So in today's Q&A, the Minister of Education was asked what does she think should be done now that schools have become a meat grinder chewing through teachers, relievers, aids and students and if sending sick kids to school would make it worse. (my paraphrase)
Her answer was that they recognise that and are working hard on making sure more meat is available to throw into the grinder. (my paraphrase again)
No actual solutions there. No ability to adapt to reality.
But when I was sick I didn't do much learning. Even as an adult, being sick means barely being productive.
I'd think sending sick kids to school doesn't help their learning at all.
It helps assistance stats.
It helps disease spread among other kids and teachers.
It also probably helps keep parents at work.
Not much else.
But we know this govt is allergic to evidence.
Reality is that you only really need to wear a mask and consider air quality if:
-you breathe air regularly.
-you care about your brain, heart, immune system, lungs, kidneys, bones, teeth, eyes, liver or other organs.
-you ever have other people around you.
The First Home grant was what allowed my whānau to finally be able to afford a modest townhouse in South Akl.
We love our little home. 🏘️
It is infuriating that a similar opportunity won't be available anymore to people like us.
(And I get that it was an inefficient subsidy on demand, but in a market as cooked as NZ's it was a helpful tool. One that should not be removed until the supply variables in the equation are solved. And currently they are only getting worse, thanks CoC)
Unfortunately, it's not what the current govt of Landlords is doing.
Nor is it what has been done in the last 40 years here.
But ppl need homes now and that grant was the way first home buyers could hope to compete in an investor's market.
If it was removed as social housing was built on mass, and profits were taxed, my opinion would be different. Right now it feels like ditching the lifesaver without rescuing the castaway from the raging ocean.
@pezmico@simon_brooke I learned last week that in Australia politicians are the most likely profession to also be landlords. I imagine NZ is similar. The whole system is broken and while I do think the grant was just a band aid it made a difference for some
I saw something where some dickhead in the US Blinkin? ( Sounds like a bad mash up between Biden and LinkedIn) said the formation of a Palestine state would lead to global starvation.
Which was due to the US dropping funding of the UN if they recognized Palestine. Which is some really fucking abusive behaviour.
The UN really needs to be moved from NYC and the states. preferably like one of the low lying pacific nations so folks feel the correct sense of urgency.
@pezmico Question is, what defines the borders of the Palestinian state. Are the willing to go all the way and recognize Palestine as it was defined by the UN resolution 242 or they will accept the illegal settlements and the apartheid wall, roads and checkpoints?
Lots of attention given to absenteeism, threats to fine parents, online dashboards for real-time student tracking and all the BS non-solutions.
Instead we could clean the air in schools, normalise masking in risky environments, regularise testing, support adequate isolation. But for that it would be necessary to break out of the collective delusion and admit that #CovidIsNotOver.
You'd expect the teacher unions to be raising hell about this, but they also seem to be caught in the fantasy that covid (and all the other diseases) are fine to catch over and over again, and that workers' health is disposable.
Covid won't get better until there is collective action to materially change the conditions where it spreads.
We know what to do and it's cheaper, easier and better than this endless cycle of death and disability.
Coordinated and accelerated march to privatise, defund and destroy anything not designed directly to enrich the already rich.
The goal is clearly to make that inequality gap absolutely insurmountable.
It's so grim.
But the worst is seeing so little pushback.