Radio NZ reports:

Doctors at Hutt Hospital are being asked to make beds and clean medical equipment, on top of a busy patient workload.

An email sent to all ED staff and seen by RNZ lays out which cleaning tasks are expected of clinical staff, and which are to be done by cleaners.

Clinical staff are expected to clean, among other things, commodes, hoists and patient washbowls, as well as beds, lockers, soap dispensers, sluice sinks and biohazard bags.

Now the clear implication of the story is that this was something that has just been ordered, presumably because the nasty new Government is cutting funding (in reality it has increased it by more than Labour planned to).

Here’s the reality, provided by Health NZ in a statement:

• There has been no change to the Hutt ED cleaning arrangements or funding
• The practice of clinical staff cleaning certain items and areas has been in place for around 30 years (as confirmed by Hutt’s Head of In-House Services, who has held the role in various forms throughout that time)
• While HCAs generally do most of this work, and then nurses, there has always been the expectation that doctors help where they can
• Where a printer or photocopier malfunctions, an automated message goes to Ricoh and a technician is sent as soon as possible (usually immediately) to repair it – we have no idea why a doctor would have taken it upon themselves to do it
• In terms of a patient trying to get out of bed unassisted, it may have been that they tried to do this themselves without requesting assistance just as the doctor was passing – however we are not aware of this particular instance
• The expectation in busy EDs, including Hutt, is that everyone pulls together where needed – and we would point out that there have been many occasions where cleaners have actually performed tasks that they are not expected to (such as making beds) to help out when ED has been particularly busy.

Radio NZ have now updated the story somewhat but hundreds of thousands of people would have been left with the impression that what was reported was something new, rather than standard practice of the last 30 years.

Audrey Young rates the Cabinet Ministers out of 10 for their performance. Her ratings are:

• 9/10 – Chris Bishop, Simeon Brown, Erica Stanford
• 8/10: Chris Luxon, Winston Peters, Nicola Willis, Paul Goldsmith, David Seymour, Karen Chhour
• 7/10 – Shane Reti, Judith Collins, Mark Mitchell, Todd McClay, Simon Watts, Chris Penk, Andrew Bayly, Brooke van Velden, Nicole McKee, Shane Jones
• 6/10 – Louise Upston, Tama Potaka, Matt Doocey, Andrew Hoggard
• 5/10 – Nicola Grigg, Casey Costello, Mark Patterson
• 4/10 – Penny Simmonds
• 3/10 – Melissa Lee

I look forward to her ratings of the Shadow Cabinet!

Biologist Jerry Coyne writes quoting Geonet:

The Alpine Fault is the longest naturally forming straight line on earth. It marks the meeting of two large tectonic plates and has formed over millions of years, stretching longer, lifting our landscape up out of the ocean, and creating the peaks of Kā Tiritiri o te Moana (Southern Alps) with every large earthquake it generates.

According to Ngāi Tahu creation stories, earthquakes are caused by Rūaumoko, the son of Ranginui (the Sky Father) and his wife Papatūanuku (the Earth Mother). Māori have experienced rū whenua, which means ‘the shaking of the land’ for centuries.

Science tells us that Rūaumoko rumbles the Alpine Fault about every 300 years, and the last time was in 1717.

So a NZ Government organisation is telling people that a godling rumbles the Alpine Fault.

Coyne points out:

Dragging in Māori religion not only doesn’t add anything to the prediction of earthquakes, but is likely to confuse students who think that religious mythology is inherent in this prediction. What on earth can it mean to say that “Science tells us that Rūaumoko rumbles the Alpine Fault about every 300 years. . “?  That is simply a flat-out lie.  The pressures on the tectonic plates makes them slip roughly once every 300 years. It’s not due to the actions of a god who decides to rumble the earth about every 300 years (does he get bored?).

It is a disservice—in fact, an insult—to geologists to add to their science the idea that gods are shaking the earth. It is an embarrassment to New Zealand’s government that they are more or less forced to mix indigenous myths with science to pretend that they can reinforce each other. And that pressure comes from trying to sacralize the indigenous people and satisfy, so they think, are the demands of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. But that treaty says nothing about indigenous ways of knowing being made coequal to modern science.

Yes, indigenous knowledge may be a useful addition to some limited scientific endeavors, but this is not one of them. Get the gods out of geology!

This could be taught in social studies or religious studies, but should not be taught in geology.

Stuff reports:

When he was 16, Charlie Simmons set himself a goal of home ownership by age 20. At the same age, his now girlfriend, Courtney Morison, had lived in rentals all her life, and never for a moment thought she’d own her own home.

Now, both are aged 19 and about to settle on their first home, a $720,000 house in their home town Taupō.

They saved the $160,000 deposit themselves from their supermarket jobs: Both work at Pak’n Save; Simmons as a grocery supervisor and Morison in the deli.

Simmons, who started his working life with a paper run aged 12, has been working at the supermarket for five years, and saving consistently.

I also started with a paper run (age 10) and started work at Woolworths at age 14. I didn’t;’t save anything like this couple, but I am always grateful to my parents for getting me to start contributing to a savings fund when I was 16.

“All my friends were out buying their fancy cars and whatnot: I just kept saving my money, saving, saving.“

Although he sometimes worked as many as 20 hours a week while a high school student, his grades didn’t suffer: “I finished year 13, I smashed NCEA. I got second to dux at the end of the year.“

20 hours a week while at school is impressive. I worked 4 pm to 5.30 pm every week night, 4 to 9 on Fridays and 9 – 1 Saturdays.

University was an option, but, as Simmons puts it: “I quite like the supermarket industry and I thought I’d do that with my career. I’m hoping to own my own store one day.”

What I like about this is he never say a supermarket job as beneath him or only suitable as an after school job. He made a conscious decision to carry on with it.

Simmons’ parents helped, he says, with discipline, by feeding him, and by allowing the pair to live at home with them, paying $100 a week each in board.

Some people on Twitter have scoffed at this and suggested this is the main reason they were able to save so much. But they are 19, not 25. Many 19 year olds are still living at home and paying zero board.

And they have bigger financial fish to fry in the future. Buying their own Four Square, as a stepping stone to owning a New World supermarket, is in the 10-year plan.

Great ambition.

You would think from the way that representatives of the teacher unions, speaking to MPs this week in opposition to Charter Schools, spoke of themselves, and their schools, that the sun shines out of their educational backsides.

Unfortunately the latest OECD studies show that a significant portion of the NZ population doesn’t think so – and it is yet another awful international comparison.

According to the 2024 OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions only 55% of the NZ population are satisfied with our education system. The OECD average is 57% and NZ is well behind Australia (71%) as well as Mexico!!, Netherlands, Canada, Costa Rica, Israel, Finland, etc. And also SWEDEN – who during the week the PPTA people derided for having Charter Schools. (NB: See below NZ not so flash on Health either. The survey also includes results on trust on whether bureaucrats and innovative and other measures of trust in our Ministries).

The education result is, of course, a huge indictment on the Ministry of Education whose purpose is: We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent outcomes.

It is also a huge indictment on the teacher unions. The PPTA’s mission statement is: To advance the cause of education generally and of all phases of secondary and technical education in particular.

The outstanding Maryanne Spurdle of Maxim Institute makes these observations on the OECD survey.

“Finland topped the list with 81% satisfied; Switzerland and Denmark boast 76% and 74%. All have decentralised education systems where regions manage operations. In Denmark, municipalities also fund schools up to lower secondary level. Upper secondary schools are centrally funded and self-governing.”

“In the Netherlands, 71% are satisfied. Both public and private schools are funded equally by the state, and funding depends on outcomes.”

“In Australia, 36% of students attend private and Catholic Schools that are heavily subsidised by state and central governments.”

“Next time someone insists that only the Ministry of Education can improve education, remember this: Parents are more satisfied with schools when educators and communities have more say than bureaucrats, unions, and politicians. And providing meaningful school choice always serves students better.”

“In New Zealand, some still believe that the introduction of Charter Schools will devastate public schools. In fact, returning some schools to communities and iwi is exactly what public education needs.”

“Why? Because more than 500 state schools are over-capacity—a massive problem that new Charter Schools will ease. And because in secondary schools, 27% of vacant teaching positions are going unfilled and a growing number of teachers leave the profession mid-career. Independent schools, however, can recruit more broadly and have more liberty to create appealing working conditions.”

“Rather than worry about publicly funding private operators—which we happily do with services from GP clinics to emergency housing providers—let’s be afraid of imitating Greece. Its centralised education system spends no public funds on independent schools, and it was the least popular in the OECD report: 37% of Greeks are satisfied, 47% are dissatisfied.”

Alwyn Poole
alwyn.poole@gmail.com
Innovative Education Consultants Ltd
Education 710+ Ltd
alwynpoole.substack.com
www.linkedin.com/in/alwyn-poole-16b02151/

A guest post by Peter Lynn:

Over time, a technocratic ruling elite has established in Western countries.  By the 21^stcentury, their influence has become substantial.  Members of this elite are overwhelmingly city based, generally university educated, and have become to an extent hereditary by family connections, shared culture and institutional preferences.

Like all ruling elites, over time they have used their influence to advantage themselves, in this case by increasing the size and power of the public sector and boosting its wages and conditions. To this end, they strongly support larger government and more regulation- in common cause with parties of the Left.  In New Zealand for example, the capital, where many public servants, consultants and law makers reside, has the most disproportionate electorates in the country, overwhelmingly voting Left and far Left (for reference, NZ has recently voted in a Right of centre government).

During the last few decades, these ruling elites have diverged from the majority populations in their world view and are now attempting to establish these views as law and custom- and to convert the majority populations to them.  This is not without historical precedent but has usually been religious in character- Constantine’s conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity in the 4th century for example.

This time it’s not technically religious- although these new beliefs are being pushed with a fervour reminiscent of religious crusades and their advocates quickly turn to personal attack and intimidation (‘cancel culture’ for example) when they encounter resistance.

A useful way the elites’ new-found world views can be characterised is as ‘luxury beliefs’- that is, beliefs that only those who have personal security and wealth can afford to have. 

There’s an entire suite of these luxury beliefs, some are fashionable causes like cycleways instead of roads, antipathy towards businesses, opposition to mining, and fossil fuels as the great Satan (never minding that elites sit atop the carbon footprint totem pole).  Others come under the ‘cultural Marxism’ banner.  

Unfortunately, most policies developed from these beliefs fail because of either wishful thinking or ideological blindness. 

Removing consequences for criminals (which has increased crime) and trying to make every child a winner (causing educational standards to fall), are examples of the first.  

As is ‘Nett zero by 2050’ using wind and solar but no nuclear.  This is an article of faith for Western ruling elites.  It won’t save the planet because China alone has generated most of the 34% increase in global emissions and 48% increase in coal use since 2003, while Western emissions are just 23% of the world’s total and static or falling.  What it is doing is seriously damaging Western economies and standing in the way of more useful responses to a warming planet.

The beliefs the elites have taken from cultural Marxism are of the second type.  These deny enlightenment values that have provided their own wealth and security and have so vastly improved life expectancy and social justice.  Perhaps most pernicious is their overturning of the central enlightenment precepts that there is such a thing as objective truth and that rewards and status should be founded on competence and work, not on race, class or gender.  In this retrograde new world, ‘Identity’ rather than ‘character’ (in the Martin Luther King sense) is widely used to define a person’s worth.

Western urban elite doctrine that differences in outcome can only be the result of discrimination cause people to be selected, hired and promoted not because of competence or hard work but because of their ethnicity, gender or religion.  This is immensely destructive.  Passing over the most able in favour of ‘diversity hires’ is economically (and socially) damaging.  It was by promoting his officers on merit that Napoleon almost won the world– a lesson that his enemies were quick to adopt, but that our current ruling elites have abandoned. 

Having spread from universities, far Left parties, public service, and media to the management structure of larger businesses, DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) and ESG (Equity, Social, Governance) policies are now doing significant damage to Western democracies and paradoxically, to the very minority groups they purport to advantage.  

Most dangerous is that by forcing the focus on to identity, they will sooner or later cause majorities to assert their identities.  History is unequivocal about this, it’s a path to genocide.

This is a cultural revolution in progress, the root cause of increasing polarisation in every western country.   

On one side there’s an urban elite, arrogantly sure of their right to rule, and living in an echo chamber where beliefs that don’t withstand reasoned debate become unquestionable doctrine.   Having captured the universities and government departments, and with a complaisant media, they’re using law and bullying at personal and national scale to advance their various causes. 

On the other side, there’s an incipient peasant’s revolt, populist and somewhat incoherent.  Exemplified by Hillary Clinton’s ‘deplorables’ (‘ferals’ in NZ), they have been mostly concerned with their own struggles until recently.  There are inconsistencies in what they want, but they don’t want what they’re getting.  Held in contempt by the elites, historically such people are slow to get roused but unstoppable when they are- as the French aristocracy found out in 1789.

The peasants don’t want cycleways instead of roads and parking places.  

They want to own cars and resent being told it must be an EV.  

They want doctors selected for skill, not for ethnicity or gender identity

They do not like having their every action regulated by a nanny state.

They know that borrowing has to stop someday.  

They very much don’t like being labelled as racist.

They view much of the media as the elite’s propaganda organ, don’t trust it.

They are supportive of climate responses- until their standard of living is affected.  

They know what a woman is and don’t think men should go into women’s toilets. 

They’re scornful of those who demand ‘pronouns’.

They want dangerous people to be locked up. 

They don’t want their towns taken over by migrants who make no attempt to assimilate.

They have strong views- which they often now hide. 

Most of all, they will never accept being ruled by a minority- racial or tribal.

Some of their views are conservative reactionary and will change with time but majority populations remain much more grounded than the urban elites, and they are pushing back.

The Trump phenomenon in the US is an expression of this, the rise of AfD in Germany and Le Pen in France are others.  Opposition to the elites is also growing in the rest of Europe, and in the UK, Australia, Canada and NZ.  In the UK, Europe and the USA, migration is the dominant issue.  For Canada it’s Ottawa and urbanites versus the provinces.  In Australia the elite’s strongholds are in Melbourne, Canberra and to a lesser extent Sydney, with resistance from the mining states.  

In NZ, a focus of the cultural revolution is the urban elite’s ‘white guilt’ driven obsession with structural racism and colonialism as original sin.  The ordained penance is to replace ‘one person one vote’ with some level of minority indigenous control and culture.  There is growing resistance, but indigenous expectations now seem too high for peaceful unwinding.  If it is carried through, history does not provide much hope- countries with privileged racial minorities have a bleak outlook.  Not good either way.

There are indications that the elites’ ascendancy may be on the wane:  

One is support for Trump in the US.  Possibly one of the most unpleasant candidates ever to stand for the presidency, imagine what level of support there would be if the ‘deplorables’ had an even half decent champion?  

Another is that young voters in Europe and America are shifting sharply to the Right. This is unprecedented.  Accepted wisdom is that the young always vote Left, and that our political compass gradually swings Right with age and experience.  Extreme Left movements are traditionally supported by the young (Mao’s Red Guards and Extinction Rebellion for example).  Maybe young people are just more inclined to support change – and that this has generally come from the Left.  Until now.  

A counter revolution is not assured, not least because over the last few decades, Western Left leaning governments have established a client base of beneficiaries.  These are voters whose loyalty to the Left derives from their dependency on the state.  This will not be easy to surmount, especially in the UK and Europe (immigrants) and in NZ, where the ‘right not to work’ (while being supported by the state) has become a lifestyle choice for many. 

But economic mismanagement which Western elites are directly responsible for contains the seeds of their destruction:  

Identity politics mismatching jobs and talents. 

The dead weight of ever more regulations. 

Energy transitions that have doubled costs already and are barely started.

Larger and larger state sectors doing less and less.    

Out of control borrowing: US national debt rising by US$1 trillion every 100 days.

Poor people (which we all soon be if this continues) don’t have luxury beliefs, because they can’t afford them.

Our ruling urban elites need to have a hard think about themselves before it’s too late. 

Otherwise, they’ll be remembered as just another of the irrationalities that periodically roil human society- like tulip mania and witch trials.

And for the destruction they’ve caused.If it’s not already too late.

The Herald reports:

Green MP Julie Anne Genter has been found in contempt of the House for “intimidating” behaviour directed at another MP and it has been recommended she be censured.

A report just released by the Privileges Committee, which assessed Genter’s actions in the House in May, recommends the Rongotai MP be “censured by the House for acting in a manner that could have the effect of intimidating a member of the House acting in the discharge of their duty”.

The question now is whether the Greens will do anything. We have a very relevant comparison with National MP Tim van der Molen last term who was found to have had similar behaviour.

Chris Luxon announced that the consequence for the behaviour will be van der Molen loses all his portfolios for the remainder of the current term, and was ruled out from being a Minister during the next term. That was a very significant consequence.

Will the Greens impose any consequence at all on Genter?

Farmers Weekly reports:

The Minister of Food Safety is set to take on his counterparts from all Australian states and the Federal Government on Thursday to try to save New Zealand infant formula exports to Australia and potentially to China.

Andrew Hoggard’s aim will be to amend proposed rules that would limit New Zealand producers’ abilities to showcase the ingredients of their products on packaging. 

The move stems from a public push to promote breastfeeding in Australia.  

You don’t promote breastfeeding by removing information about infant formula. Far too many parents are shamed anyway because of the stigma attached to formula. I know many many great mothers who used infant formula, because they deemed it necessary. Each situation is different.

Hoggard said the proposed change is not quite like cigarette package labelling, but is a bit similar, with a health-oriented labelling policy driving reform, but going too far.  

In a separate comment, the chief executive of the Infant Nutrition Council, Jonathan Chew, told NewstalkZB that FSANZ has the power to make binding rules and the cost could be serious for New Zealand.

“This would be the first time any country has gone this far in removing (ingredient) information from packaging.”

I want more information, not less, on packaging.

UPDATE: Thanks goodness for good Ministers. NewstalkZB reports:

NZ to opt out of infant formula label changes after failed review

Good

Konstantin Kostin writes:

A starker example of the naked Emperor lies in the canon in some disciplines, especially education. Imagine what the public reaction would be if it came out that the most cited and assigned books in teachers’ colleges were written by Nazi sympathizers, whose most influential pedagogical ideas were directly connected to their Nazi sympathizing (as opposed to, say, James Watson, whose discovery of DNA structure is not directly connected to his recreational racism). My guess is that the public would be very upset about this, and liberals would call for much more drastic government interventions in campus governance than conservatives are calling for now. Yet, replace Nazism with communism (which was even deadlier) in that sentence, and that’s basically exactly what is currently happening in schools of education. The most widely assigned and cited works in the “critical pedagogy” canon, such as those by Paulo Freire, literally praise Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and other communist despots, encourage educators to emphasize revolutionary politics over learning reading and math, and endorse political violence.

It will surprise no-one that Paulo Freire is widely assigned in New Zealand. Now this is not to advocate that someone should not be read or cited because they praise Lenin, Stalin and Mao. The point is the huge double standard. Also I suspect that there are very very few educationalists whose politics are not on the left ever get allowed near our educational institutes.

The Herald reports:

Te Pāti Māori is proposing a new law that would make Waitangi Tribunal recommendations binding on the Crown.

So they want to change the law so that the entire Government is subservient to a body that is appointed by Ministers. The maximum term (except the Chair) is for three years so this would mean the current National/ACT/NZ First Government could appoint this term 19/20 members of the Tribunal, and any decisions they make would be binding on all future Governments!

If this goes ahead, I volunteer to be appointed to the Tribunal. I think charter schools are a taonga protected under the Treaty so if I can get a majority to agree, then it would be illegal for any future Government to scrap charter schools!

Stuff reports:

Imane Khelif of Algeria won her opening Olympic boxing bout when opponent Angela Carini of Italy quit after just 46 seconds.

Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test, and her presence at the Paris Olympics has become a divisive issue.

I feel very sorry for both boxers.

First of all it is important to clarify that Khelif has not transitioned in any way. She was designated female at birth, has been raised as a girl and a woman. One can debate the decision of the IOC, without criticising her – she has done nothing wrong.

It is not clear what the details are of the 2023 gender eligibility test, but one official says she has Y chromosomes and elevated testosterone. It appears likely she may be intersexual which means she has both female and male characteristics, as do around 1 in 2000 people. She may not have even been aware she was intersexual (if she is) until the 2023 test. There’s a lot we don’t know.

So Khelif has done nothing wrong, and just wants to compete. She has never identified as male, and it is unclear if she could even do so, as it is illegal to transition in Algeria. But if Khelif does have Y chromosomes and elevated testosterone, it does provide her with a significant biological advantage over women who do not. And in some sports such as archery that may not raise issues of safety, but in boxing it does. Hard to fault Carini for not carrying on, as she was facing an opponent who might be able to hit her harder than any woman who doesn’t have elevated testosterone and a Y chromosome. Her safety is a real issue.

The blame should probably got towards the IOC for not ensuring their eligibility guidelines were up to date with the latest science, and putting both Khelif and Carina in this situation.

The long-term solution might be to have an open category.

Stuff reports:

ACT MP Karen Chhour has spoken to Stuff’s ThreeNews about how she feels “bullied” at work.

The children’s minister broke down in an interview with Stuff on Wednesday, saying Parliament doesn’t feel like a safe work environment for her.

“Yes, I’m in a position of being a minister but I’m still a person, I’m still a person. And I feel like I’m getting that stripped away from me day by day in this place and I’ve had enough,” she said through tears. …

“Whilst I can’t control what the public is saying about my personal traits about being Maori enough or not being the right kind of traumatised person hearing it from other MPs that shouldn’t be allowed.”

If Chhour was a Minister for the left, she would be hailed as a brave wahine trailblazer who not only survived state care, but has risen to the top of politics despite her start in life. There would be numerous magazine profiles and sympathetic profiles.

But because she is on the right, she is vilified by some opposition MPs as being a bad Maori, a sellout, an example of what is wrong with those who went through state care etc.

I made a short presentation yesterday and said the things you would expect from someone who researches the NZ system intently and has successful designed and provided models/curriculum to counter the mode of the schools that are failing.

Peter Boshier (Ombudsman) made a fair point that, as the Charter Schools will receive most of their funding from the taxpayer then they should be subject to OIA. I have always held the view that even when not legally required the Charter Schools should be fully transparent.

The rest of the anti-presentations were pretty much all appalling parroting of the NZEI and PPTA talking points.

1. The Charter Schools can have “unqualified teachers”. This was stated with bland illustrations like – I would not like to fly in plane with an untrained pilot, I would not like butt implants from a dodgy surgeon, I would not like a beer poured by someone who hasn’t done a block course, etc.

Charter Schools are allowed to employ people with skill sets and experiences not readily available and … don’t tell the unions but so are State schools and there are – at last count – 1,832 of these interlopers on a Limited Authority to Teach in State schools around the nation.

2. Charter Schools are not accountable. State schools are visited by the Education review Office approx. every three years. They hate incisive data about them being researched and published (I know as I do the researching and publishing). They are not required to set achievement goals. They refuse to have their attendance data published by school name.

Charter Schools will publish attendance by school, have academic and other goals set and report quarterly to the Minister and publicly.

3. Charter Schools are not needed as we already have a range of choices in New Zealand and/or these schools could always begin as Designated Character Schools. That the unions expose this is not only and attempt to delude the public but it anathema to their stated aim of standing with the poor and down trodden or with Maori and Pasifika.

Choice in New Zealand schooling is, currently, the realm of the wealthy. The top 30 schools in NZ for leavers qualifications are made up of: 22 Private Schools, 1 Designated Character School, 6 Integrated Schools, 1 State School. 22 of these schools are in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch or Dunedin. In the bottom 30 schools: Ten of these are geographically isolated and are schools that struggle to fully resource with well qualified staff. Others are schools in small provincial towns or schools in the poorer parts of cities. In many of these areas there is simply no other choice for those that stay and try and make their way there. Wealthy families in rural areas often send their children to boarding school or drive incredible distances twice a day.

4. That $153m (over 4 years) being spent on Charters would solve all problems in State Schools by providing 0.3 of a teacher aid per school.

Not much I can even say here as this assertion is so very stupid – and also the worst kind of false dichotomy. Why has no one tried to say that the $70 million spent on maintenance in two years on the PMs plane could get schools closer to having a whole teacher aid each?

5. Apparently profit is appalling.

This of course ignores architects, builders, product providers, micro-soft, etc ad nauseum who make oodles of money from education. It should also be noted – the funding for Charter Schooling is equal to comparable State schools and any providers who think that can make substantial profits can also squeeze blood from a stone.

6. There is no evidence of success.

This is actually humorous. Especially as – in NZ – we have MASSIVE evidence of State School failure.

There are many thousand examples of successful Charter Schools worldwide and the hordes of people trying to get their children into them in many cities get ignored by the unions as parents simply do not know best according to any unionist. To a unionist the State always knows best – except during pay negotiations.

In terms of two schools established last time based on my model – here is what an independent review stated:

[B]oth schools, the management and staff are actively involved in continuous development, and the delivery, of a unique programme of teaching and learning which is based on a comprehensive ‘local’ curriculum that is aligned with the New Zealand Curriculum, and which provides for the personalised needs of priority learners ‘many of whom have been failed by the current education system.

The one aspect the unions have stopped lying about is one they spouted in the last rounds – “that NZ has a world class education system.”

Time for change for the students who are stuck in failing schools or not even enrolled (10,000) – let alone attending. The charter schools will show how to do it.

Update: Paul Steven – Rangitoto College Art Teacher and PPTA Exec – just went full retard (see Tropic Thunder) and called Charter Schools apocalyptic. He clearly thinks that NZ having Charter Schools will cause the end of the world and Jesus to return.

Alwyn Poole
alwyn.poole@gmail.com
Innovative Education Consultants Ltd
Education 710+ Ltd
alwynpoole.substack.com
www.linkedin.com/in/alwyn-poole-16b02151/

The Spinoff reports on Thorndon Quay:

But instead of making minor pedestrian improvements, the proposed design goes way overboard. Five raised pedestrian crossings with traffic lights, plus a sixth non-raised crossing with traffic lights. It’s a big-budget, gold standard approach, but it goes against the primary aim of the project. Raised crossings and excessive traffic lights will make bus and bike access worse, not better. 

Metlink group manager Samantha Gain is wary of criticising the project, but gave this carefully worded statement: “Metlink prefers the installation of traffic control devices, like speed bumps and raised crossings, to be minimised on high frequency bus routes. They can accentuate wear and tear on our buses and reduce ride quality for our passengers.”

So they are doing a gold plated option that will make it worse for cyclists, buses and cars.

As a general principle, pedestrians should always come first when designing streets. But in this case, Thorndon Quay serves primarily as an arterial route, not as a pedestrian destination. It’s an industrial area, backing onto a railway yard, shadowed by a motorway overpass. It’s never going to be a cutesy neighbourhood shopping centre. 

As Joel said, it is a major arterial route. This is an idiotic plan.

Simeon Brown announced:

The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.

• A fleet of 18 4-car units, totalling 72 cars.
• Doubling of peak services on both lines and additional off-peak services.
• 15-minute travel time savings for Kiwis commuting between Wellington and Masterton.
• Increased speeds on the Wairarapa line from 90 kilometres per hour to 110 kilometres per hour.

That’s a good investment, and the doubling of peak services with faster speeds will be great for Wairarapa commuters.

Lots of the normal people on the left are complaining that the Government has adjusted the tax brackets to partially compensate for 14 years of inflation. The good news for them is they can donate them back to the Government. Just do a bank transfer to 03-0049-0000327-25 which is a Treasury bank account for receiving donations.

I wonder how many will do so?

Media have reported that one of the people being vetted as a possible VP candidate for Kamala Harris is retired Admiral William McRaven.

Candidates not widely known to the public need to be able to have who they are summed up in a pithy sentence such as John Key being “Raised in state house by solo mum and became rich”.

For McRaven it is “Organised and oversaw the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden”.

He would add serious credibility and gravitas to the ticket in terms of foreign affairs and security. He also would be an excellent contrast to the isolationist politics for Trump and Vance.

His service includes:

• Naval Special Warfare Unit One 
• assault team leader for Seal Team Six
• platoon commander at Underwater Demolition Team 21/SEAL Team Four
• squadron commander at Naval Special Warfare Development Group
• executive officer of SEAL Team ONE
• task unit commander for Gulf War
• commanding officer Seal Team Three
• commanding officer of Naval Special Force Group ONE
• deputy commander of Task Force 714 in Iraq against Al Qaeda
• Commander of United States Special Operations Command
• Organised and oversaw Operation Neptune Spear

He is no armchair warrior!

However more likely she will go with a Governor.

Stuff reports:

Former prime minister Helen Clark has criticised remarks made by NZ First leader Winston Peters in the House on Tuesday.

Peters was rebutting Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer about “ongoing colonisation” when he said it was “a retard comment”. …

Clark reposted a clip of the comment on social media, saying it was “Distressing to see this kind of language/attitude in NZ Parliament”.

Why is this a news story? Helen Clark tweets many times a day on various issues. She has not been Prime Minister for 16 years.

As to the substantive issue, I’m not clear whether Peters is being criticised for being inaccurate with his description, or for being insensitive with its use!

The Herald reports:

The first liquidator’s report on former Green MP Darleen Tana’s husband Christian Hoff-Nielsen’s bike business shows the company owed Inland Revenue and other creditors more than $400,000 at the time of its liquidation.

E Cycles NZ Limited, trading as Bikes and Beyond, went into liquidation on July 16. Hoff-Nielsen is the director and sole shareholder of the business, according to the Companies Register records.

This is no surprise. It seemed obvious from reports that the business struggled for many years. This in itself should not be held against the owner and directors. Many many small businesses struggle with cashflow and profitability. They have very few reserves and owners sometimes end up paying themselves salaries less than their staff.

However most owners do not underpay their staff and/or keep trading when the business isn’t solvent.

Sadly a growing number of Israelis now also oppose a two state solution.

The problem is there is no real alternative.