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May 10, 2020 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 10 May 2020

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General Debate

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PhilBest

Matt Walsh on classic media bias:
https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-dont-be-fooled-by-the-media-narrative-governor-cuomo-has-done-an-awful-job

“The media has smothered New York Governor Andrew Cuomo with fawning praise from the beginning of this crisis and the downpour of adulation still continues, with no sign of letting up. Contrast this with the scorn heaped on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who we are told is a reckless and dangerous imbecile, among other things. One can’t help but notice a key difference between these two governors that may explain the varied reception they have received. That difference, of course, is the letter next to their names. But there is another difference, one that the media pretends not to notice and hopes you will not notice, either: Governor Cuomo has done the worst job of containing the outbreak (over 20,000 dead) while Governor DeSantis has been among the best (fewer than 2,000 dead in a population slightly larger than New York’s)…
“…obviously we cannot blame Cuomo for every death in his state. But we can ask whether there is any good reason to praise his performance. I see compelling evidence that his leadership has been a failure…”
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May 10, 2020 8:00am
- Scott
  
  Quite right Phil. I listened to an interview with Governor DeSantis recently and he came across as a deeply impressive individual who has been looking after his people and was now step by step reopening the state in a sensible way.
  
  Cuomo on the other hand made decisions like sending people with the virus back to nursing homes! That’s just crazy!
  Cuomo also celebrated abortion up until birth last year which I thought was absurd to the point of ghoulish.
  DeSantis has done a good job in my opinion. Cuomo not so much.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:34am
Prince

An excellent article on the choice to be made by the most economically-illiterate Govt in decades.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300008556/budget-2020-government-must-choose-between-prudent-debt-levels-and-a-borrow-and-hope-approach

Includes this on why we are not as well-placed to recover from the lockdown as we should be.

‘This Government was a big spender before the virus struck. It turned a pre-election 2017 forecasted fiscal surplus of $5.7b for the year ended June 2020 into a forecast $900 million deficit by the end of last year, despite higher tax revenues of $2.9b.’

You could argue some of that extra spend was on Vote Health. But the comparisons between the 2016 and 2019 budget projections in that area would not support that argument. First year tertiary students, NZ First donors and multiple commissions and committees took most of the lollies.
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May 10, 2020 8:01am
- KevO'Brien
  
  A replacement Government is waiting.
  ☑️☑️Time to GO NOW ☑️☑️
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:55am
  - Johnboy
    
    Vote early, vote often, vote National! 🙂
    
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    May 10, 2020 2:14pm
- zulumonster
  
  “Treasury’s December 2019 fiscal forecasts showed it would need $18b to fund capital spending for the year ended June 2020” … has anyone apologised to Steven Joyce yet?
  
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  May 10, 2020 3:48pm
mikenmildagain

RIP Little Richard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVIttmFAzek
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May 10, 2020 8:01am
- The Proper Ghandi
  
  Thanks, wee dick.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:33am
  - Batman
    
    Look downtickers, if you don’t like Little Richard that’s fine, but no need to downtick MM.
    
    Pathetic little children, sheesh. Worse than the lefties.
    
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    May 10, 2020 12:19pm
    - The Proper Ghandi
      
      [Mod: attacking other posters without grounds is entirely unhelpful and inappropriate.] And Little Richard is almost as bad.
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:30pm
      - The Proper Ghandi
        
        It may be inappropriate, but it is hilarious. So the “wee dick” comment was well grounded? Asking for a friend.
        
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        May 10, 2020 1:07pm
      - Johnboy
        
        Anyone having a go at Milkey for being a lefty prat is on very safe grounds. 🙂
        
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        May 10, 2020 2:16pm
PhilBest

This is the latest and most dramatic evidence that the world needs to wake up to the crucial importance of environment and HVAC in viral pandemics:

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bronsonstocking/2020/05/06/majority-of-infected-new-yorkers-say-they-caught-coronavirus-while-following-lockdown-rules-n2568343

I suggest that the much better outcomes in some Asian high density cities is because they have been onto this factor decades since.
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May 10, 2020 8:02am
Scum

I’m looking forward to today’s government screw-ups.
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May 10, 2020 8:02am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Something like; There was a pause and then another pause but they were so close together it was difficult to tell the difference – Spike Milligan
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:17am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I don’t think the MSM do Sundays….
  You may have to wait a few days to try and locate todays’s screw-up amongst the coming week’s screw-ups.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:31am
  - The Other Enoch
    
    But the MSM do not report the government screw ups or go after this governments ministers who are responsible for this screw up anything like they did when they went after John Key and a ponytail.
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:41am
    - Scum
      
      To be fair, pulling a ponytail is serious, serious, serious shit.
      
      I should know. I am scum after all 🙂
      
      /sarc
      
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      May 10, 2020 10:01am
    - Paulus
      
      $50 million of screw up- no way !
      He who pays the piper calls the tune remember.
      
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      May 10, 2020 10:58am
    - Johnboy
      
      “The times they are a changin” 🙂
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/121463969/are-these-the-first-signs-of-third-term-arrogance-from-a-first-term-government
      
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      May 10, 2020 2:18pm
  - gorse
    
    With the gag order and only the PM allowed to make statements, there are going to be lots and lots of screw ups.
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:47am
    - Johnboy
      
      And young Ashley gorse old chap?
      As long as he echos our glorious leaders lines of course! 🙂
      
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      May 10, 2020 2:21pm
  - Batman
    
    I hate to disappoint but in normal times, Sunday is the biggest night of the week for the TV news shows.
    
    So at least on that front, they do push out things like polls and headline stories from things like the Sunday programme.
    
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    May 10, 2020 12:24pm
  - Rachael Membery
    
    A Friday dump?
    
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    May 10, 2020 4:57pm
- stigie
  
  Which inept unskilled minister will front today..?
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:46am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    They don’t do weekends now:
    
    Update on COVID-19 cases — 9 May
    There is no media conference today. …
    
    Media conferences will resume on 11 May.
    https://covid19.govt.nz/latest-updates/update-on-covid-19-cases-9-may/
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:36am
    - Rachael Membery
      
      Thank god for that, not that I tune in.
      
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      May 10, 2020 5:00pm
  - Johnboy
    
    If you are asking for an inept/unskilled minister then any of them from the PM down will do stigie. 🙂
    
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    May 10, 2020 2:24pm
  - Johnboy
    
    It must have been a huge party night at Labour Inc. when they were all promoted far above any ability they never actually had by the wizened little Winston chap.
    What a team! 🙂
    It just shows that the handicapped can achieve wondrous heights given a lucky break! 🙂
    
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    May 10, 2020 2:41pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  4pm tomorrow
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:05am
Souvlaki

Can I commend Derek Cheng on his article, correctly describing Ardern as “arrogant” and “cynical “ .
Both epithets spot on …lets hope he avoids the ricin tipped umbrella, no doubt on its way from the ninth floor.
Lets also hope that his bosses find their collective consciences and tell the truth rather than the arse licking crap they are wont to “report”.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12330745
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May 10, 2020 8:06am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Someone will be spewing. Off camera quite nasty
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:15am
  - RichardX
    
    Can you share your personal experience that lead to the “Off camera quite nasty” comment?
    
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    May 10, 2020 2:03pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Is your google machine broken?
      
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      May 11, 2020 7:21am
- Paulus
  
  Change will find his future will now be in jeopardy.
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:00am
- EssenX
  
  Well done, Mr Cheng!
  
  Similarly, Tracey Watkins calls out the Government for third-term arrogance in only its first term: https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/121463969/are-these-the-first-signs-of-third-term-arrogance-from-a-first-term-government
  
  What has the Government done to piss off journalists? Just a week ago most media wouldn’t dare to ask any inconvenient questions.
  
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  May 10, 2020 12:07pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Perhaps the add-on to their $50,000,000.00 hasn’t arrived yet and it looks likely it won’t happen.
    
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    May 10, 2020 1:22pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Yep,
      looks like the $50,000,000 won’t be propping up many folks at the bottom of the food chain…..
      
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      May 10, 2020 3:04pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Lotta dosh – that sum would fund the pension for a day and a bit ….. 🙂
        
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        May 10, 2020 3:50pm
  - theoldbloke
    
    Its easy to understand the change of stance of the media.
    
    Their modus operandi is very simple when you stand back at look at it critically.
    The media is all about clickbate/headlines to get readership/advertising support).
    
    So.
    Phase one.
    Decide which is the most popular side of an argument.
    In this case isnt the gummint doing well.
    Support any shock horror headlines that support the gummint.
    ie we will save you from 80,000 deaths.
    Attack any criticism
    
    Phase two.
    No more traction with fawning pieces.
    Switch to attack/dispute mode.
    Voila, you see that in action now.
    
    They will get more clickbait/headline news from anti gummint headlines as the common kiwi starts to come out of the fear bubble and start to think rationally and question why they were forced in to house arrest/economic Armageddon when it wasnt necessary
    AND known it wasnt necessary.
    Ie recommendation to go to Level2 but THEY decided on Level 4
    
    Princess Cindy is about to prove Abraham Lincoln correct.
    
    You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
    
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    May 10, 2020 3:46pm
- cmm
  
  Less than two weeks ago Mr Cheng was helping push the message for Team Jizz, faithfully cut-and-pasting from prescribed sources.
  
  It looks like, finally, he’s figured out what a journalist is supposed to do.
  
  I wonder if it has anything to do with two emails I sent him on 29th April?
  
  ”
  Hello Derek
  
  re your recent article https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12327959
  
  The person you quote says NZ is doing better than Australia on deaths per million. This does not seem to be the case. According to what I see in the attached link we’re doing worse than Australia, however the difference is not statistically relevant. We are really doing the same as Australia.
  
  I am surprised you just quote these people without fact checking them. I would have thought that would be a journalistic responsibility.
  
  https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-covid-deaths-per-million?year=2020-04-28
  
  Regards
  ”
  
  To which he replied:
  “the assoc professor says we were behind, then drew level, then surpassed Oz in confirmed cases per million.”
  
  I must say I was somewhat disappointed in the wordmanship – not even starting a sentence with a capital.
  
  And I replied:
  
  “I am sure that is what he said, but don’t you fact check these people before quoting them?
  
  The numbers are out there for anyone to look at.
  
  If he says we have surpassed them (I assume he means we are better that them with lower numbers of deaths) and the publicly available numbers say otherwise, then do you not ask him why he says that?
  
  For example: According to https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-covid-deaths-per-million?year=2020-04-27 Oz is on 3.25/M. We are on 3.94/M. Oz is doing better.
  
  According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_coronavirus_pandemic
  
  Australia has 84 deaths/24.99M = 3.36/M
  NZ has 19/4.88M = 3.89/M
  
  I am quite surprised that you quote these people without further checking what they say and asking them about the discrepancies.
  
  Regards
  “
  
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  May 10, 2020 1:58pm
Andrei

This is how you should deal with Coronavirus!!!

UK 465 deaths per million
Belarus 13 deaths per million
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May 10, 2020 8:06am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  That’s because Belarus, alone among European nations, has continued to play professional football! Yet another benefit of the beautiful game. Or something. Anyway, I like my version best.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:19am
- Nickc2
  
  The president of Belarus says Vodka and Saunas cure COVID-19. I’m with him. When can I buy a ticket?
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:24am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Closest I can get is whisky and a spa pool.
    It will just have to do.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:06am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      Whisky IN the spa pool.
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:13pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Nah, it don’t taste too good with bromine
        
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        May 10, 2020 2:05pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        I’m not sure I can spare that much whiskey
        
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        May 10, 2020 4:47pm
- alwyn
  
  I much prefer the results from Taiwan.
  At the beginning of this they were considered to be the country that would be, after China, the most at risk.
  What is their rate?
  0.25 deaths/ million. That’s right. they had 6 deaths in a population of 24 million.
  And they did it without a general lock down and the destruction of their economy.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:08am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Yeah. But Belarus is funnier
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:12am
  - Ruawai
    
    Taiwan succeeding must annoy the Chinese.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:28am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yep, Taiwan is good… but N.Korea is exceptional…
    North Korea’s government maintains that there has not been a single confirmed case there,….
    
    and
    They went hard & early:
    
    North Korea was the first country to suspend tourism and to shut its borders in response to the virus, in the third week of January.
    
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52597749?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world/asia&link_location=live-reporting-story
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:42am
    - Greg Ettridge
      
      Reminds me of a mate years that wanted to go to North Korea to check it re tours.
      The guy in the consulate doing the visa, said don’t waste your time.
      The mate went and said old mate in the consulate was right on the money, anything worth seeing was off bounds.
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:03pm
    - RW Capitalist
      
      North Korea went hard against tourism in 1953…and prevented covid19 in the process.
      North korean leader re golf.
      “In 1994, Park Young-man, the course regular, told Australian journalist Eric Ellis that Kim Jong-il once scored a 34 on the course.”
      We can always believe the numbers coming out of North Korea.
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:18pm
    - Kiwi Dave
      
      North Korea succeeded because its leader went lard and burly.
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:50pm
      - kowtow
        
        And looks like he cuts his own hair.
        
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        May 10, 2020 2:03pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Not even C-19 wants to go to North Korea
      
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      May 10, 2020 4:49pm
- Stellaboxer
  
  I have just visited my local recycling centre here in Greytown only to have a council employee demand my name address and phone number before allowing me to proceed with my business. It seems that he believes he has the authority to stop me using the facility if I refuse to furnish the required info. Apparently this is part of tracing !! How much longer and how far are we going to allow these clowns to carry on with the circus ?? Is this legal even? I’m getting very fed up with this pathetic nothing burger.
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:30am
  - Paulus
    
    Everything is Legal if the Government says so !
    
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    May 10, 2020 1:13pm
    - cmm
      
      Correction: Everything is legal if the cops turn a blind eye!
      
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      May 10, 2020 2:11pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    … seems that he believes …
    
    Doing what his employer told him to do …. he probably likes having a job. You are moaning about the monkey – your beef is with the organ-grinder ….
    
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    May 10, 2020 3:54pm
    - Rachael Membery
      
      Jacinda? Doesn’t all delegated authority beam down from on high?
      
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      May 10, 2020 5:32pm
  - Joely Doe
    
    Always supply your full name when asked…
    
    Charles U. Farley
    
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    May 10, 2020 5:46pm
- MCos
  
  The people of Belarus don’t live long enough to get into the at risk age group.
  
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  May 10, 2020 12:06pm
artemisia

The Epidemic Response Committee has worked well in requiring those with accountability to front up and properly answer questions. And also it has invited others with expertise and useful insights to appear and share.

One of Paul Glass’s suggestions is to take a hard look at ineffective government expenditure.

Here’s an idea. Reconvene the ERC to do just that, with a view to passing data and recommendations back to the government of the day, and requiring that government to make public the response and decisions.

Let it be led by whoever the Opposition is.

The most important thing is data. Not politics or ideologies, of whatever stripe. So those Ministers and officials in charge of initiatives would be required to produce for intense scrutiny – assumptions, costs, benefits, actual outcomes, post implementation reviews and results of actions arising from these. Fluff and fudging called out. Publicly.

All parties would surely have to find this approach more effective than the current Questions – oral and written – which let’s face it could not be called effective or timely under any definition.
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May 10, 2020 8:08am
- Tony Stuart
  
  I expect you will find that the ERC will call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Given that National and Act hold a majority on the ERC, they can do that. It would certainly put pressure on the Government to respond.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:27am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The ERC has limited powers. The govt can simply ignore it and the MSM will follow.
    A Royal Commission I believe has to be initiated by the govt–not likely to happen.
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:59am
    - Stellaboxer
      
      Then we the public need to demand it.
      
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      May 10, 2020 11:32am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      A Royal Commission will need to wait for the next National government.
      
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      May 10, 2020 11:52am
- Albert_Ross
  
  All of these requirements are already in place. Regulatory proposals are already required to be consulted on and, when presented to Cabinet, accompanied by a departmental (not a Ministerial) regulatory impact assessment setting out the problem and the pros and cons, with evidence, of different ways of addressing them. This has to be published. Spending proposals have to be accompanied by an extensive and expensive Business Case ditto. Proposals and their impact assessments have to be scrutinised by Cabinet and then by Parliament, including by specialized committees which include a quota of opposition MPs, to which anybody can present evidence and analysis, and which are open to the media and to the public.
  
  You may respond, and I’d agree, that it doesn’t work and hasn’t prevented bad legislation and bad spending. But if you’re going to propose an alternative, you have to show why the factors which prevent the current system from working, won’t equally be present under your system and won’t equally prevent your system from working.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:31am
  - artemisia
    
    The ERC has been a lot more visible than the usual processes, mostly because of the subject matter atm of course. My suggestion would not apply to absolutely everything because how would that work? But it could apply to specific areas of ineffective spending determined by the Effectiveness Review committee.
    
    Like duplication of services, specific ranges of third party contracts, outcomes of the Loopy Rules Review, reorgs of government departments with their accompanying name changes/ centralisation / decentralisation / recentralisation. To name a few.
    
    And I’ve read quite a few RIAs and it is concerning how often the phrase ‘we don’t know the impact’ pops up in various forms. Doesn’t seem to stop recommendations that fit the narrative though.
    
    And also there should be visibility of recommendations from post implementation reviews – that would be the recommendations that are not vague and then disappear into nowhere.
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:52am
    - Albert_Ross
      
      You’re quite right that some RIA say, or used to say (yes Alwyn) and presumably will say again if the system ever gets reinstituted, that we don’t know what the impact will be. Some of them went further and said we are pretty confident that the costs will be massively greater than the benefits, and some of them were identified as not being fit for purpose by the Government’s own advisors.
      
      But – again you’re quite right – that didn’t stop the measures being adopted. How would your system prevent that?
      
      You seem to be assuming that adverse publicity, and informed resistance from the Opposition, would do the trick. But those are possible under, and indeed facilitated by, the RIA system – and that didn’t stop poorly evidenced and analysed proposals being adopted and implemented, including in some very high profile (at the time) areas such as earthquake strengthening and health & safety legislation.
      
      As I’ve said, we need a better understanding as to why the previous system didn’t work. Otherwise we’ll just replace it with a different system that doesn’t work.
      
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      May 10, 2020 2:55pm
  - alwyn
    
    I fear you are a bit out of date Albert.
    
    Our current arrogant lot have scrapped the need for these impact statements. They did so on March 23 apparently. It is beneath them to have somebody in a position to suggest that they might not be sensible in their proposals.
    
    You still seem to believe that these RIA reports are required. Sorry but that is so last year.
    “Some of the most expensive decisions ever made by a New Zealand government will receive no scrutiny from its economic watchdog after Cabinet suspended Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA), due to Covid-19.”
    Arrogant bloody lot aren’t they?
    
    Now what was it about being an open and transparent Government?
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300004126/government-suspends-financial-oversight
    
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    May 10, 2020 1:54pm
    - Albert_Ross
      
      Yes, I did know that, thanks. I should have made that clearer. I was assuming that this exemption only applies to the present emergency and the system would be reinstated once that’s over. It remains the case though, that it didn’t work to prevent poor proposals from being adopted then and there’s no obvious reason why it should do any better in future.
      
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      May 10, 2020 2:57pm
      - alwyn
        
        “I was assuming that this exemption only applies to the present emergency and the system would be reinstated once that’s over.”
        
        I would like to think so but I suspect that they will be tempted to continue, and like all politicians they quickly succumb to temptation.
        At the moment it goes through until the election and almost anything can be construed as having something to do with the virus.
        
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        May 10, 2020 6:14pm
      - -D
        
        For god’s sake why doesn’t the opposition home in on these outrages?
        
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        May 10, 2020 6:31pm
- Alboy
  
  I know there has been lots of comment around how ineffective the ERC has been but I for one have found it to be extremely informative. I’ve also noted that the govt has been forced to respond publicly, usually within 24 hours, to issues raised at those ERC sessions. To me, this seems more effective than the usual “does the minister stand by all their statements” questions. I’ve also changed my opinion of Simon Bridges through the process, makes comment or questions that are usually right on the money. Might be interesting to see this forum continue in some way.
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:30am
- Ruahine
  
  The Epidemic Response Committee was obviously setup as a bit of a sop. However Bridges and Seymour have turned it into something far better that Question Time in the House. Government Politicians have had to answer the questions put to them without the interference of the deceitful Speaker Trevor Mallard. A bit of a shock to some especially that nasty David Parker. Reverting back to his spiteful ways. One other aspect of the Committee has been that the a lot of ‘real’ people have been able to get there point of view heard and not ignored or drowned out by the $50 million dollar bought Media.
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:54am
  - artemisia
    
    Oral questions are fairly useless, but there is also a big issue with written questions (and don’t get me started on OIA requests). They have to be worded carefully to elicit information because there is little or no evidence that the responding Minister is going to figure out what information is wanted and answer proactively. In any case it takes weeks for a reply even if it is on time.
    
    The ERC has had much better results due to the ability to ask further questions and get answers mostly in real time. And because it is available in real time to the public. Let us not forget that the people responding to questions are the ones accountable so should know the answers or be able to get them PDQ from their large supporting staff.
    
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    May 10, 2020 1:21pm
    - Albert_Ross
      
      How does that differ from other Parliamentary committees?
      
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      May 10, 2020 3:03pm
      - artemisia
        
        It can differ. First because the ERC has an Opposition majority and other SCs don’t. That means that reports back always toe the party line with a nod to dissenting opinions.
        
        Then there are lots of SCs, most seem extremely boring. But a Zoom style SC on specific issues of wider public interest would attract viewers and journalists if available on various media like the ERC.
        
        How hard would it be to give it a try time to time?
        
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        May 10, 2020 4:33pm
    - Nickc2
      
      Agree, I would like this ERC format to replace Question Time. Keep up with the technology and lets get rid of these ‘patsy questions’. I would also like to get rid of the speaker but I guess that’s asking a bit much.
      
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      May 10, 2020 3:07pm
Tricati

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mums out there – Hope you all get spoilt.
65 2
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May 10, 2020 8:14am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Your down ticker must be an angry mum
  
  13 1
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  May 10, 2020 10:51am
  - Close Hen Counters
    
    Might be mums doing chores!
    
    3 1
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    May 10, 2020 3:24pm
- Gravelroad
  
  How churlish is it for the resident trolls on here to downtick Tricati’s post above?
  Are you for real, downticker? Get a life.
  
  31 3
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  May 10, 2020 11:10am
  - sooty
    
    The downticker maybe a lady, still with nuts!
    
    3 1
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    May 10, 2020 11:47am
- Greg Ettridge
  
  Except downtickers maybe they were born without a mother, anything is possible these days, just ask Jacinda and Michelle.
  
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  May 10, 2020 12:06pm
Nickc2

COVID-19 and Winston Peters have enabled this Socialist Government to severely curtail our liberties and expand the Welfare State in order to achieve their political goal. We must not forget this come September 19.
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May 10, 2020 8:14am
- igm
  
  There is one hypocritical photo hopping mum I hope is having a real shit of a day.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:32am
  - MCos
    
    Of course you do.
    
    1 7
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    May 10, 2020 12:07pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Yea, she is probably throwing a tanty because no photographer has turned up from the Womans Weekly to take photographs of her and the sprog. Oh, that right, wasn’t the Womans Weekly rag up for sale but there were not takers?
    
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    May 10, 2020 1:26pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Is our contact tracing up to speed yet?

Had the government scaled up contact tracing capabilities from January, would we have needed lockdown? Border closures along with contact tracing and quarantine of both cases and contacts of cases could have done the job.

http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-rather-costly-failure.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OffsettingBehaviour+%28Offsetting+Behaviour%29
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May 10, 2020 8:17am
- Cinematic
  
  You just know a competent leadership group would have had NZ sorted. There would have been no need for a dramatic lockdown of such epic cost.
  
  Jacinda’s posse failed this country. Badly. And quite possibly unlawfully.
  
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  May 10, 2020 8:20am
- SmokerGuy
  
  Bridges was ripped apart for pointing out our contact tracing was shit. Are the media going to admit he was right? We’ve sustained unnecessary damage to our economy because of this.
  
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  May 10, 2020 8:22am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Not to mention his criticism of PPE management and distribution of flu vaccines. PPE is under investigation by the Auditor-General, and we all now know about the screw-ups with flu vaccines. The orchestrated pile-on against Bridges only served to prove he was correct in every criticism he made.
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:07am
    - Simon
      
      Ardern government is in big trouble. They should be up all night redoing the budget. Gutting the state, reducing regulation, reducing income tax and getting rid of GST and fuel taxes. Start cashing up assets.
      
      But it wont matter. Their brains are hard wired to Marxist Keynesian economics. Watch the Ardern government make things a whole lot worse.
      
      It’s over.
      
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      May 10, 2020 9:49am
    - kevn
      
      @Tony… 50 Mill doesn’t make the media any better, just more of bad/unbalanced.
      
      25 1
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      May 10, 2020 10:00am
    - Ruawai
      
      Lack of PPE, lack of flu vaccines, lack of contact tracing, and National MP saying to stock up with food as there would be issues with supermarkets in lockdown. These things all came to pass.
      
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      May 10, 2020 10:31am
    - pdm
      
      Not sure I have much faith in the Auditor General after the report on the gun (confiscation) buy back a few days ago.
      
      He/she said it was very well handled which is a contradiction on most of what I have read and heard.
      
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      May 10, 2020 10:37am
  - alloytoo
    
    I don’t understand why the PM didn’t phone her buddies at Apple and Google and outsource 1st level contact tracing to them.
    
    Anyone outside mobile coverage is unlikely to be at risk anyway.
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:51am
  - Fletch
    
    You know you’re over the target if you’re getting flak…
    
    10 1
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    May 10, 2020 12:20pm
- The Proper Ghandi
  
  With the covid-19 issue, there is false assumption underlying and acting as the foundation for everything that is being done in relation to the virus, an assumption that has now been shown false by a 90 % full recovery rate (which will probably be higher in the fullness of time): that the virus will be extremely lethal.
  
  False. Getting the virus will very, very likely not be fatal. Why then are we even attempting to stamp out something that we know is not much of a threat?
  
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  May 10, 2020 8:26am
  - Than
    
    Because it is a threat.
    
    Yes, based on what we know now it seems a lot more people have/have had coronavirus than initially thought, and therefore the case fatality rate is lower.
    
    But lower case fatality with far more cases still means the same absolute death toll. It’s great news for an individual who receives a positive test result, since their individual chance of survival is higher. But the virus is still just as deadly for the community as a whole.
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:21am
    - The Proper Ghandi
      
      Well, sorry, but the figures don’t bear that out. Large numbers of cases is not really an issue if it’s not going to kill them. Saying a country has, for instance, “100,000 cases,” and without any context, is not that significant if it’s not highly lethal. And that’s just the diagnosed cases. There could be 2 or 3 times that number (clearly there won’t be fewer), which strengthens my argument even further.
      
      Let’s not base the response on what could be the case, but rather what is the case. And it is the case that the virus is significantly less lethal than we have been led to believe.
      
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      May 10, 2020 9:47am
      - Than
        
        Um, sorry, but do you not understand how math works?
        
        If a disease with 50% fatality rate infects 1000 people, 500 people die. If a disease with 0.1% fatality infects 500,000 people, 500 people also die.
        
        Note how the same number of people die in both cases.
        
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        May 10, 2020 10:32am
      - projectman
        
        “Large numbers of cases is not really an issue if it’s not going to kill them.”
        
        We haven’t had a large number of cases, and could have had significantly fewer with better timing of border management and better contact management in the early days.
        
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        May 10, 2020 11:01am
      - The Proper Ghandi
        
        Than
        Yeah, I know how mathematics works. In this case, the proportion is everything. Absolute figures are meaningless without context.
        
        From 1,492 cases as of today (at least, as these are confirmed, so don’t factor in those individuals who have had the virus and recovered without being tested at all) we have had only 21 deaths (all having comorbidities). That is a death rate, at the most, of 0.014%.
        
        There have been 1,368 recoveries (again, at a minimum) which means that 91.6% have all fully recovered, and likely more will on these rates.
        
        Moreover, there have been 183,039 completed tests, which means that only 0.0081% of those have been positive.
        
        All of those figures speak for themselves. Even if there is a spike, those proportions will still apply.
        
        https://covid19map.co.nz/
        
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        May 10, 2020 11:30am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        and better targeting of at risk groups
        95% of deaths are to the over 60’s
        Target and protect this group and you substantially reduce the death toll.
        
        6 1
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        May 10, 2020 12:24pm
      - Than
        
        Absolute figures are meaningless without context.
        
        Here in the USA roughly 80,000 people are dead who would not have been. Please, do tell me what context makes that meaningless.
        
        The relevant equation here is very simple;
        
        [Number of cases] x [Case fatality rate] = [Death toll]
        
        Nobody is claiming the death toll has suddenly dropped 100 fold overnight. The case fatality rate being lower, sure by itself that would be great. But since we have only determined the case fatality rate to be lower because at the same time we learned there are 100 times as many cases as previously thought, the coronavirus remains precisely, mathematically, just as much of a threat as before. The total number of people who can be expected to die from it is exactly the same as before.
        
        More cases with lower fatality rate or less cases with higher fatality rate, the overall threat is the same.
        
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        May 10, 2020 12:50pm
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Ooh, you want to murder granny!!!
    
    That’s about the level of the reasoning.
    
    25 2
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    May 10, 2020 9:32am
    - Scum
      
      I nearly did kill grandma.
      
      I fell in love with a Swedish backpacker I met on the banks of the Mekong River in Thailand in 1989.
      
      We subsequently went to stay with her family in Stockholm.
      
      Unfortunately I picked up a virulent virus in Bangkok on our way to Stockholm and my Swedish Model’s grandma contracted it from me – with identical symptoms. She was hospitalised and nearly died.
      
      No one else in the family got it.
      
      ISOLATE THE ELDERLY. EVERYONE ELSE IS LIKELY TO BE OK.
      
      36 2
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      May 10, 2020 10:07am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        You’re not married to your Swedish Model, I’m guessing
        
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        May 10, 2020 10:14am
      - Scum
        
        Not married. Separated.
        
        We came back to NZ. I then discovered the Northern European women expected males to be like girly-men just like our current Minister of Health David Clark.
        
        20 1
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        May 10, 2020 10:29am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        I am pleased that I am not the only one who took that from that post . . . 🙂
        
        10 0
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        May 10, 2020 10:38am
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes, I just saw on Sky News Aust that 90% of people who catch COVID-19 survive. Why are we still in a panic?
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:33am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Twenty-one deaths in New Zealand, people with corona virus symptoms and most likely other underlying medical issues, represent 0.00000429% of the population.
      
      How many billions $ Ardhern?
      
      25 1
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      May 10, 2020 10:44am
      - Nickc2
        
        Yes, and most of our deaths were as a result of living in an aged care environment. Is anyone talking about tearing these things down and starting again? I’m only guessing as I’m not an expert in the field but wouldn’t these aged care centres be infested with a vast number of germs/viruses as a result of the health/age of people who reside there. I doubt total decontamination takes place whenever someone dies there.
        Also, the majority of people who died in New York as a result of COVID-19 lived in aged care centres. What does that tell us?
        I’m informed that it’s financially advisable to put an aged person’s death down as COVID-19 induced or having COVID-19 symptoms. How convenient.
        
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        May 10, 2020 12:36pm
    - emmess
      
      More like 99.8%
      
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      May 10, 2020 11:08am
- doggone7
  
  Do you think if contact tracing had been a focus in January ‘over reaction’ calls and ‘state control’ complaints would have been heard?
  
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  May 10, 2020 8:39am
- bruceavon
  
  No one had contact tracing sorted in January. Hindsights a great thing but we need to look at whats happening now. Where is the app? Australia have had theirs out for weeks. It has been downloaded by 5 million people. Ours should have been out a week ago. And our system of tracking and database isn’t linked up yet. Its regional. Not good enough. Only 200 people employed for tracking. What if we have an outbreak? And if they announce on Monday any delay in level 2. it will be because they haven’t sorted this when they have had months. Mind you they seem to be under zero pressure from the opposition about it. And to my mind this is the most important thing happening.
  
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  May 10, 2020 8:39am
  - Lummox
    
    How is this tracking undertaken? Is it just a case of a series of phone interviews? Or face to face?
    There are tens of thousands of government employees who are doing virtually nothing at the moment, while on full pay. Why are they not doing this work?
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:36am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Govt employees don’t know how to do this work. That is why they work for the Govt
      
      23 4
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      May 10, 2020 10:12am
  - Albert_Ross
    
    Weren’t we all screaming about our rights to privacy from a fascist controlling state when the idea of a contact tracing app was mooted?
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:34am
    - bruceavon
      
      Not all of us. This blog has a lot of people concerned about big brother, but it seems to be a concern with the older population now. Young people could care less. I would have no problem with this if it gets rid of the disease. you are all tracked on your phone now. Unless you turn off a number of features. a guy went missing in Aussie last year and once police got his phone data they tracked his exact movement and path to a cliffs edge. Same with the murderer of grace mullane. Apple has all your recent locations in its settings.
      
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      May 10, 2020 11:39am
    - Nickc2
      
      Yes and rightly so. However, if you look into the Australian app, all privacy concerns (as far as the documentation author and myself) can ascertain are non existent.
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:06pm
- Than
  
  Good contact tracing plus rigid border controls could have stopped the spread of coronavirus even later than that IMO. Not that this can be proven of course.
  
  A big question now is when will international travel to/from NZ be able to resume, and how long will the 14-day isolation requirement be in effect?
  
  My guess, the borders will be officially re-opened relatively soon (in a few weeks, maybe a month or two), but strict screening and the isolation requirement will remain in force for a while. Three months, six, past the end of the year, who knows. And a two week isolation period makes New Zealand effectively a non-destination for everyone but long term visitors.
  
  I’m not objecting to this or saying it’s the wrong course to take. New Zealand’s isolation is the single biggest factor that has saved it from the death tolls coronavirus has inflicted in other countries. But it does mean New Zealand will be virtually cut-off from the rest of the world for the foreseeable future.
  
  This will have a particularly impact on NZ citizens residing overseas. People who might want to return home to see family or for major events (weddings, funerals, etc.), this is likely not going to be an option.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:06am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The price quoted is too high.
  
  7 2
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  May 10, 2020 10:01am
  - emmess
    
    And -10.8% of GDP is not?
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:09am
  - Komata
    
    KevO’Brien@1001
    
    Agreed; I’m told that one-way Australia-NZ fares have jumped from multiples of hundreds of dollars to multiples of thousands of dollars; a very large disincentive for any Kiwi wanting to return home.
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:21am
Classic Liberal

What the heck is RNZ scraping the barrel with this morning? – National Radio news reported that some staffer had told CNN that Barack Obama said something negative about Trump’s handling of Covid? LOL
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May 10, 2020 8:17am
- Simon
  
  “What the heck is RNZ scraping the barrel with this morning?”
  
  With DOJ dropping the case against Flynn its all falling apart for the Russian truthers and those who commit treason.
  
  Zero is in trouble and is lashing out.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:39am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Styx has a good video on that.
    
    7 1
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    May 10, 2020 9:56am
  - All_on_Red
    
    Not only the case against Flynn failing. The 53 Transcripts released show ‘Top Obama administration officials told the House Intelligence Committee they had no “empirical evidence” the Trump campaign conspired with Russia ahead of the 2016 election, transcripts released Thursday revealed.
    
    “I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting/conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election,” former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the committee in 2017.’
    
    More in the link
    https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/may/7/james-clapper-susan-rice-schiff-transcript-no-evid/
    
    Then there’s also the CEO of Crowdstrike, Shaun Hendry stating they found no evidence that the Russians hacked the DNC. He uses the word ‘appears’
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:59am
    - All_on_Red
      
      More detail here about Hendry’s Testimony’
      ‘Declassified documents released by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff show the president of CrowdStrike Services — a computer-and-network-security firm hired to investigate the hacking of Democratic National Committee servers — couldn’t say for certain that Russians downloaded Democratic Party emails.
      
      During the interview made public Thursday, Shawn Henry explained that CrowdStrike found some evidence that information was taken from DNC servers, but it was not conclusive.’
      https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/newly-released-docs-suggest-crowdstrike-unsure-if-fbi-confirmed-russians
      
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      May 10, 2020 10:03am
      - All_on_Red
        
        More on the Flynn travesty here;
        ‘Shortly after my colleague Sara Carter and I began reporting in 2017 on the possibility that the FBI was abusing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to spy on Americans during the Russia investigation, I received a call. It was an intermediary for someone high up in the intelligence community.
        The story that source told me that day — initially I feared it may have been too spectacular to be true — was that FBI line agents had actually cleared former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn of any wrongdoing with Russia only to have the bureau’s leadership hijack the process to build a case that he lied during a subsequent interview.’
        https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/dirty-dozen-12-revelations-sunk-muellers-case-against
        
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        May 10, 2020 10:11am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Here’s a link to transcripts of Hendrys evidence
        https://mobile.twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1258601813084864514
        
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        May 10, 2020 11:16am
      - Batman
        
        Lol guess who looks like a Russian truther ????
        
        Your efforts to believe that reality didn’t happen are quite remarkable though. So well done, an A for effort.
        
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        May 10, 2020 12:32pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Yes, I watched Hannity last night also and it was interesting that Obama fired Lt Gen Flynn because he didn’t agree with his (Obama’s) view of one world government. That is another reason Obama doesn’t want Lt Gen Flynn released from prison. According to the news report, Obama was kept informed of all happenings into the Lt Gen Flynn investigation by the corrupt FBI agents.
        I wonder if Obama and Adam Schiff will share the same prison cell?
        
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        May 10, 2020 12:58pm
      - Batman
        
        Trump fired Flynn.
        
        You’re being sold a pup by Faux News.
        
        It would be funny to watch if the consequences of Hannity’s opinion show being treated as ‘news’ weren’t so darkly serious for the future security of the US, and its global standing as it is slowly undermined by Putin’s Kremlin.
        
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        May 10, 2020 1:14pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Batman says that Testimony in front of Congressional Hearings is ‘faux news’.
        The level of denial to actually disbelieve COPIES OF THE WRITTEN TESTIMONY is just epic.
        
        Hahahahahahaha
        Btw, you linked to an article by Lawfare Blog writer Ben Wittes the other day.
        Here’s the rebuttal proving Wittes lied
        https://www.redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2020/05/09/what-happens-at-lawfareblog-when-ben-wittes’-baby-cannon-explodes-in-his-face/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
        
        Also- I’m taking you up on that $100 bet that nothing will come from Durhams probe.
        Funds to a Charity of DPFs choice.
        
        And bigmouth, how about we up the stakes.
        Loser leaves Kiwiblog forever- that means you give up Moderator too.
        Are you on?
        
        3 1
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        May 10, 2020 2:49pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Zero? Who are you referring to?
    
    2 4
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    May 10, 2020 10:02am
    - Nickc2
      
      @Batman
      Yes, Obama also fired Flynn, Trump hired him and when the faux investigation began, Trump had to fire him too.
      
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      May 10, 2020 1:35pm
- igm
  
  Obama would appear as low, if not lower, than Pelosi and Clintons. RNZ being no better, running CNN crap verbatim, probably at the behest of Ardern and her politburo . . . they have to earn part of the $50m somehow.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:57am
- Fletch
  
  Yeh, it’s been picked up by Newshub and 1 News now too. I mean, can Obama criticize anyone? Just look at Benghazi. Feck, the day after it happened he was off campaigning in Las Vegas, which included a fundraiser and a major campaign rally (it was an election year). Obama would have handled it very badly.
  
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  May 10, 2020 12:23pm
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    The transcript was leaked to the same reporter that the Obama administration normally used.
    
    This is about trying to get ahead of the story and get Obama’s spin in first.
    
    So which administration illegally spied on its opposition? Weaponised the IRS and FBI, illegally used fake information to get FISA warrants, and tried to create a “collusion” story to cripple an incoming administration?
    
    Methinks Mr Soetero can feel the noose tightening. Comey, Clapper and Brennan must be feeling a bit clammy round the gills now too.
    
    Good.
    
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    May 10, 2020 6:43pm
adventure

Anyone else suspicious about the timing of the Auckland Grammar / Tim O’Connor article in Stuff this morning. News??
41 2
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May 10, 2020 8:20am
- Tony Stuart
  
  I’m sure it has nothing whatsoever to do with O’Connor’s criticism of the Government at the ERC this week.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:34am
- Jules99
  
  This at the bottom of the article:
  
  “She said they schools faced pressure from parents to take a hardline on drugs. ”
  
  Auckland Grammar are likely delivering the standards required by parents.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:50am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Hagley College in Christchurch does the same. I wouldn’t want anything less.
    
    12 2
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    May 10, 2020 11:24am
Loddenthinks

No, it isn’t. The government has reportedly “thrown $55.1 m” at it, and history tells us that governments, especially this one, throwing money at things invariably makes them worse.

But the consultants will get richer, and the good people tasked with actually making it work will eventually get the job done.
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May 10, 2020 8:22am
- stewmar
  
  Dr Ashley said it’s gold standard
  
  17 1
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  May 10, 2020 8:31am
- Nickc2
  
  Why didn’t we buy the Aussie one? From what I have seen, it’s fit for purpose, not an intrusion on personal privacy and personal data is only available to authorities when the phone owner downloads it to them.
  
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  May 10, 2020 8:38am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Any tracking systems is an invasion of privacy without prior consent.
    Beware computer programmers offering “solutions”. The best coders are frequently ill fitted to be humans–amazing narrow minds.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:05am
    - Nickc2
      
      AFAIK, the tracking app will be a voluntary download. I have worked with a lot of people who would take offence at your last sentence, but not to worry, it will probably go over their heads.
      
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      May 10, 2020 10:17am
      - Paulus
        
        Don’t do Apps as do not have phone capable.
        My old flip top is a phone only.
        
        6 0
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        May 10, 2020 11:05am
    - Nickc2
      
      Software Engineers are like Quality Assurance people, they breed amongst themselves. (sarc)
      
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      May 10, 2020 4:26pm
- 3-coil
  
  Phil Twyford is onto it – it will be ready in….decades
  
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  May 10, 2020 8:56am
  - alwyn
    
    “it will be ready in”.
    Your continued faith in Phil Twyford amazes me. Has anything he has been involved with actually been finished?
    Anything at all?
    I don’t believe that if he has anything to do with it that it will ever be ready.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:13am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    If Darth Vader was Phil Twyford’s boss, Phil would have been choked long ago.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:55am
- Ian Boag
  
  throwing money at things invariably makes them worse
  
  Helen threw a few hundred million at Air NZ which seemed to work out OK. That was after the Brierley drongos had run it into the ground by buying Ansett.
  
  Find me a representative sample of businesses who don’t like the wage subsidy and won’t accept it. Explain how it has made things worse.
  
  There’s a couple to start with. Perhaps you could give us some recent examples of where money has been thrown and it has made things worse ….
  
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  May 10, 2020 4:09pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Maori causes!
    
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    May 10, 2020 4:23pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      I meant specific examples – hopefully ones that involve moderately serious money. A good yardstick would be “more than the winter energy payment”.
      
      BTW I will concede Pike River – madness ….
      
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      May 10, 2020 4:49pm
fernglas

In the face of years of quarantine for arrivals, will the NZ Government be prepared to issue and recognise certificates of immunity for those with Covid-19 antibodies? The thousands of citizens who will acquire immunity should surely not be restricted in their travel and social activities just because others have not.
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May 10, 2020 8:29am
- KevO'Brien
  
  An even greater plague such tracking.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:07am
- Albert_Ross
  
  AFAIK but by all means correct me if you’ve authoritative evidence – it hasn’t yet been definitively established that having had the virus confers immunity. If and when that is clear, then yes by all means.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:38am
  - Ian Boag
    
    As the Saturday morning Cambridge man on RNZ pointed out a week or three back – if you have been sick and recovered – if you weren’t immune then you would still be sick …
    
    I guess the unknown is how long it lasts …
    
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    May 10, 2020 4:43pm
- SGA
  
  will the NZ Government be prepared to issue and recognise certificates of immunity for those with Covid-19 antibodies?
  
  Given the approach that we’ve taken to the pandemic, I’d put such a decision on hold until such time that we have a clear understanding of what sort of long-term immunity such people acquire. That would make more sense to me.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:53am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Isn’t fear a great motivator? Gates pops up with a solution ID2020 to vaccinate and microchip the whole world. Isn’t that an undesirable transfer of power to a world monopoly?
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:29am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Is the any conspiracy theory you don’t buy into?
      
      4 13
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      May 10, 2020 11:45am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Plenty, like the return of the COL this year.
        Being watchful is not participation.
        
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        May 10, 2020 4:29pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    We need better antibody tests to do this. Despite a lot of optimistic hooha about test kits in development or in the market there is no obvious clear leader.
    
    The serological (“antibody”) studies from here and there around the world are all affected by this. If there was a real good one the world would be all over it like a rash.
    
    If you are keen on this you can go to haierthermometer.com and buy a pack of 5 test sticks for USD99 with free freight to NZ.
    
    I keep wondering about buying a pack, finding a recovered person and seeing what the test says …
    
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    May 10, 2020 4:59pm
The Proper Ghandi

Hush yo’ mouth, Sistas!

https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO/status/1259214397458833409

https://twitter.com/basedmegxn/status/1258910269406937089
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May 10, 2020 8:32am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  She is going to run for office in 2024. Could be the first Black Woman POTUS
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:23am
  - The Proper Ghandi
    
    She is correct in that post, but she is still a Conservative Inc liberal at heart. She has a liberal world view, but just wants to pay lower tax. Having said that, at least she is not a rabid hater of whites like the Democrat women are.
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:31am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Founder or co-founder of the BLEXIT movement. Black Americans are ‘leaving the plantation’ They realise that the Democrats have been shitting on them for decades
      
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      May 10, 2020 10:19am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Oh, did I mention that she is pretty?
        
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        May 10, 2020 10:19am
      - The Proper Ghandi
        
        It will be hard to talk sense to black Americans if this is anything to go by:
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVd0kWmEAwM&list=PLt–MrXMKZgoXcIpfA8yr9NVmL2ZSEv0y
        
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        May 10, 2020 10:53am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Proper Ghandi. Depends on the areas you go to ask questions. Same in NZ to get a posidive Jacinda comment
        
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        May 10, 2020 11:20am
Poppa

I wonder how long it will be before we start seeing high inflation as a result of all this nonsense? Low inflation has been bothering world economies for a long time & this may be the catalyst to change that

I think it will be very interesting to watch how the economy (whats left of it) comes out of the current mess
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May 10, 2020 8:37am
- emmess
  
  I think deflation is a bigger threat in the short term, but if the massive but justified temporary spends become permanent to fund deficits, then yes inflation will explode a year or two down the track.
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:14am
artemisia

Article today positing that this virus has changed the way we live and could change it ongoing. His question – Does Covid-19 spell the end of consumerism?

Sorry Mr Eb – Two shows. (No show and a dog’s show).

Daniel Eb has an agenda, not necessarily a bad one but an agenda all the same. He is the director of Dirt Road Comms, a communications agency focused on transforming our food system and bringing Kiwis together.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300008221/coronavirus-does-covid19-spell-the-end-of-consumerism
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May 10, 2020 8:38am
- Scum
  
  Women will stop wanting to go shopping???
  
  Bwahahahahahahahahahaha.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:11am
Simon Gotlieb

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
TBH, there’s not much government can do but pay somebody to do the job and wait for them to do it. I don’t believe there’s a single MP in Parliament with the programming skills required to design and create a tracing app. And it’s not just a matter of getting the Singapore app and replacing one set of google maps with another. These sort of apps normally take months, if not years to create.
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May 10, 2020 8:44am
- 3-coil
  
  Simon Gotlieb: apologist
  
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  May 10, 2020 8:52am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Depends what kind of app you have in mind. QR code apps, where you scan the QR code on entering & leaving an enclosed space, are simple to create. There are a number written in NZ & commercially available now.
  
  If a person tests positive then contact tracers simply ring those who were in the same place/time as the tested person. Voluntary, but no scan, no entry. Not perfect, but likely good enough.
  
  Bluetooth apps are more complex to create & problematic in respect of consent issues. Potentially they provide more comprehensive coverage but that depends on the percentage of refuseniks.
  
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  May 10, 2020 8:58am
  - greybeard
    
    What about the hundreds of thousands of us who do not have a smartphone ?
    Do we just not count in their tracing ?
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:28am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      The recommended process is that the business whose premises you want to enter have an additional method available to record your entry & exit. Could be a tablet nailed to the wall for you or someone else to enter your details; or Greybeard-friendly pen & paper. Sanitiser bottle handy. Again, not perfect but likely good enough.
      
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      May 10, 2020 10:19am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        The Bill of Rights has something to say about citizenship, movement and tracing.
        
        Fear is desensitising people to the potential long term takeover of their real freedoms. Be very watchful. This is a unique situation in history.
        
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        May 10, 2020 11:36am
    - Tauhei Notts
      
      There is a possibility that I have a smart phone. If so, there is a probability that there is dumb bastard operating it.
      
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      May 10, 2020 10:19am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    I will not be QR’d
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:09am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Why, exactly? I understand that you don’t want to be tracked everywhere – I feel much the same way myself. But desperate times call for desperate measures.
      
      You should also bear in mind that mobile phone signals, electronic payments & CCTV all mean that the ability to pass unnoticed is compromised anyway. Unless you live in the country, only use cash & do without a mobile phone. Not many people do that, from my observation.
      
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      May 10, 2020 10:23am
      - alloytoo
        
        Which begs the question, why we simply don’t outsource 1st level tracing to Google.
        
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        May 10, 2020 12:09pm
      - Batman
        
        They’ve enabled to background API tools, but it’s up to each locality to decide how they want to go about it.
        
        That seems fair enough to me
        
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        May 10, 2020 1:01pm
  - Sacha
    
    “Voluntary, but no scan, no entry.”
    
    Aha, we have the solution in our hands! If a good number of us refuse to be scanned, businesses will soon realise the error of their ways, lol.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:53am
  - Nermal
    
    Despite what the conspiracy theorists claim, the app doesn’t track where you have been, but who you have been near, to find out if you have been close to someone who subsequently records positively for Covid19. In that case only you can be tested. If you are clear no problem. If you record positive, your contacts are tested, and so on.
    
    After a safe period of time all your close contacts are automatically deleted. All information is totally confidential.
    
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    May 10, 2020 1:31pm
- wilderbeast
  
  Simon I don’t think anyone is suggesting an MP develop the app! I find it hard to believe that we need to develop our own app from the ground up either. Given we’ve got the same problem as every other country. The government has been slow on everything….lockdown….developing clear protocols for each stage…contact tracing. The Minister of Health himself has been 500km away from the nerve centre, mountain biking and moving boxes between houses during our biggest pandemic in a century, pretty hard to argue they’ve pulled out all the stops isn’t it….?
  
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  May 10, 2020 8:59am
  - MJHNZ
    
    I beg to differ!!! The health minister has been 854km (by road) away according to google maps…..
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:47am
- Prince
  
  Wouldn’t expect them to code, but might be nice if they had the management skills, contacts and leadership ability to ensure the job gets done.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:11am
- The Proper Ghandi
  
  Yeah, good idea. I think the Government should be able to track us at all times too. Where do I sign up?
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:16am
  - alwyn
    
    You don’t need to. I am sure there are some conspiracy nutters out the who will tell us that when you took your polio vaccine back in the 60’s, or your flu vaccine last year, or in fact any other vaccine at all they were really injecting you with something that allows you to be tracked by big brother for the rest of your life.
    It’s too late, mate.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:19am
  - Ruawai
    
    Govt just needs to ask Apple and google they probably know where we all are at all times.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:39am
    - The Proper Ghandi
      
      Ruawai
      I know, which means we don’t need any additional means of tracing us. Besides, I have made the case elsewhere in this GD that the virus isn’t even sufficiently dangerous to even justify tracing.
      
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      May 10, 2020 11:44am
    - Ruahine
      
      They do. Especially Google.
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:09pm
      - Batman
        
        The key is how that information is used and kept secure.
        
        Apple and Google are very good at it, not so much the MoH.
        
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        May 10, 2020 1:00pm
- Suze Wainwright
  
  As long as this govt can maintain the illusion it’s in control, then the lovefest can continue
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:17am
- Nickc2
  
  Suggest you take a look at this link and pay particular attention to HOW IT WORKS and the link to PRIVACY. This app already exists and does not use GPS.
  https://www.health.gov.au/resources/apps-and-tools/covidsafe-app?gclid=CjwKCAjwqdn1BRBREiwAEbZcRzzx5PfNNTR96CU59bkd4mAUnRT2FFNkEt0SmjtBrlpfC5HzpPAZ7RoCedoQAvD_BwE#privacy
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:18am
- RightNow
  
  FYI – they’re building it on Salesforce
  Probably a reasonable platform for contact tracing.
  I would assume they’re paying some expensive 3rd party to build it. The biggest delays will be management indecision.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:23am
  - Nickc2
    
    It’s already in use, over 5 million users as of yesterday according to Sky News Aust.
    
    9 1
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    May 10, 2020 9:49am
  - EssenX
    
    I believe Deloitte was awarded a contract to build a pilot or similar in 2018 and completed that work. I understand that it’s been sitting there unused, until recently. Why didn’t the Minister finish this by, say, 2019?
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:52am
- bruceavon
  
  Australia were in the same position as us, are repurposing the same app, and they have a working app now. Its a childish, irrelevant point whether they have programming skills, the government need to push the companies making it to sort it out. And no, you don’t just need to swap out google maps, the app will do that automatically according to location. The fact that we are not loading the data to a data base and it remains on the phone says to me it should not be hard to adapt it. They merely need to sort out the information part of it. I have very rudimentary knowledge of app development but I have associates who know a lot more than me. The general opinion is that an app of this sort should not be that hard to get sorted. Apple and Google have provided the code to access their preexisting location system, and newly enabled bluetooth tech, and the people in singapore have already designed an app. They have had a long time. They just seem to continually kick the can down the road.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:26am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The fact that we are not loading the data to a data base and it remains on the phone
    Tui add. First, proof that is not possible. Instead of just being part of 5-Eyes the govt will have 5,000,000 eyes on NZ as well. The mechanism for global control is in the forge,
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:14am
    - Batman
      
      That is entirely possible, Kev.
      
      Do you have a proof that it isn’t?
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:37pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        How can you prove a negative? We get report repeatedly on software reporting back home without anyone except their creators being aware.
        (I’ve even had computer with bogus parts-chips that had part numbers but no innards!)
        
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        May 10, 2020 4:34pm
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    I have downloaded Aussie app but I am not running it, have bluetooth off.
    Downloaded as big numbers will give a little freedom.
    My iphone is useless unless I leave open and blue tooth on, guess they are working on this.
    The states have control of the data, what a shit scary thought in Victoria.
    They can hold me to ransom with downloading connected to easing of restrictions, they can’t make me use it.
    
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    May 10, 2020 12:40pm
- EssenX
  
  Hahaha. Years to develop an app!? I nearly spat out my coffee that comment was so stupid!
  
  Get a good team together and give them 2 weeks to build then iterate in 2-weekly cycles to build improvements.
  
  An app may or may not be the best way to deal with this and there are justified concerns around adoption or privacy, but if the Government was competent this could have been completed weeks ago.
  
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  May 10, 2020 12:01pm
info@cruzpro.com

Things to be happy for…

We live in a beautiful country.
We get to vote and have a say in who governs us.
Unlike some cities/countries murders still make the front page news.
We get to publicly have our say in websites like this one without fear of being imprisoned.
During lockdown I learned that I don’t have to shave every day.
Food is safe to eat and we don’t have to resort to eating bats.
A large percentage of the people are kind and look out for each other. People care really good about donating to worthy causes.
There are still fish to be caught as apposed to some countries that have been totally fished out.
You don’t see old women sleeping in the streets.

Feel free to add to the list. It helps people realize how lucky we are.
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May 10, 2020 8:46am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  How many of the persistent moaners on Kiwiblog would prefer to live anywhere else?
  New Zealand is not some perfect paradise, although it appears that way to many overseas, but it is definitely one of the best places in the world to live, and we should recognise that.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:14am
  - The Proper Ghandi
    
    Moaning about the moaners? Is that a meta-moan, mike?
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:51am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      It’s a mild-moan 😀
      
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      May 10, 2020 10:14am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    New Zealand is not some perfect paradise
    
    but, but, but…
    
    “”I’m a perfectionist. ”
    -Jacinda Ardern 4/5/2020
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:55am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    It was.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:14am
    - Steve Todd
      
      When was that, Kev?
      
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      May 10, 2020 1:17pm
  - kiwitoffee
    
    mikenmildagain
    
    I quite agree.
    
    Perhaps you’d like to start be defending our Judeo-Christian heritage.
    
    4 3
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    May 10, 2020 11:35am
- kowtow
  
  We get to vote and Winston got to say who rules us.
  Certain murders make the front pages , like when 2 whites kill a black in the US ( what makes that news worthy in NZ)
  Blog posts can earn you a visit from police
  The Chinese never had to resort to bats, civet cats or pangolins for nutrition , that stuff was and still is for poseurs
  And we’ve done a pretty good job of clearing out many of our fisheries
  
  As to luck , its not luck , its hard work and a dedication to individual rights and our history that have got us here , something we should not take for granted or allow anyone to take . ( Race based road blocks )
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:23am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    We’re only in this mess to begin with kowtow, because a small but crucial number of people voted for NZ First because they believed Winston when he said he would “keep National honest”.
    
    If they had known that Peters’ lawyer had, on the day before the election, filed legal proceedings against most of the National Party’s leadership, d’you think they would have still voted for the charlatan?
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:47am
    - kowtow
      
      Anyone believing anything Winston promises prior to a GE needs disenfranching . Fool me once and all that , going back at least 20 years …..
      
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      May 10, 2020 11:25am
    - chukar
      
      The only way such an anti democratic result happened was because of NZs dysfunctional system of selecting a government called MMP
      Democracy is stuffed and we are all paying a terrible price.
      It is likely to get worse.
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:49pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes, aren’t we fortunate that we had a National Government for most of our history.
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:57am
- Classic Liberal
  
  A lot of these things are due to one underlying advantage: we have a small population.
  
  That’s one thing I really criticise the last Nat govt for: not wanting to keep population size reasonably stable. I think that was their biggest mistake, led to all the housing woes the media used to wedge the CoL in.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:42am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Look at the Stats Dept record of immigration–National were too successful. People wanted to come home and did so.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:17am
    - Classic Liberal
      
      Yes, but on top of that they didn’t have any policy on limiting immigration to keep our infrastructure functional.
      
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      May 10, 2020 10:56am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        They missed out on Government and labour continued open slather. That was despite NZF being “against immigration”.
        
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        May 10, 2020 11:40am
Handyman

This from the Economist this week. Remind you of anyone?

Nayib Bukele’s power grab in El Salvador
A young president is weakening democratic institutions and empowering his family

The 2,394 Salvadoreans detained since April 6th for violating quarantine have faced 30 days of confinement. Other countries, such as Peru, Panama and Russia, detain violators for up to 48 hours. The architect of El Salvador’s measures is Nayib Bukele, the country’s 38-year-old president. He claims that his draconian lockdown is the only way to protect Salvadoreans from the pandemic. His critics think he is using the crisis to destroy the institutions that upheld democracy since the end in 1992 of a ruinous civil war.

Mr Bukele, a law-school dropout who spent much of his 20s managing nightclubs in which his family had invested, has a bond with El Salvador’s poor but aspirational youth. He seldom wears a suit and tweeted every 25 minutes on average during April. As mayor of San Salvador, the country’s capital, he rebuilt the city’s central squares. That wrested control from gangs, he claimed. In last year’s election campaign he fulminated against the corrupt rule of the two parties that have alternated in power since the war, the left-wing fmln (to which he once belonged) and the right-wing Arena party.

Emigration from El Salvador has dropped since Mr Bukele became president. That may be in part because Salvadoreans expect him to reduce the crime and poverty that have driven many abroad. Four-fifths approve of his handling of the pandemic. His New Ideas party looks set to win big in legislative elections, which are due in February 2021.

But Mr Bukele does not seem content to govern through ordinary democratic means. The first warning was what Salvadoreans call “9f” (for February 9th). At loggerheads with the Legislative Assembly, which is still dominated by the fmln and Arena, over financing for his security programme, Mr Bukele entered the chamber with gun-toting soldiers and sat in the speaker’s chair. Covid-19 emboldened the president further. When the Supreme Court issued rulings, starting in March, that he could not enact his quarantine without permission from the legislature, Mr Bukele pressed ahead. Salvadorean lives matter more than the opinions of “five people”, he tweeted. This week the legislature belatedly gave him the authorisation.

More brazen was his behaviour when the legislature met to override his veto of a bill that would repatriate citizens stuck abroad. A deputy coughed. Minutes later, Mr Bukele tweeted that his epidemiological team “had detected a significant suspicion of covid-19” in the chamber and that it should be shut down. So many frightened lawmakers left that the assembly lost its quorum. The president acted “like the kid who didn’t do his homework pulling the fire alarm at school”, says a businessman.

Salvadoreans’ tolerance for that project will depend on whether the president makes headway in solving problems that have driven much of the population to emigrate. The signs are not encouraging. The murder rate, which began falling in 2015, has continued to do so under Mr Bukele. But for four days in April the number of killings jumped. The reasons are unclear.

The covid crackdown has not made citizens safer than those in more relaxed countries nearby. El Salvador’s 695 confirmed infections and 15 deaths are comparable to the toll in Guatemala, a much bigger country. To soften the economic effect of the lockdown the government promised one-off payments of $300 to 1.5m poor households, triple what many workers earn in a month. But with public debt at 70% of gdp it cannot afford much largesse. The next round of aid will take the form of 2m food parcels.

Mr Bukele’s pre-pandemic ambitions are slipping away. A five-year plan drafted by consultants “fell apart”, says an insider. No progress has been made on pledges to raise the minimum income-tax threshold and to spruce up 50 town centres. A Commission Against Impunity, created in September, never looked like a serious effort to fight graft. It lacks the money and legal structure to do its job. The pandemic has helped to extend Mr Bukele’s honeymoon. It may not last much longer.
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May 10, 2020 8:52am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Reminds me of every third world dictator, ever.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:16am
  - Nickc2
    
    Even our current one?
    
    16 3
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    May 10, 2020 10:01am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Jacinda is not a world dictator, just a NZ dictator
      
      18 3
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      May 10, 2020 10:27am
      - Nickc2
        
        She has aspirations.
        
        14 2
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        May 10, 2020 10:38am
      - pdm
        
        Reminds me of the chap who went to the fancy dress party naked with a potato on the end of his penis.
        
        He was a dictator.
        
        17 1
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        May 10, 2020 10:42am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        That’s a verbal gag, I trust.
        
        4 1
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        May 10, 2020 11:55am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Nick. Aspirations? Is that another name for ‘despot?’
      
      6 2
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      May 10, 2020 11:22am
      - Nickc2
        
        Without a doubt. You should be allowed to use your boat next Thursday. I’m using mine!!!
        
        3 1
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        May 10, 2020 1:18pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Not likely Nick. I can see 2 more weeks of level 3. Safety first – and more time to fuck with the data dump – and the budget.
        Imagine PTPM trying to explain a discombobulated budget. She is an emotional train wreck now!
        
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        May 10, 2020 3:16pm
      - Nickc2
        
        @ Steve Otto(North Shore) 3:16PM
        It must be the Womans Weekly photographer’s failure to turn up on mother’s day that tipped her over the edge.
        
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        May 10, 2020 3:34pm
    - RalphT
      
      I think I heard pdm’s joke about 40 years ago, with Muldoon supposedly being the “potato head”. Thea, it seems, went to the party wearing nothing but a strategically placed lemon. That’s right, she went as a sour puss.
      
      4 1
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      May 10, 2020 12:09pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Not a great comparison. El Salvador is a deeply divided society. Our problems are petty in comparison.
  
  7 2
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  May 10, 2020 9:23am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Getting there, the more people focus on identity politics…
    
    9 1
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    May 10, 2020 9:44am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Kiwiblogger seem to specialise in ludicrous comparisons of NZ with:
    Nazi Germany
    the Soviet Union
    North Korea
    assorted banana republics
    etc
    
    4 22
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    May 10, 2020 10:22am
    - Jack5
      
      Kiwiblogger? Who dat?
      
      13 2
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      May 10, 2020 11:24am
      - Classic Liberal
        
        Must be Milky, he posts here incessantly.
        
        7 3
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        May 10, 2020 11:33am
      - MCos
        
        In the good old days there was a counter indicating how many comments people racked up.
        Pity it was dispensed with.
        
        3 0
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        May 10, 2020 3:00pm
Critical Thinker

China lied
WHO complied
Press denied
People died
☠️??

“President Xi had personally requested the WHO chief on January 21 to delay sending a message about coronavirus pandemic and dilute the seriousness of the threat.” – German Intelligence Agency

https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/world/china-s-president-xi-jinping-personally-requested-who-chief-to-dilute-severity-of-covid-19-outbreak-615674
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May 10, 2020 8:54am
Engelbert Humperdink

Sheesh, we were contact-tracing the then-new AIDs patients decades ago when I was a houseman. The old fashioned way. It works. No programmers required.

There are more than enough smart people needing a job now that the Coalition of Lackwits has done our economy in, to do this with phones, laptops and brains. We doan’ need no steenking apps, gringo! (Classical movie reference).
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May 10, 2020 8:54am
Saks

Day 46. Still ruled by a bullshit level system that changes to suit her feelz and is most likely illegal.

1 active case left in greater wgtn. It was confirmed April 16. So I’m picking it’s all but cleared up and obviously not spreading. Nothing in taranaki, wanganui, mid central or lakes. That’s basically the lower north island (just close off Hawkes bay) that could go straight to level zero. About 3 weeks ago too.

Where I live the last case recovered 25 days ago.

And people are still giving away their intelligence levels by wearing masks (ill fitting of course) and latex gloves when out for their government approved walk. Lining up at the supermarket waiting for a guy in a high vis to wipe down the trolleys. I mean come on…..

What are they actually supposedly protecting us from?
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May 10, 2020 8:56am
-D

Which of the high priced bureaucrats at Auckland Council signed off on the helpful contribution to the lockdown effort by blocking automobile access to city parks and reserves… thereby limiting use of one of the most obvious avenues for personal exercise at a safe distance from others?
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May 10, 2020 8:57am
- 7kiwi11
  
  I have to admit I have been loving a car free Cornwall Park. I hope it stays this way
  
  8 4
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  May 10, 2020 10:08am
  - -D
    
    That’s fine 7kiwi11 if you live close enough or are young and fit enough to hoof it over regularly.
    
    Not all are as lucky as you.
    
    11 0
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    May 10, 2020 10:42am
    - 7kiwi11
      
      Or just park your car next to the park!
      
      3 0
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      May 10, 2020 11:19am
- Paulus
  
  And locking all the public toilets.
  
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  May 10, 2020 1:24pm
Don Beckett

I wouldn’t use a tracing app, or covid19 card, or anything like that. This govt would use anything to control us & impinge on our freedom.

Mankinf has fought wars for thousands of years to protect and/or reclaim their freedom.

Life without freedom is not worth living.
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May 10, 2020 8:58am
- mikenmildagain
  
  You will be very upset when someone explains to you how much of your personal data is traded between companies, let alone what data the government already has about you.
  
  10 36
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  May 10, 2020 9:18am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Have you a personal feed from Fraser House Basement Group?
    
    19 4
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    May 10, 2020 10:20am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Liberty or death? Liberty and death?
  
  6 3
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  May 10, 2020 9:25am
- Ian Boag
  
  You should be free to play Russian roulette with any virus you like. Dunno if you should be free to point the pistol at other people …..
  
  8 21
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  May 10, 2020 9:36am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Another version …
    
    Live free or die
    vs
    Regulate me lightly that others might live
    
    0 1
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    May 10, 2020 3:46pm
- theoldbloke
  
  ON that basis, I hope you dont use or carry a mobile phone.
  Gummint has a way of tracking you just by analysing the phone signals.
  Remember your mobile phone has a unique identifier and can be tarced anywhere in the world.
  Thats why you can fly to Timbucto and someone can call you there as soon as you land!
  Why? because the worldwide phone network is tracking you.
  Think about it for a moment.
  
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  May 10, 2020 3:31pm
MCos

Happy Mother’s Day

A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!

In my Mum’s case

Happy Birthday

A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!
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May 10, 2020 8:58am
- sooty
  
  If your mother saw what you were writing she would give you a clip around the ears and I would not blame her!
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:33am
  - MCos
    
    If mother saw anything from her resting place in the cemetery it surely would raise a few eyebrows.
    
    4 1
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    May 10, 2020 12:16pm
Scooter

Just a few questions, what do they mean when they say documents were dumped? Were they leaked or did the Govt release them. I’m overseas so trying to get some semblance of the truth. In any case totally disgusting of JA and her gagging order. People have to ask why she has done this.
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May 10, 2020 8:59am
- mikenmildagain
  
  ‘Dumping’ is the preferred term for a proactive release of government information, especially when timed for a period less likely to attract much media attention, like Friday afternoons, when journalists were traditionally already at the pub.
  ‘Dumping’ can also be in response to an OIA requests, where the government needs to release information, but doesn’t want it to go solely to the person who has requested it. In such cases the information is also released more widely, or to friendly bloggers who will publish it with the desired spin.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:22am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Tova O’Brien also noted that the dump happened after the 1pm media conference, which was the last opportunity to interrogate Ministers before the weekend.
    
    Of more concern to the 9th Floor will be the identity of who leaked the PM’s edict to the media. Some Minister. or their staff, saw an opportunity to make mischief.
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:43am
    - bruceavon
      
      Yes I agree. Dumping data on Friday is what all governments do unless they are stupid. and the ‘don’t talk to the press’ is bullshit but standard. They want to keep their messages unified and once this motley assortment gets back to work things will fall to bits. But the leak itself shows dissent in the ranks. it will be all downhill from here.
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:06pm
  - Scooter
    
    So pretty cynical that they “dump” it and she gags them the same day.
    
    35 1
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    May 10, 2020 9:47am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Uptick Mike. Good explanation, especially about OIA requests
    
    15 1
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    May 10, 2020 10:31am
- Simon Gotlieb
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  They mean a large amount of documents were released to media on a Friday afternoon not giving media any time to ask questions before they went to air. You could argue that it gives media plenty of time over the weekend to actually read the documents, so they can ask good questions on Monday. However, many have said the potential announcement on Monday will overshadow anything from this release anyway, so while the timing may or may not be cynical by the government, it’s certainly beneficial.
  
  As for the gagging, nah, it’s just the same kind of email that John Key used to give out to all his MPs. It’s pretty standard “keep on the message and run anything you want to say past the senior leadership first.” Good operating practice, as we all know some of the MPs in parliament don’t always have all the info and can end up saying something quite stupid as a result. That bit doesn’t faze me.
  
  The release of documents? I’m gonna say it’s about 50:50 trying to get it all out as quickly as possible/cynical release timing to avoid questions.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:23am
  - All_on_Red
    
    Lol
    
    24 3
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    May 10, 2020 9:28am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The only message is Ardern R..
    
    14 3
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    May 10, 2020 10:23am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Yes, standard practices in information/media management, used since forever, but only considered objectionable if the ‘other’ side uses them.
    
    2 14
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    May 10, 2020 10:24am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Most countries don’t add Queens when they already have a Monarch.
      
      5 2
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      May 10, 2020 11:44am
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    From my reading, it was actually a msm journalist saying this govt tries to bury its dirty laundry on a Friday evening
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:13am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    ” It’s pretty standard “keep on the message and run anything you want to say past the senior leadership first.”
    
    This was an email to Ministers. Not MPs. And John Key did not send out such messages to Ministers. I can assure you that he assumed Ministers were competent. However he did not hesitate to axe Ministers who did not perform.
    
    In other words you don’t know what you are talking about.
    
    11 1
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    May 10, 2020 11:59am
    - Batman
      
      Sorry Benedict, but the Key Govt I worked in did this kind of thing, with a crucial difference.
      
      The approach would always be to defer to comments by the PM, or in rare situations, refer the query to the PMO for response.
      
      The difference here is the actual restriction on Minister’s speaking to media about it, including the Minister of Health!
      
      7 2
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      May 10, 2020 12:56pm
- kowtow
  
  Commentary that it was done on Friday pm as noted , but also on this Friday particularly as come Monday everyone’s attention will be on Level 2 talk /details.
  
  This regime is very cynical . And if you want proof it’s in the email from pms office
  
  From stuff
  
  “The directive stated the government had no need to respond because of the overwhelming public support, and should instead “lead the changing conversation”.
  
  “There’s no real need to defend. Because the public have confidence in what has been achieved and what the Govt is doing,” the email said.
  
  “Instead we can dismiss.” ‘
  
  NB ; lead the changing conversation.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:45am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    This comes right out of a paper submitted by Clare Curran back in 2006 entitled “Language Matters”, which began thus:
    
    This paper is about Labour taking greater charge of the language of debate and discussion in New Zealand. It’s called “re-framing” and it means gaining (or regaining)the use of concepts and phrases that spark public and media interest.
    
    https://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/0605/Language_Matters.pdf
    
    33 1
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    May 10, 2020 9:57am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Are you crediting Claire Curran with original thoughts and/or developing new techniques in messaging?
      
      9 9
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      May 10, 2020 10:27am
      - RightNow
        
        Oh man, that’s an awesome burn on Curran.
        Have an upvote
        
        8 0
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        May 10, 2020 11:54am
      - kowtow
        
        They use 1984 , not as a warning but as a guide book .So not original at all.
        
        8 1
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        May 10, 2020 11:58am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Nope,
        Those techniques have been around for quite some time…
        
        I could remind you of a few political experts in framing the message:
        
        https://vissonar.com/en/online-marketing/joseph-goebbels-nazi-propaganda-principles/
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Rodham_senior_thesis
        
        https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34932800
        
        8 2
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        May 10, 2020 12:06pm
      - Tony Stuart
        
        I believe she has form in plagiarism…
        
        https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2015/08/labour-accused-of-plagiarism.html
        
        3 1
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        May 10, 2020 2:53pm
    - RW Capitalist
      
      Not a new concept (with emphasis on the con…)
      Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.
      Joseph Goebbels
      
      2 1
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      May 10, 2020 12:36pm
      - Nermal
        
        “Feeding the chooks”
        Jo Bjelke-Pederson on press releases
        
        2 1
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        May 10, 2020 1:55pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    $50,000,000 reasons to do as told.
    
    11 1
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    May 10, 2020 11:45am
  - Hollyfield
    
    If “there’s no real need to defend”, the Government would not be concerned about questions. If Ministers are competent, the PM’s office would not instruct Ministers not to give interviews.
    
    7 1
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    May 10, 2020 12:20pm
Yvette

1490 total cases
Maori 126 of cases, 8.45% of cases against 16.5% population share
Pacific people 79 cases, 5.3% of cases against 8.1% population share

Both ethnicities in New Zealand appear to have been incredibly lucky.

Compare –
The death rate for Pacific Islanders in L.A. County is 12 times higher than it is for whites, 9 times higher than for Asians, 7 times higher than for Latinos, 5 times higher than for African Americans [1]

In California – Pacific Islanders have a high prevalence of underlying conditions that are not always well-treated and may put them at higher risk of mortality: diabetes, hypertension and cancer. [like the elderly in Italy and Spain] Another issue is the communal nature of Pacific Islander culture, which lends itself to living in large, multi-generational households that can make it hard to contain the spread of the virus [again like Italy and Spain]. [1]

Exactly the same conditions exist in New Zealand, but not the same decimation of older ethnic populations.
• Is such a reprieve because few cruise ship passengers inter-mingled in Otara, Porirua or a South Island predominately Maori or Pacific Island equivalent suburb?
• Do Hone Harawira’s iwi road blocks work?
• Was Hone and his friend’s social distancing 300km journey to Auckland to have a magnificent breakfast of bacon and eggs – although placed on the deck, but still cooked and handled by Hone’s sister, a nurse of undisclosed working disposition – make Hone just fucking lucky he did not transport the disease home to his elders?
• Or was Jacinda’s cancelling of a repeat mass gathering – although apparently against Islamic practice, to commemorate the Christchurch Mosque Massacres – just a good idea, albeit reputedly in the face of Bloomfield threatening his resignation if it proceeded?
• Is the truth somewhere in the late Friday dump of Documentation of Everything and Ardern’s admonishing Ministers not to discuss the papers.
• or is the whole Level 4 shutdown, and slightly earlier border closure timings just fucking lucky?

“We’ve got to just move on and celebrate what this Government and Jacinda Ardern has been doing.” – Labour MP Willie Jackson

What in particular, Willie? What of the above did Jacinda get right?
Until you know why Pacific people have died as they have in California but escaped relatively untouched here, Willie Jackson, you know nothing very helpful.

[1] https://laist.com/2020/04/30/pacific_islanders_coronavirus_death_rate_california.php
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May 10, 2020 9:02am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Soooo unfair!
  
  7 1
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  May 10, 2020 9:13am
- Jules99
  
  Interesting that measles was fatal in Samoa, but none died of it here, despite poor immunisation rates among PIs. Better underlying healthcare?
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:29am
  - Blackbob
    
    Two mother’s, who’d caught measles, unborn children died here in NZ during the measles epidemic so not casualty free.
    
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    May 10, 2020 9:58am
    - Jules99
      
      It’s a tragedy, of course, to lose an unborn child, but there’s no evidence that measles caused the miscarriages. In fact there were several other pregnant women who contracted measles at the same time, and both mother and baby were fine.
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:25pm
- Simon
  
  “Maori 126 of cases, 8.45% of cases against 16.5% population share”
  
  Maori aint 16.5% of the population…..
  
  8.45% of cases = probably closer to real population share.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:37am
  - CJames
    
    Simon – even the simplest Google would show you how wrong you were “In the 2018 census, there were 775,836 people in New Zealand identifying as Māori, making up 16.5 per cent of the national population. They are the second-largest ethnic group in New Zealand, after European New Zealanders (“Pākehā”). In addition, more than 140,000 Māori live in Australia.”
    Fraser House needs to up their game.
    
    10 1
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    May 10, 2020 10:00am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      ‘Identifying as Maori’ is very different from actually being Maori. How many pure-bred Maori are left?
      
      12 7
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      May 10, 2020 10:22am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        The major reason cited for the $50m thrown early in the scare at Maori health was the effect of Spanish ‘flu on Maori in 1918. I always thought that this was an invalid premise. In 1918 most Maori lived by choice remote from towns & plumbing. Being pure blood (terrible term) & not mixing much with the broader pakeha population meant lower or no immunity against pandemics. These conditions do not apply in 2020. It does not surprise me that C-19 has not had the effect of Spanish ‘flu on Maori.
        
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        May 10, 2020 10:33am
      - Nickc2
        
        NONE!!!
        
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        May 10, 2020 10:35am
      - Classic Liberal
        
        None I think. This whole self-identification thing seems in absolute contrast to identity politics, but the same Wokeards believe in both:
        1. We should run our country along racial lines.
        2. Anyone can be whatever identity they want.
        
        Sooo, if there is some financial or political advantage to it, why shouldn’t everyone identify as Maori? I bet the most Woke ‘Maori leaders’ wouldn’t like that very much.
        
        Surely telling people you have to prove your racial background would be exactly what a Woke/Left government wouldn’t dare do?
        
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        May 10, 2020 11:01am
- Tony Stuart
  
  The National Party has an excellent video doing the rounds of social media, which I doubt Willie Jackson is particularly thrilled with:
  
  https://twitter.com/NZNationalParty/status/1258841601444589577
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:38am
  - emmess
    
    Not bad, but I think in these dark days, National should start to pull back a bit on the upbeat tone.
    For example, the happy music and Simon Bridges ‘Gidday Mike’ when starting an interview.
    More Churchill and less Key.
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:29am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  The Asian infection rate in NZ is 12%
  (4% higher than that of Maori)
  
  I wonder when the Asian community will demand to be seen by the Epidemic Response Committee.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:02am
  - Tricati
    
    Or put up road blocks in their communites – Saw on TV1 last night an article trying to legitimize Honi’s rubbish.
    
    15 0
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    May 10, 2020 10:39am
  - cmm
    
    Maggy, one thing I have not seen is death rates and hospitalisation rates according to racial breakdown.
    
    Indications from elsewhere are that the numbers are very skewed against people with darker skin.
    
    Of course our numbers are so low that it would be statistically dodgy to take them too seriously.
    
    Asian is such a useless term for health reasons as it encompasses everyone from dark skinned Southern Indians to lilly white Northern Chinese.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:56am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    That accords with the earlier revelations that Chinese had genetic characteristics relating to ACE2 expression.
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:48am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The ethnic differences may be explained by those people staying within their bubbles more closely–sticking closer to their families.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:27am
  - cmm
    
    That is certainly a factor when we have very low statistically insignificant numbers like in NZ. One infection can can get into an old age home and rattle around like a pinball machine taking out may – like the Chch rest home which accounts for over 50% of NZ deaths.
    
    However , especially for the Northern Hemisphere which has been in winter other factors are likely more important such as Vit D levels.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:59am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      True enough. I lived in Polynesia for 7 years and know how close the ties are. An elders direction at the familial level would be very persuasive.
      
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      May 10, 2020 11:51am
kwkiwigirl

I can see Stuff site turning feral on the head of Auckland Grammar. They have a negative article about the school in today’s news. I noticed, last week, the principal speaking out against the government over shambles the schools are having to deal with over poor communication and guidelines for schools.

Truly scary that Ardern and Labour have used tax payer funds to buy the media with the $ 50mill bailout in an election year. Hope this guy isn’t harassed out of a job for speaking up. Will not be supporting Stuff and NZH again with any kind of subscription with the monies they are recieving now from the Labour government.
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May 10, 2020 9:04am
- LetMeOut
  
  I posted a comment on the same thing. Scary stuff.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:54am
- Prince
  
  Have only read the headline, but looks like the school expelled (or ‘removed’) students for using drugs.
  Nice to see some institutions still setting standards I’d say.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:55am
- alex Masterley
  
  All I can a say is well done Auckland Grammar and it’s board.
  Stuff can get, well, stuffed.
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:03am
- MCos
  
  David Seymour played Sir Ed on TV.
  
  Was Richie McCaw unavailable?
  
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  May 10, 2020 12:34pm
- andydownhere
  
  Tim O’Connor, the Auck Grammer head held the same rules at Palmerston North Boys High.
  Any drugs or alcohol on school grounds, you are out.
  1st XV, 1st X1, no matter, no excuses, you gone.
  Kept everyone in line.
  He is a brilliant principal
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:47pm
cas

What’s the betting that at the next press conference, whether today or tomorrow, some journo asks J about Mother’s Day.
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May 10, 2020 9:08am
MrTips

Happy Mother’s Day to all. May you be spoilt into Level 2 luxury.

Random thought for the day:

If SARS-COV-2 came from a bat, and they don’t get sick, why hasn’t anybody bled bats for their antibodies? Sequence them and mass produce a protective therapeutic. No?
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May 10, 2020 9:21am
oldpark

Lockdownitis.Yes fuelled on by idealogy and a few weeks behind reality on the Coronavirus warnings given to “Auntie Cindy” who knew best on how to handle the threatened arriving crisis .
With an eye on the coming Sobfest at that time in ChristChurch on March15 2020 Auntie Cindy held off .
Sadly too little too late the girl from Morrinsville selected by a man called Peters pushed the panic button and sent the well being and life style of NZs future by shutting down virtually all forms of normal life.
Now since, with it being said maybe circa 5 deaths from people under 70 being claimed to have died .
Time to count the cost of such a mad dog decision to virtually turn NZs economy into a pile of ashes . A very costly pile. Seems no turning back even now that the threat of the manifest lies that up to 80,000 NZs would die is just that.
Seems there is a complete reluctance by the present Peters selected Cabal to return NZs way of life back to normality .
The only reason seems to be “Auntie Cindy” and her gang are enjoying the complete control over the well being and lifestyle of NZs. Even though many many businesses are facing bankrupcy as well as massive unemployment. For ******** they have even made sure that Mothers Day would not be allowed to be celebrated in a completely time honoured way .
Think “Auntie Cindy” and gang better get finger out quickly and realise “you cant fool all of the people all of the time” .
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May 10, 2020 9:26am
LetMeOut

More Kindness form this Government
Note the article on Stuff about Auckland Grammar.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/300007690/auckland-grammar-kicks-out-11-students-for-drug-offences-during-150th-anniversary-year
Wow, what a coincidence! Less than a week ago the headmaster Tim O’Conner presented to the Epidemic Response Committee led by Simon bridges and was highly critical about the lack of information and guidelines provided by the government for high schools. He said there was no education strategy in place. One of the immediate responses from Jan Tinetti was a take down, to point out that the last time they talked he had poor internet access from his bubble in Ohope (i.e. implication: not Auckland so was he flouting the rules?). But now this Stuff article. Does this mean that if you publicly criticise the COL response you are going to be punished? Why does it come out now? Who do the authors work for? Has this sort of thing happened to other people critical of the COL? Is this a message to others not to criticise the COL? Perhaps it is just a “unfortunate coincidence”. My impression is that it reeks of corruption. Well, I guess that is nothing new from this lot. Roll on September 19. I note others have spotted this so sorry for the repetition.
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May 10, 2020 9:49am
- MrTips
  
  Stuff are utter shit. They are SO bad no one wants to buy them.
  
  But why don’t some decent thinking folk and right wingers get together and buy it? Gut it of shitty LW journos and replace with ACTUAL journos.
  
  That’ll really set things off!!!!
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:00am
  - Nickc2
    
    Too much de-contamination work required and it’s not worth it.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:29am
  - oldpark
    
    Yes they have sent out a permanent begging bowl for some cash handouts .Even worse they are being encouraged with the other Australian owned newspaper . Known as Aunty Herald the North Korean edition gets printed daily. What a clusterfuck if Commerce Commission approves both “toilet paper”lies to be exposed if they combine. If they do will the new name be NZs “long drop news” enhanced or just the normal shit. With the North Korean type propaganda stepped up claiming that NZs economy will continue to boom .WTF.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:32am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    The liabilities are massive.
    
    You could probably buy the multi-multi million debt for about $1
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:56am
- peterwn
  
  Good! Grammar can now enrol 11 boys who will give their eye teeth for a Grammar education.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:24am
- Jules99
  
  The funny thing is, it makes AG look good because they have high standards of behaviour. Just the sort standards citizens and parents want to see. In previous articles about AG, the principal at the time (not sure it’s the same one) came out against the ‘modern learning’ methods in schools today – that didn’t go down well with the chatterati either.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:55am
- Paul Marsden
  
  It is not only drugs causing major headaches for educational institutions, but suicide amongst their students.
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:34am
WaveyDavey

Yay! Way to go New Zealand. Hard, early and seemingly total bollocks.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/121463027/coronavirus-expert-says-it-may-be-a-decade-before-nz-can-stop-isolating-arrivals

10 years, 10 f*cking years…
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May 10, 2020 9:50am
- WaveyDavey
  
  and now removed from the front page
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:17am
  - Jack5
    
    The international sisterhood, Ardentes Feministes Jornalistes, is confident Sweden won’t smash Wuhan flu before their beloved Jacinderella becomes secretary-general of the UN.
    
    Ardentes Feministes Jornalistes? Excuse my very rough Portuguese/Brazilian. This is a token of respect for the sisterhood’s views that English is so, so … so … colonial.
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:00am
- WaveyDavey
  
  removed from the Stuff front page but the most popular story on the site according to the analytics
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:27am
  - emmess
    
    People need to stop relying on the MSM (NZ in particular) , I bet the vast majority of readers wre shocked by this
    
    About 98–99 per cent of those people were probably unaware or uncertain of having had the infection – either their symptoms were not severe enough for them to go to hospital, or they had no symptoms at all. Serology testing (which tests for antibodies and can indicate previous infection) was supporting those assumptions, he said.
    
    Most people just believe the officially confirmed number and had never heard of antibody tests
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:36am
- andydownhere
  
  Four more years from George Gregan was a bad enough taunt, but 1o more years is going too far!
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:42pm
Gravelroad

Did anyone see the advertorial on TV1 News last night justifying the actions of non-sworn “Officers” policing roadblocks and general travel in Northland?
Apparently just about anyone in northern parts can now call themselves a law enforcer – next step will be a remuneration package and badges for levels of seniority.
The actual policeman who was interviewed looked rather uncomfortable about having to justify it – but agreed what a wonderful initiative it was.
The pretend policeman, Hone Harawira, was triumphant. He said a woman he had stopped burst into tears of relief and happiness when she saw it was him and begged him to keep her safe.
What has happened to our independent Police “service”. I got the impression that the police were happy with this situation and might even keep it going past the Covid19 situation.
I live in a rural area. Can I now set up a judge and jury roadblock to stop possible undesirables accessing our area?
If not, why not?
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May 10, 2020 10:02am
- Nickc2
  
  Yes, I did. Welcome to Cindystan where Maori Militia are empowered to carry out policing duties.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:26am
- WaveyDavey
  
  David Fisher has a piece on the Herald today – very mealy-mouthed as to whether it’s a good or bad thing.
  
  Still mages to blame whitey though.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:54am
  - kowtow
    
    Mealy mouthed ?
    
    It’s appalling post colonial whitey cringe .
    
    Maoris can break the law because 1918.
    
    How many mariners had their heads bashed in and were eaten when washed ashore in the days of Long Pig ?
    
    On the strength of that every port and marina should be closed to certain outsiders on the basis of “to protect our people, because back in the day’
    
    Fuck , our media are shit . We now either have a rule of law or we don’t .And the Media Party need to man up and decide which side of civilisation they prefer .
    
    Tyranny or civil society .
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:33am
- chukar
  
  Yes GR saw that.
  Can’t believe there is so little respect for the law and ordinary New Zealanders right to use public roads or areas.
  This is dangerous.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:58am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Yes, see my comment above about the Woke believing in running NZ along racial lines (Identity Politics) but also in self-identification.
  
  So you know what you need to do to get Police approval for your scheme.
  
  And a truly Woke government should not question you on this. Irrelevant if you were Caucasian yesterday, today you’re Maori! Just as it’s irrelevant if you’re a man today, tomorrow you’re a woman, so there!
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:09am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    PS, on all forms recently I’ve answered the ethnicity question with NOYB or NOYFB, depending on how intrusive the particular form was.
    
    All the racial division under the guise of ‘diversity’ is getting crazy and will destroy this country, if the economic crisis caused by this bloody government doesn’t do it.
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:15am
  - oldfella
    
    Hungary has some plans re gender silliness. Leftie heads will explode.
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/05/09/hungary-yes-protecting-women-no-gender-ideology-illegal-migration/
    
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    May 10, 2020 12:22pm
- oldfella
  
  Yep, Tai Tokorau Border Control. Officially supported by our cops. Why not just make Hone and the bros official Maori Wardens and give them batons as well to keep the peace? Will Cindy ever be challenged about this? Nah…
  https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/far-north-m-ori-set-up-road-checkpoints-stop-covid-19-spread-now-carrying-patrols-police
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:15am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Cops don’t want a bar of Great Barrier’s Checkpoint planned for Lockdown Stage 2
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/416121/planned-great-barrier-island-checkpoint-already-causing-contention
    
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    May 10, 2020 1:35pm
    - Nickc2
      
      Oh well, their marijuana crops will soon be legal and the police will have to stop gangs etc stealing them.
      
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      May 10, 2020 1:45pm
- Ruahine
  
  Stuart Nash has just found his new 1800 police officers.
  
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  May 10, 2020 12:29pm
Maggie Pie

I really love Trade Me. Not so much as i used to in the old days when Sam Morgan was running it. Funnily enough I had a friend that was PA to the CEO of Yellow Pages until Teressa Gattung sold it to a group of Pensioners from Canada for what my partner said was …”an eye-watering sum of money”.
He’s worried TM could go the same way 🙁

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12313247
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May 10, 2020 10:22am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Didn’t the Yellow Pages® sell for a billion dollars or so? And now it’s just another crappy internet site no one uses.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:31am
- Jack5
  
  Trade Me is owned by Apax IX GP Co Ltd, which is registered in the tax haven of Guernsey. That Channel island is on the EU’s black list of tax havens.
  
  Online selling will continue, but national retailers have improved their own sites and skills.
  
  Aliexpress now also competes with Trade Me for NZ shopaholics’ attention, and the grand-dad of the business, Ebay, can still be a useful shopping site.
  
  Which online shopping portal will benefit most from a low kiwi dollar and financial hardship after the Wuhan flu lockdown?
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:41am
  - brett68
    
    People buy from ali express and sell on trade me.
    You pay a small premium so you can get the same product in a couple of days instead of 4+ weeks.
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:33am
- Jules99
  
  Quite high prices on TM just now – I found it cheaper to order overseas.
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:51am
Yvette

We can’t ignore cannabis referendum
Dr Fiona Hutton urges us not to turn a blind eye to the cannabis referendum, even though it may not feel significant amid Covid-19.

I would still ask the question that has been asked before – “Will smoking cannabis harm your health as does smoking tobacco?”
But with a slight difference –
“Does Government information confirm that smoking cannabis will harm your health as does smoking tobacco?”
If “Yes”, how do they reconcile that with their “smoke free” campaign to stamp out smoking?
And if “No”, How do they reconcile the referendum itself with anything else they supposedly do?
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May 10, 2020 10:25am
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  Could the potential tax income have anything to do with the answer?
  
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  May 10, 2020 12:30pm
cmm

Big question of the day…

How did Maggie Pie’s crackling turn out?
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May 10, 2020 10:36am
- Maggie Pie
  
  I thought you was coming over for a taste 😛
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:39am
  - The Proper Ghandi
    
    Steady on Maggie ?
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:55am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yeah,
    Which method did you use:
    
    long & slow
    
    or hot and fast?
    
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    May 10, 2020 12:42pm
    - The Proper Ghandi
      
      Maggy and Maggie
      Right, that’s it: I’m pitching a tent … ????
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:50pm
  - cmm
    
    Ladies, please, your halos are slipping.
    
    But still, spill Maggie. Did Maggy’s suggestion work for you?
    
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    May 10, 2020 1:49pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Yep, ended up going with Magg’s recipe this time.
      Even dryed the sin with my hairdryer. After the first 30 mins on high (opening the door after 10 mins to let the steam out as Jer Jer suggested) i then poured about 500 ml of warm milk into the tray which i had seasoned with garlic, chicken stock, and a tsp of Fennel seeds. Then completed the next 2 stages in the oven. Even the resulting milk curd in the bottom of the pan tasted fab. And i must say the crackling was excellent! Went thru about half a bottle of Barkers Apple Sauce on the pork, served with a combo of roast potatoes, baby carrots, shallots and zuchinni. All topped with my secret gravy 😀
      
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      May 10, 2020 3:13pm
kevn

@Maggie… Yes, the fees are off-putting. They are more top heavy than ever.
fakebook seems popular for selling stuff.
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May 10, 2020 10:37am
greenfinger

Ardern and Bloomfield have absolutely zero trust in the public with freedom, regardless of how they wish to dress it up. The feeling is mutual. There is now zero trust in these two among business owners and the vast majority of descent everyday NZ workers. Ardern’s and Bloomfield’s obsession with “eradication” (and constantly changing of definition) of COVID19 case, knows no bound and is obvious to all except themselves. This thirst is surpassed only by their display of arrogance and ignorance -even though they claim to have a heart – of the livelihoods they have been destroying from the perch of their podium. The actions and delay in returning to level 1, based on case level achievement and their claimed progress in traceability, leaves little room for doubt except for observers to conclude they are drunk in the pursue of absolute power – almost narcissistically – and that every community from Cape Reinga to Bluff should be treated like an eighteen-month old child and cannot be trusted to do the right thing. One was elected and the other was selected to serve this country. One might say we will get our chance to remind at least one of them come September, but I fear that for the likes of The Hermitage Hotel and many NZ businesses and workers, it would be 4 months 1 weeks and 1 days too late.
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May 10, 2020 10:46am
- Ian Boag
  
  Didn’t the Hermitage largely provide for foreign tourists? Closed borders dealt with that ….
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:03am
  - MCos
    
    I remember looking at the prices once and that thought crossed my mind.
    Same with many other hotels & activities that were once within the range of locals on a limited budget.
    
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    May 10, 2020 12:43pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

What has Coronavirus actually done? Well it has done something that no Women could do.
Shut down all sports.
Closed all pubs and bars.
Kept men at home.
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May 10, 2020 10:48am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Maybe a woman in Wuhan is responsible?
  
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  May 10, 2020 10:48am
  - Inandout
    
    Steve, that scientist woman has disappeared.
    
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    May 10, 2020 10:50am
  - Jack5
    
    Wu was driving Mrs Wu batty with his mahjong nights. All those baiju hangovers and his clothes stinking of cigarettes.
    
    Her pals told her the cure – bat soup. But they had to be freshly killed.
    
    Ah, so! And she smiled.
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:15am
- SGA
  
  Kept men at home.
  
  And now they know what the expression “Be careful what you wish for, you may just get it” means. 🙂
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:07am
- emmess
  
  Tyranny of the Karens
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:38am
Harriet

No wonder Barry from Kenya is out swinging at Trump.

Trump is doing OK – the US death toll is 75,000 — while the UK toll is 35000. There’s a big difference in population size.
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May 10, 2020 10:54am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Population size? Wash your mouth out! That’s never, ever mentioned on the Red Radio news when they loudly declare how badly the US is doing!
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:19am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    If you total up European Countries it comes into the 300+ million range, with far more infections and deaths than the US’s 328M. It is just TDS Trump bashing by the commie media.
    Red Radio and play school TV1 can not help themselves.
    
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    May 10, 2020 11:58am
    - Inandout
      
      Steve, and their source this morning was CNN. I mean if you have to use bargain basement CNN for news expect TDS. All those airports that had captive audiences being subjected to 24/7 CNN are now empty; oh dear, how sad. $150k per annum per airport used to bring in a lot of much needed funds for the ‘news’ network.
      
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      May 10, 2020 12:54pm
curry4me

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/05/09/73-percent-of-u-s-adults-say-china-bears-responsibility-for-american-coronavirus-deaths/
Republican and Democrat voters are sure about who is to blame for the lockdowns.
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May 10, 2020 10:58am
curry4me

https://www.breitbart.com/news/nys-cuomo-criticized-over-highest-nursing-home-death-toll/
Maybe Cuomo won’t replace Biden as the candidate after all?
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May 10, 2020 10:58am
Kabull

What on earth is going on, Greta? Stuff’s CO2 tracker at the top of their Climate section reports today’s average CO2 level at Baring Head as 412.4. Only 2 months ago, iirc, it was around 408.8. How come it has climbed while all the nasty emitters like planes, cars, trains, boats (etc) have stopped? Must be a greater level of cow farts? I wonder how much the earth’s temperature has risen?
It just demonstrates what a nonsense the panic over CO2 really is.
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May 10, 2020 10:58am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/121463969/are-these-the-first-signs-of-third-term-arrogance-from-a-first-term-government

First Tova O’Brien, now Tracy Watkins.
They really are seeing the light at last.
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May 10, 2020 11:03am
- Gravelroad
  
  Yes, I was just going to post this also, greybeard.
  Too little, too late though, media sycophants.
  The writer is trying to shift the narrative. Often they say “don’t blame the messenger”.
  Today’s it’s getting to be the people managing the messages who are finally under some minor scrutiny.
  Maybe some of these journalists are feeling as though they might have been used for political purposes – just a bit………..
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:37am
- kowtow
  
  All it took was that email .
  
  “We can dismiss”
  
  All those girlie journos who thought the Lil Princess was their fwiend , esp after they worked so hard to keep her image up for the low info voters…….
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:53am
Tasman Terror

Interesting article by Tracy Watkins on Stuff about the govt’s arrogance. It’s the beginning of the end for you when friend and foe hate you.
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May 10, 2020 11:09am
Surely Knott

At the moment extension classes for intermediate school, is a mock United Nations course that runs for the two years at intermediate. With all the out of work pilots it would be great to offer some variety with a temporary pilots in schools programme. Where pilots could come in talk about their careers and inspire the kids. Maybe lead some discusions about aeronautical engineering, physics, maths, atmosphere, geography. The various countries they visit etc.
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May 10, 2020 11:18am
Suze Wainwright

So every time Joyce, Key or English are quoted in the media, lefties love to say it’s signs of an imminent National Party coup; yet, every time Geoffrey Palmer or Helen Clark pharrts and it’s reported in the Spinoff et al, it somehow becomes ordained words from god…
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May 10, 2020 11:19am
- kevn
  
  @Suze… obama busy spouting in the USA as well.
  
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  May 10, 2020 2:21pm
oldfella

The headline is: ‘Covid 19 coronavirus: The gagging order from Jacinda Ardern’s office – cynical, arrogant and unnecessary’.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12330745
What anti-Cindy planet did this come from? Looks like NZ Horrid, but suspect someone has hacked their site. What other reason could there be for them to run this?
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May 10, 2020 11:20am
Tony Stuart

First Andrea Vance, then Lizzie Marvelly, then Tova O’Brien, and now Tracy Watkins:

Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s budget this week will loom over generations to come; it’s no exaggeration to say its the most important budget in decades.

There will be intense debate about whether he has got it right; so it’s unfortunate that as we head into budget week the government is exhibiting premature signs of the affliction known as third-termitis.

That was most evident in the emergence of a leaked memo this week in which ministers’ offices were advised not to waste any time defending themselves to the media – not because they had anything much to hide but because (to paraphrase) people love us anyway, so why bother?

It’s the assumption behind that advice that is so alarming; it speaks of supreme confidence at the moment that this government can do no wrong in the eyes of the public.

And to a point they’re right; the backlash to any criticism of Jacinda Ardern or her Government in the current environment is a constant weight on the media’s shoulders; when they ask why unprotected health workers are still getting sick with coronavirus, they’re shouted down for being negative; likewise questions about people dying or getting sick from delays to cancer treatment or surgery. But the point of these questions is not to tear the government down; it’s about cutting through the spin and the flannel to get to the truth.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/121463969/are-these-the-first-signs-of-third-term-arrogance-from-a-first-term-government?cid=app-android

Those who wrote so effusively about the PM for two-and-a-half seem now to be seeing past her, and taking an objective look at the Coalition Government. And they don’t like what they are seeing.
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May 10, 2020 11:24am
- All_on_Red
  
  I suspect the ‘lightbulb’ moment was Ardern gagging her Ministers.
  It was a frank admission they were incompetent.
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:29am
  - sooty
    
    Her whole party has been put in whitless protection.
    
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    May 10, 2020 12:23pm
- The Proper Ghandi
  
  Chicks, aye. Am I right? You tell them how it is for ages, then they think they’ve invented the wheel when the penny finally drops. Lizzie and Tova are kinda cute though, so I’ll give them a pass.
  
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  May 10, 2020 11:52am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Wash your mouth out!
    
    1 0
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    May 10, 2020 6:26pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Gagging Ministers is seen as gagging the MSM. That they will not put up with as their pay is at stake. The $50M may have taken some likely heat off but that will be spread “unequally” so there is room for the miffed to move.
  Can’t win ’em all Cindy.
  
  24 2
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  May 10, 2020 11:59am
  - theoldbloke
    
    You are aware of course that the 50 Mill isnt paid to MSM directly.
    Rather subsidizing the media infrastructure in internet/transmission fees etc (so only TV @ Radio benefit on that front)
    
    Its committed so can not be undone.
    
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    May 10, 2020 4:08pm
- MrTips
  
  I’m not so sure. This is all part of the game. They will use articles like those to point backwards and say “see we’re not biased”.
  
  The key thing going forward is make sure Simon (or ANYONE in the Nats) DON’T over-egg their case.
  
  Legality of lockdown is impt, but don’t base your campaign on it. The simplest way to win that argument is WIN the election then release the advice afterwards from a position of power.
  
  Favour on the lockdown is impt. The reality is most people accepted it – that’s different from liking it. What they won’t accept is shit-house efforts to get the economy back and having to go back into Lv 3 or 4.
  
  And go hard on funding public health. Our ability to continually track and trace COVID, quarantine individuals and protect the vulnerable will form the basis of NOT GOING back into lockdown Level 4 or 3 again. It will also give the outside world confidence to trade with, and visit, us.
  
  MrTips 2c for the day.
  
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  May 10, 2020 12:49pm
- Brian McDonald
  
  Like to see the memo authenticated Tony?
  
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  May 10, 2020 12:51pm
  - The Proper Ghandi
    
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/05/leak-jacinda-ardern-gags-ministers-on-discussing-covid-19-response.html
    
    15 1
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    May 10, 2020 12:59pm
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Well, I guess she did use the word paraphrase but not the same as an arrogant the “people love us.” And the “ban” didn’t actually stop MPs talking to the media but it was preferred they made brief statements instead.
      The attack sounds a desperate news item to me. And the dump idea is a hoax unless you believe Monday never comes.
      
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      May 10, 2020 2:06pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Actually you’re one who sounds ‘desperate’ the way you try to spin this.
        It’s pretty funny to watch.
        
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        May 10, 2020 2:40pm
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Three leaks from the Coalition in the space of a week; two to Barry Soper, and one to Tova O’Brien.
        
        You don’t think someone is trying to distance themselves from the Labour Party, do you?
        
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        May 10, 2020 3:07pm
      - Suze Wainwright
        
        Well it’s all about distancing at the moment isn’t it Tony…?
        
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        May 10, 2020 6:07pm
Happychappy

I’m amazed that nobody has commented on Geoffrey Palmers : Hallelujah! NZ Government works.
This from one of New Zealands worst Prime Ministers and like David Parker has poor understanding of of right or wrong.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/10-05-2020/geoffrey-palmer-hallelujah-new-zealand-government-works/
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May 10, 2020 11:35am
- Tall Man
  
  When I comment “accurately” on these articles I get told by a sensitive mod to be kind and then get a holiday.
  
  Censorship is only wrong when it comes from the left eh guys?
  
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  May 10, 2020 2:42pm
oldfella

Bill Maher, long-time talkshow hero of the US left, accused of sexual harrassment by one of the #MeToo darlings.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/rose-mcgowan-accuses-bill-maher-of-sexually-harassing-her-about-his-huge-c-says-she-could-feel-his-hot-breath
Believe all women, Bill? Or just the ones who accuse men on the right?
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May 10, 2020 11:56am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  Oldfella,
  There is something weird in your post that you made at 11.56 a.m. today, Sunday 10th.
  You quote from The Washington Examiner of May 10th, but at the time you posted about their issue of May 10th it was only May 9th in Washington.
  
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  May 10, 2020 4:41pm
KevO'Brien

The lockdown should end:
https://www.zerohedge.com/health/we-now-know-far-more-about-covid-19-lockdown-should-end
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May 10, 2020 12:10pm
KevO'Brien

Another beauty, fresh in-China hid pandemic:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-asked-who-delay-pandemic-announcement-deny-human-human-transmission-german
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May 10, 2020 12:11pm
oldfella

The dodgy corona modelling that put the world in lockdown…
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/05/08/our-response-to-this-pandemic-is-a-world-historical-blunder/
The same modelling that influenced our local ‘experts’ to come up with the same, suspect, predictions.
10 4
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May 10, 2020 12:29pm
- Batman
  
  You’re falling straight into the domestic US political strategy to enable Trump’s escape from his predicament.
  
  Undermine the science, discredit and allow fertile ground for the alternative reality where actually everything is going great.
  
  Impressive and cynical, and effective on its target audience….
  
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  May 10, 2020 1:07pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Good god Batman the vast bulk of the “science” presented here and throughout the world has been nonsense based on imagination and maybes.
    
    A very simple question for you, as Australia allowed people to visit their hairdresser or barber, why has there been no incidence recorded of transfer at that point of contact?
    
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    May 10, 2020 2:38pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    ROFLMAO
    
    Batman is now Kiwiblogs Dumbest Commentator
    
    9 5
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    May 10, 2020 2:41pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Don’t you have some emojis to go with that?
      
      2 4
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      May 10, 2020 6:04pm
Don Beckett

Tony Heller has a very good comparative using Sweden & Spain in the Northern hemisphere, and Australia & NZ in the southern hemisphere.
The Swedes have got it right, and NZ has got it SOOO WRONG, according to Tony’s science and logic.
https://realclimatescience.com/2020/05/new-video-a-tale-of-four-countries/
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May 10, 2020 12:39pm
Batman

We’ve probably met our daily quota of Breitbart and zerohedge links, so to balance it out here is some serious commentary on the US DoJs bad day

https://www.lawfareblog.com/ugly-day-justice-department

“The brief’s account of the history of the Flynn case is not accurate, its account of the government’s own conduct equally flawed. And it all leads up to a conclusion so obviously wrong that one does not need to know anything about counterintelligence to see through it: that there is no reasonable basis even to interview a senior government official when that person has engaged over sanctions imposed against a foreign adversary government that interfered in an election—and who subsequently lied to the vice president of the United States about the substance of his conversation with an agent of that government.”

My popcorn is in the microwave, ready to go.
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May 10, 2020 12:49pm
- The Proper Ghandi
  
  Who the hell cares? It’s all just distraction to bamboozle the simple-minded who think that any of this ongoing, boring affair actually matters.
  
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  May 10, 2020 1:02pm
  - Batman
    
    And now we have the ‘none of this matters’ excuse.
    
    Other posters above seem to think it’s a travesty and worth bringing up. Even if only because it is ‘proof’ of their conspiracy theories.
    
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    May 10, 2020 1:11pm
    - The Proper Ghandi
      
      It’s been 3 and a half long years and yet Trump keeps on keeping on. Change the record is all I’m saying. You must be sick of all the pop corn you keep telling us that you are preparing. All that starchy food isn’t good for you. Nobody who can see that it’s all a sham gives a toss anymore.
      
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      May 10, 2020 1:28pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      All_on_Red cares. He’ll be along soon enough to predict imminent indictments for the ‘deep state’ actors who conspired to trick innocent General Flynn into lying about his dealings with the Russkies. Perhaps he’ll have some new emojis to bolster his nonsense.
      
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      May 10, 2020 1:47pm
RW Capitalist

If these lock downs were illegal.
Can we take a class action suit against the govt., on behalf of all NZers.
Now that could be a way to get a tax rebate.
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May 10, 2020 12:57pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Who will pay the dollars? Same people – NET Taxpayers. The Govt does not have any money, never did and never will. They only have YOUR money
  
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  May 10, 2020 2:13pm
Inandout

Oh batman, I skirt around other articles on that site just to gauge their politics so why not just quote CNN?
8 3
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May 10, 2020 1:03pm
- Batman
  
  Ahhh yes, straight for the fake news angle.
  
  So you have to factual legal argument then? Duly noted.
  
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  May 10, 2020 1:09pm
Michael

Should anyone wish to track me [or my wife] they would need to supply us both with cell-phones as neither of us owns one. Unless , of course , there is some other way to track people , and I don’t mean by way of a leg bracelet.
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May 10, 2020 1:03pm
- Tall Man
  
  I suggest you don’t get a prostate check for a while then as you won’t like plan B.
  
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  May 10, 2020 2:29pm
  - Johnboy
    
    All lefty pricks are quite keen on “Plan B” TM 🙂
    
    4 2
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    May 10, 2020 3:00pm
Classic Liberal

“COS: COVID”

It’s becoming the excuse of the century. Incompetent governments, totalitarian laws, failing economies, lazy people who don’t want to go to work, businesses dropping the deadwood, people dropping boring friends, not visiting annoying old rellies…

What else can we pin on ‘COS COVID’?
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May 10, 2020 1:17pm
The Proper Ghandi

It’s been 3 and a half long years and yet Trump keeps on keeping on. Change the record is all I’m saying. You must be sick of all the pop corn you keep telling us that you are preparing. All that starchy food isn’t good for you. Nobody who can see that it’s all a sham gives a toss anymore.
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May 10, 2020 1:28pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Dear Jacinda,
Thankyou for my FREE one month trial of Communism.
I am not buying it.
Please cancel my subscription and un-subscribe me.

Kindest wishes,
Steve
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May 10, 2020 2:11pm
Brian McDonald

I know it is practically impossible for most posters to set aside their political view, but a question.
Say the col gets through to the next election with no relapse on covid as has happened elsewhere – I think South Korea is the latest. A situation for NZ which is by no means certain.
With spring arriving and a clearer view (hopefully for the better on the economy returning to shape, maybe the Aussie/NZ bubble working and perhaps broadening.) Students lining up to come to NZ for next year – as a safe environment and so on.
And considering that polling has shown support for the Government’s handling of Covid (to this stage.) So it’s put to the public by the col that they got NZ to this stage (a good September we may not otherwise have had), assuming again one of the better outcomes worldwide – but they need to finish it off because they are the trusted and experienced pair of hands. Where does the vote go on that question?
Apolitical answers welcomed.
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May 10, 2020 2:28pm
- MrTips
  
  Lol, not your research assistant.
  
  4 1
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  May 10, 2020 2:39pm
- rangitoto
  
  People will forget SARS-COV-2 in a hurry. They won’t forget being broke.
  
  15 1
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  May 10, 2020 2:49pm
- Johnboy
  
  Before I answer. Will the Wimmens Weakly start printing again? 🙂
  
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  May 10, 2020 2:56pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Few other things to consider:
  
  Do I have a job/business anymore?
  Do my kids/grandkids have a job?
  
  Did my kids/grandkids get a decent chance at education this year?
  
  Did the All-Blacks win?
  
  What’s happening in other countries?
  
  By September, Covid-19 might not be the focus of Media attention.
  
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  May 10, 2020 2:57pm
  - Johnboy
    
    Quite so Maggie. For all we know it may be the preparations for say…Winston’s state funeral…. or anything! 🙂
    
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    May 10, 2020 3:02pm
    - sooty
      
      Or Michael Cullens!
      
      1 1
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      May 10, 2020 5:09pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    By September – the end of our ‘flu season – there will be thousands of covid19 cases, and 200 or so deaths, because all we have done is kick the can down the road.
    Unless, of course, Silly Socialist Cindy is going to keep our borders closed indefinitely, and keep out those millions of tourists who now have herd immunity, but may still carry the virus.
    
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    May 10, 2020 3:12pm
    - cmm
      
      Yup, “flattening the curve” is a good policy in the Northern Hemisphere because, apart from helping the hospitals, it also pushes the delayed cases into summer (ie. out of the flu season).
      
      Here we didn’t even get a curve to flatten. Our hospitals were empty. Now any cases that were delayed are going to end up coming in our flu season.
      
      While the NH worries about second wave, it is really the southern hemisphere that are likely to be hit hardest.
      
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      May 10, 2020 4:26pm
  - theoldbloke
    
    Remember September will be dominated by emotional pieces leading up to the November US elections.
    
    So comparisons will abound.
    In the didn’t we do well against number of deaths/Million NZ low Trump High. Ergo COC good.
    
    How unemployment % lower than USA, didnt we do good etc etc blather blather.
    
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    May 10, 2020 4:41pm
- Poppa
  
  One thing I do know Brian is, this bunch of clowns have no idea what to do, other than invoke their socialist agenda on us all
  
  You know what happens then don’t you
  
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  May 10, 2020 3:57pm
- cmm
  
  Brian, you forgot the unicorns… suppose a spaceship brings everyone a free unicorn.
  
  You’re discounting a whole lot of very likely problems.
  
  First big issue is that we are not finished yet. Our flu season is still coming. When that happens will the populace meekly submit to more level 4?
  
  We’ve already shot our bolt. Now what?
  
  Trusted pair of hands? Ummm, isn’t the distrust actually growing?
  
  Haven’t the cops burnt all their good will? It certainly will be harder to get compliance a second time around and a resentful populace might think twice.
  
  Experienced hands? Where?
  
  You ask a politically loaded question and only want apolitical answers? Weird.
  
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  May 10, 2020 4:19pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh Lordie…

Gold-standard protection for reception staff at Grey Hospital

https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/4/y/m/8/7/i/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.1240×700.20bbew.png/1589081700770.jpg

What a F***’N joke.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/121460360/plastic-sheeting-deemed-adequate-protection-for-staff-at-west-coast-hospital
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May 10, 2020 4:12pm
- cmm
  
  Well it will work, but a few sheets of acrylic (less than $500 at Mitre 10 would do the whole lot) would look a bit better and last a bit longer.
  
  I think the nurse getting a fainting spell over it looking third world is over dramatising. In the 3rd world they’re sharing masks!
  
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  May 10, 2020 4:22pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  It actually probably is adequate. The nurses have been fine haven’t they? It’s non issue.
  
  3 2
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  May 10, 2020 5:40pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Through good luck… not good planning.
    
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    May 10, 2020 6:57pm
Tasman Terror

Folks if you want to watch a modern day Monty Python sketch watch last week’s 7 minute interview of Kelvin Davis by
Paul Henry. We have an overseas visitor in our bubble who thought Davis was a stand up comedian. We disabused our guest who was genuinely sorry for us. As I say it is very very funny but at a human level I sort of feel sorry for a below average IQ Uncle Tom making a dick of himself on nationwide TV until I reminded myself that he controls the sector that was our biggest expert earner and did employ 239,000 Kiwis. It was then that the Shakespearian aspect of it all hit home.
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May 10, 2020 4:15pm
Herodotus

How great it is to have the GOAT of ministers in our history ??
Minister fronts up to give “Good News”, But is it ? – We are spending more BUT we could be purchasing less especially as the increase funding is ONLY $10m next year.
Note:Since 2017 the NZ$ was purchasing $0.72 US now its $0.60. that is a 16.7% depreciation in our currency.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12330811
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/121465276/coronavirus-government-to-pump-160m-into-pharmac-to-secure-medicine-supply
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May 10, 2020 6:20pm
Pheobe

A friend put this post up. Which im sharing its worth reading. And you don’t have to agree or even like what has been said. That’s called freedom. Also posted on FB.

Three weeks into lockdown a friend called to tell me he disagreed with my stance on the situation we are in (which I respected) and then last week called me to tell me changed his mind – because he had just been made redundant. This is the issue we face; we all think it is going to be ok, we all think there is hope right up to the point that we’ve dug our own grave and are kneeling in front of it and by that stage it is too late to do anything.

The issue we face is that we are not honest with each other and we often censor ourselves for fear of being singled out; or fear of the social or economic cost that we face for opening our mouths and speaking our hearts and minds to the world.

So I will be honest with you and I encourage you to do the same because your silence is the acceptance of what is being done to you.

My business was going well right up to the point where mass hysteria and blind obedience collapsed our economy. We all wanted to ‘do the right thing’. We went into lockdown with fear being poured into us from the radio, print, internet and TV. A fear so great that people willingly exchanged their freedom for safety and if you don’t know the old adage about that: when you exchange your freedom for safety you end up with neither.

I take no pleasure in stating that I have had to make 3 of my team redundant. I wanted to throw up before, during and after the phone calls. These are people who have been with me for quite some time, people I have shared laughter, tears and the highs and lows of working in architecture. These are people I care about, people I have spent more time with than my own family. They are not a commodity to be traded or a tool to discard. These are people who have lives and were reliant on me to provide them with honest work and we are all proud of what we achieved together.

I have failed them according to MP Deborah Russell of the Labour Party because I was not prepared for the wanton destruction wreaked upon my country’s economy by the Labour led coalition Govt.

I am uncertain (as I assume most of you are) about the future. I have no idea what will happen to my business, my remaining team or what the true social and economic cost will be. I am certain that the pain coming will be unbearable for many. I am equally certain that the true death toll of this virus will be measured in the suicides to come.

I know many people believe that our Prime Minister did a great job and I also know that there is extremely little in the prime-time mainstream media being said on the contrary to that belief.
To those people, there is nothing I can say to change their minds on a platform like this. They believe verbatim what is told to them and revel in the idea that what has been done is righteous and just. No meme, no comment and no statistic will change that for them in this partisan echo chamber.
This is because we have a persuasive and pervasive media which does not allow any divergence from the narrative and actively silences the alternative opinion or uncomfortable truth by simply not presenting that side. Dissenters are de-platformed when facts run counter to the narrative. I saw this during the firearms rights protests last year and I see it again here; right now we need a strong and independent media to stand up and ask the tough questions instead of falling over themselves to heap praise at the feet of their starlet Prime Minister. Yes, there are some dissenters in the mainstream media but just look at how few they are and how little of a voice they have. There is no debate. The answer is clear, and the answer is being forced upon you whilst you sit in house arrest, remaining fearful.

“This is our new normal” is the quote de jour but this is anything but normal and this signals the complete upheaval and inversion of our society. We have not seen something like since the Great Depression. This is the end of our way of life and yet we sit on our hands, at home, afraid of speaking out and afraid of a virus which may be as deadly as the flu but likely is less so. You are watching the televised death of Western civilisation as the economy crumbles at your feet.
Some people rejoice in the destruction of our society, believing that this will be the great re-balancing of our world where those who feel downtrodden will now become empowered. This is what happened in the Soviet Union and much like the Soviet Union, we have already seen the Police exercising new powers and people actively reporting others for perceived transgressions of the lock down ‘laws’. Sadly, they see themselves as doing the righteous thing when in fact they have done the opposite.

In any great crime, they say to follow the money. I could talk about China, vaccine patent owners like Gates and a plethora of other things but people forget that there is one other major motivator in crime, POWER.
So follow the money but also follow the power.
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May 10, 2020 7:34pm
- gorse
  
  Phoebe, I have not read such an accurate description of the shit we are in. Thank you, I am not on my own.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:04pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  You need to repost this on GD in the morning – 8am….
  
  Then some Journalists may view it…as well as the CoL Comms watchers…
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:34pm
- dishy
  
  @Pheobe
  
  I have logged in for the first time in ages, for the sole purpose of saluting you for your post. Credit is also due to your friend. Thank you both.
  
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  May 11, 2020 12:11am
MrTips

In the interests of democracy and value for taxpayer dollars, somebody should tell Jacinda that the COVID19 pressers have been switched to 2pm weekdays in the House.

That way she might actually turn up to Parliament more than she has to date and actually answer something.
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May 10, 2020 7:56pm
Fletch

LOL, brutal –

Kiwis have a brutal message for anyone thinking of moving to New Zealand after seeing and liking the Prime Minister’s response to COVID-19.

Jacinda Ardern has received praise from around the world on her reaction to the pandemic, prompting some people to say they now want to move here because of her.

But one Twitter user is instead encouraging non-New Zealand residents to elect the “Jacindas” in their own country.

“For anyone who needs to hear this: Jacinda does not need to take over Australia, the US, or the world. You all can’t move to NZ and you don’t really want to,” their tweet says.

“There are Jacindas in every country. Friggin elect them.”

A screenshot of the tweet was uploaded to Reddit where many users questioned whether other ‘Jacindas’ would even be recognised and elected.

“I live in Aus (sic), the number of people at work that tell me ‘man you guys are so lucky, I wish we could have a leader like her’ and I’ve had to turn around and point out you probably wouldn’t elect her even if you had the chance,” one person wrote.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/05/kiwis-encourage-others-to-elect-their-own-jacindas-instead-of-wanting-to-move-to-new-zealand.html
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May 10, 2020 9:21pm
- marcw
  
  A couple of suggestions:
  Sweden could elect Greta
  USA could elect Al Gore
  UK could elect Emma Thompson
  Australia could elect Julia Gillard … oops, too late.
  
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  May 10, 2020 9:32pm
gorse

Great article on Stuff about people being naughty over the weekend. I wonder how many of them will vote Labour? Probably none.
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May 10, 2020 9:25pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300009240/helicopter-using-heatsensing-technology-to-track-prisoner-on-the-run-in-upper-hutt

A set of handcuffs and a chain attached to his bed would have saved a shitload of time and money, not to mention a helicopter.
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May 10, 2020 9:28pm

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