George Below are random extracts pulled from two of our two most recent Prime Ministers’ speeches when they were addressing the nation in crisis. The first set of quotes has been taken from Monday’s (23 March 2020) speech by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern regarding the coronavirus pandemic. The second
Robyn J. Whitaker University of Divinity Plagues of global proportions might seem biblical, but coronavirus is creating new challenges for faith leaders. Last week in Australia, many churches, mosques and synagogues decided proactively to cancel their normal worship services. These were not easy decisions for groups for whom being a
Sanjaya Senanayake Australian National University You’re probably inundated with news and messages about coronavirus at the moment. But how do you know if you’re consuming evidence-based information or just speculation and myth? There’s still a lot we don’t know but here’s what the evidence
McBlog Radix Here’s a list of 49 MPs who voted for a referendum on euthanasia because they supported euthanasia and knew they had to vote for a referendum to get the law passed, but voted against a referendum on abortion because they didn’t think it was necessary to
Lizzie Presser ProPublica ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. As of Friday, Louisiana was reporting 479 confirmed cases of COVID-19, one of the highest numbers in the country. Ten people had
McBlog Radix When the abortion bill was looking likely to pass (as was always likely with our current parliament), attempts were made by pro-life MPs during the Committee stage to ‘soften’ the harms of the bill and to take the extreme aspects away from this flawed bill. Below is
John Daley Chief Executive Officer Grattan Institute This is longer than the usual Conversation article, so allow some time to take it in. Nobody likes talking about the COVID-19 endgame, but we need to choose one. The appropriate interventions – public health, government spending, and freedom of movement – all depend
Editors Note: The following chart and PDF that appears to be from the World Health Organisation was sent to The BFD today anonymously so I cannot confirm their accuracy. The person who sent it to us claims that New Zealand has had confirmation of community transmission since 20/3/2020.
Orange NZ Here are some of my observations regarding Trump Derangement Syndrome and the COVID-19 virus. The timeline so far for TDS and the virus * Nov 28 – Possible patient zero (undetected phase of new disease begins) * Dec 31 – Wuhan officials say something is up * Jan 8 – Centers for Disease
George There appears to be consensus within the media and amongst political commentators that there are many ‘armchair experts’, who through their personal comment, are spreading misinformation about the virus. This is generally followed up by some rationale to get in behind the Government, to support their decisions and to
Grant Ovenden The Cigar Merchant Purchasing a cigar can seem very daunting given the vast array of cigars available to you (yes, even in New Zealand). From the varying brands, sizes & shapes and wrapper options available – where do you start? The good news is that it doesn’t have
Fred Lucas PA Pundits – International Fred Lucas is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal at The Heritage Foundation and he is the co-host of “The Right Side of History” podcast. In what he called a “game-changer or maybe not,” President Donald Trump on Thursday directed the
Hans von Spakovsky PA Pundits – International Hans von Spakovsky is an authority on a wide range of issues, including civil rights, civil justice, the First Amendment, immigration, the rule of law and government reform, as a senior legal fellow at the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies
Ben Shapiro PA Pundits – International Ben Shapiro is the host of “The Ben Shapiro Show” and editor-in-chief of DailyWire.com. He is the author of the No. 1 New York Times bestseller “The Right Side of History” and he is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School,
Cherry Paul I took my disabled six year old with me to my pregnancy ultrasound on Monday morning. It felt like an act of sedition. As the woman with the probe checked his unborn sibling’s anatomy, I explained to him— “Now we are looking at the baby’s heart,
RBAvenger We headed off to Singapore on our regular visit for Chinese New Year in January. At the time we were aware of the situation that had developed in China. My partner had been working in Singapore during the SARS outbreak, so was highly alert to how things could go
