Articles from ‘elocal magazine’

Family First has written to Associate Health Minister Matt Doocey, urging the government to restrict the use of puberty blockers in under-18s, citing the Ministry of Health’s own Evidence Brief. · It found “significant limitations in the quality of evidence” for their safety, efficacy, or reversibility. · In the letter, CEO Bob McCoskrie and strategic director Simon O’Connor said: “We strongly believe … that the government must regulate under…

During the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election, Te Pāti Māori MP Tākuta Ferris posted a campaign image of Labour volunteers with the caption: “This blows my mind!! Indians, Asians, Black and Pākehā campaigning to take a Māori seat from Māori.” · The post was rightly decried as racist, but it also exposed a key contradiction: Ferris had no way of knowing their whakapapa. Instead, he applied the appearance test, blood quantum by another name, long…

In 2021, there were 99 fatal crashes in New Zealand where drugs were detected in a driver’s blood. Drugs are present in nearly one-third of all fatal crashes on New Zealand roads. · Methamphetamine and cannabis are considered the two substances most commonly linked to impaired driving. · Wastewater testing has shown meth use doubling nationally over the past year, while New Zealand continues to rank among the world’s highest consumers of…

A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool can forecast a person’s risk of developing more than 1,000 diseases, in some cases providing a prediction decades in advance1. · The model, called Delphi-2M, uses health records and lifestyle factors to estimate the likelihood that a person will develop diseases such as cancer, skin diseases and immune conditions up to 20 years ahead of time. Although Delphi-2M was trained only on one data set from the…

This classic American-style casserole is a great winter warmer to feed the family. · It’s hard to believe the mixture of ingredients here, but this was a popular family dish in the 1970s. It’s American – there, this kind of bake is referred to as a “casserole” – and was often made with cream of mushroom or chicken soup instead of a homemade sauce. It was served with plain boiled rice, or you could add in a layer of cooked buttered pasta…

Over four years since it landed on Mars, NASA's Perseverance Rover might have made serious headway in its mission to find signs of ancient microbial life on the planet. · Last July, the autonomous exploration vehicle stumbled upon an arrowhead-shaped rock named Cheyava Falls with colorful spots on it, in what might be a river valley carved by water on the Red Planet. · NASA's scientists think those spots may have been left behind by microbial…

A new OECD report has found that Finnish teenagers leaving high school have better literacy skills than many university graduates in other countries, including New Zealand. · The international study compared adult reading comprehension across 24 countries, with at least 5,000 participants in each. Finnish secondary school leavers scored an average of 288, above the average literacy levels of graduates from New Zealand, Italy, Spain and Ireland.…

The Post’s Nikki Macdonald asks whether court-ordered suppressions can realistically hold back global news in an era of instant sharing. · Fugitive father Tom Phillips’ death and the recovery of his children were reported by CNN, BBC and the New York Times before New Zealand media received an injunction on specific details. · The 2018 murder of Grace Millane saw her killer’s name widely circulated overseas and online despite suppression. “It…

Air Fryers are the must have kitchen appliance these days. They cook a multitude of things quickly and with that almost fried taste but are far healthier for you. · this receipe combines Chicken thighs and torn focaccia ooked together in the air fryer which produces delicious chicken-fat croutons. · The classic Caesar salad always contains Parmesan and croutons. This one does too, but it’s more generously packed with these ingredients and has…

World War I not only toppled empires and redrew borders—it remade the modern world, with few nations feeling the effects as profoundly as Great Britain. The country’s deadliest war—from which 6 percent of its men never returned—accelerated sweeping social, economic and political changes that fractured the rigid British class system and weakened the aristocracy. · For centuries, hereditary landowners exercised a near feudal dominance of the…