About
Contact
Advertise

Facebook
Twitter

September 18, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 18 September 2021

Like this:

Like Loading…

Email
Facebook
Twitter
Comment410

Uncategorized
General Debate

Comments (410)

Login to comment or vote

Warren

MSM are fixated in pushing the story that Simon Bridges has the numbers to roll Judith Collins and it could happen very soon, but really where is the truth as it appears to be more shit from a Labour Financed media with the usual affect of no substance.
Labour continues to drop bombshells on Fridays of their incompetent with new laws and I wonder if this is just another story to cover up David Parker new Resource Management bill that has hit the News media.
73 3
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:00am
- Warren
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/jane-clifton-the-vague-and-vacuous-resource-management-act/XKBHF6N5TVEDJIM6UFQBKKFISU/
  
  19 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:11am
  - Nickc2
    
    Your post links to a Paywall. What’s the point?
    
    17 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 8:57am
    - Thought Criminal
      
      He posted links to the Horrid. What’s the point?
      
      15 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:00am
    - Warren
      
      Sorry Nick2 but no other media have released Parkers New Resource Management Act, so even though it is under paywall I thought the headlines should tell the story of why people should worry.
      
      8 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:01am
      - Steve Todd
        
        Then you should have made that clear in your post.
        
        Sorry, Warren, but I’m with Nick on this one.
        
        1 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 4:13pm
    - kevn
      
      @Nick2… because some of us have the $1.50 pw access. Even just to get to the regional ‘news’papers.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:40am
- Gravelroad
  
  @Warren-
  OK Warren -say your first sentence is a possibility.
  What would be the pros and cons of Simon Bridges resuming the leadership of the National Party?
  Last time the “cons” were that he talked funny and the Twitter attack manipulated the polls against him.
  But he must have had some “pros” to get the leadership position in the first place.
  And they were?
  
  12 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:57am
  - krazykiwi
    
    The primary ‘con’ is that fact we’re even discussing it. This is a hard left’s continuing destablisation strategy, and it’s being given oxygen.
    
    57 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:14am
    - Unity
      
      We should just ignore it as it’s very obvious that it is the media which is making it up and pushing it. I haven’t heard of anything whatsoever about Simon Bridges going for the leadership at all and the last I heard was that he was enjoying his current position. He certainly looks so much happier and laid back. Don’t give the media any oxygen at all on this.
      
      33 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 9:23am
      - Cinematic
        
        He’s a smart guy. Who would make a tilt for the leadership given the current circumstances?
        
        14 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 9:46am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Two weeks ago Shane Te Pou told Twitter that the coup was on, that weekend. Didn’t happen. Last weekend, “Hey Clint” Smith was tweeting that Judith Collins hadn’t been seen on social media for 24 hours, and the coup was on that weekend. Didn’t happen.
      
      This weekend it will probably be Neale Jones, or one of Labour’s cannon-fodder MP’s like Marja Lubeck who puts the “rumour” out there. That doesn’t mean the rumour is anything but bullshit. And all the while, they accuse National of “dirty politics”…
      
      43 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:11am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Shane te Pou, snigger snigger, as if says something, anything, worth listening to.
        
        20 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 11:23am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Precisely, but that didn’t stop the MSM reporting it as gospel.
        
        17 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 12:26pm
- pdm
  
  Orchestrated from the 9th Floor through a compliant media looking for more dosh by way of government hand outs.
  
  42 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:01am
- peterwn
  
  Possibly the best thing the National caucus can do is to ignore all this sort of noise and quietly prepare policy and strategy for the next election. It would not be a bad thing if Labour is led into thinking the National caucus is still in turmoil and that the next election is going to be a walkover. It is too early in the election cycle to start to use the heavy ammunition.
  
  19 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:48am
  - nathie
    
    Well said, some ideas, what is National’s vision for NZ for a post-covid NZ and how to we enable (what we have to deal with now) getting there?
    
    Obviously the economy, but also better health system (to deal with such outbreaks in the future), definitely more health workers, and getting timely help to “vulnerable” communities, but other things like making sure the education system is resilient, ramping up production to reduce building supplies costs …. and not to forget ways to get NZ couples, families and individuals into affordable housing (need some “Think Big” ideas here).
    
    Balancing that we need a safe and secure NZ (domestically and internationally), better self-reliance and support for our productive sectors (farming/industrial/oil and gas etc) eg the sectors that earn NZ foreign-exchange to pay for all the things we want!
    
    Less money on time wasting initiatives (identity politics related and climate change etc – not only are they NOT productive, – they cost us, but they are divisive, so screw them)!
    
    10 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 12:54pm
- redflagged
  
  Could well be, after all, it is written by Trevor Mallard’s wife.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 1:50pm
Kiwi_in_Paris

The revolution has started in Ozzie?

https://streamable.com/9h6cik
13 5
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:02am
- Chris R
  
  That guy is little more than Pauline Hansen in a suit and tie. A genuine nut job if ever there was one!
  
  7 21
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:56am
- PhilBest
  
  This could be YUGE!
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYeOljv43CU
  
  Who is NZ’s Clive Palmer?
  
  6 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:05am
  - emmess
    
    David Seymour is the closest we have got
    
    2 6
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:25am
    - Bevan
      
      Stop insulting David Seymour.
      
      7 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:39am
  - Flossie
    
    Oh please No! Do we have to have a Clive Palmer?!
    
    1 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:29am
  - Surely Knott
    
    Act and National running COVID and vaccine narrative almost identical to Labour. And greens who would traditionally question big pharma, gene tech , coerced vaccination are silent. Means there is a wedge of voters (including women, natural healthers, Maori) who are not represented on a topic of importance. This is classic Winston territory I reckon. Picking up a wedge issues ignored by the main parties and putting himself in the deciding position. Votes left lying on the table. What percentage is that?
    
    8 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:01am
- lifesgood
  
  What the hell is he talking about?
  
  2 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:13am
  - Jaundiced
    
    Is he talking about He Puapua?
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 1:49pm
- Bevan
  
  Seriously? Your finger is on the wrong pulse mate.
  
  0 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:43am
  - Nickc2
    
    Suggest you do a background check on Clive Palmer. He is reputed to be a Billionaire (in his own words) who gained his worth in mining.
    IMO:
    * He’s never paid a bill in his life,
    * He’s never finished anything he started and
    * He’s never done anything the Courts have directed him to do.
    
    1 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 12:38pm
    - Manu-Rau
      
      Sounds exactly like his Kiwi counterpart, Winston Peters.
      
      2 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 1:52pm
    - Bevan
      
      Im very familiar with Clive Palmer. In my opinion he is an egotistical douche bag who only got into politics to further his own businesses. Just about everything he touches at the moment turns to shit.
      
      2 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 3:36pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Agree Bevan.
        
        2 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 4:00pm
- Jaundiced
  
  Is he talking about He Puapua?
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 1:42pm
TWEEDSE

I was particularly struck by the quality of the article yesterday by David concerning vaccine’s and the discussion around them. His quote “they’re fucking great and modern science is awesome” is not of the quality we have come to expect from him. David, you can do better than, what appears to me to be, a glib slogan worthy of the PM’s advertising agency.

As a point of discussion I quoted some NZ government documents and interview with Anthony Fauci to make a point. I was then called a conspiracist by another poster who produced no counter evidence. That’s not an informed discussion, that’s just trying to shut people down which is surely not what KB used to be about.

So thank you David for providing this platform for discussion, I am aware that it’s a pretty thankless task and I appreciate what you did in the past but I have decided to stop posting on and reading Kiwiblog.

Now I will be on my way. Cheers all.
44 14
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:02am
- Man Among the Ruins
  
  Be they right or wrong, the vaccine dissidents posting here invariably adduce some evidence and/or a chain of reasoning to support their case, in contrast to those who merely shout “conspiracy theorist” without any further comment. Their case is usually implicitly “trust the commonly held view,” but this is insufficient if ascertaining the facts of the matter is the goal. It only takes one person to be correct, even if a thousand claim the opposite.
  
  “A collection of errors does not make a truth: quality cannot stem from quantity. The reasons of the majority cannot be taken as good reasons”
  – Alain de Benoist
  
  17 10
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:04am
  - Sacha
    
    I read an interesting article which discussed the difference between “anti-vaxxers” and the “vaccine-hesitant”.
    There is a difference
    It seems that the ‘vaccine-hesitant’ are not anti-vaccination per se, but remain unconvinced about the quality of research/out-comes in the absence of trials for this particular vaccine. They query the safety aspect, the lack of data from reputable sources.
    
    They distrust a product whose makers have been given indemnity against future claims of damage by a government which seems to be ignorant of the ethics of medical research. . . . . . .
    
    15 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:05am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Exactly Sacha. We all know how Thalidomide turned out.
      
      2 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 3:55pm
      - Aurelia
        
        And Pfizers killing and maiming in Africa and India.
        
        0 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 10:41pm
- PhilBest
  
  I’ve given up on KB more than once in the past. I come back occasionally to get a feel for things. And when I have some enforced inactivity. Basically I am resigned to it now that I have left my escape from NZ too late. Not that it is clear where “The Little Gaulish Village” of Western Civilization is, that I should have fled to while there was time. Texas does consistently keep looking like it will be where the last stand is going to be. I was first attracted to it by their sheer common sense on housing policy. They are sneered at by “sophisticated” global progressives but really the laugh is on the progressives. Their preferred world is a house of cards, a Ponzi scheme, a game of Charades.
  
  24 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:12am
  - Clownworld
    
    Phil never say never.
    
    11 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:58am
  - artemisia
    
    Looks like Texas is changing as increasing numbers of HQs relocate there from California. Since some are big techs the best and brightest will follow, and California’s proportion of not-so-much will grow.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:35am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  The polarisation of everything is depressing. It’s OK to disagree with people, and argue about issues. It’s kinda the whole point of politics as a process. Walking away from people who disagree with us is harmful over the long term as it fractures and Balkanizes our society.
  
  15 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:36am
- redeye
  
  There appears to be some symbiotic relationship between the pro vax crowd and the climate change alarmists.
  Both claim the world is in danger and both claim they need everyone (or as many as possible) to get behind ‘the science’.
  But then they charge off and ridicule those on the other side of the debate. And we all know, if you want to convince someone to change sides you should ridicule them. /sarc
  So do they want to save the world, or win an internet debate?
  
  20 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:38am
  - JohnRidd
    
    “There appears to be some symbiotic relationship between the pro vax crowd and the climate change alarmists.”
    
    They both accept the authority of experts without question. For them, Science is what an expert says.
    
    When two experts disagree, Science is what the most authoritative expert says.
    
    Questioning assumptions or doubting is not tolerated.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 7:20pm
    - Aurelia
      
      Both groups terminally lazy, and heavily into cognitive dissonance
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:44pm
- kowtow
  
  Tweedse.
  
  Don’t be put off by one dick head.
  
  2 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 12:34pm
  - bronny1
    
    I think he was as put off by DPFs Jacinta style single source of truth “vaccines are great” commentary.
    
    I doubt there are more than one or 2 people on this blog who disagree that “vaccines are great”. Unfortunately this mRNA jab isn’t a vaccine, nor has it been shown to be safe and effective and Tweedse like many of us is probably fed up with being told he is wrong by people who’s knowledge of the “vaccines e” has come from govt advertising.
    
    7 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 2:10pm
RockyJ

Australia has scrapped its $40 billion purchase of conventional submarines with France. Instead it has gone with nuclear subs from the USA in a deal that also involves Britain.
Could it be an opportunity for NZ to swoop in and pick up some cheap French subs? Asking for a friend.
24 4
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:08am
- Maxx
  
  The only reason I could think that NZ would need subs over a number of other areas that the NZDF could spend that money would be to sub lease them to Harry Tam so he could expand his operations and export into other countries.
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:59am
- sooty
  
  To do what with them?
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:59am
- Master Mariner
  
  “NZ to swoop in and pick up some cheap French subs”
  If they did they would try and repower with windmills, Knowing the competency of this Government.
  
  28 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:59am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Or electric. The socialists are electric mad atm
    
    10 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:43am
    - Bevan
      
      You do know that subs run on electric motors when underwater right???
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 4:23pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        yes
        
        0 1
        Report
        September 19, 2021 8:50am
    - RichardX
      
      Do you really not understand diesel submarines use the diesel engines to charge their batteries?
      That means they already are electric.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 5:37pm
    - sooty
      
      Oh great! That big reel on the back deck will be neither silent or let the travel very far!
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 6:37pm
- lastmanstanding
  
  RockyJ on that subject there has been a significant shift in the security of NZ since 2017. The other 4 of the 5 Eyes are putting distance between themselves and the Ardern Government. I suspect info is not being shared as it once was. This will continue and places NZ is an increasingly dangerous position.
  It seems that the CCP will annex Taiwan in the next 5 years. The Pentagon has concluded after war gaming that the US cannot stop the CCP. Indeed if a Democrat government is in office its possible the US will leave the Taiwanese to their fate.
  The next step by the CCP could be to look at making NZ its South West Province. Again would the Western Alliance lift a finger and intervene.
  The NZ Captains of Industry who are so in love with China might find themselves as Manager of Factory No 34 paid the same wages as the workers and physically beaten if they dont make production target.
  As the saying goes we live in interesting times.
  
  31 9
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:03am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Adern’s Captain Call regarding Oil and Gas is akin to Mao’s “Great Leap Forward”.
    
    NZ has No energy security.
    
    53 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:13am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Proposes cutting foreign exchange too.
      Tiwai point was implemented to take Aus bauxite and use NZ water power to convert it to aluminium metal which was sold in NZ dollars. That helped provide the development of the latter part of the 20 c.
      
      8 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:29am
  - kowtow
    
    Canadian media report they were caught off guard by this deal .
    Front page of the Globe and Mail.
    
    Amazeballs how Creepy Joe , the Great diplomat could leave out his “closest ally” , and at the same time not know the name of his latest “pal from down under”.
    
    19 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:27am
  - Littletramp
    
    We may be better going with China/Europe interests. They are not as demonic as our conflicted media wants you to believe.
    The USA is so corrupt now it’s social construct and financial base are on the point of collapse and plenty are pushing to ease it over the cliff.
    The petrodollar is under real pressure & Europe is realising they have been used and abused since the end of WW2. The faux protection of the USA has been all about controlling who makes/sells the worlds weapons and who controls the worlds energy sources. USA is losing it’s grip and that may be a good thing.
    Change is in the wind, you just have to stand back, observe and join the dots.
    
    1 15
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:40am
    - Man Among the Ruins
      
      I tend to agree. Under Biden, and given the circumstances in which he came to power, it is clear that the US is toast. Nothing lasts indefinitely and the Republic has done its dash and its implosion is inexorable now. China is the future, and it is fair to say that they are barely more totalitarian than the States at the moment. The only difference is that the latter laughably paints itself as a bastion of freedom and democracy. That is hollow rhetoric and hasn’t been the case in fact for 20 years at a minimum, arguably half a century or more. I draw a clear distinction, however, between the US people and their largely hostile regime. Look at the thousands of Haitians pouring across the border, and the other illegals being systematically flown to areas all across the country, and tell me that America is not doomed. On the other hand, China may be overtly authoritarian, but they act in the best interests of the Chinese people and value their national heritage.
      
      https://gab.com/LaurenWitzkeDE
      
      1 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 2:21pm
  - virtualmark
    
    There’s no sign that information sharing under Five Eyes has changed.
    
    China is very very very unlikely to annex Taiwan in the next 5, 10 or 20 years. As in all authoritarian countries the Chinese military is primarily oriented to controlling its own citizens, and not expeditionary warfare. China knows the economic and military cost of invading Taiwan just isn’t worth it.
    
    Any thoughts that China will make NZ its “south west province” are weird hallucinations. There are no physical goods or resources they need from us that they can’t buy on an open market.
    
    But China vs AUKUS is an emerging stress line where we will need to choose a side. There will be costs to whichever choice we make. I am not confident the Ardern government has the temperament to make hard choices.
    
    22 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:49am
    - Clownworld
      
      Virtualmark you could well be right. On the other hand another possibility is a new geopolitical reset dividing the world into regions rather than sovereign states.
      
      A likely region would bring NZ and Australia in the same region along with Oceania. I wonder who is the most woke leader with UN blessing ready to lead this region?
      
      At the same time the CCP have the will and resources not only to lead the way (social credit digital Beta test of whole population) in Asia albeit the far East though not so much Russia or India. The CCP could easily direct Oceania as well from a distance. Maybe they will do a deal on subs with NZ?
      
      Strange times indeed.
      
      3 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:23am
      - Bluegrass
        
        “… into regions…”
        
        Indeed.
        
        See 1984.
        
        5 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 10:39am
      - Man Among the Ruins
        
        Some people still treat The Great Reset as if it were some unfounded, unhinged right wing conspiracy, when it is no such thing. It is an explicit agenda under the auspices of the NGO World Economic Forum to, quite literally, reset the entire global social, economic and political landscape. In case anyone has been living under a rock, you needn’t take my word, simply read the agenda yourselves:
        
        https://www.weforum.org/great-reset
        
        This is the “Davos crowd,” the world’s richest people and world leaders, who regularly meet in that location to discuss how the world is to be organised. The input of the plebs is not asked for nor required. None of this is covert, but is fully overt. Someone like Biden or Ardern are not deciding anything of substance.
        
        Catchphrases like “build back better” and “the new normal” originate in this forum and others like it. Yet, staggeringly, people are still earnestly treating Covid as a medical issue, all the while often wondering why none of the narrative corresponds to reality in any significant way.
        
        Why the need for a reset? The globalised debt-based economic system, predicated on endless growth and ever-increasing consumerism, has almost become exhausted. It is wholly unsustainable, so, in order for those presently in control to maintain their status, greater control of the population is necessary, lest we perceive what is occurring and rebel. The intent is, under the pretext of the current inflated crisis, restricted liberties that were once taken for granted will be the norm, modulated by ubiquitous digital IDs that allow or disallow access to society as and when necessary and under a range of pretexts. 2020 signalled the start of a new epoch, and we aren’t in Kansas anymore.
        
        6 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 12:13pm
      - virtualmark
        
        I’d say the possibility the world will move away from independent nation-states to instead be some sort of regional governments is a very very very very small possibility indeed.
        
        3 3
        Report
        September 18, 2021 12:17pm
      - Spoff
        
        Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s enforcer, has been touting the “City State” – basically corporate-run entities independent of Nations:
        https://www.bookdepository.com/Nation-City-Rahm-Emanuel/9780525656388
        
        1 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 4:45pm
- [email protected]
  
  Agree that it could be useful to have a small number of submarines. Unfortunately any funds that could have been used to purchase same have already been spent.
  
  10 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:07am
- Nickc2
  
  The French are not even tooled up to build the damned things yet. They are still in the Preliminary design phase I’m told. It’s not simply a case of replacing a Nuclear Reactor with four Diesel Powered GenSets and adding Fuel Tanks and modifying Ballast and Trim Systems.
  Remember, Nuclear Submarines can remain at sea submerged until the food runs out but Conventional Submarines are not only limited to food stocks, they are also dependant on Diesel Fuel.
  Hence, the Design phases (Preliminary & Detailed) take longer than the Build phase.
  In short, they will never be built. I’m told Aust is going to pay for work done to date plus whatever it costs for contract cancellation.
  
  21 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:27am
  - Thought Criminal
    
    The French have spent decades excluding Australian and New Zealand exporters from Europe and Britain. They don’t like it when it happens to them. Tough. Au revoir “friends”
    
    26 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:05am
    - Nickc2
      
      They’re not bad people in their own country once you get to know them. I worked there for a while on a project related to Aust Defence. They can, like Germans, be extremely arrogant but that’s due to their rather insular world view IMO.
      
      11 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:36am
      - MCos
        
        Who’s that? America?
        
        0 8
        Report
        September 18, 2021 11:18am
      - Spoff
        
        I always found the Bretons congenial.
        
        0 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 4:46pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  The submarines that really matter are ones that carry ballistic nukes as a deterrent. Without a nuclear deterrent NZ (and Taiwan etc) will always be reliant upon USA to step in and save us. With Biden and his future ilk in power, and a USA that is more and more internally focussed and troubled that is no longer a safe bet.
  
  19 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:41am
  - CJames
    
    For a nation like China that has to rely on sea trade for both raw materials and goods export, having a couple of nuclear hunter killers on constant patrol off your coast is a real deterrent. Its blue water fleet will be stuck in port. Without their sea power, China has no ability to project their military presence.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 1:05pm
    - artemisia
      
      There are also the Yiwu freight trains – China to Europe / London and back. Part of belt and road. Room to increase routes and expand export markets if economically sensible, less reliance on sea freight.
      
      0 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 3:23pm
- slijmbal
  
  @RockyJ while I’m merely repeating something I’ve done no research on, what I have heard is that it was a very bad deal in the 1st place and it has gone badly so far. No idea of accuracy of that statement and don’t care enough to check properly so ……
  
  Must say huge schadenfreude on the froggies’ response. Worth it just for that. Need popcorn….
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:59am
- Bevan
  
  LOL, try 90 billion.
  
  And they would only be cheap IF they were already built, they don’t even have a final design yet.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:25am
- MCos
  
  I would suggest investing shit loads of money in some boats is nothing to do with Australia’s defence.
  That bloke down under is buying goodwill and Biden & Boris are bolstering their countries defence industries.
  We do the same thing by supporting America in their endless wars.
  
  As for China invading Taiwan. Why would they?
  
  1 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:40am
- rangitoto
  
  The French subs don’t actually exist.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 4:18pm
kowtow

The Weekend Herald has gone full feral , to earn its masters pleasure , with a campaign to get 90% vaxxed .

Its editorial includes this ;

‘Two doses of the Pfizer vaccine are proven to be 88% effective at preventing illness from a Delta infection and 96% affective against hospital admission.’

OK but they fail to mention for how long it is efffective : is that dishonest or deceitful , is it misinformation or is it just promoting pro vax propaganda without presenting the full facts .
70 6
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:11am
- hullkiwi
  
  All of the above. Jax early on in the week seemed to wobble about when Auckland will be released from Lvl 4 imprisonment. This was when being interviewed by Ryan Bridge, she by suggested Auckland needed higher levels of vaccination before it could move to Level 3. So, the media has probably had the line fed to it by the government and is repeating that line. But as fewer of us are reading MSM, how many are getting the message?
  
  19 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:00am
  - Nickc2
    
    Good point. Herald will probably put it behind a paywall anyway.
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:55am
- Simon
  
  The enlarged heart shape in the 90% was appropriate.
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:03am
- PhilBest
  
  I am a lonely battler on this point; but how can they say how effective a treatment is when the experts are clueless about the role of “severity of original infection”? In turn this is because they don’t understand the difference between breathing air in an aerosol-laden environment 24/7 – like in a rest home – or just getting a whiff during a supermarket trip. The latter is what gives you an asymptomatic infection. The former is what kills you.
  
  So any talk about how effective a vaccine is, that takes no account of circumstances or severity of infection, is not worth a tin of fish.
  
  19 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:16am
  - Andrei
    
    What kills you in a rest home is advanced old age, catching a cold is what administers the coup de grace.
    
    But in the oracles who dispense 21st century wisdom have forgotten that mortality is the human lot
    
    27 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:49am
    - PhilBest
      
      Andrei; rest homes are a double whammy. The fact that the most frail people are there, has blinded everyone to the fact that the ENVIRONMENT is also HIGHEST risk.
      
      Duration inhaling aerosols is a slam-dunk for prediction of severity of disease. Prisons are bad. Cool stores and meat works are bad; at least there, the workers get most of each 24 hour period as respite.
      
      Under lockdown, crowded housing becomes a deadly superspreader environment. 24/7 inhalation, again.
      
      The anecdotal evidence and reportage of “young healthy people” dying of Covid suggests a life of high environmental risk – a poorly ventilated apartment; lot of time spent in crowded cafes, bars and clubs; exercise taken in gyms where exhalation and inhalation are another level.
      
      11 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:24am
- Man Among the Ruins
  
  I find it heartening that it is apparent that many more people than was probably anticipated are deciding for themselves and refusing the vaccine. I also believe that the numbers of dissidents will only increase, as it becomes impossible to conceal both the apparent inefficacy as well as the risks outweighing the benefits. The mandates in the US and elsewhere demonstrate lack of uptake – they wouldn’t be required otherwise. Significant resistance is the clear inference, as what else explains the need for an wide-reaching advertising campaign? They have now been given every opportunity (special drive in clinics, clinics at Universities etc.) yet they still aren’t taking the bait.
  
  15 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:16am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I’m not anti vax; I’m anti this vax.
    
    26 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:52am
    - Man Among the Ruins
      
      Same. The tactic is to pretend that the mRNA vaccines are just like any other vaccine, when this is not the case. They are a technology that has never been widely tested (until now) on humans. My claim here can in theory be falsified simply by showing evidence of such widespread testing, but cannot be falsified in fact, as no such relevant and previously collected data exists.
      
      This blatant propaganda technique is an example of the fallacy of composition (i.e. inferring something as being true for the whole, from only the truth of part of the whole). Thus, sceptics are presented as being sceptical of all vaccines – this is simply false. The fact that they are using this fallacy only reinforces my position. If they had a good case, these deceitful tactics wouldn’t be necessary.
      
      14 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:19am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      That is a very good explanation. Simple and to the point. We are sick of the lies, and sick of the sheep who believe those lies.
      eg, 14 = 10
      
      12 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:48am
      - kowtow
        
        Swimming isn’t swimming.
        
        Sitting on a beach is exercise.
        
        No condolences to the vax death lady , plenty for the Wuflu one.
        
        12 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 12:39pm
- Nickc2
  
  It’s Ardern driven propaganda IMO.
  
  18 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:39am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Might be worth considering an OIA request into correspondence between Ministers and their staff, and NZME…
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 12:29pm
    - Nickc2
      
      It’s probably all done behind a beer coaster in a sleazy bar in Wgtn. They wouldn’t dare commit to an audit trail that could be accessed under OIA protocols.
      
      4 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 1:12pm
      - artemisia
        
        Official Information need not be in written or other format such as digital. The OI Act also includes knowledge not (yet) written down. So for example if there is a meeting over a beer that appears to be ‘official’ the details can be requested. Like the time, place and people at the meeting, their roles, the contents of any discussion and any actions agreed.
        
        1 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 6:49pm
      - Aurelia
        
        Probably go off line like Hilary Clinton did with private emails to avoid the official paper trail audit.
        
        0 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 10:55pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  NZME doing a campaign across their platform.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-delta-outbreak-the-90-project-nz-herald-campaign-to-vaccinate-kiwis-save-lives-and-enjoy-freedom/XHDR6DFFVKQWC5CM6EDYXYGVW4/
  
  Cindy won’t state number but wants best in the world before she reduces restrictions, although others in her corner ( Andy, Bloomfield, etc ) have been pushing the 90% since midweek.
  Hosking also had an interesting summary on the topic in his RE-WRAP yesterday.
  While I agree with your comment about full disclosure a campaign that helps get it to 90% might not be a bad thing. It could leave her in a position of having to come up with another excuse for maintaining restrictions.
  That might really start to piss off some of her more ardent followers.
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:51am
- Scott
  
  What frustrates me is the lack of any sort of plan. We get a certain percentage of the population vaccinated and then we can return to normal life? That doesn’t seem to be the government’s plan. They want to maintain that we can eliminate this virus. Which we can’t.
  The fact is that this virus is never going away. Sooner or later we’re going to have to live with it.
  Can the government not see this?
  
  As I have said many times, the Prime Minister is very comfortable with the current situation. She can call a press conference on Tuesday afternoon and lock everyone down at 11:59 PM on Tuesday night. Just with her word. That’s a lot of power we have given one person.
  
  We need to get our freedoms back and demand an end to lockdowns. And stop hiding behind unrealistic vaccination targets. By the end of November everyone should have been vaccinated that wants to be vaccinated. Then end lockdowns – for ever.
  
  Return to normal life. Learn to live with this virus. Let’s get our life and our freedom back!
  
  23 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:23am
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Sorry Scott fat fingers dt instead of reply on mobile.
    
    In 2020 she ran a covid campaign, no other (declared) policy. She has nothing else than covid so she will milk it but use her absolute power to maintain obediance. I suspect Trudeau’s fate on Monday might guide her next move.
    
    11 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:12am
- Happy1
  
  We aren’t going to even get to 80% until Covid becomes endemic and people who “ have done there own research “ see people they know tipping over. Then they will all rush to get vaccinated, complaining that nobody told them that covid was deadly.
  
  4 8
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:24am
  - Surely Knott
    
    On the plus side another 91 COVID cases recovered in the last 24 hours. No deaths.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:46am
    - kowtow
      
      But the Chief Plodster said “delta is different” .
      
      8 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 12:40pm
      - redflagged
        
        A Gamechanger.
        
        That game being much less deadly than the original virus.
        
        3 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 1:59pm
- Clownworld
  
  Indeed Kowtow. The virtual signalling of a raised solidatory fist said it all. Apparently the govt propaganda is telling us we are a whanau of 5 million now.
  
  The image reminded me of war propaganda and even their churnalists used emotive warlike words for this invisible enemy.
  
  The aspirational we can be world leaders of vac percentage speaks to hubris. Watch this space either it will be achieved by force or miss the target completly like Kiwibuild,poverty, climate inaction, etc etc.
  
  This propaganda piece is all nonsense but of course handy for the Prime Minister to land a UN regional leader job and to appease her CCP minders.
  
  If NZ choose to believe this and do it, it is simply because the sustained propaganda plan has worked and people will bow the knee, rather than critically think or question the state anymore.
  
  If you get the vac or don’t get it, concerns me a lot less than the money, power, control, propaganda, social pressure, all political parties pushing for the vac does. When it looks like coercion , smells like corruption from the media and it feels like no choice, no wonder people are confused, exhausted and ripe for manipulation.
  
  10 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:38am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Are we still doing the 40X replication testing?
  That I suspect is driving the Covid report numbers.
  The WHO reported that it was not to be used beyond 25–too many false positives through mutations during the copying process. (40X is really 1.1 trillion)
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:40am
  - Happy1
    
    Kev you have banged on about the cycle numbers for yonks. The PCR test is amazingly accurate. In the many tens of thousands of community test done lately not one positive result, false or otherwise, was found. When family members of covid folk are tested positive results are commonplace. The wastewater testing produces positive results where it is expected and negative results in places like Invercargil. Your contention that “they” alter the cycle numbers to get a particular result is just conspiracy rubbish.
    
    3 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:57am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Tell that to the WHO.
      I want to know why our amateur govt locks people down with so much uncertainty.
      Extraordinary measures require extraordinary evidence not feelings.
      
      2 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 3:27pm
    - freemark
      
      Wrong, although your reasoning looks sound on the surface. Anywhere above 30 cycles the PCR could be picking up anything. The results are so open to manipulation by those who have a vested interest in keeping the fear up that it’s laughable. No chain of evidence, tests from single areas are spread around labs so that the labs unable to say “we didn’t have a positive, what’s going on?” Even the testers highly aware of the unreliability, and also the meaninglessness of a “positive” result. My source sells the tests & the machines, and highly qualified (to PhD level) in using them. Covid may not have started out as a scam, but the ongoing measures to keep it going absolutely are. Look at the recovery rate, look at the legislation passed under-the-cover-of, look at the behaviour away from public eyes of those most invested in keeping up the pretence (MSM hugely), look at the desperate scramble to have some cover (the jab) for when the virus fades away only having harvested a few more than any other respiratory afflictions, a few months early.
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 6:22pm
- oldfella
  
  kowtow, an honest newspaper would have hammered Ardern for setting an impossible target.
  90%? The United Arab Emirates have managed it, but they’re the only ones.
  I suspect that once we get to 75-80% we’ll plateau. Then the pressure will go on the ‘unvaccinated’ to be team players and not stop us opening up to the world.
  Is it only me, or can others see the day when the ‘unvaccinated’ will be outed and shamed on social media? Subject to such an outpouring of govt-inspired hatred that what happened to the Wanaka couple will look like a slap with a wet bus ticket.
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:56am
- Spoff
  
  12 days at last report:
  https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1438266398531366916?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1438266398531366916%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbigleaguepolitics.com%2Fisraeli-researchers-can-confirm-only-12-days-of-protection-from-covid-19-virus-with-booster-shot%2F
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 4:56pm
- JohnRidd
  
  Perhaps as we wait for more people to get vaccinated we could do what El Salvador is doing.
  They are handing out treatment packs for prevention and treatment of covid 19.
  
  The pack includes ivermectin.
  
  https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/085/210/822/original/1ea270d4eeb7f18a.mp4
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 7:28pm
  - Aurelia
    
    Yep many countries are saying bugger this, it’s gone on too long, we handing out ivermectin now. We want people to live!
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:06pm
blue collar

Rang up mediab , you can get a covid antibody test for $85 . Me n the boys all reckon we’ve had it first time around …. remember you couldn’t get a test unless had four symptoms ….. anyway , hv a go , will be interesting . Be stoked if I’ve got natural immunity , looks like a long wait for novavax
23 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:13am
- RockyJ
  
  That would be very interesting. Please keep us advised.
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:03am
- covfefe
  
  The antibody levels decline with time – depends somewhat on the assay. Everyone who I have facilitated testing on without good epidemiological risks from original ‘outbreak’ has been negative. The virus just wasn’t widespread in NZ, IMHO.
  
  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34119335/
  
  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33747511/
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:10am
  - PhilBest
    
    Antibodies are only part of the story, too. Natural immunity does not depend on antibodies floating around in the system forever. It depends on immune memory and the ability to ramp up a defence rapidly next time. And as much as 2/3 of people who get natural immunity to Covid do so without even developing antibodies; their immune system dealt with it at an earlier level of response.
    
    https://www.virology.ws/2021/03/25/t-cells-will-save-us-from-covid-19/
    
    https://www.virology.ws/2021/05/27/t-cells-will-save-us-from-covid-19-part-two/
    
    This stuff is virology 101 but as with a lot of other things, Covid 19 has been made out to be a rule-breaker – completely dishonestly, it turns out every time. There is now a T-cell response test for Covid.
    
    12 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:28am
Benedict Yu

“The Pakistan prime minister spoke personally to the prime minister of New Zealand and informed her that we have one of the best intelligence systems in the world and that no security threat of any kind exists for the visiting team.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/black-caps/126423424/black-caps-vs-pakistan-tour-abandoned-due-to-government-security-alert

So Imran Khan thought that Jacinda could just order the New Zealand cricket team to stay in Pakistan and keep playing. Sorry Imran it doesn’t work like that.

“we have one of the best intelligence systems in the world”… Oh so funny??. You might have shared the fact that Osama bin Laden was holed up there. Would have saved all that looking.

With neighbouring Afghanistan going to hell again I don’t like the chances of forthcoming cricket tours to Pakistan proceeding.
78 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:19am
- Simon
  
  “and informed her that we have one of the best intelligence systems in the world”
  
  And then Cindy informed Khan that her government was one of most open and transparent in the world.
  
  They both had a laugh but Khan knew then the cricket was cancelled.
  
  78 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:33am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    New Zealand only ranks second on the current World Justice Project scores for open government.
    
    3 28
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:06am
    - Simon
      
      “It’s all a bit odd. The MFAT safe travel website does not seem to refer to specific ‘threat levels’ for Pakistan.”
      
      So open. lol.
      
      9 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 9:56am
    - kowtow
      
      ‘Pakistan stood at number 5 on the 2021 World Watch List, an index of Christian persecution in countries around the world, compiled by the Christian aid organization Open Doors.’
      
      A gun attack on 6 Sept on a Christian community.
      
      8 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 12:46pm
  - Cinematic
    
    Haha. Very good.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:52am
- Rich Prick
  
  Yeah, I’m not at all sure about the Taliban’s home base. Having been to two Islamic shit holes already, Pakistan certainly isn’t on my bucket list.
  
  53 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:39am
- mikenmildagain
  
  It’s all a bit odd. The MFAT safe travel website does not seem to refer to specific ‘threat levels’ for Pakistan. Their advice for Pakistan refers in general terms to terrorism threats, and cites incidents from 2018 and 2019. There is no detail at all on what might have changed after the team’s arrival in Pakistan last week.
  MFAT also advises against any overseas by NZers due to Covid, btw.
  
  7 11
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:46am
- MCos
  
  I’ve read a number of the comments by Pakistani cricket fans on Twitter and current and former fans.
  Those people are furious.
  A lot of them blame India, of course, for vague reasons. However time & again they bring up how close the Bangladesh team came to being gunned down in Chch and how the Pakistan & other teams continued to tour here in subsequent years.
  
  15 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:50am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Perhaps they have a point, since the latest terrorist incidents in Pakistan listed by MFAT are from April and May 2019.
    
    4 7
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:55am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Credit where it’s due; the PM and CEO of NZC have made the correct decision. Player safety trumps every other consideration.
  
  7 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:13am
- Tom Hunter
  
  With neighbouring Afghanistan going to hell again …
  
  Thanks in large part to none other than the bloody Pakistan intelligence agency, ISI, who also had quite the role to play in the original rise of the Taliban in the mid-1990’s.
  
  One of GW’s many failures was not coming down hard on Pakistan in 2001. At a minimum he should have demanded a full-on Pakistani military effort at the border with Afghanistan to trap the Islamic Jihadist escapees so they Yanks could really crush them.
  
  But then look where Osama was finally found. ISI are basically a law unto themselves so poor old Imran is probably foolish to rely on them.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:47am
  - MCos
    
    You tell him, Tom.
    
    2 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:42am
  - JeffW
    
    Firstly, fat fingers, pressed report instead of like – apologies.
    A former PM of Pakistan, Gilani, announced when he came into office that the ISI would be brought under civilian control – this last all of two days: I guess he/his family were threatened. I was living there at the time.
    Law unto themselves is right.
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 2:27pm
krazykiwi

Remember the near religious intensity of ‘saving our health system’? That has never been more blasted from state minarets than in the UK where “Stay Home. Save Lives. Save The NHS” was the official dawn-to-dusk call to prayer for 18 months.

Setting aside the hastily built Nightingale hospitals that closed having care for zero patients, it turns out that more than 25% of UK Covid-19 hospitalisation are for some other primary ailment.

We’re told that officialdom is the single source of truth. Nonsense. I’d say a majority of the lies and half-truths foisted on us come from official mouthpieces.
55 2
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:19am
- kowtow
  
  When Dr Blofeld can state that swimming is not swimming , and her lap dog team of $55 million refuse to challenge that , then anything is possible in this upside down world.
  
  There is no talk in the govt gazettes ( the msm) about Gaston but its still all about the runaway couple , Collins and an all out effort to promote the Pink Haired One .
  
  Woof woof.
  
  52 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:26am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  And we blindly ran down the same rabbit hole.
  
  Wall to wall fear porn.
  
  All we have achieved is an economic and social crisis of our own making.
  
  Delaying the inevitable, everyone at some stage will get covid like they get the flu.
  
  How do you admit that you wasted 100 plus billion trying to stop the tide coming in.
  
  This is what happens when you fixate on one number, the covid number, to the exclusion of everything else.
  
  Worse you use it to push your ideological agenda.
  
  37 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:29am
- PeeJay
  
  Worked a bit in council and the old housing nz for a few years and still have many good friends at both. Some great folks trying to do a hard job…and then there are the managers (few good, lot of not-so-good) and the worst of the bunch, the PR / Comm’s teams. Thing that always annoyed me while working there were the PR / Comm’s team and the need to ‘spin’ or ‘frame’ the ‘story’. In my view, these organisations shouldn’t need PR / Comm’s teams – easiest way to not have to ‘manage’ bad news is to do the bloody job! If they have such a team, it’s probably an admission that they aren’t doing their job! They’ve infested the public service to such a degree that you end up with the podium of truth, resulting in 14 days was always 10 days, i reject the premise of your question, and other such bullshit. I guess we’ve always been at war with eastasia after all!
  
  33 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:35am
  - artemisia
    
    Agree Kainga Ora staff on the ground have a seriously tough job, hindered by current government edicts about not terminating tenants. A recent Tenancy Tribunal decision (4254131) highlighted issues when neighbouring occupiers are both KO tenants and one lot are ‘difficult’ detailed in the decision as having ‘domestic violence, criminal, and drug-use related problems’.
    
    KO – on a hiding to nothing.
    
    19 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:30am
- cmm
  
  Even the 75% that are there primarily because of CV19, the majority will likely have other conditions and the CV19 just pushed them over the edge.
  
  For example an asthmatic that is normally 90% of the way to being sent to hospital during a bout, but can cope in their own home and the CV19 gives them that extra 10%.
  
  And, again, I’m sure we’d see skewed stats here too. The stats presented here are for overall hospitalisation. Of the people in hospital that need higher care (ICU etc) or die I’ll bet most are in the crowd that are not there primarily because of CV19.
  
  What I’d like to see are the same breakdown presented for:
  * People in ICU.
  * People dying.
  
  I’ll bet 50c and a servo pie that the number of CV19 patients in ICU or that die that are not carrying significant preconditions is extremely low.
  
  21 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:46am
  - Pongo
    
    But, my brother is an anesthetist in Newcastle and has been busy intubating 40 to 60 year old unvaccinated patients. That is the start of a couple of weeks face down in an ICU bed with all that stress on your other organs, let alone the indignity.
    Sure its a vanishingly small chance but fuck that.
    Coincidently he has Covid at the moment after being jabbed nearly a year ago now and he just sent me a picture of himself BBQing with a glass of Rose which is literally how I want to experience Covid when I inevitably catch it.
    
    16 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 8:56am
    - Cinematic
      
      Jabbed with what Pongo?
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 9:55am
      - Pongo
        
        Pfizer
        
        3 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 11:18am
    - cmm
      
      “Coincidently he has Covid at the moment ”
      
      Does he have Covid19? Or is he just infected with the virus?
      
      CV19 is the disease, not the virus. Plenty of people get infected without developing the disease.
      
      2 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 3:16pm
    - cmm
      
      ” busy intubating 40 to 60 year old unvaccinated patients.”
      
      These are anecdotes. He sees some and intubates some, but remember that his hospital probably serves a population of a million people.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 3:49pm
  - MCos
    
    There’s a figure of 500 that gets thrown around as the number of deaths caused in NZ on average annually by the flu.
    Except it’s not listed as major cause of death. People with a bad heart die of a heart attack. They have the flu at the same time. On the death certificate it doesn’t say flu. Someone looked into this, wrote a report and came up with the 500 figure.
    
    6 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:15am
    - cmm
      
      Yup. The way statistics are being gathered is not a level playing field. This massively over counts CV19 and makes a mockery of any statistical processes used to analyse them.
      
      Garbage statistics are not science. They are activism and politics.
      
      Until we get a level playing field in the way statistics are gathered, it’s emotional bullshit – not science.
      
      If we used a PCR test for flu there would be hundreds of thousands of cases in NZ each year, tens of thousands in hospitals and hundreds (or likely thousands) of deaths. The vast majority would not even know they “had” flu.
      
      The CDC classifies flu and pneumonia together for statistical purposes. They are so common together they deserve one of those Brangelina couple names – perhaps Flunomia.
      
      The majority of men in NZ have developed prostate cancer before they die. If we counted prostate cancer hospitalisations and deaths the same was as we count Covid deaths then there would be about 10,000 prostate cancer deaths in NZ a year. But only 650 or so deaths are classified as such per year and only 3100 new cases are diagnosed.
      
      Clearly the thresholds used to diagnose CV19 and prostate cancer are in no way similar.
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 3:46pm
  - PhilBest
    
    The hospitalization thing is the same in the USA
    
    https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/09/covid-hospitalization-numbers-can-be-misleading/620062/
    
    It is the old story we have talked about in the past in the context of death: “Of” Covid or “With” Covid. Evidently the data for hospitalizations suffers from the same bias.
    
    13 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:20am
  - Cinematic
    
    Can’t fudge the excess deaths number, in 3 years time they will paint a picture of a decent spike like a severe flu season.
    
    We’ll be able to look back and assess the spike against past history. It will be a mild pandemic in historic terms.
    
    At that point it will become undeniable that lockdowns don’t work; the vaccines will have had little overall impact on excess deaths (old and vulnerable people will die anyway, as they do).
    
    The social and economic costs will have become pronounced. The finger of blame will be pointed at the mad scientists that led us all to this place.
    
    15 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:03am
    - PhilBest
      
      I certainly hope so
      
      8 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:29am
    - Ruawai
      
      But the Governments and scientists will say if they didn’t have lock downs covid would have been worse and they have saved us from certain death.
      
      9 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 11:12am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Hendry will get a knighthood and all will rejoice that granny didn’t die!
        
        We still won’t make an effort to contact or try to see her other than her birthday, too busy at Christmas gran, but she is still alive! Huzzah!
        
        5 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 11:42am
      - PhilBest
        
        And getting away with that claim is another good indicator among many that our civilization is doomed by the sheer loss of ability to think any more, on the part of the great majority.
        
        Laurel really IS a woman
        
        Indigenous people science IS science
        
        Lockdowns worked
        
        All part of the same problem
        
        4 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 1:58pm
      - cmm
        
        “Hendry (sic) will get a knighthood and all will rejoice that granny didn’t die!”
        
        Almost all the grannies that were “saved” in 2020 are already dead by other causes. Those that are being “saved” now will mostly be dead by this time next year.
        
        They best issue that knighthood quickly if they want the grannies to applaud.
        
        0 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 4:55pm
    - Aurelia
      
      I’m pretty sure the excess death rates for 2019- 2020 compared to 2020-2021 has already been evaluated. Yes you are correct in your assumption…..no excess death rates. Even though everything known to man was falsely coded to covid. Then to double check the average for the period 2015- 2020 were also compared…..again no excess death. Covid 1919 is just not a killer. Well it wouldn’t be would it. Even before the useless Vax it had a death rate of 0.002. Nuff said
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 11:21pm
  - Sacha
    
    General ICU admissions come from many places:
    . Head Injuries from any source
    . Post surgical care (planned or unplanned)
    . Acute(sudden) lung trauma
    and so on.
    Most ICU’s have a few fully equipped ‘isolation’ rooms which can be used for infectious patients. These patients cannot share nursing staff.
    Some ICU’s have what are known as “High Dependency” beds for patients who need monitoring, but are in all other respects in stable condition.
    It is safe to say that any patients suffering from serious complications following Covid infection might require ICU admission for stabilisation. It is recognised from overseas experience that ventilation does not have good outcomes for these patients.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:35am
    - cmm
      
      If they are all infected with the same thing then they can surely share a room and staff – no worries.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 4:56pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Is your expertise in hospital management on a par with expertise in epidemiology.
        
        0 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 5:07pm
- tedbear
  
  Correct KK..
  Remember that all people don’t know they have covid don’t know until they get the test, thus it stands to reason they presented at hospitals with something else.
  
  But what gets me is if 500 flu deaths are acceptable every year in say NZ, then why aren’t 500 covid deaths every year also acceptable?
  
  24 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:51am
  - DeepBlue
    
    I have been waiting for someone to answer the press ‘What is the number of deaths acceptable with Covid?’ with ‘500’.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:18am
  - PhilBest
    
    And even if it was 1000 in one year, why is 1000 versus 500, justification to flip from “doing NOTHING”, to trashing the economy, the socio-economy, life, society and health itself? Or even 2000 versus 500? Where is our sense of proportion?
    
    14 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:31am
- Yvette
  
  Krazykiwi – Remember the near religious intensity of ‘saving our health system’
  
  I remember –
  Of ex-Health Minister David Clark, Ardern said: “Under normal conditions I would sack the Minister of Health. What he did was wrong, and there are no excuses. “But right now, my priority is our collective fight against Covid-19. We cannot afford massive disruption in the health sector or to our[covid] response. For that reason, and that reason alone, Dr Clark will maintain his role.” [1]
  
  So at a point when the Government has announced they will vaccinate – as many as 4.2 million people in the next 36 weeks – 1 million more doses in the next two-and-a-half months, on top of the 150,000 to 200,000 already delivered [leaving] just 26 weeks, from July 1 to December 31, to administer as many as 7.2 million jabs. [2] probably the most massive health procedure the country has undertaken (no wonder it has so far not quite followed this April 21 plan)
  
  They have also announced –
  DHBs to be scrapped, new Māori Health Authority to be created in major health system shake up. New Zealand’s health system is in for a significant shake up. Changes include an end to district health boards in favour for a national organisation, as well as creating a new Māori Health Authority and a new public health agency.
  
  – which, Jacinda, does seem a little more disruptive than sacking David Clark.
  
  [1] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-lockdown-health-minister-david-clark-demoted-after-driving-20km-to-beach-breaking-lockdown-rules/X4AP6J336VNHT7OJYZB6YT6VKQ/
  [2] https://www.newsroom.co.nz/the-race-to-vaccinate-new-zealand-in-36-weeks
  
  21 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:07am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Who told you that officialdom is the single source of truth?
  
  3 20
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:56am
  - Charmaine Hawke
    
    Jacinda as she says here” We will continue to be your single source of truth” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENEUktOrQV8
    
    26 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:20am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    I sorta didn’t miss you bro, just saying . . .
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:45am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Don’t be unkind, Paulus. MnM, generally speaking, is the acceptable face of trolling.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 7:20pm
Mr_Blobby

Another day of the level 4 lockdown stupidity.

I am so over this economic and social disaster that labour is persisting with.

We need to learn to live with covid, not cowering like scared sheep.

How did it come to this.
53 3
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:20am
- ecco
  
  I noticed on my daily walks a lot more people can’t be a***ed putting a mask on any more when outside.
  
  31 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:27am
  - hullkiwi
    
    It is our bit of rebellion. Wear the mask in the supermarket. Take the thing off, the seconds I’m out in the carpark! My bit of saying enough.
    
    35 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:57am
    - tedbear
      
      My bit of rebellion -have the mask on entering the supermarket and pull it down to under your chin once inside.
      Around one hundred people die every day in NZ.
      Back off Ardern – all your lockdowns and orders have achieved nothing positive.
      
      23 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:16am
      - pragmatist
        
        “My bit of rebellion”
        Go you tough guy. You know the only folk who will have to have a word with you in the supermarket are 16 year old school kids who probably have their own thoughts but are just doing what they are told. Then what? Your going to berate them?
        Why not have the courage of your convictions and make an actual stand if you feel so strongly about it? Lol. Your “rebellion” is pathetic. Bet you’ve never stood up for anything in your life lol.
        
        0 6
        Report
        September 18, 2021 3:08pm
  - Bobba Fret
    
    I cant understand why anyone out for a walk in the fresh air would wear a mask. I never have.
    Always makes me laugh when you see a person on their own in their car wearing a mask…………….probably the same type of person that would wear a condom when they are alone in bed!
    
    22 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:46am
    - cmm
      
      It’s worse than stupid to wear a mask while you’re by yourself in a car.
      
      The only useful filtering you get from a mask is due to your breath condensing in the fabric. Once the fabric has saturated (just slight humidity/dampness will do this) it will no longer help because any further condensation only happens if some of the liquid in the mask evaporates – taking the virus with it.
      
      Driving around with a mask on just makes the mask saturate sooner. If you do this, then throw the mask away and put on a fresh one when you get to your destination.
      
      But, in reality they are just theatre props so do what the hell you like!
      
      4 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 5:03pm
blue collar

For all you aucklanders still locked down , nothings changed , just saying …. you guys won the rugby for far too long in fitzys day and we will never forgive yas .
Plus you get most of our roading money , and it’s a soul less city , with zero character .
Much like a lot of it’s people
Still JAFA’s … but we do hv sympathy that you must suffer this due to govt incompetence.
17 4
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:20am
- Cinematic
  
  Excuse me. Auckland has the Waitemata. The best harbour in the world. If that doesn’t elevate the city in your mind nothing will!
  
  5 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:07am
  - lifesgood
    
    Cinematic the jealous other NZers hate on Auckland not realising that its population is big because everyone wants to live here, and why wouldn’t they. Oh yes, there is the little matter of the longest lockdown NZs ever had.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:20am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    The comment is just a cheap shot from Tuataperi, where they turn on the pedestrian crossing light on at Christmas in lieu of putting up a tree . . .
    
    4 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:49am
krazykiwi

Afghanistan’s new rulers are getting the country going again. In great news, schools will be re-opening. The Taliban announced:

“All male teachers and students should attend their educational institutions [from next week]”

Anyone spot the problem here?
56 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:26am
- cmm
  
  Oooh, me, me! Can I have a guess?
  
  I think $3m isn’t going to be enough to buy books and apples for the teachers. Perhaps Cindy should send more.
  
  33 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:33am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Well we did build a school.
  
  Any idea how much that cost and how many students have graduated.
  
  My guess would be, that it would have been cheaper to send them to a private school in Switzerland.
  
  But what did we achieve and how much did it cost?
  
  22 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:35am
  - cmm
    
    “Well we did build a school. ”
    
    Is it still being used as a school or is it now being used as a Taliban facility?
    
    Is it still a building or has it been gutted for its roofing iron etc?
    
    Main thing though is that we can all feel good that our tax dollars went to build a school!
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 6:09pm
- Jibber NO Jabber
  
  An assembly to be held on the cricket pitch?
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:38am
- Simon
  
  August 2021 Neolibs: Afghanistan OMG! build back better fails. Curse you Trump! They have closed down gender studies at Kabul univ! The airport oh the airport. We need to save 1,000, no no save 100,000. Its one of the worse things ever to happen to us.
  
  August 2026: Neolibs. Good news! The taliban are still refuse to fly the gay pride flag but it turns out they really like cheese! NZ will sign an FTA with Afghn. As all good neolibs know in time eating quality cheese will replace religious dogma. FTA! Free trade between our countries will raise living standards in both countries as well as promote freedom! They get cheese and the taliban will open religious schools across NZ. Its win win.
  
  13 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:54am
- Unity
  
  No mention of females!!??
  
  4 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:28am
- JamesP
  
  Gender is a social construct. They can all just identify as male and it will turn out fine.
  
  18 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:52am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Just like they did in Life of Brian…
    
    https://youtu.be/bDe9msExUK8
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:33am
- KevO'Brien
  
  It’s a Muslim State with Sharia rules. We may not like that but we cannot do anything about it. Even Russian and US occupancy has not changed things.
  
  9 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:53am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Yep, still in the mud huts Hannibal left them with.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:50am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      I think you mean Alexander the Great?
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 7:23pm
I remember when

30/4/21: US hits 4 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in a day and bringing the 7-day average to 3 million a day.
21/8/21: US administers 1 million vaccine doses for the third straight day.
17/9/21: NSW reached 50% 0f people over 16 now fully vaccinated.
Just for those wondering how far in front our efforts are.
7 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:26am
- Pongo
  
  India did 22 million yesterday.
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:57am
- MCos
  
  Per capita the US administers 25% less jabs/day than NZ.
  NZ has administered about 4.5mil jabs.
  That’s half way to two doses for everyone over 12.
  
  0 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 2:11pm
krazykiwi

More top news. The UNICODE Consortium, the body that oversees the standardisation of Emoji has announced the next set of Emoji will include “a ‘pregnant’ man” to add to the already hyper-woke collection which now includes a bearded woman, a man in a wedding dress, and ‘neutral’ Father Christmas.
22 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:32am
- Rich Prick
  
  I had no idea there was a body that oversees emojis. But if they are overseeing the inclusion of a fat bloke, a chick with facial hair issues and trannys, they have far too much time on their useless hands. The world has gone quite mad.
  
  36 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:48am
MCos

Depressing end to the week.
A mother kills her three little kiddies down in Timaru.
Three other kids disappear with their father.
Auckland still in Level 4 & Blackcaps cancel their tour of Pakistan for reasons unknown.
26 2
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:32am
- krazykiwi
  
  Those kids. God that’s tragic. I can’t imagine what would have a mother do that. Just awful.
  
  29 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:11am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Schizophrenic episode? The poor father. And saving the mother is no mercy. You’d never recover from that.
    
    15 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:49am
  - Stellaboxer
    
    But only men are responsible for domestic violence when you ignore the 47% of it committed by women.
    
    15 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:51am
    - MCos
      
      This is no time for point scoring.
      
      13 6
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:11am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        I agree with you both as it happens . . .
        
        2 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 11:52am
      - pragmatist
        
        Downtickers???
        KB at its best.
        
        2 2
        Report
        September 18, 2021 3:10pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Immigration can be a very stressful time in a family’s life, then you add it two weeks cooped up in MIQ.
    
    Whatever the cause though, it’s a tragic loss of young lives. My heart goes out to everyone involved, especially the emergency services and Police having to deal with the aftermath.
    
    15 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:36am
Tomtoddy

The most disturbing aspect of the recent polls has been the female support for Ardern and for Labour. Part of me wants to rationalise this as younger women seeing Ardern as a success to follow or emulate but also as gradually seeing she is incapable of actually delivering any of her goals. It is a question of whether that will happen quickly enough for the election.

What National and ACT should be focusing on to win back this cohort is education and health. A carrot and stick approach. Provide sensible answers to the shockingly low attendance issue while explaining these kids will be the ones making your homes and steets unsafe, joining the gangs, getting stoned and adding to the crime stats.

Point out that behind the earnest warnings of the DG of health is a system on the brink of collapse, insufficient ICU beds, over worked staff, old buildings etc. “How would you like to be treated in such conditions?”

A mix of fear and good policy.
38 2
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:33am
- krazykiwi
  
  “but also as gradually seeing”
  
  You might be disappointed. I suspect that the psychology of hero worship sees facts questioning the integrity of the hero subconsciously discarded before rationality has any chance to start its work.
  
  22 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:45am
- Benedict Yu
  
  The thing with Labour is that they have the rock solid support of poor people. Let’s take East Christchurch. Bad schools, bad roads, gangs. The government has imposed housing poverty on these folk and allowed gangs to expand. They have a useless MP who will be reelected next time..
  
  The Party that could help these people is ACT. I’d like to see ACT develop a strategy to explain its policies to the people of Christchurch East. Because they see ACT as a Party for rich folk. Agh no that would be Labour who have made homeowners wealthy and have dumped on you.
  
  I am seriously considering writing a book “New Zealand. The Way Forward” by Benedict Yu. It might not be a best seller but I could post extracts on GD every day. ??
  
  BTW I am not commenting on COVID any longer. Which will be appreciated by many of you. ?
  
  56 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:46am
  - Crisplion
    
    Actually Benedict I’m sorry to hear that you’ll no longer be commenting on COVID. I may not agree with all you say – although I agree with a fair bit of it – but you’re always reasonable and sensible. I firmly believe that a culture of respectful disagreement is the way towards the best ideas and solutions.
    
    I’ll be looking forward to your book.
    
    27 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 8:55am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I will only comment again if something changes. Like Jacinda announces closed borders until 2024 or she announces that she is changing tack on the elimination strategy thanks to Benedict Yu pointing out the totally obvious that you can’t eliminate a virus using vaccines that don’t stop infection with that virus. Who would have thought?
      
      32 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 9:34am
      - PhilBest
        
        I probably won’t keep going on KB for much longer, I just hit it for a period of time when something big is going on, and especially when I have some enforced inactivity. But I’d really appreciate you keeping going with your covid enlightenment
        
        9 2
        Report
        September 18, 2021 10:35am
      - Stellaboxer
        
        Indeed you can’t eliminate a virus with a vaccine that doesn’t stop you catching it or passing it on. Ardern either doesn’t get that in which case she shouldn’t be in charge of our covid response or she does know that and is misleading the population and equally isn’t fit to lead . Can’t have it both ways but either way it’s the same conclusion.
        
        12 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 10:37am
  - Happy1
    
    Sorry you won’t be countering the misinformation and dodgy stats coming out of here. Like Phamachick you have to take care of your mental wellbeing but both your contributions will be missed. The C(K)razies of the world will prevail.
    
    3 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 12:26pm
- PhilBest
  
  The lovely Ann Coulter famously said she would gladly forego the right of Women to vote, if it meant she could live in a world that was not the outcome of women voting disproportionately for loony progressive regimes.
  
  25 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:23am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Sadly my late mother, despite having post graduate qualifications, couldn’t see past the label ‘Greens’ to their reality.
    
    Mind you, she did turn out to have dementia.
    
    18 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:00am
  - Nickc2
    
    Ann Coulter, I love her style.
    I particularly like this quote attributed to her:
    As the leader of twelve apostles, even Jesus had more executive experience than Obama.
    
    5 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 12:56pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    It’s a stupid, meaningless, comment.
    
    How many electoral cycles would she be prepared to tolerate, before she could see that her preferred “world” had come to pass?
    
    The simple fact is, if the vote were ever taken from American women, Coulter would immediately flame out in righteous indignation. It would be “straight to the barricades, ladies; this outrage will not stand!”
    
    1 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 2:07pm
- Unity
  
  It makes me wonder about the thought processes of women. Can’t they see ‘beyond’? They should be looking at what Jacinda is doing or not doing rather than the smiling face and the verbal fluff about nothing. To me that smile is the smile of an assassin. John Key was called the smiling assassin and I’m thinking that perhaps Jacinda has taken that title off him.
  
  8 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:32am
- ecco
  
  Policies like allowing the 4 Auckland silver ferns to travel to the South Island to play a game of netball, whilst keeping the rest of Auckland under house arrest, all help towards the female vote for Ardern. Never minded the two facedness of the move. The demographic of the average female netball fan is right up Ardern’s constituent ally. Ie her target audience.
  
  17 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:34am
  - Paulus
    
    These 4 Silver Ferns are not necessarily actually going to play either.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 1:45pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  You have half of all young women going to university and being indoctrinated by far left – no opposing arguments allowed, and dissent punished, you learn to parrot the party lines or fail. It is a modern re-education camp brainwashing a large proportion of our young adults. As a result the left own the political future.
  
  22 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:52am
  - ecco
    
    It’s the deliberate positioning of polling booths at the universities that is getting Ardern and Labour over the line the last two elections. They just announce free student allowances and free fees in the lead up to the election and then back track on them once they are in. That’s how you do it.
    
    Most uni students are going to vote left until they leave, start earning some decent money and then it dawns on them what a rip in taxes they are paying to prop up a whole load of troughers. That’s when they start to vote right.
    
    Situation will be even worse if 16 year olds are given the vote.
    
    7 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:49am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      but somewhere between 65 and 75% of public sector workers in NZ are women. They will always vote for the party of bigger govt.
      
      8 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 12:01pm
    - ecco
      
      The student bribe (seems to be Ardern’s modus operandi – media bribe, student bribe, maori bribes and on and on) also appeal to even middle class parents baulking at the cost of sending their kids to uni. So it kills two birds with one stone.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 3:18pm
  - kowtow
    
    The modern media is also a huge brain washing exercise .
    
    You can’t look at the BBC or any number of other once great news organisations without a daily constant diet of climate, gender , colonial , race, “progressive” issues .
    
    No wonder the dinner party set think they have to agree with whatever is the latest MSM fad .
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 12:58pm
  - Paulus
    
    Feminist education begins at Primary School at 5 years of age with Lefty women teachers and continues right up.
    Gonna be a problem in the not too distant future as women dislike other women, and they are all going and getting the top jobs.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 1:48pm
- Stellaboxer
  
  I’ve never come across a man who says that he voted for a candidate because he was a man
  
  19 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:53am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    But I’ll bet you there are plenty of men who refused to vote for a candidate because she was a woman!
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:37am
    - Crisplion
      
      Really? Because she was a woman or because she wouldn’t shut up about how important it was to vote for a woman? I doubt that there were many men who refused to vote for Margaret Thatcher because of her sex.
      
      11 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:52am
  - Flossie
    
    But I bet there are a few men out there who did not vote for a candidate because she was a woman. Particularly in the older age group.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:45am
- DeepBlue
  
  Young people have been raised on the participation that counts mantra for 2 or 3 decades now. So if you are under 30 and you measure success by participation JA wins hands down. After all she is all over the media and beams into houses regularly via TV and Facebook live.
  
  This validates the mantra. However there has been no thought to what and who is sustaining this love affair with participation over action and delivery.
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:25am
- Ruawai
  
  The MOH and MOE are banning kids from attending school to get an education.
  
  This quote is from my daughters school when I asked why we can’t just get a negative Covid test to cross the border to level 2 in Hamilton to attend boarding school especially now we have self isolated for 5 weeks. Seems the MOE new role is stopping Covid rather than educating students. “The Ministry of Education are aware of the frustrations and the impact on students but at the moment their focus is on containing the Delta outbreak.”
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:17am
- C-Town
  
  Younger women don’t care about how useless JA has been on most issues, they just like that there is a young-fish woman as PM. It’s girl-power striking a blow against the patriarchy and they think that if Ardern fails then the patriarchy wins.
  
  I’m not sure if they can be converted so easily. maybe National should try and convince more men to support them. I know a few working-class man who are unhappy with Te Pua Pua, as well as the rise in the cost of living and the anti-car stance of labour. National and ACT need to be the party of working people, and to shed the perception that they’re rich people’s parties.
  
  5 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 2:24pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    National had Paula Bennett who connected with ordinary folk, but they let her slip through their fingers.
    
    Fools.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 3:15pm
Benedict Yu

Some of you may be aware that a French consortium had a contract with Australia for 90 billion dollars to build a new fleet of submarines. This has been in place since 2016.

This week Australia walked away because the USA and the UK said “Hey Scomo would you like some nuclear submarines!” and Scomo says “Hell yes”.

The French are not taking it well ??

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/france-recalls-its-ambassadors-to-australia-and-united-states-amid-submarine-fury-20210918-p58srt.html
28 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:34am
- krazykiwi
  
  Someone posted a screamer of a cartoon lampooning Ardern’s exclusion the the UK/AU/US alliance. Her being locked out of a ‘club’ by a bouncer. Now can’t find it. Can anyone re-post?
  
  19 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:39am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Honestly it is not like New Zealand was “excluded”. The idea would never have come up in planning.
    
    No viable defence force.
    
    No willingness to host the USA vessels or marines.
    
    A part time defence minister who got mad because the wrong soldier won an essay competition.
    
    A Foreign Ministry who wants a “Treaty based” Foreign policy.
    
    So no no. New Zealand was not “excluded”. New Zealand has dissapeared from the thoughts of these guys.
    
    40 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 8:53am
    - Jack5
      
      Who can forget the Auckland Wokies’ hostile reception to ships from the United States Navy, which stood between New Zealand and the Japanese drive south to a halt in the 1940s.
      
      14 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 9:06am
      - kowtow
        
        Chinese communist boats have visited with nary a peep from the local vocal comrades.
        
        8 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 10:52am
    - virtualmark
      
      Added to which we’re just in the wrong geography.
      
      If your alliance is based on countering China we are in the wrong postcode.
      
      0 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 9:53am
    - Ed Snack
      
      Actually would have thought that NZ fitted pretty well with that currently dominant part of the US military that so royally stuffed up the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Or an American that was more fixated on celebrating “pride week” in Afghanistan than actually trying to make the place work.
      
      2 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 11:04am
    - ecco
      
      CCP will be around once nz economy is totally tanked by Labour, to offer us their belt and road initiative to build a few more transmission gullies. Light Rail anybody? Of course there are no strings attached with any CCP deals, eh.
      
      Just read recently on the Wall Street journal that CCP have gone into Afghanistan with the belt and road. We must be on their hit list next. Mahuta looks fairly malleable when push cones to shove.ie her bark is much worse than her bite.
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 3:27pm
  - Bill Felt
    
    ‘Friends in freedom’ step up to counter China threat’
    The Australian
    cartoon in this article
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/editorials/friends-in-freedom-step-up-to-counter-china-threat/news-story/82773dbddf7fcd12f09dc964559d4b2e
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:07am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    From yesterdays GD.
    https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2021/09/leak-on-the-teenage-activist-jacinda-ardern.html
    
    9 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:11am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Brilliant. Thanks Steve
      
      4 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 1:42pm
  - CJames
    
    Krazy the cartoon was in yesterday’s Australian
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 1:18pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    Five Eyes has had a Wokendectomy, with the lancing of the woke, socialist boil that is New Zealand and Canada. For all intents and purposes the grown ups club now excludes us.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 7:32pm
- Mr_Blobby
  
  From a military perspective, nuclear power makes more sense.
  
  It also makes sense to bypass your free loading communist Neighbor, who has nothing useful to add.
  
  27 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:43am
  - PhilBest
    
    Yep, I thought as soon as I read this story, what a fantastic idea, the world is a better place with Aussie having nuclear subs for the real ocean-going work instead of the diesel-electric ones that are really optimum for working in the Baltic or the Mediterranean.
    
    10 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:24am
- MrTips
  
  People might laugh and think it’s an early election stunt but these sorts of actions are not trivial and can have unintended consequences.
  
  Like no baguettes ? for the DC luvvies……?
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:48am
- Jack5
  
  Jacindarella should be applauding the Aussies switch to nuclear submarines.
  
  No diesel fumes, no carbon emissions, not hated oil for fuel.
  
  Will Macron in his anger get Aussie wine shut out of the EC? That could mean heaps of good, cheap, Aussie red wines for Kiwi drinkers.
  
  26 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:52am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Anything to drive down the retail price of Penfolds. Have a bit of a cellar developing (389, 407 and 150) but it’s getting pricey. Can’t justify 707s any more.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 7:35pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Benedict
  
  The French submarine deal was a mangy dog with fleas.
  
  They took a nuclear sub and made it a conventional one and then the planning was 2 years behind and costs x2 and increasing. The Aussies wouldnt have got the first sub until mid 2030’s.
  
  People were saying in Oz from the beginning the deal was a dog and it would have cost 6 billion PLUS per sub. They can buy an Astute from BAE for half that.
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:26am
  - virtualmark
    
    I think you’ll find Australia will partner with the UK on the Astute-replacement (currently termed SSNR).
    
    With your username you should be happy to see the UK navy getting a good partner.
    
    Watched the “Skyfall” James Bond movie with my son the other day. The Fighting Temeraire painting is in the movie and I told him about the ship in the painting.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:56am
    - fightingtemeraire
      
      Virtual
      
      Thank you.
      
      I was in the National Gallery and asked if they sold prints as I couldnt see any. Yes they said, which one, Fighting Temeraire.
      
      Come back in 20 mins.
      
      20 Mins later there was the print and ink guaranteed for 100 years. Had it framed to Conservation Standard and it is in line with a print of the Cutty Sark coming up channel all Stun Sails set and a painting of my favourite ship by Roger Morris.
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 12:38pm
    - fightingtemeraire
      
      The original Temeraire was captured from the French and the Fighting Temeraire was the 2nd of that name.
      
      She followed Victory when she broke the line at Trafalgar and captured 2 vessels.
      
      There followed two more and one was at Jutland.
      
      The present Temeraire is a shore establishment in Pompey and is the HQ of the RN Physical Training Dept.
      
      6 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 12:54pm
- godruelf
  
  Benedict I think what the US actually said was “Hey down under guy you want some Nukes Pal”
  
  7 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:27am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    What I heard was ‘Hey guy, do you, you know, the thing . . . ‘, and then the mike got muted . . .
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 12:03pm
- CJames
  
  Benedict – the only reason why Australia went for the French subs was it Turnbull (remember him) proving he wasn’t to get be held to anything Tony Abbott had done and cancelling the contract negotiations that Australia was having to buy the Japanese subs. These were actually proven performers, while the French ones were vapourware. They were even going to have lead acid batteries, when everyone else had moved on. Turnbull sold the idea that they were going to be built in Oz shipyards, but that quickly went out the window.
  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-26/pm-announces-france-has-won-submarine-contract/7357462?nw=0&r=HtmlFragment
  The problem now is even with Google, no-one checks, let alone remembers the past.
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:02am
- Nickc2
  
  The French will soon get over it and their attention will reset on their last remaining friends who are all escaping across the English Channel in Rubber Dinghys.
  The free trade agreements Aust has with its other Defence Pact partners will more than repay the French for their contracted efforts to date.
  
  0 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:28am
- Paulus
  
  French never did have a sense of humour anyway.
  And boy Macron wants to win his election again shortly.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 1:50pm
I remember when

Black Caps v Pakistan in Pakistan.
So we have just left Afghanistan, the Taliban have been supported by Pakistan and our ‘expert’ adviser said it was ‘safe.’
Wondered at the time just how ‘expert’ and how their decision was reached.
Without any ‘expert’ knowledge, sitting at home and without ‘deep’ consideration I found the decision questionable.
Even just the likelihood of a ‘lone’ activist seemed in the less than remote possibility category.
Bloody hell, they have managed to get rid of major political figures.
7 0
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:42am
- Tony Stuart
  
  A “lone activist” with kilos of explosives strapped to his body blew up a bus outside the New Zealand team’s hotel in Karachi in 2012…
  
  14 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:48am
MrTips

FDA says no to Pfizer boosters by a vote of 16-2. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2021/09/17/fda-panel-is-first-key-test-for-biden-covid-19-booster-plan/

And doesn’t Willie Jackson have a home in Mapua?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/09/someone-in-m-pua-keeps-flushing-clothes-and-undies-down-the-toilet.html
10 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:46am
- virtualmark
  
  Not quite. The FDA voted for Pfizer boosters for the over-65s, but not for people younger than that.
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:57am
- MCos
  
  Willie Jackson lives in Mangere Bridge.
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 12:01pm
Paulus

Cannot understand why NZ Cricket even considered going to one of the worse violent countries in the world and closely associated with the Taliban where many live and trained.
Surely if cricket is the answer Dubai perhaps,
18 0
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:48am
- MCos
  
  A number of Kiwis competed in the recent Pakistan Super League.
  Zimbabwe & South Africa were there earlier this year.
  England are scheduled to go there shortly.
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 12:10pm
  - oldfella
    
    I don’t think India allows Pakistani players in the IPL.
    Not sure why the rest of the cricketing world doesn’t ban India for not being more inclusive? /s
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 12:43pm
Tomtoddy

The continuing attacks in the state funded media on Judith Collins have reached a dangerous level. It is one thing to provide the occasional jibe or critique, even a cartoon but there have been at least 5 recent cartoons in the Ferald and today there are several articles treating her as past helping – a gone burger.

This is a concerted and poisonous campaign. It is deeply disturbing and is more and more like the media campaigns run in countries like Germany in the 1930’s.

And I am not a National supporter and havent voted for them in years.
55 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:50am
- Benedict Yu
  
  It should be a lesson for National if they ever win government. Cut off that funding. And immediately sell RNZ and TVNZ.
  
  76 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 8:56am
  - krazykiwi
    
    +10
    
    40 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:09am
    - PhilBest
      
      The best libertarian p*rn on the subject EVAH!
      
      https://beforeitsnews.com/libertarian/2012/05/blast-from-the-past-sean-gabb-speech-to-the-conservatives-2137036.html
      
      UK Libertarian Sean Gabb addressing “The Young Conservatives”
      
      “…My first piece of advice is to understand the nature of your enemy…
      Over the past few generations, a new Establishment or ruling class has emerged in this country. It is a loose coalition of politicians, bureaucrats, educators, media people and associated business interests. These are people who derive income and status from an enlarged and activist state. They have been turning this country into a soft-totalitarian police state. They are not always friendly to a Labour Government. But their natural political home is the Labour Party. They will accept a Conservative Government on sufferance – but only so long as it works within a system that robs ordinary people of their wealth and their freedom. They will never consent to what should be the Conservative strategy of bringing about an irreversible transfer of power from the State back into the hands or ordinary people.
      
      A Cameron Government, as I have said, seems willing to try coexistence with the Establishment. The Thatcher Government set out to fight and defeat an earlier and less confident version of the Establishment – but only on those fronts where its policies were most resisted. It won numerous battles, but, we can now see, it lost the war. For example, I well remember the battle over abolition of the Greater London Council. This appeared at the time a success. But I am not aware of one bureaucrat who lost his job at the GLC who was not at once re-employed by one of the London Boroughs or by some other agency of the State. And we know that Ken Livingstone was eventually restored to power in London.
      
      If you want to win the battle for this country, you need to take advice from the Marxists. These are people whose ends were evil where not impossible. But they were experts in the means to their ends. They knew more than we have ever thought about the seizure and retention of power. I therefore say this to you. If you ever do come to power, and if you want to bring about the irreversible transfer of power to ordinary people, you should take to heart what Marx said in 1871, after the failure of the Paris Commune: “the next attempt of the French Revolution will be no longer, as before, to transfer the bureaucratic-military machine from one hand to another, but to smash it, and this is the precondition for every real people’s revolution….”
      The meaning of this is that you should not try to work with the Establishment. You should not try to jolly it along. You should not try fighting it on narrow fronts. You must regard it as the enemy, and you must smash it.
      
      On the first day of your government, you should close down the BBC. You should take it off air. You should disclaim its copyrights. You should throw all its staff into the street. You should not try to privatise the BBC. This would simply be to transfer the voice of your enemy from the public to the private sector, where it might be more effective in its opposition. You must shut it down – and shut it down at once. You should do the same with much of the administration. The Foreign Office, much of the Home Office, the Commission for Racial Equality, anything to do with health and safety and planning and child protection – I mean much of the public sector – these should be shut down. If at the end of your first month in power, you have not shut down half of the State, you are failing…”
      
      [Mod note: Your link is broken – 404.]
      
      8 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 9:28am
      - PhilBest
        
        Ta
        
        https://www.seangabb.co.uk/flc181-text-of-a-speech-given-to-conservative-future-sean-gabb-16th-february-2009/
        
        2 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 10:39am
  - Jack5
    
    National did a poor job in overseeing RNZ and TVNZ when it was power.
    
    In particular, National turned a blind eye while Wily Willie Jackson, now Labour’s Minister of Maori Development, successfully staged a coup that more or less merged RNZ with the Maori tribal radio network.
    
    25 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:11am
  - kevn
    
    @Bened… Welcome back.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:16am
  - Warren
    
    Two wrongs don’t make a right.
    We have to change the mentality of Labour bribes and make sure that no Government can repeat their blatant political bribes for the sake of our Country and show we are better than the examples Labour have used.
    
    14 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:17am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      If closely looked at the “bribes” are distinctly dubious. But proving illegality and enforcing it is problematical. Got got More Modest Parliamentarians but no further accountability. We don’t need Hey! Poo poos but “Clean up the poo poos”
      
      3 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 11:24am
  - [email protected]
    
    Do you think that a better option would be for Judith Collins to openly and loudly warn the media that they need to start being neutral because someday National will regain power.
    
    24 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:26am
  - ecco
    
    I think National should do the opposite. Use the system that labour set up when they get into power. Hopefully at the next election.
    
    2 8
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:38am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      No,
      that will just strengthen the Media Mafia.
      
      It is easy enough for those entrenched in the upper cogs of the Media in NZ to flip allegiances when there is a political change in our Governments.
      
      National needs to have savvy, media-aware MPs who are willing to defund branches of the Public broadcasting system that consistently fail to deliver a trustworthy product.
      
      23 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:24am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    And provide an endowment for long term funding of right wing aligned media in NZ – for continuity during periods where left is in power
    
    3 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 9:57am
  - virtualmark
    
    The rationale for retaining RNZ and TVNZ is to ensure there is New Zealand-owned media, particularly in news but also to give a New Zealand voice to other shows.
    
    That rationale doesn’t change under a National government … which is why you’ll note previous National governments haven’t sold RNZ or TVNZ.
    
    There are bigger considerations to these decisions than just “I don’t like their politics”.
    
    4 11
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:00am
    - BananaLlama
      
      I’m not here on this earth to fund someones hobbies. Either National cut the funding from these partisan organisations or i vote for someone that will and your not in a position to argue that you don’t need votes.
      
      14 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:17am
      - virtualmark
        
        It’s about protecting your national interest, not about funding anyones hobbies.
        
        Think about a hypothetical sale of TVNZ and Radio NZ where the three bidders end up being Rupert Murdoch, Russia Today and the Xinhua News Agency.
        
        It’s important for our national interest that a material share of the media companies are New Zealand owned and reflect New Zealand interests and culture.
        
        3 3
        Report
        September 18, 2021 11:58am
      - BananaLlama
        
        It is also in Nationals interest that they stay above 20% of the vote.
        
        2 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 12:30pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Banana, National control their own destiny.
        
        If they want more than 20% of the vote then they should find a smart and charismatic leader, build a good bench of potential Cabinet ministers, and put forward a compelling vision and policies.
        
        It’s a contest of talent and ideas. No political party has a divine right to be in Government.
        
        2 4
        Report
        September 18, 2021 12:52pm
      - BananaLlama
        
        and Partisan media doesn’t have a divine right to raid my pocket for funding. Either get rid of them or it wont just be my vote from the looks of things.
        
        6 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 1:22pm
      - Jack5
        
        Compared with the cost of producing a newspaper, it’s now quite cheap to set up a radio station, even a chain of radio stations.
        
        There’s an argument for having an external-focused radio broadcaster focused on sending NZ propaganda around the Pacific Islands, and perhaps for a national emergency service that could kick in when a disaster occurred – earthquake or tidal wave.
        
        When New Zealand set up State broadcasting the technology was expensive and expertise scarce. Plenty of both are available now, and the private sector could and should be the provider of our radio broadcasting.
        
        We don’t need the State rto run cellphone networks or internet access, why do we need it in radio?
        
        4 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 1:47pm
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Majority of NZers don’t watch NZ TV. We need news media to inform voters and create a functional democracy, but that media must be non-biased – a zillion miles away from the current team of $55million situation, so we have to crate some mechanism to ensure that, necessarily beyond political interference.
      
      An endowed right wing news outlet would be one answer. Or allowing consumers rather than politicians to choose who gets media money (any subsidies on freely contestable per-click micro-payment basis, substack, locals and other platforms are illustrating potential models). But status quo of most media being heavily subsidised and exclusively staffed by Labour/Green supporters must end.
      
      5 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 12:10pm
  - Tom Hunter
    
    I recall also getting a lot of upticks when I made a similar post a few months ago, but looking at National – as exemplified by the likes of Virtualmark and Wayne Mapp – it won’t happen when they’re back in power because rolling government back is just not in their DNA.
    
    Same as with the GOP in the USA; This sounds familiar:
    
    Here’s how this dynamic plays out: When Democrats are legislating on something major, they look around the field and say to themselves, “Yeah, we’re going to take some casualties on this one, but we’re going to change America.”
    …
    To put it simply, Republicans approach politics like America fights wars: They don’t want to lose a single man. Democrats, on the other hand? They look at politics like the Russians looked at Stalingrad: The congressman in front votes now; when they fall the next man gets elected and he will vote too.
    
    He Puapua and Three Waters will soon follow the well-trodden path of Welfare For Families and its ilk. Hell, even the thing that Righties here are most proud of, the economic reforms of the 1980’s, were a Labour Party project.
    
    10 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:18am
    - virtualmark
      
      Tom,
      
      Government of either ilk (National or Labour) needs to make decisions that are in the *national* interest not the *partisan* interest. So see my comment above to BananaLlama … if we sell TVNZ who do you propose to sell it to? What will be their motivation? What will be their editorial policy? Will they act in New Zealand’s interests or their own interests?
      
      Too many people here are mouth breathers who think with their groin and make decisions with 5 minute time horizons. Not enough here are nose breathers who think with their brains and make decisions with 25 year time horizons.
      
      And by the way I’m an ACT voter.
      
      5 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 12:13pm
      - Tom Hunter
        
        Me too, as is “gump” apparently, though he’s expressed so many Left wing views over the years that I wonder if it’s just a liberal sex and drugs policy that attracts him.
        
        But if he and you are examples of ACT voters then we are truly fucked as a nation. WRT TVNZ (and Radio NZ), I’m not imagining for one moment that their privatised versions would be any less Lefty than now since it’s the journalists. Look at Newshub/3 News, and it’s been that way for years.
        
        But we would at least have the satisfaction of knowing our taxes were not going to support a bunch of Labour Party operatives with bylines and turning off a good chunk of their audience might induce the need for more balance. I have to admit that even on that front it probably won’t work; the MSM units I’ve observed overseas seem determined to push the Left arguments even unto bankruptcy.
        
        needs to make decisions that are in the *national* interest not the *partisan* interest
        
        [shrugs shoulders]. Roger Douglas and company famously thought they were acting in the national interest rather than partisan. Pelosi I’m not so sure about although she may have convinced herself that they’re the same thing, a not uncommon trait among politicians.
        
        I just wish National would think the same but it’s not in their DNA, which is why they just roll with Labour policies once the latter are implemented.
        
        I thought it was in ACT’s as well but your comments lead me to think no. Amazing that the party born of the remains of the 4th Labour government’s policies of privatisation, deregulation, reduced state spending, revamped healthcare, welfare and education systems, has people voting for it who apparently don’t support that.
        
        3 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 2:40pm
      - virtualmark
        
        It’s not whether privatised versions would be more or less lefty.
        
        It’s about whether it’s sensible for the Government to allow all the media to be privately owned, to run the risk of malevolent forces controlling too much of the media, and of having a distinctive New Zealand “voice” extinguished.
        
        Government’s rationales for owning commercial entities (or entities that operate in commercial markets such as Radio NZ) are nearly always because of what the private sector would call externalities.
        
        0 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 4:57pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Tom,
        
        I work in one of the most ruthlessly capitalistic parts of the economy there is. I believe in individual rights and responsibilities. I believe in a smaller core Government.
        
        But I also believe that shared purchasing of health, for example, gives better and more just outcomes than an American style private provision system does.
        
        And Government has a lot of responsibilities that aren’t like a business. You can’t equate running Government to running a business. Roger Douglas had a strong social conscience and heart and he understood that. Unfortunately the Auckland business mafia that later took over Act didn’t.
        
        1 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 5:01pm
      - Tom Hunter
        
        … to run the risk of malevolent forces controlling too much of the media,…
        
        For an ACT person you don’t show much confidence in a free market system to destroy monopolies.
        
        And “malevolent” to whom? Would such an environment, packed with much the same people as now, really be any less malevolent to National-ACT?
        
        As just one example, the Democrats who created NPR and PBS in the late 1960’s wanted to break the “monopoly” of the Big Three broadcasters; ABC, CBS, NBC.
        
        Fifty years later they’d be head-over-heels with joy at the amount of support, spin and gaslighting they get from those three, plus most of the rest of the MSM, excluding Fox News.
        
        0 0
        Report
        September 19, 2021 1:30am
- kowtow
  
  Trevett’s piece in today’s Ferald provides a double hit .
  
  The whole article dedicated to the Nat’s leadership thing and a cartoon showing Collins as burnt toast .
  
  I think the regime really has got great value for its $55 million , they’ve literally bought the whole of the country’s MSM and if they play their cards right will be able to stay in power indefinitely.
  
  26 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:04am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    I thought Comrade Muttonbird had told us that Claire Trevett was a “National Party embedded journalist”…
    
    14 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 10:50am
    - Nickc2
      
      If you haven’t heard from Muttonbird today, it’s probably because Frazer House doesn’t work weekends.
      
      13 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 10:57am
      - Jibber NO Jabber
        
        ? I believe DPF has prescribed him 2 weeks bed rest.
        
        9 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 11:29am
      - Captain Mainwaring
        
        Muttonbird is on the naughty step for a while.
        
        12 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 11:31am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Yes, Muttonbird accused DPF of having an underlying agenda in conducting the polls for the Taxpayers’ Union. Questioning DPF’s integrity in the industry which allows him to feed and clothe his kids is a big no-no.
        
        12 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 12:35pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Jibber NO Jabber @ 11:29AM
        
        I hope he recovers soon, there hasn’t been much to laugh about on the blog today.
        
        3 2
        Report
        September 18, 2021 1:16pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Two months vacation
        https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2021/09/general_debate_15_september_2021.html#comment-3018827
        
        1 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 6:50pm
  - Bob
    
    Trevett’s article today, seems to me to be a rehash of the last two articles by her, with some repositioning of some paragraphs and sentences.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 12:14pm
    - Nickc2
      
      Maggy @ 6:50PM
      Sorry Maggy, reported by mistake.
      TKS anyway. No doubt he deserved it.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 8:09pm
  - Nickc2
    
    virtualmark @ 11:58AM
    Sorry, I reported you by mistake.
    That aside, I wouldn’t mind if Rupert bought up both propaganda wings of the Labour Party.
    If not and National and/or ACT were to gain the Treasury Benches, IMO, they should sack all incumbents of both outfits and selectively rehire where their reason for existence should be to provide NEWS for NZ without direct input from anyone serving in or in any way connected to any political party unless that NEWS is accompanied by a statement identifying the suscriber.
    
    1 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 12:16pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Nickc2,
      
      I understand you want the media to reflect your political views. I agree that Radio NZ swings wildly left (just like the ABC and BBC do in their countries. I don’t think that is proper.
      
      But history suggests bad things always happen once political parties start telling the state media how to think and what to say.
      
      I do think a National/ACT government would be in its rights to carpet the Chair and CEO of Radio NZ and ask for balanced political viewpoints. I don’t think they would be within their rights to dictate Radio NZ push a right-wing line.
      
      Oh, and Rupert is a malignant influence in every country he’s represented in. We have been fortunate to not have a Murdoch press (well, at least since he sold out of here in the 1990s).
      
      3 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 12:56pm
      - Nickc2
        
        We agree on some things and disagree on others. That’s life. Interesting isn’t it.
        I’m not for pushing either side of politics in any Govt owned media.
        IMO, truth begets truth.
        
        3 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 1:28pm
- pdm
  
  The 9th floor has been busy.
  
  Just a shame they do no do anything productive.
  
  15 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:07am
- Unity
  
  I would say the left fear Judith seeing they are getting more and more raucous about her. She should continue to stand tall and get her message out via other means – if that’s possible. The Media is definitely not her friend by any means.
  
  20 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 9:35am
Master Mariner

Sound familar ?

“In addition, a period of low wind speeds has seen the amount of wind power capacity produced by the UK drop off, leading the country to fire up some of its old coal generators.”

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/UK-Gas-Price-Surge-Forces-Key-Industrial-Sites-To-Close.html

And Maersk, Worlds largest shipper after announcing record profits states the obvious regarding supply chains.

https://gcaptain.com/maersk-gives-bleak-operations-update-amid-unprecedented-supply-chain-chaos/

Still seems no light at the end of the tunnel regarding Supply Chains.
19 0
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:51am
- Cinematic
  
  When it comes to supply chains being a little island nation in the middle of nowhere is a big problem.
  
  11 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:35am
  - Taieri
    
    Particularly, when a little island nation in the middle of nowhere operates just ONE coastal cargo (container) ship. Owned by an overseas company at that.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:08am
  - Nickc2
    
    Exactly, our exports are worth squat if we can’t get them to market.
    In the same light, what are Chinese $2.0o Shops going to do if they can’t get their products from China? Oh, that’s right, NZers can manufacture stock for them. Yea, Right!
    COMING SOON TO A REMOTE ISLAND NATION IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 12:25pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      You really dont understand the words scale and production obviously..
      
      NZ manufacturers replacing product for the $2 shops would mean them rebranding to $20 shops.
      
      PS> I owned an import business a few years back.
      TRied over very best to source NZ made product.
      
      One example I remember was catalogues.
      NZ $13 each Hong Kong/China $3 each and superior quality.
      We emailed the files and product was on a flight 48 hours later (Yes cost included freight)
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 4:16pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Point taken. My comment about Chinese $2.00 Shops was intended as tongue in cheek.
        
        0 0
        Report
        September 18, 2021 4:27pm
Pongo

Thursdays vaccination number was 60,000 which is down on the 90,000 we were doing. Is that because Ardern wasnt sure about our supply and despite telling us she wouldnt she did reduce the appointments and now its proving diffucult to ramp back up again.
Either that or 70% who have had their first dose is where we are starting to see the first signs of vaccine hesitancy and maybe 80% is where we top out.
7 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 9:03am
- Tony Stuart
  
  I think they’ve hit critical mass in Auckland, which is why they’ve rolled out the buses and other means of taking the vaccine to the people. The signs were there last weekend when there was no wait for a vaccine at the big drive-thru vaccination centre at Auckland Airport Park and Ride.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:52am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Interesting that they rolled out teh buses after David Seymour suggested them..how many weeks ago?
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 4:18pm
- MCos
  
  One would imagine a lot of those 90,000 are first timers who must now sit out their six weeks before the second jab.
  If there are 4.5m eligible jabees, that’s 4mil probables i.e. 8mil jabs. That’s 135 days at 60,000/day.
  About two months to go.
  
  Maybe
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 12:22pm
- Stu2
  
  The biggest ever 7 day averages were 80,000-81,000.
  
  24-30 Aug 80k
  25-31 Aug 81k
  26Aug-1 Sept 81K
  …
  29 Aug-4 Sept 80k
  
  They have dropped steadily from there:
  
  30 Aug-5 Sept 78k
  31 Aug-6 Sept 77k
  
  4 Sept-10 Sept 64k
  
  8 Sept-14 Sept 58k
  
  There could be a burst soon as the early August vaccinations come up for dose 2
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 1:45pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Wellington Metlink advert in this morning’s DP:

“To reduce the number of cancellations some peak services will be less frequent, but there’ll be more options in the early morning, daytime and early evening.”

Translation: there will be fewer buses when you want them & more when you don’t.

This is Monty Python stuff.
27 0
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 9:04am
Jibber NO Jabber

Can we swap Coster for this Sheriff?

Brevard County Sheriff
“Evil can never be dead enough”

https://twitter.com/KeithWoodsYT/status/1438170771218735104

Waiting for someone to say they should have just shot him in the leg

Warning for the faint of heart…
13 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 9:32am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I like the comment about shot so many times. ‘Because evil can never be dead enough’
  No fucking woke pussies here
  
  10 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:30am
Yvette

there are hard decisions ahead
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/peter-gluckman-beyond-science perhaps worth a read –
… The costs of Covid-19 extend well beyond the illness itself to continuing impacts of both the virus and our response to it on the rest of the health system, mental health and well-being, and family ties. Sadly, such impacts extend to family violence and economic insecurity as well as ongoing and negative effects on our economy, education, innovation opportunities, international business relationships, and our diplomatic footprint.

… Hopefully we will soon reach vaccination levels of perhaps 85-90 percent of New Zealand’s population over 12 years old. Yet this is only about 75 percent of the total population. Then we will face decisions about vaccinating children under 12 and the need for boosters. Thankfully, international science will inform us on these.

… When will such high vaccination rates allow the balance to tilt from efforts to exclude the virus to a different management strategy? This cannot be far away. But it too has costs and risks, especially for those who are not vaccinated.

… Trust, truth and transparency
Fear can undermine democracy. Parliament’s 2020 Epidemic Response Committee – a truly democratic innovation receiving much international interest – played a major role through its transparency, contributing to broad public acceptance of trade-offs required in following the elimination route. Similar levels of truth and transparency will be key for future choices. The Government’s challenge is to ensure trust in the pragmatic decisions it must soon make.
– Sir Peter Gluckman: “Beyond science, there are hard decisions ahead”

Is this Labourless Government (with the most honesty, integrity, and transparency yet, not already) capable of meeting the hard decisions ahead?

While Jacinda has painted herself into a corner, what happens when the paint dries – do you give it a second coat or do something entirely different?
12 2
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 9:41am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I think our Dear PM and her spin-doctors will apply a few coats of shiny gloss lacquer over the Covid edifice.
  
  She has had no problems with glossing over last year’s 26 deaths from Covid. Everyone seemed happy to adopt her spin of going early & hard… tho’ it was a bit late for some.
  
  Folks do not like to think they have been led up the garden path …
  Let’s hope there isn’t something nasty in the woodshed.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:57am
emmess

Australia vs Sweden

Australia – nearly 2000 cases per day
Sweden – currently well below 1000 per day

So about the same per capita

Vaccinations
Australia – 22 million doses
Sweden – 13 million doses

Sweden slightly ahead on a per capita basis

Deaths
Australia – creeping up now at 10 per day
Sweden – been tracking along at zero or just over per week since the end of May

Australia has the harshest lockdowns in the world and Sweden has not had any at all
Can anybody seriously suggest that lockdowns are effective?
But I am genuinely curious to what Sweden is getting so right. I can see why they doing better but how they are so much better, confuses me.
I am guessing it comes down to a combination of vaccines, allowing treatments that have been demonised elsewhere, and protecting the vulnerable (i.e. rest homes) from the general population.
Does anyone have anything else to add?
10 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 10:41am
- Taieri
  
  Does anyone have anything else to add?
  ———————-
  
  More on the Swedish perspective can be found in the book “Covid: Why most of what you know is wrong” by Swedish doctor Sebastian Rushworth. Highly recommended!
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:12am
  - Jack5
    
    Latest Swedish Covid-19 figures at September 16 (Thursday, or yesterday our time)…
    
    This source says 1,004 new cases and one death.
    
    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 4:57pm
- Happy1
  
  You have to hat tip the staff at Middlemore Hospital. 1000 cases in this outbreak. 230 hospitalised, 40 through ICU with 15 ventilated and zero deaths. Why? Is it because they have good treatment options? Are those who say Covid is just the sniffles? Or has the vaccination of the vulnerable produced runs on the board for the vaccine? I understand that, while overall vaxx rates are low in the most affected ethnic groups, vaccination rates among the over 70 and with conditions are 95% in Māori.
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:13am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    mostly younger south Auckland families infected? Oldies have been kept out of it.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 5:50pm
I remember when

Lot of mention by Jacinda about the science of covid,
This science changes once a country ‘has learned to live with covid’.
A quick look at the various policies of European countries show that there is no right approach to “opening up to the world”, or at least other parts of Europe.
Many use traffic lights or colour coded systems, to designate other country’s rights of entry, and many mention the benefits of being vaccinated.
What they almost all allow is some form of entry and the related freedoms.
Any advantage that ‘elimination’ provided is now over and is increasingly becoming a disincentive.
NSW will introduce a home quarantine “pilot” for international arrivals. The pilot will trial a 7-day home quarantine for about 175 fully vaccinated people, at the end of the month.
We can’t even agree to 4 netballers or 5 rugby players crossing Level borders.
“There is no fear like fear itself.”
5 0
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 10:48am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Is there a test for Covid antibodies? If not, why not?
Is the Govt suppressing this so as to push the vaccine as hard as they can.
I am convinced many have had the virus and did not even know – myself included
7 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 10:53am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yes, there are tests for Covid antibodies. They are not publicly available in NZ.
  
  Antibody testing is not available publicly on request in New Zealand. It is currently only used in limited cases, as directed by a public health doctor, to support investigation of possible new cases or to support patient management.
  
  https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-health-advice-public/about-covid-19/covid-19-what-we-know-about-infection-and-immunity
  
  There’s a number of companies supplying test kits (to laboratories)
  e.g.
  https://www.aurorabiomed.com/product/covid-19-igm-igg-antibody-rapid-test-kit/#1594850563682-f86758f7-9594
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:08am
- Jibber NO Jabber
  
  The last thing Ardern wants is people being able to test themselves and be responsible for their own health.
  It kinda makes it harder for her to push the narrative.
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:40am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Maybe she is worried that self testing could be corrupt? She needs to stop all of this corruption and lies you know – her way is the only way comrade
    
    2 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 3:23pm
I remember when

MIQ escapee and early release:
17/12/21: The UK recently reduced its quarantine period to 10 days based on a review of scientific evidence.
17/12/21: Earlier this month the CDC said “it would be an ‘acceptable alternative’ for quarantine to end at 10 days, without testing if no symptoms.
16/4/21: The Netherlands changed from voluntary 10 days quarantine to MIQ, or alternatively could quarantine for 5 days before being tested. If negative they could come out of quarantine.
5 0
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 11:03am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

From my FB newsfeed, Candace Owens:
Trump was a dictator, but Biden is mandating vaccines into the arms of people who don’t want them via unconstitutional mandates on small businesses.
Trump was a dictator, but Biden has banned drones from flying over the border to capture the images of the tens of thousands of migrants currently flooding our borders.
Trump was a dictator, but Biden is fighting parents that do not want their children masked all day in school by overstepping into state rights, and threatening federal funding.
Trump was a dictator, but Biden wants to empower the IRS with billions more to monitor every single transaction you make (Venmo, paypal, bank etc).
Trump was an evil dictator, but Biden abandoned Americans on Afghanistan soil and lied straight to your face about it.
Oh, but hey—-At least Biden doesn’t send mean tweets, right?
Let me know when Democrats are ready to acknowledge that they accidentally voted in a REAL totalitarian regime, because they were BRAINWASHED into believing “orange man bad”.
28 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 11:04am
- Fletch
  
  Biden is also rationing Monoclonal antibody therapy treatments to red states. It’s a treatment which appears to be working really well to combat.
  
  https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/17/florida-republican-lawmakers-biden-decision-ration-antibody-treatments/
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:21am
  - dcrane
    
    That action more than any other shows how bloodthirsty the left-establishment crowd is. They want to see the FL covid death count rise.
    
    6 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 1:18pm
- Jibber NO Jabber
  
  Biden is mandating vaccines into the arms of people who don’t want them via unconstitutional mandates on small businesses.
  
  but no mandated vaccinations for politicians.
  And Democrats voted unanimously not to mandate vaccinations for migrants flooding over their southern border. ?
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:36am
- RW Capitalist
  
  The polls would suggest, they are now having “Buyers remorse”.
  
  9 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:56am
ecco

Interesting that the mother of the slain children in Timaru was turned down for name suppression, yet
that feral that killed the back packer on a tinder date in Auckland got name suppression for several years. Not saying any one crime is worse than the other. Just wonder what the criteria was for the feral to get name suppression for so long.
10 0
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 11:14am
- lifesgood
  
  Cinematic the jealous other NZers hate on Auckland not realising that its population is big because everyone wants to live here, and why wouldn’t they. Oh yes, there is the little matter of the longest lockdown NZs ever had.
  
  0 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:22am
- lifesgood
  
  The feral in Auckland got name suppression because he was up on other charges related to attacking other women. The law says he should have a fair trial.
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:24am
- Ruawai
  
  Think it was because he was also on trial for another crime.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:30am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Jesse Kempson got name suppression because he was also facing 2 other trials.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/433392/timeline-the-trials-and-conviction-of-jesse-kempson-the-man-who-murdered-grace-millane
  
  He had 1 trial (Nov 2019) for the murder of Grace Millane.
  
  He then had a trial (Oct 2020) for assaults, sexual violation, threats to kill of an ex-girlfriend.
  
  He had a 3rd trial (Nov 2020) for the rape of a woman he met on a tinder date.
  
  He was found guilty on all his charges.
  
  16 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:42am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Nice bloke, eh Maggy…
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 12:38pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  It may have had something to do with the fact that they had only been in New Zealand for three weeks, two of which were spent isolating in MIQ. They’re newcomers to New Zealand, and so there’s little likelihood of name publication prejudicing a fair trial.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 12:40pm
kevn

@kk… Your wish is granted. Bob Jones has the Tremain cartoon on his website. No Punches Pulled.
3 0
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 11:24am
Maggie Pie

We arrived at Tindalls about 9. What an AbFab day!!
Tides well out and there’s not another sole on the beach.
Took the pup down for a paddle and not even the neighbors came out to say hello. My partner wont be taking the boat out though….tooo many narks 🙁
8 4
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 11:25am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Is it warm enough for a swim (breaststroke, of course)?
  
  9 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 11:33am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    It’s a bit risky at the moment because of having to wear a mask.
    
    7 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 11:40am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      No problem…
      
      https://media.gettyimages.com/videos/man-swimming-underwater-with-covid-face-mask-protection-in-a-swimming-video-id1263032721?s=640×640
      
      9 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 11:55am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

A 3 year old boy was examining his testicles in the bath. He said “Mum, are these my brains?”
“Not yet” she replied
11 6
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 11:26am
Ed Snack

No comments yet on finally, an indictment by Durham; of lawyer Michael Sussman ? The indictment is very revealing about how Sussman along with a number of others conspired to create fake evidence of a link between the Trump organisation and Alfa Bank in Russia; and how Sussman coordinated this with Marc Elias (of the same law firm, Perkins Coie and the general counsel to the DNC) and the DNC to try to get the FBI to announce an investigation into Trump prior to the 2016 election.

Implicit in all the documentation is that the Clinton campaign and the DNC were well aware of this and were in fact paying for the work to be done. Also involved were Steele who added the Alfa bank link into his dossier to give the allegations extra “credibility” (to pretend that the same information was coming from two sources whereas of course it was setup from the same fake origins), and Fusion GPS.

And just to note that Biden’s current Nat Security advisor, Jake Sullivan, was very prominent in pushing this conspiracy in 2016/7 when he would have certainly known it was concocted bullshit.

So Sussman is charged with lying to the FBI, and so far Garland has not refused to take the indictment on. So what’s the betting that if it does go to trial and Sussman is found guilty that he will be sentenced to TWO slaps with a wet bus ticket, since he has that invaluable advantage – Democrat legal privilege.

BTW, Sussman has pleaded not guilty in a preliminary hearing, and has been released on bail of a mere $100K. Wonder why the FBI in full SWAT mode with CNN in tow didn’t raid his house at 5 am to make the arrest, more privilege perhaps ?
7 2
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 11:29am
- virtualmark
  
  That’s not what the indictment says.
  
  Sussman will supposedly be indicted because when he alerted the FBI to the Trump/Alfa Bank server connections he said he was working on his own, but then when he described the events to Congress a few years later he said he was working for an unnamed client. That is what Durham has on him.
  
  Sadly, no one has decided to look into just what the Trump-Alfa Bank link was. No one’s investigating the fire, just the person who rang in the 111 call.
  
  2 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 1:02pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Yes they have investigated and it’s been confirmed the Alfa Bank Trump connection was a complete fiction.
    
    3 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 2:14pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      More detail in these links
      ‘Special Counsel John Durham filed a one-count indictment on Thursday against former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann. It charged Sussmann, who had fed the FBI the fake Alfa Bank-Trump conspiracy story, with lying to government agents in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2).
      
      The details included in the 27-page indictment, however, reveal a scandal much deeper than merely Sussmann’s role in a second Russian hoax — a scandal that entangles the Clinton campaign, multiple internet companies, two federally-funded university researchers, and a complicit media.’
      https://thefederalist.com/2021/09/17/democrat-lawyer-michael-sussmann-indicted-for-lying-to-fbi-about-his-role-in-russian-collusion-hoax/
      
      https://meaninginhistory.substack.com/p/breaking-durham-to-indict-michael
      
      2 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 2:21pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        ‘The Special Counsel investigating the various frauds of Russiagate, John Dunham, is about to indict a Perkins Coie lawyer for feeding a fake story about Trump and Alfa Bank to the FBI and media, then lying by denying he represented the Clinton campaign:https://t.co/UBrZmwvQBJ
        
        — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 16,
        2021
        
        https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2021/09/16/russiagate-in-a-nutshell-glenn-greenwald-sums-up-the-latest-on-john-durhams-investigation-pulls-hillary-clintons-old-tweet-about-trumps-covert-server/
        
        3 1
        Report
        September 18, 2021 2:25pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Red,
      
      I don’t believe anyone has investigated or explained the Trump Inc/Alfa Bank server connection. I’ve not seen any detailed report that lays out what was going on or tries to answer the “Why?” question.
      
      Happy if you can point me to a quality report on it. But Glenn Greenwald isn’t that.
      
      1 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 3:40pm
Wired-one

Hit piece after hit piece towards National. There is no point changing leaders whilst this media hostility remains, the new leader would be done before they started. It’s all pretty depressing when no one cares about everything going backwards and how divisive NZ has become. Labour went into the 2020 election with no policy ffs! I don’t know what the answer is, maybe we just have to ride this crap out. Never has it been this one sided in all aspects of NZ political discourse. Go down swinging Judith, take Tova, Jessica and the rest of the biased twats with you!
20 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 12:04pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Just imagine for a moment that National dumped Judith Collins, and reinstalled Simon Bridges as leader. Has everyone forgotten the visceral hatred Tova O’Brien directed towards Bridges when she was being drip-fed by Jami-Lee Ross?
  
  National will continue to be slagged off by certain sections of the media regardless of who is leader, and for as long as Jacinda Ardern leads Labour. If National rises in the polls and Labour falls, the rhetoric will get even more extreme. That’s the plain, simple reality at the moment. In my ever-humble opinion, National needs to hang tough, keep up the policy development work, and continue to expose the Government’s failings, and above all, stop talking to the media, who are NOT their friends!
  
  25 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 12:49pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Totally right
    Every National Leader is always literally Hitler and every time they start the job the rumours about them being replaced commence.
    It’s just constant undermining by the media
    It is remarkable how many don’t actually see it. Including current MPs who start to think they are any good.
    Trust in the media is very low at the moment so I see no downside in Collins calling them out on it as everybody already knows.
    
    And never forget. Modern Journalism today is all about deciding which facts the public shouldn’t know because they find reflect badly on Jacinda Ardern.
    
    10 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 2:11pm
  - PeeJay
    
    The problem is right in your first paragraph. drip fed! It didn’t come from nowhere – she was given the bloody info from inside the tent…..or at least someone who was previously inside the tent!
    
    I know these idiots do a lot of ‘interviewing keyboards’ but there is usually, not always, but usually a source in caucus with some axe to grind and this clearly hasn’t stopped. I suspect Tova et al are still being drip fed by someone inside the tent. And that is the issue. Change of leaders, policy, getting rid of the board, finding a way to appeal to women current wedded to Ardern (one of your biggest issues IMO), none of that will matter one iota while there is still the toxic briefing going on.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 3:23pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Yes.
    Judith’s got both the ability and the strength to endure too.
    
    4 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 3:31pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Dunno if this will work, sometimes they don’t.
Description is in the link.
https://mobile.facebook.com/dan.bongino/videos/dumb-speaker-featuring-aoc-is-set-to-take-market-by-storm/221717876668121/
2 2
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 12:25pm
Maggie Pie

Been taking lunch on the deck and listening to ‘The DRS’.
All very well Imran packing a poo with Jacinda over the cricket.
As my partner said….”he needs to look at the actions of his fellow Pakis before blaming us for pulling out”.

SHEESH!
7 2
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 12:53pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  TRENDING….
  
  And now look at what they’ve started saying about us 🙁
  
  https://twitter.com/SohailSA10/status/1438848928544403457
  
  3 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 1:42pm
Wired-one

20 cases today. You still think you will be in level 3 this week Aucklanders?
3 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 1:25pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Mods – this is satire OK?https://www.dropbox.com/s/l96jmybe6f8jas7/1631787827803.png?dl=0
  
  4 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 3:09pm
doggone7

You know the old getting in the door after school thing, “What did you learn today, dear?”

Today I learned that 5.88 billion across the world have had at least one covid vaccine shot.
And the vaccine doesn’t work, has no positive affect so getting it was pointless.
4 9
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 1:28pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Auckland case numbers (20) the same as two weeks back. Not looking good for prospects of elimination
9 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 1:36pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Looks like the spinmeisters will be hard at work again this weekend, writing tales of “closing in on the outbreak” and delivering messages of “cautious optimism.”
  
  15 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 2:01pm
  - PeeJay
    
    or National leadership challenge in 1, 2, 3…..?
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 3:08pm
- dcrane
  
  Supposedly only one case that’s not already isolating, so not as bad as it seems. That being said, the real worrying sign is the people showing up at Middlemore for other reasons and getting diagnosed with covid.
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 2:14pm
  - dcrane
    
    Hmm…now I’m wondering if I’m reading too much into this. Just because they were “known contacts” does that mean they were isolating during the infectious period?
    
    “Nineteen of the new cases are household or known contacts.”
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-delta-outbreak-20-new-cases-as-locked-down-aucklanders-cling-to-hope/ALVAACRIDFVKQLAGEBAYTIEPKE/
    
    2 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 3:30pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Known contact means my aunty next door peep thought they saw —- fuck it, not worth explaining to the ‘news’ creators
      
      1 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 4:07pm
- PeeJay
  
  Going to be interesting how they spin the move to level 3 on Tuesday for Auckland. I thought they’d beat it this time, just, but have been surprised they are looking to move levels before it’s completely gone. It was always going to get out eventually, but next week or two could be interesting. Obviously their internal polling must be telling them enough is enough – going to be fun to see the verbal gymnastics on offer next week!.I think the population, even as compliant as NZ generally is, has just had enough of the lockdowns. I think that’s also what did for Aussie – was just one lockdown too many. I suspect this could be the beginning of the end for Labour though – if it lets rip, which is what happened in Aussie, then even the most compliant media won’t be able to cover that up. Must be due some more ‘National to change leaders’ stories next week. Or maybe the wedding announcement to distract the plebs?
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 3:07pm
  - dcrane
    
    They can presumably see that waiting until elimination is 100% could easily take many more weeks (and could still fail). I think they’ll put it off for another short period but then declare “victory” while keeping Aucklanders at Levels 3 and 2 for a looong time while they continue to scramble to finish the vaccinations they should have done many months ago.
    
    Btw this “Level 4” is a lot more active than April 2020. I rarely get to cross the street without waiting for traffic…often leathered bikies and kids in cars.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 6:00pm
Fletch

The dark money fueling the Democrat election strategies which starts from Mark Elias and goes all the way to Clinton-supporting law firm Perkins Coie.

Top Democratic attorney Marc Elias has been using a dark money network to fund lawsuits geared toward advancing progressive causes, from fighting voter ID laws to enshrining universal mail-in voting, according to the watchdog group Americans for Public Trust.

Elias, who previously helped push the “Russia collusion” hoax after serving as Hillary Clinton’s top campaign lawyer, recently parted ways from the Perkins Coie law firm to start the Elias Law Group – a firm dedicated to advancing the Democratic Party’s agenda in the name of “voting rights.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/15/report-top-democrat-lawyer-uses-dark-money-network-to-fund-progressive-lawsuits/

A whole slew of front groups, of course, to hide it all
7 2
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 1:38pm
- Inandout
  
  Fletch, ID is needed for the jab but not to vote; astounding hypocrisy.
  
  6 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 3:19pm
Steve Todd

Okay, Kiwibloggers, here we go again.

The article linked to, below, “Debunking Anti-Vaccine Memes, Part I”, is an excellent read, regardless of which side of the fence you occupy.

It answers “some of the most common falsehoods, half-truths and conspiracies about COVID that run rampant on social media.” Part II on Thursday 23.

See https://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/2021/09/debunking-anti-vaccine-memes-part-i/?
4 9
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 1:51pm
- dcrane
  
  It answers some of the easiest to debunk allegations (and many strawmen)….and ignores all of the hard ones. A weak article.
  
  4 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 2:13pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

USA FDA advisory panel has just recommended against boosters for Pfizer vax in under 65 year olds (more at risk patients only is their recommendation). Concern is for risk from heart damage from booster shot, and they are saying more data is needed.

Encouraging that FDA do appear to be following the data in this case, but worrying that boosters might be off the table – those who are already vaccinated will be shit out of luck in 4-6 months if they don’t get infected and develop natural immunity before then.

https://apnews.com/article/fda-panel-rejects-widespread-pfizer-booster-shots-1cd1cf6a5c5c02b63f8a7324807a59f1?utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow
9 2
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 2:10pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Abandon MIQ. Attempting to keep the border hermetically sealed while vaccine protection attenuated is utter madness.
  
  9 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 2:55pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    Ug, ‘attenuates’. Combo of auto-correct and terrifically fat fingers is problematic.
    
    0 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 3:29pm
- Cinematic
  
  Surprising to see Pfizer is so pro the booster //
  
  6 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 3:03pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  I expect that political pressure will reverse this decision in next few days. Remember it’s ‘Follow the Science’ but only when it conforms to political requirements.
  
  2 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 3:35pm
- virtualmark
  
  They’re recommending boosters only for over-65s because that’s the demographic who have waning immunity.
  
  Your immune system weakens with age, and it can no longer maintain an effective immune response from a vaccination. It’s like a tyre with a slow leak … it needs to be pumped up every now and then.
  
  If you are 30-65 yo then your immune system should be just fine “for a long time” with just the two jabs. I say “for a long time” because no one knows yet just exactly how long because the first human trials were only a year ago. So hard to say if the vaccines will provide sufficient protection for 3 years, 5 years or ??? But it’s certainly at least 1 year.
  
  If you are a child you probably only need one jab, and that will give you enough protection. I think you will see the FDA etc considering whether children should be on a 1 jab regime.
  
  2 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 3:47pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Interesting, thanks. A lot of countries are indeed only doing a single jab for adolescents.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 4:53pm
dcrane

It answers some of the easiest to debunk allegations (and many strawmen)….and ignores all of the hard ones. A weak article.
3 3
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 2:12pm
RW Capitalist

Didn’t think of it before, but
What if we used available UV bots to sanitize indoor spaces every few hours and replaced every 3rd light with a UVC light.
Limiting time of exposure to prevent possible harm.
https://www.boocax.com/en/pro2/uv1500.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgpT3qcGH8wIVMZJmAh1MtAwXEAAYASAAEgIzg_D_BwE
https://www.healthline.com/health/does-uv-kill-coronavirus#uv-light-and-germs
The study found that UVC light exposure completely inactivated the virus in 9 minutes.

https://www.tnuvir.com/uvc-lamp-manufacturer?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrLCwwsKH8wIVkx0rCh3uHwPEEAAYASAAEgJI_vD_BwE
https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/default/files/scientific_committees/scheer/docs/citizens_uvc_en.pdf

We could then go back to normal.
In
restaurants
take away’s
short haul flights
buses
trains
taxi’s
3 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 3:02pm
cmm

Another entry in the “You can tell it’s still 2021” files…

UK going to kill pigs because they can’t kill pigs….

Why?

There’s a shortage of CO2!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/17/warnings-carbon-dioxide-shortage-could-force-farmers-to-cull-pigs
1 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 3:14pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Grandson is just off to the home gym in the garage. Has his muscle protein drink with him. I am having a beer and whiskey.
‘Alcohol is poison, why do you drink it?’
‘Because there are things inside me I need to kill’ ….
6 4
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 3:15pm
- Inandout
  
  Steve, ask him to explain the chemicals listed on the protein container. These so called ‘muscle builders’ are merely a step down from steroids, and wildly overpriced.
  
  9 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 3:25pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Not sure, $120 every months? Then other supplements?
    And I drink alcohol – fully tested?
    
    3 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 5:10pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Most stuff sold as ‘supplements’ are either ineffective or easily misused to harmful effect. Shamefully, pharmacists are major suppliers of this kind of junk, even changing their code of ethics to allow it when challenged some years ago to stop selling fake medicines.
      
      2 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      September 18, 2021 5:20pm
ABS4EVA

The Australian Subs are Ordered not Built\

That will take a decade and pray they hurry

Comrade Jacinda has said they will not be allowed
in NZ Waters.

If no one Noticed the CCP threatened to Nuke
Aus Cities this year.

They are also building a Naval based about
200km from Australian Borders.

Be Nice to one another
6 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 4:20pm
Fletch

Comedian and Saturday Night Live alum Jim Breuer on these big pushes to get vaccinated vs people’s choice and how the unvaccinated are being demonized.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNb6QHTQck4
0 2
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 4:27pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING….

The thing we REALLY luv about Kim & Liz is they know how to party!

We’re all sooo looking forward to getting back to LV2 😛

https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/1439057724373811202
6 3
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 4:33pm
Ra Henare

Vax like crazy. From my perspective it is just a pawn in the big political game.

98% of adults in Cambodia have had 1 jab.
(Not mNra)
They are jabbing kids .. 87% so far

So how does vaxing work out?
Politicians still reacting to cases not deaths
They just locked down Siem Reap!!!!
Case numbers up but buggar all deaths

Hows Cuba doing with Vax they include 2 year olds? 65% population one jabbed but still 80 ish deaths a day.
And opening the borders to Travellers shortly.

As I say. Its a political football.
Applying scientific logic and data is a waste of time.
Certainly in Godzone and her with the teeth.
2 0
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 5:02pm
Cobolt24

Not that I’m a fan of NZF but I’d still recommend signing https://maori-nzfirst.nationbuilder.com/
0 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 5:04pm
RW Capitalist

First random thought for Saturday night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4UUw5PXBdg

In 50 years have we not learned
Politicians LIE.
Their power, your destruction.
1 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 6:58pm
RW Capitalist

2nd random thought for Saturday night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9AbeALNVkk

Where are the rebels today?
0 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 7:00pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Has anyone told Aucklanders that Level 3 is just like Level 4?
9 0
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 7:03pm
- dcrane
  
  you must have missed this
  
  https://twitter.com/jeffbellnz/status/1432094207288639491
  
  1 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 7:24pm
- sooty
  
  With takaways!
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 7:30pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Not quite the same Maggs…you will be able to go to the Vicky Ave butcher.
  
  1 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 7:33pm
  - kevn
    
    @Maggie.. and line up at your KFC.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    September 18, 2021 7:59pm
- krazykiwi
  
  I expect wholesale bubble bursting to occur. Good. Social cohesion demands that people connect with those they love and care for.
  
  6 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 7:37pm
RW Capitalist

Last thought
When I was about 21
With 3/4 of a BSc in physics, I found out that Physics is about learning more and more about less and less, until you know everything about nothing.
I chased some girl to Aus. , that lasted 2 weeks.
But the stupidity of youth turned into the adventure of a life time.
Took me, hitch hiking around the world, followed by 37 yrs of marriage that also had a fair bit of travel in it.
My point in telling you this.
I genuinely fear for all the 20 somethings, in 40yrs, what will their story be?
1. I learned how to sink baskets in the back yard, under lock down….by myself.
2. When Jacinda generously let us go out, we went to the beach
3. We were saved by Jacinda, with a vaccine.
4. we were locked down to prevent us getting a new form of a disease that probably won’t actually kill us.
Me…thinking on it.
I prefer my story and won’t lament the stories that the generation before me told, that sounded more exciting than mine.
4 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 7:10pm
- Cinematic
  
  With you on this RW. A pernicious central government and indeed global government clamp down on freedom. This is totally unacceptable and almost Hollywood in its craziness.
  
  A steadfast peaceful pushback on global government overreach is now necessary.
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  September 18, 2021 10:01pm
Maggie Pie

Comment of the day from ‘Katie Hopkins’ on Insta…

“Downtickers have a penis the size of a AAA Battery”

LOL!!

https://instagram.com/p/CT0MaM7Ju1j/
1 1
Log in to Reply
Report
September 18, 2021 8:25pm

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Login to comment or vote

« The Golden Goose, by Graeme Williams

Israel says lo to further lockdowns »

Donations

You can now donate to Kiwiblog

Exclusive content from DPF on Patreon

Become a Patron!

Never miss a post

Email Address

Join 13K other subscribers

Highlights

Target achieved II
Good progress on attendance
Health Target 5 – elective treatments
Health Target 4 – Specialist appointments

Links

1 News Verian Poll: Big two parties at 30-year low, Opportunity nears 5% threshold
Breaking Views
'The Myth of Authoritarian Efficiency'
Not PC
No tears for Starmer
The Standard
NRL Predictions for Round 17
Stats Chat
Word of the day
Hompaddock
The Story of Lola, Ruth, Mayah and the Strolling Bulgarians
No Minister
How Chlöe is taxing our credibility when she says flawed figures flowed from a “typo”
Point of Order
8pm LIVE TONIGHT The Bradbury Group with Labour Leader Chris Hipkins, NZCTU President Sandra Grey + Political Panel – Matthew Hooton, Fran O’Sullivan + Max Harris
The Daily Blog
The Partition: Ireland Divided 1885 to 1925 by Charles Townshend (2021)
Utopia
Time to tax the rich
No Right Turn
Media Link: “A View from Afar” on Systemic Change.
Kiwipolitico
Alex Berenson on Fatherhood Manifesto, Marijuana & Biden’s COVID
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
People Power
NZCPR
Levies as end-runs around the Generic Tax Policy Process
Offsetting Behaviour
A central banker’s fiction
Croaking Cassandra
THE WORKING FROM HOME RACKET BY PUBLIC SERVANTS
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
The Accidental Engagement
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Get Vaccinated Tomorrow Or Shut Your Pie Hole
Cactus Kate
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker

[email protected]

PO Box 12270, Thorndon, Wellington 6144

Facebook
Twitter
FourSquare
Instagram
LinkedIn
Google+

Archives
Disclosure Statement
Editorial Policy
Privacy Policy
Complaints Policy
Comments Policy

Design by cre8d

%d

Share this:

Like this: