Author Archives: thesentinel2012

The New Zealand health system is in crisis, hospitals are full and winter has only just begun. As it happens New Zealand’s schools are half empty, as Covid infections take out teachers and pupils, and special measures are to be … Continue reading →

The international media seem to like New Zealand’s pandemic story, at least, they do in Britain, whether that be the BBC or the Guardian. It’s just a shame that they have to ask Michael Baker about it, an academic who … Continue reading →

Sad to hear of the passing of the great actor Peter Bowles. Of course he was most well known for his work on British television, especially when playing opposite Penelope Keith, in To the Manor Born in the late 1970s. … Continue reading →

So it was bound to happen. After 23 days the New Zealand police got their shit together and forced the anti-Mandate protestors out, and with it the only substantive dissent that we have seen over the past 2 years of … Continue reading →

In the first episode of Survivors in 1975,’The Fourth Horseman’, we see the character Jenny Richards for the first time, as she tries to comfort her feverish flatmate, Pat. It just so happens that Pat is having an affair with … Continue reading →

It would be nice to write about something else in the new year, but it seems that we are in for another year of disasters in New Zealand. There are the local earthquakes, usually just around midnight. A monster volcano … Continue reading →

I am rather reluctant to write again about the Covid situation in New Zealand, especially when it is nowhere near as bad as in the rest of the world. But we have reached something of a milestone, with the health … Continue reading →

What went through Parliament in New Zealand this week was the most systematic attempt by a government to use the Pandemic crisis to disenfranchise a whole category of citizens, and thus destroy the autonomy of civil society. Some may argue … Continue reading →

Dr Ashley Bloomfield is the Director-General of Health in New Zealand, the departmental head of Health, and the chief advisor on Covid restrictions. In the first year of the Covid outbreak he became a well-known figure in the daily press … Continue reading →

Today is the Labour Day in New Zealand. A public holiday that mainly celebrates the institution of the 40 hour week. This practice was introduced before the Labour Party was formed, and is now a relic of the past. Just … Continue reading →