Latest news with #MIQ
Scoop
6 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Lockdown Overlords Missing In Action From The Podium Of Truth
'Jacinda Ardern, Chris Hipkins, Grant Robertson, and Ayesha Verrall's refusal to front up to the COVID inquiry is a big change from invading our living rooms daily. What's changed?' asks ACT Leader David Seymour. 'Hipkins and co loved the limelight at 1pm every day. They wielded extraordinary powers over citizens' lives, dismissing those who questioned them as uncaring. Now they're refusing to even show up, what a contrast. 'The then-Government used emergency powers more dramatically than any other in our country's peacetime history. Those powers included: Separating families at the border and in hospitals even at times of birth, death, and severe illness Letting unused Rapid Antigen Tests expire by the million, while locking down Auckland for over 100 days longer than the rest of the country. Locking down Northland down for 11 days on false information that humiliated three women. Officials apologised, but Hipkins refused to. Being were slow to close the border in early 2020, and even slower to adapt when Omicron made their Delta-era rules obsolete. Sticking to outdated restrictions that hurt people but couldn't stop Omicron, keeping MIQ in place long after the virus was widespread in the community. Putting surgeries, screenings, and medical treatments on hold. Damaging the education of a generation, with school attendance still bounding back from the Government's forced closures. Making strange, inconsistent rules that often hurt small businesses to the benefit of large chains– supermarkets could open, but butchers couldn't. Ignoring Treasury warnings to spend $66 billion, driving inflation over 7%, and sparking a cost-of-living crisis and mortgage crunch households are still paying for. Appointing a Royal Commission of Inquiry that would ignore most of the above costs, by focusing on the effectiveness of the COVID response rather than its costs. 'ACT campaigned to expand the Royal Commission inquiry and opened it to the public. If another pandemic arrives, we literally cannot afford to repeat the mistakes made during COVID, the bond ratings agencies will see to that. Facing another pandemic more successfully requires honest reflection from the decisionmakers of that period. 'Tens of thousands of New Zealanders have already engaged with the inquiry, sharing heart-wrenching experiences of how their lives were upended. They deserve the basic respect of accountability. If Chris Hipkins can't front up for a single day of questioning, he is not fit to act as Opposition leader, let alone return to Government. 'Jacinda Ardern, Chris Hipkins, Grant Robertson, and Ayesha Verrall must change course and agree to publicly front the Royal Commission. It is a matter of duty and respect.' Note: A Curia poll suggests 69% of New Zealanders believe Ardern, Hipkins, Bloomfield, and other key decision-makers should testify in person at the Covid Inquiry hearings.
NZ Herald
18-07-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Top 10 bestselling NZ books: July 19
Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Holding steady: Top three bestselling books remained unchanged. Photos / Supplied 1. (1) A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin) The former PM's memoir, the first such account since Jim Bolger, tops the bestsellers for a fifth week. Ardern's book has generally found favour among reviewers, including Henry Cooke for the Listener. He thought it intimate and fluent, 'compulsively readable, easily consumable in two or three sittings, and often very funny', even if it barely explained her government's policy decisions. 'Ardernism was always more a sensibility than a full ideology. It was a way of looking at the world and reacting to it, not a theory of change.' Cooke says 'there are some hints, near the end of the book, that perhaps she isn't so certain quitting was the right idea … There is little attempt to engage with the arguments against the latter half of the Covid period, when MIQ's usefulness looked shaky and vaccine mandates radicalised thousands of people.' Tracy Watkins, editor of The Post and Sunday Star-Times, agreed the book let us into some of Ardern's emotional highs and lows. 'We also gain some fresh insight into her own personal mechanisms for coping with such momentous events as the terror attack, and Covid. But we don't learn a lot more about what was going on behind closed doors within her government, which must, at times, have been under enormous strain.' The Guardian considered it 'an emotionally rich and candid read, [but] the downside of skipping the political detail is that it's hard to get a sense of how exactly her astonishing early popularity ebbed away'. Tim Stanley of the Telegraph was more acerbic, writing that 'the practicalities of the job don't interest her: this book hinges on how everything felt'. The natural disaster at Whakaari White Island and the Christchurch mosque killings 'brought out Ardern's best: authoritative and sensitive, she has a fine temperament'. But she subtly vilified her opponents, he says: 'I am so kind that anyone who disagrees with me must be nasty; so reasonable that my critics must be nuts.' A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir, by Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Supplied 2. (2) Leading Under Pressure by Ian Foster & Gregor Paul (HarperCollins) Demonstrating the rule that rugby memoirs are a sure bet in the NZ books market, Ian Foster's account of his time as All Blacks coach holds on firmly to second place in the bestsellers. I haven't read the book, but I hope it goes into the – in my opinion – unedifying way he was replaced as coach. Only super-retrospective refereeing stopped his team of All Blacks winning the RWC. From the publisher: 'Appointed as head coach 2019, Ian Foster led the All Blacks through one of the most tumultuous periods of the team's 120-year history. Leading Under Pressure is a fascinating look into the pressure cooker inner-sanctum of the world's most famous rugby team. With revelations about Foster's time in the job, it also delves into the politics of rugby, and the events preceding the dramatic 2023 Rugby World Cup.' Leading Under Pressure: My Story by Ian Foster. Photo / Supplied 3. (3) No, I Don't Get Danger Money by Lisette Reymer (Allen & Unwin) Waikato-born Reymer, after covering the Tokyo Olympics, found herself in the UK, where she became Newshub's Europe Correspondent. She burst into tears when she got the job, which the Listener's reviewer found instantly endearing. 'Her next three years were 'London, August 2021 … Przemysl, Poland, March 2022 … Bucha, Ukraine, May 2022 … Kahramanmaras, Turkey, late April 2023 … Tel Aviv, late October 2023 …' So it goes, with other locales in between, ending in Ethiopia, Lucerne, London again, and Barcelona, August 2024.'Her commitment to catastrophes starts with watching the Twin Towers fall on Mum and Dad's TV. It's the first of many, many narratives in a text that's anecdotal rather than analytical. But then, stories are frequently the best way of getting to the guts of an issue, and Reymer tells hers with clarity and competence-plus.' No, I Don't Get Danger Money by Lisette Reymer. Photo / Supplied 4. (5) Māori Millionaire by Te Kahukura Boynton (Penguin) The publisher says the book 'offers a beginner's guide to healing your money mindset, building better habits for your money and life, and understanding how you can increase your income. Because no amount of budgeting can compensate for not earning enough. 'Discover how to: — Introduce small, life-changing habits — Master your mindset to align with prosperity — Get out of debt — See real returns by investing in yourself — Protect yourself with insurance — Overcome obstacles to achieve your goals And so much more! 'The lessons in this book will teach you how to become 1% better every day — not only for you, but for your whānau too.' Māori Millionaire by Te Kahukura Boynton. Photo / Supplied You'll find Te Kahukura Boynton on the Listener online's 30 Under 30 – the young New Zealanders shaping our future list 5. (4) The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press) Holding its own on the list is Catherine Chidgey's much praised latest novel, which tells the mysterious, ominous story of three boys in an alternative 1970s Britain. It's a 'tense, compelling, genre-fusing book', said Emma Neale in the Listener. 'There is the hint of submerged identity; of aspiration and prosperity, rubbing skins with disappointment and neglect; a preoccupation with what is authentic and what is fraudulent; the self and truth only dimly visible … Calling on the deeply rooted psychological power of the storytelling rule of three, the novel is divided into The Book of Dreams, The Book of Knowledge and The Book of Guilt. Three women, Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night, care for a set of thirteen-year-old triplets in an all-boy's orphanage. There are three main narrative perspectives: Vincent, one of the triplets; the Minister of Loneliness, a government minister in charge of national care institutions known as the Sycamore Homes; and Nancy, a young girl kept in seclusion by fastidious older parents. This attention to pattern also coolly embodies the quest for order and control, the troubling obsession at the core of the fictional investigation.' You can read Michele Hewitson's interview with Catherine Chidgey here. The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey. Photo / Supplied 6. (6) Dr Libby Fix Iron First by Dr Libby (Little Green Frog) 'The one thing that changes everything,' reckons the subtitle of the latest book from Libby Weaver. Iron is essential for our health, and its lack is particularly common among girls and women. Menstruation, pregnancy and hormonal change can lead to iron deficiency, iron absorption can be an issue for some people, and it's often a trial to eat enough iron-rich foods. Weaver's new book Fix Iron First aims to address this. As her website, which also sells iron supplements made from organic peas, notes that low iron doesn't just make you tired. 'It can alter your brain chemistry, slow your metabolism, impact your thyroid, disturb your sleep and lower your emotional resilience. It affects how you think, how you feel, how you show up in the world – every single day.' Fix Iron First: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Dr Libby Weaver. Photo / Supplied 7. (NEW) Moto Mike the Motorbike (Nee Naw and Friends) by Deano Yipadee & Bruce Potter (Scholastic) School holidays have ensured the rise of the latest from Mosgiel's finest children's troubadour, Dean O'Brien, aka Deano Yipadee. From the publisher: 'Singer-songwriter Dean O'Brien has produced yet another toe-tapping, singalong song, this time about Nee Naw's friend, Moto Mike the Motorbike. Farmer Tom and his tractor are leading the annual pumpkin parade. When the tractor wheel jolts off the edge of the bridge, Tom finds himself in a precarious situation. Enter Nee Naw's mate, Moto Mike, who swiftly takes action and saves the day.' Moto Mike the Motorbike (Nee Naw and Friends) by Deano Yipadee & Bruce Potter. Photo / Supplied 8. (NEW) Ellie Copter (Nee Naw and Friends) by Deano Yipadee & Paul Beavis (Scholastic) And yet another from Dean O'Brien. This time: 'There's a fire in a field where two goats, Plinky and Plonky, are trapped. Nee Naw is on the way, but when a bridge collapses and Nee Naw can't drive any further, Ellie Copter whirs into action and saves the day.' Ellie Copter (Nee Naw and Friends) by Deano Yipadee & Paul Beavis. Photo / Supplied 9. (NEW) Mātauranga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead (Huia Publishers) A companion publication to anthropologist and historian Hirini Moko Mead's best-selling book Tikanga Māori. From the publisher: 'In Mātauranga Māori, Hirini Moko Mead explores the Māori knowledge system and explains what mātauranga Māori is. He looks at how the knowledge system operates, the branches of knowledge, and the way knowledge is recorded and given expression in te reo Māori and through daily activities and formal ceremonies. Mātauranga Māori is integrated into every activity people engage in. It touches the lives of people in whatever they do, in the way they act, in the way they think, in the way they learn and in the way their knowledge is shared with others.' Mātauranga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead. Photo / Supplied 10. (4) Whānau by Donovan Farnham & Rehua Wilson (Moa Press) This illustrated pocket hardback, ideal as a gift, aims to improve your te reo Māori one special phrase at a time. Donovan Te Ahunui Farnham and Rehua Wilson offer up dozens of expressions, often with metaphorical or proverbial origins, such as 'He toka tū moana' (stalwart) and 'Kei mate wheke' (never surrender). Whānau by Donovan Farnham and Rehua Wilson. Photo / Supplied Source: NielsenIQ BookScan – week ending July 12.
NZ Herald
16-07-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
I managed four MIQ hotels during Covid, it was a shambles – Les Morgan of Sudima
The truth is that the MIQ programme was a shambles from its inception and rose to a standard of passable quality thanks to the skills and professionalism of hotel staff and on-site supporting agencies. There is a lot we can learn collectively – and at a political and policy level – from this experience, so we can prepare properly and be able to kick into action more seamlessly in the event of a future pandemic. Here's what we learned on the front lines of the MIQ system: 1. Reinstate the plan. There was a low level of leadership and expertise within both local and central government in relation to our isolation response. As a country we should have been able to deploy and react to the crisis much more efficiently – in fact, we had already prepared for it. Several years before the pandemic I was a signatory to a document that had committed hotels in the area surrounding Auckland Airport to a pandemic and isolation plan. Some astute member of staff at Auckland Council and/or the local DHBs had anticipated and come up with a plan for what eventually happened. However, this plan was never implemented, so when the crisis hit, the response was made on the fly. I hope the inquiry looks at what happened there, and a plan is reinstated for another pandemic, as epidemiologists say is inevitable. 2. Establish a clear chain of command. On one occasion a local authority representative called to tell me they were commandeering one of our hotels for the purposes of isolation. The next day a military representative told me they intended to make the same request for the same purpose, meaning two potential government tenants were competing for the same hotel. On day three a police sergeant stated he had authority to occupy over all others. It was a classic example of the need for state agencies to co-ordinate their plans, hold a meeting of key stakeholders and share information. There is nothing new about hotels being taken over as field hospitals, quarantine facilities or emergency care or accommodation sites – it's standard operating procedure in times of civic upheaval – but it must be underpinned by an organised process. Any future pandemic response must be preceded by the agreement of a chain of command determining who decides on the assignation of facilities that the Government is paying to commandeer and run. 3. Set up a communication matrix with hotel operators at the centre. A few weeks into the crisis, some harmonisation of MIQ facilities appeared to have been achieved. However, that illusion was shattered one day as I watched the 1pm briefing and a minister announced that the Government was 'standing up' another MIQ hotel, with the first arriving travellers anticipated later that day. Unfortunately, there were a couple of issues with this – the hotel was ours, and no one had told me or any of my colleagues. The hotel in question had been closed indefinitely, meaning staff had moved on and there were no consumables or PPE gear on site. Once I had run the gauntlet of shock and bad language, our team swung into action and I am proud to say our local staff welcomed the first guests by 8pm the same day with full PPE equipment and comprehensive operational procedures. (The military and public health teams involved arrived on-site equally unprepared but also rallied.) These were staff who had left the business earlier in lockdown but came back to bravely face an unknown health risk and the enormous task of recommissioning a hotel, all because they thought it was the right thing to do to help save the lives of fellow New Zealanders. They are all heroes, and they deserve to be properly recognised by the Government. 4. Establish accountability, including on legal questions that affect business owners and directors. This was scarce during long stretches of MIQ. We observed that no one further up the chain of public sector leadership was willing to confirm the level of risk our employees faced. A parallel concern was the risk companies faced under the Health & Safety Act. If an employee was to fall seriously ill or die from Covid having been exposed to it while at work, would we as employers face legal proceedings in the future? We could not get clarification on this question, and therefore I viewed the risk to employees and our company directors as potentially too great, and at one point came within hours of making the decision to close completely the four nationwide facilities we managed. Although no formal instruction was ever issued, I was temporarily mollified by a statement from authorities that any legal action was unlikely. In the turmoil that was MIQ governance, I accepted that was as good an answer as we were ever likely to get. To return to a plan: this is the kind of question that can be assessed, considered by Crown Law and addressed in advance of a crisis, so that businesses can prepare. As the formal inquiry continues, I have doubts the valuable lessons from the MIQ experience have been fully learned by our officials. Today we are again signatories to a Readiness Programme that would permit re-establishment of isolation hotels. However, hotels are expected to maintain high-quality air conditioning and CCTV services without ongoing financial support. There is no requirement for mandatory pandemic training for staff, and no PPE stock is expected to be held on-site. My grave concern is that, over time, the IP that hotels earned through painful experience will erode. Let's not let this happen, and instead develop a Readiness Programme with real teeth, one that takes the hard lessons we all learned and embeds them in a practical, flexible model that consistently upskills people and stocks and supports facilities, so we can turn on a future crisis response as easily as flicking a switch.
Newsroom
09-07-2025
- Health
- Newsroom
What the Covid-19 inquiry is teaching us
Comment: As the dust continues to settle from the peak pandemic years, New Zealand is taking a long, hard look in the mirror. The first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Covid-19 Lessons Learned has been delivered, and it offers an unflinching account of our preparedness, decisions, and blind spots. The second phase is underway, tasked with interrogating the specifics: vaccination equity, disinformation, and the long shadow Covid cast across our communities. The power – and price – of going early The inquiry acknowledges that our early, bold elimination strategy was effective at saving lives. Compared with many other nations, New Zealand avoided mass deaths and overwhelmed hospitals. But it came with real costs: social isolation, educational disruption, economic harm, and deep psychological strain, especially in communities already living with inequity. For some, the border closures and MIQ system became a symbol of safety; for others, of exclusion and despair. A pandemic plan built for the wrong pandemic New Zealand's pre-Covid pandemic plans were largely geared towards influenza. This wasn't a case of simply dusting off an out-of-date playbook. The virus we faced was a novel coronavirus – more contagious, less predictable, and politically destabilising. Critical systems, from intensive care unit capacity to personal protective equipment logistics, weren't scaled or connected in the way a 21st century pandemic demanded. We weren't alone in that, but being unprepared is not something we should now excuse as inevitable. Who was heard – and who wasn't Perhaps one of the most damning findings is how poorly the early response incorporated Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations. Māori and Pacific voices were sidelined in national decision-making. Community providers who had the trust, the reach, and the relationships to respond effectively were often bypassed or underused. The equity gap didn't start with Covid-19, but the pandemic made it wider and more visible. The communication conundrum Early in the pandemic, New Zealand's public health messaging was lauded globally for its clarity and empathy. But the commission noted that as time went on, messaging became increasingly centralised and inflexible. Tailored communications for diverse populations were often absent. At times when nuance and dialogue were needed, the approach defaulted to broadcast mode rather than engagement. What phase 2 must tackle The second phase of the inquiry, now underway, is where the real grit begins. It will scrutinise the rollout of vaccines, particularly whether equity was achieved or merely promised. It will delve into vaccine mandates and their effects on public trust. It will explore the long-term health, economic, and educational impacts of our Covid-19 response. It will ask hard questions about the use of emergency powers and the resilience (or fragility) of our health systems. Perhaps most importantly, it will examine how trust was won, lost, and exploited. The rise of misinformation and targeted disinformation isn't just a curious byproduct of the pandemic era – it's a feature of our new public health landscape. If we fail to address it, we're not just failing to learn – we're inviting history to repeat itself. Why it matters Do we really need another report? Haven't we moved on? But in science, as in governance, learning from mistakes isn't optional – it's essential. The very act of reflection is a declaration that we take public health seriously, that we value lives lost and saved, and that we are willing to face uncomfortable truths to be better prepared next time. Pandemics will come again. Whether sparked by zoonotic spillover, synthetic biology, or climate-driven vector shifts, the next crisis is not a matter of if but when. The Royal Commission won't give us all the answers – but it can make sure we ask better questions and build a more inclusive, agile, and evidence-based response. In the end, the value of this inquiry isn't just in what it reports, but in whether we listen.
NZ Herald
21-06-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Top 10 bestselling NZ books: June 21
1. (1) A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin) The former PM's memoir, the first such account since Jim Bolger, tops the bestsellers for a second week, and is unlikely to be dislodged for some time. It also holds the No 3 spot in this week's New York Times hardcover nonfiction chart (beaten only by a book on national economies and the benefits of owning a dog). Ardern's book has generally found favour among reviewers, including Henry Cooke for the Listener. He thought it intimate and fluent, 'compulsively readable, easily consumable in two or three sittings, and often very funny', even if it barely explained her government's policy decisions. 'Ardernism was always more a sensibility than a full ideology. It was a way of looking at the world and reacting to it, not a theory of change.' Cooke says 'there are some hints, near the end of the book, that perhaps she isn't so certain quitting was the right idea … There is little attempt to engage with the arguments against the latter half of the Covid period, when MIQ's usefulness looked shaky and vaccine mandates radicalised thousands of people.' Tracy Watkins, editor of The Post and Sunday Star-Times, agreed the book let us into some of Ardern's emotional highs and lows. 'We also gain some fresh insight into her own personal mechanisms for coping with such momentous events as the terror attack, and Covid. But we don't learn a lot more about what was going on behind closed doors within her government, which must, at times, have been under enormous strain.' The Guardian considered it 'an emotionally rich and candid read, [but] the downside of skipping the political detail is that it's hard to get a sense of how exactly her astonishing early popularity ebbed away'. Tim Stanley of the Telegraph was more acerbic, writing that 'the practicalities of the job don't interest her: this book hinges on how everything felt'. The natural disaster at Whakaari White Island and the Christchurch mosque killings 'brought out Ardern's best: authoritative and sensitive, she has a fine temperament'. But she subtly vilified her opponents, he says: 'I am so kind that anyone who disagrees with me must be nasty; so reasonable that my critics must be nuts.' A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir, by Jacinda Ardern. Image / Supplied 2. (2) The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press) Ardern's memoir continues to hold out of the top spot Catherine Chidgey's latest novel, which tells the mysterious, ominous story of three boys in an alternative 1970s Britain. It's a 'tense, compelling, genre-fusing book', said Emma Neale in the Listener. 'There is the hint of submerged identity; of aspiration and prosperity, rubbing skins with disappointment and neglect; a preoccupation with what is authentic and what is fraudulent; the self and truth only dimly visible … Calling on the deeply rooted psychological power of the storytelling rule of three, the novel is divided into The Book of Dreams, The Book of Knowledge and The Book of Guilt. Three women, Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night, care for a set of 13-year-old triplets in an all-boys orphanage. There are three main narrative perspectives: Vincent, one of the triplets; the Minister of Loneliness, a government minister in charge of national care institutions known as the Sycamore Homes; and Nancy, a young girl kept in seclusion by fastidious older parents. This attention to pattern also coolly embodies the quest for order and control, the troubling obsession at the core of the fictional investigation.' The Book of Guilt, by Catherine Chidgey. Image / Supplied 3. (5) Whānau by Donovan Farnham & Rehua Wilson (Moa Press) This illustrated pocket hardback, ideal as a gift, aims to improve your te reo Māori one special phrase at a time. Donovan Te Ahunui Farnham and Rehua Wilson offer up dozens of expressions, often with metaphorical or proverbial origins, such as 'He toka tū moana' (stalwart) and 'Kei mate wheke' (never surrender). Whānau by Donovan Farnham and Rehua Wilson. Photo / Supplied 4. (3) Dr Libby Fix Iron First by Dr Libby (Little Green Frog) 'The one thing that changes everything,' reckons the subtitle of the latest book from Libby Weaver. Iron is essential for our health, and its lack is particularly common among girls and women. Menstruation, pregnancy and hormonal change can lead to iron deficiency, iron absorption can be an issue for some people, and it's often a trial to eat enough iron-rich foods. Weaver's new book Fix Iron First aims to address this. As her website, which also sells iron supplements made from organic peas, notes that low iron doesn't just make you tired. 'It can alter your brain chemistry, slow your metabolism, impact your thyroid, disturb your sleep and lower your emotional resilience. It affects how you think, how you feel, how you show up in the world – every single day.' Fix Iron First: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Dr Libby Weaver. Photo / Supplied 5. (RETURN) My Matariki Colouring and Activity Book by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White (Scholastic) A 96-page companion to Matariki Around the World from a couple of years back, it's a colouring-in book based around all aspects of the star cluster, with activity guides, word puzzles, drawing tips and some recipes, written with a sprinkling of te reo Māori. My Matariki Colouring & Activity Book by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White. Photo / supplied 6. (RETURN) See How They Fall by Rachel Paris (Moa Press) Sydney-set thriller from Auckland writer features a Succession-style family gathering in their retreat after the patriarch dies. Tragedy ensues and, as the Listener noted: 'the gilded family will fall … Some of the family will fall by dying. By poison. Others by other methods: loss of reputation, loss of fortune. Those golden sands turn out to be quick sand which swallows nasty rich people up. You have to applaud.' See How They Fall by Rachel Paris. Photo / Supplied 7. (6) The Bookshop Detectives: Tea and Cake and Death by Gareth and Louise Ward (Penguin) The bestselling Bookshop Detectives, owner of Sherlock Tomes, have another mysterious case to solve. From the publisher: 'In this rollicking new adventure, Garth and Eloise (and Stevie) must sniff out a prolific poisoner ahead of a vital fundraising event, the Battle of the Book Clubs. As time runs out and the body count rises, it seems the bad actors are circling closer to the people and places they care about. Could Pinter, the infamous serial killer from Eloise's past, somehow be involved? And when anyone could be a suspect, how can Garth and Eloise keep their customers, their small town and their beloved bookshop safe?' The Bookshop Detectives: Tea and Cake and Death by Gareth & Louise Ward. Photo / Supplied 8. (RETURN) Matariki Around the World by Miriama Kamo & Rangi Matamua & Isobel Joy Te Aho-White (Scholastic) Stories from here and elsewhere about the constellation we know and celebrate as Matariki. Matariki Around the World, by Miriama Kamo & Rangi Mātāmua, with illustrations by Isabel Joy Te Aho-White. Photo / Supplied 9. (7) End Your Fight with Food by Claire Turnbull (A&U) From the publisher: 'We are bombarded with advice on what we should do to be healthier or lose weight, but making that happen feels overwhelming, if not impossible. This cycle of trying and 'failing' then leaves you stuck in frustration, shame and self-blame. 'In this compassionate and practical guide, nutritionist and wellbeing expert Claire Turnbull helps you break free from the struggle. She explains how our eating is influenced by our psychology, why diets often fail to deliver lasting results — and why willpower alone isn't the answer. Plus, she shows why focusing exclusively on the number on the scales can get in the way of truly looking after our health. 'Learn how to unpack your eating patterns and change your habits for good, so that you're eating in accordance with your health and wellbeing goals, rather than focusing on your weight. 'Beyond food, Claire shares the latest research on the key pillars of genuine wellbeing: nourishment, sleep, movement, relationships, managing stress and connecting with your purpose.' End Your Fight with Food by Claire Turnbull. Photo / Supplied 10. (NEW) Easy Weeknight Meals by My Food Bag & Nadia Lim (A&U) Tenth anniversary edition of this co-production with the meal-delivery company. From the publisher: 'Here is the solution to every cook's weeknight dilemma – what to cook tonight? Delicious, simple-to-follow, nutritious recipes that your family and friends will love from the My Food Bag team and Nadia Lim. These recipes have been rated as favourites by My Food Bag customers, so you can relax in the knowledge that each recipe is tasty, easy to make and foolproof. They're organised by season, and Nadia's background as a dietitian and her strong healthy food philosophy ensures that they are nutritionally balanced and good for you.' Easy Weeknight Meals by My Food Bag & Nadia Lim. Image / Supplied Source: NielsenIQ BookScan – week ending June 21.
