Students won’t eat them; Teachers are sick of the extra cost, time, delays, no-shows, substitutes & general shittiness; Contract released showing Compass must fix issues by Term 2 or lose contract
Sigh... I'd almost say this could be a tactic by Luxon and National, let ACT and NZ First immolate themselves and come election time just point the finger and say it was all their fault, if "we were in charge, by ourselves, none of these monkeyshines would have happened"... sadly I don't think Luxon & Co have the imagination for that. I just think like the school lunches, they are shitty.
I received an email from my piped gas provider yesterday that my daily charge and variable charge will be increasing by around 20 percent. This will equate to about an extra $30 a month, for the same service. I am now prioritising getting rid of my gas appliances in my home.
Was that LPG terminal (even just the signalling of it) supposed to help keep gas prices down? Why won't the government focus on a no-brainier of subsidising solar installs?
For me eliminating the gas connection was one of the first things after buying a house (that was 15 years ago). How much is gas standing charge per day? It was $1.70 + GST last time I looked. That's over $700 a year for a starter without using any gas, so the gas appliances would have to be a lot better than electric ones to make up for that amount.
Cooking with an induction hob is easier, cleaner, faster and healthier.
Electric hot water cylinders are getting more efficient and optionally there're heat pumps to heat the hot water cylinder (very efficient, they are not cheap though, so depends on the use case).
Wise idea to swap out gas straight away. It was top priority for us too when we bought a couple years back, but other costs got in the way with a young family.
Our daily charge was around that - $1.67. It's now gone up to $2.11. I couldn't believe it when I saw the email. I knew gas prices were expected to rise, but wow...
nope, piped gas in NZ has been cheap relative to the costs involved in importing LNG. With lower volumes piped due to industrial users shutting and leaving. Eg methanex has recently purchased some shuttered plants in USA close to LNG supply https://www.methanex.com/acquisition (probably using the extra cash they got from selling their gas to power companies last winter), piped users are on the hook for the fixed infrastructure costs. installing an import LNG terminal in the north will also be expensive as the size of the pipe is too small to get it off the ship fast enough... something like 200 days unless they spend on bigger onshore storage, and supplement with road tankers as there are no suitable reinjection points within 100km of Marsden. Our dry-year issues will keep getting worse if we can't further decouple supply from demand with other storage. Increasing water storage through the system might be an option, not to the extent of pumped solar, but is there any appetite to expand storage along the waikato or south island hydro scheme? Solar and wind need additional system support to even out the peaks and troughs, so more batteries or regional peaker generation.
After Luzon’s train crash with Mike Hoskins I think soccer and netball mums should be asking Seymour/Stanford: “Yes or no, would you eat this shit everyday?”
Suspect one would adopt an imbecilic grin and say yes, while the other would look shifty.
Perhaps someone could arrange for the school lunches to also go to parliament; and NACTNZ1 members must all eat the school lunches provided and ONLY the school lunch provided.
Awesome, I hope Luxon has a word with our new Vietnam partners about how they deal with central bankers who get caught assisting foreign privately investment banks to defraud the nation.
Well said Bernard, the $3 has to have a profit margin so they are not a $3 value anyway! Add to that transportation costs .. and the work the staff are having to do, is not factored in.
I think much more publicity needs to be given to the cost-shifting and administrative overhead burden now placed on budgets that are meant for delivering education at the schools (teaching staff and senior staff). This is incredibly inefficient and masks the true costs of a lunch programme. The ACT-led government's touted savings are probably zero once you factor in this other stuff on top of the degraded product and delivery shambles.
Thank you Bernard for this articulate (and I particularly like the word shitty) description of what is happening with school lunches in NZ. It really makes me sad that this issue is now something that schools have to add to their mental and physical load - which is already at capacity. We want all our kids to be at school, to be learning, to be connecting and to be dreaming of what they want from their one wild and precious life You can't do this hungry. Children are the taonga of our country. Be better David Seymour.
I had another stupid Seymour-sponsored experience this week as a child was sick (usual mild flu) for 3 days - get a doctors letter. How does adding burden to the GP system help anything?
I used to send emails to the school notifying of sickness. Never went to the GP for every sniffle. Just stay home if you don't feel well.
I also told the kids they are entitled to a mental health day off school if they choose to take one. I know Seymour thinks that our next space scientist will not grow if they aren't at school every day, but he is not a parent, and as a parent I can say it makes about zero of a difference.
This failed policy is a great example of why most economists, the access media & the liberal political class continues to fail to read the public mood. They're obsessed with interest rates, farm gate prices, profits, financial news, inflation as it pertains to mortgages and politics as theatre. When support for politicians and the current status quo falls they blame social media "vibes", yet economists never address wealth inequality and the out of touch liberal MSM and political class never address issues like pissed off parents seeing the government providing crap meals. The big problem of course is failure to deliver on programs like this or on lowering the cost of living means the public lose trust in our current government structures, and start looking around for alternatives on the fringes of politics...
Great article! What we have got from Seymour’s school lunch debacle is exactly what we will get from all of his other policies : white wash, scaremongering , false promises and a whole lot of shit that will need fixing by someone else …. The taxpayer.
Missing from that list (the United States, Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Burkina Faso and about a dozen other assorted dictators and autocrats) is mention of Israel, which even over Ukraine has capitulated to Donald Trump in its eager hope that he will facilitate the expulsion of all Palestinians from the territories that Israel seeks to own:
It is so frustrating that everyone in charge of the school lunch programme says shit like "I would love to have butter chicken for lunch every day for 3 weeks" or "6 pale soggy tater tots and 4 meatballs would be a great lunch for me". Bullshit.
The old programme was working so well and provided sufficient, palatable food that was inclusive of most dietary requirements and matched up with what kids learn is appropriate food (like from Harold the Life Education Giraffe).
I'm so upset by all the plastic packaging, especially the plastic bags for 18g of snacks they get when they aren't given those baby squeezy pouches of lime yoghurt. The vegetarian meals now come in plastic packaging that melts during heating/transport which is probably not ideal for the health of the kids eating the food within. I guess it doesn't matter though, who cares about poor kids, right?
I genuinely believe that as adults, we forget what it was like to be a child. Sure we remember our childhoods, but we forget that Childs perspective, this makes us less empathetic to children & what they are going through.
Agree - we are forgetting the profit margin -making the meals even more cheap and nasty. Thinking that since the 'problems' started on Day One and seem to be all pervasive and - with the exception (knock wood) of outbreaks of salmonella or norovirus - everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong, ten weeks and 20 days seems like an overly long grace period.
I mean, of course lunches are shit if you put a conservative in charge. In Seymour’s eyes that’s pretty much the point. Anything freely given should be shit, to remind you to feel shamed at receiving a “hand out”. This is just a more acute example of the moralising impulse that permeates our state social support systems.
Conservatives believe that all recipients of charity and giving should be stigmatised. You should be punished, shamed, because they think punishment encourages change. It doesn’t work. But that doesn’t matter to them: the cruelty is the point. The cruelty IS THE POINT.
Agree 'The cruelty IS THE POINT. Shame you if you are hungry but still want choice. All MP's should be forced to eat school lunches every Monday parliament is in session. No excuses.
Pretty sure the phrase “National-Led Government” does not apply - “ACT-led Government” would be much closer to the truth.
Sigh... I'd almost say this could be a tactic by Luxon and National, let ACT and NZ First immolate themselves and come election time just point the finger and say it was all their fault, if "we were in charge, by ourselves, none of these monkeyshines would have happened"... sadly I don't think Luxon & Co have the imagination for that. I just think like the school lunches, they are shitty.
I received an email from my piped gas provider yesterday that my daily charge and variable charge will be increasing by around 20 percent. This will equate to about an extra $30 a month, for the same service. I am now prioritising getting rid of my gas appliances in my home.
Was that LPG terminal (even just the signalling of it) supposed to help keep gas prices down? Why won't the government focus on a no-brainier of subsidising solar installs?
Rory: agree about the solar installs.
For me eliminating the gas connection was one of the first things after buying a house (that was 15 years ago). How much is gas standing charge per day? It was $1.70 + GST last time I looked. That's over $700 a year for a starter without using any gas, so the gas appliances would have to be a lot better than electric ones to make up for that amount.
Cooking with an induction hob is easier, cleaner, faster and healthier.
Electric hot water cylinders are getting more efficient and optionally there're heat pumps to heat the hot water cylinder (very efficient, they are not cheap though, so depends on the use case).
Wise idea to swap out gas straight away. It was top priority for us too when we bought a couple years back, but other costs got in the way with a young family.
Our daily charge was around that - $1.67. It's now gone up to $2.11. I couldn't believe it when I saw the email. I knew gas prices were expected to rise, but wow...
nope, piped gas in NZ has been cheap relative to the costs involved in importing LNG. With lower volumes piped due to industrial users shutting and leaving. Eg methanex has recently purchased some shuttered plants in USA close to LNG supply https://www.methanex.com/acquisition (probably using the extra cash they got from selling their gas to power companies last winter), piped users are on the hook for the fixed infrastructure costs. installing an import LNG terminal in the north will also be expensive as the size of the pipe is too small to get it off the ship fast enough... something like 200 days unless they spend on bigger onshore storage, and supplement with road tankers as there are no suitable reinjection points within 100km of Marsden. Our dry-year issues will keep getting worse if we can't further decouple supply from demand with other storage. Increasing water storage through the system might be an option, not to the extent of pumped solar, but is there any appetite to expand storage along the waikato or south island hydro scheme? Solar and wind need additional system support to even out the peaks and troughs, so more batteries or regional peaker generation.
After Luzon’s train crash with Mike Hoskins I think soccer and netball mums should be asking Seymour/Stanford: “Yes or no, would you eat this shit everyday?”
Suspect one would adopt an imbecilic grin and say yes, while the other would look shifty.
Perhaps someone could arrange for the school lunches to also go to parliament; and NACTNZ1 members must all eat the school lunches provided and ONLY the school lunch provided.
It’s his government but he eats shit every day (and tells everyone how good it tastes)
Awesome, I hope Luxon has a word with our new Vietnam partners about how they deal with central bankers who get caught assisting foreign privately investment banks to defraud the nation.
Well said Bernard, the $3 has to have a profit margin so they are not a $3 value anyway! Add to that transportation costs .. and the work the staff are having to do, is not factored in.
I am glad to see the nutritionists onto it.
I think much more publicity needs to be given to the cost-shifting and administrative overhead burden now placed on budgets that are meant for delivering education at the schools (teaching staff and senior staff). This is incredibly inefficient and masks the true costs of a lunch programme. The ACT-led government's touted savings are probably zero once you factor in this other stuff on top of the degraded product and delivery shambles.
Craig: you are likely near the mark, also when you consider the employment of the local people involved.
Are they now on the dole?
All part of the plan. Next they will cancel the whole programme saying it wasn’t popular.
Thank you Bernard for this articulate (and I particularly like the word shitty) description of what is happening with school lunches in NZ. It really makes me sad that this issue is now something that schools have to add to their mental and physical load - which is already at capacity. We want all our kids to be at school, to be learning, to be connecting and to be dreaming of what they want from their one wild and precious life You can't do this hungry. Children are the taonga of our country. Be better David Seymour.
Thanks Emma.
I had another stupid Seymour-sponsored experience this week as a child was sick (usual mild flu) for 3 days - get a doctors letter. How does adding burden to the GP system help anything?
Just curious what is the consequence of saying actually nah I'm not going to clog up the GP for a pointless medical certificate?
There are no consequences. Parents can totally say no to silly stuff like impractical uniform rules and pointless medical certificates.
I used to send emails to the school notifying of sickness. Never went to the GP for every sniffle. Just stay home if you don't feel well.
I also told the kids they are entitled to a mental health day off school if they choose to take one. I know Seymour thinks that our next space scientist will not grow if they aren't at school every day, but he is not a parent, and as a parent I can say it makes about zero of a difference.
Yeah agree. Just wondering if there was fines being dished out. Despite Seymour's proselytisation he's not big on common sense.
Fine? I would just ignore it (*). Let him take parents to court. That will be wonderful headlines.
* I know not all parents are as assertive as I am or confident to stand up to positions of power. Something we as a society need to work on.
Never mind your time and costs of going to see a GP, even if you can get an appointment!
Our GP takes almost a week to get an appointment. Pointless even trying.
That article by Natalia Albert which is highlighted is remarkable in its clarity and analysis.
This failed policy is a great example of why most economists, the access media & the liberal political class continues to fail to read the public mood. They're obsessed with interest rates, farm gate prices, profits, financial news, inflation as it pertains to mortgages and politics as theatre. When support for politicians and the current status quo falls they blame social media "vibes", yet economists never address wealth inequality and the out of touch liberal MSM and political class never address issues like pissed off parents seeing the government providing crap meals. The big problem of course is failure to deliver on programs like this or on lowering the cost of living means the public lose trust in our current government structures, and start looking around for alternatives on the fringes of politics...
Great article! What we have got from Seymour’s school lunch debacle is exactly what we will get from all of his other policies : white wash, scaremongering , false promises and a whole lot of shit that will need fixing by someone else …. The taxpayer.
A
C ertain
T hird world
NZ
Isn't Compass the same company that supplies Hospital meals? Is this making NZ sicker?
With reference to Philip Stevens’ post ‘Trump’s America has made its choice’, it’s worth reading what Nathan Gardel has to say in Noema Magazine.
https://www.noemamag.com/looking-ahead-to-the-19th-century
Missing from that list (the United States, Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Burkina Faso and about a dozen other assorted dictators and autocrats) is mention of Israel, which even over Ukraine has capitulated to Donald Trump in its eager hope that he will facilitate the expulsion of all Palestinians from the territories that Israel seeks to own:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-shift-israel-votes-against-un-motion-reaffirming-ukraines-territorial-integrity/
Oops.
https://www.politico.eu/article/president-aleksandar-vucic-serbia-vote-in-favor-un-resolution-ukraine-mistake/
It is so frustrating that everyone in charge of the school lunch programme says shit like "I would love to have butter chicken for lunch every day for 3 weeks" or "6 pale soggy tater tots and 4 meatballs would be a great lunch for me". Bullshit.
The old programme was working so well and provided sufficient, palatable food that was inclusive of most dietary requirements and matched up with what kids learn is appropriate food (like from Harold the Life Education Giraffe).
I'm so upset by all the plastic packaging, especially the plastic bags for 18g of snacks they get when they aren't given those baby squeezy pouches of lime yoghurt. The vegetarian meals now come in plastic packaging that melts during heating/transport which is probably not ideal for the health of the kids eating the food within. I guess it doesn't matter though, who cares about poor kids, right?
I'm young enough to remember Harold the Giraffe.
I genuinely believe that as adults, we forget what it was like to be a child. Sure we remember our childhoods, but we forget that Childs perspective, this makes us less empathetic to children & what they are going through.
I remember licking the cream off the little tin cap on my bottle of milk 😋
Agree - we are forgetting the profit margin -making the meals even more cheap and nasty. Thinking that since the 'problems' started on Day One and seem to be all pervasive and - with the exception (knock wood) of outbreaks of salmonella or norovirus - everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong, ten weeks and 20 days seems like an overly long grace period.
Who gets to decide if they're all fixed?
I mean, of course lunches are shit if you put a conservative in charge. In Seymour’s eyes that’s pretty much the point. Anything freely given should be shit, to remind you to feel shamed at receiving a “hand out”. This is just a more acute example of the moralising impulse that permeates our state social support systems.
Conservatives believe that all recipients of charity and giving should be stigmatised. You should be punished, shamed, because they think punishment encourages change. It doesn’t work. But that doesn’t matter to them: the cruelty is the point. The cruelty IS THE POINT.
Agree 'The cruelty IS THE POINT. Shame you if you are hungry but still want choice. All MP's should be forced to eat school lunches every Monday parliament is in session. No excuses.
Tautoko this!