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March 15, 2022 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 15 March 2022

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General Debate

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Tomtoddy

Petrol tax reductions are “a game changer” according to the Ferald. Not sure which ”game” they are in. Petrol at a Mobil station in Mangere is $3.24 this morning. In Manuwera’s Caltex it is $3.19. It is $3.20 at G.A.S. station in Mangere Bridge. $3.16 at BP in Manukau. Thanks for nothing Jacinda.
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March 15, 2022 8:01am
- G152
  
  The latest poll may have had something to do with the sudden burst of feelings for the folks
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:19am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Ardern’s only abilities are either bribery or assault and battery. She doesn’t do nuance, discussion or rational. Like a bad dog owner. It’s very confusing getting kicked one day and sugar treats the next. Passive aggressive.
    
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    March 15, 2022 10:09am
- MCōs
  
  Unfortunately for you there is a much more trustworthy app, Gaspy, which says the Mobil in Mangere is $2:99.9
  Furthermore
  There’s a Gull in nearby Onehunga where it’s $2:75.7. Down 29c from yesterday, just as it should be.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:27am
  - graham
    
    “… the Mobil in Mangere …”
    
    Would that be Mangere Bridge, Mangere Central, or Mangere East …?
    
    As I’m sure you’re aware, MCos, Mangere covers a large area, from Ambury Regional Park to Walter Massey Park and Middlemore Hospital. It is hardly surprising that there might well be a wide variation in prices.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:16am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      It’s called cherry picking I believe.
      
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      March 15, 2022 10:11am
      - MCōs
        
        No cherry picking here, sir.
        
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        March 15, 2022 2:04pm
    - MCōs
      
      Mangere Bridge & Mangere East are not part of Mangere.
      Nevertheless
      There is only one Mobil in those three suburbs combined.
      There’s one in Favona. I suppose you think that’s Mangere.
      
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      March 15, 2022 2:03pm
      - graham
        
        “Mangere Bridge & Mangere East are not part of Mangere.”
        
        I’d genuinely be interested in seeing some references to support that.
        
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        March 15, 2022 3:53pm
      - MCōs
        
        It’s in the names
        
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        March 15, 2022 7:27pm
      - graham
        
        May I suggest you have a look at this.
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ngere
        
        Māngere has three major sub-areas: Mangere Bridge Māngere Central and Māngere East, with Favona (in the east) sometimes counted as part of Mangere as well.
        
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        March 15, 2022 8:41pm
  - RightNow
    
    Why would you begin that reply with “Unfortunately for you…”?
    
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    March 15, 2022 10:28am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    And you know he’s talking about premium, regular or diesel precisely how?
    
    I’m on Gaspy as I write this, and Premium at Mobil Walmsley Road is exactly as stated (actually, slightly higher) at $3.249. BP Connect Mangere $3.259 – both current as per an hour ago.
    
    Unfortunately for you.
    
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    March 15, 2022 11:51am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Still $3.16 for 91 up here. Looks like another talk and fail exercise from the worst Government in my lifetime.
  
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  March 15, 2022 10:39am
  - Jim
    
    Callers on the radio and social media are reporting nil change to local garage prices, some even adding before and after pictures as evidence.
    
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    March 15, 2022 11:44am
    - coge
      
      Palmerston North Z Pioneer Highway $2.49 91
      
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      March 15, 2022 4:59pm
Captain Mainwaring

So Spindy has finally admitted that we have a cost of living crisis.
And her answer is to slash petrol excise tax and road user charges for 3 months and halve the cost of public transport which nobody uses.
That will buy her some short term lovebites but what happens when it all goes back on again?
And she obviously doesn’t know about how to partially fund this crap when it’s staring her in the face.
Slap road user charges on electric vehicles. Overdue.
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March 15, 2022 8:01am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Shame I bought 10K worth of RUC recently and because you buy them up front per km how does her reduction help at all?
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:11am
  - bjools
    
    During her time Diesel has gone up 50%, more tan the other fuels.
    Diesel is used to transport the vast majority of our goods.
    A 100% reduction to the RUC over the next 6 months would have a broader impact on overall inflation and cost of living.
    
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    March 15, 2022 8:33am
    - RoboRob
      
      Great point. Reducing ‘source’ costs is the best way to handle inflation. Unfortunately Labour have spent the last 4yrs increasing those costs (housing, rentals, fuel etc)
      
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      March 15, 2022 9:18am
  - Jim
    
    Under exceptional circumstances you can get a ruc refund, I received one for 15000km when I unexpectedly sold my vehicle to a trader who wouldn’t give me the added ruc value.
    
    I recommend you try NZTA and state you simply can’t afford not to benefit from the government’s rebate.
    
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    March 15, 2022 11:51am
- Chris R
  
  She hasn’t quite admitted it. She is sliding, squirming and word-playing around the topic…in other words, behaving as she generally does. The change this time is that fewer and fewer NZ’ers swallow her lies and deceit and she is quickly losing any credibility she may have had. I utterly detest her and the sooner she is out of NZ for good the better.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:11am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Chris bro – As long as she has the bribe taking MSM in her handbag, they will spin positive stories as how Cindy single handedly brought inflation under control and stopped the war in Ukraine. So suck it up and get ready to pay the eco taxes Green Frog will be imposing in a few weeks time when he submits his emission budget.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:39am
  - Romney
    
    What then? ‘He waka eke noa’ which I believe means ‘Throw farmers under the bus.’
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:50am
    - Matt Long
      
      We’re all in the canoe together, but some are more in than others.
      
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      March 15, 2022 10:05am
      - bennerg
        
        Matt,
        
        We’re all in the canoe together, but some are having to paddle more than others.
        
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        March 15, 2022 10:27am
  - tui47
    
    I have never liked her. However, I know several original male Jacinda fans that have seen through her and now regret voting Labour. Once they flip the quickly move to detesting her and become so obsessed with getting rid of her impact on our lives that friends/family start to worry about their mental health! I do not share my dislike of her with anyone in person however, female family members have seen my comments on FB and have become quite nasty telling me that she has ‘saved us’. This means I am going to watch her fall from power with a great deal of enjoyment.
    
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    March 15, 2022 10:47am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Cunning as a shithouse rat – I have said many times. It is true
    
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    March 15, 2022 3:39pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  It reminds me of what I have read about crazy adhoc decisions in New Zealand back in the 70s.
  
  The petrol excise model is way past its end date as folk switch to hybrids and EVs.
  
  But that aside, James Shaw will release the first 3 years emissions budget in a few weeks. I guarantee that will make driving petrol powered cars more expensive, or more inconvenient, or probably both.
  
  And I guarantee that in 3 months there will be a call to make the cut permanent. What then? It is well understood that people react differently to income rises and income falls. If you give someone a pay rise they just factor it in within a few weeks. But try giving someone a pay CUT. Nasty reaction. The reaction in 3 months to a sudden 25 cents price increase will be savage. So I predict it won’t happen.
  
  The Government has bought a big mess. Good luck with that emissions budget James Shaw. ???
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:16am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    The last couple of years of this government and their hangers on has been a total clown show. Sadly though, it has been far from funny for the vast majority of people. Ardern has wrought massive damage on NZ. It will take decades to recover from.
    She is a horrible person and even worse politician.
    
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    March 15, 2022 8:41am
    - Philview
      
      That last opinion poll although good for the right, still had an even more extreme left wing government in place if an election was held that day. I do think there are signs the media is starting to see the dangers ahead. People on here criticise Chris Luxon but he appears to be a safe pair of hands at a time when the country is on the brink.
      
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      March 15, 2022 10:26am
      - Nickc2
        
        My Jury’s still out on Luxon. His tendency towards woke keeps coming to the fore on occasions and he is very sympathetic to the Climate Change gang.
        
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        March 15, 2022 10:50am
      - chukar
        
        Not Luxon ,the problem is National who have betrayed their supporters so often in the past.
        Think RMA , WFF and much other Labour introduced legislation that after denigrating they have retained.
        Their excuses will be the same as in the past mostly using coalitition partners to avoid honouring their pre election promises!
        Fool me once shame on you ,fool me twice shame on me!
        
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        March 15, 2022 11:53am
  - Matt Long
    
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022-03-14/carbon-credit-prices-plunge-after-policy-change/100907434
    Australia is actually doing concrete things to measure and sequester CO2, New Zealand meanwhile follows the socialist notion that you tax the climate into submission, unless of course they have another agenda?
    
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    March 15, 2022 8:50am
    - kowtow
      
      Measure and sequester ?
      
      That’s to say there’s some problem with it , when there isn’t . It’s essential for life .
      
      Why are we still playing this carbon bullshit game .
      
      It’s a squirel and a Trojan Horse to undermine the west , capitalism , personal freedoms and an excuse for politicians to pretend they “care ” and are “doing” something.
      
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      March 15, 2022 9:39am
      - Matt Long
        
        Whether AGW is real or not is immaterial, the government has signed up to various treatys that all the parties in Parliament have agreed to.
        In order to meet the terms of those pieces of virtue signaling we can either do positive things that have environmental and social benefits as the Australians are doing or follow the path New Zealand has embarked on.
        
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        March 15, 2022 10:19am
      - kowtow
        
        ML
        
        If it’s not real why do we have these “treaties”.
        
        Oh it’s a bit like the medieval days when laws and nations’ affairs were organised around faith matters and not the secular , cos that’s wot this is about , the new age religion of ecoism.
        
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        March 15, 2022 1:16pm
    - Jimbob
      
      Strong cooling in the north Atlantic is just staring, when this occurs it lasts sixty years. Back in 1985 it stared to warm significantly resulting warming of the planet, now a 60 year cooling phase is just starting. More moisture and cooler global temperatures.
      Translation: global warming/ climate change is political crap, not science. Research and find out for yourselves.
      
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      March 15, 2022 11:19am
      - Bullion
        
        That’s not new, it forms the basis for the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” where due to the melting of Greenland’s ice sheets it changes the density of the water in the North Atlantic which, in the movie, stops the Atlantic Gulf Stream which plunges the Northern Hemisphere into an apocalyptic winter.
        
        In the real world, yes the Greenland ice sheet is melting and cooling in the North Atlantic Ocean has been observed since 2004, and it is impacting the Atlantic Gulf Stream. The cooling sea surface also acts to create more low-level clouds, which, in turn, reduce incoming solar radiation, further cooling the surface. It is not unexpected based on climate science: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0819-8
        
        It also is an anomaly in the world where just about everywhere is continuing to see warming.
        
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        March 15, 2022 1:15pm
      - SoloView
        
        @Jimbob
        “More moisture and cooler global temperatures.”
        
        I would have thought that with cooler weather (less evaporation) we would have less moisture.
        
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        March 15, 2022 3:30pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        ‘It also is an anomaly in the world where just about everywhere is continuing to see modest and gradual warming’
        There, fixed it for you.
        
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        March 15, 2022 4:02pm
  - Local Miller
    
    She has said they will look to phase in the return of the 25c when it happens, so it won’t be a shock increase, but even so people will not be happy when it starts coming back.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:00am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Yu bro – I beg to differ on couple of points.
    
    1. Kiwi sheeple will understand raising the tax back by 25 cents + GST as they care about public transport and without this increase back, they know they won’t get the tram to Auckland airport. So the sucker in Invercargill will happily pay an additional 25 cents + GST for that tram
    
    2. Frog Shaw’s green budget will be welcomed by the kiwi suckers because they care about environment and they know there is a climate emergency (because Cindy said so). So they don’t mind paying a little bit extra on everything to save the environment.
    
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    March 15, 2022 10:24am
- Nickc2
  
  Slapping RUCs on EVs would mean going back on her word and she would never do that eh.//
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:59am
  - RoboRob
    
    Actually, they have always said EVs will pay RUCs when they reach a certain pct of the fleet. So essentially the incentives (EV subsidy and no RUCs) were gifts to the wealthy that could afford expensive EVs. By they time avg wage earners start to buy them the ‘perks’ will be long gone.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:21am
    - Bullion
      
      Unless there are any policy changes, EV exemption for paying RUCs end 31 March 2024.
      
      https://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/2021-07-05-EV-RUC-Exemption-for-website-QAs-1.pdf
      
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      March 15, 2022 1:17pm
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    My understanding was that it’s set in stone that EVs will cop RUCs when they reach 2% of the fleet. They must be there by now.
    AND, EVs weigh about 30% more than a petrol car of the same size so they damage the roads faster. They should at least be paying their share of the maintenance.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:52am
    - Nickc2
      
      FWIW, cyclists should also be paying RUCs, they take up a portion of the road, hence USER.
      
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      March 15, 2022 10:46am
      - glowworm
        
        I know a few civil engineer’s and if I remember correctly, one of them told me that road damage is essentially proportional to the cube of the weight/mass of the vehicle.
        
        So in terms of road damage at least, I think that pretty much all damage is the result of the really heavy vehicles like trucks/buses etc.
        
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        March 15, 2022 6:34pm
    - Jim
      
      Your point has limited validity, but will hardly improve the cost of living crisis in NZ. Maybe it’s just neighbour envy?
      Anyway you’re barking up the wrong tree about EV weight, as the lowest current RUC weight band is up to 3500Kg (so even the heaviest Tesla X P100 long range has a GVM much less than that).
      Before you ask, no I don’t have a Tesla, I drive a thirsty V6 petrol.
      
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      March 15, 2022 12:03pm
      - Captain Mainwaring
        
        The RUC weight band is irrelevant to my point.
        What I’m saying is that a typical compact petrol SUV
        weighs about 15ookg. An equivalent-sized EV SUV weighs about 1950 kg and places much more wear and tear on the road. How do we fund road maintenance it these vehicles remain exempt from RUCs?
        
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        March 15, 2022 4:45pm
  - Ehlana
    
    “The existing exemption from road user charges has been extended until 31 March 2024, which is around the time we expect the electric vehicles to make up two percent of the fleet”, according to the MoT.
    So I’m guessing it could be extended again if the 2% target is not met.
    
    What I’m wondering about is how many of those who switched from petrol vehicles (no RUC) to electric will realise they need to get an RUC. How will this be advertised/enforced?
    
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    March 15, 2022 10:37am
    - Matt Long
      
      “The Dairy Industry Restructuring Act provisions will no longer apply for Fonterra once their market share falls under 80%” Labour Government
      “Actually the DIRA provisions will continue indefinitely.” Also Labour Government.
      
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      March 15, 2022 10:46am
    - Local Miller
      
      Probably through WoFs. Get your annual WoF, Oh, we see you haven’t bought any RUCs yet. Sorry no WoF until done.
      QED.
      
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      March 15, 2022 10:53am
      - artemisia
        
        RUCs currently linked in to the WOF system. We forgot RUCs a few months back, and got an invoice from NZTA covering the mileage to what was recorded on the WOF record. WOF was issued though.
        
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        March 15, 2022 2:40pm
    - Jim
      
      When the time comes EV owners will simply be notified by post from NZTA.
      
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      March 15, 2022 12:07pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Going back on her word? Never! ‘No more new Taxes’ remember? //
    
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    March 15, 2022 3:45pm
- ecco
  
  When the oil price goes up and the NZD goes down she’ll still have the problem of rising petrol prices. What’s she gonna do? Will run out of excise tax to cut… There’s only another $30 there to cut ?
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:03am
- mogg
  
  Everybody knows who we have to thank for this about face.
  These are Chris Luxon’s tax cuts, he has manipulated Ardern and Labour into a position where they have no other choice. With this knee-jerk reaction/u-turn Ardern looks weak and indecisive.
  The next inflation figure is going to be at least 7% so Luxon can ram home his cost of living crisis message repeatedly.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:36am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    mogg bro – by then the bribed MSM would have convinced the sheeple that 7% inflation is due to 9 long years of negligence by the evil Nats. Game over really.
    
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    March 15, 2022 10:27am
    - Jim
      
      Yep and blaming evil Putin, and let’s note forget Orange Man Bad. LoL
      
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      March 15, 2022 12:09pm
  - kowtow
    
    Yep , she’s flapping more than her arms at the Podium of odium.
    
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    March 15, 2022 10:58am
  - Bullion
    
    It’s not a tax cut, it’s a tax shuffle. Moved from user pays to general tax base.
    
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    March 15, 2022 1:20pm
Mr_Blobby

So the (MOH) ministry of health, what an excellent example of a totally corrupt evil organisation.

Called them yesterday to apply for my covid passport, I wanted to get a haircut, you need a covid passport for that theses days.

The first number refers you to a 2nd number, to my surprise it was answered and the staff were very helpful, up to the point of when did you get your vaccinations, we’ll as you can see from my record I’ve had the covid and finished the required isolation period so there is no point in getting a vaccination to protect against something I have already had, now I would really really like to get a haircut so can I have my covid passport please.

End result is they can’t help I have to call the first number again.

Multiple attempts and a nearly 60 minute wait, I get through, repeat of the first call, want passport need haircut etc, the reply you have to go to your doctor and apply for a medical exemption, what are the grounds for a medical exemption, reply, you have to go to your doctor, no I’m on the phone to the MOH what are your grounds for a medical exemption, read the policy, word for word, surprise surprise immunity from prior infection is not covered.

So why would you refer me to my doctor knowing that I would not qualify for a medical exemption, now I’ve had the required covid, I have survived the covid, sorry for that, have the appropriate immunity, if i had measles you would not be recommending a measles vaccination, now I would really really like to get a haircut, why are you punishing me, I’m not punishing you, yes you are, I’m terminating this call, click.

How rude.

Strange every other country in the world recognizes immunity from prior infection.

Try again today.
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March 15, 2022 8:02am
- glowworm
  
  Good work Mr Blobby. I suspect you’re wasting your time with the morally corrupted MoH though. Ignore them like the rabid dogs they are.
  
  I would suggest you find a hair dresser who, like a few of us here, doesn’t subscribe to all this morally corrupt nonsense and will simply cut your hair. Once you find one, pay and thank them, and encourage their morally correct civil disobedience through an additional tip.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:36am
- kevn
  
  @Mr Bolob… Try getting a c19 immunity blood test. Impossible. Why?
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:52am
  - crackle
    
    Not impossible at all just need to pay for it yourself.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:00am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      crackle – not a RAT, an antibody test. Antibody tests are illegal in NZ. They have been illegal since Ardern made them illegal in April 2020.
      
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      March 15, 2022 10:17am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Reason? If you have had Covid and have natural antibodies, you would not bother taking the 3 medical testing vaccines.
        You, they banned that test for that reason
        
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        March 15, 2022 3:54pm
      - crackle
        
        I’m not an idiot, but you can get one ordered by your gp or from one of the multitude of doctors who specialize in travell. I know cause I paid for one out of curiosity almost a year ago.
        
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        March 16, 2022 6:24am
    - Mr_Blobby
      
      And get a doctor to refer you and pay for it yourself.
      
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      March 15, 2022 10:19am
      - ISeeRed
        
        That’s how I did it a few months ago. $52.50 for the doctor and $45 for the test itself. I think it’s still possible but some doctors are reluctant to refer you and just won’t.
        
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        March 15, 2022 4:58pm
  - Mr_Blobby
    
    Because immunity from a prior infection would negate the need for a vaccine.
    
    It’s about control of the population and punishing those that don’t comply.
    
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    March 15, 2022 10:21am
    - Bullion
      
      Immunity from a prior infection does wane and virus do mutate.
      
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      March 15, 2022 1:23pm
      - Mr_Blobby
        
        The vaccine if you can even call it a vaccine, obviously does not work the current rate of vaccinated catching covid is proof of that.
        
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        March 15, 2022 2:56pm
      - ISeeRed
        
        Correct. Natural immunity is still much more robust and long-lasting than man-made vaccines.
        
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        March 15, 2022 5:00pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      No vax means no coffee/tea, and no eating out.
      Phark
      
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      March 15, 2022 3:56pm
- Matt Long
  
  You may as well ask for a steak dinner at McDonalds, the person at the call centre is only able to repeat advice them/they barely understand.
  You need to get on to your local member of the house of representatives, although them/they probably won’t understand the issue either, at least you are communicating with someone who possibly has influence.
  I hope your mp isn’t C. Get Boosted Bishop.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:58am
  - Mr_Blobby
    
    Luxon ex woke air nz
    
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    March 15, 2022 10:24am
- Zero Kindness
  
  Well done Mr Blobby!
  I think the mandates and passports will only go when we close all lanes of Auckland harbour bridge on 1 April with 50,000 plus marching.
  With the not fully vaxxed (i.e. no booster) population currently at 2 million, and the lowest this figure will get to is above 1 million people, that will be a fifth of NZ society not able to participate in hospitality and service industry by 1 May 2022.
  Somehow I don’t think that is viable for our economic survival.
  Repeal all Corona legislation now!
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:21am
artemisia

So, straight from the horse’s mouth, Ms Ardern will contest the 2023 election. Sounds like she did not say in what capacity, but appears a decision has been made. Good to know.

On Monday, Ardern was even forced to answer, whether, on the back of that poll, she planned to stick around for the next election – a question usually directed at struggling National leaders (she said she would contest the election, shrugging of [sic] the poll result).

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/government-budges-on-cost-of-living-as-jacinda-ardern-slashes-fuel-tax-national-and-act-urge-her-to-go-further/ABJB62XQE2H6GNFCKNE26ZESL4/
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March 15, 2022 8:02am
- Paulus
  
  Am glad she has chosen to be there for the next election.
  Nothing will give me greater pleasure to see her smug arrogance humiliated.
  She and her Government are the worse in living memory, and that includes Muldoon.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:22am
  - bjools
    
    At least Muldoon left us with HUGE infrastructure, that we still rely on.
    Ardern…….NOTHING
    
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    March 15, 2022 8:37am
    - artemisia
      
      Huge social housing waiting list. Does that count?
      
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      March 15, 2022 10:13am
    - Stellaboxer
      
      Actually she has left us with something bjools. She’s left us with a decimated society and a national debt that will take a generation to pay off along with racial division a massive gang problem, highest firearms offences in the countries history, highest child poverty stats , highest home prices, highest rate of homelessness , the distrust of our natural allies, high consumption of foreign coal whilst our domestic mines close down, the closure of our oil and gas industries future, the corruption of our news media , and the distrust of the police .I could go on. So not true she’s left one hell of a legacy
      
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      March 15, 2022 10:56am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    As she is the MP for a very safe Labour seat, I expect she will happily retreat to a back-seat role of continuing to do bugga-all.
    
    53 1
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    March 15, 2022 8:37am
    - PeeJay
      
      So other than the media profile being somewhat lower for a backbencher, otherwise no real change then!
      
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      March 15, 2022 8:44am
    - cmm
      
      Naah,
      Becoming a back bencher would be a massive ego-dent.
      
      #CinD4UN!
      
      28 3
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      March 15, 2022 8:46am
      - rockape
        
        If it’s backbencher or having to do some real work as a fish and chip wrapper I know what she will chose.
        
        17 0
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        March 15, 2022 9:07am
    - trout
      
      Ardern could well follow theothers in Labour; forego an electorate seat and go on the list. That way she can make a hasty exit when Labour lose the election and avoid by election issues..
      
      19 0
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      March 15, 2022 9:35am
      - Wayne Mapp
        
        When Prime Ministers lose elections, they usually resign from Parliament, whether they are a list or electorate MP. The public seem reasonably accepting of this and don’t seem to care that if the PM is an electorate MP there will be a by election.
        
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        March 15, 2022 11:00am
    - Allan
      
      Ardern has done so much damage and caused so much strife for so many people that she will not have a very nice life once she is no longer PM. Ardern has been shown up to be a very nasty, power crazy individual and I am certain that there will be many who will never forgive or forget what she has done and the way that she destroyed the social cohesion and general well being of the population of NZ. She will be treated with disdain and contempt by many and unless she leaves NZ permanently there will be no where to run or hide for her. And what’s more she will deserve all of the opprobrium that is coming her way. Without a doubt Ardern is the worst PM NZ has ever had.
      
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      March 15, 2022 9:44am
      - OTGO
        
        Correct. It never ends well for the world’s tyrants.
        
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        March 15, 2022 11:09am
      - mogg
        
        Very true, the Ardern brand is already tainted by her dishonesty and empty talk, will the Labour spin machine even want her as leader at the next election? Luxon has shown that he has the ability to plan ahead and by comparison Ardern has feet of clay. Hiding behind ‘working groups’ and Covid is no longer an option, Luxon can think on his feet, while Jacinda needs 2 weeks to come up with any answers,
        Even the tame Media are tired of her non-answers and evasion.
        
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        March 15, 2022 1:42pm
    - Mr_Blobby
      
      Guaranteed to be dogged all the way by protesters and a heavy police contingent.
      
      18 1
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      March 15, 2022 10:27am
    - pdm
      
      `As she is the MP for a very safe Labour seat, I expect she will happily retreat to a back-seat role of continuing to do bugga-all.’
      
      Which is what she did from 2008 until Angry Andy chucked the Labour Party leadership in.
      
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      March 15, 2022 12:05pm
  - Chris R
    
    For all Muldoon’s failings he did ensure he had a number of reasonable and intelligient Ministers…Talboys, Gordon come to mind. Ardern is a vile idiot and sadly for NZ her gang of ministers seem to be just like her. It is difficult to ever imagine a cabinet minister describing fellow NZ’ers as a “river of filth” yet that is what one of Ardern’s gaggle has now done. Sad days indeed!
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:36am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      But not all. Ben Couch and Keith Allen spring to mind.
      
      1 0
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      March 15, 2022 8:24pm
  - RightFirstTime
    
    I’m picking that, so long as he can drag himself away from the full-length mirror, Mike Wood, the man from Mt. Roskill, will be the leader of the Labour Party come the next election. Any bets?
    
    17 1
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    March 15, 2022 10:30am
    - Matt Long
      
      I saw a probably unscientific poll yesterday that had Marja at over 90% head to head against Cindy, however Woods would make a great choice for the country like Corbyn was for the UK.
      
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      March 15, 2022 12:36pm
- cmm
  
  She has changed her mind before.
  
  Remember in 2017, right up to May or so, she said she was not going to be party leader because she wanted to make babies and being a mum was incompatible with the commitments of being a party leader or PM.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:45am
- Matt Long
  
  That along with I have no leadership ambitions are almost certainly the most common politicians’s lies.
  “What is your favorite lie prime minister?”
  “I don’t tell lies.”
  “That’s my favorite too prime minister.”
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:45am
- glowworm
  
  I can no longer believe a single word uttered out of her mouth.
  
  She lies, is morally corrupt, assigns blame, does not listen, the list goes on, and on …
  
  At the end of the day I think I agree with Cam Slater now.
  
  https://thebfd.co.nz/2022/01/31/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-2/
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:14am
- Jim
  
  Maybe Klaus has an ex-oligarch’s yacht ready for her if she makes 100% Kpi on mandates and passports.
  
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  March 15, 2022 1:30pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I will the thermonuclear meltdown! Oh, maybe not – UN is on the cards
  
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  March 15, 2022 3:59pm
Simon

Cindy later today will be visiting various petrol stations hugging random motorists, saving we have got this.
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March 15, 2022 8:02am
- pdm
  
  Simon I think you need to change random to selected motorists.
  
  She would not want to be seen hugging a stale, pale, middle class, male..
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:41am
  - Jax30
    
    Apologies PDM I seem to have pushed the report button by mistake
    
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    March 15, 2022 12:43pm
Souvlaki

A genuine problem that this uncharacteristically excellent piece by Shane Jones is behind a paywall.
Ardern really needs to be put under the blowtorch on this…looking at you Luxon!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/shane-jones-beware-treaty-co-governance-is-contagious/PBTTBJNSB4P2YUUUVXMTBMXLOY/
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March 15, 2022 8:04am
- Blog-aholic
  
  The NZCPR also has very erudite articles about the co-governance con job.
  There is a deconstruction of our democracy and when members of a certain paolitcal party state they want governance but not democracy New Zealanders should shake in their boots.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:15am
- Debsta
  
  Spot on Mr Jones!
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:34am
  - kowtow
    
    Or as the electorate said ;
    
    Out damned spot , but now he’s back.
    
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    March 15, 2022 10:56am
- kowtow
  
  I heard Mike H reading from the story.
  
  All good , but ;
  
  Wot did Jonsey and his gang ever do when in power , both as a Labourite and then as a Winston First acolyte .
  
  It’s very easy , too easy even, when sitting on a couch away from power to say the current in crowd are crap and point out the Capt Obvious stuff .
  
  Apart from charging us for his hand spanking , his attempt to limit our shower power as well as his huge handouts at massine cost to the tax payer ,as part of the labour bribe to Winston First , what , what , what has he ever done for hard working , tax paying New Zealanders when he was actually in a position to do something , other than spout shite ?
  
  What ?
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:49am
  - Nickc2
    
    I’m by no means a Shane Jones disciple but I’m pleased what’s been said has been said by someone with Labour Party and Maori connections.
    I feel that if someone with National or ACT connections, had said/written exactly the same or even similar, it would never have seen the light of day, especially in the Herald.
    Such is the outright bias of our 4th Estate.
    
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    March 15, 2022 12:06pm
Tomtoddy

Cranky old Simon Wilson did a really lovely expose of the cycleway problems of South Auckland. He had six wonderfully crafted points extolling the work of Auckland Transport including praising the new Mangere bridge for cyclists and pedestrians. He kept repeating the need for action – South Auckland deserves and needs more cycleways despite the existing roads being too narrow. It was a great piece of journalistic prose and would bring tears to the eyes of many of the overweight South Aucklanders who cannot wait to splash out $10 to 15K on a large enough bike to carry them and their six kids.

Oh, I should add he did overlook one thing. No one uses cycleways.
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March 15, 2022 8:05am
- Cinematic
  
  Cyclists should be banned from all inner city areas. They’re a hazard. Or to be fair let them ride wherever they want between 1am – 5am.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:25am
  - OTGO
    
    Ha ha that reminded me of Paul Henry saying he has no problems with RV’s being on the roads as long as they are driven between midnight and 5 past.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:41am
    - Bridgenag
      
      Or women on the golf course
      
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      March 15, 2022 1:49pm
- Rumblestrip
  
  Simon Wilson is a wonderfully exceptional journalist with incredibly broad knowledge and profound wisdom. We common folk are so lucky that he deigns to share his vaulted opinions with us.
  
  Just ask him!
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:30am
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    My wife made some lovely fig jam. I wrote “Simon Wilson” on the jars.
    “Why did you do that?”
    “Fig jam is an acronym that is quite suitable for a person like Simon Wilson.”
    
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    March 15, 2022 10:24am
    - Bridgenag
      
      We had a gofer like that. f. I am good just ask me….
      
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      March 15, 2022 1:50pm
  - tui47
    
    Post the 2014 election Wilson was interviewed on the Paul Henry show where he stated that Kim Dot Com’s internet party would have good in Government.
    
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    March 15, 2022 11:02am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Wilson? Isn’t that the same guy who years ago spent forever producing multi page articles on “poverty” under the National Government? As always, not a peep from him when Labour are in power and the problem, using the measurements Labour used when National were in, is now way worse. I wouldn’t use the paper his words are written on to wipe my arse.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:31am
- tui47
  
  Simon Wilson is a perfect example of an out of touch with real New Zealanders, leftie chardonnay socialist who pretends to support the poor. In reality he doesn’t have a clue.
  
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  March 15, 2022 11:00am
Warren

Are Labour in trouble with Maori or are Maori playing the game to help the Labour Government. 17% of maori to dump their support for Labour at next election.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/03/the-hui-poll-17-pct-of-m-ori-voters-planning-to-switch-away-from-labour-at-2023-election.html
Is this a set up for Maori to get more or is it that they have finally woken up to Labours Politics.
Wait on isn’t there only 17% of Maori intitled to vote.
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March 15, 2022 8:05am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Notable that only 11% of Maori vote for the Maori Party.
  
  Debbie & Rawiri – 89% of Maori don’t want you. Don’t pretend to speak for Maori.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:25am
  - Nickc2
    
    Maori are not one tribe! Handed down hatreds, prejudices and grievances still exist between tribes, and then there are disputed land rites, even today.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:41am
- Stellaboxer
  
  Look at the number of Māori in the crowds of protesters. Should answer your questions. Amongst the citizens described as a river of filth before being attacked by the police.
  
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  March 15, 2022 11:12am
Simon

Biggest driver of inequality in NZ is monetary policy. The clowns in Wellington dont want you to know this. They rather have pointless discussions around minimum wage or differences in gender pay. Fringe issues compared to monetary policy.
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March 15, 2022 8:09am
- surfing
  
  “Biggest driver of inequality in NZ is monetary policy”
  
  Government focuses on quick fixes that don’t address the underlying problem, which is woeful productivity growth.
  
  We need a world class education system and a highly educated workforce to boost productivity.
  
  Given the move to teach Maori science in schools and universities, we have no chance in the long term.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:11am
- Harriet
  
  I think business will lead and run with the ‘work from home ideal’ and dump human resources departments and a few other dumb ideals.
  
  And besides – all sex stuff then stays in the home – and people then get paid what they’re worth – and not likely to ever be promoted.
  
  Cindy is not the future. Smart women are. 😎
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:33am
Tony Stuart

More bad news for Labour:

Christopher Luxon really, really isn’t my political type.

In my circles, admitting you’d vote for him is like turning up to book club with a goat’s head and suggesting we all try the Satanic Bible this month.

Yet if you asked me in those polls last week I’d have chosen National – with gritted teeth.

I’m not part of the people who’ve started voting for him because he’s a bald John Key. Nor am I someone who wears boat shoes or wants to loudly tell you my thoughts on immigration. I’m actually part of the turmeric and charcoal scented young, urban Centre-Left.

I’ve always voted Green or red. I’m part of a silent, furious chunk of the faithful who’ve been fermenting in acidic disappointment for a long time now, like a forgotten jar of political pickles.

Last election, I wrote about how we were bitterly disappointed over the failures of KiwiBuild, mental health reform, and glacial public transport development. Yes, we voted Labour. But we did it with the same kind of doomed hope you take back an ex who swears they’ve changed.

And here we are, midway through the next election cycle, and they haven’t changed. All that’s happened is they confirmed what we were beginning to suspect.

They’re good in a crisis. But they disappoint in peacetime.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/128047599/why-i-am-thinking-of-ditching-labour

Verity Johnson used to do a social media slot on Paul Henry’s breakfast TV programme a number of years ago. Even then, it was patently obvious she wasn’t a National or Act voter.

Since then, she has regularly penned opinion-pieces supporting the current government, and her heroine Jacinda Ardern. That she is now publicly expressing her dissatisfaction with Labour, and even confesses she probably would have chosen National had she been polled last week is significant.

If Labour is losing the votes of young, upwardly-mobile, liberal Auckland women, there’s a sea-change coming and that doesn’t bode well for the Labour Party.
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March 15, 2022 8:13am
- Rich Prick
  
  I would argue Labour’s predicament is because they were dreadful in a crisis. Dividing a country based on whether you submit to mass medication against your will was never going to be a winning strategy. And it won’t be forgotten.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:22am
  - Souvlaki
    
    Even WORSE is continuining to press blindly forward ,dividing it along apartheid lines…..effectively with those with the IQ of the Tribesman & their ilk calling tbe ” shots”.
    
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    March 15, 2022 8:30am
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    All they do is create crises because their policy positions are stupid. Many they create last for decades.
    
    Anyone who votes for them past the age of 21 is also thick, ignorant or both.
    
    19 1
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    March 15, 2022 10:55am
- RockyJ
  
  I would love to be a fly on the wall in Labour caucus meetings. As their standings in the polls declines the tensions must be building between the factions.
  What is the reaction of the Labour green brigade to cutting petrol tax? Will the pakeha MP’s stand up to the Maori bullies and dump Three Waters?
  Unfortunately all of the Labour MP’s have backgrounds in academia or unions. Being an MP is the best paid job any of them will ever have. For this reason none of them will make an individual stand on principle.
  This is why the madness will continue. But the undercurrents would be building
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:24am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Lol Tony. Johnson is just another very average “opinion” writer that is disappointed she chose the wrong career and doesn’t get paid enough. So she will always vote left as she wants something for nothing that someone else has to pay for.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:27am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    100% correct. I Googles “self-obsessed vacuous inanity” and there was a picture of V. Johnson. She’s not only much worse than average, she lowers the average by several percentage points.
    
    However, Tony is also correct – if this kind of muppet is losing faith then Jacinda’s well and truly screwed, much like the country.
    
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    March 15, 2022 1:04pm
- Cinematic
  
  Economic reality bites hard. Labour are a pack of losers who are good at destruction and piss poor at construction. You can only hide hopeless incompetence for so long.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:29am
  - surfing
    
    Got pretty boring counting Labour’s failures.
    
    How many trees did they plant? How many houses did they construct ? How many km of new rail track did they make? How many extra mental health beds materialised?
    
    They’ve certainly punished Tauranga for being National centric. Stopped building roads here, and removed our democracy.
    
    32 1
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    March 15, 2022 9:15am
- Prince
  
  I don’t buy it.
  She is one of the many ‘Opinion’ writers who are solid Labour cheerleaders. They see the Polls and are a little concerned their jobs could be at risk if there is a change of Govt. So best to write a couple of columns mildly critical of their team for insurance.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:29am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Agreed – she doesn’t want to vote for anyone other than red/green, and almost certainly never will. She’s no doubt under the egregious misapprehension that Jacinda (or anyone, really) gives a flying fig about her opinion and will make the requisite changes. Laughable and pathetic.
    
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    March 15, 2022 1:07pm
- Colville
  
  I often listen to George FM… its a Auckland dance music station….. and yes I do have a point to get to.
  
  This is a station whose listeners would average 25 years old… maybe even younger.
  
  Since her coronation by Peters… George DJs have all been fawning Jacinda drones…she could do no wrong. Utterly vomit inducing stuff. No reason to excuse her poor delivery was too wild.
  
  But now ,Luxon has a semi regular chat on the morning show and one of the afternoon DJs (a chick!) calls Jacinda “that bloody Cindy!”..
  
  Talk about a change in the tide!!
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:35am
- pdm
  
  Inv one cannot help wondering about her intellect though when she says:
  
  `Labour is good in a crisis.’
  
  When?
  
  The only time I can think of is when Sir Roger Douglas (and others) reversed the excesses of Muldoon. Every other time Labour in Government has been some sort of disaster with the current lot the biggest disaster of them all.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:47am
  - Ruahine
    
    She was good in a ‘crisis’ when she had the Police in Wellington beating up the Protester.s
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:14am
- PeeJay
  
  One of the things that I suspect is behind the increasing discontent with Labour and Ardern in particular is that a lot of people are now catching Covid or know people directly who have caught it. Where before it would be someone who knew someone, this time it is very up close.
  
  We’ve been conditioned for over two years to be terrified of Covid. We’ve been conditioned to think that only Labour and Ardern could save us.
  
  Now reality is hitting. Guess what? For the overwhelming majority of people who catch it, it isn’t really that bad. I was in an online meeting where 3 out of the 8 people had caught it. One younger lady summed it up, she said, that she’d been scared shitless for this? Really? She couldn’t go overseas to see families and friends, life was disrupted, she went through numerous lockdowns (Auckland) for a mild case of the cold? She was seriously annoyed. She even said ‘fucking Ardern’ and I know she voted for them!
  
  This is what I think will sink their support. Everyone new they were crap at delivery – they fucked up everything they touched. But it didn’t matter – because she saved us from Covid. And then reality hits that Covid isn’t really that bad.
  
  There are a lot of people who will feel foolish that they were made to feel scared. This will turn into anger and it will be directed at the one person that led them there.
  
  Ardern’s fall could well be epic.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:56am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Yes, I agree. Ardern can control the firehose of lies via the bought and paid for media, but she can’t stem the flow of truth from hundreds of thousands of holes in the dyke.
    
    22 1
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    March 15, 2022 11:27am
  - Viva Christo Rey
    
    I never believed the scare mongering about the chinese flu for a moment. Personally I hope there is a reckoning over the abuse our people have been put through by these totalitarians. And when I say reckoning I mean lengthy jail sentences starting with Cindy the Divider and all her cronies.
    
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    March 15, 2022 2:13pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  When she loses the youngish female airhead vote Labour is doomed.
  
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  March 15, 2022 10:50am
  - Viva Christo Rey
    
    I think the white liberal female boomer is probably as
    big a demographic.
    
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    March 15, 2022 2:48pm
    - dubya
      
      There’s a shorter term for those women, ‘divorcees’.
      
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      March 15, 2022 4:57pm
- kowtow
  
  ‘They’re good in a crisis’
  
  Throw away line , totally devoid of evidence.
  
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  March 15, 2022 10:53am
- Its only I
  
  These articles are a reverse phycology style fake outrage story.
  What they truly are is a description of how and why someone as cynical and sanctimonious as a Jacinda Ardern can freely go about the business of screwing up a country and its people.
  
  Verity will vote Labour because her flock of twittlers and farcebook followers will demand it her identity is wrapped around the social media hive mind, history shows it’s in her blood to vote celebrity over substance and her atypical cut’n’paste Labour troll description of the opposition leader nails my point home.
  
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  March 15, 2022 3:37pm
Simon

The cost of living crisis is the price everyone has to pay to have a wonderful caring government.

Party Vote Labour 2023
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March 15, 2022 8:16am
Gravelroad

Simon Wilson?
He’s some sort of reporter, is he?
Why should I care what he thinks about cycle ways?
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March 15, 2022 8:18am
- Tomtoddy
  
  Simon Wilson? Past his use by date.
  
  He’s some sort of reporter, is he? “Reporter” is a stretch. Try left leaning lackey for Goff and JA.
  
  Why should I care what he thinks about cycle ways? Bugger all except you are paying for the waste, they are making otherwise useful roads a chaotic bottleneck and there are too many unthinking, vacuous voters who swallow his burbling keeping the lunatics in charge of the asylum.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:02am
Maggy Wassilieff

Did anyone notice the following clarification hidden away in the NZ Herald yesterday?

CLARIFICATION
An article published on March 7 described how modelling calculated unvaccinated people to be responsible for 45 per cent of all new Omicron infections, compared with 39 percent for those with two doses and 15 per cent for boosted people.

These figures did not apply to New Zealand’s actual vaccination coverage–in which the
unvaccinated account for a small proportion – but rather a hypothetical exercise in the modelling in which people were equally likely to be vaccinated,
unvaccinated or boosted.
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March 15, 2022 8:18am
- Rich Prick
  
  The Reader’s Digest version: We published bullshit.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:24am
- Cinematic
  
  WTF? Even the explanation makes no sense.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:31am
- Rodney Hide
  
  Extraordinary. The Herald admitting that on one occassion they scared readers with the results of a hypothetical exercise rather than facts.
  
  It’s a start.
  
  Rodney Hide
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:01am
  - Matt Long
    
    I guess it’s a start, as I commented at the time the article was clearly complete BS.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:04am
- Ruahine
  
  I didn’t Maggy. But then I guess I was not really supposed to.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:18am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Yes, I knew it was utter crap when I read it. Shame our media is stupid as well as biased.
  
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  March 15, 2022 10:57am
Maggy Wassilieff

Mikenmild seems late to the party today..

Ides of March

Beware.
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March 15, 2022 8:25am
- Prince
  
  I told him, ‘Mikey don’t go. It’s the Ides of March, Beware Already’.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:31am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Wayne & Schuster. That was old when I was young.
    
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    March 15, 2022 8:55pm
- MCōs
  
  Putin: Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue shriller than all the music. Cry “Putin!” Speak, Putin is turn’d to hear.
  Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March.
  Putin: What man is that?
  Brutus: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:37am
- Maggie's partner
  
  He’s in hiding…the Hides of March
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:49am
- pdm
  
  Maybe he will not turn up.
  
  Could we be so lucky?
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:50am
- Matt Long
  
  In fact the down tickers appear to be in hiding. Does Mike log in under various accounts to down tick everyone multiple times?
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:20am
Vory v zakone

The Russia-Ukraine situation summed up by an entertainment expert…

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1503287788652871680?t=C_Saso3zjRKY99ApUwUUtQ&s=19
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March 15, 2022 8:29am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Well done that man. Nailed it right there.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:14am
Frank the tank

Where’s ‘downticker’ today? Did they have a large night drowning their sorrows?
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March 15, 2022 8:38am
- Matt Long
  
  True, as far as I can tell the only downticker so far today is Chris Get Boosted Bishop.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:21am
Surely Knott

So the Herald doesn’t have it’s covid case counter banner ad on the front page today. (World Vision Ukraine ad today) Is that this the end of an era. Here’s hoping. Looks like the prime news spot ad has gone from one disaster ad to the next.
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March 15, 2022 8:48am
lazza

Quote:

“The last couple of years of this government and their hangers on has been a total CLOWN show.”

Nope. That’s a gross insult to “clowns”.

Make that “shite show” … “cluster” or just plain “dopey … OK?

Who voted for these … Err … Clowns?
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March 15, 2022 8:49am
Gulag1917

Russia v Ukraine
Russia has 180,000 troops in Ukraine
Ukraine has 680,000 troops including reserves
Ukraine has at least a three to one advantage and its military is up to NATO standards.
The Ukraine is losing territory. The maps tell the story..
Biggest war of modern armies since WW2.
The media are not giving an objective view of events.
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March 15, 2022 8:53am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Do media ever give an objective view of events in war? I doubt it. I do know what we are seeing in the media isn’t worth watching. Mainstream media is dangerous to your health.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:18am
- cmm
  
  As a general rule of thumb, the home side advantage of the defender is about 3:1. The attacker is massively disadvantaged due to logistics and having to try attack established positions.
  
  On top of that, much of the Russian might comes from their armour (tanks etc). Tanks are last century’s technology and require massive logistics to keep them running. They need mobile workshops, spare engines etc as well as fuel and such. That is hard to keep running on a long, skinny supply line.
  
  Making it even worse for the Russians, a $20 million tank is an easy target for a $20k off the shoulder missile.
  
  One pallet load of NLAW can fit in a ute, move fast, uising few resources and kill 25 tanks.
  
  This makes a massively asymmetric battlefield which largely benefits the Ukrainians.
  
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  March 15, 2022 11:05am
Maggy Wassilieff

The Royal Society of NZ has finally seen the light and dropped disciplinary action against 2 of its members who were signatories to the Listener NCEA-Science letter.

https://theplatform.kiwi/opinions/the-listener-professors-chalk-up-another-win
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March 15, 2022 8:54am
- Blog-aholic
  
  I doubt they have seen the light.
  
  They just didn’t like how bright the light shone on their arrogant, illogical reasoning about Matauranga and its inability to be connected as Science.
  
  Once it dies down they’ll go bact to the narrative of the current regime that they garner funding from to exist.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:59am
- cmm
  
  Backpedalling.
  
  I wonder whether the Royal Society has done itself irreversible harm.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:03am
  - Matt Long
    
    They have serious credibility issues now.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:22am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Just another bunch of f*ckwits in high places.
  
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  March 15, 2022 11:03am
ClanMcleod

Eugyppius who is among the best commenters on the covid circus has done a post on the Ukraine situation and specifically, the foreign fighters volunteering to fight their.

“My post on Ukraine yielded many angry emails and some angry comments. Many believe that I need to support the Ukrainians in their fight for freedom and national autonomy. The truth is, that the Ukrainians are the proxy of the Global American Empire, and that is the only reason that the media has called upon westerners to care about this conflict, rather than any others.”

Worth reading the full post, particularly the first hand experience of an ex US marine who was in the training base hit by Russian rockets 2 days ago. Less of the hype, more of the reality.

https://www.eugyppius.com/p/the-globalist-enemy?
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March 15, 2022 8:59am
- cmm
  
  Ukraine is a proxy war and has been for almost a decade – with one side being fueled from Russia and the other from the West.
  
  There are massive parallels with many of the conflicts we’ve seen elsewhere such as Afghanistan and Angola.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:06am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    cmm – I agree. I’m not a military expert, but I know in my lifetime I can’t think of a single war that was fought for altruistic reasons. And it’s always the major powers who are instigating, funding and in other ways supporting them for financial or political gain. It’s never about what is best for the innocent civilians.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:21am
    - cmm
      
      The Generals want to play with their toys, but they can’t get permission to do it on their own soil.
      
      Instead they go off and do it on some foreign soil.
      
      What is amazing is reading what happened in Angola in the 1970s/80s.
      On the one side: Cubans, Russians and East Germans; on the other side America for a bit, then South Africa.
      
      There were serious deployments of technology and weapons on both sides: tanks, fighter aircraft and electronic warfare. It wasn’t really an African war, except that it hapened on African soil chewing up African cannon fodder and leaving landmines in African soil for African civilians to stand on.
      
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      March 15, 2022 10:27am
      - Master Mariner
        
        Joseph Savimbi.
        Yes we got a license to Fish from the CIA in Luanda.
        SWAPO in Namibia then got power.
        Interesting times. Incidently lived there in 90s.
        
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        March 15, 2022 3:02pm
      - cmm
        
        Jonus Savimbi. He got done by everyone.
        
        First he was set up as the US-supported guy in the Commie-vs-US war.
        Then the US asked the South Africans to help but at that time they were ill equipped to do so.
        Then the US pulled out, leaving him exposed and the South Africans had to engage deeper to protect them.
        Then eventually the South Africans pulled out, leaving him to stand alone.
        Later South Africa (or at least South Africans – including some mercenary forces) went in to support the MPLA to wipe out Savimbi’s UNITA.
        
        One interesting battle was Cuito Cuanavale in 1987/88. Both the Cubans and the South Africas claim victory (both had low losses – about 130 dead between them). While they fight over who were the winners, it is really UNITA and FAPLA that were the losers (with well over 7000 dead between them).
        
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        March 15, 2022 4:27pm
    - Jim
      
      Yep corporate interests in maintaining stock prices and shareholder dividends have way more influence on geopolitical events, hence why human suffering is referred to as collateral damage by the brave politicians. Russell Brand nails the hypocrisy in this example:
      https://youtu.be/cCroxbTnh08
      
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      March 15, 2022 2:18pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Can’t say I’m a great fan of Martyn Bradbury, but he’s characterised me correctly in this opinion piece

https://theplatform.kiwi/opinions/labour-s-political-proxies-do-them-no-favours

After the treatment I received on this blog from lefty trolls who objected to me posting stuff on climate change research, cover-ups of violence & the coming pandemic, I won’t ever be racing to vote for Labour or the Greens.

I wonder if the trolls ever consider how repellent they are.
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March 15, 2022 9:04am
- Lee C
  
  Martin is only about 15 years too late with this analysis.
  One of the deciding factors when I changed teams, was The Standard.
  
  When it wasn’t churlishly censoring or banning opinions it didn’t agree with, it was a often a forum for passive-aggressives who evidintly didn’t give a toss about freedom of choice or speech.
  
  My view then (and now) is ‘If this is the calibre of morality these people espouse, there’s no way I could be on that team.”
  
  This is why Mallard turning on sprinklers came as not much of a suprise. IMO, they are largely over-privileged brats who think the world entitles them to a spedial place in society.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:32am
  - RightNow
    
    Red Alert! hahahahahahahahahaha another Labour success story.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:49am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Lee C – yes, that was my experience as a former Labour stalwart. Mind you, my roots were back in the days of Thatcher, Thatcher, milk snatcher. Genuine lefties, cloth caps and lunch boxes.
    The modern left chill me to the core.
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:52am
    - Lee C
      
      Yup Mcca greed ‘Modern’ Labour beqrs little reemblance to the working class movement that created it.
      
      To my mind Labour are a finishing school for career politicians who often start out in the union movemnt, adn graduate to fat salaries having never experienced a single working blister.
      
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      March 15, 2022 9:54am
- Gravelroad
  
  @MW-
  Achieving and maintaining control is very enticing for left wing authoritarians. – as illustrated by Trevor Mallard.
  We see it on here from conceited people who know what’s best and whose opinions are sacrosanct.
  The end game is to undermine some commenters enough so that they chuck it in and move on.
  Control achieved.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:48am
  - Jim
    
    Gravel, Sure is about control. This past two years was nothing but a staging ground. Here’s a short and informative video explaining the authoritarian globalist tip toe through our (so called) democratic governments. Notice how we get a referendum on flags, drugs and end of life, but what about the bigger issues that our government subscribe to (like the whole green agenda and migration compacts)?
    
    If you think this represents paranoid delusion, you can only be forgiven if you’ve just come out of a two year long coma. Enjoy the reality check and think about your grandchildren’s future.
    
    https://youtu.be/EKnGxdb4Nf0
    
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    March 15, 2022 3:27pm
- kowtow
  
  I see where you’re coming from but what is it with Bradbury and his constant snipes at what he sees as the “middle class” , while he seems to constantly want to pose himself as the pure Marxist , working class , proletarian warrior ?
  
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  March 15, 2022 10:49am
- curry4me
  
  Excellent outfit; The Platform. Can’t wait until Truth Social is available here.
  
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  March 15, 2022 2:05pm
Maggie Pie

As one who continually experiences ‘natural highs’, there’s times I like to take a reality-check and bring myself back down to earth.
I find the best way of achieving this, is to actually read some of the tweets I receive from…..”The-MP-for-Tijuana”.

I mean honestly, who the f—k does he think pays his ridiculous salary?
Well let me tell ya’ Beaner, it sure as sh*t ain’t the lefty bludgers who rely on FREE Public Transport.

https://twitter.com/RMarchNZ/status/1503208950531248131

SHEESH!!
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March 15, 2022 9:04am
- MCōs
  
  I don’t believe for one minute that he addresses a tweet to you!!
  You must follow the guy or someone you follow retweets his stuff. Why don’t you just block him if he upsets you so?
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:40am
  - zulumonster
    
    It’s important to keep an eye on what your enemies are up to …
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:57am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I’m a tiger for punishment Cossie….I read all your shite as well 😀
    
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    March 15, 2022 9:59am
- Frank the tank
  
  In fairness Mags at least he is true to his hippee socialist roots unlike his boss BMW Jimmy who is consumed by the perks of his minister’s job.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:56am
  - kowtow
    
    No he’s not .
    
    He’s another rich boy pretend .
    
    see BFD.
    
    https://thebfd.co.nz/2020/12/16/why-is-it-green-mps-seem-to-embellish-their-cvs/
    
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    March 15, 2022 1:24pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  It’s good of you to read the Twits so we don’t have to, Maggie.
  
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  March 15, 2022 11:08am
- kevn
  
  @Maggie… Taking one for the team, thank you.
  
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  March 15, 2022 12:14pm
Rusty

This conflict in Ukraine is proving Russia is not a military superpower anymore. After 2 weeks they still haven’t taken the capital and now they are asking China for assistance.

If the war drags on for months then Russia may well withdraw their forces from Ukraine just as they did in Afghanistan after 10 years! That conflict virtually bankrupted the Russian military.

The days of the big 3 superpowers USA, Russia, and China may be coming to an end.

A powerful western Europe under NATO could well end up being the superpower in this world.
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March 15, 2022 9:28am
- ClanMcleod
  
  I’d give it a few months before writing off the Russians. I’m not saying your wrong, but it reminds me of the misattributed Mark Twain quote. “Rumours of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
  
  Read the report I posted above from Eugyppius. It contains a first hand report from a former American marine who went to Ukraine to fight.
  
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  March 15, 2022 9:56am
  - Rusty
    
    Clan – I didn’t even think Putin would invade Ukraine in the first place but I was wrong. As another person said — the next 10 days will be very interesting.
    
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    March 15, 2022 12:56pm
- Cinematic
  
  A US General interviewed on Fox has given Russia 10 days until the culminating point. Apparently at that point a withdrawal is pretty much a necessity. Unless you are happy to feed your troops into a meat grinder; given it’s Putin who knows?
  
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  March 15, 2022 11:05am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Following on from the Americans in Vietnam and the Russians and Americans in Afghanistan?
    
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    March 15, 2022 11:46am
Warren

Opposition Party’s National, Act and Green’s give Government ‘Fail’ grade over temporary fuel tax cuts.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/463303/opposition-parties-give-government-fail-grade-over-temporary-fuel-tax-cuts Jacinda obviously thinks by making the cuts to fuel and giving half price public transport costs will quieten the noise over inflation down, but she forgets about housing, food building materials and many other problems that is causing inflation.
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March 15, 2022 9:39am
ClanMcleod

I nearly missed this excellent article in the BFD. Covid really is the only game in town. I have a friend who was at the Wellington protest with me. We got home just before the shit hit the fan. A few days later we both felt a bit off. Sore head, achy body, scratchy throat. Both presumed we must have picked up covid. I will never get tested. I refuse to comply with any of the ludicrous rules around the whole covid circus. I won’t get vaccinated, I won’t mask, I won’t support any business that demands vax passes in any way. I stand by my belief that this thing would have ended a very long time ago if enough people had just said “no” and refused to comply.
Anyway, my friend got a test. Negative. 4 days later thought it must have been a mistake, as per the subject of the BFD article he had another test. Negative.
We both have something else. Reading the BFD article it’s likely to be the same as the subject of the article. Symptoms are exactly the same. So it is almost certainly a bacterial infection and I should have been on anti biotics. But because my trust in the local medical centre is shattered I have no interest in going anywhere near them.
Yet more unintended negative consequences of Ardern and her politicisation of a seasonal flu. Way to go Brenda.
Well worth reading the article in full.

https://thebfd.co.nz/2022/03/15/the-only-game-in-town/
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March 15, 2022 9:41am
lazza

Funding “supposedly” … for “MAORI HEALTH” …

Have a look a this list of Labour Party ethnic bribery.

Where is the coal face HEALTH services money?

It ain’t there … not even a single band aid!

3m for mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge) initiatives and services.

$6m to support Māori providers with innovation and sustainability.

$5m to support kaupapa Māori approaches to population health.

$2m to expand existing rongoā services.

$2m to support further development of the Māori workforce.

$1.1m to support strengthening national collaboration and sharing exemplar projects.

$3.2m has been allocated by the Māori Health Authority and the Māori Health Directorate of the Ministry of Health to support the establishment of Iwi-Māori Partnership Boards this year.

THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS PROBABLY ILLEGAL … CORRUPTION.

Even the chosen wording, for example …

“to support kaupapa Māori approaches to population health …

“to expand existing rongoā services”

… seem designed to deliberately in-your-face inflame Pakeha sentiments.
Where is the Auditor General? MIA as usual?

Who voted for these separatist racist clowns?
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March 15, 2022 9:46am
- surfing
  
  Lower/middle class NZ europeans have no place in the future of NZ.
  
  I strongly advise young people to move to Australia, especiall before they start a family.
  
  Another 240 million plus went on maori covid initiatives… where does the money end up?
  
  Mostly in the pockets of maori who do very little to earn the money. The maori vaccination rates prove that.
  
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  March 15, 2022 10:22am
  - Ian Boag
    
    advise young people to move to Australia
    
    Just be aware that it is hard to become a permanent resident and extremely hard to become a citizen – also costs a few grand with no guarantee of success. Not impossible of course.
    
    So you can live there, pay tax, get Medicare (and nothing else). No social security net and your kids will not be eligible for student loans later in life ..
    
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    March 15, 2022 10:34am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      And yet they will still generally be better off than if they stayed in NZ
      
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      March 15, 2022 11:00am
    - Ian Boag
      
      I wasn’t saying you should not go, just be aware of some possible gnarly bits ….
      
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      March 15, 2022 2:11pm
Lee C

Ludicrous judgement for ‘non-compliance’ with mandates.

https://www.facebook.com/1193302986/videos/708693736839309
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March 15, 2022 10:05am
- Don Beckett
  
  Yes, the insanity continues.
  
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  March 15, 2022 11:53am
CAKE FACE1

Omicron Covid is a cold. Most people (about two thirds of the population) have finally worked this out for themselves. The ongoing fear mongering now appears childish.

To save face, people will claim that they didn’t respond to Covid hysterically. “Deadly” delta was much worse than Omicron, they will claim.

Alas, “deadly” delta wasn’t particularly transmissible, and its “deadliness” was approximate to the seasonal flu. The rest was mass hysteria, and now face saving. “Deadly” delta started spreading in New Zealand, when less than ten percent were vaccinated, and virtually no-one died. It was like a flu. The deadliness figures of delta overseas were fake – over 90% of Covid deaths overseas were people who died with Covid, rather than from it.

The two-year hoax is almost over. It’s time to move on. It’s a relief.

Unfortunately, we have trashed our economy, over a hoax. We tore up our Bill of Rights as well, in a wave of panic, and a reprehensible act of self-harm.

We have now created a real economic crisis – but our reserve money is gone. Wasted. Government spending is up 68% in five years, with absolutely nothing to show for it. Worse, socialism has been normalised. Citizens have been traumatised and infantilised. I have witnessed in former communist countries how a sustained socialist experiment makes people lose their capacity to think. They become dead robots.

I suspect that the real crisis (the economic one) will be with us for over a decade.

The government should address the economic crisis they have caused by dumping all Covid restrictions. We need to start getting tourists back, as soon as possible. The childishness needs to end.

The next step should be a line-by-line analysis of all government spending. Anything that doesn’t add value should go. The government should focus spending on a few areas (health, education and social payments) and try to do these tasks optimally. All other nice to haves (or complete waste of times) should be cut or eliminated. Tasks should be decentralised to Councils et al, wherever possible. The size of government should be reduced. Taxes should be cut.

Of course, Labour won’t decentralise, and Labour won’t cut total spending.

It is worth looking at GDP per capita (always use the nominal rather than PPP figures):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita

The top 20 are the first world countries – the best economies in the world.

New Zealand is in the middle group or what I would call the second world nations, at 27th. The highest former communist country is Slovenia (a beautiful country), at 44th place.

If National / ACT lose the next election, I suspect that New Zealand will continue to grind downwards, as the socialist experiment continues. Eventually, Slovenia and other communist countries such as Poland will overtake us. They are not going back to socialism – this is for sure.

I have been to quite a lot of the countries on the list that are below us in GDP per capita. They were interesting to visit. I’m not convinced that living long-term in a poor country is optimal. Many countries can’t afford even reasonable health systems, which puts you at risk. High crime is also feature of many poor countries.

Nonetheless, if people vote Labour / Greens, they will be choosing poverty.

The size and scope of the government is completely out of control. It will only get worse under Labour, as they try to buy votes. New Zealand is staring into the abyss.
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March 15, 2022 10:12am
- surfing
  
  “Omicron Covid is a cold. ”
  
  Only true for vaccinated populations. The un-vaxxed ride on the backs of the vaxxed.
  
  Lets look at a population of similar size to NZ, but with much lower vaccination rates…omicron is far more deadly …
  
  https://www.ft.com/content/6e610cac-400b-4843-a07b-7d870e8635a3
  In recent days Hong Kong has recorded the highest daily death toll in the world.
  
  A crucial factor driving the surge is that the vast majority of Hong Kong’s vulnerable population remains unvaccinated
  
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  March 15, 2022 10:28am
  - Cinematic
    
    Nonsense. A mild virus is a mild virus. Vaccines are entirely irrelevant to that fact. Omicron is a mild cold like virus.
    
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    March 15, 2022 11:01am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Rubbish surfing. I have now had about 20 friends who have contracted Omi, about 8 are unvaccinated. They have fared no worse than the vaccinated, and most of these people caught Omi. from vaccinated people. They have had symptoms varying from sniffles & a headache, to being quite ill for a couple of days – but nothing serious. This is in Tauranga.
      
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      March 15, 2022 12:00pm
  - cmm
    
    The vast majority of those deaths are “died with”, not “died from” CV19.
    
    If we counted people who died with colds the number would be huge too.
    
    But if it helps you sleep at night then get boosted, and double or triple boosted.
    
    27 2
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    March 15, 2022 11:16am
    - CAKE FACE1
      
      cmm,
      
      You took the words out of my mouth. With not from.
      
      30k die here in NZ a year. Given how infectious Omicron is, quite a lot of these people could catch this cold. If they do so within 28 days of their deaths – MY GOD THEY DIED OF COVID!
      
      Of course, they did no such thing. Excess deaths are zero. People dying of the cold alone are less than 5% of the reported Covid deaths.
      
      JACINDA SAVED OUR LIVES!
      
      Alternatively, she vandalised the economy, based on figures that are essentially bogus.
      
      The data is very clear. Omicron is a cold.
      
      23 2
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      March 15, 2022 11:27am
    - Lee C
      
      I agree cmm I think boosters ad infinitum should be available.
      
      But I wonder how many stalwarts would be rolling up their sleeves if they cost even $20.00 a jab?
      
      Not many, if any, is my guess.
      
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      March 15, 2022 11:35am
      - alloytoo
        
        The current “Booster” is obsolete, it’s designed for strain which is no longer of any concern.
        
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        March 15, 2022 11:39am
      - cmm
        
        Naah, not $20. They cost around $50 a jab – around $35 to Pfizer and $15 to the people doing the jabbing.
        
        But it’s “free” because the tax system makes it too complicated for idiots to work out.
        
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        March 15, 2022 12:32pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    “Only true for vaccinated populations. The un-vaxxed ride on the backs of the vaxxed.”
    
    More bullshit, surfing. Why do you bother with the lies and obfuscation?
    
    20 3
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    March 15, 2022 11:35am
    - surfing
      
      You continue banging on with your discredited armchair science.
      
      Are you a pot smoker? Just curious, I’ve noticed that smoking pot and being anti-vaccination are correlated. Possibly there is some causality.
      
      4 16
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      March 15, 2022 12:17pm
      - glowworm
        
        Surfing, you’re sounding and behaving like Brian McDonald, John Pakes, or dear I say it, our esteemed prime minister when it comes to COVID matters.
        
        I don’t know what the truth is. But by referring to what at least appears to me to be real science, kk, and the others here are slowly opening some of our eyes. Is it painful? Yep, yep, that it what it is….
        
        Your behaviour is like a cowardly shark. When backed into the corner of denial, attack the man is the only play.
        
        I suggest you go for a surf. Don’t fall off your surfboard or you may end up with your head even deeper in the sand.
        
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        March 15, 2022 1:38pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        surfing, you’re one of those Science Denying Climate Catastrophists aren’t you.
        Hypocrite much?
        
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        March 15, 2022 2:31pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Pick a smaller cherry ffs.
    
    8 1
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    March 15, 2022 11:48am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Here’s the head of Pfizer so straight from the other horse’s mouth. 3 shots are shit so you need to try a 4th shot while we try and make something else up.
    The vaccines are garbage. They cause NEGATIVE efficacy in all groups. Look it up for yourself.
    
    https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/pfizer-4th-shot-3-doses-not-that-good-against-infections/?utm_source=salsa&eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=e3e53e22-a272-44df-8cef-aaf2fbc79c92
    
    16 2
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    March 15, 2022 11:50am
    - surfing
      
      The vaccine does not cause negative efficacy. Fake science.
      
      The sources that either you (or one of your mates) have posted on this, say the exact opposite.
      
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      March 15, 2022 12:20pm
  - mawm
    
    For many reasons one cannot compare Island nations with those that have land borders.
    
    8 0
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    March 15, 2022 12:23pm
  - glowworm
    
    This guy is no armchair scientist.
    
    https://voiceforscienceandsolidarity.substack.com/p/omicron-a-wolf-in-sheeps-clothing
    
    One problem is that the immune system, human body, and even society, are all complex systems. So it is difficult, even near impossible, for experts like Geert, to fully predict the future. But, using their expertise and experience, they can hypothesize and warn us of any unintended consequences.
    
    Compare this guy to our “experts”, seriously, who would you trust? Wiles? Baker?! Really??
    
    More on Hong Kong here, not hiden behind a pay wall like the link above. Vaccine rates are high in Hong Kong…
    
    https://igorchudov.substack.com/p/bad-news-from-hong-kong
    
    2 1
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    March 15, 2022 1:59pm
- The Housekeeper
  
  CF, education and health would be 2 of the first things I would take out of govt hands. Give people back their education and health taxes and let them decide for themselves.
  
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  March 15, 2022 11:18am
- BeaB
  
  Just as well the young ones adore Jacinda because they will be paying for years. But they will be grateful and willingly hand over their hard-earned cash.
  
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  March 15, 2022 12:05pm
- MCōs
  
  My son in law has had covid-19 since last Wednesday.
  It’s not a cold. Nothing like it.
  He contracted it from his 5yo daughter who nobody knew was crook.
  In that respect what she had didn’t resemble a cold.
  Meanwhile
  Down in Chch an ex teacher colleague of my niece who lost her job due to her anti vax stance dragged her kid up to join the mob at parliament for a day and both of them got ‘unexpectedly’ crook.
  She denied it was covid-19 because she believed it was hoax, but the unexplained illness got so bad she had to go to the doctor where she reluctantly succumbed to a covid-19 test and found out the awful truth.
  
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  March 15, 2022 12:15pm
  - Cinematic
    
    What awful truth? That she was a bit sick. Like a bad cold.
    
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    March 15, 2022 2:00pm
  - JohnRidd
    
    Covid 19 is a very serious disease if you are deficient in vitamin D. This is why a vaccinated person can become very ill while an un-vaccinated one can be asymptomatic.
    
    Unfortunately it can take weeks to significantly lift serum vitamin D levels.
    
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    March 15, 2022 3:17pm
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    Why do we have to talk to each other like the effects of the virus are mutually exclusive, like it HAS to be making people very sick, or it HAS to be a big nothing?
    
    Even 80% of folk in the age of Delta had little or no symptoms.
    And yes, most comments from people with Omicron so far say ‘a tickle in the throat’ or a nose drip, or a fuzzy head – so sounds very much like a cold or flu to me.
    But we already know it hits some people harder than others. Nothing unique about that.
    It is plainly known that the current strain which displaced Delta is comparatively mild (at least for the majority) but more contagious.
    What is hard or contentious about that?
    And why deny that most people don’t get seriously sick, or might never know they had it?
    
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    March 15, 2022 4:01pm
- My
  
  CF1 an excellent summary of the situation the country is in. We cannot spend our way out of this. We need productivity and innovation. Not su where it will come from.
  
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  March 15, 2022 2:54pm
BeaB

Thank you Jacinda for showing us tax cuts are a Good Thing. Especially for the rich with their gas guzzlers.
Thank you Jacinda for foreseeing the Ukraine invasion last year and giving income assistance this April to those most likely to be affected.
Wonderful what one poll will do.
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March 15, 2022 10:46am
Warren

Oh what a slippery, shimmy Government and Prime Minister we have and its only taken 24 hours for Jacinda Ardern to go from a crisis disbeliever to flip flop in to a petrol price reduction of 25 cents a litre to now looking at other products helping fuel the crisis.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says Cabinet will look at the soring cost of living today and see what the Government can do to help after she acknowledged many families were in crisis saying Cabinet decisions made today will be made public this afternoon.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/463257/cabinet-to-look-at-government-measures-to-help-address-rising-living-costs
From no crisis to Petrol pump discount to then acknowledging we have a cost of living crisis would be the biggest flip-flopping years by a Prime Minister that has been stung by the polls and now under continual pressure from National and Act over their neglect of the economy and those hurting by Labours policy, its going to be a interesting year.
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March 15, 2022 11:20am
Paulus

I cannot find what I thought I read regarding the $55 million ($105 million) paid to the media.
It appeared to say that its use was not as we are told, to directly protect any adverse comment of the Ardern Government, but it is paid and used to pretect any adverse comment in respect of the Treaty of Waitangi.
This ensures that we the silent majority only believe what we are told about how great this so called Treaty is and how it is in our interest to revere it.
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March 15, 2022 11:25am
- Philview
  
  Yes it clearly has been put in place to silence debate on the Co-Governance agenda. The conditions for funding relate to promoting the Crown – Iwi Partnership. The media effectively look the other way, so they can talk about 3 Waters but provide no opinion or analysis on the Governance structure. They should be shouting that there is no democratic mandate for these reforms. I have noted the media this week are starting to mention the Governance structure without criticising it.
  
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  March 15, 2022 12:07pm
Captain Mainwaring

Spindy’s tinkering with the fuel excise tax has merely taken petrol prices back to where they were about three weeks ago.
In the greater scheme of things we won’t even notice it.
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March 15, 2022 11:33am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I’m sure we’ll notice in 3 months time.
  
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  March 15, 2022 1:24pm
In Vino Veritas

I’ve watched Ben Shapiro’s podcast with Bill Maher. I recommend everyone to watch it as it was bloody fantastic. Two guys from different sides of politics who had a really interesting conversation, and found that they weren’t that far apart. Which seems to me to be what would happen in NZ if everyone didn’t get so bloody polarised. In fact, it would be like when I was growing up. You never disliked anyone just because they voted differently to you. In fact, most people kept who they voted for to themselves.
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March 15, 2022 11:56am
- Sean OConnor
  
  Listened to it, while he’s done a great job building the Daily Wire, I think Shapiro didn’t get the best out of him.
  
  Maher is by far the best of the left leaning late night hosts, he’s the only one who has any wit or indeed any original opinions. He’s also the only one who ever allows conservatives on his show, and even moderates relatively fairly.
  
  The problem with his wanting things not to be about politics is that it can’t happen while the Left politicises every institution in the country. When your kids get brainwashed with critical race theory, diversity, transgenderism, and who knows what else, and you can’t make a remark without losing your job, it makes you spoil for a fight.
  
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  March 15, 2022 8:38pm
Captain Mainwaring

Australia is looking for help in cleaning up the massive flood damage.
Here’s a thought for Spindy to ponder: Send back the 501 criminals and tell OZ to put them to work.
13 1
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March 15, 2022 12:00pm
- kowtow
  
  While all the panty waists go on about climate catastrophe , the age old rules of don’t build in flood plains and/or build decent dykes , are forgotten or ignored .
  
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  March 15, 2022 1:35pm
Centrist

Wow, Simon Bridges is retiring from politics to spend more time with his family. There will be a by-election in Tauranga. He was an excellent MP who achieved a lot. Also was a decent leader of the opposition but unfortunately spoke out at the wrong time (height of Jacindamania) and our shallow country mocked him for his accent.
Thanks Mr Bridges for serving your constituents, the country, and the National Party so well.
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March 15, 2022 12:00pm
- MCōs
  
  He didn’t ‘speak out at the wrong time’.
  He spoke out at the right time, but he misjudged the mood of most of the nation leading to the unfortunate experiment with the hapless Todd Muller.
  
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  March 15, 2022 12:44pm
Nick R

Simon Bridges has just resigned. WTF?
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March 15, 2022 12:02pm
Bobba Fret

Simon Bridges retiring!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/its-time-national-party-mp-simon-bridges-quits-will-leave-parliament-in-coming-weeks/V3L6FUWZNJXKJQWFD2Q4J5WJ3Y/
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March 15, 2022 12:07pm
Inandout

Harking back to 1976, and despite what Muldoon said about NZ rightly or wrongly, this is how politicians used to answer questions from interviewers.

https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/friday-conference-robert-muldoon-1976
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March 15, 2022 12:08pm
Tauhei Notts

I see where Sport NZ have spent $4.7million over the past four years surveying New Zealanders and their participation in sport.
I have served as honorary treasurer and/or honorary secretary of sports clubs involved in cricket, rugby union, athletics, rugby league and golf for most years since 1965.
I have never ever seen any of those bodies benefit from anything that Sport NZ have done. Note that I have been involved at club level.
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March 15, 2022 12:13pm
Maggie Pie

One of the girls from tennis just txt to say….. word down at the Club is Simon Bridges has picked up a cushy number as a ‘legal consultant’ with the CCB.

(Who in their right mind would want to be Finance Minister after the next election anyway?)
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March 15, 2022 12:15pm
- Nickc2
  
  I totally agree with your last paragraph. I seriously doubt even David Copperfield (world-famous Illusionist) could make the Treasury Books look anywhere near kosher after this bunch of crooks have handed over their custody.
  
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  March 15, 2022 12:23pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  I googled CCB and it came up with ‘China Construction Bank’.
  Surely not!
  
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  March 15, 2022 12:26pm
- Prince
  
  Current debt $140B.
  Growing at $83M per day. (ie Govt spends $83M more each day than it extracts from taxpayers and other sources).
  Who in their right minds would want to pick up that bill, and try to put the huge gaping maw that the State has become on a diet.
  
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  March 15, 2022 1:14pm
surfing

Councils out of control…this is an official Rotorua council job title…

“Council community wellbeing deputy chief executive”

This guy turns up to work and does what? And, the job title indicates there are more people who do this job.

In case you’re curious, one of the things he does is fly drones around rotorua looking for homeless people.
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March 15, 2022 12:25pm
MCōs

Of all the ex leaders & sundry other MPs that could be leaving the National caucus I don’t think Simon Bridges would be Luxon’s first pick.
Now he has to find yet another finance spokesperson, apart from anything else.
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March 15, 2022 12:35pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdrnJjQP7aU

Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain, Episode 18 “Please Explain The Swamp”
Today we venture into the murky world of red tape and bureaucrats, a place known as the Canberra swamp. Politicians fear the swamp but they also love to play in the swamp and they rely on voters not understanding how it works so they can get away with their dirty business.
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March 15, 2022 12:36pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1EAXsk7MkI

Leftists Turn on Biden, ‘This Would Never Have Happened Under Trump.

Alas, now prominent liberal entertainers are turning on Bumblin’ Biden! In this video, we’re going to look at two leftists in particular who are openly recognizing that Trump would never have let the world fall apart the way Biden has, we’re going to find out why these liberals are absolutely right and stick with me to the very end of this video when I’ll reveal how in the end these two liberals have only themselves to blame. [10:14]
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March 15, 2022 12:37pm
Maggie Pie

Ma called in earlier with a couple of creme donuts.
Actually, her lips look amazeballs today!

She was saying what really gets her goat….is that whenever she calls into an ANZ branch, you can guarantee, if you end up waiting behind a Pasifika, they’ll spend at least 20minutes with the Teller 🙁

I mean it’s not as though she needs to go in anyway. She can always do it online. It’s just that she likes to ask for a printout of her TD balances, so she can watch the tellers face when they show up on screen. LOL!!
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March 15, 2022 1:18pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh dear, oh dear..

Seems we are having a bit of an outbreak of Covid-19 in Gisborne…

In fact we’ve got the highest case rate at the moment
However, it’s actually Tairāwhiti with the highest case rate, he said.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300540048/covid19-live-21616-new-cases-were-reported-today-960-in-hospital-as-omicron-subvariant-takes-over

But what does our local Green MP do when one of her Kaiti housemate’s tests positive?

She flies off to Wellington.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/03/green-mp-elizabeth-kerekere-apologises-profusely-for-breaching-covid-19-rules.html
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March 15, 2022 1:41pm
- Gravelroad
  
  The Green Party cannot be considered as a genuine, legitimate political party.
  They are a bunch of individual activists, scroungers and zealots whose biggest achievement is conning people in to voting for their “collective”.
  
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  March 15, 2022 1:52pm
- All_on_Red
  
  Rules are for the little people
  She should resign. She wont though.
  
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  March 15, 2022 1:53pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    She’s resigning the bits of Parliament where she was expected to do some work
    
    “Today I have resigned my COVID-19 Response portfolio with immediate effect, and I will not hold the health portfolio or sit on the Health Select Committee until further notice.”
    
    But what a F!!!!joke….
    
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    March 15, 2022 1:58pm
    - alex Masterley
      
      She is only resigning those roles because she was caught.
      
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      March 15, 2022 2:23pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Dr Elizabeth Kerekere has spent the last two years demanding that Māori are prioritised for Covid-19 health care…

“That means making sure those who are most at risk from Omicron can get everything they need to keep themselves and their family safe.”

https://www.teaomaori.news/learn-previous-mistakes-prioritise-maori-and-pacific-dr-elizabeth-kerekere

but bugga the rest of the folks, it seems.
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March 15, 2022 2:04pm
- Gravelroad
  
  Do as I say – not as I do.
  I’m special, see? I can break the rules and know that there will be no consequences.
  
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  March 15, 2022 2:15pm
- Nickc2
  
  Change the names etc and make the country somewhere in Deepest Darkest Africa and people would say you must be bullshitting me.
  But no, leave them as they are and confirm the country is NZ and that’s Lil-Olde-NZ in a nutshell circa 2017-2022.
  
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  March 15, 2022 2:32pm
- kowtow
  
  If she’s in breach of the Health Act , is an MP who makes the laws , it’s not good enough to simply resign a portfolio or two.
  
  Surely a police investigation is warranted .
  
  I note nothing more in the media about the Highlanders also breaking the law , not wearing face nappies on an airplane .
  
  Given the constant crap the media had for the Wellington protesters I can’t understand the lack of follow up on the footie players and I fully expect to hear mountains of it on this MP …………
  
  ……..won’t happen.
  
  Just like with the Pink haired One’s pal who was declared not to be swimming .
  
  This is third world level double standards while the Plebs are pinged .
  
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  March 15, 2022 4:38pm
CAKE FACE1

I made the mistake of turning on talkback radio on in my car.

Two socialist talkback hosts were discussing how great it would be if all public transport was “free”. All the callers seemed to agree with them.

I have travelled the world. I have never been to a country yet where all public transport was “free”. Maybe in communist countries, before 1989, public transport was “free”.

There are so many levels that this discussion terrifies me.

What we have is the normalisation of the most extreme form of socialism imaginable. If we have “free” public transport, why not have “free” food and “free” housing?

This model may sound familiar. It is communism. Under communism, the accommodation was lousy, the food was mean gruel, and the transport terrible. But it was all “free”. The poverty was terrible. The shortages were continuous.

They say that public transport is a public good. Of course, a public toilet is also a public good. Smell that sweet stench of success of the lumpen proletariat.

The normalisation of socialism is the biggest obstacle New Zealand faces. These clowns will nationalise anything and everything. The media will cheer every time they do so.

I’m super concerned for New Zealand’s future. When did socialism become a good idea? Why are virtually our entire media socialist sycophants?

Am I the only person worried about these attitudes?

It is a disaster in the making.
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March 15, 2022 2:22pm
- Batman
  
  Oh calm down, it’s not communism. I don’t hear you complaining about our nominally free health system.
  
  If you want to hold that line, please detail for us why every single government funded service is communist.
  
  Public transport is perfectly harmless. It won’t make people more left wing if they ride a bus to work that is paid for by taxes, on roads paid for by taxes and rates, instead of driving a car on said roads.
  
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  March 15, 2022 2:26pm
  - wilderbeast
    
    Your comments about public transport are naive. PT is synonymous with the left – the unions and people who see greater value in jumping in a typically inefficient collectivist travel solution. I won’t do it because I value my independence and hence the freedom and flexibility of my private vehicle. Poll takers of PT and people using private vehicles and i’m sure you’ll see a left / right divide, or at least a freedom of the individual / collectivist divide.
    
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    March 15, 2022 2:42pm
    - Batman
      
      Reducing it down to a partisan culture war is not only naive but actually just really stupid.
      
      Yes sure, the left love PT and drone on about their hard ons for how it provides accessibility and is an equaliser. But really do more than 5-10% of public transport users actually care or buy into that shit? I’d say no, most are there because it’s cheaper than driving, more relaxing (generally) and actually just more efficient for a lot of people and gives them more freedom to do things like go to the pub after work and not worry about driving.
      
      You’re welcome to boycott PT as a signifier of your personal freedoms but really you’re just making a set of choices which cost you X amount and nobody else anything at all. It doesn’t enhance your freedom in any real way except what you tell yourself.
      
      Adding ideological layers to this is just people wanking off from both sides of the fence.
      
      People just want to get to places in the most efficient way. I drive when it’s efficient (and I love driving + cars) but take PT for commuting because it’s a better use of my time and wellbeing.
      
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      March 15, 2022 2:55pm
      - graham
        
        You, and no doubt quite a few other people, may use public transport for commuting because it’s a better use of your time and wellbeing, for you personally, in your own unique situation. That’s fine. Good on you, and I’m genuinely glad it works for you.
        
        For others (myself included), using their own transport such as a car is a better use of their time, and better for their wellbeing. My own particular situation means public transport would be a massive waste of time swapping between buses to get to work – not to mention that I would have to drive 25 minutes to the nearest bus station anyway – and considerably more stressful trying to juggle my appointments after work to fit in with the bus timetable.
        
        For you, public transport obviously works. For me, it doesn’t. Funny thing about people – we’re all different. 🙂
        
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        March 15, 2022 3:10pm
      - Libertarians are right
        
        The reason it’s cheaper for those that use it is because it’s paid for by the rest of us. For those that don’t use it it’s ridiculously expensive (because we’re paying for it and getting nothing in return).
        
        There is a pretty simple split for public spending – those you don’t have a choice with (Justice, Health, Education etc) – you may or may not use these things but they’re there for your use and benefit and there isn’t really another option (for the record – I believe you should get rebates if you go with private healthcare etc). This spending is easily justifiable.
        
        The other is spending where you’re subsidising a personal choice like with PT. This is only really justifiable to those that want to use it
        
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        March 15, 2022 3:43pm
      - wilderbeast
        
        The woke and the left already turned PT into a culture war. Who would argue against sensible, targeted and prudent PT? It has public utility. Trouble is they’ve massively overreached themselves. I don’t buy the BS, and I certainly don’t buy this governments flirtations with it, or cycleways for that matter. Quarter of a billion here, half a billion there. Couldn’t be more detached from the needs of the working poor in South Auckland or the dispersed populations in the regions.
        
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        March 15, 2022 6:24pm
      - MCōs
        
        “For you, public transport obviously works. For me, it doesn’t.”
        Public transport works for you inasmuch as it gets some cars off the road making more room for you.
        
        In Bangkok the buses and trains were free for Thais for a few years awhile back, maybe still are.
        I caught a train home from work one day and had to pay two baht fare, which is maybe 10c. I gave the conductor a ten baht coin. He rummaged round in his bag and it dawned on me I was the first paying customer he’d had all day and he had no change.
        Everyone laughed & I got a free trip.
        
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        March 15, 2022 8:31pm
      - Sean OConnor
        
        It’s not about the views of the people riding the bus, pal, it’s about the views of the people choosing how to spend the budget. And those people absolutely are ideologically driven.
        
        I’ve even had a city council transport manager declare to me verbatim (in the context of me asking what a particular group of quite poor elderly people were supposed to do when their on street parks were removed for a cycleway): “We’re trying to break Nelsonian’s love affair with their cars”.
        
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        March 15, 2022 8:43pm
  - CAKE FACE1
    
    The problem with your cunning plan, Batman, is that your world requires me, whereas my world doesn’t need you.
    
    It is people like CAKE who pay for you when you hold out your hand for “free” stuff. Of course, it’s just “free” to you – I pay.
    
    If CAKE (and the others who are the net contributors) lose patience and leave, what happens to your “free” stuff?
    
    Leaving would be a shame for me – this was once a great country to live in. It would also be a shame for the many people I employ directly or indirectly – they will lose their jobs, or at least lose a lot of income.
    
    I see you cunningly try to normalise socialism. I’m afraid that I’m not buying it. A is for Albania. Been there. Not good. B is for Belarus. Been there. Not good. C is for China. Been there. Not good.
    And so it goes on…
    
    I can live with a largely public model for health and education. The expansion to every other facet of our lives is unacceptable.
    
    The normalisation of socialism is the most dangerous idea of our times. Fight against it, or all is lost…
    
    23 2
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    March 15, 2022 2:59pm
    - MCōs
      
      “your world requires me”
      
      You could fall down a rabbit hole, and the wheels on the bus would still go round and round.
      
      Prove me wrong!
      
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      March 15, 2022 8:36pm
- Nickc2
  
  If we have “free” public transport, why not have “free” food and “free” housing?
  Wake up call CAKE FACE1, we do. Haven’t you seen the cueues of people when free food is being dished out by various charities and whilst you’re at it, check out the list of people on the waiting list for taxpayer subsidised State Houses and don’t forget the $1,000,000.00 per day taxpayers pay for Motel Accommodation for so-called homeless people? That’s all free mate?
  If it wasn’t for taxpayers, none of this would be possible.
  
  15 1
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  March 15, 2022 2:56pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Yeah you’re basically making his point for him.
    
    8 0
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    March 15, 2022 3:27pm
- Jim
  
  Those ideological woke dopes are simply clueless fools who shamelessly virtue signal their way through the popularity stats. One of them is old enough to have a more realistic world view, but capitulates to the younger presenters ideological world view, probably to keep his ‘job’ (the term job in this context is used very loosely)
  
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  March 16, 2022 7:50am
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh dear, oh dear

Privileged, white Kiwi feminist indulges in a spot of
racist, sexist upmanship

“[Jane] taking time out of her best director speech to tell two Black women that she is more oppressed than them is PEAK white feminism.”

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/15/jane-campion-serena-venus-williams-backlash
14 0
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March 15, 2022 2:30pm
- Gravelroad
  
  Yep, some people get carried away with success and say stupid things on a big stage.
  What Jane was really drawing to the attention of her adoring fans is that men in the film/entertainment/celebrity business often put their own interests first.
  And women don’t, of course…….
  
  12 0
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  March 15, 2022 2:48pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  OMG not another groveling apology for speaking your mind and offending the twatterati. Who seriously gives a hoot what Jane Campion, Serena Williams or the Guardian’s perpetually outraged libtard sponge-brains say or think about anything?
  
  13 2
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  March 15, 2022 3:31pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    There’s never any need to put down other successful folk on your climb to the top.
    
    7 2
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    March 15, 2022 4:21pm
- Mike
  
  NZ director recognized for great film. Makes ill-chosen remarks for which she apologized. Naturally, the Kiwiblog clobbering machine has to go after her.
  
  3 10
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  March 15, 2022 5:16pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I think its only me that’s drawing attention to the Guardian article
    
    Looks like the rest of KB doesn’t give a stuffy-poo.
    
    6 2
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    March 15, 2022 6:22pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      True. It is late in the day.
      
      0 6
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      March 15, 2022 6:36pm
Nickc2

The power of Political Polls
Oh, what a difference a Political Poll makes! A week or so ago, Cindy and her mates were calling Protestors ‘rivers of filth’. Now, she’s apparently stated ‘Cabinet will consider changes to Mandates and Vaccine Passes.’
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/cabinet-to-consider-changes-to-mandates-vaccine-passes-ardern/ar-AAV3fHi?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531
Remind me again what the stated aim of the protests was and ask Cindy and Co why they didn’t speak to the great unwashed as they became known at the time.
Too little, too late. Toddle off to the UN Cindy, I for one won’t shed a tear, ever.
18 2
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March 15, 2022 3:15pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  If she was ti go off to the UN, she might discover that
  mandatory vaccination is not on their highly approved list.
  
  The World Health Organization (WHO) warns against mandatory vaccinations unless all other options have been exhausted.
  
  https://unric.org/en/who-mandatory-vaccinations-are-a-last-resort/
  
  Somehow those mandatory vaccinations haven’t stopped (at least) half a million of us being infected since the silly edict came in.
  
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  March 15, 2022 4:19pm
Maggie Pie

Thort this worth sharing with the group 🙁

‘ONLY-IN-AMERICA’

Man accused of ‘pleasuring himself’ inside Starbucks Restaurant, shot by cops 8 TIMES before being arrested!

Full police report & bodycam vid…..

https://local10.com/news/local/2022/03/13/man-accused-of-masturbating-at-starbucks-in-miami-beach-police-say/
3 3
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March 15, 2022 3:37pm
- greybeard
  
  “DiMaria said he did it for about 10 minutes.”.
  So: for 10 minutes this guy jerked himself off and she stayed there for the whole time ? Doing what ?
  
  3 0
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  March 15, 2022 4:22pm
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    Ten minutes!
    Gives a different meaning to that schoolboy term;
    “28, 29, squirty.
    
    3 0
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    March 15, 2022 5:24pm
  - Its only I
    
    I wonder what would arrive first, a Coffee order on a busy day or this guy?
    
    3 0
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    March 15, 2022 6:28pm
Maggie Pie

And just a reminder…..

The Hosk’s worst nightmare is about to hit the Breakfast airwaves 😛

https://twitter.com/TovaOBrien/status/1503516428758319104
3 7
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March 15, 2022 4:05pm
- Hollyfield
  
  Why do some women persist in posing for photos with their mouth hanging open? Guess she’s aiming for the demographic that like that look.
  
  6 0
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  March 15, 2022 6:48pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

No wonder Elon Musk’s ex-girlfriend ‘Grimes’ is dating whistleblower Chelsea Manning 😎

Elon looks to have lost it….

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1503287788652871680
3 3
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March 15, 2022 5:03pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  It’s a helluva change of pace
  
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  March 15, 2022 10:01pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/latest/127878890/the-farmer-granna-who-built-her-own-log-cabin-and-paints-her-farm-equipment-pink
This woman would make a great Prime Minister.
For National. Or ACT.
3 0
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March 15, 2022 5:23pm
Maggie Pie

Peter Williams to stand for National in Tauranga!
6 4
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March 15, 2022 5:54pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Dream on.
  But it better not be Tenby Powell.
  
  3 0
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  March 15, 2022 9:10pm
chukar

Muldoon ( if he was still around )would likely argue that Labour created the economic disaster by saying first, that they would devalue . And then their giving the exporters and producers a severe kicking resulting in the poorest productivity in the OECD.
Leave him alone, at least some of the infrastructure he created is still serving NZ well.
What has Arden and Robertson got to look at?
As my grandmother said they have frittered it
1 0
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March 15, 2022 8:39pm
Its only I

Labours media team at $tuffed have announced borders will be open to tourists in April.
$tuffed announce details within the announcement on Tuesday night at eleven past eight the night before their Comrade Ardern on Wednesday. Tight teamwork.

Same Journalists asked the finance minister if there was more more money available…go figure.
1 0
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March 15, 2022 8:57pm

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