Sunny Days
And unpleasant wet patches.
Sunny - Yesterday my life was filled with rain
Sunny - You smiled at me and really eased the pain
The dark days are gone, and the bright days are here
My sunny one shines so sincere
Songwriter: Bobby Hebb.
Today, a look at one high and a lot of lows from a very wet week.
Speaking of wet and weak, let's begin with the Minister of Health, who took a break from diverting the Health System’s resources into the private sector to fail women.
Breast Screening
From the paywalled article:
“Health Minister Simeon Brown has defended the rollout of new breast cancer screening to women aged 70-74, which will not be complete until 2029, a fact not made clear when National campaigned on the policy at the last election.”
This is disgusting. That it will take six years, from when they were elected in late 2023 until late 2029, to roll this out is, at best, sheer incompetence. I think it’s evil.
Many thousands of women will not be screened, resulting in late diagnosis and inevitably deaths. People’s partners, their mothers, and that will be entirely on Simeon Brown.
This unpleasant boy, who seems to want to fight rather than support our health professionals, is just not fit to be the Minister of Health.
Ange commented: “Remember, they did the same with bowel screening tests. I guess that means fewer people requiring the cancer pharmaceuticals they’ve promised?
If you’re not diagnosed, you don’t need them? Does that sound cynical?
Fucking arseholes…”
Christian: “He puts his political beliefs above the lives of people, as if they have no value to him.”
Irene: “The contempt by this government towards women is disgusting. Yet they can find the money for tobacco companies and landlords...”
I find it mind-blowing at this point that any woman in Aotearoa would consider voting for these guys. How much clearer do they have to make it that they don’t care about women?
Mind you, there are plenty of people they don’t care about…
You’re on your own.
Fresh from jetting back from his Hawaiian Holiday, Christopher Luxon, the man who cancelled the previous government's climate change initiatives, essentially said, “Don't come crying to us when you get flooded.”
As Nancy said, “Nothing like kicking people when they're down!”
Kevin posted:
This is the same party that has been advising local governments to hold off on planning, as the new and improved RMA will soon allow developers to do more of whatever they’d like. Want to build new slums on a floodplain? Sweet, we need more homes, buyer beware.
My neighbour Penny, who knows rather a lot about local government, said: “.......and diluting councils’ ability to say no to developments in flood-prone areas.....ffs!!”
No long-term strategy, just simplifying consents to make the problem worse, and when the waters come, heck, you'd best start bailing. The result of this will likely dwarf the fallout from National’s reform on building standards, which led to the Leaky Homes Crisis.
Pay gagging
Time for something positive. One ray of sunshine this week has been the progress of Camilla Belich’s Members’ bill.
From the RNZ article:
“Labour MP Camilla Belich's bill - called the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill - passed its second reading on Wednesday night…
Belich's bill would make pay gag clauses unenforceable, meaning employers could not take legal action if an employee does talk about pay.”
ACT and NZF both voted against the bill, but somewhat surprisingly, National supported it. I imagine stopping from further losing face with women, who, as we all know, are often paid less than their male counterparts, even in the same job, regardless of merit.
I asked your fellow reader Darien for her thoughts:
“Who knew you could be punished at work for talking to another worker or even a family member about your pay - punishment including disciplinary action up to and including dismissal?
Yes, it’s true, and Camilla Belich, Labour MP, has been on the job with a Members’ Bill that looks like it will pass, having got through second reading this week with (gasp) the support of National.
“The bill would ensure that workers can voluntarily discuss and disclose their own pay rate to others without detrimental repercussions to their employment. The policy statement of this bill states that it is hoped that this would then lead to greater transparency in pay and allow any pay discrimination to be more easily identified and remedied.” (from the Select Committee report).
It is almost unheard of for an Opposition Members’ bill to get through. However, we are far behind other jurisdictions, and Camilla, in her careful and intelligent manner, has won the argument.
Except with ACT and NZ First, who voted against it with a bizarre rant again from ACT’s Parmjeet Parmar and a strange speech from NZ First’s Mark Patterson - both of whom objected on the basis of it breaching the sanctity of contract. I haven’t heard such nonsense since Bill Birch in 1990.
It’s a small step, as Camilla says, but in these times, a huge win.”
Thanks so much, Darien, as you say, even a small win seems momentous at this time.
Stuff’s vendetta against Jacinda.
Stuff showed yet again that they are the platform for Jacinda haters.
I don’t know if what appears to be a sustained campaign against our former PM is a short-term tactic for clickbait, or if they’re seeking to establish themselves long term in the same space as their opinion writers, which seem to be never-ending rants from angry right-wing “men”.
Yesterday, they ran a piece from Paddy "I love Billionaires" Gower moaning about Ian Taylor being criticised over his "I hate Jacinda" letter from a week or two back.
Stirring the pot with the same old shit. FFS, STUFF, get a life and stop asking for money. I'm not paying for the likes of Damien Grant, Paddy Gower, and Ian Taylor; they, and you, can take a flying leap.
Ardern is by no means above criticism, but this is just the same old bitter rant. I’ve not included a link to it, as I don’t want to encourage any of you to read it. I’m sure you can find it if you want to. Here’s a picture of Jacinda instead:
The funny thing is, I don't remember endless media vitriol against Key after he left power, and he damaged this country badly, deliberately growing inequality.
Anne noted: “Key is a white male Nick.. Sad state of affairs.”
David had a solution: “Ian Taylor could have shut up and not written his letter, then he wouldn’t be shocked and we could all be spared all the arrant bollocks that ensued… problem solved.”
Richard put things in perspective, “What is Gower doing on RNZ?. He is not a journalist, just an ego-inflated, self-opinionated git.”
I agree, while Gower indeed has the perfect face for radio (yes, I know I’ll be told off for that comment), he lacks both the wit and the nous for such a platform.
Sunny takes the money.
There was an article on the news this week about how much Sunny Kaushal was being paid to reheat old ideas. Ideas formerly rejected by the last government. Watching the news piece, it struck me as an utter waste of money, given everything else that is being cut, that the only motivation could be political. I posted:
Sunny Kaushal is a bigger thief than any shoplifter. Taking all that money to serve up rejected ideas from the past that won’t work.
Here are the fine lads from BHN discussing the piece:
Tina wrote, “Slimy little toad, never liked or trusted him. He's laughing all the way to the bank...at the taxpayers’ expense. Creep.”
Phil: “Yes indeed. Being enabled to do this by the coalition government. Jobs for their donors and fanboys.”
Fiona: “The 500k would have made a huge difference to food banks, or women's refuges, or shoes for kids.”
That’s the real point. Money is being pissed against the wall to gain votes from the community that Sunny represents, and that stinks when you consider what else it could be used for.
Right, I’m being told I’m reaching the email limit on this one, so just an appeal for subscriptions.
If you’re in a position to do so, subscribe to Nick’s Kōrero for $2 a week at my original price ($8 per month or $80 for a year), or the gold card discount rate ($7 per month or $70 for a year) below. Thanks very much for your support and consideration. 🙂
Ngā mihi,
Nick.
To end today, here is Stevie Wonder with Sunny. Listen to that bass player dance.
I won’t be the only woman who would have been covered by the Breast Screening programme coverage being increased to include those 70-74. Thanks to National revealing the fine print almost 2 years after campaigning on doing it, I’ll once again be too old by the time, if ever, it comes in. It’s not the biggest disappointment I’ve had with this CoC, nor will it be the last. Instead, it proves once again why I never have nor never will vote for any of those parties.
If one of Simeon’s private health providers came up with an instant but expensive scheme for screening then our Miniature of Wealth would be all over it