fortune gems 3
The Māori electoral roll has grown by more than 3000 people - after organisers of the hīkoi mō te Tiriti promoted a switch from the general roll. Data from the Electoral Commission up to 25 November showed 2262 people changed from the general roll to the Māori roll - up from 59 in October. Just 28 people changed from Māori roll to general roll. There were also 862 new enrolments on the Māori roll - up from 29 the previous month. All up, there were 3096 more people on the Māori roll than at the start of the month. Read more: Victoria University senior lecturer in Te Kawa a Māui, the School of Māori Studies, Annie Te One said historically, Māori had not been well represented in the electoral system so any strategy that encouraged more people to vote was a good one. "Whether or not we continue to see this increase on the Māori roll, we have to wait and see but the numbers that have come out just in November are pretty phenomenal and showing this small but significant shift towards the Māori roll." Engaging rangatahi in politics During the hīkoi, organisers encouraged participants to make sure they enrolled to vote in the next election - with much of the messaging aimed at rangatahi (young) Māori. Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi told the hīkoi if supporters were not enrolled to vote, nothing would change. "We are now 20 percent of the population - we are a million people in this country. That should translate into 19 to 20 seats. We should be determining who the government is every election - that's the strategy. Everybody on the Māori roll." When the hīkoi reached Parliament, rangatahi Atareta Milne was one of the speakers to address the crowd, telling them that young Māori were watching and learning. "I ask you to enrol to vote. I ask you to be on the Māori roll. E mātakitaki ana mātau, e whakarongo ana mātau. (We are watching, we are listening). We need you, for today and for our apōpō!" Read more: Annie Te One said it was vital for other rangatahi to see that happening, to see that they had a voice and could have it heard. "There has been this consistent and, at times, unhelpful narrative that rangatahi Māori are politically apathetic, but that really isn't true. "Rangatahi Māori are really engaged in politics and we've just seen this play out - you know, the likes of Eru Kapa-Kingi, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke . These two young Māori, who are just two of many who have been involved in different political movements, are showing us that actually rangatahi Māori are leading this change." The role of social media as a platform to get the messaging out to rangatahi has been huge, she said. And Maipi-Clarke's haka in Parliament helped spread awareness nationally and internationally. "Through this hīkoi, we're seeing that this platform was not only made available for rangatahi Māori - it was actually made available by rangatahi Māori. It was the likes of Hana and Eru who really led the establishment of this." General roll or Māori roll? Overall, 3.65m people are enrolled to vote in Aotearoa. Of those, 563,964 are of Māori descent - with 292,825 (51.9 percent) on the Māori roll and 271,139 (48.1 percent) are on the general roll Since 2023, voters of Māori descent have been free to switch between the Māori roll and the General roll at any time except in the three months before an election. Previously, Māori voters could only switch once every five years, at census time. Annie Te One said a lot of education still needed to be done so Māori were aware of what was a relatively recent change to the electoral system. Those on the Māori roll vote in one of the seven Māori electorates. At the last election, six of those seven seats were won by Te Pāti Māori , the sole exception being Labour MP Cushla Tangaere-Manuel who won the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti seat. There is a historical stigma against the Māori seats which, when combined with a lack of education around how votes on the Māori roll translated to seats, had led to the almost even split of the Māori population between Māori and general rolls, Te One said. "Māori still only have the same number of votes as any other person in Aotearoa who is voting. Our votes don't have more weight than anyone else - it is just the ability to respond to how we want our vote to best translate, whether that's through the Māori electoral roll or through the general electoral roll." The number of people changing rolls during and after the hīkoi showed that flexibility of choice was a good thing, she said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.Khloé Kardashian is "not focused" on dating. The 40-year-old reality star - who was initially married to Lamar Odom from 2009 until 2016 but has daughter True, six as well as two-year-old son Tatum with former partner Tristan Thomspon - has been single for three years now and insisted that she is not looking for love. She told Bustle: "Dating has not been a focus for me, and I’ve been single for about three years and love it. I really, really do. But I’m not single and dating. I’m just single. I have such power and strength in that. I’m not lonely. There would be a difference if I was single and lonely: 'I really need my partner.' "I am single and thriving. I feel like I’m working on myself so much and am getting to such a good place that I just don’t want something to disrupt it. Also, I don’t know if it’s just me, but dating today is very scary. I’m not going to meet someone on social media. I’m not checking my DMs. I’m not! And when you go on someone’s Instagram, if it’s a guy, anyone’s corny unless you like them." The 'Kardashians' star - who split from NBA player Tristan when it was revealed he had also fathered a child with Maralee Nichols - described the dating scene as "awful" and wondered how she would ever be in a position to go on a romantic encounter anyway amid her intense fame. She said: "It’s awful anywhere. I just can’t imagine I would bring a man that I’m dating around my kids. So then where do I go to date you? I’m not going to a restaurant where there’s paparazzi and everyone’s going to say we’re getting married next week. I’m not going to your home because what if you kill me? You’re not coming to my home — I have kids! And I’m not going to a hotel — that’s presumptuous. So I’m like What do I do?'"
NoneWomen lose 22 minutes of their life with each cigarette they smoke while one shortens a man’s life by 17 minutes, experts have estimated. New predictions by researchers are higher than previous estimates which suggested that each cigarette shortens a smoker's life by 11 minutes. The latest findings, which claim that each cigarette leads to a 20-minute loss of life on average across both genders, are based on more up-to-date figures from long-term studies tracking the health of the population. Researchers from University College London said that the harm caused by smoking is “cumulative” and the sooner a person stops smoking, and the more cigarettes they avoid smoking, the longer they live. The new research, commissioned by the Department for Health and Social Care, suggests that if a 10-cigarettes-a-day smoker quits on 1 January, then by 8 January they could “prevent loss of a full day of life”. By 20 February, their lives could be extended by a whole week. And if their quitting is successful until 5 August, they will likely live for a whole month longer than if they had continued to smoke. The authors said: “Studies suggest that smokers typically lose about the same number of healthy years as they do total years of life. “Thus smoking primarily eats into the relatively healthy middle years rather than shortening the period at the end of life, which is often marked by chronic illness or disability. “So a 60-year-old smoker will typically have the health profile of a 70-year-old non-smoker.” The analysis, which will be published in the Journal of Addiction , states the average of 20 minutes of life expectancy lost for each cigarette “is time that would likely be spent in relatively good health”. It adds: “Stopping smoking at every age is beneficial but the sooner smokers get off this escalator of death, the longer and healthier they can expect their lives to be.” Dr Sarah Jackson, principal research fellow from the UCL Alcohol and Tobacco Research Group, said: “It is vital that people understand just how harmful smoking is and how much quitting can improve their health and life expectancy.” She added: “The sooner a person stops smoking, the longer they live. Quitting at any age substantially improves health and the benefits start almost immediately. “It's never too late to make a positive change for your health and there are a range of effective products and treatments that can help smokers quit for good.” Health officials say smokers can find advice, support and resources with the NHS Quit Smoking app, as well as the online Personal Quit Plan. Public health minister Andrew Gwynne said: “Smoking is an expensive and deadly habit and these findings reveal the shocking reality of this addiction, highlighting how important it is to quit. “The new year offers a perfect chance for smokers to make a new resolution and take that step.” Professor Sanjay Agrawal, special adviser on tobacco at the Royal College of Physicians, added: “Every cigarette smoked costs precious minutes of life, and the cumulative impact is devastating, not only for individuals but also for our healthcare system and economy. “This research is a powerful reminder of the urgent need to address cigarette smoking as the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the UK.”