Minister pulls brakes on cycling and walking initatives
In a letter to local authorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown said he told Waka Kotahi to halt work on cycling and walking initiatives.
Early Christmas present from my brother. Autographed, too! Really looking forward to reading them.
It’s a gloomy, misty morning. Can’t even see across the other side of the valley.
Is it just me, or has Firefish.social really not updated my home timeline for a day?
I have news. Generally ’bad’, but nothing is ever entirely hopeless., especially when you have no fear and are surrounded by love.
Well, we finally had that difficult conversation with the haematologist that went along the lines of, “I’m sorry, Iain, but we have run out of treatment options for you and the other drugs we have available in New Zealand aren’t going to stop your myeloma from developing any further. We haven’t been able to access any others through a clinical trial or compassionate access. Your bone marrow is chocker with abnormal plasma cells and you have a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, left to live. I’m very, very sorry about that.”
I have one request; please don’t feel sorry for me. I don’t.
Read the full blog…
https://iainmaclean.blog/48213/that-difficult-conversation-with-my-doctor #Myeloma 
That difficult conversation with my doctor | As I said the other day...
That difficult conversation with my doctor | As I said the other day...
Keep Fair Pay Coming
Fair Pay Agreements are already significantly progressed for more than 200,000 people working as Bus Drivers, Cleaners, Security Guards, Supermarket workers, in Early Childhood Education, in Hospitality and Port workers.
These workers are in low paying jobs, despite providing essential support to our communities.
We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. Increasing pay is the best way to support people right now. There has never been a more important time for working people to be paid fairly.
Christopher Luxon and the National Party want to get rid of FPAS.
Sign this petition to call on the new government to keep Fair Pay Agreements for New Zealand workers.
Sign here: http://www.together.org.nz/keep_fair_pay_coming?recruiter_id=200099 #NZPol 
Keep Fair Pay Coming
We need to fight to keep FPAs, will you join us?
This is a big loss. Collin Tukuitonga is widely respected and his advice has been invaluable. Let's hope it's not the start of a large-scale loss of Pacific and Māori voices and influence in health.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/504474/sir-collin-tukuitonga-resigns-from-nz-government-roles-citing-no-confidence #nzpol #health 
Sir Collin Tukuitonga resigns from NZ government roles, citing 'no confidence'
One of New Zealand's most prominent Pacific health leaders says he has "no confidence" in the government after stepping down from almost every advisory role.
Bringing back prescription co-pay charges is a terrible idea. There is clear evidence from long-term research in Dunedin/Otago University that it results in poor people not getting all the medicine they need, resulting in more and longer hospitalisations for them. It might seem counterintuitive, but prescription charges (even as low as $5/item) cost the taxpayer more in the long run (it’s much more expensive to treat someone in hospital than in the community) and create more and avoidable suffering for sick people. This is not the ‘evidence based’ decision making listed as one of the principles in the coalition agreement. A victory of ideology over commonsense and analysis.
https://tkr.ro/e/EPXNFWli0jzHJiVg #NZPol Prescription fees will return, all health programmes under review - PM
Prescription fees will return, all health programmes under review - PMPrime Minister Christopher Luxon has restated a pre-election promise of reinstating $5 prescription fees.He said it would be one of the health programmes cut, as he expected Health Minister Dr Shane Reti to be reviewing each health programme, including the Covid-19 vaccination campaign. Funded in Budget 2023, the Government expected to pay $618.6 million over the next four years to pick up the bill for prescriptions. Luxon said that money would be better spent on funding new cancer treatments."There are already today and there have been for a number of years ways to avoid the $5," Luxon said, while speaking on TVNZ's Breakfast.He said Reti would be looking for savings across the health portfolio, including in relation to Covid-19 and the funding of Māori and Pasifika scholarships to train more doctors."Every programme is going to be reviewed," he said."Every Government policy, every Government programme, the dumb stuff has to be stopped."He said it was up to Reti to work out if scholarships, or the Covid vaccination programme, or funding for antivirals, were programmes that worked or not.Budget 2023 found an extra $300 million to continue the Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
I just signed the petition "Keep public transport affordable, for climate and community" and wanted to ask if my kind friends could add their name too.
I’ve been a keen public transport user for many years, and the more support we can get behind it, the better chance we have of succeeding. It’s a good thing for so many reasons. To me, it’s a total win-win: good for the health of people in cities (cleaner air), and good for young people, old people and those who can’t afford to buy or run a car. And I’ve been very lucky that it’s always been the most convenient and hassle-free way to get to work.
So many people benefit from the existing discounts and it would be wonderful if they were permanent. The National Party campaigned to get rid of the discounts. This is another of their bad ideas that will disadvantage everyone, which we need to convince them to drop.
You can read more and sign the petition here:
https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/keep-public-transport-affordable-for-climate-and-community #ClimateChange,#PubicTransport 
Keep public transport affordable, for climate and community
Aotearoa New Zealand should be a place where everyone can afford public transport to stay connected, enjoy our regions, and travel in a way that’s kind to the environment. Everyone deserves to have access to their places of work, study, and community, and this is especially important for young people and for our most vulnerable communities. The public transport discounts introduced in 2023 are a crucial step towards enabling this access, whilst also reducing transport emissions in support of...
Had another COVID booster yesterday, number 5, I believe, courtesy of being officially vulnerable. The reality is I don’t have much longer left to live as my myeloma is now uncontrollable and untreatable with any of the drugs available in New Zealand. So, it probably won’t do much good as I’m unlikely to have a strong immune response. But, conversely, it’s unlikely to do me any harm.
COVID is increasing here - by small amounts - but even those are dangerous. We had 34 people across our three hospitals in Wellington yesterday with it (fortunately no one in ICU), but it’s getting worse. That’s about half what we had during last summer’s wave, so it’s not inconsequential.
Please take care and take precautions. I got my vax because I want as big or small a fighting chance as I can get. You can help give people like me, and anyone you meet, healthy or otherwise, that by not passing it on. Get vaxed and wear a mask, please.
Thank you for your kindness and thinking of other people in these times. #COVID19 