Search Results
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Comment:Both sides reporting in the time of Trump
Date published: 5:35 pm, January 25th, 2021Every good Journo is taught that the left and the right are both full of crap and that it's their job to hold both sides to account and strip them of their gloss to show public can see politicians for what they are, journalists will never stop reporting ...
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Comment:Regulate big tech now
Date published: 11:25 am, January 18th, 2021I agree. The problem is politicians are by and large tech illiterate, Politicians don't know enough about tech to regulate tech. Most kiwi politicians can't tell you the difference between hacking and traffic overload. Plus they benifit from the current ...
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Comment:The Parler purge
Date published: 4:53 pm, January 13th, 2021Too little too late from big tech. The damage social media has done to politicial discourse it's insane now. Social media allows us to broadcast our first reactions to news and our first reactions are usually angry and uniformed. While we're happy Trump ...
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Comment:What now for Judith?
Date published: 3:47 pm, December 8th, 2020The colmar before the election had National on 31% a 6% margin of error compared to their real result. Why is TVNZ still using this company after 2017 and this election. Also considering they always over poll National their real result is probs about 20-23...
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Comment:Media crisis may be most problematic
Date published: 3:58 pm, November 27th, 2020Media doesn't need to be saved it needs to be burnt down and recreated. What is the future of news media and local productions? It's streaming tv is dead. Print is dead. Radio will out live them all. Young people don't watch tv and they may click on news ...
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Comment:Open mike 17/11/2020
Date published: 2:36 pm, November 17th, 2020Labours motto looks set to become "let's do this but not till after we leave office" Ardern was defending Rogernomics today while ruling out any intervention in house prices or the reserve bank calling both muldoonist is just.... I wanna smash my keyboard....
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Comment:They Are Not Morons
Date published: 12:55 pm, November 17th, 2020If you wanna know how Biden will govern just look at Virginia, run be democrats at every level of government and it has the lowest living standards and lowest minimum wage and working conditions in America and every election in Virginia, Dems say to ...
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Comment:What should the left make of the US election result?
Date published: 5:10 pm, November 10th, 2020To understand why it's so close you have to for a minute put aside his insanity, bigotry etc. It was bringing back jobs. I've been watching 2015 republican establishment figures now suck him up to him label his policies "progressive" and liberal. He ran on...
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Comment:The reeferendum fails
Date published: 4:02 pm, October 30th, 2020Sad. Predictable. Nz probably would have gone for decriminalization in huge numbers but full legalization was always gonna be hard The yes campaign was basically a bunch of stoners sharing memes with very little talk about economic, environmental, ...
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Comment:Could the real Labour Party please stand up
Date published: 6:17 pm, October 29th, 2020Blair deserves a lot of hate but his govt in many ways was far more progressive than any nz LP govt since 1972. For the first term benifits went up every single year and hardship allocations were massively increased. In NZ welfare rates haven't gone up in ...
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Comment:The boy from Matamata
Date published: 2:03 pm, October 28th, 2020New Zealanders including the majority of Nat voters, think Trumps a joke, the ammount of anti Trump memes my Nat friends / family share is actually more than my lefty mates because Trump style politics doesn't fly here so really opposing a Trump nominee ...
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Comment:Open mike 22/10/2020
Date published: 1:14 pm, October 22nd, 2020Is it just me or are the left more happier in defeat. We could have woken up on Sunday to a Nat/act govt wanting to do australian style task force raptor police reforms, tax cuts , allowing people to with draw from their kiwi saver, zero investment in ...
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Comment:Show us the plan Labour
Date published: 12:40 pm, October 22nd, 2020You'd think national had a 76 seat majority and had just promised to halve benifits and privatize whatever's left of the country the way the left make out. And I'm not talking about you I'm talking about the wider left you're generally quite reasonable. ...
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Comment:Left/Green/Indigenous
Date published: 3:03 pm, October 19th, 2020Its a tough one, Labour needs to figure out where it's votes came from, was it for transformational change or strategically for centerist pragmatic govt that keeps the greens out of cabinet cos I think most of nz wants the greens and act outside any govts ...
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Comment:Open mike 05/10/2020
Date published: 6:38 pm, October 5th, 2020Yes many people who have never voted are coming out to vote for the first time in years or ever for weed. I keep getting asked by people if they can leave their party and candidate vote blank and just vote for the referendum (I think that's a an incomplete...
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Comment:What forming a Labour/Green government might look like
Date published: 6:20 pm, September 29th, 2020If we're looking at last night's numbers if the greens are needed labour would form a minority govt and rely on confidence from the greens offer them ministerial roles outside of cabinet and if the greens didn't like that they'd let them sit in the cross ...
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Comment:What Have Labour Done For The Poor, Exactly?
Date published: 9:50 pm, September 28th, 2020Notice that the nz left lazily only talks about poverty in one way: Families. Families families. Child poverty. CHILD poverty. Because middle class liberals have decided that adults who are in poverty deserve it. Won't somebody think of the children!!! ...
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Comment:Latest Newshub/Reid Research poll - Labour cruising, National floundering
Date published: 2:19 am, September 28th, 2020It could also be that some TOP voters (2% in 2017) , Some Mana voters and even shock some Tory voters (I know people so out of touch they just vote based off their favorite colour ) have gone to green whole a bunch of labour voters who strategically voted ...
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Comment:Open mike 23/09/2020
Date published: 3:29 pm, September 23rd, 2020I think it's a major miscalculation to think people are flocking to Labour and a self described bold progressive because they think she'll be moderate and consersative. What if labours rise in the polls is due to non voters who jacindas boldness turned on ...
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Comment:Last night's leader debate
Date published: 3:04 pm, September 23rd, 2020That debate reminded me of Helen Clark v Key in 2008. In 2017 Ardern was a brilliant campaigner, who acted bold,excited and spoke with emotion and gave short answers and spoke like a regular person and made announcements on the fly at times and was ...
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Comment:Daily review 14/09/2020
Date published: 10:51 pm, September 14th, 2020The liberal party or the liberal consersative party would be more appropriate. I've been disgusted with the Labour party since the current leader bipassed a leadership primary and has bit by bit turned the Labour party that was quite progressive in 2011 ...
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Comment:Labour's social welfare policy
Date published: 5:49 pm, September 13th, 2020Let's keep them eating cake. Increasing the amount a beneficiary can earn in part time employment during an unemployment crisis when there's fewer and fewer jobs on the market everyday and any new jobs will go to the newly unemployed, wow thank you for ...
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Comment:Open mike 11/09/2020
Date published: 7:54 pm, September 11th, 2020"spend wads of cash on Christchurch like stadiums and things" while I agree dhb's desperately need cash the spending on infrastructure is non negotiable and is miles away from what it should be for a center of around half a million people. This is ...
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Comment:The Greens sticking to their guns (and their values)
Date published: 7:37 pm, September 11th, 2020The Greens will never be in a Labour cabinet simply because of the structure of the party. Grassroots Members could roll a sitting minister if the minister made a decision the party membership didn't like... The scandal that would cause in media would make...
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Comment:Labour voters, if you could vote to keep the Greens in parliament would you?
Date published: 9:13 pm, September 10th, 2020The Greens don't seem to realize two things 1. We voted strategically last election and the greens wouldn't be here today if Labour voters didn't save them in 2017. 2. The greens lost 4% TOP got atleast half of that 4%. There used to be so many straight ...
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Comment:Labour's two tier welfare plans
Date published: 4:21 pm, September 5th, 2020This makes me sick. So clearly labours not releasing it's policies because it's gonna be next level neoliberal. The winter energy payment and rent freeze ends two weeks before the election, the most vulnerable people in NZ many who vote labour are gonna ...
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Comment:Open mike 04/09/2020
Date published: 2:27 pm, September 4th, 2020The winter energy payment ends two weeks before the election. Two weeks. The amount of Beneficiaries who came out and voted for the first time in 2017 who are about to lose $40 and $60 should worry labour because theyll stay home and it's a couple % that ...
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Comment:Will Jacinda Ardern meet her promise to transform?
Date published: 2:19 pm, September 4th, 2020The winter energy payment ends two weeks before the election. That's $40 and $60 being lost to the most vulnerable people in this country whose bills are up. Labour have created a two tier welfare system. Alot of people who voted labour in 2017 for the ...
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Comment:Open mike 27/08/2020
Date published: 6:38 pm, August 27th, 2020I've only been able to vote since 2011 so I'm not sure how labour in govt campaigns vs labour in opposition, but is there going to be any policy manifesto or announcements or is the manifesto the same as 2017 until all of it gets made law? It's becoming ...
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Comment:Should 16 year olds have the vote?
Date published: 4:44 pm, August 25th, 2020Commentators above think young people are uninformed ? I think you'll find they've been protesting and skipping school over climate change and it's the oldies who are misinformed. Whose gonna have to pay all this debt we're racking up back ? Lower the damn...
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Comment:Should 16 year olds have the vote?
Date published: 2:05 pm, August 25th, 2020Yes sixteen is old enough to consent to sex so why not old enough to consent to your leadership? I imagine turn out would be quite high cos they could have early voting at schools. I don't think it'll necessarily benefit the left as much as people think, ...
- Doing the minimum
The Climate Change Commission is due to release its draft budgets and emissions reduction plans on Monday, which will hopefully put a rocket under the government to actually reduce emissions. So perhaps in an attempt to pre-empt this, they've re-announced their election policy of introducing a clean car standard, to ...15 mins ago - An island never cries
If one stubbornly clings to the Elimination strategy (I don’t support it, but that will have to wait for another occasion) then try to get it right. You need secure borders. We have attempted this with a very large measure of success. It has not been perfect as the Covid-19 Response ...4 hours ago - NZ Politics Daily: 28 January 2021
Covid: General David Welch (The Conversation): Northland case is a reminder NZ’s ‘dumb good luck’ may run out Jamie Morton (Herald): Why aren’t we seeing more cases in Northland? Amelia Wade (Herald): Two new Auckland community cases, locations of interest released Adam Pearse (Northern Advocate): Two positive Auckland cases confirmed by Ministry of Health George Block (Stuff): Govt failed to release names ...4 hours ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #4, 2021
Diaspora: perception departs from reality In this collection of articles are two papers currently captivating the attention of people following the science and emergence of climate change, especially the rapid variety we've accidentally unleashed and which is now unfolding around us. The synthesis and review article Earth's Ice Imbalance by Slater ...6 hours ago - Time to tax greedThe ultra-rich have done very, very well out of the pandemic. Globally, the wealth of the ten richest people rose by US$540 billion last year, enough money to pay for the pandemic in its entirity. And in New Zealand, local billionaire Graeme Hart saw his wealth increase by almost NZ$3.5 ...20 hours ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 27 January 2021Covid: Vaccine Tova O’Brien (Newshub): New Zealand catching up to allies on COVID-19 vaccines but mass roll-out won’t begin until mid-year Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Not much time for DHBs to get ready to administer Covid vaccines, vendor warns Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Health staff train up to administer Pfizer vaccine Henry Cooke (Stuff): PM says government approval for Pfizer vaccine possible ...1 day ago
- Postmodernism – the joke is on society
Postmodernism has long been looked upon as an indecipherable ideology and a source of amusement. In 1996 Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University, had a hoax article published in ‘Social Text’ an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies. In ‘Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of ...2 days ago - Study: Accounting for value of nature reinforces Paris climate targetsThis is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Anew study in Nature Sustainability incorporates the damages that climate change does to healthy ecosystems into standard climate-economics models. The key finding in the study by Bernardo Bastien-Olvera and Frances Moore from the University of California at Davis: The models have been underestimating the ...2 days ago
- Dane Giraud: It’s time to “hound” beagle into doing his jobIn a recent interview with RNZ (14th of January), NZ Council of Civil Liberties Chair Thomas Beagle, in response to Simon Bridges condemnation of the post-Trump Twitter purge of local far Right and other accounts, said the following: “Cos the thing about freedom of expression is that it’s not just ...2 days ago
- To kill a beast.
Let’s be clear: if Trump is not politically killed off once and for all, he will become a MAGA Dracula, rising from the dead to haunt US politics for years to come and giving inspiration to his wretched family of grifters and thousands of deplorables well into the next decade. ...2 days ago - Going after the moneySince its demise as an imperial power, and especially its deindustrialisation under Thatcher, the UK's primary economic engine has been its role as a money laundry, using its network of overseas territories as tax havens to enable rich people around the world to steal from the societies they live in. ...2 days ago
- Good riddance againLast month OMV quit the Great South Basin and surrendered its offshore exploration permits outside of Taranaki. This month, Australian-owned Beach Energy has done the same: Beach Energy Resources New Zealand has decided to abandon all of its oil and gas exploration permits off the South Island coast, including ...2 days ago
- How worried should we be about these new Covid-19 mutations?
The new Northland case has been linked to the South African strain of Covid-19, one of a number of new, more contagious Covid variants. Here’s how they emerge and why. Let’s start with the basics. The genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for Covid-19 is a strand of RNA ...2 days ago - Community Or Chaos: Chris Trotter Talks To Marvin Hubbard.
2 days ago - NZ Politics Daily: 26 January 2021Covid Luke Malpass (Stuff): Northland Covid-19 case threatens to bring summer to screeching halt Audrey Young (Herald): Aussie suspension adds to Cabinet’s Covid agenda (paywalled) Richard Harman: Testing the limts – the Northland Covid-19 case Katie Todd (RNZ): ‘This is totally on the government’ – anger grows in Northland after community case revealed Laura Wiltshire (Stuff): Northland Covid-19 case will be top of ...2 days ago
- The SCIARA Project – Interactive Time Travel into the Climate FutureThis is a guest blog post by Daniel Tamberg, Potsdam, co-founder and director of SCIARA GmbH. The non-profit organisation SCIARA is developing and operating a flexible software platform for scientific simulation games that allows thousands of players to explore, design and understand possible climate futures together. Decision-makers in politics, business, ...3 days ago
- The Winds Of Change.3 days ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 25 January 2021Covid Harry Lock (RNZ): Covid community case: Infection at MIQ facility ‘most likely scenario’ Jamie Morton (Herald): Time to ‘turn down tap’ on travel from risky countries, experts say Kate Green and Jackson Thomas (Stuff): Covid-19 response, experts say in wake of probable case Audrey Young (Herald): Where is Jacinda Ardern’s collectivism when it is needed for Covid 19?(paywalled) Herald: Editorial: More spreadable ...3 days ago
- Josh Van Veen: A Modest defence of Chris LiddellIs it possible to live and let live in the post-Trump era? The online campaign to vilify Christopher Liddell, ex-White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to Trump, makes for an interesting case study. Liddell is a New Zealander whose illustrious career in corporate America once earned him plaudits ...3 days ago
- 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #4A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 17, 2021 through Sat, Jan 23, 2021 Editor's Choice 12 new books explore fresh approaches to act on climate change Authors explore scientific, economic, and political avenues for climate action ...4 days ago
- Twelve Forgotten Principles of Public Health
This discussion is from a Twitter thread by Martin Kulldorff on 20 December 2020. He is a Professor at Harvard Medical School specialising in disease surveillance methods, infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety. His Twitter handle is @MartinKulldorff #1 Public health is about all health outcomes, not just a single ...5 days ago - Analysis: The climate papers most featured in the media in 2020This article, guest authored by Robert Sweeney was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Jan 13, 2021. The first part of the article is reposted below in. Click here to access the complete original article and comments posted on Carbon Brief. Last year was meant to be very ...5 days ago
- How is the Economy Doing?
The Treasury forecasts suggest the economy is doing better than expected after the Covid Shock. John Kenneth Galbraith was wont to say that economic forecasting was designed to make astrology look good. Unfair, but it raises the question of the purpose of economic forecasts. Certainly the public may treat them ...6 days ago - COVID-19 vaccines and community immunity (transmission)Q: Will the COVID-19 vaccines prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and bring about community immunity (aka herd immunity)? A: Jury not in yet but vaccines do not have to be perfect to thwart the spread of infection. While vaccines induce protection against illness, they do not always stop actual ...6 days ago
- Biden’s Choice
Joe Biden seems to be everything that Donald Trump was not – decent, straightforward, considerate of others, mindful of his responsibilities – but none of that means that he has an easy path ahead of him. The pandemic still rages, American standing in the world is grievously low, and the ...6 days ago - Four years of the Aotearoa NZ Science Journalism FundKeana Virmani From healthcare robots to data privacy, to sea level rise and Antarctica under the ice: in the four years since its establishment, the Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund has supported over 30 projects. Rebecca Priestley, receiving the PM Science Communication Prize (Photo by Mark Tantrum) Associate Professor ...6 days ago
- Places to go, people to beNothing more from me today - I'm off to Wellington, to participate in the city's annual roleplaying convention (which has also eaten my time for the whole week, limiting blogging despite there being interesting things happening). Normal bloggage will resume Tuesday. ...6 days ago
- BannedThe Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons came into force today, making the development, possession, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons illegal in international law. Every nuclear-armed state is now a criminal regime. The corporations and scientists who design, build and maintain their illegal weapons are now ...6 days ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 22 January 2021Housing Luke Malpass (Stuff): Labour announces that it will make more housing announcements this year Zane Small and Conor Whitten (Newshub): Backlash over Labour’s public housing ‘re-announcement’ prompts firm defence from Jacinda Ardern Chris Trotter: The Economic consequences of Mr Hickey Miriam Bell (Stuff): More public housing won’t ‘fix’ the housing crisis Yvette McCullough (RNZ): Jacinda Ardern’s government facing continued criticism over its ...6 days ago
- The Economic Consequences Of Mr Hickey."Come The Revolution!" The key objective of Bernard Hickey’s revolutionary solution to the housing crisis is a 50 percent reduction in the price of the average family home. This will be achieved by the introduction of Capital Gains, Land, and Wealth taxes, and by the opening up of currently RMA-protected ...6 days ago
- Should tech giants control the public square?by Daphna Whitmore Twitter and Facebook shutting down Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill is old news now but the debates continue over whether the actions against Trump are a good thing or not. Those in favour of banning Trump say Twitter and Facebook are private companies and ...6 days ago
- What Biden and Democatic Senate can do on climate in their first 100 daysThis is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Democrats now control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade, albeit with razor thin Congressional majorities. The last time, in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), House Democrats passed a carbon cap and trade bill, but it died ...7 days ago
- The Adventures of Annalax: Volume XVI
Session thirty-three was highly abbreviated, via having to move house in a short space of time. Oh well. The party decided to ignore the tree-monster and continue the attack on the Giant Troll. Tarsin – flying on a giant summoned bat – dumped some high-grade oil over the ...7 days ago - ReliefLast night I stayed up till 3am just to see then-President Donald Trump leave the White House, get on a plane, and fly off to Florida, hopefully never to return. And when I woke up this morning, America was different. Not perfect, because it never was. Probably not even good, ...1 week ago
- Joe Biden inauguration: The pendulum has swung, but how far?
Watching today’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the United States’ 46th president, there’s not a lot in common with the inauguration of Donald Trump just four destructive years ago. Where Trump warned of carnage, Biden dared to hope for unity and decency. But the one place they converge is that ...1 week ago - NZ Politics Daily: 21 January 2021Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Greens say house prices need to fall Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Green Party will continue to push for wealth tax, blast Govt for ‘not doing enough’ about housing crisis Anna Whyte (1News): ‘Government is not doing enough’ – Greens, National call for action amid soaring public housing need, high house prices Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Govt can’t, and won’t, ...1 week ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #3, 2021Weather reporting turns into climate recording Leading a quartet of researchers, Chunlüe Zhou produces a tour de force of improved and more productive data exploitation in the paper A New Approach to Homogenize Global Subdaily Radiosonde Temperature Data from 1958 to 2018. Due to operational constraints, characteristics and the limited objectives of the ...1 week ago
- Why Do So Many Astronomy Discoveries Fail to Live Up to the Hype?Dan Falk Britons who switched on their TVs to “Good Morning Britain” on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...1 week ago
- Book Review: Unlocking the World of AutismSara Luterman Growing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...1 week ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 20 January 2021Housing Henry Cooke (Stuff): Public housing waitlist grows by 1000 in two months to new record high as high rents hit the poor Jason Walls (Herald): The Crown spent $16.5 million in four years on motels for emergency accommodation Sophie Trigger (Herald): Affordable Wellington flats offered through council initiative Melissa Nightingale (Herald): Shipping container for rent at $390/wk: Council to inspect ...1 week ago
- Breathing Life into the Corpse FlowerDoug Johnson The alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...1 week ago
- Gillett et al. (2021) global warming attribution studyThe Human vs. Natural Contributions to Global Warming chart on the Skeptical Science Graphics Page has been updated to include the study discussed below A new study published in Nature Climate Change, Gillett et al. (2021), is the latest in a long line of 'detection and attribution' studies published over the past 20-plus years ...1 week ago
- JEEMGetting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...1 week ago
- Upgrade rage: why you may have to buy a new device whether you want to or notMichael Cowling, CQUniversity Australia We’ve probably all been there. We buy some new smart gadget and when we plug it in for the first time it requires an update to work. So we end up spending hours downloading and updating before we can even play with our new toy. But ...1 week ago
- The cold supply chain can’t reach everywhere – that’s a big problem for equitable COVID-19 vac...Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts Amherst To mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...1 week ago
- Vaccines are cheapIsrael chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...1 week ago
- Irish Marxist looks at postmodern transgender identity politics and ideologyOrla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...1 week ago
- 2020: The History That Was – Part 2
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...1 week ago - NZ Politics Daily: 19 January 2021Parliament, government, and extremism Chris Trotter (Interest): Trump’s surprisingly large army of New Zealand supporters Jason Walls (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won’t say if she’s backing Chris Liddell for OECD’s top job Dave Armstrong (Stuff): Familiar titles with a new twist Peter McKenzie (Spinoff): The progressive fault lines facing New Zealand in 2021 and beyond Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): How ...1 week ago
- What the Blood Supply Shows About Covid-19’s SpreadNathaniel Scharping In March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...1 week ago
- Coronavirus: few vaccines prevent infection – here’s why that’s not a problemSarah L Caddy, University of Cambridge Vaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...1 week ago
- Climate Change: Ending coal in PortugalBack in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...1 week ago
- Trump's Surprisingly Large Army Of New Zealand Supporters.The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...1 week ago
- Aristocracy of Pull continuesRNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...1 week ago
- The Plan B implosion – what Brazil teaches us about the herd immunity hogwashAs families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...1 week ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 18 January 2021Housing Bernard Hickey (Stuff): The ‘brutal’ catch-22 politics of trying to move to affordable housing Bernard Hickey: Why work when you can just own houses? Miriam Bell (Stuff): Consents are up, but will that help with NZ’s stubborn housing shortage? Miriam Bell (Stuff): New house listings have surged so far this year – but it’s not enough Miriam Bell (Stuff): House ...1 week ago
- 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #3A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021 Editor's Choice NASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to help Photo by Michael Held on Unsplash ...2 weeks ago
- The frail elderly and COVID vaccines – should we be concerned?Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...2 weeks ago
- Guest post: How to ‘fairly’ share emissions from goods traded around the worldThis article, guest authored by Dr Michael Jakob, Dr Hauke Ward & Dr Jan C Stecke, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Jan 4, 2021. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Photo by Kingsley Jebaraj on Unsplash Each year, close ...2 weeks ago
- How good is the AstraZeneca vaccine looking? Look at the data, not news headlinesHappy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...2 weeks ago
- Opening Pandora’s American Box
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...2 weeks ago - 100 Days 4 ActionSchool Strike 4 Climate is holding a "100 Days 4 Action" rally outside Parliament on the 26th: The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “We ...2 weeks ago
- A Big Science Publisher Is Going Open Access. But at What Cost?Grigori Guitchounts In November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...2 weeks ago
- Early next step: Add risk management to National Climate AssessmentThis is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...2 weeks ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 15 January 2021Tiwai Point Smelter deal Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Aluminium smelter deal – who caved? Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Power play: Meridian Energy reaches deal with Rio Tinto over Tiwai Point Smelter No Right Turn: Paying the BluffGeld Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Tiwai Point negotiations continuing despite breakthrough on smelter RNZ: Locals ‘absolutely thrilled’ about Tiwai Point’s revival Evan Harding (Stuff): Tiwai aluminium smelter to stay open until ...2 weeks ago
- Will New Zealand’s Body-Politic Be Snatched By Trumpism?“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...2 weeks ago
- Thoughts on the Amazon LOTR TV Series Synopsis
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...2 weeks ago - Hat tips to history
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...2 weeks ago - Ideology as an organising principle.For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...2 weeks ago
- Paying the BluffGeldSo, Rio Tinto has supposedly reached a deal with Meridian and Contact to give them cheaper electricity prices and keep the Tiwai Point smelter open. Down south, they're celebrating. But the rest of us shouldn't be. I've argued before that the best thing this foreign polluter can do is close. ...2 weeks ago
- Impeached againThe US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...2 weeks ago
- Dire wolves went extinct 13,000 years ago but thanks to new genetic analysis their true story can no...Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Thanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...2 weeks ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 14 January 2021Twitter suspension of NZ accounts Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Twitter’s suspension of New Zealand-based right-wing accounts ‘an overreaction’ – Simon Bridges Alex Braae (Spinoff): NZ right-wingers caught up in global purge of Twitter accounts No Right Turn: The Twitter Purge Marc Daalder (Newsroom): NZ far-right Twitter accounts suspended Jason Walls (Herald): Twitter crackdown reaches NZ: Hundreds of NZ right-wing users kicked off Twitter ...2 weeks ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #2, 2021Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...2 weeks ago
- The Mob Rules Society: Reckoning between an Idea versus the Reality of America as chickens came home...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party delivers on reducing transport emissions
The Green Party is already delivering on its commitment for cleaner, climate-friendly transport through our Cooperation Agreement with the Government. ...1 hour ago - Urgent community builds needed to stop unaffordable rent hikesBold solutions are needed as we face the largest monthly rent increase in New Zealand history, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...23 hours ago
- Green Party supports demands by School Strike 4 Climate NZThe Green Party supports the demands by School Strike 4 Climate NZ that were announced today. ...2 days ago
- Grainne Moss’ resignation welcome, it must pave way for Māori leadership at OTThe Green Party welcomes the resignation of Grainne Moss as Chief Executive of Oranga Tamariki. ...6 days ago
- More public houses where they’re needed most
Labour is building thousands of new state houses as part of our work to ensure every Kiwi has a warm, dry place to call home. ...7 days ago - Worsening housing crisis must prompt actionA growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...1 week ago
- Jump starting research careers
The Government is investing up to $10 million to support 30 of the country’s top early-career researchers to develop their research skills. “The pandemic has had widespread impacts across the science system, including the research workforce. After completing their PhD, researchers often travel overseas to gain experience but in the ...2 hours ago - Project protects jobs and natureA Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “This $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...21 hours ago
- Minister Shaw speaks with U.S. Presidential Envoy John KerryMinister for Climate Change, James Shaw spoke yesterday with President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. “I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kerry this morning about the urgency with which our governments must confront the climate emergency. I am grateful to him and ...23 hours ago
- Minister of Foreign Affairs makes three diplomatic appointmentsForeign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...1 day ago
- Major redevelopment of Wainuiomata High School underwayWork begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...1 day ago
- New expert group appointed to advise Government on Oranga TamarikiA skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...1 day ago
- COVID-19 vaccine slated for possible approval next weekThe green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...2 days ago
- New ACC Board members announced.The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...2 days ago
- Economic boost for Southland maraeThe Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...2 days ago
- Celebrating the Entry Into Force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...6 days ago
- Supporting disabled people to stay connectedThe Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...6 days ago
- Voluntary saliva testing offered to quarantine workers from MondayBorder workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...6 days ago
- Next steps in firearms buy-backThe next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...6 days ago
- Jobs for Nature projects target iconic ecosystemsUpscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...7 days ago
- New Public Housing Plan announcedThe Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...1 week ago
- Prime Minister congratulates President Joe Biden on his inaugurationPrime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...1 week ago
- Jobs for Nature funding will create training and employment opportunitiesA major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...1 week ago
- Pre-departure testing extended to all passengers to New ZealandTo further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...1 week ago
- Bay Cadets learn skills to protect environmentBay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...1 week ago
- Cook Islanders to resume travel to New ZealandThe Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...2 weeks ago
- Supporting communities and landowners to grow employment opportunitiesJobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...2 weeks ago
- Border exception for some returning international tertiary studentsThe Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...2 weeks ago
- Tiwai deal gives time for managed transitionToday’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...2 weeks ago
- New member for APEC Business Advisory CouncilPrime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...2 weeks ago
- Govt’s careful economic management recognisedThe Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...2 weeks ago
- Additional actions to keep COVID-19 out of NZThe Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...2 weeks ago
- 19 projects will clean up and protect waterways$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...3 weeks ago
- Can Tesla’s share price be justified? Probably not
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rice, Professor of Management, University of New England Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person, edging out previous title holder Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. His rocketing fortune is due to the booming share price of Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles ...20 mins ago - Six questions sparked by the Covid cases leaking out of Pullman hotel
There are now three returnees who contracted the virus in the Auckland isolation facility then left into the community while positive. These are some of the questions that need to be resolved. At 10.20pm last night the Ministry of Health confirmed that the two cases they’d been treating as probable ...1 hour ago - Unlock your phone, open the app: listen to Scan In, the NZ Covid Tracer songHaving a hard time remembering to scan in on the NZ Covid Tracer app when you’re out and about? Get this song stuck in your head and you’ll never forget again.Learn the lyrics:Aotearoa, it’s time to get scanning!I mean if you think about it, it never really wasn’t time we ...1 hour ago
- Pākehā bloody Māori-lover: The strange case of Roderick Finlayson
We conclude our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with a review of his stories by John Newton Roger Hickin’s Cold Hub Press is one of the small miracles of contemporary New Zealand publishing. Over the last decade, on what can only be a shoe-string budget, the ...1 hour ago - Clean Car Import Standard, The First Step Towards A Planned EV Transition
Thursday 28th January, AUCKLAND: Drive Electric, the not-for-profit with one mission – making electric vehicle uptake in New Zealand mainstream, welcomes the announcement by the Government today as a sign of what’s to come through 2021, and we are confident ...1 hour ago - MIA Has Concerns At The Speed Of CO2 Targets For Vehicles Entering NZThe Government announced today key policy decisions on the proposed clean car policies. The MIA has stated on many occasions that we support well thought out and constructive policies that will lead to an increased rate in the reduction of CO2 emissions from ...1 hour ago
- How to do DunedinGet wild, get cultured, get fed and then get to bed: the essential guide to a perfect few days in the southern city. There’s one thing that preoccupies the staff of The Spinoff almost as much as arranging popular food items into arbitrary lists, and that’s Dunedin. A quite remarkable ...2 hours ago
- A short history of New Zealand talkback radio scandalsJohn Banks’ racist exchange with a Magic Talk listener on Tuesday was the latest in nearly 50 years of talkback controversies. Donna Chisholm has the receipts.John Banks axed over Māori ‘stone age culture’ comments on Magic Talk1972: On Radio I, sports talkback host Tim Bickerstaff launches a “Punch a Pom ...2 hours ago
- Two new Auckland cases test positive for Covid-19 South African variant
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Two new community Covid-19 cases have been identified as the more infectious South African variant, but Auckland Mayor Phil Goff say it would be "premature to go into lockdown now". The two new cases of Covid-19 identified in the ...3 hours ago - Dunne Speaks: Why Do We Panic About Covid19, But Not Use The Scanning App?...4 hours ago
- KiwiRail Stop Hauling CoalToday, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine in Southland to Fonterra’s ...4 hours ago
- Climate Protectors Again Stop Coal TrainKiwiRail STOP Hauling COAL Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine ...4 hours ago
- How do we counter COVID misinformation? Challenge it directly with the factsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Dunn, Associate professor, University of Sydney The government is rolling out a new public information campaign this week to reassure the public about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, which one expert has said “couldn’t be more crucial” to people actually getting ...4 hours ago
- Needles are nothing to fear: 5 steps to make vaccinations easier on your kidsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese O’Sullivan, Associate Professor, Edith Cowan University The COVID vaccine rollout has placed the issue of vaccination firmly in the spotlight. A successful rollout will depend on a variety of factors, one of which is vaccine acceptance. One potential hurdle to vaccine ...4 hours ago
- NZ needs an evolving pandemic strategy if it’s to keep the public’s trustSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bernard Walker, Associate Professor in Organisations and Leadership, University of Canterbury Kiwis know what it’s like when life throws curveballs. We’ve had major quakes, floods, fires, an eruption, a terrorist attack and now a pandemic. In those situations, it’s the ability to ...4 hours ago
- Protect your dog from this new deadly disease outbreak. We still don’t know how it got hereSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Irwin, Emeritus professor, Murdoch University While we continue to be occupied with the COVID pandemic, another life-threatening disease has emerged in northern Australia, one that’s cause for considerable alarm for the millions of dog owners around the country. This disease — ...4 hours ago
- Most government information on COVID-19 is too hard for the average Australian to understandSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cath Ferguson, Academic, Edith Cowan University Almost half of Australian adults struggle with reading. Similar levels of struggling readers are reported in the United Kingdom and United States. This does not mean all struggling readers are illiterate. It means they often struggle ...4 hours ago
- COVID is keeping us in our homes, but what makes working there a success or failure?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abbas Shieh, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Design, Islamic Azad University The industrial revolution transformed cities, resulting in places of residence and work becoming more distant than ever before. This spatial segregation is still largely embedded in the design of our ...4 hours ago
- Occupation: Rainfall review: Australia is primed for a well-made alien invasion film. This is not itSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Review: Occupation: Rainfall, written and directed by Luke Sparke Historically, when a sequel to a film was greenlit, you could rest assured this was because the first film made a ...4 hours ago
- Live updates, January 28: Testing links new Covid-19 cases to Pullman HotelWelcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 28, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...5 hours ago
- The Bulletin: Tourism suffers in shadow of Covid-19Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Tourism suffers in the shadow of Covid-19, two new positive cases in Auckland confirmed, and National will contest the Māori electorates.The front page of the January 4 Greymouth Star carried grim tidings for several of the glacier towns on the ...5 hours ago
- Two more people linked with Pullman Hotel treated as confirmed Covid cases
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Two people who left managed isolation on January 15 have been confirmed as positive Covid-19 cases, with the Ministry of Health urging anyone who visited the same locations during the same time period as the infected pair in Auckland to ...5 hours ago - Perverse consequences of low interest rates exclude first homebuyers
By ruling out significant tax changes, the Government looks bereft of ideas to address severe housing problems. ...5 hours ago - Births Registrar extends watchlist of unacceptable baby names
The watchlist of 'offensive or unreasonable' babies' names is to be reviewed, to include more names from other languages. Generations of the Īhaka family have played a meaningful role in bringing Te Reo and stories of Māori to our wider community. Archdeacon Sir Kīngi Matutaera Īhaka (Te Aupōuri, 1921-93) was known as the orator of ...6 hours ago - Ballance Agri-Nutrients Continue Importing Plunder From A War ZoneAfter Morocco’s flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire in Western Sahara on Friday 13 November 2020 war broke out between the two sides. In the midst of this war Tauranga based Ballance Agri-Nutrients has decided to carry on importing phosphate ...6 hours ago
- Ex-MP welcomes National's possible return to Māori seats
National may be poised to roll back on a policy decision made 18 years ago - not to contest Māori electorate seats. ...6 hours ago - Livestock Improvement reports improved first-half result
Business & Investing: Good news at LIC and for Meridian - Plus the thrilling new stock battle over Game Stop in the US ...6 hours ago - Has the Treaty played a role in our Covid success?
Nicholas Agar suggests that our handling of the pandemic could be partly down to our distinctive Treaty of Waitangi relationship, and Māori ideas that enabled us to make it through without tens of thousands of deaths A mission for universities in the coming decade will be a deep understanding of the meaning ...7 hours ago - Covid-19: 'May I see your vaccine passport?'
The function of a vaccine passport in reopening New Zealand depends on the policy settings around vaccination and the border. ...7 hours ago - The women ruling the waves on America's Cup course
A young girl who once sent $5 to an embattled America's Cup team is now among the women on the water helping run the contest for the Auld Mug. As an eager and generous nine-year-old, Melanie Roberts posted a letter, with a $5 note, to OneAustralia’s America’s Cup team. It was 1995, ...7 hours ago - Climate Commission's advice likely to shock
On Monday, the Climate Change Commission will release a raft of advice for reshaping our economy in the face of the climate crisis. ...7 hours ago - Revealed: the 2021 Ockhams finalists – who should win and who’s been slightedAt 5am today, cock’s crow, the embargo lifted on the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist. Here are the books in the race, followed by thoughts from poetry editor Chris Tse and books editor Catherine Woulfe. A shortlist of four books in each category will be announced March 3, with ...7 hours ago
- Not scanning in? Your barista is judging youIgnoring those QR codes when you drop into the supermarket? Can’t be bothered when you grab a coffee? The people serving you notice, and you’re freaking them out.So far, New Zealanders’ use of the Covid-19 Tracer app has been notably woeful. Food industry workers who’ve watched streams of customers walk ...7 hours ago
- Shock: Nothing very shocking about this year's book awards longlist
Steve Braunias reveals the longlist of the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards Apart from one or two unfortunate omissions which cast doubt on the sanity and intellectual acumen of judges, especially the nobodies who judged this year's non-fiction, the longlist for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards is ...7 hours ago - Port Moresby hospital under strain with overcrowding, says doctorBy Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby – with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says. Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi ...11 hours ago
- Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – January 27 2021Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. Today’s content Covid: Vaccine Tova O’Brien (Newshub): New Zealand catching up to allies on COVID-19 vaccines but mass roll-out won’t begin until mid-year Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Not much time for DHBs to get ...16 hours ago
- View from The Hill: Coal push from Nationals is a challenge for Scott MorrisonSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals who attend Thursday’s memorial service in Tweed Heads for Doug Anthony, who died last month aged 90, may muse on the contrast between the state of their party when he led it and now. ...16 hours ago
- Passport, customs… blood test: Kiwi technology to help restart global travel
Returning to quarantine-free travel in 2021 doesn't just need a vaccine, but a way to check whether arriving passengers are actually immune to the virus. A smart Kiwi science start-up is working with a global biometrics giant to make that happen. A deal signed between Kiwi research and development company Orbis Diagnostics, ...18 hours ago - It’s bee season. To avoid getting stung, just stay calm and don’t swatSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summer’s wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...19 hours ago
- Lotto and Six60 withdraw controversial scratchie tickets
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...19 hours ago - More than half a billion years ago, the first shell-crushing predators ground up their prey between ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...20 hours ago
- Calls to can John Banks over Māori ‘stone age culture’ comments on Magic TalkVodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...21 hours ago
- COVID-19: Northland case is a reminder NZ’s ‘dumb good luck’ may run outSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa’s second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...21 hours ago
- The mullet, the moustache, the myth: Joel Rindelaub is NZ’s newest science celebHe has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...22 hours ago
- Declined Baby Names For 2020We’ll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring “Royal” in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...22 hours ago
- Kelvin Davis appoints a team of four (with no places for Pakeha) to advise him on Orangi Tamaraki an...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...22 hours ago - Do men really take longer to poo?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhere online. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...22 hours ago
- Frame: Finding a home on the asexual spectrumJust as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...22 hours ago
- I watched nothing but kids TV for a week and I lost my mindSam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...23 hours ago
- State-sanctioned racism against West Papuans ‘shows Jakarta’s true agenda’Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...23 hours ago
- Auckland Tram: Taxpayers Deserve The Respect Of A Cost-benefit Analysis“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...24 hours ago
- We are the 1% – the wealth of many Australians puts them in an elite club wrecking the planetANALYSIS: By Alex Baumann, Western Sydney University and Samuel Alexander, University of Melbourne Among the many hard truths exposed by covid-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already huge fortunes by 27.5 percent. And as many ...1 day ago
- MOH Draft Vaping Regulations Could Stub Out Smokefree 2025 SuccessThe Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...1 day ago
- Dietary Requirements: What makes the perfect pub?Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...1 day ago
- Advisory Board Welcomed As Step Toward A By Māori For Māori Approach For Care And ProtectionThe appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by Māori, for Māori approach, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...1 day ago
- Ten tips to fertilise your finances in 2021Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...1 day ago
- If border restrictions increase to combat new COVID-19 strains, what rights do returning New Zealand...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology As we know, getting into New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult. There are practicalities, such as high airfare and managed isolation costs. And there are legal requirements, including pre-flight testing, mandatory ...1 day ago
- Housing: Judith Collins says free up land and bring in more tradespeopleNew Zealand faces the risk of a generation being locked out of the housing market unless land is freed up and more houses built, National Party leader Judith Collins says. ...1 day ago
- ‘These people are my heroes’: An industry insider on NZ music’s #MeToo reckoningOn Sunday, Stuff published a months-long investigation by Alison Mau detailing allegations of harassment and exploitation within the local music industry.The piece, ‘Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side’, includes allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power by male artists, international acts and executives; ...1 day ago
- Pfizer Boss Pours Cold Water On Ardern Claim Of Possible Aussie Delay“The Government is all at sea on timelines for Australia and New Zealand’s respective vaccine roll-outs, with the worst news coming from the mouth of Pfizer Australia CEO Anne Harris,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Yesterday, under increasing ...1 day ago
- Could the Biden administration pressure Australia to adopt more humane refugee policies?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate “global leadership on refugees”. Once elected, he pledged to vastly increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is ...1 day ago
- Domestic violence soars after natural disasters. Preventing it needs to be part of the emergency res...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Boddy, Associate Professor and Deputy Head of School (Learning and Teaching), Griffith University Domestic and family violence soars in the months and years following natural disasters. It usually involves physical and psychological violence perpetrated by men against women and children, but ...1 day ago
- We are the 1%: the wealth of many Australians puts them in an elite club wrecking the planetSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already ...1 day ago
- It’s not just about the rise in anti-Semitism: why we need real stories for better Holocaust educa...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Lanicek, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW On January 27 communities worldwide commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz — the largest complex of concentration camps and extermination centres during the Holocaust. This is the first year the International ...1 day ago
- Dressed for success – as workers return to the office, men might finally shed their suits and tiesSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lorinda Cramer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Australian Catholic University The summer break is over, marking a return to the office. For some, this ends almost a year of working from home in lockdown. Some analysts are predicting it might also mark an enduring ...1 day ago
- Live updates, January 27: ‘Really unlikely’ Covid-19 spread through Pullman ventilationWelcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 27, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...1 day ago
- With the US now calling China’s treatment of the Uyghurs ‘genocide’, how should NZ respond?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato New Zealand has a strong history of protecting and promoting human rights at home and internationally, and prides itself on being an outspoken critic and global leader in this area. So, when the most ...1 day ago
- The Bulletin: Collins outlines the plan forward for NationalGood morning and welcome to the Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins outlines the plan forward for National, no spread of Covid spotted yet in Northland, and students return for climate protest.In front of a Rotary Club at the Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, National leader Judith Collins yesterday set out her ...1 day ago
- Long wait for trans-Tasman bubble just got even longer
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The tourism industry isn't holding its breath for a trans-Tasman travel bubble being in place after Australia temporarily closed its borders to New Zealand. New Zealanders could be waiting even longer for a full trans-Tasman bubble, with the ...1 day ago - Near-empty hotels hibernate for winter
The hurt caused by border closures is proving unsustainable for some of the country's 330 hotels, and they are closing their doors. ...1 day ago - Pākehā invading the Māori mind: The strange case of Roderick Finlayson
We continue our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with an essay by Anahera Gildea on cultural appropriation Every night at 7pm sharp, my Irish Catholic father and his eight siblings would have to kneel on the carpet of the living room, facing the freshly polished nudity of ...1 day ago - Covid concerns continue to weigh on travel stocks
Business & Investing: While travel stocks felt pressure, Chorus and Synlait had good news ...1 day ago - Plan flexibly, build more or pay the price
A Covid reset will force costly and inflexible cities to take a hard look at their planning systems, or people will vote with their feet. Broken urban planning systems make for misery even in the best of times. If land use and housing regulations prevent metropolitan areas from growing up or out as ...1 day ago - Govt moves again on Oranga Tamariki
Children's Minister Kelvin Davis will have independent eyes and ears across Oranga Tamariki over the next five months as the Government tries to change the work and practices of the ministry. The Government has created a Māori-led watchdog to oversee how the children's ministry, Oranga Tamariki, deals with parents and ...1 day ago - Covid-19: At the back of the vaccine queue
What if it was better for the world – and even for NZ – if we waited at the back of the line for Covid-19 vaccines? ...1 day ago
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