General Debate 19 October 2017

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krazykiwi

Just got a glimpse of our Jetstar pilot as I boarded. Truancy writ large. I wonder if his mum knows he’s out flying planes today?
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October 19, 2018 8:00am
- Lance
  
  I decided I was old when the new cops looked like kiddies
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:09am
- sooty
  
  That’ll teach you flying Jetstar! Edit That’s his mum the stewie!
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:09am
- john1234
  
  Hopefully that was the co-pilot!
  Like all low cost airlines, Jetstar hires co-pilots right out of the aviation academies, with minimum hours and maximum simulator hours, does the type rating then pretty much puts them in the right seat with an experienced pilot. Not great if the pilot eats the fish (Airplane! movie reference) but on the other hand creates a path into aviation for young people and there’s a worldwide airline pilot shortage.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:22am
  - Dave Mann
    
    Hopefully it wasn’t a certain soon-to-be-ex National Party MP getting work experience!
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:41am
    - slightlyrighty
      
      Do you think the lock on the cockpit door is there at the insistence of the stewardesses?
      
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      October 19, 2018 8:51am
    - Paulus
      
      No Airline would take on a Pilot with a mental condition.
      He would have to have a medical first and they are tough based upon previous experience.
      Maybe a Top Dresser ?
      
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      October 19, 2018 1:48pm
  - Wangas Feral
    
    I saw this interesting article on airline pilots and it said that 20 years ago 80% of commercial pilots had a military aviation background – in many cases it helped them to make split second decisions and so forth in emergencies (not always the right one if you watch enough air crash investigation). Nowadays 80% are from flight academies and such.
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:59am
    - john1234
      
      Yep, huge expansion in airlines, especially from the growing Asian economies, so the military no longer large enough to supply.
      It’s very hard to make it into a military pilot’s seat – many apply but few make the grade. So ex mil pilots are highly rated but can have an ego to match. They are accustomed to barking at lower ranks which they can’t do in the airlines and lack a commercial focus which can drive their airline managers mad.
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:26am
      - Southern Raider
        
        Even harder in NZ when we don’t have an airforce
        
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        October 19, 2018 9:20pm
Lee C

I poted this below but think it’s discussionable…
It is appears to me that:

1) confirmation bias will mean some will never accept that Bridges is not ‘corrupt’, even as they ignore what is going on in their own camp, in terms of cover-ups, bullying, abuse of power, slush-funds, donations, perverting the Bill of Rights and political nepotism.

2) There are certain people who are promoting a sinophobic whispering campaign to indicate that National are in the pockets of the Chines (I expect a ‘journalist’ Nicky Hagar book is due on this, oh about a week before the election) ( Heh – ‘Nicky’ – the perfect nom de plume of one who wields a hatchet, and only inflicts paper-cuts).

3) This story has already faded from the front pages, to be replaced by snarky attempts to resurrect it and maintain the narrative undermining Bridges’ leadership by the likes of Soper and HDPA.

4) Bridges has been gifted a high-profile raft of positive exposure to the public at the very time the CoL needed him to remain anonymous.
The attempted assassination has won new support – and few can argue that Bridges does not have the balls to be a robust and focussed PM.

5) The Botany By-Election will be a great opportunity to harvest great support and publicity for Bridges and his new MP-in-waiting (ideally a Chinese-descended candidate or female).

ps Maybe of chinese-descent and female!

Getting into murky territory here, JLR?
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October 19, 2018 8:04am
- tas
  
  Bridges has been gifted a high-profile raft of positive exposure to the public
  
  I could be wrong, but I doubt this has been positive for Bridges, even if he has performed well. We’ll see what the next batch of polls tells us.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:07am
  - sooty
    
    Come on the by election. There will be polls galore. Plus a real one to shove it up the talking heads and scriblers!
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:13am
  - Paulus
    
    Was talking with a group of very mature citizens
    like me yesterday morning and of course the subject of Ross and the woman he had various arrangements with arose.
    One said she thought he was a narcissistic, arrogant, duplicitous, conniving, liar.
    From the back came the voice of a 92 year old who piped up “Reminds me of Winston Peters”.
    Brought loud laughter all round and made my day.
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:27am
    - Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes
      
      Brilliant. Anyone remember the incident with Winston being driven ‘home’ by his press secretary in Wellington ? His first experience of baubles of office perhaps ?
      
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      October 19, 2018 12:41pm
  - backster
    
    The alt left media will make sure it is not positive for Bridges, Soper and Hdpa will be salivating at every word they can misconstrue from Ross. However if National has a new leader there will be a negative onslaught on her whether it be Collins, Bennett, or Adams, and the caucus splintered into factions.The Caucus has been seemingly unified behind Bridges during this crisis and may it remain so.
    
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    October 19, 2018 9:28am
- kowtow
  
  1. Bridges is not corrupt , but the reliance of parties on donations opens all of them up to dodgy dealings.
  
  2. The Red Chinese are trying to buy influence , where ever they can.
  
  3. This story has a lot more leg to it and will run for a while yet.
  
  4. If you think this is positive coverage for Bridges , you are suffering from an extreme case of “confirmation bias”.
  
  5. No candidate for parliament should be selected to run on race/ethnicity /gender basis.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:10am
  - Lipo
    
    Kowtow – Regarding point 5.
    You are an idiot.
    Why to parties select Polynesian candidates for Otara, Indian candidates for Papatoetoe, Maori candidates for Te Tai Tokerau?
    It is because these candidates will appeal the most to the voters who live there
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:16am
    - john1234
      
      … and if the party is Labour or Greens then they will select women to maintain “gender balance”.
      
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      October 19, 2018 8:24am
    - kowtow
      
      If you’re happy to have candidates selected by race and not selected on the basis of ability , in parliament, making our laws etc then you’re the idiot.
      
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      October 19, 2018 8:32am
      - john1234
        
        Facts are facts, regardless of whether anyone is “happy” about them.
        
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        October 19, 2018 9:28am
      - Classic Liberal
        
        Kowtow is right in that no candidate for parliament *should* be selected to run on race/ethnicity /gender basis.
        
        Lipo et al are right in that candidates for parliament *are these days* selected to run on race/ethnicity /gender basis.
        
        ‘Should’ often differs from reality.
        
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        October 19, 2018 2:07pm
    - Nigel Kearney
      
      Unfortunately, this is correct.
      
      There’s no way to prevent voters discriminating based on race, religion, gender or whatever, and parties are entitled to choose the candidates they believe will maximise their share of the vote.
      
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      October 19, 2018 8:37am
  - VicParking
    
    If you pick a chinese, you dont have enough indians
    If you pick a male you dont have enough females
    If you pick a hetro you dont have enough gays
    If you pick a fish and chip worker you dont have enough academics
    You cant even pick your nose any more…
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:24am
    - Keeping Stock
      
      You cant even pick your nose any more…
      
      Right on the money VP.
      
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      October 19, 2018 8:44am
    - Harkman
      
      “If you pick a fish and chip worker” if by you, you’re really saying Winston because you, me and the rest of the country didn’t pick the fish and chip shop worker we have now. ?
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:24am
  - KevOB
    
    What about colour? Green?
    A Magenta Party would be great.
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:36am
- igm
  
  With arseholes like this on Bridges’ case, how can he survive? This Slater dork is really bitter and twisted with anything not NZ First and Toxic Gnome.
  https://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2018/10/transgender-male-wins-womens-cycling-competition/
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:18am
  - sooty
    
    Who is bitter and twisted?
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:23am
    - VicParking
      
      WO. He is totally deranged.
      
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      October 19, 2018 8:27am
      - Harkman
        
        A Saudi Embassy perhaps? I know just the one.
        
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        October 19, 2018 9:43am
      - Classic Liberal
        
        Pfft! Who even reads WO anymore? When my polite and apt comments were removed for no reason, I decided I couldn’t be bothered with WO at all any more.
        
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        October 19, 2018 2:10pm
  - G152
    
    Fortunately we know Slater (a creature more used to the dank interior of rotting timber) has a bias toward any-one not sucking up to him.
    I feel that Simon has vindicated himself with the action that he took.
    And we might remember Brendon Horan and his treatment by Peters..
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:33am
peterwn

So there is a spat between some Kingsland, Auckland power customers, their retailers (particularly Mercury) and Vector (who deliver the power to the customer). The customers suffered significant appliance damage because of sustained over voltage (or under voltage) due to a failed ‘neutral’ connection on Vector’s network. This can cause your normal 230v voltage to go anywhere from zero to 400 volts and stay there until intervention by Vector staff. The actual voltage depends on how much load is connedted to each of the three phases at the time. Although appliances should be able to withstand ‘surges’ they often cannot withstand sustained overvoltage.
Customers were told by their retailers to claim on insurance meaning they would have an excess to pay and a claim could affect future premiums.
One customer said the retailer would be liable under the Consumer Guarantees Act but she is wrong because Vector would not be liable if the incident was beyond Vector’s control and if Vector had an appropriate inspection and maintenance routine for its network. Vector would be liable if it had been negligent in some way including lack of appropriate maintenance procedures. Problem is for a customer (or insurer) to obtain the background information and have the technical expertise to argue the case. Insurers will do this sometimes.
Anyway, seems Vector has agreed to reimburse the customers for their insurance excesses.
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October 19, 2018 8:07am
- Inandout
  
  Pay the excesses for sure, but some companies penalise clients after a certain number of claims.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:51am
  - peterwn
    
    This is the issue bothering some customers.
    IMO, lines companies should be held strictly liable for damage to appliances etc where there is a ‘neutral’ connection fault on a lines company network. Also (if not done already), lines companies should report all such incidents to MBIE (as they have to report certain other types of incident). If the Government tried to mandate this the lines companies would squeal like stuck pigs, but so be it. The lines companies would probably take out insurance for this which would load a slight extra cost on to customers, but the line companies would have a strong incentive to do what inspections and maintenance the insurer requires to minimise premiums.
    I used to be in the game. If I wrote this when I was still employed in the industry I would be on the mat without coffee very quickly.
    
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    October 19, 2018 10:10am
    - jonno1
      
      Having also been in the game in a former life, I concur. However, the interposing of contractors between principal and consumer complicated the situation, that and the separation of distributor and retailer. Mad Max has a lot to answer for.
      
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      October 19, 2018 11:15am
      - peterwn
        
        Possibly even more complicated is most lines companies will not engage with end customers – they must contact the retailer. Vector I think will engage with customers directly (they have an ‘outages’ phone number). Hence Mercury’s apparent advice to contact Vector.
        Legally a customer can take issue with either. The Paisley (Scotland) ‘snail in the bottle case’ Donoghue v Stevenson ruled an end customer can sue a manufacturer for a faulty product (ie an opaque bottle of ginger ale containing a snail) even there was no contract between the end customer and the manufacturer.
        
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        October 19, 2018 11:43am
secondcumming

iPredict…..

*Fan* will be the *staple diet* of New Zealanders within 50 years.
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October 19, 2018 8:08am
- Lance
  
  You sound like a Labour party strategist
  Beware people with chinky names I hear you cry
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:12am
  - G152
    
    Last time I looked there was an Oriental gentleman in the back seats of Parliaments liebor party…
    Is it different when the left do it ?????
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:36am
- kowtow
  
  Rice will be reserved for the mandarins , we coolies will have to put up with noodles strengthened with fish heads.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:13am
krazykiwi

Sunken Stadium. Loved this bit:

The consortium said the sunken stadium will be designed and built to accepted seismic principles and modelling to protect against rising sea levels and tsunami.

Not only does to cost no one $1.8b to build, is it amazingly tsunami-safe. Fantasy stuff.
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October 19, 2018 8:08am
- Colinxy
  
  To be fair, that haven’t stated to what level of tsunami – you’ve got to read the fine print 😉
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:17am
  - Paulus
    
    The special people around Eden Park will stop any new Stadium as their one will be sold for low price housing development – Kiwibuild.
    
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    October 19, 2018 1:53pm
- Tarquin North
  
  When I realised Simon Wilson and everyone else in the Herald liked the idea I stopped reading.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:17am
- tas
  
  Lunacy.
  The cost will be astronomical.
  If you want a new stadium build one on some farmland on the outskirts of town. Somewhere there is ample room for parking and close to major highways and rail.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:20am
  - sooty
    
    Will it have a plughole so they can fill it to lessen the impact, or is it designed to float for rising water level?
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:26am
- john1234
  
  If this stadium does keep the water out, it will probably pop off it’s foundations and float away!
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:26am
  - sooty
    
    Ah! But then it’s a waka and the local tribe will claim it!
    
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    October 19, 2018 2:28pm
- Inandout
  
  Wouldn’t the islands of the Gulf break up any great wave? But I can’t see the Greens agreeing to this stadium anyway because they look at any body of water and see ‘rising’. Michael Wood is more interested in 800 homeless than a stadium. But wasn’t that figure 56,000?
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:55am
- greybeard
  
  Yep: developers will use Chinese money to build the stadium, they will get a whole lot of waterfront land and Eden Park in return with which they can makes zillions, and ratepayers/taxpayers will have to pay the running costs of the stadium for ever.
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:22am
- lastmanstanding
  
  I hope it gets built and the developers build “Social Housing” read Slums on Eden Park so Helen Clark and all the other properties around devalue.
  
  Will serve the BITCH right for complaining about EP all these years.
  
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  October 19, 2018 1:20pm
holysheet

For the past few days we have been inundated with the goings on of the silly little boy, JLR. The comments are almost unanimous that he is suffering some mental issues and we should go easy on him.
Fuck him. If he is that stupid to take the advice of Blubber oil and co, then that’s stupidity. You can suffer stupidity daily (we here endure stooopidboy), but it is not a sign of mental instability.
So save your sympathies for those that actually have mental issues. This creep is the author of his own demise and the quicker he fucks off the better.
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October 19, 2018 8:09am
holysheet

Shortly after an International Airways flight had reached its cruising altitude, the captain announced: ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain. Welcome to Flight 293, non-stop from Auckland to LA. The weather ahead is good, so we should have a smooth uneventful flight. So sit back, relax and… OH, MY GOD!’
Silence followed!
Some moments later the captain came back on the intercom. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry if I scared you. While I was talking to you, a flight attendant accidentally spilled a cup of hot coffee in my lap. You should see the front of my pants!’
An elderly passenger yelled back… ‘For Christ sake… You should see the back of mine!’
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October 19, 2018 8:11am
Yvette

From a comment made yesterday evening –

National Party President Peter Goodfellow has responded to the release of Ross’ texts with Greg Hamilton with a statement. “There has been speculation that we have received a $100,000 donation, there was no such donation,” he says.
 “The Botany Electorate of the National Party received 8 donations, and Mr Ross declared 8 donations to us. […]
 “We have no further comment to make at this stage.”
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/10/live-updates-national-stands-behind-simon-bridges-jami-lee-ross-embroiled-in-sex-controversy.html

It is a pity Peter Goodfellow does not answer the obvious question:
Do all, or enough, of the 8 donations, although each under $15,000 still add up to the $100,000 that Ross claims was in the account?

Where does one find official confirmation of the donations and amounts, anonymous or not?
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October 19, 2018 8:11am
- kowtow
  
  Yes , his statement does not clear the air at all.
  
  And from the taped conversation it is clear that the two did understand a large sum had been paid over and that it was linked to getting an MP of a certain ethnic equation into parliament.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:17am
  - wiseowl
    
    As small primary producer most of my life , at one time collecting donations for the National Party for years, I realise what a fool I have been.
    Last night there was a report that this communist chinese that allegedly gave a big donation to the party , was nominated for a gong by Eric Roy and Phil Goff.
    A pox on all politicians.
    Time to stop and think who the hell you are their for.
    Fuckin hard working New Zealanders , not immigrants funded by disgusting regimes that are alien to our way of thinking and living.
    Crawl back into your offices Wellington and Auckland and reflect on what the hell you are doing.
    I am angry.
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:30am
    - Inandout
      
      wiseone, you have finally realised politicians are (by and large) mongrels. Look at parliament and see what MPs infest it. Most would be unemployable in the real world, others are lawyers seeking more power together with the few business people. My God, what an assembly of losers.
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:02am
    - Happychappy
      
      The one thing about wiseowl
      he never misses a opportunity to shove one up Maori or National and then says he is angry, well how do you think others felt when you and several others voted Winston First and then try to push it on National for the Clowns of the Coalition being Elected. It’s Chinese this week and when it does down it will be Maori so the obvious conclusion is you won’t be happy until all male whites running our Paliament as now it is woman making false accusations to suit your narritive.
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:19am
    - backster
      
      Wasn’t Roy given a cushy advisory job by Adern recently.?
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:50am
- KevOB
  
  Intern Troll Day.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:42am
  - riffer
    
    Look, you can deflect all you like, but there are a significant number of people from both sides of the political spectrum who are most concerned about what appears to be money for candidates. Put aside all the partisan nonsense for a second and consider that this has exposed some serious constitutional issues.
    
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    October 19, 2018 9:20am
    - kowtow
      
      Well said. This is too serious for silly comments about Labour interns.
      Those are simply lazy throw away put downs that are inaccurate and deflect from what as you say are serious constitutional issues.
      
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      October 19, 2018 10:45am
DigNap15

I heard some SJW railing against our soldiers performance in Afgahnistan fot having may killed a few civilians. (this happens in war)

But they ignore the fact that the Taliban kill civilians and children nearly every day at schools and markets. (and they aim for girls!)

Whose side are they on.
If they like the Taliban so much, why not f off to Afghanistan and live there.
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October 19, 2018 8:12am
- Muttonbird
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Did it occur to you the NZDF are supposed to be above the Taliban on every scale imaginable?
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:33am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    Please use a dictionary and look up the word ‘accidental’. Then look up the word ‘deliberate’. See if you can figure out the difference. If you can’t, find a seven or eight year old and ask them to explain it to you.
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:43am
  - Inandout
    
    To the creature Hager, every soldier on our side kills for fun.
    
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    October 19, 2018 9:04am
  - cmm
    
    Mutton. Have you ever been in a job where you have to make decisions quickly that have big outcomes?
    
    Guess what. People make mistakes.
    
    Keyboard warriors can hit the backspace key a few times and undo their mistakes. Here you can even edit your posts.
    
    But people dealing with firearms etc have no such luxury. Once that trigger has been pulled there’s no backspace key.
    
    And worse yet they don’t operate with full information. They generally have to make life or death decisions with incomplete information and without the option of asking for clarifications as to who is a combatant and who is a civilian.
    
    They to tread carefully around civilians which is why the Taliban etc hide out among civilians to tilt the playing field to their advantage. But they still need to act.
    
    So shit happens.
    
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    October 19, 2018 9:43am
- G152
  
  A small matter of their cowardice stops them from that action.
  And the realisation that once gone they cant come back (thats my wish)
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:40am
Captain Mainwaring

The goat track between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki closed again due to a truck crash. Transmission Gully can’t come soon enough.
Come in marquess.
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October 19, 2018 8:12am
- mandk
  
  marquess will be too busy rallying support for the Wellington LRT project with its BCR of 0.05
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:43am
s.russell

Has anyone noticed?
National has an unusually high number of MPs of British descent. Many of them still have links there and have visited the UK. Clearly, they are in the pay of the British Conservative Party. We need an inquiry!
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October 19, 2018 8:13am
- kowtow
  
  You might have a point if some organisation set up by a Brit to promote Brit interests in New Zealand was making huge and undisclosed donations to National , and on that back of that asking for extra British MPs . Not only that but that that organisation had close ties to a totalitarian govt back in Britain.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:21am
- VicParking
  
  Labour have a high number of MP’s who have links to the unions. The unions make large donations to the Labour party. I have not seen the MSM calling for a investigation into influence the unions might have over the Labour Party.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:38am
  - riffer
    
    Perhaps you have a point. However, the role of unions in the Labour Party is pretty well known and is not surprising to many people. And they are not representative of a foreign nation trying to buy influence in our country. The best thing that could come out of all of this is for ALL donations to be completely transparent. If you need to hide a donation, you’re doing it for the wrong reason.
    
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    October 19, 2018 9:23am
    - dubya
      
      So what version of New Zealand was better? The near-bankrupt one where unions held the country to ransom every school holidays, and you couldn’t buy a TV made anywhere but that one factory in Wiri, or the one where we have free trade with our Asian neighbours and greatly improved purchasing power?
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:50am
    - VicParking
      
      I think you will find that the 14 New Zealanders who combined dontated to $100k to the National party are NZ residents. Also its a good chance they came to NZ because of the chinese governments policies. Mind you they proberly have chingy names and slitty eyes so they are open game for Xenophobes like yourself riffer.
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:54am
      - riffer
        
        Hmmm… given my ethnicity it wouldn’t work for me to be xenophobic VicParking.
        
        The point about the unions is interesting, but overall I don’t feel their influence over Labour is any more important than Business’ influence over National.
        
        There are many things about our society today which are better than the society of the 70s, and many things not. I can remember, starting work in 1983, how quickly the union rep was in to demand my signage of the union form. It wasn’t a good introduction to the workplace. and some of the things strikes were called over were ridiculous. However, some business owners have locked staff out for ridiculous reasons too. I tend not to look at outliers as significant information – they tend to skew the argument. The unions did bring a 40 hour week. Since the demise of the unions I’ve been working a lot more hours, and my pay hasn’t gone up that much. However, 25 years ago I was on a very good wage. Now it’s okay.
        
        I’m far from Xenophobic. But the concept of people affiliated to overseas regimes not necessarily acting in our best interests being given access to political candidacy based on how much money they contribute to the parties coffers sits uneasily on me.
        
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        October 19, 2018 11:24am
      - Nigel Kearney
        
        But Riffer, you don’t have evidence that he is affiliated to any overseas regime. All you have is that he is an immigrant and contributed some money to a political party. Reactions like yours are exactly why it’s important that people be able to donate anonymously.
        
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        October 19, 2018 12:22pm
    - dubya
      
      Riffer, let’s not forget many NZ unions were overrun by foreigners, specifically Northern English commie whingers!
      
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      October 19, 2018 10:37am
      - riffer
        
        True.
        
        But let’s also not forget, a man could raise a family and buy a house on a single income.
        
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        October 19, 2018 11:25am
      - dubya
        
        The inability to do that any longer is not exclusively a New Zealand problem. And had we continued on the pre-1984 path, I suspect NZ would be a much worse country to raise children in, if you could find a job in the first instance.
        
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        October 19, 2018 11:41am
      - Scott Hamilton
        
        Nigel, there is a great deal of evidence that Zhang Yikun is linked to China’s dictatorship. As I noted earlier, the scholars Ann-Marie Brady, Geoff Wade, and Jichang Lulu have posting piles of pics and links on twitter in recent days, and even U of A’s Stephen Noakes, a defender of Zhang, concedes that he has been a member of the CCP.
        
        It seems clear that Zhang was a member of a leadership group in the Hainan Communist Party from 2013 until recently, that he’s been active in numerous front groups in NZ, and that he’s returned to China for many CCP events, like the march to mark the 90th anniversary of the party’s armed wing.
        
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        October 19, 2018 12:26pm
    - freethinker
      
      Agreed it is well known the Unions have a roll in Labour but the extent of that role and the influence it exercises is unknown.It is also unclear of the relationship between Union donations and Union friendly Legislation enacted by a Labour Govt.
      
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      October 19, 2018 11:06am
Debbie

Reality that many of us tend to forget, is that the average kiwi doesn’t follow politics and doesn’t have a clue about who any of these people are or why it matters.

And yes, there is definitely an attempt in the left to reframe this as being all about “Chinese money” buying positions – which, while annoying, reflects the reality that’s even the most hardened lefties can’t genuinely find any evidence of the so-called corruption that JLR tried to say was there, neither could they rightfully say that Bridges had mishandled this whole mess.

I guess we can expect some more bluster from JLR today – perhaps he’ll refuse to tender his resignation after all, undoubtedly he’ll try to sling some more mud – but afterwards it’ll all die away to nothing and National can get back to business.

Big ups to Bridges for maintaining his composure during such an awful messy ambush. I know I personally would’ve been an absolute wreck by now.
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October 19, 2018 8:14am
- kowtow
  
  I’m no lefty.
  
  Make no mistake , China has a deliberate policy of buying influence in other countries and if National supporters refuse to recognise that then they are guilty of being like the low information voters we are so fond of making fun of here.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:24am
  - Paulus
    
    Do you mean that a number of wealthy New Zealand Citizens of Chinese Ancestry have not given Money to both the National and Labour Parties.
    You are aware that the Maori is descended from the Chao Shan Tzu tribe in what is known as South East Taiwan therefore possibly cannot be classed as Chinese, as they are as old if not older, that the larger Han group of Chinese, that we generally know as Chinese.
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:37am
    - kowtow
      
      No , I mean the Chinese Communist Party.
      
      And if you’re happy with that , that’s ok .
      
      But it needs to be said.
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:03am
    - Jazzby
      
      I don’t think that anyone is suggesting that New Zealanders of Chinese ethnicity shouldn’t give to whatever political party they like: that’s the sort of democratic freedom that we should cherish.
      The particular problem here is that the Chinese government appears to be embarking on a programme of buying ‘soft power’ throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Now, in itself, that may not be a cause for concern – it’s an established facet of international relations – but what ought to worry us is that China is now a totalitarian state, run by an all-powerful and ruthless Communist Party, headed by ‘the new emperor’, the dictator Xi (by the way, has anyone seen the head of Interpol recently?). It follows, I suggest, that we should be very wary indeed of accepting financial incentives from this source, as its scruples are decidedly lacking, and its methods, therefore, questionable.
      We in New Zealand are as babes in the woods when compared with this regime.
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:09am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        As I asked on another posting..
        
        What is the evidence that Zhang Yikun and his associates are linked to the CCP?
        
        From what I can see, Mr Zhang is a NZer; he has lived and established himself in this country since 2002. Doesn’t he have the same right as any other NZer to support or donate to political parties?
        
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        October 19, 2018 9:54am
      - MCos
        
        FYI
        Here’s an article with all sorts of information.
        He quite obviously has connections back in the old country, which are probably to NZ’s advantage considering our trade ties.
        On the other hand China is a dodgy country. So take your pick.
        https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/10/16/279660/zhang-yikun-and-the-alleged-100k-donation%3famp=1
        
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        October 19, 2018 10:41am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @MCos
        Of course I’ve seen that statement from Anne-Marie Brady … but where is the evidence that Zhang Yikun is working for the CCP?
        
        As far as I can tell he is a successful businessman here in NZ who also has contacts in China (just like many other business folk).
        
        But another China expert, Stephen Noakes from Auckland University, said joining the party was the way to get ahead in business.
        
        “The personal connections and relationships provide the motivation for you to join. It’s very much like LinkedIn, it’s a thing you do for the connections.
        
        “It does not mean that everybody who joins the CP is out to destroy institutions of liberal democracy or to spy on trade partners around the world,” Dr Noakes said.
        https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018667446/who-is-zhang-yikun-the-alleged-donor-of-100-000-to-national
        
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        October 19, 2018 11:21am
      - Jack5
        
        Murdoch’s News service in Australia has this to say on Zhang Yikun, and I don’t know it’s sources, and what “with reports” sheets home to:
        
        But questions have been raised about Mr Zhang’s connections to the Chinese government, with reports he spent five years as a member of the Communist Party’s Consultative Conference in Hainan Province.
        
        The same News report says:
        
        … in a testimony earlier this year to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, former Central Intelligence Agency China expert Peter Mattis accused New Zealand of a lack of action over Chinese political influence.
        
        While Australia had looked at new laws to combat external influence, New Zealand politicians on both the left and right had denied there was a problem, he said.
        
        https://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/scandal-spurs-calls-for-nz-china-inquiry/news-story/1d13644e658f44305c7abbe175bfcf94
        
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        October 19, 2018 2:01pm
    - Jack5
      
      Paulus, DNA studies suggest Polynesians are descended from the indigenous people of Taiwan. Chinese began settling in Taiwan only in the 17th century.
      
      The relationship of Taiwan’s indigenous people to Taiwanese Chinese thus is similar to the relationship between Maori and ethnic European people in New Zealand.
      
      These are the names of some of the Taiwanese indigenous tribes, and I don’t see “Chao Shan Tzu” among them: Pangcah/Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Paiwan, Pinuyumayan/Puyuma, Rukai/Drekav, Saisiyat, Tao, Thao, Kebalan/Kavalan, Truku, Cou/Tsou, Sakizaya, Seediq, Kanakanayu, and Hla’alua.
      
      For more:
      
      https://www.ketagalanmedia.com/2015/07/07/taiwanese-indigenous-peoples/
      
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      October 19, 2018 10:52am
  - freethinker
    
    You are right evidenced by Chinese largess around the world were it sees an opportunity to use money to buy influence. Whilst this is difficult to refuse if you are an impoverished nation China/The West & Russia need to cooperate to improve the basic living standards of all .
    
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    October 19, 2018 11:11am
- KevOB
  
  Someone needs to file a request for examination of JLR under the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:47am
  - riffer
    
    Careful playing the mental health card, lest the National party end up publicly vilified for their treatment of an employee suffering mental health. As it is they’re on shaky ground with that one.
    
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    October 19, 2018 9:25am
    - MCos
      
      Might find that half of parliament will be referred to the Stassi for examination, if we go down that route (pronounced ‘root’ in NZ), including Black Rod.
      
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      October 19, 2018 10:45am
    - KevOB
      
      It’s not National’s call. Concerned people can cause JLR to be examined by qualified doctors. A lack of reason is apparent and it is reasonable to ask why?
      Sometimes if a person is delicate intervention may be wise.
      
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      October 19, 2018 11:19am
flipper

So the vision of Mallard’s Auckland Stadium Mk 2 will depend on Maori (ownership of the seabed belief) approving?

What utter bullshit !!!!!!!!!!
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October 19, 2018 8:18am
marcw

Melanie Reid (“journalist”) has been researching the abuse of 4 or more women for a year. Yes a YEAR! So …
1. When was she going to inform the police?
2. When was she going to release the information?
3. What was her ultimate intention?
4. Is she some sort of moral judiciary – a kangaroo court who will decide how justice is dispensed?

Who is Journalist ‘B’?

The actions of the MSM in this entire disgraceful episode disgust me. Why would I be suprised?
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October 19, 2018 8:19am
- Dave Mann
  
  Spot on.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:25am
  - john1234
    
    Not really. There’s nothing to complain to the police about. Being a manipulative bully isn’t a crime. No suggestion of rapes or assaults that I’ve seen.
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:30am
    - marcw
      
      I thought harassment and threatening was against the law. Seems there was plenty of evidence of both.
      
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      October 19, 2018 8:34am
    - Paulus
      
      No – quite right the sex was consensual, but the consequences were not.
      
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      October 19, 2018 8:39am
  - wiseowl
    
    And who else is she ‘investigating’?
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:38am
    - VicParking
      
      John1234 I hope
      
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      October 19, 2018 8:41am
      - john1234
        
        Ooh, do I have a stalker? How exciting!
        
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        October 19, 2018 9:56am
- Debbie
  
  Melanie Reid is the journalist who went undercover at Gloriavale 20-odd years ago.
  
  https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/91034991/Melanie-Reid-Going-undercover-in-Gloriavale-still-haunts-me
  
  Seems she does quite in-depth journalism.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:30am
  - Tarquin North
    
    Should have done us all a favour and stayed there.
    
    11 6
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    October 19, 2018 8:36am
    - marcw
      
      No TN, the outing of this behaviour by Ross is necessary. There is no excuse for it. What I am disgusted by is the apparent manipulative use of information by the MSM for whatever purpose – in this case the speculation is it was going to be for political bombshells. The overall goal being influencing our democratic system during election times.
      
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      October 19, 2018 8:49am
      - MCos
        
        Crap.
        This was about Jamie Lee Ross and he’ll be long gone by then.
        
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        October 19, 2018 10:49am
- MCos
  
  Would you rather this gentleman’s behaviour was brushed under the carpet as it appears to have been done by the Nats with their ‘gentleman’s’ agreement.
  
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  October 19, 2018 10:56am
  - sooty
    
    What about the sex camp cover up, none reporting, giving booze to minors, etc. All at one event. What about all the others.
    
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    October 19, 2018 2:39pm
Muttonbird

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
I find it amazing the Nats covered up Jami Lee Ross’ manipulative, bullying, emotionally abusive behaviour for so many years.

We hear there was a confidentiality agreement signed by one of the complainants two years ago! With these agreements come payouts otherwise called hush-money. I hope the media find out how much this was.

And for Bridges, supposedly very close to Jami Lee Ross before this year, to claim he didn’t know a thing is just yet another bare faced lie from the leader of the opposition.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018667432/national-aware-of-jami-lee-ross-grievances-for-years

I suspect the new strategy will be to manufacture some distance between the party and political wings of the National Party in order to limit the damage done to Bridges. They’ll perhaps even throw Goodfellow under the bus.

The sunlight shining down on the Nats really shows what they are like. They are venal to the core, and that is something the rest of us have known for a very very long time.
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October 19, 2018 8:20am
- john1234
  
  At least they didn’t attempt to cover up the sexual assault of 16 year old girls at a party event, eh Mutton?
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:31am
  - Muttonbird
    
    How do you know they didn’t?
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:40am
    - john1234
      
      Ah, the old ‘have you stopped beating your wife’ argument. Genius.
      
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      October 19, 2018 10:06am
  - niggly
    
    And let’s not forget Labour are not squeaky clean in another case – for months and months several staff have left Meka Whaitiri’s office it seems due to bullying and harassment.
    
    Meanwhile the Labour Party not only turn a blind eye to these problems – they won’t even reprimand Meka Whaitiri in any meaningful way.
    
    Jacinda and the Labour Party have known about this for months – the longer they keep Meka Whaitiri there the longer they look like they are turning a blind eye as if they are insignificant.
    
    Such weak and disgraceful leadership from Jacinda and the Labour Party themselves! Again when it comes to Labour the victims do not matter.
    
    Such a contrast ….
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:46am
    - riffer
      
      And when it comes to National the victims are paid off. Muttonbird has a point. Invoking “they did it too” is a pathetic counter to his argument.
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:27am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        The woman involved in the harassment settlement with JLR has explained that the National Party did all that they could to support her.
        
        https://yournz.org/2018/10/19/media-add-to-pressure-on-victim-of-harassment/
        
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        October 19, 2018 10:02am
      - Muttonbird
        
        The Bungar woman who Paula Bennett called last week?
        
        She’s been told to say that, Maggy.
        
        By Paula Bennett.
        
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        October 19, 2018 10:14am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Evidence, Muttonbird.
        
        (For some odd reason, I’m not inclined to accept the word of folks who post under pseudonyms)
        
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        October 19, 2018 10:19am
      - Salacious Crumb
        
        But but but muttonbirds unfounded allegations must be true. He’s a lefty and like Ardern, lefties don’t lie. Do they?
        
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        October 19, 2018 11:17am
  - freethinker
    
    And wood you expect to have the case dealt with more expeditiously given it wood give closure and transparency this COLL expounds and we wood expect.
    
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    October 19, 2018 11:17am
  - Garbageman
    
    & boys, remember John Labour are an all inclusive sexual opportunities party
    
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    October 19, 2018 12:32pm
  - sam green
    
    The issue is before the courts. No cover up.
    
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    October 19, 2018 10:57pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Six months….
      Who gave the kids the alcohol?
      
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      October 19, 2018 11:42pm
- VicParking
  
  And the worlds flat
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:41am
- Keeping Stock
  
  13 Sep 05 – PM Helen Clark says “the only thing of which Taito Philip Field is guilty is being helpful“.
  
  Nek minit…
  
  In a shameful first, a (former) New Zealand Member of Parliament has been found guilty of corruption in relation to his duties as an MP. He championed the cause of poor people, while illegally exploiting them.
  
  https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2009/08/fields_guilt_and_labours_shame.html
  
  As Christopher Finlayson said so eloquently the other day when asked for comment about Bridges’ secretly recorded comments on him “You can’t be too precious about this stuff, because if people taped half of what I said about people, they’d be pretty horrified. It really is a case of let he who is sinless cast the first stone.”
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:58am
  - Muttonbird
    
    Oh, so everyone does it do they? Remarkable defence and one which shows you think this sort of behaviour is totally fine…
    
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    October 19, 2018 10:16am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      No…only Labour
      
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      October 19, 2018 10:48am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  National Candidate for Manurewa, Katrina Bungard, said she had been pleased with the way the party had dealt with her complaint and praised other women for coming forward with their allegations.
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/107959858/national-party-candidate-allegedly-harassed-by-jamilee-ross-speaks-out
  
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  October 19, 2018 10:13am
  - sam green
    
    Well she would say that. She wants a career in the National Party. Or should I say ? ? ? party?
    
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    October 19, 2018 10:59pm
Dave Mann

This JLR affair presents a golden opportunity for National to spin a very strong message to the electorate that “We weed out our bad eggs”.

Ross has very clearly attacked the party from within and reprehensibly he has tried to smear individuals with dirt. It’s time to take the gloves off and stop pussying around with “Hope he can find help'” etc.

National’s PR firm (whoever they are) now have a wonderful chance to present all this in a positive light for National and IMO the media message from Simon Bridges should very strongly be “When it became apparent that Ross (not ‘Jami-Lee’) has serious issues he was given every opportunity to exit gracefully and deal with them. He obviously hasn’t addressed his problems but this is not our responsibility and unlike other parties National is not afraid to weed out non-performers and dead wood”.

The gloves should be off now and every time Ross comes up with one of his ‘revelations’ Simon Bridges should ridicule him publicly until either he stops or the media get bored. Either way it will give Bridges the upper hand and if he plays it right he’ll gain heaps out of this from the media exposure.
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October 19, 2018 8:20am
- kowtow
  
  But they didn’t weed out the bad egg .
  They were told about his behaviour, gave him a talking to , and then promoted him !
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:26am
  - Dave Mann
    
    I take your point, but honestly it’s impossible for any organisation to only employ perfect people. It’s unreasonable to expect the party to be constantly spying on everybody’s private lives and I’m sure you wouldn’t want that anyway. The fact is that when he leaked to the press about Bridges’ travel expenses the party acted to stop the rot. It was totally this cunt’s choice to escalate it.
    
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    October 19, 2018 8:36am
- DigNap15
  
  Yes
  He should say
  Jamie-Lee Ross is fucking disgusting
  And then not apologise for saying it!
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:59am
  - godruelf
    
    I think there was an Aussie politician who phrased it well talking about Rudd from Memory.” I don’t use the C word myself but he’s a Fucking terrible person”
    
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    October 19, 2018 1:35pm
Happychappy

So how many more National Party Haters will crawl out from under their rocks like muttonhead and MCos and try and twist that JLR is a product of dirty politics employed by the National Party. We must of had at least a dozen more kiwi bloggers employed by the Coalition join Kiwiblog in the last couple of days just to troll looking at some of the comments posted.
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October 19, 2018 8:22am
- Muttonbird
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  You should be happy Happychappy that the diseased and malevolent core of the National Party has been exposed.
  
  Time for serious change. Bridges is morally deficient obviously. Collins and Bennett are worse. They are going to have to think outside the square.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:38am
- VicParking
  
  Fraser house have approved overtime and free goats for all
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:43am
sooty

Have you noticed that stooopidboy has been quite the last few days.
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October 19, 2018 8:30am
- VicParking
  
  He has taken his new goat on a honeymoon.
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:43am
Poppa

So Ross & Slater are mates, I assume then that Mr WO is giving him advice. From what I can see that advice has only served to shoot Ross rather than the Bridges target.

I think they both are so so wound up in their hatred of Nat leadership that they are unable to see the wood for the trees.

I do think ultimately Bridges will be cast aside, but not because of this. It will be his poor polling that will sink him, probably early next year
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October 19, 2018 8:38am
- Harkman
  
  Yes I agree, what JLM has released so far is what most of the country already knows. That some of the lower unknown list members are really there clipping the ticket and senior figures think they are hopeless. Nonetheless, if things are tight in 2020 a desperate Labour party (or Winston) will do an ad of JLR saying “Bridges is a corrupt politician” and that is the problem. And you can bet that the MSM will use it relentlessly even if the poor guy is exonerated.
  
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  October 19, 2018 9:34am
waikatogirl

Condolences to the Wallis family on the death Nick Wallis in a fiery helicopter crash yesterday, and to the families of the two DOC workers also killed. This tragedy comes only 3 months after his brother Matt Wallis was killed when his helicopter crashed in Lake Wakatipu.

In the turmoil of the JLR scandal, this family tragedy brings home what is really important in real life.
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October 19, 2018 8:43am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Very sad and very mysterious. A near-new helicopter with a very experienced pilot falls out of the sky about 2 minutes into its flight in perfect weather. Main rotor still attached but the tail section was 100 metres away. Wonder what could cause that?
  
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  October 19, 2018 9:19am
  - riffer
    
    I too am having misgivings about this crash.
    
    Especially after all the talk on social media about how sad it would be if one of the DOC-commandeered helicopters were to have an accident.
    
    Heaven forbid there’s been some sabotage. That could turn this whole thing very nasty very quickly.
    
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    October 19, 2018 9:29am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      riffer, I have to say that thought had crossed my mind.
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:45am
    - stephieboy
      
      riffer , is it that bad in your putrefying, mind and head?
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:48am
    - Muttonbird
      
      The hunting community do you think?
      
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      October 19, 2018 10:21am
Steve (North Shore)

And now for something different.
Where is the SLG and wtf is she up to? Very quiet, like when a toddler is quiet there is shit happening
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October 19, 2018 8:51am
- DigNap15
  
  Don’t forget, its nearly Friday afternoon!
  
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  October 19, 2018 9:00am
  - lifesgood
    
    Yee ha! Dump day and the JLR rubbish is a perfect smoke screen gift to the lying, deceitful, conniving left.
    
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    October 19, 2018 9:27am
    - Harkman
      
      Yes the commie crooks could nationalize Fonterra today and our news outlets wouldn’t even notice.
      
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      October 19, 2018 9:37am
      - stephieboy
        
        Harkman, the fact that Fonterra is basically a dairy co-op too commie for you?
        
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        October 19, 2018 9:44am
    - Muttonbird
      
      Bridges is making the “lying, deceitful, conniving left” look like saints!
      
      Lol.
      
      1 19
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      October 19, 2018 10:23am
      - sooty
        
        Could never do that. Just look at all the colours of the rainbow that make up Labour. All as pure as driven snow.
        
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        October 19, 2018 2:46pm
  - Paulus
    
    Today’s Announcement to be release at 5pm Labour weekend.
    The announcement, from the secret agreement
    “That a Committee be established under Geoffrey Palmer to Review MMP .
    The conclusion is whereby the 5% limit be reduced to 3%.”
    
    1 1
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    October 19, 2018 2:07pm
    - sooty
      
      He’s that wet, he could not tell when it’s raining!
      If he was the answer it must have been a dumass question!
      
      1 0
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      October 19, 2018 2:49pm
Manolo

The invaders are legion.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/more-honduran-migrants-seek-join-u-bound-group-182027226.html

More Honduran migrants tried to join a caravan of several thousand trekking through Guatemala on Wednesday, defying calls by authorities not to make the journey after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to cut off regional aid in reprisal.
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October 19, 2018 8:59am
- Jules99
  
  Pretty sure this will only help Trump get his wall.
  
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  October 19, 2018 3:22pm
DigNap15

I saw a doco a while ago about hundreds and thousands of migrants from SA America and Africa (who got to S America)
Then going up Mexico on the top of trains and trying to get in to the USA that way.
Locusts!
Build the Wall!
9 3
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October 19, 2018 9:02am
- waikatogirl
  
  Believe there are 4,500 odd in the group trying to reach the USA. ????????????????????????????????????????????
  
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  October 19, 2018 9:08am
- stephieboy
  
  “Build the Wall!”
  
  What’s stopping the fairy godfather?
  
  4 17
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  October 19, 2018 9:23am
  - Harkman
    
    Funding
    
    6 0
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    October 19, 2018 9:38am
    - stephieboy
      
      but, but he’s a miracle and Wonderworker?
      
      Surely!
      
      2 19
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      October 19, 2018 9:54am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Even god had to take it one miracle at a time
        Growth over 4%
        Taxes down
        Unemployment down
        etc etc
        
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        October 19, 2018 10:55am
Manolo

Does stephieboy get a thrrill out of this?
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1033295/isis-news-putin-news-russia-war-Syria

ISIS has taken 700 people hostage in an area in Syria controlled by US-backed forces, Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed.
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October 19, 2018 9:05am
- stephieboy
  
  Manolo, now why should it thrill me?
  
  BTW I thought your President Chump had defeated ISIS?
  
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  October 19, 2018 9:27am
  - Harkman
    
    Obama called them a JV team and not a problem.
    
    11 0
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    October 19, 2018 9:40am
  - Inandout
    
    Remember the Ross affair? Stay on track stephie.
    
    7 0
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    October 19, 2018 9:43am
    - stephieboy
      
      Inandout, does the defeat of ISIS not thrill you?
      
      1 16
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      October 19, 2018 9:45am
      - Inandout
        
        stephie: I do get a thrill out of winning at Lotto, but generally no, I don’t get an Allah type high.
        
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        October 19, 2018 10:53am
Captain Mainwaring

Was at the hospital waiting room yesterday when an old guy lifted his arse off the chair, said “pardon me”, then let rip with a fart which echoed around the room.
Life is full of interesting events.
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October 19, 2018 9:22am
- stephieboy
  
  Captain Mainwaring, so isn’t your life full of singularly unmemorable incidents.
  
  Press the snooze button again!
  
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  October 19, 2018 9:30am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    The most unmemorable incidents in my life are the daily doses of drivel from you.
    
    16 1
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    October 19, 2018 9:49am
    - Inandout
      
      Stephie dreamed you were in a prone position behind a praying Muslim who let rip a thunderer from his arse. He is used to that though and puts plugs up his nostrils.
      
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      October 19, 2018 10:55am
Hugh Pavletich

Australian and New Zealand residential property: Bubble prices no longer of interest …

There was plenty on offer at the main Auckland apartment auctions this week but not much was sold under the hammer | interest.co.nz

https://www.interest.co.nz/property/96423/there-was-plenty-offer-main-auckland-apartment-auctions-week-not-much-was-sold-under

Things were unexpectedly quiet at this week’s main Auckland apartment auctions, with plenty on offer but not much selling under the hammer. … read more via hyperlink above …
.
.
House prices to fall 20% in Sydney and Melbourne, says top economist | Australia news | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/18/australians-told-property-prices-could-fall-another-15

Property prices in Sydney and Melbourne are on course to fall 20% and the risk of crash “cannot be ignored”, according to a significant rethink on the direction of the market by one of Australia’s most high-profile economists.

Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital, had expected the peak to trough fall in the two biggest cities to be 15%.

But a cocktail of factors including poor affordability, reduced credit, a tougher refinancing environment for existing borrowers and a fall in foreign buyers has forced him to revise his forecast downwards.

“Starting about a year ago it seems the tide has turned against property prices,” Oliver wrote on the AMP website on Thursday. … read more via hyperlink above …
.
.
Why are New Zealand homes so pricey? It has nothing to do with avocados | Stuff.co.nz
… watch excellent video …

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/property/106789344/why-are-nz-homes-so-pricey-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-avocados
.
.
… How do we get politicians to respond to public opinion … following 14+ years of intense public engagement with these issues (access further information http://www.PerformanceUrbanPlanning.org ) ? …
.
.
Govt criticised for moving slowly on Auckland growth boundary | Stuff.co.nz

https://i.stuff.co.nz/auckland/105295016/govt-criticised-for-moving-slowly-on-auckland-growth-boundary
.
.
… IPSOS polling … the major issue for Kiwis is excessively priced housing …

New Zealand Issues Monitor – Concerns about housing grow

https://www.ipsos.com/en-nz/new-zealand-issues-monitor-concerns-about-housing-grow
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October 19, 2018 9:44am
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  Posted at … https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2018/10/links-19-october-2018/#comment-3207405 … with further postings …
  
  Housing sales are tumbling in Australia and affordability is largely to blame … Australian Business Insider
  
  https://www.businessinsider.com.au/australia-property-market-housing-sales-affordability-price-downturn-2018-10
  
  • Housing sales are tumbling across Australia, especially in the capital cities.
  
  • According to CoreLogic, just 4.6% of all Australian homes changed hands in the year to July, below the 5.3% level in the preceding 12 months.
  
  • Housing affordability constraints largely explains the broader decline in turnover levels. Recent market weakness in Sydney and Melbourne, joining Perth and Darwin before them, has also been a factor.
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:07am
Jack5

A sad for Britain when the former military chief of the United States has to warn that it threatens its alliance with America if legal pursuit of British military veterans continues.

General David Petraeus warns that human rights laws need to be balanced against the laws of warfare.

The most notorious of the legal hounds who have pursued British veterans is Phil Shiner, a legal academic as well as a practising lawyer, who was subsequently struck off after a professional tribunal brought 12 charges against him.

Charges against Shiner included agreeing to pay ‘sweeteners’ to a fixer to persuade him to change his evidence, and making ‘unsolicited direct approaches’ to potential clients.

When we have our own Leftist media pursuing allegations against NZ servicemen for actions in Afghanistan, the Shiner scandal is worth bearing in mind.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6292173/Former-military-chief-claims-Britains-military-alliance-threat.html
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October 19, 2018 10:38am
- Jack5
  
  Milky is usually first to take the bait on Shiner and persecution of veterans. Are you there, Milky? The background electronic noise of the Stephiestani Trolls Ltd rostered-on claqueur excepted, of course.
  
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  October 19, 2018 10:39am
Muttonbird

With headlines like this, Bridges is going to be in a world of pain for some time to come…

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/368989/senior-indian-diplomat-very-hurt-by-bridges-ross-comments

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/368902/bridges-ross-comments-labelled-ugly-and-racist

Still, if you are a pack of racist c**nts like the National Party is, you’re going to get found out sooner or later.

Parmjeet Parmar, where are you?
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October 19, 2018 10:44am
- Jack5
  
  Muttonturd, you are pretty thick in trying to use Radio NZ (Red Radio) sources to convince Kiwiblog readers that National is more racist than Labour.
  
  National that has bent over backwards to meet Maori demands, with its Treaty Minister the former lawyer who won Ngai Tahu its sweetheart settlement.
  
  National, whose proportion of ethnic-European MPs is lower than the proportion of ethnic Europeans in the national population.
  
  National, under which the ethnic re-structuring of NZ has been taken forward, without any national discussion or debate.
  
  National, which made the initial offer to Australia to take 150 refugees from Nauru.
  
  National, which has been friendlier to China than most Western allies if these factors are considered:
  
  1. Use of telecommunications infrastructure gear from a Chinese firm regarded as a security risk by these allies.
  
  2. Taking into the party, as an MP, a former employee of China’s most important spy service.
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:03am
- Classic Liberal
  
  MB, the context of that recording was presumably that National wants to represent numbers of various ethnicities in NZ.
  
  Do you or don’t you believe that, as there are more Chinese than Indian people in NZ, they should have more representation? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_New_Zealand#Ethnicity)
  
  Personally, I’d prefer meritocracy, but ethnic groups do tend to vote within themselves.
  
  If we really had a meritocracy, given the work ethic and success I see in many Asians *and* Indians, I’d expect even more Chinese, Koreans and Indians in Parliament.
  
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  October 19, 2018 2:51pm
Fletch

This is funny. After all the brouhaha over Senator Elizabeth Warren’s DNA test and her trying to claim Native American heritage and rub it in Trump’s face, a delve into her actual ancestry shows that a relative of hers helped round up Cherokee Indians on the infamous Trail of Tears.

Breitbart News first reported in 2012 that Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) great-great-great grandfather Jonathan Crawford was a member of the Tennessee Militia that rounded up Cherokees living there at the time for the Trail of Tears journey to Oklahoma in the 1830s.
This gives Warren a 1/32, or 3.125 percent, Tennessee Militia heritage, at least double the maximum 1.56 percent, minimum 0.1 percent, Native American heritage Dr. Carlos Bustamante said the evidence in the DNA genotypes purported to come from Warrren’s DNA sample “strongly suggests” in his October 10, 2018 report released by Sen. Warren on Monday.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/10/17/hree-percent-of-elizabeth-warrens-dna-from-ancestor-who-rounded-up-cherokees-for-trail-of-tears/
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October 19, 2018 10:48am
- Inandout
  
  That is what happens when you open the cage, unintended consequences. Same thing could happen here when CoL records are delved into.
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:11am
Fletch

I heard on the radio news today that Teresa May and the EU still can’t agree on a Brexit deal, and so it is getting pushed back, to the point where “it may not happen at all”.

This is utter bullshit, of course. To Britain – just cut ties and leave! Bugger them! They can’t survive without you anyway.
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October 19, 2018 10:58am
- Fletch
  
  Found it –
  
  Britain is facing the prospect of a delayed Brexit deal or no deal at all.
  
  Prime Minister Theresa May said the transition period may be extended, after she failed to reach an agreement at a crucial summit in Brussels.
  
  Germany and France are considering scaling back the rights of British nationals in the case of a no deal.
  
  Jonathan Portes, the former chief economist of the British Cabinet told Kate Hawkesby British expats are facing a precarious future.
  
  “What it does, I think highlight, is the degree of uncertainty that the prospect of a no deal Brexit brings.”
  
  He said it’s unclear if a deal will ever be reached.
  
  “We just don’t know what’s going to happen in the event of a no deal and it’s not scare mongering to say things are going to get very messy indeed.”
  
  https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/early-edition/audio/jonathan-portes-uncertainty-around-brexit-continues/
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:01am
  - Jack5
    
    You might find similar cases in NZ, Fletch, given the high rate of intermarriage between white and Maori.
    So some of those who rail against the “effects of colonialism” quite likely have genes from soldiers and settler-soldiers as well as Maori ancestors.
    
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    October 19, 2018 11:18am
  - freethinker
    
    Britain should respond to the Evil Union by treating their citizens exactly as the EU do Brits. Should Drunker and his rabble of arseholes try to punish Britain for leaving then EU citizens can look forward to finding fish and transatlantic flights expensive and in short supply and their tourist industry decimated. Merkat, Micron and Maybe are proving to be the worst western worlds leaders in living history excluding Hitler and Stalin. The Don has fired another warning shot over Brussels threat on London clearing Euro derivative deals with a threat to deny Euro Banks access to the US market. The Douche Bank should be very worried. Drunker thinks he is a big bully – easy when fighting tiddlers , Trump is a heavyweight as Drunker will discover when he finds himself on the floor with a sore head and multiple bruises.
    
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    October 19, 2018 11:38am
- DigNap15
  
  Yes, Britain should just leave.
  No deal ! No payments
  The EU need a good lesson.
  Italy and Greece will be next!
  And Hungary and Poland!
  
  11 0
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  October 19, 2018 11:03am
- Inandout
  
  Just get rid of the child-free one I say, and install a true Conservative with family ideals.
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:14am
DigNap15

The judge did not take into account cultural background!

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12143393

WTF these lawyers are out of control.
What has rape got to do with cultural background?
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October 19, 2018 11:02am
- DJ Ward
  
  All cultures have had rape and pillage of the enemy in their past. Therefore culture should not influence these cases.
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:23am
- Classic Liberal
  
  A lawyer will do anything to try and win a case. It’s the judges who need to stand firm: same law for all.
  
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  October 19, 2018 2:54pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Is it really so difficult for Kiwis to understand Glaswegian accents?

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-45900253/sir-paul-beresford-struggles-with-scottish-accent
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October 19, 2018 11:04am
- Jack5
  
  Beresford just needs a hearing aid.
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:08am
- Inandout
  
  The red head on the Chase is often difficult to understand.
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:15am
lifesgood

I’ve just heard the most horrendous broadcast on Red Radio of some maori rapper called Dean something or other. What a hate filled, nasty individual! I am actually quite disgusted that National Radio broadcast this. He has, for reasons beyond me, been given an award by New Zealand Music awards, which he proudly refused until they gave the awards a maori name. The idiots at NZ music caved. This Dean refuses to acknowledge the name of this fair country is New Zealand. What I’d like to know is if the maori even had a name for New Zealand. I very much doubt it since they were many tribes, arriving at different times and living largely in isolation from each other. Their names would have been local for where they lived.
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October 19, 2018 11:07am
- riffer
  
  LOL. Troll much?
  
  Yeah, they did have a name for the country.
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:33am
  - DigNap15
    
    Sorry buy I think that Maori’s did not have a name for New Zealand.
    The North Island South Island yes.
    But the concept of countries and states was a European invention in the 1500’s or thereabouts.
    EG there was no France then, or Germany, Or Italy.
    There had been many Kingdoms and Empires in ancient history.
    
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    October 19, 2018 12:06pm
- Kabull
  
  The Maori had names for each island but not for the whole country. According to some Aotearoa was applied to the North Island only until the mid-late 19th century.
  I find it disconcerting that public radio and television is increasingly using Aotearoa instead of or in parallel with New Zealand. As far as I am able to ascertain, Aotearoa has not (yet) been made an official name for the country. What we are seeing is a deliberate move by broadcasters to push us to adopting the Maori name. No doubt they will in time succeed…
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:38am
- Scott Hamilton
  
  ‘I very much doubt it since they were many tribes, arriving at different times and living largely in isolation from each other.’
  
  There isn’t the genetic diversity within the kiore bones scholars have found here to support that view. Multiple arrivals, probably, but not a huge number of different arrivals over a long period of time. Lisa Matisoo-Smith had this sorted in 1998
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC24590/
  
  ‘The result of the neighbor-joining analysis strongly suggests that the New Zealand R. exulans populations are most closely related to Southern Cook, Kermadec, and Society Islands populations. This result corroborates the strong indications of archaeology, language, and culture (35). However, it has been argued recently that people may have arrived in New Zealand and introduced R. exulans by 1,800 BP, nearly 1,000 years before any evidence of successful human settlement (36). The fact that two New Zealand samples (NZ 23 and 24) appear within the deep branches of the “ancestral” Group I sequences from the Society and Cook Islands is not inconsistent with an early introduction of R. exulans to New Zealand. Similarly, the unusually long branch lengths for New Zealand samples NZ 20, 21, and 22 may represent evidence of an earlier introduction. Also, the Fiji sample is most closely related in the tree to New Zealand samples in Group II. A New Zealand–Fiji connection is inconsistent with archaeological, linguistic, and cultural evidence; however, it is not inconsistent with the suggestion that rats may have been introduced to New Zealand from some more westerly location before the successful human settlement from central east Polynesia. Regardless of the timing of the introduction events, it is clear that New Zealand R. exulans populations are highly divergent and are unlikely to be the result of a single introduction as has been suggested by some (37, 38).
  Recent analyses of mtDNA variation in New Zealand Maori (39) conservatively suggest that a minimum number of 50–100 founding females was required to explain the diversity observed in modern Maori populations. These results are also consistent with multiple canoe voyages to New Zealand. To confirm the diverse structure of the New Zealand R. exulans populations, we sought any support for the monophyly of the New Zealand samples by looking for any splits or partitions in the bootstrap results that included all 34 New Zealand sequences. There were none. In other words, there is no support for a monophyletic New Zealand R. exulans population. Therefore, it is highly likely that the prehistoric settlement of New Zealand was the result of multiple contacts with at least the central Southern Cook and Society Islands group and the Kermadecs and possibly with other locations west of the Polynesian triangle.
  
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  October 19, 2018 12:22pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    @ Scott Hamilton
    Holdaway’s rat bone dates were wonky.
    Subsequent dating of Pacific rat bones sampled from both laughing owl (32) and archaeological sites (33–35) failed to duplicate the early series of old rat bone dates (35–38).
    
    There is no evidence that folks and kiore got here 1800 years ago.
    
    It is probably easier to reference Wilmhurst et al 2008, if you don’t want to confuse the punters.
    
    http://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/105/22/7676.full.pdf
    
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    October 19, 2018 12:45pm
    - Scott Hamilton
      
      You’re confusing scholars, Maggy – I posted a groundbreaking study from Lisa Matisoo-Smith, who had nothing to do with Holdaway’s controversial tests. What Matisoo-Smith and her team did was go across the Pacific testing rat bones to determine their genetic lineage and their age.
      
      Years earlier Holdaway got a couple of bones and tested them and raised eyebrows by getting a very early date. There’s no link between Holdaway’s and Matisoo-Smith’s work, and Matisoo-Smith doesn’t claim, as Holdaway did, that people were in NZ 1800 years ago.
      
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      October 19, 2018 12:49pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Did you read the abstract you posted above?
        
        However, it has been argued recently that people may have arrived in New Zealand and introduced R. exulans by 1,800 BP, nearly 1,000 years before any evidence of successful human settlement (36). The fact that two New Zealand samples (NZ 23 and 24) appear within the deep branches of the “ancestral” Group I sequences from the Society and Cook Islands is not inconsistent with an early introduction of R. exulans to New Zealand
        
        There are still plenty of folks around who are willing to accept that folks got here 2000 years ago and offer up Holdaway’s date for evidence.
        
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        October 19, 2018 12:59pm
      - Scott Hamilton
        
        Matisoo-Smith’s paper was published in ’98., Maggy. Holdaway’s dates aren’t at all relevant to its arguments, which are illustrated in the chart that shows the relative diversity of the various rat populations, and thus the relative isolation of the various Pacific societies. NZ in the middle of the spectrum – less isolated than the Marquesas, more isolated than the Cooks.
        
        I think interest in Holdaway’s dates has faded with the failure to replicate them. But the romantic in me would like to think some folks stopped off here 1800 years ago. Not even Holdaway suggests they stayed long and established aa permanent settlement.
        
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        October 19, 2018 2:07pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        But the romantic in me would like to think some folks stopped off here 1800 years ago.
        
        And that flies in the face of our ecological and archaeological knowledge of the dispersal of humans and kiore.
        
        https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/science/plants-animals-fungi/ecosystems/prehistoric-settlement/human-arrival
        
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        October 19, 2018 4:16pm
- itstricky
  
  What a hate filled, nasty individual
  
  Hyperbole.
  
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  October 19, 2018 1:36pm
  - lifesgood
    
    Well you clearly didn’t hear it. It was quite shocking, by his own mouth he made it clear. Not hyperbole at all.
    
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    October 19, 2018 5:16pm
    - itstricky
      
      I have listened to it. He has opinions but he didn’t threaten to hurt anyone. Just because you don’t like his opinions doesn’t make him hateful, or nasty.
      
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      October 19, 2018 5:25pm
  - starboard
    
    Hey bro..fuzz still lookin for ya, breach of parole I believe.
    
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    October 19, 2018 5:40pm
Muttonbird

Collins “too busy” to deal with Ross’ emotional abuse and bullying.

What an excuse that is! Banked for future use…

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/10/mps-too-busy-to-figure-out-what-jami-lee-ross-was-doing-judith-collins.html
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October 19, 2018 11:07am
- Jack5
  
  If you are going to get into National instances, Mutton, we are going to have long counter-series of Labour MPs’ failings. For example, Meka Whaitiri. Then there was Liz Craig at the Labour sex camp, and going to bed before the shenanigans began. And, of course, the Darren Hughes incident.
  
  Does that take us any further ahead?
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:13am
  - Muttonbird
    
    Interesting that Labour have stayed well clear of National’s dirty implosion and not sought to gain any political capital out of it yet the Nats were all over Labour’s issues like a rash.
    
    Further evidence that don’t play fair and have a serious problem with their values.
    
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    October 19, 2018 11:16am
    - Jack5
      
      Mutton, but from your posts, you are Labour, and you haven’t stayed clear.
      
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      October 19, 2018 11:20am
      - riffer
        
        Big difference between being a Labour supporter (or more appropriately left of centre voter) and being Labour itself.
        
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        October 19, 2018 11:47am
    - lifesgood
      
      Idiot!! They are staying clear because they are frightened of what might come about them if they raise their heads above the parapet. And there’s plenty as you well know.
      
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      October 19, 2018 12:05pm
- rangitoto
  
  Not what she actually said.
  
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  October 19, 2018 1:02pm
DJ Ward

Great news for petrol heads from Mustang. Also great news for people who like great big cars for going to the shops to get a Latte, or taking kids to kindy in safety.

Mustang will begin production of its electric SUV in 2 years.
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October 19, 2018 11:16am
- Jack5
  
  The great advertising man David Ogilvy wrote a famous advertisement: “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in the new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”
  
  What would he have made of the electric Mustang?
  
  “At 100 miles an hour, you don’t have to turn up the woofer.”
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:25am
  - Jack5
    
    An electric Mustang? But of course that will be the SUV version. For old, well-heeled boy racers, the petrol muscle car continues.
    
    https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/future-cars/a12772483/2019-shelby-gt500-release-date-info-news/
    
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    October 19, 2018 1:33pm
Return To Sender

All this talk of Chinese infiltration of our democratic process… Looks like we have ‘successfully’ done the same in the UK https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-45900253/sir-paul-beresford-struggles-with-scottish-accent
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October 19, 2018 11:17am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  It really does make you wonder how the Left haven’t demanded to see the credentials of Meng Foon, now in his 6th term as Gisborne’s mayor.
  
  Perhaps the fact that he is the only mayor in NZ fluent in Maori has spared him from slanderous suggestions that his promotion of Maori-Chinese business and sponsorship of Mandarin-speaking teachers back to Gizzy is a nefarious plot to overthrow democracy.
  http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/politics/maori-business-interest-nz-china-mayoral-talks
  
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  October 19, 2018 11:40am
  - riffer
    
    Big difference.
    
    Meng Foon was born here, not parachuted in with a fistful of dollars.
    
    3 8
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    October 19, 2018 11:49am
  - Scott Hamilton
    
    Was Meng Foon a member of the standing committee of the Hainan division of the Chinese Communist Party from 2013 until this year? Did he did he put on his uniform and take part in a march celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founding of the CCP’s armed wing? Has been involved with numerous recognised CCP fronts in NZ?
    If so, then he deserves the same scrutiny as Zhang Yikun. But I suspect Meng Foon is a very different character.
    
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    October 19, 2018 12:03pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      As I posted earlier today….
      Dr Noakes of Auckland Uni puts a less sinister view:
      But another China expert, Stephen Noakes from Auckland University, said joining the party was the way to get ahead in business.
      
      “The personal connections and relationships provide the motivation for you to join. It’s very much like LinkedIn, it’s a thing you do for the connections.
      
      “It does not mean that everybody who joins the CP is out to destroy institutions of liberal democracy or to spy on trade partners around the world,” Dr Noakes said.
      https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018667446/who-is-zhang-yikun-the-alleged-donor-of-100-000-to-national
      
      All I’m asking, is where is the evidence that Zhang Yikun is not acting in good faith with his dealings within NZ ?
      
      I am not doubting that there may be some forces in NZ acting against our democracy, but I’m yet to be convinced that this man is involved.
      
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      October 19, 2018 12:31pm
      - Scott Hamilton
        
        The problem is that the CCP isn’t the Chinese equivalent of the Jaycees, Maggy. The CCP is owned by Xi Jinping, and Xi is a megalomaniac with dreams of world domination. His Belt and Road strategy is destabilising dozens of countries and turning our closest neighbour Tonga into a colony of Beijing. Xi’s made himself the object of virtual worship in China; his ‘thought’ is enshrined in the constitution, and his right to rule for life has been endorsed by the party.
        
        In nation after nation, Xi has used the CCP to undermine freedom of speech and democracy and erode local sovereignty. We’ll find out how much of NZ’s sovereignty has been lost when the government has to decide what to do with a report that shows Anne-Marie Brady’s flat was raided by CCP operatives.
        
        It’s interesting to consider Noakes’ comments in light of Tse Ming-Mok’s opinion piece in the Herald today. She claims that NZ academics specialising in China, like Noakes, are privately very concerned about what the country is doing, but can’t speak out for fear of losing funding opportunities and other penalties. The exception is Ann-Marie Brady – and we know what’s happened to her.
        
        I think too many people at KB are making the mistake of viewing the issue of Chinese influence through party political lenses. It has nothing to do with party politics. Labour as well as National is implicated. We need to look away from such petty concerns, and notice the danger on the horizon.
        
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        October 19, 2018 12:40pm
      - Jack5
        
        That’s a good post, Scott.
        
        I would add to it, that we need to be aware of what China is also doing in Australia.
        
        https://www.businessinsider.com.au/chinese-influence-in-australia-media-2018-5?r=US&IR=T
        
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        October 19, 2018 1:14pm
Captain Mainwaring

General consensus seems to be that Bridges is steadily gaining credibility the longer JLR keeps making an arse of himself.
But no, our old mate Barely Sober keeps twisting the knife into SB as though it’s his personal crusade to destroy the man.
And where is the child bride? We’ve had to put up with Leighton for the last few days. Is she having a break from the silly old prick?
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October 19, 2018 12:18pm
- Inandout
  
  The child-like one must wonder what she wakes up to some mornings. When she reaches 60 the other half will be 90 odd.
  
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  October 19, 2018 12:25pm
  - DJ Ward
    
    She is smart. He’s an old lefty beta male so she probably never has to do the yucky thing. Also when he dies she can sit back and relax for the last 30 years of her life enjoying the fruits of his labour.
    
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    October 19, 2018 1:03pm
  - lifesgood
    
    He’s been through a few wives. The others saw the light.
    
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    October 19, 2018 5:18pm
- Wired-one
  
  Garner also seems to be after Bridges blood, from day one Bridges in my view has not been given a fair go by the media, guess they want another opposition like they’ve just had for nine years. I like Simon and hope he stays on and grows in support, but the Ardern sycophantic media wont have a bar of that.
  
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  October 19, 2018 12:27pm
- DigNap15
  
  Yes “reporters” like Sober and Garner that try to make the news really annoy me.
  
  I note that Soaper failed to tell us in advance that his mate Peters was always going to go with Labour.
  
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  October 19, 2018 3:19pm
Wired-one

If Bridges poll standings do not improve or if this JLR scandal takes him down, who would you guys and girls like for a new leader and deputy. I would like to see Todd Muller as leader and Judith Collins as deputy. Todd comes across excellent on the t.v. and seems to be a very competent MP, and Judith has great knowledge and control over her portfolios and is a great attack dog for us, she frankly runs rings around anyone in the CoL. Having her as deputy would also cater for those on the right who want Judith closer to the action whilst also not giving her complete power. I like Mark Mitchell, Nikki Kaye, and Amy Adam’s too, but this is the number one option in my opinion. Thoughts?.
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October 19, 2018 12:23pm
- Inandout
  
  I will wait until Ross finishes his Winston-like gradual feed to the media. So far Bridges has shown more stamina than I thought he had.
  
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  October 19, 2018 12:29pm
  - Wired-one
    
    Agreed, he has far more substance than his main opposite.
    
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    October 19, 2018 12:47pm
- DJ Ward
  
  Collins may have support from the crusher loving genre but generally there is a proportion that see her as a big turn off. I despise the women for certain actions while Minister in regard to Domestic Violence and her attitude towards men. Others don’t like her for other reasons such as her Buisiness, sorry political trip.
  
  Lawyers are the worst politicians. When they make law, personal interests are unavoidable. The DV act for eg was pushed into law by a Lawyer. It fails too protect women from DV as things just get worse, it’s a disaster for children, kills more men than women and children that die from DV, costs taxpayers moonbeams and only has one winner. Lawyers.
  
  She in effect walks around with a ball and chain from her past.
  
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  October 19, 2018 12:49pm
  - Inandout
    
    DJ, you seem to have personal experience in this and that can cloud your judgement somewhat.
    
    4 1
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    October 19, 2018 1:00pm
    - DJ Ward
      
      Personal experience brings once the dust is settled, clarity. Your view is clouded by feminist propaganda. My view is based on 25 years of investigation and advocacy. When you have the facts before you and a politician is bullshiting, you know what the bullshit is. The ignorant due to lack of experience are easy victims.
      
      There is a compliant before the HRC in regard to the police and DV right now. Obscene and corrupt is an understatement.
      
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      October 19, 2018 1:17pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Not Amy thanks, she comes across like a flopped pavlova. Leave Bridges where he is if she’s the alternative.
  
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  October 19, 2018 12:50pm
  - Jack5
    
    Amy is very bright and good at her job, but may lack the PR fizz that the air-headed seek.
    
    You could probably say the same about Todd Muller.
    
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    October 19, 2018 1:35pm
    - Paulus
      
      Mitchell and Collins.
      Adams is great in her job too, but there.
      
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      October 19, 2018 2:16pm
Komata

Scott H @1240

Might I suggest that part of the problem results from the ‘anti-American’ stance of the left. With the demise of the old Soviet Union, a ‘leftist’ vacuum was created which the CCP was quite happy to fill. This, combined with the renewed expansionst tendencies of the CCP leadership meant the appearance of ostensibly neutral (although wealthy with ‘Beijing-supplied funds), Chinese at NZLP functions, the ‘contribution’ of other significant amounts to various causes and support for hitherto almost-extinct but ‘Bejing-focused’ splinter groups of a leftist persuasion.

However, and in the typical Chinese fashion of playing both sides simultaneously, the Nats were also approached and again ‘contributions’ were made. As both parties accepted said ‘donations’ both sides are now, of course, in thrall to Bejing. On that basis, it will be interesting to see what price will be demanded in return for the favours provided. If events in Zim are anything to go on, the cost will be significant and, lest we think it will never happen in little old New Zld, I would suggest that to a degree the price is already being paid; not by the political parties involved, but by the country as a whole. Crafar farms comes to mind…

We live in interesting times…
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October 19, 2018 1:27pm
- Jack5
  
  Komata, NZ’s Communists dropped the Soviet Union long before that state broke up.
  
  They switched to China during Mao’s era, and when they thought he was getting soft they switched support to, of all places, tiny communist Albania.
  
  NZ reds , overwhelmingly Aucklanders, must have been among the world’s stupidist communists.
  
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  October 19, 2018 1:38pm
- Scott Hamilton
  
  I think you focus on politics at the expense of economics, Komata. I think the NZ business class, especially the finance sector and construction sector, and to an extent NZ farming have been colonised by Chinese capital, and that the deepening Chinese influence in National is a result of this; so is the export of the likes of Brash and Shipley to China. I think the process would be very hard to reverse. It’d be like trying to uncouple the NZ and British elites seventy years ago.
  
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  October 19, 2018 2:11pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Well, I’m in complete agreement with you.
    
    China is playing a simple capitalist imperialist game.
    And if it wasn’t China dropping capital into our land of milk and honey, it would be the Indonesians, Malaysians, Canadians, Australians,…. (woops, I think they are all here, doing just the same as the Chinese).
    
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    October 19, 2018 4:41pm
DJ Ward

Today 16 men and boys will proudly carry their newborn baby from the hospital to the car. Drive home and begin the task of supporting the mother in raising their child. His family will visit. Brothers, sisters, aunti and uncle, parents. It may well be the happiest moments in his life.

Unfortunately for those 16 men and boys, society doesn’t give a fuck about the fact the child is another mans.
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October 19, 2018 1:37pm
- DJ Ward
  
  Quite sad that the down voters have no respect for the innocent newborn used as a pawn in adult immorality.
  
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  October 19, 2018 4:26pm
Inandout

The world is quite a happy place for most of us.
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October 19, 2018 2:11pm
- DJ Ward
  
  More than 50% of the population is female so your probably correct.
  
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  October 19, 2018 4:28pm
  - nasska
    
    Your scenario is probably spot on. There are definitely women who would prefer to fall pregnant to a tall, dark arsehole but would opt for the long term attentions & financial support of a well paid, boring accountant.
    
    It still leaves questions. 1) What do you propose should be done to solve the problem? For there to be a problem there must be complainants so, 2) how many males are going to admit to being cucked?
    
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    October 19, 2018 6:40pm
Manolo

Will Italy leave the euro zone?
https://lacrunadellago.net/2018/10/18/bruxelles-pronta-a-bocciare-la-manovra-litalia-uscira-dalleuro/
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October 19, 2018 3:28pm
noskire

Why does Gaylorde find it necessary to try and keep himself in the spotlight?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/107982717/clarke-gayfords-never-seen-before-photos-of-the-moment-the-coalition-government-was-born
Another narcissit at large?
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October 19, 2018 5:09pm
- itstricky
  
  Another narcissit at large?
  
  You mean like Max?
  
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  October 19, 2018 5:27pm
  - Nostradamus
    
    Itstricky:
    
    I think there’s a difference.
    
    Max Key is a young man who has an active online social presence. He posted about himself, as I recall, but not about his father’s political life.
    
    Clarke Gayford is older than Max and also has an active online social presence. He frequently posts about his partner’s political life.
    
    If Max wasn’t a former prime minister’s son, I doubt his Facebook posts (or whatever else people look at these days) would feature in media articles.
    
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    October 19, 2018 5:58pm
    - Ponxmax
      
      Max Key’s Daddy bailed out Mediaworks so he could DJ on a Radio Station.
      
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      October 20, 2018 8:01am
stigie

Condoms don’t guarantee safe sex anymore…..
A friend of mine was wearing one when he was shot by the women’s husband !!
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October 19, 2018 8:32pm
- Nostradamus
  
  Stigie:
  
  A friend of mine
  
  Anyone we know? (Asking for a friend)
  
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  October 19, 2018 8:44pm
nasska

How does a South Auckland girl turn the light on after sex?

……..She opens the car door.

How do you know when a South Auckland girl’s had an orgasm?

…….She drops her bag of chips.

What’s the difference between a seal & a South Auckland girl?

………One is wet, has a moustache & smells of fish – the other is a marine mammal.
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October 19, 2018 8:46pm
Hugh Pavletich

… Are the risks and consequences associated with high multiple lending adequately understood in Australia and New Zealand ? …

Does negative equity loom ? … Martin North … Digital Finance Analytics … YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUJtgcmGciw
.
.
… CONSIDERING THE 2007 IRISH EXPERIENCE …THE MASSIVE RISKS OF MULTIPLE STRETCH … CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND RESEARCH …

The unweighted average median multiples of its metros in 2007 was 4.7, which crashed to 2.8 in subsequent years … putting all its Banks to the wall and requiring bailouts of in excess of 70 billion euro … about $NZ109 billion.

Currently the average unweighted Median Multiples for the Australian and New Zealand metros overall are about 5.9 and 5.8 respectively … refer …

Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: All Editions

http://www.demographia.com/db-dhi-index.htm

Research by the Central Bank of Ireland found high lending multipoles was the greatest problem (more so than high loan to value ratios) … and subsequently imposed a general mortgage cap of 3.5 times annual household income. A year earlier the Bank of England had generallycapped at 4.5 times annual household income …

Mortgage Measures | Central Bank of Ireland
… access extensive background research via link …

https://www.centralbank.ie/financial-system/financial-stability/macro-prudential-policy/mortgage-measures

Are the risks and consequences associated with high multiple lending adequately understood in Australia and New Zealand ?
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October 20, 2018 2:09am
Ponxmax

Came here by accident. Who is in charge of the Website. When are you going to update the year to 2018 for these daily posts?
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October 20, 2018 8:00am

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