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How much taxpayer funding will politicians spend this year on election advertising? It will be many, many millions of dollars, but we won’t know much about it, because the rules have been written to help MPs electioneer with parliamentary funding, without transparency. You would have already seen plenty of billboards and election ads for the various parties. National MPs have recently been carrying out a blitz of billboards and online ads, but…

On December 16, the Salvation Army and Community Housing Aotearoa released survey results indicating that in Auckland, the number of people living without shelter rose from 426 in September 2024 to 940 in September 2025. The figures relate to people sleeping rough or without any form of accommodation. · Government housing support fell over the same period, with funding reduced from $655 million last year to $577 million in the year to June…

A cyberattack on the ManageMyHealth patient portal may have exposed sensitive personal health information of about 126,000 New Zealanders. Health Minister Simeon Brown said affected patients should be notified as quickly as possible, as authorities work with the privately operated platform to assess the damage and contain further risk. · The breach occurred on December 29, when attackers calling themselves “Kazu” gained unauthorised access to…

Hit the heart. · SHARE this. · This is a follow-up to this morning’s confession. · Thank you for the prayers. · Thank you for the messages. · The comments. · The DMs. · The emails. · The last year was brutal in ways I won’t even try to dress up. · And this new year has already brought fresh pressure. · There have been nights lately where it’s all I can do just to type. · Not because I’m “busy.” · Because I’m tired. · Because I’m carrying more…

A large portion of our personal and the nation’s healthcare expenditures occurs during hospitalization. For our senior citizens, each hospitalization generally means a decrement in health status without a return to baseline. So it should be a goal for all of our seniors to avoid the hospital altogether in 2026. AlterAI assisted with this review. By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH · Practical Strategies for Seniors to Avoid Hospitalization in 2026…

Today, the CDC formally adopted a revised childhood and adolescent immunization schedule, following a Presidential Memorandum directing alignment with international best practices. by Nicolas Hulscher, MPH · This marks the largest rollback of routine childhood vaccination in U.S. history. · After reviewing peer-country schedules and the scientific evidence underlying them, federal health leadership acknowledged that we are…

If you’re a gardener – and definitely if you’re a farmer – you want to spend less on fertilizer but while growing more food. Well, it’s time to send your thank-you basket of fruits and vegetables to researchers at the National University of Singapore, because they’ve created a magic wand for doing just that. Well, actually, a magic needle. In their Advanced Functional Materials paper “Microneedle-Based Biofertilizer Delivery Improves Plant…

Senescence. It’s a beautiful-sounding word whose tones suggest it should be a perfume or an essential oil. But that’s not even close. Senescence is the loss of a cell’s power to divide and grow, thus causing deterioration. It’s aging, completely unavoidable, and a 100% guaranteed pathway to death. But if researchers at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) are correct, there’s a powerful new way to slow or even halt that…

New Zealand First is in the ascendancy, and there are signs that 2026 could turn out to be the party’s best in its three decades of existence. Could it even lead to Winston Peters winning his ultimate prize role: Prime Minister? Political commentator Matthew Hooton is very well connected to insiders in the New Zealand First party, and as a result, produced an insightful column on Friday for the Herald about the party’s internal thinking and…

Jacinda: The Untold Stories has now spent four consecutive weeks on the official nonfiction bestseller list. More than 250 retailers nationwide are stocking the book, with multiple reorders and strong sell-through. Alongside that success, some customers report cancelled orders, reduced stock, or difficulty accessing copies. · Centrist says the issue raises broader questions about cultural gatekeeping beyond media and academia. · One of the…