Thu Oct 21 1999

The Government is planning to slash $70 million from the public hospital elective surgery budget after the election, Alliance health spokesperson Phillida Bunkle says.The Pre-Election Fiscal Update released today includes a table showing changes to the government's health expenditure on page 41 (B.16).It shows an increase of $94 million in spending on 'extra electives' in 1998/99, and then in 2000/01 it shows a decrease of $70 million.'The Government made a high-profile announcement that it was increasing spending on elective surgery. In fact, it is slashing funding for elective surgery.'There are 190,000 New Zealanders on waiting lists for treatment or assessment in public hospitals. For the government to slash funding on elective surgery by $70 million when there are so many people who need operations is outrageous,' Phillida Bunkle said.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>