General Debate 17 August 2022

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iMP

TE REO WHITE CHOCOLATE

What were the nut bars at Whittaker’s thinking, rebranding chocolate in Maori???! That’s not going to end well.

They thought VERY WOKE CAREFULLY choosing only “Creamy Milk” as the re-brand. Which in itself is kinda ray-cyst (inferring one race might be brownish is apparently not-woke).

ShaRma sent me a screenshot of this internal CEO email: “Go NOWHERE near “Dark Guyana” or our chocolate with White caramel stacked on top (the Colonialism bar?). Don’t mention anything with coconut In it!”

I’m sticking with Eskimo lollies this week to stay culturally safe.
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August 17, 2022 8:03am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Don’t you mean Explorer lollies, as they are now branded, to avoid causing offence to the Innuit community?
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:06am
  - pdm
    
    Inv – we prefer to call them Eskimo lollies and we also continue to eat Eskimo Pies as well.
    
    We like Afghan biscuits too.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:11am
    - iMP
      
      As long as they’re served on your best bone China.
      
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      August 17, 2022 8:24am
      - Inandout
        
        iMP, China..bone..Mayor Brown?
        
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        August 17, 2022 9:23am
      - pdm
        
        Nah 1mp – out of the packet or wrapper is fine or in the case of Afghans an old fashioned biscuit tin.
        
        We are not pretentious prats.
        
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        August 17, 2022 10:30am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      And we use to call those lollies black balls
      
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      August 17, 2022 8:30am
      - pdm
        
        black balls aka rahupungas!!
        
        Te Reo before its time in my in laws house.
        
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        August 17, 2022 8:47am
    - Biscuit
      
      pdm, I demand royalties on products using my name!
      
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      August 17, 2022 9:42am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        You can have ya royalties, but the Belgium biscuit, you must hand over half to the Belgiumites 😃👍🏻
        
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        August 17, 2022 10:04am
      - pdm
        
        I thought you were on tour Biscuit.
        
        Might be a good time to go your – Wellington team doesn’t look too flash this year.
        
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        August 17, 2022 10:33am
      - Biscuit
        
        pdm, we fly out Thursday of next week.
        
        I suspect you are right re Wellington…
        
        Of more convern to me is that, two games into the new EPL season, Liverpool are already spotting Manchester City a 4 points start..
        
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        August 17, 2022 10:59am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Eskimo; etymologically the word derives from the Innu-aimun (Montagnais) word ayas̆kimew, meaning “a person who laces a snowshoe”, and is related to husky (a breed of dog). It has never been remotely derogatory – just another example of invented offence taking by various people looking for publicity and power – same game we see being played in NZ all the time.
    
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    August 17, 2022 1:25pm
- Ghost
  
  Chocolate is chocolate, I don’t care what the name on it is.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:14am
  - Biscuit
    
    Exactly, Ghost!
    
    Me and my semi-tame better half both hate nutted chocolates with a passion … but, curiously, each time we get gifted assorted chocolate boxes that contain said obscenities there never seem to be any left over a day or two down the track!
    
    (I suspect the cat, myself…)
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:33am
    - Ghost
      
      I’d agree with you, must be the cat.
      
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      August 17, 2022 9:36am
      - Biscuit
        
        Heh heh…
        
        I remember reading a joke once…
        
        Family is visiting an older female relly in hospital.
        
        There’s a bowl of almonds by her.
        
        They all know their Nan hates almonds so, natch, they all tuck in to get rid of them.
        
        ‘Who was daft enough to bring you almonds, Nan?’
        
        ‘Oh, when I got given them they had a chocolate coating. But I sucked that off…’
        
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        August 17, 2022 10:27am
- peterwn
  
  Some years ago the ‘Spanish Bride’ (Whaleoil’s wife) was taking issue with Whittakers selling Halal chocolate in non-Halal wrappers. She thought if the product was Halal this should be stated on the wrapper. Whittaker finds it expedient to manufacture all of its chocolate in accordance with Halal conditions rather than do Halal and non-Halal batches.
  Anyway Whittakers is not going to mind the free advertising for its products.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:16am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    It doesn’t always work like that. If Whittakers go “woke” I for one won’t be buying their products. Certainly nothing that I perceive is being done for a virtue signaling reason. I’m sure that won’t do them any harm and that won’t be why I do it. I just refuse to support the practice.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:51am
    - Ehlana
      
      Actually, the block I bought yesterday had bi-lingual packaging, with both Maori and English on it. Which makes sense in a country where Maori is an official language and English the most widely spoken language.
      
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      August 18, 2022 8:46am
  - Biscuit
    
    Most foods, peterwyn, tend to similarly suck up to the allergy-sufferers amonsgt us.
    
    ‘This product may contain traces of (x), (y) and (z)…’
    
    Just in case, no doubt, the wind had blown bits of (x), (y) or (z) into the premises in question from an (x), (y) or (z) manufacturer in the next town…
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:40am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Every couple of weeks (quite regularly really), aotearoa’s msm seems to publish a story about apparent angst in this country from old white folk and their disdain for te Reo and all things Te Ao. White fragility appears to reign supreme.
  
  However, is much of this angst really manufactured as part of an orchestrated media campaign…?
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:17am
  - David Garrett
    
    Suze: Who would know anymore? Just as who would know whether any particular story was written because it was intended to curry favour with the dispensers of the PIJF (or whatever the $55 million bribe is called)
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:52am
- Gravelroad
  
  @iMP-
  I am reminded of the great entertainer, Billy T. James.
  Went to one of his shows where he spoke of “Ahi Creemi”.
  Which, back then was, according to him, Te Reo for ice cream.
  I think he may have just made it up.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:23am
  - Nickc2
    
    I think he may have just made it up.
    That’s Te Reo for you. It’s not Maori, it’s an invented language founded on what’s believed to be Maori and bastardised by Maori Academics by adopting the English language and converting it into a Newage Maori language.
    Why can’t they use the English language unconverted?
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:44am
    - pdm
      
      Maori language mechanic training/apprenticeships anyone?
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:36am
    - Biscuit
      
      Nicc2, consider Wellington.
      
      Which was original Port Nicholdon…
      
      So the local Maori chose Poneke as a name for their Rugby club, heh…
      
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      August 17, 2022 11:01am
      - Nickc2
        
        It’s everywhere Biscuit, just take a look at all the Public Entities eg NZ Transport Authority (Waka some fucking thing). Were you consulted about these changes? I certainly wasn’t.
        Worse still is when you get some correspondence from such Authorities and you have to wade your way through half a page of Te Reo BS before finding a line of text in English that you understand.
        Will Luxon change all this BS back to how it was? I seriously doubt it, he’s too woke.
        
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        August 17, 2022 11:59am
  - kowtow
    
    It would appear that much of this stuff is just made up.
    
    Ernie Dingo and welcome to country .
    
    Can anyone remember exactly when starts to events have become Maorified and elaborate as the performers shed clothes and come up with new “musical” instruments like conches .
    
    Here in NZ the Media Pardy have started to give people’s tribal affiliations in articles . That’s copying an Oz practise.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:58am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      I seen an article yesterday about defence, the whole thing was written in both Māori snd English was interpreted after each paragraph, this eill be the next big push
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:07am
      - Ehlana
        
        Stop reading Stuff.
        
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        August 18, 2022 8:49am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    The Maori for icecream is aihikirīmi.
    
    For lexicographers, aihikirīmi
    is known as a loanword… it is an English word that has been adopted into Maori.
    
    Most (All ?) languages have loanwords…
    
    I’m most familiar with Korean-English loanwords (Konglish)…..선크림 (seon-keu-rim) (sun cream..sunscreen); 아파트 (a-pa-teu) (apartment); 오픈카 (oh-peun-ka) ( open car, convertible).
    
    .
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:24am
    - Jack5
      
      When the Woke run the media, the way to get free publicity is to appeal to the Woke.
      
      More than 90 per cent of New Zealanders can’t read Maori so putting a brand name in Maori will grab the attention of the Woke media. If the unAwakened react, there will be still more attention in the Woke media.
      
      A racist reference or some anti-Woke mention, in a book or other product can thus get the item attention and free publicity.
      
      Expect more of this until the Woke media subsidies disappear with Ardern.
      
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      August 17, 2022 9:38am
    - leoj
      
      Tell someone who cares……
      
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      August 17, 2022 1:29pm
    - MikeMan
      
      How many words, in the current “Maori” language are loanwords?
      
      I am betting a LARGE percentage.
      
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      August 17, 2022 4:39pm
  - rouppe
    
    The Te Reo for the morning tea break, when they’re used to be a person bringing a tea trolley around is…
    
    Kapu Ti.
    
    I shit you not.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:51am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Yep but how many are still there by smoko?
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:07am
    - pdm
      
      Way back when I was a teenager meals on wheels in Maori was said to be:
      
      Kaitaia.
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:38am
      - greybeard
        
        My version in Whangarei was a white man driving at night through the Otangerei Block.
        
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        August 17, 2022 2:08pm
- Paulus
  
  As I do not speak or understand Maori I will not know what it is so I will notnbuy it – shame.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:36am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    That’s my attitude. If you aren’t putting your communication in something I can understand I’m walking away from it. That includes government department communication.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:54am
  - Ghost
    
    Easy to tell what it is, you just read the English under it. Be careful not going to places in Māori, all the hospitals are getting nice new shiny signs in Māori, directions inside in Māori, ambulances are getting Māori written on them. Had to laugh when ringing up the hospital to get put through to a relative who had a hip replacement, took a good half a minute just for the recoding to say the new Māori name.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:19am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Can I get funding to get an English translator? You know, how they do for new immigrants from Afhanistan and other places like that? I’m too old and too disinterested to start learning a new language. I’m not being racist. I just don’t have the time or the energy to try and interpret whatever it is they are trying to say.
      
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      August 17, 2022 9:52am
      - Ghost
        
        Can’t see why not, says on the emergency waiting room wall if you need a translator one can be supplied, doesn’t say what languages
        
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        August 17, 2022 10:12am
  - graham
    
    Same here. I’ve said this before, I have no problem if people want to speak in Maori; but if they are trying to communicate with me – who doesn’t speak Maori – then it simply doesn’t make sense to use a language that I don’t understand.
    
    I haven’t seen the chocolate in question, but if I don’t understand what variety it is and whether it’s a flavour that I’m likely to enjoy, why would I buy it? Simple answer is, I won’t.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:23am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  iMP bro may be it is Te Reo Luxon’s idea.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:42am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    More like forced by Te Reo Ardern
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:08am
- artemisia
  
  Whittaker’s could not bring themselves to rename Blondie (their best IMO).
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:59am
  - Hard Cheese
    
    Blondie is good, but Caramilk > Blondie
    
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    August 17, 2022 11:19am
- lastmanstanding
  
  In the case of allegations of bullying. What do you do. Well if you are a well governed organisation you will have a Whistleblowing Policy that is known to all employees. If will include an EAP (Employee Assistance Programme). This will include access to an outside independent service. This service will evaluate the allegations and if considered serious will inform the organisation. To protect the Whistleblower investigations will be confidential. Those accussed and other parties will be interviewed by an independent inquirer along with the Whistleblower. If the evidence stacks up a report will be prepared by the EAP sent to the Employer with recommendations as to further action. I know because this is the process I have used in a number of well governed well managed organisations.
  
  Or in the case of the Labour Party you hold a Kangaroo Court and suspend the Whistleblower.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:51am
  - Paulus
    
    It is reported that the Kangaroo Court was preceeded earlier the previous evening by a Kangaroo Court, to be are told despite evidence and later confirmarion, it did not take place.
    Hyppocrites all.
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:22am
- Raphael
  
  It’s not a rebrand. It’s a temporary cover for Maori Language week. Much like they did a temporary cover on their creamy milk one for the All Blacks
  
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  August 17, 2022 11:34am
  - Raphael
    
    This is the one I am talking about (sorry for the long link, it’s a google photos direct link to the slab I bought in 2015)
    
    https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Dd8E5AzVjGsZBORRgZlY0PbXQCw0vfFJYyYO8XlkppUx9qt2cp2G7PPxd6rSLKbnUHCPLlONDI3crPv7qjXLj9adPtFDo52u4eGdb4F8CYqr9wGy3-lG1ObsjYAYQcIjFI_CCbwpXgaIhZcanIK-PgC3mNOg_MwEMQGvjhJ6lJ7Pd9c9p5Tk27nTVcx6C9c3LkJ0SYTdNia1rxcehoMSnaZ_chKq1wjev9oFF0vteAKEBP99rEMKo8P77R6OwNr90qDuMywZ3n4DKSLaYj1ngw74eLSiNVthwinzwE9fAEZZMJ8sURSLgbdw0SmKxDN6hHyp33oMUtGmaJVWYPDK7VNbKaEBzaPR-qPnQOFiB1gxAECHoLaNeO-vrD5Ja1G6kerF7T-ztUBfK4WiBzP9I6x_O81415SnnPRYPRSNvA2y8MvSy0n9a8cMdCmuhUGljv8ck5DJkE1LDtILgPd4c0YmVLKw6KjeTdw7pP-wuSiD5gi2ZZ1ZKwqb8fZThPaSrARpQW33Qb8hI0xHZSimC5zO-6fRgwbNEoLY3RO-dpVaXVPcWNa957ULpMEXKphrgFUXe_kP3xJuR-k6Zsu6AXTzgtrgxibnETvHnE2VnqOuhtWf8FT6QgMQqDRuN_Lfvb5rb2eecCiNawVQpxXcMACuUNui4hP5Ph4p351WUrCs05f4XI4XFeIoJArDNeTL9VUWAGtkr1f1bpA8FfOliw3FVo6WxUBxOe8WpmufS19UBIJDo0jnBcEC5SGTpnM=w525-h933-no?authuser=0
    
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    August 17, 2022 11:44am
  - Ghost
    
    https://www.facebook.com/WhittakersNZ
    
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    August 17, 2022 12:45pm
- MCōs
  
  Chinese gooseberries have never been the same since the name was Māorified to kiwi fruit.
  
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  August 18, 2022 7:15pm
slightlyrighty

Is Labour really so blind to the optics of 64 MP’s gathering to tell One MP that there is no bullying in their party?
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August 17, 2022 8:04am
- redeye
  
  Maiki Sherman on One News last night said that this demonstrates Cindy’s compassion. God give me strength.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:20am
  - Nickc2
    
    IMO, Maiki Sherman has aspirations of being the first Maori Woman PM. She’s a sick-biased puppy suffering from delusions of grandeur.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:52am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Redeye, I saw it too & posted about it last night on yesterday’s GD.
    
    What hit me like a 4×4 at my ears, was Sherman with a straight face explaining the process offered up to Sharma by Jaspinda with descriptions about kindness & compassion, but not realising the irony. This being:
    
    1. Sharma has been done over by two Kangaroo Courts, the first on Tuesday night to which he didn’t even get an invite, and Jaspinda et al tried to deny. Then yesterday’s sham meeting;
    2. Sharma has been suspended (whip removed), and put in the naughty corner with tape over his mouth until the Labour caucus review matters in December. Is that kindness & compassion, or just out right bullying, which Sharma has been complaining about?
    
    As you wrote Redeye, “give me strength”, you couldn’t make this sh*t up if you tried!
    
    As for TV Nonews, can someone tell Simon Powers that they need to review their employment policy again for news journos, and at least test that their journos have a modicum of IQ, because the Auckland & Wellington staff seem to be as dim as each other.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:59am
    - david
      
      Don’t forget the Gummint is working to a timeline.
      They will not dispose of Sharma until they can claim it is within 6 months of a General Election.
      That way they can avoid having a by-election which as things stand, they need like a hole in the head.
      I warrant that they will get to that point and later fudge it by pushing out the GE date to the last possible moment . I understand they can do this until next December when the clock finally runs out.
      
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      August 17, 2022 12:37pm
      - bennerg
        
        Best outcome will be for Sharma, a man of the people, to resign and force a byelection, but (do a deal??) and stand for National. That way he will be a guaranteed to get back into Parliament, and Labour have egg all over their face with the election result, and as he then be able to speak freely again in Parliament – which he will never do again under Labour – even with a mea culpa.
        
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        August 17, 2022 1:10pm
  - sgthree
    
    and did you notice that when Maiki said this, she completely ignored the question that Melissa Stokes asked her. Was this a lack of communication, or was she determined to put forward a pre-prepared statement.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:50am
    - Flossie
      
      Maiki is an unashamed Labourite and her bias inevitably shows in her “pieces”.
      
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      August 17, 2022 11:22am
- nathie
  
  Doesn’t that mean the rest of the Labour caucus are also a party to the bullying?
  
  If so (and if it is proven that Sharma is being bullied), fancy being a Labour MP that will be tainted as forever being known as having acted like a bully, and having that on their conscious!
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:22am
  - I remember when
    
    Are the Labour members of Parliament bullying or not?
    Surely, do they know what they are doing, are they running the country properly.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:56am
  - Warren
    
    But I think you will find Kieran McNulty fancies himself anyway, you only have to look at when he had the Red Labour signed ute and the way he carries himself around others. That’s the problem with some that become MP’s they think they are better than many others .
    I also have to say there is couple in the National Party that do the same and I have been to National Party meetings to form that opinion.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:59am
    - Paulus
      
      Ask McNulty’s ex wife – she has returned to Ireland so is out of harm’s way.
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:24am
    - Alwynn
      
      “the way he carries himself around others”,
      No he doesn’t.
      When there are other people around he simply gets into his sedan chair, claps his hands to attract attention and then demands that the common people pick the chair up and carry him.
      Like the rest of the free-loaders in the Government.
      
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      August 17, 2022 2:38pm
- kowtow
  
  He claimed he was being gaslighted .
  
  And what did they do ? Gaslight him.
  
  And the Media Pardy keep claiming he has no evidence.
  
  You couldn’t make this up .
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:24am
  - Unity
    
    Excuse my ignorance but what exactly is gaslighting?
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:47am
    - Batman
      
      https://www.newportinstitute.com/resources/mental-health/what_is_gaslighting_abuse/#:~:text=Gaslighting%20is%20a%20form%20of,their%20own%20judgment%20and%20intuition.
      
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      August 17, 2022 9:05am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Basically throwing false information at people to the point they doubt themselves, their perceptions and memory. Sophisticated manipulation.
      
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      August 17, 2022 9:15am
      - Inandout
        
        CM, rather like what happened in the movie ‘Manchurian Candidate’, albeit on a grander scale.
        
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        August 17, 2022 9:29am
    - Mummy
      
      1944 movie Gaslight with Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. Psychiatrist using all sorts of dirty tricks to make his wife think she’s going insane and how she realises what he’s doing and turns the tables on him.
      
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      August 17, 2022 9:23am
    - kowtow
      
      Good question. Not a term I was familiar with , but B’man has supplied the ans . (ty)
      
      But as Sharma used it , I’ve repeated it .
      
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      August 17, 2022 9:34am
  - RoboRob
    
    According to Labour there is no bullying, they know this because they haven’t investigated his claims. There will be no investigation because his bullying claims have already proven wrong.
    
    In the meantime they make sure to publicly push complaints against him from his staff in every interview.
    
    The media run the line that the issue is the same as Sam Uffindal, when the issues are obviously massively different. Trevor Mallard the self proclaimed man against bullying is totally silent and parliamentary services for some reason refuse to get involved.
    
    Yeah, lucky our media aren’t bought and paid for. On the plus side JA is proving he incompetence (as if we needed more proof) by managing this in the worst way possible; secret meetings and then suspending Sharma. Yup that’s the caring and inclusive way to deal with issues.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:48am
    - Paulus
      
      Mallard a leading Bully, goes very shortly, before the Month’s end, so say farewell to Sir Trevor and Good Luck to the Irish.
      Sir Phil Goff to follow to Washington shortly too.
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:28am
    - crikey
      
      If only there was a gulag he could be sent to. //
      
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      August 17, 2022 12:30pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        // not necessary
        
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        August 17, 2022 6:45pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    It used to be called a train wreck, in this case the demolition derby continues…….
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:55am
- G152
  
  Yes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:30am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Nope, as dumb as the stupid leader
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:31am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  On whether Sharma would attend the caucus meeting to determine his fate, she replied: “It does not constitute a full caucus unless everyone is invited, so, of course, for natural justice, of course Gaurav Sharma would be a part of that meeting.’’
  
  Yet five hours later at 8pm on Monday night a meeting of the caucus, minus Sharma, took place.
  
  Ardern was left dancing on the head of a pin describing the meeting as not being a caucus meeting because not all the caucus was invited.
  
  https://www.newsroom.co.nz/process-matters-as-much-as-outcome-in-sharma-suspension
  
  As folks here have pointed out:
  Jacinda Ardern isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:31am
  - RoboRob
    
    Labour party guy was denying that someone leaked the secret meeting. Apparently a zoom screen shot of the meeting was sent to Sharma. The labour guy claims it was an accident and the email was sent to the wrong person.
    
    Yeah right. Someone in the meeting was sending another labour MP (not Sharma) a screenshot to show the meeting was happening….. but Sharma was the only MP not already in the meeting. Labour are now so used to blatant lies they will say any old shit.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:52am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Worse, they are so contemptuous towards the general public they expect us to swallow the lies, hook, line and sinker. It speaks volumes as to their narcissism and arrogance.
      
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      August 17, 2022 9:46am
      - RoboRob
        
        And the lack of the ability for critical thought present in the NZ population.
        
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        August 17, 2022 10:14am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Nor is she the most honest Maggy. Jo Moir all but accused her of lying late yesterday.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:44am
- PeeJay
  
  The (verbal) beatings will continue until morale improves – by order of the glorious leader, who is the sole source of truth and kindness!
  
  I seriously hope this finally breaks Labour and plunges them below 30% in the opinion polls – I suspect once they are in the 20’s all hell will break out as the MP’s at the trough see their free ride coming to an end.
  
  Only worry though is that Ardern has a semi-mystical hold on a large block of young women (heard one describe herself as a fangirl the other day – good grief) and Labour have baked in a good proportion of dependent voters (beneficiaries and public sector growth).
  
  You’d like to think this would finally make people wake up that they aren’t competent and they are not kind but I’m not so sure. I mean, they’ve been a spectacular failure for almost 5 years now and they are still neck and neck with National. Hopefully this is the straw that finally breaks through the bullshit and people finally see Labour for the useless & nasty bunch that they are.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:33am
  - I remember when
    
    PeeJay:
    Are you suggesting that diversity and racial equality are not the only measures when it comes to governing NZ!
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:02am
  - Paulus
    
    On current polling Labour appear to lose at least 21 List Seats plus those Electorate ones.
    Shivering going on !
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:31am
- Paulus
  
  Historically the Labour Party has been the Unions and it would be no exagerration to say that many of them are intrinsically bullies – so why have they changed.
  My way or de biff.
  Am acquainted, by dog walks, with a full time semi retired Unionist, and we get on well, but I would hate to cross him in any way politically.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:40am
  - Tricati
    
    Wood referring to legitimate protestors as ‘River of Filth’ say’s it all about a union bully – And many in the MSM see him as Ardern’s successor.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:02am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Slightlyrightly the answer is yes. Cindy is always right. The trust is broken.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:44am
- wilderbeast
  
  Isn’t it incredible? If you want proof that the NZ MSM is bought and paid for, and there’s plenty to go round, you still couldn’t beat the post 4pm period yesterday.
  
  Ardern emerges and says Sharma is suspended and turns the focus to the fact he failed to turn up to the 64 person caucus meeting! The MSM then reports “Rogue MP fails to attend meeting despite texts and phone calls”!!
  
  I mean imagine turning up to a 63 vs 1 lynch mob situation when your allegation is they’ve bullied you and failed to listen to your concerns, and then smeared you for days for the whistle blowing itself. It’s so unsophisticated and obvious…..
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:46am
  - kowtow
    
    There would have been at least one other MP there , who was possibly very sheepish and hoping no fingers be pointed.
    
    Pity Labour is so open and transparent ( another lie) so we may never know what happened there .
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:38am
  - david
    
    “Your execution is scheduled to commence at 2:00pm. Please be there”
    
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    August 17, 2022 12:52pm
- bjools
  
  I was reminded of this
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyKJeXDoqnw
  When Ardern said she was concerned for his well being (not a quote).
  I thought this sounded like a threat and transpires….it was.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:32am
- Bob
  
  collectively they, the Labour caucus, are as ‘thick as two short planks’ and nowhere near as useful.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:51am
- Harry Knuts
  
  yep – ganging up like a pack of dogs do when they’re ready to attack.
  
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  August 17, 2022 10:08am
- David George
  
  Reminds me of those pictures of Stalin with his side-kicks being erased – literally – over time.
  Same thing is happening to Comrade Sharma.
  
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  August 17, 2022 10:35am
- wilderbeast
  
  Bang on slightlyrighty 👍
  
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  August 17, 2022 1:23pm
Warren

Suspended Labour MP Gaurav Sharma on final warning before expulsion.
So the question i would like to ask is what would have happened if this was just a staffer in the Labour Party office wouldn’t they have approached the person concerned and set about finding what was the cause of a problem that could derail staff confidence and cause problems.
Well how could the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern make the call she has as she has not met Sharma or tried to approach him and find out why he needs a inquiry into bullying. In fact Jacinda Ardern was more concerned about having a meeting with the caucus and the accused bully’s the night before the meeting arranged to hear from Gaurav Sharma obviously to make sure everyone was on the same page.
Jacinda Ardern was more interested in making sure the bully’s were looked after before the threatened Junior MP.
Why would Gaurav Sharma turn up to the meeting the next day especially when the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had not asked or even tried to contact him for his side of the story, who in there right mind would front the next day when they perceived that the out had already been agreed to the night before.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/suspended-labour-mp-gaurav-sharma-on-final-warning-before-expulsion/22UTEFXWD4CL5AOSDPEOGNFR3A/
Jacinda Ardern is playing Russian Roulette with the truth as Labours Poll rating continue to slide and although she personally has the support of many the Labour Party on a whole does not so this could be the beginning of the end for the not to truthful Prime Minister and many will be glad to see the back of her.
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August 17, 2022 8:04am
- pdm
  
  `So the question i would like to ask is what would have happened if this was just a staffer in the Labour Party office……..’
  
  Warren do you mean like the bullying of a staffer in her office by Tukituki MP Anna Lorck.
  
  Could Jacinda let us know where the investigation into this is please as it involves my Electorate MP.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:29am
  - RoboRob
    
    The results will be announced at 6pm on a Friday, directly before a public holiday or long weeked. probably Fri 23 Dec.
    
    There will be a lot of annoucements that evening.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:55am
  - Tricati
    
    The fact Ardern has avoided any independent investigation into either the Sharma or Lorck issues speaks volumes as to what the truth is likely to be.
    Easier to hold a secret meeting to get caucus all in line, then throw a new MP under the bus. Despicable woman.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:07am
    - pdm
      
      `Despicable woman’
      
      Welltrained in the `dark arts’ of despicability by The Despicable Mallard.
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:44am
- Philview
  
  Jacinda usually buys people off. She will offer him something of value to shut him up or move him on, at a significant cost to the taxpayer.
  
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  August 17, 2022 11:17am
  - Nickc2
    
    An ambassadorship to India perhaps? He can’t be sent to Ireland, Cindy’s saved that for her biggest fan and favourite bully.
    
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    August 17, 2022 12:28pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

WHO wants a less stigmatising name for monkeypox, commenting that the disease is found in many animals, most frequently among rodents …

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/16/who-asks-public-help-renaming-monkeypox
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August 17, 2022 8:04am
- mandk
  
  They could call it sodomites disease to make it clear what the principal means of transmission is.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:28am
  - dubya
    
    And risk offending catamites, with inherent top versus bottom supremacy?! SO un-PC.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:38am
    - mandk
      
      It’s better than stigmatising monkeys.
      
      They don’t deserve it.
      
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      August 17, 2022 8:56am
    - kowtow
      
      Gomorrahites would be excluded by that too .
      
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      August 17, 2022 9:54am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  And who is going to speak up for chickens?
  
  (or swine, mad cows, etc)
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:39am
- Gravelroad
  
  @Never mind-
  Ok, let’s call it the Wind in the Willows pox.
  That sounds happy and gay.
  Ratty, Moley, Badger, Mr Toad and the Weasels won’t mind at all.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:39am
- skyblue
  
  Call it AIDS – Arse Injected Dermal Scabs.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:49am
- sgthree
  
  Tucker Carlson recently ran a poll on what the new name should be.
  The winner was schlong covid
  
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  August 17, 2022 11:14am
artemisia

The New Zealand People’s Party stood candidates in 2017 and folded into Advance NZ for 2020. IIRC had a strong Indian membership. If there is a by-election, it could rise like a phoenix from those ashes.
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August 17, 2022 8:05am
mandk

So, why would Dr Sharma bother turning up for the Labour party caucus meeting yesterday when he knew that he had already been tried in his absence the day before?

I look forward to him releasing more information about bullying by the party.
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August 17, 2022 8:07am
- G152
  
  Hopefully his next step is through the law with the evidence he has.
  Cindy must be crapping herself
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:33am
- nathie
  
  “So, why would Dr Sharma bother turning up for the Labour party caucus meeting yesterday
  
  If one is being bullied, why would they turn up to a meeting which is heavily weighted against them i.e. the bullies themselves being there, backed up by management and with everyone else (to make up the numbers) and who will likely stay silent for fear of themselves being bullied (meaning “everyone else” will be seen to be on-side with the bullies and management)?
  
  Anyway the question the MSM need to ask is, was Dr Sharma allowed a support person with him (eg his lawyer)?
  
  Or was the answer from Labour “NO!” (because they claim it was a private caucus meeting)?
  
  If so, is it any wonder Dr Sharma didn’t turn up?
  
  Perhaps the MSM should put themselves in his shoes because if they did, they wouldn’t be repeating Labour’s spin that there are “trust” issues and that Labour are putting him on a “good behavior” bond.
  
  Honestly, how sickening, if this was joe public being attacked by Labour (or their employer) like that, and without the means to go to the MSM, would it be any surprise that they topped themselves because of that bullying culture?
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:05am
- Thought Criminal
  
  Looking at what he’s done so far and how he released screenshots during Jacinda’s press conference, I think he’s decided to do as much damage to Labour as he can. If he has, I look forward to this playing out over many months.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:16am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Yes, like slow-release fertiliser.
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:37am
- mogg
  
  Last night was another display of scripted weasel words from Ardern, this was all entirely predictable.
  Dr Sharma is not stupid he will have anticipated this situation, I am sure he will be well armed with more evidence. Again Chris Trotter’s column on bullying in Parliament and Labour is more in line with Sharma’s version of events, than anything we have heard from the Cindy spin machine. This is Ardern at her best telling lies about lying.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:23am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Here’s Chris Trotter’s article on how Labour runs its bully-boy programme:
    
    https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/chris-trotter-parting-shots
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:07am
    - I remember when
      
      The article highlights a major reason for much of the dissatisfaction with politics at present.
      Legislation is rarely fully discussed and debated before being passed into law.
      It is the prefect explanation for the passage of the ‘3 Waters’ legislation.
      A considerable number of the Labour members must be voting against the wishes of their local bodies.
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:33am
  - Paulus
    
    Read Shane Jones in today’s Herald – he puts it quite clearly as out right bullying.
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:35am
    - kowtow
      
      I don’t bother with anything he has to say .
      
      Provinicial “Growth” Fund , shower heads and porno movies we paid for .
      
      3 strikes . Gone.
      
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      August 17, 2022 12:11pm
- Harry Knuts
  
  me too – got the popcorn ready.
  
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  August 17, 2022 10:10am
PHC

Dr John Campbell’s analysis of the Thai study into vaccination harm.
https://youtu.be/ekTR0w2M9-U
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August 17, 2022 8:08am
Tomtoddy

Chlöe Swarbrick shows her naivety – a quite dangerous ignorance in matters economic – in an article in the Ferald. She is begging us to return to the “good old days’ when there was more equality, fewer uber-rich, fewer people in poverty. She needs to take off her rose tinted glasses when reading history. She wasn’t around 50 years ago – the ‘utopian’ period she craves. Well, Chloe, I was around and frankly you don’t know what you are talking about. The 70’s were a period of rapidly growing debt, rising inflation, spiralling costs and increasing unhappiness and stress.

By the early 1980’s inflation in my business was over 20%, I was paying 16% interest and I was like most around me going broke. Farmers cleared land and drained wetlands that should never have been touched to stay alive and because the government gave them subsidies to increase production to offset the sinking economy. So much for socialism being better for the environment. Taxpayer payments to farm more sheep led to skinny, underfed sheep. So much for animal welfare being better under socialism.

To ensure equity many activities had to be regulated. The opposite of free markets where people can become ultra-rich is controls, governments dictating everything from which days you could drive your car to whether you could buy an item from overseas. Trade unions flourish in a regulated world and Chloe wouldn’t want to know what it was like when the Cook Strait ferries went out on strike at a few minutes notice in the school holidays.

You became well off if you had an import license. That caused bribery, corruption and haves and have nots. Is that what Chloe yearns for?

We imported TV parts and made TV sets that cost three times an imported model. The less well off were screwed by the big corporates. Not so good, eh, Chloe?

The list could go on. Socialists like Chloe like pretending. They cant figure out how to capitalise on the opportunities around them so they suck the public tit and tell everyone what a wonderful world it could be if they had more control and could dictate everything we do again.
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August 17, 2022 8:11am
- Harry Knuts
  
  Chlöe Swarbrick with statements like these shows she is constantly in a state of victim syndrome. To deny any human being for getting ahead and the outcome being wealth is to crush on individuals human rights.
  Clueless Chloe needs to get her head out of the smokey cloud it’s constantly in and start living in the real world.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:18am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Until airhead Chloe realises that many poverty stricken are plying them self with drugs, booze, gambling, KFC and they can’t afford it, then she hasn’t a clue
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:18am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    She is a fool. She was interviewed on radio last week about her Bill to reduce alcohol harm. It was a train wreck. She wants to ban alcohol companies putting logos on the uniforms of rugby and cricket players and other professional teams. She was asked to name teams currently sponsored by alcohol brands. She did not know. 🤡
    
    If she thinks capitalism does not work, try winding back 50 years and look at south Korea and taiwan.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:42am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      With a carve out for alcohol sponsorship of boats. Just in case the Americas Cup comes back to her electorate.
      
      What a hypocrite.
      
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      August 17, 2022 8:53am
    - kowtow
      
      Not too long ago the fire service said they wanted more Maoris . They didn’t know how many they already had but didn’t matter , wanted more.
      
      No wonder so many of their appliances have broken down.
      
      All about appearances.
      
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      August 17, 2022 9:08am
    - zulumonster
      
      Yes Ben, she is a fool.
      
      I like to refer people to the below site with simple graphs to show how much better things are now … sadly I’m old enough to remember how bad some of these indicators were in my own lifetime.
      
      https://www.vox.com/2014/11/24/7272929/global-poverty-health-crime-literacy-good-news
      
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      August 17, 2022 3:09pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      She tried to say the all blacks had a logo of Stienlarger on their jersey, she is wrong as usual, and I don’t think steinlarger has been in the jersey since after the 2011 world cup
      
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      August 17, 2022 6:43pm
- artemisia
  
  Asset owners usually do OK under a left leaning government, actually often very very well.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:22am
- cmm
  
  The more people become disconnected from actual needs, the more they squeak about inequality etc.
  
  Even 50 or 60 years ago, starvation was rife and was the norm. Now it is almost unheard of and obesity is a problem.
  
  50 or 60 years ago, medical services were only available to a small % of the world’s population. Many, if not most, babies struggled to make it through their first year. Now medical care is almost ubiquitous and infant mortality is extremely low.
  
  So, on the stuff that really matters, the world really has become more equal and far more wealthy.
  
  Sure there is some inequality at the extremes. Not everyone has a private jet or friends who go to Davos. People who really are hungry and destitute don’t really care about them, it is mainly the envious that do.
  
  But maybe Chloe would like to look in the mirror. She’s getting ~200k a year to tell people how bad they are because there are other people with almost nothing.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:27am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Tomtoddy – well written. The problem for most of these faux lefties is the vast majority have never operated in the real world. They almost exclusively became “left” ideologically. The left I knew were almost exclusively working class, grafters. Not the chardonnay and latte slurpers we currently are infested with.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:22am
  - Flossie
    
    I thought chardonnay was so old hat? Went out of fashion along with Helen Clark quite a few years back didn’t it?
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:44am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      I don’t think so. They’re still selling heaps of it and some of it is very good.
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:04am
  - Stellaboxer
    
    The problem we have today is white middle class “ leftists “ wringing their hands over wrongs they never committed and Māori activists claiming victim hood for oppression they never suffered. Same across the west the white hand wringing is transferable ethnicity .of the “ oppressed activist “ varies. A very clever slight of hand by the Marxist when they finally accepted that the white working class didn’t want a bar of them. A cardinal sin in their eyes, rejection.!
    
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    August 17, 2022 11:48am
- kowtow
  
  Yeah well they’re doing it again.
  
  By creating a false market for carbon credits , land use is being converted to trees that we can’t eat or use and crony capitalists are making a fortune .
  
  That’s “green” economics.
  
  It’s the Gaia religion’s indulgences . Madness . But someone’s coining .
  
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  August 17, 2022 10:08am
- ByGolly
  
  Post it on her FB page.
  https://www.facebook.com/chloeNZgreens
  You’re preaching to the choir here (mostly).
  
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  August 17, 2022 11:11am
Tony Stuart

Peter Dunne was interviewed on Newstalk ZB this morning about the #SharmaDrama, and described the decision to suspend Dr Sharma from the Labour caucus as “the cowardly way out”.

To be fair, it’s hard to disagree with Dunne’s assessment. Dr Sharma will now be allocated a seat at the very furthest corner of the Debating Chamber, and Labour MP’s will be instructed not to talk to Dr Sharma, thus perpetrating more bullying and gaslighting.

The facade of kindness has been well and truly exposed as a lie.
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August 17, 2022 8:17am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  So engineer him out then? Clearly the bullying was correct, by hod I hope he does not stay muzzled
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:19am
- nathie
  
  Hosking also asked Dunne if he would have done the same as what Labour had done by suspending Sharma.
  
  Dunne replied “no he would have engaged with Sharma” as to not do so was “cowardly”.
  
  Which had me thinking – Labour has form with not engaging, when they should.
  
  Think everything from not engaging with the Parliamentary Protests, not engaging with He Puapua, not engaging with 3 Waters etc etc.
  
  And now they are doing it again with Sharma, when both common sense and dispute resolution experts will say, it is crucial to engage.
  
  To not do so is a failure. It’s about the Team of $55m started recognising that, instead of repeating and amplifying Labour’s taking points “rouge”, “not being a team player” etc!
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:33am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Indeed, because if they engage, they are going to here opinions that would differ to theirs, and that would never do!
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:43am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Bullies are invariably cowards.
    
    Ardern & co are afraid to confront the truth of their repressive regime.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:46am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    As we have witnessed this year, Ardern’s way of dealing with anything resembling a difficult question is to leave the country.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:23am
- peterwn
  
  Agreed but Labour’s hands were pretty well tied as to options. Labour does NOT want a byelection in Hamilton West and it all works back from there. Also Sharma has the support of the Labour leaning members of the Indian community and Labour would want to retain support if possible. In thinking about it, the leadership and caucus-1 have got it about right at least for now. The deal seems to be if he can repent and sort himself out by December then he is back in. What could be ‘cowardly’ is if the top people have determined that he will not be Labour’s candidate for Hamilton West next year but have not had the guts to tell him. More water to pass under the bridge yet.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:33am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Yes, but there may yet be a by-election in Hamilton West, where Sharma stands as an independent.
    
    If that was the case, what chance would there be that the Labour candidate has the surname Ormsby?
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:45am
    - peterwn
      
      Chris and co will be rubbing their hands with glee. They are probably sizing things up now. Taking out Hamilton West would be an enormous morale booster. No doubt Winnie is having a sniff there too.
      
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      August 17, 2022 8:54am
  - RoboRob
    
    There was no need for the suspension. They could have achieved everything you mention without suspending him and JA displays he incompetence yet again. They could have said…
    
    ‘We didn’t think there was an issue but are happy to look into it again. We will have a weekly meeting between Sharma and Mallard to discuss issues and progress of the investigation. We will provide counselling to Mr Sharma and others involved. We expect Sharma to stop public naming of the people involved in the name of fairness to all involved.’
    
    Everyone out there is now happy. JA and Labour are kind, Sharma needs to shut up and the media can stop covering this issue. Nothing more to see. Was that so difficult?
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:05am
    - Paulus
      
      Mallard going next week to Ireland – good riddence to the number one Labour Bully.
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:44am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Peter, you say Labour have got it about right. Other than them trying to minimise political damage, by trying to shut Sharma and the issues up until he “repents”, is the wrong way round. The way things have been handled and the outcome portrayed is that the problems are all withSharma (or of his own making), but are they? , and who is to say it will not occur again?
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:13am
    - peterwn
      
      Yes, they have got it about right from the point of view of minimising political damage. I did not mean they got it right from a moral point of view.
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:36am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Surely Sharma will not be the Labour candidate for Hamilton West come next year.
    
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    August 17, 2022 11:16am
  - Hebe123
    
    gosh I don’t know, maybe they could have talked to him, started an investigation into his claims? Their hands were not tied as to options, they just wanted to shut it down like they always do.
    
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    August 17, 2022 11:27am
- cmm
  
  This is really just like Stalin’s treatment of people that fell out of favour – just missing the Tokarev.
  
  Worse yet, the shunning of Sharma will not be voluntary. People will be fearful of talking to him lest they get tarred for associating with anti-revolutionary agents. May as well just pack the poor bastard on a train to Siberia.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:33am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Yes exactly. It reminds me of what happens when someone is expelled from the jehovas witnesses.
    
    I hope he resigns and triggers a by election and stands as an independent.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:45am
- peterwn
  
  Seating allocation. Sharma as a new MP is already in the seating wop wops (and so is Sam). He can only be moved two or three seats along to put him right at the edge of Labour’s seating group. Another issue undefined at the moment – will the Labour whips still have him in the vote count. Presumably he can ask to be excluded or the whips can exclude him. Also would he remain answerable to the Labour Whips for attendance?
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:39am
  - pdm
    
    `Also would he remain answerable to the Labour Whips for attendance?’
    
    Being suspended must surely mean he is on his own and therefore not answerable in anyway to The Party Whips.
    
    Nor would he probably want to be given the issues he as with the whips and the apparent bullying they inflicted on him over the last 18 months approx..
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:58am
  - RoboRob
    
    Yeah the seating issue is a ‘so what’. Never heard for Sharma before this, he may or may not have been a good MP. Not going to pretend that I like him just because he stirs things up for Labour. Although I do enjoy that 🙂
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:08am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Labour can only use his vote in their count if he gives them his proxy. The Whips now have no power to control his vote.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:49am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Even the average lp member can identify with being shafted by their “mates” when they aren’t invited to the first party, only the second. Ardren did a good job of explaining that 64 gutless wonders “couldn’t ( or were too scared) to speak freely with him present”.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:46am
  - kowtow
    
    So we’re being ruled by a bunch of children who can’t act like adults .
    
    and where did that most open and transparent go , again.
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:17am
    - 70andstilllearning
      
      You could put it that way kt – have been a Ham West constituent in past days and it’s a sensitive thermometer electorate in the calmest of times. Kids in the electorate will be looking on with interest and I suspect his electorate committee is under fair pressure from both Fraser House and locals – between a rock and a hard place you could say!
      
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      August 17, 2022 1:54pm
RockyJ

I’m trying to get my head around the justice in the way Dr Sharma has been treated.

He complains that he has been bullied by Labour MP’s and parliamentary staff. The PM claims he was offered support but the support was from the ranks of the very people who he says he have been bullying him.

On Monday night a secret caucus meeting was held, to which he was not invited, to discuss his case. On Tuesday he refuses to front up to a second caucus meeting. The PM says this shows he is the problem.

We need to keep in mind just how the pressure of bullying affects judgement. I don’t blame him for avoiding the second meeting. He would have justification in believing that his fate was predetermined at the secret meeting and that the second meeting, rather than an opportunity for him to explain, was just going to be another crucifixion.

Labour should have done what National have done with Uffindel which is bring in an impartial investigator. Sharma’s case is an example of he said, she said and the pressure on him to stand up rationally to a hostile united front in the caucus would have been unbearable
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August 17, 2022 8:23am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Justice? Schmustice, more like it!
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:33am
- kowtow
  
  I don’t feel sorry for him at all.
  
  If he’s so clever why join that mob of thugs , comrades , international socialists aka Trotskyites , secretive authoritarians.
  
  How long has he been a member of the party .
  
  I’m just enjoying the show .
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:18am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    True, if you lay down with dogs……………..
    
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    August 17, 2022 11:19am
  - leoj
    
    Go to the top of the class.
    
    Sharma cannot be that intelligent if he put all his faith in Labour to begin with.
    
    I don’t give a rat’s bum what happens to him.
    
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    August 17, 2022 5:26pm
- peterwn
  
  Look at the justice John A Lee received at the Labour Party conference in the 1930’s. The leadership wanted him expelled from the Party which needed to be done by conference. John was given a chance to speak in his defence – but they would not let him use the microphone so what he said was inaudible to most in the hall.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:24am
  - kowtow
    
    I wonder if they still have show of hands voting or the fairer secret ballot .
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:15am
    - peterwn
      
      By the time Micky Savage had stirred them up (using microphone) there would probably have been no need for a hand count.
      
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      August 17, 2022 1:21pm
- Hard Cheese
  
  What staggers me (maybe it shouldn’t) is that absolutely nothing appears to have been done about the allegations of Kieran McAnulty’s behaviour. I don’t think Ardern has even mentioned his name in this whole saga – instead she just refers to “the party whips” (knowing full well that Joe Public would have no idea what a whip is, much less who they were). Surely if they were so concerned about the Francis report – as Ardern and Robertson bang on about repeatedly – they would would be investigating whether there was any truth to Sharma’s allegations. They say no because, effectively, “we can’t find any evidence of it”. How do they know that without even speaking to the person laying the complaint to see what their complaint actually is? It’s like a judge standing up on day one, minute one of a trial and declaring the case dismissed because they’ve seen no evidence of wrongdoing.
  
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  August 17, 2022 1:22pm
  - Paulus
    
    A Whip I believe comes from the English Whipper In, who is a man who controls the Hounds for the Hunt.
    Sounds appropriate.
    
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    August 17, 2022 1:37pm
artemisia

Herald 15 August , in response to the Maori Party Bill to ban seabed mining. An opinion piece for sure, but I have followed the issue for quite some time and most of it looks defensible.

Alan Eggers: Seabed mining ban could deny unparalleled economic opportunity

There is also Chatham Rise phosphate extraction facing similar issues despite environmental positives and OK from local iwi, no doubt in exchange for a free carry. That project has also detected valuable rare earth metals there, but now focuses on overseas projects.

Not to mention the wider issue of a few trillion bucks under the ground.

How about those opposing these massive income streams put their hands up to IRD to personally mitigate the outcomes of their activism. Alternatively, they could support nuclear as an energy source.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/alan-eggers-seabed-mining-ban-could-deny-unparalleled-economic-opportunity/GGI2FFAFHIEAEGXATYXGVPQX5M/
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August 17, 2022 8:25am
- peterwn
  
  It goes further than that. All New Zealand’s ‘spare’ land (ie that has not been granted by the Crown) has apparently been lumped into the Conservation estate and as far as Greenies are concerned that land should be treated like parks and reserves – no prospecting or mining. This also would deny NZ of potentially valuable natural resources.
  Another thing – as NZ uses resources produced by other nations, then on a global basis it is only fair that NZ produces an equivalent quantity of resources for export. That would only seem fair. But those who preach the ‘green’ message quite happily continue to purchase and use things (like smart phones) that consume resources. Their conveinence cannot be compromised.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:15am
Paulus

I have today heard the top comment of the year.
From Ardern re Sharma, to whom she has not spoken,
It is
Trust
Coming from her own lips yesterday.
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August 17, 2022 8:27am
- kowtow
  
  Has she never , ever spoken to him , not once ?
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:19am
I remember when

Clean drinking water for Ohakea residents: Manawatu Standard.
Ohakea residents who have been drinking bottled water for four years due to contamination from the nearby air force base have finally got a running supply of clean water.

Trial run for ‘3 Waters’?
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August 17, 2022 8:28am
Opie

The accusation – there is a bully among us.

Nationals response, suspend the the alleged bully and conduct a private investigation to find out what has occurred.

Labours response, suspend the accuser of the bullying, publicly smear him and take the side of the accused bully.

This labour government is truly the worst ever, made up of virtue signaling, nasty school yard bullies.
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August 17, 2022 8:29am
- MCōs
  
  Dr Sharma has the option of stepping away from Labour and joining National where he would get a fair shake.
  Except there’s no way the Nats would want him.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:46am
  - kowtow
    
    Why would the Nats want someone who supports Labour policy ?
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:21am
    - MCōs
      
      Bloke can change.
      Look at the likes of Prebble, Douglas, Churchill no less, Peters, Dunne, Shane Jones, Brash
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:02am
      - septic skeptic
        
        Agreed, but there is no evidence that he has changed – just that he no longer gets on with Labour.
        
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        August 17, 2022 11:07am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    I would think he was more likely to join the Greens MCos. But if he did, he then runs the risk that Labour would invoke the Waka-jumping legislation.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:52am
  - Matt Long
    
    Are you suggesting Dr Sharma is to the left of, for example, Mapp, Willis, or Bishop?
    Sharma would come with possibly 80k Idian list votes.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:54am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      I’ve heard that interest in the IndoNats, a special interest group for the Indian community within National, has grown significantly in recent days.
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:13am
      - kowtow
        
        Just what we need , more identity politics .
        
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        August 17, 2022 12:16pm
- david
  
  Standard operating practice in the trade union movement. Andrew do-little is there to make sure that the heavies are well briefed and I believe there is a number of ex-trade unionists in the Caucus for mutual support.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:49am
Maggie Pie

A tad worrying?

My partner was saying he has it on good authority from people who know about these things, that Chynah’s Huawei has inked a $100m deal with the Solomon Islands to build 160 Phone Towers 🙁

As he said, God only knows how much taxpayers dollars both the Aussie and New Zealand governments have thrown at the third-world sh*thole…. all to no avail by the sound of it ?
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August 17, 2022 8:34am
- cmm
  
  Why exactly is that worrying? Huawei is a major provider of network infrastructure and has been for years.
  
  People worry about network equipment spying on them, but this can be easily monitored and can be blocked.
  
  Lots of this is beating the drums to keep Huawei out of very lucrative spaces that companies like Cisco feel they have a right to “own”.
  
  Full disclosure: Huawei is one of my customers.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:58am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Apparently, some people are saying Chynah are paying hundreds-of-millions to have PLA spying equipment installed.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:32am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      ‘China’
      
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      August 17, 2022 6:24pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I think there is cause for concern.
    
    https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/chinamade-huawei-devices-could-disrupt-us-nuclear-communication-71658666402450.html
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:42am
    - Matt Long
      
      There’s the idea that having the CCP spying on us is of less concern the the American oligarchy as the CCP is less likely to have direct interference in our lives than the regressives who are bringing us a world of Energy deprivation, Starvation and Gutting the middle classes.
      You will eat nothing and be happy.
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:00am
      - kowtow
        
        Funny thing is there’s a big trial on at the moment .
        
        The Media Pardy giving it scant attention.
        But they obsess wityh all things Trump.
        
        Very odd.
        
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        August 17, 2022 12:17pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Wait until the Malaitans get going. They do not get on with the Guadalcanese and do not like the Chinese
  
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  August 17, 2022 1:33pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  ‘China’
  
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  August 17, 2022 6:23pm
wisteria

Unlike the National Party leader the PM obviously does not conduct regular interviews with the labour MPs otherwise she would know firsthand that she had some unhappy MPs in her team. This way she has ensured that Dr Sharma will be bullied yet again and at her instigation.
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August 17, 2022 8:42am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yes,
  she is no leader.
  
  One benefit of having a number of jobs in my working life is that I’ve dealt with Very good, OK, and fairly useless bosses…..
  
  The Useless bosses had a habit of locking themselves away in offices without a clue as to what was happening out on the Work front.
  
  The Good – V. Good bosses were in frequent contact with the workers.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:54am
  - artemisia
    
    Used to be called MBWA – management by walking around. Keeps the antennae open to early signs.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:03am
  - Biscuit
    
    Indeed, Maggy…
    
    My very first job – way way back in 1970 – had a rather-fearsome Administration Manager who only tended to be seen amongst the hoi-polloi when he did a tour of the seven floors of our building on the last working days before Christmas and New Year.
    
    To make sure, gasp, that no-one had skived off early. No such thing as Flexitime then and it was expected that everyone was still slaving away until one second after 4.39.59 pm each dayt!
    
    I, of course, wold never have dreamed of perping such sins and, anyway, I became his ‘golden boy’ because:
    1. I liked Rugby
    and
    2. I caught him outside Athletic Park bawling like a baby after the 1971 British Lions had DEMOLISHED Wellington by 47-9 and it was a tacit understanding between us that no-one else on the staff needed to know about that, ha…
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:29am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Ah – so you bribed him eh ? Used the sword of Damocles to ensure his favour & friendship, eh?
      You So And So…..
      Love it 😆
      
      11 1
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      August 17, 2022 10:58am
      - Biscuit
        
        Bribed is such an UGLY word, heh heh.
        
        I was a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, v. interested in the young ladies type back then.
        
        I remember me and a mate had our squeezes-du-jour in his car as we went up to Coastlands one day.
        
        Feels were being copped at one set of traffic lights.
        
        I sensed I was being … watched.
        
        I gazed at the car alongside me and found that it was being driven by my Administration Manager. In a suit. On a Saturday. And with a VERY disapproving Mrs Administration Manager alongside him.
        
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        August 17, 2022 11:10am
    - peterwn
      
      Was he the sort of guy who falsified his leave card ie he marked himself as on annual leave when he was at work? When the big boss found out he ordered the Admin Manager on annual leave and took his keys off him so he could not sneak into the office after hours.
      
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      August 17, 2022 1:32pm
  - kowtow
    
    No , no , no , the Media Pardy constantly regale us with imagery of Glorious Leader at pre schools and primaries , meeting the Little People ………not to mention her greatest achievement when she heeded their call , Ban Plastic Shopping Bags .
    
    Transformational !
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:30am
- pdm
  
  wisteria – pretty obvious she (Ardern) does not like mingling with the ranks.
  
  They are disposable cannon fodder for her future ambitions only.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:02am
  - david
    
    Surely you aren’t saying that she is a superb leader until she is expected to lead at which point she bails and says that Caucus is making the decisions.
    How flakey is that!
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:52am
- Paulus
  
  Ardern is beyond all that Hoi Polloi – what does she have Whips and other Bovver Boys and Compliant Girls for her ?
  
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  August 17, 2022 1:41pm
Prince

Our trustworthy, unbiased media in action yesterday.
‘Sharma makes unsubstantiated wild accusations about a caucus meeting being held on Monday without him prior to Tuesdays meeting. He provides no evidence.’
Later, after being given a screenshot of the invitation..
‘Oh sure, there was a meeting on Monday, and Sharma was excluded, but this is standard practice for any political party…’
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August 17, 2022 8:49am
I remember when

Why do the media when scrutinising National’s candidate selection process always include Hamish Walker.
His problems had nothing to do with his behaviour prior to his entering Parliament.
In fact, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that a form of ‘bullying’ contributed to his actions.
If we want diversity and candidates that represent younger voters immaturity is always a possible outcome.
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August 17, 2022 8:58am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Hamish Walker’s only mistake was to allow himself to be used as a proxy by Michelle Boag.
  
  However he may now see that as a blessing in disguise. He’s now one of the top real estate agents in the Queenstown Lakes district, and his earnings potential far exceeds that of a backbench MP, or even a junior Minister, which he could have become next year.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:56am
Surely Knott

The two green candidate in my local electorate use their pronouns she/her and he/him in their twitter introductions. Will they be consistent and use them in their election voting candidate booklets as well. If not why not?
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August 17, 2022 9:01am
Hacked-Off

Anyone want to guess who the unhappy disaffected Labour MP was who photographed Kelvin Davis voting at the secret night meeting to discuss Sharma’s fate and sent it to Sharma? Watch the witch hunt in the Labour Caucus to find the traitor.
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August 17, 2022 9:02am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Odds on it will be one of the MP’s whose messages Sharma released on Monday night, almost certainly with their consent. From the use of the term “bro” to address Dr Sharma, possibly an MP of Maori or Pasifika descent.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:38am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Not sure that’s necessarily correct tbh Tony.
    Even my partner uses the term “bro” when he’s talking to some people, so as to throw them off the scent about where he lives.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:58am
    - Biscuit
      
      Maggie, surely the lilywhite, cutely-embroidered tennis tutu he prances around in would clue those folk in as to where he lives?
      
      (Not my face, not my pretty face…)
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:34am
- Ghost
  
  I would think that is why the dictator delayed her press conference by half an hour, to discuss the photo and and the texts and let people know that it really hurt her feelings and she thought all the hugs meant they were her friends, to stop being mean to her or she’d boot them out as well
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:42am
- The Housekeeper
  
  In Sharma’s fb post of Aug 12th he says, ” I was called to last minute meetings with no notice and no support person (but once when I managed to take a caucus colleague with me).”
  
  Who was this?
  
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  August 17, 2022 10:55am
Ghost

Speaking of Labour Party bullies, this is a good read

“It was the hardest story that I had to cover, because Trevor Mallard was a good friend of mine – I spoke at his wedding,” he said.

“He pleaded with me not to run the story and said to me right at the beginning, ‘You’ll victimise the victim’ – or ‘retraumatise’ was his words. And I said to him, ‘I’m not going to retraumatise the victim, I’m going to traumatise you, as it would look to me at the moment.'”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/barry-soper-trevor-mallards-false-rape-claim-story-was-hardest-ive-had-to-cover/FTXBAGYQ3SXIMSWYUOEA4LATZQ/
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August 17, 2022 9:02am
- Benedict Yu
  
  BTW last weekend we were in the multi level car park in the CBD. I always concentrate in those places. Easiest place to hit a pillar or a car. (In fact EVERY accident I have ever had has involved parking or a parking building.)
  
  As we were getting out of the car, this guy in a Range Rover comes flying down the ramp, talking on his phone and steering with one arm.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:37am
  - Nickc2
    
    If you had a Range Rover, you could do the same.
    I’ve never seen a Copper in a Parking Building.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:41am
  - Inandout
    
    BY, as most carparks are privately owned I wonder if using a cellphone while driving is outside the legislation? Insurers may have their own opinion regarding ‘taking all reasonable precautions’.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:47am
Captain Mainwaring

Bit of publicity about the number of people caught driving while on the phone. And here was I thinking that everyone had bluetooth these days.
Surely the fix for this problem is to confiscate the phone and destroy it, along with the SIM card.
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August 17, 2022 9:04am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I don’t use hands free. I don’t get so many calls that they can’t wait. And if I really need to make a call I pull over. Concentrating on driving with some nice music has a lot going for it. 🙂
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:35am
- MCōs
  
  “here was I thinking that everyone had bluetooth these days”
  Apparently not, or they don’t know how to use it.
  
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  August 17, 2022 10:07am
Yvette

Sharma “SHORTLAND STREET”-style drama
■ “While we dispute the allegations he has made, Gaurav [especially friendly first name use] is a valued member of the team, and we want to make sure he is getting the support he needs.” Ardern said Sharma’s wellbeing was her primary concern. She refused to speak about the nature of the allegations, citing privacy and ongoing employment issues, but said she was comfortable with how the situation had been handled.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/129554967/jacinda-ardern-disputes-mps-bullying-claims-labour-says-it-acted-in-good-faith-towards-dr-gaurav-sharma

■ Rogue MP Dr Gaurav Sharma’s been booted from the Labour Party caucus after a last-minute meeting was held to decide his political fate.
Rogue MP Dr Gaurav Sharma’s been booted from the Labour Party caucus after a last-minute meeting was held to decide his political fate.

Wrap-around compassionate concern turns to political self-confined isolation in about 24 hours
So that $1.9 billion tax-funding which went into mental health wellbeing –
what the fuck did they spend it on?
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August 17, 2022 9:19am
- Blog-aholic
  
  You’ll never get told. The same as the Covid fund that when questions of where and what are asked the answers are crickets….
  
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  August 17, 2022 10:03am
Benedict Yu

On the subject of bullying….

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/129586500/council-candidate-hides-behind-closed-door-when-asked-about-conspiracy-group-voices-for-freedom

Why should this woman want to talk to a ‘journalist’?

All sorts of people stand for elected office. If you think they are crazy don’t vote for them. Simple.

The candidates who are ‘attacked’ are the ones who do not fit the media narrative of the single source of truth. They are spreading ‘misinformation’. It is classic play from a tyrant’s copy book. The next step is to arrange for the people who spread ‘misinformation’ to lose their jobs. Oh wait, we have done that.
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August 17, 2022 9:47am
- Ghost
  
  I’d say it remains part of the google funding they took to not print anything negative about the vax, they need to attack those standing who do not support it
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:52am
- Tony Stuart
  
  There’s little doubt that the media will mount a determined effort this year to influence the Local Body elections. A number of old and new media outlets have received funding, some of which is in the tens of thousands, for their coverage via the PIJF.
  
  It’s a warning for National and Act next year that their candidates will face unprecedented scrutiny from certain media outlets.
  
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  August 17, 2022 10:04am
  - Gravelroad
    
    From what I have seen so far, some of the reporting of local body candidates and council procedures/expectations has been nothing short of anti democratic.
    You can’t stop someone from standing for election because you don’t like them or approve of their views.
    That is what the ballot box is supposed to sort out.
    And young (and older) people who advocate for the voting age to be lowered need to look now at the lack of maturity of thought that is apparent amongst many mid-age teens whose focus is on “not feeling safe if so and so gets elected.”
    Never mind that they havn’t ever met the person and likely never will.
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:46am
- ClanMcleod
  
  The witch hunt and attacks, particularly on VFF or anyone remotely connected to them, by government funded Stuff (and others) is bullying in the extreme.
  
  This is no surprise to those who have been paying attention over the last 3 years. Ardern’s “kind and caring” and “Leading with Empathy” have been exposed as a pathetic farce.
  
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  August 17, 2022 10:12am
  - kevn
    
    @Clan… She has killed the real meaning of ‘kind’. It cannot be used in the original context anymore. Just makes a mockery of what is being said.
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:23am
    - alex Masterley
      
      We now have:
      “Jacinda bucks”, and;
      “Jacinda kind”.
      When will it stop.
      
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      August 17, 2022 10:47am
- MCōs
  
  The voters are entitled to know the agenda of prospective councilors.
  We had a bloke last time in our ward who stood as a Communist and wanted the council run along the lines of Iran or some such. Of course he didn’t stand a show, but he put it out there.
  
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  August 17, 2022 10:22am
  - graham
    
    I agree with you, MCōs; I think it is only fair that we as voters are fully informed as to the agendas of ALL would-be council candidates.
    
    However … do you genuinely trust the so-called journalists at Stuff to report on all candidates in a neutral, unbiased way? To put aside their own prejudices, their own agendas, and simply report the facts?
    
    Because I sure as hell don’t. It honestly saddens me to say this, but I simply do not believe that I can trust Stuff to report such matters in an impartial, neutral way. And I don’t believe I’m alone in that view, which is a sorry indictment on the state of the media in this country.
    
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    August 17, 2022 11:05am
    - kowtow
      
      Not just the journalists .
      
      The so called academics too .
      
      Here’s a case in point on this subject.
      
      “Southern candidates failing to tell voters about links to a high-profile disinformation group could be “introducing a cancer that is going to undermine democracy”, a Dunedin academic says.”
      
      And “”We only have to look at the United States and elsewhere to see where this goes.
      
      “You start local and you invariably impact the democratic framework and firmament of an entire country.”
      
      https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/concern-candidates-not-being-upfront
      
      What’s all this about America ?
      
      Here in NZ labour were working on separatist , racist , ethno nationalism ,which they deliberately kept from their NZ First govt partners and from the electorate .
      
      And they locked us up using all manner of draconianism and were criticised in court.
      
      They are currently actively undermining one man one vote .
      
      Forget pointing the finger at fringe “extremists” , point the finger at the governing regime that is undermining our democratic framework and stop using the USA as an example , we have the danger here , in Labour and the Greens.
      
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      August 17, 2022 3:54pm
Ghost

Personally I’d rather get rid of the worst performing teachers first no matter what ethnic group they belong too. Oh well, what do e expect from the teachers union, they have caused so much damage to the USA education system.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/teachers-union-agreement-stipulating-white-teachers-laid-off-first-criticized-constitutionally-suspect

An agreement between the Minneapolis teachers union and the Minneapolis Public Schools which stipulates that White teachers will be laid off before teachers of color, regardless of their seniority, violates the Civil Rights Act, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, several critics warned.
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August 17, 2022 9:59am
Maggie Pie

Just so you know….

The totally corrupt FBI and DOJ never found jack shit at Trumpy’s house.
If they did we would have heard about before they even left Mar-a-Lago.
When the best they can come up with is finding a couple of passports hidden in Melania’s panties, you know they’ve got nothing!
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August 17, 2022 10:18am
- waripori
  
  I thought they left a receipt for fairly large numbers of documents with various classifications going up to stuff that is only supposed to be viewed in a special facility. They could hardly tell everyone what it was if it is classified.
  
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  August 17, 2022 10:48am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, nothing except perhaps a J Edgar type thrill.
  
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  August 17, 2022 11:26am
- Yvette
  
  Documents Taken From Trump’s Home Included Classified Material
  Items removed from Mar-a-Lago included files marked as top secret and meant to be viewed only in secure government facilities, according to a copy of the warrant. – Updated Aug. 13, 2022
  https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08/12/us/trump-news?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20220812&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=headline&regi_id=193993391&segment_id=101252&user_id=18db992a2930166e3341c48cd9a162c0 – probably subscription / paywalled
  
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  August 17, 2022 3:03pm
CAKE FACE1

#Bullygate got me thinking. I would like the opinions of kiwibloggers on this.

How much do you think the team of $55 million is worth to Labour in the polls?

In other words, how many percentage points lower would Labour poll if the team of $55 million were neutral?

Thoughts welcome.
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August 17, 2022 10:21am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Labour would be polling in the low 20s without the Jacindamania creation.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/336130/little-reveals-he-offered-to-hand-over-labour-leadership
  
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  August 17, 2022 12:10pm
- chuk
  
  I would like to think they would poll at least 10% lower if the team of $55 million were neutral and responsible i.e. holding power to account. I fear, though, the bedrock support of the wilfully ignorant may be greater than I’d expect.
  
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  August 17, 2022 1:48pm
- kowtow
  
  Without the Media Pardy Labour would be worth 25 % .
  
  And I think if you took climate catastrophism out of the Media , then perhaps another 5 % off that again.
  
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  August 17, 2022 4:05pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Let’s remember that Sharma hasn’t only accused Labour of bullying, he has specifically mentioned the partisan behaviour of Parliamentary Services, in particular, that of the Chief Executive and the Deputy Chief Executive.

The Parliamentary Service’s lack of accountability to both the MP and their constituents and the meddling of political parties in a triangular relationship where they end up being the fourth wheel is cause for much concern, in my view.

Clearly the relationship between The Speaker, Parliamentary Services and the Labour Party is an unholy alliance whereby there is an insane power balance against staff or “rogue” Labour MPs.

The above member-to-member and party-to-member bullying rampant in Parliament is – I believe – promoted and facilitated by this very organisation by working behind the scenes with the whips office, the offices of the leaders of various parties, along with the Office of the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister’s Office.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/opinion-labour-mp-dr-gaurav-sharma-blows-whistle-on-parliament-bullying-takes-aim-at-officials-party-whips/RJJT3YAPAVLKTZMWMECMKTJR2I/
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August 17, 2022 10:33am
- Paulus
  
  Remember Mallard is the boss of the Parliamentary Services.
  He leaves Parliament this week as our Ambassador to Ireland.
  Not sure what they have done to deserve that !
  
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  August 17, 2022 1:55pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Not quite Coventry but close enough!
    
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    August 17, 2022 7:31pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    That’ll learn them to beat us at rugby!
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:38pm
ClanMcleod

I’m heading out for a game of golf before the heavy rain gets here for the next 48. I think most people here know my position on the government response to covid and in particular, the failure of the vaccines.
I won’t make a comment about these 2 particular links. I’ll leave it for those who are interested to decide if they want to check them out.
They are yet more evidence of the failure of every aspect of this crumbling narrative, yet Ardern refuses to let this go. It is all she has left.

“iceland study shows 42% higher risk ratio for covid re-infection among the vaccinated”

The author points out that there may be some issues with aspects of the study, but that it is still useful.

https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/iceland-study-shows-42-higher-risk?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

This one covers a recent study from Thailand.

“Thailand study of young adults post jab showed nearly 30% with cardiovascular injuries”

https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/thailand-study-of-young-adults-post?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

As usual, anyone wishing to criticise the information, please do so but make sure it is rational and with supporting evidence. Please don’t resort to ad hominem. We are long past the time for reasoned and rational debate and discussion
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August 17, 2022 10:34am
ClanMcleod

Sorry, I had meant to post this first. A great interview with Jordan Peterson titled:

“The Importance of Being Ethical”

The interviewer asks him about Trudeau’s violent and aggressive response to the trucker protest in Ottawa which mirrored Ardern’s response to the Wellington protest.

He highlights a quote that Peterson had sent in support of the protesters.

“I’d like to commend all of you for your diligence and work – on accomplishing what you have accomplished under trying conditions – and also for keeping your heads in a way that’s been a mode for the entire world.”

He then shows a clip of Trudeau doing a Michael Wood. Lying, smearing and attacking the protesters. Calling them Nazis and violent extremists.

The interviewer asks how the discourse in a modern, liberal society can become so polarising.
that Peterson and Trudeau can look at the self same set of circumstances and come up with such different viewpoints. Peterson responds:

“Well he’s lying (Trudeau) and I’m not. I don’t believe that he ever says a word that’s true. It’s all stage acting. He’s crafted a persona. with a particular instrumental goal in mind, and everything is subservient to that.”

Substitute Canada for NZ, Trudeau for Ardern. They are ideological twins and of course, both come from the WEF Global Young Leader programme.

Interviewer asks why, what’s the motivation.
Peterson responds:

“the same as the goal of any narcissist……..to be accredited with moral virtue without doing the work needed to actually obtain it.”

That sums up Ardern superbly. For the person who asked what the definition of “gaslighting” earlier on. This is what we are being exposed to in NZ on a daily basis.

Right, out of here.
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August 17, 2022 10:49am
- Its only I
  
  “Vote for Jacinda Ardern!!
  I promise more moral virtue without doing the work needed to actually obtain it.”
  
  Labour election slogan.
  
  Vote Labour!
  Ya gullible Bint
  
  Another viable election slogan…
  
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  August 17, 2022 11:18am
CAKE FACE1

The CAKE take on #Bullygate is that it is very difficult to know if Dr Sharma’s allegations have merit.

All you can hope in these cases is that the investigations are fair and transparent.

In this case, the secret meetings et al look unfair. New Zealanders don’t like unfairness.

I expect the Sharma drama to roll on. Popcorn is at the ready…
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August 17, 2022 10:56am
waripori

The good Dr Sharma seems to have disappeared from Stuff. It is as though he never existed.
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August 17, 2022 10:59am
- Ghost
  
  More important things to report on, someone called Rita Ora is in New Zealand.
  
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  August 17, 2022 12:00pm
thirteenstars

Latest party support poll from the Taxpayers’ Union shows National down, ACT, Labour and Greens up with Maori holding the balance of power.

https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/taxpayers_union_curia_poll_august_2022

What a pickle for National should it come to pass. Because you know Maori wouldn’t have a bar of National unless THE issue was off the table, and National would be on the opposition benches for another three years should it stick to its already stated principle of rolling it all back.

Tricky things principles. But seriously, folks, would co-governance really be that bad? What would Luxon do?
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August 17, 2022 11:45am
- Tony Stuart
  
  It’s unlikely to come to pass. We’re still more than a year out from an election, and the economy hasn’t yet tanked, nor has inflation peaked.
  
  The OCR is likely to rise today by 50 basis points (0.5%), which will spike another round of interest rate rises. That’s going to hit people directly in the pocket. Although we are enjoying cheaper fuel prices just at the moment, the Northern Hemisphere is moving out of summer, and the demand for oil will increase as winter approaches, so the price will rise again. Labour is barely hanging on, and it won’t take much before the polls move again in National’s favour, especially after yesterday’s shenanigans. I still believe that, before the end of 2022, Labour will record a poll where the first number is a 2.
  
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  August 17, 2022 12:10pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    This poll has Labours hitjob on Uffindell, but no polling of the bullying and shafting of Sharma
    
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    August 17, 2022 12:35pm
    - Paulus
      
      I hope that Uffindell retains his fully elected seat, then at the election for the Consituance to decide.
      Who can say what they did or did not over 22 years ago.
      He is a father, and grown up with an excellent track record in life subsequent.
      Of course Ladies cannot bully at any time !
      
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      August 17, 2022 2:02pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    I’m surprised co-governance/3 waters was not raised as a major issue – I assume this is because the options were listed and people had to choose?
    
    Luxon now seems to be drifting in popularity.
    
    I still expect a further shift away from Labour over the next year.
    
    My preference would be to let Labour/Green form a government with the MP than for ACT/National to go into a coalition with them. Maybe ACT could rule it out prior to the election?
    
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    August 17, 2022 1:07pm
    - MCōs
      
      Few people vote on a single issue.
      I would say no matter how poorly a party is performing a certain percentage of the voters will still vote for them. For the two major parties maybe 15-20%, which means their major issue choice is irrelevant.
      For swing voters inflation, for example, may be a big issue, but law & order also. It seems only one can be stipulated for this poll.
      
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      August 17, 2022 3:51pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Well, this is what happens when we piss about with our vote, we have two choices, Luxon to become PM and a change for the better, or fiddle with our votes and have another three years of draconian dictatorial shafting
  
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  August 17, 2022 12:33pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    You really should find out how MMP works before posting stuff like this. It’s just plain wrong, unless you are referring to the votes cast for New Conservative, NZF or some other party that won’t make the threshold.
    It would be a mistake to assume all the votes would go to National if there were only two choices.
    
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    August 17, 2022 1:11pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      I know how MMP works ffs, but there will only be a choice of two for pm, party vote Act and electorate vote Nats if you are an act voter, that’s fine, but none of these fringe idiot parties will help get rid of Cindy, infact it will help her. Perhaps you should worry about your own opinion
      
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      August 17, 2022 1:50pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Two ticks yellow is the same as all those other parties, ACT will never win another seat outside Epsom
      
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      August 17, 2022 1:51pm
      - leoj
        
        National still need s a kick up the arse.
        
        Woke Luxon will never get my vote.
        
        Bishop is worse, if that’s possible.
        
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        August 17, 2022 5:58pm
  - Isobar
    
    I think this is also what happens when National choose to stage manage Policy.
    
    Right now they have given very little to the public as to why they deserve their vote…and what they have given has been retacted, amended or rehashed already.
    
    I think they are being a little bit arrogant, thinking they can coast to victory by doing very little. Its a dangerous game to play because and seems they are relying on external factors over the line such as Tony points out above, rather than doing anything to earn peoples votes.
    
    If it looks like National will not make it with out TPM’s help, especially as 2023 starts watch the vote switch back to Labour in an effort to keep TPM out.
    
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    August 17, 2022 1:18pm
    - kowtow
      
      You think people will vote labour to keep the Maoris out ?
      
      Then those voters are thicker than I thought they were .
      
      labour is essentially the Maori Party in drag .
      
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      August 17, 2022 5:49pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Nope, they will vote Nats to keep greens out
        
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        August 17, 2022 6:55pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Nats have said they will be releasing comprehensive policies late this year and next, why the hell don’t you give them the decency to wait till they deliver them
      
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      August 17, 2022 6:55pm
  - leoj
    
    The way the cowards hid behind each other during the protest, they are all an effing disgrace.
    
    It’s not much to choose from and the Nats are as spineless as Labour are poison.
    
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    August 17, 2022 6:01pm
- CAKE FACE1
  
  The power of the Team of $55 million is there for all to see…
  
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  August 17, 2022 1:53pm
- Surely Knott
  
  So where did the 3 points that National went go. Because Labour only went up .5. And Maori are down .2. Hardly a sign people want more co-governance. The group that went up most in this poll is *Other* – up 1.4 to 4.7%. So which small party got those extra votes – Conservatives, Freedom and rights coalition, or Democracy party? Shouldn’t they at least be named. Wasn’t the point of MMP that it would break the duopoly of the major parties and allow new parties to enter but we refuse to even name them in the polls.
  
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  August 17, 2022 3:05pm
Benedict Yu

Eric Crampton nails it: 🙂

“The few things not currently stupid and broken are being broken.”

http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2022/08/public-transport-and-getting-what-you.html
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August 17, 2022 11:47am
- cmm
  
  They could quickly halve the carbon output of the buses by just halving the number of buses.
  
  Here in Chch I watch the numbers of passengers on buses at various locations around town.
  
  I often see buses with zero or one passenger.
  I seldom see buses with more than three passengers.
  
  Clearly the buses just are not being used. Cut the numbers back.
  
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  August 17, 2022 2:25pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I confirm that – the cost per passenger must be amazing. I have seen a few with 10 passengers but usually 3 – 6 and often zero.
    
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    August 17, 2022 5:32pm
Harry Knuts

A year ago today the Labour govt put Auckland in a 4months lockdown – regional borders and all.
Months later Chippy admitted it was a wrong decision to do it for so long. Most of us knew it was wrong as soon as they extended it beyond the original 3weeks i think it was.
They only reneged on the 4mth lockdown so Cindy could have her summer festivals for Gayford and his DJ mates.
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August 17, 2022 12:02pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  I remember it well. Rumours started to circulate on Tuesday afternoon of a positive community case of the Delta variant in Auckland. Those rumours were confirmed on Tuesday evening, when the PM placed New Zealand into lockdown on the basis of ONE case of Delta.
  
  These days, Covid case numbers are in the thousands per day, and we barely blink. It’s time to return New Zealand to the green traffic light setting, and drop all remaining restrictions.
  
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  August 17, 2022 12:15pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    I guess they are keeping that lolly for closer to the election.
    
    10 0
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    August 17, 2022 1:13pm
    - Paulus
      
      All Student loans cancelled.
      Yea!
      
      7 0
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      August 17, 2022 2:03pm
  - Harry Knuts
    
    Novel idea, how about we remove the traffic light system or any such system as it’s a pointless system nowadays anyway.
    
    12 1
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    August 17, 2022 1:15pm
  - JimBobJoe
    
    Green Traffic Light? Just scrap the whole thing Tony. Just scrap it completely and restore normalcy to NZ.
    
    But as its political I suspect it will only be scrapped when it can do Labour the most good.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:54pm
- Ghost
  
  The true crime of these lockdowns were empty hospitals with no Covid in the community not allowed to carry out elective surgeries. How many people have died and been left in long term suffering because of this incompetent bunch of bleep bleep bleeps
  
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  August 17, 2022 12:49pm
  - Harry Knuts
    
    They won’t publish those figures. It would be our greatest shame as a nation if we really knew those figures.
    Also they’ve re-word daily deaths to now as Covid a contributing factor as opposed to died of covid for 2 years now. That term alone was misleading.
    
    12 1
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    August 17, 2022 1:17pm
    - Batman
      
      They actually changed it to “died from covid” last month.
      
      Did you miss that?
      
      4 13
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      August 17, 2022 1:29pm
      - Ghost
        
        Died from or contributory cause to death.
        
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        August 17, 2022 2:06pm
      - Harry Knuts
        
        ok – i was 50% right and so were you – neither was wrong. You really need to tone down your anger Batman. you can correct me without such negativity. Remember this is debate, not an anger management session.
        
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        August 17, 2022 3:05pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Keep trusting the state Batman. They’ll keep you safe from those hobgoblins. 🙂
        
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        August 17, 2022 7:28pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Labour’s cock-up over Dr Sharma

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-labours-handling-of-sharma-saga-has-been-atrocious/
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August 17, 2022 12:36pm
Maggy Wassilieff

NZ Labour …

shabby, uncool, unkind, shifty and cruel

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/early-edition/opinion/kate-hawkesby-labour-caucus-meeting-behind-sharmas-back-is-downright-mean/
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August 17, 2022 12:41pm
Maggie Pie

Time for a MonkeyPox up-date….

The NYT has just published an article about gay porn-star Silver Steele, who has gone public with a series of disturbing selfies revealing how severe lesions took over his face.

https://trib.al/BYJsmno

I guess it’s not hard to imagine what he’s been up to of course 😛
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August 17, 2022 12:46pm
- Harry Knuts
  
  Let’s hope he got paid alot of danger money in these monkey pox times. 🙂
  
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  August 17, 2022 1:19pm
- Frank the tank
  
  Hasn’t it got a new woke name now. Looks like he’s a ‘picker’ as well
  
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  August 17, 2022 1:35pm
- kevn
  
  @Maggie… Deeply flawed self promotion gone wrong.
  
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  August 17, 2022 2:11pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Simple to not catch to gorillapox.
  Don’t soak the cork.
  Featuring Janet Jackson:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Deqx-Xb-yHY
  
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  August 17, 2022 4:18pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  Give up on the ‘I am a rich white woman and I don’t like gay men’.
  
  Your homophobic entitlement is insufferable.
  
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  August 17, 2022 6:26pm
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Sorry Benedict, much as we like your usually sensible comments, we agree with Maggie Pie on that one.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:19pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  It’s a blurter disease
  
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  August 17, 2022 6:58pm
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/reading-block-nzs-falling-literacy-crisis-why-our-kids-cant-read/T2PTURNRSNURR26WCCAJLIFSEA/

The collapse of our education system will make the covid epidemic look mild by comparison, but people won’t even know why their standard of living is so bad. Even today, we ask why our houses are so expensive instead of the correct question which is to ask why our incomes are so low.

I can’t understand why successive governments haven’t addressed the widening educational achievement gap between NZ and other western countries.
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August 17, 2022 2:10pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Reasons:
  1/ 3 year electoral horizon, who gives a shit about structural long term problems that they are not addressing. The most important function of recent govt is virtue signalling tweets.
  2/ terrified of calling out toxic Maori culture and it’s tolerance of destructive behaviour and failure for fear of being called racist.
  3/ lack of care or concern for the personal misery they are creating and long term destruction of NZ they are guaranteeing through enabling baby-farming and not demanding basic educational standards be met. ‘kindness’ is actually cruelly destructive as they manufacture a doomed and miserable illiterate welfare class.
  
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  August 17, 2022 5:19pm
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Upticks x100 if I was allowed.
    
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    August 17, 2022 9:21pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Nice work if you can get it (and do nuffin”)

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300663895/13000aweek-te-pkenga-boss-stephen-town-resigns
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August 17, 2022 2:32pm
- Harry Knuts
  
  Makes you wonder how he sleeps at night knowing he was paid as a public servant on the tax payer dime yet on a special personal leave for months on full pay. He must have very thick skin.
  
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  August 17, 2022 3:08pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Town is the epitome of the shiny arsed, public bureaucrat career trougher. I met him in the early 90s. He hasn’t changed a bit.
  He’s bailing before the excrement hits the oscillation. Good riddance to the loser.
  
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  August 18, 2022 2:14am
Surely Knott

Reds under the bed. The communist blacklist “involved the practice of denying employment to entertainment industry professionals believed to be or to have been Communists or sympathizers.”

In 2022 NZ mainstream media are now ringing around local body candidates asking them if they are associated with VFF. No other questions on candidates policies or background. No discussion of their beliefs on vaccination. Just asking if they are associated with VFF. The msm are claiming that VFF are “infiltrating politics” in the same way that the hollywood elite hunted for communists and tried to blacklist them from the industry. Disgraceful.
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August 17, 2022 3:29pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Let’s make sure it backfires on them resoundingly. Find out who these candidates are and support them.
  
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  August 18, 2022 2:16am
Lance

You couldn’t make this shit up
Cindy talks to the MSM about Gaurav Sharma at a kindy/ primary school classroom visit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMB5ZAxKJSI
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August 17, 2022 3:46pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  How very, very professional of her.
  
  I do hope that all the employment matters have been resolved.
  
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  August 17, 2022 3:48pm
- Inandout
  
  Lance, Kindy is Jacinda’s linus blanket.
  
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  August 17, 2022 3:51pm
- Ghost
  
  In defence of jacinda, kindy is where she does some of her best finger paintings.
  
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  August 17, 2022 5:39pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  The comments are gold! I see they turned off the “dislike” button. lol
  
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  August 18, 2022 2:37am
Yvette

Te Pūkenga chief executive Stephen Town resigns
Town had been on personal leave from his job which pays up to $13,000 a week.

MP Sharma is trashed on national television
Why is there not the slightest clue as to what Town’s problem is so taxpayers and students can understand the supposed amalgamation of polytechnics, institutes of technology and Industry Training Organisations by 1 January, in view of that, and a $100 million deficit
.
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August 17, 2022 3:52pm
Maggie Pie

Andy Murray’s mum has just tweeted a few of us at the Tennis Club….

https://twitter.com/JudyMurray/status/1559629888965017600
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August 17, 2022 3:52pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  I doubt that.
  
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  August 17, 2022 6:23pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

The FBI in US are corrupt!
Steve calling Batman, come in Batman 🙂
https://libertyonenews.com/confirmed-at-least-20-undercover-fbi-and-atf-were-embedded-at-capitol-on-jan-6/?
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August 17, 2022 4:27pm
CAKE FACE1

The entire Team of $55 million have now completely stopped reporting on the Dr Sharma drama.

It is spooky…
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August 17, 2022 4:27pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  That control thing runs deep in the tentacles – straight from the top
  
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  August 17, 2022 4:54pm
- kevn
  
  @Cake… nek minit Sharmas social media will have an issue/block/delete.
  He will be dissed.
  
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  August 17, 2022 4:56pm
- Ghost
  
  There’s been a few articles today, but nothing much
  
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  August 17, 2022 5:07pm
DimChappie

Ardern embraced Dr Sharma after maiden speech detailing racist allegations while training. Did she not say she has never spoken to him?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/124183678/new-mp-reveals-death-threats-racism-from-top-paediatric-surgeon-in-maiden-speech?fbclid=IwAR3C71PjPPmoxa4IcfJBwYU1ztX2dNeb-bD8U13w0w4MYmxyNP6uPZm533I
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August 17, 2022 4:51pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  “Sharma attended Auckland Grammar school, where he graduated as the Proxime Accessit, before going on to study medicine at Auckland University. ”
  
  This guy is no dummy.
  
  No.. Jacinda said that she had not spoken to him about the current drama. She did not say that she had NEVER spoken to him.
  
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  August 17, 2022 5:04pm
  - leoj
    
    Dumb enough to become a member of the Labour party……
    
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    August 17, 2022 6:05pm
  - Warren
    
    The headlines are Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister hasn’t heard from Gaurav Sharma after his suspension.
    Well if Jacinda Ardern wants to make a fuss of this she hasn’t learnt anything and her skills in people management need to be addressed, for fucks sake who does Jacinda Ardern think she is you can’t keep slagging people off and expect them to toe the line especially when it was her job to meet him and hear his concerns.
    Somehow whether she likes it or not her arrogance is bewildering as as Prime Minister she needs to take stock and get lessons on people management as he is not a piece of crap like she has made out and the way he has been treated along with his concerns is nothing short plain arrogance.
    https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics
    Like the Parliament Protesters on mandates the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern shows total ignorance in not wanting to meet with Gaurav Sharma to hear his views on being bullied, again it seems the Prime Minister is always right.
    
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    August 17, 2022 7:08pm
kevn

@Dim… That’s inconvenient. An image/embrace even. Virtue signal classic.
Just more… lies folks.
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August 17, 2022 4:59pm
Benedict Yu

Just hear the Auckland mayor candidate Efeso Collins interviewed on the radio. Rambling about how he is going to get Auckland folk to ride bikes instead of drive cars.

He is worse than Phil Goff.

How is it plausible that such a fool could be the mayor of Auckland?
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August 17, 2022 5:07pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  He has a bicycle of course. All the way from way out west to the Auckland Council desk he will sit at – then stop the deskwork at 1pm for the bicycle ride home to way out west.
  Maybe….
  
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  August 17, 2022 5:17pm
  - Surely Knott
    
    Efeso’s south not west. There used to be a brand new green certified multi story state of the art council building in West Auckland where a west mayor could commute to work. It was adjacent to the train station and housed Auckland Transport but they didn’t like Henderson and the commute was too long on train so they bought minivans for their staff so they didn’t have to use the trains. But they didn’t like that either so they moved to rent new waterfront offices.
    
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    August 17, 2022 6:28pm
- kevn
  
  @BY… Yep, tradies and dressed up laptop toting office folk are going to love that option.
  Another wood for brains bod.
  
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  August 17, 2022 6:14pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I visited an ‘Adventure Park’ on the weekend. Hundreds of folks with mountain bikes. Families with a bike each – probably at $4K each. All transported to the ‘Adventure Park’ on the back of large SUVs.
    
    Cycling is booming, but as a recreation.
    
    Christchurch Council is spending $20 million on a cycleway to get people to cycle to the airport. The whole thing has become a cult.
    
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    August 17, 2022 6:19pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Honestly – and it pains me to say this – he came across as a literal idiot. How is it possible that he is a leading candidate for mayor? The woman doing the interview – Heather du Plessis-Allan – cut him to bits 🙂
    
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    August 17, 2022 6:22pm
    - ClanMcleod
      
      That’s because he is a literal idiot. You can’t polish a turd, no matter how hard you try.
      
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      August 18, 2022 2:42am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    *Fade to Black*
    
    The city, it seems, will fade away
    Drifting further, every day
    We will lose the will to live
    Simply nothing more to give.
    
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    August 17, 2022 6:28pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

A known liar never talked with Gaurav Sharma?
Must have been a silent hug.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/124183678/new-mp-reveals-death-threats-racism-from-top-paediatric-surgeon-in-maiden-speech?
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August 17, 2022 5:12pm
- Ghost
  
  she never said she has never talked to him, but hasn’t talked to him about the claims he has raised.
  
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  August 17, 2022 5:38pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Ahhhhh, right. Everything she says has to be broken down and deciphered.
    
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    August 18, 2022 8:52am
fernglas

Tell me, Kiwis. Is this ongoing media obsession with Covid a genuine reflection of public concern, or is it just some of the 122 journalists, who were supported into non-existent jobs by a Government bribe, trying desperately to justify their continued employment? I see that the Government is now saying that the money was dished out to support the media through Covid, but given that it actually created jobs, it seems that it was more to build up a cadre of pro-Government and pro-fear cheerleaders. Or has no-one in the media pointed that out yet?
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August 17, 2022 5:23pm
DimChappie

Mmm, the article suggests Sharma might be prone to exaggeration. I still wish him well in damaging Labour of course.
“When I was at university a prominent paediatric surgeon bullied me for months and said ‘’You people come to our country. I will kill you and ruin your career”.
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August 17, 2022 5:32pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  I agree – that seems totally odd. It sounds like a comment from a meth addict, not a ‘prominent surgeon’.
  
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  August 17, 2022 6:39pm
  - Aunty
    
    Sadly, bullying is rife in the medical community. Particularly by senior medical doctors i.e., consultant surgeons and registrars of junior doctors. The hospitals, the medical schools, and the medical profession are trying to clean it up, but the comments by Sharma are entirely credible.
    
    Having said all of that, Sharma does comes across to me as being a bit thin skinned. It’s not that he needs to harden up, but that he needs to learn to not take everything quite so personally.
    
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    August 17, 2022 6:56pm
greybeard

NZRFU realises that to sack Foster would mean a multi-million dollar payout so they take the easy ( and wrong ) option.
Is Foster really the BEST RUGBY COACH in NZ, or is he simply the person chosen by most of the NZRFU board, for whatever reason ?
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August 17, 2022 6:19pm
- JimBobJoe
  
  Sir G Henry anointed Foster (chaired the selection committee that initial appointed Fozzie).
  
  No one on the board wants to go against that.
  
  The money to pay him out is obviously an issue at the rumoured multi-millions for the whole coaching staff, but his performance is terrible as AB Head Coach.
  
  Money wasn’t an issue to sack two of Fozzies Assistants, so why is it for Foster and the rest?
  
  The AB Head Coach should be on a 2 month notice period. Performance should be the yard stick and if its not good enough the notice should be given. If the contract is not written in that manner then the NZRU need their heads read.
  
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  August 17, 2022 8:47pm
  - MCōs
    
    What happens if some other bugger takes over, Razor for example, and results don’t improve?
    I remember when the Robbie Deans was going to be the next big thing.
    Except he was was rejected by NZR, went to Oz and they did no good.
    
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    August 17, 2022 10:00pm
Aunty

It appears that the Ukrainians have struck another ammunition depot deep inside the Russian-occupied Crimea. It would appear that the Ukrainians now have weapons that have got some considerable range and with high accuracy to boot, and they are making the most of them too. Trained in their use by any of our boys and girls I wonder? Either way, this doesn’t bode well for the Russians in the coming months, and the West has yet to fire a shot!

https://twitter.com/trbrtc/status/1559687759522062338
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August 17, 2022 6:44pm
Benedict Yu

https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/129589285/why-has-this-4m-house-on-wellingtons-oriental-parade-been-empty-for-17-years

Answer – it is nobody’s business except that of the owner unless the owner is breaking any laws.
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August 17, 2022 7:16pm
NZer In Exile

A great interview on how to build a country’s wealth and prosperity (even when surrounded by enemies that are committed to destroying you). Many lessons in there.

Ben Shapiro (Daily Wire) interviews Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/sunday-special/ep-130-benjamin-natanyahu

A huge contrast to the immature and ignorant clowns now flailing about in the halls of NZ’s parliament.
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August 17, 2022 7:20pm
Maggie Pie

A bestie tweets…

“Anyone else interested in Cindy’s travel-diary for the next 4 months?”

https://twitter.com/DavisAndrew88/status/1559761935117451264

#GetEmWhilstTheyreYoung 😀
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August 17, 2022 7:52pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  Clown.
  
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  August 17, 2022 7:56pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Vachina.
    
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    August 17, 2022 8:56pm
Ghost

Looks like Tauranga is just doing what other councils have already been doing

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/08/tauranga-scheme-cuts-waste-going-to-landfill-in-half-in-just-12-months.html
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August 17, 2022 8:36pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Agreed. We in Lower Hutt have had all those colour-coded bins for about 18 months and they work very well.
  
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  August 17, 2022 9:27pm
Alex

Ukrainians are giving as good as they get from the Russians. Crimea Ammunition supply is the way to go. Putins Army is not like the Soviet Army. I bet Putin sues for peace pretending he has achieved what he Came for in the Donbas. No he Came for the whole of Ukraine thought it would be a pushover.
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August 18, 2022 12:59am
Alex

Jacinda always visits children when in a kindness crises as she is with Sharma.
It just won’t do, she is the Joesph Goebell’s of propaganda with her Communication degree from Waikato .
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August 18, 2022 1:23am