The below Stuff headline is totally inaccurate, irresponsible, misleading and scaremongering in the extreme and Fairfax media should be ashamed. “New model shows coronavirus could kill 80,000 Kiwis without lock-down ” Henry Cooke – 17:44, Mar 26 2020 “It also shows that the lockdown may have to last far longer
With the greatest respect to everybody (which of course means I’m going to be anything but respectful), our border control people (bless them all), are as varied a group of individuals as you’d find in any broad sample of our population. Some of them will be smart, great
I’m eternally grateful that at last, we’re heading in the right direction, even though we were again treated to a display of slogans and catchphrases on Monday when the Prime Minister made her announcement. She was still insisting that she said from the start “We must go hard
By drip-feeding information and up-grading our Covid-19 status on a weekly basis, the government is stretching out the pain for every New Zealander. Each announcement has resulted in a mad rush for the supermarkets from that same old panic buying group that has to get in ahead of everybody else
If long time and highly respected CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour can make the comment that one of the positive outcomes of Covid-19 is the serious reduction in pollution of the skies over China, perhaps I can take a moment to add a few more. Before I do, let me just
Our government has shown itself to be inept on many levels since coming to power and the lineup of ‘fails’ is just that: A lineup of fails. Why would we expect anything different with the Covid-19 response? Leadership takes experience and courage and above all else, an ability to separate
For a brief and wonderful moment, I thought I’d tuned in to a resignation speech from our Prime Minister, but no, it was simply a repeat performance of her speech on Saturday when she announced the latest knee jerk reaction of this inept government in response to the Covid-19
The world we live in today has the greatest capacity in the planet’s history for information distribution. On that basis, one might expect us to be the best and most accurately informed society of all time. Except that our new found information technology is in the hands of every
I’m not a supporter of name-calling and much prefer to see debates and arguments focus on facts rather than personal attacks on individuals. While loosely held personal opinions or nick-names can sometimes be mildly entertaining, they can become tedious after constant repetition. There’s also a side of me
Following on from an article I wrote on Saturday entitled: “Calling Ignorance Racism Is Cheap Sensationalism But it Does Get More Attention”, I thought I might expand a little on the subject starting with my own cheap, sensational headline. So, are we New Zealanders, all of whom originated from somewhere
I wondered what might have driven the article in “Stuffed” when I read the headline “A Maori name is not offensive – racist reactions to them are” Ignoring the incorrect grammar of mixing singular and plural in the headline, the article relates a personal experience of the author, Michelle Duff, in
While I’m a firm believer that the reporting of the Coronavirus is in many ways a bit of an over-reaction by the worldwide mainstream media, I could be persuaded to change my view if I or one of my loved ones who happens to be elderly ends up dying
I can appreciate the anger, the frustration, the despair and the high levels of emotion. We’ve seen it happen before. Adults who are responsible for the care of their children, clamming up and en masse refusing to provide information to police that to all intents and purposes, would result
The United States President is referred to as the leader of the free world. The country arguably has the most impact of any nation on world affairs. If the US breaks wind, the breeze can be felt all over the planet. The “American dream” remains something people from all over
On Saturday I posted Will Ardern be PM for three more years? Today, I report that contrary to my previously expressed opinions, Eleanor Ainge Roy on Saturday wrote in The Guardian: “With seven months to go, the internationally acclaimed PM must tackle queries over whether she has done enough at
Don’t we just love to speculate about politics. To analyse the polls and guess at what we think might happen. The scenarios can be many and varied and of course some of our views are deeply influenced by our own wishful thinking. For example, there’s nothing I’d
