kgwilson

The following article by Verity Johnson published early this morning is a somewhat amusing but "On the money" view of the performance of National leadership. In the past few weeks, watching world leaders react to Covid-19 has been like watching the final stages of a reality TV show where all the contestants start going bananas. If this was The Bachelorette, Trump would be the thin-skinned used-car salesman dude who's forever lying about what a great shag he'd be. Boris Johnson the cocky, overbred private schoolboy who doesn't understand why his patrician wit hasn't automatically won already. And Scott Morrison is the dude they put in there so everyone can regularly shout at the TV, "Why the f... is this guy here?" But in the race for the hearts and minds of the nation in crisis, there's been one clear winner. And the calm, compassionate, charismatic Jacinda has stood out as not only the one you want to take home to your family, but also run your household, business, and country. While BoJo and ScoMo have thrashed around in indecision, and Trump has put his head even further up his backside than was previously thought anatomically possible, Aunt Cindy has shone. She's unequivocally playing the main role in this movie (the one that's always played by a white, middle-aged, maverick cop named Jack). Namely the person who looks in the camera and says, "It's OK everyone, I have a plan. Follow me and you'll survive." And it feels as though the ability to deliver that monologue, with or without accompanying cinematic explosions, is the most important thing we need right now in our leaders. In terms of managing the actual health crisis, the role of a national leader is a bit different to normal. Typically, you'd expect the PM to make decisions on policies based on public service advice, but primarily from party policy and own opinion. Not now. Right now requires leaders to listen to what their scientists and health advisers say. And just that. Uncharacteristically for politicians, they need to remove their own opinions and simply get everyone doing exactly what the doctors order. This is where Ardern has excelled. In comparison to leaders like Trump, she's been sitting down, shutting up and listening to what the scientists say. Trump has consistently undermined America's preparedness for Covid-19, disbanding the US's China-based pandemic research team, systemically eroding funding for the Centers for Disease Control, rejecting WHO virus tests, and making misleading, blatantly unscientific statements that the virus will "vanish", or that he'd like to see churches packed for Easter. His style, a dangerous yet highly listenable blend of scientific distrust and sweeping it's-all-good-man, is completely at odds with the need to prioritise the advice of the experts. But Ardern is sensible enough to realise that pandemic control is not her speciality, and to react swiftly to her medical advisers instead. Which is exactly what we saw when she heard the criticism of New Zealand's early complacency and swiftly raised the alert level to a general lockdown – a firmness unseen in Australia. And the next vitally important step, after realising that you don't know all the answers, is to clearly communicate the advice of those who do. Boris Johnson is smart, but his preference for loveable bumbling chic hasn't prepared him for delivering important messages in a way people listen to. As we can see when he tried to be stern in asking people to practise social distancing, and everyone ignored him and went to the pub. Trump likewise can't stay on a consistent message, bouncing between it being a hoax, to it being "contained" in America, to it being a national crisis. Scott Morrison is no better, having tried to say both that mass events should be cancelled (but he was going to the footy) and that bars and cafes were out (but not hairdressers for appointments under 30 minutes, with one person per four square metres). In contrast, Ardern has managed to tell the message clearly and calmly via press conference, text message and even road signs. Be kind. Stay home. That's it. It's a mark of highly skilled communication to be able to find clarity in overwhelming and complicated situations. And ultimately it's the ability to do that which maintains public calm, because everyone's freaking out and can't process anything except the clearest of messages. But perhaps what's made her most invaluable is how she conveys equal parts clarity and compassion. She openly acknowledges that people are afraid and that this is normal (instead of doing a Trump and attacking reporters who state this). And by embracing the difficulty we're all feeling, she connects with the public and gets our support. And we're listening. We're not partying on Bondi beach, we're (mostly) hunkering down at home. Once again she's proved that communication with kindness – historically dismissed as too feminine a leadership style – creates the powerful, reassuring leadership people trust. And our survival right now depends on trust in the Government. And we need them to maintain the good practice they've started – even more so if this gets worse. While it still looks very uncertain, Ardern's leadership has given us cause for hope that we can get through.

I was at a Shell (Coles) petrol station yesterday & they had toilet paper stacked all through the shop. People were surprised when the came to pay & most grabbed a pack of 30 probably for no other reason that it was there.

When my wife & I came here to live in 2005 & I bought a business I had no idea that Super was compulsory & when organisng an Accountant he told us to get it done immediately so I just went to the bank & put some money in it. The next year we set up a SMSF & salary sacrificed. I'd taken all my Super out in cash from the previous scheme I'd had in NZ. There are still fees to pay even though my SMSF is now a pension scheme due to the ridiculously complicated reporting process & even though there is no tax to pay I still have to pay a $259.00 fee to the ATO each year for nothing. The fund is all in cash & commercial real estate so at present the value is still holding up. Not for long I fear. Other investments have gone down the toilet but of course only on paper (not the toilet variety because I can't get any anyway).

I thought you could still get the payment with a State Seniors card but nope it must be a Commonwealth Seniors card.

On Mad as Hell last night the eye in the sky when asked about the toilet paper shortage reckoned it was because so many people are talking out of their arses at present.

The US is now at No 1. Trump will be pleased, they have overtaken China for the most cases of Covid-19 with 14,000 new cases yesterday. But the genius is going to have packed churches at Easter and everything will be all over in a few weeks. Yeah right!

The place not to be is Sydney Airport today. People arriving and all huddled together in queues. No social distancing & Borderforce said it's not our problem it's Biosecurity. Buck passing is alive and well

This thing is just in its infancy. Growth is exponential with cases doubling or quadrupling every day. That's the difference. There is a lot of hysteria and the panic buying is pathetic. Worldwide it took 3 months to go from a few cases to 200,000. It took 6 days to get from that to 400,000. Less than a day later 471,000. Best case scenario from our experts in such things is 50,000 dead & up to 150,000. From January to now it has spread from 1 city to 198 countries and territories. All the other things mentioned don't change much %age wise over time.

The older 747s do blow a bit of smoke but most of the modern high bypass turbofans burn quite cleanly. The smoke indicates an incomplete fuel burn which is not only inefficient but costly.

He's got more faith in our assorted governments than I have. I do hope he is right though.

Two campervans with 8 people stopped at our local cafe this morning. I was chatting at the time to the owner who was setting up for takeaways. We were about 10 metres apart. They all just went and sat at a large outdoor table laughing etc in very close proximity to one another. They were all young European backpacker style people & said they were off to Byron Bay then Queensland. Jeff the cafe owner scolded them about their cavalier attitude & said he could only provide takeaways & they could only come in 1 at a time. He also said Byron Bay would have no facilities open & they would not get in to Qld & advised them to go to Yamba or Angourie where it was quieter & they could wait out the impending lockdown. One said we've got 6 month visas so we are allowed to go where we like. Jeff & I told them in no uncertain terms that they had better begin to act responsibly and listen to the radio, check the news on their phones etc. They just got up sneered at us & left. They had no idea. How many others are there out there with such attitudes. It is a very scary thought.

I attached the source to the initial post. It is the Lancet Medical Journal. Very technical so not easy to read from a lay perspective. The information is from the conclusion section of that paper.

Crikey if I manage to go for a fly tomorrow I might be headline news in the local rag.

Our stocks crashed, we get <1.0% on any fixed deposits, and our Superannuation is stuffed. Fires and floods. And now a virus pandemic. The down turn is hitting everybody really hard! Things couldn’t be much worse judging by this: In NY I saw a Mormon with only one wife. Exxon-Mobil lays off 25 US Congressmen. If the bank returns your cheque marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them. McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer. Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America. My cousin had an exorcism but couldn't afford to pay for it, so they re-possessed her. A truckload of Germans was caught sneaking into Syria. A picture is now only worth 200 words. The Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates. And, finally... I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hotline. I got a call centre in Pakistan, and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.

If you don't have the virus a mask is virtually useless. Wearing a mask means you are less likely to splutter it on to someone else. Masks were not designed to stop airborne contaminants they were designed to prevent the spread of infection. The disagreements between Federal and State Pollies is ridiculous. We can't stop it. Cases are doubling every 4 days. That is exponential growth. Containment only has a slim chance. It is slowing the spread that all the lockdown measures are designed to achieve.

You don't even have to destroy them to get enough scrap alloy for Bex. Just vacuum out the fuel tanks.

The logic in my post above is that I still haven't cancelled the Wings & Wheels planned the 14th of June but have given myself another week to see how this crisis worsens before making the announcement. The infection Bell Curve is going straight up at the moment & I don't expect it will even begin to flatten in a weeks time. I hope I'm wrong.

The Olympic committee & Japan have invested billions & they are holding on to the faint hope that it will all be over by the time the games are due. Understandable but reckless according to many. I would think that within a week or so they will announce the cancellation.

This site has now become a victim. Read Ians new important notice and think how we can collectively isolate and recover.

I agree the fallout will almost certainly be economic throughout the world. Depending on how long it goes on we may end up not just in a recession but a full blown depression. That would be catastophic and I think by the time that nears there will be vaccines and cures. The French, Americans and our own research has made massive inroads in the past few weeks and it is also being worked on frantically all over the world. I doubt that it will put much of a dent in population growth. This is slowing naturally but we are still adding 80 million people a year to the global total. We do have a plan for dealing with a huge number of infections developed for dealing with a major influenza pandemic. It is 232 pages long & I have not read it but I doubt it mentions numbers. Hopefully the measures put in place will flatten the bell curve. I note on Coronavirus Update (Live): 219,217 Cases and 8,965 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Outbreak - Worldometer that China has had only 34 new cases in the last 3 days & 8 new deaths which is very small compared to numerous other countries. The question is can we control people like an authoritarian regime can?

What about wild redneck? There's plenty available.

Today we had the largest number of new infections reported (101) and the government is now rethinking the 500 limit on gatherings & may reduce this to 10, Coles is now placing limits on egg purchases & they are perishable. There were no fresh vegies, long life milk, bog rolls paper towels, tissues, rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes & a multitude of other tinned stuff at Woolies yesterday. They'd even run out of cat litter. CAT LITTER , who lives on that? The panic and hysteria is getting worse. I finally connected to the NBN on Friday & have no landline. I told them my mobile didn't work at home but they say it will be 7 days before it is operating. That's if there is anyone still working to do it. There are now 401 cases out of 25 million people. I didn't think the panic would be so bad but it gets crazier by the hour.

Same in Australia although we were quite slow to adopt the non smoking rules compared to NZ. You are not supposed to smoke within 10 metres of a shopping centre entrance & public building & it still annoys me to find smokers there and you have to run the gauntlet while they suck on cigarettes like there is no tomorrow. The smell is quite abhorrent to me now though like many people I socially smoked back in the 60s & 70s when it was considered almost healthy

Those smoking statistics make fascinating reading. Only Argentina in South America and Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria in Africa have higher smoking rates than Australia. Almost all of Europe and Asia have very high rates. Amazingly the Indian sub continent has low smoking rates with India itself the 6th lowest in the world. I too hated being covered in smoke at every restaurant & bar in Southern Europe. I think smoking in restaurants is now banned in the UK now borne out by their relatively low rate but I doubt it anywhere else in Europe

Scott from Marketing. I hadn't taken much notice of his early life till I found he was headhunted at 30 to head the new NZ Office of Tourism & Sport. There were some ugly political scandals & he was in the middle of some million dollar secret payments to ousted chairman, deputy chair & CEO of the NZ Tourism Board & he had overstepped his authority as reported by the Auditor General. He went back to Australia a year before his contract was up. He later laid claim to the highly successful NZ tourism slogan of 100% Pure NZ but as was proven later he had nothing to do with it. He was described as a cross between Rasputin and Crocodile Dundee by the editor of the Wellington Dominion Post and dubbed ScoMo Dundee. His exploits here are even more bizarre being sacked from tourism Australia with yet another Auditor General scathing report etc. ScoMos history is continuing to repeat itself. Here is a brief look. Kangaroo Court He seems to be trying to catch up with Trump but he is probably a few thousand lies behind at the moment.