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August 13, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 13 August 2021

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General Debate

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krazykiwi

I had the misfortune of hearing a segment on Morning Report as I drove to work. It was Suzie Ferguson on the proposed changes to MIQ etc. A few observations

– That the delta variant is more transmissible was mentioned 4 times. There was no mention that it’s lethality is a fraction of the original strain.

– Hendy said all kids would need to be vaccinated in order for an end to lockdowns and opening of the border. This is clearly a top-down threat. If you’re not jabbed with these these experimental therapeutics then you are responsible for lockdowns. That’s is a hallmark of totalitarianism. Turning people against each other. Propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the targets for hatred. – Goebbels

– Chris Bishop just droned about lacking detail, rather than challenging the flawed narrative. Based on Bishop’s performance (and admittedly it was a short, clipped quote) I have zero confidence that National understands the importance of changing the narrative. They seem intent on sitting at the edge and criticising poor execution of the utterly flawed strategy

– There was zero mention of the fact that vaccine-created protection diminishes over time (to 16% after 6 months based in Israeli research), and therefore no mention of how the government would deal with 100% vaccination and the continued presence of widespread infections

I don’t normally listen the broadcast radio, but to think of how many people are being misled by this politically-inspired narrative is distressing. The world’s experts now agree that this disease is now endemic. Stamping it out is not an option, yet our government persists unchallenged with a strategy to do so.
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August 13, 2021 8:00am
- Scott
  
  Do you know what I fear much more than Covid? It’s the vast expansion of government power, the curtailing of our freedoms and the sense that our government now believes our freedom is dependent on their whims. In the past we would have said that freedom and human rights come from God. When they come from God you can’t take them away. But now that they come from the government they most certainly can.
  
  Chris Hipkins has promised that we will go into level 4 lockdown if there is a single case of the Delta Covid variant in the community. A single case and we will go into level 4 lockdown!
  
  Meanwhile in the UK almost all of their freedoms have been restored. In the UK the vast majority of people are vaccinated and normal life, including travel, is beginning to happen. Here in New Zealand the vaccine rollout is only now gaining some urgency. And still we can be expected to go into lockdown anytime in the next year for just one community case of Covid.
  
  Chris Hipkins and Jacinda Adern like the power. So do those epidemiologists such as the gimlet eyed Michael Baker. They love the power. You can be locked down for one single case of Covid somewhere in the community.
  
  Power is not a means to an end. Power is an end in itself. Please remember that when next you cast your ballot. Giving these guys are majority to do what they like was a really bad idea. They are accountable to no one and they think they can do what they like. And they do.
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:04am
  - CaptainCompromise
    
    I have about a 1% chance of having long term or permanent harm from Covid.
    
    History tells us there is a 100% chance of long term or permanent harm from expansive and controlling governments that remove freedoms.
    
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    August 13, 2021 9:12am
  - Fletch
    
    I notice that Newshub are running a story –
    
    The Ministry of Health has been forced to assure New Zealanders there is no merit to rumours circulating that the country is about to head into a COVID-19 lockdown
    
    In a late-night post to Facebook on Thursday, the ministry stated Healthline was “reporting many rumours relating to COVID-19 and lockdowns circulating”.
    
    “None of the reported rumours are true. There are currently no community cases of COVID-19 or any imminent lockdowns.”
    
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/08/coronavirus-ministry-of-health-assures-kiwis-rumours-of-imminent-lockdown-not-true.html
    
    Another news story where they want to deny a negative and thus get it into people’s heads.
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:12am
    - Sede Vacante
      
      They are clearly seeding the idea, and media and social media are the modes of doing this. They need a poll boost as well as a need to encourage lagging vaccination uptake. They are psychopaths.
      
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      August 13, 2021 12:01pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        Yes, agreed. This is a PSYOP.
        
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        August 13, 2021 1:05pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  I’m guessing you are not getting the vaccine?
  
  I only agree with your conclusion tat the virus cannot be “stamped out”.
  
  “There was no mention that it’s [Delta] lethality is a fraction of the original strain.”
  
  News to me. Can you cite any data?
  
  Also you omit the effectiveness of the vaccines in reducing serious illness and death. Which is all that matters in the end.
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:07am
  - Cinematic
    
    Take a look across the ditch. Do you see a health system collapsing? Bodies in the streets? The Spanish flu this isn’t.
    
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    August 13, 2021 8:11am
    - virtualmark
      
      Yes and no. I see the three largest states in Australia in lockdown.
      
      So it seems the choice is either lockdown or health system collapse. Or get everyone vaccinated asap.
      
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      August 13, 2021 8:43am
      - krazykiwi
        
        “So it seems the choice is either lockdown or health system collapse”
        
        Utter nonsense. When I hid under my bed earth was not struck by an asteroid, therefore hiding under my bed prevents asteroid strikes.
        
        You seem like a smart enough chap. How can you be captured by such a false dichotomy?
        
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        August 13, 2021 9:21am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        See the data I just posted on NSW ICU cases with COVID. So yes, with an unvaccinated population, the NSW health system would collapse if there was no lockdown right now. What alternative data do you have that makes you think it is “utter nonsense”?
        
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        August 13, 2021 9:28am
      - virtualmark
        
        krazy (many a true word spoken in jest …)
        
        The experience from the US, UK, Europe, India etc etc is that if you have Covid running *unconstrained* through your population then your health system will be overwhelmed and you will have lots of (elderly) people dying. That is plainly observable. Let’s call that the do-nothing option.
        
        Alternatively you can have strict lockdowns to stifle the transmission. You reduce your health & death costs but increase your social & economic costs. Let’s call that the lockdown option.
        
        Alternatively (or I could say eventually) you vaccinate the vast majority of your population, other than the anti-vaxxer numb-nuts, and then re-open your society. You still get a modest uptick in health & death costs, but at little social & economic cost. Let’s call that the vaccination option.
        
        ** Which of these three options would you choose? **
        
        This is not a false dichotomy, or trichotomy. This is the essential decision that every government is making.
        
        Now choose.
        
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        August 13, 2021 3:43pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        So, let me get this right. You propose an absolutely baseless dichotomy, then when called on it add a third option while suggesting I’m crazy. Got it.
        
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        August 13, 2021 8:37pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Those are the three choices every Government is weighing up.
        
        You don’t seem to have the cojones to make a decision. Colour me not surprised. Most commenters here are whingers and moaners. Armchair politicians who start drinking before midday.
        
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        August 14, 2021 2:40pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      No, what’s collapsing are freedom and liberty…. Australia’s Capital Entering Seven-Day Lockdown Following One Positive Covid Test
      
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      August 13, 2021 9:01am
      - Nickc2
        
        I seriously doubt there is any place on earth where there are so many loonies as the ACT in Aust. If Covid should clean them out, it can only be a blessing.
        
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        August 13, 2021 10:13am
      - sooty
        
        The Australian government of the day were clever putting them in one town.
        But the let the bastards out to travel!
        
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        August 13, 2021 11:56am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      What Australian data do you look at? From what I see the numbers of people in ICU in NSW at this very early stage of the outbreak is concerning:
      
      https://www.health.gov.au/resources/current-covid-19-cases-in-hospitals-and-intensive-care-units-icus
      
      There are 374 people in hospital and of those 62 are in ICU. There are 5,506 active cases. That means 6.8 percent of all people with COVID in NSW are sick enough to be in hospital.
      
      There are 874 ICU beds in NSW. Extrapolated that means that if 38,500 active cases emerge, the critically ill with COVID would occupy half of all ICU beds in NSW.
      
      https://www.statista.com/statistics/1106720/australia-number-of-icu-beds-by-state/
      
      So no there is no crisis in the health system in NSW, but that could change quickly given those trends.
      
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      August 13, 2021 9:25am
      - Taieri
        
        There are 5,506 active cases. That means 6.8 percent of all people with COVID in NSW are sick enough to be in hospital.
        ——————-
        
        There’re 5506 positive test results. Not CASES.
        
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        August 13, 2021 9:55am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “Active COVID-19 cases in NSW”
        “5,506
        Locally acquired”
        
        https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/stats-nsw.aspx
        
        That seems fairly clear.
        
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        August 13, 2021 10:41am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Good Quillette essay about the Australian experience: COVID-Zero: Was It Worth It?.
      
      Our concern that shutting down hospitals to “flatten the curve” would kill people was dismissed by the health establishment. They knew better. The ABS analysed every single doctor-certified death in Australia and compared it to the five years between 2015 and 2019. According to the ABS, cancer deaths are up by 8.9 percent. We sacrificed our businesses to protect the elderly in nursing homes. Dementia deaths are up 18.9 percent. The health establishment is taking victory laps over a reduction in influenza death thanks to our closed borders and social distancing. Deaths from respiratory diseases are up by 1.9 percent.
      
      Doctors convinced us that our friends and family were dangerous to our health. Not one person died of COVID-19 and somehow our national mortality rate has increased from an average of 375.9 deaths per day to 378.4 deaths. COVID-Zero costs five Australians every two days from “natural causes.” The horrifying part of this dry statistic is that it doesn’t include suicide or self-harm.
      
      There is a waiting list for the coroner to declare a death with “no suspicious circumstances” as a suicide. It will be at least two years before we know how many Australians died at their own hand for COVID-Zero. I doubt it will be good news.
      
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      August 13, 2021 10:57am
  - krazykiwi
    
    I will not be getting the Pfizer vaccine. Novavax is looking more promising.
    
    Re Delta, here’s a Public Health England technical briefing from 23rd July 2021. You’ll need to ‘download the PFD’. There is more work to be done here given that a number of highly vulnerable individuals who may have succumbed to the Delta variant were first taken our by the original (wild/alpha)
    
    re effectiveness in reducing serious illness & death, I was critiquing the content of the Morning Report. You are right, the data shows this which is good news. I have previously observed this.
    
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    August 13, 2021 8:23am
    - virtualmark
      
      I agree that the Novavax vaccine is a better vaccine. That was the view nearly 12 months ago when we were first ordering vaccines.
      
      Unfortunately though Novavax (which is a very small company) chose to not partner with a big Pharma company on the clinical trials and manufacturing ramp-up. And so their vaccine is still not approved, and still not available in any volume.
      
      Biontech partnered with Pfizer, Oxford with Astra-Zeneca, and Moderna with a bunch of people (including the NIH) in order to access expertise & resources to get through approvals and into production quickly. That partnering was a better plan.
      
      NZ has ordered Novavax, but AFAIK we don’t have any solid dates for deliveries.
      
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      August 13, 2021 8:47am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Benedict, here is a direct link to PHE’s Technical Briefing 20, and some analysis of that briefing here. I thought this para was interesting:
      
      Another noteworthy point from the briefing is that the secondary attack rate (SAR, the proportion of contacts that an infected person infects) of the Delta variant has continued to decline as the surge exhausts itself. The household SAR is now at 10.8%, down from a high of 13.5% on May 4th. This means nearly 90% of the people who live with someone infected with the ‘highly transmissible’ Delta variant do not contract the virus, an indication of widespread (and growing) immunity to the variant. Note that this is well below the 15.5% ‘direct contact’ SAR of the Alpha variant in the middle of December, giving the lie to the oft-repeated claim that Delta is intrinsically more infectious than Alpha.
      
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      August 13, 2021 10:08am
    - Fletch
      
      Agree. I’d go with Novavax or, even more promising, the Covax-19 vaccine being developed in Australia which actually stops transmission as well.
      
      https://newdrugapprovals.org/2021/06/28/covax-19/
      
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      August 13, 2021 11:17am
  - Simon
    
    “Also you omit the effectiveness of the vaccines in reducing serious illness and death. Which is all that matters in the end.”
    
    Comrade the jury is still out on that one.
    
    Check this out its as main stream as someone like you could handle. Will not link to those who have been right about the ro vaxxs all along. But anyway
    
    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/too-many-people-are-dying-of-covid-19-right-now.html
    
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    August 13, 2021 8:35am
  - BAM
    
    If you have the time, have a look at this video, I highly recommend it.
    The guy being interviewed is Dr Mike Yeadon, formerly a Vice President and Chief Science Officer at Pfizer,
    https://vimeo.com/543129387
    
    If you’re short of time watch from 38 minutes onwards.
    
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    August 13, 2021 8:47am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    If “reducing serious illness and death” is really all that matters in the end, then I guess we’ll just lock everyone down again, eh?
    
    Personally, I value my freedoms a hell of a lot more than I fear this virus, or its variants. That includes the freedom to choose what I allow to be injected into my body.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:10am
  - cmm
    
    The most important thing is for Cindy to continue to look awesome in front of her luvvies.
    
    For that to happen:
    1) Very few infections.
    2) Very, very few deaths.
    
    While the current vaccine does nothing (or extremely little) to prevent infections it does seem to reduce the deaths somewhat, though not to zero.
    
    As a result, I can’t see Cindy getting rid of MIQ any time soon.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:28am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Hendy knows as much about Covid as I do about nuclear physics. Nothing he says passes the sniff test, he is a Jaspinda sycophant
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:07am
  - RoboRob
    
    Everything I have heard from Hendy has turned out to be the opposite of reality. Remmber he forcast 80,000 deaths from Covid.
    
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    August 13, 2021 9:00am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Why doesn’t someone ask Hendy how he calculated 80,000 deaths in NZ?
    The guy has no credibility.
    
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    August 13, 2021 9:02am
    - Suze Wainwright
      
      And a family member in the Climate Change Commission – believers in the majesty of numbers I guess…
      
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      August 13, 2021 9:43am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Jaspinda told him, she is good with numbers
      
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      August 13, 2021 10:13am
      - pdm
        
        She struggles to know what day it is.
        
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        August 13, 2021 10:43am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        pdm, satire – sshhhhh
        
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        August 13, 2021 2:38pm
    - Stu2
      
      Simple
      
      That model run was if we did nothing at all – no lockdowns, no social distancing, no mask wearing, no MIQ …
      It probably did have the borders shut to tourists
      
      No one was seriously thinking that would be what happened, it was a basis for comparison with various intervention mixes.
      
      Looking at what happened in Spain and Italy with the early Covid variants, lack of action could have had that result.
      
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      August 13, 2021 12:50pm
  - westernScientest
    
    He is a grifter, nothing more
    
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    August 13, 2021 9:28am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      A grifter, a shyster and a charlatan, in my opinion.
      
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      August 13, 2021 10:12am
  - Tricati
    
    Hendy was the author of the 80,000 deaths scenario used by Ardern to frighten the crap out of the country – The 80,000 figure was an extrapolation of a much discredited UK scientists model, and failed to account for NZ’s population density, average population age, overall population health status or NZ housing stock (mostly live in individual houses not tower blocks). The fact Ardern still references it show just how dishonest she is.
    
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    August 13, 2021 9:32am
- Simon
  
  “Hendy said all kids would need to be vaccinated in order for an end to lockdowns and opening of the border”
  
  The zero covid narrative is challenged and the nutjobs turn nasty and vindictive.
  
  Herd immunity in the general population while isolate the vulnerable. The only way out.
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:14am
  - RoboRob
    
    Agree. Kids aren’t even good transmitters of the virus and they almost never suffer symptoms of the virus. The need for, and impact of vaccinating young children is effectively zero.
    
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    August 13, 2021 9:02am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      No.
      
      All the studies I have read over the last three months show that children are as much, or more, likely to transmit COVID to adults. They usually have few symptoms but high viral loads.
      
      “Studies that have systematically tested children and adolescents, irrespective of symptoms, for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection (using antigen or RT-PCR assays) or prior infection (through antibody testing) have found their rates of infection can be comparable, and in some settings higher, than in adults.12, 15, 24-29
      
      Children and adolescents can also transmit SARS-CoV-2 infection to others. ”
      
      https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_schools.html
      
      I would expect all children 12 and over to be vaccinated in New Zealand soon.
      
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      August 13, 2021 9:36am
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        I have a real problem with vaccinating kids to protect adults. The vaccines are not risk free – a lot of reports of heart issues and even deaths from vaccinating kids, not to mention the concentration of vaccine components in ovaries with who knows what implications. We should not be subjecting kids to risk (some of which may be unknown long term effects of vaccines) which likely outweigh the dangers to them from a covid infection (miniscule outside of a small pool of kids with medical issues)
        
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        August 13, 2021 10:15am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        Benedict I don’t know what’s happened to you, did you perhaps bump your head when you got out of bed today?
        
        Not only quoting the thoroughly discredited CDC, but also interpreting their comments a little, shall we say, liberally?
        
        “Studies that have systematically tested children and adolescents, irrespective of symptoms, for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection (using antigen or RT-PCR assays) or prior infection (through antibody testing) have found their rates of infection can be comparable, and in some settings higher, than in adults.”
        
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        August 13, 2021 10:18am
      - RoboRob
        
        The CDC results are heavily political. They openly admit their policies around children are made in consultation with the teachers unions. The unions who dont want schools to re open.
        
        In almost every other country (see Europe) they long ago decided that schools were safe to open as children do not transmit the virus well.
        
        My comments are not made from an anti vax perspective as, you probably know, I am very pro vaccine. But the reality is that it MAY not really be needed for children.
        
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        August 13, 2021 1:20pm
- wilderbeast
  
  This is a great post. Personally I’m not an anti-Vaxer, but I totally agree about the power grab / population control. And no-one seems to be talking about it. Here are some things that concern me:
  
  – Govt covid vaccination ads which end with an “I ❤️ NZ” logo – implied if you don’t vaccinate / do as govt says you don’t love your country.
  
  – the other ad that has a catchphrase along the lines of “with immunity comes possibilities” – which could be interpreted another “your freedom is in the power of our hands”
  
  – spoke to a friend the other night, healthy and in her 40s – she was randomly contacted to be vaccinated a while back. She asked a few questions why this was happening and surely older more vulnerable people should get it first etc. she was straight out asked by the person in the phone “are you an anti-vaxer?” – I’m uncomfortable at the idea of the question and the label.
  
  Hopefully the rumour about Labour’s popularity plummeting into the 30s is correct. If you see the “Three Waters” TV advertising you’ll see the same kind of manipulation going on. I’ve never seen it so brazenly applied in my lifetime in NZ. Remember the simple, clear non-political government advertising? Seems a long time ago now…
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:29am
- Brian McDonald
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  The fact is you are not one of the world’s experts and even the most poorly informed understand that there is likely to be a requirement to have further shots, just like the flu. At least put some thought into what you write – you’re appearing to need a rest from being an expert that is wrong about everything.
  Another thing which you always leave out is “death” is not the only consequence of Covid, serious harm some which may not be fully recovered from is also a consequence of severe cases.
  You’ve taken a good battering this week on your “herd immunity” which over the last 12 months you conceded as lifting from some 30% t0 90% before being effective. You’ve also said there will never be a cure for Covid when the very same day the Otago medical school said there may well be.
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:19am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Brian, once again … your tangential, and poorly articulated criticisms don’t deserve a response. Have a nice day.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:31am
  - westernScientest
    
    We should all obey the experts put in front of us ae Brian, everything works out well when we follow the experts ae Brian.
    How did that work out for the people who whole-heartedly followed the ‘expert’ teachings of the likes of Arthur Gütt and Ernst Rüdin.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:38am
  - cmm
    
    Oh please Brian. Is 80,000-will-die Hendy one of the world’s experts?
    
    He seems to know a bit about computer modelling, certainly enough to understand the garbage in/garbage out principle. However he seems disingenuous enough to not inform people of this sufficiently well.
    
    Hendy knows what to do to maximise state funding.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:55am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    `Do you really believe that 80,000 people in NZ could have died?
    
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    August 13, 2021 1:25pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  It’s difficult to shift the narrative in the presence of fairground liars. There is very little integrity in the official announcements about COVID. Some of the officials themselves have financial interests in the outcomes.
  The latest degendered bogeyperson has been tracked to a highly probable after affect of the “vaccinations”. The outbreaks are in those “vaccinated” and they are transmitting viral affects to others.
  
  Have we ever before trusted a “vaccine” with such little testing, so much promotion and such a money-making opportunity?
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:44am
- Ludvyk
  
  New Zealand the only country in the world to ever lock out it’s own citizens >> at the same time as introducing special people ISIS bride, UN staff with Covid syndrome, google billionaire.
  
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  August 14, 2021 1:46am
Critical Thinker

The NZ Govt’s announcement yesterday is not a plan but a holding position for elimination to continue into 2022.

Elimination is the premise of the new conditional NZ entry requirements. It is clear from international experience that elimination will never be possible long term. Instead of accepting it, Prof Skegg of the Govt’s expert panel said NZ had been let down by its allies! Apparently our terrible position is their fault. Yet, no country has restricted for as long and hard as the UK. Perhaps, instead, our allies are coming to their senses.

We finally heard formal Govt acceptance that vaccination will not stop spread (after irrefutable evidence in Iceland, UK, Israel), but this is treated as a new reason to continue elimination.

Travel contingent on vaccination status is not based on science, because there is evidence that vaccinated and unvaccinated groups have similar levels of the virus in their bodies, which would translate to transmissibility, as indicated by average cycle threshold results between cases and non-cases. e.g. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7031e2.htm

Plan B remains as valid as it was in April 2020; NZ still ignores the basic epidemiology of covid19; such as the average age of death is in the 80s. We should not treat all NZers as a uniform group but recognise, as they now do in Alberta Canada, that protection of the vulnerable is the priority.

Yesterday’s announcement is proof that it is impossible to build sane policy out of a nonsense belief about the fatality of the virus.

The high level of uncertainty in report of NZ’s Covid19 Expert panel is fair, but will surprise a population that has been told that Fortress NZ was a planned strategy and outcome. The Panel says that given an unpredictable future NZ should stick to elimination, vaccinate everyone, then review the situation next year.

But it is clear from Israel, Iceland and UK’s experience that vaccines will not eliminate covid19. We can learn now from these nations, we don’t need to wait, isolated, for another 18 months. It is frustrating that basic epidemiological information PlanB presented in 2020 had not been acknowledged in the report. If it was, the public would conclude that life needs to go back to normal – with or without a vaccine.

We’re surprised a group of experts would be comfortable with claiming in public the vaccines are “safe” without a data reference or some sort of disclaimer.

https://www.facebook.com/covidplanb/
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August 13, 2021 8:00am
- Critical Thinker
  
  @Mods
  
  Complaints direct to DPF ….
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:37am
  - Ludvyk
    
    good
    
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    August 14, 2021 1:48am
Frank the tank

https://www.foxnews.com/health/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-42-infection-delta-preprint

Your bestie, Ash picked the wrong vaccine Luv. When are we going to get the boosters 2023?
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August 13, 2021 8:03am
- krazykiwi
  
  Pfizer has 4x the reported Yellow Card adverse reaction deaths (1 in 42,803 people vaccinated) to Moderna (1 in 162,500 people vaccinated).
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:58am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    I’d love to see the age breakdown for that death rate. But sounds like vaccine may be higher risk of mortality than covid for people under perhaps 20-30.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:18am
  - virtualmark
    
    ???
    
    Only this morning I was reading this page … https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting … where they list the Yellow Card data.
    
    Direct quote re deaths … “Review of individual reports and patterns of reporting does not suggest the vaccines played a role in these deaths.”
    
    The most serious statistic re the Pfizer vaccine is this one … “In the UK the overall reporting rate for myocarditis, after both first and second dose, is 4.3 cases per million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech and for pericarditis (including viral pericarditis and infective pericarditis) the overall reporting rate is 3.8 cases per million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech.”
    
    Realistically we will give out about 8 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine here in NZ, so that’s about 34 cases of myocarditis and 30 cases of pericarditis. Not nice, but less health impact that being unvaccinated.
    
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    August 13, 2021 3:57pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Seems Batman does not even know who he is responding to. Yesterday at 7.13pm he called me ‘Scott’ Losing it Batman?
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August 13, 2021 8:04am
- Frank the tank
  
  Don’t be too tough on Batty.
  
  Those on the pink liberal fringes of center right politics currently face the inevitable choice of being in the irrelevant in the background for the next decade or so or jumping ship and being assimilated into Wokeborg.
  
  He’s probably facing an early mid-life crisis and looking at Nissan Leafs as we speak.
  
  FTR I love debating with him. He’s quite smart and makes some reasonable points most of the time, even though he has a horrific case of long TDS.
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:15am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Correct about debating. At least we can communicate, but with other mods, not at all. I enjoy different points of view
    
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    August 13, 2021 8:42am
  - oldfella
    
    Frank, Batman’s sidekick, Robin, has just come out as gay, so Bats might have some issues to deal with that are impacting his mod performance on KB. 😉
    
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    August 13, 2021 9:40am
  - curry4me
    
    Frank the tank: Thanks, dude. Saves me the job. Not that I’d have volunteered for it anyway.
    
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    August 13, 2021 7:46pm
Southern Raider

How hard is it to get statistics correct
– TVONE Breakfast says 17% fully vaccinated
– Herald says 22% fully vaccinated

5% is a big amount across NZ population and equates to 200,000 people may or may not be
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August 13, 2021 8:05am
- Frank the tank
  
  Pretty easy when you are:
  
  1). Feckless
  2). Politically motivated
  3). Rely on the government for your data
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:16am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    4). Rely on the government for your funding
    
    No doubt the Horrid will get a timely top-up for making Dear Leader look even better than that pesky TV station did.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:40am
- krazykiwi
  
  The variation could be adults vs all people. The modelers (and big pharma) are pretty keen to get all kids vaccinated, so the 17% figure is probably the most accurate.
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:26am
  - Southern Raider
    
    Herald says 4M eligible is % would be based on that
    
    Surely with 300 comms people the Govt would be very clearly managing what figures are used across all media and reporting
    
    Hell it even looks better if even if the number is wrong what is published is consistent. They can’t even do that
    
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    August 13, 2021 8:37am
    - Paulus
      
      Are you saying that 53% of those who voted for this rotten Government are arithmetically incompetent ?
      
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      August 13, 2021 11:05am
- G152
  
  And they wonder why we call them ‘Fake news’ ..
  Any published ‘facts’ come from their political sycophants
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:35am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Both make shit up
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:43am
- virtualmark
  
  Or, see for yourself … https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-vaccine-data
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:51am
- RoboRob
  
  JA told us that all front line workers were vaccinated months ago !
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:03am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Whatever she tells you, the opposite will be true
    
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    August 13, 2021 2:40pm
- oldfella
  
  The horrid is now running a daily front page banner showing the extent of the rollout. Currently:
  21.2% fully vaccinated.
  15% one dose only.
  63.9% UNVACCINATED.
  Way to go, Cindy!
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:44am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Given that Govt are talking about keeping borders closed until early 2022 my understanding is that vaccine loses efficacy over time, so best person strategy is to get 1st shot 2-3months before border opens and second shot a couple of weeks before (about 2 months between shots seems optimal). To me that points to November-December being time to get 1st shot assuming elimination continues to work.
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:26am
- JerJer
  
  TVNZ is good like this.
  
  I watched a documentary series called Milk and Money about how dairy farmers are ruining the environment.
  
  Of course, much of it is not true.
  
  But when it comes to statistics the amount they were wrong was astonishing.
  
  They clearly state in their documentary that dairy farmers get paid between 4 and 8 dollars per litres of milk (depending on the world price), and continue to ruin the country.
  
  The real price they get paid is about 40-50cents per litre. They are out by a factor of 20! No-one seems to question how dairy farmers get paid all this money and yet we can still buy milk in the gas station for 6 bucks for 2 two litre bottles.
  
  The other thing they drone on about is that it takes 1000 litres of water to produce a litre of milk. That’s not true either, my mother never needed to drink 1000 litres of water to feed me one litre of milk when I was born.
  
  People believe this obviously wrong statistics and then go boycott dairy, which is actually bad for them, and then go do something dumb like start drinking almond milk (which really does take 1000 litres to make one litre).
  
  No….where are those fact checkers at…
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:54am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Facts are so 20th century. Feelz is where it’s at
    
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    August 13, 2021 12:23pm
Happychappy

Ryan Bridge : New Zealand the loser at back of vaccine roll out.
Can you trust this Government to do what they say after the wait that usually happens from most announcement.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/08/ryan-bridge-new-zealand-s-the-loser-at-the-back-of-vaccine-rollout.html
Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister is well known for announcing what she wants but very poor at delivery.
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August 13, 2021 8:05am
krazykiwi

For the last 3-4 months I’ve been getting nuisance calls to my Vodafone-connected mobile. It’s a call centre, and the call disconnects within 1s of me answering. If I leave the call, about 20% of them go to voicemail which records call centre background noise. The calls come from different numbers, and some are readily identifiable as hoax, eg 00 64 9 xxx xxx, which is not a caller-id you’ll ever get from a standard call.

Yesterday I had 7 of these calls, and I have long since stopped answering numbers that I don’t have in my contact list.

Does anyone else get these? And if so, which network are you connected to?
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August 13, 2021 8:10am
- Charmaine Hawke
  
  I am on Spark and get them every few days, right now it is no issue as all my clients are locked up in NZ but when they were traveling I had to answer on the off chance it was legit.
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:17am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Interesting. Having worked in this industry, I know that there is a financial disincentive for the carriers to stamp these calls out. The will be receiving call termination interconnect payments for each and every hoax call, so a good little earner for them.
    
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    August 13, 2021 8:33am
- david
  
  Had similar a couple of years ago. The call centre was tracked to Auckland hence 00 64 9 xxxx ,….
  My solution was to use the “block” function and eventually they got thru their entire block of numbers and I never heard from them again.
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:37am
- JibberJabber
  
  Have just canceled my landline because of this issue, saved a whole $10 a month woo hoo?
  
  Have not had a problem on my mobile for a while, I rarely answer numbers I know let alone anonymous ones LoL.
  Tho’ for a while I liked to collect those ones from far-off exotic locations like Estonia, Malawi, Sudan, and Moldova.
  Apparently, according to Spark the scam only arises if you call these numbers back.
  Personally, if I had the ability to travel back in Time, Alexander Graham Bell would be first on my list of necessary assassinations…?
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:38am
- insider
  
  There are people in the world who are so desperate for attention that they can’t bear to think they missed a call. The scammers realise this and will spoof NZ phone IDs make the call and instantly hang up. These desperate people then call back the missed call and end up paying $10 a minute for the pleasure because it’s a callback scam.
  
  Real people will leave a message or call you back if it’s important.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:18am
  - NoCash
    
    Spot on. I only call back if it’s a known number. As you said, if it’s important, the unknown caller would call again, txt, or leave a message.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:13am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  The scammers must have given me some kind of upgrade because now I only get calls from the ones offering me investment opportunities.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:51am
  - curry4me
    
    Nigel Kearny: I get them from Oz about once a month. I block the number.
    
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    August 13, 2021 7:51pm
- [email protected]
  
  Got a call from an Auckland realtor asking if we were interested in selling our property. Told him we lived in Whangarei. Can’t believe he didn’t check that out before calling.
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:27am
- Loddenthinks
  
  I’m on Voda and get one a day, usually in the middle of the afternoon, from an obviously spoofed number; I cancel them immediately. Whatever you do, don’t redial the number!
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:42am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Got another one today, around 2:30 pm. The “number” was 00 92 97 092179.
    
    Wednesday’s one was from 00 7 (948) 206-19-5
    
    Last Friday was 00 231 8461 3350 – supposedly from Liberia. No doubt about the US$2.5 million that belongs to someone with the same name as me but who hasn’t claimed it and we should go halves…
    
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    August 13, 2021 4:05pm
- The Housekeeper
  
  Yes, like carpet cleaners in Asian. I block them and don’t answer unknown nos. I’m Vodafone.
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:59am
- David George
  
  Yes, my wife gets these, several per day claiming to be from Vodafone, same procedure as you. Fortunately I don’t have a cell phone and wouldn’t use someone that can’t spell phone if I did.
  
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  August 13, 2021 11:07am
- Sacha
  
  I have VOIP with Inspire. They block all 0900 calls. I don’t use my mobile unless there is a family emergency.
  
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  August 13, 2021 6:52pm
kiwikidsnz

Stuff have today outdone themselves in hyperbole, managing to conflate a few nutters threats into woke war including labelling anyone and everyone who criticises their agenda, CRT, He Puapua etc & mention seperatism in comments etc as an irredeemable racist. The article is filed under the crime section.

warning: a long read
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300379571/we-cant-rely-on-the-police-mori-women-on-edge-after-escalating-threats
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August 13, 2021 8:12am
- igm
  
  What a load of unadulterated crap this aricle is. We are seeing our tax dollars paying for this tripe daily and it is getting them nowhere fast. Remember, one reaps what one sows.
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:36am
- yossarian
  
  I call bs on the entire story
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:41am
- RockyJ
  
  If the stories are true it is very concerning. Threatening to rape someone’s children would be criminal and the perp should be hit with the full force of the law.
  What did the government think would happen when they let Mahuta loose on council water assets, commissioned He Puapua, introduced a twisted history curriculum etc? Did they think pakeha would just roll over and surrender? Seriously?
  Studies have shown that diversity training programmes within organisations only make racism worse. I think the same applies to entire nations.
  Jacinda- you are guilty.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:53am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    I suspect Jacinda was deceived by Mahuta.
    Jacinda herself seems as gullible as she attributes to everyone else. Polynesians have trickery as a cultural practice to enable betterment.
    They all know the game and watch out accordingly. A request will never be answered with a “no”, “yes” is always given with both parties knowing that nothing will be done if it’s really opposed.
    
    In commerce watch out your hand is not stolen instead of just bitten. You can see them at work in Edge Computers Ltd v Colonial Enterprises Ltd 9 PRNZ 621
    (Edge were doing their full-on cultural attack.)
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:05am
  - Kiwi Dave
    
    It’s vile to physically threaten these women and their families, but I did have a feeling of what-goes-around-comes-around on reading that one of those threatened was an organiser of the petition to get an alleged racist sacked from his job.
    
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    August 13, 2021 2:03pm
- graham
  
  Thank you for posting this.
  
  It confirms my decision to no longer read Stuff is the correct one. I stopped reading Stuff for various reasons, but one of those reasons was because the fact that their agenda causes them to denigrate and put down anybody who dares question anything; to loudly declaim people as “RACIST!” for daring to question, for example, why the Reserve Bank finds it necessary to mangle perfectly good financial practices to pretend they are somehow guided by the legend of Tāne Mahuta; to label people as “far-right” and “white supremacists” for committing the heinous crime of not meekly accepting their narrative without question.
  
  I have no objection to Stuff having a pro-Maori agenda. At least they are honest about it. What I do object to is them insulting and deriding the rest of us, trying to load us all down with guilt, and insisting that we should apologise for the supposed wrongs done many decades ago.
  
  This is just one reason why I – and many others on Kiwiblog – refuse to visit Stuff any more.
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:10am
  - Yabster
    
    few on here use the Racist tactic also- huh Batty…
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:22am
- Libertarians are right
  
  If those women were white men saying the same thing but from their side, they would be actively called racist and cancelled. They are not being “attacked” because of their race or gender. It is because they are race baiting activists.
  
  Anyone that calls them on it is immediately threatened with cancellation and that drives some people over the edge. The people threatening these activists should be held accountable for their actions but that doesn’t make these race hustlers innocent victims.
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:19am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Have to admit that I wasn’t quite sure what I was sniffing when I read this story. I’m completely unaware of any back stories or other context involved, but it’s always amazing how news items such as this just pop up in the current climate…
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:34am
- Loddenthinks
  
  They’re in a lather today, aren’t they? Trotting out Meng Foon to say that racism is never acceptable, yet the article quotes the pink-haired attention-seeker as saying she gets abuse and threats too.
  
  I agree, it could be that she simply doesn’t want to be left out of anything, especially anything that could confer some form of victimhood on her, but in this case it’s probably true, but it does give the lie to the shouts of RAAAAACISM!!!
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:44am
  - JerJer
    
    Just as the luvvies like to portray stale white males as racists, many people lump any one with a tatoo on their face in with violent criminal gangs.
    
    Thats just a fact. The only people I ever see about the place with Tattoos on their faces are generally violent criminals.
    
    Naturally people don’t want to have people like this near them, or in their communities as that is rightly or wrongly how they are viewed.
    
    I’m sure locking up all the gangsters and forcibly breaking up the gangs, pushing over their real estate and confisating all their assets would be a good way to demonstrate that the only people with tatoos all over their face are good people.
    
    But that is not going to happen, so these people just will have to put up with it. Just like I have to put up with being referred to as being racist when it’s not true.
    
    Suck it up buttercups…!
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:01am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      you forgot those wokester Karens who get stylised maori beards tattooed on their chins as a warning for normal folk to stay away. I think that in general I’d prefer to hang out with the gangsters.
      
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      August 13, 2021 12:30pm
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  The article is mainly – “People were mean to me online”. Plus, “It is getting worse”.
  
  Supposed rape and death threats aside, where Police should act where the person is known, the rest is a lot of victim-complex yarns from people who are actually show ponies at the same time.
  
  How about, like kids and cyber bullying at school, block people or consider turning off your phone/social media account?
  Nope – Wah wah to the media….It’s coz we are Maori, and challenge colonisation.
  
  LOL, the statement in the article about NZs long history of facist and neo-nazi organisations.
  Demand for Nazis outstrips supply.
  In comparison, there are a lot of people with chin tattoos these days.
  I do wonder about the sudden chin marking fashion here: signaling an opposition to the supposed white supremacism system? Not everyone will recieve you fondly when you tattoo you face: Fact. I think it is awful, and most the people wearing them are likely to have some degree of being F-ed in the head/indoctrinated/toxic politically.
  
  I consider anyone who has both facial tattoos and puts themselves out as a front-person for race-based politics ; primarily define themselves by their ethnic identity – can expect some bad responses.
  (All the people crying victim are also trying VERY hard to wave a flag).
  Hell, even what logo I wear on my T shirt, or how I compose myself as I walk down the street and what I project – all these things have an influence on how other people can react to me.
  
  Moral being – if you seek attention, you will get it, And some people are not very nice.
  
  That’s the world we live in folks.
  Now a news story to me, and it is rather unpalatable when tied into tedious Maori victim-complex narrative.
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:48am
Maggie Pie

My partner reckons Hooten will never get over what happened to his bezzie Todd……(paywalled)

“In a week when Judith Collins fussed about where Winston Churchill’s portrait should hang in Parliament, Jacinda Ardern was confronting issues of life and death”

SHEESH!!
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August 13, 2021 8:16am
- Frank the tank
  
  More and more sounding like one of the sad RINOs that writes for WaPo or NYT.
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:21am
- Tony Stuart
  
  I lost all faith in Hooton when he backed Todd Muller.
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:24am
  - Happychappy
    
    I lost trust in any thing Mathew Hooton says after his trip skiing with Liala Harre.
    
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    August 13, 2021 8:34am
  - krazykiwi
    
    I lost all faith in National when they backed Todd Muller.
    
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    August 13, 2021 8:37am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      It is proper not to rubbish your own because of an attack from the media.
      Todd may have been an excellent performer previously but a corporate environment is not the public fireplace that Cinders inhabits. The electoral fireplace is much dirtier.
      
      I don’t know if Todd ran into cultural strife as a major re-adjustment for many would have been required. A health breakdown is not an unlikely circumstance when overwhelmed. To his credit he quickly accepted that and stepped down.
      All MP’s confront the ravages of the public/personal interface coupled with terrible hours. Their job is awfully stressful.
      
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      August 13, 2021 11:21am
  - MCos
    
    What about the others that backed Muller?
    The prominent caucus members, who are still prominent, plus the others that made up the majority that voted him into the leadership position?
    Mind you a number aren’t there anymore.
    
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    August 13, 2021 8:58am
    - Frank the tank
      
      Your point?
      
      I’d be more worried how many Labour MP’s Troy from the Hurricanes has been donating to.
      
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      August 13, 2021 10:24am
  - tf78
    
    Tony I was over him when he wrote for the NBR.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:00am
- nathie
  
  So, Hooten joins the team of 55 million?
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:57am
- RoboRob
  
  Used to enjoy Hootens commentry but he is a mouthpiece for hire. He will say anything that needs to be said to spin for whoever his latest paymaster is.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:06am
  - MCos
    
    I often thought some opinion writers, and these TV evangelist types, express faux outrage because it’s good for the bank balance.
    It’s worth checking how much money some of these people make, especially in America.
    We all know populist politicians do the same sort of thing. Winston Peters made a career out of being outraged over one thing or other. It was notable that when he was in a position to be constructive he wasn’t and was soon forgotten by the voters.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:26am
  - Souvlaki
    
    His ‘stable mate’ Ben Thomas is AS bad, if not WORSE !( Correctly described by Cactus Kate as “Chris Finlayson’s butler”)
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:23am
    - Frank the tank
      
      I’d agree with this one. I thought he might be Batman for a while. Then I reflected that Batty has intelligence whereas Thomas has never demonstrated any.
      
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      August 13, 2021 12:01pm
peterwn

Electric Kiwi runs ads on Facebook and the latest one takes a knock at Genesis etc. I made a comment about it which may be worth repeating here:

Genesis did not with-hold the third Huntly machine. It takes about 10 hours to start it up ie the start up process would have had to commence at 8.30am for it to have been effective. And Genesis was given no indication by then by the dispatcher at Transpower that the machine would probably be required that evening. Also the running of these three steam turbines are governed by various criteria and agreements with the Electricity Authority. If Genesis had started the machine on its own initiative it risked not receiving its due payments. Genesis was under no legal or moral obligation to start that machine on its own volition.

It is worth noting too that Genesis no longer needs these machines for its own purposes and has only deferred decommissioning them because other companies like Meridian need the firming capacity. Anyone can run a fairweather power retailer that relies on low spot prices much of the time.

A *real* retailer has proper supply agreements in place or even invests in generation. I therefore have no sympathy with Electric Kiwi’s or the like’s situation. Indeed there would have been a good case to have dumped all of Electric Kiwi’s customers on Monday Night if that had been technologically possible.
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August 13, 2021 8:36am
- CJames
  
  The Electric Kiwi business model is one of being a parasite. If it was so concerned, it would have its own generation. Failing that, it would have hedges. It has neither, just a whiny CEO who hopes to catch the ear of some incompetent Minister
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:02am
  - peterwn
    
    In response to an Electric Kiwi comment on facebook I have suggested that Meridian and Electric Kiwi should form a partnership and offer to purchase the three Rankine machines at Huntly.
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:29am
Maggy Wassilieff

National has completely lost the debate.

RNZ has now blamed Judith Collins (and Don Brash) for causing irredeemable hurt to the Tangata Whenua/ Māori

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/449082/the-racist-aftermath-of-the-aotearoa-debate

Labour will be laffing in their boots as this divisive debate is an excellent distractor from their daily failures to run the country.
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August 13, 2021 8:37am
- WaveyDavey
  
  Then the Maori Party dangled the bait of PortraitGate
  
  And Judith took it. Hook, line and sinker
  
  Either her comms people are the dumbest of the dumb or she foolishly chose to ignore them
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:52am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    I disagree. Petty political manoeuvres such as the Greens removing Sir W R Churchill’s portrait, which is a publicly-owned painting in a space not under the Gweens’ control, was not just spiteful but continues the narrative of old white dead people being the cause of all evil in the world, when in most cases the exact opposite is true.
    
    It needs to be resisted, or the Marxists will become even more emboldened than they already are.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:48am
    - Paulus
      
      Thought Parliamentary Services are responsible for such as the Churchill portrait, but they answer to the creep Mallard who must have agreed to its removal.
      
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      August 13, 2021 11:10am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      What intellectual contribution do the Grrrrs make to Parliament?
      Churchill made a great difference to the whole world.
      
      He was a Man for his times and kept the spirit of hope burning in the Commonwealth.
      Rubbishing good by dissing his portrait show inferiority and disrespect meriting a repaint with magenta over their caucus room door and leaders.
      
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      August 13, 2021 11:35am
    - WaveyDavey
      
      Your one word sums it up
      
      *petty*
      
      Collins waded in and wasted political time and capital on a day when there were far more important issues doing the rounds.
      
      Issues that were derailed by this “petty” issue
      
      And, as I said yesterday, you need to be in power to make a difference
      
      PortraitGate merely took attention away from important things and will have done nothing to gain National any support
      
      The overwhelming memory from this whole incident was the PM saying “don’t care” which was (a) funny and (b) fairly representative of what most NZers think
      
      So you tell me, who gained from JC mouthing off over this? It certainly won’t have been National
      
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      August 13, 2021 11:44am
    - Frank the tank
      
      >40 year old females by and large will view Churchill as a positive political figurehead. This move will piss them off.
      
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      August 13, 2021 1:19pm
    - jon
      
      Springs to mind that portraits/pictures of all former NZ PMs line the walls of a hall in the Parliament House. Given the Greens had the portrait of Sir Winston Churchill removed from its prominent position near the debating chamber because of claims he was a racist it surely follows the Greens will want the picture of Michael Joseph Savage also taken from its position in the lineup of former PMs because of his appalling racist Chinese sentiments. I note too that Ardern displays a photo of Savage in her 9th floor Beehive office.
      
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      August 13, 2021 6:21pm
  - I remember when
    
    “PortraitGate” is just one drop of water.
    Aotearoa is only a irritant.
    It is akin to National not presenting too many alternative options, and not being constantly critical, at the present time – although slowly increasing.
    When the only source of News is Jacinda and Labour eventually the ‘Bad News’ starts having to become part of the offering.
    Good News doesn’t sell.
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:21am
- RoboRob
  
  A $55 million dollars bailout on top of an already hard left RNZ goes a long way. its Nationals own fault, they should have canned RNZ when they had the chance. I can’t see RNZ surviving the next National term.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:09am
  - MCos
    
    Do you think National might go into an election promising to dismantle RNZ?
    
    Maybe next time David Farrar is on the Panel he could broach the subject.
    
    I would suggest that’s not a subject Judith Collins would want to debate.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:38am
    - Frank the tank
      
      Nah they just follow this government’s lead and do it by stealth and lack of funding.
      
      Enjoy when it occurs in 3.5 years time under Miss Lee.
      
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      August 13, 2021 1:17pm
    - RoboRob
      
      I would hope they do it the proper ‘Labour’ way. Go into the election and never mentioning anything to do with changing public funding of media. Once in immediately make the change without ‘real’ consultation and know the electorate will forget about it come next election.
      
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      August 13, 2021 1:24pm
- Frank the tank
  
  I politely disagree. The groundswell of anger regarding the deitification of all things Maori is increasing out there in planet RealWorld. This is particularly prevalent, if like me you have a penis.
  
  The link is a direct link to the entity known as Wokeborg.
  
  1). As for the entitled University Student that didn’t feel safe. Looks very middle class – betting she has never been in an “unsafe environment” in her life and lives in a nice middle class abode with her professional parents.
  2). The usual “useless idiots” such as the white Maori Tukaki and Rawiri Taonui appear. I’m surprised “Dr” Rangi Walker wasn’t there as well. The later 2 have been dribbling along since I was at Uni in the mid 90s
  3). The piece de resistance however is saved for a useful idiot I haven’t heard from before – Ngahiwi Apanui.
  
  “I think if Judith Collins wants a referendum on the use of Aotearoa, she might regret that because, at the end of the day, the data that we see probably supports people changing the name from New Zealand, which is not even an English name, to Aotearoa. And if that happens, I’ll be a very happy chappy.”
  
  LOL. Even FakeNewsHub’s manipulated poll begs to differ.
  
  Maggie – don’t trust what the feckless are saying this is a bigger issue than they are letting on and I’ll hazard a guess DPF’s polling would support this.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:10am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    The useless idiots and race-baiters fail to understand that
    
    a) if there is a referendum on changing the name to Aotearoa, and
    b) the referendum achieves a majority result to do so, then
    
    the vast majority of New Zealanders would abide by the decision, because that’s how democracy works. I wanted the flag to change and voted for it. It lost, we move on. The same with this referendum.
    
    The problem the idiots fail to grasp is that ordinary New Zealanders do not like this name change by stealth. Demand the Debate!
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:52am
    - Paulus
      
      There will be no poll as already unofficial ones are hugely against it so losers will just carry on complaining to the consensual media that they were robbed.
      
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      August 13, 2021 11:13am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Ranginui Walker died 5 years ago.
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/297704/dr-ranginui-walker-dies
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:42am
    - Frank the tank
      
      Ahhh that’s why I haven’t seen him on the “rent-a-quote” circuit for a while.
      
      I’d rank him along with Moana Jackson as the most painful authors I was forced to read during my time at university.
      
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      August 13, 2021 12:04pm
- insider
  
  Anyone who believes this rnz pearl clutching is unlikely to be a national voter. It’s an ongoing sign that the govt is worried it is way ahead of public opinion. Because they only talk to their friends, they are baffled why there is push back. I suspect it’s polling well which is why Simon Bridges spoke about it again this morning
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:24am
  - oldfella
    
    Frank, I think the left leaning MSM is pushing back so hard because it’s losing the Aotearoa debate.
    If that leaked poll is correct, National is gaining traction. And I suspect things like their stance on our country’s name is working for them.
    
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    August 13, 2021 9:53am
    - gorse
      
      I think that leaked poll was a figment of someones imagination. There was a couple references to it in KB’s GD, silence from everywhere else. If it was true I am sure even our left leaning media would have mentioned it. Wish it was right though.
      
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      August 13, 2021 5:12pm
      - JerJer
        
        Don’t think so, it aligns well with the last newshub poll, but it is just slightly worse (1-2%), which is surprising given that UMR is a heavy bias to Labour.
        
        However, a trend is forming and general anger is increasing in the electorate. It will be all downhill from here for Labour.
        
        The NZ name change thing is a dead duck. The minority that are pushing this don’t want a referendum because they will lose, and lose badly. Remember the Crusaders debate. Crusaders rubgy is racist right, the name needs to change, we are embarrassed yah yah. Look what happened. Most of the country hate the Crusaders because they are so successful, but……90%+ of the country was against a name change…funny that.
        
        Now the the country, we all (well most of us) love New Zealand. The chances of a referendum succeeding are therefore less than a Crusaders name change. Think about that.
        
        The debate is a win either way (and not for the minority pushing this nonsence). If there is a referendum they lose. That’s the end of them, their complaining will fall on deaf ears and they will slowly fade into irrelevance (which is really the case now already, they are just a bit noisy). If there is no referedum, anger will continue to grow and this will in turn make the next National/Act majority larger. Should that fail, Winston will be back with Labour most likely. and he will stop a name change regardless.
        
        So, either way, it’s toast. I think it is better for no referedum because that will generate maximum push back, and that will also more easily justify the removal of the Moarification of the government departments (can’t wait for the moaning when that happens).
        
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        August 13, 2021 7:10pm
- Prince
  
  I see this article uses Mani Dunlop as an example of a victim of debating He Puapua.
  Dunlop leads RNZ news at noon, for an hour.
  You will only hear a left wing viewpoint for that hour. No alternative views are offered.
  That tells me all I need to know about Dunlop’s style of ‘journalism’.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:57am
- RockyJ
  
  I disagree Maggie. I think articles like these play into Judith’s hands. New Zealanders passed peak guilt over being labelled by the media as racist some time ago.
  Every article like this only creates more division.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:57am
- oldfella
  
  Maggie, the article starts with…
  “Judith Collins has been described as both dog whistling and standing up to wokeness for endorsing the idea of a referendum on the use of the word Aotearoa. But no matter her motivation, she set in motion a wave of hurt.”
  Which is a major crime. Right there. No one must ever say anything that might hurt someone else’s feelings or make them feel unsafe in their safe space. Okay, got it. Will be more careful in future (yeah, right).
  
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  August 13, 2021 11:03am
  - oldfella
    
    Just spotted this in a Greypower newsletter…
    
    A CHANGE OF HEART
    Ross Meurant, former policeman and MP, states:
    “Today, in my assessment. the Government is heralding the introduction of Apartheid to New Zealand.
    In 1981, I was one who literally fought to protect the rights of Kiwis who wanted to exercise their lawful right to attend rugby games and not have their travel disrupted by protestors who disregarded the rights of fellow Kiwis in their quest to fight Apartheid in another country.
    Today. I find myself in a role not dissimilar to that of John Minto 1981.
    Difference is: I stand against Apartheid in New
    Zealand.
    In my assessment, what Labour is doing is tantamount to imposing a form of Apartheid by elevating Maori above The Rest of New Zealand. That will generate animosity and hostility.
    At what stage does this become a recipe for civil war.”
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:19am
  - Yabster
    
    all you have to read is “a wave of hurt” bloody liberal socialists- twots the lot.
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:29am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Who is hurting because of being force fed a constant bashing from and of Maori?
    Hey, poo poos everywhere and Cinders didn’t even know they were underfoot. Maori have done the sneaky thing and attempted to sabotage the Treaty. Essentially attempted to set a coup in place and scrape up property rights. They already have a precedent, just send in an activist team and take the land.
    Ardern has been asleep in the ashes.
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:44am
  - miltonF
    
    Why do lefties constantly hear dog whistles everywhere? I don’t think they understand the term. If you hear whistles everywhere that makes YOU the dog! Woof woof!
    
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    August 13, 2021 3:46pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  What has Mahuta done with her deceit? Re-started the Maori wars?
  Unless this Maori attempt to re-take NZ is quickly pulled back severe strife awaits. Some of their idiots are also asking for a return to utu. That nearly killed them all off previously. They had to call in outside peacekeepers and need to live with that.
  
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  August 13, 2021 11:27am
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  That article trundles out some oft-quoted Maori spokepeople like Taonui and Tutaki, who are good at making assertions, demanding changes from others (resources), and playing the collective victim.
  Privileged people who take on the moral authority of the downtroden.
  
  I can’t see any of this as helpful for Maori, from my seat.
  Suggest: Instead of embracing victimhood, reframe Maori people as survivor and emerging strong (that is, if you must dwell on purely negative aspects of history at all, which I would challenge regardless. History is a mixed bag).
  
  Instead of begrudging the world – & note: the Western world is NOT a race, nor is the modern world ‘white’ = – get on the global bus.
  Give up on trying to make a separate bus out of flax down in the arse-end of the world. Pull together as a nation.
  Indian and East Asian students aren’t excelling within a “white supremacist system” here, they are excelling within a modern pluralist system because they value education, hard work, and realise the world owes them NOTHING.
  
  Do not pretend that reading writing and arithmetic are not critical – say, pretending that Rangitahi need kapahaka above all else. Those things are hobbies, if you must indulge.
  Dont tell people that scientific method is racist and a tool of colonisers, or Maori somehow can’t succeed like other modern humans within those spheres.
  The Maori were early adopters of new skills and technology and enthusiastic around all the outside world could teach them, which they knew, unashamedly, was a LOT!
  
  We are all homo-sapiens, and not limited by culture of skin colour unless you wish it to be so.
  And dont mistake that any scepticims of Maori -ethno-nationalist agendas is simply racist.
  Claiming ‘racism’ is boring and tired, and means being blind to lifting aspiration levels in those areas where Maori need to take ownership themselves, and improve themselves (education and health being the start points, as much will follow from that).
  Basically, Maori in the media need a reset from a culture of excuse making – and it isnt doubling down on being Maori and focusing on race as a primary attribute.
  
  Nurture talents, embrace the world, seek knowledge, look forward, work hard, and leave behind grudges and self-pity.
  Then other people being reluctant to see the country called Aotearoa needn’t feel like a ‘crushing hurt’.
  Maori public figures might be able to reason with the public, adult to adult, instead of theatrically responding like a wounded animal.
  
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  August 13, 2021 12:20pm
Maggie Pie

Nag, Nag, Nag, …….

https://twitter.com/LivnUndaATyrant/status/1425769169560096769

(full screen/sound up)
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August 13, 2021 8:42am
- Frank the tank
  
  Our leader is looking very haggard there Maggie. Must have aged 5 years since the last UMR poll!
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:13am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Think I recall ‘Tall Man’ mentioning something about that as well?
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:03am
    - Frank the tank
      
      [Deleted – try to be less superficial and debate the policies. Mod.]
      
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      August 13, 2021 11:22am
- Scooter
  
  “pesky lockdowns”, I wonder what the tourism industry thinks about her describing them as pesky. She really is arrogant, out of touch and quite delusional.
  
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  August 13, 2021 8:12pm
rockape

I see doctors at all levels are having a meeting this afternoon. It’s about striking for more pay. I thought there were going to be no strikes on the PMs watch.
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August 13, 2021 8:44am
- Adroit
  
  Well, it’s more than about pay, but that is a bit of it, yes. No pay rise for the next three years (5% cut in real terms at current inflation rate). But it;’s actually more about staffing than anything. If people actually knew how bad it was, heads would be rolling.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:24am
  - cmm
    
    They always say it is more about staffing levels because that sounds less grabby than putting the pay first.
    
    Bottom line though is that fixing the pay will only go so far for fixing staffing levels.
    
    The other thing is to improve the immigration process to make it easier for medical staff (and other professionals) to immigrate.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:35am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      On that subject, the new birthing unit in Lower Hutt (open for barely a year) is closing because they can’t get midwives. Deplorable.
      
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      August 13, 2021 10:48am
      - kevn
        
        @Captn… The midwives are all keen to get home but spend their days waiting overseas, clicking endlessly on the MIQ lottery.
        
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        August 13, 2021 1:40pm
Bloody Dago

Well, who would have suspected that the main cause of the fires in CA and Greece are deliberately lit fires or arson for short.
https://joannenova.com.au/2021/08/climate-change-causes-arson-in-greece-turkey-algeria-and-california/
When is climate change going to be diagnoseable as a notifiable mental psychosis.
A criminal justice professor allegedly went on an arson spree in Northern California along the edges of the gargantuan Dixie Fire in late July.

From the above link:” Gary Maynard, age 47, [allegedly] set a series of fires in Lassen National Forest and Shasta Trinity National Forest, …. California Forestry Department agents arrested him Saturday. Maynard even allegedly attempted to trap firefighters between the fires he was setting and the boundaries of the Dixie Fire.”
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August 13, 2021 8:45am
- oldfella
  
  BD, the Washington Post with a climate change story our own, brave, ‘stuffed’ would never touch. Cos they think the science is settled. See? /s
  With a closer look, certainty about the ‘existential’ climate threat melts away
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/11/with-closer-look-certainty-about-existential-climate-threat-melts-away/
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:14am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    That would cause their little heads to explode. Impossible for them to understand.
    
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    August 13, 2021 4:36pm
- miltonF
  
  Yup. Climate terrorists. I expect to see more and more fires appearing before election time.
  
  Arson buys more green votes than actual environmental policy.
  
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  August 13, 2021 3:51pm
Captain Mainwaring

So Megan Woods threw Genesis under the bus over the power cuts rather than criticise the Government-owned Transpower.
Then Transpower admitted it was their fault.
Woods was then asked in the House whether she was going to apologise to Genesis.
‘No’ was the response.
What a dreadful person she is, but she’s surrounded by them so maybe it’s no surprise.
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August 13, 2021 8:46am
- peterwn
  
  If I was Genesis CEO I would announce that I would be decommissioning and dismantling Huntly. Genesis does not need Huntly for supplying its customer base. If other gentailers, Electric Kiwi, Electricity Authority, etc consider that Huntly should be retained, they can jolly well purchase it. Genesis can do without the odium that accompanies its ownership of Huntly. Apart from Huntly, Genesis is a predominantly ‘green’ generator. Meridian is considered to be a ‘green’ generator but relies on ‘dirty’ Huntly to ‘firm up’ supply from the South Island hydro lakes.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:00am
  - tf78
    
    pertwn, Genesis may not need Huntly, but we consumers really, really do.
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:47am
    - peterwn
      
      That is not Genesis’s problem. Genesis cannot be expected to be a Mother Teresa.
      
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      August 13, 2021 11:31am
      - Captain Mainwaring
        
        Of course they can’t. That’s Wonder Woman’s role.
        
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        August 13, 2021 12:12pm
    - Nickc2
      
      The Govt will step in and buy the thing. This will give them a helping hand going into an election whereby they can claim they have saved the populace from future Black-Outs.
      Should this happen, there will be no mention of Coal in the MSM during the election.
      
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      August 13, 2021 12:40pm
  - cmm
    
    I wonder whether us Mainlanders ever consume Huntly power directly?
    
    NZ does not have a fully connected grid. There are two grids: one for SI and one for NI, connected by the DC link.
    
    Since NI is almost always (if not always) receiving power from SI over that link, we don’t get that mucky Huntley power in SI.
    
    When we in SI are backed up by Huntly, it really means that by firing up Huntly to feed NI, we can keep more hydro power in SI for ourselves.
    
    Of course, if you zoom out a bit and consider the grid as a whole, then the SI and LI are a huge pool of generation and load. This means that when someone charges an EV in SI, there is less power available to push through the DC link, so they need to shovel a bit more coal at Huntley. Therefore, in effect, the EV is being charged from coal burning even though the power that is being used was not coal derived.
    
    This is the same as the green power scams being used in various places. For example, Apple pays a premium to only use renewable power (PV, wind and hydro), but that’s really bullshit. Apple is sucking out of a common pool and if they were not using the power they are, then various coal and nukes could be idled.
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:24am
    - peterwn
      
      The HVDC link is two way so the Transpower dispatcher sometimes does dispatch power to the South Island. For example if SI lakes are low, Huntly power is effectively used to power SI customers at off peak times to conserve water in the SI lakes. The HVDC link when first commissioned was one way only, this being a reasonable and deliberate decision at the time. It was made two way in the early 1970’s by adding inverter control circuitry principally at Benmore (the cost of that equipment was minimal compared with the cost of the scheme). It was also necessary to beef up 220kV lines in lower North Island and install extra 220/110kV transformer capacity at Haywards. The original scheme fed into the 110kV system at Haywards. This extra work enabled power to be sent south to help fill Lake Pukaki, since the inflows into the lake were not available for generation until the lake was filled. Arguably Lake Pukaki was filed with Marsden oil, since Marsden oil fired station had to be run to provide the shortfall while Pukaki was being filled.
      
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      August 13, 2021 12:15pm
      - cmm
        
        Thanks for that clarification. I wonder how often the power goes south? I suppose it is extremely infrequent.
        
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        August 13, 2021 4:40pm
- Tricati
  
  Let’s face it, the whole Labour front bench are just ‘talking heads’, with the combined intellect of a rain drop. The likes of Woods and Robertson are also very nasty, and very adapt of turning dog to protect the princess.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:15am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

This afternoonabout4pm I will make an announcement about announcing something next week sometime, about an announcement that will announce something.
Stand by for further info
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August 13, 2021 8:48am
- Biscuit
  
  No, no, no, Steve.
  
  You’ve got to do it right.
  
  Leak to TV Jacinda that there’ll be a major announcement at 4pm.
  
  This gives the idle buggers time to get a few promos on screen during the day.
  
  Then, at 4pm, cross to Jentle Jessica at The Beehive so she can ‘predict’ what you might say – uncanny how accurate she usually is – and go all weak at the knees as she breathlessly announces ‘Ah, I can see Steve entering the Theatrette now’.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:00am
  - pdm
    
    Biscuit – who the hell is Steve?
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:47am
    - Biscuit
      
      Was replying to Steve, pdm!
      
      Keep an eye out for me on the box tomorrow night: I’ll be the devastatingly-handsome guy 5 rows back in the grandstand at Eden Park opposite from the TV cameras. I’ll wear BLACK so I stand out!
      
      Footnote:
      
      Auckland is a DIVE these days…
      
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      August 13, 2021 12:47pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I really think you should have had a leak before that announcement.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:09am
- RoboRob
  
  oh, oh, oh….
  
  is the annoucment that you are going to have a ‘Conversation’ about something?
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:16am
- MCos
  
  Are you announcing President Trump’s Inauguration date?
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:22am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Sadly humour is lost on you
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:24am
Maggie Pie

BREAKING…

Reports of terror attack in Plymouth….5 dead and two gunmen still on the loose.

Plymouth Police ask people ‘not to jump to conclusions’ or post images on social media (good luck with that)
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August 13, 2021 8:51am
- Adroit
  
  Diversity dividend: tick.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:25am
  - I remember when
    
    Labour Party Question Time.
    Who is that person asking the ‘patsy’ question?
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:00am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Religion of Peace: tick
    
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    August 13, 2021 4:39pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Apparently a lunatic rather than a terror attack.
  And he killed himself so is not on the loose.
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:33am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Thx Cap’t….lucky I took the police advice 😀
    
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    August 13, 2021 9:50am
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh Dear,
Labour besties are falling out.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/stuart-nash-received-51000-in-donations-from-troy-bowker
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August 13, 2021 8:52am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Oh dear; how sad; never mind 😀
  
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  August 13, 2021 9:27am
  - anonymouse
    
    That is probably the least of Nash’s problems today given this headline….
    ” Amazon’s decision to shift production of the TV show’s second series to the United Kingdom.”
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/126062311/government-pulls-support-for-lord-of-rings-tv-series-as-amazon-shifts-to-the-united-kingdom
    
    Less than 4 months ago he was crowing
    
    “Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash says a landmark deal has been agreed with Amazon for The Lord of the Rings TV series, currently being filmed in New Zealand.
    
    Mr Nash says the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) secures multi-year economic and tourism benefits to New Zealand, outside the screen production itself.”
    
    https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/screen-industry-secures-landmark-project
    
    I would be asking, so what exactly did the MoU commitment you signed actually mean….
    
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    August 13, 2021 9:53am
    - Maxx
      
      I’m sure part of Amazons decision around this will that getting people in and out of the UK has greater certainty than NZ.
      
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      August 13, 2021 10:20am
      - Frank the tank
        
        I’d say it’s got everything to do with that.
        
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        August 13, 2021 12:18pm
- oldfella
  
  Maggy, you just know that Tova and Jessica will be all over this tonight, highlighting the govt’s terrible double standards and holding the powerful to account.
  Or maybe not… /s
  
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  August 13, 2021 11:08am
JibberJabber

Is this the that is portrait hanging in the Labour Caucus room?
https://twitter.com/EvilArthurFleck/status/1425769364087738372
Has it consigned Micky Savage to the cupboard?
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August 13, 2021 9:09am
Maggie Pie

We watched Police 10/7 last night.

Honestly, after listening to Andy Cap on 1ZB yesterday….buggered if we know why anyone would want to be a cop 🙁
The opening scene had Hamilton Police attending reports of assault on a female by her violent de-facto. And not the first time either by the sound of it. Needless to say the culprit was completely trolleyed. Yelling and abusing the neighbors as well. The female officer had to cuff him before getting him in the car. He even put on a performance when they got to the Station.

But the thing that really struck me….was when the police first arrived at the house, you could see the lazy prick hadn’t mowed his lawns for months either.
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August 13, 2021 9:40am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Don’t WINZ provide a lawnmowing service? If not why not?
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:52am
  - Tall Man
    
    I saw a few years ago the the companies contracted by WINZ to deliver the firewood also had to stack it.
    
    Now some were too old to do so but others were just too lazy so the firewood just rotted where it lay.
    
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    August 13, 2021 11:57am
- cmm
  
  Perhaps they’re holding out for a motel room where the lawn services (as well as laundry and bed making) are done for them.
  
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  August 13, 2021 10:59am
  - Paulus
    
    Did I not hear today that Auckland University are providing accommodation, from what would be normally occupied by overseas students, to Winz on their “temporary” housing scheme.
    Also it is a no go Auckland CBD now in the evenings.
    
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    August 13, 2021 12:49pm
    - cmm
      
      So when the lurgie goes away will these people all get evicted or will they all “know their rights” and stay?
      
      Perhaps AKL international students will have to find motels?
      
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      August 13, 2021 4:42pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  I saw that episode as well, MP. Wasn’t his missus a piece of work too, though?
  
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  August 13, 2021 5:00pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Talk about deserving each other….. LOL
    
    But OMG – imagine having them for neighbors!!
    
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    August 13, 2021 7:06pm
I remember when

Why is there so much covid news and so litttle worthwhile information and thoughtful commentary.
There has never been any indepth discussion on why covid ignored populous countries in Asia (far closer to China) and instead arrived in Europe.
Only recently have countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines suffered a serious wave.
Why?
Does the constant scientific community use of carelessness and lack of lockdown as reasons result in lack of deeper research.
Vietnam, Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia all escaped, or managed, first waves but suffered severely in the second.
Were ‘measles parties’ a better understanding of epidemics than they are now given credit for.
Has fear, media sensationalism and concentration of scientific resources resulted in lost of reality of magnitude.
How much worse is the present Australian outbreak of covid case wise than a serious influenza epidemic.
Highest daily deaths in latest outbreaks has been three.
When are we going to stop behaving as if the consequences of getting covid are the same for all age groups.
Lockdowns do not prevent deaths they, at best,
only change the timing.
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August 13, 2021 10:27am
- MCos
  
  In 2009 about 40,000 Australia caught swine flu and about 200 died.
  Back then there were no lockdowns, contact tracing, quarantine, MIQ and other preventive measures so it’s not comparable.
  There are now swine flu vaccines. Whether or not the flu is still around, I don’t know.
  However.
  In Fiji where there hasn’t been a lockdown and little else to slow the progress of covid-19 there has also been about 40,000 cases plus 340 deaths. All in less than three months.
  Fiji has 5% of the population of Australia.
  
  In NZ before last [year] around 15% of the population contracted the flu annually and about 500 died.
  The flu jab decreased ones chances of of catching the flu by 2/3 I believe.
  
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  August 13, 2021 1:44pm
oldfella

What would Braveheart say?
Scotland will let pupils change gender aged FOUR without their parents’ consent under guidance for teachers that says ‘recognition and development of gender identity can occur at a young age’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9888899/Scotland-let-pupils-aged-FOUR-change-gender.html
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August 13, 2021 10:33am
- Tall Man
  
  As I have said before, at age four they don’t even know what their favourite cereal is yet they are supposed to understand what the bits between their legs are for.
  
  When legislation gets involved in these situations then expect nothing but trouble.
  
  A wee while ago a family member discovered that her name had been mis spelled on her birth certificate which was only discovered when she applied for a passport.
  
  Now I know that a name and gender are not the same thing but neither is a birth certificate something that refer to everyday and can be considered as defining who or what you are.
  
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  August 13, 2021 11:55am
Jack5

Someone grass on him then, Maggie? ?
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August 13, 2021 10:34am
I remember when

Overseer: “The challenge now is how we deal with the only regulatory tool we had across the country for managing nitrate levels for individual properties.”
Government-mandated plans have to be in place by end of 2024.
Jay Clarke, director of Woodhaven Gardens Levin, “Overseer did give good information for pastoral farmers but was unworkable for vegetable production.”
“The amount of administration involved to monitor a fifth of Woodhaven’s operation with Overseer cost more than $100,000,” he said.
Woodhaven had reduced nitrogen use by 45% by focusing on best practice without reducing production.
IF I was a Green voter I would think great, knew they were applying too much, problem solved.
Being more cynical, I think yes they have been overusing nitrogen.
Their problem is they are going to have limits imposed which will be the maximum amount allowed to be used.
At present they, as will virtually all the market gardeners in Levin, have high nitrogen soil measurements.
However, this will only apply for a short period after which his soil will become nitrate deficient.
Best of luck with any application to the regional council to for any increase.
How are the “cost of living” stats looking – inflation?
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August 13, 2021 10:47am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Veges are a nitrogen Consumer. If a bit gets left in the soil it’s available for the next crop.
  
  Get the Grrrrs out of Parliament.
  
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  August 13, 2021 11:54am
I remember when

Mid Central District Heath Board offered a one off, open to anyone, phone booking, 4 consecutive day vaccination opportunity.
There were no restrictions on who could be vaccinated the emailed notice stated.
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August 13, 2021 10:55am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Everyone should be required to carry a gun. It cuts down on the spread of crime and makes us all safer. You don’t want to, or it goes against your beliefs? We will make you. Don’t be so selfish. Just put one on so the rest of us can feel more comfortable.
Same with Covid vax
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August 13, 2021 10:56am
- cmm
  
  Maori are achieving lower vaccination rates. Any Pakeha getting the vax is thus making Maori outcomes look worse.
  Only racists get the vax.
  
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  August 13, 2021 11:37am
Maggie Pie

And I can tell you something else…..
it will be the last time I give anyone a toot for pulling out 🙁

https://twitter.com/TheSun/status/1425937637974609930
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August 13, 2021 10:58am
- cmm
  
  How awful. He used a tomahawk. Cultural appropriation!
  
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  August 13, 2021 11:40am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Vax Police. Btw, how many AOCs do we have in NZ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n1kj2wZFAw
[Show Me Your Papers – Satire]
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August 13, 2021 11:20am
Fletch

Oh dear…

Genesis Energy emitted more carbon dioxide in generating electricity last year than any year in the last decade, as it used more coal to make up for a lack of hydropower and gas.

Low rainfall and lake levels have hampered hydropower generation, and unforeseen gas outages have led to lower fossil gas supply able to be used in generation. As a result, more coal has been used.

The energy generator and retailer put out 4029 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in the last financial year, 82.5 percent more than the average of 2207 kilotonnes between 2016 and 2020, and more than any year dating back to at least 2010, as far as Genesis’ publicly available statistics go.

This is about 5 percent of the country’s total emissions.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/08/genesis-carbon-dioxide-levels-up-82-pct-compared-to-previous-years.html

I like how they try and explain away the gas shortage as “unforseen gas shortages”. Um, no, what it is is that this govt got all woke, cancelled gas exploration, and will shortly cancel the use of gas altogether because they believe it is bad for the climate change (or whatever they are calling it now). In reality, it was a bad call by Jacinda and is leading to the use of more coal than ever and a bigger carbon footprint.
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August 13, 2021 11:33am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Not our fault – not our coal
  
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  August 13, 2021 3:59pm
Fletch

The Spectator in Australia covers the story that someone mentioned in GD the other day, that Israel – the most vaccinated country in the world – has an increasing number of Covid cases. And most of the ones in hospital are vaccinated.

Israel has been held up as the “gold standard” of how to conduct the coronavirus vaccine rollout. It has seen approximately 70% of its population receive the jab. The Israelis have relied in the main on the Pfizer vaccine. However, recently the country’s Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, stated that the Pfizer vaccine is ‘significantly less’ effective against the so-called Delta variant. This follows on from a statement last June by Ran Balicer, who leads an expert advisory panel for the Israeli government, in announcing that the country might end up in lockdown again. Balicer and other officials said that 90 per cent of the new cases were caused by the Delta variant.

Now an Israeli doctor has revealed a bombshell during a television interview. In the interview on August 5 with Israel’s Chanel 13, Dr Kobi Haviv, medical director of Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem, stated that the majority of coronavirus patients in an Israeli hospital are fully vaccinated, including those with severe disease.

Dr Haviv further specified that: “95% of the severe patients are vaccinated,” adding “85-90% of the hospitalizations are in fully vaccinated people” and the hospital is “opening more and more COVID wards.” This has led him to conclude that “the effectiveness of the vaccine is fading out.”

Of the 72 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, 25 patients were in “critical condition”, 38 were in “moderate” condition, and 9 were in “mild” condition. There were two deaths reported at the time of the interview.

Data from the Israeli Minister of Health released on July 22 declared that the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at preventing COVID-19 has plummeted from 90 percent to only 39 percent, coinciding with the spread of the Delta variant in the country.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2021/08/most-covid-patients-at-israeli-hospital-fully-vaccinated-what-does-this-mean-for-australia/
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August 13, 2021 11:37am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I reckon the folks in NZ running our show know that the vaccines are far from the silver bullet we were promised 1 year ago…
  
  This depressing information will be drip fed to us over the next year as we go through prolonged lockdowns with little progress in bolstering up ICUs in our hospitals.
  
  But lo and behold, come election year -2023 – we will find that our dear leader has had a change of advice and we must all learn to live with the virus.
  
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  August 13, 2021 12:01pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Well we all have to live with dear leader, so the virus can’t be that bad
    
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    August 13, 2021 2:46pm
- WaynelSexton
  
  Don’t worry I’m sure that a fourth shot will definitely stop Antibody Dependent Enhancement that looks to be taking place.
  https://www.timesofisrael.com/tv-14-israelis-who-got-3rd-shot-later-infected-with-covid-19/
  
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  August 13, 2021 2:18pm
- miltonF
  
  The term “conspiracy theory” has developed a new meaning since the arrival of covid.
  
  Conspiracy theory = 6 months ahead of the curve!
  
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  August 13, 2021 4:00pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXImXhETH8
Three Arguments in Favour of Scottish Independece – TLDR News.
It seems possible that the SNP and Scottish Greens are about to form a proindependence alliance, so we thought we’d run through the arguments in favour of a Scottish exit. So in this video we discuss three major arguments used by those proposing Scottish independence and debate wther those arguments really stand up
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August 13, 2021 12:04pm
- Philview
  
  It would be good for the English Conservative Party if Scotland went.
  
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  August 13, 2021 1:47pm
  - curry4me
    
    Philview: Yes, they’d govern for life.
    
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    August 13, 2021 8:25pm
curry4me

htps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSjFm_dJrz4
“This isn’t communism!” Protests against Vaccine Mandates Spread across America | Facts Matter
Coumo quits. FBI won’t investigate governors who killed grandma, and grandpa. There is a propsed vaccine passport for NY. There have been protests. My body, my choice. [21:28.]
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August 13, 2021 12:04pm
cmm

Do people remember the beginning of all of this?

We were told that the CV19 would hit us and that all we could do with isolation (lock downs and border closures etc) was to flatten the curve. ie. the wave of infections would happen, but we could lessen the size of the wave by stretching it out.

That worked, maybe too well. Then it became this dream that we could hold out for the vaccine which would prevent everything.

Now we’re stuck in the position that the vaccine doesn’t help anywhere near as well as was hoped and the wave was just dammed up – ready to flow as soon as MIQ is lifted.

So what happens now. Do we:
* Open up MIQ, let it all happen and take it on the chin. [Massive downsides is that it would pop Cindy’s amazing image overseas as a worker of miracles].
* Keep MIQ in place until more have been vaccinated and the number of deaths reduced. The 50/50 solution. Again, this would somewhat tarnish the Cindy Magic.
* Keep MIQ in place until after the 2023 elections so that whatever happens doesn’t happen on her watch. If it all turned to shit after she was no longer PM that would preserve, or even enhance, the Cindy Magic : look it was all fine under Cindy and turned to shit as soon as she left.

She really does not need this to blow up in her face because it is such a big part of her international image.
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August 13, 2021 12:05pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  CinD4UN – please, now
  
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  August 13, 2021 2:48pm
Maggie Pie

Why is there no one within the Police calling for Andrew Coster’s resignation?

According to a cop speaking on Talkback, front-line staff have pretty much given up worrying about shit these days. They feel neither the Commissioner, The Minister, the IPCA, have got their backs anymore. Let alone the pathetic sentences being handed out by the Courts.
Also mentioned the ‘pay-freeze’ for the next couple of years… and how well the $3mill given to the Mongies went down with the troops. That was a reeaaal morale booster!

https://twitter.com/nzherald/status/1425919993271791623

Welcome to the Free Range Asylum.
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August 13, 2021 12:16pm
- Frank the tank
  
  Maggie if the commies didn’t run the Police Association there would have almost certainly been a vote of no confidence in Coster and Williams. Apparently the prick sends emails to staff telling them how good he is and how he has got their backs (sic).
  
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  August 13, 2021 12:24pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    TBH Frankie, it’s that turncoat Greg O’Connor my partner’s surprised at!
    He was the Prez of the Association for a long time and often seen on telly calling for the ‘general arming’ of the Police.
    Now he’s in a real position to do something about it ….but we never hear a PEEP out of him 🙁
    
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    August 13, 2021 3:08pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      On Tuesday, 21 March, 2017, Greg O’Connor addressed a U3A meeting at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington. The subject of his talk was “The role of police in modern society”. By this time, O’Connor had been selected as the Labour candidate for Ōhāriu.
      
      During the talk, he revealed to the 200+ audience that he did not support the general arming of the police! One can only imagine what 200 jaws dropping in unison looked like to him as he stood there facing us. As I recall, in response to questioning, he confirmed that he never personally supported it.
      
      He was happy to spend more than 25 years of his life, as Police Association boss, vigorously advocating for something he didn’t personally believe in, because that’s what the role required, rather than decline to take on that role and continue to pursue his career elsewhere within the organisation.
      
      That, Maggie, is why “we never hear a PEEP out of him[.]”
      
      From that day forward, I have had no time for Greg O’Connor, whatsoever. In my view, he is just another politician.
      
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      August 13, 2021 4:11pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        “If you don’t like my principles, I have others”.
        
        – Grego Marx
        
        LOL!!!
        
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        August 13, 2021 5:00pm
Nickc2

Rodney Hide very correctly sums up Cindy on the Bassett, Brash and Hide website. It’s a recommended read.
https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/the-limits-of-cleverness-versus-capitalism?postId=2de00f41-7b22-4454-b3ac-fbd62ddbf758
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August 13, 2021 12:49pm
Surely Knott

While most media and govt communication now use Aotearoa in the longform of their writing. They still use NZ for headings and abbreviation because that is the one we identify with and recognise.. So if New Zealand changes it’s name to Aotearoa what is the abbreviation we will be known by – AO?

The AOHerald.
http://www.website.co.ao
AO Flag
The AO Vaccine rollout
“Lord of the Rings TV Series Quits AO and heads to the UK funded by the US. ” We are known by those 2 letters as surely as our full name.
‘
Furthermore AO is taken. AO is Angola and AT is Austria. So are we AA?

So if we have the debate on the name we should also talk about the short name we go if we are Aotearoa which is the one we see in most international comparison tables, and media headings and on our sports teams tables and in our online media and emails. If we were Aotearoa then NZ no longer makes sense.
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August 13, 2021 1:30pm
I remember when

US Dept of Energy has awarded Anchorage, Alaska, (Pop 283,000) Department of Solid Waste Services $685,659 grant to help fund their first electric garbage truck and medium-duty box truck.
The grant will also fund an innovative battery charging system.
The innovative battery technology will be the only one in Alaska.
Anchorage Police Dept. is giving hybrid Ford Interceptors a try.
These police-specific Interceptors will save 1276 gallons of fuel per year and a potential 25,560 pounds of CO2 per vehicle.
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August 13, 2021 2:09pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

You may doubt the site, but Rochelle Walensky did say this.
Progressives have been blaming the spike on people who refuse to get the vaccine but Moderna just admitted that even those who had both shots can expect to catch the Delta mutation because the vaccine doesn’t work against it.
https://deepstaterabbithole.com/cdc-basically-says-vaccines-are-pointless/?
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August 13, 2021 2:33pm
- [email protected]
  
  During a minor surgical procedure I foolishly let out that I was delaying getting vaccinated with the Cov19 jab. Bad mistake. My GP tried to make me feel stupid. I tried to explain my reasons but since he was a convert it was a waste of time.
  
  Funnily, while waiting for my procedure a nurse came into the waiting room and said that anyone wanting the shot could get it right then and there.
  
  That was my point. Why take the vaccine with a limited lifetime when Covid19 is not a problem? When, not if, Covid takes a hold in NZ I will reconsider. Untill then I am happy as a clam to wait and see what happens to those who elected to get vaccinated.
  
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  August 13, 2021 5:44pm
Maggie Pie

RANDOM IMPERTINENT QUESTION…

Can anyone tell me what Prince Andrew actually did wrong?
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August 13, 2021 2:58pm
- David Garrett
  
  How about fucking young girls who in various states were underage? (The age of consent varies across the US)
  
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  August 13, 2021 4:15pm
  - lifesgood
    
    Funnily enough, though, in the photo of him with the girl now suing him she looks absolutely beamingly happy. Not that I am excusing him, and he was clearly friends with a repulsive man, but it doesn’t add up, she doesn’t look coerced. I actually think Andrew is an obnoxious person but there you go
    
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    August 13, 2021 4:29pm
    - gorse
      
      Nick name in the English services is the “Duke of Pork”, I am told. A bit over weight.
      
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      August 13, 2021 5:27pm
  - cmm
    
    But if he was not in such state at such time would it matter?
    
    Age of consent in NY is 17, Virgin Islands 16 and UK it is 16.
    
    Virginia Roberts Giuffre alledged three encounters:
    The first encounter happened in UK when she was 17.
    The second alleged encounter was in NY when she was at least 17 since it was after the first.
    The third was in the Virgin Islands at age 18 (she thinks).
    
    All those are legal as far as age of consent goes.
    
    Another woman says her boob was grabbed at the Virgin Islands when she was 21, so again no age of consent issue, but of course that’s not all.
    
    Sure all the sex trafficking etc might stand, but it does not look like any age of consent related charges are warranted at this stage.
    
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    August 13, 2021 4:33pm
    - cmm
      
      PS: I’m not batting for him in any way. Kick him in the balls for all I care, but at least kick him for solid legal reasons.
      
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      August 13, 2021 4:37pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Well I understood the ‘age of consent’ was 16. Virgina was 17 !
    Sounds like its not so much age as geography then?
    
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    August 13, 2021 4:53pm
    - Tall Man
      
      I understood he paid for his privileges … Looks like he may be paying again ……
      
      Next time andy, grab a gps rather than the condom …
      
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      August 13, 2021 5:15pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Andy will be fine…
        I see where Ghislaine has offered to appear on his behalf 😛
        
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        August 13, 2021 5:54pm
  - [email protected]
    
    Yes, it would not be difficult for a prince to impress a 17 or 18 year old. Do you think alcohol or narcotics might have been involved?
    
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    August 13, 2021 5:32pm
- MCos
  
  I dare say if you follow the impending court case being brought by his alleged victim you’ll find out.
  
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  August 13, 2021 5:40pm
Captain Mainwaring

So the Hamilton – Papakura train is staring down the barrel of being shut down.
Colour me surprised, Just another Labour failure. Move on.
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August 13, 2021 3:09pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  And now we hear…. that unless Auckland gives the Tron access to our rail network, the Hamilton Council will block our water supply!
  
  SHEESH!!
  
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  August 13, 2021 3:35pm
- cmm
  
  What a complete disaster it has been – like always it cost us a bundle and achieved the opposite of its stated desired outcome.
  
  According to their website:
  “Capable of carrying over 500 passengers per day, Te Huia is transforming the journey of Waikato commuters travelling between Hamilton, Huntly and Auckland.”
  
  But in reality carries less than 200 a day because it most impractical for 99% of people that commute.
  
  “This service is shaping the future of rail public transport in the Waikato and help reduce New Zealand’s carbon footprint.”
  
  But in reality it increases the carbon footprint – it would be better if people just drove.
  
  Their timetable shows this train is completely useless for most commuters. If you want to get to Auckland at a semi-reasonable start time in the morning you need to catch the train at 5.45 (so get up at 5). And you still don’t get to work before 9am.
  If you work until 5, you need to catch your train at Britomart at 5:20 pm have to take the late train home and only get back after 8pm.
  
  Absolutely useless, unless, of course, your goal was just to be seen to be doing something rather than actually providing a useful service.
  
  https://www.tehuiatrain.co.nz/timetables/
  
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  August 13, 2021 4:16pm
  - slightlyrighty
    
    Well, they could always run the Hogwarts express on it if Amazon ever decide to film a Harry Potter themed tv show in New Zealand……
    
    oh wait…….
    
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    August 13, 2021 10:25pm
cmm

WHO seems to be fishing for another contribution from CCP.

WHO says Sars-CoV-2 likely came from the Wuhan lab.

Well duh! Only a complete moron would buy the bullshit about bats!

There are tens of thousands (maybe a hundred thousand) wet markets in China.

So what’s the chance that the Sars-CoV-2 shows up in the one only 300 metres from a virus lab? Why that one? Why not one of the other 99,999 wet markets?

Sure coincidences do happen, but 99,999 to 1 coincidences are extremely unlikely.

Now I do not at all believe this was a deliberate release. More like some biosecurity cockup such as:
* Someone poured contaminated liquids down the wrong drain.
* A cleaner stole some dead lab animals and sold them at the wet market.

I don’t believe it was deliberate. If it was deliberate they’d have done something like release it in a Uyghur city – not in the middle of one of their own reasonably major cities.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/covid-19-coronavirus-virus-likely-came-from-wuhan-lab-who-investigation-head/Q26SCBEOUQPAVARBTDR4HC45MI/
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August 13, 2021 3:58pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Bored? Nearly time to go to the pub? Let’s have a mood changer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL0au17MypY
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August 13, 2021 4:02pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Wow, a downticker already. This is one who should never go near alcohol. Imagine that stupid prick on the motorway without having a drink with mates? Fuck that Steve Otto Fuck that Steve Otto – my weekend is fucked now coz I have to bitch to my wife/boyfriend all fucking weekend, I want to go back to work coz I am depressed now.
  You could have had a coffee or a fucking lemonade ….
  
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  August 13, 2021 4:21pm
  - Biscuit
    
    I feels for thee, Steve.
    
    The uptick (first of many, I trust) is for you.
    
    I pray that you reciprocate when your downticker downticks sweet little me.
    
    I will, like you, cry all weekend otherwise…
    
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    August 13, 2021 4:54pm
  - fernglas
    
    I’m sure a lot of people take your opinions so seriously that they would let them spoil their weekend.
    
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    August 13, 2021 5:23pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Only lefties – love triggering them for the weekend, so they can’t wait for monday to start again. Imagine if their partner found out they trolled all day? LOL.
      
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      August 13, 2021 5:42pm
David Garrett

These two depraved individuals need a bullet in the back of the head:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/126012634/serial-paedophile-and-female-enabler-jailed-for-sickening-and-depraved-offending

You cannot “rehabilitate” someone who is sexually aroused by abusing very young children. At best you can teach them to control their sick urges…and that aint easy.

Our oldest prisoner, the late unlamented Alf Vincent, was considered too dangerous to release at age 84. He was kicked off several “treatment” programmes on prison because he invariably hit on younger members of the group.

Into his eighties he would get his cock out and start wanking when “fresh meat” arrived at the various prisons he was held in.
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August 13, 2021 4:26pm
- cmm
  
  DG: Unfortunately, as you have pointed out often, the rope is gone and never coming back.
  
  HTF do these people continue to find themselves victims for so long without being caught? I expect they only prey on vulnerable and already pretty screwed up families – eg offering to help out while a single mum has some “me time”.
  
  Ten years and he’s out again. She’s back in business in 5 or so (assuming the parole board are their normal pathetic selves).
  
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  August 13, 2021 4:52pm
Jack5

Michael Reddell’s recent piece on immigration, or New Zealand’s immigration experiment, is worth reading.

https://croakingcassandra.com/2021/08/09/perspectives-on-new-zealand-immigration-policy/
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August 13, 2021 4:28pm
- cmm
  
  There’s a oneliner summary of where this is going wrong:
  
  “OECD data show the NZ migrants also have the highest average skills levels (but still a bit behind natives) of migrants to any OECD countries.”
  
  Great that it is higher than others, but very bad that it is below that of natives.
  
  This means that, on average, immigrants are reducing the skill level of the country.
  
  Then, on average it is also our higher skilled that are leaving the country.
  
  It hardly rocket science to then calculate that our skill levels are thus sinking and we’re increasingly becoming a low-skills economy.
  
  Even when we have skilled people in NZ, the most skilled are more likely to be in companies which are owned by global corporations. They are thus not connected to the NZ industries but are instead adding their skills to corporates in USA, or elsewhere.
  
  For example, in the 29 years I have lived in NZ I have spent only about 30 months working for NZ companies – the rest for mainly for companies in USA and Europe. Sure, NZ gets some foreign income and some tax take, but I’m not adding my skills in NZ.
  
  When I came to NZ it was quite hard sorting out the paperwork etc (now you can just look up everything on the www), but there was a points system which made it relatively easy for qualified people to enter. The day I set foot in NZ I became a Permanent Resident.
  
  That seems to have been reversed. While it is easier to access the information, they’ve made it damn hard for skilled people to immigrate with all sorts of temporary immigration status issues that make it a challenge for people to integrate into the workforce, buy property etc.
  
  If we want OUR engineers, doctors etc to stay we’ve got to change.
  If we want other engineers, doctors etc to come here then we’ve got to make it easier.
  
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  August 13, 2021 5:15pm
graham

Seems Stuff are trying to outdo TVNZ in the “let’s see if we can persuade everyone to stop calling places by the names that we’ve all used for years, and instead convince them to use some obscure Maori name” stakes.

I refuse to visit the Stuff website, but we get the local rag “Rodney Times” delivered, which is a Stuff publication. It’s free, fine for lighting fires with, and occasionally I’ll flick through it.

Yesterday’s edition has an article about an iwi seeking a legal review of a dump (for dredging material). The first paragraph reads:

Iwi are seeking High Court judicial review of the Ports of Auckland’s consent to dump dredging material from the Rangitoto Channel off Aotea, also known as Great Barrier Island.

Seriously? Do Stuff honestly believe they can convince people that Great Barrier Island’s ‘proper’ name is Aotea? Do they really believe that everybody will just stop referring to Great Barrier Island?

In the inimitable words of Jonesy from the Mitre 10 ad – “Ma-a-ate – you’re dreamin’!” I think they’ll have about as much luck with that as poor old Simon Dallow on One News trying to convince everybody to call Parliament “Paremata”.
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August 13, 2021 7:20pm
- wilderbeast
  
  Simon Dallow. Seems like a nice chap, but it’s not been a good few years for him. What with Alison coming out of the closet and selling his soul to wokedom on TV1
  
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  August 20, 2021 8:50pm
MrTips

Random thoughts for a Friday evening:

Imagine being the poor bugger who vaccinates the head of the Hells Angels, Rebels or Mob. And they have a bad reaction……..

Given our rampant and more than casual use of meth, might this influence post-vaccination side effects? Especially given chronic meth munts your heart, brain and lung vasculature.

Why are we being given no choice other than Pfizer, given Medsafe has approved AZ and J&J, which could speed up the rollout?
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August 13, 2021 8:51pm
wilderbeast

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/jason-walls-in-defence-of-the-press-gallery-no-kate-we-dont-take-our-order-from-the-pm/

Anyone read this? Seriously is this the most vacuous and superficial defence of the Jacinda press pack or what? If it’s so cut and dry Jason why not offer us some actual grist for the mill? I’m guessing that’s cos it would unravel the charade….I hope he’s getting a grilling somewhere on Twitter for this
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August 20, 2021 8:48pm

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