Prince Philip has had a successful heart procedure at a London hospital and is expected to remain for several days of "rest and recuperation," Buckingham Palace said Thursday local time.
The palace said the 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II "underwent a successful procedure for a pre-existing heart condition at St Bartholomew's Hospital."
"His royal highness will remain in hospital for treatment, rest ...

A year into Covid, we've been reduced to angry, spiteful, side taking, finger pointing, tittle-tattling busy bodies. The tragedy is the instruction came from the top.
All 13 of the defendants facing charges in relation to the death of 22 people when Whakaari/White Island erupted can now be reported.
The first hearing was today adjourned until June.
Inflite Charters, ID Tours and Tauranga Tourism Services had not previously been re...

In the past week I guess we’ve all been through that Covid rollercoaster again.
Shock first, at the news of the new lockdown, jeez really, again?
Exasperation at the details that followed, seriously, you went to work at Kmart and KFC, oh come on!
Frustration at people who won’t respond to six or more calls from contact tracers, anger at some puffed up kids thinking they’re too good to be tested.
Relief, as the daily Covid tallies come ...

President Joe Biden said Tuesday local time the U.S. expects to take delivery of enough coronavirus vaccine for all adults by the end of May — two months earlier than anticipated — and he pushed states to get at least one shot into the arms of teachers by the end of March to hasten school reopenings.
Biden also announced that drugmaker Merck will help produce rival Johnson & Johnson's newly approved one-shot vaccine, likenin...

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has spoken publicly for the first time since Attorney-General Christian Porter addressed the historic rape allegation levelled against him yesterday.
At a press conference this morning, Mr Morrison weighed in on the "harrowing events" that have unfolded in recent days.“These are harrowing events. And for the family of the woman at the centre of these issues, as the Attorney-General commenced his...

Buckingham Palace has today released a statement sharing their intent to investigate claims of bullying against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, after the couple said they were victims of a "smear campaign".
According to the Times, the complaint was made in October 2018 by communication secretary Jason Knauf who worked for the Sussexes.
The complaint alleges Meghan drove two personal assistants out and was undermining the conf...

The National Party believes the government will come around on paying employees their full wage for taking time off for Covid-19.
The payment would be capped at two weeks, and, in an uncommon alliance, is similar in sentiment to the message from unions and the Green party.
National's Covid-19 response spokesperson Chris Bishop told Kate Hawkesby their ideas have a way of eventually coming to light.
He says the government initially...

The latest people getting kicked by the government and trolled from the pulpit of truth are the Tamakis, as in Brian and Hannah.
Now like many people I’m no fan of Destiny Church, but that’s partly why they’ve been kicked here isn’t it? They’re easy targets. This government appears to have abandoned the kindness message with such eagerness that it’s now taking pot shots wherever it can. Let’s be frank, hitting out at the Tamaki’s is...

It may take years for the police to fix its culture.
The spotlight's been turned on the force by the release of an Independent Police Conduct Authority report, which labels the culture as dismal.
It's found 26 percent of staff experience an isolated incident of abuse and nine percent suffer sustained bullying
HR expert Samantha Gadd told Kate Hawkesby a change could take longer than people expect.
"It could take two to thre...

A review of drug buying agency Pharmac is being described as long overdue.
The investigation will look into the speed and transparency of the organisation's decision making.
Breast Cancer Foundation Chief Executive Evangelia Henderson told Kate Hawkesby New Zealand has fallen behind as a result of slow action.
She says we now rank 19th out of 20 countries to be receiving new medicines.
"The review just doesn't cut it. To ma...

Some new insights into food trends have emerged, with Otago University teaming up with Foodstuffs to investigate how Kiwi consumers feel about upcycled food products.
These are products that are made from ingredients that would otherwise have gone to waste.
Examples include grain being turned into muesli bars, or unsold bread being turned into beer.
One New Zealand company leading this trend is Citizen Collective.
Donald Shepherd is th...

I note another day of zero new cases yesterday - could that mean Auckland comes out of lockdown early?
I wouldn't bet the house on it but the cost of being in lockdown is extremely high.
Estimates say it'll cost about $250 million. I think that might be on the high side, I’m still seeing a lot of activity out there. Construction, many greengrocers and butchers and cafes who can do contactless takeaways are open.
But even if th...

Farmers could soon get cheaper bank loans if they meet environmental targets.
BNZ's running a pilot partnership with Southern Pastures, to give the dairy investor discounts if it hits water quality targets and reduces carbon emissions.
The three year $50 million loan is the first farm sustainably-linked loan to be done in New Zealand.
Federated Farmers national board member, Chris Allen, told Kate Hawkesby one size fits all doesn&...

Whether or not Auckland is dealing with a bigger Covid-19 cluster will not be known until the next day or two, when a group of gymgoers are tested for the virus for the first time tomorrow.
People who were at City Fitness Papatoetoe at the same time as a young man, who later tested positive for Covid, are considered to be casual plus contacts.
The last time the 21-year-old was at the gym, inside Hunters Plaza, was on Friday (February...

There're lots of people I feel bad for during a lockdown, business owners, vulnerable people, women in domestic violence situations, elderly, those who’re anxious. And even parents who’re faced with home schooling or supervising online learning.
Yes teachers can set up virtual tasks, but the work has to be overseen by parents, stressed children out of their classroom environment have to be managed by parents, and for parents of ...

Here we go again. Groundhog Day.
I saw the headline that the PM was “frustrated”. Really? She's frustrated? How do you think the “team of 5 million” feel?
Because actually, despite her insistence on continuing to use this line, there is no team of 5 million. There’s a good chunk of New Zealanders taking Covid seriously, scanning, using the app, isolating when they’re supposed to, but there’s also sadly a selfish group of people -...

ACT leader David Seymour's accusing the Government of creating 'the cult of Ashley', when its former Health Minister was off mountain biking.
He says the Government is totally beholden to the Ministry of Health.
Seymour believes the Government should be taking Covid-19 advice from a public and private sector epidemic response unit - like Taiwan's.
He told Kate Hawkesby if it was, saliva testing would have been widely r...

Wellington has replaced Bay Oval as the venue for the final Black Caps v Australia and White Ferns England T20 double-header on Sunday.
New Zealand Cricket has been forced to make the change because of logistical complications arising from the transfer of this Friday's second double-header from Auckland to Wellington.
The current alert level 2 protocols in Wellington mean all three double-headers – on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday...