Search Results
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Comment:Inauguration Day
Date published: 9:23 am, January 21st, 2021Snap. I've been looking forward to the day that I can't remember his name! I remember that happened after that guy who was PM before Bill English left, the one with the idiotic son, Sir somebody or other...
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Comment:Brash Bassett and Hide take up blogging
Date published: 8:49 am, January 19th, 2021came from overseas, and was absolutely unknown to Maori This is surely one of the most idiotic arguments, in a crowded field of them. As is conflating Maori language with Maori 'race' (whatever that is, that they're so hung up on), and conflating people ...
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Comment:A Few Good Green Wins
Date published: 12:18 pm, December 23rd, 2020What a great, hopeful post. If course there's more to do but it's great to see a few green shoots amongst the dust!
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Comment:What does Steinlager and the Pacific anti nuclear movement have in common?
Date published: 12:33 pm, December 16th, 2020Why, you're right. Did anyone see that great, relevant show the other day when all these men ran around throwing a ball? It was so great and relevant, how they threw that ball. Then one man ran and fell over with the ball in the grass! Then another man ...
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Comment:Show me the climate action New Zealand
Date published: 10:36 am, December 15th, 2020I like the idea of the $1B regenag fund. There is still too much of lumping any green, eco-minded farmers in with the greenwashing river-shitters: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/115734506/farmers-feel-new-zealand-has-turned-its-back-on-them The ...
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Comment:Ihumātao deal imminent
Date published: 10:29 am, December 14th, 2020accept responsibility for yourself & your actions Yes, the Crown starting to do this is a great first step.
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Comment:Open mike 08/12/2020
Date published: 8:50 am, December 8th, 2020Yanis Varoufakis - one of my heroes. Smart guy.
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Comment:Open mike 08/12/2020
Date published: 8:42 am, December 8th, 2020Can anyone help explain? https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300176880/taxpayer-grants-to-lord-of-the-rings-represent-significant-fiscal-risk-to-government-finances I hate subsidising Bezos as much as anyone, but if a production brings in $5, they ...
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Comment:Being real about the climate emergency
Date published: 9:00 am, December 4th, 2020We can’t afford to wait for parliament, but they will follow the radical edge if we make them. Jacinda has pretty much challenged us to do just that, right? With her messaging aroung looking after the 'new' voters Labour has acquired, what I hear from her...
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Comment:National announces terms of reference for its election campaign review
Date published: 8:50 am, November 24th, 2020From the Newshub story: Collins: "I thought it was reasonably well received by the delegates. There was tremendous support given at the conference for all the speeches there. The other thing is, we have 550 delegates in a year when we had a terrible loss ...
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Comment:National's annual conference
Date published: 10:03 pm, November 22nd, 2020I thought that central quote of Key's, re leaking, was disgraceful. Such deceit - the very idea that the public should know what these people are like and how they operate is grounds for expulsion?! Ugh.
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Comment:Powerdown part two
Date published: 9:08 am, November 16th, 2020A good start might be to think zero-sum; i.e. power is not actually 'produced', it is mined from elsewhere and needs to be replenished somehow. An example is that hydro trickle-charge scheme gov was talking about: slowly trickle water uphill to recharge ...
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Comment:Open mike 12/11/2020
Date published: 11:55 am, November 12th, 2020Here's a familiar theme in this Independent article: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/bernie-sanders-elizabeth-warren-biden-cabinet-b1721241.html Apparently, voters wanted less progressive measures, and more of the same ...
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Comment:Final election result - Labour ascendant National down and out
Date published: 3:04 pm, November 6th, 2020Heh, I thought the same thing. There's only one thing I've ever heard about Maureen Pugh; and in that she suits the National party just fine!
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Comment:US Election day three
Date published: 11:11 am, November 6th, 2020Also, delaying the count gives DT more time to 'prove' that it's fraudulent. So any mayor or governor sympathetic to him can clutch at that straw. (They wouldn't have to deliberately obstruct counting, just under-resource it.) Yes it's corrupt, but they're...
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Comment:US Election 2020
Date published: 1:00 am, November 5th, 2020No, because as he, Donald, said he's already won. No need to count any more, or confirm; just declare him the winner.
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Comment:US Election 2020
Date published: 10:11 pm, November 4th, 2020FYI Al Jazeera had a cool map that shows the state size by number of electoral delegates, as well as geographic size: https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/live-results-us-election-day-2020/index.html?utm_campaign=mapwidget&utm_medium=internal&utm_source=...
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Comment:US Election 2020
Date published: 10:08 pm, November 4th, 2020The proper link for the above tweet: https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-race-and-ethnicity-legislature-218ad4d596e87c6b1a223f19f817776e
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Comment:US Election 2020
Date published: 7:30 am, November 4th, 2020Does anyone know the eligible population? 100m early sounds like a pretty good turnout induction, compared to earlier years maybe?
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Comment:Open mike 31/10/2020
Date published: 2:11 pm, October 31st, 2020So if A/NZ is actually moving toward becoming a republic, what should our head of state's title be? Surely not "President", who [....snore....] presides over an administration [....yawn....] which, in any case, has been devalued to the point of ridiculum. ...
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Comment:Its all just manure - mix it in and avoid the river.
Date published: 11:08 am, October 30th, 2020Totally agree. If it has to be "us and them", the decent farmers are with us not them.
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Comment:Daily review 29/10/2020
Date published: 11:27 pm, October 29th, 2020What the actual, actual?!?! And the post, on the part of both Stuff and the SMH, makes no suggestion that this is in any way abnormal. "Fuck", is right.
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Comment:Aotearoa New Zealand is a hell hole paradise dystopian democracy
Date published: 12:37 pm, October 29th, 2020I like it. Everyone who thinks our policies suck can stay away. Win win.
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Comment:A bit about how The Standard works
Date published: 3:25 pm, October 27th, 2020Yep big ups to the mods, and posters. It really does make a difference, noticeable in comparison to other blogs' comment sections. In fact I think it's improved over the last few years as the kaupapa of the site continues to strengthen.
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Comment:The Trump Biden debate
Date published: 3:03 pm, October 23rd, 2020I'm glad there aren't many swing voters left, as it's actually quite hard to separate these two on the surface.
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Comment:Will Labour go it alone?
Date published: 4:04 pm, October 21st, 2020Oh look at that, no need to accommodate the swingers after all: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300138283/election-2020-there-is-no-evidence-national-voters-backed-labour-to-keep-the-greens-out
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Comment:Will Labour go it alone?
Date published: 3:07 pm, October 21st, 2020Who cares what they want, or rather what the media and business lobby says they want. They voted Labour. And that's what they get. Climate change action, better wages/welfare, inequality reduction, housing, proper health service and education and ...
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Comment:Will Labour go it alone?
Date published: 2:32 pm, October 21st, 2020Is that it? Then that's great. If LAB can accomplish green, progressive, lasting goals on their own without faffing around for 'consensus', I'm all for it.
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Comment:Will Labour go it alone?
Date published: 12:43 pm, October 21st, 2020Yes it is speculation. But there is an audible buzz in the msm that Labour ought to be somehow accommodating the wishes of those who swung from National. Not 'rewarding' them with policies the media insists they would prefer is not the same as ignoring ...
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Comment:Will Labour go it alone?
Date published: 8:35 am, October 21st, 2020The idea that Labour somehow owes any concessions to its new-found 'swing' voters is utterly ridiculous. If people wanted National policies they should have, and would have, voted National. The fact that the Nats were a disaster is irrelevant. Labour needs...
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Comment:Labour crushes election - now what?
Date published: 12:15 pm, October 18th, 2020Very good points, sanc. Given the youth quake possibility, they should factor this in to their progressive planning. Less need to try to please that fusty 'centre', as millennials (with millennial ideas on climate etc) will be a much more powerful voting ...
- Time to tax greed
The 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 ...1 hour ago - NZ Politics Daily: 27 January 2021
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 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 ...10 hours 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 ...19 hours ago - Study: Accounting for value of nature reinforces Paris climate targets
This 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 ...21 hours 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 ...23 hours 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. ...1 day 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. ...1 day 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 ...1 day 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 ...1 day ago - Community Or Chaos: Chris Trotter Talks To Marvin Hubbard.
1 day 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 ...1 day 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, ...2 days ago
- The Winds Of Change.2 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 ...2 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 ...2 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 ...3 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 ...4 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 ...4 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 ...5 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 ...5 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 ...5 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 ...5 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. ...5 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 ...5 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 ...5 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 ...5 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 ...6 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 ...6 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, ...6 days 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 ...6 days 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, ...6 days 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 ...7 days 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
- 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 ...1 week 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 - The Twitter PurgeIn the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...2 weeks ago
- They’re everywhere: New study finds polyester fibres throughout the Arctic OceanPeter S. Ross, University of British Columbia The Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...2 weeks ago
- Time to tackle the housing crisis!
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...2 weeks ago - Cleansing the TwittersI’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...2 weeks ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 13 January 2021Covid Nick Wilson & Michael Baker (The Conversation): With COVID-19 mutating and surging, NZ urgently needs to tighten border controls Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Government’s latest Covid measures described as both too strong and too weak RNZ: Covid-19: Ban on UK flights should be considered – Professor Nick Wilson Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Covid-19 testing numbers plummet, worrying experts Phillip Hill & Brian ...2 weeks ago
- Urgent community builds needed to stop unaffordable rent hikes
Bold solutions are needed as we face the largest monthly rent increase in New Zealand history, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...4 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. ...1 day 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. ...5 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. ...6 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
- Project protects jobs and nature
A 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 ...3 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 ...6 hours 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 ...8 hours 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 ...13 hours 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. ...1 day 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 ...1 day 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 ...5 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 ...5 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 ...5 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 ...5 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 ...6 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 ...6 days 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 ...6 days 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
- New Zealand Government acknowledges 175th anniversary of Battle of RuapekapekaThe commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...3 weeks 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 ...44 mins ago - Calls to can John Banks over Māori ‘stone age culture’ comments on Magic Talk
Vodafone 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 ...2 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 ...2 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, ...3 hours ago
- Declined Baby Names For 2020
We’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 ...3 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 ...3 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 ...3 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 ...4 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 ...4 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 ...4 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 ...5 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 ...6 hours 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, ...6 hours 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 ...7 hours 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 ...7 hours 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 ...7 hours 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 ...8 hours ago
- Housing: Judith Collins says free up land and bring in more tradespeople
New 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. ...8 hours 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; ...9 hours 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 ...9 hours 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 ...9 hours 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 ...9 hours 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 ...9 hours 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 ...9 hours 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 ...9 hours 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 ...10 hours 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 ...10 hours 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 ...10 hours 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 ...10 hours 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. ...11 hours 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 ...11 hours ago - Covid concerns continue to weigh on travel stocks
Business & Investing: While travel stocks felt pressure, Chorus and Synlait had good news ...11 hours 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 ...11 hours 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 ...11 hours ago - The new bank branch: pull up a stool
The pandemic has accelerated the trend of doing our banking online instead of in person. This rapid digital embrace has, in turn, sped up the closure of many smaller bank branches. But, as Mark Jennings writes, there are new branches springing up with a different look and purpose. Auckland’s Wynyard ...12 hours ago - At 58, waka ama legend still leads the way
Corrina Gage has represented New Zealand in a trio of water sports. But it's her love for waka ama - and the opportunities it gives paddlers from 5 to 85 - that keeps her racing and coaching around the world. Lake Karāpiro is quiet and still now. But last week, it was all noise ...12 hours 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? ...12 hours ago - A disaster no one is paying attention to
When an Auckland school classroom went up in flames in December last year, exploding asbestos over neighbouring houses, five separate government agencies were involved. Yet stressed residents dealing with the aftermath on their homes say the response felt chaotic and uncoordinated; even local MPs who got involved couldn't get the information they wanted. Hundreds of thousands of ...12 hours ago - Judith Collins wants to help solve the country’s housing crisis. Do people care?Telling a Rotary Club audience that housing is a serious problem and they should care deeply about it landed flat but took some daring from the National leader, writes Justin Giovannetti.Judith Collins’ level of control over the National Party is still a question best answered by a shrug.Elevated to her ...12 hours ago
- Is there an end in sight for Ōtara’s gang problem?A gang turf war gripped the South Auckland suburb in late 2020, forcing schools to lock down and armed police to patrol the streets. Community leaders are now warning the cycle of violent retribution could continue in 2021, unless radical interventions are made.The violent altercations that loomed large in Ōtara ...13 hours ago
- Go hard and go early on climate change
This will be a watershed year as we move from climate advocacy to action. We proved we could do it with Covid. ...16 hours ago - Contaminated waste dumping: Ardern weighs options against companies in breachThe prime minister has put companies dumping contaminated waste into sewers on notice, saying she's seeking advice about the available options. ...24 hours ago
- Protesters demand rapid action on climate changeMore than 100 climate strikers gathered at Parliament to hand over a list of demands for rapid action from the government. ...1 day ago
- My favourite detective: Jules Maigret, the Paris detective with a pipe but no pretenceSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, University of Melbourne In this series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on the page and on screen. When I first heard that Rowan Atkinson was to put on Maigret’s velvet-collared overcoat, I wondered ...1 day ago
- Watch: Jacinda Ardern speaks in first post-Cabinet briefing of 2021Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says approval for the Pfizer vaccine could come as early as Wednesday next week. ...1 day ago
- New Zealand and China upgrade free trade agreementThe New Zealand and Chinese governments have signed an upgrade to the free trade agreement between the two countries. ...1 day ago
- Kit Marlowe died 400 years ago – but he’s back, and sexy as hellAuckland writer Olivia Hayfield* explains how she resurrected 16th-century playwright Christopher Marlowe to star in her new novel, Sister to Sister. Olivia Hayfield is a pen name. Real name: Sue Copsey. When I’m planning my modern retellings of historical tales, I read widely on the characters and see who leaps out at ...1 day ago
- Pfizer vaccine could be approved next week
The Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine could be approved as early as next week, Marc Daalder reports Medsafe will be asked to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 on February 2, the Government has announced. The Medicines Assessment Advisory Committee (MAAC) is an independent panel that provides advice on some medicine approvals in ...1 day ago - Watch live: Jacinda Ardern speaks in first post-Cabinet briefing of 2021The prime minister is addressing media in a post-Cabinet conference after holding the first Cabinet meeting of the year today. ...1 day ago
- Bryan Kramer: How many PNG police chiefs have had a degree? NoneCOMMENT: By Bryan Kramer, PNG’s Minister of Police who has defended Commissioner Manning’s appointment today in The National My last article, announcing that I intend to make a submission to the National Executive Council (NEC) to amend the Public Service regulation to no longer require the Commissioner of Police to ...1 day ago
- The political payoff is plain but is it smart to borrow $219,512 per job (mostly temporary) to spruc...The Point of Order Trough Monitor was triggered today by the announcement of a $9 million handout for Southlanders – sorry, some Southlanders. The news came from the office of Grant Robertson who, as Minister of Finance, prefers to invest public money rather than give it away – especially when ...1 day ago
- Frame: Behind the scenes of Chlöe Swarbrick’s historic Auckland Central campaignFew people outside of her campaign team gave Chlöe Swarbrick any chance of winning in Auckland Central this year – but the Green Party MP was too busy to listen. Here’s how they turned the electorate green.First published November 12, 2020.Three Ticks Chlöe is part of Frame, a series of short ...1 day ago
- Discrimination by healthcare providers could affect immunisation rates – studyInteractions between parents and healthcare providers could have a big impact on the wellbeing of our children, according to new research. The way parents and healthcare providers interact has lasting implications for children’s health, new research has found – and that includes immunisation uptake.Released today, the report is based on research ...1 day ago
- Collins: No time to prioritise climate change
The Opposition starts the political year calling for emergency, temporary legislation to free up house building National leader Judith Collins has set five priorities for her party over the next three years - but excluded climate change, education and Crown-Māori relations. Giving her first 'state of the nation' speech as party ...1 day ago - Judith Collins focuses on housing, Covid-19 in National's state of the nation addressNational is calling on the government to introduce urgent temporary legislation to make it easier to build houses. ...1 day ago
- Let’s see what Andrew Little prescribes to remedy structural weaknesses in NZ’s health system
One of the biggest challenges facing the Ardern government is in public health. New Zealand may have escaped the pressures heaped on other health systems by the Covid-19 pandemic but its health service has had its problems, not least those exposed in the first report from Heather Simpson and her ...1 day ago - NZ covid: 14 close contacts of Northland case test negativeNew Zealand’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has revealed that 14 close contacts of the Northland community case have returned negative test results. Yesterday he announced two close contacts – her husband and hair dresser – were negative. In his tweet, Hipkins described the news as “encouraging”. However, New ...1 day ago
- RSF condemns Google for dropping Australian media searches in ‘tests’Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the arbitrary and opaque experiments that Google is conducting with its search engine in Australia, with the consequence that many national news websites are no longer appearing in the search results seen by some users. The Australian, ABC, Australian Financial ...1 day ago
- Contaminant dumping: Minister says companies must comply with consentsLocal Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta says councils can take stronger action against companies dumping contaminated waste water, even though they have identified loopholes in the law on fines. ...1 day ago
- Will Drag Race Down Under truly represent the NZ drag scene?Drag Race Down Under, part of the popular RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise, is filming in New Zealand. In their own words, local drag talent share what drag means to them and how it might be impacted by the show.RuPaul’s Drag Race is, quite simply, a television phenomenon. Love it or ...1 day ago
- Fee fi fo fum, the weighted blanket industry has comeFor a long time, weighted blankets were considered a specialist device. Now they’re popular with even the most normal sleepers.Growing up, Temple Grandin spent time on her aunt’s cattle ranch in America, watching cow after stressed cow enter a squeeze chute and come out calm as the dead sea. She ...1 day ago
- Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – January 26 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 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 ...1 day ago
- Survey – Govt’s “shot Gun” COVID Tax-relief Measures Mostly Hit The MarkIncreased provisional tax thresholds, immediate low-value asset write offs and allowing the deferral of tax payments and use of money interest (UOMI) write offs were the most popular tax measures introduced by the Government to help businesses survive ...1 day ago
- Police Pursuits Sky-rocket To Record High – So Police Stop ChasingThe latest fleeing driver statistics show the numbers of incidents sky-rocketing out of control through 2020 with Police deciding the only tactic is to give up on chasing altogether, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The inconvenient truth is ...1 day ago
- Dolphins, Discrimination And The Government’s “Complicity By Silence”With new revelations of the appalling racism behind Israel’s refusal to provide Covid-19 vaccines to 4.5 million Palestinians under its occupation and control, PSNA has renewed our call for the government to speak out alongside the United Nations ...1 day ago
- School Strike 4 Climate NZ's January 26th 100 Days 4 Action RallyThe 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. “COVID-19 may have stopped us in our tracks in the past. However, I tend ...1 day ago
- A new 3D koala genome will aid efforts to defend the threatened speciesSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Parwinder Kaur, Associate Professor | Director, DNA Zoo Australia, University of Western Australia Koalas are unique in the animal kingdom, living on a eucalyptus diet that would kill other creatures and drinking so little their name comes from the Dharug word gula, ...1 day ago
- Burnt ancient nutshells reveal the story of climate change at Kakadu — now drier than ever beforeSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By S. Anna Florin, Research fellow, University of Wollongong Archaeological research provides a long-term perspective on how humans survived various environmental conditions over tens of thousands of years. In a paper published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, we’ve tracked rainfall in northern ...1 day ago
- Auf Wiedersehen, ‘Mutti’: How Angela Merkel’s centrist politics shaped Germany and EuropeSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Binoy Kampmark, Senior Lecturer in Global Studies, Social Science & Planning, RMIT University Since 2005, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has been one of the most stable and enduring of political forces, both in Europe and on the global stage. During her 16 ...1 day ago
- An unexpected consequence of climate change: heatwaves kill plant pests and save our favourite giant...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, University of Melbourne Australia is sweltering through another heatwave, and there will be more in the near future as climate change brings hotter, drier weather. In some parts of Australia, the number of days above 40℃ will ...1 day ago
- My favourite detective: Jules Maigret, the Paris detective with a pipe but no pretenseSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, University of Melbourne In this series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on the page and on screen. When I first heard that Rowan Atkinson was to put on Maigret’s velvet-collared overcoat, I wondered ...1 day ago
- Experts urge rethink on using isolation hotels with sub-par ventilation
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Experts are calling for hotels with sub-par ventilation systems to no longer be used as managed isolation facilities as health officials investigate how a Northland woman became infected with Covid-19 while staying at the Pullman hotel, Rowan Quinn reports. ...1 day ago - Live updates, January 26: Thousands of Covid-19 test results expected back todayWelcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 26, 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
- The Bulletin: What happens next after Northland Covid-19 caseGood morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Questions to be answered about case in the community, major companies flagrantly breaching wastewater consents, and Tenancy Tribunal decisions harming abuse survivors.As of this morning, we’re still waiting on some crucial information about the situation in Northland, after a person travelled ...1 day ago
- NZ must build collaboration, not more intense competition in the Asia-Pacific
With democracy what now separates the US from its adversaries, Wellington can bet on more continuity than change in Washington’s hardline view of China. ...1 day ago
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