Open mike 19/05/2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 105 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

Open mike 18/05/2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 136 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

Open mike 17/05/2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 131 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

Oh Sweden

Written By: advantage
Date published: - 108 comments

Just when we thought liberal democracies meant real freedom was an absolute written into human rights stone, by mid-March this year almost all OECD countries had implemented the most draconian reversal of lockdowns on every single human to combat Covid19. Except Sweden. How is it working out?

Don’t infect your feline master!

Written By: lprent
Date published: - 16 comments

In terrible news, our feline masters can both get covid-19, and they can infect other cats. Fortunately so far they have largely been asymptomatic apart from some big cats.

We don’t know if there can be cat to human transmission. But I suspect it is likely. Obvious implications about being a issue for breaking transmission chains.

Open mike 16/05/2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 87 comments

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What the Greens did

Written By: weka
Date published: - 39 comments

A round up of the Green Party’s achievements in the 2020 Budget: funding for nature, the commitment to ending violence, and public housing and insulation. And a look at the pragmatics of what the Greens can currently accomplish.

Covid-19: may be endemic

Written By: lprent
Date published: - 53 comments

Like measles, covid-19 could become endemic. Never dying out entirely. Needing to be controlled in human denser populations into the indefinite future. That is the warning from top World Health Organisation officials. Like me, they’re looking at reported research into covid-19 immunities and the picture isn’t encouraging. This is no time to be complacent.

Open mike 15/05/2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 121 comments

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Budget 2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 89 comments

The budget site is up and running. Some links here along with Robertson’s speech. This post may get updated if authors feel like it. Otherwise commenters can praise or criticize. Preferably constructively rather than with mindless waffle.

Viruses love liberty – they can breed more.

Written By: lprent
Date published: - 25 comments

Viruses and other diseases simply don’t care about abstractions like ‘human rights’. They just want to breed. We need a better legislative toolkit to deal with epidemics. There is only so long that a draconian state of emergency should be maintained. Like 1918 we need to start thinking about the future Health Act with reserve powers like level 2 and 1. In the meantime, we’ll deal with the virus with this imperfect act as a tool.

Open mike 14/05/2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 73 comments

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Jacinda is not like Muldoon

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 97 comments

National has decided to play politics with Covid 19 and is opposing the Government’s attempt to pass legislation to secure level 2 arrangements. And has made the extraordinary claim that Jacinda Ardern is just like Rob Muldoon but with slogans.

Open mike 13/05/2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 209 comments

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Bloomfield and the empire strikes back

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 41 comments

Dr Ashley Bloomfield has responded to allegations by Simon Bridges that the government has suspended the Official Information Act and the Emergency Response Committee has made multiple requests for information from the Ministry that it is waiting for by advising publicly there are no outstanding requests for information.

Covid19 and the Stock Markets

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 33 comments

In this time of uncertainty when mass unemployment beckons you would expect that stock exchanges would be plummeting. But think again. Because they seem to be doing fine.

Open mike 12/05/2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 237 comments

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Dimwitted habeas corpus duo

Written By: lprent
Date published: - 28 comments

The well-known duo of Dermot Nottingham and Robert McKinney were the appellants in habeas corpus High Court case against Arden, Bloomfield, and Stuart-Black over the covid-19 lockdown. As was usual for this pair, the grounds that they made their case on were completely flawed, failed to be presented correctly, and make a damn good case against self-representation from vexatious litigants like them.

Open mike 11/05/2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 213 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

Open mike 10/05/2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 159 comments

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UK: Too soon to end the lockdown

Written By: nickkelly
Date published: - 17 comments

First Secretary of State Dominic Raab has said that lockdown changes being announced this coming Sunday will be ‘modest’ and ‘small’. This is hardly surprising when earlier in the week the national statistician Professor Ian Diamond said that COVID-19 infection rates could be increasing. In particular, the number of cases being reported in care-homes appears to be increasing. Adding to the pressure both the Scottish and Welsh ruled out any significant relaxation of the lockdown rules.

Go Joe.

Written By: Bill
Date published: - 50 comments

The clock is ticking on Joe Biden.

Open mike 09/05/2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 151 comments

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Open mike 08/05/2020

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 201 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

UK Labour – the leaked report

Written By: nickkelly
Date published: - 27 comments

In July 2019 BBC current affairs show Panorama did a report on antisemitism in Labour. Ironically many of the whistleblowers from this Panorama documentary were the people named in this leaked Labour report as having frustrated antisemitism investigations. Were it not for COVID-19, we can be sure the BBC would ensure this was properly reported on to ensure a balanced and factual news service had been provided. Or maybe not?

Transmission Gully PPP

Written By: lprent
Date published: - 56 comments

I’d agree with what No Right Turn says..
“The entire project looks to be an expensive failure. Rather than transferring risk to the private sector, it turns out to be the usual scam of privatising profits and socialising losses.”