CoveragePost
February 28, 2026
Essay by Keith Rankin, 20 February 2026. Imagine if the Olympic Games were currently being held in Wuhan, China. There would be widespread mentionings of it having been the starting place of the Covid19 pandemic, in December 2019. But pandemics (not ‘global pandemics’; pandemics are global by definition, as are world wars) have two places ... <a title="Keith Rankin Essay – Milano-Cortina, Pandemic Central" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/28/keith-rankin-essay-milano-cortina-pandemic-central/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Essay – Milano-Cortina, Pandemic Central">Read more</a>
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March 12, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. On Monday morning on RNZ’s Morning Report, Revenue Minister Simon Watts admitted that it was a legitimate option for ‘landlords’ to leave their houses empty. (Refer Revenue Minister on mortgage tax deductions for landlords, RNZ 11 March 2024.) The official narrative of the elite political class is that when tenancies on ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Empty Rentals and ‘Investor’-friendly Taxes" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/03/12/keith-rankin-analysis-empty-rentals-and-investor-friendly-taxes/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Empty Rentals and ‘Investor’-friendly Taxes">Read more</a>
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January 19, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. In the European Union at least, mortality data is now available until close to the end of 2023. In northern Europe, mortality has been markedly higher than it should have been in the ‘Fall’ – autumn – of 2023. The main exception is Poland. Respiratory illness is most likely the culprit. ... <a title="Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Excess Mortality to Fall 2023: mainly Northeast Europe" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/01/19/keith-rankin-chart-analysis-excess-mortality-to-fall-2023-mainly-northeast-europe/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Excess Mortality to Fall 2023: mainly Northeast Europe">Read more</a>
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September 7, 2023
Analysis by Keith Rankin. This chart shows total deaths in a number of comparable countries with high or highish life expectancies. The countries with most deaths have older populations. New Zealand should perhaps be compared most with Ireland, Scotland, Denmark and Finland; all countries with just over five million people. And with Australia. Australian ... <a title="Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Deaths as an Indicator of Population Age Structure and the increasing Demand for Health Care" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/09/07/keith-rankin-chart-analysis-deaths-as-an-indicator-of-population-age-structure-and-the-increasing-demand-for-health-care/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Deaths as an Indicator of Population Age Structure and the increasing Demand for Health Care">Read more</a>
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August 15, 2023
Essay by Keith Rankin. Fresh vegetables and fruit – quality foods – are what economists call a merit good, like primary health care, education and urban public transport. By contrast, ‘junk food’ – rich in sugar – is a demerit good. We in New Zealand and many other countries have a problem: too much unhealthy ... <a title="Keith Rankin Essay – Subsidise Vegetables and Fruit" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/08/15/keith-rankin-essay-subsidise-vegetables-and-fruit/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Essay – Subsidise Vegetables and Fruit">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 7, 2023
Analysis by Keith Rankin. These three countries are very useful comparators because they have broadly similar demographics – especially population age structures – to each other. Further they have comparable living standards. The Republic of Ireland has a population the same size as New Zealand (and a similar climate); Australia has close to five ... <a title="Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Seasonal Profile of Deaths in Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia: 2015-2023" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/08/07/keith-rankin-chart-analysis-seasonal-profile-of-deaths-in-ireland-new-zealand-and-australia-2015-2023/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Seasonal Profile of Deaths in Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia: 2015-2023">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
June 21, 2023
Analysis by Keith Rankin. The Pandemic can be assessed a bit like games of football, with deaths being the score. (Or, given that there are many ‘teams’ competing together, a better analogy may be a Marathon race. Nevertheless, I will use the language of the football metaphor.) The winning country would be that with the ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Covid19 Mortality Assessment – the Pandemic ‘World Cup’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/06/21/keith-rankin-analysis-covid19-mortality-assessment-the-pandemic-world-cup/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Covid19 Mortality Assessment – the Pandemic ‘World Cup’">Read more</a>
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April 3, 2023
Analysis by Keith Rankin. A pandemic can end in three ways. Either the death rates attributed to the pandemic disease cease, or at least drop back to pre-pandemic levels. Or normality is re-established, with the pandemic disease still present, but displacing other causes of death. Or a ‘new normal’ is established, with higher ongoing ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Covid19 Post-Pandemic: Back to Normal?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/04/03/keith-rankin-analysis-covid19-post-pandemic-back-to-normal/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Covid19 Post-Pandemic: Back to Normal?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
March 27, 2023
Analysis by Keith Rankin. The ‘Young Elderly’ are in essence the post-war baby-boomers. An average young elderly person in these charts was born around 1950 to 1952. The charts look at ‘quarterly excess deaths’, so do not show week-by-week fluctuations in deaths. For example, data for the very end of 2022 covers the whole ... <a title="Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – The Pandemic: Young Elderly Deaths in Europe, USA and New Zealand" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/03/27/keith-rankin-chart-analysis-the-pandemic-young-elderly-deaths-in-europe-usa-and-new-zealand/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – The Pandemic: Young Elderly Deaths in Europe, USA and New Zealand">Read more</a>
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March 14, 2023
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Germany’s Deadliest Weeks since World War Two? – Spiralling Deaths in Germany The four weeks ending 8 January 2023 have seen easily the most deaths in Germany of any four‑week period since 2015. The worst week was the week ending Christmas Day, with 28,481 deaths. While it’s hard to compare with pre-1990 ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Germany’s Deadliest Weeks since World War Two?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/03/14/keith-rankin-analysis-germanys-deadliest-weeks-since-world-war-two/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Germany’s Deadliest Weeks since World War Two?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
March 12, 2023
Analysis by Keith Rankin. The chart above is quite alarming, and not only because of Germany’s high death toll. It’s the difference between reported Covid19 deaths and excess deaths, in the context where four waves of excess deaths in Germany in 2022 are clearly ‘epidemic’ in nature. And we see the same death waves in ... <a title="Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Death Spikes and Covid Dissonance? Examples of Germany and Denmark" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/03/12/keith-rankin-chart-analysis-death-spikes-and-covid-dissonance-examples-of-germany-and-denmark/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Death Spikes and Covid Dissonance? Examples of Germany and Denmark">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
March 8, 2023
Analysis by Keith Rankin. On 7 March 2023 I published a summary table of death tallies in a wide range of countries, comparing 2019‑2022 with 2015‑2018. (Covid19 Pandemic-era Facts: Irrefutable, Inconvenient, Important, Evening Report.) I let the data stand on its own, largely without interpretation. The most important findings to explain are the reasons why Sweden ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Covid19 Pandemic-era Deaths: Interpretation of the Facts" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/03/08/keith-rankin-analysis-covid19-pandemic-era-deaths-interpretation-of-the-facts/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Covid19 Pandemic-era Deaths: Interpretation of the Facts">Read more</a>
