The Daily Blog Open Mic – Tuesday – 14th April 2020

1. This is no time for emotion fellow soldiers

   Fluorescent microbiologist Souxsie Wiles cried when the Covid lockdown was declared (Hirschfeld, 2020). Epidemiologist Michael Baker wept when martial law was implemented (NZ Herald, 2020). Health workers at Covid testing stations formed a flash mob in full PPE and danced in pandemic unison (TVNZ, 2020). Weekend-trained cops throughout the country woke up in the middle of their authoritarian wet dream knowing they could now crack heads with impunity. Fellow countrypeople, we cannot declare peace on this viral lockdown now, too much is at stake. The social media creators cheerfully under house arrest have yet more to give. The double standards of politicians and elites flouting lockdown has yet to play out. We haven’t yet been bombarded with enough primetime news telling us what country is the world’s leader in Coronavirus suffering (true story, One News ran a piece recently warning people of the need to decipher Covid fake news saying “Beware of emotional online posts”). Billions of lives could be lost in New Zealand alone, if not soon then sometime in a hypothetical and distant future. Our livelihoods and way of life are at stake. We must forget about, now and forever or we will all perish, the freedom of water sports, the hardware stores as DIY bastions, the takeaway shops that fulfil all nutritional, economic, time and emotional needs, the stable and steady employment opportunities, and last but not least, an independent press willing to push back on the government ever again. Say no to Covid exit thingy, say yes to less.

   Hirschfeld, C. (2020). Inside my bubble: Why Dr Siouxsie Wiles cried when Coronavirus lockdown was announced. Retrieved from
   https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/120977530/inside-my-bubble-why-dr-siouxsie-wiles-cried-when-coronavirus-lockdown-was-announced

   NZ Herald. (2020). My story: Professor Michael Baker – ‘I wept when PM announced that NZ was going into lockdown’. Retrieved from
   https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12324466

   TVNZ. (2020). Nurses call for Kiwis to ‘Please stay home’ in Covid-19 song. Retrieved from
   https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/amp.tvnz.co.nz/news/story/JTJGY29udGVudCUyRnR2bnolMkZvbmVuZXdzJTJGc3RvcnklMkYyMDIwJTJGMDQlMkYxMSUyRnNpbmdlcnM=

2. A part of a phto diary of A NZ who had booked and paid for his OE that happened to start on March 1, and the Covid-19 was just breaking out. Go? Stay and try to get some refund – was that an option? He went.
   Singapore, France, London…
   In London he stayed with relative.
   I stay with a nephew on his working OE. Beneath the apartment in Chalk Farm Road that has housed Kiwis for several decades sits an abandoned restaurant. At one stage occupied by squatters, it afforded the Kiwis upstairs a rent holiday of some six months as squatters rights were invoked. https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2004/S00076/leave-now-photo-essay-returning-to-nz-in-the-age-of-covid.htm

   It may be that it is time to get bolshie here with ‘ghost’ houses sitting and families left languishing for secure shelter paying their arses off for rent; try squatting instead. What is the legal avenue that the Londoners were able to use? Can anyone advise? A government like those previous to this encouraged it, enabled it, and this one is only secure by the skin of their teeth from the ravages of being the plaything of the uncaring, smirking and self-satisfied having made money – proving to themselves that they are clever business people from trading in that essential and virtually risk-free investment – houses. A person can make good money from selling thirsty people water at times of drought. That’s called business. Others would label it mercenary and inhumane; but surely “That’s not us”!

3. Further to my Open Mike comment on Apr.11 about expensive airports built with no apparent thought about future downturns now some air control towers are being shut. Isn’t it important for government to keep essential services going? We can’t collapse like an empty balloon, lying flat on the ground.
   https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/413874/airways-to-close-seven-traffic-control-towers
   Airways may close seven of its regional air traffic control towers because of a collapse in traveller numbers.
   The services under review are provided at Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Rotorua and Invercargill Airport as well as the airfield flight information services provided at Kapiti Coast Airport and Milford Sound Piopiotahi Aerodrome.
   Discussions with the airports, airlines and staff are underway. And our Government?????

4. This is important economic advice from Dr Rod Carr. A must study.
   https://www.rnz.c
   The Government is looking to fund large “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects to boost the economy after the lockdown.
   Dr Rod Carr, chair of the Climate Change Commission and former deputy Reserve Bank Governor, has written to senior ministers warning that the wrong type of investments could compound today’s climate crisis with a future one. He says by making the right decisions, the government can both stimulate the economic recovery, while moving the country towards the goal of being a productive, sustainable, climate-resilient economy.

   Also listen to Grant Robertson, Finance Minister’s announcement for amount of moral fibre. It may be high I haven’t heard it – just capturing for assessment when there is time. I have the feeling from the summary that they have a big board up there in their steel and glass tower? and are pushing round Lego men and women as they try out different models. But no, that’s so old-fashioned, they are using keyboards and computers or touch screens or brainwave activation, to do it all. And withall we are represented by figures of some sort in this bloodless planning that the pointy-heads carry out.
   https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018742553/grant-robertson-on-treasury-forecasts
   The Treasury has just released seven scenarios looking at how the economy is faring – and could fare – depending on how long the country stays at Level 4 lockdown.
   At best, the Treasury says unemployment can be kept below 10%, and return to 5% next year with additional government support.

   A paper discussing past Treasury successes.
   Great Policy Successes
   New Zealand’s Economic Turnaround
   How Public Policy Innovation Catalysed Economic Growth
   https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780198843719.001.0001/oso-9780198843719-chapter-14
   In the early 1980s, global events and New Zealand’s government response drove the country towards economic collapse. Debt, inflation, and unemployment grew….The economy recovered, and the population flourished and gained better access to a wider range of goods and services. This chapter analyses the reasons and the circumstances that led to the success of New Zealand’s economic reforms. The authors also discuss what economic vulnerabilities remain for New Zealand and consider the extent to which the New Zealand model offers lessons for other countries…
   And the good fairy godmother favoured by the economic fraternity and Oxford Scholarship sprinkled fairy
   dust on some of us. (This link is interesting as it looks at economic interventions in other countries such as Brazel, Singapore, Estonia etc.)

5. I made a deliberate effort to find out whether anything else is happkening in the world besides Covid-19 abd Trump and the tragi-comedy that is USA.

   Found this Bulgarian invention idea for solar energy for cars.
   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/solar-driveways-made-from-pet-can-power-average-household/
   A new way of breaking down plastic bottles for reuse.

   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/irish-prime-minister-re-registers-as-medical-practitioner-to-fight-covid-19/

   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/indian-family-has-driven-5000-people-to-hospital-for-free/

   Jane Goodall – what a great name.
   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/jane-goodall-documentary-trailer-we-can-all-use-right-now/

   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/13-minute-musical-prescription-for-anxiety-and-depression/

   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/newly-developed-enzyme-breaks-down-plastic-bottles-in-hours/

   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/quarantined-dads-video-shows-what-its-like-working-from-home/

   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/landmark-study-outlines-how-to-restore-oceans-to-former-glory-by-2050/

   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/online-conference-april-14-16-using-covid-19-crisis-to-fix-the-world/

   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/russia-sends-cargo-plane-of-medical-supplies-to-us-there-is-no-alternative-to-working-together/

   See on: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/

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