Phil Wheeler

‘Chaotic and indecisive’: key findings of report on UK’s Covid response under Tories Second pandemic report focuses on decision-making, organisation and messaging by senior politicians including Boris Johnson

I'll just note this inquiry has noted that with 20/20 hindsight the UK should have acted... pretty much exactly as New Zealand did.

Which a good portion of NZ's media and political class have spent 5 revisionist years trying to paint as an overreaction. Overwhelmingly, it wasn't.

“Trust us! Marginalising these communities more will absolutely bring down the cost of a KG of Mince and get your job back!”

National in opposition

'Three Waters" removes local community control over water assets !!

National in Gov

We're taking school assets away from community control, suckers !

#nzpol

Winston knows what gets into the headlines and he knows what sways the votes. Stop expecting morally unequivocal positions from someone with such a consistent historical track record of moral chameleonism.

Look. Winston is a populist. He doesn't actually have strong guiding principles or morals; he just says things that get into the public consciousness and are likely to get him voted into power. That's how he's been able to hang around parliament for so long.

OMG that is the single most annoying missing feature in YT shorts. The option is there on the web; not on mobile. The. Worst.

YouTube video by Yurié Collins 日本語きゃわ🩷 #スタンダップコメディ #ユリエコリンズ #standupcomedy

You come across Yurie Collins yet? She's really funny too. www.youtube.com/shorts/gkCFE...

I really hate it when scientists keep saying that “we need to rebuild trust in science,” because it implies that scientists are to blame for the mistrust rather than the millions of dollars of dark money that have funded political attacks on science in order to advance a far right agenda.

New Zealand First !! Puberty blockers banned - protecting kiwi kids. NZ First is winning the war on woke.

There are a million children in Aotearoa, about 700 of them have been prescribed puberty blockers (that's 0.07%)

Medication decisions should be decided by the child, their caregivers, and the relevant health professionals, not a party relying on imported culture wars to stay in power

National: "A road's the economy and good governance."

If America has shown us anything, it's that despite all the frothing at the mouth about gun rights and firearms ownership, they're fucking terrible shots so he was probably never really at serious risk. ;-p

What is the point of doing studies that aren't needed by anyone not wearing a tin foil hat, and that people with tin foil hats on won't believe?

Ugh. Education isn't the only place from which our disabled community are being erased. See mental health crises going unanswered, watch out for policy changes to disabled housing coming soon, funding cuts to community support groups.
The "unproductive" parts of society are a problem to be removed.

Who are we talking about here since it's been deleted?

Chris Bishop diverts Kāinga Ora money to fund a bridge in his electorate Officials warned against the use of housing funds for bridge building but Bishop says it was a “pragmatic choice”.

NEW: Chris Bishop used housing money to fund a bridge in his electorate his own Govt had killed off.

Officials were against the move and Labour say he shouldn’t have been anywhere near the decision.

www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...

Poster with National, ACT and NZ First. National section says ‘Reward the rich’. ACT section says ‘Punish the poor’. NZ First section says ‘Blame others’.

#nzpol
In a nutshell…

Perhaps we can shave their heads and get their gold teeth too?

Why are they even bothering to pretend? We can all judge on their actions and this racist government is actively harmful and hostile towards anything to do with Māori, partnership and working for all New Zealanders.

Diluting history curriculum risks 'leaving our past to chance' - Academic The government has released the full draft of its new year 0-10 curriculum, which proposes dropping Aotearoa New Zealand's Histories and adding more international topics.

Diluting history curriculum: www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu...
Whitewashing primary curriculum: www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Removing te tiriti: www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Treaty obligations framed as virtue signalling: www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Teachers shocked by government decision to remove Treaty of Waitangi requirement in schools The minister had been moving to change the requirement, but has announced it will remove it altogether.

Remember that the argument from Stanford is "the treaty is the Crown's responsibility, not schools'" (www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/577...).
So if this government takes that responsibility seriously, we should see MORE effort to give effect to te tiriti. Instead we have...

The bad faith argument here is to "restore trust and confidence in the governance of the education workforce", which is ironic considering the concerted effort this government has made to erode that trust in the first place.
Education still rates v highly in trust (www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3504...

Ok I had a blind spot or two here.

First off - NELPs take effect for 5 years (unless revoked earlier). Stanford will be letting all current ones expire at the end of this year. No more priorities around Māori or te reo.

Secondly - Stanford is taking over the NZTC www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

This government is trying to strip every avenue for mātauranga Māori to be prioritised in NZ to make it easier for them to sideline partnership principles in favour of economic ideology.
It won't stop with the Education Act. Every inch of ground conceded is a foothold for them to go further.

Those priorities include:
* Quality teaching and leadership
* Learners at the centre
* Inclusive public education

You can read the full text in the link I added in the previous post. This forms part of teachers' registration.

Statement of National Education and Learning Priorities (NELP) The NELP identified the Government’s educational priorities for early learning services, schools and kura in 2020.

Ok I'm on a tear now.
Aotearoa NZ's Ministry of Education has a published Statement of National Education and Learning Priorities (NELPs) - www.education.govt.nz/our-work/ove...

In it, the government sets out 8 priorities for all schools that must be given effect by boards.

Huh. It's a lot smaller than you'd expect after seeing those other ones in the movies.

It's worth noting this as you see more and more schools coming out in support of retaining te tiriti in the Education and Training Act. It's also worth being aware of this process this week in lieu of, oh I don't know, any future arguments by racist Erica Stanford about community consultation?

Many school boards have recently been through a re-election cycle in the last few months as is the statutory requirement. In parallel, they'll also have been seeking input on issues from parents and the local community as part of their strategic governance planning.

But but but Mark Mitchell said they were a Labour NZ only thing?

Right-wing governments all over the world have worked out that they don't actually need to respect conventions, rules or mandates from their voters. They're in power now and can just plow through whatever they want. To hell with moral imperatives!