        ???? The "approach"? You mean you don't like his style. That's irrelevant to whether the revelations in the documentary have merit or not.
        
        … the absence of hard numbers,
        
        Wrong. The documentary backs up its narrative with statistics throughout the one hundred minutes. Of course the numbers that have angered so many people are those that reveal how much money Al Gore, Richard Branson, Bloomberg, the Koch brothers, and Bill McKibben are pulling in from these scams.
        
        and clear headed analysis…
        
        Again, simply wrong. Jeff Gibbs's narration is clear from beginning to end.
        
        solkta …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:07 pm
        
        You think analysis is the same thing as narration? You ain't encouraging me to watch it that's for sure.
        
        Morrissey …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:16 pm
        
        ???? Clear narration precludes analysis how, exactly?
        
        Ed …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:29 pm
        
        You are speaking a lot of sense Morrissey. Thank you for your insight.
        
        The film is a savage attack on capitalism. It puzzles me that people cannot see that.
        
        Morrissey …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:35 pm
        
        I don't think it's a savage attack, Ed. It's a calm, rational, honest, and therefore grim documentary about capitalism, and how it corrupts even the most well meaning people.
        
        (I don't think Al Gore is well meaning, by the way.)
        
        Andre …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:38 pm
        
        Have you read or watched any of the reviews and critiques of the movie?
        
        For most people, being anti-capitalist doesn't excuse being dishonest, misleading, using out-of-date information like the film does.
        
        But hey, you do you, if bullshit as long as it's anti-capitalist is your thang.
        
        Ed …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:41 pm
        
        Andre, I have not read any reviews yet.
        
        However I have ( and I appears you have not) watched 85 minutes of the documentary.
        
        I prefer to look at reviews once I have looked at the original document.
        
        Morrissey …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:47 pm
        
        Ed, that bloke proudly announced this morning that he has not watched the documentary. It's a pity that Radio Sport has disappeared; that was one outlet that defiantly made a virtue out of complete ignorance. Our friend would have fitted right in. “I’m not going to waste an hour and a half of my time WATCHING the game, but I’ll tell you why it sucked…”
        
        https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/an-educated-lot-breakfast-with-radio.html
        
        https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/07/tony-veitch-newstalkzb-in-action-dec-28.html
        
        (Actually, it's not a pity that Radio Sport has disappeared.)
        
        Andre …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:47 pm
        
        Have you successfully deluded yourself that you have the knowledge or the inclination to spot the factual inaccuracies, misleads and misinformation?
        
        Morrissey …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:59 pm
        
        The time you spent dreaming up Perelman-level zingers like "Drumpfelthinskin" today, you could have spent watching the documentary. Or do you take all your opinions straight from VICE and the failing New York Times?
        
        Ed …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:34 pm
        
        Watching the film as I type.
        
        It is full of data and statistics, supporting points made.
        
        Morrissey …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:40 pm
        
        I'm sure you'll enjoy it, Ed—it's leavened with wit and dry humour, in spite of how depressing as it is. There's a great quip about a former Vice-President and a Goldman Sachs gangster right near the end, which is the only outright joke in the whole thing.
        
        Ed …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:38 pm
        
        Agreed Morrissey, your language is precise.
        
        The documentary is "calm, rational, honest, and therefore grim" about capitalism.
        
        As a result it is a devastating expose of capitalism.
        
        gsays 3.1.2.1.1.2
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:11 pm
        
        Ok, we have yr nuclear installed, then what?
        
        We keep on biggering?
        
        I think you missed one of the main messages of the movie.
        
        RedLogix …
        
        1 May 2020 at 12:54 pm
        
        We keep on biggering?
        
        Yes. Setting aside your Trumpism, the correct answer is that abundant, reliable, carbon free energy would enable human development to be extended universally.
        
        1. This would bring human population into equilibrium everywhere
        
        2. It would enable closed loop resource management everywhere. We have a long way to go on the details here, but in most instances the roadblock at present is energy costs.
        
        3. It would accelerate the urbanisation of humanity, the intensification of agriculture into smaller land footprints, which together mean that wilderness can re-claim back more of the planet.
        
        Essentially we save the natural world by not using it. I realise that I'm painting an ambitious vision here, but already we are living lives beyond the wildest dreams of our own great great grandparents.
        
        Morrissey …
        
        1 May 2020 at 1:10 pm
        
        I realise that I'm painting an ambitious vision here..
        
        "Ambitious" in this case is a euphemism for insane.
        
        Chernobyl remains largely unremediated since its meltdown in 1986. With each passing year, dead plant material accumulates and temperatures rise, making it especially prone to fires in the era of climate change. Radiation releases from contaminated soils and forests can be carried thousands of kilometres away to human population centres…
        
        https://aeon.co/ideas/nuclear-power-is-not-the-answer-in-a-time-of-climate-change
        
        RedLogix …
        
        1 May 2020 at 1:23 pm
        
        Chernobyl was a design that would have never been licensed in the Western world. If you watch the excellent and very popular documentary on it, plus do some in depth reading, it's clear that the root cause of the disaster was that because of the authoritarian and secretive nature of the Soviet regime, at least two critical flaws in the design were never conveyed to the plant operators.
        
        People also forget that despite these flaws, about a dozen of these relatively primitive RBMK reactors operated for many years afterward, with pretty good safety records.
        
        There is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to energy, but if safety is your concern then nuclear energy is by far the safest form we have. Anyone claiming otherwise is really arguing for more deaths and more environmental harm, not less.
        
        And that safety data is based on a fleet of Pressurised Water Reactors whose fundamental features date from the 40's and 50's. The next generation reactors I am advocating for here are entirely different machines, many thousands of times safer than these again.
        
        Morrissey …
        
        1 May 2020 at 1:30 pm
        
        Chernobyl was a design that would have never been licensed in the Western world.
        
        So how did the responsible and ethical politicians of "the Western world" get away with installing those disasters at Three Mile Island and Fukushima and Windscale?
        
        https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/brief-history-nuclear-accidents-worldwide
        
        Poission …
        
        1 May 2020 at 1:42 pm
        
        The evolution of nuclear reactors was bounded by the need to make them safe.Teller asked Dyson to make a reactor that was both phd proof and child (read engineer proof).
        
        Here very clever physicists,needed great confidence in their equations.
        
        RedLogix …
        
        1 May 2020 at 4:04 pm
        
        The Windscale piles (they can scarcely be called a reactor at all) were a first generation graphite moderated machine designed in the 1940's, in the immediate post-WW2 era. They were really just primitive research machines and at that time safety was a much lessor concern than it is now.
        
        TMI and Fukishima were both third generation Pressurised Water Reactor designs that derived from the original nuclear submarine program dating from the 1950's. All of these reactors have a fundamental risk factor, that while they worked very well at the size of a submarine (<10MW thermal) they didn't scale well to power sized plants (>100MW or more) from a safety perspective. Despite this the vast majority of them have operated safely over their lifetime. So well that they remain dramatically the safest energy source we have.
        
        However all this irrelevant, I'm explicitly not endorsing the notion of building more of these PWR machines. Indeed I'd be happy to see them all de-commissioned as they reach the end of their lifecycle and no new ones ever constructed. You are essentially asking me to defend an obsolete generation of reactors that I am not advocating for.
        
        Nuclear engineering has advanced considerably since the 1950's, and the designs I am pointing to are completely different. Everyone working in this field is vividly aware of the accidents in the past and have worked hard to eliminate their root causes in this next generation of machines. There are no free lunches when it comes to energy and from where I'm sitting, nuclear is the only path forward out of the fossil fuel development trap we are in.
        
        gsays …
        
        1 May 2020 at 4:03 pm
        
        The equilibrium of the population I can get with. A significant part of that, is the likes of us, scaling back our energy dense habits.
        
        That is the bit no-one seems to want to acknowledge.
        
        Eating seasonally and locally.
        
        If we get yr nuclear, does that mean Coca Cola can still be the be the biggest plastic polluter?
        
        On another note, what is so special about the next great energy resource that humanity will achieve some equality? Something that has not managed to happen during the steam or oil/coal/gas years.
        
        RedLogix …
        
        1 May 2020 at 4:22 pm
        
        If we get yr nuclear, does that mean Coca Cola can still be the be the biggest plastic polluter?
        
        Abundant low cost energy might mean for instance that we could readily return to using glass as the default packaging material and build recycling into the cost of the product. This isn't a very big leap at all.
        
        As I type this my eye alights on a couple of Sodastream gas bottles waiting for me to take back to the shop. These use exactly the same model.
        
        In general the idea is that we can move over time toward closed loop resource management, where the goal is to develop both materials and methods that dramatically scale back our raw extraction rates from the planet.
        
        In 100 yrs time we could look back on the goods we purchase today, from a resource perspective, as impractical historic curiosities. Much like someone wearing a digital smart watch might look at a grandfather pendulum clock.
        
        what is so special about the next great energy resource that humanity will achieve some equality?
        
        Well look at it this way; the first problem to solve is absolute poverty. Fossil fuels have enabled most of the human race to escape this; in 2016 fully half the human race achieved a modest middle class life by local standards. For the first time ever. That seems to me a big step in the right direction.
        
        gsays …
        
        2 May 2020 at 8:44 am
        
        I've slept on it but I do not understand yr Trumpism quip.
        
        Please enlighten me.
        
        RedLogix …
        
        2 May 2020 at 10:49 am
        
        Apologies. I read the term "biggering" as the kind of non-word that Trump regularly comes up with. Crossed wires …
        
        gsays …
        
        2 May 2020 at 12:16 pm
        
        Hey no worries, I thought I had missed something.
        
        I was referencing The Lorax with biggering and thneeds.
        
        It's funny how a 'kid's' book can be so concise and apt.
Dennis Frank 4

30 April 2020 at 8:06 am

A nationwide survey of public opinion in the UK measured the post-covid desire for change: https://flo.uri.sh/story/262445/embed#slide-0

More than a majority of Brits are hoping for change: https://flo.uri.sh/story/262445/embed#slide-1

Hankering for a return to neoliberal bau are the conservative rump: 9% – but there's also 6% who want bau while conceding they need to perform a personal change of lifestyle.

3% are growing food. When I was a kid here in the fifties everyone did that. Those who didn't need to try something new come in at 50%. Plus change, plus la meme chose. https://flo.uri.sh/story/262445/embed#slide-2

A quarter of respondents noticed more wildlife (shame they didn't also ask `did you become wilder?'), while 40% noticed a stronger sense of local community (slide 4).
- RedLogix 4.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 9:50 am
  
  Change is going to happen whether they tick the box for it or not.
Maurice 5

30 April 2020 at 8:16 am

The immediate struggle for short term survival will "Trump" any luxury Green changes and policies.

Most of us will be driving our present vehicles (if we can afford to do so!) for far longer before being able to financially afford expensive Electric replacements.
- Sacha 5.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 9:53 pm
  
  luxury Green changes
  
  Lovely phrase but what does it mean?
Muttonbird 6

30 April 2020 at 8:33 am

Britain now 4th worst affected country for Covid-19 deaths/million. Overtook France after the belated release of some care home stats. France, which shares land borders with the three worst affected countries.

When will the people there start asking questions of their totally incompetent leadership?
- I Feel Love 6.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 9:12 am
  
  There's to be an inquiry over the high number of health care workers deaths, but they've been asked to not look at the shortage of PPE because that's too political.
  - mpledger 6.1.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 9:32 am
    
    There is a panorama episode about the lack of PPE in England "Panorama: Has the government failed the NHS?".
- joe90 6.2
  
  30 April 2020 at 10:28 am
  
  The Tories really don't want to talk about excess deaths.
  
  One thing about a country having a dysfunctional media system is that its inhabitants may have difficulty recognising the full scale of the disaster through which they’re living. pic.twitter.com/QNGEkPXEVY
  
  — Martin O'Neill (@martin_oneill) April 28, 2020
  
  The United Kingdom is suffering one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world, with the official figures admitting over 20,000 Covid-19 deaths. Research based on figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest that the real total is likely more than double once deaths in care homes and the community have finally been counted.
  
  It is widely considered acceptable to talk about the official death rate and to mourn specific individuals who have died in the pandemic, especially front line NHS staff who have fallen in the fight, but once anyone begins asking questions about why the death rate is so high in the UK compared to other nations, the push back is vehement.
  
  The moment efforts are made to establish a cause, the moralising ”how very dare you politicise the crisis?” brigade immediately show up in droves in order to deter any thought processes that may lead back to the party of government or the Westminster political establishment bearing any responsibility whatever.
  
  https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/opinion/in-times-of-crisis-i-will-continue-to-be-another-angry-voice/28/04/
  
  https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-englands-excess-deaths-among-the-highest-in-europe-11977394
  - Incognito 6.2.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 10:39 am
    
    Here in NZ, some like to create a narrative that this Government has caused excess economic damage. I see parallels in the way the moralising arguments and counter-arguments are constructed and narratives are developed. It is a variant on the old theme of how to run the economy and the role of the State.
    - RedLogix 6.2.1.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 12:09 pm
      
      Maybe the idea that any country, following any strategy, could get through this scot-free was always delusional.
      - Incognito 6.2.1.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 12:35 pm
        
        Of course! No Country is an Island.
Molly 7

30 April 2020 at 8:52 am

And so it continues, the Bank of England refuses to release gold reserves to Maduro, so he can finance Venezuela's Covid-19 program.

The economy may be stalled, but the mechanisms of directing it are demonstrably still in play.
- KJT 7.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 10:36 am
  
  "It's the Venezuelan Government that caused it, being too socialist".
ianmac 8

30 April 2020 at 9:08 am

Steve Maharey:

Winston Churchill led Britain to victory over the Nazis, but he lost the election in 1945 to Clement Attlee.

Herein lies a lesson.

Attlee won because, among other reasons, when the war was over the troops and their families wanted something better to make up for their sacrifice. Churchill represented a return to normal, Attlee offered the promise of a better world.

There is a lesson in this as well.

All the pain from Lockdown leaves people with the hope that afterwards society will be "better."

https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/churchill-beat-hitler-but-attlee-won-the-election-elections-strategies-in-post-crisis-world
- Morrissey 8.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 9:16 am
  
  Terrible analogy. Simon Bridges is no Clement Attlee. And there is nobody in the National Party even remotely talented like Gaitskell, Cripps, or Bevin.
  - Peter 8.1.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 11:26 am
    
    Attlee, Gaitskell, Cripps, and Bevin won't be voting in our election though. A lot who will be voting will think that National is best at handling the economy. Especially after a crisis.
    
    A vote from one deluded simpleton = one vote from someone with a grasp of reality.
    - gsays 8.1.1.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 8:16 pm
      
      Thats right, most of the yo-yos queueing for murder burger get to vote too.
- Sanctuary 8.2
  
  30 April 2020 at 9:20 am
  
  It is just as likely a scenario come September that NZ, having eliminated COVID-19, is in a nice economic recovery with life almost back to normal, looking aghast at a world outside our borders wracked with second and third waves of corona virus and economies wrecked with second and third lockdowns or riots and mass deaths of the vulnerable and elderly. In that case, we will not only re-elect Labour, we'll build a giant statue to Jacinda as well.
  - ianmac 8.2.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 12:01 pm
    
    The point is surely that when people have endured huge losses because of a Lockdown then they would be hoping that it was all worthwhile because the recovery began delivering major successes in addressing Inequality, Climate improvement, a better Democracy and an addressing the damage done by the Economic System. That does not suggest that Bridges has a box seat, but suggests an Opportunity for change.
    - Sanctuary 8.2.1.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 1:34 pm
      
      National have not changed any of their policies for thirty years. Bridges has consciously moved the party further right on social issues and economically he remains completely enamoured with the short termist neoliberalism of the Key era. I have major doubts he wants or is capable of taking advantage of any opportunities…
      - ianmac 8.2.1.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 2:00 pm
        
        Putting Labour/National aside Sanctuary, do you think that there is a mood in the population for a significant desire to move into a more people centred way of life?
        
        Sanctuary 8.2.1.1.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 2:41 pm
        
        I guess right now a lot of people have had a glimpse of a different way that looks quite nice. I would think for most children and pets, who don't grasp what is going on, the coronaviris has been a period of unalloyed bliss at having their parents at home. And most parents have probably been really, really happy to spend more time with their families.
        
        It may be that after this the workforce participation slumps for reasons entirely to do with different lifestyle choices as one parent decides they actually preferred being at home and you know what? They can just about make do on one income. But we already know a lot of (lets be honest) mums would stop work tomorrow to be full time wives and mothers if they had the choice.
        
        But the thing is, the lockdown was really a glimpse of what the cost of being a rich country is, because it looked a lot like those charming but poor places we like to go on holiday look like. Slower pace, lots of ambling around, people having the time to talk and play with their kids. Are we really willing to take the insularity of poverty (the poor people in any country don't travel) and the consequences of poverty in exchange for a more people centred way of life? I doubt it. We are a rich first world country and we like it that way, by and large.
        
        A four week lockdown won't undo a generation of consumption led materialism but I think that it produced a moment that bold leadership could achieve some wins in – people have marveled at how wonderful Auckland has been without cars and how fun cycling has been, for example. Before that memory fades why not seize the moment to announce a huge program to make Auckland a cycling, walking and PT flagship for the world?
        
        The sense of national unity & crisis could be usefully harnessed as well, perhaps with the idea of a UBI (if practical) or a CGT to offset a cut in GST.
        
        But to sum up, I think the main mood of the land is to just get back to life as normal – which for most of us in these islands of ours is really rather pleasant.
        
        ianmac …
        
        30 April 2020 at 5:31 pm
        
        Thanks Sanctuary. Suppose most people are a bit self-centred but there is a last resort of Hope.
Cinny 9

30 April 2020 at 9:22 am

A good month ago, trump said he only expected 60,000 deaths in the USA. I remember thinking, that's more than the population of our whole region, and felt shocked that he used it as a throw away number. Like the deaths of 60,000 people was nothing.

He continued bragging and lying, claiming he had saved the lives of millions of American's by taking fast action. And that 60,000 was a small number compared with that.

Today the number of Covid19 deaths in the USA has reached the disturbing number of 61,112
- Andre 9.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 5:13 pm
  
  But he still has the best words.
  - ianmac 9.1.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 5:34 pm
    
    It is the expressions on the faces of the skilled folk behind him that shock.
  - Cinny 9.1.2
    
    1 May 2020 at 9:11 am
    
    Lololz… God help 'Murica.
Muttonbird 10

30 April 2020 at 9:24 am

Two John Key stories on the Hurled website this morning.

The signs are there for the resurrection of the neoliberal messiah.
- pat 10.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 9:37 am
  
  If Simon cant sell their message someone has to
- ScottGN 10.2
  
  30 April 2020 at 10:01 am
  
  Pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the Tories increasing alarm at their dismal prospects in September.
  - pat 10.2.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 10:12 am
    
    more at stake than the election result…..BAU is paramount regardless
- tc 10.3
  
  30 April 2020 at 10:06 am
  
  Taxpayer money to pimp hollowman mouthpiece shonky.
  
  Nice work if you can get it. What a joke this media landscape is….grow a pair faafoi.
- Incognito 10.4
  
  30 April 2020 at 10:10 am
  
  The Knights of the Realm are riding again. Sir John, Sir Bob, Sir Ray, et cetera. It is Election Year and they crave attention and relevance. It provides the MSM with cheap easy fodder for the electorate too. Meanwhile National can play in the ERC sandpit and brag about it on Social Media. BAU.
  - newsense 10.4.1
    
    1 May 2020 at 2:26 am
    
    You forgot Sir Keir demanding a way to get out of lockdown
- Ffloyd 10.5
  
  30 April 2020 at 10:46 am
  
  Also Paul Henry back. I am finding this reappearance of Key and Henry quite disturbing. Waiting for a lot of beat ups against the Government in the media to happen soon. Spearheaded by PH,MH and TO. Also expecting Paula Bennett to be huddling in with this lot. Jacinda will need to be on the top of her game to keep a lid on people like Winston and Shane et al to have a clean shot at the election. And who in the heck is Chris? Keys main squeeze.
  - Muttonbird 10.5.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 10:53 am
    
    When I first heard Henry's Zoom show was to be called "Rebuilding Paradise" I immediately assumed they meant rebuilding from the ravages of a Labour government rather than the pandemic.
    
    I suspect that's exactly what they meant.
  - RedBaronCV 10.5.2
    
    30 April 2020 at 12:06 pm
    
    Well I accidentally caught about 2 minutes of Paul Henry which should be enough for several years.
    
    He had chosen to run a series of clips of public people on operating on Zoom- mocking and making fun of the backgrounds in the shots. Now we all know that there have been "accidental disclosures" to amuse us but to use a major media platform in an attempt to humiliate people doing their job under trying circumstances felt just plain nasty and hardly the stuff of necessary and serious discussion..
  - millsy 10.5.3
    
    30 April 2020 at 8:23 pm
    
    Plus Cameron Slater has recovered and blogging again, it's like it's 2012 all over again.
- AB 10.6
  
  30 April 2020 at 11:03 am
  
  We now refer to the Herald as "The Collected Thoughts of John Key". Slap a couple of little red (or blue?) covers on it and distribute it to the faithful, hand it out at street corners, and publicly shame those who do not abide by its precepts. ZB hosts could start each show with a reading from it, followed by detailed exegesis of the text and its meaning for our lives in the present moment.
  
  Simple explanation is that The Herald has gone completely mental over Bridge's poor performance and has reverted to past glories to keep the gloss on the National Party brand.
  
  Evil thought experiment is that they are preparing the ground for John Key to step in as caretaker leader for the 2020 election, He then wins, because after lockdown everyone really, really wants to have a beer with him, and then hands over the PM role to Luxon in 2022.
Dennis Frank 11

30 April 2020 at 9:24 am

God will protect him. "Vice president Mike Pence toured the Mayo Clinic without wearing a face mask, despite being told by officials it was a requirement."

"The clinic is forcing everyone who enters, whether as a guest or a patient, to wear a face mask while at the facility, to help stop the spread of coronavirus." https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/coronavirus-mike-pence-face-mask-mayo-clinic-a9489096.html

Was their force insufficient?? Or did they concede that the VP is above rules that apply to all (like our current health minister).
- joe90 11.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 12:32 pm
  
  Seems dog’s protection isn’t going so well.
  
  https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/a-phantom-plague-evangelicals-who-defied-social-distancing-guidelines-are-dying-of-coronavirus-in-frightening-numbers/
  - Dennis Frank 11.1.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 12:42 pm
    
    Heh. Reminds me when I'd see gate signs in the suburbs saying `beware the dog' & recall anglican preachers bombarding me with `beware of God' propaganda when I was young. Gate signs saying beware the god would probably sell like hot cakes nowadays, there's so many ironists & nostalgia freaks around. There's an idea for covid-struck business folk seeking to diversify.
    
    God works in mysterious ways, and social darwinism is one of them. Seeing the virus take out those preachers in the USA probably induces in Pence a typical reaction. Their faith was not strong enough!
    - joe90 11.1.1.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 1:02 pm
      
      Righteous rant on the anti-intellectualism and the dangerous willful ignorance of tRump's 'Murica.
      
      The number of insane conspiracy theories that the Trump regime is responsible for breathing life into is worrying, and will negatively impact society for generations to come.
      
      — 🌈Trevor_Pott(Black Lives Matter); (@cakeis_not_alie) April 28, 2020
      
      https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1255278190769160194.html
      - Andre 11.1.1.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 1:13 pm
        
        Awww, c'mon joe. Open your eyes! Free your mind from constraints! Can't do this, can't do that, that's just what they want you to believe.
  - Gabby 11.1.2
    
    30 April 2020 at 2:39 pm
    
    I guess god just loved them even more than they claimed.
Dennis Frank 12

30 April 2020 at 9:57 am

"The broader grounds of Warren’s endorsement demonstrate that Biden has cleared the bar for political praise set by a coalition of “Any Functioning Adult 2020” bumper stickers."

Gee, dunno about that. Strikes me it's a race between two geriatrics, both intent on signalling that they are already senile: Malfunctioning Adults 2020. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/joe-biden-progessives-2020.html?via=features

The writer explains "How Progressives Can Get Behind Joe Biden Without Losing Their Credibility". Unsuccessfully.

"Smart activists will take note of the way Biden has slowly but surely followed his party to the left." Like a tortoise chasing a worm?
- adam 12.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 3:17 pm
  
  Election 2020
  
  Demented Rapist VS Demented Rapist
  - Morrissey 12.1.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 8:54 pm
    
    The perfect candidate.
    
    Joe Biden is NOT an "imperfect candidate" for the Democrats. He is the perfect candidate, because he's everything the party is: Demented. Decrepit. Bloodthirsty. Corrupt. Cronyistic. Authoritarian. Rapey. He is exactly what they deserve. He is exactly what they are.
    
    — Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) April 29, 2020
pat 13

30 April 2020 at 10:42 am

Bolsonaro is a threat to his team-mates and may have to be removed….

"But on Tuesday night Brazil’s president shrugged off the news. “So what?” Jair Bolsonaro told reporters when asked about the record 474 deaths that day. “I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/29/so-what-bolsonaro-shrugs-off-brazil-rising-coronavirus-death-toll

"A wave of disgust swept over social media as word of the president’s comments spread. “A sociopath,” tweeted the musician Nando Moura. “What a tragedy,” wrote the journalist Sônia Bridi."
joe90 14

30 April 2020 at 10:49 am

This could be very good news.

Tests in recovered patients in S. Korea found false positives, not reinfections, experts say

SEOUL — South Korea’s infectious disease experts said Thursday that dead virus fragments were the likely cause of over 260 people here testing positive again for the novel coronavirus days and even weeks after marking full recoveries.

Oh Myoung-don, who leads the central clinical committee for emerging disease control, said the committee members found little reason to believe that those cases could be COVID-19 reinfections or reactivations, which would have made global efforts to contain the virus much more daunting.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1266758/tests-in-recovered-patients-in-s-korea-found-false-positives-not-reinfections-experts-say
I Feel Love 15

30 April 2020 at 11:09 am

I hope I'm wrong but I fear we may see a spike in infected people in a couple weeks, other than the fast food queues today I saw tradies all in a row on scaffolding, tradies in vans, a truck with 3 people on the front seat, and a funeral service, 100s of people gathered outside, I would have thought that was still disallowed under L3? So I guess we shall see how it all goes, such a shame as I see a lot of other people really trying.
- aom 15.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 11:30 am
  
  Tradies seem to respond when you quietly remind someone in charge that workers are very obvious and risk having their worksite shut down. Does the same strategy work for queues at fast food joints. If not, then a few need to be closed down so the patrons get the message.
- RedLogix 15.2
  
  30 April 2020 at 1:55 pm
  
  Here in Brisbane we've effectively been at Level 3 all the way through. The first few weeks were a bit chaotic, but as the majority of people did the right thing and set the right examples, fairly quickly the rest got with the plan.
  
  It takes time for people to take on new behaviours, and not everyone does it at the same pace. Think bell curve, early, mid and late adopters.
- Enough is Enough 15.3
  
  30 April 2020 at 3:07 pm
  
  I agree people have now really relaxed.
  
  The word "elimination" is a problem. The word has a specific meaning in epidemiology, which differs to what Joe Ordinary would think elimination means. For that reason I think it was unwise to claim publicly that New Zealand had eliminated the virus, as people would draw the wrong conclusions.
  
  Its not surprising that such headlines made people think we were now safe.
Andre 16

30 April 2020 at 11:26 am

Oooh, Drumpfelthinskin might be feeling the heat a wee bit. Now he's turning his feral shouting tufted meatball routine on his re-election campaign team.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/29/politics/donald-trump-brad-parscale-campaign-coronavirus/index.html
- Peter 16.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 11:31 am
  
  It's going to be ugly. Who and what is he going to take down with him?
  - Andre 16.1.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 11:39 am
    
    The most dangerous moment will be when he finally realises it's over for him. That's when he's going to try to do real damage with his lashing out. Like a domestic abuser realising their victim is really truly walking out and leaving it behind.
    - Macro 16.1.1.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 11:53 am
      
      Poor wee Boy 🙁 – he's upset now with Faux News too!
      
      Seems like he has a new bestie now OANN.
      
      https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/29/fox-news-trump-democratic-talking-points
    - Sacha 16.1.1.2
      
      30 April 2020 at 9:38 pm
      
      My money is still on a cheeseburger to take him out.
      - Andre 16.1.1.2.1
        
        1 May 2020 at 9:21 am
        
        Just one? I'll go with hamberders.
        
        hamberder (noun): a bulk order of budget range loss-leader junk food burgers left to go cold and congealed, then stacked in a large pile
        
        Sacha 16.1.1.2.1.1
        
        1 May 2020 at 4:10 pm
        
        The final cheeseburger will be final. 🙂
Sanctuary 17

30 April 2020 at 11:36 am

On the so-called plan B and it's initial poster child, Sweden…

Sweden's far-right chief state epidemiologists, Anders Tengell is being increasingly exposed as a bullshitter who has dignified his ideological preference to sit on his hands and conduct an experiment in eugenics as a "model".

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2020/04/20/commentary/world-commentary/grim-truth-swedish-model/#.XqoI1agzaUl

As Richard Seymour eloquently puts it: (Patreon patrons only, so no link. Pay up for the tasty stuff!)

"…Sweden's unfolding policy debacle, which is now being mythologised as a 'model'. There is no 'model'. Just as the British government has retrospectively justified each of its pratfalls and forced moves by claiming it was all part of a cunning strategy, so the Swedish government and its apologists are dignifying a stupid calamity by calling it a 'model'. Just like the British government, the Swedish government did not set out wanting to shut high schools, and Universities, and ban large gatherings. The position was forced on them by the fact that the spread of the disease made their position ridiculous. And by the growing despair and alarm, still unabated, among the country's epidemiologists, virologists, immunologists and other disease specialists…"

Sweden's current death rate (and let's not think it might not accelerate) by going on just official figures – which will all be underestimates – is 231 per million. Let that sink in. For NZ, that translates to 1155 dead and climbing, with a poorly prepared public health system probably already collapsing. IHME modelling – https://covid19.healthdata.org/sweden – expects the country's death rate to spike toward the end of May, leading to a total of 15,625 deaths. That would be over 1500 deaths per million. For us, that would be 7500 dead New Zealanders – that is the spike, not the final total. Most likely, using Swedens approach NZ's dead in a matter of several months would approach or exceed our losses in WW2 (11,625), which took 61 months to fight.

One other thing – Swedenss ICU capacity is double that being used. This reflects a ruthless triaging of patients. As one of the disease specialists critical of Tegnell’s approach points out, “the mean age of those who have died is 20 years higher than the mean age of those treated in ICUs”.

Which means, in laymans turns, the old have been left to die
- I Feel Love 17.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 12:34 pm
  
  When asked about the high number of deaths in rest care homes the Swedish govt said "that wasn't part of the plan" & the Brits "that's within the margin of error". Our pollies couldn't get away with that blitheness.
- Anne 17.2
  
  30 April 2020 at 1:04 pm
  
  … in laymans turns (terms?) the old have been left to die.
  
  An English friend of mine who lives in NZ has lost her father to Covid 19 back in England. He was 84 years old and had an underlying health condition. He lived in a retirement home and was never taken to hospital for treatment. The carers at the home no doubt did what they could for him but he was – effectively – left to die.
  
  It happened about 2 weeks ago so his death is not part of the official statistics. It would not surprise me if cause of death was officially attributed to the underlying condition even though he had tested positive for Covid 19.
  
  Multiply his situation by the many elderly folk in rest homes who were not included in their statistics… it makes a mockery of the so-called official figures. Multiply that again by the many thousands of elderly folk who have died of Covid 19 in other countries who likewise are fudging their figures… and the world tally thus far is probably almost twice as high as what is being reported.
  
  It stands to reason that under the Trump regime the real US total is way above what has been admitted to at this stage.
- Nic the NZer 17.3
  
  30 April 2020 at 7:22 pm
  
  Link to an interview with one of the epidemiologists in Sweden who advises Tengell.
  
  https://larspsyll.wordpress.com/2020/04/26/johan-giesecke-on-why-lockdowns-are-the-wrong-policy/
  
  I don't think Sweden asked to be a poster child for plan B or that their policy has been implemented without a model. To the extent that it differs from other countries they have not implemented some lock-down procedures and so they won't see spikes in the cases as these restrictions are wound back. If this works better as a strategy can only be discerned after other countries have wound back lock-down procedures and reviewing the impact of the virus after that has occurred.
  
  I would also suggest that somewhere like New Zealand this would be (has been) considered quite differently due to our geographic isolation advantage.
pat 18

30 April 2020 at 11:52 am

"It won’t be long before Treasury and the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) enter taboo territory and work together more closely to keep the economy afloat."

https://www.interest.co.nz/bonds/104780/experienced-banker-makes-case-%C2%A0rbnz-following-%C2%A0bank-england-directly-financing

“There may be some market pullback if the RBNZ is no longer directly active in the local bond market,” Keane said.

“For that reason, it would be appropriate for the RBNZ to continue executing some portion of its QE program on-market, thus maintaining the focus of the dealer community and the support for bond prices.”

There may well be quite considerable pullback…..we may find out sooner than we would like.
- Dennis Frank 18.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 2:10 pm
  
  Would be cool if the govt were to do a pr thing with the media along the lines of `quantitative easing for dummies': "Well, the Reserve Bank has this magic money tree, and every now & then they give it a shake & dollars float down like autumn leaves."
  
  "We've considered helicopter money but the people would freak out if the choppers were painted black. We figured green would work but when we put it to the Greens those who favoured enhanced brand recognition got out-voted by the fundamentalists averse to using fossil fuels. So the idea's on hold till we get electric helicopters."
  - pat 18.1.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 3:36 pm
    
    there is no magic money tree….the only question is how long the illusion there is can be maintained…..personally I think not long at all, others differ.
    
    There are only resources and they are limited and diminishing…and increasingly need to be divided among more (inequality aside)….the best we can hope for is to learn to use them more efficiently (and equitably) so they last as long as possible….that could be millennia but on current form it is likely decades.
    
    And that requires co-operation….and that includes those naturally competitive.
    
    you see the problem?
    - Dennis Frank 18.1.1.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 4:38 pm
      
      Oh yeah. Rightists, mainly. Old dogs, new tricks. However, it is possible to induce anyone to reframe on current circumstances so there's a realistic basis for optimism.
      
      Tell rightists to reflect on how the All Blacks succeed by combining competition and collaboration. Instruct them to deduce that the general principle applies to all similar team sports. Ask them "Can you walk and chew gum simultaneously?"
      
      If they say no, suggest they become a National Party candidate. If they say yes, ask them if they can think of any reason a politician can't compete sometimes and collaborate sometimes just as team players do.
      
      Ask them if they are aware that medium to large businesses have been training their staff in how to operate as teams since the 1980s. If no, they may be a farmer, of course. If yes, explain that politicians have similar average intelligence to employees & voters, so you'd expect them to get the picture by now.
      
      Should only take a couple of minutes. Half the time a problem looms until you change your perspective, then you suddenly see how to diffuse it.
      - pat 18.1.1.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 5:04 pm
        
        leftist/ rightist wrong framing….refer 2.3.2.1.1.1.
        
        Dennis Frank 18.1.1.1.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 5:18 pm
        
        Okay – I did wonder. So nations need to do likewise; pursue a strategy of collaborating in suitable contexts, while maintaining a competitive economic policy to produce trade goods efficiently on a sustainable basis.
        
        pat …
        
        30 April 2020 at 7:31 pm
        
        except without constraint the efficiency tends towards output, not best use.
        
        There needs to be an enforced strategy that promotes 'best use'…and laissez faire aint it.
    - Wayne 18.1.1.2
      
      30 April 2020 at 5:15 pm
      
      Pat,
      
      It is a fallacy that resources are limited and diminishing. Resources are invented all the time. Lithium was a non resource until it became necessary for lithium batteries. But when the next generation of batteries come along, lithium may no longer be needed. Already oil and coal are being left in the ground as new resources start to replace them.
      - pat 18.1.1.2.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 6:29 pm
        
        Are you God Wayne?….the earth is finite ipso facto resources are finite,
        
        What we can do with what we have is not unlimited…indeed it is constrained by many factors…and every currency is only representative.
        
        Dollars dont trump physics.
        
        Grafton Gully 18.1.1.2.1.1
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:26 pm
        
        Stuff is getting added to the earth – so not really "finite" and there is always the chance of a another meteorite hit. Another effectively infinite input is sunlight.
        
        https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/msa/geology/article/45/2/119/195213
        
        pat …
        
        30 April 2020 at 8:41 pm
        
        lol…why settle for a meteorite…how about an asteroid?
        
        And even the sun aint infinite…timing is everything
        
        Incognito …
        
        30 April 2020 at 10:21 pm
        
        Or UFOs.
        
        pat …
        
        30 April 2020 at 10:51 pm
        
        Invasion of the body snatchers?….could explain Trump.
        
        Drowsy M. Kram …
        
        30 April 2020 at 9:32 pm
        
        Brilliant. I thought we might have to mine the asteroid belt, when it was just a matter of waiting for the dust to come to 'us' – problem solved
        
        Alas, the daily input of cosmic dust is insufficient to compensate for the loss of hydrogen and helium – the Earth is on a fairly steady weight loss programme, as if it really matters.
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_mass#Variation
        
        Fwiw, I thought Wayne's "It is a fallacy that resources are limited and diminishing." comment was priceless. Just as well lawyers aren't coordinating NZ's Covid-19 response!
        
        KJT …
        
        30 April 2020 at 9:40 pm
        
        "We can always pay another lawyer, for a different, opinion".
      - gsays 18.1.1.2.2
        
        30 April 2020 at 9:10 pm
        
        Do tell, what are these new resources replacing oil and coal?
  - Nic the NZer 18.1.2
    
    30 April 2020 at 5:13 pm
    
    Good luck with that. You will probably get some bumf about how the government is managing its spending to reduce the inflation rate to above the reserve banks policy targets out. After all its really important by which particular mental gymnastics the government has ended up owing itself a few bucks.
    - I Feel Love 18.1.2.1
      
      30 April 2020 at 9:27 pm
      
      Fresh water is finite, that freaked the fuk outta me when I heard that! & of course it's perspective, it depends where you are, for eg water certainly finite up in Northland.
Nic the NZer 19

30 April 2020 at 12:57 pm

Another link explaining how the Bank of England is directly financing the UK government at present and how that works.

http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=44808

The summary is that it makes little difference how the funding is arranged, with QE and secondary bond market purchases the RBNZ is already effectively directly financing the New Zealand government.
joe90 20

30 April 2020 at 4:38 pm

No catastrophic death toll from a pandemic if no one knows about it.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/495295-florida-ordered-coroners-to-stop-releasing-coronavirus-death-data-report
- ianmac 20.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 5:41 pm
  
  That is a sort of Trump reasoning. We can reduce the number of deaths by not publishing the numbers. So Florida is doing very well you see.
Stephen D 21

30 April 2020 at 5:57 pm

Is John Key trying to set himself up for a place high on the Nats party list?
- Gabby 21.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 6:13 pm
  
  Is Goodfellas retiring?
  - Barfly 21.1.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 6:34 pm
    
    Is an arsehole an arsehole?
- mac1 21.2
  
  30 April 2020 at 7:22 pm
  
  Like the Juicy van owner in Auckland found out, never leave your Key in the ignition with the door unlocked……
- Chris T 21.3
  
  30 April 2020 at 11:00 pm
  
  Odd thing to say.
  
  Probably just wants a cruisey job with Labours cronies.
  - Drowsy M. Kram 21.3.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 11:09 pm
    
    "Odd thing to say."
Muttonbird 22

30 April 2020 at 7:10 pm

National Party MPs and the hologram trying to rough up the new Police Commissioner.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/04/that-s-a-disgrace-mps-police-commissioner-in-fiery-clash-over-covid-19-community-roadblocks.html

As far as I can se this is just another desperate attempt by National to get some, any, news coverage. The mercenary who went to Iraq to look after some dogs tries to pressure the Police Commissioner to 'give him some names'.

Honestly, if Mark Mitchell ever gets near a ministerial position, we should be very, very afraid. The man is as corrupt and evil as they come.

All this over a few checkpoints which I'm sure didn't block any locals at all. It's National Maori-bashing because that is the only thing they are good at.

In addition, Parliament sat this week so why the fuck do we have to put up with the butchers committee still? It’s turning into a circus.
- Anne 22.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 8:09 pm
  
  The chances are they have also got it in for the new Police Commissioner because he was appointed by the Ardern-led government.
  
  Their childishness and venom knows no boundaries.
  
  And I agree with you about Mark Mitchell – a narrow minded officially backed thug who maybe cunning as a fox but actually has few brain cells inside his head. And he's one of the leading contenders for the race to be the next leader of the National Party. The Nats are growing more like a down-under version of the Trump regime every day.
  - Treetop 22.1.1
    
    30 April 2020 at 11:16 pm
    
    I do not know which political camp Coster is in. I do know that he was appointed for 5 years.
    
    Is it the 5 year appointment or that the PM appointed Coster or both?
    - Anne 22.1.1.1
      
      1 May 2020 at 9:42 am
      
      His appointment was announced by the PM about two to three months ago and he took up the position of Commissioner shortly before the Lockdown started. I have no idea what his politics are and his appointment was made on merit not politics anyway. The Nats are just being childish and stupid.
      
      I recall John Key appointing the current DG of the SIS some years back. The Labour Opposition welcomed the appointment and agreed she was a good choice. From memory Andrew Little was the leader.
      
      What a difference in responses.
- Treetop 22.2
  
  30 April 2020 at 10:52 pm
  
  I watched most of the Coster interview. Bridges thought he was in a courtroom being a prosecutor and Coster had to be the defence.
- aom 22.3
  
  30 April 2020 at 11:18 pm
  
  So Bridges et al do not think it appropriate for communities to gently remind people of their obligations with some sympathy from the Police. There is another option. In Australia, the exemplar that National seem to be extolling, there is a different approach. Random stopping and instant fines of over $1000. Seemingly even Bridges would have been hit with his dumb-fuck trips between Tauranga and Wellington. To be sure, the sick excuse of a poor internet connection would not have had one second of consideration.
Muttonbird 23

30 April 2020 at 7:24 pm

Farrar watch:

PDF earlier in the week claimed in an exclusive that Wally Haumaha had personally authorised the head of the Mongrel Mob, Sonny Fatu, as an essential worker.

Of course Police can't issue essential worker status, that falls to MBIE I believe. That didn't stop Farrar steaming ahead with false information from his source.

He's since had to walk back from that with a retraction after communication and clarification from Police. He's now threatening to OIA the Police for communications between Iwi and Police.

Thing is Farrar only fessed up in an update to the three day old post which, as everyone knows, are unread. I think the Police should demand he issue a retraction and apologise to Police in a new post.

This whole thing, when viewed against Mitchell and Seymour attacking the Police Commissioner today in the Butchers' Committee Zoom meetings, reinforces the very, very close connection and communication on strategy between Farrar and the National Party.

What one does, the other does…
- Peter 23.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 8:12 pm
  
  I've seen so many graphs in so many sources in recent months. Cartoons too.
  
  There's a graph/cartoon to be drawn for someone who has the skill. Two lines on a time scale.
  
  A plunging one from left to right: "National polling figures."
  
  A soaring one from left to right: "The desperation, nastiness and bullshit on Kiwiblog."
pat 24

30 April 2020 at 7:47 pm

The devil will be in the detail but on the face of it this looks like a mistake.

https://www.interest.co.nz/business/104786/another-wave-government-support-way-business-crown-give-covid-19-affected-smes-loans
Morrissey 25

30 April 2020 at 7:54 pm

Extremely stupid woman calls Tulsi Gabbard a "toady"

Then she admits she doesn't even know what the word means.
joe90 26

30 April 2020 at 9:07 pm

Middle of a pandemic and the IiC is up at midnight bagging talking heads.

Lyin’ Brian Williams of MSDNC, a Concast Scam Company, wouldn’t know the truth if it was nailed to his wooden forehead. Remember when he lied about his bravery in a helicopter? Totally made up story. He’s a true dummy who was thrown off Network News like a dog. Stay tuned!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2020

I must admit that Lyin’ Brian Williams is, while dumber than hell, quite a bit smarter than Fake News @CNN “anchorman” Don Lemon, the “dumbest man on television”. Then you have Psycho Joe “What Ever Happened To Your Girlfriend?” Scarborough, another of the low I.Q. individuals!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2020
pat 27

30 April 2020 at 9:23 pm

So much yet to be learned about this virus.

"Doctors around the world have reported more cases of a rare but potentially lethal inflammatory syndrome in children that appears to be linked to coronavirus infections."

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/29/more-cases-of-rare-syndrome-in-children-reported-globally
- I Feel Love 27.1
  
  30 April 2020 at 9:29 pm
  
  Yeah that story slowly gaining momentum, might wake a few Truthers up.

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Inside the Nudge Unit by David Halpern, provides new insights into behaviour which New Zealand public policy is steadily taking into consideration.Have you noticed that the defaults or first choices in the website of a commercial entity favour the business’s goal? Fill in their forms and, as like as not, the ...
PunditBy Brian Easton
6 days ago

Ending royal corruption in Scotland?
Earlier in the week, The Guardian reported that England's monarch had been secretly having laws amended to carve out exemptions for herself, using a procedure called "crown consent". Its a corrupt holdover from the days of absolute monarchy, and something which has no place in a modern democracy, or even ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
6 days ago

Government must ban synthetic fertilisers
ECan’s science director Dr Tim DavieNow I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the use of synthetic fertilisers on farms is polluting our water supplies. In fact the problem has become so bad that in some areas high levels of nitrates have made the water carcinogenic to ...
The Jackal
6 days ago

Ending conversion “therapy”
The government has introduced a bill to outlaw homophobic conversion "therapy": Practices intended to change or suppress someone's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, also referred to as gay conversion therapy, will become a criminal offence under legislation announced today. Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi said today the ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
6 days ago

The Sin Of Cheapness.
Commodities, Commodities, Everywhere - And None Of Them Are Cheap! No less an authority than the Commerce Commission has determined that New Zealanders are paying too much for their food and groceries. An apparent aversion to aggressive competition has led the dominant players to match one another’s’ prices rather than better ...
Bowalley Road
6 days ago

Should We Trust The Science – Or Ourselves?
“Pure” Science: The lesson to be drawn from the history of science, however, is that knowledge is always and everywhere embedded in culture. That the one cannot be separated from the other. Culture can empower knowledge, or suppress it; advance it or divert it to the utmost wickedness. Knowledge goes where it’s told. “TRUST ...
Bowalley Road
6 days ago

Kids set free to roam on their own feel more confident navigating in adulthood
Vanessa Vieites, Rutgers University The distance from home that kids are allowed to roam and play has shrunk significantly over the last 50 years. That’s largely due to parents’ concerns over safety, especially in cities. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has further restricted children’s independent activity. As a Ph.D. ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
6 days ago

Running into Trouble: COVID-19 in Japan during the Tokyo Olympics
Dr Leah Grout, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael Baker * The 2020 Olympic Games were originally postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The delayed event has now opened, with the opening ceremonies held on 23 July 2021 and competitions scheduled to take place through 9 August 2021. ...
SciBlogsBy Public Health Expert
6 days ago

Simon Bridges cannot be trusted
You may recall former National Party leader Simon Bridges gaining a lot of public attention last month after claiming he was a witness to a gang fight. The former Crown Prosecutor made a huge song and dance about it all over Facebook and Twitter while also attacking the Government with ...
The Jackal
6 days ago

Skeptical Science New Research for Week #30, 2021
88 articles Physical science of climate change, effects Energetics of surface melt in West Antarctica Ghiz et al. The Cryosphere Open Access pdf 10.5194/tc Quantifying the Mechanisms of Atmospheric Circulation Response to Greenhouse Gas Increases in a Forcing–Feedback Framework Zhang et al. Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli ...
Skeptical Science
7 days ago

Hate Speech law is unworkable
Make a submission to stop this mess being codified into law The Free Speech Union is urging people to make submissions to halt the proposal putforward by the Ministry of Justice for hate speech laws. The FSU state: “[T]he proposals put forward by the Ministry of Justice are dangerously vague ...
RedlineBy Admin
7 days ago

Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – How the Government has fuelled rampant increases in wealth
Jacinda Ardern’s household wealth increased by an estimated $290,000 over the last year. Although she earnt nearly half a million dollars from her job, her windfall was solely due to the value of her Auckland house increasing. And by her own policy designs, it’s a capital gain which is untaxed. ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
7 days ago

Climate Change: The other Tiwai scam
Newsroom has a good piece this morning about the government's consultation on industrial free allocations, revealing that Fletcher Building is getting an extra $5 million a year ($7 million at today's prices) due to miscalculated carbon subsidies. That's bad, and it needs to be stopped by resetting emissions baselines to ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

End the Tiwai scam
A little over a year ago, Rio Tinto was pleading povery, claiming its Tiwai Point aluminium smelter was unprofitable, and threatening to close it unless it got a government handout to keep it running. Their bluff worked, and we ended up paying the BluffGeld by giving them lower electricity prices ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

Holes in the Tundra: Why Burping Cows Are the Least of Our Worries.
The Great Escape: If the Eurasian permafrost mantle melts, then the gigatons of stored Methane released will trigger runaway global warming. Basically, we – and just about all the other animals on the planet – will be cooked. And, guess what? The permafrost is melting: at an alarming rate and ...
Bowalley Road
1 week ago

Piers Morgan – Arsehole of the Week
If you're lucky, you wouldn't have heard of a guy called Piers Morgan. He’s a self-absorbed and opinionated hack from England who’s made a career out of making offensive remarks, which he more often than not targets at younger woman of colour.Morgan, who is well past his prime as a ...
The Jackal
1 week ago

Climate change and tornadoes: Any connection?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson Climate change may be the existential threat of our lives, yet when it comes to in-your-face weather, tornadoes are in a class of their own. Fortunately, human-warmed climate isn’t making violent U.S. tornadoes any more frequent. However, climate change may ...
Skeptical Science
1 week ago

Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – Labour’s sacrificing of the poor
Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson like to think of themselves as leftwing politicians. So why aren’t they prioritising and championing the vulnerable at the bottom of society? Since Covid hit they have chosen economic policies that benefit the rich while pushing more into poverty. Increasing inequality was thrown into stark ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
1 week ago

Climate Change: Just predatory delay again
Another day, another story arguing that climate change is Just Too Hard for farmers, and that they should be given more time to wait for a magic technological solution which will cut emissions while allowing them to continue doing exactly what they're doing at the moment. Today, the magic Technological ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

A note on the “jihadi bride.”
I ruffled a few feathers by referring to Gerry Brownlee as a “buffoon” during a radio interview this week. The subject in question was the involuntary repatriation of Suharya Aden and her children to NZ after Australia cancelled her citizenship. Brownlee was blathering about her being a terrorist security threat, ...
KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
1 week ago

Militaries plunder science fiction for technology ideas, but turn a blind eye to the genre’s socia...
Will Slocombe, University of Liverpool Military planning is a complicated endeavour, calling upon experts in logistics and infrastructure to predict resource availability and technological advancements. Long-range military planning, deciding what to invest in now to prepare armed forces for the world in thirty years’ time, is even more difficult. ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
1 week ago

Still the same question
The Independent Police Conduct authority has found another case where police used excessive force in making an arrest: A police officer broke a woman’s arm with a baton before dragging her out of her car by the hair following a chase. The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found the ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

The Danger from the Extreme Right
Like other readers, no doubt, I recently experienced a “believe it or not” moment, when I read an account of a crowd at a recent Trump rally cheering the news that the US Women’s Football Team had been beaten at the Olympic Games. The reason for the cheering was, apparently, ...
Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
1 week ago

Aggressive marketing has driven the rise of the double-cab ute on New Zealand streets — time to hi...
Kirsty Wild, University of Auckland and Alistair Woodward, University of Auckland “Explore your inner beast.” That was the slogan used last year to sell the Ford Ranger. At 2.4 tonnes, that’s a lot of “light” truck, but the stakes are rising. This year, the 3.5 tonne Ram 1500 “eats ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
1 week ago

Why calling ordinary Kiwi cyclists ‘elitist’ just doesn’t add up
Timothy Welch, University of Auckland Something strange has happened to the perception of cyclists and cycling in the more than 200 years they’ve been around. Once a novelty, bike riding has moved from being a critical transport mode to a children’s pastime to now being popularly perceived as an ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
1 week ago

How do Olympic athletes stack up against invertebrates? Not very well
Caitlyn Forster, University of Sydney and Eliza Middleton, University of Sydney Olympians spend years training to be the best of the best. Scientists and sportspeople have spent decades researching the mechanics of the human body to ensure our elite athletes are always reaching higher, faster and stronger. But how ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
1 week ago

Zebra Ethics: The Amazon Second Age Series and Lessons from Game of Thrones
Today I stumbled across a genuinely interesting reddit article, which looks at the (positive) influence Game of Thrones may have on the upcoming Amazon Tolkien series: https://www.reddit.com/r/LOTR_on_Prime/comments/oqvi81/amazons_the_lord_of_the_rings_show_going_got/ Essentially, the argument is that the framework of Tolkien’s Second Age material inherently lends itself to “Machiavellian Thriller” stories, rather than to ...
A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
1 week ago

The War over Sex and Gender: Kathleen Stock talks to the Free Speech Union
Speakeasy #1: Free Speech and the War over Sex and Gender from Free Speech Union on Vimeo. ...
RedlineBy Admin
1 week ago

Why governments will have to consider the costs of long COVID when easing pandemic restrictions
Richard Meade, Auckland University of Technology With governments worldwide under pressure to ease pandemic restrictions as vaccination rates rise and impatience with border restrictions grows, new threats become clearer. One of the costliest, it is now feared, could be a tsunami of “long COVID” cases. Long COVID is a ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
1 week ago

Taxpayers' Union gets destroyed
The Taxpayers’ Union scored another own goal yesterday when they decided to have a go at well-known journalist David Farrier (not to be confused with David Farrar) over Government funding he’d received to make a documentary.While that slinging match isn’t really worth reporting on, being that it was mainly just ...
The Jackal
1 week ago

Gender-specific health programs address important issues, but risk creating new biases
Matthew Jenkins and Victoria Chinn, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Gone are the days when health programmes were designed to simply punish or reward people to encourage behaviour change. We now know lasting behaviour change is more complex and nuanced, and this has prompted a proliferation ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
1 week ago

Fossil tooth fractures and microscopic detail of enamel offer new clues about human diet and evolut...
Ian Towle; Carolina Loch, and Thomas Loho, University of Auckland Teeth can tell us a lot about the evolution of prehistoric humans, and our latest study of one of our species’ close relatives may finally resolve a long-standing mystery. The genus Paranthropus is closely related to ours, Homo, ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
1 week ago

Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – “Year of the vaccine” at risk
A consensus is emerging that the Government has generally managed the Covid crisis very well over the last 18 months, but they have dropped the ball when it comes to the crucial vaccine rollout. This was nicely encapsulated in opinion polling last week showing that while 69 per cent of ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
1 week ago

Profiteering politicians delegitimise parliament
Why aren't politicians interested in actually solving the housing crisis? Because virtually the entire political class is making massive profits from it: MPs have pocketed $50 million in capital gains from their property interests in the last year amid a growing housing affordability crisis, a Stuff analysis has found. ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

Democracy wins in Samoa
Over three months ago Samoa had an election, in which the people voted out the incumbent Human Rights Protection Party and voted in the opposition FAST Party. The incumbent Human Rights Protection Party ignored the results and clung to power, hoping to get their patsy head of state to call ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

Climate Change: The solution farmers don’t want us to talk about
RNZ this morning has a piece asking Can NZ really meet its methane emissions targets?. Posing it as a question like this frames it as difficult, more of the "but its too hard!" whine from farmers. But its not hard at all. Pretty obviously, we can meet methane reduction targets ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

A Conversation That Never Happened.
Attribution Error: “Well, Sir, the Ministry of State Security has absolutely nothing to gain by going after Microsoft Exchange. It’s not its style – way too public. The MSS would never draw attention to its activities in so dramatic a fashion. I mean, there is absolutely nothing in it for ...
Bowalley Road
1 week ago

Older posts

New classrooms for thousands of Kiwi kids
As part of our work to secure our COVID recovery, we’re upgrading schools around the country. This will not only ensure young Kiwis have modern classrooms to learn in, but will also support hundreds of local jobs and provide an economic boost for our communities. ...
Labour Blog
4 hours ago

How the TIA helped three Kiwi mums into careers
As we secure our recovery from COVID-19, we’re helping more Kiwis get the skills they need for work. The Training Incentive Allowance, which supports people into training or to transition into new careers, is one way we’re doing this. We chatted with three people who know first-hand the difference this ...
Labour Blog
1 day ago

Green Party welcomes conversion therapy prohibition bill
The Green Party welcomes the announcement by Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi to introduce a bill to prohibit conversion therapy used against Rainbow communities. ...
Greens
6 days ago

Green Party welcomes Commerce Commission’s draft findings, cautions against wait and hope solution...
The Green Party welcomes the findings of the Commerce Commission’s report on competition in the retail grocery sector, which takes aim at the duopoly formed by Woolworths NZ and Foodstuffs. ...
Greens
7 days ago

Building back better
It’s a three-week recess in Parliament – so, no bills are going through the House and no select committees are meeting. But the hard work of our ministers continues, and many of our MPs are back in their electorates, taking the opportunity to meet with local communities and businesses about ...
Labour Blog
2 weeks ago

Greens call for a Warrant of Fitness for rental homes
The Green Party is launching a petition today calling on the Government’s Healthy Homes Standards to be backed up with a proper Warrant of Fitness (WoF) for rental homes. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

The ‘Tulī Takes Flight’ scholarships announced
The Associate Minister of Education, Aupito William Sio, has today announced the establishment of the ‘Tulī Takes Flight’ scholarships as part of the goodwill gesture of reconciliation to accompany the Government’s apology to Pacific families and communities impacted by the Dawn Raids. “Education is the key to unlocking success, opportunity, ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 hours ago

8,000 additional public housing places delivered in major Government milestone
New Zealanders now have an extra 8,000 warm, dry public housing places to call home, under a Government public housing programme that is full steam ahead, says Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. “Of the 74,337 households now being supported in public housing places, more than six thousand (6,503) are living in ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 hours ago

New classrooms and building improvements for central and lower North Island schools
Six schools across Wellington, Manawatū-Whanganui and Taranaki are getting a funding boost so projects can enter construction and deliver much needed works sooner, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. While visiting Cannons Creek School in Porirua, Chris Hipkins also announced 10 schools in the central and lower North Island that ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 hours ago

Restoring the richness of the Rangitata river
A major Jobs for Nature project to protect and enhance some of the South Island’s most unique habitats and restore the health of the Rangitata River highlights the important role farmers have in caring for the land, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “Canterbury’s braided rivers are an iconic part of ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 hours ago

Foreign Minister to take part in ASEAN-related meetings
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta will today begin a suite of meetings with her ASEAN and East Asia Summit counterparts, starting with the 11th East Asia Summit (EAS) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting tonight. That will be followed by the ASEAN-New Zealand Ministerial Meeting on Thursday 5 August and the 28th ASEAN Regional ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
18 hours ago

Arts and heritage venues get helping hand
A new round of funding to support capital projects will help keep our arts and heritage sector alive and vibrant, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan announced today. “Communities work hard to raise funds for arts, culture and heritage related capital projects as they add significant value ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
23 hours ago

Foreign Ministers welcome opening of New Zealand High Commission in Colombo
New Zealand and Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministers, Nanaia Mahuta and Dinesh Gunawardena, have welcomed the opening of the New Zealand High Commission in Colombo next week. The Foreign Ministers, who met virtually yesterday, spoke about the opening of the High Commission as a major milestone in the bilateral relationship. Both ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
23 hours ago

New Zealand to increase NZDF commitment to the United Nations Command, Republic of Korea
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) will deploy three additional personnel to the Republic of Korea, increasing the size of its contribution to the United Nations Command and its Military Armistice Commission from nine to 12 personnel. “Increasing the size of our deployment to the Republic of Korea ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

Wages up, unemployment down
The Government’s efforts to secure the recovery has seen more Kiwis in jobs and higher wages, with unemployment falling to pre-COVID levels and more people in work. Stats NZ figures show unemployment rate fell to 4 percent in the June quarter from 4.6 percent in the March quarter, the lowest ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

Poroporoaki: Dr Kihi Ngatai OSM
Mauao tiketike tūmokemoke mai ana ra koe, papakitia ana e ngā tai kawenga roimata o te motu. E Ngāti Ranginui, mo tō manuhuia kua tīkapea i te rangi. E Ngai Te Rangi, mo tō manutaki kua riro i te hau o Aitū kikini, E Ngāti Pukenga mo tō manutaiko, kua ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

Government support screen industry with funding for sound stages in West Auckland
Auckland Film Studios in West Auckland has received funding for a major expansion through the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group’s (IRG) COVID-19 Response Fund. The Government is investing $30 million of a total $35 million project to construct two 2,000sqm sound stages and development of further workshops and offices, to expand ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Protecting unique land for generation next
The Government is boosting legal protection for critically important natural habitats on private land, Minister of Conservation Kiri Allan says. “An $8 million investment over four years will see Queen Elizabeth II National Trust Ngā Kairauhī Papa (QEII) work with government agencies, councils and others to provide legal protection of ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

New Zealand’s support for Fiji’s COVID-19 response continues with vaccine delivery, operational ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced further support for Fiji, including funding support for nursing staff and 100,000 doses of vaccines due to arrive in country today. “Our thoughts remain with Fiji during this incredibly challenging period,” Nanaia Mahuta said. “New Zealand has funded 100,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Poroporoaki: Dr Hōhepa (Joe) Mason
Ko koe tēnā e te hurumanu e Hōhepa, te tōwenetanga a te iti, te māpihi herenga mahara o te tini, ka tauawhi tonuhia koe e to iwi ki te uma pupuri ai. Me pēhea he kupu kia koutou kua puta i nga ākinga a nga tau kua hori, kua waia ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Finance Minister and RBNZ Governor agree to update MOU on macro-prudential policy
Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr have updated the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on macro-prudential policy to further protect the financial system and support the Government’s housing objectives. “This change will ensure that the Reserve Bank has the flexibility to respond to emerging financial stability risks ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Government commits further assistance for drought and flood-affected rural communities
Farmers and growers affected by this year’s drought or floods in Marlborough, Tasman, West Coat, Canterbury, Otago and the Chatham Islands will have access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPs) from today, Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni has announced. “The Government is committed to easing the financial pressures on ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Cook Islands youth lead Language Week
The Cook Islands Language Week theme for 2021 highlights the vital role language plays in maintaining young people’s links to their Pacific home, said Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio. “The Epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani – Cook Islands Language Week – theme is ‘Ātuitui’ia au ki ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Government offers formal apology for Dawn Raids
A formal and unreserved apology for the Dawn Raids The Government will offer education scholarships as part of the apology Manaaki New Zealand Short Term Scholarship Training courses Support Pacific artists and historians to develop a comprehensive written and oral account of the Dawn Raids Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Speech to Dawn Raids Apology
Tēnā koutou katoa, Kia orana kotou katoatoa, Fakaalofa lahi atu ki mutolu oti, Tālofa nī, Mālō nī koutou, Ni sa bula vinaka, Fakatalofa atu, Noa'ia 'e mauri, Kam na mauri, Malo e lelei, Sioto'ofa, Mālō lava le lagi e mamā ma le soifua maua, Oue tulou, tulou atu, tulouna lava ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Bridging the gap – last piece of Northcote Safe Cycle Route now complete
The opening of two bridges over Auckland’s Northern Motorway is the last link of a cycling and walking route which provides a safe, active alternative for students and commuters, Transport Minister Michael Wood said today. Michael Wood cut the ribbon for the completion of the Northcote Safe Cycle Route, at ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Progress in establishment of Aged Care Commissioner
Recruitment for an Aged Care Commissioner will start next month, to ensure greater oversight of New Zealand’s aged care sector. “This sector is responsible for supporting a large and often vulnerable population. While most people are able to access quality care, there have been cases where that care has fallen ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

New record number of homes consented
In the year ended June 2021, the actual number of new dwellings consented was 44,299, up 18 percent from the June 2020 year. In June 2021, the seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings consented rose 3.8 percent. In June 2021, 4,310 new dwellings were consented, an increase of 3.8 per ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Communities backed to tackle wilding pines
Twelve community projects across New Zealand will receive a share of $2 million to carry out wilding pine control, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor announced as part of Biosecurity Week. “Wilding pines are a serious problem that threaten many of the unique landscapes that New Zealanders value. Community groups and trusts ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Health Minister Andrew Little responding to the New Zealand Nurses Organisation's rejection of ...
I was advised last night that the result of the ballot of Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa New Zealand Nurses Organisation members have rejected the latest proposal to settle their collective agreement. Let me be clear: the proposal was one they put to the Government. The Nurses Organisation rejected their ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation introduced to Parliament
Legislation has been introduced to Parliament to protect against practices intended to change or suppress someone’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. Introducing the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill, Minister of Justice, Kris Faafoi, said the measures proposed were aimed at ending conversion practices which don’t work, are widely ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

New kaupapa Māori mental health and addiction services to support people in central North Island
New mental health and addiction services rolling out across the central North Island will improve outcomes and equity for Māori, Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health) Peeni Henare says. Today the Minister met with providers of the new kaupapa Māori primary mental health and addiction service, Poutama Ora, which will ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

New kaupapa Māori mental health and addiction services to support people in central North Island
New mental health and addiction services rolling out across the central North Island will improve outcomes and equity for Māori, Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health) Peeni Henare says. Today the Minister met with providers of the new kaupapa Māori primary mental health and addiction service, Poutama Ora, which will ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

New school site for booming West Auckland
The Government will build on a new school site in West Auckland to cope with rapid population growth in the area, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Ministry is working with existing local schools to determine how the 1.5-hectare site at 279 Hobsonville Point Road will be used to support ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Trans-Tasman travel window to close at midnight tomorrow
A further 500 MIQ rooms released for managed returnees from NSW Further Government actions announced today are balanced to provide more certainty for Kiwis wanting to return from Australia, while continuing to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, acting Minister for COVID-19 Response Ayesha Verrall says. The actions were foreshadowed last ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
7 days ago

Govt investing millions in Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti schools
Napier Boys’ and Girls’ High Schools are among those set to benefit from a $16.5 million investment in the Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti region, Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash announced today. The Government has set aside money in Budget 2021 to accelerate five projects in Napier, Hastings, Havelock North ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Game changing Jobs for Nature investment for Northland
Conservation Minister Kiri Allan has announced Jobs for Nature funding for a portfolio of projects that will create ‘game changing’ gains for nature and communities across Northland/Te Tai Tokerau as part of the Government’s acceleration of the economic recovery from COVID. “This portfolio of 12 projects will see over $20 ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Third COVID-19 vaccine receives provisional approval
New Zealand’s regulatory authority Medsafe has granted provisional approval of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 18 years of age and older, Acting Minister for COVID-19 Response Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. New Zealand secured 7.6 million doses (enough for 3.8 million people) of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine through an ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Bowel-cancer screening programme is saving lives
More than 1000 New Zealanders have had bowel cancer – New Zealand’s second-most-common cause of death from cancer - detected under the Government’s National Bowel Screening Programme, Health Minister Andrew Little said today. More than 1200 New Zealanders died from bowel cancer in 2017. The screening programme aims to save ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Govt welcomes draft report on the retail grocery sector
The Commerce Commission’s draft report into the retail grocery sector is being welcomed by Government as a major milestone. “I asked the Commerce Commission to look at whether this sector is as competitive as it could be and today it has released its draft report for consultation,” Commerce and Consumer ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Christchurch’s Youth Hub ‘set to go’ thanks to further Government funding
Construction of New Zealand’s first, purpose-built centre for youth well-being is ready to get underway thanks to an extra $2.5 million of COVID-19 response funding, Housing Minister and Associate Minister of Finance, Megan Woods announced today. “The Christchurch Youth Hub is about bringing together all the things young people need ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Next step to protect Milford Sound Piopiotahi
Expert group lays out plan to better protect iconic UNESCO World Heritage site Milford Sound Piopiotahi and its surrounds Funding confirmed for dedicated unit and Establishment Board to assess the recommendations and provide oversight of the process from here Milford Opportunities Project a test case for transformational change in tourism ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Funding for projects to reduce waste from construction and demolition
The Government has announced funding for projects in Auckland and the lower North Island to help reduce construction and demolition waste. “Construction is the main source of waste sent to landfill, and much of this could be reduced, reused and recovered,” Environment Minister David Parker said. “The Government is funding ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Speech at the launch of the National Hepatitis C Action Plan
Tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you Anglesea Pharmacy and Te Manawa Taki for hosting this event. As a doctor, I saw first hand the impact of hepatitis C. I met Moana in 2019; she came to the infectious diseases outpatient clinic at Wellington Hospital having tested positive for hepatitis C. Like ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Plan to eliminate hepatitis C as a major health threat by 2030
A plan to eliminate hepatitis C in New Zealand, reducing liver cancer and the need for liver transplants, has been released today by Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall. “Around 45,000 New Zealanders have hepatitis C, but only around half know they have it,” said Ayesha Verrall. “Symptoms often ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

School upgrades and new classrooms for West Coast, Tasman and Canterbury
A funding injection from Budget 2021 to complete four shovel ready projects and new classrooms at six schools and kura will provide a real boost to local communities, Minister Dr Megan Woods announced today. “This Government has committed to providing quality fit for purpose learning environments and 100,000 new student ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Older posts

How AI can help choose your next career and stay ahead of automation
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nik Dawson, Honorary Scholar, University of Technology Sydney Rawpixel / Shutterstock The typical Australian will change careers five to seven times during their professional lifetime, by some estimates. And this is likely to increase as new technologies automate labour, production ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
4 mins ago

‘No need to agitate’, warns Rabuka against instability over Fiji lands bill
By Arieta Vakasukawaqa in Suva Violence can only hinder Fiji’s safe passage leading up to next year’s next general election, says former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka. After the enactment of Bill 17 to amend the iTaukei Lands Trust Act 1940, he said no disturbance could change what had been done ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
5 mins ago

For Sesenieli, the Fijiana sevens rugby triumph in Tokyo thrills home village
By Josefa Babitu in Suva It might have been just a bronze medal to some people but for the Fijiana team — especially Sesenieli Donu — it was the fruit of sacrifice and a token of appreciation for her village of Vatukarasa in Nadroga. After an intense competition for the ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
5 mins ago

We’re hiring: part-time office manager, 12-month contract
Seeking an office manager to join our dynamic, creative organisation on a fixed-term contract as maternity cover.The Spinoff Group is seeking an office manager for approximately 20-25 hours per week for a 12-month fixed-term contract while our current office manager goes on maternity leave beginning early October. We’re looking for someone ...
The SpinoffBy The Spinoff
41 mins ago

The Law Of Unintended Consequences
The New Zealand Amateur Sport Association is calling out the Government for creating a law of unintended consequences with reforms to the Incorporated Societies Bill. In a submission to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee, Association ...
Scoop politics
2 hours ago

Papuan local governments push covid vaccine in spite of hoaxes, distrust
By Hengky Yeimo in Jayapura Local governments in Papua — such as the Yapen Islands and Puncak administrations — say they are continuing to promote the benefits of covid-19 vaccines to indigenous Papuans as hoaxes and distrust from local people towards the Indonesian government has increased low vaccination rates. Head ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
2 hours ago

Local Voice Not Strong Enough In The Replacement For The RMA
LGNZ is calling on the Government to bolster the provisions for communities to have a stronger voice in the exposure draft of the Natural and Built Environments Bill if it wants to improve environmental outcomes and enable development within limits. ...
Scoop politics
2 hours ago

Review: The Justice of Bunny King is an engrossing take on a tragic and common reality
The simplicity of the plot recalls well-loved New Zealand films, says novelist Rachel Kerr, but The Justice of Bunny King feels like a step up. She takes a close look, moment by moment, at what makes the new movie work.Bunny King is peeling potatoes when her sister’s partner cruises in.“Hey ...
The SpinoffBy Rachel Kerr
2 hours ago

EPA Welcomes New Ngā Kaihautū Tumuaki Mavis Mullins
E te rangatira, nau mau haere mai ki te Mana Rauhī Taiao. Mavis Mullins has been appointed the new Tumuaki (Chair) of the Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) statutory Māori Advisory Committee, Ngā Kaihautū Tikanga Taiao. Mavis will take ...
Scoop politics
2 hours ago

What New Zealand can learn from hate speech laws in England
As Aotearoa grapples with a reform of hate speech legislation, it could look to the other side of the world, and the case of a celebrated footballer, for inspiration, writes Ling Yee Wong.Connecting Euro 2020 and hate speech via Marcus RashfordWhat is discrimination? What kind of hate speech law can ...
The SpinoffBy Ling Yee Wong
3 hours ago

4 gambling reform ideas from overseas to save Australia from gambling loss and harm
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Angela Rintoul, Senior Research Fellow, Federation University Australia Shutterstock It’s now well recognised gambling can cause significant harm. However, many countries have done much more to reduce gambling-related harm than we have in Australia. Here’s four examples of how ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 hours ago

NFP / Community-Based Aged Care In Crisis
New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services (NZCCSS) warns that access to not-for-profit aged residential care is reaching breaking point. With the likelihood of DHB nurses receiving a well-deserved increased pay package, NZCCSS has been urging the Government ...
Scoop politics
3 hours ago

Green MP Chloe Swarbrick on housing: Much more intervention needed
Plans to toughen mortgage lending rules and bring in debt-to-income ratios aren't enough, the Green MP says. ...
Radio NZ – political
3 hours ago

Morrison government sets up redress scheme for survivors of Stolen Generation in territories
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Morrison government will provide $378.6 million for a new redress scheme for Stolen Generation survivors as part of more than $1 billion for its Closing the Gap implementation plan. The one-off payments will go ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 hours ago

Health specialists warn against mutating delta variant in Fiji
By Christine Rovoi, RNZ Pacific journalist A new vaccine may be needed if the delta variant of covid-19, which is currently in Fiji, continues to mutate, health experts say. The government says more than 22,000 people with covid are in isolation and the death toll has passed 260, and climbing. ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
3 hours ago

PNG police rescue girl, 15, ‘sold’ for by her cousin for sex in city crackdown
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby A 15-year-old Papua New Guinean girl, found in a Port Moresby guesthouse during a spot check by immigration and police officers yesterday, says she was sold without her knowledge by her cousin sister for K100 to two men for sex. Officers of the Immigration ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
3 hours ago

La’auli condemns Tuila’epa’s ‘extreme behavour’ in losing office in Samoa
By Sialai Sarafina Sanerivi in Apia Veteran Samoan parliamentarian and chairman of the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) has criticised what he characterises as the “extreme” and “defamatory” behaviour of the former Prime Minister of Samoa since losing government. Speaking during his programme Ia Ao Samoa yesterday, ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
3 hours ago

Fiji faces 1220 new covid cases, seven deaths as infections still rise
RNZ Pacific Covid-19 infections continue to rise in Fiji with 1220 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours to 8am yesterday. The government also confirmed seven more deaths, bringing the toll to 261. That compares with 1100 cases and 13 deaths in the previous 24-hour period. Health Secretary Dr ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
3 hours ago

Ardern’s apology to Pacific peoples just the beginning – we will fight on
COMMENT: By Melani Anae When the Polynesian Panthers (PPP) activist group began calling for an apology for the Dawn Raids two years ago, we went into the process with eyes wide open. Government lobbyists seldom get everything they ask for, but our intent was honest and real and fuelled by ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
3 hours ago

COVID-19 Likely Cause Of Sharp Drop In Marriages In 2020
The number of marriages, civil unions, and divorces fell sharply in 2020, Stats NZ said today. “Last year, 16,779 New Zealand residents celebrated a marriage or civil union,” population estimates and projections manager Hamish Slack said. “Marriages ...
Scoop politics
4 hours ago

Government Short-changes ECE Teachers’ Pay Parity Funding
Early learning centres say the government’s $170m budget initiative to close the pay gap between kindergarten and early learning centre teachers is short-changing the sector to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars and is unaffordable to ...
Scoop politics
4 hours ago

Employment Indicators: Weekly As At 2 August 2021
Key facts The 6-day series includes jobs with a pay period equal to or less than 7 days, while the 20-day series covers jobs with pay periods of 14 days or fewer. The 34-day series includes all jobs regardless of their pay period. The 34-day series ...
Scoop politics
4 hours ago

Let’s not forget what Valerie Adams has done
Dame Valerie Adams is our greatest Olympian and greatest athlete.When someone is so good at what they do for so long, it’s easy to forget they’re the exception that proves the rule. In this case, the rule is that no athlete could medal at four consecutive Olympic Games, navigating potentially ...
The SpinoffBy Madeleine Chapman
5 hours ago

Labour Shortage Sting Set To Cause Issues For Years According To Latest ASB Quarterly Economic Forec...
New Zealand’s labour shortage has intensified and is likely to last years. Inflation is likely to spike to 4% – the highest it’s been since GST was increased in 2010 – and then settle around 2.5%. ASB expects the OCR to reach 1.5% ...
Scoop politics
5 hours ago

Environmental, Fishing Groups Renew Call To Ban Bottom Trawling On Seamounts
A coalition of environmental and fishing groups will this morning renew their call for bottom trawling to be banned on seamounts, as they present to the Environment Select Committee in Wellington. The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), which ...
Scoop politics
5 hours ago

Manaaki Rangatahi Welcomes The Acknowledgement Of Need For A Strategy To Address Youth Homelessness
Manaaki Rangatahi acknowledges the comments of Homelessness Minister, Marama Davidson, recognizing the urgent need for a strategy to prevent and end youth homelessness. Responding to the story of Hannah on Newshub Nation, a young woman experiencing homelessness ...
Scoop politics
5 hours ago

Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – August 5 2021
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. Click here to subscribe to Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup and New Zealand Politics Daily. Today’s content Parliament, political parties Michael Neilson (Herald): Government communications spending increases 50 per cent in ...
Evening ReportBy Bryce Edwards
5 hours ago

How ancient Babylonian land surveyors developed a unique form of trigonometry — 1,000 years before...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Mansfield, Senior lecturer, UNSW This stone tablet records the restoration of certain lands by the Babylonian king Nabu-apla-iddina to a priest. Babylonian, circa 870 BCE. From Sippar (Tell Abu Habbah) Wikipedia Our modern understanding of trigonometry harks back to ancient Greek ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
6 hours ago

‘The blood of Jesus is my vaccine’: how a fringe group of Christians hijacks faith in a war agai...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Senior Lecturer in New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND “The blood of Jesus is my vaccine” read one of the signs at a recent protest against lockdown regulations in Sydney. ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
6 hours ago

How far should compulsory proof of vaccination go — and what rights do New Zealanders have?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Breen, Professor of Law, University of Waikato www.shutterstock.com With greater numbers of people being vaccinated and countries looking to reopen borders safely, the introduction of some form of vaccine passport seems increasingly likely. For New Zealand, where the elimination ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
6 hours ago

We asked landholders how they feel about biodiversity offsets — and the NSW government has a lot t...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roel Plant, Adjunct Professor, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock When land is cleared to make room for urban growth, infrastructure, mining, and so on, developers are often required to “offset” their environmental damage by improving biodiversity elsewhere. This could mean, ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
6 hours ago

School students at the heart of a COVID outbreak change the story of how it spreads
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Naomi Barnes, Senior Lecturer, School of Teacher Education & Leadership, Queensland University of Technology The central role of schools in the Brisbane COVID-19 outbreak means the virus might move through the community differently from previous outbreaks. Previously, the focus has been on ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
6 hours ago

50 years since Mike Oldfield began writing Tubular Bells: the pioneering album that changed the soun...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andy Bennett, Professor, Griffith University English composer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield began writing Tubular Bells 50 years ago, at the age of 17. The record, released two years later, was the first on Richard Branson’s newly established Virgin label and remains Oldfield’s ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
6 hours ago

Dunne Speaks: Time To Revamp MIQ
...
Scoop politics
6 hours ago

Live updates, August 5: Kris Faafoi planned to quit parliament last year – report
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 5, bringing you the latest news updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz8.00am: Kris Faafoi planned to quit parliament last year – reportJustice minister Kris Faafoi reportedly planned to quit parliament at last year’s election before being persuaded to stay ...
The SpinoffBy Stewart Sowman-Lund
6 hours ago

A book for those who have lost their words
James Stephens* was a teacher and voracious reader until 2015, when a stroke took his words. After years of speech therapy and hard slog he has now written – written – a book for others who have aphasia, and for those who love them. Books editor Catherine Woulfe reports.(ay-faze-yuh)n. Partial ...
The SpinoffBy Catherine Woulfe
6 hours ago

Book of the Week: Scotty Stevenson on the life of Shag
Scotty Stevenson searches in vain for inconvenient truths in a muzzled new book on Steve Hansen You have to admire the bravery of Gregor Paul, who has written Steve Hansen - The Legacy . Rare is the author who is prepared to lay down the ultimate editorial challenge to himself ...
Newsroom
7 hours ago

The Bulletin: National pushes new Covid visa for migrants
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National pushes new Covid visa for migrants, another storming set of data on unemployment, and Radio NZ pinged for using hacked DHB data in story.The National party has launched a policy aimed at keeping skilled migrants in New Zealand, and ...
The SpinoffBy Alex Braae
7 hours ago

Return of the Rings: Govt hopes Amazon will come back to film more seasons
Amazon has retained its lease on Auckland's biggest films studios, offering worried workers some confidence it will film further seasons in NZ. ...
Newsroom
8 hours ago

Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 5 August
Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. ...
Newsroom
9 hours ago

Newsroom daily crossword, Thursday 5 August
...
Newsroom
9 hours ago

Why even ‘wealthy’ New Zealanders are avoiding the dentist
It’s no surprise that poorer New Zealanders aren’t seeking dental treatment when they need it. But what about those who live in the country’s most prestigious suburbs? If you own a house in Takapuna, one of Auckland’s hottest housing markets, you’re sitting on a property that’s worth more than a million ...
The SpinoffBy Emma Vitz
9 hours ago

I really want to move to Wellington, but Wellington is making it really hard
Laura Walters always intended to head for Wellington, a city she loves, when she moved back to New Zealand. But the reality is proving challenging. I’ve been trying to get excited about moving back to the city that for so long lived up to its status as the coolest little capital. Now, ...
The SpinoffBy Laura Walters
9 hours ago

Banning conversion therapy
We don't know how much of it is going on, but we're going to ban it anyway. How necessary is conversion therapy legislation, and could fish hooks in the wording trip parents up? Late last month the Government unveiled long-awaited legislation which would ban conversion practices - so-called 'gay conversion therapy' ...
Newsroom
9 hours ago

How skipper Sulu has revived the Mystics
Mystics captain Sulu Fitzpatrick has been the driving force in her netball side's success this season. As they go into the national league's grand final this weekend, those closest to her share why when Fitzpatrick leads, you can’t help but follow. If you’re wondering what’s been the key to the ...
Newsroom
9 hours ago

No place for cars in cities of the future
We cannot know exactly how a sustainable city will look and function. But we do know we can't get there by continuing to rely on the personal car. Comment: No one knows what the world will look like in a generation. The cities our parents and grandparents grew up in are, in ...
Newsroom
9 hours ago

Couples split by immigration raise money to go to court
Families split by tightening of immigration and border restrictions are calling for a review of partnership visa criteria Adam Gibbons hasn’t seen his fiancée for almost 18 months, and he’s yet to glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel. That’s why he was outside Parliament on Monday, ...
Newsroom
9 hours ago

What's behind NZ's slow vaccine rollout?
The greatest obstacle to a speedy rollout in NZ is supply and the Government can't tell us why. ...
Newsroom
9 hours ago

Mystery delay to National Party donations trial
Almost three years after a rogue National politician raised concerns about donations to the party, and just a month before the MP himself and others were due to face trial over the claims, proceedings have been mysteriously delayed The long-awaited trial of former MP Jami-Lee Ross and three others accused ...
Newsroom
9 hours ago

Book of the Week: Auckland rhapsody
It's powerful and heartbreaking, but is it a novel or for real? The front cover of Rosetta Allan’s third novel, Crazy Love, features a Warholesque photograph of a gaunt young man sitting against a concrete wall. On the back cover, we learn he is a fictional character called Billy. In ...
Newsroom
9 hours ago

ACT can drag National back to viability
Two poll results give faint hope to a political party now listless and languishing. National needs to sort out first what it stands for, then choose the leader best suited to selling that message to NZ, writes Peter Dunne. ...
Newsroom
9 hours ago

Home owners fix mortgage rates as employment strengthens
With wages rising and employment strengthening, all eyes are on the Reserve Bank to hike interest rates ...
Newsroom
9 hours ago

We need to start vaccinating people in their 20s and 30s, according to the Doherty modelling. An epi...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Bennett, Chair in Epidemiology, Deakin University Lukas Coch/AAP Last week the federal government announced 70% of over-16s would need to be vaccinated for COVID-19 restrictions to be eased. And this week, Melbourne’s Doherty Institute published the modelling informing this. ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
17 hours ago

Prime Minister turns down cameo on RuPaul's Drag Race series
The Prime Minister turned down a chance to star in RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under as a guest judge. ...
Radio NZ – political
17 hours ago

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers on promoting vaccine uptake and a ‘m...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the lead up to the 2019 election, the Shorten opposition attacked the government’s planned 2024 tax cuts, and promised to curb negative gearing and halve the capital gains tax discount. Last week, the Albanese ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
17 hours ago

Cash or freedoms: what will work in the race to get Australia vaccinated against COVID-19?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Scott, Professor, The University of Melbourne The race to vaccinate Australians is heating up as the supply of vaccines starts to increase and lockdowns continue. Labor this week suggested a A$300 cash payment for people fully vaccinated by December. Meanwhile, ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
19 hours ago

Would a $300 vaccination payment work? There are reasons to doubt it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University photopixel/Shutterstock If the proposed A$300 payment to each Australian who is fully vaccinated works, it might be at the expense of getting Australians hooked on incentives, and there are reasons to think it might not ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
19 hours ago

Tiwai Point: Latest document release reveals government concerns about Rio Tinto
Newly released documents show officials believed Rio Tinto wanted to sideline the clean-up of Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. ...
Radio NZ – political
20 hours ago

RIP, Bernadino – you were disgusting and we loved you
As the news breaks that the spew-inducing spumante of her youth is being discontinued, Emily Writes reflects on the end of an era.This post was first published on Emily Writes Weekly.The year is 2001. You’re wearing a denim mini from Glassons with the waistband cut off so you look like Mariah ...
The SpinoffBy Emily Writes
22 hours ago

Mungo ancestral remains reburial proposal disrespects the Elders’ original vision
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Westaway, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Archaeology, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland Gilberto Olimpio/Unsplash, CC BY Plans are underway to rebury the remains of more than 100 Aboriginal people, including the remains of Mungo Man and ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
22 hours ago

Could drinking 6 cups of coffee a day shrink your brain and increase dementia risk?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lachlan Van Schaik, PhD candidate, School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, La Trobe University Shutterstock Research Checks interrogate newly published studies and how they’re reported in the media. The analysis is undertaken by one or more academics not involved with ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
22 hours ago

‘I don’t think the police would do much’: new research shows racism during COVID is rarely rep...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alanna Kamp, Lecturer in Geography and Urban Studies, Western Sydney University Shutterstock It’s not “new” news that Asian Australians are experiencing high rates of racism during the pandemic. However, existing data under-represent the true extent of COVID-related racism. The vast ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
23 hours ago

Port worker vaccinations: 'A disproportionate uptake of misinformation'
Misinformation has kept 44 percent of port workers from getting even a single dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, Minister Chris Hipkins says. ...
Radio NZ – political
23 hours ago

Are there any weak links in New Zealand’s food chain?
For the final episode of this season of Conversations That Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take, we discuss the function, the friction and the potential futures of our food supply systems.Follow Conversations that Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast provider. Over the past ...
The SpinoffBy Matthew McAuley
23 hours ago

Covid-19 vaccine update: Two million doses administered in New Zealand
Two million doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been given in NZ, with the Covid-19 Response Minister saying the pandemic is not coming to an end and it is important to keep the virus out of this country. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

More People Employed – Now Wages Need To Rise
"The news that the number of people who are unemployed has decreased to pre-covid level of 4% is welcomed by the Council of Trade Unions", said CTU Economist and Director of Policy Craig Renney. "The labour market now looks as if it has ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

‘A culture of acceptance of misconduct’: The MediaWorks review, explained
Maria Dew QC’s independent report on conduct and culture at the radio and outdoor advertising company was published today. Here’s what you need to know.What’s the tldr on the report?Six allegations of sexual assault were heard. Experiences of bullying, sexual harassment, and discrimation and bias on racial and gender grounds ...
The SpinoffBy The Spinoff
1 day ago

‘Dancing ghosts’: a new, deeper scan of the sky throws up surprises for astronomers
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ray Norris, Professor, School of Science, Western Sydney University Jayanne English/EMU/Dark Energy Survey Scanning through data fresh off the telescope, we saw two ghosts dancing deep in the cosmos. We had never seen anything like it before, and we had ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Why we should share our vaccines
This month, 7.4 million AstraZeneca doses will arrive in NZ. We should give them away, says Jo Spratt of Oxfam Aotearoa.Three weeks ago our prime minister chaired an extraordinary Apec session focused on the coronavirus pandemic, declaring at its conclusion that “our discussions moved us beyond vaccine nationalism”. This government ...
The SpinoffBy Jo Spratt
1 day ago

Charting New Zealand's vaccine rollout
How many people have been vaccinated in New Zealand? How does that stack up with the rest of the world? Newsroom presents a weekly dashboard of everything you need to know about our country's vaccine rollout. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(e){if(void 0!==e.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var a in ...
Newsroom
1 day ago

Robertson relishes the patsy questions – when the Opposition quiz him, he is not quite so ebullien...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson can’t resist seeing the sunny side of the economy. When Parliament resumed this week, he was first up at question time to tell New Zealanders that – thanks to a strong export performance – the economic recovery is going well. But Robertson didn’t sound quite so ...
Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
1 day ago

Aucklanders will fund the expansion of the screen industry as ratepayers (via their city council) an...
Aucklanders will be chuffed to learn the film studios they own as ratepayers are to be given a share of the millions of dollars the government is eager to pour into the film industry. Mind you, they mightn’t be so chuffed to learn they will be financing the expansion of ...
Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
1 day ago

Watch live: Chris Hipkins, Megan Main give Covid-19 and vaccine update
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and joint head of Managed Isolation and Quarantine Megan Main are giving a coronavirus and vaccine update. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

CTU Urges Government To Focus On Resolving Industrial Dispute With Nurses
The Council of Trade Unions is calling on the Government and Minister of Health, Hon Andrew Little, to focus on finding a solution to the current dispute with our nation’s nurses and their union, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation. "We ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

Update: Petition To Ban Greyhound Racing Handover Event Has Moved
The handover event for the petition to ban greyhound racing has moved to outside the Parliamentary Library building. The event is scheduled to begin at 1pm today. SAFE and the Greyhound Protection League are delivering their 37,000 strong petition ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago