General Debate 20 March 2020

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MT_Tinman

China sneezed and the world caught a cold!

Now politicians of the world are using that cold to punish those pesky voters who voted the wrong way, voted for freedom.
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March 20, 2020 8:00am
- secondcumming
  
  That’ll teach Trump for imposing tariffs on China!
  Wait till they start calling in the billions in loan advances from countries that are on the verge of default.
  
  *Drugs & *Viruses – who needs military force to take over the world 😎
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:28am
  - igm
    
    NZ is in that predicament!
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:24am
- MT_Tinman
  
  Some stats on the cold from Italy:
  
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8130479/99-patients-killed-coronavirus-Italy-existing-illnesses-study-finds.html
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:44am
  - cmm
    
    … and they were mainly old … and they were mainly smokers.
    
    So basically mainly those who were already on the fast track to being part of the death statistics in the next few months.
    
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    March 20, 2020 11:30am
- Fletch
  
  The ‘Kung Flu’…
  
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  March 20, 2020 11:05am
Simon

They put Phil Twyford on the front page yesterday and mass panic buying quickly followed. They have got to muzzle the cretins. So important as many people are scared for their health and jobs.
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March 20, 2020 8:03am
- mandk
  
  Ah, yes.
  
  Phil Twyford – the man with the reverse Midas touch.
  
  Everything he touches turns to shit.
  
  He must have a lot of dirt on the Labour leadership.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:01am
mikenmildagain

Sure, Covid-19 is serious, but today is the International Day of Happiness, so cheer up everyone!
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March 20, 2020 8:03am
- hullkiwi
  
  Mikey, I may disagree with your politics, but you are right. We all need happiness and cheer!
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:14am
- emmess
  
  Please dont refer to it as Covid-19.
  That is the name created by WHO bureaucrats in the pocket of the Chinese Communist Party, who caused this disaster in the first place. We should never forget that.
  Refer to it as the Wuhan Virus or the China Virus.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:19am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    You’ll call it what I tell you to call it, and feel happy about it!
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:47am
    - Michael NZ
      
      Cheers M3
      Wuhan Flu it is.
      
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      March 20, 2020 10:30am
      - Ed Snack
        
        But remember, calling it the “Kung Flu” is going too far. So please do not repeat !
        
        But to be fair, the WHO names are in fact done using a given nomenclature and follow the pattern used for SARS and MERS that are closely related. Nothing wrong with using COVID-19.
        
        Nothing wrong either, just IMHO, in calling it the “Chinese Virus” as retaliation for official Chinese attempts to attribute the origin of the virus to the US army as a deliberate operation. That attempted attribution is a far worse tactic than calling it “WuFlu” or any equivalent.
        
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        March 20, 2020 11:25am
      - BeaB
        
        Wuflu.
        
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        March 20, 2020 11:44am
  - Michael NZ
    
    Thanks emmess
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:30am
- Wangas Feral
  
  I could do with some happiness. I watched Star Trek Pukehard – so damned depressing. I urge nobody to binge watch this series. Watching it is like giving yourself a lobotomy but sending the probe in through the old freckle.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:09am
- Inandout
  
  m&m, I always believed happiness is a warm gun..or is that just Hollywood hype?
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:37am
Misha Beattie

Sign in Christchurch supermarket last night “If you are in self isolation do not enter these premises”

Of course there are delivery options. But some elderly and vulnerable folk may not have the means or ability to use delivery services. In these difficult times let’s all look out for any of our neighbours who may need our help.
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March 20, 2020 8:03am
- peterwn
  
  And delivery capability may be limited. Even where there are pick-up lockers, they may be where a self-isolated person may not go. Even if the logistics of getting groceries to the affected customers can be overcome (volunteers or the military), the ‘order fillers’ may be the bottleneck.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:54am
- Inandout
  
  MB,I was once accused of ‘self idolation’.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:39am
- Bobba Fret
  
  I believe there is a backlog of internet orders
  
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  March 20, 2020 11:11am
niggly

So will Jacinda Ardern align herself with other prominent business leaders and suggest politicians take a pay cut, to show solidarity with the people (especially the hundreds of thousands that will loose their jobs during the winter)?

No of course not, everything will be fine in Jacinda world on her $500K salary package as she flies around the country telling everyone doom and gloom stories and industry’s job loses with a smile.

But what’s the bet she does enact a pollie pay cut a few months later when the news of people hurting will dominate the news? If so, too late, too cynical. But sums up Labour perfectly!
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March 20, 2020 8:05am
- Simon Gotlieb
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  What a bloody misery guts you are today. Niggly sure does sum you up. So much for the International Day of Happiness.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:11am
  - niggly
    
    Just speaking up for the hundreds of thousands that will loose their jobs (and the thousands that already have) and their houses due to govt incompetence and delays with closing the borders with countries that already had the infection (all so the March 15 photoshoot could have gone ahead).
    
    Now that the govt has locked down the country in totality (and we have yet to face winter and its perfect flu/cv conditions) it will take us longer to recover, I would prefer the govt take a leaf out of the (UK) Conservatives book as their approach will see the UK up and running before others.
    
    But hey let’s just NOT criticise the publicity princess according to you, just like the rest of the msm (Hosking excluded, he’s about the only broadcaster holding her to account)!
    
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    March 20, 2020 8:39am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      Peter Williams on Radio Magic also is no fan of of this evil woman especially after her using this crisis to rush through extreme abortion laws.
      
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      March 20, 2020 9:06am
    - Simon Gotlieb
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      There’s a big difference between holding the government to account and being negative about every bloody thing, and quite frankly, the second one is about all I’m seeing here. Hosking criticises everything the government does, so he’s hardly impartial. There are things the government could have done better, sure, but overall their response has been better than most other ones. The Conservatives came around from their earlier “let it run it’s course” idea and they are belatedly having to crack down much harder. I don’t see this as incompetence – after all, how many governments have had to deal with something on this scale – well, none really.
      The time for negative criticism is over. Those who continue to bitch and complain are quickly going to be seen as unpatriotic and part of the problem. If it does indeed get worse we could see government control of the narrative like during the World Wars and then we’ll really have something to complain about – but then we won’t have the ability to. It’s time to start acting with a bit of positivity about what we can actually do to work with this. I’m over the negativity.
      
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      March 20, 2020 9:10am
      - Monique Watson
        
        The Governments acting at the pace of the turtle and when it does take action, lying about the action to be taken. You’re with the rest of the deluded that there is no community spread. It’s in communities and schools in high risk communities should be closed without delay.
        
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        March 20, 2020 9:16am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Fear is what is driving a great deal of decision making. There are a few special cases but when half of the people catching the virus are symptom free it is surely not that much of a concern. Our elderly and 10-19 cohort can be watched over separately.
        
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        March 20, 2020 9:18am
      - SGA
        
        There are things the government could have done better, sure, but overall their response has been better than most other ones.
        
        Two of my young adult children are in different countries and I have friends working in other places overseas, so I have been watching what is happening there as well as here. In broad brush strokes, we are not only following the standard game plan that most countries are using as the threat level changes , but we have adopted lower thresholds for action than most of them. I realise that some here think it is not enough (others, on the other hand, seem to think it is all a storm in teacup), but we are hardly complete slackers either.
        
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        March 20, 2020 9:53am
      - Garbageman
        
        Fk me all you do here is whinge moan & attack KB commentators weirdly assuming one person speaks for everyone here maybe it’s you that needs to chill out and have a lie down you seem to becoming more unhinged as the days progress
        
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        March 20, 2020 9:54am
      - Crisplion
        
        “The time for negative criticism is over. Those who continue to bitch and complain are quickly going to be seen as unpatriotic and part of the problem.”
        
        Bloody hell SG, quite the authoritarian, aren’t you? Next you’ll be suggesting re-education camps for anyone who dares criticise your ‘dear leader’.
        
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        March 20, 2020 10:26am
      - kloyd0306
        
        You are forgetting that many of us predicted that the Coalition of Losers were and would be proved as being incompetent.
        Now you’re upset that we were correct.
        No pleasing you at all!
        
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        March 20, 2020 11:02am
      - BeaB
        
        That’s getting a bit close to totalitarianism for me. Now is the time for plenty of debate and dissent. Otherwise we have t0 accept that what Jacinda said last night is gospel – “you’ll get the truth from me”!
        Closed borders, isolation, suspension of human rights, restricted freedom of movement. I don’t trust this government enough to follow blindly like a besotted sheep.
        
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        March 20, 2020 11:49am
    - Nickc2
      
      He tries to but she never actually answers the question asked. She has a pre-prepared script and any diversion created mayhem in her head.
      
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      March 20, 2020 10:52am
- Paulus
  
  I assume she flying Air NZ around the country ?
  No way travelling with the plebs – good old RNZAF.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:35am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Bro, she is working 24 X 7 saving the nation, making historic calls. Barry Soap will be writing a post soon recommending a pay rise for her.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:13am
  - hullkiwi
    
    SCS, remember yesterday, while touring to see the sheeple of Rotorua, Godzone PriNZess reminded the sheeple:
    
    1. That she is not closing down NZ; and
    2. The only truth is her, and all other sources of news are “Fake News”.
    
    (So I wasn’t looking at what I was looking at yesterday, PriNZess?)
    
    Maybe, she should do a tour of the Wynyard Quarter and visit the office blocks and find out how many companies have issued instructions for their staff to work from home.
    
    PriNZess lives in a parallel country.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:08am
    - Michael NZ
      
      (Bubble)
      
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      March 20, 2020 10:33am
    - Nickc2
      
      And she is the only one in it!
      
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      March 20, 2020 10:55am
  - Tall Man
    
    “Pay” implies work. In my opinion she is the highest rewarded beneficiary in the country.
    
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    March 20, 2020 3:59pm
Tall Man

Good to see the media back to the approved game plan, attack Simon Bridges and laud the the liar ardern.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/confused-priorities-simon-bridges-doubles-down-criticism-governments-coronavirus-relief-package

Predictably pathetic.
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March 20, 2020 8:05am
- Simon Gotlieb
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  While the posters here are the only ones who really know what’s going on, eh?
  
  Nevermind Tall Man, thank goodness there’s some of us here to prevent this place becoming so much an echo chamber that you all crawl up your own arses. Have a good day 🙂 You’re still alive
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:12am
  - Tall Man
    
    You obviously think you’re a clever fellow but your post revealsr you are not.
    
    You and a few others trot out the “play the ball not the man” drivel yet you generally fail to adhere to your own advice.
    
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    March 20, 2020 8:39am
    - igm
      
      Typical of the left . . . all noise and no action . . . no guts!
      
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      March 20, 2020 9:28am
    - Simon Gotlieb
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Pot: meet kettle.
      
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      March 20, 2020 9:45am
      - BeaB
        
        Go and read Animal Farm. You need a dose of reality.
        
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        March 20, 2020 11:51am
  - niggly
    
    “You’re still alive” … of course Tall Man is and he will be fine.
    
    Sure CV may spread fast like the spanish flu but the deaths are much, much, much less. If the govt were competent they would be putting more money into protecting the elderly and vulnerable and allowing the population gain herd immunity as there won’t likely be a vaccine for up to a year.
    
    In the meantime NZ’ers can’t remain isolated forever and when NZ comes out of isolation in a few months we will still be vulnerable … thanks Jacinda and Robbo and Winston!
    
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    March 20, 2020 8:46am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Doesn’t work. about 5-6% of population end up in ICU. That means dead if no space in hospitals. It is about 3% even in younger adults.
      https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6912e2.htm
      
      If you let it run through even the least at risk part of the country you are talking 1-200k dead before we hit the 70ish percent needed for herd immunity, because if you try that approach the high number of ICU cases will see 10-100x more patients than hospitals can handle.
      
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      March 20, 2020 12:15pm
  - Bykmad
    
    So Simon Gotlieb. You think that it is OK for this Coalition of Losers to slip a $25.00 a week benefit increase into the “Business Assistance Package”. What part of Business Assistance is a Benefit increase. Focus on the problem at hand and concentrate the package on the employers being able to continue employing, not giving yet more free hand outs to the non contributing section of society who chose not to work.
    
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    March 20, 2020 8:48am
    - Simon Gotlieb
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Yeah, I do think it’s okay. To be honest you can stick your generalising up your arse. I’m getting over this beneficiary bashing. It’s starting to sound like racism.
      
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      March 20, 2020 9:12am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        How do you justify the extra $25/week?
        Racism–bloomin’ rubbish. That word is bandied about with as much relevance as a sparrows fart.
        
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        March 20, 2020 9:22am
      - Zapper
        
        Is this a parody? Beneficiaries are a race now?
        
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        March 20, 2020 9:25am
      - Simon Gotlieb
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        Yeah, bandied about as much as the old “bennies will only spend it on booze and fags” rubbish.
        
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        March 20, 2020 9:46am
      - Komata
        
        Simon@0912
        
        Re ‘It’s beginning to sound like racism’. Aside from the fact that use of that word is the standard fall-back of those from the left when they are losing an argument, please provide us with examples of this to support your allegation.
        
        Thank you
        
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        March 20, 2020 9:55am
      - projectman
        
        Beneficiaries are a race??
        
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        March 20, 2020 10:11am
      - Crisplion
        
        I think SG is trying to challenge Ztev and Stephieboy for the title of ‘most annoying troll on KB ever’.
        
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        March 20, 2020 10:30am
      - Simon Gotlieb
        
        For the benefit of those who can’t take something metaphorically…
        
        saving that something reminds you of racism is because its an example of “othering” or singling a segment of society out because of their difference to yourself and talking about it in a negative way.
        
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        March 20, 2020 10:34am
      - Zapper
        
        Except you didn’t say it reminds you of racism. You said “It’s starting to sound like racism”
        
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        March 20, 2020 10:39am
      - kloyd0306
        
        What’s it like in Fraser House?
        Defending this poor excuse of a CoL government is sounding like you are a beneficiary.
        Can’t wait until September and a Nat/Act government.
        
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        March 20, 2020 11:10am
      - Local Miller
        
        “beneficiary bashing”? Where was anyone bashing beneficiaries? This is about making sure the money goes WHERE IT WILL DO THE MOST GOOD! This would be to ensure that those who are currently employed stay employed, and don’t end up an the ever growing list of beneficiaries.
        
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        March 20, 2020 11:43am
      - alloytoo
        
        Imagine how medical equipment (including ventilators) you could buy with $3.5 Billion dollars.
        
        Now divide by 7.
        
        That’s what we’ve got, a 1/7th effective government.
        
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        March 20, 2020 2:00pm
      - lifesgood
        
        Get lost! Dole beneficiaries are lazy arses who live off the tax payer. Sounds like you might be one.
        
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        March 20, 2020 2:05pm
    - cmm
      
      Well it is easy to pull the LIE that if the bludgers have more money they will spend more and businesses will be assisted.
      
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      March 20, 2020 9:15am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        It takes a long stretch of logic to see benes extra expenditure on booze, groceries, pot, cars, petrol etc., having an economy wide effect. GST will claw some back but will it result in a down the line multiplier?
        The best justification is the possibility of a large number of new unemployed finding the benefit rate a bit more agreeable than otherwise–the adjustment from waged to unwaged is very difficult.
        
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        March 20, 2020 9:30am
      - cmm
        
        Kev: Correct, the logic is broken, but that is how they sell it.
        
        Every cent of those hand outs to bludgers comes from tax paid by the few net taxpayers, now or in the future.
        
        That extra tax burden makes it harder for businesses to operate now, or in the future.
        
        But sshhh: Gotlieb is tuning his guitar.
        
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        March 20, 2020 9:59am
      - Simon Gotlieb
        
        Nah you can be as loud as you like. My Polytune doesn’t give a shit about your noise. 😉
        
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        March 20, 2020 10:35am
    - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
      
      2.8B free to Beneficiaries and 900M loan to Air NZ, our national carrier. Priorities sorted out correctly. A National gummit would not have done this for sure.
      
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      March 20, 2020 9:15am
      - projectman
        
        National would definitely have provided assistance for AirNZ and not used Labour’s election ploy of the permanent beneficiary increase. Priorities sorted correctly.
        
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        March 20, 2020 10:13am
      - Simon Gotlieb
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        $900m NOW. $2.8 billion over 5 years. You do the math.
        
        But you’re probably right. National would have dithered over the poor until they all started dying in the street, then started a massive public/private partnership RFP for the mass graves we’d need.
        
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        March 20, 2020 10:37am
      - alloytoo
        
        Simon Gotlieb said.
        
        “$900m NOW. $2.8 billion over 5 years. You do the math.
        But you’re probably right. National would have dithered over the poor until they all started dying in the street, then started a massive public/private partnership RFP for the mass graves we’d need. ”
        
        Simon’s still living in the 20th century, National’s GFC response is the most effective rebuttal of your nonsense.
        
        By Simon’s reckoning John and Bill should have cut a swath through benefits and it wouldn’t have cost them a single vote. They didn’t, I guess because they cared and were 7/7 effective.
        
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        March 20, 2020 2:05pm
  - Michael NZ
    
    Simon
    this is not the real world, controlled by your PriNZess.
    This is Kiwiblog, a place where things can get said if you want.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:34am
    - Simon Gotlieb
      
      Agreed. Which I why I am afford the opportunity to say whatever I like. Do you really think I give a fuck about your downticks?
      
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      March 20, 2020 12:46pm
- hullkiwi
  
  Tall Man, it is TVNZ who are out of step (probably because they are the state owned media machine).
  
  Three days after Robbo’s package – both Garner and Richardson are taking pot shots this morning at the ideological inadequacy of Robbo’s package.
  
  What NZ needs is real leadership with real leadership and a strategy to go forward. Not a bunch of ad-hoc knee jerk measures aimed at the CoL’s voter base.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:20am
  - Simon Gotlieb
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Garner and Richardson are National voters to the core. They have no sense of impartiality. The same could be said for the likes of Trotter and Bruce to be honest, but at least they are calling for unity. So many here just want to bitch and moan.
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:14am
    - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
      
      Sorry Garner is as Red as you can get. He is almost a list candidate for Labour bro.
      
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      March 20, 2020 9:16am
      - Simon Gotlieb
        
        Yeah, nah. Put the bong down son, you’re baked.
        
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        March 20, 2020 10:38am
    - hullkiwi
      
      Richardson yes, but Garner? He has been firmly in the SLG fan club in the past. But at least he is saying publicly that it is better we have businesses employing rather than going under by increasing their cost base while their ability to earn is disappearing.
      
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      March 20, 2020 9:50am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        We could prop up the whole economy–just give it all to the COL and we all become benes.
        There is a name for that.
        
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        March 20, 2020 10:38am
    - Lance
      
      Utter bollix
      Garner makes every effort to denigrate Simon Bridges and National for good measure. He always asks soft and non-confrontational questions of Cindy .
      As for the scummy trick the other day by the CoL of using a crisis to ram through their social agenda AND then preach loud and clear that no one should criticize them as that would be playing politics…. assholes one and all I say.
      
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      March 20, 2020 10:17am
    - BeaB
      
      Go and trim your nose hair.
      
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      March 20, 2020 11:52am
- emmess
  
  The media chatter amongst themselves and then conclude that they did not approve of Simon Bridge’s speech. Have they polled the public on if they think giving a permanent increase to beneficiaries is a good idea?
  No, didn’t think so.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:23am
  - Tall Man
    
    No need for facts, an opinion is fine these days.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:05am
  - Crisplion
    
    Why on earth would the media want to poll the plebs? They don’t ask the great unwashed what they think, they tell them what to think.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:34am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Question:
  At any time in the history of small business, when has a 30% fall in revenue, not meant bankruptcy?
  ie By the time you get your application for this “bail out”, your business will be gone.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:41am
  - Tall Man
    
    30% would mean the end for our employee.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:06am
  - Lance
    
    Our company survived a 60% practically overnight drop a few years back.
    We survived but it meant a serious amount of redundancies and retrenchment.
    Rebuilding slowly now.
    Our lesson, never put all your eggs in one basket. We knew the principle but when the money is flowing in, key manages and board members are hard to dissuade from their course of action.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:22am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Interestingly, Bridges and his MP’s have been calling for the borders to be closed down all week. After four days, the PM agreed with them.
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:58am
  - alloytoo
    
    She’s a little slow our PM. (Unless the request is written in crayon…..)
    
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    March 20, 2020 2:08pm
- Suze Wainwright
  
  To be fair, Claire Trevett’s latest NZH article (behind Premium) is reasonably balanced. She acknowledges that Simon Bridges and the National Party definitely have a place in challenging anything the current Govt might leap at to ram through and also acknowledges that many of the Govt’s announcements were just early deliveries of what was going to come in this year’s Budget anyway…
  
  At least she states that obviously any notions of a continuance of any ‘Wellbeing’ Budget bullsh!t is now completely and utterly dead & buried.
  
  I personally think this year has now turned into the Labour Party’s call v the National Party – circumstances have actually made any utterances from the Green Party of Aotearoa/New Zealand and NZ First seem like meaningless drivel or nothing but blind support for their leading partner…
  
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  March 20, 2020 11:10am
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    Of course, the Labour Party showed phenomenal unity and support to the Govt back during the GFC.
    
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    March 20, 2020 11:14am
Tony Stuart

Thank goodness it’s Friday, not that there’s anything on at the weekend any more.
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March 20, 2020 8:05am
- Simon Gotlieb
  
  I know. All my gigs are cancelled, and the wife sure as hell doesn’t want to go out shopping. Might get to spend some time at home playing guitars and messing with my motorcycles. Joy. 🙂
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:13am
  - Alboy
    
    The good thing about motorcycles, you can still self isolate and ride at the same time 🙂
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:01am
    - Simon Gotlieb
      
      You’ve just described my dream retirement.
      
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      March 20, 2020 10:38am
  - Michael NZ
    
    Simon surely you jest!
    Messing with your motorcycles?
    What’s a wife for anyway 🙂
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:38am
    - Simon Gotlieb
      
      I wouldn’t let my wife anywhere near my motorcycles with a wrench Michael. 🙂
      
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      March 20, 2020 12:47pm
- alex Masterley
  
  Alot of my stuff has been cancelled/postponed so i might have to do some of the deferred the maintenance on the house that I have been avoiding doing.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:16am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Is your Rotary Club going to continue to meet?
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:59am
    - alex Masterley
      
      No.
      Just made the hard call to suspend our weekly meetings, the suspension to be reviewed on a monthly basis.
      Board and committee meetings to be held by skype or zoom.
      We will also look at morphing temporarily into an e club.
      Given the average age of our members it is for the best.
      
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      March 20, 2020 11:25am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Indeed. Given the demographic of many of our members, COVID-19 could hit Rotary hard.
        
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        March 20, 2020 12:58pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      Tony, even better we have the AGM of the Rodney National Party next week. All bar a handful of those who would attend are retired, so it’ll be interesting to see the turnout.
      
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      March 20, 2020 1:35pm
- pdm
  
  Still races to watch – will probably have a couple of quaddies as usual.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:16am
- Tarquin North
  
  Rum racing tonight and the flying 15 nationals are on at Marsden Cove. Not all bad.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:19am
  - Blackface Twin Reverb
    
    Ahh, the good old Flying 15… the most comfortable boat I’ve ever hiked on, then maybe a Europe 2nd. As much as I love Elliot’s, the 5.9’s are a torture device as far as hiking is concerned.
    
    Fair winds Tarquin 🙂
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:51am
  - Batman
    
    Amen to that Tarquin, most Regattas are cancelled or postponed but thankfully most normal sailing down here is continuing!
    
    Thank fuck.
    
    Sadly we’ve had to cancel afternoon tea and keep the bar shut ? truly hard times for all!
    
    PS Blackface, have you tried hiking in a Laser? It’s basically a bruise machine par excellence.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:39am
    - Blackface Twin Reverb
      
      As a bowman, the 5.9 by far Batman (I did 2 years in the RNZYS youth scheme in the mid-late 90’s), your toes under the straps fixed to the back face of the cabin, 10′” above the deck and the back of your thighs on the knife edge gunwale and no support in between…
      The new 4 man boats they have look pretty cool.
      
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      March 20, 2020 12:08pm
  - alex Masterley
    
    Was supposed to be helping this weekend with the Y88 nats, which now have been re-scheduled, which means i hit the office.
    Our rum racing will continue as long as boats show up, although prize givings for events will not be held.
    Whether the winter series is sailed is unknown but the club is saying positive things.
    
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    March 20, 2020 11:28am
- tui47
  
  It is raining here in Auckland which adds to the feeling of gloom. No gardening or dip in the pool. The farmers will be happy not that there is many in Remuera. Meanwhile our local village is very busy with booming cafes and the continued bedlam at the New World. Stuck at home businessmen striding up and down the aisles loudly speaking business into their phones, whilst wealthy young and old residents full shopping trolleys. The delivery guys are now coming inside the store to roll in pallets of fresh vegetables while the store assistants battle with trolleys of boxes to replace empty stock. We personally are scrambling to get our finances (including looking at the kids bank accounts we contributed to) together in case hubby’s income drops which in a highly likely scenario. Clients are in big trouble and apparently many are quite depressed. This (in its early stages) is sending small and medium businesses to the edge so hubby is spending his days in close contact with free advice. Meanwhile daughter and son are desperate for an Auckland uni lockdown. There was a brief false alarm started by a lecturer yesterday evening they were considering sending uni students home today but it appears it will go for slightly longer. They really need to get students home out of the hostels where the virus will flourish.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:47am
  - SB 2
    
    Its sunning up here in Auckland central after c 0.001% trace rain to break the drought.
    
    All is well!
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:22am
  - graham
    
    There is always a bright side … those of us in Auckland on water tanks are cheering everytime the rain guage records another mm!
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:31am
    - hullkiwi
      
      Don’t we know it. We’ve got another delivery coming on Monday (it was booked for 17/02, so a case of better late than never).
      
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      March 20, 2020 1:38pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Dip in the pool is no problem for us. Spa pool – even when it is raining in the cold winter. Just wear an umbrella hat so the hair don’t get wet LOL
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:50am
    - hullkiwi
      
      Sorry, but our pool has been evaporating for the past 2 months, with no chance of a top up. Our tanks and house supply are more impt!
      
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      March 20, 2020 1:41pm
Liberty

“Bring back the plastic supermarket bag”

In the public good, hand shakes are now uncool.
Yet Pams reusable bags which have been God knows where
are taken in to supermarkets and carted around the store
and placed on the counter for packing, to leave, or collect a nasty virus.
How disgusting is that? Bring back the single use bag.
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March 20, 2020 8:08am
Maggy Wassilieff

To while away the Cabin Fever over the dark, bleak ~~weeks~~ months ahead, I wonder if some of you could offer up your favourite Travel Book titles:

Mine:
The Gobi Desert – Cable & French
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides – Boswell.
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March 20, 2020 8:11am
- toby1845
  
  The Painted Veil – W. Somerset Maughan.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:16am
  - SB 2
    
    A marvellous evocative read of Hong Kong and China in the 1920s.
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:30am
  - Scooter
    
    Good movie too
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:20pm
- pdm
  
  Maggie mrspdm and I love the Outer Hebrides. My father was from the Isle Of Lewis and I have two first cousins there. A book by Lesley Riddoch – Riddoch on the Outer Hebrides – features one of them and her late husband.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:21am
  - Aliog
    
    Do you know which part of Lewis he came from, pdm?
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:35am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I haven’t got to the Outer Hebrides… and probably won’t unless one of my kids wants to venture forth.
    Lewis seems so austere….
    Religion doesn’t seem to have such a hold now over the islands I’ve visited (Iona, Mull & Arran); though in the Grandparents’ day there were 3 places of Sunday worship on Iona (only about 50 families on the Island)…all offering a different version of Presbyterianism.
    
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    March 20, 2020 2:58pm
- Misha Beattie
  
  The Old Patagonian Express – Paul Theroux
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:24am
  - SGA
    
    The Great Railway Bazaar – same author
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:56am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Yeah, I forgot that one.
      
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      March 20, 2020 10:17am
- mikenmildagain
  
  How about some Daniel Defoe – A Journal of the Plague Year
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:29am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    No?
    Ok, some alternatives:
    Geoffrey Rice, Black November: The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in New Zealand
    Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror – very good on the Black Death
    Or maybe watch that great 1970s TV series, Survivors.
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:54am
- kowtow
  
  Not quite travel but place ,social/history.
  
  Anything by James Michener; Cheseapeake ,Hawaii , Poland etc
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:34am
  - hookerphil
    
    I was reading Poland during a 30 day Europe bus trip – my first time there – as we went through the different Countries the book and how everyone just went on through its borders became clearer and clearer, Enjoy Michener, have most of his books.
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:28am
- tui47
  
  I personally plan to turn my family tree research into a book for family. I have an enormous tree on ancestry so I intend to put it in an easier to read format (with photographs) for my parents. Then I will sort the attic out.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:50am
  - Evadne
    
    What a great project!
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:56am
- cmm
  
  “Going to Remain Here – faking travel at home” 🙂
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:58am
- SB 2
  
  The Old Ways Robert Mc Farlane- ( Following the Tracks, drove-roads, holloways , sea paths that criss crosse the ancient British Isles… )
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:28am
- John Warren
  
  An Inland Voyage – R.L. Stevenson.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:32am
- oldfella
  
  Anything by Len Deighton.
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:26am
- Liberty
  
  labour and the gulag by Giles Udy
  
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  March 20, 2020 11:03am
- Ed Snack
  
  Hey Maggie, another cable & French reader. I inherited my copy from my Father, wonderful read of a time only around 100 years ago but now feels like a lot longer. It very quickly changed not long after they left as the railways were pushed across the old routes.
  
  They have a pretty extensive publishing record, I have “Through Jade Gate and Central Asia” but it is less well written than the “Gobi Desert”. Also have one who’s title escapes me where they finally exit China in 1936 and go out via Siberia/Russia.
  
  If you haven’t read it, I recommend Robert Byron’s “Road to Oxiana”, published in 1937 about travels in Iran/Persia in the early 1930’s.
  
  I don’t recommend Arnold Toynbee’s “Between Oxus and Jumma”. It should be fascinating, he managed to travel through the area of Afghanistan between those two rivers that had very rarely been visited by Europeans and was almost totally closed as it was close to the sensitive Russian/Soviet border. But somehow it is to by mind insufferably dull, sadly.
  
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  March 20, 2020 11:43am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Txs…
    
    I’ll check out the Byron…
    
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    March 20, 2020 3:00pm
hullkiwi

Morning folks and welcome to the new normal.
1. Working from home isolation; and
2. 3 days after Robo’s labour voter targeted spend up an Garner & Richardson telling Jacinda and Robbo that they got it wrong.

They are ssying:
1. This & next year’s minimum wage increases must be put on hold; and
2. Jacinda & Robbo have to put their “ideology” away and help “all New Zealanders” as we are all in this together.

They are right. The economic impacts are happening all over NZ, and the fallout is happening across the socio economic divide. All sections of our society will need help.

This is a time for leadership, not ideology and spin. ..who will step forward?
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March 20, 2020 8:12am
- tf78
  
  If anyone else says “be kind” I am going to scream. Kindness is not a cure.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:35am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    Be kind like Jesus but wash your hands like Pontius Pilate.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:26am
    - Michael NZ
      
      very good… Nigel
      
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      March 20, 2020 10:41am
    - hilaryt
      
      …clever. Give me dollops of humour over the banal any day.
      
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      March 20, 2020 11:21am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    It’s now on the Govt posters appearing on the bus stops around Christchurch.
    Has a a new reign begun?
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:42am
Maggie Pie

THIS IS JUST SOOO SICK & HEARTBREAKING.

“A 9yo has given birth to her baby…”

What is it with this barbaric Islamic regime?
Absolutely appalling!!

https://twitter.com/DadaShastoni/status/1240420637300142083
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March 20, 2020 8:17am
- Chuck Bird
  
  Muslims think 9 years old is old enough to get married for a female.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:12am
- SB 2
  
  From your twtter feed ,
  
  https://twitter.com/Anahitaaaaaa2/status/1240685206836613122/photo/1
  
  Sigh!
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:34am
- Inandout
  
  MP, some of us recoil in horror, some accept this as the will of Allah. A case for abortion..very definitely, except Islamic law probably forbids this.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:46am
- secondcumming
  
  What amazes me is the number of Islamic pedo’s on here that are prepared to *downtick* the posts relating to a 9 year old girl getting pregnant.
  
  Sick bastards 😎
  
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  March 20, 2020 12:58pm
Ruahine

I read where Winston Peters is calling for all New Zealanders to come home. I presume he means the ones in China and India as well.
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March 20, 2020 8:18am
- Michael NZ
  
  Time for India to step up it’s manufacture of Medicines so there is an alt to CCP’s China..
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:42am
- Tricati
  
  Clearly Peters is not aware the airlines have reduced the number of flights into the country (were doing this before this shambles due to economic slowdown) and have consolidated the remaining flights so no seats available.
  Daughter and son-in-law stuck in Bali, and having trying to get flights home for 7 days now, so all Peters is doing is grandstanding, and its pissing people off.
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:48am
Old White Loser

So people need to realize that in times of crisis you need to make sacrifices.

In the Herald, the below article is this request from Warrior’s players before they agree to play more games in the NRL after this week.

“Thirdly, and most importantly from the players’ point of view, that the NRL support and finance visits from the squad’s wives, partners, and children.

Their families would be safer in New Zealand and no other employer who do this. They should be grateful they have a job.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12318285
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March 20, 2020 8:18am
G152

Some of us went through the late 40s when we had polio to contend with.
Schools shut down lessons by correspondence school
Pretty much the same tactics as now except far more deadly and those it didn’t kill were left crippled in iron lungs and strapped into iron braces with paralyzed arms….
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March 20, 2020 8:21am
peterwn

I hope that Air NZ is not seeking extra funding and borrowing under false pretenses. People who have booked to Australia for example have no mechanism to easily tell Air NZ that they do not want to go (regardless of fare implications), or indeed travel is virtually impossible as 14 day self isolation in Australia would defeat the purpose of travel. For some ‘normal cancellation rules apply’ at the moment although Air NZ will be under great pressure to change its tune. So Air NZ may be assuming that these passengers may be taking alternative flights when their booked flight eg Auckland to Perth is cancelled (as is happening). Even worse Air NZ may be effectively telling Qantas that these displaced passengers will be traveling Qantas Melbourne to Perth when these passengers do not want to fly. Air NZ should be asking its web designers to add something to the web site so passengers can easily express their intentions so Air NZ has a better idea of who will be flying.
Perhaps Air NZ is assuming those who booked before 5 March can claim on travel insurance forgetting that there is an epidemic/pandemic exclusion in one or more of the major travel insurers’ policies.
So ScoMo’s announcement that Australia has closed its border to all but those returning to Australia will make Air NZ to change its tune. Air NZ may be so badly on the rocks that it may only be able to offer deferred travel and even that may not be able to be honoured in due course. If Air NZ was a USA airline it would probably seek ‘Chapter 11’ bankrupcy which would help it to subsist until the pandemic is over. But it does not seem to have this choice in NZ.
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March 20, 2020 8:24am
- KevO'Brien
  
  It’s majority owned by the Govt being our national airline.
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:45am
Zapper

Remember this propaganda from the Chinese govt?

https://youtu.be/lULceASXv88

It has not aged well.
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March 20, 2020 8:24am
- SB 2
  
  Zapper,
  
  Chinese Man” I’m not a virus. I’m a human. Eradicate the prejudice.”
  
  Or…??
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:36am
  - Zapper
    
    Eradicate the prejudice….now you’re all stuck inside but you had some hugs. Well done
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:40am
lastmanstanding

Yesterday I visited Moron City. Let me explain.

Every Thursday early afternoon I go to PaknSave Albany for a couple of bottles of wine for the weekend and any supplies She Who Must Be Obeyed needs to top up the weekly shop.

Usually the car park is pretty empty and is the store and Im in and out in under 10 minutes.

Not yesterday. Had to queue for a carpark and then a trolley and then fight my way through the Hoarding Morons.
As I only had a few items I was able to escape via the self checkouts which were empty.

This display of selfish self centred behaviour might lead to some to wish that the Hoarding Moron catch Covid-19.

Of course I couldnt possibly comment.
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March 20, 2020 8:25am
- MrTips
  
  I can only think of the following schadenfreude:
  
  Doctor: I’m sorry Ms Smith, you’ve got a positive COVID19 test.
  Hoarding Smith: how is that possible? I bought 250 rolls of toilet paper?!!
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:32am
- Inandout
  
  And when the credit card is maxed on panic buying then the shopping will cease and the shoplifting will begin in earnest.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:49am
- Fletch
  
  I read a news story that one supermarket in Royal Oak was only letting in 10 people at a time. Queues outside…
  
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  March 20, 2020 11:15am
- Lance
  
  I was going to call in on a smaller supermarket in New Lynn on the way home for a few items, as it’s normally quiet and certainly on a business day.
  Alas, I just drove past when I saw the scene of utter rank stupidity before me. The carpark was full, lines of cars waiting, no trolleys and general pandemonium.
  We allow these cretins to vote, NZ is fucked.
  
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  March 20, 2020 12:57pm
  - Jules99
    
    Try South Auckland – I drove past three supermarkets today – no queues, plenty of parking. I didn’t go in, so can’t comment on the toilet paper.
    
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    March 20, 2020 4:41pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Our hard-working politician in self-imposed isolation still has time to pen a piece for The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2020/mar/19/as-an-mp-in-self-isolation-ive-seen-new-zealands-collective-power-to-respond-to-a-crisis
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March 20, 2020 8:28am
- Paulus
  
  As meetings limited to 100 people Parliament cannot sit any more.
  Reduce number of MPs – get rid of non elected ones.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:37am
  - Simon Gotlieb
    
    Is Parliament not considered a workplace?
    
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    March 20, 2020 9:16am
- hullkiwi
  
  Without linking to the article I guessed the piece was by Swarfega. She is straight out of the Ardern school of self promotion. She was no different when she ran for mayor and I find it offensive that she earns $200k pa to self promote, has done nothing for three years.
  
  Then to cap it she uses the current situation to continue her self promotion, while people in NZ will lose there businesses, jobs and livelihoods. Swarfega and Green colleagues are offensive, period!
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:40am
- Andrei
  
  Lol – she is so useless in everyday practicalities that she burned herself on the oven when trying to cook a meal.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:42am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yep,
    
    and here she is representing NZers and she can write this:
    I can’t remember the last time I cooked a meal,
    
    Clearly the woman has no concept of what life is like for ordinary folk in NZ.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:58am
    - Evadne
      
      She really wrote that? Unbelievable.
      
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      March 20, 2020 12:51pm
Captain Mainwaring

Let’s face it, the peoples’ princess, aided by her captive media, puts on a very good impression of being good at crisis management.
Does this mean that we are going to excuse the CoL’s ineptitude in everything else (the economy, harbouring rapists and drug smugglers, pork-barrel spending to keep NZF alive, lying, total uselessness in transport and housing, etc. etc.)?
If we fall for this we are going to end up with another 3 years of the clown show, and that will truly fuck the country.
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March 20, 2020 8:29am
- cmm
  
  ” puts on a very good impression of being good at crisis management.”
  
  Does she really?
  
  Or are our expectations so low that we are overjoyed when she does not mess up completely?
  
  As I have said before, she is the Bridget Jones politician. Nobody expects anything useful, so when she does not screw everything up we see it as success.
  
  What she’s doing is probably enough to get her reelected because expectations are so low.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:45am
Albert_Ross

I don’t understand our attitude towards Covid-19 and the Government’s approach.

Yes, some of us will die of it. So what? It’s already the case, and always has been, that we’re all going to die of something sooner or later anyway. This isn’t the worst or the most probable way of dying.

We’ve usually furiously resisted when Government proposes much more modest measures to address things that many more of us die of, such as traffic accidents. We’re not willing to accept the mild inconvenience of driving a bit more slowly, or being required to pay more attention to how much we drink before driving, actions which have been proven to reduce deaths from traffic accidents.

But now the Government has delivered the almost total destruction of the entire economy – the certain ruination of hundreds of thousands of real people’s livelihoods, the assumption of ever increasing debt that will blight the economy and lives for years to come – to try to ensure that we’ll die of something other than covid-19. And here we are demanding that they go instead for total and utter destruction.

What even is closing the borders supposed to achieve? The virus is here and among us already. The chances of a foreigner bringing it, certainly the chance of a Samoan or a Tongan bringing it, are no greater than the chances of a New Zealander already walking around with it. Where exactly is the additional benefit and how can it possibly be held to justify the astronomical cost?
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March 20, 2020 8:30am
- kowtow
  
  I suspect the gummint has a few focus groups telling them that if they’re seen to be doing nothing the Media Party will screw them. The same Media Party that will screw the gubmint when everything does go tits up economically.
  
  Bojo’s possibly in the same boat, one minute it seemed they were going for herd immunity , now it appears to be lock down/isolation.
  
  I’m not pretending I have any answers but I do think the precautionary active intervention approach the west is taking will be worse than the pandemic.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:19am
- cmm
  
  Quite.
  
  Approx 64000 of us die every year (175 a day) in NZ as part of the natural cycle of life.
  
  If some with a tenuous grip on their perch kick off a couple of months sooner does it really change anything? That already happens every year with flu etc.
  
  There is a wide range of actions we can undertake. Some of those have low down sides, some have massive downsides.
  
  Crashing the national economy (and the world economy for that matter) is going to have (heck, is already having) massive downsides.
  
  It is well understood that a good economy worldwide saves lives by lifting people out of poverty and generating enough food etc. Crashing the economy will kill people.
  
  So where is the middle path of sanity? Perhaps it is this:
  1) Low risk (younger healthy) people carry on just like they would in a normal flu season. The chance of them dying is low. They keep the economy going.
  2) Vulnerable people (very old and/or very sick) isolate themselves. They are generally retired or sickness beneficiaries anyway so their isolation has little impact on the economy. Isolation just reduces the impact on the health system.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:51am
  - hullkiwi
    
    My wife and I keep asking ourselves, what is it about COVID-19 (Wuhan-flu) that has got the world in a panic?
    
    So far, 225k people internationally have been counted, roughly 4% have died (this stat is at odds with earlier comments). Annually, millions get the flu, and 1.5% die.
    
    So, the questions beg.
    1. Why the panic; and
    2. What haven’t we been told, on the basis that keeping the sheeple in ignorance is bliss.
    
    Govts around the world should remember, that when they lie and are found out, people get angry and when people get Angry, governments get toppled.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:19am
    - cmm
      
      Yup, it is making some of those conspiracy theories pretty credible.
      
      So far 10,000 dead over a three month period. Worldwide that number of people die every hour and a half.
      
      This is not going to move the needle.
      
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      March 20, 2020 10:58am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      People who want to work but can’t get very restless.
      
      People get angry when they aren’t distracted by sport and other entertainments.
      
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      March 20, 2020 11:02am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      With WuFlu exponential growth it’s the last fortnight that kills 90%. You have to think pretty hard on that. Iran is a mess, probably a million infected. tens of thousands dead. But in a month it will be nearly 100x worse.
      
      Models suggest that without stringent and ongoing isolation that is the fate that awaits us all. Italy, in lockdown, continues to see an increasing number of cases every day.
      
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      March 20, 2020 12:27pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The 10-19 age group are a problem. The locked down Diamond Princess showed they had a 22% risk of catching the virus as against 25% for the 80+ cohort. For those others under 50 it was 8% max.
    Half of those infected showed no symptoms.
    
    NZ is not China or North Italy. The self inflicted heavy handed economic damage may be worse than the viral damage.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:54am
    - Ed Snack
      
      Maybe that age group on the DP were not passengers but crew. The crew live in much less isolated quarters than passengers and were almost certainly far more exposed to viral spreading.
      
      One needs to look at the circumstances as a broad brush overview may not account for significant circumstances.
      
      Also, I think a major issue not addressed above is that for some people who catch the virus, it isn’t confined to the nose & throat but infects the lungs. These patients frequently need ICU care, ventilation and other support. The fatality rate for these is much higher, well over 10% and would balloon to 50%+ if ICU care is unavailable. Long term damage is also likely.
      
      So with small numbers nations can cope, but once the ICU system is maxxed out, the death rate can rise significantly.
      
      Interesting developments on treatments, possibly Chloroquinine and similar anti-malarial agents may be effective, though studies are on very small numbers only so far. Vaccine’s are still a way off, but once available should make a huge difference unless the virus rapidly mutates.
      
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      March 20, 2020 11:56am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Read about the data here:
        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/03/16/diamond-princess-mysteries/
        
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        March 20, 2020 5:41pm
- bruceavon
  
  Yeah, I have had this option for a while too. more people are going to die from the reaction than will ever die from the virus. But it isn’t just our country. They are just following the response from everyone else. I don’t know if a country can ignore it and let it go without the rest of the world attacking them. Boris has a go at the – let’s let it go And the herd will save us – and he was pelted down as a madman both inside and outside the country. And besides that, some countries seem to have contained it. Singapore is out the other side and Stephen Franks said yesterday they are opening restaurants again. the world is bound to enter a depression now. But we are positioned to come out better than most. We can’t go back now. I just hope we don’t close schools etc. and if the quarantine works, open up things internally, so that we have a country left afterwards.
  
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  March 20, 2020 11:31am
  - Albert_Ross
    
    My question was not really why the Government is doing what it’s doing. My question was why so many of us, on this forum, are criticising them for not going far enough, so blatantly inconsistent with our normal attitude to far less costly “elf’n’saftee” measures where our normal response is to tell the government to f- off, harden up and let us drive, drink, have open swimming pools, climb ladders without safety equipment etc, however we please.
    
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    March 20, 2020 12:25pm
lastmanstanding

While Lab/Greens and probably NZF will get a lift in the next poll if the virus conditions continue until the election I suspect the COL will lose. Unemployment will go thru the roof SMEs will suffer or go bust no matter how much money the COL throw at them.
Citizens will get tired of the restrictions placed on them.
They will be looking for someone to blame and that someone is always the Government.
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March 20, 2020 8:33am
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  True. It’s true that people blame the government when things go south. We have the Covid-19 virus seriously affecting our lives, the economy looks like it’s going down the gurgler and there are going to be some serious job losses. All good reasons for unhappyness. Unhappy people are more likely to vote for change.
  
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  March 20, 2020 8:43am
- alwyn
  
  I think there will be an early election. The CoL talk a great story about what they are going to do. Look at the last election campaign for an example.
  Then they totally stuff everything thing up because they are quite incompetent at implementing anything. KiwiBuild anyone?
  So for the next month or so they will announce great plans Vast increases in the number of ICU beds for example. Any shortages now will be blamed on the last Government for not foreseeing the Coronavirus outbreak.
  Then they will announce that they believe that the New Zealand population must have the right to decide who they want to lead them into the brave new world and so they will announce a snap election. May 30 or June 6 would be my pick. Time for St Jacinda to be seen mopping the fevered brows of the sufferers but before the mass deaths because the Hospitals cannot handle the number of patients.
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:30am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    The election would need to be before 18th June, which is when the GDP growth figure for the March quarter will be released. It is almost certain to have a negative sign in front of it.
    
    Two consecutive quarters of negative growth means an economy is officially in recession. The PM will not go into the 19 September election with the economy official in recession, hence the likelihood of going early.
    
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    March 20, 2020 11:13am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The COL will be shortly forming the Ministry of Economic Resuscitation. This will buy up all floundering businesses in accord with COL social objectives.
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:56am
Swifty

Something for a wet weekend perhaps – an excellent 50 minute doco on interpretations of a mountain of evidence and finds from the Neanderthal occupation of Jersey, dating from 250,000 BCE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEWm9trkaRQ

More here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqHMznHE-a0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Cotte_de_St_Brelade
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March 20, 2020 8:36am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  I was bought up on Jersey. Prince Charles did research for his degree on that site. They were not an Island then and dolmens were built later when the stone was dragged from quarries in France
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:28am
  - Swifty
    
    Cool.
    
    All history interests me – but do have a special fascination with Neanderthal, who occupied Europe for hundreds of thousands of years before us and of our contact with them.
    
    Contact which still shows in our genome today.
    
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    March 20, 2020 11:37am
kowtow

Anyone else notice the less than subtle shift in MSM reporting of what is clearly CCP propaganda showing how wonderful the comrades were , victorious in overcoming the outbreak, altruistic in aiding the overcome (Italy) and now quickly getting back to “normal”

I’m shocked at how quickly and gullibly our Media Party consume what is clearly propaganda and I note too that “experts” are saying that the Party way is the way to fight the virus. Roll on Big Brother.
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March 20, 2020 8:42am
- greybeard
  
  Hosking is pushing the “China success” story very hard.
  He seems to think that the Chinese Govt doesn’t tell lies.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:53am
  - barnacle bill
    
    That little man sits in his own little bubble up the in Auckland.
    He is just another motor mouth Know It All with the likes of Alan Jones over in Australia.
    
    He is just a lazy person with a small mans syndrome.
    
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    March 20, 2020 11:55am
    - Tall Man
      
      Envy clearly visible in your comment.
      
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      March 20, 2020 3:40pm
      - barnacle bill
        
        @TM
        Envy, of a little man .
        Not on your Nellie TM.
        
        Only thing that I am envious of is your brilliant humour.
        You are always soooo funny.
        
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        March 20, 2020 7:06pm
Clyde

Moaning Report tells us that [Deleted – Mod] need special treatment for the dreaded virus because [Deleted – Mod] are more susceptible. FFS. What I want to know is whether there is actually groups of [Deleted – Mod] saying these things or whether it is a function of Moaning Report to generate these stories.

[Mod – take your racism elsewhere]
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March 20, 2020 8:49am
- kowtow
  
  The Media Party are happy to push the “we’re all in this together” , “united we must be” , “look how we’ve come together” ……..until they can get back to their other favoured theme , special treatment for special people . They were also very happy to promote the notion that Ozzies are uncouth thugs fighting in the aisles , but look what’s happening in Auckland supermarkets……..not much different.
  
  The disunity that the progressive agenda item “diversity” has created will / is destroying the west.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:08am
- tf78
  
  Just as well they have the “European” side of their bloodline which will save them.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:43am
- cmm
  
  They have, generally, chosen to be more susceptible through over eating and smoking.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:54am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  It’s like the old joke about when the end of the world comes, the next morning’s New York Times will lead with the headline: “World Ends. Women, minorities, hardest hit.’
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:52am
- barnacle bill
  
  Well done to the Mods.
  
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  March 20, 2020 11:44am
  - Tall Man
    
    Did you see the original comment before a second mod got to it?
    
    I did and didn’t think it was earth shattering stuff and I’m surprised another mod went back to it.
    
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    March 20, 2020 3:38pm
lazza

Cindy: Yeah but! … Yeah but! … those Cruise-liners were here already.

Hosk: Yeah and yesterday hundreds of cruise-liner tourists roamed the streets of Auckland unchecked.

Average Kiwi Bloke(ess): Jesus Wept. Nuts!
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March 20, 2020 8:51am
Simon

NZ ICU Capacity.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/03/16/1085756/no-countrys-got-enough-icu-capacity-a-concern

Get a look at this Wuhan virus “crisis porn”. Disgusting. Its bull shit like this that has helped blow up the world.

“The maths is bleak” – Just fuck off. Not as bleak as MSM circulation numbers.

In the US it would be “the maths is bleak and Trump is to blame” But its the same load of rubbish.
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March 20, 2020 8:56am
- cmm
  
  That’s the nice thing about using mathematical models and liberal sprinklings of “could” and “might”, you can basically put in any numbers you want.
  
  When they don’t cause enough scare then a 5% tweak of a number feeding into an exponential formula has a massive impact.
  
  Of course there are resource limitations, but many of those are artificial constraints that can be removed with a little bit of thinking and good management.
  
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  March 20, 2020 9:28am
cmm

AirNZ to get $900 line of credit.

Don’t spend it all on lollies kids, you’ll get a sore tummy.
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March 20, 2020 9:01am
- Tricati
  
  Air NZ – One of the most heavily unionized businesses in the country so no surprise plenty of cash for them.
  Air NZ should be allowed to fail and rebuilt against international competitive measures and the exorbitant wages/salaries brought back in-line with average NZ incomes.
  
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  March 20, 2020 11:47am
Poppa

I am staggered by the panic buying of loo paper and a few other things that people are feverishly storing. The question is why?

Its not like the supermarkets will be closed. It does highlight that the average IQ of kiwis is far lower than any of us thought

The media have a lot to answer for in all of this. They have ceased on this like a feeding frenzy.

Interestingly, I had a beer with a mate yesterday who works at the local DHB. There are no virus cases currently in hospital
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March 20, 2020 9:02am
- brett68
  
  Seems to be mainly Indians, stocking piling for their dairies?
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:01am
- cmm
  
  Ever watched a wildlife documentary when animals panic?
  
  https://youtu.be/rppnoYZABFA?t=183
  
  Same with those stampedes at soccer stadiums etc
  
  Frantic people go into supermarket and see someone with a trolley full of bog paper (or they see the video of those two broads fighting in Australia) and think “better get in there too” and soon you have a bloody feeding frenzy.
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:10am
  - Poppa
    
    I am convinced that some humans actually need something to panic about
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:15am
  - Simon Gotlieb
    
    Yes there is that, and I also wonder how much is people subconsciously worrying that next week the world will be full of sick people and they don’t want to go out then, so stock up now.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:49am
MCos

I like to listen to the news on the radio in the morning, but right now it’s all pretty depressing Covid-19 relating stuff, with not much optimism.
Twitter is a bit more interesting with some amazing stories of how nonchalant & dismissive many Americans are in certain areas. A characteristic they seem to share with Iran & Bishop Brian.
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March 20, 2020 9:08am
Stu2

Remember the USA which Trump recently said had Covid 19 ‘under tremendous control’?

+2430 cases overnight, 11,689 in total.

Really it is higher, as their testing regime was weak and is in catchup mode
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March 20, 2020 9:39am
- Stu2
  
  The number has increasesd to +4124 – more than 25% growth in known cases in a day
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:40am
  - Inandout
    
    Wow out of a population of 340 million 4124 is earth shattering.
    
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    March 20, 2020 11:36am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Exponential growth, learn about it. https://www.peakprosperity.com/video/crash-course-chapter-3-exponential-growth-3/
      
      Humans are very bad at ‘getting’ it. By nature thinking in more linear terms.
      
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      March 20, 2020 12:31pm
    - Tony Stuart
      
      It certainly is earth-shattering if you’re one of the 4124!
      
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      March 20, 2020 1:01pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    It will ramp up as testing increases. The early slow start to testing is because the FDA regulations prevented early deployment of test kits until fully tested and validated. Various private groups prepared tests but were prevented from using them by the bureaucracy.
    
    Won’t blame who put those regulations in place, but showed a weakness in not dealing with an urgent situation. It is coloured, in the USA, by their legal system that makes legal action very easy to take in medical matters so that does lead to an over-officious approach to testing and validation. Those regulations have been suspended.
    
    Places like South Korea that don’t have the same sort of restrictions – and also had a much greater awareness of the need for swift action after SARS which hit them fairly hard, were much more effective. They rolled out “untested” tests that worked well enough and tested widely and very actively managed contacts. They seem to have the virus under control for now. Taiwan, similar, and also Singapore. Singapore though is a special case with very active social controls and a simple border (1 international airfield, one road only, plus the port).
    
    I do think you need to take Trump’s comments as mainly an attempt to prevent panic while they have moved pretty rapidly to ramp up their response. Very big and diverse country, with some areas very much more affected than others.
    
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    March 20, 2020 12:08pm
Komata

FWIW: I visited a nearby Whitcoulls yesterday afternoon and came across a book with an interesting title. ‘Taking the lead; how Jacinda Ardern wowed the world’. The author is one David Hill, and the result is a totally sychophantic work aimed completely at young kids. The glorification of Dear Leader has started. Beware.
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March 20, 2020 9:46am
- hullkiwi
  
  Komata, it’s the only way she’ll get her message out before the election.
  
  Last year was a dismal failure:
  1. No year of delivery;
  2. People got irritated by her (& the Liebore hunt the racist/extremeist) response to Chch;
  3. The sex perp kn the office screwed up her moments at the UN;
  4. She didn’t get the Nobel Peacd Prize; and
  5. The one year celebrations (oops memorial service) didn’t happen.
  
  So, her chances to launch her campaign keep evaporating.
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:26am
- lifesgood
  
  What! Hasn’t that buck toothed little weasel got an anti National book out yet? Must be coming. FWIW I saw the Jacinda book, her portrait on the cover is appalling, looks like it was done by a 3 year old.
  
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  March 20, 2020 2:27pm
badmac

What about this, apparently being rolled out in USA quickly. Anybody know if it’s really effective?

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/03/17/an-effective-treatment-for-coronavirus-covid-19-has-been-found-in-a-common-anti-malarial-drug/
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March 20, 2020 9:51am
- surfing
  
  G&T’s cure corona virus.
  
  Heading straight down to the liquormart. . . beat the toiletpaper hogs.
  
  Incidentally– could be explained by 3rd world countries not keeping good stats on the virus?
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:01am
- Poppa
  
  Yes it is known to prevent & treat certain virus strains.
  
  Gin & tonic for me now, the more you drink the more you prevent
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:05am
  - Harlequin
    
    I’ve always taken Gin & Tonic medicinally when I’ve felt a malaria relapse coming on.
    I think it works, I haven’t had a malaria relapse since 1977.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:52am
    - Paulus
      
      Only one Tonic make (the original) contains Quinine I am told.
      Quinine tablets are good for leg night cramps as Magnesium not recommended, as incompatible for some people – such as a Diabetic.
      But a good G&T is worthwhile.
      
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      March 20, 2020 2:07pm
- MrTips
  
  Yes, it is. I posted on it a month ago. And the irony here is the Chinese discovered it for this pandemic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32074550
  
  The thing is: chloroquine was also effective back in 2005. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16115318
  
  But because the original SARS was halted effectively, no-one cared. We should have.
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:06am
  - projectman
    
    There is a very good seres of articles on YouTube about the virus (check out Med Cram). The site is aimed paticularly at medical people but some is of general interest.
    
    Number 34 in the Covid series talks about the biochemistry and molecular biology of how chloroquine acts. If you’re not biochemically orientated, the presenter summarises things quite succintly. You need to note that as with much early research it is based on studies in mice and proper trials need to be done to confirm effects in humans.
    
    The others in the Covid series are interesting too – now up to #40 – almost one a day on various aspects of what s going on.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U7F1cnWup9M
    
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    March 20, 2020 11:04am
- KevO'Brien
  
  More about it here:
  https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/03/17/an-effective-treatment-for-coronavirus-covid-19-has-been-found-in-a-common-anti-malarial-drug/
  
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  March 20, 2020 11:01am
- Fletch
  
  Another story I read said that the drug for combating Ebola was also useful.
  
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  March 20, 2020 11:18am
  - Batman
    
    “Trump said chloroquine had been approved and could be given to patients with a prescription.
    
    “Minutes later, FDA Commissioner Hahn, said use of the drug would be in a clinical trial to find out whether it works, and if so what dose would safe and effective”
    
    https://t.co/V6uRbYJFxp
    
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    March 20, 2020 11:56am
    - Ed Snack
      
      I believe that under the “Compassionate Use” protocol it can be used on patients. It is cleared for use and declared safe, the efficacy has not been fully confirmed.
      
      “Numerous clinical studies have been conducted globally regarding the performance of chloroquine and remdesivir since the beginning of the pandemic. Most recently a French study that included use of a chloroquine variant called hydroxychloroquine found that it performed particularly well in tandem with an antibiotic known as azithromycin. Still, Hahn said that even if a drug is already approved for other use, it’s crucial for the safe deployment of any therapeutic treatment that researchers determine the right dose to protect a patient’s health.” Quote from Techcrunch.
      
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      March 20, 2020 12:13pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Correction, as it is approved already, Chloroquine can be prescribed by doctors now and not just under compassionate use.
        
        It cannot be sold or advertised as a cure until tests are complete, but it can be used.
        
        So Trump is essentially correct, it can be prescribed and used, and the FDA are correct in that as it’s efficacy isn’t really known (1 very small trial is indicative but by no means proof) it cannot be marketed or sold as a specific remedy for COVID-19.
        
        No need to play gotcha.
        
        It *could* be a very useful tool if those early results hold up, though I do note that the specific combination used apparently has some issues and may cause an adverse reaction in some according to existing use notices.
        
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        March 20, 2020 4:36pm
  - rangitoto
    
    One of the drugs developed for that but wasn’t particularly useful against ebola, namely remdesivir. There are trials under way to access its’ effectiveness against cov-19.
    
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    March 20, 2020 12:17pm
Surely Knott

Healthline Covid 19 hotline “press 3 if you have someone who is sick”. Sorry we are experiencing higher than normal call loads please go online or call back later. Dial tone. Well that was not helpful. Wonder how many people are actually sick but not being tested
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March 20, 2020 10:11am
- Evadne
  
  Dozens, possibly hundreds? But take comfort from the fact that none are sick enough to require medical attention.
  
  In the very vast majority of cases, people will be no worse affected than they would be by a bad (or even mild) cold.
  
  What we need to do is prevent these people passing it to the vulnerable at risk group. We don’t need a confirmed diagnosis to remember to self-isolate if we feel under the weather.
  
  And let the health professionals concentrate on the areas of biggest concern first.
  
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  March 20, 2020 10:22am
  - Evadne
    
    But you’re right about Healtjlibe being inadequate. All the advice says “ring healthline” so they need to be up to the task. Even a recorded message saying the basics e.g. “keep calm, self-isolate if you have these symptoms, call 111 if you have these other ones” or whatever.
    
    Perhaps even leave your number and well get back to you. Drop us an email. Use instant messaging. Most people want reassurance, and to know they’re heard.
    
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    March 20, 2020 10:26am
    - Surely Knott
      
      Or even details about where the supposed testing stations are. Or a hold option. It literally just hangs up on you. All advice says ring healthline. They say it is a dedicated number for swabbing appointments. So yes. Person in the household is Self isolating. But not reassuring if we can’t even cope with the phone calls. And where is the testing. You should just ring up and a van is sent to your house and tests you.
      
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      March 20, 2020 11:04am
      - Surely Knott
        
        Ok. Rang my doctor. The message said ring healthline. Finally got through to healthline. Was a complete waste of time. They said ring your doctor for a test. Doctor said yes you need to get tested but we are very busy and won’t take me. There are no testing clinics set up as described in media reports. So I rang the local hospital who didn’t let me finish my explanation and said you need to speak to the healthline and patched me back onto hold on healthline.
        
        7 0
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        March 20, 2020 1:16pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Lots, I reckon.
  My anecdote posted on other thread…
  https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2020/03/ventilators.html/comment-page-1#comment-2663697
  
  3 0
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  March 20, 2020 2:44pm
Maggie Pie

Women of twitter be like 😛

Day #6 of self-isolation…

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ETaPwVNXgAQfL6P?format=jpg&name=small
7 0
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March 20, 2020 10:13am
oldfella

Wonder how many EU countries will put up proper borders and take back control of their own lands when this emergency is over. I suspect Brexit will one day be considered a very fortuitous move.
19 0
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March 20, 2020 10:32am
- Michael NZ
  
  .
  
  0 0
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  March 20, 2020 10:50am
- MCos
  
  Blocking foreigners from entering NZ is a regulation certain people won’t be in a rush to see thrown on the bonfire.
  
  6 0
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  March 20, 2020 11:09am
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes, Shane Jones has got his way, albeit the long and devious way around.
    
    4 0
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    March 20, 2020 12:12pm
- coge
  
  Old Europe had certain advantages, which are becoming more apparent by the day.
  
  2 0
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  March 20, 2020 11:50am
- Evadne
  
  Funny how Britain were called xenophobic for Brexit, and how open borders and free movement of people was the pinnacle of EU civilisation & superiority etc etc..
  
  Yet all the European countries couldn’t act fast enough to reinstate border controls & pull up the drawbridge… but Britain’s border stays open.
  
  5 0
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  March 20, 2020 1:05pm
Michael NZ

Wuhan Flu is an opportunity for us all.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15770/smoking-coronavirus

We can use it as a reset for things in our life we need to jettison or change or get done finally.
3 0
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March 20, 2020 10:50am
- Tall Man
  
  Can we jettison the coalition first ?
  
  2 1
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  March 20, 2020 5:59pm
Simon Gotlieb

Silver linings and all that. Perhaps we will end up with a decent amount of trees planted after all…

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120434007/coronavirus-government-to-spend-28m-redeploying-forestry-workers
2 8
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March 20, 2020 11:20am
- rangitoto
  
  As long as they aren’t converting productive farmland into exotic forests.
  
  8 1
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  March 20, 2020 12:03pm
- Libertarians are right
  
  So all other employees get paid out at minimum wage but Winston’s forestry friends get special treatment again? I wish this stupid Government would stop politicising this pandemic.
  
  16 0
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  March 20, 2020 12:42pm
  - Nickc2
    
    The CoL assisting Shane Jones’s voting base into additional work prior to an election. Who would have thought?
    What about planting trees during milling downtime caused by COVID-19 in lieu of felling the damned things. Makes sense to me.
    If it’s fruit pickers and packers that are required, get Shane’s nephs of their arses with ‘no work, no benefit’ regulations.
    This might also reduce the requirement for additional policing.
    
    9 0
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    March 20, 2020 1:03pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      It’s the 3rd planting season of Shane’s grand scheme…
      
      Anyone noticed any new plantings in their district?
      
      5 0
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      March 20, 2020 2:41pm
Inandout

I spoke to a supermarket employee today and after we discussed the absolute madness of panic buying he added a further tale. Shoppers are asking the supermarket to take back goods bought in a panic but not now needed. He said their refund policy won’t work because the goods aren’t faulty; my God some consumers are thick.
19 0
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March 20, 2020 11:44am
- kowtow
  
  And they get to vote. Scary.
  
  3 1
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  March 20, 2020 5:58pm
rightoverlabour

Why not close the schools? They have closed swimming pools and libraries.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120432230/coronavirus-auckland-closes-libraries-and-pools-for-a-fortnight

The advice is to stay 2 m apart – except in schools where kids are crammed into a confined space using surfaces that are not cleaned between classes. For an hour at a time. Yes we know who is going to look after them yes we know their parents are vulnerable but not a word about teacher’s health. We are expendable so the darlings can be so safe at school as Hipkins emphasized recently. The imperial college article actually maintains that large gatherings (now banned) are less of a problem than schools.

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/196234/covid19-imperial-researchers-model-likely-impact/
6 0
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March 20, 2020 11:52am
- Jules99
  
  Parents are already taking their kids out of school. Maybe allowing parents to make a choice and staying open for those parents who can’t educate their kids at home, or have essential jobs, would be feasible.
  
  2 0
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  March 20, 2020 6:21pm
rightoverlabour

They go on about Singapore. Are we prepared to do what they did?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51866102
5 0
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March 20, 2020 12:01pm
- Tall Man
  
  For starters ardern didn’t want anything to get in the way of her “Ides” party so that’s a no ?
  
  4 1
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  March 20, 2020 5:57pm
rangitoto

Phil Goff closes libraries and swimming pools for at least two weeks.
3 0
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March 20, 2020 12:02pm
rightoverlabour

Sound advice me thinks

http://joannenova.com.au/2020/03/stop-with-the-fatalism-dont-flatten-it-crush-the-curve-on-coronavirus/
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March 20, 2020 12:04pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

39 infected now. Time for a total shutdown of NZ to clear it of infection.
7 0
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March 20, 2020 1:23pm
- Poppa
  
  You may well get your way this weekend with Cindy knee jerking all over the place
  
  To shut down the country would basically bankrupt us & let’s remember at this stage not one single death
  
  12 0
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  March 20, 2020 2:10pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Vastly cheaper to shut down and eradicate over 2-3 weeks than fighting a 1-2 year rear-guard action with high hospital costs and heavy isolation measures to try and prevent flare ups.
    
    Every change we enact will seem extreme at the time and totally inadequate in retrospect.
    
    4 0
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    March 20, 2020 4:27pm
barnacle bill

Can the Chinese Virus numbers be Trusted ?

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-can-chinas-shrinking-virus-numbers-be-trusted/news-story/74818eda887d46c2c863e05efb890199
3 2
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March 20, 2020 1:29pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Absolutely not. Browse: https://twitter.com/EpochTimesChina
  
  6 0
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  March 20, 2020 2:31pm
  - barnacle bill
    
    @Urban.
    
    I would trust them as far as could kick them.
    
    President Xi and Madam Wu are only trying to save their own skin.
    
    5 1
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    March 20, 2020 2:50pm
Suze Wainwright

Might just be me, but I think plenty of the ‘know it all’ pomposity has been drained from Shane Jones’ face this week.
I think it’s dawned on him that recent circumstances have de-platformed him of the plentiful opportunities he was planning to utilise to spruik PGF and his smorgasbord of populist political philosophies…
10 0
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March 20, 2020 1:37pm
Simon Gotlieb

Interesting Roy Morgan survey result:
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/8333-net-trust-score-political-leaders-march-20-2020-202003190756
2 16
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March 20, 2020 2:23pm
- rangitoto
  
  They polled Australians on how much they trusted Ardern. LOL.
  
  14 1
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  March 20, 2020 2:26pm
  - barnacle bill
    
    I see you are laughing at your own little joke there Rangi.
    
    1 14
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    March 20, 2020 2:47pm
    - Happychappy
      
      Change hands barnacle your becoming delusional.
      
      12 2
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      March 20, 2020 3:58pm
      - barnacle bill
        
        I see you finally surfaced today at 3.58 PM.
        
        What you do in your own bed has nothing to do with me.
        But don’t think others get up to the same things that you do Happy.
        If that is what makes you Happy, then go for it.
        
        2 8
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        March 20, 2020 4:52pm
- MrTips
  
  LOL. I didn’t know Jacinda was an Aussie politician.
  Roy Morgan strikes again!
  
  13 1
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  March 20, 2020 2:40pm
  - Simon Gotlieb
    
    Sigh. Another person who can’t read past the headline. If you read the second line you would have seen they polled people asking Which government leaders do you trust. List as many as you can think of?’ and also ‘Which government leaders do you distrust. List as many as you can think of?’
    
    Really guys. Start to think before shooting off your mouths. It’s just too easy to point out how dumb you all are and all you’ve got is a downtick to come back with. Until you all get totally butthurt and whinge to DPF and he’s forced to remove me so you can keep your precious little echo chamber going.
    
    0 14
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    March 20, 2020 5:07pm
    - Suze Wainwright
      
      Still futile and pointless really
      
      7 0
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      March 20, 2020 5:30pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Look who’s ranting. Not us sunshine.
      
      7 1
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      March 20, 2020 5:54pm
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Well, I guess it’s interesting – but utterly futile and pointless at the same time…
  
  4 1
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  March 20, 2020 2:40pm
- Tall Man
  
  Pretty sure there is an inverse correlation to the “gross stupidity level” of the respondents.
  
  6 3
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  March 20, 2020 2:46pm
  - Simon Gotlieb
    
    Based on what?
    
    Anyone who disagrees with you has lower intelligence?
    
    Here’s your link. Enjoy.
    
    https://lmgtfy.com/?q=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2Fdunning%25e2%2580%2593kruger_effect
    
    2 9
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    March 20, 2020 5:09pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Well obviously many including yourself do but that wasn’t my point but I guess Whoosh.
      
      1 0
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      March 20, 2020 9:54pm
- Monique Watson
  
  Oh that’s hilarious. At least 974 thick Australians think Ardern is part of their government.
  
  11 3
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  March 20, 2020 2:52pm
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Actually, from what I’ve heard, ScoMo’s ratings have improved re his handling of COVID-19 over there. Much to the utter horror and disgust of august institutions such as the ABC of course!
  (Then again, maybe I just heard that on that uneducated, redneck, Breitbart-inspired, neoliberal tool SkyNews, aye).
  
  9 2
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  March 20, 2020 2:54pm
KevO'Brien

CDC knew of Corona virus treatment for past 14 years:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/19/chloroquine-known-as-effective-against-coronavirus-since-2005/
1 3
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March 20, 2020 2:33pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Of course they did. What they can’t cure, however, is imbecilism.
  
  2 9
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  March 20, 2020 3:13pm
Fletch

11 new cases, all related to overseas travel…

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/03/coronavirus-11-new-cases-in-new-zealand.html
5 0
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March 20, 2020 2:51pm
- greybeard
  
  Does anyone know what aircrew and cabin crew have to do when they land in NZ ?
  I cannot imagine that they have to self-isolate for 14 days before flying again.
  Anyone ?
  
  4 0
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  March 20, 2020 3:32pm
  - Evadne
    
    No, they were exempt.
    
    0 0
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    March 20, 2020 4:35pm
- Prince
  
  Because that’s all they’re testing.
  
  0 0
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  March 20, 2020 8:27pm
Monique Watson

What’s going to trigger school closure and a lock down? Are they still pushing the belief that there is no community spread? Yet it’s appearing in schools, it’s extremely contagious and you can have a small number of cases and have it rampant in a population. There should be random testing done to ascertain the nature of the spread.
6 1
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March 20, 2020 3:00pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  I’m frankly surprised that the government hasn’t convened a panel of Kiwibloggers to advise the ministry of health on how to manage the pandemic.
  
  4 22
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  March 20, 2020 3:14pm
  - Tall Man
    
    They obviously spotted your comments and decided it would be a waste of time.
    
    16 5
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    March 20, 2020 3:26pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Ooohhhh Mike, you got burned sonny
      
      12 3
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      March 20, 2020 4:30pm
  - Libertarians are right
    
    We would have told her to “Go Hard” prior to March 15th instead of waiting, so better advice than what she did anyway (no idea what the advice was that she actually had).
    
    9 2
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    March 20, 2020 4:03pm
    - Simon Gotlieb
      
      Because libertarians are all about restriction of freedom and locking down the population. Closet fascists. LOL.
      
      1 15
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      March 20, 2020 5:03pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        No, libertarians just won’t try and use it an excuse to try and institute enduring centralization of control and curtailment of freedoms that inevitably leads to autocratic totalitarianism and the so beloved ‘working classes’ being murdered in their millions by the ever so enlightened new-aristocracy.
        
        Most western democracies have been through wartime periods of increased state control – relaxed afterwards.
        
        6 1
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        March 20, 2020 5:43pm
      - Tall Man
        
        WTF are you smoking?
        
        Are you trying to be as stupid as steffy?
        
        1 0
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        March 20, 2020 9:50pm
  - cmm
    
    D’ya reckon divinity-boy and chip-chick have it covered?
    
    10 3
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    March 20, 2020 4:18pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Now that the leftie State Sector Employees have gone home (or to talk shit at their closed bar), the adults are here.
How many Americans in NZ will get a gift from President Trump and his admin? How many will turn it down?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z1nwlhbz8wgzj2f/Payout.jpg?dl=0
2 5
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March 20, 2020 4:46pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Is he personally donating some money? From his charitable foundation, maybe?
  
  1 6
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  March 20, 2020 6:07pm
Tasman Terror

Spare a thought for Jacinda. She can’t hug anybody. That will be very testing. It reminds me of a famous Queen song “ Somebody to love.” Perhaps somebody in Kiwiblog land could please do a new version entitled “Somebody to hug,” and post it. It would only be fair?
11 1
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March 20, 2020 5:10pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  I only have the lyrics:
  
  Can anybody find me somebody to blame?
  Ooh, each morning I get up I cough a little
  Can barely stand on my feet
  (Take a look at herself) Take a look at the TV and cry (and cry)
  Lord, what you’re doing to me (yeah yeah)
  I have spent two and half of my years in believing you
  But I just can’t get no relief, Lord!
  Somebody (somebody) ooh somebody (somebody)
  Can anybody find me somebody to blame?
  We work hard (she don’t work hard) every day of my life
  I work ’til I ache in my bones
  At the end (at the end of the day)
  I come home with virus all on my own
  I get down (down) on my knees (knees)
  And I start to pray
  ‘Til the tears run down from my eyes
  Lord, somebody (somebody), ooh somebody
  (Please) can anybody find me somebody to blame?
  Everyday (everyday) I try and I try and I…
  
  3 8
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  March 20, 2020 6:04pm
rightoverlabour

Interesting graph here https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120443722/coronavirus-is-covid19-really-the-cause-of-all-the-fatalities-in-italy

Our rate is higher than all the countries compared with.

But, don’t worry, we have no community transmission, Aunty Jacinda and Uncle Hipkins say so…

I was listening to the Muppet show this morning when Hosking was asking questions to the “Minister” of “Health” and Jacinda, and neither could simply answer questions around one critical part of the testing regime – reagents. My anesthetist mate has stated that Australia was having a shortage about a week ago, why would we be any different with our first class medical system?

https://www.wect.com/2020/03/19/labs-say-coronavirus-test-components-short-supply/
9 1
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March 20, 2020 5:31pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

PTPM should be banned from all public functions and just use TV1.
Lets’ face it, she is healthy. What sort of virus wants to kill a nearly dead old person? None. The bug wants a super healthy person to spread to as many as possible.
Enter PTPM. Now we will get some votes from those we promise to help …………
4 3
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March 20, 2020 5:46pm
rightoverlabour

I see that corona is 1000 times more ineffective than Sars and behaves more like Ebola and HIV, but Hipkins reckons nothing to see here…

Ask your

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8055401/Coronavirus-1-000-times-infectious-SARS-scientists-warn.htmlself this, if there was a chance a kid at school had either HIV or Ebola, would you be willing to take the risk?
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March 20, 2020 6:24pm
rightoverlabour

Freeze, Greta, Freeze .. Should do wonders for those with Corona 19 since it seems to thrive in cooler conditions. Oh well, too bad, so sad… Should have embraced warming while it was happening.

https://watchers.news/2020/03/19/europe-braces-for-intense-arctic-cold-outbreak-after-unusually-warm-winter/
0 0
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March 20, 2020 7:22pm
WaveyDavey

Here we go…

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120448243/coronavirus-new-pandemic-group-says-mori-left-out-of-planning

Only surprised it’s taken this long
0 0
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March 20, 2020 8:09pm
Prince

Seven Sharp virus ‘Special’.
Four middle-aged women talking heads instructing us what to do and patting each other on the back.
Then to a girls college for kindness instructions.
Have they not heard of Diversity ?
0 0
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March 20, 2020 8:30pm

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