Summer is officially here - both noticeably and meteorologically.MetService is forecasting maximum temperatures this week of up to 8°C above average for this time of the year, for the South Island east coast, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay, MetService Meteorologist Clare O’Connor says.This is because of humid sub-tropical air driven by strong northerlies moving over the country. A mix of warnings, watches, and alerts have been issued for heavy rain, strong winds, and high temperatures, but most apply to the North Island, deep south and West Coast.The most likely to affect North Otago, is a Strong Wind Watch, which has been put in place for Dunedin and further south from 11pm Wednesday, to 7pm Thursday.West to southwest winds may approach severe gale in exposed places, with a moderate chance of being upgraded to a warning.MetService’s Heat Alerts have begun for the summer season, with the first likely to be issued this week, Clare says. “This air is coming to Aotearoa from the subtropics and bringing subtropical temperatures with it. Not only are we expecting daytime maximum temperatures to reach the low thirties for the eastern North Island, overnight temperatures will also be unusually warm. “Midweek, many areas of the lower North Island and upper South Island will experience minimum temperatures of 17°C, no doubt disrupting sleep. "Our first Heat Alerts for higher-than-average overnight temperatures are expected to be issued for locations such as Napier and Blenheim, both of which may even have overnight low temperatures as high as 19°C as a result of this airmass,” she says. Heat alerts are issued by the MetService forecasting team when temperatures are expected to be extreme, i.e. hotter than a typical hot summer day.Heat Alerts are triggered when a single day’s maximum temperature is high, or when sustained periods (two or more days) of very high average temperatures occur, in particularly when overnight temperatures are higher than usual, making keeping cool more difficult, and increasing the risk of health-related health issues. More information can be found on the MetService website.As the weekend approaches, the warmer air gives way to showery southwesterly winds and a return to average temperatures for this time of year. However, a building high-pressure system will bring blue skies to most of the country to end the week.

By RNZ reporter Christine RushThe high pathogenic avian influenza - otherwise known as bird flu - has been found on a free-range chicken farm in North Otago.Laying hens foraging outside were thought to have been infected with the H7N6 strain through a low pathogenic virus from wild waterfowl.So how will this affect Kiwi consumers? And could it spread to our beloved native birds? Here's what you need to know.Where and when was bird flu discovered in New Zealand?Speaking to media on Monday, Minister for Biosecurity and Food Safety Andrew Hoggard gave a timeline of the virus's emergence in this country.A chicken farmer on Hillgrove Egg Farm, belonging to Mainland Poultry, near Moeraki - halfway between Dunedin and Ōamaru - noticed birds falling ill on Monday.He called a local vet, who treated the birds with antibiotics. But as more began to die, the farmer notified the Ministry for Primary Industries on Friday. Testing teams arrived at the farm on Saturday, and the results came back positive later that day, and confirmed it was the H7N6 strain. The farm was locked down on Sunday, and testing and tracing of movement continues.On Tuesday, MPI said the bird flu had spread to a second shed on the same farm, meaning 80,000 chickens will have to be killed.Additionally, all poultry exports are on hold until the country is free of the highly pathogenic bird flu.Read more:Bird flu: MPI says eradication unlikely, focus on 'reducing impact' if it arrives in NZBird flu is spreading overseas: What you need to knowHow the H5N1 avian flu virus strain is spreading in AntarcticaWe've heard a lot about H5N1. Should we be worried about this other strain?The H7N6 strain is "low pathogenic" in a lot of wildlife, which means it's there all the time, without causing any issues.On the other hand, the "high pathogenic" strain found last week causes disease, spreads rapidly, and kills a lot of birds, very suddenly.How does bird flu spread?Chickens - especially on free-range farms - often come into contact with wild birds, and the disease is passed between them, and then with other chickens in the shed through shared feed and water.It can also be spread by people and equipment, which is why MPI locked down the one shed, and immediately started contact tracing and testing at the farm."These viruses can jump and spill over between animals very rapidly," virologist Professor Jemma Geoghegan told Checkpoint.Could bird flu spread to other farms?The main risk around this discovery is that it will affect New Zealand's poultry industry. That's why MPI was acting quickly to "depopulate" the chickens in the affected shed, says director-general Ray Smith, and trace any movements from that farm in the past couple of weeks.MPI is investigating six other farms in total, which had connections to the infected farm. There are potential risks at two specific farms, and another four have low- to medium-level risk of infection. MPI is doing testing there and trying to work out what and who had moved between farms. As of Monday, there were no signs in any other poultry farms of sickness or reduced production.Closed gates at the Mainland Poultry egg farm site at Hillgrove, near Moeraki, this afternoon. Photo: ODT / Gregor Richardson via RNZMPI is "very confident" the virus will not spread, Smith says. In the last four years, two other diseases common in poultry - IBDV and salmonella enteritis - have cropped up, but they'd eradicated both swiftly by tracing the disease, locking down the farms and killing the affected fowl.It's helpful the affected farm is "very isolated" from neighbouring properties. "We're in a much better place than Australia was in stopping it and eradicating it."Are our native birds safe?Although the mild version of the virus is everywhere in the wild, there is no evidence from overseas of the severe form moving from poultry back to wildlife.The Department of Conservation chief Penny Nelson said DOC was already working with MPI to prepare for H5N1. There had also been some vaccination trials of wild birds, but this is tricky as they needed to be easy to capture and check, she said.Should I still be eating New Zealand-raised eggs and chicken?Yes, our poultry and eggs are safe. Just make sure you follow the usual rules around cooking and eating eggs and chicken."Avian influenza is very susceptible to heat, so cook it in the normal manner," Hoggard says. "We're constantly telling people don't eat raw chicken, and this reinforces that message."People overseas have been known to have H7N6, Geoghegan says, but the virus is designed to spread between birds, so it's bad at crossing over to humans.Hoggard went further in today's media conference, saying there's been no evidence of any cases of people contracting the disease and MPI is "fairly confident" there is minimal risk to Kiwis.Will there be an egg shortage?Because the virus has appeared only in one shed, on one farm in North Otago, there'll be no impact on egg supply, Hoggard says."I'd just stress to people, we don't need to go out and stockpile eggs."What happens to the infected chickens?There are 80,000 chickens in the two sheds where the virus was found, and teams will start culling them on Tuesday.Poultry farmers are used to depopulating and repopulating their birds, Smith says.The birds will be herded into enclosed containers and gassed with carbon dioxide.The farmer was "a bit beaten up", Hoggard says, but the industry is well prepared for an outbreak, and the whole process of killing the birds, cleaning the sheds, further testing and repopulating will take about four to six weeks.The virus has an incubation period of 14 to 21 days and testing will continue until the farm has the all-clear.Because the ministry shut down the farm using powers under the Biosecurity Act, the farmer will be compensated for any costs incurred. - RNZ

Two tatty old paddling pools have made way for a new water play area, opening at Ōamaru Public Gardens on Monday.Since March this year, Specialised Services Group has been hard at work installing the new play area, and a number of other locals and businesses have also joined in the fun.There are three water pumps and two water jets, and the layout of the area has been modelled after the Waitaki River, with Lakes Benmore and Aviemore represented, along with small dams with sluice gates.The plans were put together with both young and old in mind, Waitaki District Council parks officer Jane Matchett said.The tired blue paddling pools are history, but the seals have had a makeover. Photo: SuppliedAnd it wouldn’t be Waitaki, without the contribution from some of the local creatives - Dugal Armour, Matthew Wicks and Matt King have all played a part. Dugal, along with Design Squared Landscape Architects, came up with the design, while Wicksey restored the beloved seals with a holographic paint job.Matt has created a secret surprise with a nod to the district’s geological history, which is buried in the sand, waiting to be discovered.For those in charge of supervising children, there are shade sails perched above bench seating – and the lower section of the play area is also covered.Native planting from Statement Trees has been sponsored by the Oamaru Beautifying Society, and complements the clever natural drainage system, Jane says.The swings will be reinstated by Ireland Engineering soon, once new safety surfacing has been placed underneath by Numat.The new wet area, which has been in the planning for years, came in around its allocated $300,000 budget.The public is invited to the official opening of the water play area at 4pm on Monday afternoon, weather permitting, and Jane says bring a towel.

A new exhibition coming to the Waitaki Museum and Archive is a colossal deal for the recently renovated building.Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa’s famous colossal squid - or more accurately, pieces of it - will be on display over the summer holidays as part of the touring exhibition Colossal Squid Ngu Tipua, from the Wellington-based national museum.Arts, Culture and Libraries manager Chloe Searle says she hoped the museum redevelopment meant it would be able to fit some of the smaller touring exhibitions from Te Papa.Colossal squid specimen are coming to Ōamaru. Photo: Supplied/Te Papa“It's fabulous that as a national museum, they recognise not every family can always get to Wellington, so they develop these shows that can tour right around New Zealand, come to smaller towns, come to smaller museums, and that way everyone gets to have a taste of some of what Te Papa has on offer,” she says.Nothing too difficult needs to take place to accommodate the exhibition, which has been designed to work with smaller museums.“We don't get the whole squid, we get pieces of squid to look at and some interactive tables and things like that. So for us it's really just making sure the environment's right in terms of temperature and things like that to preserve those lovely scientific specimens.”  The show opens on 12 December and runs until 16 February.Waitaki Museum mostly holds exhibitions on social history, so Chloe says for her personally, its “wonderful” to be able to host an exhibition like this.“To be able to put something on the floor that's really science-focused, and we know that's something that everyone in the community likes learning about, but especially for children, I think they have that real interest. Waitaki Arts, Culture and Libraries manager Chloe Searle. Photo: Ashley Smyth“It's not quite dinosaurs, but it's got that same kind of amazing creature aspect to it. So I think I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of enthusiasm. And lots of family members bringing the kids in and getting excited about science.”The colossal squid the specimens are coming from was caught in the southern ocean of Antarctica in 2007, and was four and a half metres long, weighing 500kg. The colossal squid is so rarely seen, only eight have ever been scientifically reported.Te Papa’s head of Natural History, Phil Edgar, says that by learning about the “weird and mysterious creature,” they hope visitors will have a greater appreciation for life in the deep sea, much of which remains undiscovered.The colossal squid beak . Photo: Supplied/Te PapaTe Papa Invertebrates curator Dr Rodrigo Salvador says this squid has been very important for the science community and is popular with the public.“Te Papa’s colossal squid has been a major source of information for scientists and the museum’s most popular exhibit since its debut. They live in the deep Antarctic waters and despite being one of the largest invertebrate species in existence, they are very rarely captured.”Colossal Squid Ngu Tipua centres around an interactive table displaying many different objects including the lens from its eye, part of a tentacle, and a complete tiny squid - a miniature of its colossal relative. Touchable rotating models of a squid’s tentacle hook and beak will also be displayed.The exhibition also includes two documentaries which show life in the depths of the Southern Ocean, and how the most complete colossal squid ever found ended up at Te Papa.

Summer officially starts on Sunday, but you would be forgiven for thinking it came early yesterday as temperatures soared across the motu.By 10am, Banks Peninsula near Christchurch had recorded a temperature of 26 degrees - the warmest in the country.NIWA meteorologist Chris Brandolino told Morning Report that our hottest months are shaping up to be warmer than average.LIsten on Morning Report here: Summer arrives early as temps soarBut his words come with a caveat: "Keep it in mind when we issue these outlooks, we're predicting the themes that Mother Nature will throw our way, not so much a weather forecast."Having said that, December through to February was likely to be warmer than average for all of New Zealand.The high temperatures in Canterbury and Hawke's Bay before the official start of summer were a precursor to that, he said."Overall, the theme will be that we'll see warm days will outweigh the cool days and warm will certainly be a theme over the next three months."Next week could see "some really, really, unusually warm temperatures", he said."There could be successive days where - particularly eastern parts of both islands, those favoured locations - could see temperatures exceed 30 degrees."So next week looks to be a very warm, if not a hot, start to the summer season."After that, Kiwis could expect a change, with cooler temperatures for the South Island, warm in the North, and more "active" weather towards the middle of December.La Nina looks to be "favoured outcome" through the latter part of summer, he said."We know the average impact of La Nina but every one has its own footprint, has its own personality."It's good as a guide to understand what has happened in the past to direct the future, but in reality every La Nina event is different."Moving through January and February, the weather patterns were likely to become more La Nina-like, which would bring increased chances of more rain events."Whenever our air comes from the northeast, or the east - the tropics - we tend to have increased odds for rain events, and sometimes big rain events."So that looks to be a bit more likely as we head through summer - ie, the back half of summer."Asked to predict how Christmas Day was looking across the motu, Brandolino demurred."Oh gosh... you know that's an impossible question to answer nearly a month out, but I'll have a stab at it."In the lead-up to Christmas, we should keep an eye on the tropics - "they may become active" - but could see settled weather, and extended dry periods, particularly in the South Island, he said."I'm cautiously optimistic that the holiday itself should be OK.... but I'm not prepared to lock that in."As we get closer to Christmas - [I'm] hopeful that we'll see a bit more of a settled pattern kick in just in time for good ol' Saint Nick." - RNZ

After some high temperatures across Aotearoa New Zealand, MetService is forecasting cooler conditions to start the weekend in the wake of a southerly change.Rain and wind affect the South Island today (Thursday) as a cold front moves north over the island through this afternoon and evening. Northwesterly winds strengthen ahead of the front before they switch to cold southerlies, with a Strong Wind Watch in force for Otago and Southland until 7pm this evening. MetService meteorologist Ngaire Wotherspoon says the moist northwesterly flow over the Southern Alps is a classic setup for the foehn effect.“Where rain on one side of the mountain means warmer and drier winds on the leeward (other) side. We’re already seeing hot, windy conditions in the east, while in the west there is heavier rainfall with a Heavy Rain Watch in place for Fiordland,” she says.Temperatures made it to the high 20s in Canterbury and Otago, but the southerly change passing through this afternoon and evening, as well as a sprinkling of rain, will mark significant drop in temperatures for both regions. Ōamaru may struggle to reach the mid-teens on Friday, with a high of only 15°C forecast.The front moves on to the North Island early tomorrow, spreading a band of scattered rain and cooler temperatures as far north as Rotorua before stalling, Ngaire says.“Rain from this weakened front sticks around over the North Island for the weekend, clearing on Sunday night. Down south the weekend is looking sunnier, with temperatures starting to warm up again on Sunday as we head into summer.”

The Waitaki story, logo and branding has been approved by Waitaki District Councillors, to be used as a foundation for helping promote the district.In recent weeks the public was invited to attend a series of ‘community conversations’ in Palmerston, Kurow, Hampden, Ōmārama, Otematata, Kakanui and Ōamaru to preview the proposed new brand identity, logo and signage, and give their feedback.In a council meeting on Tuesday (26 November), chief executive Alex Parmley said the overwhelming response from those who engaged with them was positive.“We need to recognise that not everyone engaged across the district in those events, but those that did were, you know, generally enthused by what they saw and supportive of it.” The new brand identity was poorly received in the last of the ‘community conversations’ in Ōamaru.Council business attraction and recovery manager Mel Jones said that was the only group where there was a negative response, attributing that negativity to “some people who came into the room who did have pre-set agendas”.“Overall the response has been really positive”, she said. “We've had a lot of emails post the events saying, 'hey, that story really resonates, we really feel like you've understood what this district is, all around, you understood how the communities have impacted on what has shaped our identity'.”Mr Parmley said the 10-year Uplifting Waitaki: Hāpaitia te Waitaki Economic Development strategy, adopted in September 2022, identified that an engaging Waitaki story and identity, powerfully communicated, was a key enabler for economic growth.“It was identified that there was an opportunity to promote the district better to potential investors and businesses, and visitors and also potential residents who would bring the skills that our businesses and our other services need.“But in doing this, there's an opportunity to do it in an authentic way, so, not just adopting a identity and brand, but something that was based on the story of the district and the people in the communities of the district as well.” This first iteration of the new branding was developed by Wellington agencies Story Inc in partnership with Ocean Design. Ms Jones said ongoing development of the story and brand “is now going to come in-house . . . taking on board all the feedback so that we can have iterated designs and then we’re looking to go back to the communities early in the new year”.“There was a lot of feedback and a lot of different feedback," she said. “We’re going to have to just think smartly about it.”She provided an “early concept of how district signage might look”, noting different suggestions from townships could be incorporated.“In Kakanui there was a great idea of we're about to take a bridge down, can we use some of the posts for the bridge as part of our new signage”, she said.“One idea that came up from Hampden was could we have a plesiosaur because that was found on our beach a while ago?“I think it's exciting because the community want to share their stories with us and share their thinking with us, and we're going to encourage that - we will be putting a page up on the website to enable more people to put their thoughts up there.”Council people and transformation group manager Lisa Baillie said there were fantastic ideas that came through the sessions. "And not just on the signage, but also the taglines and the ways to be able to introduce the flavours of each of our townships into the whole story.”In discussing possible future funding requirements and budget reserves that could be made available for this project, Mayor Gary Kircher asked councillors to be “mindful” of spending impacts on other projects, particularly the Waitaki Whitestone Geopark.Ms Jones said they were conscious that for the geopark to retain its UNESCO global status, it needs to be signposted.“Whichever way we split the funds, the Geopark is still getting the benefit."Councillor Rebecca Ryan said she was "really excited" about the project and the branding refresh. “It's really hard when there's so many great things about the Waitaki district, to bring them all together and create that branding.“There's absolutely different areas that people are really passionate about and that's why it's so difficult to bring the essence all together.“The workshop that I attended, there was just such great attendance from such a wide group of people. And there was some great debate and discussions happened and based on some of those discussions, you know, elements have changed and so it's fantastic that they've been taken on board.”Mayor Kircher refuted claims in social media that Victoriana was being "kicked out". “We've got so many things that are good about the Waitaki district, and we need something that can umbrella all of those. I think this does," he said.“It can be used as easily with Victoriana as it can be with geology as it can be with you know, our wildlife. All those things can be utilised under this umbrella very well."Council agreed to adopt the Waitaki Story and District brand identity, commence implementation of the brand identity with existing resources, prioritise signage subject to local engagement and review the existing council WDC brand to better complement and leverage the district brand.See the full Council meeting here (Adoption of the Waitaki Identity and Story from 31:18)See the Agenda including the full Waitaki Story and brand identity here (from page 49).

“We get sick alone and we get well together,” says Waitaki Creative Wellbeing facilitator and artist Natalie Carpenter.After more than three years of providing help to people in mental distress, Waitaki Creative Wellbeing’s funding has been cut.Natalie and Toni Huls have run weekly art sessions in Ōamaru, Kurow and Palmerston, offering a safe space and community for people struggling with mental health.“So we've existed for the past three and a half years,” Natalie says. “Initially for the first six months it was a pilot programme, and then we secured three years of funding through the Ministry of Culture and Heritage.”  The outreach programme was part of a Covid-era community support programme, facilitated by Dunedin-based Artsenta, which is part of the non-profitable Creative Arts Trust.Artsenta director Paul Smith says the total funding loss was $150,000 per annum, which paid for two programmes in North and Central Otago.“So we had two staff in Central and two in Waitaki. We still receive a small amount of funding from Te Whātu Ora to continue the programme, but it has had to be reduced now that the Ministry of Culture have discontinued their funding,” Paul says.Natalie says with the “meagre amount” that Te Whātu Ora funds and a small top-up from the Creative Arts Trust, there is enough money to continue running the Ōamaru programme.“But we have to cut the rural.”The women are concerned that once again, it is the rural services that are missing out.Some of the work from the Kurow Creative Wellbeing group hanging in a main street window last year. Photo: Supplied“Honestly, Nat and I worked and tried and crunched numbers and did everything, you know, because we were asked to find the money, basically, and it's just sad for us that those services miss out,” Toni says.Paul says the funding programme was called the CARE Fund and it was the first time there had been a nationwide funding programme for creative spaces like Artsenta.“It is a real shame that it has stopped and we really feel for the people who are going to be affected by this change.” The funding stopped at the end of August, but Artsenta has kept the programme running until the end of the year using its reserves, but that’s only sustainable for so long, he says.“We would love to be able to deliver a comprehensive regional programme, but we need a reliable funding source so we can deliver a consistent programme for the community rather than going from one funding application to the next,” Paul says. Feedback from participants has been very positive, and the creative focus and sense of peer support generated through Waitaki Creative Wellbeing is “really valuable”, he says.“Toni and Natalie have done a wonderful job leading this programme and we will continue to support them to run the Ōamaru sessions while we to talk to funders like Te Whātu Ora about the value of this initiative.”Each class has space for 10 people. Ōamaru is full, and there are six people in the Kurow class and eight in Palmerston. Natalie appreciates they are talking about what appears to be small numbers, but says it is a significant amount for the population of Kurow in particular.“So if you're reading this article and you see only six people - those six people might stay for six months and then you have someone new come along and you might hold them in the space for a little while and so it's not, you know, it's not those six people forever.“As they move towards wellness, or as they need it, they might move on to something else. But it just might have given that impetus for them to get back to work, you know, it's all those little steps that get you up and out of bed to meet people again,” she says. While art is not everybody’s “thing”, the classes are also about re-wiring your brain, trying something new, finding a sense of purpose and opening up possibilities. Toni says she is particularly concerned about the services being cut in the Waitaki, while the “ripple effect” of recent tragedies still affects people.At times like these it becomes apparent that the benefit of helping one person in mental distress has a knock-on benefit for the family, friends and community around that person.Ōamaru-based counselling psychologist Anna Farmer, of Otago Psychology and Counselling Support says living with mental health difficulties can be isolating and the Creative Wellbeing classes are invaluable for helping people feel less alone.“They provide reliable access to a community of people who are prepared to truly understand and accept whatever difficulties someone might be experiencing,” Anna says.“Those at Creative Wellbeing offer the hard-won wisdom drawn from their own lived experience, and the focus is always on the person, rather than their diagnosis.”Anna says she has made numerous referrals to Creative Wellbeing over the years and the service has played an important role in the recovery of many people in the community.Toni says the referrals from other mental health professionals reaffirm that what they are doing works.“That says to me that they really trust us, they really value the work we do, and actually, we get letters from mental health services or social workers saying that the outcome for their people is absolutely incredible.”But the programme is not exclusive, and people can self-refer too, potentially before they need any form of diagnosis, to receive peer support.“It's people who are lonely, isolated, or as a result of trauma, and trauma can happen to anybody - we can't control that,” Toni says.“So it could be the death of a loved one. It's just unexpected things that happen in our life.”Natalie says research has shown the more connected people are, the longer they live, and the faster they recover when ill. “We get sick alone and we get well together, and I think that is at the core of what we do.”While Nat and Toni are “deeply saddened” to lose their rural classes, they still want to be positive about the service remaining in Ōamaru, and think there is potential for it to grow, if the community supports it.They are reluctant to talk about Mike King’s charity, I Am Hope, which has been allocated $24m over four years from the Government, but there is an element of frustration that the person who makes the most noise gets the most money.“Yeah, it's hard to watch. For us being paid an average hourly wage, you think about it like that . . . we do the tough, tough work,” Toni says. But she can’t and won't share her stories to get attention. She won’t share on social media about the people she deals with who are at their sickest and self-harming, to get more funding. “And so what happens is the likes of Nat and I, in the work we do . . . we're just dissolving and being overshadowed by these wonderful machines with social media and hysteria and a lot of emotive stuff. But we never use our people, because we are the people.“We're never going to do that to get the funding.”Read more about Creative Wellbeing here.

The head of the Covid-19 Royal Commission of Inquiry has criticised the scale of lockdowns and vaccine mandates, suggesting they were too broad and too harsh.Epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely says they should not be used as much or as stringently in the next pandemic.The report from the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Covid-19 Lessons Learned is being delivered to Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden on Thursday.Listen to Morning Report here: Head of Covid inquiry criticises lockdowns and mandatesCovid inquiry chair Professor Tony Blakely. Photo: RNZ / Peter de GraafThe inquiry came up with 39 recommendations and the findings would be made public when the report was released by the government, Blakely said.In a media briefing to journalists, Blakely described New Zealand's pandemic response as a "game of two halves", where the country did well in the first year - but social cohesion began disintegrating after that.Blakely said it was crucial to look at whether lockdowns and vaccine mandates were proportionate or went too far - even if it was difficult for leaders to assess that at the time."On that mandatory element - we really want, in the next pandemic similar to SARS-CoV-2, we really want to be in a position where we don't need to use lockdowns as much or as stringently."He said while a majority of people were reasonably supportive of vaccines, some people were "adversely impacted" by vaccine mandates, causing them "huge pain". He said a "substantial minority" of people lost trust in public institutions due to the policy.He said vaccine mandates should only be used where "they have a meaningful and substantive benefit" without incurring the social harms.Mandates for frontline healthcare workers, border workers and in prisons were justifiable, he said, because these were high-risk environments where a spread of the virus could have awful consequences."But as far as its reach beyond that, I think we've all learnt that that has to be done very cautiously - even if the majority of the population are in the mood, in the drive, of the view that it should be happening - is that the unintended consequences or some would say, perfectly anticipatable consequences for the minority are major - and they should be considered."A deserted central Auckland during a 2021 lockdown. Photo: RNZ / John EdensBlakely, along with economist John Whitehead, heard from 1600 people, held 400 meetings throughout the country and read through 13,000 submissions covering other topics such as vaccine procurement and rollout, the economic and social response from central governments and the communities, as well as managed isolation.He said there was a diversity of opinions on the pandemic response, including over the closing of the international border, which caused "huge pain and loss"."For some people that pain and loss was not warranted, for other people that pain and loss was understandable, given the need to protect other citizens," Blakely said.The inquiry also looked toward a future pandemic, including how resilient the country's current health system is, and what needs to be planned now to effectively deal with one.He said the country needed to have a viable public health workforce to undertake things like contact tracing - and to be able to scale that up quickly."I don't think any country is ideally prepared [for the next pandemic] at the moment. I would be concerned if I was in a country that was cutting back its public health services ... at the moment, as to the capacity you have in the system."'Let's get it out there'Blakely will step down as chair on Thursday and Grant Illingworth KC will take over for Phase 2 of the Inquiry - which has expanded terms of reference - from Friday.The government decided to create a second phase, as both the ACT-National and New Zealand First-National coalition agreements included commitments to extend the scope of the Inquiry.He would not comment on whether he thought another phase was necessary, but said the next phase may be able to look deeper into subjects like vaccine harms.But he said there was no need to hold onto his recommendations until the next phase of the inquiry wraps up in 2026, because they can and should be implemented as soon as possible."The next pandemic may not be far away, and we need to get on to preparing."It's not yet clear when the minister will release the first phase report. Brooke van Velden did not respond to RNZ's interview requests and questions about it.Blakely said there was no reason to hold on to the report, and it was ready to go once he delivered it on Thursday afternoon.He encouraged the minister to release the report immediately after it was received."For Phase 2 to be maximally useful to the New Zealand taxpayer, you want to build on Phase 1 - so let's get it out there." - RNZ

Questions remain on the Beach Road reinstatement and now it’s up to the public to decide.Councillors agreed the community should be consultated to decide whether Beach Rd between Ōamaru and Kakanui should remain closed or be re-opened, at a Waitaki District Council meeting on Tuesday (November 26).The road was closed for Project Reclaim (the removal of fly-tipped waste which was about to erode into the sea), to be carried out, and because the amount of waste removed was larger than anticipated, the road has remained closed.Council Infrastructure manager Joshua Rendell said while “it was hoped that there may be sufficient budget within Project Reclaim to have the road reinstated . . . the finding of additional waste necessitated the use of the contingency of the project”.Consultation will take place as part of the Long Term Plan nine-year budget discussions.The scope of Project Reclaim never included the re-establishment of Beach Rd north, however, there was hope through some of the savings identified through the project there might be enough to reopen the road, he said.Beach Road, southern site showing the road in the distance (top right). Photo: supplied.Options presented included reconstructing Beach Rd north in a new alignment, closing the road, closing part of the road and realigning Awamoa Rd as a new intersection, or consulting with the community through the Long-Term Plan.Realignment options have been priced at between $353,000 and $720,000.Costs to retain coastal routes at risk of coastal erosion, such as Beach Rd, have been estimated to be $2,500,000 to $11,900,000 over a 50-year period."In developing its consultation document for the long-term plan, council had intended to consult the community on the approach to coastal roads, such as Beach Road north, and whether it would be most appropriate for council to invest in protecting these assets or take a managed retreat approach," Mr Rendell said.“The issue isn’t necessarily one of efficiency or economics, it’s an issue of aesthetics and amenity for the community.”Councillors queried the implications for water and wastewater infrastructure, funding options and opportunities, and whether sufficient consultation with landowners had taken place before agreeing to community consultation, including design and cost information as part of the 2025-2034 Long-Term Plan consultation.

Serious questions need to be asked about NCEA Level 1 which has created an unfair two-tier system, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.Listen here on Morning Report: Education Minister on NCEA level one concernsShe says serious variability issues have been exposed for schools around the country and it was trying to be "everything to everyone".Stanford was speaking to Morning Report after the Education Review Office called for a rethink of NCEA Level 1 that could include ditching the qualification.In a report released on Tuesday morning, the review office said it was critically important that Level 1 was changed because an overhaul introduced this year was not working.The report said the qualification was not fair or reliable, it confused families, and more than a quarter of schools did not offer it.Stanford said it was an excellent report that provided the basis for reform.It showed the worrying situation of students stopping their learning part-way through the year either because they couldn't reach achieve or because they had achieved enough.Ditching it was an option."Three years of high-stakes assessment is really tough on our kids so we do need to consider ourselves in line with other countries and look at what they're doing. We're one of the only countries that does that."A two-tier system was being created with high decile schools "voting with their feet" and walking away from it while lower decile schools retained it.The report also showed 70 percent of employers had little faith that Level 1 equipped students with the right knowledge or skills.As well, only 20 percent of school leavers aged 15 or 16 achieved Level 1.It was trying to be "everything to everyone", Stanford said."Trying to be a step up to Level 2 and it's trying to be a leaver's certificate and in the end it's nothing to anybody."Stanford has been working with an advisory group of principals and has also approached the opposition to get an agreement on a bipartisan policy."It's too important, our national qualification, to be flip-flopping on ...I think we're [the government and Labour] broadly on the same page about the direction on where we need to go and we'll work closely together on it."It's too important to get it wrong."Stanford said she came into the portfolio hearing schools were ill-prepared for the changes being introduced at the start of the year.This year had been "a disaster" with only 40 percent of schools ready to implement the revamped Level 1.It had been too late to prevent the changes going ahead, however, she had asked ERO to produce the report that had now exposed the scale of the problems.'Not a reliable measure'The ERO's evaluation centre head Ruth Shinoda said her office was concerned by the standard of what was being offered in Level 1 at present."That's because it's just not yet a reliable measure and it's not entirely fair."Listen here on Morning Report: Govt needs to consider dropping NCEA level one: EROIt was not setting up students well for their futures, with students saying the credits they earned were not an equal amount of work.Students were twice as likely to do well for an internal assessment compared with an external one, she told Morning Report."Most importantly, it's not setting them up for Level 2, so three-quarters of schools say it's not setting them up for next year's learning."Some improvements, such as larger credits with more in-depth learning and improved literacy-numeracy emphasis, had worked.However, there needed to be a decision on the role of Level 1 - should it be a foundational qualification for those 15 and 16-year-olds moving on to employment or other pathways, or should it be an academic step up to the next stages."We need to decide because at the moment it's not really achieving either of those things."'Trying to be all things to all people'Secondary Principals Association president Vaughan Couillault said the report was an accurate assessment of what the education sector was facing and the fact that Levels 1, 2 and 3 did not align.Listen here on Morning Report: Secondary Principals Association on NCEA level one criticismRegarding Level 1, there were structural problems between one standard and another with some students required to put in a lot more hours for an assignment compared with others studying a different subject."If you've got a piece of work that is worth five credits there should be consistency on what's required in terms of effort. That's on the adults to get this right."Couillault agreed it was "trying to be all things to all people" and it should be decided what its main goal was.He did not favour it being a leaver's certificate."We've got to have a conversation about what we want Level 1 to do."He agreed with Standford's ambition to sort out the curriculum issues first and then getting the assessment over the top of that later. - RNZ

It was a large and very vocal crowd at Ōamaru’s Opera House last week for the last chapter in the Waitaki story tour.The Waitaki District Council took its Waitaki story on the road earlier this month, from Palmerston to Ōmarama, to share a vision which was created through hours of conversations with community members.These conversations were carried out mostly one-on-one with people from all sections of the community, to hear different perspectives, priorities, histories, and feelings about where they lived."Challenges and challengers. Resilience and connection. These are the threads of the Waitaki story, braided together like the rivers that run through our lands and our lives,” is the opening paragraph of the story which was presented to the public. The story has been created as part of the work being done to try and create a Waitaki brand and identity to help the district realise its potential.In addition to sharing the Waitaki story, this latest group of sessions were, for the most part, an opportunity for the council’s economic development team to present its proposal for a new Waitaki logo and gather feedback and input on new town signage.Council Economic and Community Development manager Mel Jones says the signage and branding had been recognised as something the council can act on without too much delay, but are only the first part of a long journey.When asked to describe in simple terms what the aim of the Waitaki story is, Mel says it is hard to pin down.“It's about helping all of our residents feel more connected to our place that we all call home . . . whether you were born here or not, we want you to feel that this is a really important place for you, and a place that you can feel comfortable and safe in and feel connected with the broader community.“That's why I say it's a long-term journey because, what we're looking at is what can council drive initially, and the one thing we've heard from our communities is the signage feels very out of date and doesn't reflect who we are today, and is, frankly, quite embarrassing, so please can we move on.“I suppose what we're saying is ‘yes, as council, we can absolutely take control of that, and move it forward and do it as quickly as we can, you know, with the budgets that we have available’. “That's the first tangible line in the sand, if you like, that we can put, but I think the next stage of it all is very much going to be discussions with the community around, well, what do you want?”The story, an artistic interwoven border, and a new logo which signifies ki uta ki tai (“everything from the mountains to the sea is interconnected”), has been created by two Wellington design agencies Story Inc and Ocean Design who, since April, have been “immersed” in the stories of Waitaki and information about the district. Distinguished Ngāi Tahu artist Ross Hemera has also been involved heavily in the process. Feedback in the Ōamaru meeting last Wednesday was overwhelmingly disparaging of the new logo, one community member likening the wavy ‘W’ to a colon.A computer-generated example of how the new logo and border art might be used in a sign. Photo: Ashley SmythMel says the strong reaction in Ōamaru was in contrast to other places throughout the district, where feedback had been “surprisingly positive”, but she accepts designs and pictures can be polarising, and it is impossible to please everyone.“Something that you love, I might hate and vice versa . . . we've seen that all the way through. It's all, you know, ‘I love the green’, ‘I hate the green’.“So we have to accept that we've got multiple, multiple views, but if we want to move forward and if we want to move forward as a community in the district, at some point you have to make a call, and that's where we are now.”The logo has evolved significantly since it was first shared publicly in September, following numerous discussions and feedback, and is now being recommended for adoption at Tuesday’s (November 26) council meeting.A positive Mel took from the Ōamaru meeting was the “story” seems to resonate for people.Work-ons were over the signage. The feedback from most of the different parts of the district, is the mock-up sign examples presented were not what communities were looking for.Once the branding and signage has been decided on, the next step was communities deciding how they wanted their story to be told.The Otematata session last Sunday was an example of a community which already knows how they want to tell the story of their town, she says.“They've already got a designated area that they want to use for storytelling, and so they've already said, ‘we think this could be the first thing we could do to start to bring our story to life and, and profile who we are as a community’.“That’s fabulous.”The intention is to work with each community across the district, and find out how they want their story told, because every community can do it differently, she says.The larger the community, the more diverse the voices, which makes the task more of a challenge.“I think that's where we just will need to break it down into little bite-sized pieces . . . I think that's where we're really keen to talk to different groups in the community, go, ‘well, what would you like to do? And how might we enable that?’ “It isn't about council doing it. It can't be about that, and it wouldn't be right. We haven't got all the answers and we shouldn't have all the answers, because we want to co-create and co-design the answers.”The project has been driven by the council economic development team, but included a team made up of a number of people from other organisations with an interest in the area, “to try and make sure that we were thinking broadly all the way through”, Mel says.Te Rūnaka o Moeraki had been part of the consultation process, but a Waitaha contingent which travelled from Timaru to attend Wednesday night’s meeting, said their story had not been told and they had not been consulted for the document, which Mel acknowledges and says will be rectified.“We'll be looking to work very closely with the rūnaka and Waitaha to ensure that we are respecting the mana of Waitaha and the rūnaka.”While an effort has been made to consult all groups, Mel acknowledges there will always be more that needs telling. She describes the story as a “living document”.“The themes are all the same. We've been progressive, we've done things that have impacted New Zealand as a country, but maybe we haven't blown our whistle enough or you know, talked about them enough. And so the more examples we have, the more we can start to bring those examples to life across the district.”Waitaki District Council Economic and Community Development manager Mel Jones speaking in Ōamaru last Wednesday night. Photo: Ashley Smyth

By Colin Peacock via RNZ'One GP to 1900 people' was the stark headline on the front page of last week's Taupō & Tūrangi Herald, above a story about the "magnitude of burnout" for doctors there.But the same day, there was more stark news for the readers of the free community weekly: there could soon be no newspaper at all for them to read.The paper's publisher NZME had just announced plans to close almost all its free local papers in the North Island, including the Taupō & Tūrangi Herald, citing mounting costs and slumping ad revenue.The New Herald Zealand Herald Media Insider column said the papers could close as soon as Christmas, with the loss of 30 jobs.NZME's rival Stuff closed its community paper, Taupō Times, in June.Similarly, Stuff closed the Levin-based Horowhenua Mail in 2022. If NZME now closes the Horowhenua Chronicle as planned, there will be no newsroom in the region by the end of the year."An arid outlook for local media," concluded former New Zealand Herald editor Gavin Ellis, raising the prospect of 'news deserts' overseas appearing here.It refers to the growing number of towns and regions where local news sources have closed down - along with the scrutiny of public life they provided.Research has linked closures of newspapers to declines in civic engagement of citizens, increases in government waste, and increases in political polarisation."As a metaphor, the desert evokes a sense of arid emptiness and silence. But it also suggests a featureless place where we lose a sense of direction," AUT senior lecturer in journalism, Greg Treadwell, wrote in response to NZME's plan.Many of these papers were their community's central or only source of verified local news, he pointed out."The NZME announcement shouldn't have come as a surprise ... but local news had been a fixture for so long it's clear many community leaders felt blindsided," Sunday Star-Times editor Tracy Watkins wrote last weekend.Among them was Central Hawke's Bay mayor Alex Walker."I am devastated. It is a massive blow. Central Hawke's Bay Mail is our community newspaper. It's where we discuss our district, we tell our stories, and most importantly, we connect."And with local elections next year, the closures were an urgent and acute problem, he argued.But Watkins went on to say government and local councils were "probably as much a part of the problem as anyone.""They've increasingly bypassed local media, spending their advertising and marketing budgets on comms teams and newsletters, or social media - and paying vast sums of money for targeted Facebook advertising instead," she wrote in her editorial.Local government advertising is also at the heart of the struggle at Westport News.It is not a community freebie paper from a big chain - but a decades-old independent daily paper that charges readers for news in print and online, and employs 17 people.Westport News said it was now fighting for survival after the Buller District Council moved almost all its advertising to a free weekly paper at the Greymouth Star, which is majority-owned by Dunedin-based Allied Press.Queenstown-based Crux - which did not take local government advertising on principle - went into 'hibernation' recently after seven years covering local issues.As an online-only initiative, Crux did not have the same escalating paper-and print costs as NZME, but editor Peter Newport said: "We are too small to benefit from the necessary scale of national digital advertising - and vulnerable to the substantial and selective financial support of print media by our local councils."For its part, Local Government NZ has called on central government to help. It has urged an expansion of the Local Democracy Reporting scheme run by RNZ since 2019 and part-funded by NZ On Air.It was modelled on a UK scheme filling local and rural reporting gaps there, and our version now deploys 18 journalists at local news organisations around the country to cover local authorities, courts, rūnanga and other bodies.LGNZ president Sam Broughton said in a statement the entire country could be covered this way to help local media report local issues, especially with the prospect of local elections next year in some places with no local journalists."This and more should be done. The longer we wait, the closer the news desert creeps every day," AUT's Greg Treadwell concluded.An idea whose time has come?The country's biggest paper publisher, Stuff, closed or sold 28 community papers back in 2018. It has shut down other titles too since the local buyout of the company from Australian owners Nine Media in early 2020.But it still has 19 community titles left, as well as its eight regional dailies.Joanna Norris. Photo: RNZ / Fairfax NZ"I certainly think that there are areas of the country, and particularly in regional New Zealand, that are really vulnerable and where it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide news coverage - and in particular by newspapers," Stuff's managing director of masthead publishing Joanna Norris told Mediawatch."Following the NZME announcement we did hear from local communities that they are very much still value print newspapers - and particularly in rural areas. So we're still very much committed to regional New Zealand."So why close the Taupō Times, Horowhenua Mail and others?"It is getting increasingly harder, and we are all also providing strong digital solutions for local communities and local news coverage. But real constraints are starting to hit many publishers ... ranging from the shift of the advertising dollar to the global tech platforms and to things like NZ Post's decision to pull out of rural delivery on a Saturday."There are simply fewer resources to fund news in those communities. They are telling us that they value these publications, and so our very strong message to both mayors and also to local businesses is: if you do value this, support it."We cannot afford to be running publications that are non-profitable. So where possible, [they should] ensure that it's a part of their advertising mix."We will continue to consolidate portfolios where it makes sense to do so. In Taupō and Horowhenua, we distribute The Post into both of those locations and the Sunday Star-Times as well."But there isn't a newsroom or reporter in either place.More than just the ads?The 14 November edition of NZME's Taupō & Tūrangi Herald had several pages of advertising, including full pages promoting national brands and three pages of local display and classified ads.Why would publishers turn away from that revenue - especially if the market is clear for them?"Often these decisions need to be made with a portfolio of publications, because there are economies of scale for producing several publications at once through your print site. It may be that while one publication is washing its face, another is not," Norris told Mediawatch."But almost half of New Zealanders over 15 are still reading a printed newspaper as part of their news diet. Alongside digital, there's enormous penetration and appetite for news."What we're all working to achieve are sustainable models that ensure that we're able to keep covering the news that New Zealanders want. Working out the appropriate cost base is an ongoing part of that - and we're committed to covering New Zealand regions."Does she reckon local councils complaining about closures are obliged to spend money on them to keep them going?"It's not so much 'sending money our way'. It's paying for the things that they value. A mayor at a function in the last few days told me how much he valued the local newsroom we had in his community. I said to him: 'Are you a subscriber?' And he said no."I said to him it would be really valuable if he did subscribe, because that's the support that we need to continue operating in communities like yours"Stuff has Local Democracy Reporting journalists in Marlborough and in Wairarapa. Does Stuff back the expansion LGNZ had called for?"I don't think the LDR service is the entire answer. It has been really useful for some communities, but ultimately we want to ensure that we are not reliant on government support," Norris said."Their content is available for all media to use ... but the LDR scheme is specifically for local democracy coverage. An LDR reporter in a small newsroom can't cover topics beyond their local council."Our preference is that we have a regulatory environment that supports a strong and thriving media ecosystem. We are fiercely advocating for the Fair Digital News Bargaining legislation, which would mean that we were able to negotiate with the global tech platforms for fair payment for the content that they use." - RNZ

~ Opinion ~Change underpins everything to do with career development.With every new role, it can bring with it happiness - the kind that makes you want to jump and down (if you’re like me).A new job can give you hope for the future, sometimes more money, and definitely a change in status.But something we don’t always acknowledge is anxiety and loss, and that big question – who am I now my job has changed? Very often we tie our identity, our personhood into our role.When our role changes, we experience grief, sadness, disorientation and we wonder, who am I now?It’s not the change that’s the cause of these feelings, it’s the transition.According to William Bridges, change is situational – it’s the thing that’s happening to you, and transition is the psychological process involved in coming to terms with the situation - if you like, becoming the new you.Change is external.Transition is internal.Unless the psychological transition occurs, change will not stick.You’ll find yourself looking for another job in six months’ time.In other words, there can be any number of changes, but unless you manage the transition well, nothing about you will be different.Transition starts with an ending and letting go of the old you before you can step confidently into a new role.You must think about what you will have to let go of when change occurs.In all change, there are endings and losses.After letting go, there is the neutral zone.This is the wasteland between the old you and the new.It’s the time when your old ways are gone and the new doesn’t feel comfortable yet.The neutral zone can be tough – it’s like a wilderness with uncharted territory.You haven’t formed those key relationships yet, you have lost confidence in your skills and it’s even hard to use the photocopier! Expect that nothing makes sense and you feel separate from the world.The neutral zone takes time, but it’s also the start of renewal and development.You can only make the new beginning if you have first acknowledged the ending, and what you’ve lost, including celebrating your past achievements, spent some time floundering in the neutral zone, and then looking to the future with hope.The transition process is a chance to reinvent yourself.Throughout this process make sure you take care of yourself, and here’s a few things to think about:Figure out what is actually changing - decide what is really over for you, and recognise what’s still the same.Recognise the symptoms of the neutral zone – your feelings of confusion, emptiness and flatness are completely normal.Take time out and deliberately set short term goals and look for areas of stability in your life.Do a ‘you’ stock take – is this the role where you want to end up? Take a new look at yourself (your passion, your skills and abilities, your resources and your personality.Consider your possibilities in a new light - don’t assume that who you were yesterday is who you are tomorrow.Ask yourself ‘why’ and ‘why not’? Do some brainstorming and list all the possibilities and alternatives. They are there.Experiment a little every day (starting today) - force yourself to do things differently, especially if they are not working for you.Focus on your learning in and outside of work – it will hold you in good stead for the future.Finally, find some fun! Hang out with your buddies and laugh.Taking things not too seriously can help create the new you.Jenny Bean is a professional member of the Career Development Association of NZ (CDANZ). If you are looking for career development support (personal or organisational), contact her at CareerBeanz.

Musical Theatre Ōamaru's (MTO) new show, Mystery on the Orient Express, opens next Thursday (November 28) and it's a rollicking affair guaranteed.The show is directed by Alan Rakiraki who won best musical direction at the 2023 Otago Southland Theatre Awards (Ostas) for MTO's much lauded production of That Bloody Woman and has been "a musical director for MTO over the years, three or four times".Mystery on the Orient Express, is a theatre restaurant production with the meal, provided by That Food Guy's Mark Townsend and team, served around the performance.Alan has a clear appreciation for this form of entertainment, "I've always been involved or tried to be involved in some way in theatre restaurant productions", he says."It's usually either being part of a band or musical director."After being approached by MTO's president Melissa Yockney, he had a look at the plot.Reading through the script and viewing snippets of various performances online he "thought, well, that's kind of interesting" and "we can make it more accessible... more interactive".Alan says, "I put my hand up and said... I'd like to actually try to directing the whole thing, because I've got some crazy ideas".He storyboarded the ideas, discarding the ones that were ultimately too technical or too expensive until deciding, "let's do what I thought could be done but do it much simpler".Alan explains, "the cast have quite a bit to do with the audience".With character names such as Holmes, Watson, Marples, Gadget and Pullitoffski to mention a few, the audience can expect a madcap caper from the outset.Alan says, "I've reimagined the characters in a small way... they're a little more adventurous".He has walked the tightrope between keeping "faith with your own ideas" and supporting the cast to shine, "I like actors to bring as much to things as they possibly can".For those people who fear the interactive element he says, "there's kind of like an invitation... nobody's forced to do anything, you know they'll just pass them by and get somebody else".The show includes some well-known songs and aspects where the audience is invited to actively join in the fun."All the instruments are acoustic.""So, it's kind of like authentic in as much as that's the type of musical instruments there would have been in the time that the production was set, the early to middle twenties", Alan says.Attendees are invited to "dress to impress with a nod to the 1920s".Pitched as an ideal end-of-year social event or group night out, tickets are purchased by class (first, second, baggage, no class and 'viewing carriage') starting from $45 for the matinee performance or $75 for the evening shows - meal included.You can see all the details and purchase tickets here. You can enter to win a double pass to the opening night before Monday November 25 here.

Achieving a flow state at work is rare, temporary and it's unclear how to achieve it - so it's better to aim one tier lower, a US psychologist says.American psychologist and author Daniel Goleman argues hitting a tier below flow state - what he calls optimal state - is more sustainable, and there are clear paths to achieving it.Goleman made the concept of emotional intelligence popular in the 1990s with his internationally best-selling book on the subject.In his latest book, Optimal, co-written with Cary Churniss, he lays out ways that you can manage your emotions to perform better at work.The problem with flow is you can't make it happen; Goleman tells RNZ's Nine to Noon.Photo: Supplied via RNZListen to Nine to Noon here: Daniel Goleman on how to have a good day at work"It's great when it does, because you're at your best, you feel great, time collapses, you lose self-consciousness. But you know what? Try to make it happen day after day.... it's not going to."The optimal state - which means you are performing well, effective and engaged - is much more sustainable, he says.So how best to access the optimal state? Attention is key."Attention is a skill, and we can train it, we can get better at it," he says.However, societies such as New Zealand's tend to encourage the opposite, he said."We have an economy, actually, which is built on inattention. It's built on, the new version of the same old thing every season. And the new version is what actually perks up the brain and gets us to pay attention, but it's temporary, and then we're ready for the next thing."Through mindfulness, we can hone our ability to pay keen attention, he said."Things become much more interesting, much more fascinating. And actually, it's a doorway into that optimal state."Achieving small wins, he said, is characteristic of the optimal state."When we say small wins, we're talking about creative insight or getting something done that helps you toward a single step, toward a greater goal. And small wins turn out to be another characteristic of people in the optimal state: they make progress daily toward their big goal. Whatever it may be."The book drew on data gathered by the Harvard Business School, he says."It had hundreds and hundreds of people keep journals of their daily experience and how they felt, and it was through analysis of the journals, actually, that the optimal state emerged."There are certain building blocks, he observed, which are common to people who attain optimal state."It helps, for example, to have clear goals or clarity about what is expected of you and your particular job or your particular role."The key is the ability to pay close attention to what it is you're doing at the moment, to the important thing, not to distractions."Mindfulness and meditation are powerful attention-training tools, he says."If you're mindful of your breath, you're told pay attention to your in-breath and your out-breath, and the next in-breath and the next out-breath."And when your mind wanders and you notice it wandered, bring it back to the next breath. Well, what are you doing? From a cognitive science point of view, you're strengthening attention every time you bring your attention back to the next breath."It's the brain equivalent of going to the gym and lifting a weight, he says."Every rep, every time you lift that weight, that muscle gets that much stronger. Same with the brain: every time you bring your mind back to that point of focus or to what's going on now, you're strengthening the brain circuitry for attention." - RNZ

With more Kiwis keen to shop for a Black Friday bargain this year, people will be keeping their eyes peeled for the best deals.Even though New Zealanders traditionally have not celebrated Thanksgiving - the precursor to Black Friday sales that follow the holiday on the fourth Thursday of November - the concept of the sales have swept the globe.The cultural phenomenon, which has generally become known as a four-day sales period, revolves not just around the discounts, but the anticipation of frenzied shoppers pushing, shoving, and sometimes even fighting each other to get a bargain.How has this become such a global phenomenon? And are the sales all they're cracked up to be?Why has it become such a big deal?Black Friday is a time when people often nab Christmas presents - but it's our culture and what we have put a value on as a society that has infused us with this inherent sense of obligation to give gifts, University of Canterbury professor of marketing Ekant Veer says.University of Canterbury professor of marketing Ekant Veer. Photo: RNZ / University of Canterbury"We get caught up in this frenzy of buying more to show love and marketers prey on that saying, 'hey, you're a good parent because you gave your kid that thing that made them really happy', and 'you're a good kid because your parents clearly got you something'."According to a survey by PriceMe of more than 1100 people, 51 percent of Kiwis are planning to shop on Black Friday this year, compared with 35 percent in 2023.Additionally, sales often have become elongated - including Boxing Day - because there's been a "democratisation of knowledge", where consumers often hold out on buying because they're more aware of when the sales are and how much they could save, Prof Veer says.Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young Photo: RNZ / SuppliedRetail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young says some businesses also stretch out sales to increase foot traffic ahead of the Christmas sales period, which is "critical in terms of the sustainability of retailers"."It doesn't necessarily mean that you get greater turnover between when the sales starts and the Christmas period, but it just means that you're generating interest earlier."Some smaller retailers can't afford to go that far and will stick to traditional sale seasons, Young says, while others feel the need to jump on the bandwagon to not miss out on the opportunity.What could be worth buying during Black Friday sales?PriceMe's survey data in October found the most interest from would-be shoppers was in technology and electronics (38 percent) followed by fashion and clothing (35 percent) and household appliances (25 percent).PriceSpy says tech products had the most substantial Black Friday discounts last year, with the largest average discounts in games and consoles (-28 percent), keyboards and mice (-24 percent), speakers (-24 percent), televisions (-22 percent), and kitchen appliances (-20 percent)."For 2024, we expect similar trends, with electronics leading the way. Non-tech categories like kitchen appliances, airfryers, espresso machines and vacuum cleaners also consistently perform well, with average discounts of around -20 percent."PriceSpy recommends looking for older models in electronics. "Retailers frequently discount previous-generation products, especially in categories like smartphones, headphones, and televisions, offering great value without sacrificing quality."Tthe beauty and health category offered an average discount of -21 percent on products during last Black Friday, according to PriceSpy data.Some research based on average weighted prices conducted by PriceSpy in 2022 showed November was the best time to buy toasters, headphones, juicers and home security cameras. But it was the worst time to buy LEGO.In general, it found the cheapest month in 2022 was November, with prices costing 7 percent less ($57) compared to the average price across the rest of the year.Black Friday 2024 survey by PriceMe shows the average Kiwi plans to spend just over $600 this Black Friday, with the most popular purchases set to be: technology and electronics (38%), fashion and clothing (35%), and household appliances (25%). Photo: RNZ / SuppliedWhat fish hooks to look out for when you're shopping in the Black Friday sales?There's been a "recurring trend" of fake deals where some retailers raise their price ahead of Black Friday to deceive consumers into thinking their discount is bigger than it actually is, PriceSpy says."Last year, one in 10 offers (10 percent) fell into this category. While this isn't illegal, shoppers should be aware of this and extra cautious if a discount appears unusually large."Don't fall for the pressure tactics like "one left, get in quick" or "don't miss out!", ConsumerNZ says."They're intentionally designed to create a sense of urgency, overwhelm or confusion. Don't fall for it - there's mostly likely enough in stock, and you probably won't "miss out."Also watch out for an increase in delivery charges to offset large discounts, PriceSpy says. "It's wise to consider the full purchase cost, not just the discount percentage."Financial adviser Tracy Hemingway of Debtfreediva NZ says it's wise to be wary of multi-buy deals."Like I know that it's one for $20 or two for $30, but have you just spent an extra $10 on something that you don't need? Rather than just spend the $20 on the one item that you did need."So how do we avoid getting sucked into the frenzy? Prof Veer has these tips:Be mindful and consider what you need versus what you want before you head out.Do your research. Use price checker and comparison websites to see who has the best deal and how it compares to the rest of the year."They will put things on sale that people don't typically want as a way of luring people into the shop to get into the frenzy of 'while I'm here, I will also buy this thing at full retail price'."Set your budget and stick to it. Buying a few things that you don't need because they're at a good price will still mean they add up at the cashier.But how does it compare to the other sales? And is it worth it?Last year, PriceSpy's Price Index, a tool which monitors daily indexed price changes across the most popular products on the comparison website, was -7 percent on Black Friday, a slight improvement over 2022. The average discount among discounted products was 21 percent.But they also found 15 percent of products were actually more expensive on Black Friday compared to a standard shopping day, like 1 November 2023.PriceMe also found many would be taking on extra debt to pay for their Black Friday purchases this year - it's something that's contributing to the idea of "gift poverty" where we overextend ourselves and go in debt just to buy something for others, Prof Veer says.Buy NZ Made executive director Dane Ambler also says the hype around Black Friday "can fuel a culture of overconsumption, leading to unnecessary waste and strain on natural resources".The phenomenon goes against what we're also being told about avoiding "accelerated consumerism", where we buy and consume more, more frequently, Prof Veer says. - RNZ

Toyarama is back.The Rotary Club of Ōamaru’s Bookarama spin-off, is returning on Friday after a successful debut last year.The second-hand toy sale made about $5000 towards good causes in its inaugural year, and while that isn’t close to the $50,000-ish Bookarama brings in, raising money isn’t the only goal, organiser Ele Ludemann says.“Toys are different from books, and part of this isn't just the money we make, but the fact that people can buy gifts that maybe they couldn't afford otherwise.“And the quality’s great.”Toys range from sports gear, bikes and Matchbox cars still in their boxes, to dolls, soft toys and dress-ups.Last year’s Toyarama ran on Saturday and Sunday, but this year Ele says they decided to open on the Friday and Saturday instead.“Last year we opened on the day of the Christmas parade, but we decided, because it was like sardines when we opened, and we also thought that people might need to come without children, we're doing it the day before the parade.” Doors at the former Camerons building at 137 Thames Street, will be open from 10am to 7pm on Friday, and 10am to 4pm on Saturday.While toys are piling up for this weekend, Ele says they are always looking for more. “Just like Bookarama, we never say no, because we've got storage. So if it's too late to sell this year, we can sell it next year.”

~ Opinion ~I’ll never forget my Dad telling me that I wasn’t going to university. In his words it was a complete “waste of time, and students were all bludgers, blights on the country” and he meant it. A few talks (arguments!) later, I had enrolled and chosen my courses. I have been working with people where the reverse is true, a family member or friend, ‘voluntells’ them in very persuasive language that university is a great idea!This seemingly small discussion and subsequent decision can have a huge impact on the direction of your life. For example, the one decision to go to university or take up a trade, can provide you with a ready-made network where friendships can become lifelong, but morethan that, when you are stuck in your career or business, you have someone call who can help you out in a range of specialist areas - depending on what your mates have qualified in!In business, a strong and robust network is essential to survival.It could be, that someone at a meeting suggests you give a person a call in your career field of interest, and that one call can turn into a role, a new business, a new career direction orsignificant mentor.Making the most of every opportunity that comes your way is called ‘Happenstance’ in careers terms. These so-called chance life encounters and situations take courage, belief in yourself, and a belief that others will help you out with your life journey. There are seldom any coincidences, but rather opportunities for you to pick up on and run with, leading to twists and turns in your career direction. Careers are not a path to follow, but rather like a river that ebbs and flows, sometimes dumping you on the rocks, or leaving you to navigate boulders and floating logs. Careers can also be calm and steady for long periods of time.There is one thing that be guaranteed if you take this ‘Happenstance’ approach, and that is change.For myself, that one decision to go to university led me overseas, working to release political prisoners from jail, and then on to my life’s work - to create a more equitable society throughcareer development. What could be more satisfying. Thanks Dad for the argument!Jenny Bean is a professional member of the Career Development Association of NZ (CDANZ). If you are looking for career development support (personal or organisational), contact her at CareerBeanz.