General Debate 06 May 2020

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PhilBest

A couple of weeks ago I posted an article on Californian experts finding that there were COVID-19 infections in CA in January, a month ahead of the first “confirmed case”.
Now here’s a French hospital one-upping that by finding they had a case in December!!!!
https://www.dailywire.com/news/france-discovers-coronavirus-from-china-hit-their-country-much-sooner-than-realized

But the NZ government narrative is that we went “early and hard” by locking down after the first few “confirmed cases” in March and our all-wise X-spurt Dr Bloomfield is still airily waving away questions about possible earlier undetected spread that would mean the virus is much more harmless than the narrative assumes.
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May 6, 2020 8:00am
- PhilBest
  
  And while real first world countries are keenly pursuing antibodies testing to get at the facts, NZ is clinging to a narrative as if our national credibility rests upon it. In a way it does; as that Professor Michael Levitt said the other day “the biggest losers are countries like Australia with very few cases and yet still pursuing an economically damaging lockdown”. I guess NZ is off his radar or he’d have awarded us the undisputed gold medal.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl-sZdfLcEk
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:00am
  - Alex13
    
    It is way too early to judge which tactics have been right for achieving the goals, even if the definition of the requisite goals could be agreed on. So, let’s cut ourselves some slack – at least for now the horrible disasters a la Italy or the UK have been avoided.
    It’ll take at least a couple of years to assess the numerous outcomes of this pandemic. Even then, the assessment is very likely to be marred by various agendas pursued by politicians, biased businesses and corrupt media.
    
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    May 6, 2020 10:57am
    - theoldbloke
      
      Why do people saying we avoided disasters like UK and Italy.
      For goodness sake people. STOP CHERRYPICKING.
      There was no way NZ was going to be like them…
      
      Just remember that on 27th January NZ setup up its Covid19 Emergency Committee…..
      Dr Bloomfield told reporters that New Zealand is prepared and very ready to deal with the novel coronavirus outbreak.
      
      On 15 March, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand would follow Taiwan’s example in their strategy to fight the epidemic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      
      Yep, the same Taiwan that was then, and still is held as the Gold standard.
      
      So why didnt we follow Taiwan?
      
      Why 7 days later are we fear mongering like crazy and putting everyone under house arrest.
      
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      May 6, 2020 4:16pm
  - Manu-Rau
    
    He quite possibly meant New Zealand, rather than Australia. He wouldn’t be the first person to make that mistake.
    
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    May 6, 2020 11:53am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Phil, it is worth an excerpt from that french article.
    
    “A leaked intelligence dossier from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance — which is comprised of intelligence agencies from the U.S., U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada — stated that China had proof on December 6 that the coronavirus could be transmitted from human-to-human, a fact that they deceptively hid from the world for over 6 weeks; reportedly so they could hoard medical supplies from around the world.”
    
    My questions are when did the Five Eyes find out, when did Mx Ardern find out, and why did they hide this from NZ?
    
    I’m personally aware of at least 3 people in NZ that were infected with Covid-19 in mid to late December.
    
    One person returning from Iran in mid to late December, who then infected at least one other person here in NZ, despite self isolation.
    
    And one from the USA where he was part of a cluster infection in the USA and came back to NZ in late December / early January.
    
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    May 6, 2020 12:10pm
- stewmar
  
  Yes, Cindy has no idea, just talks in slogans and sound bites, no substance, we’re all doomed.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:33am
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    Give the ‘people’ what they want huh
    
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    May 6, 2020 8:44am
  - oldpark
    
    @stewmar 8.33am
    Maybe she does know plenty .Not the way most hardworking NZs would agree .
    Yesterday i got an email with the heading .
    “Saul Alinsky’s Doctrine. 8 Steps to Topple a Nation and Create A Socialist State.
    1)Healthcare- Control Healthcare and you control the people.
    2)Poverty- Increase the Poverty level as high as Possible,Poor People are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them to live .
    3)Debt-Increase the debt to an unsustainable level,that way you are able to increase taxes,and this will produce more Poverty .
    4) Gun Control- Remove the ability to defend themselves from the Government that way you are able to create a Police State.
    5) Welfare-Take control of every aspect of their lives (Food Housing and Income .
    6) Education -Take control of what people read and listen to. Take control of what Children Learn in School.
    7)Religion-Remove the belief in the God from Government and Schools.
    8)Class Warfare- Divide the people into the Wealthy and the Poor. This will cause more discontent and it will be Easier to (Tax) the Wealthy with the support of the Poor .
    Seems NZ is well on its way to be the Socialist Republic of the South Pacific . Just saying .The last few weeks in the Lockdown Facade and the longer it goes on should make NZs Afraid very Afraid and suspicious of the Peters selected Ardern Government Government and their hidden Agenda.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:12am
- Ruahine
  
  It was a lie.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:04am
- Belinda
  
  Yes, I find it strange that the New World worker, doesnt appear to have infected a single person.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:31am
  - PhilBest
    
    There is such a thing as asymptomatic infection; which is 50 to 60% of infections; about another 35% are mild illness only for which someone might not even bother to see a doctor, especially if it is before all the COVID-19 publicity
    
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    May 6, 2020 12:09pm
- north island kiwi
  
  yep, and there were reports from the US sept-oct? 19 of a few unexplained deaths that were blamed eventually on vaping prior to Certificate of Vaccination ID 19 (covid19) taking off in jan 20
  
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  May 6, 2020 12:56pm
- theoldbloke
  
  Is it me or are we seeing the famed Dr Bloomfield in denial?
  https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE2005/S00030/two-new-cases-of-covid-19.htm
  
  Todays announcement has one positive test from the Marist Cluster????? Then the tests suggests in late stage of infection.
  What happened to track & trace of the Marist Cluster????? When they can still find cases now?
  and continuing the PR spin we have to continue to be vigilant. We re not out of the woods!!
  
  Seems to me he is trying to justify his recommendation to go to level 4.!! and not adjusting to reflect the change in the situation.
  
  At this mornings committee hearing he is again justifying his original recommendation and swatting away the suggestion that the advice was singular. Ie Lockdown or do nothing. No nuance about the vulnerable, the health system etc etc.
  
  Personally I think he did an OK job as leader of the health system in that he fronted the 1pm standups and was seen as credible.
  
  However scrutiny of actions by the MOH are starting to open a can of worms. And he is being more and more political in his responses.
  I am yet to see any..Sorry we got it wrong statements..
  
  And where the FFF is the Heather Simpson $9 million report on reviewing health system??
  
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  May 6, 2020 5:24pm
fernglas

Both the PM and Helen Clark have said that the country is now 75% productive. A builder says the current rules make him 30% productive. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121396582/coronavirus-builders-get-the-hard-word-on-sloppy-safety-standards
The figure they use has been plucked from earlier and very crude Treasury projections. What is the real figure?
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May 6, 2020 8:02am
- RW Capitalist
  
  A builder says the current rules make him 30% productive.
  and he is working
  One of my major customers is at about 25% production.
  and
  Most small businesses are closed, ie at 0%
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:25am
  - Bykmad
    
    My SME is open and we are at about 30%. I am barely covering basic OPEX, let alone wages. Yes, we have the wage subsidy but our cash reserves are quickly evaporating. We really need to get the Economy going and it must be NOW not the middle of next week!
    The longer that the PTPM delays the move to Level 2, the more businesses will fail and the longer the unemployed list will get.
    
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    May 6, 2020 10:03am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      Considering for most SME’s there has (over the past 2yrs) been an increasing delay between order—-delivery —and payment.
      Opening the economy, not withstanding the invention of a time machine, last week would have been too late.
      
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      May 6, 2020 10:53am
- SJ Actual
  
  Indeed, 75% is the maximum portion of the workforce that would be back at work rather than the portion that are actually back at work and fully productive.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:26am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Even then, they appear to be exaggerating.
    At 1000 (seems light also) signing up for the dole, per DAY.
    That’s the equivalent of at least 50 small businesses per day, closing.
    These are long term job losses, that will not come back quickly.
    Not just temporary lay offs to bring a large business into capital survival mode, that when things pick up they will hire again.
    NO these are businesses that will have to be created from scratch and built up to a position, where they can START to hire.
    
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    May 6, 2020 8:52am
    - Tricati
      
      Its easier to get to 75% back at work with a reducing workforce. What we need is the corresponding unemployment figures to show the true picture.
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:40am
    - tf78
      
      It appears the government are preparing for 300,000 new benefit applications.
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:41am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        and that may be light…I’m betting on closer to 25% of the work force…about 500000.
        
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        May 6, 2020 10:54am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        That’s just 11% of the Employed…
        Some Economists have been indicating that we could be heading for 30% unemployment.
        
        https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/09/nzjo-a09.html
        
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        May 6, 2020 11:09am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      The numbers signing up for the dole will increase exponentially in the weeks ahead. Employers are now starting to look beyond the end of the wage subsidy period, and redundancy notices are rolling off printers up and down the country.
      
      For some employers, making half their staff redundant may allow them to continue trading. But for many small businesses, the doors have already closed for the final time.
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:53am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Also, before covid lock down, didn’t they put out numbers that suggested businesses could expect a 60+ day payment on invoices.
        This lag means a 2 month delay on the impact of this ridiculous lock down.
        
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        May 6, 2020 10:57am
      - yossarian
        
        Our business is certainly looking at staff and who has been prepared to muck in and those who are quite happy to stay at home. And no it’s not an old Vs young divide as you’d expect. We have some young workers who have been brilliant and others, although “at work” have been more than a hindrance. I wonder who will be retained?
        
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        May 6, 2020 12:42pm
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Need a lot of money to start a business, money that is gone if business is bankrupted, so will take a long time for economy to bounce back. Possibly govt initiative to ensure people starting businesses can borrow cheaply would be very helpful.
      
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      May 6, 2020 10:23am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Also not considered, when a business goes bankrupt
        The directors are banned from owning/ running a business for 2 years (usually).
        Therefore the skills and knowledge of actually running an SME are lost to the economy for those 2 yrs.
        
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        May 6, 2020 10:59am
  - zulumonster
    
    EFTPOS / Credit Card transaction numbers at circa 30% of normal during Level 4 lockdown. Up to 47% during Level 3.
    Compared with ~ 61% and 72% respectively for Australia
    
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    May 6, 2020 11:24am
- G152
  
  It’s the old ‘look over there’ strategy.
  Politicians and their enablers at the inventafact machine.
  No good news?
  But we have numbers, fresh numbers, fresh off the tops of heads.
  And
  Would we lie to you?
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:29am
  - kowtow
    
    Go early is the biggest porky.
    
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    May 6, 2020 8:55am
    - stewmar
      
      “ Go early is the biggest porky.”
      
      She means go early by her usual sluggish standards
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:39am
    - JackRabbit
      
      She didn’t need to go at all.
      
      Over Covid-19 she was probably told “80,000 in 12” which she took to mean 80,000 deaths in 12 weeks. It was however 80,000 infections in 12 months, which is 25% of all flu stats. Nothing to see here.
      
      The stats are all over the place like diarrhea in a storm.
      
      “A newly revised coronavirus mortality model predicts nearly 135,000 Americans will die from Covid-19 by early August… …the Covid-19 coronavirus is already known to have infected almost 1.2 million people in the US, with 68,762 deaths…”
      
      – Thats 68,762 deaths in the USA.
      
      Source:
      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/415891/researchers-double-us-covid-19-death-forecast-citing-eased-restrictions
      
      Meanwhile the ACTUAL stats, as per CDC are 39,910, revised down from over 60,000 a few days ago.
      
      ‘60,000 have crossed the finish line so far in the city to surf dash, and that’s the official figure so far. No wait, its only 39,000, ah, there was a lag in the stats coming in. Our counter has just revealed that she was counting not just people but dogs, cats, birds flying past and migrating monarch butterflies, and mosquitoes. Yes even 39,000 that is strange considering only 15,000 registered for the race, so we’ll come back with some exciting revised figures again soon.’
      
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      May 6, 2020 11:50am
      - JackRabbit
        
        CDC stats of 39,910:
        
        https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm?fbclid=IwAR2d6yXX14Cct9aOtJ7Cv6Q5YWjIL4-7ZvKyoLi_Obox7SWoYrK66nyuT4s
        
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        May 6, 2020 11:59am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Jacinda’s song
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzlFEpv9EAM
    Seems the answer is:
    Y E S
    
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    May 6, 2020 8:56am
- stewmar
  
  “ Both the PM and Helen Clark have said that the country is now 75% productive. A builder says the current rules make him 30% productive”
  
  How could they possibly know? In my business I’m about 10% productive in level 3.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:35am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    That unproductive 90% still needs to be fed. Labour have stated that those who cannot sustain that are not fit to be in business,
    There is rejoicing among the COL, the destruction they have brought requires their handouts with hidden controls to come. Only Govt can afford to be in business in a communist command economy. It take a Twyford to build.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:12am
  - kevn
    
    @stew… klark and JA wouldn’t know sh*t from clay in the business world.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:18am
  - yossarian
    
    Same about the 80,000 expected to die…she can make up figures and numbers and no one asks for where she’s getting it from.
    
    She’ll repeat a 100 times, aided by her mentor Clarke, and Bob’s your uncle, it’s the truth
    
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    May 6, 2020 12:46pm
- artemisia
  
  Our small family tradie business is operating at less than 30% productivity atm. Due to – a lot more communication needed with clients and subbies, start dates changing all the time, supply chain and delivery problems and delays, extra H&S processes. And last but not least online school learning and pre school childcare centre closed for most littlies so someone has to be there all the time.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:44am
- cmm
  
  In my industry we’re all working from home when we’d normally be collaborating in offices. That cuts our productivity to 70% or so even when we’re working flat out.
  
  Then, due to the uncertainties, many in my industry are working at reduced hours (90% or so).
  
  70%x90% = 63%.
  
  63% isn’t going to fix an economy any time soon.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:48am
  - Jack5
    
    The postal/courier system seems to be overwhelmed and tied up by online transactions.
    
    A firm gave me a tracking number for a purchase and emailed it had been picked up. NZ Post advised the same day they would pick it up when advised it was ready. The item is now buried in the melee.
    
    It’s a boom time for the courier industry, but why isn’t it calling for help?
    
    We have idle planes, idle trucks, idle drivers. Perhaps new firms should be moving in quickly, and NZ Post could contract out some of its overload.
    
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    May 6, 2020 10:34am
    - Jack5
      
      PB Tech, the computer-equipment chain, relaying a message from its couriers, is now advising customers to expect a delivery delay of up to five days.
      
      It is urging customers to use “click and collect” when buying online.
      
      Meanwhile the surge in working from home is cleaning out stock of equipment such as desktop computer web cams, needed for Skype calls.
      
      Some of the webcam brands popular until a few weeks ago are no longer even listed. The shortage is international. For example, Amazon has no stock of the popular Logitech C270 web cam. AliExpress is advertising them, however, with a delivery delay of up to three weeks.
      
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      May 6, 2020 2:06pm
    - kwkiwigirl
      
      NZ Post have lost a parcel of mine. It’s hanging in their system from 2 weeks ago. Can’t even get a satisfactory response from NZ Post. I’m not ordering anything online till this is over.
      Interesting discussions on some of the NZ Post facebook complaint groups on how out of control they are and parcels getting lost etc. NZ Post management sound about as incompetent as the MOH.
      
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      May 6, 2020 5:40pm
  - Isobar
    
    I don’t know, when you work from home you quickly discover that a meeting could have been an email. In some ways not being in an office have productivity upsides.
    
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    May 6, 2020 1:31pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  I would believe the builder over this lot in government any day.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:27am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Cindy’s hairdresser is still at 100% capacity, this is what she sees when she plucks the numbers from her backside.
    
    18 of 24 releases from quarantine on compassionate grounds granted, plucked from the same place as the orifice she gets numbers from . . .
    
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    May 6, 2020 10:47am
Maggy Wassilieff

It suddenly looks like the Covid Epidemic Response Committee is important.
Seems everyone now wants to appear before it.
What a change from 6 weeks ago.
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May 6, 2020 8:02am
- Close Hen Counters
  
  And thank goodness Tim O’Connor was able to yesterday Maggy – he tore the government and education ministry a new one about the lack of logistics around education … you would think education would be an important aspect of our lives like health and employment but obviously not. Total incompetence in spades
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:18am
  - wilderbeast
    
    School response has been pathetic. We were told kids, not all kids, but kids, would be back at school in level 3. Turns out “kids” means less than 1% of school enrollees. That’s massive deception by the PM and the schools have done everything they can to not open. Typical selfish behaviour from a unionised workforce.
    
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    May 6, 2020 8:43am
    - Evadne
      
      To be fair to the schools, the social distancing requirements laid down for them by the government are virtually unworkable.
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:00am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Same for tradies too.
        
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        May 6, 2020 9:14am
      - MCos
        
        I walked passed a building site yesterday.
        Social distancing didn’t seem to be a consideration for those blokes.
        
        I spent my whole working life as a small cog in the construction industry. From my experience I would suggest that social distancing is going to be the least of the construction industry’s problems.
        The current constrictions relating to Covid-19 will pass soon enough, but the recession will be the killer.
        I lost a number of jobs due to recessions because the construction industry is always clobbered. If you’re in that line it always pays not to live month to month because those mean old recessions just keep coming.
        
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        May 6, 2020 9:43am
    - James Stephenson
      
      All the teachers and a good proportion of the kids that I know, can’t wait to get back into the classroom.
      
      What percentage of parents would actually send their kids back at this point? I’m guessing it would be more than in those couple of days before lockdown when my son had 6 out of 28 in his Year 10 class present, but I doubt it would be full attendance.
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:34am
- PhilBest
  
  Are they questioning the competence and good faith of the lockdown policy or are they just looking for some of the free money that the Tooth Fairy socialists are going to be splashing around on projects that appeal to their vanity?
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:24am
- Clyde
  
  But according to Moaning Report, Ruth Dyson has been asking for more maori to appear before the committee. The programme this morning asked Bridges about this and he said that Dyson hadn’t raised this with him. The programme has become the default vehicle for pushing racist views of late – is there a quota on maori grievance stories on this programme? The fact remains that more maori have been tested and found to be free of the virus per capita, so exactly why should maori have a special voice when the virus is not race-based?
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:47am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Dyson must be asleep at the helm..
    
    There’s no shortage of Maori representation on the Committee (Kiri Allan, Marama Davidson, Dr Shane Reti, Fletcher Tabuteau….. as well as Paula Bennett and Simon Bridges).
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:19am
    - alloytoo
      
      they never seem to count Simon and Paula…..
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:48am
    - Clyde
      
      What Dyson wants apparently is for individual iwi and a whole pile of other collectives of maori grievance specialists to appear. No reason given apart from a racist perspective. If Simon wants to show some guts he would start to call out the inherent racism of these calls.
      
      Speaking of which, Coster on RNZ this morning said that the reason that some communities (maori communities) were putting up roadblocks was that maori had disproportionate deaths in the 1918 epidemic. No mention of the actual facts that maori are the LEAST affected in this pandemic in this country. Just another example of being PC affected.
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:57am
      - tf78
        
        I think these days the percentage of European blood that most Maori’s now have would make them less susceptible to catching the Newflu anyway.
        
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        May 6, 2020 10:27am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Anagram for Coster?
        
        Scrote.
        
        On his current form, this seems to apt, sort of like being being youth adjacent . . .
        
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        May 6, 2020 11:05am
      - The Proper Ghandi
        
        Clyde
        Yes. Call out the separatist bullshit. It causes antagonism and resentment. Simon is part Maori himself, so it would be difficult to call him racist (which isn’t a valid argument regardless).
        
        BTW, would Simon be the first Maori PM if elected? I can’t recall another. Usually this prospect would have the media and the liberals fizzing.
        
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        May 6, 2020 11:35am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Ah – so that’s why Hon Ruth Dyson has got so huffy all of a sudden…
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:48am
  - Ruawai
    
    She wants her moment in the sun and needs to deflect from Simon getting good media coverage. There have also been many non Maori representing Moari people such as women’s refuge, food bank providers etc
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:54am
Scott

Over here at Biden watch we note that The New York Times is suggesting it’s time for Joe Biden to step down and for the democrats to start looking for a plan B, a different presidential candidate. This in response to the Tara Reade sexual assault allegation against Biden.

This is a very serious problem for a Democrat nominee for president of the United States. When you’ve lost the New York Times??

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/opinion/joe-biden-tara-reade.html
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May 6, 2020 8:04am
- PhilBest
  
  Yeah but there may be an unspoken wish all along, to parachute in some candidate who wasn’t even running in the primaries. All the primary candidates were far from ideal. Hillary must be very excited right now; or perhaps Michelle will get anointed, or that Governor Cuomo who has looked good at times in this crisis. One can understand the NYT not wanting Biden to even run, regardless of any accusations from the past.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:28am
  - Illegally Imprisoned in Cindy's Colditz
    
    Meghan Markle Merkle Windsor will be the Manchurian candidate.
    
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    May 6, 2020 8:47am
  - Ed Snack
    
    There was a very similar article run in the Dom today. It made the howler of a statement though that Blasey Ford’s allegations against Justice Kavanaugh were “well founded” but overruled by political expediency.
    
    Which is of course, complete crap and a perfect example of why the media are now the most distrusted profession after possibly Politicians. BF’s story had no corroboration, it alleged acts at an unspecified location at an unspecified date and cited several “witnesses” who were unable to recall any such event or happenings. In fact her story started out more specific, but as that opened up the opportunity for disproof, (diary entries for relevant dates for example), the specific details were removed to avoid that.
    
    By contrast, the allegations against Biden cite specific places and dates, and has contemporary corroboration from witnesses who although not direct witnesses, can testify that they were told of the incident at the time.
    
    Doesn’t mean Biden is guilty or that the incident happened as described, but it is far, far better supported than the Kavanaugh allegations which gave every indication of being a paid for political hit job.
    
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    May 6, 2020 10:29am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Nah, not buying that. The allegations against Bart O’Kavanaugh were never properly investigated. In addition, his disgraceful performance before the senate’s justice committee should have disqualified him.
      The allegation against Sleep Joe seems to have changed markedly over time, and the police were unable to act on her complaint.
      For my money, these complaints are equal. Credible, but impossible to prove.
      It’s a moot point though. Biden has sewn up the democratic nomination, and he’s hardly likely to lose votes over a complaint of sexual assault when his opponent is DONALD TRUMP.
      
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      May 6, 2020 11:25am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Oh bullshit
        Kavanaugh was investigated/vetted 6 times by the FBI as he rose through his career.
        No such incident ever came up.
        Blasey Ford’s story is a joke. Even her own friends say it never happened.
        
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        May 6, 2020 12:28pm
      - north island kiwi
        
        the trumpet will romp in
        you watch
        
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        May 6, 2020 1:28pm
- slightlyrighty
  
  Biden has asked for any congressional records relating to any complaint made by Reade to be found and published. Also if any complaint was made, to whom was it made, who investigated, and what was the outcome.
  
  This was blocked by a Republican Senate.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:30am
  - PhilBest
    
    What is the reason for that? Do tell
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:11am
  - Goon
    
    Not quite:
    
    “Based on the law’s strict confidentiality requirements (Section 313) and the Senate’s own direction that disclosure of Senate Records is not authorized if prohibited by law (Senate Resolution 474 96th Congress, Section 3(a)), Senate Legal Counsel advises that the Secretary has no discretion to disclose any such information as requested in Vice President Biden’s letter on May 1,” the secretary’s response said.
    
    https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/04/secretary-senate-joe-biden-tara-reade-233915
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:46am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Yes
      It was clever of Bidens Campaign to call for the release of the docs.
      They already knew full well that the Senate rules prevented that.
      They should change that though. His and everyone else’s record should be made public.
      
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      May 6, 2020 11:23am
      - north island kiwi
        
        they all should be forced to random drug tests as well
        
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        May 6, 2020 1:31pm
- stewmar
  
  “ This is a very serious problem for a Democrat nominee for president of the United States. When you’ve lost the New York Times??”
  
  Similar accusations against Trump didn’t affect his result.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:37am
  - PhilBest
    
    With Trump everyone knows he is a philanderer but like many rich philanderers he has always worked to a “standard” of getting consent; i.e. seducing his target with his self-belief in his own charm, good looks, etc
    
    I think this is why nothing has stuck in terms of “assault” claims.
    
    Ironically progressive “morality” celebrates and promotes exactly this kind of philandering. They have belatedly created new rules around “consent” that overturn the old rules that in certain circles “anything goes” and if you don’t like that, you should be hanging out with the Victorian prudes somewhere else. 100 French progressive libertine celebrities at least had the consistency to sign a joint statement that “MeToo” sets the cause of women’s liberation back decades.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:18am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Rubbish. He is a serial groper and rapist.
      
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      May 6, 2020 11:27am
      - All_on_Red
        
        You ok Mikey?
        Seem a bit wound up today.
        
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        May 6, 2020 12:29pm
      - 3-coil
        
        Mikey(11:27) – we’re not discussing the dodgy creep in PM Ardern’s office! Don’t try to change the topic.
        
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        May 6, 2020 1:11pm
- cmm
  
  The real reason is his more and more obvious rambling and loss of mental ability.
  
  The Tara Reade stuff is just the icing on the cake.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:51am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  Scott, thank you for posting that. I had had a look at the betting odds this morning and noted how Hillary Clinton had become a very clear third favourite for the presidency. That surprised me, but your comments have brought that situation into reason.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:51am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Hilary had a neurologist with her full time in 2016. She also switched to her body double on at least one occasion.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:17am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Let me guess, you found out about that from Natural News or Zero Hedge?
      
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      May 6, 2020 11:30am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    We talked the other day about polling versus opinion polls. It seems to me that betting odds are more likely to encompass the extreme vagaries of individual opinions. I should say that there is zero chance of Clinton running again, even if Biden dropped out.
    I believe Batman has offered good money to anyone prepared to bet on this.
    
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    May 6, 2020 11:29am
- MCos
  
  The NYT isn’t making the suggestion. It’s an opinion piece by Elizabeth Bruenig.
  There’s also in the NYT an opinion piece along similar lines by Bret Stephens and I see Planned Parenthood is not happy with the situation.
  Dollars to donuts they’re not happy with Donald Trump too.
  Maybe the pair of them should step aside.
  On the other hand Donald Trump has already been giving a free pass so maybe the whole stinking mess will be swept under the carpet.
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:20am
- north island kiwi
  
  ya GO Hilary
  sarc
  
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  May 6, 2020 1:22pm
Tomtoddy

How pathetic and self serving – the comment from the PM to Simon Bridges that he “has the luxury of not bearing the consequences of his actions”.

Her impatience and disdain of any criticism underlines her narcissism.
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May 6, 2020 8:04am
- RW Capitalist
  
  She has the luxury of stupidity and a lack of self awareness.
  This is luxury that is paid for by the very people she is supposed to be serving….US.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:23am
  - Close Hen Counters
    
    Well she is completely doubled down on this today – she has posted on Instagram, some nappy cream on the lapel of her jacket saying no time to get changed and proving mummy is still working ….. while Rome burns she just needs to let everyone know it is all about her. I never once saw a photo from Bill English, John key, Helen Clark, rob Muldoon, Jenny Shipley or anyone showing cat chunder on a rug at home or similar – she needs to grow up, bugger off and let anyone more competent to do the job of PM
    
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    May 6, 2020 10:56am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      bugger off and let anyone more competent to do the job of PM
      Not in this current clown car govt.
      Unfortunately, she is the most competent.
      Remember on election day.
      
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      May 6, 2020 11:02am
    - andydownhere
      
      Let the nanny do it [Mod]. You have a country to run. Or is that run into the ground
      
      [Mod: nope, that term doesn’t fly.]
      
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      May 6, 2020 10:31pm
- fernglas
  
  That’s her job.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:25am
- Swifty
  
  They were singing a different tune during Key’s handling of the GFC and CHC.
  
  Back then it was attack, attack, attack!
  
  Do they think we’ve forgotten how they acted then? Do they think we don’t remember them barking at every passing car? Do they think we no longer recall their savage and deeply personal attempted character assassinations of Key while he was struggling to get us through those calamitous events? Does Ardern and Robertson think we’ve forgotten that they opposed and pilloried every single policy, bill and action National ever took over nine years?
  
  Well, I haven’t.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:29am
  - alloytoo
    
    Nine long years of policy neglect by Labour.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:51am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Nine happy years of turning up to eat lunch and the pay cheque
      
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      May 6, 2020 11:10am
- Lee C
  
  Yes, but never forget – it doesn’t matter what the subject –
  
  It’s all about Jacinda Ardern.
  
  According to Jacinda Ardern.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:36am
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    Well she is a masterclass – apparently…
    
    (Heck, the Ardern-led govt will be case study material in the Massey University Management School for years to come…)
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:12am
    - Bobba Fret
      
      and she’s now a self proclaimed perfectionist!
      
      19 1
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      May 6, 2020 9:31am
      - Suze Wainwright
        
        Heh, there’s enough material there for an entire conference (to quote Fawlty Towers)
        
        12 1
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        May 6, 2020 10:09am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Perfectionist, my arse – Jim Royale
        
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        May 6, 2020 11:11am
    - Rachael Membery
      
      Communications getting a boost as well?
      
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      May 6, 2020 11:27am
- stewmar
  
  “ How pathetic and self serving – the comment from the PM to Simon Bridges that he “has the luxury of not bearing the consequences of his actions”.
  
  What the hell does she think the role of the opposition is??????
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:38am
  - Tricati
    
    For labour, the role of opposition is to sit on their arses for 9 years and do FA, then call in the working groups & consultants.
    
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    May 6, 2020 8:50am
    - Swifty
      
      Heh heh.
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:04am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Precisely. Jacinda Ardern has no experience in what a PROPER Opposition does, having been part of a particularly weak opposition for “nine long years”.
      
      National has done far more on Opposition in 2.5 years than Labour did in nine years. All power to them!
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:16am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    So why hasn’t she stepped down for trying to wait until after March 15 before putting our response in place? In her own words, that’s nobodies fault but her own. Surely she should hold herself accountable for that shameless attempt at self promotion at the real cost of the lives and livelihoods of Kiwis? Everything that has happened is because of her attempt to self promote.
    
    It seems like right now she also has the luxury of not bearing the consequences of her despicable actions, given that she still has a job.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:24am
    - Rachael Membery
      
      COVID19 is a much better gig than March would have been.
      
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      May 6, 2020 11:32am
  - Paulus
    
    After the election she will be Leader of the Opposition so she will find out.
    Until the Unions roll her.
    
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    May 6, 2020 2:16pm
- wilderbeast
  
  What else can you do in opposition? She should know, she was there for 10 years….
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:44am
- emmess
  
  According to media, neither does she
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:48am
- Close Hen Counters
  
  That bloody brainless twit has no understanding that we are all bearing the consequences of her decisions – kids not at school, husband on a fraction of salary to save company, the cost of groceries through the fucking roof, neither of us getting wage subsidies from the taxpayer, neither of us on the luxurious salary that she pulls. Fuck off jazz hands, take your scowl and nasty sarcastic comments to the UN and let adults run the country
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:51am
- Ruahine
  
  Oh. Poor me.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:08am
- Ruawai
  
  See her snarky face at the end of her comment to Simon, like a bully teenage girl.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:55am
- tf78
  
  The Nats will totally be bearing the consequences of Jacinda’s actions as they will be the government.
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:31am
- Alex13
  
  And she is right. It is a sad situation for the voter that Simon Bridges and National as a whole look so pathetic at the moment that there’s no visible viable alternative to the current lot.
  
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  May 6, 2020 11:04am
- Papalazarou
  
  Last time I checked we are all bearing the consequences of her actions
  
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  May 6, 2020 3:40pm
Benedict Yu

So the Premier of Tasmania and Winston are excited about the prospect of direct flights to Hobart. No mention in the article about what Air New Zealand and Qantas think about that.

Hobart “International” Airport (yes that really is its name, despite have zero international flights) has long wanted international flights, even convincing the Tasmanian Government to stump up for a runway extension. And it convinced the Australian Government to build immigration, customs, and quarantine facilities. Airlines: LOL ?

I like Tasmania. I have family there. But in this environment Airlines are not going to launch novel routes. Planning a new international route takes time and money. So Winston I think you are going to be disappointed. But if I’m wrong I’ll definitely be on that plane.

EDIT Rather than NEW routes, when we come out of this, expect to see routes disappear. That Singapore Airlines Melbourne to Wellington route – dog tucker.

https://i.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/300005725/tasmanian-premier-nz-deputy-pm-excited-about-idea-of-flights-to-hobart
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May 6, 2020 8:06am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I’m sure Tassie is a lovely place, but the thing is that (from what I hear) it’s very like NZ. When Kiwis travel overseas, it’s usually because they want to experience something different.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:55am
  - PhilBest
    
    I have been there and I confirm it is very like NZ. In VERY many ways. Including the eco-loons and waccy baccy elements
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:21am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I first went to Hobart 30 years ago. It was very much the poor cousin of Australia cities. I went again this last summer and the place is booming.
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:27am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        ‘. . . It was very much the poor cousin of Australia cities. I went again this last summer and the place is booming.’
        
        And in those same thirty years, New Zealand still presents as the poor cousin.
        
        18 years of prudent responsibility addressing and fixing 9 years of socialism. It will take another 18 years of prudent management to fix the 30 months of ineptitude of the sixth labour government.
        
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        May 6, 2020 11:19am
    - Ed Snack
      
      Taswegians are a bit of a race apart. When they’re not accusing NZ’ers of having close relationships with sheep, Mainland Aussie’s like to accuse Tasmanians of the same “strange attraction”.
      
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      May 6, 2020 10:33am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    The data does not support that. New Zealand is the largest source market for international visitors to Tasmania. 1.3 million New Zealand residents visited Tasmania in 2019. I went three times. Over 200,000 of those trips were business trips. The place is booming (well pre pandemic anyway).
    
    https://www.tra.gov.au/International/international-tourism-results
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:26am
- david
  
  Was a day that AirNew Zealand ran 737 direct flight Christchurch to Hobart. Must have been 30 years or so ago.
  
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  May 6, 2020 2:32pm
- kwkiwigirl
  
  I don’t think WLG-MEL-SIN is neccessarily going to be cancelled. That’s a key 5th freedom route for SQ to fly into NZ and avoid going through the Auckland hub.
  
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  May 6, 2020 5:45pm
Manolo

Comrade Clark’s feeble defense:
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/who-let-down-by-un-left-to-deal-with-covid-19-on-its-own-helen-clark/ar-BB13DqBW

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been let down by the United Nations (UN) and left to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic on its own, former Prime Minister Helen Clark says.
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May 6, 2020 8:07am
- RW Capitalist
  
  That’s why it is divided up into departments Helen.
  Each branch has it’s own responsibilities.
  Having worked there, I would have thought you would have known this.
  But then again, it’s you and my expectations are low.
  WHO….health
  
  The UN System includes a multitude of specialized agencies, such as the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, and UNICEF.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:45am
- cmm
  
  Translation:
  
  WHO are so toxic that not even the corrupt UN wants to work with them.
  
  That’s what you get when the bloke in charge thinks it is a good idea to set up his BFF Robert Mugabe as an ambassador. Anyone with integrity left the building a long time ago.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:54am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Helen Clark is a sore loser
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:55am
- burt
  
  What she fails to mention is that the UN & the WHO are structured this way to avoid any accountability and scrutiny. Pointing to their weakness without acknowledging it’s deliberate is dishonest.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:12am
- Boutique Avo Orchard
  
  Maybe it’s time we re-evaluated our place on the UN and membership. We alone don’t seem to be able to get any change and the irony is Clarke is actually right in her opinion believe it or not. Why do we pay subscriptions to an organisation that sadly is becoming more ineffectual as the years go on? Forgive my ignorance but when it started it was the right thing to do but now?? The security council rarely achieves anything as the big powers always square off and whilst WHO does have a place (it has been a great help over the years with some of the nasties that have occurred particularly in Africa), it seems totally impotent at the current time. If others wish to disagree please do, but do we at least agree if we don’t leave the UN then at the least it needs a massive overhaul?
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:27am
  - Ruawai
    
    Yes stop giving our money away especially now we can’t afford it.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:58am
  - burt
    
    Look at who’s appointed to their human rights council – that in itself should make us stop funding them immediately.
    
    16 1
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    May 6, 2020 11:10am
- Durden
  
  If there was a single interview that showed how much in cahoots H1 is in with Jaz and co, and still pushing the UN agenda. She excused WHO and Security Council (apparently deadlocked by China/US) while blaming UN ! We know where that bitterness comes from–go Gutierez.
  
  And now she wants a new “pandemic council”. She wrongly stated that WHO condemns Sweden for not following WHO advice. She forgot this report or chose to ignore it. Unless it is another sucking up exercise as Helen Clarke says WHO has no choice but to do. Helen I think the option is defund the whole lot, scratch and start again in a controlled manner.
  
  https://nypost.com/2020/04/29/who-lauds-sweden-as-model-for-resisting-coronavirus-lockdown/
  
  And we have had H2 right behind taking over two years to produce her frickin’ report (not yet public) on DHB’s. Maybe if H2 had done her job usefully, effectively and quickly DHBs would have been more prepared.
  
  The best part was without make-up artist help, Helen looked like a ghoulish washed up old tramp leaning on a street corner house wall. (Marion Street style !). And there was the repeated paternalistic “Helen” and “love talking to you girl” comments from Henry for which I am sure Henry is going to pay.
  
  This programme is an enigma. 30 second pitchers have to send ideas to Henry’s personal company email. Not NewsHub. It feels like he has just bought a studio time-slot with Milford Assets’ help and is doing this with no editorial oversight ?
  
  But unless it is going to in-depth style i.e. a single hard hting interview per segment, the programme will die–as it should. Its too fluffy a treatment for the weighty job of redesigning paradise.
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:10am
  - burt
    
    So Clark thinks more bureaucracy is the way to improve ineffective bureaucracies. Didn’t see that coming.
    
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    May 6, 2020 11:12am
- niggly
  
  Looks like Helen is still bitter she lost out on the top UN job a few years ago …. so she is dissing the UN leadership (whom she lost out to).
  
  Expect to see more criticism of the UN from H1 because of this!
  
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  May 6, 2020 11:16am
Simon

Unite Comrades!

Last time the country was united was in opposition to capital gains tax. Even Cindy was opposed to this tax after Labo spent nine years promoting it.

What the country really needs right now is another left wing wanker tax proposal fronted by Micheal Cullen.
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May 6, 2020 8:09am
- stewmar
  
  “ What the country really needs right now is another left wing wanker tax proposal fronted by Micheal Cullen.”
  
  Be careful what you wish for……..
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:41am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    He’s dying of late stage cancer. Unlikely he will ever show up in public eye again.
    
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    May 6, 2020 10:25am
Chris Peace

People are realizing that Ardern is not omnipotent and that this Government needs urgent advice on how to save the economy.
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May 6, 2020 8:10am
- stewmar
  
  “People are realizing that Ardern is not omnipotent and that this Government needs urgent advice on how to save the economy.”
  
  Sadly she has no idea.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:44am
- Greg Ettridge
  
  PM Ardern doesn’t have to look far.
  Yesterday was such a stark difference in presentation to the press.
  Scomo didn’t front with Health, he fronted for half an hour and stated that he wouldn’t mention health, he was here to talk about restarting the economy.
  Was up front, costing $4 billion a week and cost 700,000 jobs.
  Whilst he was talking, Treasurer was at the press club banging hard at the same story.
  Australia is showing the drop in economy is going to be brutal in 2020 but will rebound by same amount in 2021.
  My guess is our state borders will open in late June as available flights indicate.
  Scomo said the joke around the discussion is that NZ would get access to WA before the rest of Australia.
  He also said he thought when Southern states had flights to Cairns, NZ could be in the bubble at the same time. That would make it July if flight planning is correct.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:55am
- oldfella
  
  Say what you like, but I think the PM is wonderful. Just ask her amazingly intelligent fan girls in the MSM.
  For instance Tova O’Brien told the AM show this morning how Princess Cindy was the first NZ PM to ‘beam’ into an Australian National Cabinet meeting since Peter Fraser in WW2. Wow. Beam?
  I didn’t even know we had satelittes back in the 1940s.
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:12am
  - oldfella
    
    Whoops, should be ‘satellites’. I blame those WW2 computer spell-checkers. 😉
    
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    May 6, 2020 10:54am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    Was Jacinda on her knees? Who needs who? Should be one way.
    
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    May 6, 2020 3:35pm
- north island kiwi
  
  there,s no saving it, nothing is ever going to be the same again, global depression, all countries are broke and in massive debt, the US needs a world war and this won,t end well for them, interesting times as the saying goes
  
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  May 6, 2020 2:11pm
cmm

Fun Facts about the Southern Hemisphere:
* 800M people live here. 6800M in NH.
* Our median language is Portugese.
* We have milder climates (excluding Antarctica).
* Our land area is less, population density less.
* Our CV19 death rate is 14/M; NH is 35/M.
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May 6, 2020 8:10am
- PhilBest
  
  I’m very surprised about the 14/M death rate in SH, where is that coming from?
  
  This is a very good article, best I’ve seen yet from anywhere; well done, Indian journo:
  
  https://www.news18.com/news/india/why-the-northern-and-southern-hemispheres-are-worlds-apart-when-it-comes-to-covid-19-spread-2572083.html
  
  “…The skew gets bigger when one looks at the number of cases in the two hemispheres – 96.84% of the cases are from the north and just 3.16% from the south.
  
  Further, the northern hemisphere accounts for 98% of the total number of deaths reported while the southern barely 2% (1,765 of 88,640).
  
  This suggests that, by and large, there is a high correlation between the geographical location of a country and the severity of COVID-19…”
  
  (No shit, Sherlock!)
  
  “…a key consideration seems to be the geography of the nation.
  
  Experts differ on the role played by temperature and humidity and its relation with COVID-19 and there is no conclusive theory yet to make an absolute claim.
  
  Yet, many credible studies suggest a definite linkage.
  
  Francesco Ficetola, PhD in environmental sciences from the University of Milan, says, “A climatic effect is very likely, for instance because during cold periods (winter) we are more susceptible to infections of the respiratory system. Differences in mortality are also probably related to susceptibility.”
  
  This explains the rapid spread of the virus in the northern hemisphere during February-March – the peak winter season for them. As a corollary, it also explains the less severe effect of the virus in the southern hemisphere where it was summer.
  
  Dr Ficetola, and Diego Rubolini, associate professor of ecology at the University of Milan, wrote a comprehensive paper titled Climate Affects Global Patterns Of COVID-19 Early Outbreak Dynamics, in which they highlighted the role of temperature and humidity in the spread of the virus…”
  
  (Why doesn’t the whole world know this?)
  
  “…10 of the most severely affected countries (in terms of a combination of number of cases and mortality rate) all lie between 32 degrees north and 55 degrees north latitude range – Italy, US, Spain, France, UK, Iran, China, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium.
  
  India lies between 8°4′ to 37°6′ north latitude, which means most of the country is outside this latitude range…
  
  “…Another related and interesting theory is the correlation between the sun’s ultraviolet rays and extent of spread of COVID-19…”
  
  NZ’s high UV a possible factor to our advantage? Nah, our trusted “X-spurts” haven’t said so, so it can’t be true.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:39am
  - cmm
    
    Most of the skewing of SH numbers comes from Brazil – which is 25% of the SH population – having 33/M.
    
    The whole SH has approx 11000 deaths, 7500 of those in Brazil and another 1900 in neighbouring Peru, Argentina and Chile.
    Indonesia is on about 900, leaving less than 1000 for the rest of us.
    
    The UV/VitD thing is gaining traction but there seems to be huge pushback from vested interests.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:06am
    - PhilBest
      
      This is very interesting now I’m looking into it. The Northern Hemisphere is certainly not homogenous; it’s 35/M death rate is dragged down by the massive numbers of people in the zones where the temperature and humidity are less conducive to COVID-19.
      
      It is the band of humanity between 33 degrees north and 55 degrees north that are worst affected. So this is an even more significant point to take into account than mere NH/SH considerations. Actually if you read the Italian professors paper, it is really the range of temperature and humidity that matters the most, so it is still possible for a region to be “in the bad zone” but if they are an outlier for their climate they aren’t really in the same category. Other geographic factors must have an influence too – elevation, proximity to water bodies, wind patterns, etc
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:31am
      - cmm
        
        If you dig deeper you will find even more skewness.
        
        For example in Sweden, Somalis are about 1% of the population, but have accounted for 40% of the CV19 deaths in some studies.
        
        Somalis are about as dark as they get and are not good VitD factories. Chuck them in Sweden in winter and they don’t stand a chance.
        
        There are heaps of variables and most of them are better in SH than NH.
        
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        May 6, 2020 9:44am
  - Ian Boag
    
    “this explains ” – is a bit of a stretch. Sort of suggests it is an established fact.
    
    I could go with “this is consistent with”or “might explain”. Suggests it is a workable theory. I am not sure how you would test it other than by wide observation.
    
    AFAIK – and FWIW – the 1918 pandemic was pretty much everywhere.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:46am
- Ruahine
  
  Just love that little factoid about the median language being Portugese. Great pub Quiz question.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:11am
  - PhilBest
    
    It probably also means that the median popular music style in the southern hemisphere is Bossa Nova….
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:48am
    - Jack5
      
      I’m curious about what the word “median” means in CMM’s original post.
      
      I thought “median” meant the middle number in a set of ordered numbers.
      
      We can assume that, in CMM’s report, it means Portuguese is the most used language in the Southern Hemisphere, or is the language with the highest number of native speakers. This is because Brazil has more than 212 million people. This compares with Portugual’s population of about 10.5 million.
      
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      May 6, 2020 1:47pm
      - cmm
        
        Jack, yes, the use of median was incorrect, although maybe if we ordered all people in alphabetcial order according to their first language Portugese would still be the median.
        
        Arabic, Cantonese,..English… Portuguese,..Spanish… Xhosa, Zulu.
        
        Lucky eh?
        
        I should have used mode (ie. the most prevalent).
        
        Yes, Portuguese is the most prevalent language in SH because the vast majority (??200M??)of Brazilians speak only Portuguese. Quite a few Africans too (Angolans, Mozambicans) adding maybe another 50 or 60M.
        
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        May 6, 2020 3:34pm
      - Jack5
        
        The mode, eh? I’ve learned a new term, thanks CMM.
        
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        May 6, 2020 7:42pm
- mark15
  
  Not even a billion people live in the southern half of the planet? We’ve got half of it to ourselves??
  That statistic is staggering.
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:44am
  - cmm
    
    We don’t even have the most sheep!
    
    China has more sheep than NZ and Australia combined.
    
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    May 6, 2020 3:35pm
  - Jack5
    
    We’ve got the most ocean and sea, too.
    
    That’s why Polynesians, expanding their domain by canoe, found little to conquer or settle, in contrast with Genghis Khan rampaging across the Northern Hemisphere by horse.
    
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    May 6, 2020 7:46pm
jv

Not a good idea to self proclaim as a “perfectionist” Jacinda. Not a leadership attribute at all.
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May 6, 2020 8:11am
- wilderbeast
  
  Great point! I also couldn’t believe she said that. She’s like the teachers pet, causing misery with her perfectionism. I’m concerned that perfection looks like zero live cases before we’re allowed to emerge from house arrest
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:15am
  - burt
    
    It’s always about her isn’t it.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:13am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    She’ll also aggravate the anxiety she claimed to have, when she completely rejected the notion of ever being Labour leader and PM.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:18am
- cmm
  
  Engineering (aka problem solving) is the art of compromise.
  
  Perfectionism interferes with that.
  
  But, hey, of course she’s perfect. She also has perfect inchewishun and speaks to her perfect overseas mates. No need to consult with other (imperfect) people.
  
  #CinD4UN! the sooner the better.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:19am
  - Ruawai
    
    She said “Jepradise” in the interview with Kim Hill on RNZ on Monday, I am sure you could almost hear Kim squirm in her being such a good wordsmith.
    
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    May 6, 2020 10:03am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      I’ve mispronounced words before …ones I’ve read but never heard, however I’ve always had someone around who has pointed out how to say the word correctly.
      
      Are folks too afraid to point out the bleeding obvious to the PM?
      [ jep-er-dahyz ]
      
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      May 6, 2020 10:56am
- Critical Thinker
  
  “Perfection is the enemy of progress.” -Winston Churchill
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:41am
- JibberJabber
  
  Like all good Communists, Soviet Cindy uses words that mean the opposite of what they really represent.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:44am
- wilderbeast
  
  It is interesting that a self proclaimed perfectionist constantly uses the word “somethink”
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:46am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Or “Idaly”, or “poverdy”, or “bin” (for “been”). Her diction is poor.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:19am
- stewmar
  
  “Not a good idea to self proclaim as a “perfectionist” Jacinda. Not a leadership attribute at all.”
  
  Well, if she thinks she’s a perfectionist she’s making a cluster of a job at being one.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:46am
- RW Capitalist
  
  perfectionist
  /pəˈfɛkʃ(ə)nɪst/
  Learn to pronounce
  noun
  noun: perfectionist; plural noun: perfectionists
  
  a person who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection.
  Is she sure she knows the meaning of the word?
  “A new level of parliamentary incompetence”
  tree planting
  increased child poverty (promised a lower level)
  House building
  Flu vaccine shortfall
  Meningitis out break
  Measles out break
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:10am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    Her MP’s? Wow Jacinda you really will be the biggest employer now!!!
    
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    May 6, 2020 4:03pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  Yes I cannot believe she said that either. I’m surprised there is not more out cry regarding it as what she’s achieved so far is a long way from perfection………….unless creating more homeless, poverty and unemployed is what she really wanted all along?
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:54am
- alloytoo
  
  If she’s a perfectionist then she must be perpetually angry with herself with her government’s performance.
  
  Perhaps she meant to say narcissist?
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:57am
Manolo

E…parecchi parliamo italiano. 🙂
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May 6, 2020 8:12am
all true

Covid19 is just the biggest scam mainly in political and in media terms the world has ever seen and this is played on the back of the taxpayers.
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May 6, 2020 8:14am
- The Goblin
  
  On a par with climate change perhaps…
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:29am
  - Nickc2
    
    It’s a bigger scam than man-made climate change and much more successful considering all the countries that have taken a hit to their GDP and then ask yourself what for?
    
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    May 6, 2020 1:41pm
  - all true
    
    That will be the next continuing saga climate change is even a bigger scam, but for now it was pushed a bit into the background, because it does not create instantly so many death people. Once the shine of Covid19 is gone then all the hell breaks lose on this climate change. Just fasten your seat belts.
    
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    May 6, 2020 2:43pm
- marcw
  
  I think it’s got a way to go to catch up with “Climate Change / Warming / Emergency” to be honest.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:38am
  - PhilBest
    
    But it’s so quick acting!! In terms of cost for the mere first quarter period of this scam, it beats the CAGW scam’s costs for its first decade or possibly two. And it sets a very dangerous successful precedent for police state conditions.
    
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    May 6, 2020 8:46am
    - cmm
      
      Yup, I agree
      
      Nobody really cares too much about something that is 50 or 80 years away (as all the climate doom and gloom is).
      
      Sure, people make noises about climate change but are they really prepared to make real, hard sacrifices in their lives? Nope (except maybe 1 or 2%).
      
      But threaten people with DEATH. Now! and you can lead them by the nose.
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:12am
      - Don Beckett
        
        But the climate change alarmism is all bullshit anyway, particularly in relation to warming.
        The earth has been in a cooling trend for the last 80 odd years – since the temperature/extreme heat of the 1930’s.
        
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        May 6, 2020 9:42am
cmm

Interesting article in Stuff about new anti-gang unit in Chch.

It is interesting that they are focusing on the Mongols and Comancheros, but anyone in Chch will have noticed a big rise in Mongrel Mob profile over the last year or two.

I wonder whether this is Sonny and Wally’s co-decision from one of their weekly meetings?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/121405833/national-organised-crime-team-sets-up-in-south-island
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May 6, 2020 8:15am
- MrTips
  
  Indeed. And with Wally’s decision to “help” the Mob deliver essential services, we should be afraid. That’s an old standover tactic which the police seem to be enabling. We don’t want to be like Italy, which is really going to suffer long term effects from the Mafia making even more major inroads into society because of coronavirus: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52537573
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:27am
  - cmm
    
    Anyone that thinks there is no backscratching going on is naive. MMob will only be talking to the cops if they can get something out of it.
    
    Getting rid of rival gangs is good for them:
    * Obviously good for Sonny to get the Blue Gang to do his dirty work and eliminate opposition.
    * Wally’s mob can put on a heavy “get tough on gangs” show for the punters.
    * Nash can say they’ve been tough on crime.
    
    All winners, except us.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:51am
Tarquin North

I was wondering about the possibility of a snap election. The earlier the election the better chance Labour have. Once that wage subsidy runs out people will be getting hungry and hungry people want answers. All they have to do is get Winston to bring the government down and away we go. No doubt he will reincarnate as high commissioner to London or some other plum job once the dust has settled. What would the possible dates be or are we already too close to the general election?
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May 6, 2020 8:15am
- bruceavon
  
  Well a snap election now would be an absolute disaster. Based on the polls Labour could govern alone, or worse, with the greens. Half National would be gone. the longer out the better.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:33am
  - PhilBest
    
    Sadly this might be true.
    
    https://nopunchespulled.com/2020/04/25/a-nation-of-sheep/
    
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    May 6, 2020 8:48am
  - Tarquin North
    
    That’s the real question Bruce, what can she do? Surely she must be looking at the idea. Anyone out there know the rules?
    
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    May 6, 2020 8:53am
    - bruceavon
      
      Surely they wouldn’t have the cheek to try it?? It would take a lot of balls to just have a bare faced grab at power. It wouldn’t be very nice!!
      
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      May 6, 2020 3:22pm
- ex-golfer
  
  NZ First will not want a snap election as they would be decimated – and they are the only party that could force it.
  It would also be hugely hypocritical of The Supreme Leader to suddenly allow and encourage NZrs out to the polls when she says we are not allowed out of our bubble until she deems our behaviour is appropriate.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:51am
- Tony Stuart
  
  I had thought some time ago it might be an option, before things got too bad. But the PM has left it too late to organise. Her choice now is a winter election (and remember Muldoon lost in July 1984), or a winter of discontent. Neither is a particularly appealing prospect.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:22am
  - Tarquin North
    
    Winter election or people finding out the truth? Come September total decimation is a real possibility, so why wait? what are her options Tony? You would know a lot more about this sort of thing than most of us, would appreciate your thoughts.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:29am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      It’s a bit of both. By election day, we will officially be in recession, if not depression. The June quarter GDP number is due to be released around 16 September. We are almost certainly going to see negative GDP growth in the March quarter, and two consecutive quarters of negative growth constitutes a recession.
      
      The Level 4 lockdown has aggravated everything, and we have to brace ourselves for unemployment at levels we haven’t seen in at least a generation. It was reported yesterday that MSD is preparing for 300,000 benefit applications in the next few months.
      
      But if Ardern bailed out now and called a snap election, it would be a signal that Labour doesn’t believe it can manage things going forward, and they would take a posting at the ballot box. Her best hope is to postpone the election, hope things don’t get to be as bad as predicted, and pray that there is a rebound.
      
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      May 6, 2020 10:03am
      - Tarquin North
        
        Thanks for that Tony. I think rather than call a snap election she would get Winston to bring the government down and throw his own party under the bus, and let’s face it that bus is approaching fast and the SFO is driving. Cushy job after the election, what does he really have to lose?
        
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        May 6, 2020 10:13am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        I don’t know that Peters wants another job at his stage of life. But the promise of a knighthood would be a definite sweetener.
        
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        May 6, 2020 11:01am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        If Peters gets a knighthood, I will begin a petition to get it removed with the expectation of the same out come as the petition against Sir Robert Jones’ knighthood.
        
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        May 6, 2020 11:35am
- Paulus
  
  She has already admitted yesterday that the Wage Subsidy may well be extended (up to the election of course).
  
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  May 6, 2020 2:25pm
Pete George

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Six New Zealands of climate change: Which one are you?

An online survey of more than 2000 people found those who actively reject climate change are a small minority – 6 per cent – and more likely to be men over 55.

Most people surveyed believe in climate change and want societal action of some sort, but aren’t taking personal action to solve the crisis.

SIX NZs: WHICH GROUP ARE YOU?

Alarmed (14 per cent): Fully convinced of the reality and seriousness of climate change and already taking individual, consumer, and political action to address it.

Concerned (28 per cent): Also convinced that climate change is happening and a serious problem, but have not yet engaged in the issue personally.

Cautious (8 per cent) and Disengaged (27 per cent): Average scores for Cautious and Disengaged people are almost identical, however the Disengaged have stronger belief in climate change and want stronger societal action, but display weaker behaviours and personal involvement.

Doubtful (17 per cent): Generally question climate change or don’t believe it is a problem, however their behaviours show they are not engaged in the issue.

Dismissive (6 per cent): Actively disbelieve in climate change and want a weak or no response from society. Actively oppose national efforts to cut emissions.

I suspect the last category may be over-represented here.
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May 6, 2020 8:16am
- Simon
  
  PG used to be hot for the Mueller but went all quiet when Mueller turned out to be senile. Climate change is just another Mueller report.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:20am
  - Pete George
    
    I haven’t paid attention to the Mueller report for ages because I thought that was largely over with. But apparently not. Some parts of the report were kept secret and this may yet be revealed.
    
    The Trump administration will have another 10 days to rush to the Supreme Court for help before it’ll have to turn over Mueller grand jury secrets to the House of Representatives, a federal appeals court said on Friday.
    
    In a brief order, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, said it would give the Justice Department time to appeal to the Supreme Court. The court had previously said documents and details from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation would have to be turned over Friday. Now, the deadline is May 11, the day before the Supreme Court hears another high-profile case about House Democrats’ investigations into President Donald Trump.
    The Justice Department has said it would ask the Supreme Court to intervene in the Mueller grand jury case. If that happens and the Supreme Court wants to hear the case, it could be months before it’s resolved. Last month, the appeals court ruled, 2-1, that the Democratic-controlled House could see the grand jury material from the Mueller probe and redacted portions of the Mueller report. The majority agreed that the House Judiciary Committee has a “compelling need” to view the secretive details prosecutors had collected from witnesses and about Trump.
    The Justice Department argued that once the grand jury materials were turned over to the House Judiciary Committee, they could eventually be made public.
    “Unless the mandate is stayed, this Court’s decision will upset the status quo by requiring the Department to turn over the grand jury materials at issue, irreversibly breaching the secrecy of those materials, and raising serious questions about whether they could ever be retrieved from Congress once in Congress’s possession,” the Justice Department wrote last week.
    
    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/01/politics/mueller-grand-jury-documents/index.html
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:39am
    - Ed Snack
      
      cnn, snork. Love the phrasing, and why do they think that GJ information will be negative. based on the modus operandi of the Mueller team, any omitted information seems highly likely to undermine any collusion narrative.
      
      For example, while prosecuting General Flynn, the SC office was fully aware of exculpatory information on Flynn that they held and were required to hand over to the Judge (and defense) in his case, but they didn’t do so.
      
      Mueller wasn’t really an investigation as it was already known at the time his term started that there was no collusion – it was instead a desperate attempt to cover up the crimes committed by the outgoing administration and the FBI/CIA etc in illegally surveilling the opposition campaign for President. She wasn’t supposed to lose you see…
      
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      May 6, 2020 10:49am
    - All_on_Red
      
      I think AG Bill Barr has definitively ended the inquiry.
      What still has to be released is the suppressed Testimony from Schiffs Impeachment inquiry.
      He’s scrabbling big time to prevent that.
      It’s all moot anyway as Indictments are imminent.
      Many of the 30 odd who have been sacked from the DOJ and FBI are probably going to cop it.
      
      Oh, and Muellers Prosecutor, Van Grack on the Flynn case has been caught lying to Judge Emmet Sullivan.
      Strozyk, Page and McCabe are also clearly caught obstructing justice there too.
      
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      May 6, 2020 11:12am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        How long do you reckon those indictments will remain ‘imminent’?
        
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        May 6, 2020 11:46am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Good question Mikey
        Bill Barr said the investigation by Durham is almost done.
        The Flynn case also is coming to a close. It’s been mooted that Flynn needs to be free of that before he can reveal all he knows.
        
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        May 6, 2020 12:36pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Agree, Flynn’s lawyer has a truck load of documents that were never supposed to see the light of day and they clearly (according to Sky News) show the intent to frame Lt Gen Flynn. These documents include hand written FBI Forms of Interview that were deliberately altered by Strozyk and Page in order to frame Flynn. Comey has admitted on TV that he was party to the stitch up and sent agents to the White House (illegally) to obtain evidence in order to incriminate anyone associated with the Trump administration.
        AG Barr and others are in the process of bringing indictments against many of the senior members of the FBI. It seems FBI Director Wray has done little to clean up the upper echelons of the FBI since assuming directorship and as such, he is also likely to be investigated.
        
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        May 6, 2020 2:29pm
  - PhilBest
    
    There are even more similarities given that Mueller’s operatives were legally obliged to take exculpatory evidence into account and it is now becoming evident they did not. That is, they found the evidence that the whole thing was an alphabet-agency frame-up and they went on sticking solely to the brief of “was there collusion”. “Finding” that there wasn’t, wasn’t anything like as strong as what they should have said. When they found the evidence of the frame-up, they should have concluded the investigation and said plainly why they were doing so.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:53am
- cmm
  
  I am a man over 55, but more importantly I am a scientist and an engineer with no skin in the game so uninclined to peddle the bullshit.
  
  Through unbelievable luck I have survived decades of world-ending calamities:
  diseases (SARS, bird flu etc etc),
  global cooling in the 1970
  peak oil
  etc etc
  
  So forgive me if I fail to get too alarmed by a bit of plant food.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:24am
  - All_on_Red
    
    Well warming certainly isn’t getting out of hand.
    Here’s some Scientific Facts courtesy of NOAAs Satellite.
    ‘In April, 2020, the Northern Hemisphere experienced its 2nd largest 2-month drop in temperature in the 497-month satellite record.
    The Version 6.0 global average lower tropospheric temperature (LT) anomaly for April, 2020 was +0.38 deg. C, down from the March, 2020 value of +0.48 deg. C.
    https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/
    
    What this is saying is that from Jan 1979 to now the average Global Temperature has risen by just .38C.
    This seems in line with the warming of around .75-.85C we have had over the past century.
    
    I wonder how many on Pete’s list actually know this.
    This halfwit certainly doesn’t.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=idMa4a6eA9M
    
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    May 6, 2020 8:51am
- Illegally Imprisoned in Cindy's Jail
  
  Dear George
  
  Jacinda and family flittered off on a fabulous holiday in Australia last Xmas burning CO2 like there were holidays galore.
  
  Cindy is obviously in your ‘dismissive’ category.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:24am
  - Pete George
    
    This Court of Appeal judgment has ruled that we aren’t illegally detained:
    
    In the High Court, Peters J concluded neither A nor B were detained for the
    purposes of the Act. She was satisfied A and B were free to engage in many of their usual activities. For example, they were free to exercise, go to a supermarket, talk to
    anyone and access the internet.
    
    …The restrictions on movement imposed by the COVD-19 Alert Level 3 order
    do not involve restrictions upon the liberty of A and B as Parliament intended liberty
    to be understood in the Act. A and B have not therefore been detained for the purposes
    of the Act.
    
    https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2CA2182020-PCCivil.pdf
    
    3 21
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    May 6, 2020 9:11am
    - cmm
      
      So ruled by a Dudge that can still go to work, is on 100% salary, has a fat pension to look forward to and has no fear of her industry collapsing.
      
      If she spent 5 minutes living in Planet Real World she’d be saying something very different.
      
      24 6
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      May 6, 2020 9:18am
      - Pete George
        
        I presume you’r referring to the High Court Judge who made the original ruling.
        
        The above refers to 3 Court of Appeal judges agreeing with that ruling.
        
        But in any case your lame diss has no relevance to the application of law.
        
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        May 6, 2020 9:43am
      - cmm
        
        Of course it is relevant.
        
        Everyone, including Dudges, sees the world though a set of filters. Most of those are personal.
        
        If there is a criminal dealing meth next door that is real, a crim dealing meth 5km away is abstract.
        
        Same too with this case. Their “reality” is so unlike the reality the rest of us are experiencing.
        
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        May 6, 2020 10:42am
- G152
  
  Yup.
  You are correct there.
  Here we have people who work or have worked for their living, raised families, bought houses and so on..
  We have seen other scams in our lives.
  Best one was Y2K …
  The world is reliant upon the Sun for warmth so we are already solar powered.
  Had Ice Ages and warm periods.
  And weather.
  Pardon us (well me at least) for doubting fake news reports and reporters who have ulterior motives who you consider truthful
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:41am
  - Pete George
    
    Here we have people who work or have worked for their living, raised families, bought houses and so on..
    We have seen other scams in our lives.
    Best one was Y2K …
    
    I have worked for a living for a long time and have played a part in raising multiple families.
    
    I did a lot of work on Y2K – some of it was probably unnecessary , but it was a real problem and there could have been major consequences if so much effort hadn’t been made in dealing with it. There were date issues (there always have been in computer programs) but ended up being manageable in part due to the attention paid to the issue.
    
    It’s a bit like where we’re at with Covid – some protested about what was being done to deal with it, and then when measures were largely successful they claimed the lack of problems proved there was nothing to worry about in the first place. (But Covid-19 has some time to run yet so we don’t know what effectiveness of various measures have been nor what the end result will be).
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:06am
  - Swifty
    
    G152, Y2K was not a scam.
    
    Believe me, I was in the thick of it managing the applications and systems testing of one of our major telcos and saw first hand the effects of flaws in our testing environments.
    
    I would agree that some silly people saw fit to pull their hair and scream ‘the end is nigh’ – but don’t mistake those overblown predictions for a scam.
    
    It was real.
    
    13 4
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    May 6, 2020 9:16am
    - G152
      
      So where were all those aircraft that ‘fell out of the sky’ ???
      And the total collapse of civilisation as promised ?
      I was a computer tech at the time and did quite well off the panic
      
      8 3
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      May 6, 2020 9:54am
      - marcw
        
        Perhaps no aircraft ‘fell out of the sky’ G152 because you and all the other hundreds of thousands of programmers did their job? They found a potential problem, and with concerted effort, they fixed it.
        
        8 1
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        May 6, 2020 10:03am
      - Swifty
        
        As I said, there was all sorts of hyperbole spouted at the time – hyperbole which also didn’t factor in the world’s subsequent response to the threat i.e. the extensive repair efforts and upgrading to Y2K compliant applications, systems, hardware etc etc.
        
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        May 6, 2020 10:07am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        or people getting stuck in elevators, hospital equipment failing (even in 3rd world countries)
        etc etc
        
        4 1
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        May 6, 2020 11:07am
    - Surely Knott
      
      Overblown predictions is a form of scam. When a person in authority takes something like Y2k , Kauri Dieback, Climate Change and politicises it and claims the end is nigh. That is a scam. And there is usually money departments and careers made on it.
      
      8 3
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      May 6, 2020 10:00am
    - Ed Snack
      
      I was in the thick of it as well, and it was in fact a massively over-hyped piece of stupidity. We actually purchased special test equipment, setup a parallel environment for much of our IT infrastructure – and everything worked absolutely teh same before and after.
      
      Yes, there could have been some issues if matters were entirely ignored, but major suppliers anyway had been working for several years to update and patch as necessary. Our major platform at the time was AIX on IBM Power, and there were updates and patches issued with many months to spare to cope with any fringe cases.
      
      The few major issues I was aware of were old embedded systems that needed special firmware updates, one system I recall an acquaintance dealing with controlled the elevators in a building. But the patches were available months in advance for that.
      
      It was a real problem but not anything like of the magnitude of that dreamed up by the sensation seeking media and commentators.
      
      10 3
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      May 6, 2020 10:57am
      - G152
        
        I recall that it was the two digit date that was the problem in Windows 3.1
        
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        May 6, 2020 1:28pm
- Dairy Flat
  
  I am an over 55 Male and old enough to recall the scare pedalling years ago of global cooling. The Earth has spent the last few billions of years with a constantly changing climate; it’s the way it is. Have you heard of ice ages and the subsequent emergence from them, over and over again? Anthropomorphic climate change is the controversial bit and personally my money is on the influence of the Sun rather than the hominids.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:45am
- marcw
  
  LOL, “online survey”, from Stuff (that ~~impartial~~ one-eyed source of climate dis-information), and all the “believers” don’t have the commitment of their so called concern. A bunch of greenwashing virtual signalers in other words.
  
  Even more reason not to donate anything to support the useless crap they peddle.
  
  32 4
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  May 6, 2020 8:47am
- Critical Thinker
  
  “About 70-80 per cent of the population believes climate change is real, which is encouraging, but a bunch of those people believe it’s caused by nature,”
  
  It should be 100% as we all know that the climate is constantly changing.
  
  And there is a vast world of difference between Climate Change vs the hypothetical catastrophic anthropogenic climate change ?
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:49am
  - cmm
    
    We are part of nature.
    
    Gaia wants Her starving plants to thrive so that the deserts are reversed and become green again. We have our role to play. We must dig up that plant food and feed it to the plants.
    
    We are helping Gaia with Her plan.
    
    11 3
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    May 6, 2020 9:22am
- emmess
  
  I suspect the last category may be over-represented here.
  
  Yeah, because we are not low information voters
  
  13 5
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  May 6, 2020 8:54am
  - All_on_Red
    
    Boom!
    
    8 2
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    May 6, 2020 9:42am
  - Pete George
    
    Level of information means nothing, especially when it’s highly selective to fit an argument .
    
    I see quite a bit of low quality information here (as well as some good information from various sides of the issue).
    
    3 13
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    May 6, 2020 9:47am
- kowtow
  
  Wuflu and Climate Change are interconnected.
  
  The Southern Lakes were formed by climate change , attracted tourists and now their economy’s been fucked by the lock down.
  
  21 4
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  May 6, 2020 9:04am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Do politicians even believe in it?
  Phillis Goofy, and most of the Labour caucus are promoting a waterfront stadium in Auckland.
  If Climate change is real and therefore sea level rise is real.
  Why would you build a stadium on the waterfront.
  Especially as these same people are warning against infrastructure damage and increase insurance premium in every other place in NZ?
  I think they DON’T believe in it, it is just a convenient political button to push.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:15am
Monique Watson

Maybe you guys are lucky JA doesn’t hog air time for longer than she does. We just had Governor Newsom blather on for almost an hour justifying the extended shelter in place.He’s so slick he exudes hair oil.
20 2
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May 6, 2020 8:19am
Maggie Pie

Much to the relief of my partner, we received a txt from our lawnmower man earlier this morning. (He must know something we dont ?)

‘bck to Lv2 tues. wil b yor hse noon. rgds Phuc’

Phuc and his wife have been tending our property every week for nearly 8 years. They took over the local franchise when they first arrived from Vietnam. Nicer hardworking people would be hard to find. He does the mowing she does the blowing. And they take all the clippings away as well.
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May 6, 2020 8:20am
- Paulus
  
  Our man turned up Monday at 8 am, hooray, with Uni son in tow earning is keep.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:34am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  We don’t need to see your tinder messages.
  
  24 3
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  May 6, 2020 8:39am
- Martin Williams
  
  Hardworking? All the other mowers have been cutting for a week already.
  
  2 31
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  May 6, 2020 9:38am
  - marcw
    
    All? Really? You know that how? If ever there was a case for wishing someone could choke on their own bile, you would fit perfectly.
    
    19 1
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    May 6, 2020 9:44am
    - Martin Williams
      
      All the hardworking ones have.
      
      1 14
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      May 6, 2020 12:10pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Here’s one for you Marty 😀
    
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EXOKCLiXQAUfmjD?format=jpg&name=small
    
    8 3
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    May 6, 2020 9:49am
- Bobba Fret
  
  My Chinese lawn mower person has already been under level 3
  
  8 0
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  May 6, 2020 10:01am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Did you dob the plick in? 😀
    
    5 2
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    May 6, 2020 10:30am
- Fletch
  
  It’s nice to see people giving a …..
  
  7 1
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  May 6, 2020 10:31am
Maggy Wassilieff

Our PM doesn’t have the luxury of making a wrong move.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/dont-have-luxury-making-wrong-move-ardern-says-in-face-bridges-repeated-lockdown-criticism

How many of us have the luxury of not being able to work?
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May 6, 2020 8:20am
Tricati

I watched Scott Morrison’s press conference on Sky News Australia last night and it was a stark contrast to the Cindy Show we get here. Morrison went through the health statistics both from a National and State perspective and then focused on the economic impact.
Australian Treasury had produced the stats for him, which were presented on PowerPoint, and he talked through the impact nationally on GDP, then each state and how their lock-down was affecting business and resultant job losses. It was a very telling picture, well put and easy to follow. He explained the economic impact of further delaying opening business further, and the likely weekly increase in job losses and the cost to government in unemployment support.
When questioned, he was open and frank with his answers and expanded on his explanations with further economic detail and likely outcomes.
I am concerned we are not getting the full economic details of our lock down, if we are getting any, as I suspect we are in a dire situation that is going to take years to heal. I’m convinced Labour are holding the economic details back, as to release it, will in many ways show they are unable to financially manage a crisis and confirm the widely held view Labour are not good financial managers. A view which they don’t want pushed leading up to the election. I suspect they will try to use the coming budget to re-frame the economic debate, therefore, its up to National and Simon Bridges to aggressively challenge them over the government’s performance pre covid 19 and their currently financial handling.
Its clear the COL won’t want to use the 9 years of neglect slogan, as it was the English austerity approach that has positioned NZ to handle the covid 19 crisis; particularly after the GFC and the Canterbury earthquakes. To use that slogan again would give the biggest opportunity to National to ridicule Labour’s poor Financial management.
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May 6, 2020 8:21am
- ex-golfer
  
  Business reporters/journalists are not allowed into the 1pm daily lecture – so its not surprising that there is a lack of information about the economic impact.
  The PM knows she would be well out of her depth – so has avoided being put in position to answer the hard questions.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:45am
- tui47
  
  We seem to be getting very little information on how the NZ economy is faring. Apart from the report that around 300,000 are signing up at WINZ the talk from Robertson is all general picture stuff of what might be coming, no concrete details like the Australians are getting. The only details I am getting is hearing second hand from clients at Hubby’s firm. I think it will be a deliberate plan to withhold the negative information for as long as possible and fill the vacuum with information on assistance to business. The polls will fall if the reality get through to the swing voters. According to economists there are two big dates we have to watch for. The first is when the wage subsidy runs out in June and the second is around August. There is not much gap between that the election so the time for the economy reality to hit the masses is not long enough to seal the Government’s fate.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:03am
- cmm
  
  Yeah, yeah, but is he an awesome single mother?
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:24am
- Nickc2
  
  Agree Tricati. I watched Morrison also and it seems this bubble our Labour Mob are talking about is nothing but a grab for TV time and appear as relevant.
  Australia’s intention with regard to COVID-19 is to get it UNDER CONTROL. Cindy’s intention is to ERADICATE it. Given the difference in intentions, I for one can’t see too many tourists entering NZ from Australia unless Cindy is going to ERADICATE Australia’s COVID-19 as well.
  
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  May 6, 2020 3:01pm
Tony Stuart

Where’s the kindness Prime Minister?

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Ministry of Health’s stance on exemptions is heartless

I want to tell you about a conversation our producer Laura had this afternoon.

She spoke to a woman who’s too upset to come on the show, and I don’t want to name her in case it makes things harder for her.

This woman is in quarantine in a hotel in Auckland, and her mum is dying.

She’s come home from Australia to see her mum before it’s too late.

Just like the case we heard of yesterday of Oliver Christiansen, who wanted to say goodbye to his dad, she’s asked the ministry of health for a quarantine exemption and they’ve said no.

She thought they were about to say yes today because she heard the PM yesterday say 18 people had been given permission. She thought that meant she was probably going to get a yes too.

Our producer had to tell her the PM was wrong, no one’s been given permission. She started crying on the phone.

Let’s be honest: she might not ever see her mum alive again.

The Ministry of Health is reviewing all 24 requests that they’ve declined, but that review will take most of the week. By then, this woman’s quarantine will probably be finished as she’s allowed out this weekend. But her mum might not make it to the weekend.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/opinion/heather-du-plessis-allan-ministry-of-healths-stance-on-exemptions-is-heartless/.XrENln0vMgs.twitter

This is a massive black mark against the Ministry of Health and the Prime Minister. It’s particularly bad for the PM, given that she misled people when she claimed eighteen exemptions had been granted when in fact none had.

My heart goes out to those family members who are being prevented from seeing their families by a heartless government and its bureaucracy.
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May 6, 2020 8:30am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The State Sector needs fumigating.
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:33am
  - Illegally Imprisoned in Cindy's Jail
    
    I think they are aware that the peasants realise they have been robbed by the bureaucracy.
    
    18 1
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    May 6, 2020 8:38am
  - kowtow
    
    The fault lies principally with the govt.
    Govts are ultimately responsible for funding and the policy settings of how depts are run .
    
    For example just before this Wuflu thing blew up Jax was in Fiji talking climate change and giving our money away ,cliamte change was also going to be the nuclear something or other and everyone was convinced that Maori and pacifics should get more money and attention than everyone else.
    
    Meanwhile pandemics , which occur every 20 to 25 years were ignored by our experst and perfectionists.
    
    21 2
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    May 6, 2020 8:52am
    - cmm
      
      The fault lies with the voters.
      The voters are ultimately responsible for choosing the Govts that choose the funding etc etc.
      
      Thanks NZF voters!
      
      17 1
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      May 6, 2020 9:26am
  - PhilBest
    
    The frightening thing we should be able to see now, and it must be fixed before it is too late, is that all it takes to get a Police State in place, is for the “right” agent to get the plumb job of “government expert advisor” on something. All the other experts who were passed over for the job get their opinions in a crisis, nullified by an MSM that is in the tank for the conspiracy.
    
    Public Service hiring has long since been gatekept by PC progressives and the so called expert advice given to ministers on a wide range of subjects has become increasingly indistinguishable from progressive activism. Same for which “private sector consultants” get all the important policy analysis work. Economists claiming that stealing road space off cars for bicycles, has “massive positive benefit cost ratio” for example.
    
    Needs fumigating all right.
    
    24 2
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    May 6, 2020 8:56am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Once we had an independent Public Service. The Permanent Heads kept their Ministers out of trouble with wise advice which was listened too.
      
      10 1
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      May 6, 2020 10:45am
- ex-golfer
  
  To upset to come on the show – and yet she was featured on the television last night???
  She must have reached breaking point.
  Similar to the other case her mother is dying AT HOME – so she would not be putting anyone’s health at risk outside of her own family.
  
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/05/woman-trapped-in-quarantine-begs-jacinda-ardern-for-exemption-to-see-terminally-ill-mother.html
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:42am
- cas
  
  That link doesn’t work. Censored???
  
  2 3
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  May 6, 2020 8:49am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Try this one:
    
    https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/opinion/heather-du-plessis-allan-ministry-of-healths-stance-on-exemptions-is-heartless/?fbclid=IwAR3oSgPmyoACxfEByVPtzGMCD9tNG1kmkrN1sfo3xqkIgTJnTF7LZjxdpB8
    
    9 2
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    May 6, 2020 8:56am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  But look how the PM tried to turn this debacle by the Ministry of Health into HER story.
  
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/05/coronavirus-jacinda-ardern-reveals-she-s-struggled-keeping-families-from-seeing-their-dying-relatives-during-lockdown.html
  
  A couple of days ago the Silly woman didn’t even realise that folks were being denied visitation rights to dying relatives.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:32am
- Martin Williams
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Should have come home earlier.
  
  2 34
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  May 6, 2020 9:40am
  - Swifty
    
    Victim blamer.
    
    BTW – I see the unions have had their hands held out for the wage subsidies. Doesn’t that mean, by your reasoning, that they must have inefficiently managed and deserve to go under?
    
    How shameful. Relying on handouts from hard-working NZers to keep their rotten structures afloat.
    
    Hopefully after all this dies down better managed unions will emerge and replace the shoddy, inefficient and poorly-managed unions that exist today.
    
    18 1
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    May 6, 2020 10:16am
- chaos
  
  Anyone in the media should do a freedom of information act on all the correspondence with David Clark. It will bring up something that will leave most people disgusted and him with no option but to be fired
  
  16 1
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  May 6, 2020 9:46am
  - PhilBest
    
    What I’d love to know is whether he dissented from the panicked lockdown decision. Sure, hypocrisy and incompetence might explain his actions, but the possibility exists that he was completely unconvinced about the threat of doomsday for NZ.
    
    Quite frankly it should have been self evident to a whole lot more people than just Bob Jones, Don Brash, Rodney Hide, CMM, Deity Nigel, and me. Even a Labour Cabinet Minister should have the potential to have got it, especially if he knew much basics on Health.
    
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    May 6, 2020 10:07am
  - ex-golfer
    
    I don’t think doing a Freedom of Information Act request in New Zealand will get much response.
    
    AFAIK a FoIA only applies in the US, Australia, the UK, Scotland and Pakistan.
    
    Did you mean an Official Information Act (OIA) request?
    
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    May 6, 2020 12:57pm
- Cod Weyne
  
  Yes I listened to Heather commenting on that, while driving home last evening.
  When I got home and spoke with my wife, saying it is a bloody disgrace that we have allowed ourselves to become captive to the “system” and that the PM and the DG of health should hang their heads in shame, I mentioned the recent fellow who challenged this issue and won in court etc etc.
  My wife who has been cooped up for the duration, looked at me and said “I don’t know what you are talking about”.
  
  Therein lies the problem.
  
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  May 6, 2020 12:39pm
MrTips

Memo to Helen Clark

Your protege is not up to scratch. She can’t get facts right, flies off the handle when under pressure and can’t hug anyone at the moment. This is not good.

And you blaming the UN isn’t going to get you or her a job there any time soon. You look tired as well. Maybe you could rest up somewhere. I think Paul Henry still has that house in Hawkes Bay that Darren and Cindy used?
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May 6, 2020 8:39am
- cmm
  
  PS to Helen Clark: If we wanted your opinion on everything you’d still be PM.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:27am
- James Stephenson
  
  Re: Helen Clark
  
  Remember the excuse that she (and Key) ran when she failed to get the DG post, was that she wanted to properly reform the place and therefore the vested interests made sure she didn’t get it.
  
  She’s just reinforcing the feel-good lie for herself again.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:55am
peterwn

Bubbling away in the background is a claim that the Police are going after the assets of a trucking firm and its owners. The ‘crime’ was a Health and Safety breach where a worker was killed by an exploding fuel tank while repairing it. If this is correct it would seem that the Police are trying to excessively broaden the scope of proceeds of crime recovery. Generally the High Court has to sign off on such recoveries although the Police can place a ‘hold’ on assets pending a High Court hearing.
There is something fishy here. The scope of assets affected have to be those directly related to the crime or crimes including cases where the crimes can be proved on the balance of probabilities only.
There must be something else that attracted Police attention unrelated to the accident. Alternatively perhaps the Police have decided that the company has unduly profited from a string of Health and Safety and related shortcomings.
It will be interesting to see what happens here.
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May 6, 2020 8:42am
- cmm
  
  Maybe Sonny wants some of the assets and Wally’s going to get it for him.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:30am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Pete George ran a column on this a few days back… but didn’t go into much background about the explosion incident and some of the subsequent events connected with the media.
  
  https://yournz.org/2020/05/03/despite-fine-reparation-and-sentence-police-restrain-all-companys-assets-for-proceeds-of-crime-a-health-and-safety-offence/
  
  https://www.mediacouncil.org.nz/rulings/sarah-ferguson-against-new-zealand-herald
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:45am
  - peterwn
    
    Thanks for this. There seems to be some sort of media campaign brewing. Matt Bloomfield and Martyn Bradbury seem to be mixed up in this too. Possibly the Health and Safety is being used either by those whose assets are at risk or by the Police as a decoy to attract attention away from another issue.
    A subcontractor was more directly responsible for the breach than the trucking firm but the wide scope of H&S legislation ‘catches’ those who engage a contractor particularly when the work is carried out on the principal’s premises. Homeowners employing painters, plumbers etc are exempt possibly unless the homeowner contributed to the breach. A commercial landlord has some responsibility to ensure that (say) a window cleaning company is competent and where there are inherent worksite dangers eg Transpower substations, Fonterra with its large tanks etc there is a far higher responsibility on these firms to ensure the safety of contractors’ workers. One would have a trucking firm’s premises would be mid-level especially when truck repairers would normally be considered highly competent.
    This would add weight to the idea that while the trucking firm was found to bear indirect responsibility for the contractor’s H&S breach by the truck repair contractor’s breach, the possibility of a successful criminal assets recovery action against the trucking firm would seem remote.
    Perhaps all will be revealed soon if the matter ends up in the High Court as it would do when any assets are actually going to be forfeited.
    
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    May 6, 2020 3:05pm
Lee C

Just for kicks: https://youtu.be/Eu0VMUlD8VE
no similarities intended…
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May 6, 2020 8:44am
- wilderbeast
  
  ?
  
  9 1
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  May 6, 2020 8:50am
- Jax30
  
  Oh that’s perfect. Wonder if that’s the treatment the fisherman gets
  
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  May 6, 2020 11:35am
Vallager

Yesterday Cindy talked about us not wasting or endangering “our victory” over the Coronavirus.
Let’s be quite clear on this – she is talking about ‘her victory’ and the legacy that it will entail – that’s all she cares about, and if we do have a second wave, her victory, and her legacy, will be in ruins.
Time we woke up to quite how shallow and self centered she is.
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May 6, 2020 8:45am
- Lee C
  
  But that’s the fairy-tale narrative, isn’t it. Jacinda steps in and states-person-like ‘rescues’ us all.
  
  She alone galvanises national unity, and is hoisted victorious on the shoulders of her admirers all the way to the polls.
  
  Because it was never truly about covid-19 – it was always about Jacinda-20 … IMO.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:11am
- north island kiwi
  
  ego its a terrible thing
  
  3 1
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  May 6, 2020 4:14pm
artemisia

Universities want more taxpayer money. A lot more.

Suggest they sell (and lease back if still needed) some of their $3.4 billion collectively spent on land and buildings in the last 10 years (net of disposals). NBR 24 Jan 2020. Which analysis also noted large cash surpluses.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/300004806/coronavirus-academics-call-for-university-funding-boost-as-job-losses-loom
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May 6, 2020 8:51am
Simon

Is Phil Twyford a perfectionist as well?
22 1
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May 6, 2020 8:53am
- Tony Stuart
  
  That would be the ultimate oxymoron!
  
  18 1
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  May 6, 2020 8:58am
- JibberJabber
  
  Twyford, not just an Anti-Midas but also an absolute Anti-Perfectionist.
  
  10 1
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  May 6, 2020 9:46am
- MrTips
  
  He’s a perfect something….
  
  9 1
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  May 6, 2020 10:09am
- Bobba Fret
  
  That’s classic! This must be the problem of having too many “perfectionists”……David Clark, Clare Curran, Kelvin Davis, Ian Lees-Galloway and many others!
  
  9 1
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  May 6, 2020 10:24am
Evadne

Prof Neil Ferguson, author of the Imperial College modelling which predicted millions of deaths and inspired lockdown measures around the world, and forced the UK to abandon its original Swedish-style plan in favour of extreme lockdown……

Has been caught regularly breaking lockdown to meet with his married lover. Forced to resign as government advisor.

The very man who is telling the world we will die – or kill the vulnerable – if we don’t stay home in lock down, doesn’t believe his own modelling applies to him.
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May 6, 2020 8:53am
- Evadne
  
  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/05/exclusive-government-scientist-neil-ferguson-resigns-breaking/
  
  Behind paywall, but you can read the key opening paragraphs.
  
  18 1
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  May 6, 2020 8:54am
  - peterwn
    
    The Guardian and the Daily Mail will most probably run the story. I used to prefer the Telegraph but they are tarnished IMO quite apart from the paywall.
    
    7 2
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    May 6, 2020 10:49am
  - Kabull
    
    Crowder does a good review of Ferguson’s predictions:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQeorYF9A-k
    He shows just how way off this guy has been over many ‘crises’.
    
    6 1
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    May 6, 2020 11:44am
- MrTips
  
  I love the way they call him an epidemiologist. He’s not. He’s a physicist, who thinks he understands biology more than he does. Although he seems to understand the power of hormones and models………
  
  What IS IT with physicists who think they can explain EVERYTHING?
  
  20 2
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  May 6, 2020 9:18am
  - James Stephenson
    
    Sooner or later, everything is a branch of Physics, MrTips.
    
    Biology, Chemistry, Meteorology….Football, Cricket.
    
    12 0
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    May 6, 2020 9:59am
    - MrTips
      
      If I had a dollar……lol
      
      8 1
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      May 6, 2020 10:08am
      - James Stephenson
        
        Disclaimer: James Stephenson BSc (Physics) 😀
        
        10 1
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        May 6, 2020 10:29am
      - Ed Snack
        
        And Physics is ultimately, just a subset of Mathematics….
        
        Obligatory xkcd reference: https://xkcd.com/435/
        
        4 1
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        May 6, 2020 11:05am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Or as hubby says…
        
        All of Physics can be reduced to pushes & pulls
        
        4 1
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        May 6, 2020 1:53pm
  - Boutique Avo Orchard
    
    Let’s consult Sheldon Cooper Tee Hee
    
    6 1
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    May 6, 2020 10:03am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Bazinga!
      
      3 1
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      May 6, 2020 11:42am
- peterwn
  
  These sorts of things always apply to ‘other people’. We now have Greenpeace and other busybodies telling everyone how they are to live post-virus. In the New Zealand context there unfortunately seems to be insufficient ‘other people’ to overthrow the Government in September.
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:53am
  - alloytoo
    
    Greenpeace should be rushing to ride the buses, they rest of us aren’t and won’t.
    
    4 1
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    May 6, 2020 11:52am
- rouppe
  
  Also on Stuff…
  
  It does suggest that the scientists promoting serious consequences for “things” don’t believe their own narrative
  
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  May 6, 2020 1:54pm
- krazykiwi
  
  The RT op-ed doesn’t hold back
  
  The man behind the world’s Covid-19 lockdown has screwed his mistress, screwed us all, & now – thankfully – screwed his career
  :::
  He claimed that he “acted in the belief that I was immune” and clearly not just from coronavirus. But immune from heeding his own advice, immune from the opprobrium of cheating with a married woman, and immune from the loathing his actions will now bring down on his head from a public nearing its limits of patience with being stuck indoors, largely thanks to his advice.
  
  So congratulations Neil Ferguson. You have now royally screwed your mistress, your career and your nation.
  
  Good riddance.
  
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  May 6, 2020 6:12pm
BeaB

Herald cartoonist Emmerson’s middle-aged crush on Jacinda plumbs new depths this morning when he suggests Australia become part of NZ. Yeah right. They went less harsh and are doing better than NZ. They are more likely to recover faster too as they still have plenty 0f valuable stuff to mine, not to mention a far more productive economy than ours.
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May 6, 2020 8:54am
Lee C

“I don’t know how we’ve ended up with a health ministry so heartless and a Director-General of Health who isn’t sorry that this is happening.”

HDPA Nearly cries on air…

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/opinion/heather-du-plessis-allan-ministry-of-healths-stance-on-exemptions-is-heartless/?fbclid=IwAR3oSgPmyoACxfEByVPtzGMCD9tNG1kmkrN1sfo3xqkIgTJnTF7LZjxdpB8

And I totally get it.

Perfect.
28 1
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May 6, 2020 8:56am
- kevn
  
  @Lee… MOH are just ar*e covering, too scared to make ‘a decision’ based on compassion.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:22am
- James Stephenson
  
  She’s doing some good stuff of late.
  
  I also can’t shake the feeling that Barely Sober’s recent less-than-glowing takes on the Government’s performance are probably because he doesn’t want her to be alone in re-education camp with that bloke from Massey 😀
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:05am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    I am over her promoting the coup for labour against Simon Bridges, quite repetitive, totally wrong and, out of her depth of understanding of the National Party and the National voter.
    
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    May 6, 2020 11:45am
seismac

Re Winston and the bubbles of office
Its been suggested the quickest way of having him resign is to appoint him Governor General for a couple of terms –then he can wear the Tails to the races 4 days a week , test taste the bubbles all day and eye up the most beautiful “horses”
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May 6, 2020 8:56am
I remember when

Survey by Sticky Beak for the PR Industry news site Provoke.
How do you expect Civid-19 to impact your PR firm? (Select all that apply) 289 Respondents.
Loss of Earnings (221) 76.7%
Hiring Freeze (178) 61.8%
Pay Cuts (106) 36.8%
Layoffs ( 77) 26.7%
Increased Business (16) 14.9%
Other (26) 9%
No/Little impact (16) 5.6%
How are your clients responding to Covid-19 crisis in terms of their work with your PR firm?
Cancelled/Delayed campaigns (249) 86.5%
Reduced Containers (127) 44.1%
Increased work (100) 34.7%
Payment Delays ( 93) 32.3%
Other (35) 12.2%
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May 6, 2020 9:02am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

60 cents a tab. That is why it is being played down – no money to be made.
Also, don’t give it to lefties – it don’t work on stupid people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obwbNEIkrFk&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0f2Gt6m-wCYiBdXYPzOYvYOB0aLvmIoFfBAd9ruZdMbOSidEEJbkQ9PYw
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May 6, 2020 9:08am
- rangitoto
  
  So Trump was right again.
  
  4 2
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  May 6, 2020 11:53am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    What? You mean about lefties? LOL
    
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    May 6, 2020 2:07pm
I remember when

NZ Ranked first in the world for Covid-19 response communications .
A global survey of the PR Industry puts Ardern Government (that’s Labour for those who have forgotten, it having been the Ardern Govt for so long) top of the pile. Among 289 Respondents in PR Industry in a survey by Sticky Beak for the industry news site Provoke.
New Zealand just over 20% Germany 15% Singapore 9% None 5%.
Guess who got last -US
Another sprinkling of fairy dust!
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May 6, 2020 9:15am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Good job. It is beyond doubt that the Prime Minister is one of the greatest living New Zealanders.
  
  There are currently two vacancies for the award of the Order of New Zealand.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_New_Zealand#Current_members
  
  She is the stand out candidate.
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:40am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Sorry, the Order of New Zealand is now reserved for people too humble to accept the title that goes with a knighthood…
    
    2 7
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    May 6, 2020 11:59am
- PhilBest
  
  That award should be regarded as some kind of Goebbels or P T Barnum award.
  
  Has the wonderful “communication” with Kiwis included context such as all-cause mortality, ICU spare capacity, pre-existing vulnerabilities, etc etc?
  
  I’d pick the Swedes as the real top communicators.
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:12am
  - peterwn
    
    I always thought the ‘Squealer’ award.
    
    5 1
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    May 6, 2020 12:42pm
- dave_c_
  
  Perhaps first in the world, meeting a ‘pathetically low standard/bar’.
  Just goes to show how the many, have no idea about what decisions and policy needs to be applied for the current situation.
  Alas, smiles, cuddles and promises, are no longer believable, nor adequate.
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:25am
- rangitoto
  
  Agreed. Cindy is the leading candidate for the 2020 Goebbels award for propaganda.
  
  8 1
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  May 6, 2020 11:55am
Yvette

New Zealand will move from COVID-19 Alert Level 4 to Alert Level 3 at 11.59pm on Monday April 27
So today is the beginning of the 8th day at Level 3.

As it is widely reported, covid-19 symptoms appear two to 10 days after infection, testing occurs, then result announced midday next day.
So results up until Thursday 30, midday would most likely be still from Level 4 conditions of infection, and results until this coming Saturday May 9 midday, could still be from Level 4.

Ardern may receive adulation from such international sources as the Atlantic (which may seem great, until you realise the journalist is interviewing Helen Clark) praising Ardern as a supreme communicator, but, until Question 1 in the House yesterday, I have not seen her make a very good job of communicating the fact that anyone reported on any day midday to have covid-19, may have contracted it up to 12 days before testing positive.
.
So to have yesterday and the day before, clear of any new cases may still be reflecting infection rates under Level 4, so-called “total lockdown”.

It needs a slogan to express that “next Sunday’s cases may be the take aways from the first Level 3 queues for hamburgers and other shovel-ready food.”
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May 6, 2020 9:19am
- Steve Todd
  
  “So today is the beginning of the 8th day at Level 3.”
  
  Today (Wed 6) is Day 9 of Alert Level 3.
  
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  May 6, 2020 11:03am
- JamesP
  
  It’s a strategy to drip feed information to the sheeple. This prevents them from coming to the obvious conclusion that level 3 won’t last just 2 weeks until the last moment. First she will stress the two week lag between preventative action and test results. This is where we are now. Then she will stress the decision to move to level 2 will be data driven. This will be the message next week. Then when 2 weeks is up she will “reluctantly” announce the conclusion that she can’t move to level 2 because there is not enough data. Then she will extend it a week.
  
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  May 6, 2020 12:49pm
I remember when

The Covid-19 facts are:
There is almost no (NONE, Zilch, ZERO) danger to school children other than a few with medical issues.
There is almost no more danger to adults up to the age of 50 unless they have other medical issues. No more than with annual flu.
The sooner the daily reports, news media and TV channels make this fact clear in their news the sooner the world will return to normal.
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May 6, 2020 9:30am
- chaos
  
  * New York City’s health department has reported 15 cases of a rare but potentially lethal inflammatory syndrome in children that may be linked to coronavirus infections.
  
  More than 100 cases of the unusual illness have now emerged in at least six countries, with doctors in Britain, the US, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland investigating the condition.*
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/05/children-coronavirus-illness-new-york-rare-cases
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:52am
  - MrTips
    
    Kawasaki’s is well known. 15 out of 10s of thousands is about the right prevalence (17-20/100,000). People are noticing it now because everyone freaks out when someone gets a temperature. Especially a child.
    
    Media scaremongering.
    
    12 2
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    May 6, 2020 10:06am
  - PhilBest
    
    There are rare maladies and deaths going on all the time. The difference now is that one side of politics including the Media Party, are trying to exploit a crisis.
    
    9 4
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    May 6, 2020 10:13am
Janabelle

Just a reminder that Michael Woodhouse was calling on government on January 26th – Fast and early, what a load of rubbish
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/01/coronavirus-michael-woodhouse-blasts-julie-anne-genter-david-clark-over-preparations-for-outbreak.html
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May 6, 2020 9:35am
Benedict Yu

Winston is mistaken.

“Peters told Hosking decisions about a transtasman bubble were not entirely up to Australia’s government – states also needed to have a say.”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12329806

The Australian constitution provides that the Commonwealth has sole responsibility for border security, customs, and biosecurity. The States have no say at all. They may well have an opinion, but the Australian Government has sole authority to open up the border to arrivals from New Zealand.
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May 6, 2020 9:37am
- MrTips
  
  Peters is dreaming a little bit here. You think Aussie won’t open their border to us without protecting Aussie jobs? Like what airline you can use, how much cash you have to have, etc.
  
  We need them more than they need us.
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:02am
- James Stephenson
  
  I’m thinking it’s maybe the right time to go the whole hog on this trans-Tasman bubble thing.
  
  Their constitution still holds a place for us to become a State of Australia, right?
  
  12 0
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  May 6, 2020 10:08am
  - Cod Weyne
    
    I don’t think the Mainland Aussies would want to take on another Tasmania..full of greenies, lefties and general flakes.
    
    2 0
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    May 6, 2020 7:00pm
Scooter

It’s absolutely disgusting that the Govt or MOH can keep a person from seeing their family member before they die or at the time of their death. I’d like to see someone challange this in the courts, they tried it with the lockdown but surely there is more rights for a son/daughter etc to see their parent before they die?
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May 6, 2020 9:41am
- fernglas
  
  They have. They won. Do try and keep up.
  
  12 0
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  May 6, 2020 10:06am
Maggy Wassilieff

Mikenmild seems to get agitated when parallels are pointed out by some of the techniques being employed by the CoL and by the Nazis…

He’ll not be amused by this latest offering by one of our most experienced political journalists that summarises some of David Farrar’s recent posts:

We have been increasingly troubled by the abuse of executive power that inevitably stems from democratic governments introducing emergency measures in the name of public safety to protect scared citizens.

Our musings led us to Austria (where a bloke called Adolf Hitler was born) and an observation on Austria’s Parliamentary website on the necessity for the separation of powers:

https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2020/05/05/fulminate-with-farrar-blogger-files-several-posts-which-focus-on-frightening-abuses-of-covid-19-powers/
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May 6, 2020 9:42am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Yes, I find it disgusting that people can equate our democratically elected government to the Nazis, our our police to the Stasi or Gestapo.
  Although some people choose to get upset with mild abuse directed at them on this blog, might I suggest that such snowflakes reserve their outrage for the truly disgusting comments that appear daily.
  Ironically, on a blog where morons celebrate the disappearance of comments through orchestrated downticks, the blog host’s commendable liberalism doesn’t encompass censoring comments that he must find personally disgusting.
  
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  May 6, 2020 12:13pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    What other models do we have?–most of the other minor enforcers don’t come to our attention.
    Calling others here “morons” invites a close self examination.
    I wouldn’t even call the PM a moron–she’s just unfortunately out of her depth and will pay the price in due course.
    
    8 1
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    May 6, 2020 12:44pm
  - JamesP
    
    Just accept you aren’t as clever as your web searches make you feel. Your down-votes are generally well deserved. A couple of times a day you will make a good post and get a positive ratio. So it’s not an orchestrated conspiracy. It’s the free market telling you to cut down on the dross.
    
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    May 6, 2020 1:05pm
Maggie Pie

Went to the Tai Ping Supermarket yesterday to get some Hoisin Sauce and Peking Duck pancakes for tonites dinner. While in there I noticed China have just released a new range of meat free snacks called ‘Not Poodle’ 🙁
23 2
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May 6, 2020 9:44am
- PhilBest
  
  “If it has legs and it is not a chair; if it flies and it is not a plane; and if it swims and it is not a submarine; the Cantonese will eat it”
  
  – Prince Philip
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:17am
- JackRabbit
  
  “Not Poodle” = “Could be human?”
  
  If they start calling it “Soylent Green”, don’t go near it. 😉
  
  5 1
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  May 6, 2020 11:56am
- Fletch
  
  AKA, Pot Noodle ?
  
  4 1
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  May 6, 2020 12:31pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Taiping ‘rebellion’ (war) killed tens of millions in the 19th century. Odd name for a shop.
  
  2 1
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  May 6, 2020 2:44pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    There are over 60 towns in mainland China called Taiping.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping
    
    1 1
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    May 6, 2020 7:15pm
Gravelroad

So this week has seen the deliveries of our free community newspapers resume.
Likewise, in the supermarket on Monday, there was a big selection of magazines – although not all the usuals.
Can someone remind me- what the hell was the point of banning these in the first place?
Was it just part of the psychological warfare devised by the government to ensure control?
But- aaahhh Jacinda, she is so cool and caring.
The adoring media are still telling us this for a fact, so it must be true.
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May 6, 2020 9:46am
- kevn
  
  @Gravel…. Indeed. CoL but JA led, bullsh*t.
  
  5 1
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  May 6, 2020 11:16am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Cinders got rid of a German coy owning major magazine production in NZ.
  
  4 1
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  May 6, 2020 12:35pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  The Hutt News was back yesterday. After weeks away, there was still no news in it – just republished generic Stuff columns.
  
  4 3
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  May 6, 2020 12:43pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Did anyone else hear a brief news summary item around 7.30am on RNZ that stated folks had been regularly arriving in NZ on private planes and yachts over our lockdown period and weren’t going into 14-day quarantine?
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May 6, 2020 9:51am
- MrTips
  
  No, but I can believe it. There were a few private jets leaving Wgtn, Auckland and Napier during the lockdown. One left on the day before lockdown to go to the Cook Islands from Napier.
  
  FlightRadar24 is quite informative.
  
  (no, I’m not a planespotter)
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:59am
Blackface Twin Reverb

Arrested for cosplay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TvMLt1ZkAY
4 1
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May 6, 2020 10:05am
- marcw
  
  Watch your back, Ronald MacDonald!
  
  7 1
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  May 6, 2020 10:15am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Obviously a white supremacist/Nazi.
  
  0 2
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  May 6, 2020 2:45pm
Illegally Imprisoned in Cindy's Colditz

It is notable that school teachers who are tewwibly afrwaid of Global Warming in 100 years time are also tewwified of a virus which only kills the sick elderly.
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May 6, 2020 10:09am
- MCos
  
  Time you got an education.
  
  4 17
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  May 6, 2020 10:29am
- Inandout
  
  Illegal, teachers I heard are moaning because they are losing control of students who presumably are watching Netflix at home.
  
  7 1
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  May 6, 2020 11:21am
Bell-47

Nationals idea of refunding 6 months of GST is all well and good if you regularly pay GST. My small business is 99.9% export so I always get a GST refund. I think this is something they have overlooked. I am in no better position than any other small business but because I never pay GST I am potentially not eligible.
6 2
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May 6, 2020 10:22am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Simon’s talking about grants and Grant’s talking about bridges. LOL!!!
  
  21 0
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  May 6, 2020 10:34am
  - chaos
    
    And Jacinda is talking about baby nappy cream on her jacket. Hmmm
    
    8 1
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    May 6, 2020 12:42pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    And, among other MPs, Michael is staying in his wood house, Paul is off to the goldsmith, Willow-Jean is in her prime, Andrew is worried about little things, Jamie is a bit strange, Ron has missed the mark, while Eugenie offers some sage advice
    
    4 9
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    May 6, 2020 12:54pm
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Labour announcements don’t do detail . . .
  
  7 1
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  May 6, 2020 11:57am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Perhaps a compassionate grant for you then from OPM.
  
  0 1
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  May 6, 2020 12:32pm
secondcumming

Wouldn’t our women and kids all be a lot safer, if this government were to launch a website similar to *Offender Radar*…….rather than spending their time and our money passing laws to give prisoners the vote?
Just saying 😎

https://www.offenderradar.com/offender-details/guy-a-fehly-of-wisconsin-294499
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May 6, 2020 10:25am
Surely Knott

It’s gone beyond biased to just weird. Every day both our leading papers headline with a giant picture of Jacinda and sometimes two on the cover of the paper. Every day. This is not the same in the Sydney morning herald where they rarely have a photo of Scott Morrison and the articles vary . But as if the wall to wall media coverage and deification of Jacinda is not enough they are now running a pr piece on her getting nappy cream on her jacket. (tellingly a piece that no journalist puts their name on) It really is as bizarre and manufactured as the Putin calendar.
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May 6, 2020 10:27am
- Gravelroad
  
  Yes, it is weird, and cringeworthy.
  Such occurrences as described by Surely Knott are not news- or even worthy.
  It seems that “our reporters” have decided that a flattering story about Ms Ardern must be manufactured (aka made up) every day – maybe there is a quota on stories built into their financial bailout package.
  Have never seen anything like it.
  Jacinda Adoration Syndrome is now a business.
  
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  May 6, 2020 10:52am
- Lee C
  
  Ah! The ‘Lewinsky Defence’…
  
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  May 6, 2020 11:37am
rjay

According to an Israeli mathematician Covid19 peaks and declines after 70 days regardless of a country’s response
https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-end-of-exponential-growth-the-decline-in-the-spread-of-coronavirus/
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May 6, 2020 10:28am
- KevO'Brien
  
  A sound approach.
  
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  May 6, 2020 12:26pm
Tony Stuart

Martin Williams will hate this, given him writing off the Epidemic Response Committee as looking after the interests of “butchers and bakers”. Most New Zealanders however will applaud this action:

The Epidemic Response Committee has today summonsed all legal advice provided to the Attorney General, Solicitor General and Police Commissioner to be released, Opposition Leader and Committee Chair Simon Bridges says.

“The people of New Zealand have given up their freedoms for this lockdown. We all deserve to know what legal basis was for the lockdown.

“The legality of the lockdown is highly questionable, that’s what academics, lawyers and the law society have said to myself and the Epidemic Response Committee.

“There have been many questions about the way the Police have operated under lockdown. National has been calling for the legal advice to be released but this was refused.

“New Zealanders have a right to know what the rule of law is.

“The Government tried to block to the release of this information but we have fought for it to be made public.

“The Police Commissioner, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General have five days to comply with the summons from the committee.

“New Zealanders should be proud of the efforts they’ve made during this lockdown but they also deserve to know whether the lockdown was legal.”

https://www.national.org.nz/covid_committee_summonses_solicitor_general

Big ups to Simon Bridges and the other senior National MP’s on the ERC for trying their damnedest to hold the Government and the Police to account. That is what the ERC is all about.
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May 6, 2020 10:32am
- Lee C
  
  You can always tell when a politician is in danger Tony – his supporters will accuse any critics of ‘politicising’ ..
  
  So the clock is a-ticking on this one, isn’t it?
  
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  May 6, 2020 11:35am
- Martin Williams
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  I think the Police are a lot more free of corruption and influence than they were during John Key’s government.
  
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  May 6, 2020 12:07pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Your implications are offensive both to the Police and the Rt Hon. Sir John Key.
    Politics has disturbed your judgement.
    
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    May 6, 2020 12:28pm
  - chaos
    
    And I’m sure you can provide evidence that the police we corrupt or even influenced under the key government, so we will wait for all the links to legitimate cases proven to of happened and not just existing in the lunatic ravings of someone called Martin
    
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    May 6, 2020 12:40pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    No one on the ERC is alleging that the Police have been corrupt Martin. All they want is to see the legal advice Crown Law provided to the Government, confirming that the powers given to the Police by the Government were lawful.
    
    What does “the most open and transparent government New Zealand has ever seen” have to hide?
    
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    May 6, 2020 1:18pm
  - Peter S
    
    Started disagreeing with you after only two words of your post.
    
    The rest was no more convincing.
    
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    May 6, 2020 3:34pm
Durden

Karma ! Neil Ferguson, the UK pandemic alarmist modeller caught out. Apparently one rule for ewes and one for us.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12329829

Icing on cake would be confirmed infection.
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May 6, 2020 10:53am
- kevn
  
  @Durden… Infection from an STD by a connection with an ‘open marriage’ sex partner or ‘the #19 virus’?
  Maybe both?
  
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  May 6, 2020 2:31pm
  - Durden
    
    Syphilitic madness probably explains a lot.
    
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    May 6, 2020 5:22pm
oldfella

Remember when the left said, ‘Believe All Women’? Nah, not as important now as beating Trump.
An absolutely gobsmacking ‘letter to the editor’ from the founder of Politico.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/05/politico-founder-matin-tolchin-president-joe-biden-sexual-assault-allegation-tara-reade/
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May 6, 2020 11:00am
mandk

More emetic content from Newshub: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/lifestyle/2020/05/jacinda-ardern-reveals-realities-of-mum-life-with-nappy-cream-stained-jacket.html

I’m sure the PM works hard, but I don’t believe she knows the true realities of being a mum.
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May 6, 2020 11:02am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Seems sexist nonsense to me…
  
  Wow, imagine a man with nappy-creme on his jacket as he headed off to work.
  
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  May 6, 2020 1:50pm
Fletch

Kermit records a solo lockdown version of his hit, The Rainbow Connection, from his swamp…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS5fTzMP_mg
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May 6, 2020 11:06am
RW Capitalist

The flat earth society would like to go to level 2.
As they believe that, with social distancing and the population of planet.
People may be pushed to the brink or even over the edge.
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May 6, 2020 11:10am
Durden

Going into a bubble with Oz? Think again, Here is an example of easily expected “unexpected” fat tail event that will re-seed Covid spread. Meat company finds Covid infected butcher well after he goes to get his cut finger fixed at Melbourne hospital. No idea how long he has been spreading the virus or how much meat was infected and consumed.

Not much news about it here in NZ.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/safe-to-eat-dozens-of-covid-19-cases-linked-to-cedar-meats-in-melbourne-s-west-20200504-p54pjh.html
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May 6, 2020 11:20am
- WaveyDavey
  
  Heard on the radio yesterday so it was certainly out there
  
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  May 6, 2020 11:41am
freethinker

New Chinese Electric SUV – this looks pretty good possibly NZ will be part of their initial release target, price, build quality,safety & performance (especially battery range & life) are critical.

https://www.driven.co.nz/news/meet-the-fully-electric-chinese-suv-aiming-to-take-over-europe/
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May 6, 2020 11:25am
- Blackface Twin Reverb
  
  No thanks.
  
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  May 6, 2020 4:09pm
Durden

This Economist article provides a useful and sensible way of looking at the deaths by pandemic versus historical averages. Updates bear close watching as the year, and seasons, go by. It could also provide an insight of the currently perceived low Covid-19 death count in Equatorial band countries

“A better way to measure the damage caused by such a medical crisis is to look at “excess mortality”: the gap between the total number of people who died from any cause, and the historical average for the same place and time of year. The charts below use data from EuroMOMO, a network of epidemiologists who collect weekly reports on deaths from all causes in 24 European countries, covering 350m people. ”

The data suggests the obvious. There was higher than normal death rate in Europe, and the obvious statement that isolation helped keep it contained.

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/04/16/tracking-covid-19-excess-deaths-across-countries
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May 6, 2020 11:36am
Maggy Wassilieff

How did Iran become an early centre for Covid-19 transmission?

This BBC investigation reveals one of its Airlines continued with flights in and out of China and then throughout the Middle-East long after other countries were banning flights from China.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-52537663/coronavirus-by-air-the-spread-of-covid-19-in-the-middle-east
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May 6, 2020 11:37am
- MCos
  
  So did Thailand.
  Their reported infections & deaths, if you believe them are very low.
  Furthermore the public transport is jam packed. Was, before it was shut down. Now it’s running again.
  
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  May 6, 2020 12:00pm
  - kowtow
    
    if you believe them
    
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    May 6, 2020 2:05pm
- HemiT
  
  this was good
  
  HDA ” so how many of us may have had it ‘
  ST ” between 50 , a 100 thousand even more ‘
  
  hit the ” 30 sec , 5x
  https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/simon-thornley-zero-cases-supports-argument-to-enter-level-two/
  
  so that could mean 500 000 or more in australia .
  
  however moves to a trans ‘ tasman bubble , should’t matter , as long as there’s testing at the border .
  
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  May 6, 2020 12:48pm
- HemiT
  
  https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/simon-thornley-zero-cases-supports-argument-to-enter-level-two
  
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  May 6, 2020 2:11pm
- Durden
  
  Maggy, I posted this sometime ago. China has lots of investment in Iran. Especially around the Qom area which turned out to be Iran’s Covid-19 epi-centre. Iran has bent over backwards to keep China sweet, ‘coz the rest of the world has put them in economic boycott. As always, Chinese investments demanded Chinese workers to be allowed in. By the way this is true for NZ as well — as per the NZ China FTA—document available on MFAT website.
  
  You might have to use Google/ bypass add-ons to see some of these links.
  
  Iran agreed to allow 5,000 Chinese soldiers in country to guard $280bn Beijing investment !
  https://www.geo.tv/latest/247085-in-defiance-of-trump-china-to-invest-280bn-into-energy-sector-in-iran
  
  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/world/middleeast/iran-china-business-ties.html
  
  https://www.wsj.com/articles/irans-strategic-partnership-with-china-lies-at-root-of-its-coronavirus-outbreak-11583940683
  
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  May 6, 2020 3:17pm
Fletch

The Democrats now using military technology designed to be used against ISIS in combating any pro-Trump messaging on social media.

A new Democratic-aligned political action committee advised by retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, is planning to deploy technology originally developed to counter Islamic State propaganda in service of a domestic political goal — to combat online efforts to promote President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The group, Defeat Disinfo, will use artificial intelligence and network analysis to map discussion of the president’s claims on social media. It will seek to intervene by identifying the most popular counter-narratives and boosting them through a network of more than 3.4 million influencers across the country — in some cases paying users with large followings to take sides against the president.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/technology-once-used-to-combat-isis-propaganda-is-enlisted-by-democratic-group-to-counter-trumps-coronavirus-messaging/2020/05/01/6bed5f70-8a5b-11ea-ac8a-fe9b8088e101_story.html

These people are total reprobates who will stop at nothing in their ultimate goal of power. There will never be unity in America. Not under Trump, or any Republican president.
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May 6, 2020 11:52am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Why would it surprise anyone that technology used to combat one form of propaganda should also be deployed to defeat other messages?
  Also, are you trying to suggest that only a Democratic presidency could reunify a divided America?
  
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  May 6, 2020 12:59pm
  - Fletch
    
    Why do the Democrats get to use military technology against the messaging of a political opponent? Surely that should not be legal? The media don’t care. They are probably all for it. The Obama Administration used all the tools of the intelligence agencies against Trump before, during, and after his run for president.
    
    If Trump were to suggest that he were using military technology to combat the messaging of Biden you’d hear screaming from the media. They’d be jumping up and down about it, saying he was abusing his power, and calling for another impeachment trial. You know it, and I know it.
    
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    May 6, 2020 1:22pm
Bobba Fret

David Benson Pope appearing on zoom with no pants on was quite amusing!
Perhaps he thought he was still in the Labour Party attending a youth camp!
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May 6, 2020 12:03pm
- Fletch
  
  It made the Guardian….
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/05/new-zealand-councillor-caught-without-trousers-during-zoom-meeting
  
  Once a degenerate…
  
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  May 6, 2020 12:33pm
  - Swifty
    
    That’s Labour for you Fletch.
    
    All hair oil and no trousers.
    
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    May 6, 2020 3:04pm
- Paulus
  
  Surely he is a Dunedin Councillor still.
  
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  May 6, 2020 2:42pm
graham

Why does Winston Peters continually refer to “Mr Hoskins” when he is talking to Mike Hosking?

I’ve heard him do it several times now, most recently this morning. Is he just ignorant, or trying to wind Mike Hosking up?

Or has he heard Jas mangle her words so often he thought it must be a good idea, so why not give it a try?
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May 6, 2020 12:54pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  He’s done it for years. He probably thinks he’s being clever.
  
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  May 6, 2020 1:10pm
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Maybe Hosking should start referring to him as Winston Peter.
    
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    May 6, 2020 1:37pm
    - Cod Weyne
      
      Maybe Mike shouldn’t, and be the bigger man.
      
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      May 6, 2020 7:29pm
BeeJay

Posted on FB this morning by a hardworking farmer!

“So I’ve just had a phone call from MPI apparently on behalf of Worksafe.
The wanted to know what Health and Safety Plan we have in place for Level 3 Covid Restrictions.

MPI “Are you working from home during Level3?”
Me “No”
MPI “Why not?”
Me “I can’t plough a field or plant a crop from the living room.
MPI “Do you have staff”
Me “Yes”
MPI “Have you made arrangements for them to work from home?”
Me “No”
MPI “Why not”
Me “Can’t shift break fences, drench or crutch sheep or load grain from the couch in the living room”
MPI “Are you planning on developing a Response Plan to allow your staff to work from home?”
Me “No”
MPI “Why not?”
Me “As I said, can’t plough a field, plant a crop or cut the shite from the ass of a sheep with your slippers on sitting on the couch.”

Apparently I can now expect a visit from Worksafe.
Far out this makes me angry. We have gone to the enth degree here to protect our staff, their families, our family and our suppliers.
But we see images daily of people standing shoulder to shoulder at Burger King and Maccas, in supermarkets and at the beach, all of which makes undermines anything we do in the workplace and makes me the criminal as a employer.
(Feel free to share)”
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May 6, 2020 12:54pm
Sundreamer

I’m a chartered accountant. In the last 2 days I have had clients turned down for wage subsidy until they have filed their 2020 returns. It is not possible yet to file 2020 returns and self employed have until 31/3/21 to file their returns.

This has effectively closed all applications for the Wage Subsidy

This needs to be followed up urgently by the media. If next weeks load applications have the same criteria then nothing will happen
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May 6, 2020 1:04pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  I’m just doing the account for one of mine now. They got $49K 6 days after applying in early April. No accounts were required, just complete the payroll list and declaration.
  
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  May 6, 2020 3:49pm
Fletch

Jacinda’s entire statement today at the press conference was basically electioneering. Job numbers, and the like, which have no bearing on the circumstances now.
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May 6, 2020 1:14pm
- Sundreamer
  
  I thought it was a party political broadcast….. I was waiting for the bit about authorised by..
  
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  May 6, 2020 1:43pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yep..
  and the big announcement that NZ will get a Microsoft Data Centre..
  except it’s not been ok’d by the OIO yet.
  
  Looks like she is desperate to show she’s doing something for the vast numbers of unemployed heading off to the dole queues.
  
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  May 6, 2020 1:47pm
  - rangitoto
    
    Interesting. I wonder if Amazon will do the same.
    
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    May 6, 2020 3:02pm
    - rangitoto
      
      I hear Rackspace and Google are also planning to do this. I suspect a major factor in this being viable is the Hawaiki cable providing a backup for the Southern Cross cable. Thanks to Remi Galasso for getting that over the line.
      
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      May 6, 2020 3:30pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS3FQPG9oFI
Corona virus Karens will be universally derided in five years.
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May 6, 2020 1:18pm
curry4me

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/05/05/report-india-offers-land-pool-twice-size-luxembourg-companies-fleeing-china/
India is doing something practical to help companies fleeing China.
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May 6, 2020 1:18pm
Tony Stuart

I only heard the first two submitters to the Epidemic Response Committee this morning, but they were more than enough.

First up was Dr Chris Jackson from the Cancer Society. Among other things, he spoke of the anguish of having to tell a young woman her cancer had returned and that she was now terminally ill – over the telephone. He said news like that would normally be delivered personally, with other people present for support.

Then the ERC heard from the Funeral Directors’ Association. The association’s CEO told of a family whose 18yo son had committed suicide. The last time they were allowed to see him was as his body was cut down and taken away. There was no viewing, and no funeral permitted. I cannot imagine a more traumatic situation for any family to have to deal with.

The ERC is hearing real stories from real New Zealanders about how COVID-19 is affecting them, and in some instances, the stories are simply bloody awful.
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May 6, 2020 1:34pm
- Surely Knott
  
  That’s appalling. We are not Italy or Spain. We had a few cases and they have been largely under control and mostly linked to known clusters. The government could have absolutely made exceptions for compassionate cases, with some safety precautions..
  
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  May 6, 2020 1:50pm
- Prince
  
  Perhaps ‘Seven Sharp’ (what a misnomer) might look into a few of these stories, in between features on Jeremy’s haircut, Hilary’s bubble, Jacinda’s earrings etc.
  
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  May 6, 2020 3:34pm
  - Cod Weyne
    
    An absolute waste of 30 minutes..better to watch the yankee cops programs, always a bit of humour when they set the canine officer loose.
    
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    May 6, 2020 7:32pm
fernglas

So of the two new cases today, one is someone who must surely have had the illness and recovered, and the other is a “probable”. The death was someone who had multiple pre-existing conditions, and had tested NEGATIVE for the disease, but is put down as one because she was at the Rosewood rest home. Does anyone else think we are being taken for fools? That this autocratic little Director -General is going to achieve a personal best by scaring people into compliance, aided and abetted by a PM who goes on about empathy and when confronted by just a few of the examples of tragedy that have been occurring across the country for weeks now, pretends to be surprised that they are happening at all. And what of the press? Nothing at all penetrating, just a few patsy questions. Pathetic.
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May 6, 2020 1:37pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Those patsy questions are pre written, handed out to the select few, and the answers are also pre written. How come the same reporters get to ask them, while others miss out. There is no chance the outsiders get to ask something sensible
  
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  May 6, 2020 2:41pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    I was told earlier this week that the pre-Easter question about the Easter Bunny was drafted by a press secretary in the PM’s office. I am unable to confirm that, but given the nature of the PM’s response, it would not surprise me whatsoever. The 1pm pressers, from which a number of respected, senior journalists are excluded, have become a farce.
    
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    May 6, 2020 3:03pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Wow. That’s a game-changing scandal, Tony.
      
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      May 6, 2020 3:06pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        Is it what!!
        
        Isn’t it amazing that a National Party apparatchik would have an informant who has access to someone in “the PM’s office”.
        
        Amazing stuff. Surely there must be an independent inquiry, to get to the bottom of this. Nothing less will suffice.
        
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        May 6, 2020 4:15pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      And too ignorant to know it Tony!
      
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      May 6, 2020 3:34pm
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Theater and propaganda, a pretense of properly functioning democratic process.
      
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      May 6, 2020 11:08pm
- MCos
  
  Regarding the Marist College student
  “The person who has tested positive for COVID-19 is a student who has been in self-isolation since March 20.“
  “This student has a weak positive result and is almost certainly very late in their illness.“
  “Public health is taking a precautionary approach and keeping the student in isolation and then re-testing in a week’s time.”
  With regards to the other case
  “The probable case we are reporting today is linked to the St Margaret’s Hospital and Rest Home cluster.”
  You do know what a probable case is?
  https://www.health.govt.nz/news-media/media-releases/two-new-cases-covid-19
  
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  May 6, 2020 5:10pm
Prince

If ‘Kindness’ is the new mantra, why are news of the deaths now shuffled well down the order of updates in the 1pm election speech ?
Ardern doesn’t even bother to recognise them with a (sad face, head tilt, make the earrings sparkle) ‘our thoughts and prayers go out etc’ anymore., and the DG looks bored about it all. We are supposed to take comfort in the knowledge that a staff member was present as she died ? Seriously ?
Ardern didn’t even pause to acknowledge another death as she launched into another election speech about how the growing unemployment rate prior to the epidemic was somehow good news.
Respect to the journalist who raised the awful stories from this morning’s committee meeting as detailed by Tony Stuart above. Of course neither Ardern nor the DG took any responsibility or interest, but it’s good to know at least one journalist has the fortitude to swim against the tide of giggling adulation.
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May 6, 2020 1:51pm
- fernglas
  
  The DG actually denied that it was his fault, which is surprising given that it is his department which has been responsible. No apologies, no contrition, just a “we will learn from this” Quite why it’s taken a month and a judicial kicking is something he might like to explain.
  
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  May 6, 2020 2:22pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Looks like it might be time for the Department of Conservation to have (yet) another overhaul

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/05/06/1159432/blasting-report-sends-conservation-ripples
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May 6, 2020 2:02pm
WaveyDavey

NZ media and it’s lack of competence part 21345

Headline: French Air Force jet’s mercy dash

Link: https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/300006256/au-revoir-french-air-force-planes-flying-visit-to-auckland

Anyone see the glaring inaccuracy?
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May 6, 2020 3:24pm
- Steve Todd
  
  The only glaring inaccuracy I see is your use of the word “jet[’s]” to describe an A400M.
  
  Unless you can explain yourself, the joke would appear to be on you.
  
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  May 6, 2020 4:02pm
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Quite. It’s another example of the lack of competency in Stuff’s newsroom.
    
    Not long back they heralded a T34 as Russia’s new supertank.
    
    They don’t even get the basics right anymore.
    
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    May 6, 2020 4:15pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      Huh?
      
      Stop digging WD. You are really starting to make a fool of yourself.
      
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      May 6, 2020 4:29pm
- Nickc2
  
  Turboprop, not jet.
  
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  May 6, 2020 4:12pm
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    It’s a jet turbine engine, driving a propeller.
    Don’t expect a current generation ‘journalist’ to get it right.
    
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    May 6, 2020 9:22pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      The headline simply described the Airbus A400M as a “plane”. WaveyDavey erroneously stated that the headline described this military transporter as a jet.
      
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      May 6, 2020 9:41pm
MrTips

Oh yay, we’re doing so well. Keep your foot on the throat NZ and we’ll knock this virus off!!!

And then, we can bathe in glory of not being able to do anything health wise because we’re running out of stock, like propofol .

We’re in the shit. I don’t think people realise just how much in the shit we are pharmaco-medically. Pharmac are not good at supply chain stuff and we’re a small consumer.

Just wait until Zoloft, lamotrigine (that’s another Pharmac story altogether), any diazepam, Olanzapine, Lithium, buprenorphine, citolapram, fluoxetine and zopiclone experience these issues. Probably around July.

Lift your game Pharmac and get into the changing supply chain environment now.
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May 6, 2020 3:24pm
- chaos
  
  Just to add to the problem facing people awaiting ops
  
  * Private hospitals have issued a veiled threat to the Health Ministry, warning they might not be on hand to reduce the backlog of surgeries cancelled under lockdown.
  
  This would leave the already strained public system having to clear the backlog itself.*
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300005587/coronavirus-surgeries-on-the-line-as-private-hospitals-war-with-dhbs
  
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  May 6, 2020 4:32pm
- Cod Weyne
  
  Stop it…you are scaring me…I live on 60 to 70 hours work a week supplemented by mirtazipine, zoplicone and red wine..
  
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  May 6, 2020 8:25pm
Steve Todd

Excellent article by Paul Buchanan, here: http://www.kiwipolitico.com/2020/05/between-push-and-shove/.

Paul notes “that, because it is unable to satisfy either the public health advocates or the profit over people crowd in the measure that each wants, the government is actually doing the right thing. It is striking a pretty fine balance between the two sides, and its pragmatic incrementalism demonstrates a good understanding of the scientific, economic and political realities in which it operates.”

He opines that “NZ’s response has been quintessentially democratic [mostly] because its balancing approach encapsulates the essence of democracy as a social contract: it is not about everyone getting everything they want all of the time, but about everyone getting some of what they want some of the time. In other words, it is about settling for mutual second-best options.”

After reading his full opinion-piece, many contributors here should hang their heads in shame.
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May 6, 2020 3:40pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  No one commenting on Kiwiblog ever feels regret, let alone shame, for any comment made. That’s just not a thing here.
  
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  May 6, 2020 7:20pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Least of all you with your six Strikes for offensive comments
    Still, your lack of self awareness is hardly surprising.
    
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    May 6, 2020 11:12pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Um, that is self awareness. I don’t regret any comment I have made. If I did, I would apologise.
      
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      May 7, 2020 7:53am
- niggly
  
  Yeah/Na … I take it you haven’t read any of Buchanan’s articles prior to 2017 because when National was in power he would loose his rag at whatever they were doing and make (unnecessary) personal snide remarks against the PM at the time.
  
  So now that lovely Cindy is in charge his articles have become more “balanced” (and less aggressive)? Oh but look at this so according to Buchanan anyone that has lost their job or is fearful of them or others loosing their jobs are called “profit over people crowd “. Seriously WTF?
  
  Looks like Buchanan just can’t help himself from being a w*nk*r!
  
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  May 6, 2020 9:17pm
chaos

* Scientists in Arizona have discovered a mutation of COVID-19 similar to one which ended the SARS epidemic.

Researchers from Arizona State University took 382 samples from confirmed COVID-19 cases and discovered one of the samples was missing a large chunk of its genetic material.

Lead study author Dr Efren Lim says the discovery mirrors one found in 2003 which signaled the end of the SARS epidemic. *

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2020/05/us-scientists-discover-mutation-which-could-signal-end-of-coronavirus.html
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May 6, 2020 3:41pm
- MrTips
  
  Interesting. So like all things made in China, it breaks down and stops working after only a few months? We’ll see I guess.
  
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  May 6, 2020 4:41pm
- chaos
  
  Interesting, the miserable downvoter doesn’t want the virus to die off. What a sad person you are
  
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  May 6, 2020 7:27pm
chaos

I’d like to hear from Microsoft because chances are this decision was in the works for quite a few months if not longer as they looked into it and has zero to do with the lie that the govt went hard and early, the govt was forced to do everything by doctors and businesses.

* The Prime Minister is attributing Microsoft’s big data centre investment in New Zealand to our “safe haven advantage” and the decision to “go hard and go early” on COVID-19. *

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/05/jacinda-ardern-attributes-microsoft-s-big-new-zealand-data-centre-venture-to-safe-haven-advantage.html
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May 6, 2020 5:18pm
- chaos
  
  * “This significant investment in New Zealand’s digital infrastructure is a testament to the remarkable spirit of New Zealand’s innovation and reflects how we’re pushing the boundaries of what is possible as a nation,” said Vanessa Sorenson, general manager, Microsoft New Zealand.*
  
  https://news.microsoft.com/en-nz/2020/05/06/aotearoa-disclosure/
  
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  May 6, 2020 5:25pm
ex-golfer

Saul Alinsky’s power tactics as outlined in his writing “Rules for Radicals” are certainly ringing true at the moment. These ones are quite relevant:

The fifth rule: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.
The ninth rule: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.

Jacinda should keep the 11th rule in mind (although I doubt she has the ability): If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside.
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May 6, 2020 5:31pm
Michael NZ

Was Wuhu Flu an Act of War?

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/05/chinas_pandemic_escape_clause.html
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May 6, 2020 5:55pm
Michael NZ

War is assymetrical, ie in all the Realms including food production and Land ownership?

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/05/how_china_is_buying_up_americas_food_supply.html
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May 6, 2020 6:07pm
Poppa

I never thought I could possibly experience in my life time someone refusing to accept cash as legal tender

Went to buy a pie and the fellow standing at the barrier refused to take my money & pointed to the swipe machine

I said to him I bet you never said that before, You must love paying tax
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May 6, 2020 6:13pm
- chaos
  
  https://covid19.govt.nz/businesses-and-employees/businesses-and-services/doing-business-at-alert-level-3/
  
  * Your business must be contactless. Your customers can pay online, over the phone or in a contactless way. *
  
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  May 6, 2020 7:57pm
skyblue

[Mod: on a ban but didn’t get processed thanks to an error, so it has now. One week.]
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May 6, 2020 11:18pm