General Debate 17 July 2023

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Warren

Nationals $500 million to fix New Zealander’s problem of potholes
David Parker and Labour blaming National for the state of our roads especially potholes saying the National Party created the current problem after it froze maintenance when it was in office nearly six years ago.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/national-to-make-major-road-transport-announcement-with-chris-luxon-and-simeon-brown/FGCCGHOOAZGZ7PKMF5BT7UUJE4/
This is definitely the pot calling the kettle after all the money Labour has swiped out of the Covid-19 fund, Transport fund and many others and the continues to blame the opposition for there inability to fix many problems.
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July 17, 2023 8:00am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Julie Ann Genter says the potholes are caused by climate change. And National is to blame because they won’t fix climate change.
  
  No I am not making that up.
  
  https://twitter.com/JulieAnneGenter
  
  She is also condemning National for planning to cancel “proven road safety initiatives”.
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:24am
  - hullkiwi
    
    The best thing that we could all do is, cancel listening to Julie-Ann Genter. She of the waste of money spend in the Dome Valley, or the failures of the policy “Let’s Get Wellington Moving” or the Road to Zero programme.
    
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    July 17, 2023 8:29am
  - Tricati
    
    Surely fixing potholes is a primary safety issue and hearing Swarbrick say on TV that slowing vehicles down would reduce road damage. What nonsense, as slowing a vehicle down doesn’t change it’s weight and loading on the road.
    The transport money diverted into meaningless ad campaigns and bloody cycleways would have probably covered re-sealing thousands of miles of roads.
    
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    July 17, 2023 8:35am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      She is a road engineer you know.
      The Romans taught her.//
      
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      July 17, 2023 8:46am
      - Sparrow
        
        Steve You need to apologise to the Romans. Some of their roads still exist.
        
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        July 17, 2023 9:17am
      - slightlyrighty
        
        Hummph….
        
        What have the Romans ever done for us!
        
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        July 17, 2023 9:56am
    - Paulus
      
      My tyre after hitting a pothole in Tauranga is costing me $210 to repair.
      
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      July 17, 2023 9:45am
      - Kiwiguy
        
        My BIL needed a new tyre, new rim, rebuilt steering rack, and some other suspension/steering repair – all from hitting a pothole on SH1.
        It’s beyond belief, and it’s all 100% on Labour’s head. Their diversion of the road tax to their ideological pet BS projects has caused the roads to end up in this state.
        
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        July 17, 2023 11:18am
      - softail 1450
        
        Slightlyrighty,
        Lamborghini
        Ferrari,
        Maserati,
        De Tamaso,
        Pininfarina,
        Pagani,
        Alfa Romeo,
        Bugatti,
        and many more automotive works of art that are recognized by more people than the Italian Masters of yesteryear.
        
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        July 17, 2023 3:43pm
      - Local Miller
        
        Remember hitting a pothole can also set your wheel alignment out, so it could potentially cost more.
        
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        July 17, 2023 4:31pm
    - miltonF
      
      Actually, higher speeds tend to reduce the weight of the vehicle on the road. Cars tend to want to “take off” like planes at higher speeds. This is why sports cars have spoilers. To convert drag into downward force to increase friction and keep the car on the road. Spoilers are essentially reverse wings.
      
      Then there is the time factor. Faster travelling vehicles spend less time on the road. So the road is exposed to the vehicles weight for less time.
      
      Everyone has got the physics of this upside down. Honestly, we need more focus on physics education in NZ.
      
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      July 17, 2023 4:16pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I don’t think she is all there.
    The asphalt used for creating those silly speed humps each side of pedestrian crossings (which are also a speed hump) could be used to fill potholes, but no, Councils and Waka Coathanger know better.
    
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    July 17, 2023 8:44am
    - pdm
      
      Steve – at a cost of $330,000 per speed hump according to Chri Luxon earlier this morning.
      
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      July 17, 2023 8:47am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        What are they using in place of asphalt?
        Or maybe it is 4 trucks with buffers on them, 500 road cones, 5 road cone placers, 5 road cone distance measurers, 5 road cone inspectors, 8 lollypop sign holders. Machinery rental (compactors) Where do I stop?
        
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        July 17, 2023 8:53am
  - Bloody Dago
    
    Why are we paying all this carbon tax if they can’t fix the weather? Just mouthy lefties hating an a wrecking our country in the name of their Marxist Deity
    
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    July 17, 2023 2:41pm
- Burtland
  
  Corin Dann interviewed Simeon Brown on Red Radio this morning over this
  – Dann suggested that the potholes were from global warming.
  Dann has gone from being a creditable business reporter to a woke moron.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018898642/national-to-create-pothole-repair-fund
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:31am
  - David Garrett
    
    Burt: I didn’t think you could be serious…so I wasted 10 minutes of my valuable time to hear that Dann indeed blames the weather, and in turn climate change, for potholes.
    
    I agree: He has become a woke moron.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:01am
    - john1234
      
      Corin Dann was always a lefty. Liam Dann is the sensible one.
      
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      July 17, 2023 10:02am
  - burt
    
    He didn’t think to blame EVs which are on average 33% heavier than ICE cars and pay no road taxes?
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:20am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      That would be logical, reasonable, balanced and fair.
      
      So, no.
      
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      July 17, 2023 2:01pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Here’s Corrin Dann trying to screw Simeon Brown down for 7mins about how National will fund the Pothole scheme.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018898642/national-to-create-pothole-repair-fund
  
  When have we ever heard a RNZ journo trying to get a Labour Cabinet Minister to justify their wasteful spending?
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:03am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    RNZ need their money supply cut. They are a waste of space now.
    
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    July 17, 2023 1:15pm
  - softail 1450
    
    Maggy, what a greasy labour loving soy boy he is , there must be a European trip coming up for the PM that he wants a 1st class ticket on 😶
    
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    July 17, 2023 3:54pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

I was going to write something droll about Kiri Allen being sent to the naughty corner and being given special support on her return to the office today – just like you do with the disruptive child in New Entrants – but when I went to two of our ‘major’ MSM outlets, neither of them had the story, that I could find.

The MSM, eh – still running interference for their paymasters.
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July 17, 2023 8:00am
- pdm
  
  Bollocks – who do you think will be the lucky person that mentors Allen.
  
  Probably only H1 or H2 would have the courage to take her on.
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:23am
  - My
    
    Kiri has been around a while, she has a law degree, worked for ChenPalmer, been a Minister since 2020.
    She should have figured things out by now.
    If she is such a bully or bunny that she needs a mentor, she shouldn’t be in Parliament.
    
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    July 17, 2023 8:35am
    - rouppe
      
      Been a lawyer, huh?
      
      Want there a big #MeToo thing with lawyers and how they treated staff?
      
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      July 17, 2023 8:43am
    - artemisia
      
      Doesn’t matter who the mentor is, or even if there is one. The goal is to get Kiri Allan off the front page and off the viral social media.
      
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      July 17, 2023 9:00am
    - Bobba Fret
      
      I she needs mentoring at this stage, then she was never qualified to be in the position in the first place.
      
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      July 17, 2023 10:26am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      She might be a bully and a bunny. She certainly seems like a bunny-boiler after all the latest relationship shenanigans.
      
      I guess even if you’re a high-ranked cabinet Minister, with immense power and a massive pay packet, people still won’t be prepared to put up with her shit.
      
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      July 17, 2023 2:05pm
  - Prince
    
    I wonder whether anyone will take up her offer of a one-on-one if they feel they have been bullied.
    Classic from the playbook of any bully – if anyone has a problem, comes and see me in private and I’ll sort them out.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:23am
  - Paulus
    
    Doubt that neither H1 or H2 will touch Allen.
    She remains toxic.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:47am
- Nickc2
  
  Ah, but now she has to wear L Plates and have a Seeing Dog in attendance until she loses her seat at the next election.
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:39am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I don’t think she will lose her seat.
    
    The National Candidate is pretty invisible here on the East Coast.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:06am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      There are other dance partners though, Maggy.
      
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      July 17, 2023 2:07pm
  - Kiwiguy
    
    L for Loser?
    
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    July 17, 2023 11:18am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  In my 50 years working for the same Company, I learnt one thing – Do not take your problems to work. It is not fair on other workers to put up with your shit.
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:57am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    50 years and you only learned one thing, Steve?
    
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    July 17, 2023 2:07pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      One thing in relation to NeverMindTheBollocks.
      Come watch me work one day – oh sorry, Company had to close.
      I could teach you to weld (even old school stick weld), fabricate, spay paint, vehicle mechanics, etc. Do you know about setting a crownwheel and pinion toe and heel in a differential?
      So I did learn one thing – on shitloads of topics!
      Gave you an uptick for triggering me, LOL 🙂
      
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      July 17, 2023 4:21pm
      - Opie
        
        Steve Otto
        
        “Do you know about setting a crownwheel and pinion toe and heel in a differential?”
        
        One of the darker arts I practice.. doubt there would be many others on here.
        
        Whats scary is how many newly “qualified” technicians (cant call them mechanics anymore) don’t know how to do this.
        
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        July 17, 2023 7:41pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Yes Opie. They are assemblers. Mechanical knowledge is zilch.
        
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        July 18, 2023 7:49am
Right of way is Way of Right

Perhaps instead of Labour saying ‘In It For You’, we should ask ‘Is It In Yet’, because they’ve been trying to screw us for 6 years, but refuse to acknowledge that they actually did it!
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July 17, 2023 8:04am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Fucking New Zealand over big time.
  This is the sixth time and people still vote for them!
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:59am
- leoj
  
  Chippy really means: “We’ve got it in for you.”
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:42am
  - kowtow
    
    “We’ve dropped you in it”.
    
    Innit.
    
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    July 17, 2023 10:13am
    - KH
      
      In it for who?
      
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      July 17, 2023 12:41pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Their ideological mates (extremist twits). That’s all.
        
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        July 17, 2023 1:16pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    If it is ‘in’ take it out! No more breeding Labour voters!
    
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    July 17, 2023 5:03pm
- NZL Fusion
  
  In you for it… fixed.
  
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  July 17, 2023 10:09pm
Kiwiguy

Stuff up to their usual tricks of censoring the comments section:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/fifa-womens-world-cup-2023/132553073/fifa-womens-world-cup-jacinda-ardern-surprises-football-ferns-at-training

This article above had a bunch more comments slamming HRH Jacinda, but they got mysteriously deleted.

Also the comments in this article promptly went against the govt, so Stuff quickly closed the comments section:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/132547885/damien-grant-what-labours-wealth-tax-plan-tells-us-about-our-leaders

But the upticks tell the story – I feel the tide has turned against Labour quite markedly now. If the Stuff comments are anti-Labour, then they must be truly toast!
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July 17, 2023 8:06am
- kowtow
  
  Perhaps Paula Penfold could do a fluff and flaffy self described “doco” on media dis and misinformation ……..
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:24am
- David Garrett
  
  Kiwi: I get tired of repeating this here…the polls still show Labour at 30%+…when they are 25% or below I just might start thinking the election is a foregone conclusion…At present, it is an eternity in political terms before we get the chance to throw them out.
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:04am
  - Kiwiguy
    
    I agree with you David.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:48am
  - john1234
    
    Be wary of recent polls with no “undecided” option. They force apathetic voters to select something and you can imagine what end of the spectrum apathetic voters are likely to occupy. Labour will be in the twenties on election day. Take that to the bank.
    
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    July 17, 2023 10:10am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      I think you are onto something there!
      
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      July 17, 2023 1:40pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    I get tired of repeating it here, there and everywhere – there’s only one poll that counts!
    
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    July 17, 2023 2:09pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Ardern is not news full stop.
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:09am
  - Bloody Dago
    
    This is news in the last hour –
    @larry smith healthier than famine
    The Legacy
    @The Enforcer @EnforcerMatt BREAKING: 145th Pillar of the Kerch Strait Bridge has been destroyed, taking out the road bridge in that area in its entirety. – Sergey Aksyonov
    
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    July 17, 2023 2:57pm
  - Drone
    
    Steve, Jacinda Ardern is a fame hog, she will travel the world looking for selfie opportunities, probably at your cost..
    
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    July 17, 2023 4:30pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Your cost Drone, I am retired. Oh wait ……
      
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      July 17, 2023 5:00pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

I don’t thing crazy Joe is really behind this, the Pentagon warmongers are.

https://valiantnews.com/2023/07/biden-mobilizes-us-military-to-russian-border/
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July 17, 2023 8:07am
- Wayne Mapp
  
  Did you actually read the article? It is actually a pretty standard NATO deployment to countries like Poland and the Baltics. For last 15 years NATO has been doing this, basically ever since the Russian invasion of Georgia. I wold thought it would be obvious to you why NATO might want to bolster its forces in the eastern NATO countries.
  Even your beloved Trump didn’t stop doing that.
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:25am
  - Simon
    
    “basically ever since the Russian invasion of Georgia.”
    
    Garbage. NATO started boxing in Russia early on after end of Cold War. BALTOPS, Cold War military exercise for eg has been running since 1993 with Baltic states.
    
    Anyway both Clown World govt & Russia govt are benefitting from this stupid war. Putin getting his jollies as well as US govt. NZ govt pukes are now joining NATO. Sick stupid fucks.
    
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    July 17, 2023 8:44am
  - David Garrett
    
    Wayne M: Not often I uptick you Wayne, but today…
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:05am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Wayne, I will give you half a tick.
    Could not resist a dig at Trump could you? When Trump wins in 2024 he will not pull out of NATO, but he will bring funding down to a level of other Countries funding. US should not be funding NATO to the tune of over $700B.
    Ridiculous.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:18am
  - Nukuleka
    
    It’s interesting that you feel the need to insert the casual nastiness of ‘even your beloved Trump’ into your argument, Wayne. As a former government minister you love to assume a high- minded, condescending attitude towards us lesser plebs but in reality you still play in the gutter.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:26am
    - Wayne Mapp
      
      “casual nastiness”‘ seriously?
      Anyone who reads Steve’s comments about Donald Trump would know that in Steve’s view, Trump can do no wrong.
      
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      July 17, 2023 1:50pm
      - Nickc2
        
        That’s also what the Blue Rinse Grannies thought about Cindy and AFIK a lot of them still do.
        
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        July 17, 2023 2:03pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Biden can do no wrong either. He is protecting his crackhead son way above US Policy.
        You could just ignore me Mapp, and I could do the same.
        Somehow my comments trigger you.
        Your move sunshine…..
        
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        July 17, 2023 5:09pm
    - Ghost
      
      No nastiness in it, do you need time out in your safe space?
      
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      July 17, 2023 4:56pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      [Mod – stop calling people trolls]
      
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      July 17, 2023 5:22pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    I read the article, and especially this (hint – it’s in the first paragraph):
    
    “With the exception of Obama and Trump-era deployments to fight pandemics, every callup of Individual Ready Reserve troops going back to the First Gulf War has either been to support wartime efforts or has immediately preceded a U.S. invasion.”
    
    But it’s probably just routine….
    
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    July 17, 2023 2:15pm
  - blue collar
    
    Trump is a legend 😁
    
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    July 17, 2023 4:51pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      That is ‘trolling’ 🙂
      
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      July 17, 2023 5:38pm
- Grunter
  
  It’s only 3,000 so not significant in the overall scheme of things.
  Of more significance is the dire situation at the front line where 1,000’s are being slaughtered everyday. It sounds as horrible as the WW1 trenches.
  As expected, none of the NATO initiatives are working, and they are now down to their last stockpiles of conventional ammo and of course cluster bombs. Hopefully this comes to it’s predictable end very soon and the carnage of young men can stop.
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:20am
  - virtualmark
    
    ?
    
    Ukraine is implementing a standard “battlefield conditioning” strategy, where you start by degrading your opponents key assets (like artillery, ammunition, logistics bases etc).
    
    That strategy is *much* harder when you don’t have air superiority or a large amount of attack aircraft. So it’s slow-ish going so far. But if you keep a watch on the daily Russian losses (for example here’s yesterday’s … https://twitter.com/Rebel44CZ/status/1680681102770405377) you’ll see that Ukraine is steadily degrading Russia’s ability to fight back.
    
    Meanwhile Ukraine hasn’t yet committed the majority of its Western-equipped and Western-trained brigades. Ukraine is currently probing the Russian lines at 4 main points in the 60km to the east of Zaporizhzhia. If you look at the maps, those 4 points appear to be chosen because on the Russian side there’s no quick road access between the 4 points … so if 1 gives way then it will be difficult for the Russians to relocate reserves from one point to the other.
    
    Personally I expect Ukraine will be able to break through to the Sea of Azov coast somewhere between Melitopol and Berdyansk, and that it will happen much like Hemingway’s famous quote on bankruptcy … “Gradually, then suddenly”.
    
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    July 17, 2023 2:29pm
    - Grunter
      
      Virtualmaerk – may be you’re correct, neither of us really know for sure, all we can do is follow some commentators and think critically about what has unfolded. But I would have thought if you have no air attack, and you are about to run out of ammo on the ground (both facts stated by NATO) then how do you break through? May be NATO are bluffing and they have a secrete stash of aircraft and ammo?? (Really….!?)
      But if you are right, then that means the carnage has barely started, which makes this even worse. And then of course the Ruskies really only have the choice of surrender and be taken over by the west, or start dropping nukes…… I can’t see them ever throwing in the towel
      
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      July 17, 2023 3:42pm
      - blue collar
        
        Could always do the old let the centre give way , hold a retreating line ….. suck em in n then encircle n massacre em .
        Lure em in 100-200kms …… then bring the wings in .
        
        I got offered to be a general by both sides , but whitebait season coming up so turned em down
        
        Same with the all blacks , told em to let razor hv it , too busy building the elephant jockeys moon lander .
        
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        July 17, 2023 4:59pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Presumably the Ukraine initiative has two goals.
        
        Goal 1 = Squeeze the front line till it shatters. It’s a bit like a rugby scrum, where you’re just raising the pressure on the same point until it breaks. Or, in Ukraine’s case, on 4 points until any 1 of them breaks.
        
        Goal 2 = Once it breaks, advance faster than the defence can regroup. Which is that “conditioning”. Basically creating the conditions for the defensive fallback to be slow and ineffective … through degrading logistics, communications, reserve forces that are at depth etc. This is where Ukraine’s western equipped/trained brigades will be being held back in reserve, to quickly swing to whichever point in the front line shatters first.
        
        The cluster artillery shells are the rational weapon for Goal 1. To clear a trenched area with standard artillery vs cluster shells is like a 10:1 ratio … basically standard artillery has a limited direct blast radius against trenches, but cluster munitions spread, fall vertically, and destroy a much wider area (“steel rain”). Which is why they were developed.
        
        Meanwhile HIMARS etc is the rational weapon for Goal 2, because it can hit things that are 50-70km behind the lines. But Ukraine now has multiple options for accurately hitting things anywhere from 25-100km behind the lines.
        
        I suspect we’ll see slow progress over the first 5-10km of depth, and then a complete unravelling as the pace of advance then outstrips the speed the defenders can fall back. That would be the basic strategy/experience dating back to the end of WWI.
        
        Yes, there will be carnage. But Russia can stop the carnage at any time by withdrawing from Ukraine.
        
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        July 17, 2023 5:06pm
Maggie Pie

What do you think of this ‘TV Commercial’ from about thirty years ago?

https://twitter.com/historyinmemes/status/1581255329639124993

(full screen/sound up)
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July 17, 2023 8:16am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Use condoms, but they didn’t. Now the little shits are in the Labour Party, doing the same!
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:20am
- NZer In Exile
  
  Deranged ad people hating on men and boys?
  
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  July 17, 2023 1:45pm
Tony Stuart

Can you imagine Dr Ayesha Verrall doing this? Here’s a clue as to why Dr Shane Reti could become our best Health Minister ever, if National becomes the government in October:

Over three months, National’s health spokesperson shadowed medics after hours around the country. He tells investigations editor Alex Spence it confirmed his belief our emergency medical system is at a critical point.

One night last month, Dr Shane Reti’s phone was lighting up with messages from contacts at Waikato Hospital, where the emergency department was even busier than usual.

“Truly shocking,” one staffer told National’s health spokesperson. “Staff under extreme pressure and a tsunami of patients. Nowhere for them to be seen and no beds in wards for them either.”

“Expecting someone to die here today,” said another.

Reti – the MP for Northland, a practising GP and the likely health minister if the National Party returns to government after October’s general election – was already particularly concerned about overcrowding at Waikato’s ED. He had seen it himself in early March.

“I wanted to see what the after-hours provision was like,” Reti said.

Between Waitangi Day and Easter, Reti says he went on 19 night shifts with Hato Hone St John Ambulance crews to get a close-up look at our embattled after-hours acute medical services.

“I wanted to see what the after-hours provision was like,” Reti says. In three months, he shadowed ambulance crews in almost all of the former district health board territories, which took him inside almost all of the country’s emergency departments at some of their busiest times. Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand, the national health organisation that operates the public hospitals, says it did not know Reti was coming.

The exercise confirmed his belief that our acute medical system, and particularly hospital EDs, are reaching a critical point, Reti says.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/i-have-never-seen-an-ed-that-busy-what-nationals-shane-reti-saw-when-he-rode-at-night-with-19-ambulance-crews/6CVYQYXTZJGJLALACBB4NJ6MQY/

Unsurprisingly, The Herald has placed this story behind its paywall which is a real pity. In the run-up to the election, it’s a piece that should be read widely because it shows just how Dr Reti’s mind ticks over.

He’s not afraid to do hands-on health. During parliamentary recesses, he goes back and works in his Whangarei practice, partly because it keeps his medical registration current, but also because it keeps him in touch with the health system and the problems patients are having accessing it.

I’ve met Dr Reti a number of times and he is a humble bloke, a deep thinker, and someone who wants the best health outcomes for every New Zealander. He is a fantastic asset for National and for New Zealand.
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July 17, 2023 8:21am
- kevn
  
  Great guy, I have had some email correspondence with him. Always replies.
  It is a bit sad that he was a c19 jab enthusiast. He will have regrets there.
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:34am
  - peterwn
    
    Perhaps the jab opponents got it wrong. He knows a damn sight more about these things than the opponents.
    He was actually such an enthusiast that he helped out with jabbing at weekends.
    
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    July 17, 2023 11:23am
    - mawm
      
      Peter – does he? You know that for a fact?
      
      Most doctors take the line fed to them. There are very few who have taken a look at what the vaccines are really doing. These doctors have followed the research that fails “peer review” because it is against the narrative, listened to deplatformed experts (real experts) in virology, epidemiology and vaccinology and their warnings, followed the brave few pathologists who are doing autopsies and reporting their findings (again not being published in the bought and paid for major medical journals), and looked at the details those tireless statisticians who are pursuing OIA’s on government held (and hidden) data have published, know far more. Also they do not need to follow the party (Luxon) line which is contrary to all the accumulated evidence on all these measures that were forced on us, and still insist that what was done is good.
      
      If and when Reti has a a cogent discussion on all these facts I will not rate him on his medical knowledge but rather as just another politician toeing the Luxon line.
      
      Here’s a video interview with Ed Dowd who is an ex Wall St analyst talking about American and UK government data on disabilities in employed persons. Have a look at the simple graphs and draw you own conclusions. The UK ones are very interesting as they are broken down into systems affected eg haematological, etc.
      
      https://rumble.com/v2zz64c-ed-dowd-they-cant-run-from-this-data.html
      
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      July 17, 2023 1:18pm
    - kevn
      
      peter… Yes, indeed, that was back then.
      I’ll bet you anything he (and anyone who can read) isn’t into the c19 jabbing any more.
      
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      July 17, 2023 3:01pm
    - kevn
      
      Peter… Indeed, that was back then.
      You can bet that Reti is not c19 jabbing now, along with anyone who can read.
      
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      July 17, 2023 3:11pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  When he returned to NZ he was at Harvard in some v high position and they begged him to stay. He said no and came home.
  
  Someone who got to the top without any help..
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:38am
  - pdm
    
    ft – but but he is Maori. He should not have been able to reach the top on his own – he should have had:
    * wrap around support.
    * swathes of taxpayers money.
    * counselling on the disastrous affects of colonialism.
    * etc etc etc etc
    
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    July 17, 2023 8:52am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Correct. When he told his boss he was returning to New Zealand to seek the Whangarei nomination, he was offered a significant increase in salary to stay at Harvard. Money wasn’t the motivation though.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:33am
- Ian Boag
  
  Suggestions invited about how will he sort this ED problem.
  
  Setting targets seems to be the KB solution …. it’s pretty simple to observe that more resources will have to be magicked up. From someplace else in the hospital …
  
  Triaging ED patients off to the $90 after-hours GP service (that’s all we have in Palmy) doesn’t help much when said service also has waits of several hours.
  
  All a bit hard.
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:40am
  - Simon
    
    “Suggestions invited about how will he sort this ED problem”
    
    Cant be fixed. At best National can manage the decline. NZ has too many Vit d deficient fat fucks.
    
    The research published today in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, shows the population mean BMI increased from 26.4kg/m2 in 1997 to 28.3kg/m2 in 2015. If current trends continue, New Zealand’s average BMI will exceed the obesity threshold of 30kg/m2 by the early 2030s.
    
    https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago690496.html#:~:text=The%20research%20published%20today%20in,2%20by%20the%20early%202030s.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:03am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Hugh Jarse will be along for a chat shortly.//
      
      9 1
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      July 17, 2023 9:44am
    - crackle
      
      Expect an announcement declaring the bmi measurement racist and the subsequent adjustment will solve the problem entirely.
      
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      July 17, 2023 10:29am
    - blue collar
      
      BMI is a crock of shit .
      
      I know so many muscly , solid blokes who are all apparently obese .
      
      Load of crap
      
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      July 17, 2023 5:03pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I know one, from my work. Around 34 age, he could grab me and just throw mw to the wall. Sometimes so strong he had tendon problems.
        
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        July 17, 2023 5:35pm
  - cmm
    
    “To measure is to know”: Lord Kelvin.
    
    First you’ve got to measure things properly.
    Then you have to determine what is good enough (ie. set goals) and formulate plans and monitor how things are progressing.
    
    A “plan” without goals is a dream – not a plan.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:06am
    - Matt Long
      
      Sad that Boag, who appears to be a former university lecturer never studied how to achieve outcomes, perhaps he even had the potential to have a positive influence in the lives of students. What a missed opportunity.
      
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      July 17, 2023 10:05am
      - Ian Boag
        
        I was a uni teacher from 1975 to 1991 …. Getting personal is your best shot?
        
        3 9
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        July 17, 2023 11:14am
    - Matt Long
      
      Well Ian you’re pouring scorn on people for suggesting goal setting is important, as you’ve done many times before, if the current people in health had been taught how to set and achieve goals at university we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now with health; because there is no focus there is massive waste.
      
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      July 17, 2023 12:44pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    You could write him and ask.
    Then share what he said.
    Or is all this a ‘bit hard’ for a Troll like you?
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:07am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Silly me. I sort of expected that there would be KBers with some ideas about what might be done …. 🙁
      
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      July 17, 2023 9:21am
      - blue collar
        
        It’s easy . Use sex .
        
        Advertise intensely with hot nurses / or teachers for that matter . Blokes will sign up .
        
        Used to be a ratio of 7 Sheila’s to one bloke
        at teachers college .
        Nursing can’t be much different
        
        Sex sells .
        
        Get the men in there ! Boost numbers !
        
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        July 17, 2023 5:08pm
  - RoboRob
    
    If by more resources your mean ‘money’, the current crew has already proven that doesn’t work.
    
    If we were to look at the health system now vs 6yrs ago, it is obvious a return the the prior norm is what is required. The primary changes in the health system under Labour appear to be 1) removal of targets and 2) Restructure of the governance system to a single national body, 3) the cancellation of 500 staff (C19 vax refusal) and border policies that removed doctors and nurses.
    
    #2 is nearing completion, so the negative impacts of a focus on restructure rather than services should be nearing an end.
    
    #3 Sacking 500 staff was beyond stupid. There was no proof that the vax stopped the spread of covid. What is worse, the risk of catching covid or dying of cancer becuase there are no nurses / doctors to see you.
    
    100s of medical staff left the country during covid becuase the govt shut down the immigration process and those staff were locked in limbo. At the same time they actively prevented medical staff coming to he country.
    
    #1 Is business school 101. Your implication that targets are silly and wont fix the issues is misplaced. It is standard business practice to set goals, determine targets that while achieve the goals and then measure.
    
    Look again at Labours 3 changes in the health system and tell us what caused the issues we now have?
    
    So the fix is actually simple but will take some time to flow through. a) targets / measure and goals. b) move focus to health (see targets) from restructuring, c) sensible immigration policies.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:12am
    - Ian Boag
      
      determine targets that will achieve the goals
      
      I think you meant “implement changes” rather than “determine targets”. I was just curious about what these changes might look like.
      
      Hopefully the ED wait time problem could be fixed without costing any more money.
      
      From where I sit, this is a supply (of services) and demand (from people in ED) problem. So to fix it here needs to be either more service (extra staff) or less demand (turn people away).
      
      Perhaps there is something else …. ?
      
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      July 17, 2023 9:31am
      - Ghost
        
        When our ED was redeveloped they had the idea of having a GP in there for non emergency cases, built the room for it, but it never went any further.
        
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        July 17, 2023 9:39am
      - RoboRob
        
        I don’t work in hospitals so I am not placed to talk specific changes, The managers that we pay big $ to are. It is their job to find improvements that will reduce work loads and improve turn around. With no targets they are not focused on this stuff.
        
        I will say that there are likely MANY things that can be done without any additional resources. You really are locked into a lefty mindset Ian, money isn’t the solution to all woes 🙂 Surely the last 6yrs have highlighted this?
        
        An example. I had a sick child, he needed a medical cert for an NCEA exam. He wouldn’t have normally gone to a doctor for this sort of bug but the school insisted. The doctors refused to issue a cert without a physical visit to a doctor (not a nurse). The next slot was a week away. I pointed out he would be well by then. They insisted. So we booked a slot, took him in, paid our money (and so did the govt). In the meantime someone actually sick, didn’t get seen.
        
        Another example. Friend needed butterfly stitches. Sat in ER for 5hrs waiting to be seen. Once seen the stiches took 2 mins. If the ER had had a nurse pop around and check with people they could have funnelled him immediately to someone and freed up a space.
        
        Simple changes make big differences, but you need to be looking for them. I bet there are 1000s of medical professionals with simple ideas that could make a massive difference.
        
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        July 17, 2023 10:04am
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        [Mod – debate what is said without the personal jabs] It’s a “supply and demand” issue. You have forsaken the great levellers when you are dealing with Labour. Efficiency and productivity. First thing that needs to be done is sort out exactly, that’s EXACTLY what the issue(s) are. Measure what individual people are currently doing. Can it be done more efficiently? If it is done more efficiently, where will that leave us in terms of queue time, number of operations undertaken etc. Then you have discussions about staff numbers. That is why having a goal, and a system of measuring progress toward the goal and goal achievement is always important. Labour’s view is throw money at everything, enough is not being spent! And look what we have. A crocked health system, a crocked law and order system, a crocket education system and a crocked transport system. All in the space of 6 years. Even though we have spent billions more than ever before.
        
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        July 17, 2023 1:01pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    A few years ago, if you were feeling sick you made an appointment with your GP and paid a consultation fee.
    Now you go to the hospital because the expectation and demand is that you will be treated for free.
    How many of the presentations at ED’s this last weekend were real emergencies requiring life saving treatment?
    Or could 90% of them been treated by a practice nurse or local doctor, or even a pharmacist?
    Which would have to be paid for, admittedly.
    If you want free treatment for a cut or bruise, maybe you should expect to have to wait.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:13am
    - kowtow
      
      Not to mention the huge number of eminently preventable conditions that wold result from sensible lifestyle choices .
      
      Childhood admissions / surgery in NZ , a bigly one is tooth decay !
      
      The obesity emergency probably contributes more negatives to the planet than the made up climate one !
      
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      July 17, 2023 10:45am
      - Handyman
        
        Victims of obesity (fat people) are the biggest weight (figuratively and literally on the health system.
        
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        July 17, 2023 11:00am
      - Gravelroad
        
        “Basic dental care is free in New Zealand for children from birth until they turn 18. Enrol your child as early as possible and keep taking them for regular dental check-ups. “ Min of Health.
        So please advise why children are requiring surgery/hospital care for tooth decay.
        Some parents/caregivers need to up their game or maybe lose some of their benefit money – init.
        
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        July 17, 2023 11:22am
      - wsk12345
        
        @ gravelroad – they need surgery as with all the sugar kids have their teeth rot fast and removal is under general anesthetiser.
        
        My first niece grew up on muesli bars and a bottle of milk at bedtime as a toddler still. She had a heap of teeth taken out under GA in the hospital.
        
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        July 17, 2023 11:46am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Maybe apologise and ask the mandated healthcare workers if they would please come back and it might take some of the pressure off the system.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:16am
    - Ghost
      
      They’re well and truly gone, I know one that moved to Ireland to work, didn’t need to get vaccinated to do it.
      
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      July 17, 2023 9:27am
      - RoboRob
        
        Yup. I would assume that nearly 100% of those people, so poorly treated, would be un interested in returing to work. Especaily for this government.
        
        Likely they also received a lot of flack from fellow workmates for being ‘crazies’.
        
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        July 17, 2023 10:09am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        RoboRob,
        
        We know who the crazies are. They are still there and still wearing masks!
        
        8 2
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        July 17, 2023 10:23am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        It was sort of a rhetorical question. I have quite a few friends who were mandated out of their jobs. Not very happy people, now just trying to get on with their lives as best they can.
        
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        July 17, 2023 12:43pm
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    Not sure if you have had a proffesional life before, Ian, but in business a common expression is, “what is measured gets managed”.
    Measurements and targets and reporting are CRITICAL around ensuring resources are targeted correctly, used correctly, demonstrated to have been spent, as well as any insights that might come from (another professional term) continuous improvement.
    Your comment is so puerile, since setting targets does not mean ‘magicking up more resources’ at all. It is around re-prioritisation and less waste.
    Stay in school, sonny.
    
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    July 17, 2023 10:14am
    - kowtow
      
      I reckon he was just trolling.
      
      4 3
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      July 17, 2023 10:46am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Or as James Juran (the father of quality control) said
      
      – to control something three things are needed
      
      – you need to know what you should be doing
      – you need to know what you are doing
      – you need a way to effect change
      
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      July 17, 2023 12:46pm
  - artemisia
    
    A suggestion. Bring in one expert in efficiency and root cause analysis. Let them loose in one ED. Give them a couple of weeks. See what they come up with.
    
    (Root cause analysis because good to know the right problem is being addressed. One of my bosses used to say – the answer to a problem is never ‘add more resource’.)
    
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    July 17, 2023 10:14am
    - wsk12345
      
      Every government department should be doing this. It used to be a key part of developing policy – the problem definition. Sadly few are capable of digging deep to define the actual problem rather than the superficial indicator.
      
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      July 17, 2023 11:49am
  - rjay
    
    Ian. I once was involved with a DHB when targets were in place. Lack of resources didn’t help as there will always be a demand for more health. However we saw that other DHBs were achieving improvements. Getting efficiencies in the wards helped the ED admit people. Efficiencies like full staffing, proper allocation of duties, shifting staff from quiet wards to busy wards, use of technology to access patient info and heaps more. We also worked with the primary care sector. We could, because we knew our local community providers. It took time but we got to the 95% mark. Within budget.
    
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    July 17, 2023 11:31am
  - mawm
    
    Ian – in reply to your wanting suggestions.
    
    Firstly one has to collect the data and see where the major problems lie.
    
    – Could it be that we are experiencing more disease? This has been suggested from other countries’ data. Where is ours?
    
    – Is it the surge in population that 400 000 immigrants have contributed to? Or diseases they have brought with them?
    
    – It it staff shortages or poor morale? Wrong mix of specialists?
    
    – Is it poor systems to manage our ED? Poor flow of patients?
    
    – Are there insufficient hospital beds/theatres to move the the assessed patients into the appropriate ward/theatre.
    
    I suspect that it is all of the above but we need to identify precisely what is going on and only then can suggestions be made on how to solve the problem. It is probably useless to employ more nurses when one needs more surgeons, etc.
    
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    July 17, 2023 1:38pm
- Lummox
  
  Would Willie Jackson call him the wrong sort of Maori?
  
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  July 17, 2023 10:11am
igm

“[Alleged]” Give us a break with this bullshit . . . “Offenders”!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300929008/man-run-over-by-his-own-car-as-intruders-flee-burglary
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July 17, 2023 8:23am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

https://roccistuccishow.com/environmental-protester-glues-his-hand-to-the-pavement-must-be-rescued-by-firefighters/

Chop the hand off, he won’t do it again. No sympathy for these attention seekers.
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July 17, 2023 8:25am
- Inandout
  
  SO, yet another pothole.
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:39am
hullkiwi

National pledge a policy of $500mill and a commitment to reduce average fix time for reported potholes to 24 hours.

Parker’s response, when National lifted the funding freeze (because the cupboard was bare in 2008 – something to do with the GFC, and the Chch earthquake) is National were not spending fast enough 2014 to 2017.

He claims the government has been catching up, that is BS.

I know for a fact (because I was told by AT’s Chief Engineer for Road Corridor Maintenance) that even before the storm events of Jan/Feb, that over 20% of Auckland’s roads were 5 years or more over due for repair and resealing. This was because AT management and Auckland Council were diverting funds for other transport bling.

What is needed is prioritisation of transport needs (ie a proper strategy) for now and the future.
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July 17, 2023 8:26am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Parker is an idiot. All quick to blame but says nothing about what he would do as our new Transport Minister. (On the idiot box this morning.)
  
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  July 17, 2023 10:30am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Yes, I saw.
    
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    July 17, 2023 10:47am
Maggie Pie

Lots of leaks from the 9th floor that Kieran McAnnulty is doing his numbers.

Anyone?
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July 17, 2023 8:26am
- hmmokrightitis
  
  He can count????
  
  I live and learn 😛
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:34am
  - pdm
    
    hmm – might only need fingers and toes after the election.
    
    That should help him.
    
    23 0
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    July 17, 2023 8:54am
    - Matt Long
      
      Wouldn’t need more than fingers at present.
      
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      July 17, 2023 10:10am
  - RightFirstTime
    
    Didn’t McAnulty used to work as a bookie at the TAB? Not that that means he can count….Anyway if he strikes any problems he can always consult with Ginny. She must be getting close to counting to 1800 by now.
    
    7 0
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    July 17, 2023 11:59am
- RoboRob
  
  Remedial math?
  
  9 0
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  July 17, 2023 9:16am
  - burt
    
    Cabbage math.
    
    6 0
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    July 17, 2023 10:11am
- RoboRob
  
  Whats he doing his numbers for, a leadership challange or just whether he will make it back in post election?
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:17am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Wonder if he is using that roving decimal point?
  
  5 1
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  July 17, 2023 10:32am
- kowtow
  
  McAnutly.
  
  4 3
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  July 17, 2023 10:49am
- rouppe
  
  To roll Hipkins?
  
  He’s not what I’d call inspiring
  
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  July 17, 2023 12:36pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Will folks in NZ be distracted from the key issues in the next few months?

Unless a top-down revolution is stopped in its tracks at the very next election, the chances of rolling it back at some point in the future are reduced to something very close to zero.

https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/chris-trotter-make-or-break
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July 17, 2023 8:33am
- Taieri
  
  the chances of rolling it back at some point in the future are reduced to something very close to zero.
  —————
  
  Many changes implemented in the last 5 years or so are already irreversible.
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:41am
Maggy Wassilieff

It has taken a long time for some folks in the environmental movement to wake up about the reality behind ETS schemes.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/is-the-ets-really-working-for-the-planet

It may be too late to convince most of the Green suckas tho’.
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July 17, 2023 8:49am
- Albert_Ross
  
  This article is not about “the reality behind ETS schemes”. It is about problems caused by the detail of how emissions trading is being implemented in one sector. Those can, and should, be fixed without ditching the entire concept of emissions trading.
  
  “Most of the green suckas” don’t have the faintest understanding of how ETS actually works. If they did, they wouldn’t support such schemes as the EV rebate or claim that installing cycle lanes will help to address climate change. They would understand that all such activity will do, is to ensure that the same amount of emissions reduction is achieved at far greater expense.
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:38am
  - kowtow
    
    I’d suggest most people don’t understand how sun and planetry cycles , wobbles and various other discombobulations affect the climate and perhaps if we did we wouldn’t be in such a funk.
    
    16 1
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    July 17, 2023 10:51am
KH

In it for who ?
As the Government got bigger, the people got poorer.
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July 17, 2023 8:51am
Maggie Pie

Had to be one of the the worst kept secrets in Auckland when that old sexual deviant SIR James Wallace was arrested for sex-crimes against young men.

Interesting also that he was able to obtain 89 letters of support from so called ‘high-profile-New-Zealanders’ to present to the Judge, all of which played a role in his sentence being reduced by 30%.

What were they thinking?
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July 17, 2023 8:51am
- Blackbob
  
  Only 30% discount!? man! he got the book thrown at him didn’t he!
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:05am
  - RoboRob
    
    Was about to post that. Isn’t a 30% discount the absolute minimum you can get.
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:19am
    - Gravelroad
      
      No “cultural report” then?
      
      18 0
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      July 17, 2023 9:57am
      - RoboRob
        
        Might have been white. Apparently white people dont have cultures.
        
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        July 17, 2023 10:12am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  You could go around the arts funding bureaucracy in Wellington and round up fifty people who, collectively, have done less for the arts world than Sir James Wallace.
  The Wallace Gallery in Morrinsville is like an oasis in a desert.
  I first met Sir James twenty years ago. I quickly realised that he was a gentleman to be treated courteously and respectfully, whilst also acknowledging that he was a man whom I would not want to deal with in a one on one manner.
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:48am
  - Matt Long
    
    The best thing that could be done for the arts is to take it’s funding out of the hands of government apparatchiks and put it on a commercial footing where the people determine what is art.
    
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    July 17, 2023 10:18am
  - Surely Knott
    
    Morrinsville – Sir James Wallace, Jacinda Ardern and Dr John Money?!?!? Good grief, what a legacy
    
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    July 17, 2023 10:57am
  - Surely Knott
    
    Morrinsville – Sir James Wallace, Jacinda Ardern and Dr John Money?!?! Good Grief what a legacy.
    
    No informed consent, medical experimentation. Money a bit of an art donor too.
    
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    July 17, 2023 11:05am
- Biscuit
  
  I’m too idle to check, Maggie, but were those 89 letter-writers named anywhere?
  
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  July 17, 2023 10:29am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Actually Bikkie, I came across them in the ‘Gay Express’ 😛
    
    https://gayexpress.co.nz/2023/07/nz-herald-reveals-prominent-names-that-supported-james-wallace/
    
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    July 17, 2023 11:09am
    - Biscuit
      
      I’d never criticise your reading habits, Maggie.
      
      Hell, on my desk at I type is a women’s mag from the Queen’s Funeral that my partner has borrowed from a friend!
      
      I’m from the Desiderata line of thinking:
      ‘Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.’
      
      I linked to that article:
      
      Wallace apparently sought out
      ‘over 100 individuals and organisations’ for testimonials.
      
      The article says ’89 individuals, including actors, writers, artists, musicians, academics, and political figures’ responded.
      
      But, curiously, only 7 individuals get named even though the Judge gave permission for the Herald to reveal identities.
      
      The other 82 were somewhat less brave to stand up for their pal in public. Lemme guess, some more ‘We’ll seek name suppression!’ at work…
      
      The Judge should have insisted on the letters being published in full in his judgement.
      
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      July 17, 2023 11:56am
- artemisia
  
  He wasn’t short of a bob, so why not just pay for it?
  
  The answer is probably ego.
  
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  July 17, 2023 11:51am
  - rouppe
    
    He is paying for it
    
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    July 17, 2023 12:39pm
Gravelroad

A cautious Ms Ardern venturing out again – with child in tow.
Wouldn’t mind betting this is a “testing the water of public interest” exercise.
Would Ms Ardern’s presence and profile be an asset or a risk to the Labour Party’s election campaign?
Let’s find out by spinning her out to a few public events.
If she is well received, she could be useful “in it for you.”
If people take no notice or are hostile, she’s out of the mix as a vote catcher.
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July 17, 2023 9:01am
- David Garrett
  
  Gravel: Any news of the celebrity wedding of the century which sadly had to be cancelled by Covid??
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:12am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Havn’t you been reading the Woman’s Weekly?
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:22am
- RoboRob
  
  Likely she plans some sort of media gig and is testing the waters. Perhaps she wants to do a ‘Megan and Harry’ thing but wants to be sure it aint going to flop. (I suspect bad news for her on that front)
  
  Perhaps the talk ciruit is already at an end and ‘her talents’ aren’t in demand. Hell even her hubby is struggling and doning ‘shows’ on trucking houses.
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:22am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Comments turned off in the article, I wonder why? //
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:28am
- Ruahine
  
  She is in it for herself.
  
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  July 17, 2023 10:52am
Maggie Pie

And looks like Trumpy might have hit a raw nerve 😀

“Hunter Biden threatens The Donald with a ‘cease & desist’ letter”……

https://www.rt.com/news/579762-hunter-biden-trump-cease-desist/
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July 17, 2023 9:07am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, does the ‘recovering’ addict not realise that court cases involve bringing forth all kinds of defence material that may well expose Hunter’s leisure time in the White House?
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:27am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  ““THEY 100% KNOW WHO IT IS,” Trump wrote regarding the cocaine culprit”
  The Whitehouse Press Secretary even lied about where the Bidens were.
  
  https://libertyresolve.com/icymi-white-house-cocaine-lies-blown-wide-open/
  Comment by Dan Bongino:
  “There’s absolutely ZERO chance anyone other than a family member brought that cocaine inside the White House complex.”
  Bongino is former Police, then Secret Service Agent in the Whitehouse. He knows the layout and the high level security.
  
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  July 17, 2023 11:04am
  - mawm
    
    The SS by saying they can’t find whose it is are telling us whose it is.
    
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    July 17, 2023 1:45pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Yes! The Teflon rules!
      
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      July 17, 2023 5:41pm
Jack5

The joint Labour-National agreement that allowed “housing intensification” has come back to bite National. How stupid of National to join Labour in the move that increasingly looks to have gone wrong.

The national fire-fighting organisation, FENZ, says more intense housing allowed by Labour’s “Townhouse Bill” that was supported by National has led to fire danger. Allegedly ignored wereadvice by FENZ and concern of the Building Research Association.

Radio NZ says today that FENZ had since highlilghted a Manukau fire where four houses close together were badly damaged as firefighters struggled to get down a long driveway and get enough water to them.

Insurance industry ears listening to RNZ today would have pricked up.

In October 2021, National’s then-leader, Judith Collins claimed joint support for the housing intensification changes was a victory for National (second link below).

Labour’s Megan Woods, the relevant Minister, didn’t get advice on fire risks:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/493835/minister-did-not-get-advice-on-fire-risks-to-intensive-housing-oia-shows

Collins’s “Victory for National”:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/labour-and-national-join-forces-for-housing-crisis-fix-ending-decades-of-standoff/Z27M7UF7QFO4RMLNR7UQBQERZI/
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July 17, 2023 9:14am
- RoboRob
  
  FENZ might be right BUT to claim recent fires are becuase of a policy that was only announced a couple of years ago is a damn long bow. I suspect the # of new houses under that policy is incredibly small.
  
  I actually agree with the intent of the policy, just not its implimentation. We need more dense housing as part of the solution to housing prices. Councils are skilled at implimenting rules that slow or block dense developments. The policy aims to remove councils from the equation. It just went too far.
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:29am
- Albert_Ross
  
  OK, so you don’t like intensification. Are you willing instead to see the continuation of housing unaffordability, or the loss of more agricultural land and native bush?
  
  Gotta pick one, because you can’t avoid all three. You can avoid any two of them, but it has to be at the expense of the third.
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:42am
  - Jack5
    
    Albert, I don’t see that native bush has much relevance to the issue.
    
    Also, not all land around our cities is top agricultural grade. Less than 45 per cent of New Zealand’s land area is agricultural.
    
    My point is that it was obvious moving to intensification as pushed by Labour was going to be controversial.
    
    National’s joint housing deal with Labour was announced in October 2021 by then-leader Judith Collins and then-housing spokesperson Nicola Willis.
    
    Fire fighters are pointing out the danger of restricted access to some of the resultant housing. If this causes or contributes to tragedy, there will be a lot of anger.
    
    Then there is the problem of off-street car parking, which becomes a bigger issue with the need for charging facilities for electric cars.
    
    Chris Bishop is doing an admirable job in extracting National from the policy, or at least mitigating National’s part in it.
    
    But Collins and Willis need not have backed Labour.
    
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    July 17, 2023 10:49am
- surfing
  
  You raise a good point… as usual, government makes law changes without considering the deeper details and ramifications.
  
  With in-fill housing and intensification, has government updated environmental laws to cope with people living more closely? Not at all, the RMA remains unchanged . The RMA is poorly written as is.
  
  I shudder to think how some of the people that wrote the RMA were able to obtain a law degree. People who would seek remedy from council often cannot because of the unclear language in the RMA. Parts of it are like an incomplete school assignment.
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:44am
- hullkiwi
  
  Jack5, this is a Labour/RNZ hit job on National. National did work with Labour to get a common housing policy, but National walked away from the agreement 6 weeks ago. This was because the agreement in the hands of the current government will not deliver improved housing outcomes.
  
  So, Labour do a hit job on National, but it is clear from the OIA, that Minister Woods did not do the relevant checking with officials employed to advise Ministers. So, who is really at fault here?
  
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  July 17, 2023 10:44am
surfing

Should I feel guilty about not caring that vape shops are getting hit by ram raiders?

Kills three birds with one stone…the vape shop , identifies up and coming crims for the police database, and exposes Labour for supporting crime in our community.

But I accept that vape shops are legal and have a right to trade , just don’t like them 🙂
But, I suppose vapes are legal
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July 17, 2023 9:37am
Chuck Bird

Great tennis even if it cost $40 at the TAB. Good I am retired so I can have an afternoon nap.
7 2
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July 17, 2023 9:43am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Most of us do, even if it is 30 minutes!
  
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  July 17, 2023 11:14am
Benedict Yu

Golriz Ghahraman is promoting this defamatory tweet from some Green activist.

“This is so grim. By now, nobody can pretend that voting for National / Act isn’t endorsing the most openly white supremacist govt of my lifetime“

https://twitter.com/A_G_Hawkins/status/1678588566904115200?t=dZq3pVqzFbRHw-GurXLpNA&s=19

These people just lose their minds.
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July 17, 2023 9:56am
- Taieri
  
  These people just lose their minds
  —————
  
  Have they ever had them in the first place?
  
  The “green activist” in question is a former Dunedin Mayor.
  
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  July 17, 2023 10:32am
- Jack5
  
  Is this the Aaron Hawkins, the Greenie who was mayor of Dunedin? The Aaron Hawkins, who, then a Dunedin City Councillor, attacked as racist the dairy industry’s Gypsy Day? (The day when share-milkers change farms.)
  
  Golriz should take care when she’s attacking what she sees as white racism issues.
  
  Golriz is an ethnic Iranian. The very name “Iran” means land of the Aryans, and Iranians – or Persians as they were traditionally known – have a mutually racist divide from Arabs.
  
  https://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011%2F10%2F09%2F170927
  
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  July 17, 2023 11:24am
  - KH
    
    Aaron Hawkins was indeed Mayor of Dunedin. Was surprised when he was not re-elected, and dumbfounded at the landside vote against him. It was truely huge.
    Not somebody who is in touch.
    
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    July 17, 2023 12:34pm
    - Libertarians are right
      
      I wonder if he, as someone heavily involved in Leftist Dunedin politics knows who shot Jack Brazil and who was in the car with him (which Brazil refuses to tell the cops).
      
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      July 17, 2023 1:28pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/help-us-get-the-remuera-to-re-instate-our-bookings/

Remuers Club’s cohones are probably in someone’s purse.
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July 17, 2023 9:59am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  A job for Maggie Pie. Can you fix it please?
  
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  July 17, 2023 10:00am
  - David Garrett
    
    It would help if whoever drafted those “suggested messages” had proof read his work first…It may I think be assumed that the persons at the Remuera Club are literate…
    
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    July 17, 2023 11:26am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Not sure who writes the posts DG. Sometimes he does I think, other times the author mentions Julian.
      
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      July 17, 2023 12:11pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Remuera Club have an automated reply to FB Messages.
  Hi, thanks for contacting us. We’ve received your message and appreciate your getting in touch.
  
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  July 17, 2023 10:15am
Maggie Pie

I see where Cindy’s handler Klaus Schwabb is trending again on Twitter……

https://twitter.com/iluminatibot/status/1680245903595126788

Over 3 million views in a day!
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July 17, 2023 10:01am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  [Mod – steve everyone has to use correct names, you too please] probably thinks the 3 million views are because of her!
  
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  December 17, 2022 12:13pm
  - Grunter
    
    I always get moderated with “[please use her correct name]”…..?? Discrimination? Do I start crying now….??? Favoritism Steve?
    
    [Mod – thank you for bringing it to my attention]
    
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    July 17, 2023 4:02pm
Hugh Jarse

I was just reflecting that the 81% left wing media have had six years of benevolence under a left wing government and have revelled in it. Due to their advocacy for this government and largely ignoring their cock-ups and incompetence they are now about to start a nine to twelve year stint under a right wing government. Who knows may be longer when the true damage has been assessed. Sucks to be them !
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July 17, 2023 10:25am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  A six year old will be able to vote in 12 years.
  The Teachers are filling their heads with Marxist shit right now.
  
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  July 17, 2023 11:22am
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    Yes that’s true, but on the flip side 18 year olds who voted for Cindy in 2020 with be in their mid 30’s and have had a huge reality check about socialism trying to bring up a couple of young’s kids with a stonking mortgage while the country tries to recover from the aftermath of this useless government.
    
    “Labour In it for whatever they can get out of it”
    
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    July 17, 2023 12:09pm
mogg

Jane Birkin of the swinging sixties, and the Birkin bag has just died, 76 yrs. She had the voice and face of an angel. I am fairly sure that Maggie’s Catholic Church at one point banned her for being too sexy.
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July 17, 2023 10:27am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Luv my Birkin. Bought it from the Hermes Store in Sydney 2016.
  Still sitting in my closet in its original packing. A fab investment.
  Luckily I was able to charm my way past the old dude at Customs 😎
  
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  July 17, 2023 10:59am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    He said Birkin, not Mirkin.
    
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    July 17, 2023 11:25am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      😀 😀 😀
      
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      July 17, 2023 11:31am
      - Biscuit
        
        That reminds me, ha, that a fair few years ago a horse called ‘Merkin’ ran in Australia.
        
        The name somehow skipped past the usually-diligent folk at the Stud Book (who allow/reject proposed names)…
        
        Eventually somebody got wise.
        
        Scratching, whipping or backing a Merkin conjures up some great images.
        
        Forced to change the name, they raced her as ‘Giostra’ (Italian for ‘Carousel’) and she still won…
        
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        July 17, 2023 12:10pm
  - mogg
    
    Je t’aime
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Fa4lOQfbA&pp=ygUJamUgdCdhaW1l
    In many Western countries this song was banned until after 11pm, in the US I don’t think it was played much at all. In 1968 she described herself as
    ‘The Birkin Bag’.
    
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    July 17, 2023 12:18pm
Taieri

So, anyone questioning the wisdom of renaming the former University of Otago and the replacement of its logo is guilty of white supremacy. At least, according to the erstwhile Mayor of Dunedin, one Aaron Hawkins. And this man is a graduate of that formerly fine institution. O tempora, o mores!

https://twitter.com/A_G_Hawkins/status/1678503635133644803
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July 17, 2023 10:30am
- Swifty
  
  How did Maori go about the naming of their universities?
  
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  July 17, 2023 10:57am
Yvette

Impertenent Election Question

Te Pāti Māori says the Prime Minister is not in a position to call any shots until the next election, and the party will push for a capital gains tax.
The comments came as the party officially launched its election campaign at a Matariki Māori New Year festival on Thursday evening in Henderson, West Auckland.
…Te Pati Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the party’s tax policy, which would be released soon, would have a major focus on redistributing wealth.
“We gotta stop making sure that the rich live comfortably. It’s about time they pay their taxes here in this country to alleviate the pain that many of our people are living in.
“Like I said, 100,00 people are homeless in New Zealand, 60,000 of those are Māori.”
He said the party supported a capital gains tax.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/493700/te-pati-maori-says-they-will-push-for-capital-gains-tax-at-party-launch

So, will Te Pati Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi rule out forming a coalition with Labour, because Labour has ruled out any form of wealth tax?

Martyn Bradbury seems more emphatic claiming “Chippy will laugh at demands from James (Shaw), but he won’t pull that shit with JT” (John Tamihere. Te Pāti Māori President)

And, Why has Winston not driven the wedge of wealth tax between Labour and Te Pati Māori so the latter won’t takeWinaton’s sought after role of kingmaker –and just to show Labour he seeks no utu after He Puapua was with-held from him prior to last Election \\
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July 17, 2023 10:32am
Maggie Pie

“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun
is a good guy with a gum”

– NRA slogan

God Bless good guys like Jason Nelson…..

https://twitter.com/RealJasonNelson/status/1680194342357463040
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July 17, 2023 11:20am
- Ghost
  
  I like bubblegum, but wouldn’t want to take on anyone with it….
  
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  July 17, 2023 11:51am
k1w1

I see Marama wants, post election win, to officially investigate whether private property should be returned to Maori. That’ll go down well. Even Labour voters won’t be too fond of that one.
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July 17, 2023 11:36am
- surfing
  
  This is incredible. Is there no end to Maori greed?
  
  They had better make sure that they put the details to the voters though.
  
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  July 17, 2023 11:52am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    No end? If Maori can get something that someone else worked on and improved for free, they will chase it
    
    14 1
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    July 17, 2023 12:16pm
Warren

One News Verian Poll out tonight so let’s see if our beloved Prime Minister Chris Hipkins shines above all or has the shithit the fan four a out of touch Labour Government.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/07/17/new-1news-verian-poll-out-tonight-three-months-from-election/
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July 17, 2023 12:08pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  No doubt it will be suitably manicured to the left.
  
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  July 17, 2023 12:34pm
Swifty

Let’s face it, it will never end. In ten years time it will be something else and in twenty years it will be something else again, ad infinitum.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/493846/greens-announce-policy-to-repeal-2008-deadline-to-lodge-treaty-claims

The treaty settlement process is an honourable attempt at addressing past wrongs and was sold to the NZ public as ‘full and final’.

To reopen it all up is a betrayal of the NZ public and of our goodwill.

And the only ones to benefit from all this are the elites, whose kids will be off to Cornell, Harvard and Oxbridge. Hone and Atawhai, and their kids, down at the factory, farm or fishing boat will carry on as usual – except being taxed more to pay for it all.
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July 17, 2023 12:30pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  The Greens are simply a full on communist party. They don’t even pretend any longer.
  
  That nice guy James Shaw 😢😢😢😢
  
  I know DPF does rate him as a nice guy from previous blog posts. But no. The guy is a threat to the nation.
  
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  July 17, 2023 5:52pm
  - Dougal10
    
    I had my first contact with him about 6 years ago and my first instinct was exactly that . He does not care about new zealanders lives one little bit as he wants to virtue signal to the green world that he is one of the kings .
    
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    July 17, 2023 7:49pm
  - Ghost
    
    I’m surprised he hasn’t been rolled yet by Chlöe
    
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    July 17, 2023 7:51pm
    - Nickc2
      
      Chloe’s too busy smoking the joint out!
      
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      July 17, 2023 8:23pm
than

Insanity! They’re coming for private property now
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/greens-want-to-return-stolen-land-to-māori-allow-tribunal-to-make-recommendations-about-private-land/ar-AA1dWMp8?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=d9d2b4d1c2dc4116801d0b7651be4d43&ei=7
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July 17, 2023 12:39pm
- cas
  
  That’s probably our place gone then.
  
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  July 17, 2023 3:05pm
- miltonF
  
  “Now?”
  
  Nah. It’s been going on for some time. I think Ihumatao was the writing on the wall and set a terrible precedent.
  
  It taught radical Māori that they can get free land by force. You simply occupy the land. If the govt tries to move you on, you just get violent and the cops leave you alone and the govt buys the land for $20M and gifts it to you. Laws don’t apply to Māori.
  
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  July 17, 2023 6:04pm
Maggie Pie

And how come Labors new slogan isn’t in Maori?
Everything else is these days.
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July 17, 2023 12:39pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, maybe it is:
  ‘i roto i a koe’.
  
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  July 17, 2023 2:47pm
- Ghost
  
  Labour have been in talks with abba, they are buying two songs, their new slogan will be Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! Money, Money, Money
  
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  July 17, 2023 3:25pm
Suze Wainwright

Will Rawiri have a go at Marama for stealing TPM thunder?

Surely Marama needs to know her place…
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July 17, 2023 12:46pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Marama appears to be trending on Twitter all of a sudden.
  A lot are saying…. “she’s a f–ing fruitcake”
  
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  July 17, 2023 12:58pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Glad to see some people in NZ are still quite observant.
    
    14 1
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    July 17, 2023 3:01pm
Sparrow

There was an interesting article pay walled in the Herald this morning. At the supermarket so picked up a hard copy Herald hoping to read the article. Got home to find article not in the hard copy so wasted my money. Is this common ?
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July 17, 2023 12:55pm
- cas
  
  yes I complained about it once. It seems discretionary as to whether the editor of the print edition puts in anything from the paywalled online edition and vice versa.
  
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  July 17, 2023 3:03pm
Biscuit

How impressed were you with young Carlos this a.m., Maggie.

My partner reckons he could slip his racquet under her bed ‘any time’.

‘And what am I expected to do? Watch?’

‘You’re v. quick on the uptake today…’
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July 17, 2023 1:01pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  YIP got up early and watched the 5th set. Felt sorry for Djoker TBH.
  Carlos deserved the win….but I can’t stand guys who get around with hairy necks. It’s sooo off-putting.
  
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  July 17, 2023 1:24pm
than

I actually think the Greens new policy is a great idea. Nobody who has a brain would vote for them. Hopefully they’ll get under 5% for the election.
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July 17, 2023 1:15pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  None of the Greens have a brain along with TPM.
  
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  July 17, 2023 3:27pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  One good thing about the Greens – they come right out tell you about their vile policies, which is better than what we get from Labour.
  The support the Greens get despite their honesty is pretty disappointing though, but even this can be seen in a good way – it gives us an idea of how much our education system needs to improve. We clearly have a lot of work to do.
  
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  July 17, 2023 3:27pm
Sparrow

Herald reports that the ethnic health policy supposedly not implemented has been in operation since May in Northland.
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July 17, 2023 1:18pm
Sparrow

Interesting that the article about Northland health using ethnicity is no longer on the Herald site. It was written by Jenny Ling a Northern Advocate journalist. Did the order go out to withdraw it.? Just a thought.
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July 17, 2023 2:03pm
Maggie Pie

The council have just started delivering those ridiculous ‘Food-Scrap-Bins’
How are they sposed to work…unless they collect them on a daily basis?
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July 17, 2023 2:03pm
- Ghost
  
  What are they? Our food scraps go in a large garden waste bin, collected weekly
  
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  July 17, 2023 2:32pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    The one we got is only about the size of a square plastic bucket with a lid.
    I prepped 2 ducks earlier for tonites dinner and it’s overflowing already! There’s nothing else for it, my partner will need to take it for a drive tonite and empty it somewhere.
    
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    July 17, 2023 2:59pm
    - Ghost
      
      That’s pointless. Our green bins are huge, we got a new bin last year for glass so now have 4
      
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/125466198/new-bin-scheme-to-start-in-timaru-and-waimate
      
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      July 17, 2023 3:13pm
      - rouppe
        
        Here in Porirua, we allegedly have some of the highest rates in the country. The council supply bins for recycling and glass. Rubbish collection is still council bags that you have to pay for.
        
        We have to pay a private operator (also Enviro waste) separately for a general rubbish bin, and separately again for a green waste bin.
        
        The council still send a truck around for the bags, but I’d estimate less than 10% use them. Your think they would pick up on that and actually realise they’d be doing a better service switching to bins for general rubbish.
        
        You’ve got it pretty sweet down there Ghost. Must be Ngai Tahu doing so much for the community
        
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        July 17, 2023 9:51pm
      - Ghost
        
        Our council seems to know what they are doing. With road maintenance they went in with, I can’t remember if it was one or two other councils to get a cheaper roading contract. Rubbish they kept the price down by bringing in other councils, even ashburton an hour away send their recycling here. It’s where this govt pisses me off, our council have been replacing water, sewage and stormwater and then the govt want to steal it away, our dhb was in the black and performing well, putting money aside for developments, now the govt has stolen that away.
        
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        July 17, 2023 10:04pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I see what you mean. How absurd.
      
      https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/rubbish-recycling/food-scraps-collections/Pages/how-to-use-your-food-scraps-bin.aspx
      
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      July 17, 2023 3:14pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Absolutely absurd! And it’s strange the instructions are in Maori. I’m actually wondering if Remuera has been delivered them by mistake?
        
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        July 17, 2023 3:47pm
    - septic skeptic
      
      It will get blown down the street in any decent wind. Not to mention get raided by any stray pets in the area.
      
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      July 17, 2023 3:36pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      But are you throwing out various titbits?
      
      Here’s some recipes for duck beaks, duck tongues and duck feet
      
      https://www.thaistreetfoods.net/food/%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%81%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%9B%E0%B9%87%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%94/?lang=en
      
      https://misschinesefood.com/hand-catching-duck-feet/
      
      https://reshipy.com/blogs/recipes/drunken-duck-tongue-duck-tongue-in-wine-sauce%E9%86%89%E9%B4%A8%E8%88%8C
      
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      July 17, 2023 3:48pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        They do look rather delish Maggz…but we’re more into French.
        Those bits probably wont go to waste anyway. My partner usually heads over to council roadside bins at Mt Roskill.
        
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        July 17, 2023 4:09pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Maggie a good duck. Maybe we are finding common ground 😀
      
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      July 17, 2023 6:05pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        How do yu have it Bene? 😛
        
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        July 17, 2023 6:16pm
ClanMcleod

MSM now asking the question raised a few times on this blog, much to the disgust of a number of staunch National/Act supporters.

Can Winston get back to parliament via the disenfranchised citizens who’s lives were horrifically impacted by the disgusting policies used to compel compliance in a medical experiment?

Charlie Mitchell, a “journalist” at Stuff has done a wonderful job increasing Peter’s chances. He’s done a large attempted hit piece re comments by Winnie showing concern about increased all cause mortality and worrying ‘vaccine’ injuries.

Can Winston Peters ride a ‘freedom’ wave to Parliament?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132532167/can-winston-peters-ride-a-freedom-wave-to-parliament

Charlie has raised Peter’s profile massively. If even a fraction of the 30% of those polled who supported the Wellington protest give their vote to him he may well piss in at the election.

https://twitter.com/comingupcharlie

Hat tip to the BFD and Slater who raised this point in a post today.

Charlie’s article asks whether or not Winston Peters can ride the ‘freedom’ wave to the election and, thanks to the blanket coverage of Winston’s interviews on Reality Check Radio, including the one with me, that is now a distinct possibility. But somehow I don’t think that was Charlie’s intention.

https://thebfd.co.nz/2023/07/17/why-yes-charlie-thanks-to-you-he-can/

No indeed, I don’t think it was Charlie’s intention at all!!

National/Act. Are you paying attention?
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
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July 17, 2023 3:38pm
Chuck Bird

FYI

David Seymour on climate change adaption

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjwnzK5Vzm8
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July 17, 2023 3:53pm
Maggie Pie

A bestie living in the UK txts…..

“A sad sad day for London”

https://mol.im/a/12304051
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July 17, 2023 4:00pm
- mogg
  
  There is already a big West End Mosque in Regents Park which would be about the most expensive part of London for property.
  
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  July 17, 2023 4:51pm
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    Finsbury Park Mosque. It was allowed when there were v few Muslims in the UK. Now it is huge.
    
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    July 17, 2023 5:39pm
slightlyrighty

Chippie’s just copying National Policies now.

Filming and posting Ram Raids on Social media to be aggrivating factor in Sentencing…..where have we heard that before!
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July 17, 2023 4:51pm
- rouppe
  
  It’s just virtue signalling. Police already have enough on to break the password on offenders tiktok accounts to see whether they posted anything.
  
  Same with the “used children to commit the crime”. Who is going to be able to prove that?
  
  They’re getting caught, the penalty is enough, all these recidivism problems are because of sentencing judges
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:37pm
Chuck Bird

TVNZ Poll on tonight.
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July 17, 2023 4:51pm
- greybeard
  
  “The poll was taken from July 8 to 12, with 1000 people polled by mobile phones and online.”
  And there is the problem: what about the huge number of people who don’t have either of these two services?
  
  What is the pollsters’s criteria for calling a mobile phone? Do children with mobile phones count ?
  If they call a mobile phone how do they verify the responder ?
  
  And how the hell do pollsters connect “online” with strangers ?
  
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  July 17, 2023 6:50pm
  - Ghost
    
    They use online survey companies, I often get the political surveys.
    
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    July 17, 2023 7:00pm
    - greybeard
      
      Lucky you.
      I have never had one.
      Or should that be “lucky me “?
      
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      July 17, 2023 7:02pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      I’ve had a few calls but if its from an ‘unknown’ number I always put on a Chinese voice and make out i dont understand. They soon get pissed off and hang up.
      
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      July 17, 2023 7:14pm
Maggie Pie

Do you know I was just thinking to myself, that even tho I grew up with MMP i still don’t have a f***ing CLUE how it works.
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July 17, 2023 5:00pm
- AitchW
  
  Surely you jest?
  
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  July 17, 2023 6:23pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Nope. People talk about what happens to votes for minor parties that don’t make 5% and mention hangovers and stuff like that.
    The only time i ever voted in the last 30 years was for Rodney.
    
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    July 17, 2023 7:09pm
    - AitchW
      
      Maggie the ONLY vote that counts is the party vote. There are some weird rules about overhangs and other crap, but forgot them. The shape of parliament is determined by the party vote. Whoever gets the most party ones wins. That’s it. ACT and National will have to add their party votes but if Labour, the Greens and TPM get over 50% (or a little less depending on how many votes are wasted on the lunatic fringe parties ) we’re all stuffed.
      
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      July 17, 2023 8:27pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        THX H. So still 2 ticks ‘Act’ for me then?
        We can only pray folks are a lot smarter this time round.
        
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        July 17, 2023 9:18pm
- Ghost
  
  Well it’s pretty easy, you go into the voting booth, look at the paper, if you can pronounce a name on it then that is the winner, you give them a tick……
  
  You then have another option to pick a party, so you look at the names, and which ever party doesn’t give you the shits you tick…..
  
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  July 17, 2023 6:28pm
Warren

Hipkinhas had a gutsfulof youth crime and after jaunting the world wooing other World Leaders he has decided to make a example on those that encourage youth crime.
Wow after all the problems he has had with corrupt Labour Minister’s he decides he will use youth crime to wash people’s memories on what has happened in his own Cactus.
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July 17, 2023 5:37pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132558409/pm-announces-shakeup-to-tackle-brazen-criminal-offending

Chris Hipkin’s mother should have him arrested for committing all sorts of social , financial and educational infractions over the past 5 years.
And Hipkins should have his mother arrested for trying to subvert the NZ education system over the same period.
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July 17, 2023 5:56pm
- Prince
  
  a) There has been no increase in crime.
  b) Well, yes there’s been an increase, but not violent crime.
  c) Well OK, sure, a small increase in violent crime, but not caused by young people.
  d) All right, young people maybe, but it’s complicated. Need more carrot, not stick. Wrap around support.
  e) Knee-jerk reactions wont’ t work. National Party has no solution.
  f) Look sunshine, we’re cracking down hard to address the dramatic increase in crime by young people. This can’t continue. National are soft on crime.
  
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  July 17, 2023 10:47pm
Maggie Pie

“Polls show 52% of New Zealanders favor a Capital Gains Tax”

– James Shaw (1Ewews)

Just shows what a bunch of f-ing losers have emerged in the last 6 years 🙁

Come in milkey…..
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July 17, 2023 6:14pm
- Ghost
  
  Here are a few of the questions I had a few days from a political survey Maggie, you can see what labour are looking at
  
  things the labour government could do to ease the cost of living
  
  Change industrial laws so it’s easier for workers to negotiate pay rises
  Make childcare cheaper
  Increase the minimum wage
  Cut income taxes
  Reduce fuel excise tax
  Cap prices for electricity and gas
  
  Measures they could take for affordable housing
  
  Cap the number of investment properties someone can own
  Place a freeze or a cap on rental increases
  Cap immigrant numbers until we have sufficient affordable housing
  Place further restrictions on foreign investment in residential property in New Zealand
  
  Tax measures for affordable housing
  
  When someone sells an investment property for more than they bought it for, taxing their profit
  Prevent wealthy families from using family trusts to split their assets to minimise tax
  Only allow people to claim negative gearing tax concessions on one investment property
  Remove all negative gearing tax concessions on investment properties
  Tax deceased estates worth more than $5 million to fund affordable rentals
  
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  July 17, 2023 7:24pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Commie bastards!!
    
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    July 17, 2023 7:34pm
JerJer

That was support for the sale of a. Investment property. Capital gains tax already applies in the form of the bright line test. Capital gains tax already exists and applies to any capital gain if you are in the business of making capital gains, which many property investors and share traders are. Support for a tax on the sale of the family home was 16%. So the 52% is deceiving as they are picking on investors again and trying to say that is the support for capital gains tax overall, when that is not true. Typical Greens. They either don’t understand or lie. Either is fine for them.
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July 17, 2023 6:29pm
Ghost

Wow, what idiot approved it

Infamous prison escapee and murderer Philip John Smith has admitted to using a Covid business-support loan to commit dishonesty offences from prison.

Smith, 47, appeared in the Wellington District Court by AVL today, where he pleaded guilty to 19 charges of dishonestly using a document for pecuniary advantage.

He was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment to be served concurrently and ordered to pay $53,593.41 in reparations to IRD.

Article
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July 17, 2023 7:19pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  GOOD GOD! Thats nearly as bad as the 2.75mill Cindy gave Harry.
  As my partner said…. it just shows the caliber of people this gubmint putz in charge of handling our money. Even a piece of murdering wig-wearing pedo filth sitting behind bars is able to con them out of 60k in taxpayers money.
  
  SHEESH!!
  
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  July 17, 2023 7:51pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Should be career limiting for some public servant
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:56pm
- septic skeptic
  
  Sentenced concurrently. Honestly why the F bother. I guess it keeps lawyers and dudes in gravy.
  
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  July 17, 2023 11:27pm
Ghost

Idiot

Jenna Lynch analysis: ‘Embarrassing’ correction to youth crime policy shows rush

At the Prime Minister’s post-Cabinet press conference on Monday, Chris Hipkins announced a suite of changes to tackle youth crime.

One of the promises was to create a new offence for adults who use young people to commit a crime, which would be punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Hipkins said “using a child to commit crime is cowardly and destroys lives so there should be serious consequences”.

But an hour-and-a-half later, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a correction saying the Government wasn’t creating a new offence and instead it would make encouraging young people to commit a crime an aggravating factor.

Article
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July 17, 2023 7:30pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  Ignoring the fact they couldn’t put this together in a month of Sundays, they are now just making sh*t up as they go, full panic mode. Saw Chippy on the news tonight, not a happy camper. Knows it’s all over. “Grant, assemble the shredders !”
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:42pm
sharont

Has Kantar changed its name to Verian? I certainly find it surprising that Labour/Greens are as close to National/Act as this poll suggests.
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July 17, 2023 7:58pm
- jon
  
  Sharont, indeed the new name is Verian. They have a online opt in panel of 500. They say,* interviews are collected by online panel, with quotas (or interviewing targets)*. Frankly any mention of quotas to me is just too hands on and maybe distorts, contrary to what they will tell you, the outcome of the poll. Of course the other 500 are polled randomly on mobile phones. It would be interesting to have a comparison of the percentages recorded random and online.
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:45pm
- hullkiwi
  
  Yes, yet another new name.
  
  These results are dubious. Apparently, 3% of people are supporting TOP & the One Party, that is circa 100k voters.
  
  One party has been a non-entity for the last 3 years, and the other I had no idea who they were until I looked them up. For reference, the One Party is a merge of Christian parties, including the Tamaki Party. According to the poll, there are approx 33k people out there who know enough about this party to vote for them. Really?, considering they came 7th in the Hamilton West By-election. Yeah, right.
  
  For the record, last year there were 2 by-elections, both were won by National in a landslide. If, tonight’s poll results reflect NZ, then there has been a monumental shift in voter support away from National, which is not reflected in Luxon closing the gap on Hipkins despite a lack of good media air time, and the fact that Luxon is getting packed out halls for his tour around NZ. Polls like tonight’s are rubbish.
  
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  July 17, 2023 8:55pm
Ghost

Bloody hell, come on mr in it for you, if these wankers got more than a cuddle from the judge supermarkets wouldn’t need to do this

The rising cost of food has made meat a hot commodity amongst thieves and is forcing retailers to take drastic measures.

Over the long weekend, security tags were spotted on single packets of bacon at Countdown.

Other supermarkets and independent butchers have also been forced to take similar measures with security tags placed on legs of lamb.

Article
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July 17, 2023 8:08pm
Ghost

Damn, talking to a friend in the UK, her daughter is having terrible headaches, dizziness etc, she’s been booked in for Urgent neurological tests in March next year.
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July 17, 2023 8:14pm
Ghost

Awwww, govt having problems with their own website

https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/order-paper/document/OrderPaper_20230718/provisional-order-paper-for-tuesday-18-july-2023

Our services aren’t available right now
We’re working to restore all services as soon as possible. Please check back soon.
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July 17, 2023 8:53pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Maybe Philip Smith hacked it from his cell at Paree?
  
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  July 17, 2023 9:22pm
  - Ghost
    
    Shit Maggie, knowing how this govt works he is probably the web designer for the govt website, defiantly for the labour website because he’s in it for you….
    
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    July 17, 2023 9:36pm

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