I know it can feel like all we (NZ) did was delay things. But quite apart from considering all the nice things we were able to have in the last two years by deferring death & sickness, we also gained a lot of ground that will decrease death & sickness in the coming weeks… 1/n For a start we are more vaxxed and boosted than ever before, and the science tells us that does make a difference with omicron - those who catch COVID with some vax are much less likely to end up in hospital or die. The vaxxed are also less likely to infect others eg less… 2/n

Here's a happy thread of Niceness that I hope provides some cheer.

I started cataloguing and celebrating the Little Libraries of the Auckland isthmus a few months ago and it's a frequent source of joy

facebook.com/AKLLittleLibra… 1/n I used to run fundraising second hand book sales for @CityVisionNZ. This was also a recycling effort, plus providing cheap books. What was intended to be my final sale was crashed by Covid and I had thousands of books stored downstairs at my house; they needed to go! 2/n

I worked in retail at a number of different shops part time from about 1992-2000. A lot of that time was at Whitcoulls, at what I can see now was probably it’s most successful period. I remember they did a massive staff survey and discovered... A) staff paid under (the then) minimum wage. I was on a high rate of $7.90 so you can imagine how low that was. B) staff employed at a younger age than company policy allowed C) Many shop staff were underpaid for the role they were in. D) Lots of arbitrary pay arrangements...

Part of the problem with the continuing investment in Enormous Roading Projects is the huge lead in times for these projects vs smaller safety, active transport or PT ones. They get contracted further out, have huge sunk costs before you even get to that, so v hard to stop. 1/ Whereas smaller projects, like say a pedestrian crossing for a school on a busy road, only get contracted a short time out, have relatively low cost in terms of design, consultation etc. Much more vulnerable to delay that becomes deferral that becomes never. 2/

I am not a religious person, but how anyone can look at groups like Mt Roskill Evangelical Fellowship, going through this awful disease in their midst, worried and scared, and not think There But For The Grace Of X Go I. Have some compassion and kindness please. And I have heard that a lot of them are doing it really tough at the moment. They are getting a lot of hate from outside the community, when they are already going through a terrible time. You don't need to add to it.

I'm thinking about the challenge for AKL, as a city/region, of operating in and out of L3 for the next few years. How do we effectively operate libraries, water systems, housing (dealing w homelessness, new builds, WOF, retro fitting and more), park networks, transport? 1/ Some of our normal income streams will be unavailable, hard hit, by both level changes and the loss of international tourism, so how do we replace that? More green jobs is an obv step forward, but how to pay for that work, opex, capex? 2/

I’ve campaigned in every general election since 96 and most AKL local govt elections of the last 15 years. I also campaigned in student elections & internal Alliance elections where most face to face options weren’t available eg door knocking. There are many ways to campaign... ... some involve getting in someone’s bubble but most don’t. Door knocking, large meetings and leafleting are out in L3, but can be managed in L2 (and with some imagination actually you could come up w replacements in L3). Campaigning thru phone, email, social media, radio...

A comparison - in March 2019 we had a measles outbreak in AKL. I was at an event with a confirmed case & symptomatic & because of my age i may not have had the 2nd vaccination as a child, and my 3yo hadn’t had their’s yet so we went into quarantine. I was never contacted... 1/ ... by anyone, official or unofficial, to let me know I should quarantine. I did it myself based off media reports. I arranged jabs in, went into iso w child. After a week no spots developed for either of us so we were ok to come out of quarantine. Healthline & GP... 2/

Here’s my wacky Covid conspiracy theory. National is hideously disorganised for this election, at least partly because they thought it would be delayed due to Covid. The quick bounce back from Covid means they are caught short both on prep... 1/n ... such as candidate selection (which was way behind prior to the wave of unexpected resignations) and policy development, and looking like a credible alternative Govt against an actual Govt who have been governing their own socks off. 2/n

"The [National] party is working to distance itself from Falloon - saying that his actions don't speak to the party's culture."

Jami-Lee Ross - was party Whip when these things happened newsroom.co.nz/go-back-into-a…

1/n Michael Woodhouse - then and now a National MP - this from 2012's National Party Mainland Region Conference

Also present and possibly implicated - Nick Smith (still a Nat MP), Jacqui Dean (recently promoted Nat MP), Eric Roy (no longer an MP)

thespinoff.co.nz/politics/04-07…

Who else is on the @NZGreens Kids in the City webinar hosted by @JulieAnneGenter right now? *waves* (yes this is my second webinar today!) Great hearing from the amazing Emma McInnes from @WomenInUrbanism talking about the impact of basing transport systems on (male centred) 9-5 commute patterns.

Abortions are for "lifestyle reasons" (Loheni, National) - Any reason a pregnant person needs an abortion is an acceptable reason. #TrustUs to act like full moral adults & decide about our own bodies. #AbortionMythBusting We shouldn't change abortion law, we should give more support to unmarried mothers (Brownlee, National) - We can (and should) do both. #AbortionMythBusting

I've been thinking a lot about justice over the last few years, and what real justice requires. I started musing on this in regard to domestic and sexual violence am starting to think it might apply more broadly. Bear with me please 1/n Real justice isn't necessarily delivered in a court or through prison. It certainly isn't in a lot of cases currently, but I mean it doesn't actually have to be either, not always. Justice isn't really about what the state does, it's about what the perpetrator does next 2/n