I must say that Joe B has had his work cut out. The Paid family leave and medical leave is gone and so is the proposed Tax on billionaires – Thanks Mauchin. But they are still not there yet – huge disappointment to the progressive members of both Senate and House, and the House has just postponed voting on it until next week.
House Democrats – again – postponed a vote on the $1 trillion Senate-approved infrastructure bill, pushing off its consideration until at least next week. The delay followed a visit to Capitol Hill by Biden, who asked House Democrats to support both the infrastructure plan and the separate social policy and climate change framework, saying: “We are at an inflection point. The rest of the world wonders whether we can function […] I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that the House and Senate majorities – and my presidency – will be determined by what happens in the next week.” Progressive Democrats, however, blocked the scheduled vote, saying they wanted to review the written legislative text of the $1.75 trillion social spending outline – and receive assurances that Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema would vote for it, which neither have outright given.
Mixed messaging about the safety of the Covid-19 vaccine in pregnancy early in the pandemic had caused confusion, Cox said
I don't think mixed messaging about the vaccine is the main problem. I believe the problem is the very clear messaging from the moment a woman considers a pregnancy that anything she eats, drinks, breathes in that is not pure food or pure air will harm her baby. And if she does have that glass of wine, slice of brie or catches a whiff of exhaust fumes on her daily commute she alone is responsible for any perceived defect in her child.
A mother's guilt is never-ending. In a climate like that, she'd rather die than have any sense she may harm her child by deliberately injecting a vaccine into her pregnant body. Which of course makes no sense because the most harm a person who cares so much could do to her child is not be around for them.
Does Auckland stay in the current level system until all DHB's top to bottom have made it to 90% eligible 2 jabs? Or does Auckland have to get only their own DHB's, 3 – I think, to the target? Can someone please clarify.
When the 3 Auckland DHBs each individually reach 90% fully vaccinated, the Auckland region gets to the red light at the end of the tunnel, ie the traffic light system. Counties Manukau looks likely to be the last one to reach that target, somewhere around mid-December I'm guessing.
The hard border around the Auckland region will remain until all DHBs nationally reach the 90% double-vaccinated target. At which time the entire nation will change to the traffic light system. edit: It’s probably too soon to predict what might happen to the Auckland border at that time. It may remain in place if Auckland still has significant community transmission and the rest of the country doesn’t.
All of this is subject to change in response to changing circumstances (including simple political pressure).
Thanks for that Andre. I was concerned Auckland would have to stay locked down until heaven knows when the whole country hits the target. The end is in sight, at last, for our big apple. Stay strong Auckland.
Already I can see Covid getting out in every region, this will be the deciding factor. Lockdowns will be required when the health system is unable to cope, regardless of vaccination as antibodies wane or a new mutation overwhelms the vaccine. Vaccination is the only thing which can partially contain Covid without a lockdown.
Will Covid in every region occur before full vaccination reaches 90% for every DHB?
Everyone in New Zealand should expect to be exposed to the virus within a year or so. Even if we get to over 95% vaccination. The Auckland border won't stand much longer against the political pressure building to open it.
I find it infuriating that locking down with its attendant removal of four Bill of Right rights seems to be viewed with equanimity, but that imposing a few minor restriction and consequences on those that choose to exercise their right to refuse vaccination in a pandemic seems to be a no-go zone.
It's not a given that some new variant worse than Delta will arise. It's possible that the Delta spike protein is very close to the peak possible match to the ACE-2 receptor on the surface of human cells that it uses to get in. If that's the case, then a virus that evolves enough changes to its spike protein that the antibodies no longer attach, then that altered spike protein also won't be a good fit to the ACE-2 protein and the virus won't be very infectious. Which seems to be the case for that A.30 variant Cricklewood was bedwetting about yesterday.
The Right to Life trumps your BORA nonsense, and I assure you that there is copious public pressure from non-Aucklanders to keep that border closed.
So long as the external and internal borders remain closed, this outbreak will burn itself out (there are only so many unvaccinated muppets in Auckland). Point is, it will take a while.
BORA nonsense? Fuck off, asshole. Even within the Auckland borders we don't have freedom of movement, freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly, or freedom of religion, as expressed in the Bill of Rights. At least partly because of some assholes fantasising that the right to refuse medical treatment also confers on them the right to be disease spreaders in workplaces and public spaces.
Advocating for locking down more than a third of the population for however long it takes a disease outbreak to burn out (which is never; it's going to become endemic) is an appalling disrespect for individual human rights. It's the kind of authoritarian thinking that I want nothing to do with. But it's sadly prevalent among large parts of "the left".
[RL: You have an argument – but it wasn’t made any better by the first sentence. Chill.]
[I just moderated another comment of yours for abuse, so adding to RL’s moderation here. Putting you in premod until I see an agreement from you to stop the abuse towards other commenters. If you are unclear on where the boundaries are, just ask, I’m happy to clarify the line between robust debate and abuse/flaming.
This is a heated, fast moving but long term conversation and my concern is resentment is building up over time betweem regulars. Mods don’t want to have to manage flame wars, so intervening now. See this from the Policy:
We encourage robust debate and we’re tolerant of dissenting views. But this site run for reasonably rational debate between dissenting viewpoints and we intend to keep it operating that way.
What we’re not prepared to accept are pointless personal attacks, or tone or language that has the effect of excluding others.
I also suggest checking your comments because not all mods give a heads up about mod notices. – weka]
New Zealand is actually too small for the disease to become endemic, so long as the border remains shut. Influenza actually burns itself out each year in NZ, only to be imported fresh from overseas.
In this case, so long as the disease is confined to unvaccinated muppets (and there is good reason for thinking it is), it will burn itself out. We're seeing a Delta wave among a clearly defined subset of Auckland, not Auckland generally. At some point (maybe now-ish), the outbreak will peak, and start declining. The key being to keep it confined.
Yes, I'm authoritarian on this issue. I don't mind. I like not crashing the entire public health system.
FACT Aotearoa, a group formed to counter misinformation and conspiracy theories in New Zealand, lodged a formal complaint with the New Zealand Law Society against the Nelson-based lawyer on Monday.
Grey, who is co-leader of the NZ Outdoors Party, has a large following on social media and regularly posts anti-vaccine content, including false claims of Covid-19 deaths and promotion of alternative and unproven treatments. In its complaint FACT Aotearoa said the claim “falls below the high ethical standard of the legal profession and brings the profession into disrepute”.
The New Zealand Law Society – Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa said it was prevented by law from disclosing receipt of complaints or making any comment about concerns raised. “This is due to legal requirements placed on us by the Lawyers and Conveyancing Act 2006 which means that we would be breaking the law if we release information about specific complaints or concerns.”
Complaints received by the society are referred to an independent standards committee for investigation. Complaints deemed serious enough can be referred to the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal.
The doctrine of minority rights is the sleeper in this issue. Lawyers bringing the profession into disrepute ain't nothing new, of course, and the default position of the establishment is to fudge the decision-making around a complaint as much as possible. Journos assuming truth instead of establishing it are likewise nothing new, but we ought not to side with the oppressed automatically because delusional thinking is widespread nowadays. Lawyer/politician Grey was on the hikoi which used the delusion of personal sovereignty to have a go defeating state sovereignty.
Heh! According to the article, "the cities were “judged against a criteria addressing topicality, unique experiences, ‘wow’ factor and sustainability”."
Spent Friday night at Piha, up and down the beach super-black sand with drizzly tropical rain, Pohutukawa cliffs on my right and burnt orange setting sun on my left.
I still cannot for the life of me see how the overall allocation process could regard the English netball team as being more deserving of a MIQ place than Bergen Graham, a pregnant New Zealand citizen whose request for an emergency spot in MIQ was turned down six times.
I suspect the decision was not actually made by the process, but by a bureaucrat. To err is human. Our public service has long been notorious for treating the public with contempt – notwithstanding all those public servants who try to do it right.
Suspicions regarding just how fair and justifiable MIQ’s operation has been in practice are compounded by the way the government has avoided having its allocation decisions scrutinised. On the two occasions that people who were refused emergency MIQ spots took their claims before the courts, previous decisions that they failed to meet the criteria were reversed mid-trial.
Well yes, Andrew, govt evasion of accountability is a traditional syndrome. The important thing is to protect the anonymity of delinquent public servants. The method used combines privilege with privacy law. Being a law prof means you can't tell the truth of course, so we get why you skip over this bit.
It may or may not be entirely coincidental that doing so had the consequence of putting the legal action to an end before the High Court had a chance to rule on the government’s actions. And now the government is busy moving the legal basis for making MIQ decisions from secondary legislation into a primary enactment. That this parliamentary move will have the effect of largely insulating the overall MIQ process from being judicially overturned at a time when it is being challenged in the High Court again may or may not be coincidental.
Yes, best to gamble 50c each way on the issue of coincidence. Correlation ain't causation. Fortunately pesky litigants will be eliminated.
And yet for 18 months MIQ has pretty much worked in terms of its over-riding objective – stopping Covid-positive people wandering off aeroplanes into the community. There have been only a handful of leaks with unfortunately the last one (Delta) proving ineradicable once it got out – mostly due to declining lockdown compliance.
And if you expect such a brutal but necessary system to be set up on the fly without producing numerous examples of injustice and the odd outright idiocy – where the hell have you been and what have you spent your life doing?
Still – it will be good to see the MIQ system wound down and that transition is starting. Though now the armchair critics like to point out that with community transmission in Auckland, Aucklanders now present a statistically greater risk than returning travelers, so we have inconsistent settings. Aside from the obvious fact that transitions are usually messy, the inconsistency argument is an odd one. Why would we create an additional risk for a still partially-vaccinated population, by weakening MIQ safeguards and adding a new source of infection as a nice little top-up to what is already going on in Auckland? Fortunately the government is not that silly.
For an undergraduate exam, I am going to be 'writing' about Maori and the vaccine rollout. I am just after specific examples of the government working with Maori to rollout the vaccine together.
Clearly, our national health depends upon the number and behaviour of unvaccinated individuals. How, then, do we confront them without condescension, anger or vilification? My answer rests on two observations. First, one must distinguish between non-vaxxers and anti-vaxxers. The former include those who are drug-addicted, mentally unstable, transient, desperately poor and suspicious of legal authority (criminals, overstayers). Individuals who inhabit one or more of these categories are immune to official health messages, government announcements and vaxathon initiatives. Second, anti-vaxxers are diverse and fragmented. If there was no pandemic and no vaccination campaign, they would have little in common.
What follows is a selection of anti-vaxxer archetypes. I may have missed some. If so, send them in, our national health depends on it. Bear in mind though that there is not necessarily a one-to-one correspondence between each archetype and a given person. Some anti-vaxxers may exhibit a combination of archetypes.
Very sensible & I commend him for using archetype theory appropriately. He describes seven, and seven is the magic number, so the effect on readers will be magical – but only if the invisible spell works. Regardless, Pythagoras would be proud.
1: Mostly, but apparently it's quite variable. Reports of second covid infections were happening before vaccinations started. Since then, reporting interest has shifted more to breakthrough infections. It's worth noting that even in places like the US, there are a lot more vaccinated people than there are covid survivors, so there's no useful info to be gained from just comparing numbers of second covid infections to numbers of breakthrough infections.
2: Up until recently, there appeared to be a consensus that vaccine-derived immunity was stronger and more reliable than infection-derived immunity. With Delta, that consensus doesn't appear quite as strong.
3: In New Zealand, very very few people have actually been exposed to the virus and derived immunity. So the only way NZers have immunity is through vaccination, so only going by vaccination numbers is not understating the level of immunity in our community.
Overseas, yes, there are likely to be significant numbers of the unvaccinated that have acquired immunity through infection. So although in this coming week, it is likely that the percentage of fully vaccinated NZers will pass that of Israel, UK, and Germany, we will still likely have less population immunity than those countries.
Kourtney Kardashian had Covid as an unvaccinated person and now has covid as a fully vaccinated person. I think the virus does as the virus likes and that the 'vaccines' at best give some protection against severe illness, but that is about all it does and only for a few month at best. Mask, physically distance, santize and don't got to large gatherings for the forseable future. Get tested, get jabbed and hope it is enough.
It is literally all it does. It does not prevent you from catching it, it does not prevent you from transmitting it, it will however in most cases prevent you from dying. If you find an issue with that, don't discuss this with me, but discuss this with more knowledgable people who are saying exactly the same.
So i repeat for those that have issues understanding how to behave in the times of the plague.
1. mask up
2. physically distance from others – 1 – 2 m while waiting in line for example
3. sanitize like your life depended on it, cause funnily enough it does.
4. if you are an essential worker or work in a high risk environment get tested regularly, like once a week.
5. if not already done, get jabbed
but keep in mind, that the 'vaccine' will not stop you from catching Covid, nor from transmitting it.
Immediately after a vaccination, the vaccinated person is 90% less likely to contract Covid. That appears to wane to about 50% over 6 months although it's not clear to me whether that's based on actual studies or antibodies. It's true that it doesn't prevent it completely, but 90% is still pretty good.
I did read that and thought maybe 2 different strains. Appears as though break through with Delta when vaccinated. Not being vaccinated when infectious with a previous strain it is unknown if break through would have occurred.
they have had break through cases all along. But it goes hand in hand as what was in then news yesterday via the BBC, namely that the jab will not prevent you from spreading it if you have it – this would be household cases for the most part as you would be isolating at home, nor would it prevent you from catching it if someone else brings it home or to the work place.
However, chances are that you will feel very little to no discomfort, and only in a few cases so far have serious illness or death happened in these break through cases.
And yes, new variants would make a breakthrough case easier i would assume.
From the studies I've seen, if you survive, and don't get Long Covid, then yes you develop a more effective natural immunity. But it's an unnecessary risk
Not sure if it was on Prime news or newshub this evening, schools in NSW have closed down after opening up recently and in the UK 9% of students have had Covid.
That's the accurate description, because when you look at the slogans the language is imported from the USA far right: "Don't tread on me", "The media is the virus", etc.
Oh, and Auckland's record high number of cases today. Irony is beyond these fools.
The footage of the protests is beyond parody. First, today of all days, they wave Tonga flags – so NZ should have more "freedom" to infect the poor Tongans?
Then they chant "Together as one" … solidarity, comrades? No, because "socialism is taking over". Four legs good, two legs better!
Spreading Covid is the issue and not an anti vaxers right to protest. Anti vaxers seem to think they have an entitlement to infect children and other people and to overwhelm the health system.
It has been approved or is in the process of being approved elsewhere on this planet. Medsafe is literally sleepwalking through a pandemic, but yeah, we have time, its not as if the virus ain't here.
Many people who are in no way "anti-vax" will need to have confidence that a decision is not taken by a government Minister just for a headline. For the sake of a few days it could undermine the entire vaccination programme. To say nothing of all future decisions (boosters, new variants etc)
Medsafe is fairly pedestrian. under resourced and under skilled having lost a large percentage of their more skilled assessors over the last 24 months.
They also lean heavily on offshore agencies in well regulated markets when making their decisions.
What Seymour has failed to realise is even if the government stepped in (they won't), the dose in 5-12yrs is only 1/3 of that in older cohorts and I believe we will need to order paediatric specific vaccine vials rather than utilising current stock at smaller volumes (I may be incorrect).
Additionally the utility of vaccinating children both for their own health and to limit spread of the virus vs. the risk posed is debatable.
I seem to recall some articles saying we were in discussions with Pfizer about the feasibility of using the stocks of adult vaccine we already have. The articles gave the impression that more dilution would be involved, but wasn't specific.
I've seen plenty of discussion pieces saying the risk/benefit for children is debatable, but the only risk I've seen alluded to in those "debates" is myocarditis. But allegedly myocarditis is a much lower risk in under 12s than it is in over 12s.
Meanwhile, "lower risk than adults" does not mean "no risk" or even "low enough risk to not be worth worrying about". Over 500 kids in the US have died from covid and a lot more have long-term issues. Scaled to NZ population, that still looks like enough harm to kids to take it very seriously.
It's not a given that some new variant worse than Delta will arise.
It is not a given that it will not arise. The reinfection of Covid with a different strain with or without vaccination, antibodies on the spike protein appear to have some weaknesses which need to be fully understood. Break through infection also needs to be fully understood as it might not have much to do with waining immunity.
How many people returning to NZ have long Covid or worsened health conditons due to Covid?
Recovery 29 is on Prime TV at 8.30 pm tonight. It was on Tuesday night, I will rewatch it. It is about going into the Pike River mine drift. Many details were covered, the cost, division in the community, the purpose of re entery.
The hunter/gatherer lifestyle is distant from many of us nowaday, so perhaps the PM & partner felt the need to reconnect with it. After all, it's the original evolutionary basis of humanity.
The Herald on Sunday has seen a raft of email exchanges between Pierson, Gayford and Ardern's electorate secretary Barbara Ward, which reveal how negotiations unravelled over the past few months.
No kidding!! Isn't that some kind of breach of confidentiality? Get Hager onto this leaked email story pronto. Just say the two words `dirty politics' & I reckon he'll get the angle in a fraction of a second.
In one, Pierson writes: "Clarke's intentions to provide wild venison for the menu – it is my understanding that this contravenes all food hygiene regulations."
Now that can't possibly be right. It would mean that all food hygiene regulations mention wild venison. I think someone fed him a little white lie.
Pierson continues to demand $5000, saying his venue on the outskirts of Gisborne was booked two years ago and the couple owe a cancellation fee. He admits his "feathers were ruffled" by Gordon doing the catering.
Bird-man? Evolutionary hybrids are quite rare but anything's possible.
In a final email to Ward, Pierson wrote: "I am no longer interested in responding to your continued false claims and assertions. Your offer of $1250 is not acceptable and I have attached a copy of my original invoice. Please pay asap to prevent this situation from getting even more pear-shaped."
Is it worth them paying 5k to end the harassment? I wouldn't. I reckon if he had a contract we'd know by now. It's bluff. Capital vs Labour. Next step: court case.
yes, and no. It also depends on the food control plan of that particular place. For example – any wild game will have specific requirements to be met in order to be usable and servable at this venue. If this particular venue has not set its food control plan up for this – due to restrictions and hassle to be honest, then it would mean that this particular venue would have to update its food control plan and pass this by the council for approval, at a cost bien sur.
Also the food control plan will have a list of anyone authorized in the kitchen, front of house etc. The owner of the premises will have to have training records for everyone who is in that kitchen working. Any new person, requires thus training, updated records etc etc etc. Thanks Ministry of Business and Inovation
For example, i have a total exclusion of peanuts on my site, simply due to the allergen risk. This is in my food control plan. If someone were to bring locally foraged peanuts for a specific cake – a cake that was ordered but not specified as a peanut cake …., or a cake that would be peanuts and a brought in chef, i would have to train this chef on my food control plan, and update my food control plan, and only then were this person allowed to bake this peanut cake in my kitchen.
Now i totally understand that people are loath to critique the PM on anything, but in this case, if she had a contract, or a verbal agreement, and there are emails pertaining to this, then pay the 5 grand and go have your foraging and gathering wedding elsewhere.
This all seems very odd in a small town like Gisborne. Pierson's website says he's been there 20 years at least, in that time you'd have built up a fairly accurate reputation and people would know what you can do and can't. Clarke and family should have been able to have sussed the organisation and management out and management out and known what was coming.
It's pretty common for high level wedding events to include a celebrity chef and team. Venues here work around that and embrace it to enhance their reputation and often learn heaps. Some just have a very top end kitchen and the event organisers arrange the kitchen team. It sort of reads that Pierson was offered the dream gig and blew it.
As for wild game at a wedding, it's certainly a Southland tradition and is common in hunting circles. Have been to several weddings and flash places here where the groom and party have provided game and kai moana, once to the chef's specifications and it was a very enjoyable night, and foraging expeditions for the lads.
Any venue will have that in a contract. So if the PM and her husband to be have signed a binding agreement that they will use these premises i would suggest that they do the correct thing and pay the 5 grand. Its not as if it a lot of money to them. It is also called a Place holder fee. Once booked, and this was booked before covid, they would have refused any other occasion to happen at that time. And for what its worth, that email exchange can actually be proof of that agreement, and i would also like to point out that verbal agreements can be considered fully binding and legal.
But then, right, how dare these businesses inconvenience the most powerful women and hubby. Don't they know their limits and place?
The question is, why on earth would you want a lavish 150 people strong wedding during a pandemic where people aren't even allowed out of quarantine – vaxxed and covid free (per tests) to see a dying dad.
Fwiw, i have a cancellation fee of 30% of the sum total for any order as they days of work for these orders are booked in, and other orders at that time either will have to be done at a different time or refused.
I appreciate your insight into the situation Sabine, and it sounds like that scenario could apply as you suggest. However I suspect they didn't sign a contract. I think if they had they'd already have paid the cancellation fee.
Seems to me they were still negotiating the terms of the contract, and that negotiation which dragged on many months was what the email trail actually documents.
Re the 150/pandemic thing, yeah that's probably why it has dragged out so long. They've been stalled by Delta. Will Neve be bridesmaid in the new year? That's the question the women's mag editors will be pondering. Paparazzi alert!
As i said, if they had a verbal agreement, and the emails pertain to that, and if he can prove say that he refused other events for this timeframe, then he has a case.
In any case, this is petty, bullshitty and in the times of the plague in which hospitality businesses suffer just plain ugly.
My point being this guy is not pretending that someone booked his venue. Someone did. Someone told him a different cook was wanted. Someone told him wild food would be hunted and prepared on his premises by that cook etc etc etc.
So clearly there was an understanding that that would happen there, and sorry mate, but food control plan is food control plan. He breaks his plan he can lose his business.
And frankly i find the idea that some multi millionaires (and both fall in that category) would battle it out publicly over 5 grand is just plain sad. And it does not paint the venue owner in a sad light, but the PM and her husband to be.
Also, first you book and you state how many people etc etc etc and then you plan. Do not plan a wedding before you have the venue secured as you might find yourself without one.
Also Delta arrived in India in April and in NZ in July. so that too ain’t a good excuse.
The point is, if you cancel a booked venue expect a cancellation fee. If you cancel a booked venue because you need specially hunted food, specially gathered food, specially brought in cook/chefs then you pay the cancellation fee.
If the venue cancels on you, you would expect a total refund of what ever you paid to secure the venue.
Securing he venue is the first thing you do when holding such a schindig.
Last she is the PM, they would have a contract. Seriously, as she would not want to show up in her wedding gown, just to find someone else who booked with a contract holding their wedding.
You make a strong case – I can see why business owner/operators get so grumpy about regulations. One of my younger brothers is to the right of ACT and you ought to hear him go on about that stuff. He's built several businesses, thinks the Nats are a joke, watches only Fox News etc. I had to learn compassion – it's a sad fate when folks box themselves into a social niche so tight they can't get out.
These rules and regulations are in place so that you don't get salmonella, or food poisioning, or be served possum stew rather then the Osso Bucca you ordered. Can't help you there with your younger brother on that, he will have to live with the fact that rules exists and that people have to abide by them.
The reason i explained this is as people seem to really have no idea actually what goes into raising a successful eatery or fine restaurant. It is a lot of work, requires skilled and trained staff (even if they are migrants they are skilled and trained), and there are rules for everything, down to the point of how many times a day you have to check temperatures of your fridges and freezers.
So yes, you can hunt a wild deer, you can get it butchered by someone who knows what they do, and you can serve it in your back yard. But try to bring this into any legal lisenced premise that is not set up for it, or has a food control plan that does not allow for it, and it ain't a happening thing. Not because the business would not want too, but because it is too costly to make it so, and breaking the rules means to get fined many many dollars and lose business and reputation.
So they should pay the cancellation fee and have a back yard wedding with a famous chef, and hunted and gathered food. Non of this needs anymore publicity.
Some serious analysis is required on how vaccines are performing. Surely the vaccines are being tested on past strains and new strains which are emerging. Russia is going into the winter period in a month.
Not always, just every now and then for a few days. Usually that happens when there are links or to many but it is now doing it on standard comments with no links either.
If you copy text with links, right-click on them before posting & select unlink on each one. Sometimes I forget & mine end up in moderation/purgatory too.
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Completed reads for November: A Modern Utopia, by H.G. Wells The Vampire (poem), by Heinrich August Ossenfelder The Corpus Hermeticum The Corpus Hermeticum is Mead’s translation. Now, this is indeed a very quiet month for reading. But there is a reason for that… You see, ...
The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. They also describe the processes of the ...
First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
Henry Kissinger is finally dead. Good fucking riddance. While Americans loved him, he was a war criminal, responsible for most of the atrocities of the final quarter of the twentieth century. Cambodia. Bangladesh. Chile. East Timor. All Kissinger. Because of these crimes, Americans revere him as a "statesman" (which says ...
Buzz from the Beehive Yes, ministers in the new government are delivering speeches and releasing press statements. But the message on the government’s official website was the same as it has been for the past several days, when Point of Order went looking for news from the Beehive that had ...
David Farrar writes – 1 News reports: Christopher Luxon says he was told by some Kiwis on the campaign trail they “didn’t know” the difference between Waka Kotahi, Te Pūkenga and Te Whatu Ora. Speaking to Breakfast, the incoming prime minister said having English first on government agencies will “make sure” ...
There are fears that mooted changes to building consent liability could end up driving the building industry into an uninsured hole. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Thursday, November 30, including:The new Government’s ...
Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, M Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else, and complaining that he has inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” – which is how most of us are ...
The first I knew of the news about Tory Whanau was when a tweet came up in my feed.The sort of tweet that makes you question humanity, or at least why you bother with Twitter. Which is increasingly a cesspit of vile inhabitants who lurk spreading negativity, hate, and every ...
Cable Cars, Gondolas, Ropeways and Aerial Trams are all names for essentially the same technology and the world’s biggest maker of them are here to sell them as an public transport solution. Stuff reports: Austrian cable car company Doppelmayr has launched its case for adding aerial cable cars to New ...
Hi,It’s been awhile since I’ve done an Ask-Me-Anything on here, so today’s the day. Ask anything you like in the comments section, and I’ll be checking in today and tomorrow to answer.Leave a commentNext week I’ll be giving away a bunch of these Mister Organ blu-rays for readers in New ...
The cost of living grind continues, and the economic and inflation honeymoon is over before it began. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR:PM Christopher Luxon unveiled his 100 day plan yesterday with an avowed focus of reducing cost-of-living pressures, but his Government’s initial moves and promises are actually elevating ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed that it will be back to the future on planning legislation. This will be just one of a number of moves which will see the new government go backwards as it repeals and cost-cuts its way into power. They will completely repeal one ...
As the new government settles into the Beehive, expectations are high that it can sort out some of the economic issues confronting New Zealand. It may take time for some new ministers to get to grips with the range of their portfolio work and responsibilities before they can launch the changes that ...
TV3 political editor Jenna Lynch was among the corps of political reporters who bridled, when Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told them what he thinks of them (which is not much). She was unabashed about letting her audience know she had bridled. More usefully, she drew attention to something which ...
I have a clear memory of every election since 1969 in this plucky little nation of ours. I swear I cannot recall a single one where the question being asked repeatedly in the first week of the new government was: how long do you reckon they’ll last? And that includes all ...
Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In 2023, ...
The fear and loathing among legacy journalists is astonishingGraham Adams writes – No one is going to die wondering how some of the nation’s most influential journalists personally view the new National-led government. It has become abundantly clear within a few days of the coalition agreements ...
TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere for Wednesday November 29, including:The early return of interest deductibility for landlords could see rebates paid on previous taxes and the cost increase to $3 billion from National’s initial estimate of $2.1 billion, CTU Economist Craig Renney estimated here last ...
The day after being sworn in the new cabinet met yesterday, to enjoy their honeymoon phase. You remember, that period after a new government takes power where the country, and the media, are optimistic about them, because they haven’t had a chance to stuff anything about yet.Sadly the nuptials complete ...
Wellington Council hoardings proclaim its preparations for population growth, but around the country councils are putting things on hold in the absence of clear funding pathways for infrastructure, and despite exploding migrant numbers. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Cabinet meets in earnest today to consider the new Government’s 100-day ...
Though New Zealand First may have had ambitions to run the infrastructure portfolios, National would seem to have ended up firmly in control of them. POLITIK has obtained a private memo to members of Infrastructure NZ yesterday, which shows that the peak organisation for infrastructure sees National MPs Chris ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In ...
Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
One of the big underlying problems in our political system is the prevalence of short-term thinking, most usually seen in the periodic massive infrastructure failures at a local government level caused by them skimping on maintenance to Keep Rates Low. But the new government has given us a new example, ...
New Zealand has a chance to rise again. Under the previous government, the number of New Zealanders below the poverty line was increasing year by year. The Luxon-led government must reverse that trend – and set about stabilising the pillars of the economy. After the mismanagement of the outgoing government created huge ...
Two articles by Karl du Fresne bring media coverage of the new government into considerations. He writes – Tuesday, November 28, 2023The left-wing media needed a line of attack, and they found one The left-wing media pack wasted no time identifying the new government’s weakest point. Seething over ...
The work beginsPhilip Crump wrote this article ahead of the new government being sworn in yesterday – Later today the new National-led coalition government will be sworn in, and the hard work begins. At the core of government will be three men – each a leader ...
As everyone who watches television or is on the mailing list for any of our major stores will confirm, “Black Friday” has become the longest running commercial extravaganza and celebration in our history. Although its origins are obscure (presumably dreamt up by American salesmen a few years ago), it has ...
Yesterday the Ministers in the next government were sworn in by our Governor General. A day of tradition and ceremony, of decorum and respect. Usually.But yesterday Winston Peters, the incoming Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, of our nation used it, as he did with the signing of the coalition ...
Nicola Willis’ first move was ‘spilling the tea’ on what she called the ‘sobering’ state of the nation’s books, but she had better be able to back that up in the HYEFU. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am ...
Yesterday Auckland Transport were celebrating, as the most recent Sunday was the busiest Sunday they’ve ever had. That’s a great outcome and I’m sure the ...
Nicola Willis (in blue) at the signing of the coalition agreement, before being sworn in as both Finance Minister and Social Investment Minister. National’s plan to unwind anti-smoking measures will benefit her in the first role, but how does it stack up from a social investment viewpoint? Photo: Lynn Grieveson ...
For the first time "in history" we decided to jump on the "Giving Tuesday" bandwagon in order to make you aware of the options you have to contribute to our work! Projects supported by Skeptical Science Inc. Skeptical ScienceSkeptical Science is an all-volunteer organization but ...
Let’s say it’s 1984,and there's a dreary little nation at the bottom of the Pacific whose name rhymes with New Zealand,and they've just had an election.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, will you look at the state of these books we’ve opened,cries the incoming government, will you look at all this mountain ...
Wellington is braced for a “massive impact’ from the new government’s cutting public service jobs, The Post somewhat grimly reported today. Expectations of an economic and social jolt are based on the National-Act coalition agreement to cut public service numbers in each government agency in a cost-trimming exercise “informed by” head ...
One of the threats in the National - ACT - NZ First coalition agreements was to extend the term of Parliament to four years, reducing our opportunities to throw a bad government out. The justification? Apparently, the government thinks "elections are expensive". This is the stupidest of stupid reasons for ...
Buzz from the Beehive The new government was being sworn in, at time of writing , and when Point of Order checked the Beehive website for the latest ministerial statements and re-visit some of the old ones we drew a blank. We found …. Nowt. Nothing. Zilch. Not a ...
Michael Bassett writes – Like most people, I was getting heartily sick of all the time being wasted over the coalition negotiations. During the first three weeks Winston grinned like a Cheshire cat, certain he’d be needed; Chris Luxon wasted time in lifting the phone to Winston ...
The Prime Minister elect had his silver fern badge on. He wore it to remind viewers he was supporting New Zealand, that was his team. Despite the fact it made him look like a concierge, or a welcomer in a Koru lounge. Anna Burns-Francis, the Breakfast presenter, asked if he ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – A hugely significant gain for ACT is somewhat camouflaged by legislative jargon. Under the heading ‘Oranga Tamariki’ ACT’s coalition agreement contains the following item: Remove Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 According to Oranga Tamariki: “Section ...
A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record.Brian Easton writes – 1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is ...
Is COP28 largely smoke and mirrors and a plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel? Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: COP28 kicks off on November 30 and up for negotiation are issues like the role of fossil fuels in the energy transition, contributions to ...
PM Elect Christopher Luxon was challenged this morning on whether he would sack Adrian Orr and Andrew Coster.TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am on Monday November 27, including:Signs councils are putting planning and capital spending on hold, given a lack of clear guidance ...
This column expands on a Werewolf column published by Scoop on FridayRoutinely, Winston Peters is described as the kingmaker who gets to decide when the centre right or the centre-left has a turn at running this country. He also plays a less heralded but equally important role as the ...
Last Friday, almost six weeks after election day, National finally came to an agreement with ACT and NZ First to form a government. They also released the agreements between each party and looking through them, here are the things I thought were the most interesting (and often concerning) from the. ...
Maori and Pasifika smoking rates are already over twice the ‘all adult’ rate. Now the revenue that generates will be used to fund National’s tax cuts. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The devil is always in the detail and it emerged over the weekend from the guts of the policy agreements National ...
Perhaps the biggest change that will come to the Beehive as the new government settles in will be a fundamental culture change. The era of endless consultation will be over. This looks like a government that knows what it wants to do, and that means it knows what outcomes ...
So what do you think of the coalition’s decision to cancel Smokefree measures intended to stop young people, including an over representation of Māori, from taking up smoking? Enabling them to use the tax revenue to give other people a tax cut?David Cormack summed it up well:It seems not only ...
A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 19, 2023 thru Sat, Nov 25, 2023. Story of the Week World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chiefExclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop ...
On announcement morning my mate texted:Typical of this cut-price, fake-deal government to announce itself on Black Friday.What a deal. We lose Kim Hill, we gain an empty, jargonising prime minister, a belligerent conspiracist, and a heartless Ayn Rand fanboy. One door closes, another gets slammed repeatedly in your face.It seems pretty ...
Buzz from the Beehive Having found no fresh announcements on the government’s official website,Point of Order turned today to Scoop’sLatest Parliament Headlines for its buzz. This provided us with evidence that the Māori Party has been soured by the the coalition agreement announced yesterday by the new PM. “Soured” ...
Yesterday the trio that will lead our country unveiled their vision for New Zealand.Seymour looking surprisingly statesmanlike, refusing to rise to barbs about his previous comments on Winston Peters. Almost as if they had just been slapstick for the crowd.Winston was mostly focussed on settling scores with the media, making ...
Hi,Thanks for getting amongst Mister Organ on digital — thanks to you, we hit the #1 doc spot on iTunes this week. This response goes a long way to helping us break even.I feel good about that. Other things — not so much.New Zealand finally has a new government, and ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Also in More Than A FeildingFriday The unboxing And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the ...
By scrapping Aotearoa’s world-leading smokefree laws, this government is sacrificing Māori lives to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. Not only is this plan revolting, but it doesn’t add up. Treasury has estimated that the reversal of smokefree laws to pay for tax cuts will cost our health system $5.25bn, ...
Figures showing National needs to find another $900 million for landlords highlights the mess this coalition Government is in less than a week into the job. ...
Community organisations, mana whenua and the Greens have written to the incoming Minister of Oceans and Fisheries to call for the progression without delay of the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill. ...
"On behalf of the Labour Party I would like to congratulate Christopher Luxon on his appointment as Prime Minister,” Labour Party Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
NZ First has gotten their wish to ‘take our country back’ to the 1800s with a policy program that will white-wash Aotearoa and erase tangata whenua rights. By disestablishing the Māori Health Authority this Government has condemned Māori to die seven years earlier than Pākehā. By removing Treaty obligations from ...
Te Pāti Māori have called for the resignation of the Ministry of Foreign and Trade chief executive Chris Seed following his decision to erase te reo Māori from government communications. While the country still waits for a new government to be formed, Mr Seed took it upon himself to undermine ...
The New Zealand Labour Party is urgently calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel to put a halt to the appalling attacks and violence, so that a journey to a lasting peace can begin, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
Renter’s United President Geordie Rogers has been selected as the Green party candidate for the Wellington city council byelection in Lambton Ward. The byelection is being held to replace outgoing councillor Tamatha Paul, now the MP for Wellington Central. “I’m honoured to have just been selected as the Green ...
Raf Manji is standing down from his role after failing to get into Parliament this election. The party received just over 2 percent of the general vote. ...
The kōrero series invites collaborations between two different kinds of artists to explore a shared topic. The latest is Little Doomsdays by writer Nic Low (Ngāi Tahu) and transdisciplanary artist Phil Dadson ONZM whose shared topic is ‘the notion of ark and arc’. In this excerpt they explore the Ark ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews Ex Libris, an Aotearoa-made essential oil perfume designed to replicate the scent of well-loved books.What does an old book smell like? Do I even like that smell? And do I want to smell like that smell: old, and like books? These were the questions ...
All week, boxes, trolleys, and chairs have been moving back and forth as the new government, new MPs, and survivors from the old government transition into their new roles. ...
At 17, Timoti Te Moke stared through prison cell bars and thought this would be his life forever. He’d dropped out of school three years earlier, ended up in a gang, been arrested dozens of times, and suffered beatings which left him feeling dead inside. All he knew was ...
Winston Peters’ attention-seeking comments this week about the ‘bribery’ of the media by the former government would be sad, if they weren’t so … sad. Sad for his new friend Christopher Luxon for putting him, the new Government and the first Cabinet meeting in the shade. (What image dominated the ...
The Dragon Slayer Lord Winston, Deputy King, Duke of Hazard, Conspiracy Svengali, and Chief Dragon Slayer, Rides into the dark mountains On his mighty war steed Limelight. Beside him, struggling to keep up, Is King Cluxon The Confident. Now remember not to rush off On any quests, says the ...
He’s one of the most recognisable actors in the country. He’s also an award-winning playwright. Sam Brooks sits down with Michael Galvin to talk about the lesser known side of his career.Every weeknight at 7pm, you can sit down in front of your TV screen and reliably see Michael ...
The journey of a Palestinian soul seeking the embrace of home. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Illustrations by little rain.I am not one of those with blue eyes, but I am made of clay that came down from heaven and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin Leif, Senior Lecturer, Educational Psychology & Inclusive Education, Monash University Markus Spiske/ Unsplash, CC BY-SA A Senate inquiry has found Australian students need specific lessons in how to behave. The inquiry, which has been looking at “increasing disruption ...
Drive-thru menus these days are confusing and scattershot, filled with a random assortment of doodles of food and vague adwords. It didn’t used to be this way, writes Hayden Donnell. Kate was young, but she can still picture it clearly. She was in the back of the car as it ...
Described as one of the greatest true crime stories about a crime that never happened, eight-part podcast Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me has won two silvers at this year’s New Zealand Podcast Awards, for best documentary podcast and best true crime podcast. It was the first podcast ...
The writer, actor and TV presenter looks back on her most memorable celebrity encounters, a sticky game show situation and making The Jaquie Brown Diaries. Jaquie Brown has traversed many corners of our local television universe. She’s been trapped under a piano with Andrew WK on Space, taken a limousine ...
I knew she was interested in me because she sat down at the table after she served my cheesecake. “How’s your cheesecake?” “Absolutely delicious. Tastes better cos you’re sitting with me.” “That’s a rather cheesy compliment.” Her leg brushed mine, softly. “My husband’s at work,” she said. ...
Watercare had already doubled down on user charges; now it’s tripling down. With the Government’s promise to repeal Labour’s Three Waters reform in its first 100 days, the big drinking water and wastewater services provider tells Newsroom it’s now unable to finance Auckland’s infrastructure needs. Chief executive Dave ...
A declaration to make global food systems sustainable and climate compatible, signed by some 130 countries, was tabled yesterday at COP28 in Dubai. It was the first time farming and food were given such prominence in nearly 30 years of United Nation’s climate negotiations. “Global food systems are broken ...
Just four months ago, Ruby Nathan was filing in to Auckland’s Eden Park to watch the world’s best women’s footballers play in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Now the 18-year-old forward has the chance to play alongside them, receiving her first Football Ferns call-up for two games against Colombia ...
‘While we were all asleep here in Aotearoa, my aunty and cousins were killed in their home in Gaza.’ A letter from a young Palestinian New Zealander. ‘“On the 14th of October, we here in Gaza are under attack by Israel. And America supports the bombing of civilian homes, killing ...
Fixing the economy is a hefty workload for a Cabinet that's so far been dogged by distractions - driven partly by new Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters. ...
This week, ‘The Crewe Murders: Inside New Zealand’s most infamous cold case’, a new book from Massey University Press written by Kirsty Johnston and James Hollings. Award-winning investigative journalist Kirsty Johnston joins the podcast to discuss the case and read an excerpt of the book herself. The murder of Harvey ...
Opinion: Act Party leader David Seymour has announced his party’s Treaty Principles bill would go through the parliamentary process “to enhance the mana of the treaty” and to “debate what our founding document means in the modern age”. To enhance the treaty and to debate its meaning, we ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, a US court case claiming Google’s overreaching on users’ privacy, a look inside an Auckland start-up incubator wanting to shake up the future of carbon emissions, what the new government’s rollback of the Smokefree 2025 legislation means, the ...
In just four years, Pals has gone from a one-man startup to a category-changing monster. This is the untold story of how four friends took on the multinational liquor giants – and won. When Pals first appeared, the liquor industry barely noticed. “None of it made sense,” says Kane Stanford, ...
This week on Their house, my garden, we meet a very different sort of gardener.Some people might say that the best thing about artists is that they make the world more beautiful and you can put their work on your wall to make your home look cool. I think ...
29 November 2023 Waiheke Local Board today unanimously passed a motion demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Palestine. The board also agreed to fly the Palestine flag from their Local Board building for one month, starting from today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy, next week heads to COP28 in Dubai, leading the Australian delegation. He joins the podcast to talk about the meeting, which he hopes will be easier than ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the extra day added to the halt in fighting, and called on all parties and countries with influence to work towards a long-term ceasefire. ...
Cancelled bookings, ‘temporary’ closures, ‘unforeseen circumstances’ and yet no official announcement from anyone linked to the popular Auckland businesses. What’s going on?Two high-profile Auckland eateries linked to a prolific hospitality figure have closed unexpectedly, leaving customers in the dark as to why and for how long. A notice has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Parker, Professor of Law, The University of Melbourne Yuriy Golub/Shutterstock Online platforms are awash with ads for so-called “green” products. Power companies are “carbon neutral”. Electronics are “for the planet”. Clothing is “circular” and travel is “sustainable”. Or are ...
A week ago we launched our PledgeMe campaign to help fund What’s eating Aotearoa, a longform journalism project focused on food and how it shapes this country. We’ve just passed the $33k mark.With PledgeMe it’s all or nothing, and we need to hit our goal of $50,000. If you’ve ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Supremacism is a cultural belief that an in-group of humanity is inherently superior to other groups, and that those other groups have lesser human rights ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matt McDonald, Associate Professor of International Relations, The University of Queensland Day one of the COP28 climate summit saw the first big breakthrough: agreement on a “loss and damage” fund to compensate poor states for the effects of climate change. Met with ...
The Spinoff Podcast Network picked up three gongs at this year’s NZ Podcast Awards. Our politics podcast Gone By Lunchtime won best current affairs podcast for the second year in a row, while This Is Kiwi scored silver in best branded podcast and Business Is Boring placed third in best ...
An appearance at Manurewa Intermediate School on Friday morning proved the cellphone ban in schools had survived coalition talks, with new Prime Minister Christoper Luxon stating the ban would be in place during his first 100 days in office. Polling from Horizon Research shows most New Zealanders appear to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English, University of Sydney Known for his music with The Pogues, and perhaps the most important Irish writer since James Joyce, the venerated and critically acclaimed Shane MacGowan has died in Dublin at the age of ...
Te Whatu Ora’s issued a reminder to the public over vaccine safety, citing “misinformation” being spread by a “health agency staff member”. The health agency’s chief executive, Margie Apa, said the staff member had “no clinical background or expert vaccine knowledge” and what he was claiming was “completely wrong and ...
The following can be attributed to a spokesperson from the Taxpayers’ Union: “Steve Maharey shouldn’t have been allowed to quit. He has refused to front media or explain his Board’s continued apparent confidence in Pharmac’s CEO, despite her obvious ...
Pharmac’s chair has resigned, five years after joining the board of the health agency. Steve Maharey is a former Labour Party minister and came under fire earlier this year after writing a number of columns that came close to breaching the required political neutrality guidelines for public service board members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Piovarchy, Research Associate, Institute for Ethics and Society, University of Notre Dame Australia It seems like we have free will. Most of the time, we are the ones who choose what we eat, how we tie our shoelaces and what articles ...
A new poem by multimedia artist and writer Kate Aschoff. crude public behavior I know I could be Paris Hilton’s new BFF / In the Summer mosquitoes find me delicious / Even though I am tall and a team player and have “swimmers shoulders” / Saturday Netball is my least ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (Bloomsbury, $37) The Irish novel that just won the 2023 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neale Cohen, Head of Diabetes Clinics, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute Shutterstock Monitoring the level of glucose (sugar) in your blood is vital if you have diabetes. You get results in real time, which allows you to adjust your medications, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Sharam, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University A building group based in Eltham, Victoria.Image: Property Collectives High-performance, affordable housing built in existing suburbs should be a big part of the solution to Australia’s housing crisis. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Gildersleeve, Professor of English Literature, University of Southern Queensland NFSA Since 1988, World AIDS Day has been held each year on December 1. This World AIDS Day, we’re reflecting on one of the most important HIV/AIDS documentaries ever produced: ...
Ellen Rykers talks to a Southland couple with ambitious plans to divert construction waste from landfill. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof, brought to you by AMP. Sign up here. As much as 50% of the waste generated in New Zealand comes from construction and demolition, and a ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling for Hastings District Councillor Damon Harvey to be reinstated in his committee chair role and the councillors to instead hold a vote of no confidence in the Mayor following revelations that he was stripped of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alistair Woodward, Professor, School of Population Health, University of Auckland Climate change has many effects, but one of the most significant will feature for the first time at COP28 – its impact on human health. Now under way in Dubai, the latest ...
The new National, ACT and New Zealand First co-governance government has set its sights firmly on removing Māori rights, judging from their coalition agreements. The new government’s first joint announcement included that they would remove the ...
Commenting on proposals to reduce Auckland’s refuse collection from weekly to fortnightly, Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesman, Jordan Williams, said: “Auckland Council’s finances are in dire straits, and clearly serious savings need to be ...
Former National cabinet minister Hekia Parata has resigned from the Royal Commission into the Covid-19 pandemic. She departed the commission on November 15, ahead of the formation of the new government but after the overall election result was known. The National-led coalition has announced it will look to introduce a ...
E tū, the biggest private sector union in Aotearoa New Zealand, is shocked to learn that the National Party’s coalition agreement with ACT would see planned tax breaks for landlords brought forward, costing at least $900 million according to analysis ...
RNZ political reporter Katie Scotcher, Newhub's political editor Jenna Lynch, and the New Zealand Herald's deputy political editor, Thomas Coughlan discuss the coalition government's first week in charge. ...
On Tuesday, MPs will be required to pledge an oath of allegiance to ‘ His Majesty King Charles the Third, His heirs and successors’ before they can be officially sworn into Parliament. This is symbolic of the colonial power that Parliament places ...
Auckland’s new professional football franchise has less than a year to assemble a squad that’s not just competitive, but capable of winning over the city’s fickle fans. Whose signatures should they be hunting?Professional football is returning to Auckland. Billionaire American businessman Bill Foley, owner of NHL champions the Las ...
As a new climate loss and damage fund is operationalised on the first day of the COP28 UN climate conference, Greenpeace Aotearoa is condemning the New Zealand Government’s decision to restart offshore fossil fuel exploration, which will only lead to more ...
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists have settled their pay negotiations with Te Whatu Ora ending months of bargaining and industrial action. More than 90 per cent of polled ASMS members voted to accept Te Whatu Ora’s latest pay offer ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists and media workers have criticised comments made by Aotearoa New Zealand’s newly-elected Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters — who claimed that a 2020 Labour government media funding initiative constituted “bribery” — as a threat to media freedom. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reports that it ...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AThycGCakk&feature=emb_rel_end
Sorry wrong link above
https://youtu.be/L9eFABJqGTM
Not sure we should be taking existential cues from a dinosaur.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYXpRWHVIPE
Certainly not from the current DINOsaurs* like Manchin and Sinema.
*Reptilian Democrats In Name Only
If Dems can get Biden's BBB through, they will have passed nearly $5Trillion in domestic spending despite Manchin, Sinema and a skinny majority. Not bad.
I must say that Joe B has had his work cut out. The Paid family leave and medical leave is gone and so is the proposed Tax on billionaires – Thanks Mauchin. But they are still not there yet – huge disappointment to the progressive members of both Senate and House, and the House has just postponed voting on it until next week.
I hear Jacinda and other politicians invoking the "rules based order" fairly often
Read this and consider how much we actually value our commitment to human rights
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/10/29/special-report-assumptions-vs-facts-how-the-assange-case-confronts-our-biases/
There's info in here from Selwyn Manning that was new to me
Thanks Francesca. Have been following this online.
Yay!!!
This article put up yesterday was an absolute mish mash of pregnant people (actually in the headline)interspersed with pregnant women
Today it has been edited with none of the nonsense pregnant people using pregnant women instead
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/126805433/covid19-pregnant-women-delaying-getting-vaccinated-playing-russian-roulette
I don't think mixed messaging about the vaccine is the main problem. I believe the problem is the very clear messaging from the moment a woman considers a pregnancy that anything she eats, drinks, breathes in that is not pure food or pure air will harm her baby. And if she does have that glass of wine, slice of brie or catches a whiff of exhaust fumes on her daily commute she alone is responsible for any perceived defect in her child.
A mother's guilt is never-ending. In a climate like that, she'd rather die than have any sense she may harm her child by deliberately injecting a vaccine into her pregnant body. Which of course makes no sense because the most harm a person who cares so much could do to her child is not be around for them.
+1
Does Auckland stay in the current level system until all DHB's top to bottom have made it to 90% eligible 2 jabs? Or does Auckland have to get only their own DHB's, 3 – I think, to the target? Can someone please clarify.
When the 3 Auckland DHBs each individually reach 90% fully vaccinated, the Auckland region gets to the red light at the end of the tunnel, ie the traffic light system. Counties Manukau looks likely to be the last one to reach that target, somewhere around mid-December I'm guessing.
The hard border around the Auckland region will remain until all DHBs nationally reach the 90% double-vaccinated target. At which time the entire nation will change to the traffic light system. edit: It’s probably too soon to predict what might happen to the Auckland border at that time. It may remain in place if Auckland still has significant community transmission and the rest of the country doesn’t.
All of this is subject to change in response to changing circumstances (including simple political pressure).
Thanks for that Andre. I was concerned Auckland would have to stay locked down until heaven knows when the whole country hits the target. The end is in sight, at last, for our big apple. Stay strong Auckland.
Another 7 weeks of home detention with day release for work really isn't much of an "end in sight". Trust me on this.
Already I can see Covid getting out in every region, this will be the deciding factor. Lockdowns will be required when the health system is unable to cope, regardless of vaccination as antibodies wane or a new mutation overwhelms the vaccine. Vaccination is the only thing which can partially contain Covid without a lockdown.
Will Covid in every region occur before full vaccination reaches 90% for every DHB?
Everyone in New Zealand should expect to be exposed to the virus within a year or so. Even if we get to over 95% vaccination. The Auckland border won't stand much longer against the political pressure building to open it.
I find it infuriating that locking down with its attendant removal of four Bill of Right rights seems to be viewed with equanimity, but that imposing a few minor restriction and consequences on those that choose to exercise their right to refuse vaccination in a pandemic seems to be a no-go zone.
It's not a given that some new variant worse than Delta will arise. It's possible that the Delta spike protein is very close to the peak possible match to the ACE-2 receptor on the surface of human cells that it uses to get in. If that's the case, then a virus that evolves enough changes to its spike protein that the antibodies no longer attach, then that altered spike protein also won't be a good fit to the ACE-2 protein and the virus won't be very infectious. Which seems to be the case for that A.30 variant Cricklewood was bedwetting about yesterday.
The Right to Life trumps your BORA nonsense, and I assure you that there is copious public pressure from non-Aucklanders to keep that border closed.
So long as the external and internal borders remain closed, this outbreak will burn itself out (there are only so many unvaccinated muppets in Auckland). Point is, it will take a while.
BORA nonsense? Fuck off, asshole. Even within the Auckland borders we don't have freedom of movement, freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly, or freedom of religion, as expressed in the Bill of Rights. At least partly because of some assholes fantasising that the right to refuse medical treatment also confers on them the right to be disease spreaders in workplaces and public spaces.
Advocating for locking down more than a third of the population for however long it takes a disease outbreak to burn out (which is never; it's going to become endemic) is an appalling disrespect for individual human rights. It's the kind of authoritarian thinking that I want nothing to do with. But it's sadly prevalent among large parts of "the left".
[RL: You have an argument – but it wasn’t made any better by the first sentence. Chill.]
[I just moderated another comment of yours for abuse, so adding to RL’s moderation here. Putting you in premod until I see an agreement from you to stop the abuse towards other commenters. If you are unclear on where the boundaries are, just ask, I’m happy to clarify the line between robust debate and abuse/flaming.
This is a heated, fast moving but long term conversation and my concern is resentment is building up over time betweem regulars. Mods don’t want to have to manage flame wars, so intervening now. See this from the Policy:
I also suggest checking your comments because not all mods give a heads up about mod notices. – weka]
New Zealand is actually too small for the disease to become endemic, so long as the border remains shut. Influenza actually burns itself out each year in NZ, only to be imported fresh from overseas.
In this case, so long as the disease is confined to unvaccinated muppets (and there is good reason for thinking it is), it will burn itself out. We're seeing a Delta wave among a clearly defined subset of Auckland, not Auckland generally. At some point (maybe now-ish), the outbreak will peak, and start declining. The key being to keep it confined.
Yes, I'm authoritarian on this issue. I don't mind. I like not crashing the entire public health system.
mod notes for you Andre.
The doctrine of minority rights is the sleeper in this issue. Lawyers bringing the profession into disrepute ain't nothing new, of course, and the default position of the establishment is to fudge the decision-making around a complaint as much as possible. Journos assuming truth instead of establishing it are likewise nothing new, but we ought not to side with the oppressed automatically because delusional thinking is widespread nowadays. Lawyer/politician Grey was on the hikoi which used the delusion of personal sovereignty to have a go defeating state sovereignty.
Bit left field.
Having been to Auckland don't get it. And can't go there, but a bit weird timing
"Auckland, closed to the world by Covid, tops Lonely Planet’s list of best cities to visit"
Last time I checked it was about 3 dollars for a game of pool. Frankly that auto puts places on my no go list.
That and the dire public transport.
Hey. Nice people though. /Big ups there. I still love yus kiwi brothers and brothettes. 🙂
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/29/auckland-closed-to-the-world-by-covid-tops-lonely-planets-list-of-best-cities-to-visit
Heh! According to the article, "the cities were “judged against a criteria addressing topicality, unique experiences, ‘wow’ factor and sustainability”."
Spent Friday night at Piha, up and down the beach super-black sand with drizzly tropical rain, Pohutukawa cliffs on my right and burnt orange setting sun on my left.
And I was the only person there.
If the tourists could just hold off for a bit ………
Fish and chip shop still operating ?
Closest is Titirangi.
Andrew Geddis:
I suspect the decision was not actually made by the process, but by a bureaucrat. To err is human. Our public service has long been notorious for treating the public with contempt – notwithstanding all those public servants who try to do it right.
Well yes, Andrew, govt evasion of accountability is a traditional syndrome. The important thing is to protect the anonymity of delinquent public servants. The method used combines privilege with privacy law. Being a law prof means you can't tell the truth of course, so we get why you skip over this bit.
Yes, best to gamble 50c each way on the issue of coincidence. Correlation ain't causation. Fortunately pesky litigants will be eliminated.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/29-10-2021/andrew-geddis-our-miq-system-is-at-a-legal-and-humanitarian-tipping-point/
Sport vs pregnant woman. The one is a profit center the other is a cost center.
And yet for 18 months MIQ has pretty much worked in terms of its over-riding objective – stopping Covid-positive people wandering off aeroplanes into the community. There have been only a handful of leaks with unfortunately the last one (Delta) proving ineradicable once it got out – mostly due to declining lockdown compliance.
And if you expect such a brutal but necessary system to be set up on the fly without producing numerous examples of injustice and the odd outright idiocy – where the hell have you been and what have you spent your life doing?
Still – it will be good to see the MIQ system wound down and that transition is starting. Though now the armchair critics like to point out that with community transmission in Auckland, Aucklanders now present a statistically greater risk than returning travelers, so we have inconsistent settings. Aside from the obvious fact that transitions are usually messy, the inconsistency argument is an odd one. Why would we create an additional risk for a still partially-vaccinated population, by weakening MIQ safeguards and adding a new source of infection as a nice little top-up to what is already going on in Auckland? Fortunately the government is not that silly.
The big dumps like over seas, no thanks. The nice little top ups are bad enough.
For an undergraduate exam, I am going to be 'writing' about Maori and the vaccine rollout. I am just after specific examples of the government working with Maori to rollout the vaccine together.
Why was my question about the government working with Maori to rollout the vaccine together removed?
all first time commenter comments get held back to be release manually to prevent spam.
Wayne Hope's analysis on TDB is worth a read.
Very sensible & I commend him for using archetype theory appropriately. He describes seven, and seven is the magic number, so the effect on readers will be magical – but only if the invisible spell works. Regardless, Pythagoras would be proud.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/10/30/anti-vaxxers-a-users-guide/
Hoo boy, that cover.
https://twitter.com/Newsweek/status/1453314681653927945
https://www.newsweek.com/2021/11/05/covid-now-major-cause-death-kids-many-parents-remain-hesitant-vaccine-1642720.html
First question: Do the unvaccinated who contract covid19 and survive develop natural immunity?
Second question: Is that natural immunity more reliable than vaccine generated immunity?
Third question: Is the reporting of vaccine numbers actually understating the true level of immunity in the community?
1: Mostly, but apparently it's quite variable. Reports of second covid infections were happening before vaccinations started. Since then, reporting interest has shifted more to breakthrough infections. It's worth noting that even in places like the US, there are a lot more vaccinated people than there are covid survivors, so there's no useful info to be gained from just comparing numbers of second covid infections to numbers of breakthrough infections.
2: Up until recently, there appeared to be a consensus that vaccine-derived immunity was stronger and more reliable than infection-derived immunity. With Delta, that consensus doesn't appear quite as strong.
3: In New Zealand, very very few people have actually been exposed to the virus and derived immunity. So the only way NZers have immunity is through vaccination, so only going by vaccination numbers is not understating the level of immunity in our community.
Overseas, yes, there are likely to be significant numbers of the unvaccinated that have acquired immunity through infection. So although in this coming week, it is likely that the percentage of fully vaccinated NZers will pass that of Israel, UK, and Germany, we will still likely have less population immunity than those countries.
Kourtney Kardashian had Covid as an unvaccinated person and now has covid as a fully vaccinated person. I think the virus does as the virus likes and that the 'vaccines' at best give some protection against severe illness, but that is about all it does and only for a few month at best. Mask, physically distance, santize and don't got to large gatherings for the forseable future. Get tested, get jabbed and hope it is enough.
The vaccines only give some protection against severe illness? Well I suppose that's good enough reason for some to not have anyone vaccinated.
It is literally all it does. It does not prevent you from catching it, it does not prevent you from transmitting it, it will however in most cases prevent you from dying. If you find an issue with that, don't discuss this with me, but discuss this with more knowledgable people who are saying exactly the same.
So i repeat for those that have issues understanding how to behave in the times of the plague.
1. mask up
2. physically distance from others – 1 – 2 m while waiting in line for example
3. sanitize like your life depended on it, cause funnily enough it does.
4. if you are an essential worker or work in a high risk environment get tested regularly, like once a week.
5. if not already done, get jabbed
but keep in mind, that the 'vaccine' will not stop you from catching Covid, nor from transmitting it.
Behave accordingly.
Immediately after a vaccination, the vaccinated person is 90% less likely to contract Covid. That appears to wane to about 50% over 6 months although it's not clear to me whether that's based on actual studies or antibodies. It's true that it doesn't prevent it completely, but 90% is still pretty good.
I did read that and thought maybe 2 different strains. Appears as though break through with Delta when vaccinated. Not being vaccinated when infectious with a previous strain it is unknown if break through would have occurred.
they have had break through cases all along. But it goes hand in hand as what was in then news yesterday via the BBC, namely that the jab will not prevent you from spreading it if you have it – this would be household cases for the most part as you would be isolating at home, nor would it prevent you from catching it if someone else brings it home or to the work place.
However, chances are that you will feel very little to no discomfort, and only in a few cases so far have serious illness or death happened in these break through cases.
And yes, new variants would make a breakthrough case easier i would assume.
https://news.yale.edu/2021/09/07/study-examines-severe-breakthrough-cases-covid-19
From the studies I've seen, if you survive, and don't get Long Covid, then yes you develop a more effective natural immunity. But it's an unnecessary risk
Not sure if it was on Prime news or newshub this evening, schools in NSW have closed down after opening up recently and in the UK 9% of students have had Covid.
Another Trumpy protest in central Auckland today.
That's the accurate description, because when you look at the slogans the language is imported from the USA far right: "Don't tread on me", "The media is the virus", etc.
Oh, and Auckland's record high number of cases today. Irony is beyond these fools.
So another bump in ak cases in a week or 3
The footage of the protests is beyond parody. First, today of all days, they wave Tonga flags – so NZ should have more "freedom" to infect the poor Tongans?
Then they chant "Together as one" … solidarity, comrades? No, because "socialism is taking over". Four legs good, two legs better!
Newmarket, from Herald coverage
Spreading Covid is the issue and not an anti vaxers right to protest. Anti vaxers seem to think they have an entitlement to infect children and other people and to overwhelm the health system.
Portia Woodman isn't named in the Black Ferns! Is! nothing! sacred!?
(hope you mend that injury soon)
https://www.twitter.com/NewshubPolitics/status/1454245810854531075
Because the best way to convince nervous parents is to ignore Medsafe's independence? They will be reassured by Dr Seymour instead?
It's highly irresponsible, and of course he knows it and he doesn't care. Easy headlines are all that matters.
Six months Time
Seymour railes at govt for not waiting for medsafe approval!!!!!
Really stupid he is quoted as saying!
It has been approved or is in the process of being approved elsewhere on this planet. Medsafe is literally sleepwalking through a pandemic, but yeah, we have time, its not as if the virus ain't here.
It has been approved in the US, and maybe that is why the Hologram is asking government to approve here too. But then maybe US American humans are different to NZ humans.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-advisory-panel-oks-pfizer-vaccine-kids-5-11-rcna3726
Medsafe is not sleepwalking, literally or figuratively.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/29/covid-19-vaccine-approved-children-latest
Many people who are in no way "anti-vax" will need to have confidence that a decision is not taken by a government Minister just for a headline. For the sake of a few days it could undermine the entire vaccination programme. To say nothing of all future decisions (boosters, new variants etc)
Let's agree to have a different opinion on that.
Doesn't look like an application has been made yet: https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/status-of-applications.asp
Medsafe is fairly pedestrian. under resourced and under skilled having lost a large percentage of their more skilled assessors over the last 24 months.
They also lean heavily on offshore agencies in well regulated markets when making their decisions.
What Seymour has failed to realise is even if the government stepped in (they won't), the dose in 5-12yrs is only 1/3 of that in older cohorts and I believe we will need to order paediatric specific vaccine vials rather than utilising current stock at smaller volumes (I may be incorrect).
Additionally the utility of vaccinating children both for their own health and to limit spread of the virus vs. the risk posed is debatable.
I seem to recall some articles saying we were in discussions with Pfizer about the feasibility of using the stocks of adult vaccine we already have. The articles gave the impression that more dilution would be involved, but wasn't specific.
I've seen plenty of discussion pieces saying the risk/benefit for children is debatable, but the only risk I've seen alluded to in those "debates" is myocarditis. But allegedly myocarditis is a much lower risk in under 12s than it is in over 12s.
Meanwhile, "lower risk than adults" does not mean "no risk" or even "low enough risk to not be worth worrying about". Over 500 kids in the US have died from covid and a lot more have long-term issues. Scaled to NZ population, that still looks like enough harm to kids to take it very seriously.
It's not a given that some new variant worse than Delta will arise.
It is not a given that it will not arise. The reinfection of Covid with a different strain with or without vaccination, antibodies on the spike protein appear to have some weaknesses which need to be fully understood. Break through infection also needs to be fully understood as it might not have much to do with waining immunity.
How many people returning to NZ have long Covid or worsened health conditons due to Covid?
Reply to Andre @ 4.1.2.1.
Recovery 29 is on Prime TV at 8.30 pm tonight. It was on Tuesday night, I will rewatch it. It is about going into the Pike River mine drift. Many details were covered, the cost, division in the community, the purpose of re entery.
The hunter/gatherer lifestyle is distant from many of us nowaday, so perhaps the PM & partner felt the need to reconnect with it. After all, it's the original evolutionary basis of humanity.
No kidding!! Isn't that some kind of breach of confidentiality? Get Hager onto this leaked email story pronto. Just say the two words `dirty politics' & I reckon he'll get the angle in a fraction of a second.
Now that can't possibly be right. It would mean that all food hygiene regulations mention wild venison. I think someone fed him a little white lie.
Bird-man? Evolutionary hybrids are quite rare but anything's possible.
Is it worth them paying 5k to end the harassment? I wouldn't. I reckon if he had a contract we'd know by now. It's bluff. Capital vs Labour. Next step: court case.
AFAIK you can't sell your catch but you can serve it to non-paying family/guests if it's professionally butchered .
yes, and no. It also depends on the food control plan of that particular place. For example – any wild game will have specific requirements to be met in order to be usable and servable at this venue. If this particular venue has not set its food control plan up for this – due to restrictions and hassle to be honest, then it would mean that this particular venue would have to update its food control plan and pass this by the council for approval, at a cost bien sur.
Also the food control plan will have a list of anyone authorized in the kitchen, front of house etc. The owner of the premises will have to have training records for everyone who is in that kitchen working. Any new person, requires thus training, updated records etc etc etc. Thanks Ministry of Business and Inovation
For example, i have a total exclusion of peanuts on my site, simply due to the allergen risk. This is in my food control plan. If someone were to bring locally foraged peanuts for a specific cake – a cake that was ordered but not specified as a peanut cake …., or a cake that would be peanuts and a brought in chef, i would have to train this chef on my food control plan, and update my food control plan, and only then were this person allowed to bake this peanut cake in my kitchen.
Now i totally understand that people are loath to critique the PM on anything, but in this case, if she had a contract, or a verbal agreement, and there are emails pertaining to this, then pay the 5 grand and go have your foraging and gathering wedding elsewhere.
This all seems very odd in a small town like Gisborne. Pierson's website says he's been there 20 years at least, in that time you'd have built up a fairly accurate reputation and people would know what you can do and can't. Clarke and family should have been able to have sussed the organisation and management out and management out and known what was coming.
It's pretty common for high level wedding events to include a celebrity chef and team. Venues here work around that and embrace it to enhance their reputation and often learn heaps. Some just have a very top end kitchen and the event organisers arrange the kitchen team. It sort of reads that Pierson was offered the dream gig and blew it.
As for wild game at a wedding, it's certainly a Southland tradition and is common in hunting circles. Have been to several weddings and flash places here where the groom and party have provided game and kai moana, once to the chef's specifications and it was a very enjoyable night, and foraging expeditions for the lads.
It is called a cancelation fee.
Any venue will have that in a contract. So if the PM and her husband to be have signed a binding agreement that they will use these premises i would suggest that they do the correct thing and pay the 5 grand. Its not as if it a lot of money to them. It is also called a Place holder fee. Once booked, and this was booked before covid, they would have refused any other occasion to happen at that time. And for what its worth, that email exchange can actually be proof of that agreement, and i would also like to point out that verbal agreements can be considered fully binding and legal.
But then, right, how dare these businesses inconvenience the most powerful women and hubby. Don't they know their limits and place?
The question is, why on earth would you want a lavish 150 people strong wedding during a pandemic where people aren't even allowed out of quarantine – vaxxed and covid free (per tests) to see a dying dad.
Fwiw, i have a cancellation fee of 30% of the sum total for any order as they days of work for these orders are booked in, and other orders at that time either will have to be done at a different time or refused.
I appreciate your insight into the situation Sabine, and it sounds like that scenario could apply as you suggest. However I suspect they didn't sign a contract. I think if they had they'd already have paid the cancellation fee.
Seems to me they were still negotiating the terms of the contract, and that negotiation which dragged on many months was what the email trail actually documents.
Re the 150/pandemic thing, yeah that's probably why it has dragged out so long. They've been stalled by Delta. Will Neve be bridesmaid in the new year? That's the question the women's mag editors will be pondering. Paparazzi alert!
As i said, if they had a verbal agreement, and the emails pertain to that, and if he can prove say that he refused other events for this timeframe, then he has a case.
In any case, this is petty, bullshitty and in the times of the plague in which hospitality businesses suffer just plain ugly.
My point being this guy is not pretending that someone booked his venue. Someone did. Someone told him a different cook was wanted. Someone told him wild food would be hunted and prepared on his premises by that cook etc etc etc.
So clearly there was an understanding that that would happen there, and sorry mate, but food control plan is food control plan. He breaks his plan he can lose his business.
And frankly i find the idea that some multi millionaires (and both fall in that category) would battle it out publicly over 5 grand is just plain sad. And it does not paint the venue owner in a sad light, but the PM and her husband to be.
Also, first you book and you state how many people etc etc etc and then you plan. Do not plan a wedding before you have the venue secured as you might find yourself without one.
Also Delta arrived in India in April and in NZ in July. so that too ain’t a good excuse.
The point is, if you cancel a booked venue expect a cancellation fee. If you cancel a booked venue because you need specially hunted food, specially gathered food, specially brought in cook/chefs then you pay the cancellation fee.
If the venue cancels on you, you would expect a total refund of what ever you paid to secure the venue.
Securing he venue is the first thing you do when holding such a schindig.
Last she is the PM, they would have a contract. Seriously, as she would not want to show up in her wedding gown, just to find someone else who booked with a contract holding their wedding.
You make a strong case – I can see why business owner/operators get so grumpy about regulations. One of my younger brothers is to the right of ACT and you ought to hear him go on about that stuff. He's built several businesses, thinks the Nats are a joke, watches only Fox News etc. I had to learn compassion – it's a sad fate when folks box themselves into a social niche so tight they can't get out.
These rules and regulations are in place so that you don't get salmonella, or food poisioning, or be served possum stew rather then the Osso Bucca you ordered. Can't help you there with your younger brother on that, he will have to live with the fact that rules exists and that people have to abide by them.
The reason i explained this is as people seem to really have no idea actually what goes into raising a successful eatery or fine restaurant. It is a lot of work, requires skilled and trained staff (even if they are migrants they are skilled and trained), and there are rules for everything, down to the point of how many times a day you have to check temperatures of your fridges and freezers.
So yes, you can hunt a wild deer, you can get it butchered by someone who knows what they do, and you can serve it in your back yard. But try to bring this into any legal lisenced premise that is not set up for it, or has a food control plan that does not allow for it, and it ain't a happening thing. Not because the business would not want too, but because it is too costly to make it so, and breaking the rules means to get fined many many dollars and lose business and reputation.
So they should pay the cancellation fee and have a back yard wedding with a famous chef, and hunted and gathered food. Non of this needs anymore publicity.
Fuck these people suffer.
https://twitter.com/juliaioffe/status/1454291962023092225
https://twitter.com/juliaioffe/status/1454295678511947777
https://meduza.io/news/2021/10/29/rosstat-za-devyat-mesyatsev-v-rossii-umerli-299-tysyach-chelovek-s-koronavirusom
google translate
Some serious analysis is required on how vaccines are performing. Surely the vaccines are being tested on past strains and new strains which are emerging. Russia is going into the winter period in a month.
"vaccinating the world should remain the priority."
https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2665-9913%2821%2900330-1
Is there are reason my comments fall into moderation?
Not that I am aware of. But I will have a look at the next one that does.
Not always, just every now and then for a few days. Usually that happens when there are links or to many but it is now doing it on standard comments with no links either.
cheers.
If you copy text with links, right-click on them before posting & select unlink on each one. Sometimes I forget & mine end up in moderation/purgatory too.
These are comments without links. And i usually unlink before posting to facilitate posting. It's just a wee glitch in the matrix. 🙂
there was a word in the filter that you use a lot. It's been removed, so you shouldn't have a problem now.
what word is it?
Sabine uses one of the words in the filter a lot, but I see you've had a clean out 🙂