This is edition 2024/207 of the Ten@10 newsletter.
Welcome to the Ten@10, where I collate and summarise ten news items you generally won't see in the mainstream media.
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1. Will politicians learn anything from the first Covid Response report?
Bryce Edwards
- 🌍 Any criticism of New Zealand's Covid response should acknowledge its success in low death rates compared to peer nations.
- 📉 The response caused reduced trust in institutions and deeper social division, with years of inflation and recession.
- 🏛️ The Royal Commission's first phase highlights questions on trade-offs and decision-making quality during the pandemic.
- 🚫 Ardern's commission faced controversy over scope limitations and private hearings, unusual for such a critical inquiry.
- 🔍 The second phase will examine lockdowns, vaccine policies, socioeconomic impacts, and government consistency.
- 📢 Early elimination strategy was effective, but planning for failure and communication deteriorated over time.
- 🚨 Overreliance on lockdowns highlighted public health infrastructure gaps and disproportionate impacts on vulnerable groups.
- 💉 Broad vaccine mandates caused social fissures and weakened public support, especially with evolving variants.
- 📈 Economic responses prevented immediate recession but exacerbated inequalities and long-term economic challenges.
- 🌐 Government performance under crisis was strong but lacked coherent long-term strategies, critiqued for centralized decision-making.
- 🤝 Recommendations include pandemic preparedness improvements but may repeat institutional issues.
- 💬 Public mistrust persists due to limited transparency in commission terms, suggesting deeper systemic concerns.
- 📅 Second phase of the commission expected to report in February 2026 may address ongoing criticisms and findings.
