Point of Entry

New law and order funding: Extra police with focus on gangs, gun crime

Tea for two — Sun, 8 May 2022 20:32:31 +0900

The government has announced a raft of law and order measures that it says will increase police members, address gang violence and extend successful rehabilitation programmes.

Faafoi said recent years have seen increases in gun crime, gang activity and some forms of youth offending which puts communities at risk and must be addressed.

Our response needs to address the root causes of crime, especially when it relates to young people, provide more rehabilitation to reduce reoffending, and actively pursue and prosecute those who participate in illegal gang activity.

Our first priority is increasing the number of police on the frontline. Once we achieve our goal of an extra 1800 police officers later this year we will ensure numbers don't fall away again by maintaining an ongoing ratio of one police officer to every 480 New Zealanders.

More than 400 school staff quit over government's vaccine mandate

Tea for two — Sun, 8 May 2022 20:08:43 +0900

Education Payroll records show more than 400 school staff resigned over the government's vaccine mandate.

The Education Ministry said the mandate was included as a reason for resignation in the payroll system last year, however schools did not have to use the coding.

As a result, it is unclear exactly how many staff members left because of the rule, the Ministry said.

The Teaching Council said it received reports from employers that 225 teachers were dismissed for refusing to comply with the vaccine mandate.

It said refusing to get vaccinated did not breach the teacher's code of professional responsibility and it took no action on those cases.

The 'Pachinko' finale highlights the real-life women whose stories aren't found in history books

Tea for two — Fri, 6 May 2022 21:23:34 +0900

At the center of "Pachinko," the Apple TV+ adaptation of Min Jin Lee's epic novel, is a character named Sunja--a woman born in Japanese-occupied Korea who leaves her homeland for the imperial country in the early 20th century.

It's a sweeping tale of immigrant resilience, of identity and belonging, of historic trauma that echoes through generations. But though its themes are universal, "Pachinko" is rooted in a specific history, a critical chapter of which is at risk of vanishing.

That reality makes the final minutes of the season especially remarkable.

The eight-episode season, which chronicles how Japanese colonialism shapes the lives of Sunja and her descendants, ends with documentary footage of real-life Sunjas -- Korean women who moved to Japan between 1910 and 1945 and remained there after World War II. The resulting interviews with these first-generation women offer a glimpse into that period not found in history books.

"This was a group of people whose stories weren't considered important enough to record or tape," showrunner Soo Hugh recently told CNN. "There's not that much photographic evidence, especially from that first generation. That told me that this was a story worth telling."

The eight women briefly profiled at the end of "Pachinko" are almost all more than 90 years old - one has surpassed 100. They faced countless hardships and systemic discrimination in the country they now call home but, as the season's closing sequence says, they endured. Yet, Hugh said, many of them had been made to feel that their lives weren't noteworthy.

Greta Van Fleet

Tea for two — Fri, 6 May 2022 21:09:11 +0900

From The Fires, 2017

1. Safari Song 3:54
2. Edge Of Darkness 4:28
3. Flower Power 5:12
4. A Change Is Gonna Come 3:17
5. Highway Tune 3:00
6. Meet On The Ledge 3:49
7. Talk On The Street 4:08
8. Black Smoke Rising 4:19

레드제플린과 비슷한 분위기의 목소리, 2017년에도 락을 하는 친구들을 발견할 수 있어서 반갑다. Crimson Glory 의 데뷔앨범을 들었을 때의 신선함, 기특함 등이 느껴진다.

Anthem Of The Peaceful Army, 2018

1. Age Of Man 6:06
2. The Cold Wind 3:17
3. When The Curtain Falls 3:43
4. Watching Over 4:27
5. Lover, Leaver (Taker, Believer) 6:02
6. You're The One 4:27
7. The New Day 3:45
8. Mountain Of The Sun 4:31
9. Brave New World 5:01
10. Anthem 4:39

Northern regions' NCEA excellence endorsements rates at odds with rest of NZ

Tea for two — Thu, 5 May 2022 21:14:47 +0900

NCEA excellence endorsement rates increased to record levels in Auckland, Waikato and Northland last year.

Students in the three regions were allowed to skip exams and get unexpected event grades calculated by their schools because they had lost so much classroom time to lockdowns.

Qualification Authority figures published today show Auckland had the best results of the three regions with nearly a quarter of Year 12 and Year 13 students and 28 percent of Year 11 students receiving excellence endorsements.

But in most other regions excellence endorsement rates were last year than in 2020 and in many cases among the lowest ever.

In Wellington and Canterbury, for example, about 14.5 per cent of Year 13 students received an excellence endorsement at level 3, the lowest rates since 2014.

Secondary Principals Association president Vaughan Couillault said the good results in Auckland, Waikato and Northland were likely due to schools continuing to teach and assess students even after exams began.

"Teachers were able to continue to engage with students for a longer period of time through term four to gather that evidence of learning and evidence of progress and so probably it's more of a function of additional significant effort from both students and teachers to make sure we've gathered that quality evidence that can prove they knew what they were doing," he said.

Qualification Authority deputy chief executive Andrea Gray said unexpected event grades were an appropriate response to the level of disruption schools in Auckland, Northland and parts of Waikato experienced.

"The UEGs [unexpected even grades] recorded by schools were, on average, higher than their historic pattern of excellence achievement in external examinations, but lower than their average excellence achievement in internal assessments. This resulted in elevated excellence achievement in UEG regions," she said.

"Schools in the three UEG regions were asked to provide NZQA with detailed information about how they derived and quality assured their UEGs. Where there were changes in UEG performance profile, schools say this was largely due to a wider range of ways evidence was gathered, instead of relying on one-off practice exams."

Overall, NCEA pass rates dropped slightly last year but were higher than pre-pandemic levels with 80 percent of Year 12 students achieving level two and almost 71 percent of Year 13s achieving level three.

The figures published today also showed a recovery in Scholarship exam pass rates to 28 percent after dipping to 25 percent in 2020.

Covid-19 update: 24 deaths and 8454 new community cases today

Tea for two — Wed, 4 May 2022 19:41:15 +0900

There have been 24 Covid-19 deaths, including a child under 10, and 8454 new community cases in New Zealand today.

One of those deaths included a child under 10 years old and another young person between the age of 10 and 19.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said 481 people were in hospital, including 14 in ICU.

The deaths include 12 people died over the past three days and an additional 12 people died since 5 March.

Delays to reporting can be associated with people dying with Covid-19, rather than from Covid-19, and the virus being discovered only after they have died.

The deaths take the total number of publicly-reported deaths with Covid-19 to 801 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 13.

Nine people who died were from Auckland, four from Waikato, two from Bay of Plenty, one from Whanganui, one from MidCentral, two from the Greater Wellington region, three from Canterbury and two from Southern.

One person was under 10, one was between 10 and 19 years old, two were in their 40s, one in their 50s, two in their 60s, nine in their 70s, five in their 80s and three were aged over 90.

Of these people, seven were female and 17 were male.

Earlier, today Minister of Health Andrew Little announced a special taskforce to tackle delays in hospital waiting lists caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Yesterday the ministry reported 20 deaths and 481 people were in hospital.

No Place Like Home: Couple's 'survivor's guilt' from fleeing UK for NZ during pandemic

Tea for two — Wed, 4 May 2022 10:43:51 +0900

From an upstairs flat in Coventry to a sprawling rural Wairarapa lifestyle idyll, a couple of UK expats know where they'd rather be.

As medical professionals, Alison Payne and Richard Le Mare experienced the "coalface" of the Covid-19 pandemic on both sides of the world and made the wrenching decision to leave family to ride it out in New Zealand.

This was their second stint here, after living in Mana from 1994 to 2007 when Payne worked as a GP in Kapiti and Le Mere was a radiographer in Wellington.

Le Mere said the UK was a "shambles" when they left for good for the second time in December 2020.

"Working in the Covid environment in the UK I found really, really difficult. As a radiographer, you're as frontline as you can get.

"I was scared, and I was anxious all day every day."

Now he only wears PPE to feed the alpacas on their 8 hectare off-the-grid property 19 kilometres south of Martinborough.

"Because they spit and it's horrible," he said.

"I'm a city boy, and we've ended up not having a clue what to do, but we're trying our best and having some fun."

Le Mere said New Zealand seemed to have become complacent in tackling Covid after a great initial response.

He believed the country had generally coped well, but was disappointed by border policies' "complete lack of compassion".

"New Zealand got off to such a flying start...but it just seems to have slowed down on the race. It's almost as if having been at the front of the race for a long time, we're lagging behind."

He said he missed his group of friends back in England, but had made plenty of new ones here.

"As a newbie to the valley, I've been really pleased that I've been able to come down and help out with local things and meet people through it."

Payne agreed that Britain was "a complete mess" at the height of the pandemic with a lack of strategy and planning.

"People were just dropping like flies."

They still had family back in the UK, and it was with her elderly mother's encouragement that they decided to come back to New Zealand 18 months ago.

They returned nine months into the pandemic and being New Zealand citizens they were allowed back in.

Now happily ensconced on their rural Wairarapa property, they appreciated the contrast with what they left behind.

"I can't believe how fortunate we are to be here after living in a flat in Coventry for 13 years. I look at this and think how have we ever managed to end up in this?

"We've got a foot in both camps. Got two passports, two homes, but I know where I'd rather be."

Payne said she felt conflicted about returning and escaping the mayhem on the other side of the world.

"I feel so fortunate to be here, but I feel a bit like I've just opted out. The world's in a mess and I'm in my little bunker."

Her father passed away a few years ago but her mother remains in Coventry. Payne felt a bit guilty about not being there in her final years, but they kept in constant contact.

She works part-time as a GP in Martinborough.

"I don't have to work. I've got my NHS pension now. I work because they need a doctor here and because I enjoy the job."

The couple met 27 years ago "through the back pages of Private Eye".

"One of the first things I said to Rich was that there are two things you need to know about me; 'one, I don't want to spend the rest of my life in England, and the other is, I don't want children'."

Now they've got a variety of livestock who are such a part of the family that the lambs often wander into the house.

When the borders loosened up recently, Payne took a trip back to support her mother through a medical procedure.

She said it was surreal being back, but she seemed to slot into the community quite easily despite many of her friends contracting Covid while she was there.

National continues rise over Labour in latest political poll

Tea for two — Tue, 3 May 2022 19:10:32 +0900

Labour has suffered a dramatic drop in support in a new political poll but still form a government, with Te Pati Maori once again finding itself in the position of kingmaker.

National has shot up to 40.5 per cent, up 9.5 points in tonight's Newhub-Reid Research poll from the company's last poll taken in February.

Labour meanwhile has dropped 6.1 points to 38.2 per cent.

Suffering from National's rise, Act has dropped 1.6 points to 6.4 per cent. The Green Party too has seen a slight drop, down 1.2 points to 8.4 per cent.

Te Pati Maori meanwhile has increased its share of the vote by 0.5 points to 2.5 per cent.

The numbers would give National 51 seats and Act 8 for a total of 59, just short of the 61 required to form a majority in 120-seat House.

Labour would get 48 seats and Green Party 10, also not enough to get back into power.

If Te Pati Maori held Waiariki it would get three seats, and occupy the kingmaker position.

However, despite National polling highest, it would likely on these numbers not be able to form a government, with Te Pati Maori continuing to rule out working with the Act Party.

This is third major poll in a row to put Te Pati Maori in such a position, with the Taxpayers' Union-Curia in April and 1News-Kantar poll in March coming to similar conclusions.

For the preferred prime minister, Jacinda Ardern experienced seven-point drop to 36.3 per cent.

National leader Christopher Luxon meanwhile saw 6.1 point bump to 23.9 per cent.

Ardern told Newshub the results reflected a "really hard time".

Since the last such poll had been the Omicron outbreak, rising costs of living and Ukraine war.

The prime minister told Newshub she would be running again, and voters asked the question if they thought she should backed her, just, with 50.2 per cent saying "yes" and 41.4 per cent saying "no".

The poll results came as Newshub also revealed the majority of Kiwis wanted the Government to do more to address the cost of living.

Asked if they thought the Government was doing enough to address the "cost of living crisis", 15.2 per cent said "yes" and 77 per cent "no".

Just over a quarter, 26.6 per cent, of Labour voters said they thought the Government had done enough, while 60.1 per cent said it hadn't.

The Newshub-Reid Research poll was conducted from April 18 to 27, and had a margin of error of +/- 3.1 per cent.

Recent polls have placed National slightly above Labour, the last one in April by Taxpayers' Union-Curia putting the Opposition one point ahead.

The followed a 1News-Kantar poll in March that had National on 39 per cent and Labour 37 per cent. It was the first time National has been ahead of Labour since February 2020, a month before the Covid 19 pandemic tore through the world and New Zealand was plunged into lockdown.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra

Tea for two — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 17:23:55 +0900

The Inner Mounting Flame, 1971

1. Meeting Of The Spirits 6:50
2. Dawn 5:15
3. The Noonward Race 6:27
4. A Lotus On Irish Streams 5:41
5. Vital Transformation 6:14
6. The Dance Of Maya 7:15
7. You Know You Know 5:06
8. Awakening 3:30

악기연주에 문외한이지만, 좋고 나쁘고를 떠나서 연주를 짜임새있게 잘한다는 느낌을 받는다. 모두 들을만하지만 첫곡 Meeting Of The Spirits, 다섯번째 Vital Transformation 등이 박진감 넘친다.

Birds Of Fire, 1973

1. Birds Of Fire 5:44
2. Miles Beyond 4:41
3. Celestial Terrestrial Commuters 2:55
4. Sapphire Bullets Of Pure Love 0:21
5. Thousand Island Park 3:21
6. Hope 1:57
7. One Word 9:56
8. Sanctuary 5:06
9. Open Country Joy 3:54
10. Resolution 2:09

Ramones

Tea for two — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 16:20:10 +0900

Ramones, 1976

1. Blitzkrieg Bop 2:12
2. Beat On The Brat 2:30
3. Judy Is A Punk 1:30
4. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend 2:24
5. Chain Saw 1:55
6. Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue 1:34
7. I Don't Wanna Go Down To The Basement 2:35
8. Loudmouth 2:14
9. Havana Affair 2:00
10. Listen To My Heart 1:56
11. 53rd & 3rd 2:19
12. Let's Dance 1:51
13. I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You 1:43
14. Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World 2:09

각종 명반차트에 올라 있어서 시험삼아 들어 봄. 아주 단순한 음악인데, 시종일관 같은 앨범내내 같은 패턴이라서 좀 지친다. Blitzkrieg Bop 정도 들어두면 될거 같다.