Once again, I see some important analysis from Nick that I've not seen elsewhere. It tells me something about what the future of media may look like in this country.
Just over five years ago I accompanied my father to an appointment at a private oncology clinic. Genetic testing suggested his lung wall was amenable to the new generation of immunotherapy treatments. But these were not funded publicly. I had no idea there was such a thing as private oncology. It was plush, quite, comfortable. The numbers quoted were eye-watering, but Mum and Dad had been careful and mostly fretted about it diminishing the inheritance they were insistent on leaving to their kids. Unfortunately for Dad a conflating health condition intervened and he died only a few weeks later without starting treatment. But this "top tier" system has very much been on my mind. What fraction of our population can afford the treatment each one of us deserves?
It may be my age but cancer seems to everywhere in my circle, it is not shared out fairly and despite huge progress with medicine etc the outcomes are equally unfair. Election promises are made to be broken, just hope that they will be forgotten over the three years. Being paranoid I want to join some dots. Brooke Vampire stating human life was over valued in the worst days of Covid, and Tama Potaka stating that it is just too expensive to save some endangered species. Watch this ‘Coalition without empathy’ decide it is too expensive to save some lives - particularly lives of folk who aren’t much use economically…
You're right Nick. Many of us have lost loved ones through cancer. One thing I've learnt is that there's a time when it really isn't going to get better. My dearest friend died on his 36th birthday 36 years ago.,I still miss him every day. One of the last things he said to me was "I didn't want to go without telling you I love you". We left nothing unsaid, nothing undone. That's the best way to part, knowing nothing more needs to be done. It still hurts like crazy but there are no moments of "shit I wish I'd said or done this but now it's too late" There will be a day when the last chance arrives. I recommend we take it. It does help to ease the pain of loss. Just a little.
Hi Nick, most of us are no strangers to cancer. Between 33% and 50% of us will receive a cancer diagnosis in our lifetime. Add in our families and friends that support us and we are all too aware of the situation we find ourselves in. My mother had a 10-year battle with Breast cancer. The last years were not good.
Having now been diagnosed and treated for a rare and aggressive cancer I am well aware of the situation the promised recipients of the drugs find themselves in. There is no cure for my particular variant, so I wait for the almost inevitable relapse. The process then will involve the sort of drugs promised by the National Party: expensive and not supplied by Pharmac. I watch and support my fellow sufferers as they access experimental drugs, knowing that they probably won’t cure them, but give them some more months to years of precious life. Life is indeed more precious when you are in this situation. My fellow sufferers meet this situation with courage and realism. They are not helpless victims, but doing the best they can do deal with situation. Our thoughts are about how bad our situation will be before we refuse any more treatment, and how much of our financial resources we should expend to delay the inevitable. Or maybe, just maybe, there may be cure in these experimental treatments, or at least a worthwhile extension to a life that now seems extremely precious.
It seems that to politicians the making and breaking of promises is a sort of game. The key driver for them is to gain and remain in power. Breaking promises is a strategy, not a side-effect. There seems there was no intent to keep the promise to fund the cancer drugs. It wasn’t even included in the budget.
With cancer sufferers this is not a game, however. It is despicable to play around with the hopes and fears of people in this situation. Almost all of us in this place are grateful for the care, compassion and support freely given to us. We face all of this trying to retain our composure, and to accept death with our dignity intact. How can Luxon, Willis, Reti and all not be dying of shame at the moment?
Another topic that frustrate me, How can we possibly say anything other than Our Country New Zealand IS INEQUALITY! In every sense, every aspect, we are an in-equal society and those Entitled have one single aim - to maintain and enhance their status. The most frustrating thing is they have not the slightest ability to understand any alternative!
So many of us, just sit back and let it happen, we need to sign up to - some positive action, not violence, not political, just "no confidence" in our present caucus? It is People that can make change, people have the power, if we use it!
All the drugs in the world won't help if you can't get a diagnosis in the first place. The fundamentals of our health system are rotting. People falling between the gaps, becoming unwell when they needn't be. I agree, we are all touched by cancer, and for every positive-experience story there seems to be a myriad of negative ones, where lack of followup, lack of funds, lack of access lead to irreversible consequences. It's not for lack of trying by health professionals, but I am really afraid of what these 'savings' in the Ministry of Health will deliver. It will not be lives. Much like our endemic and native species, we had all better prepare a cost-benefit business case for our individual healthcare needs
Shane Reti's behaviour is cynical. As a doctor he presumably believed in the importance of saving lives, finding the best treatments and caring for the sick and distressed. He is able to put these ideas behind him for the expediency of supporting this vile government.
Perhaps Shane Reti, Tama Potaka & a few others thought they could change the National Party from within. Give up, you won't, so develop a conscious, cross the floor & vote with the opposition.
Insightful Korero again Nick. Thanks. Being one who has been on a trek through the health system for over two years now who has finally received a diagnosis of a major heart condition only due to collapse. The system collapse needs to be addressed with immediate action right now. Even if it be that we are all signed up to a mandatory health scheme and contribute to improve things. This government up until this time has chosen death over life. I urge everyone to make their voices heard by the politicians. There’s a thought, petition parliament for the introduction of such a scheme?
I'm a retired engineer, and some years ago spent 2 days working in the basement of a crematorium. The cremators had to be shut down but the services were still going on above us and the coffins came down and were stored in racks. I was ok with the adult size ones, you think it's probably someone who's died of old age, then two baby sized ones appeared. Man, hardest job site I've ever been on. Never forgotten.
We must all make a concerted group effort to keep the topic of this broken promise-to-get-votes example of the horrendous vampire capitalism of this CoC Government current in the news media, over and over without let-up, for the next three years, to make sure they only get one term to 'piss on all us ants in the anthill'...which is a metaphor for the only real "Trickle-Down Effect" of Neoliberalism.
It was a cruel trick to win votes. Surely, Reti as a GP must have had some idea how Pharmac works, and any ethical doctor would understand that politicians should not be deciding what medicines are funded - and that is how our system is deliberately set up. As is now clear, their priorities were based on a three year out of date list from the Cancer Society. Years ago, I recall National organising pink coffins on Parliament's forecourt to demand Herceptin be funded. It was, but turned out there was a shorter treatment already funded that proved more effective. Every whanau will have cancer touch their lives - it is a ghastly and can be devastating. We can count them among us all - those that died too early, yet those that either recovered, or maybe lived longer because of treatment. Politicians should never, ever politicise cancer or other serious illness and I am sickened by the National Party's deliberate vote getting, when half a brain among them would have done enough research to know what they were promising is impossible.
Thank you for yet another informative post Nick. Without the ability to access Substack posts like yours there would be a huge gulf in the information I am able to read daily to stay better informed. Perhaps you should gift a sub to every MP in this hateful COC.
I can happily report that my wife is home again this afternoon. She has a future plan now which is reassuring. We both had a great chat to Rawiri and his wife who was also going home. He got his scan earlier today. He is booked for stomach surgery sometime soon and is hopeful they can remove the affected part of his stomach and is positive that he will recover from this. He is a man of strong religious faith and this gives him courage and an outlook beyond how I think I would cope in his position.
Despite understaffing and infrastructure issues the nurses ( especially ) and doctors are caring and do their very best in difficult circumstances. We are certainly grateful for their services.
As a country if we want decent Health, Education, Welfare etc then we need to look at paying more tax rather than the current fascination sold by the Right about lower taxes being the salvation this country needs. The money has to come from somewhere and there is a bloody lot of it needed.
We need lying, conniving politicians like Luxon exposed at every turn for being the self aggrandising opportunists that they are. Keep up the good work Nick - you are one of very few beacons of truth.
And his and his coalition partners continued attempts to nullify a people and culture that has so much to offer they deserve to be gone now and forever.
He aha te mea nui o te ao - he tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
What is it about this simple and beautiful concept that so many choose to have difficulty with??
I was diagnosed with lung cancer late December 2023. I was fortunate I was able to have the required surgery two months later through the public health system but had I been reliant on any of the 13 cancer drugs National campaigned on, I would’ve been devastated to be told they were no longer being funded and that ultimately, my body was now a ticking timebomb. The promised funding was the only lifeline available for many. For the Government to break that promise and then lie about why they broke their promise is stooping lower than I thought possible even for this government. I know “hate” is a strong word but I’ve never hated a Government as much as I do this coalition of cruelty. In recognition of the public health system, I cannot speak highly enough of the treatment I received through Wellington public hospital – so many committed doctors and nurses providing this for free. We are spoilt in Wellington though and the same can’t be said for all parts of the country. I don’t agree with private medical insurance where wealthy people can jump the queue ahead of the poor but I now see that that is the reality today. What a luxury it must be for people like Luxon and Willis to not have to worry about getting lifesaving treatment for them and their families.
Cancer is a cruel disease which attacks our loved ones. I have lost my grandmother, and mother to cancer. My daughter is a breast cancer survivor after a double mastectomy. She has been through chemotherapy and radiation. This government has no idea of how crippling this disease is and should be doing everything in its power to save lives. I can’t understand how they have tricked the electorate to believe that they cared. Shame on them and in particular, Luxon, Willis and Riti!
Once again, I see some important analysis from Nick that I've not seen elsewhere. It tells me something about what the future of media may look like in this country.
Just over five years ago I accompanied my father to an appointment at a private oncology clinic. Genetic testing suggested his lung wall was amenable to the new generation of immunotherapy treatments. But these were not funded publicly. I had no idea there was such a thing as private oncology. It was plush, quite, comfortable. The numbers quoted were eye-watering, but Mum and Dad had been careful and mostly fretted about it diminishing the inheritance they were insistent on leaving to their kids. Unfortunately for Dad a conflating health condition intervened and he died only a few weeks later without starting treatment. But this "top tier" system has very much been on my mind. What fraction of our population can afford the treatment each one of us deserves?
It may be my age but cancer seems to everywhere in my circle, it is not shared out fairly and despite huge progress with medicine etc the outcomes are equally unfair. Election promises are made to be broken, just hope that they will be forgotten over the three years. Being paranoid I want to join some dots. Brooke Vampire stating human life was over valued in the worst days of Covid, and Tama Potaka stating that it is just too expensive to save some endangered species. Watch this ‘Coalition without empathy’ decide it is too expensive to save some lives - particularly lives of folk who aren’t much use economically…
You're right Nick. Many of us have lost loved ones through cancer. One thing I've learnt is that there's a time when it really isn't going to get better. My dearest friend died on his 36th birthday 36 years ago.,I still miss him every day. One of the last things he said to me was "I didn't want to go without telling you I love you". We left nothing unsaid, nothing undone. That's the best way to part, knowing nothing more needs to be done. It still hurts like crazy but there are no moments of "shit I wish I'd said or done this but now it's too late" There will be a day when the last chance arrives. I recommend we take it. It does help to ease the pain of loss. Just a little.
Hi Nick, most of us are no strangers to cancer. Between 33% and 50% of us will receive a cancer diagnosis in our lifetime. Add in our families and friends that support us and we are all too aware of the situation we find ourselves in. My mother had a 10-year battle with Breast cancer. The last years were not good.
Having now been diagnosed and treated for a rare and aggressive cancer I am well aware of the situation the promised recipients of the drugs find themselves in. There is no cure for my particular variant, so I wait for the almost inevitable relapse. The process then will involve the sort of drugs promised by the National Party: expensive and not supplied by Pharmac. I watch and support my fellow sufferers as they access experimental drugs, knowing that they probably won’t cure them, but give them some more months to years of precious life. Life is indeed more precious when you are in this situation. My fellow sufferers meet this situation with courage and realism. They are not helpless victims, but doing the best they can do deal with situation. Our thoughts are about how bad our situation will be before we refuse any more treatment, and how much of our financial resources we should expend to delay the inevitable. Or maybe, just maybe, there may be cure in these experimental treatments, or at least a worthwhile extension to a life that now seems extremely precious.
It seems that to politicians the making and breaking of promises is a sort of game. The key driver for them is to gain and remain in power. Breaking promises is a strategy, not a side-effect. There seems there was no intent to keep the promise to fund the cancer drugs. It wasn’t even included in the budget.
With cancer sufferers this is not a game, however. It is despicable to play around with the hopes and fears of people in this situation. Almost all of us in this place are grateful for the care, compassion and support freely given to us. We face all of this trying to retain our composure, and to accept death with our dignity intact. How can Luxon, Willis, Reti and all not be dying of shame at the moment?
Another topic that frustrate me, How can we possibly say anything other than Our Country New Zealand IS INEQUALITY! In every sense, every aspect, we are an in-equal society and those Entitled have one single aim - to maintain and enhance their status. The most frustrating thing is they have not the slightest ability to understand any alternative!
So many of us, just sit back and let it happen, we need to sign up to - some positive action, not violence, not political, just "no confidence" in our present caucus? It is People that can make change, people have the power, if we use it!
All the drugs in the world won't help if you can't get a diagnosis in the first place. The fundamentals of our health system are rotting. People falling between the gaps, becoming unwell when they needn't be. I agree, we are all touched by cancer, and for every positive-experience story there seems to be a myriad of negative ones, where lack of followup, lack of funds, lack of access lead to irreversible consequences. It's not for lack of trying by health professionals, but I am really afraid of what these 'savings' in the Ministry of Health will deliver. It will not be lives. Much like our endemic and native species, we had all better prepare a cost-benefit business case for our individual healthcare needs
Shane Reti's behaviour is cynical. As a doctor he presumably believed in the importance of saving lives, finding the best treatments and caring for the sick and distressed. He is able to put these ideas behind him for the expediency of supporting this vile government.
He's a snake in the grass and has been from day one.
Perhaps Shane Reti, Tama Potaka & a few others thought they could change the National Party from within. Give up, you won't, so develop a conscious, cross the floor & vote with the opposition.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if they did? But I just doubt they will unfortunately.
Snake in the grass? Reti? I'll take the snake any day thanks
That's funny. So would I.
I am ashamed that he is our local MP. Ashamed.
Insightful Korero again Nick. Thanks. Being one who has been on a trek through the health system for over two years now who has finally received a diagnosis of a major heart condition only due to collapse. The system collapse needs to be addressed with immediate action right now. Even if it be that we are all signed up to a mandatory health scheme and contribute to improve things. This government up until this time has chosen death over life. I urge everyone to make their voices heard by the politicians. There’s a thought, petition parliament for the introduction of such a scheme?
I'm a retired engineer, and some years ago spent 2 days working in the basement of a crematorium. The cremators had to be shut down but the services were still going on above us and the coffins came down and were stored in racks. I was ok with the adult size ones, you think it's probably someone who's died of old age, then two baby sized ones appeared. Man, hardest job site I've ever been on. Never forgotten.
We must all make a concerted group effort to keep the topic of this broken promise-to-get-votes example of the horrendous vampire capitalism of this CoC Government current in the news media, over and over without let-up, for the next three years, to make sure they only get one term to 'piss on all us ants in the anthill'...which is a metaphor for the only real "Trickle-Down Effect" of Neoliberalism.
It was a cruel trick to win votes. Surely, Reti as a GP must have had some idea how Pharmac works, and any ethical doctor would understand that politicians should not be deciding what medicines are funded - and that is how our system is deliberately set up. As is now clear, their priorities were based on a three year out of date list from the Cancer Society. Years ago, I recall National organising pink coffins on Parliament's forecourt to demand Herceptin be funded. It was, but turned out there was a shorter treatment already funded that proved more effective. Every whanau will have cancer touch their lives - it is a ghastly and can be devastating. We can count them among us all - those that died too early, yet those that either recovered, or maybe lived longer because of treatment. Politicians should never, ever politicise cancer or other serious illness and I am sickened by the National Party's deliberate vote getting, when half a brain among them would have done enough research to know what they were promising is impossible.
Thank you for yet another informative post Nick. Without the ability to access Substack posts like yours there would be a huge gulf in the information I am able to read daily to stay better informed. Perhaps you should gift a sub to every MP in this hateful COC.
I can happily report that my wife is home again this afternoon. She has a future plan now which is reassuring. We both had a great chat to Rawiri and his wife who was also going home. He got his scan earlier today. He is booked for stomach surgery sometime soon and is hopeful they can remove the affected part of his stomach and is positive that he will recover from this. He is a man of strong religious faith and this gives him courage and an outlook beyond how I think I would cope in his position.
Despite understaffing and infrastructure issues the nurses ( especially ) and doctors are caring and do their very best in difficult circumstances. We are certainly grateful for their services.
As a country if we want decent Health, Education, Welfare etc then we need to look at paying more tax rather than the current fascination sold by the Right about lower taxes being the salvation this country needs. The money has to come from somewhere and there is a bloody lot of it needed.
We need lying, conniving politicians like Luxon exposed at every turn for being the self aggrandising opportunists that they are. Keep up the good work Nick - you are one of very few beacons of truth.
And his and his coalition partners continued attempts to nullify a people and culture that has so much to offer they deserve to be gone now and forever.
He aha te mea nui o te ao - he tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
What is it about this simple and beautiful concept that so many choose to have difficulty with??
I was diagnosed with lung cancer late December 2023. I was fortunate I was able to have the required surgery two months later through the public health system but had I been reliant on any of the 13 cancer drugs National campaigned on, I would’ve been devastated to be told they were no longer being funded and that ultimately, my body was now a ticking timebomb. The promised funding was the only lifeline available for many. For the Government to break that promise and then lie about why they broke their promise is stooping lower than I thought possible even for this government. I know “hate” is a strong word but I’ve never hated a Government as much as I do this coalition of cruelty. In recognition of the public health system, I cannot speak highly enough of the treatment I received through Wellington public hospital – so many committed doctors and nurses providing this for free. We are spoilt in Wellington though and the same can’t be said for all parts of the country. I don’t agree with private medical insurance where wealthy people can jump the queue ahead of the poor but I now see that that is the reality today. What a luxury it must be for people like Luxon and Willis to not have to worry about getting lifesaving treatment for them and their families.
A very distressing korero Nick. The cynic in me would be inclined to believe that National but especially ACT see major illness in cost effectiveness terms, rather like car and airline manufacturers who when presented with death statistics caused by faulty design weigh the cost benefits to fixing said fault against simply paying out insurance claims for the bereaved. https://www.tortmuseum.org/ford-pinto/#:~:text=Simply%2C%20Ford's%20internal%20%22cost%2D,to%20remedy%20the%20Pinto%20design.
https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/boeing-737-maxs-flawed-flight-control-system-led/story?id=74321424
Cancer is a cruel disease which attacks our loved ones. I have lost my grandmother, and mother to cancer. My daughter is a breast cancer survivor after a double mastectomy. She has been through chemotherapy and radiation. This government has no idea of how crippling this disease is and should be doing everything in its power to save lives. I can’t understand how they have tricked the electorate to believe that they cared. Shame on them and in particular, Luxon, Willis and Riti!