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September 19, 2020 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 19 September 2020

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General Debate

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CJames

If National is looking to make big changes in the public service when they become government, a great place to start would be NZTA. They have given themselves a Maori name which they demand everyone exclusively use, so NZTA it the best way to refer to them. The organisation has taken JAG as their apostle and have a policy of making all roads under their control bike tracks. If they can’t turn it into a divided highway, they will lower the speed limit. They can’t make trains faster so cars will have to go slower. This reduction is on the grounds of improving safety without any consideration of the cost of delays. They look at fatality and injury rates on each big road stretch and say they are all due to speed. Many are actually due to drugged drivers but you aren’t allowed to do anything about that. Not with the referendum coming up.
Their latest plan is to lower the speed on all the Taupo Turangi stretch of SH1 by about 20km/h. https://www.nzta.govt.nz/media-releases/safety-improvements-and-new-speed-limits-for-sh1-taupo-airport-to-turangi/ This is instead of building the Hatepe to Rangipo bypass that National was going to do for about a third of the cost of the cycle track over the Harbour Bridge. . NZTA say the lower speeds will only increase travelling time by about a minute. Yeah, right. The speed limits are going so low that many cyclists who ride round the lake will exceed them. They did consultation and the majority opposed the plan, so that was cherry picked to get just the ones that supported them. They know best. And they are putting the speed limits in place straight away so the revenue from traffic fines will fill their coffers. Then NZTA move on to the next stretch of highway to slow.
The man in front with a red flag comes next.
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September 19, 2020 8:00am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  You sure do tell some shopping lies.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:11am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    *whopping*
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:21am
  - Jimmy White
    
    You would know Mike as the “Bull Sh*t artist of the Year” award winner
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:37am
    - softail 1450
      
      Jimmy,, MMA is the winner of F- -Kwit comment of the day on many days ,mostly before 9am and he’s not bettered all day long .LOL.
      
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      September 19, 2020 10:40am
  - CJames
    
    And what are the lies milky or just your usual fact free commentary? Read the documents, or see what a boss of NZTA, Steve Mutton, says to the local papers. But that would disturb your worldview ,wouldn’t it and we can’t have that happening. It could be seen as a micro-aggression.
    
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    September 19, 2020 9:01am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      I’ll just point at my favourite one:
      
      The speed limits are going so low that many cyclists who ride round the lake will exceed them.
      
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      September 19, 2020 9:52am
      - CJames
        
        You are really obnoxiously stupid, Mikey, to think your bs and bluster will get you through. The pack riders at the front of the race do over 50km/h on the flat in the bunch. That is faster than the speed limits in Motuopa, Tauranga Taupo, or Waitahanui. Coming down the hill in Waitahanui, many riders get up to 100km/h. That road is going to 80km/h limit. Read the accounts of people’s rides or talk to ones that actually have done it.
        Now, do I get an apology or are you just going to slime off like you usually do?
        
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        September 19, 2020 10:19am
      - Jimmy White
        
        he was using Sarcasm Mike but that word would be to big for you to understand
        
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        September 19, 2020 10:41am
      - softail 1450
        
        MMA ,Engage your brain before commenting fool.
        
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        September 19, 2020 10:43am
  - Tall Man
    
    I have noticed that moderation is now allowing people to call each other liars although over calling ardern one can lead to a deletion.
    
    Saying someone is telling lies without elaborating about what those lies maybe is merely abuse in my opinion.
    
    In the OP the words “cherry picked” were used. Wouldn’t that be tantamount to NZTA telling lies if they ignore the majority of opinions?
    
    The post seemed rather well thought out to me so unless mikey is prepared to “put up” then he should be shut up …. in my opinion 😉
    
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    September 19, 2020 9:35am
    - peterwn
      
      Just say she ‘misled’ the audience. MP’s get away with this in the House (calling an Honourable Member a liar in the House is un-Parliamentary and will lead to a rebuke or worse from the Speaker).
      
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      September 19, 2020 10:18am
      - igm
        
        When is Mr Speaker facing his defamation charges.
        Have they been swept under the carpet like Labour sex offences?
        
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        September 19, 2020 2:52pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  If National is looking to make big changes in the public service when they become government
  
  How likely is that to happen?
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:12am
  - artemisia
    
    National did require a line by line critical review of departmental budgets and contracts. Hopefully they will require that again. And they plan to spend more money on social investment programmes, taking a medium to long term view of wellbeing.
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:16am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Not very likely at all.
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:21am
    - Tall Man
      
      Worried eh mikey? You should be.
      
      The public service dropped it’s fake mantle of political neutrality very quickly in order to accomodate ardern and her numbskull ideas.
      
      As many have said, the worm turns.
      
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      September 19, 2020 9:42am
    - Nutta
      
      Sadly, it has parity with MMA acquiring a clue.
      
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      September 19, 2020 12:03pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Had a blood test yesterday Maggie. The tech was very vocal in her political opinions with me, first time I’d met her, and made it clear that her vote for ardern in 2017 was a big error that she intended to reverse next month.
    
    Most of my associates and clients are employed, company owners, professionals or retired. I meet very few public servants or beneficiaries. With few exceptions ardern and her incompetence are a hot topic and National and Act will be the preferred choice. Most are immune to the media and any election bullshit and would be happy to be voting today.
    
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    September 19, 2020 9:40am
    - Crisplion
      
      I sure hope you’re right TM. I know the polls are flawed but they’d have to be wrong on a monumental scale for there to be much chance of seeing the backs of Ardern and her band of bewildered buffoons.
      
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      September 19, 2020 9:55am
      - Harriet
        
        A month or so before Trump got elected I read about a journo riding his bike from the East coast to the West coast[across the top of the US] he stated that he saw in total less than a dozen Hillary hoardings on people’s front lawns. The national polls were saying something else altogether. His prediction and mine are now current history.
        
        $5o million is an admission. And I don’t mean an entry fee! 😎
        
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        September 19, 2020 1:59pm
    - Ruawai
      
      I had a sports club committee meeting last week and all but me were school teachers and only one was voting Labour the others found JA very condescending. The next day National came out with their tax cut and I sent a text to the one who was going to vote Labour and $9,000 in her families pocket over 16 months has swung her vote straight away, good move Judith.
      
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      September 19, 2020 10:04am
    - RF
      
      Agree.
      
      Went out to a restaurant last night with a group of friends. We were loudly discussing Ardern and rubbishing Labour.
      
      The people at the table next door agreed with us as they left and called out Go Judith !!!
      
      There is hope !!!!!
      
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      September 19, 2020 10:15am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    ZERO.
    
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    September 19, 2020 10:26am
    - Lee C
      
      I’m looking forward to my free bottle of Speights you’ll have to cough up when the counting is done SCS.
      
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      September 19, 2020 3:43pm
  - peterwn
    
    The Public Service in general fulfils its duties and provides service to Ministers and the public. A political party needs to be very cautious with making promises to put the boot into the Public Service since public servants have the vote. Therefore Judith and her senior colleagues will not make any promises to ‘clean out’ the Public Service or similar. Similar care needs to be taken with Boards – the previous National Government did not conduct an immediate wholesale clean-out of boards because two can play that game.
    
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    September 19, 2020 10:28am
- Benedict Yu
  
  They can call themselves whatever they like but they will still be NZTA.
  
  It is tokenism. NZTA would do more for Maori by educating them to stop driving unwarranted cars and without a drivers licence. That would do more good than a Maori name.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:10am
  - Jack5
    
    And Christchurch will still be “Christchurch” for a long time, though the Christchurch Press today bleats about Maori names for our cities.
    
    How many Christchurch folk would subscribe to Te Matatika (as the newspaper’s banner says this week)?
    
    Maori dictionary translates this title as “the right or the ethic”. ????
    
    Didn’t realise Maori language had articles, though the online dictionary describes “te” as a determiner, which is pretty much another word for article.
    
    Why don’t Woke publishers like Stuff put their money where their mouth is and, for Maori language week, publish dual editions of their newspapers: one in Maori, the other in English?
    
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    September 19, 2020 11:58am
    - Unity
      
      As far as I can see the Maori language is a made-up language. Languages progress over time but they started with so little – about 700 words I believe that they have had to make things up to catch up with today’s world. If Maori thought it was important they would have preserved it like other Nationalities do. It’s apparently very easy for little children to learn languages at their mothers’ breasts. It’s not up to us to preserve their language – they should be the ones doing it if they feel it is important.
      
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      September 19, 2020 2:16pm
      - greybeard
        
        Their main problem was that they had no written language.
        That must have been a hindrance when recording their genealogy, history, etc , as oral records are notoriously inaccurate.
        ( Chinese whispers ).
        Compare them to the Sumerians who had a written language over 5500 years ago.
        
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        September 19, 2020 2:30pm
- Brian McDonald
  
  Had to be a conspiracy:
  “Many are actually due to drugged drivers but you aren’t allowed to do anything about that. Not with the referendum coming up.”
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:00am
  - CJames
    
    No Brian – it is just the organisation don’t want to touch a hot potato. The driver killed in a headon at the top of Hatepe Hill was because he was high on meth. At least one fatality at Bulli Point was stoned. These crashes were what NZTA said were caused by speed so that is why they have to lower it.
    
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    September 19, 2020 10:25am
    - CJames
      
      And there was drugs involved in the recent fatalities on top of Hatepe . So that is over half the crashes that were the deciding factor for lowering the speed limit.
      
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      September 19, 2020 10:33am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        So are you saying the Coroner’s also don’t report drugged or drunk drivers?
        
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        September 19, 2020 12:55pm
      - CJames
        
        No Brian. The coroners do report it, when they eventually get around to it because of the backlog. They usually list a variety of factors, some of which are stupid. Examples like someone drunk doing 110km/h in a 50km/h zone punches through a crash barrier. They will comment that the barrier should have been stronger. There is also the Serious Crash Investigation Unit that will sometimes come to a different view to the coroner.
        NZTA might then get a real grab-bag of causes. Invariably, one will be speeding. This will be seized upon, implying it is the primary cause of most accidents so if they eliminate it, then there wouldn’t be crashes.
        In something relevant to the case in point, the speed limit in Waitahanui is currently 70km/h. Some years back, two hoons were racing through the town at a speed estimated to be 130km/h. One driver lost control and wiped out two young boys on the roadside. There were calls to reduce the speed limit. Transit took the sensible approach that they were driving so fast over the limit that it was an irrelevant factor. Now they are lowering the speed to 40km/h.
        
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        September 19, 2020 1:13pm
- Evadne
  
  My favourite game at the moment is keeping to the speed limit in the Auckland CBD. Its recently been lowered to 30. When driving through now, I stick to that religiously. Drives everyone behind me mad, particularly the bus, delivery and taxi drivers (who all ignore the limit when they can). Especially when this shows the light phrasings don’t allow enough time for people to get through at 30.
  
  The sooner everyone realizes how stupid and disruptive (and near impossible to keep to without being in low gear) 30 really is, the sooner it will go (I hope) – especially if all the beloved bus drivers complain.
  
  Or maybe the council will justset a different speed limit for buses…
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:12am
mikenmildagain

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Avast there! Can ye guess what day it is, me hearties?
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September 19, 2020 8:00am
- All_on_Red
  
  Downtick Day for Mikey?
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:11am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Some son of a biscuit eater will be seeing the black spot afore long…
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:17am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Captain Feathersword appropriation day?
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:16am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Ignore the troll day
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:45am
- Evadne
  
  Ahoy! Mike, me bucko. Happy t’ see a crewmate on board this ol’ ship of ours this day. Arghh!
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:39am
- Nutta
  
  Community release day at whatever asylum you inhabit? 8)
  
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  September 19, 2020 12:05pm
  - Evadne
    
    No, it’s Talk like a Pirate Day:
    
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day
    
    Why the downticks for Mike? Is humour and fun ruled on party lines as well?
    
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    September 19, 2020 1:37pm
    - Brian Marshall
      
      It really depends on what he’s said. I’ve upticked him on many occasions, but definitely more down ticks over time.
      
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      September 19, 2020 2:19pm
    - Komata
      
      Evadne@1337
      
      You DO realise I trust that in 2020, pirates speak either Somali or Malay.
      
      Mythology takes many forms…
      
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      September 19, 2020 2:51pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Humour from Mike?? Now that is funny!
      
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      September 19, 2020 3:17pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  US Constitution Day was Sept 17. You missed that on purpose right Mike?
  
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  September 19, 2020 4:42pm
artemisia

Renee Coulter, Auckland restaurant owner, wants the bureaucracy to decide how many new hospo venues should be allowed to open or renew licences. Because there are too many already and reduced incomes mean they struggle to pay the ‘living wage’ or save the planet because less bulk buying means more plastic and packaging.

Folk might recall Ms Coulter very publicly accused Kingi restaurant of cultural appropriation, and was then accused of same herself. She considered changing her venue’s name, didn’t happen.

Ms Coulter appears to be of the school any publicity is good publicity. When she closes down her restaurant to align money and mouth and give others nearby a hand up she will get some publicity for sure. Good luck with that.
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September 19, 2020 8:02am
- Simon
  
  She must have crow on her menu.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:32am
- bruceavon
  
  Such bullshit. Very much pull up the ladder once you’ve climbed through. I imagine she wouldn’t be of this opinion if she was a new restaurant. The market has always meant restaurants open and fail if they are no good. I think the average restaurant lasts about 18 months.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:37am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Yeah saw that. Turns out her concern with Kingi’s wasn’t about appropriation, it was about competition.
  
  Quelle Surprise
  
  It is, of course, vital that only approved Restuarants be granted licenses to operate.
  
  This will ensure quality for customers.
  
  And who will decide who is approved? Step forward, the selfless Ms Coulter.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:57am
Tony Stuart

If there was any remaining doubt that Dr Souixsie Wiles was an apologist for the Labour Party, she erased it last night with this tweet:

Dr Siouxsie Wiles
@SiouxsieW
Level 1:
Hey New Zealand! Remember how we had crap capacity for testing & contact tracing back in February? And bugger all ICU beds & ventilators? That’s what you get with tax cuts. It’s hardly how you weather a pandemic, never mind stay ready for the next one.
7:27 PM · Sep 18, 2020·

https://twitter.com/SiouxsieW/status/1306857306642997253

There’s just one problem with the Good Doctor’s tweet; who was in government in February this year, as Covid made its way to and through our border? Hint; it wasn’t the party that announced tax cuts yesterday!
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September 19, 2020 8:04am
- wimpston peeeders
  
  hey pinky, you do realise that with the big covid fear and scare labour hasnt done anything to address those issues?
  
  Do you realise we didnt actually need all those icu beds and ventilators? Thanks to your advice to cindy theyve just gathered dust the last 6months.
  
  o yea and the continued wastefull spending cindy does means no future funding for you and ya department sorry better start stocking up on hair dye for tough times ahead.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:10am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    So they should have gambled on not needing extra hospital beds or ventilators. The silliness with this sort of argument is that you don’t consider the alternative, that any Government that didn’t take those steps of precaution would be lambasted. Can’t you recall “not enough masks”, “not enough flu injections.”
    
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    September 19, 2020 10:07am
    - wimpston peeeders
      
      who cares old ppl die and tbh not enough are getting culled.
      im disapointed in covid it was a total letdown, we were promised carnage and death yet got a total fizzer. I was hoping homelessness, poverty and the lingering pension problems would get solved rather quick as thats what a descent virus would have done but nope a few dementia patients and fat ppl died a few weeks early.
      
      buying ventilators at horrendous cost cost lives not saved them, that $$$ could have paid surgeries or treatments for ppl that have genuine lives to live.
      
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      September 19, 2020 10:15am
      - niggly
        
        Jeepers please use sarcasm tags next time, leftie social media trolls and society’s permanently outraged will be throwing up at this then once they’ve composed themselves will be getting off on jabbing their fingers at you and the blog!
        
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        September 19, 2020 11:24am
  - tf78
    
    I noticed someone in Aussie last night calling it COVID-1984. Very appropriate I thought.
    
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    September 19, 2020 2:22pm
  - IC5000
    
    > Do you realise we didnt actually need all those icu beds and ventilators?
    
    Ok genius, tell us tonight’s lottos numbers. If this rear view mirror shit is so easy you can make us all rich.
    
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    September 19, 2020 2:56pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Feel free to explain how reduced government revenue will fund improved services.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:12am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    They’ll get back some of what is returned to taxpayers via an increase in the amount of GST collected as people spend their extra cash. And they’ll stop funding wasteful things like free fees and Kiwibuild, where Labour has thrown away billions of dollars, for little to no return.
    
    Do yourself a favour, and read the full plan:
    
    https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/nationalparty/pages/14844/attachments/original/1600379412/National%E2%80%99s_Economic___Fiscal_Plan.pdf?1600379412
    
    and, NZIER’s review of the costings:
    
    https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/nationalparty/pages/14844/attachments/original/1600382667/National_Party_Policy_Costings.pdf?1600382667
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:23am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      I can’t be bothered reading it Tony, got the gist of it by seeing that for Joe Punter it was $8.00 a week. All the smoke mirrors and money whizzing around blowing trumphets and it’s not even 2 pies for porkie.
      You do know this is a National blog and the majority here will vote National anyway – I don’t think they need convincing.
      Consider taking your message to FB perhaps where there are more potential votes. Even the old “I spoke to Mrs B and she’s pissed with Jacinda and never going to vote Labour again,” gets a little tired here but might work on FB.
      How’s the internal polling going, I get the impression not well by your heightened activity? If NZF has internal polling it has probably shown WP that its better to keep old Jones out the picture to improve on their slim chances. Act has got the Nats back door open and shoveling out votes as quick as possible. The Greens seem oddly relaxed to me. The Labour leadership looks calm while sadly for some Judith’s ship appears to have already sailed with Simon the most dynamic National rep at the moment. Maybe he’s free of the bumbled footed Peter Goodfellow and dear old “Merv” being in his ear through the late night talks shows.
      Many commentators are saying the choices this election are stark because Labour are saying they will keep doing what they have been doing and the Nats saying the same – but that they’ll do better.
      For the likes of the .005% thinking that there is a planned international effort to turn the majority into mindless zombies using Covid 19 or cellphone towers of some type there is even less hope. But I get the impression they thrive on the thought that the more that don’t agree with them means they’re even more enlightened than they thought they were.
      What ya reckon?
      
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      September 19, 2020 10:31am
    - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
      
      TS Bro – NZIER is that as reliable as the Pink haired one? I doubt it….
      
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      September 19, 2020 10:32am
  - Swifty
    
    Priorities, my dear fellow, priorities.
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:24am
  - amospicton
    
    Tax cuts do not equal lower government revenue if they stimulate greater economic activity. That growth also lowers demand for social services which in turn means less need for government revenue which allows for further tax cuts and thus a virtuous circle. Pretty simple.
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:25am
    - lastmanstanding
      
      Following The Donalds tax cuts the US Tax Departments revenue increased. Same happened when Roger Douglas reduced NZ tax rates.
      
      More money in the pocket means more spending so more GST and more incentive to earn more.
      
      Simple really……………………expect for Socialists ( Labour) and Communists (Greens) supporters.
      
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      September 19, 2020 9:30am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        higher economic growth
        lower unemployment
        which relates to lower govt expenses.
        
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        September 19, 2020 1:21pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    Feel free to explain how when socialist governments get more money, they waste more of it.
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:25am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Simple: The Laffer Curve
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:34am
    - Jimmy White
      
      The balance in keeping the Curve from dipping is the level of the cut. That is why the Nat’s have topped the cuts out at $4 grand. The proof will be in the pudding. Nationals small gamble against Labours throw money at a spade approach that has failed around the world time and time again
      
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      September 19, 2020 8:47am
    - beadgame
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      The Laffer Curve has been discredited along time ago but you keep bringing it up. Income inequality holds back economic growth more than tax cuts to people who are making more than the medium income. A decrease in GST would do more to help those that are struggling, and would likely have a positive effect on spending and economic activity that would benefit the economy as a whole.
      
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      September 19, 2020 9:11am
      - alloytoo
        
        Income inequality only happens when everyone is poor.
        
        The Soviet Union spent nearly a century demonstrating to the world why that is a bad idea for both people and the environment.
        
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        September 19, 2020 10:31am
      - krazykiwi
        
        Discredited by ideologues perhaps. And income inequity holds back growth? Nonsense. да да товарищ. государство сделает нас всех равными
        
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        September 19, 2020 10:44am
      - Jimmy White
        
        It has not been discredited. It is an assumption model not factual, There are so many variables that effect this model that you can’t say that any point on the graph will happen. All you can say that tax cuts to a certain level will create a stimulus that will gather more tax (GST etc) than was forgiven but at a certain point it will not.
        
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        September 19, 2020 10:50am
    - Ruahine
      
      Um!! How about ‘Loafer Curve’. More suitable for anything Labour.
      
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      September 19, 2020 11:52am
  - mark15
    
    Cost efficiency.
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:38am
  - wimpston peeeders
    
    pay for it yourself?
    
    Genuine question but would you spend 100k of your own money to save your life with treatment/surgery or do you expect the govts givalittle scheme (tax) to pay for it because you cant/dont want to?
    
    Think greed is your answer.
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:39am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      If your question is whether I would prefer to socialise the costs of comprehensive health care, the answer is a most definite yes.
      
      3 22
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      September 19, 2020 9:46am
      - wimpston peeeders
        
        Yup, you wouldnt pay a cent of your own money to pay but expect the rest of the country to foot the bill.
        youre a great guy… not.
        
        16 1
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        September 19, 2020 10:38am
  - JJ56
    
    Stopping spending on e.g. racecourses and green schools will go a long way.
    
    The debate is whether it is best to deliver a fiscal stimulus by having taxpayers individually decide priorities or the State. We’ve seen what the current critics of giving the taxpayers a go have delivered, and it’s surprising anyone but their special friends want to see it continue.
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:40am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      That kind of spending is always at the margins. The big ticket items are things like health, welfare, justice and education. That’s where major services cuts would have to be made to realise significant savings in government spending. No one will vote for that to happen, so no one with any hope of being in power will ever propose it.
      
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      September 19, 2020 9:49am
      - JJ56
        
        $3b provincial growth fund is at the margins before we even get to COVID?
        
        But here we are discussing how to spend increased national debt in order to give a stimulus, nothing to do with shuffling current spending. Who will need to service this in the future – long suffering taxpayers.
        
        Surprised you comment if you don’t understand the basics.
        
        20 1
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        September 19, 2020 10:36am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        Yes Milky, education. Like the current Reform of Vocational Education which has created an organisation with no fewer than 21 staff with “Chief Executive” in their job title.
        
        Stephen Town, failed CE of Tauranga City Council and then Auckland Council, is getting a paltry $688,235 per annum as CEO of the new entity. That’s real value, that is.
        
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/122501240/mega-polytech-has-21-staff-with-chief-executive-in-their-title
        
        What else ya got, Milky?
        
        21 1
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        September 19, 2020 11:19am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        “Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves,” is often falsely attributed to Benjamin Franklin, when it seems to have been first coined by William Lowndes (1652-1724), a former Secretary to the Treasury of Great Britain, who said the nearly identical, “Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.”
        
        There are a lot of “marginal” bribes err spending.
        Not just outside the big spenders “health, welfare, justice and education”
        Time to run govt. more like a business
        reduce admin
        find cheaper sources of equipment, offices, services etc
        
        5 0
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        September 19, 2020 1:30pm
  - rockape
    
    Efficiency and accountability, you know, like the private sector does!
    
    22 1
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    September 19, 2020 8:41am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Lots of businesses already have had a significant tax cut this year from cuts in their profits. Lots of them already have boo-all tax to pay this year as a result of trading at a loss for a few months ….
    
    So a tax cut won’t do much for them.
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:49am
    - Classic Liberal
      
      Oh ok then, so a workless profitless country is actually a *good* thing…
      
      28 2
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      September 19, 2020 9:13am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Why bother answering, this kind of stupid
        Is not fixable and
        cannot be educated.
        
        11 0
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        September 19, 2020 1:32pm
    - Tony Stuart
      
      You left out the satire tag Ian. Less revenue not only means less tax paid, but it also means less money with which to pay staff and suppliers. I can’t see any circumstances in which that could be viewed as a positive.
      
      40 1
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      September 19, 2020 9:30am
      - Ian Boag
        
        I didn’t say it was a positive. If my business is down the toilet from covid, I probably don’t have much tax to pay anyway. A tax cut does not help much.
        
        And – here is a perverse one – if tax rates are decreased so is the deduction for losses. Not much of a positive either.
        
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        September 19, 2020 8:40pm
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Pardon! Wow.
      
      So we should all go bust, think of all the tax savings – except IRD will assess you for provisional tax anyway for the next 2 years, so you will go bust and still owe money.
      
      Winner.
      
      19 0
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      September 19, 2020 10:01am
      - wimpston peeeders
        
        ians never run a business in his life and never had to pay tax or gst to ird (someone else has done so on his behalf). hes stuck on greedy business owner bad.
        
        18 1
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        September 19, 2020 10:41am
      - Ian Boag
        
        @wimpy
        
        Have we met someplace so you know so much about me?
        
        0 4
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        September 19, 2020 8:41pm
  - Billy Collins
    
    1. Tax cuts doesn’t mean less revenue. 10 people giving $2 is more than 5 people giving $3.
    
    2. Be more efficient and responsible with spending. People who win the lottery are more likely to file for bankruptcy within 5 years than the average person. Don’t underestimate how irresponsible someone can be with free money. The more you get, the irresponsible you become with it.
    
    23 2
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    September 19, 2020 8:53am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      The more you get for free…, the irresponsible you become with it.
      minor correction
      
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      September 19, 2020 1:34pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    You’d have to be the worst kind of simpleton to believe that giving any government (especially this one) more money will result in improved services.
    
    This CoL inherited miles of surpluses and not only squandered most of it on working groups, consultation and bribes to NZF’s mates, they genuinely made the vast majority of services they provide worse, not better.
    
    44 3
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    September 19, 2020 8:56am
  - Nickc2
    
    Simple, get rid of the deadwood eg entities that have been established that add little or nothing to process. DHBs are a classic example. When that’s done, carry out a cause/effect/cost analysis of each position occupied within the public service and Govt. education providers.
    In short, if there is a need, let private enterprise do it and pay for it by the service provided eg end user.
    
    16 2
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    September 19, 2020 9:16am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      with health
      Tax incentives < cost of health provided
      So the patient gets the service they want, govt. pays less.
      same for education
      ACC….etc
      Builds strength in the private sector without reducing strength in the public sector
      reduces tax burden on tax payer who can then improve the cycle by going to the top of this list and so on.
      
      5 0
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      September 19, 2020 1:38pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Ask Robbo who plans to steal it from our childrens’ futures.
    
    22 3
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    September 19, 2020 9:16am
  - Tall Man
    
    I have a client in the public service in a team of 7 plus a “team leader”.
    
    Currently, 5 of the team plus the “team leader” are contractors not permanent staff. I’m sure that’s efficiency for you.
    
    Of the “team” of 7, 5 permanents have left over the past 8 months and three permanent replacements have also left. In my opinion there is a problem further up the tree but with a numpty at the top why would you expect competence further down.
    
    I have also interacted with a client in the public service who has had part of her duties expanded into an area of my professional competency. The errors that have been made have potential for losses into the 100’s of thousands of dollars, possibly millions yet the investment in training provided is so minimal that the poor individual isn’t even aware of their shortcomings.
    
    This erosion has, in my opinion and observation, occurred very rapidly and morale in some areas is now appallingly low. That doesn’t help efficiency.
    
    36 1
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    September 19, 2020 9:51am
  - rouppe
    
    Feel free to explain why we need to have more ICU beds when the ones we had were not used to capacity.
    
    Feel free to explain why we need more capacity for Covid-19 when during the supossed worst of the “pandemic” all elective surgery was cancelled resulting in essentially empty hospitals?
    
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    September 19, 2020 10:14am
    - JimBobJoe
      
      Actually carrying extra capacity in terms of deployable expansion in the ICU area is probably a smart idea. We will see more Covid type pandemics going forward but eventually one will actually be serious unlike the current pandemic. Drivers of more pandemics: increasing populations, malicious regimes releasing viruses
      
      We need a base ICU capacity with a small surplus capacity to handle BAU type demand… but we need a rapidly deployable expansion capability across infrastructure (rooms), equipment and staff.
      
      Rooms don’t need to be fixed.. ready assemble prefabs held in military bases..
      
      Equipment .. just hold extra
      
      Staff… pay for ICU training of additional nurses/docs who rotate through ICU every year and pay them a stand by bonus
      
      All the above is accounted for as an insurance premium… which has to be cheaper than the current cock up destruction of the economy
      
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      September 19, 2020 12:56pm
- G152
  
  Colour me surprised.
  Red would be a colour to go with the ‘scientists’ hair and politics
  
  33 1
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  September 19, 2020 8:12am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  She’s a highly qualified, unbiased and objective scientific expert who assists with citizen education and the righteousness of Cindy’s selfies
  
  Didn’t Frizzell and that other guy do a trendy fan poster of her the other day?
  
  38 2
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  September 19, 2020 8:12am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    You can even get the box-set of all her Covid-19 proclamations
    https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/04-09-2020/the-great-toby-morris-siouxsie-wiles-covid-19-omnibus/
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:29am
    - Jimmy White
      
      And one of all her ‘Social distancing’ selfies.
      
      19 1
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      September 19, 2020 8:49am
  - artemisia
    
    Would that be like Ayesha Verrall, the independent reviewer of covid contact tracing who has quite coincidentally popped up at a sure-to-win position on Labour’s list?
    
    34 2
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    September 19, 2020 8:48am
  - LTA1955
    
    Beakers bestie??
    
    8 0
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    September 19, 2020 10:06am
- cmm
  
  Well we never needed those hospital beds, ICU beds or ventilators.
  
  But we still shut down all our hospitals, disrupted services causing untold damage to people’s long-term health.
  
  We also spent $76M panic buying 300 ventilators at the highly inflated cost of $250k each.
  
  A ventilator is just a pump and a bit of pretty basic electronics. No more complicated than a hospital bed.
  
  54 3
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  September 19, 2020 8:15am
  - Gravelroad
    
    The trouble with Dr Wiles is that she is so obviously not an independent observer or adviser of events.
    She is firmly a mouthpiece for Ms Ardern and the Labour Party – so everything she says comes from a political perspective no matter how she tries to spin it as “science”.
    Therefore, I take everything she says as personal opinion only.
    Dr Bloomfield was also setting that sail, but seems to have pegged back and is not so openly partisan.
    He was starry-eyed with Ms Ardern for a time there…….
    
    52 2
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    September 19, 2020 8:38am
    - Tall Man
      
      He can see the big red bus coming down his road.
      
      19 1
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      September 19, 2020 9:54am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Driving straight to the sewerage ponds.
        
        6 0
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        September 19, 2020 12:45pm
- Classic Liberal
  
  Looks like she wasn’t embarrassed enough by making feeble excuses for Cindy’s mass Massey selfie. Soxie (sorry I just can’t spell that name) still thinks herself NZ’s scientific expert on covid.
  
  49 3
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  September 19, 2020 8:16am
  - Jimmy White
    
    Her smile is just as effective as a mask. NOT
    
    17 1
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    September 19, 2020 8:50am
  - lifesgood
    
    Her name is Susanna. That Siouxsie nonsense pretty much sums her up. Stupid is as stupid does, and hey, isn’t Siouxsie cultural appropriation?
    
    19 0
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    September 19, 2020 12:41pm
- JackRabbit
  
  She is blaming “crap capacity for testing & contact tracing” and “bugger all ICU beds & ventilators” on tax cuts that haven’t happened yet, and won’t happen if Labour get back in.
  
  So either she has some warped time travel theory where time goes in reverse, and lack of money today is caused by tax cuts in the future.
  
  Or she has a substance abuse problem, or a mental condition. The pink hair “look at me” is a symptom of the latter.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:22am
  - backster
    
    ” The pink hair “look at me” is a symptom of the latter.”
    Her name appears to be a cultural misappropriation from a noble redskin Indian Tribe and the hair likewise furtherance of the illusion.
    
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    September 19, 2020 9:18am
    - JackRabbit
      
      And of course Cindy dyes her blonde hair black.
      
      22 1
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      September 19, 2020 9:28am
    - Souvlaki
      
      A psychiatrically ‘needy’ person imo.
      
      17 0
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      September 19, 2020 9:50am
    - oldfella
      
      Think Siouxsie should be subjected to a drop of ‘cancel culture’ wokeness as punishment for all her insensitive ‘appropriation/s’?
      Driven out of her job and denied a voice on social media platforms?
      Nah, that would only happen if she were a conservative.
      It’s different when the left do it.
      
      18 1
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      September 19, 2020 9:52am
    - rouppe
      
      She likes to tell you that she named herself after the punk band Siouxsie Sioux and that it has nothing to do with the American Indian nation.
      
      Unfortunately Siouxsie Sioux was named as “a play” on the Sioux red indian tribe and her name (being Susan Ballion)
      
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      September 19, 2020 10:49am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Not mention the made-up faux name. There’s only one Siouxsie; her name is Siouxsie Sioux, she fronted the Banshees and she’s awesome.
    
    17 0
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    September 19, 2020 10:35am
    - JackRabbit
      
      Perhaps the NZ Siouxsie is channeling a past life as a banshee in the 1300s.
      
      A banshee: “a woman of the fairy mound” or “fairy woman” is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by wailing, shrieking, or keening – a traditional form of vocal lament for the dead.
      
      The banshee also is a predictor of death. If someone is about to enter a situation where it is unlikely they will come out alive she will warn people by screaming or wailing, giving rise to a banshee also being known as a wailing woman.
      
      It might explain why she is so pre-occupied with Covid-19 mortality, and why most of what she says is pure fantasy and not connected with the facts as they are in 2020.
      
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      September 19, 2020 11:43am
- Simon
  
  Yep Wiles a Labour party camp follower dressed up as an expert. She is finished as an “expert”.
  
  Any High Court judge would rule a line through any of her “expert evidence”
  
  The hysteria around the mild National tax cuts. Children will be dying in the streets.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:25am
- JackRabbit
  
  Also from her twitter feed:
  
  “The reason I am open about my values is so that people understand the lens through which I evaluate evidence. Because if a scientist has told you they are completely objective they are deluding themselves.”
  
  It is a mistake to assume that because you yourself, in this case Siouxsie, is biased and subjective, that everyone else must be biased and subjective. This is perfect example of Jungian projection.
  
  Projection also takes the following from: “Everyone else steals from their bosses, and has affairs outside of marriage, so it’s OK for me to do so also.”
  
  The changed name, the pink hair, and openly declaring she has a biased subjective view of the world. She is quite literally, a clown. Or in the old days, a court jester. She has yet to realise that many people laugh at her, not with her.
  
  46 1
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  September 19, 2020 8:38am
- amospicton
  
  Surely “Siouxsie” is cultural appropriation?
  
  29 2
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  September 19, 2020 9:22am
  - JackRabbit
    
    If she was really a Siouxsie, she would have long ago hung out Cindy to dry for speaking with a forked tongue.
    
    22 1
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    September 19, 2020 9:30am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    She certainly looks like she’s been smoking the “peace pipe” or something similar.
    
    13 0
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    September 19, 2020 11:07am
- Yvette
  
  Dr Siouxsie Wiles
  Hey New Zealand! Remember how we had crap capacity for testing & contact tracing back in February? And bugger all ICU beds & ventilators? …
  
  “Together, we went hard and early to fight COVID” – Jacinda Ardern, opening sentence, 1st Labour Election tv ad
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:26am
- Ruawai
  
  Is Susie pink hair now a tax expert?
  
  22 0
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  September 19, 2020 10:06am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Pinky proves she has no brains which we all knew on day 1.
  
  18 0
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  September 19, 2020 10:29am
  - lifesgood
    
    The sad thing is she is making a fool of the once great University of Auckland.
    
    10 0
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    September 19, 2020 12:44pm
    - fernglas
      
      She’s at AUT
      
      4 4
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      September 19, 2020 1:07pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        No,
        She’s in the Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences, Auckland University.
        
        7 0
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        September 19, 2020 1:51pm
  - Rachael Membery
    
    A ‘pinky’ indeed.
    
    3 0
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    September 19, 2020 4:36pm
Scott

Rasmussen has Trump at 53% approval rating, his highest rating since September 2019.

The constant urban violence, aided and abetted by the democrats, the declining virus deaths and the economy revving back up, are all in Trump’s favour.
Also in Trump’s favour is the Democrat candidate who cannot even finish a sentence without stumbling and bumbling.
Barring major catastrophe I’m predicting Trump will do very well in Nov.
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September 19, 2020 8:04am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Landslide, bigger than last time
  
  37 4
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  September 19, 2020 8:12am
  - IC5000
    
    Trump won by around 75,000 votes spread across 3 battleground states while Hilary got a larger share of the popular vote. You’re setting a low threshold to avoid disappointment. Good strategy.
    
    2 4
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    September 19, 2020 4:12pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Get over yourself. He WON, and the left started to cry. The left have not stopped crying, they just throw tantrums, then riot, loot and burn. It will be worse Nov 4th – huge meltdowns
      
      5 2
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      September 19, 2020 4:45pm
      - IC5000
        
        Inconvenient facts I know.
        
        4 0
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        September 19, 2020 6:13pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Rasmussen is generally an outlier from the polling averages. Trump’s approval ratings overall remain the worst in modern polling history.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:14am
  - Simon
    
    “Rasmussen is generally an outlier from the polling averages”
    
    Comrade its the outliers that got 2016 right.
    
    Same thing happening again.
    
    34 4
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    September 19, 2020 8:26am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Rasmussen was no better than other pollster in predictions for 2016. Which was not surprising, given the extremely narrow win for Trump.
      
      3 36
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      September 19, 2020 9:14am
      - Simon
        
        Rasmussen Reports told you all along that it was a much closer race than most other pollsters predicted. We weren’t surprised Election Night. They were. Now Real Clear Politics has posted the final results, and look who came in second out of 11 top pollsters who surveyed the four-way race.
        
        https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2016/rasmussen_reports_calls_it_right
        
        13 3
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        September 19, 2020 9:38am
      - Tall Man
        
        A win’s a win mikey, suck it up.
        
        18 2
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        September 19, 2020 9:56am
      - Jimmy White
        
        Of course you think CNN is the source of all Truth.
        At least Trump knows what he going to do tomorrow.
        https://trendingpolitics.com/biden-brain-freeze-i-m-going-to-be-in-where-am-i-tomorrow-i-m-traveling-tomorrow/
        
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        September 19, 2020 10:55am
      - lifesgood
        
        Hey, Mikey, you do realise that National won the last election, not your precious Labour party which had to go cap in hand to NZ’s great charlatan, Peters, to steal the election.
        
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        September 19, 2020 12:46pm
- cmm
  
  This is why I distrust the polls of the form “If the election was held today how would you vote” when they are held 6+ months away from the elections.
  
  That is a fantasy question because people know they are not going to the polls today, so they do not have to face reality.
  
  It’s a bit like saying “If a unicorn turned up at your front gate would you feed it?”.
  
  As the timescales become shorter, and reality arises, they think differently.
  
  They might not vote for Trump, but they will struggle to get out of bed for Biden – which is half a vote for Trump.
  
  Then, of course, as things get closer the pollsters start adjusting too because they don’t want to be seen as too foolish.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:22am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    This was about approval ratings, which for Trump have always been extremely poor.
    
    4 30
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    September 19, 2020 9:15am
    - Jimmy White
      
      Because conservatives keep their opinions to themselves in case 50 BLM peaceful protestors smash their gate down and threaten to burn down their house
      
      19 4
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      September 19, 2020 10:58am
      - IC5000
        
        So how do you know Democrats are not keeping their opinions to themselves so they don’t get beaten or shot by MAGA supporters?
        
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        September 19, 2020 7:56pm
wimpston peeeders

my observation for the last few weeks of politics and media.

labour spray cash and announce pathetic unthought dull policy, worst state the books/recession ever been = media: not bribes to voters and brilliant policy, and dont worry recession means nothing now.

Winston made a bunch of empty policy and promises to break including cheap cigarettes.
= Media: not bribes and just normal winston

David seymour lands a few hits and makes a calculator app that shows to much of reality.
=Media: terrible nasty man wants to take away dole bludgers livlyhoods and create austertiy

nation release several rather well prepared and thought out policy and a plan to get moving.
=Media: terrible unthought out just a bribe, Poor will suffer, irresponsible Etc.

and to top it off both newshub and tvnz have adds saying they give unbiased coverage to the leadup to the election…. tui anyone?
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September 19, 2020 8:05am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Newshub’s headline last night was Free money for all under National – irresistible or irresponsible?
  
  Of course, it’s NOT “free money”. It’s a government allowing people to keep more of the money that they have earned, and make their own choices as to what to do with it. If they recycle the money back into their local economies through spending, everyone benefits.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:17am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    The current left will never get that. They’re no longer representing workers but bureaucrats and bludgers.
    
    48 1
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    September 19, 2020 8:20am
    - Paulus
      
      407 Waikato DHB staff “earn” over $180,000 pa according to media. Yes 407 !
      
      11 0
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      September 19, 2020 1:28pm
  - wimpston peeeders
    
    exactly, although I dont agree with tax cuts its not “giving” anyone a cent its simply not taking as much from them.
    nats need to make that point clear that they arent refunding taxes via handouts but instead arent guna rummage through your wallet as much as cindy and robo do each week.
    
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    September 19, 2020 8:44am
    - Frank Thomas
      
      I get tired of the middle class Chardonnay Socialists who say “I’m more than happy to pay extra tax if it goes to pay for xxxxxxx (insert wasteful service here)”. OK then, if you are so keen to pay extra tax how about you write a cheque out every month for an additional amount and send it to IRD. I’m sure they would be happy to cash it……..lol. Won’t happen as we all know, it’s other people’s money that has to be spent.
      
      23 2
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      September 19, 2020 10:34am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    So not taking money from the productive is a give-away that is irresponsible
    
    And giving other people’s money money to the owners of pretty horses is just normal business with Winston? Hmm.
    
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    September 19, 2020 1:49pm
  - Lee C
    
    Funny – when National anounce a tax-incentive it’s ‘free money’ when Labour shut down the economy and compensate people it’s called ‘baling out businesses’.
    
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    September 19, 2020 5:31pm
- Durden
  
  WP,
  
  I haven’t repeated this recently, so here goes. Until NZ has a centre right media presence, Nats and ACT will always struggle to get their message across.
  
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  September 19, 2020 11:47am
gorse

I don’t think I will watch the leaders debates this time. First time ever. With two lefties moderating both of them the outcome is a forgone conclusion. Judith will get shut down at every opportunity, Ardern won’t. The media will announce Ardern the winner no matter what. I know how I will vote and the upcoming farce will not change that.
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September 19, 2020 8:09am
- yossarian
  
  Tova has probably completed her Leaders Debate scorecard already.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:23am
- pdm
  
  The moderators put me off. mrspdm and I refuse to watch Campbell in particular but Tame and Gower are no more palatable.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:28am
- Paulus
  
  We can assume that only Cindy will have received the questions in advance.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:59am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    She is the only one who needs them.
    
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    September 19, 2020 4:52pm
- MCos
  
  Last time Mike Hosking was moderator and there couldn’t be a more right wing choice. A lot of people were highly pissed off at the prospect of him dominating the show.
  As it happened he handled the debate(s) very professionally.
  Of course it’s not worth these people’s careers to fuck it up by inserting their bias into the discussion.
  However.
  If Ardern shades Collins there will be plenty of people who will say Campbell was riding shotgun for her.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:54am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Hosking was, and still is, the best journalist in the Country. His moderation of the debate was professional, because he is a professional. The debate wasn’t about him, so he didn’t make it about him.
    
    He also no longer gives a shit about what people think of him.
    
    It’s why I listen to him.
    
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    September 19, 2020 1:53pm
- Tall Man
  
  You and me both.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:58am
- Nutta
  
  Jacinda can’t communicate anything other than planned and rehearsed material.
  
  Look for miderators of debates to interrupt anything that requires thinking and speaking, instead returning to a point from which another prepared sound bite can be delivered.
  
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  September 19, 2020 12:16pm
  - sooty
    
    Will she have her remote control in her ear for the debate?
    
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    September 19, 2020 12:49pm
Inandout

This bearded guest on Bolt’s show is a classic example of TDS, an absolute deep seated hatred of Trump. The rise in blood pressure is evident compared with the woman guest. Twitter has these hate filled people too but the visual is generally missing,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxXkW8RpY1Y&list=PL2OFHLSeLxlYU4Pnch95gKgJOgeTH71DU&index=50
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September 19, 2020 8:13am
Nukuleka

Silly Pak n Save gIves into the perpetually offended by withdrawing a TV ad for its Wainoni branch after one person complained about alleged mispronunciation of the word ‘Wainoni’! It’s apparently racist not to pronounce it ‘correctly’. I would imagine that 99% of the good folk of Christchurch would pronounce it in the same way as the Pak n Save ad and will continue so to do. If proponents for the greater use of Maori were serious they would recognize that living languages do exactly that- they are not fossilized in a time warp but they live, develop, expand and change. That has been the strength of the English language. Otherwise they are merely museum relics. The Maori language is doomed.
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September 19, 2020 8:21am
- Jimmy White
  
  Its 50% bastardised English anyway.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:54am
- Inandout
  
  Nuku. there was a builders show on radio this morning and the expert was chastised by another male for mispronouncing a couple of maori place names. Just shows how many strings are attached to the $50 million.
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:50am
- Classic Liberal
  
  The perpetually offended are just having a bloody laugh at us. Plus looking for profit.
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:55am
- lifesgood
  
  Good lord, unbelievable! Have you heard some young maori speaking English. They are hopeless. Sometimes you don’t even know what language they are speaking. I was dumbfounded recently listening to two at a pedestrian crossing . It took me a while to work out they were speaking english
  
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  September 19, 2020 12:53pm
Albert_Ross

So my main impression from Maori language week has been of stories of well-meaning, or at worst harmless, people who have suffered social media abuse, mainstream media humiliation and even commercial and financial loss, as a result of making what some people thought to be mistakes in the use of the Maori language and inappropriateness in taking inspiration from elements of Maori art and culture.

It is of course very satisfying to point out other people’s errors. I’ve been guilty of it myself, when somebody makes a grammatical error while they’re complaining about other people’s grammar or when they’re making a point that I don’t agree with.

But it is a truly terrible way to encourage people to have a go at learning something new.
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September 19, 2020 8:22am
- Swifty
  
  Very well said Albert and I quite agree.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:39am
- Jimmy White
  
  Adverts spoken in English with Maori subtitles.
  Left wing Woke presenters speaking Maori, no english subtitles.
  How are all us pale middle aged men going to learn if we don’t get a translation.
  All for the 6% nothing for the 94%.
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:58am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    It’s called snobbery. The Woke are snobs.
    
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    September 19, 2020 10:57am
    - wimpston peeeders
      
      theyre scared of being canceled so pander to pathetic causes.
      
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      September 19, 2020 11:48am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I was in the Pool changing room a few days back when a bunch of girls (9-10 years old) came in from one of the total-immersion Maori Language schools.
  
  The instructions from their teacher were in Maori, but all the chatter and talk amongst themselves was in English.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:11am
- Tall Man
  
  I read a book by Maxwell Maltz very early in my career and used some of his ideas in my life and business. Accentuating the negative is a great way to demoralise and reinforce that negative. Handy if you want to fuck someone up but certainly not the way to get people on your side.
  
  Even in sport training, looking at the negatives is a road to failure but as you say, some worthless pricks get a buzz out of trying to be “superior” to others whereas some of us just are 😉
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:03am
- Ruawai
  
  They say give Maori a go even if you get it wrong and then the jump on everyone that gets it wrong.
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:09am
Critical Thinker

Almost one third of Covid deaths in July and August ‘primarily caused by other conditions’ ?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/18/almost-one-third-covid-deaths-july-august-primarily-caused-conditions/
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September 19, 2020 8:24am
Swifty

NZ Weekly Review (1949):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMuJ-r6oFCQ

Maori farming in Wairoa and including the rehab of returning Maori Battalion soldiers.
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September 19, 2020 8:28am
Swifty

Sitar player Rajeev Janardan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTbY_EeC9Wg

His kung fu is strong.
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September 19, 2020 8:30am
Swifty

Bob Dylan – Love Minus Zero/No Limit live (1971)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufbHfGU7WxA

Check out his backing players.
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September 19, 2020 8:34am
- IndividualResponsibility
  
  Swifty – I had the memorable pleasure of attending a Leon Russel concert in the Christchurch Townhall back in the late 1970’s – the man was an utterly amazing musician, but with the personality of a brick, At the end of each item, he simply bowed, and said :thank you: the audience went wild.
  The opening/supporting act was The Amazing Rhythm Aces, another singularly memorable performance. What a night. Probably one of the most enduring memories of my first wife; she persuaded me to attend. What a night.
  
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  September 19, 2020 6:00pm
  - Swifty
    
    Fantastic IR – love Leon Russell.
    
    I had a somewhat similar experience with Rudolph Nureyev in, from memory, 87 or 88.
    
    I worked in an automotive workshop in lower-Taranaki Street and after having cracked a few beers and sparked up I was bolting the doors about 6pm, when I walked outside to do so and there was Rudolph and a mate admiring a poster we had up for a local (male) strip revue (don’t ask, we had no connection, some guy has just come past and asked it he could put it up) – next thing Rudy, on no doubt smelling the goings on, invited himself inside and proceeded to make himself comfortable and partake of our undertakings. We were fine about it. We didn’t object.
    
    Long story short, he got utterly shitfaced, immobile and after, I’m guessing, a couple of hours, we (I, as the apprentice) had to move him out and to the door as we had plans at the Clarendon across the road.
    
    Seemed an ok guy. His English was not too bad, certainly ok to understand on a basic level, but was a bit of a quandary for us – we have women to meet over at the Clarendon and here is Rudolph friggen Nureyev and his mate totally baked on our couches and not going anywhere.
    
    Heh. Them were the days.
    
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    September 19, 2020 7:11pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      He probably just wanted a break from the simpering
      Wellington Festival Luvvies…
      
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/66566200/danseur-noble-a-male-prima-donna
      
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      September 19, 2020 7:56pm
      - Swifty
        
        Thanks Maggy, yeah I thought about late 80s.
        
        All I can be sure of is that he went away with a new respect for NZ pot.
        
        🙂
        
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        September 19, 2020 8:23pm
oldpark

Cant help but notice NZs resident Control Freak Ardern has had a bad week .A couple of examples .
Because of her and her crazy inept inane Labour Party control System . Yes her special type of Management of Ineptitude and Intransigence on the Coronavirus Fear stakes allowed Australians to take the Rugby Championship off NZ like candy of a wee baby.
Next when Judith Collins has came up with a grand plan to help NZs Five Million face the future for their families and employment as well as their health and well being . Guess what . Control Freak Ardern gets hurty feelings as well as putting in the boot using her “Fear Factor” Coronavirus a great wee vote catcher to talk down Judith Collins common sense approach to the future of NZ .
Ardern makes a comment if the Coronavirus makes another comeback what would happen to the Taxpayers borrowed money .
Yes she is aware of another Coronavirus arrival as it was her complete “System” and lack of Border Control that let the COVID-19 back into NZ again. That allowed her and her ilk to almost Lockdown NZ for a second time at a cost of multi millions . More “Fear Votes”.
What a back door way to attempt to win an election using the threat of the Coronavirus “Fear Factor”
Ardern is running scared of Judith Collins and National as she knows people have trusted too long with the Taxpayer purchased cost Sixteen Million Dollars for the words “Be Kind” . A reality check for Ardern and her sycophants NZs can’t live forever on the Coronavirus “Fear Factor”.
Move over Ardern if you cant stand the heat get out off the kitchen and allow a real Leader and Professional Politician Judith Collins to once more teach you how to suck eggs. Just like the Australians did when you let the Nations Rugby Championship slip through your fingers because of Intransigence and Naivety.
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September 19, 2020 8:36am
Maggy Wassilieff

This is a surprise…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/19/new-zealanders-rank-climate-change-above-covid-this-election
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September 19, 2020 8:40am
- JackRabbit
  
  So the Emperor’s New Clothes scam has a bigger appeal that the Pied Piper scam. Who would have thought?
  
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  September 19, 2020 8:48am
- Nukuleka
  
  Of course there is a fake and misleading headline to the article. It ought to read ‘New Zealanders who read The Guardian’ and not imply that this is a New Zealand-wide view. The Guardian and its readers set themselves above all other mortals in matters of taste, values and political opinion. But like all left wing media The Guardian is not above lying when it suits its progressive agenda.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:32am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The NZ hit pieces seem to be provided by NZ correspondents–another use for our $50M?
    
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    September 19, 2020 12:52pm
  - Paulus
    
    The person who writes the New Zealand articles is based in Wellington not UK.
    
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    September 19, 2020 1:32pm
Littletramp

A problem many countries now have with Covid management is that the same health experts have been retained throughout. The problem with that is there is now so much more known about the virus, but those experts are so focussed on protecting their early proclamations (their butts) and are often ignoring the new truths to allow us all to move forward – politics.
If we want to make any progress, it is time to clear the decks of those original “experts” who are now just butt covering, take informed current health advice and get rid of the politicking officials.
What does Treasury see changing that is going to open our borders in 2022? Unless we accept some health risk, the borders can never open.
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September 19, 2020 8:44am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Treasury are deprecated, better ask MBIE who are the preferred pushovers for the govt.
  
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  September 19, 2020 12:54pm
wimpston peeeders

that headline should be changed to “climate of fear ranks highest this election”
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September 19, 2020 8:47am
Skippytony

Victor Hanson at PJ Media with a nice TDS perspective for you David

An embargoed and bankrupt Iran is teetering on the brink. Its international terrorist appendages, including Hezbollah, are broke.

China is increasingly being ostracized by much of the world.

The U.S. has cut its carbon emissions, often at a rate superior to those nations still adhering to the Paris climate accord targets.

Cross-border illegal immigration has been reduced, according to many metrics.

ISIS was bombed into near dissolution. Moderate regimes in the Middle East are ascendant; radical cliques like Hamas and al-Qaeda are not.

More NATO members are meeting their commitments. The alliance’s aggregate defense investments are way up.

Is any of that considered news? Not really.

Instead, every three or four days the public is fed a series of fantasy “bombshells” much like the daily hysterias of the Robert Mueller investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump team and Russia — a two-year, media-hyped dud.

In recent weeks the media warned us that Trump was dismantling the Post Office to disrupt mail-in balloting.

Trump, we are told, has decided never to concede his sure loss in November and might have to be forcibly removed, perhaps by the military.

We read that Trump defiled the memory of fallen American soldiers in cemeteries abroad. We are lectured that Trump supposedly never took COVID-19 seriously.

All of these stories were either demonstrably untrue, were supported only by anonymous sources, or were the sensationalism of authors hawking books.
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September 19, 2020 8:55am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  You stay in that fantasy world.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:43am
  - Tall Man
    
    Why don’t you disprove any of his assertions or are you too lazy or is he right?
    
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    September 19, 2020 10:06am
  - wimpston peeeders
    
    You mean your tds reality?
    
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    September 19, 2020 10:18am
  - Jimmy White
    
    Tony is not in a fantasy world he is looking through the window at your fantasy world.
    
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    September 19, 2020 11:03am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    ‘Moderate regimes in the Middle East are ascendant’
    Snicker, snicker.
    
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    September 19, 2020 11:57am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Why doesn’t the PM hire you as another pink haired expert? Is the smell of the Fraser house basement overpowering?
      
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      September 19, 2020 12:56pm
Gravelroad

“How Labour’s new tax skims cream from Waikato’s fat cats“

It’s stupid, judgemental and unprofessional headlines like this that show how far reporting standards have fallen – especially at $tuff.
Apparently no oversight by subeditors (assuming they still exist) so reporters just make up there own based on their personal perspectives.
Yeah, yeah, well educated, qualified and hardworking taxpayers who invested in a university education are fatcats – so therefore undeserving of big salaries.
Pathetic -$tuff.
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September 19, 2020 9:02am
- Swifty
  
  When I moved up to Auckland in ’93 to seek my fortune I moved in to the CBD.
  
  Many times walking up and down Queen St I’d come across an old bloke hawking a socialist newspaper with the shouted refrain “It’s a real eye-opener”. I wish I remember what it was called, someone here may recall it. ‘The Socialist Worker’? ‘The Spark’?
  
  Anyway, I mention this because that’s exactly the type of headline they used to run. Appeals to envy, division, resentment and hate.
  
  Sickening.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:16am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Red Spark was a Wellington socialist rag…. only ran for 2 years.
    
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    September 19, 2020 9:38am
    - Jimmy White
      
      One year short of what the COL will
      
      10 2
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      September 19, 2020 11:04am
  - NoFax
    
    I started university in 1998 and there was a woman selling “The Spark” every Wednesday on Alfred Street. In my years there I never saw her sell one. I think it must have folded before 2000 as I never saw her or the “newspaper” after that.
    
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    September 19, 2020 12:01pm
    - Swifty
      
      Cheers NoFax – yeah, pretty sure it was The Spark.
      
      The most striking thing for me was that it talked in a language more reminiscent of early 20th Century British and European socialism not 1990s NZ.
      
      Unreadable babble. As I say, full of envy, conspiracy, division and hate.
      
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      September 19, 2020 12:38pm
Swifty

I stumbled across the website of Charlie Rose this week:

https://charlierose.com/

I don’t know how long it’s been up but my feeling is that it is quite recent.

It contains quite possibly thousands of interviews with hundreds and hundreds of guests over decades – all searchable by guest name.

I’ve watched half a dozen interviews in the last few days, haven’t had to pay a cent; haven’t even had to register.
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September 19, 2020 9:07am
- Durden
  
  He was finished by the #metoo crowd.
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/22/charlie-rose-new-sexual-hunting-ground-lawsuit
  
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  September 19, 2020 11:56am
I remember when

What an interesting virus this corona virus is!
In the UK, according to Worldometer figures the following “Facts” are recorded.
Totals to 1/6/20: 250,347 Cases 37,529 Deaths Equals a death every 6.7 Cases.
Totals to 17/9/20: Cases 381,614 Deaths 41,705 Equals a death every 9.15 cases.
1/6/20 to 17/9/20: 131,267 Cases 4,176 Deaths Equals a death every 31.8 cases.
From people I have contact with, it is (or at least was) easier to get covid-19 than it was to be tested.
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September 19, 2020 9:09am
Paulus

From the media I understand that Cindy visited a Girls Catholic School the other day where they openly lauded her and was reported to have said how they would like to be her.
What an admission – is this the best they can want to do is to work in a Fish and Chip shop, get a poor degree at a poor university, become leader of an international Communist Youth movement extolling Che Guevara publically, saying that you worked for the UK Socialist PM Tony Blair when she never met him, and having what is called an unmarried or solo mother as selected Prime Minister, and lauding all these factors.
I am sure the School Principal, and the Bishop, will be excited to learn this, looking forward to when her pupils are old enough to vote.
How sad.
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September 19, 2020 9:10am
- JackRabbit
  
  Paulus, You have a typo in “work in a Fish and Chip shop”. 😉
  
  Suffice to say that she didn’t “work”, but just went through the motions. If she had actually “worked” in the Fish and Chip shop, and did it long enough and well enough, she would have learnt some values, self esteem, pride and humility.
  
  Instead she developed bitterness, hatred and contempt towards others.
  
  Her selfie yesterday demonstrates that contempt.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:43am
  - Jimmy White
    
    She must have stored all those motions up because shes certainly releasing them now.
    
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    September 19, 2020 11:07am
- Gravelroad
  
  But perfectly understandable Paulus.
  Young people get the majority of their information and life views off electronic social media.
  Ms Ardern’s skill lies in using social media as an influencer.
  To young girls in particular , being a lifestyle influencer (and potentially getting paid for it) is the epitome of success.
  Ms Ardern presents as a cool, trendy socialist chic who can do it all – not a hard bitten uncool politician like Ms Collins, for example.
  What to wear, eat, think and do – be kind, have a baby, boyfriend, high profile job, holidays and Tv exposure – what’s not to admire in that?
  Course they all want to be like her – doesn’t matter what she really does and says behind closed doors in some office somewhere. It’s what she says on twitter and selfies on Instagram that tell the only relevant story…
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:00am
  - hilaryt
    
    Agree entirely. I’ve seen this effect with our 20-somethings and their peers…suddenly there is a PM/Politician they identify with. Powerful, influential, as you say. Politics is fun, slightly groovy (comes across as bogan to me, but…) & she ‘speaks’ the sort of glib and trendy ‘isms’ (comes across as effete to me, but…) that glide pleasingly across their embryonic political lives.
    
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    September 19, 2020 11:08am
    - lifesgood
      
      At least, so far, school kids can’t vote. Most of them will eventually grow up.
      
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      September 19, 2020 12:59pm
Fletch

The fix is in, in the U.S election. The Supreme Court in battleground state Pennsylvania has ruled that mail-in ballots will be allowed to be counted if they are received three days after the election. They don’t even need to have a postmark to be counted, and the signature on the ballot doesn’t need to match the signature for the voter on file. They have also thrown the green candidate off the ballot, supposedly to get more votes for Biden.

Meanwhile Michigan has ruled that ballots will be counted received two weeks after the election. And ballot harvesting will be allowed (allowing a third party to deliver the ballots).

This will allow for out-and-out fraud.

https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/09/17/pennsylvania-supreme-court-postmark/

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/09/18/michigan-judge-extends-deadline-two-weeks-mail-in-ballots-postmarked-november-2/

Gone are the days when we know who the winner in an election is at the end of the night. This will be drawn out for weeks… ?
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September 19, 2020 9:13am
- mikenmildagain
  
  On the plus side, Fletch, Florida has made it impossible for released prisoners regain the franchise, so that will help to suppress the danger of too many blacks showing up to vote.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:41am
  - Jimmy White
    
    Florida has some 67,000 blacks in prison or jail.
    This is, one out of every 37 blacks in Florida (the U.S. Census Bureau)
    Blacks make up 48% of all Florida inmates
    
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    September 19, 2020 11:11am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      And the Florida court has voted to deny the franchise to over a million former felons…
      
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      September 19, 2020 11:59am
- wimpston peeeders
  
  well that opens the floodgates for fraud.
  
  imo if a potus cannot delay the election then it also shouldnt be extended.
  mail ins should be open prior and any arriving after traditional polling booths shut get burned.
  
  this allows for ppl upset at a trump landslide to get out and vote after the election. if the left cant win they change the law to benefit them… if trump still wins an election rigged against him the dems are guna lose their shit worse then before
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:25am
wimpston peeeders

clean and renewable…

https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/122768217/contact-energy-told-to-clean-up-its-mess-after-lake-turns-to-swamp

I remember watching the dam shut and watching the lake fill up when I was a kid, then I watched the massive weed beds grow and log jams occur then boating and getting stuck in the middle of kawarau arm after hitting a silt bar.
it was all gunna be fixed and that was 20+years ago the last time I was on the lake, now driving past the weeds worse then ever and the silt is progressing.

the answer to new zealands economic woes lie in the rich gravels below that lake, lost forever and now covered in millions of tons of silt.
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September 19, 2020 9:21am
- Tall Man
  
  Lake Aniwhenua is the same.
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:10am
  - sooty
    
    What are the dams in the Waikato river like? Silting up from Lake Taupo down!
    
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    September 19, 2020 12:58pm
Fletch

A Hollywood actress re: Trump, Democrats, etc, who actually makes some sense. She’ll probably be blacklisted by her peers.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CFNX7XYjUiC/
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September 19, 2020 9:21am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Isn’t blacklisting a thing of the past?
  For example, on this day in 1952, the US attorney-general announced that Charlie Chaplin would not be allowed to return to his home of over thirty years.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:37am
  - Fletch
    
    When I say “blacklisted” I do mean that the actor just isn’t considered for jobs anymore, etc. Just ask any actor who is conservative how that works. Many just hide their political affiliation.
    
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    September 19, 2020 9:49am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Unlike actual blacklisting, this is just in your imagination.
      
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      September 19, 2020 12:00pm
mikenmildagain

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
This would be cheered by those on Kiwiblog who are prone to lament ‘revisionist’ history:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/300111479/donald-trump-alleges-leftwing-indoctrination-in-schools-says-he-will-push-more-proamerican-history
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September 19, 2020 9:31am
- Fletch
  
  Um, we have known for decades that the U.S school and university systems push anti-American bullshit. It’s a breeding ground for left wing liberalism.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:51am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    That’s right, Fletch. Teachers really can’t be trusted. they need bureaucrats in Wellington or Washington to tell them exactly what to teach.
    
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    September 19, 2020 12:51pm
greenfinger

I was looking forward to more of those selfies by the Princess and her left wing mob on the left wing media today… but disappointed to see that the communists have decided to take the weekend off.
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September 19, 2020 9:31am
- Jimmy White
  
  They are all in the naughty corner
  
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  September 19, 2020 11:13am
Swifty

Some KB readers may be aware that I grow spuds.

It is a wonderful activity with many, many benefits. It helps keep me fit, it economically supports my local seed and fertiliser suppliers, it provides months of food for me and my family and friends, and enables wonderful social interaction between me and my community in discussing potato growing methods, potato varieties, past and disease management etc etc.

I believe potato-growing such a great and virtuous activity that I propose establishing a political party and campaigning for making the study of spud growing compulsory in our primary and secondary schools.

Yes, I realise this will be expensive in having to train thousands of teachers in potato-growing and I realise too that the kids other subjects will inevitably suffer having to make room in their school day for spud-growing lessons, tutorials, field exercises and lab experiments etc – but I don’t care. All that matters is that the kids get to enjoy the world of spud-growing as much as I do.

To ensure compliance, the parents of learners who rebel against this initiative will be hauled before the courts and fined. As I said, it has to be compulsory lest the benefits of a nation of spud-growing enthusiasts become diluted.

Who is with me?
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September 19, 2020 9:36am
- Yvette
  
  Who is with me?
  Jim Bolger
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:17am
  - Swifty
    
    I sleep soundly at night in the comfort of knowing Jim ‘Spud’ Bolger aka ‘Old Potato Head’ firmly backs my vision of a nation of spud growers holding hands and walking together towards our future of broad sunlit uplands….
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10435251
    
    He is in fact our Patron Saint.
    
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    September 19, 2020 10:45am
  - chukar
    
    Is that the J B quisling ?
    
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    September 19, 2020 6:57pm
- tf78
  
  Swifty, did you happen to see the movie- The Potato Peel Pie Literary Society, (I think that’s it’s name). It was a lovely movie if you get a chance to watch it.
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:55am
  - Swifty
    
    Thanks very much tf78.
    
    We will make the viewing of this film compulsory for all citizens.
    
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    September 19, 2020 11:28am
- marcw
  
  Tractors for all Comrade.
  
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  September 19, 2020 11:12am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  What varieties MUST we grow?
  
  Will you prosecute folks selling green potatoes?
  
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  September 19, 2020 11:48am
  - marcw
    
    These are the Committee approved varieties:
    Red Rocket
    Desiree
    Chieftain
    La Rouge
    NorDonna
    Norland
    Red La Soda
    Red Pontiac
    Red Ruby
    Sangre
    Viking
    
    Read more at Gardening Know How: Red Potato Varieties – Growing Potatoes With Red Skin And Flesh https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/potato/growing-potatoes-with-red-skin.htm
    
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    September 19, 2020 11:59am
    - wimpston peeeders
      
      refering to them as red skin is pretty racist and what about the yellow white and purples?
      
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      September 19, 2020 12:24pm
  - Swifty
    
    Maggy, I’ve just conferred with my fellow growers on the Spud Party Council and our position is as follows:
    
    There will be no compulsion on which varieties must be grown, however growing in itself will be compulsory.
    
    All schools must have a vegetable garden of no less than an acre (it is encouraged that sports fields are repurposed) and no less than half of such gardens must be dedicated to spud growing.
    
    By 2025 no less than 20% of teachers must be Master Spud Growers or school funding will become jeopardised.
    
    Additional comments from Council members included:
    
    “If a lack of spud-growing teachers is what’s hindering a full roll out of spud growing in schools, then we have a simple solution. Train more teachers.”
    
    The Spud Party wants to see spud growing become part of the core curriculum up to year 10 by 2030. But for that to happen, the lack of resources needs to be addressed.
    
    “The commitment of saying spud growing should be a core subject brings with it a commitment to a plan to allow that capacity”
    
    The party is proposing an expansion of the fees-free Targeted Training and Apprenticeships Fund (TTAF) to include spud growing courses up to level five.
    
    This could help ease pressure on the education sector and remove barriers for people eager to study and teach spud growing. The Party also thought it would also help those struggling with Covid-19 job losses.
    
    “People who lost jobs due to Covid-19 could retrain, with the aim of eventually teaching spud growing. They could also apply those skills to mahi throughout the public and private sector.
    
    About 185,000 Kiwis are expected to be out of a job by mid-2021 due to the economic impacts of Covid-19. The Party see that as an opportunity for people to retrain and help revive the skill of spud growing.
    
    ”Spud growing will remain in danger unless we do something quite transformative.”
    
    On the matter of selling green spuds Maggy, we favour only non-green spuds sold and will adopt a light regulatory regime initially, limited to social opprobrium, cancel culture, damning letters to the editor and the mocking on social media for such sellers.
    
    We do not, however, rule out more heavy handed enforcement at a later stage if people continue to treat their spuds with such casualness or disdain.
    
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    September 19, 2020 12:20pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      For your school lunches’ manifesto – potatoes compulsory
      
      http://www.potatoesinschools.com/Content/pdf/FiveReasonsFINALDraft.pdf
      
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      September 19, 2020 2:16pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      And for the dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, grain-free, peanut-free, soy-free folk on KB….
      
      Potato milk
      https://www.godairyfree.org/recipes/milk-subs/potato-milk-vegan-gluten-free-soy-free
      
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      September 19, 2020 2:20pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

OAN 9/11 first responder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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September 19, 2020 9:36am
Catgurl13

Just watching The Nation with the interview with Matt King, Willow Jean Prime and Shane Jones. Matt is looking very professional and making a lot of sense when he talks. WJP is a clueless nitwit saying she is for the building of museums and such there for tourism. Matt said they needed the 4 line highway which more important. SJ just prattling on and fluffing himself. I hope Matt King wins!!!…….WJP built a house on Maori land which cost her a lot less than the average person having to do it who have to buy the land.Shes a posturing white Maori chick full of herself and a stuck-up twat.
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September 19, 2020 9:40am
- geoff3012
  
  She sure is….l.
  
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  September 19, 2020 9:49am
- Tall Man
  
  Now don’t hold back, what do you really think of her 🙂
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:11am
Fletch

I went out shopping yesterday in South Auckland for the first time in about a week. What a difference a week makes. Last time, about half of the shoppers in the Warehouse were wearing masks. Same for Countdown. Yesterday there were about two people in each store wearing a mask. It seems like people have just given up on it now. I was wearing one, and I felt like a person who has gone to what he thought was a fancy dress party only for it to turn out not to be.
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September 19, 2020 9:56am
Dave Mann

A short story

Julia was a little nervous at first as she stepped into the conversation booth, not knowing who she might meet in the box behind the plexiglass screen.

It was called a Conversation Booth, or ‘Convo’ for short and it was where two people could meet for a twenty minute naked exposed conversation with another human being. By ‘naked and exposed’ of course, the authorities meant ‘without a mask’ and there was always a little thrill of excitement when users booked their time in the booth using the app. Naked and Exposed was the formal charge for going out in public unmasked, so there was always that wicked thrill of disobedience in the description that added to the excitement.

Only approved users were able to log on and Julia was a little nervous that the watchers might have picked up her hesitation at the supermarket in replying ‘obedience is our hope’ to the standard farewell ‘stay safe’. But the cameras hadn’t picked up her transgression and so here she was. Ready for anything.

Julia could feel a small frisson of excited fear in her heart as she anticipated seeing actual facial expressions in a stranger for the first time since primary school. The flicker of a smile might throw her off at first, but in this courageous moment she felt almost ready for anything.

She had seen smiles, of course, in old movies bootlegged in forbidden online sites and she knew that in theory humans have a myriad of different facial expressions under their masks. But this was different. Kinda scary but fun.

She had logged on under her UF (UnsureFemale) user classification as all first time convos are required to do by law and she couldn’t help hoping that the other user might be a UM. UMs were difficult to find since the authorities had introduced the Safe User Classifications. But U was nowhere near as scarce as H. HMs and HFs were virtually endangered species, after the overseers had declared that humans were bad for the planet and breeding was to be discouraged.

The door on the other side started to open….
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September 19, 2020 9:58am
I remember when

The real question is why didn’t MPI not see this coming earlier?
Jasmine Hubber, the well meaning but ill-advised, owner of ‘Til the Cows Come Home Sanctuary’ will not be prosecuted over cows found in skeletal state.
Care of the 70 Cows, 1 of which had to be put down and 10 more are critical’ was entrusted to a grazier during alert level 4.
Stuff have in earlier articles drawn attention to the Sanctuary’s ongoing issues with feed and accessing financial support. As far back as 7/3/20.
Invariably, these problems were caused by over-reaching their means while trying to get people to “see the animals as more than meat.”
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September 19, 2020 10:02am
- wimpston peeeders
  
  As an ex dairy farmer everytime I read about that silly girl I laughed and laughed, when she was whinging about feed I said to the wife I bet it becomes an animal welfare issue and 6months later yup it did.
  
  theyre her cows and her responsibility, she got let off because of her naivity, any other farmer would be slammed.
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:33am
  - Gravelroad
    
    You are absolutely correct WP.
    If you are a professional, taxpaying farmer you are fair game for every armchair expert going from MPI down and SAFE/PETA up.
    But some well meaning, amateur animal activist knows far more about how to look after livestock, (or furbabies) eh!
    And when they get into trouble because of their inexperience and lack of resources there will only be consequences for the poor, damaged animals.
    It’s like me taking over the local PaknSav for the weekend and not knowing how to look after the freezers when they break down leading to the loss of valuable stock.
    But that would be my fault, wouldn’t it.
    
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    September 19, 2020 11:03am
Catgurl13

Three more dumb heads on the racist prog the Hui. John Tamahere, Peeni Henare and Marama Davidson……even chooks in the chook house would be having a more intelligent conversation….cluck cluck cluck!!!
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September 19, 2020 10:45am
- Jimmy White
  
  Chicken Racist. My chooks would be upset you are comparing them to those three
  
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  September 19, 2020 11:17am
- RiP NZ
  
  Maybe they could turn their attention to this and the many examples like it…https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300111308/whnau-wont-help-police-after-auckland-babys-catastrophic-head-injuries
  
  Nothing ever fkn changes with these people. Pull down statues if you like, riot with BLM, scream racism at every passing car.
  
  GFY. We should all be very angry at this.
  
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  September 19, 2020 4:49pm
I remember when

We have up to 400-500 deaths every year as a result of the seasonal influenza epidemics.
We do not lockdown the country!
Is that because we have a flu vaccine, even if it often has a low success rate (wrong strain)?
Is it because, if it is influenza, 400-500 deaths is acceptable?
Once (if) we have a covid-19 vaccine, will 400-500 deaths a year be accepted?
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September 19, 2020 10:46am
- Wangas Feral
  
  No. One is too many. So Ardern will lock us down forever. For our own good you understand.
  
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  September 19, 2020 12:13pm
Maggie Pie

My partner’s mum was just telling us she gassed up the Audi at Z Energy in Greenlane this morning.
When she went in to pay and get a copy of the Herald, the cheeky prick on the Till asked if she had a SuperGold Card?”

Last time she ever fills up there.
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September 19, 2020 10:48am
- Catgurl13
  
  She should have asked him to show his 18+ card…….
  
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  September 19, 2020 10:53am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    It could be an age thing, although Ma reckons she finds most Pakis working here culturally unaware.
    
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    September 19, 2020 11:28am
    - Durden
      
      Pakis? Now who is culturally unaware?
      
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      September 19, 2020 12:02pm
      - artemisia
        
        Is it culturally inappropriate to mention people from Pakuranga?
        
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        September 19, 2020 12:46pm
- Ruahine
  
  Well maybe not Maggie. A lot of people use their parents SuperGold Cards or it is lent to friends and rellies that do not qualify. There is no ID required on the card. Improper use on Auckland Public Transport is rife.
  
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  September 19, 2020 11:56am
- wimpston peeeders
  
  sounds like an EV would have made better use of that 40k then her nose job. charge at home and wouldnt need to hear truthbombs from minimum wage peasants
  
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  September 19, 2020 12:21pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Yes she can be a bit silly about it sometimes. A few of the girls from the Village regularly hop on the ferry to Waiheke for lunch.
    She’s the only one that would rather pay the fare.
    
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    September 19, 2020 12:56pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

2020 will be like 2016 for Trump, only much better.
https://bongino.com/if-the-polls-are-as-wrong-as-they-were-in-2016-trump-has-the-election-in-the-bag/?
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September 19, 2020 10:53am
- Billy Collins
  
  As great as that would be, I’m not so sure.
  Trump has ground to make up in the next few weeks.
  
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  September 19, 2020 2:34pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Stop watching CNN, MSNBC, and now even Fox. They are Fake News
    
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    September 19, 2020 3:19pm
I remember when

NZTA;
Nothing goes faster than the introduction of the new speed limits on secondary roads.
Every time a “dangerous section” of road is improved a new section suddenly becomes “dangerous”.
It’s only a matter of time before 11.00 pm to 6.00am becomes a reduced speed period. Accidents are out of all proportion to the number of vehicles on the road at that time!
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September 19, 2020 10:57am
wimpston peeeders

damn!!! Talk about kicking a dog when its down.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122824122/election-2020-labour-pledges-to-increase-sick-leave-entitlements-to-10-days-a-year

matariki
Increase to 10 sick day entitlement.
min wage 2021 increase to $21

couple that with lockdowns and the uncertainty of future cripling lockdowns, higher tax for the sucessfull and im sure the business world is overjoyed and brimming with confidence.

no wonder immigrants want to work here… NZ the country where staff have more power and rights then the employer and tenants have more rights to a house then the landlord.

backwards as fuck.
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September 19, 2020 11:17am
MCos

Maybe another coup on the cards in Thailand.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Thai-king-s-favorite-to-take-over-army-as-PM-s-choice-ignored
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September 19, 2020 11:24am
oldfella

The Rob Guest legacy award for young musical theatre talent has run into trouble in Australia.
Not because the contestants weren’t all young and talented, but because they were not … diverse enough.
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/musicals/musical-theatre-prize-cancelled-after-diversity-row-20200918-p55x2r.html
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September 19, 2020 11:25am
- Rich Prick
  
  Have you noticed how the diversity crowd isn’t very diverse? If they were true to their wokeness, they’d cancel themselves.
  
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  September 19, 2020 12:33pm
oldfella

When the ‘woke’ put a target on your back, they are relentless.
Stupid, but relentless. 😉
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8747125/JK-Rowling-accused-Islamophobia-passage-book-shared-online.html
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September 19, 2020 11:30am
greenfinger

I am surprised Labour only stopped at 10 days a year for sick leave. They should also jack minimum wages to $100 per hour, putting annual leave entitlement to 365 days. That way, we solve child poverty forever.
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September 19, 2020 11:35am
- Wangas Feral
  
  That is a Green party position I think.
  
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  September 19, 2020 12:12pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  This will make more poverty. It was these rash,irresponsible wage hikes that got the 70’s Labour govt into a wage price spiral. Too much spending in a country short of foreign currency raised import prices with further consequential demands for wage increases.
  1975 was a National landslide. Expect it again this time. Voters have turned. Not only have the lockdowns brutalised them but they have been denied hope. Now they are sensing financial disaster too. A fatal mistake of any govt to lose the support of the women voters because they are no longer trust the govt as housekeepers of NZ.
  ☑️☑️Ready, trusted and able☑️☑️
  
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  September 19, 2020 1:13pm
  - IC5000
    
    Do you have any empirical evidence to back this up or are you just relying on your emotions again?
    
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    September 19, 2020 9:19pm
- niggly
  
  Looks like whatever new policy National announces, Fraser House is forced to blatantly raise the stakes to regain the media (and public) limelight (and roll out the PRincess)!
  
  Also notice how Labour’s “easy” announcement of an extra 5 days sick leave comes at the employers expense (or the taxpayers expense for the bureaucracy)?
  
  Perhaps National can outdo them by suggesting rather than extending sick leave as much, also add in an annual “mental health” day (so workers than need to, can take them without any shame)?
  
  Anyway whether it’s really a good or not it will create alot of positive media coverage (and get the people talking about it – to National’s advantage)!
  
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  September 19, 2020 1:54pm
  - Akarak
    
    How irresponsible!
    
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    September 19, 2020 6:59pm
greenfinger

Ardern and her lot are really the pawns for China. How else would you explain their policies?
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September 19, 2020 11:39am
Monique Watson

Ruth Bader Ginsberg has died. A formidable woman and a loss to the bench
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September 19, 2020 11:45am
- mikenmildagain
  
  +1
  
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  September 19, 2020 12:35pm
- All_on_Red
  
  The Election just got hotter ????
  Time for more ?
  
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  September 19, 2020 1:24pm
- Billy Collins
  
  A true symbol of perseverance.
  
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  September 19, 2020 2:30pm
- rangitoto
  
  She should have retired years ago.
  
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  September 19, 2020 3:01pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Enter Judge Jeanine Pirro and watch the fireworks
  
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  September 19, 2020 3:23pm
Honorary Kiwi

This is an interview with Anders Tegnell by the renouned Engish Interviewer Andrew Neil. Thoughtful and calm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C99MtK4ogM&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1O2-31-s45k5sz_zwlIbeeu_HQeIddV5KngRby5t8O1E1Wu_jeVBCULi4

There are many things to take away from it but I would highlight three.

1) Many of the deaths in the first six weeks were not just in Aged Care Facilities but Swedens Immigrant Communities. This would help explain why deaths have reduced remorsely during the summer because you know precisely which communities suffer and where to place your resources.

2) Sweden benefitted from having far more sophisticated modelling than the UK which gave them confidence even during the darkest days that they were doing the right things in extremely challenging circumstances. There were 70,000 very frail and elderly people living in Aged Care Facilities to protect from an extremely high likely hood of death. Their own modelling turned out to be very accurate.

3) A couple of weeks ago in an exchange with Andrew Worth I explained the increase in cases in the summer as likely to be due to Swedes coming out after their winter and socialising but argued that the 35 days to peak still applied to the second peak. My supposition was incorrect the reason why cases rose was simply due to a substantial increase in testing by a ratio of four times.

This makes it clear that Sweden’s “second wave” summer is an illusion and if you were to adjust the case counts by a factor of 4 the progression of active cases looks different.

At the first peak cases were around the 500 mark per day. At the second peak on the Jun 19 1000. In all probablity if the testing capacity had been four times higher through out, the first peak would be 2,000 and from then on cases merely plateaud until they fell away in late June.
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September 19, 2020 11:48am
- Martio Jonesetti
  
  For all of Europe, population 360 million, the weekly all-cause mortality is at normal levels for the 24 participating countries; 46,000 for week 37 (14 September).
  Euromomo Statens Serum Institut of the Danish Ministry of Health is responsible for collating the weekly all-cause mortality for the 24 participating countries in Europe; population 360 million.
  https://www.euromomo.eu/graphs-and-maps/
  Please have a look at the first graph showing that for this last week; “week 37” (14 September); all-cause mortality is at normal levels = 46,000/week have died. This is a “live” graph so you can run your mouse over it to see each week going back 4 years.
  As you can see the 2020 peak (weekly deaths above 60,000/week; for all of Europe; 24 countries; pop 360 million) lasted for 7 weeks from week 11 (18th March) until week 18 (6 May), and then weekly deaths returned to normal.
  The coronavirus excess-deaths-above-normal-level lasted two months (March/April) in Europe. And by May it was all finished (deaths back to normal).
  What we have been seeing through the European summer is what is known as a “Case-demic” – ie: lots of testing finding dead RNA particles of any type of virus (flu, cold, influenza, covid, sars, H1N1, etc). So, lots of “cases” but deaths are at normal level.
  This Irish statistical engineer Ivor Cummins explains “Viral Issue Crucial Update Sept 8th: the Science, Logic and Data Explained”.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UvFhIFzaac&t=1266s
  
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  September 19, 2020 2:33pm
Catgurl13

Seeing John on the Hui…..What is John Tamahere on?…..he is on another planet…..so full of himself and his racist,separatist outrageous ideas that are so backward and unsuitable for NZ. Hey John most Maori have white in their families, they are not going to vote for a very racist party against whites.
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September 19, 2020 11:50am
- oldfella
  
  Why has John not dropped his ‘white’ first name and switched to Hone?
  If nothing else, his performance should make Aucklanders feel grateful they didn’t end up with this clown as mayor.
  
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  September 19, 2020 12:12pm
- wimpston peeeders
  
  hone harawera, john tamahere and oscar kightley = [Deleted & a warning – please try and stick to the rules. Mod.] and they all have a platform to spew their anti white hatred and never get called out for what it is.
  
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  September 19, 2020 12:15pm
  - lifesgood
    
    Marama Davidson’s father is Rawiri Paratene whose real name is actually Graeme McFarland. These maori who change their names because they are woke are actually throwing their birth names into their parent’s faces. I think it is a huge insult to their parents. McFarland, eh?, clearly has Scottish ancestry.
    
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    September 19, 2020 1:11pm
    - Swifty
      
      I thought his name was Peter Broughton?
      
      6 0
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      September 19, 2020 1:44pm
      - lifesgood
        
        No, I remember him from his Mercury days.
        
        6 0
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        September 19, 2020 1:52pm
      - Swifty
        
        Pretty sure he was born Peter Broughton, I guess he may have changed it more than once?
        
        7 0
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        September 19, 2020 2:10pm
      - lifesgood
        
        Oh, sorry!!! You are right. There must have been another maori actor called Graeme McFarland who changed his name. I’ll have to suss it out.
        
        5 0
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        September 19, 2020 2:34pm
    - fernglas
      
      Are you not geting confused with Grant McFarland, who went by the surname of Mangakahia as well?
      
      5 0
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      September 19, 2020 2:35pm
      - lifesgood
        
        Yes, possibly….it’s a long time ago 🙂
        
        1 0
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        September 19, 2020 4:52pm
- Mobile Michael
  
  He’s just saying anything to get elected. Also see Winston Peters, Jacinda Ardern, etc.
  
  7 0
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  September 19, 2020 12:31pm
tom hunter

I wonder how RBG’s death will change the US election? A death is a long time in politics.”
10 1
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September 19, 2020 12:23pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Well, it was almost certain that the next president would have the opportunity to nominate her replacement.
  But will McConnell now claim that the confirmation process should go ahead before the election?
  
  5 20
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  September 19, 2020 12:38pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Who b. cares.
    Don’t you have lawns to mow, pigs to cut or something else that’s useful to do.
    At least at my age I have an excuse for being here. What’s yours?
    
    9 6
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    September 19, 2020 1:16pm
    - MCos
      
      What’s your excuse?
      
      4 6
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      September 19, 2020 1:58pm
oldfella

Ahhh, just spotted a lovely little story about our new royal family. Made me go all soft and gooey, just reading it. Not!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/parenting/family-life/300111547/clarke-gayford-shares-he-and-neves-favourite-handmade-gift–a-crazy-eyes-cat-with-nipples
That $50 million was well spent. Even if Stuffed was overpriced at $1.
26 2
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September 19, 2020 12:23pm
bruceavon

Surprised by the Auckland Central poll. I confidently predicted this morning that the left vote would be split and Mellow would swan in. Not sure what’s going on there. Shows how good Nikki Kaye was.
18 2
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September 19, 2020 12:32pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  It might have something to do with the fact that AUCKLAND went into L3 lockdown barely 36 hours after Emma Mellow had been selected as the candidate, and that she has had very limited opportunities to campaign. All in all, it’s not a disastrous result, and I am sure Emma will close the gap significantly over the next four weeks.
  
  23 2
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  September 19, 2020 12:52pm
  - rockape
    
    Sadly the National Party made a bit of a hash of the selection process. That won’t have helped.
    
    18 0
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    September 19, 2020 1:01pm
  - bruceavon
    
    Yeah. But who is Helen White though? Never heard of her till a few weeks ago. And I just read what the party vote was. That’s ugly.
    
    5 1
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    September 19, 2020 2:51pm
- The Boss
  
  If this poll is accurate we have to resign ourselves to Labour governing on their own for three more years, and Greens back in parliament. The only good news is that NZF will be out.
  Saint Cindy is still mesmerizing the sheeple.
  
  9 1
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  September 19, 2020 1:04pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Greens throwing everything at Auckland Central, it’s life or death for them.
  
  3 0
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  September 19, 2020 4:31pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes, and on their way out they are intent on turning or kids into drug adicts. NO VOTES GREEN!
    
    2 0
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    September 19, 2020 8:15pm
jonno1

Sorry, wrong spot.
3 0
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September 19, 2020 1:37pm
Maggie Pie

To be honest, I’ve got no idea why Aucklanders are so much against wearing a face mask. I went shopping at Commercial Bay this morning and called about eight people “shithead”….not one of them even noticed.
17 1
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September 19, 2020 1:48pm
Philview

Labour has released their workplace policy document this morning. I see that it proposes to legislate for national fair pay agreements. The media of course overlooked this and headline the sick pay increase. The fair pay agreements sound like a nice concept but we have raised many concerns on this blog back in 2017 on what the consequences will be such as 1) Many small businesses will be destroyed who can’t compete with designated wages and conditions 2) What constitutes a fair pay in Auckland may destroy a business in Southland. 3) It creates black markets.
Please feel free to add your thoughts.
24 0
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September 19, 2020 1:48pm
- BAM
  
  The purpose is to destroy small business, that’s Labours objective.
  
  11 0
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  September 19, 2020 2:34pm
- Harriet
  
  Payrates being arbitrary is fine.
  
  But all that I’ve seen over the last 3 decades is that it has lead to wage suppression, leading to more and more socialism…wff….. more ‘free stuff’ in general.
  Otherwise we would be seeing a different result.
  
  Socialism is for pay days — where government socialise part of everyone’s pay.
  
  It’s not for business owners to socialise pay rates every hour of the day – giving less money to those who do more while giving more money to those who do less!
  
  As Ruth Richardson said “Those who do the work will get more pay.”
  
  They clearly aren’t getting more pay!!!
  
  In other words the adult minimum pay rate is for the least productive workers — it’s not for the entire shop floor. 😎
  
  3 1
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  September 19, 2020 2:43pm
- artemisia
  
  The fair pay agreement for the aged care sector had some unexpected consequences. May have settled down now, but I recall – some rest homes closed their doors, most small and local but including larger Caughey Preston; workers in the mental health sector moved to aged care roles for decent pay rises; some customer facing staff were moved to other duties not subject to the pay rises.
  
  3 0
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  September 19, 2020 4:53pm
adaman

Newshub have become the first media outlet to do the story about Ardern breaking her own social distancing/mask rules she’s making the rest of us follow. Again Ardern doesn’t apologise but goes with her typical excuses. Funny to see the FB comments on Newshub post about this story being quite anti-Ardern. Social media tends to be quite in support of her but people aren’t lapping this up.

Bloody good on Newshub for this story.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/09/jacinda-ardern-says-public-difficult-to-control-after-being-accused-of-breaking-distancing-rules.html?fbclid=IwAR08GnYIPYPQV-zpLmj9JhoIlG1lYLtEc3dntjOPUW2iaR5idKRdgcYqj2E
25 0
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September 19, 2020 2:01pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  It is not Jacinda’s fault.
  
  Team 5 Million are being naughty.
  
  Jacinda Ardern says public ‘difficult to control’
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/09/jacinda-ardern-says-public-difficult-to-control-after-being-accused-of-breaking-distancing-rules.html
  
  22 0
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  September 19, 2020 2:30pm
  - fernglas
    
    What does she expect when she does selfies? Phones don’t have a telephoto lens.
    
    13 0
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    September 19, 2020 2:38pm
  - Swifty
    
    Yes, the damned, dirty public forced her to hold up her phone and smile……
    
    The Labour Party spinmeisters are now deeply in Comical Ali territory.
    
    “There are no American tanks in Baghdad. No. None. Never….”
    
    10 0
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    September 19, 2020 2:49pm
  - rangitoto
    
    Her fellow commies Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping can help her with advice on that.
    
    5 1
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    September 19, 2020 3:22pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Those two have special ‘medicines’ to help those who disagree
      
      3 2
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      September 19, 2020 4:47pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    So the Public are to blame? Always somebody else’s bloody fault, never hers.
    Never heard so much bullshit in my life – the lies never stop
    
    12 1
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    September 19, 2020 3:28pm
  - wimpston peeeders
    
    jacinda ardern… happy to throw any of the team of 5mil under the bus.
    
    11 1
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    September 19, 2020 3:53pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      I unsubscribed – even got a thankyou email from Jaspinda
      
      3 2
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      September 19, 2020 4:48pm
Rusty

How many people are scanning that app or signing there details before they enter supermarkets and other businesses in Auckland?

I’m not and I notice others aren’t either, its not that people are stupid or forgetful but maybe they like me are realizing this social distancing is unnecessary and is a big con job.
18 2
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September 19, 2020 2:03pm
- Inandout
  
  Rusty, the door monitor has gone from one Countdown so they also must have seen Cindy casually break the rules. Oldies still sign in, they are the terrified ones.
  
  6 0
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  September 19, 2020 2:34pm
- oob
  
  I am not going to install an app on my phone which allows Cindy to track my movements.
  
  4 2
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  September 19, 2020 4:50pm
- lifesgood
  
  Yep, I refuse to get sucked into all this election stealing nonsense. I’m a bit ashamed of my fellow NZers tbh. So many have just rolled over like obedient puppies. There does seem to be a bit of mass rebellion going on now, though. Good to see.
  
  5 1
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  September 19, 2020 4:55pm
All_on_Red

Oh wow
Mitch McConnell is talking about voting on Trumps nominee prior to the Election!!!!
?
6 3
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September 19, 2020 2:29pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  No rush though. They have until January irrespective of the election result.
  
  2 10
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  September 19, 2020 2:47pm
  - Harriet
    
    A 4 x4 divided bench can’t decide anything — so WHEN are they going to have a President if it’s a contested election ?
    
    The President is the one who nominates the vacancy – and without one there may be a 4×4 result.
    
    Even Trump doesn’t think he should be President for eternity. 😎
    
    1 3
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    September 19, 2020 4:42pm
- Billy Collins
  
  It may break some unwritten rule about respect, but its not really wrong.
  
  Meanwhile, the Left is literally going nuts at the mere idea:
  
  https://twitter.com/SomeBitchIKnow/status/1307130955308634114
  
  3 1
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  September 19, 2020 2:57pm
Swifty

Mogg of the Week:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8wKRg-1e6s
4 0
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September 19, 2020 2:37pm
- Papalazarou
  
  Damn I thought it was a cute cat video
  
  3 0
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  September 19, 2020 7:21pm
Billy Collins

Trump’s first response to learning of RBG’s death:

“She just died? Wow. I didn’t know that…She led an amazing life. What else can you say? She was an amazing woman, whether you agree or not. She was an amazing woman who led an amazing life. I’m actually sad to hear that.”
8 2
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September 19, 2020 2:44pm
- Inandout
  
  Now another Trump judge takes over from Dem RGB.
  
  3 3
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  September 19, 2020 3:34pm
Maggie Pie

I know it’s Maori Language Week and all that, but you never get the chance to practice it around where we live.

Just saying.
6 3
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September 19, 2020 2:56pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, try mana…except..
  ‘In the 19th century, scholars compared mana to similar concepts such as the orenda of the Iroquois Indians and theorized that mana was a universal phenomenon that explained the origin of religions.’
  
  4 1
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  September 19, 2020 3:36pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    EH’ bro! 😛
    
    2 2
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    September 19, 2020 4:13pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  You can kōrero with us on KB.
  
  Some of us need some whakaharatau.
  
  3 0
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  September 19, 2020 4:22pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

US Supreme Court is ruthless
4 5
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September 19, 2020 3:39pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Hillary :Ruth Ginsburg just dies and I would like to take her place”
Trump “Well it’s all right with me, if it is all OK with the funeral home”
18 4
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September 19, 2020 3:43pm
igm

How do you all like your taxes not only keeping leeches, losers, and layabouts; but funding “Stuff” to produce this vomit inducing tripe?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/parenting/family-life/300111547/clarke-gayford-shares-his-and-neves-favourite-handmade-gift–a-crazy-eyes-cat-with-nipples
5 3
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September 19, 2020 5:29pm
- RJ
  
  Vast majority of money went to broadcasting and transmission fees, I have never been able to find anything that shows money went to print media, got a link that shows stuff got money?
  
  As for Gayford, last I looked he had a job making crap tv shows, doesn’t get any no on air funding. So your money doesn’t go to him
  
  4 3
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  September 19, 2020 6:45pm
RJ

Joe Biden at his best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XUC6_HZHuY
3 2
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September 19, 2020 5:38pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

The mods here should be able to read the link, instead of warning me about an explaination of what it is about? Maybe not, they complain a lot.
https://babylonbee.com/news/trump-accused-of-fomenting-violence-by-hovering-over-cities-in-a-hot-air-balloon-chanting-fight-fight-fight?f
3 3
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September 19, 2020 6:02pm
Harriet

White privilege descends from praying to a black man from Galilee.

Guess then who should be bending the knee! 😎
1 8
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September 19, 2020 7:05pm

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