Category Archives: New Zealand

When a guest who was scheduled to read to second-year students over Zoom earlier this month didn't show up, the assistant principal at a Mississippi elementary school, improvised.

Toby Price's boss at Gary Road Elementary School suggested Price read to the students, so he reached for one of his favorite children's books: I Need a New Butt! written by New Zealander Dawn McMillan and illustrated by Ross Kinnaird. (In New Zealand, the book is titled I Need a New Bum!) McMillan is a prolific author of childrens books. Stuff has approached her for comment.

"It's a funny, silly book," Price, 46, said in an interview with The Washington Post. "I'm a firm believer that... if kids see that books can be funny and silly, they'll hang around long enough to see all the other cool things that books can be."

The students "thought it was hilarious," Price recalled. But the superintendent for the Hinds County School District near Jackson, Mississippi, did not, and about an hour after the event, Price was placed on administrative leave. Two days later, on March 4, he was fired.

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The superintendent, Delesicia Martin, who did not respond to The Post's request for comment, wrote in Price's termination letter that he "showed a lack of professionalism and impaired judgment" because "the topics described in this book were inappropriate.

Now, Price is fighting to overturn the district's decision. His efforts have garnered overwhelming support, he said, with parents, current and former students, and strangers speaking out and donating to a GoFundMe so he can pay for a lawyer and continue to support his family.

Price's firing is the latest flashpoint over books in schools, though most of the conflicts have been over those that reference race and sexual orientation. In November, the American Library Association called the rate at which books are being challenged unprecedented. In several states where new laws are dictating how teachers discuss race in schools, many educators are scared they could lose their jobs over one misstep.

Price said he fears his situation could set a "scary precedent" for teachers in his district. He worries educators will wonder if they have to get approval for every book they read to their students.

TOBY PRICE

Toby Price with his wife, Leah.

"Teachers already have so much else to worry about when they come into a building: One, getting fired over test scores; two, is someone going to come in and shoot up the building? Or am I going to catch Covid?" Price said.

The events leading to Price's firing began March 2, when he organised a Zoom event for second-year students at the Byram, Mississippi, elementary school. The gathering was to celebrate Read Across America Day, which is Dr Seuss's birthday and a day dedicated to encouraging children to read. The plan was to have a special guest read a book to them.

When the guest did not arrive, Price's boss asked him to read to the students. Price said the students loved the book, which is about a boy who thinks he needs a new butt after noticing his has a large crack.

Ricky Wilson/Stuff

Author Dawn McMillan, left, and Pat Brown in 2019 at the launch of Home Child about Brown's experience as a child migrant who set sail from England in the 1950s with her siblings.

Fifteen minutes after the event, Price said the principal at his school called him into her office. According to Price, she told him that he shouldn't have chosen that book and that parents might complain. Soon after the meeting, he said he was told the superintendent wanted to see him at the district office immediately.

"They kind of just let me have it," Price said. "She said, 'Is this the kind of thing you find funny and silly? Fart and butt and bulletproof butts?' And I said, 'Yeah, I did until I walked in.'"

On March 4, Price was called back to the district office and fired, he said.

Price said he was blindsided by the sudden decision, noting that he has never had any disciplinary issues. Not only does he love working with children, but he also has a family to support, he said. Two of his three children are autistic.

Since the firing, Price said he has not been allowed back into his office to collect his personal items. And though he wants the district's decision overturned, he's unsure about returning to the job, since he fears he'll be scrutinised by senior administrators. He is more concerned with ridding the termination from his record.

SUPPLIED/TVNZ

Jeremy Wells reads I Need a New Bum! by Kiwi author Dawn McMillan for Goodnight Kiwi.

Price said he hasn't heard of any complaints about the book from parents and noted that members of the parent-teacher organization wrote to him offering their support. Former students have also spoken out, including one who wrote a thread on Twitter about how "amazing" Price was at his job.

"[T]he man absolutely loved reading and actively encouraged it," the former student wrote. "Even lending books from his own office for kids to read."

Tom Angleberger, the children's author best known for the Origami Yoda and Rocket and Groot series, told The Post that he has known Price for years. Angleberger said he admires that Price "never gives up" and dedicated a book to him and his family in recognition of his perseverance.

"Mr Price is dedicated to making connections with kids, to making sure they have a caring adult in their lives and to proving to them that learning and reading don't have to be boring," Angleberger said.

Price said he doesn't regret his decision to read I Need a New Butt!.

"Kids need silly books," Price said. "The world is too harsh a place."

As of early Friday, the book was No 6 on Amazon's children's book bestsellers list.

The Washington Post's Michael Cavna contributed to this report.

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An assistant principal in the US read a New Zealand children's book to young students - he was fired - Stuff

Sunday, 13 March 2022, 6:42 pmPress Release: Gisborne District Council

Valid from Tuesday 15 Mar 2022 to Friday 18 Mar2022

A subtropical low to the northeast of theNorth Island moves slowly away to the east late Tuesday andduring Wednesday. This low is expected to direct a moistsouth to southeast flow over central and northern parts ofNew Zealand and bring periods of rain to eastern districtsof the North Island.

From Tuesday to early Thursday,there is low confidence of rainfall amounts reaching warningcriteria in Gisborne south of Tokomaru Bay and Hawke's Baynorth of Napier, but especially about the WairoaDistrict.

A front moves over southern and easternparts of the South Island on Tuesday and Wednesday thenweakens. A ridge then spreads over much of southern andcentral New Zealand from late Wednesday through into Friday,directing and easterly flow over northern NewZealand.

Lowconfidence: a 20% likelihood (or 1 chance in 5)that the event will actuallyhappen.Moderate confidence: a40% likelihood (or 2 chances in 5) that the event willactually happen.High confidence:a 60% likelihood (or 3 chances in 5) that the event willactuallyhappen

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Severe Weather Outlook For New Zealand - Scoop

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Minister of immigration Kris Faafoi said the re-opening of working holiday visas would benefit tourism and business in New Zealand.

The return of more skilled workers coming into New Zealand from Monday will accelerate New Zealand's economic recovery, the Immigration Minister says.

From 11.59pm on Sunday, applications for some working holiday schemes open for the first time since the pandemic began.

Working holiday visas allow people, usually aged 18 to 30, to travel and work in New Zealand for up to 12 months, or 23 months if they are from the UK or Canada.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said it would help fill workforce shortages and support tourism.

STUFF

The New Zealand hospitality industry is battling a labour shortage which has been exacerbated by the border closure and the departure of many migrant workers. (Video first published in July 2021)

READ MORE:* Working holiday and seasonal work visas extended for another six months* Worker visa extensions 'not a moment too soon', says Business NZ* Skifield echoes call for Immigration NZ to let skilled workers through

Before Covid-19 we welcomed around 50,000 working holidaymakers to New Zealand each year, so its a key milestone in our economic recovery that were opening our doors to this group of tourists and workers again, he said.

From Monday, the critical worker border exception for roles lasting longer than six months will also be widened, reducing the salary criteria to 1.5 times the median wage and removing the requirement to have skills not readily obtainable in New Zealand, he said.

The expanded settings are expected to benefit a variety of sectors seeking to attract skilled workers, including early to mid-career professionals for roles in the tech sector, business and accounting services, education, construction and the primary industries.

Getting more working holidaymakers and skilled migrants into the country in the coming weeks and months is a priority for the Government in order to accelerate our recovery, which is why we have reopened this category early in our reconnection plan.

The Government had granted a new 12-month visa to about 19,500 people offshore who previously held a working holiday visa but were unable to use it because of our border restrictions.

They will need to use this new visa within the next six months, Faafoi said.

The return of working holidaymakers would also provide a much-needed boost for the tourism sector ahead of the reopening of the borders more generally to tourists.

Working holidaymakers tend to travel to multiple regions during their time in New Zealand, which is beneficial for the tourism sector and local economies right across the country," he said.

The Working Holiday Schemes will reopen in stages, with all uncapped schemes, which account for around three quarters of all working holidaymakers, opening for applications at 10am on Monday, March 14. Capped schemes are being staggered after that. All schemes will be reopened by September 13.

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New Zealand 'opens its doors' to working holiday visa applicants for the first time since the pandemic began - Stuff

Business

12 Mar, 2022 11:00 PM3 minutes to read

NZ Government bond yields are at multi-year highs. Photo / File

New Zealand Government bond yields have pushed through to multi-year highs as inflation pressures continue to mount at home and abroad.

The 10-year bond hit 3 per cent on Friday for the first time since June 2018, while five-year bonds traded at 2.865 per cent - their highest point since June 2016.

At the short end, two-year bonds were at 2.605 per cent - a level not seen since December 2015.

Bond yields here and around the world have been on a march higher, with the war in Ukraine seen as adding substantially more fuel to an already heady inflationary mix.

US inflation hit 7.9 per cent in February - its highest point in 40 years - and US Treasury yields spiked higher to nearly 2 per cent.

Data out on Friday showed New Zealand food prices rose 6.8 per cent in February - the largest annual increase since July 2011.

In the bond market, yields rise when prices fall.

Adding to last week's bearish theme was the European Central Bank, which said it would stop pumping money into financial markets, thereby leaving the message that soaring inflation outweighed concerns about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Harbour Asset Management fixed income and currency strategist Hamish Pepper said higher fuel prices arising from the Russian invasion had served to push already firming bond yields higher still.

"There is a supply shock and it has come at a time when inflation was already very high, and expectations of inflation were above central bank forecasts," Pepper said.

Markets were pricing in a higher inflation component into bond yields.

Pepper said there was also a growing realisation that central banks cannot "look through" the energy supply shock in ways that they have been able to in the past.

"People are assuming that central banks are going to have to work harder to eventually bring inflation lower," he said.

Pepper said New Zealand bonds were feeling the pressure more acutely than their foreign equivalents because of the capacity constraints they already faced before the conflict in Europe.

A day before Russia's invasion, the Reserve Bank raised its official cash rate (OCR) by 25 basis points to 1.0 per cent.

At the time, the bank surprised the market with a statement from its monetary policy committee to the effect that the decision was a close-run thing.

"When deciding whether to move the OCR up by 25 or 50 basis points, many members saw this as a finely balanced decision," the committee said.

"When considering the case for a 50 basis point increase, the committee noted the high starting point for inflation and the drift upwards in measures of inflation expectations," it said.

The upshot of that was the realisation that the Reserve Bank was a lot more hawkish on the inflation front than many had anticipated, even though it hiked by just 25 basis points.

To that end, ANZ economists are now forecasting back-to-back 50 basis point hikes for the official cash rate in April and May.

ANZ now sees the official cash rate reaching a peak of 3.5 per cent in April 2023 from a previous forecast of 3 per cent.

"ANZ has been getting the attention (with its forecast)," Pepper said.

"Whether you believe that or not, it speaks to the current market narrative."

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NZ 10-year bond hits 3 per cent as inflation fears mount - New Zealand Herald

Politics

12 Mar, 2022 04:00 PM3 minutes to read

Act leader David Seymour will declare nearly $1m in donations from wealthy New Zealanders. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Act will declare $850,000 of donations on Monday from some of the wealthiest New Zealanders, including a $100,000 donation from billionaire Graeme Hart, who tops the rich list.

Act leader David Seymour says the donations are part of a drive by the Act party which has raised almost $1 million. The remaining roughly $150,000 has come from smaller donations, which do not have to have their donors declared.

Alongside Hart, the big donors are Rod Drury, Craig Turner, Graham Edwards, Dame Jenny Gibbs, Murray Chandler, and John Harman, who donated $100,000 each.

Stephen Jennings, Grant Baker, and Mike Thorburn donated $50,000 each.

Seymour said the donations were from people who were not "particularly political", and he did not know conclusively whether any of the names on the list were Act party members.

He said the donors were "worried about two things: the state of democracy, the rushed legislation and the uncertainty it creates; and the policy direction which they see as being anti-aspirational and I think the reason they have connected that with Act is they want to see meaningful change in New Zealand".

Seymour said current polling showed that the Government could change at the next election, which made it increasingly likely Act would have a role in the next Government.

"I think the Government will change and recent polls have shown that's more and more likely - the question is change to what? That's where Act comes in," Seymour said.

Seymour said he'd been bringing the donations together for a couple of months.

"A lot of these people - and I've been talking to them a lot in the last month or two while we've been bringing this together - their view is usually a long-term view.

"They say, 'we're very concerned about the current Government, but we're also concerned about New Zealand's long-term direction, and after 90 years of Labour and National, maybe it's time to ask how do we make sure we get the values that make New Zealand a prosperous country cemented in a more serious way'," Seymour said.

Seymour has recently booked large donations from Troy Bowker and Mark Wyborn.

Political parties must declare the names of donors when they donate more than $15,000 to a party in a year. The donation must be declared within 10 working days if it is more than $30,000.

Under those rules, Act will need to declare the names of its 10 large donors on Monday.

Seymour said the large donations were not the end of the party's donations drive.

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Act party donations drive nets almost $1 million from rich listers - New Zealand Herald

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Erin Routliffe will be part of the New Zealand Billie Jean King team to play in Turkey next month.

New Zealands top doubles player Erin Routliffe is having a sensation last 12 months on the WTA Tour, with the 26-year-old Auckland born, Canadian raised player ranked 33rd in the world.

We asked her to take the hot seat for Back Chat while in Indian Wells and she was happy to oblige.

Why do you think the last year has been so great for you?

Ive been working hard for a couple of years now, so its just an accumulation of everything. Trying to focus on things I can control, work on my mental game. In tennis you lose a lot no matter who you are, so youve got to take the losses and figure out what happened and then move on.

It is frowned upon in singles to try to hit your opponent, but is it acceptable in doubles?

I think its OK. If you have the entire court open, then going at a person blatantly isnt super cool. But in doubles its different. Going at them hard is a good play and you win the point a lot. I dont think players get upset if they get hit in doubles. I dont, I just move on.

Have you ever got frustrated at your partner if they have a bad miss?

For sure, but I get a lot more frustrated with myself. Everyone Im playing with is out there trying 100 per cent. Its a business now, its a job. We all have bad days and I know I do, so I try to be as positive as I can to them. If someones giving 100 per cent, then I dont mind if they double fault every game 15 times!

You grew up in Canada, so are you a big ice hockey fan?

I used to go to Toronto Maple Leafs games with my dad when I was a kid. Now I dont watch it as much. Im not a diehard fan, but I keep up with it and Im a Maple Leafs fan.

Whats your top tip for avoiding jet lag?

Emily, my fitness trainer, told me that if you stay outside as much as you can when youre jet-lagged then that helps a lot. Ever since she told me that I do it all the time and its amazing. I try to go for walks and get as much sunlight as I can.

You went the college route before going on the Tour, did you think that was the best way to go for you?

I dont think I was ready for the Tour when I was 18. I wanted to go pro, but education was important to me and my parents. We didnt have the funds either for me to go pro. I also wanted to go to college, I thought it would be a good experience.

Whats Marina Erakovic like as the Billie Jean King Cup captain?

Shes great, I really like her. She has a ton of experience on the Tour and I like picking her brain about it and how she handled things. She deals with the team environment well and is easy to be around. Ive learned a lot from her and hope I can continue to, because she was an amazing player and is a great person.

If you could change one rule in tennis, what would it be?

I would say get rid of 10-point tiebreakers and no-advantage deuces in doubles. Im a doubles player now and think that it makes it quite tough sometimes. I feel like it can be a coin toss for who wins the match, rather than whos the best on that day. Id prefer it all to be like the grand slams, where we get to play out deuces and third sets.

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Back Chat with New Zealand tennis star Erin Routliffe - Stuff

Fiona Luo says she has no plans to get her Covid-19 booster before June.

My main concern is how safe and effective the booster would be, the 30-year-old Christchurch woman said.

I have weighed up the pros and cons of getting a booster and getting infected. I chose to wait and see.

The Chinese saleswoman got two vaccine doses as soon as they were available the first one at the end of July, and the second eight weeks later.

But after seeing some of her friends in New Zealand and overseas who were infected and had mild symptoms during the Omicron outbreak, she has been less keen to get her third dose.

READ MORE:* 'I was quite shocked': Asian community falls behind in race for Covid boosters* Omicron NZ modelling: Hundreds of thousands of cases with peak possible in mid-March* Covid-19 NZ: Record day of boosters following Omicron outbreak, but half a million eligible people still haven't got one* Covid-19: How NZ's booster roll-out is tracking with Omicron on the doorstep

My vaccine pass will expire at the end of May. I will wait till then, Luo said.

It doesnt matter if I got Omicron before that. That means I shall not need a third jab.

Getty Images

Despite leading the way with the roll-out of first and second doses, the Asian community in New Zealand is falling behind in the race to get Covid-19 booster shots.

Luo is not alone. Hesitancy, scepticism and misconception towards booster doses are common among Asian communities in New Zealand.

Despite leading the way with the roll-out of first and second doses, the Asian community is falling behind in the race to get Covid-19 booster shots.

As of March 8, 72.5 per cent of those eligible for a booster vaccine have had it including 59.9 per cent of eligible Mori and 59.5 per cent of eligible Pacific peoples.

In the Asian community, 66 per cent of those eligible in Canterbury have had their booster shot, double the 33.1 per cent in early February.

Supplied/Stuff

Lifeng Zhou, board member and chair of Asian Caucus of Public Health Association of New Zealand, says he is concerned the Asian community booster uptake is lagging.

Epidemiologist and board member of Public Health Association of New Zealand Lifeng Zhou said he is concerned the Asian community is lagging in booster uptake, but a closer look at different age groups and sub-ethnic groups should raise much more concern.

The latest data has revealed big differences exist between various age groups and sub-ethnic groups in the Asian community, he said.

Among all ethnic groups, 87 per cent of over-65s had their booster as of March 6, while the booster rate for Asian New Zealanders in the same age group was just 78 per cent.

In the Asian community, 71 per cent of Chinese over-65s have had the booster, compared to 82 per cent of the eligible Indian population, and 92 per cent of Southeast Asian population in the same age group, said Zhou.

The older members of the Chinese community have the lowest booster rate.

Once they get infected, they are more likely to go to the hospital, go on a ventilator or even die.

Omicron outbreaks have happened in Hong Kong and New Zealand at roughly the same time, however Hong Kong has a higher death rate.

One reason for the high Covid hospitalisation and death rates in Hong Kong is the poor vaccine roll-out to its elderly population.

This is a warning for New Zealand. We need a more targeted booster strategy, especially for the elderly.

Language barriers to vital Covid and health information have made older Chinese people prone to misinformation.

Among older Chinese-New Zealanders who are not fluent in English, the main news and information source is WeChat, a major Chinese social media platform.

False and misleading content about Covid, vaccines and its side effects are rampant on the communications and social app, causing fear and panic, he said.

Zhou said the Ministry of Health should communicate with the Asian community in a language and culturally appropriate way.

The number has caught up recently. But there is much more we can do to encourage members of the Asian community to get the booster, he said.

Official information about Covid in Chinese, especially the practical, how-to information, is usually not available, or not on time.

Supplied

The Asian Network director Vishal Rishi says the current Omicron outbreak in the Asian community is another barrier to increase the booster uptake.

The Asian Network director Vishal Rishi said his organisation had worked closely with the Asian community in the past four weeks to encourage more Asians to get boosters.

Weve been using newsletters and popular social media, including WeChat, Facebook and WhatsApp, to reach people who speak a language other than English, he said.

But the current Omicron outbreak in Auckland has been another barrier to increase the booster uptake.

Lots of people whose families are self-isolating are not getting out to get the booster, as they are already testing positive (for Covid-19), he said.

Should I get the third dose? I have been asked this question countless times within the past few weeks, Auckland virologist Yi Ge said.

Yes, you should get it before it is too late. Thats my answer.

Booster vaccine hesitancy among the Asian community varies at different age groups.

Older populations are more worried about the vaccines side effects, while the younger ones overlook the long-term effect of Covid-19.

Some people stay home all day, and assume they could avoid getting infected. They simply dont realise how infectious Omicron is and its long-term effect, said Ge.

It is like wearing your safety belt.

It will reduce your chance of being badly injured or dead, but will not prevent you from having a traffic accident. The vaccine is highly effective in reducing severity of disease and hospitalisation for those infected with the SARS-CoV-2.

Ministry of Health immunisation programme equity group manager Patricia Joseph said the Ministry was working with the Ministry of Ethnic Communities to ensure ethnic community leaders and organisations are resourced to help increase vaccine uptake amongst their communities.

A new series of videos in Mandarin and Cantonese have been recorded to promote booster uptake, and will be published online shortly.

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Why Asian Kiwis are hesitant to get the Covid-19 booster - Stuff

Walking through rows of white-netted grapevines, Andrew Barnes pauses to lift the fabric and pick a syrah grape. Originally, his idea had been to simply plant a few vines in his back yard. Id always wanted some grapes on a property, he says.

But the project snowballed: he leased one vineyard, then two. We realised suddenly that we were producing a huge amount of wine it had gone from being what was having a few grapes on the property to a wine lake, Barnes says with a laugh, looking around at the hillside of vines. Im flippin hopeless it goes out of control.

Barnes, one of the pioneers of the four-day week, has an apparent penchant for projects that metastasise far beyond their original boundaries. As with grapevines, so with the four-day week.

What began as an experiment with one of his own businesses in 2018 has expanded into a rapidly multiplying series of international pilots in Ireland, the US, UK, Israel and Australia-Pacific regions, working with universities around the world to study the results. 4 Day Week Global, the non-profit Barnes co-founded with Charlotte Lockhart, is expecting to run trials with 300-500 companies internationally this year.

Today, he is speaking from one of his vineyards on Waiheke Island, a tiny island off the north-eastern coast of New Zealand. On the scale of a globe, its a speck of land off the coast of a dot, and it is from here that Barnes hopes to transform the world of work and wrench the world of employment away from the deadlock of 40 hours.

Theres a lot of naysayers, he says. But theres now a lot of evidence to say this works so whats to be lost in trying? Because you know, nobody ever advanced humankind by saying its not gonna work.

Around the world, the four-day week movement has been gathering steam. Barnes was at the vanguard back in 2018, after reading an Economist article saying many workers were only productive for 1.5 to three hours a day. It struck him that by clawing back even one extra hour a day, the company would be more productive.

Barnes decided to trial reduced hours for all 240 employees at one of his businesses, trusts firm Perpetual Guardian. He instituted an 80-100-100 rule: 80% hours, to accomplish 100% of the work, for 100% pay. The experiment worked. Productivity rose, staff were happier. He made the change permanent.

Since then, the idea has only grown in popularity. Microsoft Japan trialled the concept in 2019 and said productivity jumped by 40%. Unilever New Zealand announced a year-long trial of the four-day week in 2021; by the end of the year, it had opted to extend it. In Iceland, trials of a 35-hour work week run by Reykjavk city council and the national government included about 1% of Icelands working population. In Spain, the government accepted proposals for a pilot where the government would support a national private-sector trial of the four-day week last year.

Barness conviction has only solidified over time if implemented properly, he says, its a no-lose proposition. A National Business Review rich-lister with a reported net worth of around $180m, he is adamant that its as much a business priority as a social one.

Right at the heart of this is a rational business decision, he says, as well as being probably one of the most socially responsible and environmentally responsible things you could do.

Gregarious and expressive, Barnes speaks with the conviction of an evangelist. His own approach and motivations were partly forged as a young investment banker in the UK, working punishing hours in a brutally competitive sector. In the years since, little seems to have changed at those firms last year, a leaked internal survey from Goldman Sachs reported inhumane, abusive conditions and 100-hour weeks. In his memoir, Barnes denounces a culture that treats people like race horses: whipping them to do your bidding, running them down until they flame out.

His own great conversion moment came in Sydney, where he had reached the coveted level of executive director at enormous global financial services group Macquarie. He loathed it. Walking along the city shoreline, a line from Nick Hornbys book Fever Pitch kept running through his head: You cant remember whether lifes shit because Arsenal are shit, or the other way around.

I hated my life. I hated everything, Barnes says. The question was, why do I hate Sydney? Do I hate Sydney because Sydney is awful? Or is Sydney awful because my life is awful?

He concluded it was the latter. Barnes left investment banking to take time off, and vowed not to replicate the culture at Macquarie, which he said encouraged overwork. Going forward, he says, I adopted a philosophy that said: I would think about what Macquarie would do, and then do precisely the opposite.

Now, Barnes is seeking a revolution of the week as it currently stands. He sees it as a tired, unimaginative hangover of early 20th-century assembly lines. An arbitrary construct based on repetitive manufacturing, he says, leaning forward at one of the vineyards outdoor tables to run off a string of rhetorical questions.

What Henry Ford did in the 1920s even then, why was it relevant to office work? Why was it relevant for agriculture? Why was it relevant for anything? Barnes asks. We decided to have a working week of 40 hours per week who decided that was it? Why is that the pinnacle of human achievement?

Western societies have made various unsuccessful attempts to dislodge their routines from what historian David Henkin dubs our recalcitrant calendar unit. The Soviet Union spent more than a decade experimenting with the nepreryvka, a five-day week without shared weekends. Post-revolution, the French attempted a 10-day week as part of a broader project to de-Christianise the calendar. Both failed to stick. The 40-hour working week, moored within its seven-day cycle, has proven startlingly stubborn.

Any fundamental change to the way we arrange working time can be hard to get ones head around, says Dr Laura Giurge, an assistant professor at London School of Economics, who studies time, wellbeing and the future of work. The long-term benefits of just trying it can really outweigh any potential cost. So I think [the barrier] primarily could be psychological. Its just the inertia: Oh, Im not gonna try because what I have now is doing OK.

For some managers, maintaining the status quo seems easier than having to establish new ways of measuring what a productive worker really is. Weve seen leaders staying a little bit in the past, she says. Because its really hard to measure performance nowadays. They continue to rely on old metrics of performance, such as valuing long work hours or instant responsiveness as opposed to really focusing on what people actually do, and whats the quality of the work that they do.

Giurge is a research affiliate of Oxford Universitys wellbeing centre, where she works as part of the academic board for 4 Day Week Global, to assess the effects of their trials on productivity and worker wellbeing. She says theres still more research to be done on increasing productivity in fewer hours. But broadly, the indications are positive.

Being able to disconnect from work and disengage from work and recharge is really beneficial not just for our wellbeing but also for productivity, Giurge says. We come back more engaged, we come back with more energy at work, and were less likely to make mistakes and were more motivated to put effort into the things that we care about.

Thats all very well if youre drafting wills, or staring at a computer screen all day, or, for that matter, a CEO speaking from one of your sunny vineyards on Waiheke. But what about nurses, cleaners, shopkeepers and waiters those for whom its harder to imagine 100% of work being accomplished in 80% of the hours?

One of the criticisms of the four-day week is the extent to which the conversation has been dominated by the white collar sectors, the desk workers, those who tend to have existing layers of wealth and privilege. Barnes argues the potential for reduced hours is not restricted to white-collar workers it just requires assessing different workplaces at systems level.

In things like retail, hospitality, its the two dynamics youre looking at: do you get better output? But also, does your cost base change as a consequence of not having turnover, sick days, somebody not showing up You have to look at it in the macro, he says. Businesses currently lose huge amounts of money to staff turnover and burnout, sick days, disengaged employees, errors and duplicated work.

Studies have found, for example, that the full cost of replacing a nurse was between 30% and 130% of their salary. For other employees, Gallup puts the cost at between 20% and 200%.

With the pandemic knocking the traditional workplace off its axis, reduced hours feel increasingly like an idea whose time has come. Four-day week has been given rocket fuel because of Covid, Barnes says. There were two obvious effects: firstly, an enormous number of workers were sent to work from home and time in the office was suddenly and forcibly disintegrated as a proxy for productivity. The second was that workers, freed from constant supervision, still seemed to do their work.

[It addressed] two of the big issues we always faced, says Barnes. How do I measure output? And how do I trust my workforce? Well, you sort of had that answer.

The third effect has been dubbed the great resignation: workers in the US left their jobs at historic rates toward the end of 2021, with a record 4.5 million quitting in November. In the UK, nearly 1.2m jobs were open, with many employers struggling for applicants. The reasons are complex, but the pandemic highlighted modern works unsustainable qualities burnout, stagnating wages, lack of childcare, the need for work-life balance.

Some employees are now in a position of market power and demanding better. But most of the sweeteners that businesses offer employees gym memberships or foosball or training or free lunches arent highly motivating, Barnes says, because what appeals to one worker leaves another cold. Time, on the other hand, he says is endlessly personal: a person can use it for family, for hobbies, for rest, for side-hustles, for education.

When you give people back time, you individualise the incentive, he says. What Im doing is Im giving you the time, when you want it, so you can do the things that matter to you. And you cant put a price on that.

Increasingly, it is the value of these things that Barnes seems fascinated by. In his own life, he has reached what might be considered capitalisms heights: multimillionaire, serial entrepreneur, owner and director of global companies. But over time, it seems he has become increasingly convinced that those ends might not really what most of us are seeking.

His own work and success, he says, has come at a cost: two marriages, and children living on another continent. He launches into another string of rhetorical questions: Is that good? Can I get that back? And why because I decided that working was more important than absolutely everything else. Is it?

He answers himself: Not really. From amid the sunshine, the vines and luxury, he will keep working to extend to others the luxury he now particularly values time.

Continued here:

The New Zealander trying to revolutionise the working week: Its a rational business decision - The Guardian

It was an overheard conversation between two England fans last November, before the home Test against Australia, which underlined the shifting attitudes to Irish rugby.

Why doesnt Stuart Lancaster come back to England and take a real job in the Premiership? asked one supporter. His companion balked at the notion. Why would Lancaster want to leave Leinster he is basically coaching the Ireland team? he replied, pointing to his phone where Irelands win over New Zealand was unfolding.

He had a point. Irish rugby has had some vertiginous highs in the professional era but often failed to sustain them: now, it is in a position to be one of the pre-eminent forces in European rugby for years to come.

READ MORE:* Kiwi Jamison Gibson-Park named in Ireland's Six Nations squad * Kiwi Jamison Gibson-Park: There is something special happening in Irish rugby* Ex-England coach open to linking up with All Blacks slayer Andy Farrell with Ireland

Is it an exaggeration to call Ireland the New Zealand of the north? Not especially. The countries have always had similarities in population size and their attitudes towards bigger, bolshier rivals but those shared attributes tended to stop when it came to the actual rugby.

No longer. Take coaching talent. English coaches are now seeing Irish rugby as the ideal environment to hone their skills not just Lancaster, but his former assistant Andy Farrell, now leading the Irish national side, and Graham Rowntree at Munster.

Similarly, English clubs are recognising Irish talent can make a difference to them from Jerry Flannery, who was a forwards coach with Munster before playing a significant role as lineout and defence coach in Harlequins Premiership win last season, to Johann van Graan, who will take over at Bath after his stint with Munster.

Ramsey Cardy/Getty Images

Andy Farrell and Mike Catt, along with other English coaches, see Irish rugby as the ideal environment to hone their skills.

It would seem the current Irish model is creating better coaches, whether they are Irish or not.

The other telling observation in that conversation at Twickenham was the strength in depth of the playing pool in Ireland. The country may have a population just short of seven million, when Northern Ireland is included, but there is a steady stream of talent.

Irish Rugby's centralised model helps it is not dissimilar to New Zealands as it encourages players to work towards a collective goal, and concentrates the best facilities and players into four provincial pools, all fed by schools whose facilities would be not far off those of a professional set-up.

No wonder Mike Catt has players looking so fluent there are riches of talent. Hugo Keenan, who starts at fullback this weekend, is a wonderful example of a Leinster academy player who went to sevens and is on track to be of the stars of the 2023 World Cup.

There is still the argument that Irish rugby, particularly in Leinster, is still too dependent on private schools and even 15 years ago that is how Irish rugby's fanbase was often confined, with the notable exception of Limerick.

Peter Morrison/AP

A jubilant Ireland team enjoy another victory over the All Blacks at their fortress stadium in Dublin last year.

But that has not been true for some time: Munster's Heineken Cup wins in 2006 and 2008 proved to the rest of Ireland the feel-good factor that could be generated from on-field success, while the 2009 grand slam and 2016 win over the All Blacks took the sport to a new level entirely.

Slowly but surely, rugby has become Ireland's national obsession, a sport where national team press conferences make the evening news bulletins in the days building up to a big match, and big ticket retailers such as Aldi are happy to pump in sponsorship cash.

Not everything is perfect, of course. World Cup success remains maddeningly elusive and there are significant issues with the funding afforded to the womens game.

But even that offers a glimpse of the potential in the sport: the fallout from the women not qualifying for this years World Cup made the top stories on state broadcaster RTE, and became part of the national conversation.

This level of cut-through would be almost impossible in England, where the sporting marketplace is so much more crowded, especially with the omnipresent Premier League.

None of this guarantees that Ireland will win at Twickenham, or that they will make the final stages of the 2023 World Cup. But whatever happens, Ireland will be talking about it and working out how they can become even stronger.

Read more:

How Ireland's smart thinking made them the New Zealand of the north - Stuff

Former West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite has accused England skipper Joe Root of disrespect to the home side after he played on until five balls remained, when it was no longer mathematically possible to take six wickets.

Thanks to West Indies middle-order batters Nkrumah Bonner and Jason Holder, the hosts managed to keep the England bowlers at bay with unbeaten 38 and 37, respectively as they safely batted out the final day of the opening Test to take the match to a draw at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here on Sunday (IST).

Set an unlikely victory target of 286, and having lost four wickets to be in dire straits at 4/67 at the start of the last session, Bonner and Holder defied the England bowlers for more than two hours in an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 80 off 35 overs to see the hosts to safety at 4/147. Both consumed 100-plus deliveries each as England bowlers were left frustrated.

But with only five deliveries of Jack Leachs final over remaining on Day 5 and with it being mathematically impossible to take six wickets -, Root offered to shake hands with the rival team skipper to call off the match.

Brathwaite opined that Root should have shook hands much earlier to accept the draw but the England skipper played on until five balls remained.

In my opinion it did (go on longer than it needed to). If I were (West Indies captain) Kraigg Brathwaite or any of the other senior players in that dressing room I would have found it a bit disrespectful that in the last hour, with two set batsmen batting the way that they were and the pitch offering nothing England felt as though they could get six wickets in the last 10 overs going up until five balls left," Brathwaite said on BT Sport.

If you want to become a top team you have to think like a top team and the West Indies may not be there yet, but the mentality has to be would England not have done that if it was an Ashes Test or against India, New Zealand or Pakistan?

I think the answer is no, so why have they done it against us? The West Indies are a better team than we give them credit for, this passage of play proves it and now we have two Test matches to prove that we are better than England think we are," added Brathwaite.

Brathwaite also shared his views on Englands refusal to accept a draw on social media earlier in the day, tweeting, A bit disrespectful this," according to mirror.co.uk.

Former England batter Mark Ramprakash had a different take on the issue, though he admitted Root took it (draw) too far".

I found that very strange from England. Maybe its a mentality theyve tried to set for the tour that they are going to be hard-nosed. They took it too far though for me."

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'Would England Have Done it Against India, New Zealand or Pakistan?': Joe Root Slammed For Disrespecting We - News18