Latest news with #Farrar
Scoop
18-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Predictable Smear On Senior Doctors
Ian Powell discusses a predictable smear by a right-wing blogger on salaried senior doctors employed by Health New Zealand. During my lengthy stint as Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) one of my most important functions was to negotiate the collective agreements covering salaried senior doctors and dentists employed in public hospitals. From 1989 to 1991 these were national negotiations; until 2000 negotiations were conducted separately with each main public hospital; and then, until 2019, they were national again with all the district health boards. On occasions these negotiations were protracted and somewhat tetchy (or tetchy plus!). It became quite predictable that, when this occurred, at some point the employers would engage in a public misrepresentation or smear in an endeavour to undermine our credibility. To the best of my recollection these public actions never came from health ministers (a few private grumblings notwithstanding) or bloggers (although I can't dismiss the possibility that far-right blogger Cameron Slater didn't hold back; he didn't towards me on other issues). Health Minister Simeon Brown broke the practice with his public attack on ASMS over the recent senior doctors one day strike. This was caused by the impasse in negotiations over the national collective agreement with Health New Zealand. He began by badly misrepresenting basic salary levels. He also claimed that the strike was causing delayed access to planned (elective) surgery. This was more than a tad rich. Under his leadership and that of his predecessors, access was already being increasingly delayed every other day of each year. Joining in on misrepresentation and smearing Now right-wing blogger David Farrar has jumped in support of Brown with his own smear on his Kiwiblog site (7 May): Perks smear. He alleges that salaried senior doctors employed by Health New Zealand and the Ministry of Health received 'huge perks'. It is important to understand what perks are (and what they are not). They are additional benefits to enhance the employment package such as health insurance or a company car. They don't involve reimbursement of actual and reasonable work-related expenses. The problem with Farrar's argument is that it is based on major errors and sloppy homework. This is not new territory for him. I have previously called him out (11 December) for erroneous claims about resident (junior) doctors leaving for Australia: Farrar's incomplete health workforce analysis. Farrar's hearsay evidence On this second occasion his evidence is based on a reader writing to him claiming that salaried senior doctors employed by: … Health NZ and the Ministry of Health get generous leave and expenses for so-called professional development – which is often an overseas conference in an exotic location – flying business class and staying in a premium hotel. I have this on good authority from someone who processes the claims! This leave and generous allowance which can accumulated for two or more years. This is hardly robust investigation. At best it is hearsay. To begin with, Health Ministry employed senior doctors are not covered by the collective agreement covering Health New Zealand employed senior doctors. Farrar is discussing something that applies to the latter, not the former. Further, claims to the two different employers would not be processed by the same person By referring only to one part of the entitlement and then incorrectly calling it an allowance, he is both selective and factually wrong. Getting to the facts The entitlement (I was the advocate who first negotiated it) is spelt out in Clause 36.2 of the national agreement. Its first subclause (a) begins with: The employer [Health New Zealand] requires employees [senior doctors and dentists] to be fully informed, and where possible, practised in developments within their profession. To facilitate this, employees will be entitled to leave for 10 working days (pro rata for part-time employees) continuing medical education each financial year (1 July – 30 June), plus any agreed reasonable travelling time. This is what Farrar ignores. Continuing medical education (CME) leave is something the employer requires of this particular occupational group. This is in order to help ensure that they can perform their duties and responsibilities to the level of competence, quality and patient safety required. The rest of sub-clause covers administrative matters, including accruals. Farrar's focus is primarily on the next sub-clause (b). He does not ignore it. Instead, he gets it badly wrong. The sub-clause reads: Employees shall be reimbursed actual and reasonable expenses of up to $16,000 per annum (GST exclusive) and accumulated on the same basis as the working days (a) above. This reimbursement is pro-rata for part-time employees except that part-time employees whose only income from medical or dental practice is derived from their employment with one employer shall be entitled to the full reimbursement. The fundamental distortion (or mistake if one is in a generous frame of mind) by Farrar is to call the monetary amount an allowance. It is not. It is a capped reimbursement of work-related expenses. Furthermore, it is not an absolute $16,000. It is up to this amount subject to claims being actual and reasonable. The specification of a specific dollar amount serves the interests of both employer and employees even though, for the latter, it is capped (potentially it could cost Health New Zealand more if there was no cap). However, the cap better enables planning and budgeting for both parties. While use of the leave and associated reimbursements is often used for medical or dental conferences, they have to be relevant to duties and responsibilities. Further, it can also be for other approved options such as working at another location or study. Fringe benefits tax sideshow Farrar's distortion (or mistake) leads him to then argue that the fringe benefits tax must apply and has to be paid by Health New Zealand. Somehow, he estimates the total additional cost to be least $23,880 (presumably per annum). But it does not attract this tax because the entitlement is not an allowance. Perks apply to allowances, not work-related reimbursements. Much of the CME expenses are spent on consumables such as travel and accommodation. Where conferences are involved there also registration costs. While some of these costs are close to home (Australia), our relative geographic isolation means that greater distances are required to exercise the full benefits of this necessary form of professional development and education. The one exception where the fringe benefits tax might impact (it might instead be PAYE) is that the entitlement can be used for the personal purchase of laptops (that is, a personal capital product) for the express purpose of professional development and education. However, this requires specific employer approval and, to the extent that it happens is only a small component of the costs of the entitlement. Farrar goes further to falsely imply that the two weeks CME itself, which is required by Health New Zealand, is also a perk. Let me be very clear. Based on my experience in the health system, I would not want to be treated or diagnosed by a senior doctor who was not sufficiently utilising their CME leave entitlement. Patient safety has been compromised as a consequence. Sloppy mistakes or deliberate distortion? Finally, Farrar proceeds to make an astonishing attack on the credibility of senior doctors. He refers to something he had 'heard' (further hearsay). One employed by the health ministry had allegedly used the 'allowance' to a global conference on air pollution and health. First, the entitlement is for Health New Zealand employed senior doctors. Second, if the person nevertheless was able to receive the same provision, it is not an allowance. Third, a health ministry employed senior doctor able to attend this event is most likely to be a public health specialist. If so, giving the relationship between air pollution and poor health, it would be up there among the most valuable events to attend if the health ministry were to properly perform its stewardship role for the health of New Zealand's population. Is David Farrar's smear due to sloppy mistakes or deliberate? Readers can be the judge of that.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
With Santa Fe Century ride this weekend, bicycle shops see sales hitting higher gear
It's a lively week for Santa Fe's cycling community. The Santa Fe Century, which offers cyclists numerous biking options in and around the city, returns Saturday and Sunday for its 39th edition, bringing with it a boom — or at least a bump — for local bicycle shops. 'This is probably one of our biggest and busiest times of any week we have all year,' said Christian Farrar of New Mexico Bike N Sport, 504 W. Cordova Road. The decades-old event, with options ranging from 20- to 106-mile routes, spotlights classic Northern New Mexico vistas and draws more than 2,000 participants every year. Farrar said out-of-state riders who don't want to go to the trouble of shipping their regular bike to New Mexico sometimes buy bikes from him in the days leading up to the event. Other customers are recreational riders who seem to be moved by the excitement of the century, he said. 'I guess they're just people who get in that bike-buying spirit,' he said. New Mexico Bike N Sport also sells a great deal of cycling equipment and accessories, Farrar said — 'Tubes, repair kits, tires, clothing.' 20250130_MGS_F1 Cyclery_001.JPG (copy) F1 Cyclery partner Pedro Murga tunes a bicycle at his shop in Santa Fe in January. Murga says his shop has not seen an increase in traffic this week because of the Santa Fe Century, but he hopes to see more business during next year's event. The weeks leading up to the event are also a busy time for the shop's repair department, he said. 'Everybody waits until the very last minute, so we try to be a little more open to on-the-spot sales and service,' he added. Farrar estimated Bike N Sport sees a 20% sales increase during the week of the ride. Stephen Newhall, a manager at Rob and Charlie's Bicycle Shop, 1632 St. Michael's Drive, said sales are up, but that may be due more spring weather than the Santa Fe Century. 'We're in season, so we should be selling a lot of bikes,' Newhall said. 'Usually, for something like a 100 mile ride, you have bought the bike more than a week in advance.' Some of those previously purchased bikes are coming into Rob and Charlie's this week to be serviced and prepped for the event, he said, keeping the repair department occupied. 'This is one of our busiest weeks of the year,' Newhall said. 'But May is peak season anyway.' Sirius Cycles, 2901 Rodeo Road, is also enjoying the typical spring interest in bicycling, owner Clemente McFarlane said. But since his store sells mostly cargo bikes, it doesn't get much of a sales bump from the Santa Fe Century, he said. McFarlane said he did encounter a few riders in his shop this week who were excited about the event. 'One woman said she was going to give the 100 miler a try,' he said. 'Some people are like that.' About 2,500 hit road for Santa Fe Century (copy) Cyclists rest and hang out at the first food stop on the 50-mile course in Galisteo during the 2018 Santa Fe Century. Like other bike dealers in Santa Fe, McFarlane said he has spent a lot of time this week patching flat tires and repairing bikes. 'It's busy, not in century stuff, but in many other ways,' he said. 'A whole mix of stuff comes through this door.' Pedro Murga, one of the partners in F1 Cyclery, 1189 Parkway Drive, which opened late last summer, said his business hasn't been around long enough to capture much of the bike-buying crowd motivated by the century. But that's the exception rather than the rule, he said. 'Every other bike shop I've ever worked at saw a little bit of a bump,' he said. Murga said he plans to attend the ride Sunday to support the riders, and he said F1 Cyclery would be offering some bikes at the event as part of a clearance sale. 'I'm hopeful we'll sell more bikes next year,' he said.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
Woman charged with animal cruelty, neglect after dog has leg amputated
There's a new beginning for a dog brought to the Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh (HARP) last month. He was adopted after Pittsburgh police said he was a victim of neglect, and the woman responsible for caring for him is now facing charges. Juanieka Farrar faces several charges, including aggravated cruelty to animals and neglect. Last month, police were dispatched to a house on Woodland Avenue in Marshall Shadeland. The caller told dispatchers a tan Pitbull, attached to a short tether on a fence pole, was left outside in the rain and crying. A criminal complaint said that due to the lack of a proper shelter, the dog appeared to be soaking wet, somewhat thin and limping. Police officers observed that its back right leg had a severe injury. Police also noticed his ribs and spine protruding and were concerned for the dog's overall health and wellness. Farrar told police the dog belonged to her 16-year-old son and said that it had been staying there since last July. She ensured that the dog was fed and well taken care of. When asked about its leg, Farrar told police the dog slipped on the kitchen floor two days earlier but did not take it to the vet. Police took the dog to Blue Pearl Vet Hospital, where he had to have his right hind leg amputated. After a few weeks at HARP, the dog was adopted. HARP officials said the dog is happily adjusting to his new life, with his adoptive family hoping to put all this behind them. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
Tatler Asia
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
From Sylvia Plath to Donna Tartt: 5 trending books you'll find in every It girl's tote bag
'A Secret History' by Donna Tartt Above 'The Secret History' by Donna Tart (Photo: Ivy Books) Intellectually elite, morally ambiguous and cloaked in a mist of fatalism, A Secret History offers the kind of heady narrative that It girls are known to gravitate toward. Tartt's tale of a group of eccentric classics students who commit murder and try to rationalise it through philosophy reads like The Talented Mr. Ripley set in New England academia. The book, a trending fixture since TikTok revived it, explores the seduction of aesthetics and ideas taken to extremes. With its gothic sensibility, Greco-Roman references and quietly sinister tone, it's no surprise this novel has earned a spot on the bookshelves of fashion insiders, models and artists. Tartt's characters are cold and brilliant—qualities often projected onto the modern It girl, for better or worse. 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem' by Joan Didion Above 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem' by Joan Didion (Photo: Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Few writers have the cultural currency of the infinitely cool Joan Didion, and Slouching Towards Bethlehem remains her most iconic work. A master of restraint and razor-sharp observation, Didion captures the fragmentation of 1960s America with dispassionate clarity. Her essays blend memoir and reportage, revealing a mind endlessly attuned to chaos beneath surface order. For the It girl who prizes intellect and quiet detachment, Didion offers an ideal model: fiercely articulate, enigmatic and impossible to imitate. The book's understated black-and-white covers and clean typography make it a favourite among minimalist tastemakers. More than a trending book, it's a blueprint for cool-headed self-possession. 'Just Kids' by Patti Smith Above 'Just Kids' by Patti Smith (Photo: Ecco) Patti Smith's Just Kids is a memoir of bohemian life in 1970s New York, chronicling her artistic partnership with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. It's romantic but not naïve, poetic without being precious. Smith details their rise from poverty to art-world prominence with an earnestness that's oddly radical in the age of irony. The It girl reader finds resonance in Smith's early hunger—for beauty, for expression, for significance—and in her resilience amid chaos. Unlike the curated intimacy of influencers, Smith's vulnerability feels unfiltered. It's a book that doesn't ask for admiration, only attention, and that's precisely what makes it an enduring favourite. 'My Year of Rest and Relaxation' by Ottessa Moshfegh Above 'My Year of Rest and Relaxation' by Ottessa Moshfegh (Photo: Penguin Press) On the surface, Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation might look like satire for the hyper-privileged. A beautiful young woman, numb with grief and aimlessness, attempts to medicate herself into oblivion by sleeping through a year in Manhattan. But beneath its absurd premise is a biting critique of self-optimisation, consumer culture and the fetishisation of wellness. The protagonist is unlikeable, opaque and often hilariously cruel—yet her disillusionment feels cuttingly relevant. With its minimalist cover and sardonic voice, this trending book has become a kind of anti-self-help bible for the It girl who is sceptical of overexposure and allergic to performative healing. These titles share more than just shelf appeal. Each explores identity, alienation or the tension between public persona and private self—territory that It girls know intimately. Whether it's Plath's portrayal of suffocating expectations, Tartt's intoxicating intellectualism or Moshfegh's elegant nihilism, these trending books offer a mirror to women living under constant observation. They are aesthetically spare yet emotionally intense, rich with complexity but never overwrought. In a world obsessed with content, women for literature that asks more of her and gives something back.
New York Post
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
The wild story of America's pioneering ‘mega'-preacher
She was a blend of P.T. Barnum, the colorful showman credited with declaring, 'There's a sucker born every minute,' and the infamous flamboyant televangelist couple Tammy Faye and Jim Baker who built a scandal-riddled evangelical empire — all rolled into one. Back in the early years of the Roaring Twenties it was a charismatic lady evangelist by the name of Aimee Semple McPherson who ruled a circus-like path to heaven that enthralled audiences and worshippers alike. 8 Early 20th Century-preacher Aimee Semple McPherson during a worship service featuring her exuberant, ecclesiastic-meets-entertainment style. Getty Images Operating out of what was America's very first megachurch — the Angelus Temple, in Los Angeles, with more than 7,000 daily visitors — McPherson, by age 33, was a star who found her calling by dazzling followers with flamboyant sermons that described a rapturous state of love with God. A faith healer, too, McPherson's dramatic sermons included adult baptisms by immersion in water — with stage scenery borrowed from nearby Hollywood studios, and all of it backed by her brass band or 14-piece orchestra and a hundred-voice choir outfitted in heavenly white. And it all guaranteed that the collection plates would be spilling over at the conclusion of her services. To the devout, Aimee Semple McPherson was a modern-day saint, more recognizable than the pope. 8 McPherson's wild ways were compared to P.T. Barnum, the iconic showman of the same era. Getty Images 'Aimee sold herself as 'the just right option' — more comfortable than the thumpers who yelled about sin and hell, but also someone who embraced the pure fundamentals of Christian faith. She was 'Everybody's Sister,' ' writes journalist Claire Hoffman in her wild ride of a biography, 'Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). As Hoffman details, McPherson's 'critics called her the P.T. Barnum of Christianity. She used live camels, tigers, lambs and stately palm trees — whatever it took to bring the ancient world alive on her stage.' She was 'the Goldilocks alternative — not too hot, not too cold. The just-right message on Jesus,' Hoffman writes, as well as a queen of her realm, decked out in a white nurse's uniform topped with a blue cape emblazoned with a cross — appearing virtuous and godly. 8 The Angelus Temple, which could hold thousands and was a precursor to the massive 'mega'- temples seen across the nation today. Corbis via Getty Images Thousands gathered for the greatest show in town, proclaims the author, who observes that McPherson had repackaged Pentecostalism for a mainstream, white audience that depicted a loving personal relation with God. But the dark side of fame was about to beset McPherson. Writes the author, 'As her congregation and fortunes had grown, so too had ominous incidents: obsessed fans showing up in the middle of the night, a madwoman arrested for trying to murder her, and even a botched kidnapping plot.' On the sunny afternoon of May 18, 1926, 35-year-old Aimee decided to work on her sermons at the Ocean View Hotel, in the beach town of Venice. She changed into an emerald green bathing suit and headed down to the shore 'to take a little dip.' She began to swim further out and then disappeared in the waves of the blue Pacific. 8 The crowded Venice Beach location of McPherson's 'mega-congregation.' Corbis via Getty Images 'A squadron of police and U.S. Coast Guard searched the water from Venice to Topanga Canyon,' writes Hoffman, but the evangelist had vanished. That is until a month later when — miracle of miracles, and all hope lost — she suddenly resurfaced, not in the ocean, but walking 22 miles out of the desert in Mexico, claiming she had been kidnapped, drugged, tortured and threatened with sexual slavery. But Asa Keyes, then-the anti-corruption district attorney of Los Angeles, had a different account. He asserted that the famed evangelist had, in reality, stepped out of a car and walked a short distance over the Texas border. How she disappeared from the ocean was never known. Meanwhile, an eyewitness came forward claiming the godly McPherson had been shacked up with her lover, the married Kenneth Ormiston, the radio operator from her church, who quit his job shortly before she disappeared. 'Aimee defended every aspect of her life. She had battled for the world to believe her, selling herself as virtue made flesh,' writes Hoffman. 'She had to cast herself as a victim, blinking and wide-eyed, held hostage and at the mercy of dark forces.' 8 McPherson in the hospital accompanied by her husband, David. McPherpson underwent a bllod tranfusion amid an illness, but still remained committed to performing her services. Bettmann Archive The once fawning press called her 'a weaver of fantastic tales,' the 'Houdini of the Pulpit,' and described her followers as 'ill-educated bumpkins, the morons of LA.' As the author observed, 'Aimee was a wolf in sanctimonious sheep's clothing, adept at duping the masses with an artful smile and a great show.' She was investigated for criminal conspiracy to pervert, or obstruct justice. The investigation was later dropped, but the famed evangelist couldn't escape the continued harsh criticism by the press. One night after an appearance in Oakland, she returned to her hotel and overdosed on hypnotic sedatives. 8 McPherson celebrating her 25th year as an evangelist with a pageant called 'Cavalcade of Christianity,' in which 1,000 players participated. Bettmann Archive She was pronounced dead the following morning on Sept. 27, 1944 at age 53 and buried in Forest Lawn cemetery. Born in 1890, McPherson was first exposed to preaching and prayer when her mother joined the Salvation Army and took her young daughter to Salvationist meetings. Aimee loved playing church, sermonizing and singing hymns to her dolls. A Holy Ghost revival drew her into the Holy Rollers circle, shouting hallelujah while swaying in adoration of the Holy Spirit. She quit high school after falling in love with Robert James Semple, a department store clerk who left his job to preach and pray at revival meetings, and in 1908, the two married. Blissfully, they headed off to Europe and then Hong Kong to spread God's word, with Aimee pregnant. But malaria caught up with both, killing Robert and sending Aimee back to the US where she joined her mother ringing a bell up and down Broadway in New York for the Salvation Army. Down at the heels, Aimee agreed to marry Harold McPherson, an accountant who was hoping she'd be a happy homemaker. At age 23 in 1913, Aimee suffered multiple nervous breakdowns and a hysterectomy leaving her near death. It was then she would claim that she heard a voice telling her, 'Go! Do the work of an evangelist. Preach the Word.' She believed God was calling her and with her two children, Rolf and Roberta, she caught the midnight train for Canada where she began standing on a chair on the sidewalk with her hands raised toward Heaven calling for passersby to hear her preach. Now calling herself 'Sister' and wearing virginal white nursing uniforms, she began touring the East Coast preaching in revival tents and arenas. Aimee's mother, Minnie Kennedy, promoted her daughter's ministry with advertising and megaphones announcing her appearances, even dropping leaflets from aircraft — bringing in thousands into arenas that became littered with castoff canes, crutches and wheelchairs of those thought to have been healed by the laying on of Aimee's hands — and overflowing the collection plates. 8 Author Claire Hoffman. Davis Guggenheim According to the author, a vision had beckoned McPherson to Los Angeles in 1918 — and within five years, she had built her 'Million Dollar Temple' built with 'love offerings' received during years of itinerant tent revivals. So, what really happened to McPherson when she supposedly vanished into the ocean and was thought to have drowned but later turned up alive and well in a desert in Mexico? That mystery was never solved when she was alive and remains unsolved a century later today.
