General Debate 17 December 2019

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Maggie Pie

When “I” lived in London…

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EL4aZAgU0AE-fpY?format=png&name=small
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December 17, 2019 8:00am
- Thought Criminal
  
  Does she mean when she was a “policy advisor” for Tony Blair?
  
  The kind of non job the political ruling class give to each other instead of getting any real experience or doing real work or running a business.
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:34am
  - Paulus
    
    She never met Blair – ask her !
    
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    December 17, 2019 8:42am
    - Tall Man
      
      More to that than meets the eye.
      
      Imagine Sir John Key not knowing a staffer!
      
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      December 17, 2019 10:17am
      - MH
        
        I’ll know you’ll forgive me eventually for saying this…
        
        or imagine Sir john Key not knowing where he was during the Springbok Tour….I was flying off to the UK via LA.
        
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        December 17, 2019 11:26am
      - Tall Man
        
        MH, I certainly can’t remember much of the era…… Can’t think why….. Oh that’s right, I didn’t give a fuck either way.
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsa1ZvzFgvU
        
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        December 17, 2019 1:06pm
    - Sydney Alvarado
      
      I don’t know where this idea came from that she worked for Blair.
      
      Jacinda Ardern was a policy advisor in the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office employs more than 1,600 people.
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_Office
      
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      December 17, 2019 11:37am
      - cmm
        
        “Policy advisor” is one of those titles they hand out to anyone who helps run down to the corner shop to buy more staples or tea bags.
        
        But the way it was presented to us made it sound like she was whispering advice in his ear all the time and he couldn’t take a step without consulting her.
        
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        December 17, 2019 2:35pm
      - sooty
        
        Is that where Darren Hughes has a job!
        
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        December 17, 2019 4:54pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        No..
        He went off to the Electoral Reform Society and is now its CEO
        https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/who-we-are/our-team/our-staff/
        
        wanting to reform the voting system in UK
        https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/election-reform-vote-proportional-representation-first-past-post-brexit-a9246291.html
        
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        December 17, 2019 7:33pm
      - Swifty
        
        Darren Hughes writes:
        
        “It’s clear we can’t carry on in this way. Politicians will return to the House of Commons on Monday with voters across the spectrum hoping for real political reform. From dark ads and dodgy donations, to people feeling forced to vote tactically, this election did not reflect well on OUR democracy.”
        
        Does this mean that he is a Pom now?
        
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        December 17, 2019 7:51pm
  - igm
    
    Was she aadvising which fish and chip shop to buy his lunch from? That would be about her forte’.
    
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    December 17, 2019 8:56am
  - Swifty
    
    I have to agree.
    
    When all you’ve done is man the chip fryer, get a comms degree, followed by stints in the offices of Goff and Clark – just what exactly is your experience and qualifications to be an advisor on anything let alone to the UK PM?
    
    This was a friendly ‘jobs for the girls’ posting – from NZ Labour to UK Labour and all billed to the UK taxpayer.
    
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    December 17, 2019 8:58am
    - Sydney Alvarado
      
      um no it wasn’t. She never worked for Tony Blair. It is an urban myth.
      
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      December 17, 2019 11:39am
  - Simon
    
    What’s Ardern’s word on impeachment?
    
    The whole world holds its breath.
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:01am
    - Tall Man
      
      Still working through the dictionary I think.
      
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      December 17, 2019 10:18am
      - MH
        
        impeachment – the effect hail has on stoned fruit esp from the Cromwell and Hawkes Bay areas.
        
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        December 17, 2019 11:28am
      - Overworked
        
        Someone needs to tell her it’s just after G for GDP.
        
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        December 17, 2019 6:11pm
  - mandk
    
    I think you have been misinformed.
    
    Ardern is reputed to have worked in the Cabinet Office in London. However, the reality is that she was in charge of the hot chip cabinet in a fish and chip business in Shepherd’s Bush.
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:36am
  - Rich Prick
    
    I can just imagine the chip wrapper “advising” Tony Blair. Chicken salt goes with chips, yes even soggy British ones.
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:52am
    - kaykaybee
      
      I have it on good authority that she stuffed envelopes. That’s it.
      
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      December 17, 2019 11:36am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        And here she is, after that life journey, stuffing us . . . .
        
        Stupid bint.
        
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        December 17, 2019 5:34pm
- MCos
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  That was seven years ago. More recently, July in fact, Simon Bridges said Boris had buffoon like qualities. Whether that was a compliment, I don’t know.
  He said he would still vote for him, which is hardly surprising.
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:47am
  - Sacha
    
    Hey MCos! I looked up the meaning of ‘buffoon’ for you – the first that comes up on google is:
    – a ridiculous but amusing person; a clown
    then:
    – a person who does silly things, usually to make us laugh.
    – and vocabulary.com says: A buffoon is a person whose ridiculous behaviour is a source of amusement to others. People you might call a buffoon are a political rival, or the guy at work who tells silly jokes at office parties.
    And so on.
    Nowhere did I find an implication that a buffoon is wanting in intelligence.
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:25am
    - alloytoo
      
      Historically the “Fool” was often a valued advisor to kings and often afforded access that other advisors don’t have.
      
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      December 17, 2019 10:47am
      - rightoverlabour
        
        and Harlot; “Usually male in Middle English and Old French. Used in positive as well as pejorative senses by Chaucer; applied in Middle English to jesters, buffoons, jugglers, later to actors. Secondary sense of “prostitute, unchaste woman” probably had developed by 14c., certainly by early 15c., but this was reinforced by its use euphemistically for “strumpet, whore” in 16c. English translations of the Bible.
        
        words do change in meaning…..
        
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        December 17, 2019 12:16pm
  - Positan
    
    My politics are centre-right but Bridges’ grasp of so many things has yet to impress me.
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:53am
    - tf78
      
      Positan – if you get the opportunity try and go to one of Simon’s meetings- he is a very impressive fellow.
      
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      December 17, 2019 3:41pm
      - Positan
        
        I have – that’s what depressed me.
        
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        December 17, 2019 5:18pm
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Then you went to the wrong meeting . . .
        
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        December 17, 2019 5:37pm
- Bell-47
  
  Oh dear, precisely why politicians should stay away from twitter. I wonder if she will delete?
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:01am
- freethinker
  
  Boris has a 86 seat majority Labour has no majority so our PTPM or SLG’s judgement is less credible than a flat earther.
  
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  December 17, 2019 10:26am
krazykiwi

The other day I commented that the UK electorate map looked like a Smurf with measles. So check this out. This is what the map would have looked like if only 18-24 years old’s were permitted to vote.

The next time you hear our socialist ‘leaders’ promoting lowering the voting age “for better representation”, see that claim for what it is: a naked lust for power.
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December 17, 2019 8:00am
- waldonz
  
  Ad that’s precisely the reason why the Greens are pushing to lower the voting age.
  
  It seems they are champions for democracy but only on their terms.
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:18am
- Evadne
  
  They never lived with the Iron Curtain. A trip to Berlin (West vs East) in the 80s would have cured anyone of socialist yearnings. (Except the wilfully blind and stupid – who, unfortunately, have always been around)
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:19am
  - Raphael
    
    Indeed. I also recall that both Richard Wurmbrand and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn were met with derision and scorn from Leftists Academics when the spoke of the suffering of people under Communism.
    
    Communism, in all its forms is evil.
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:38am
  - rockape
    
    Did that once evry 6 months and was privaledged to read intelligence reports on the East German economy. Put me off socialism for life.
    
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    December 17, 2019 12:03pm
  - The Proper Ghandi
    
    People were willing to risk their lives being shot to escape East Germany. Either part of that sentence should tell you something about hard core Socialism.
    
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    December 17, 2019 12:29pm
- Nickc2
  
  There was an Aust Professor on TV last night who commented that for every labour seat shown on a map of the UK, that seat was gained in a University city/town. Interesting, but not surprising.
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:24am
- Sacha
  
  Someone once said that everyone should be a socialist until they reach their mid 20’s, and then they naturally evolve into a conservative frame of mind as they mature.
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:29am
  - freethinker
    
    The chart on KKs comment/Link shows exactly that.
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:29am
    - JibberJabber
      
      Tracy Ullmans skit deserves a repost here, Woke support group,
      https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155552204996778
      
      It does`nt really matter cos` by the time you hit your 30s, most of you are going to be massively right wing anyway
      
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      December 17, 2019 10:57am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Here’s some background on that.
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:37am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Churchill, I believe, said “If you’re not a liberal at 18, you have no heart. But if you’re not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.”
    
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    December 17, 2019 12:34pm
  - tf78
    
    I think ‘right wing’ comes along just after your first pay packet.
    
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    December 17, 2019 3:44pm
- lastmanstanding
  
  Churchill said if you arent a socialist at 20 you dont have a heart and if you arent a conservative at 40 you dont have a brain.
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:33am
  - Wangas Feral
    
    The two decades in between leave a lot of time to stuff things up big time.
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:09am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Probably attributed to French literary figure and theater director Jules Claretie (1875)
    
    “Celui qui n’est pas républicain à vingt ans fait douter de la générosité de son âme; mais celui qui, après trente ans, persévère, fait douter de la rectitude de son esprit”
    
    Translation: He who is not a republican at twenty compels one to doubt the generosity of his heart; but he who, after thirty, persists, compels one to doubt the soundness of his mind.
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:39am
- Positan
  
  21 was a bare minimum for the voting age as so much of the individual’s relevance to adult life has yet to become clear to he/she.
  
  That it’s now 18 and irrespective of politics, in local body elections that non-ratepayers can inflict their juvenile views on what’s good/not good for the city is a complete and utter absurdity.
  
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  December 17, 2019 10:58am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Some of the non-ratepayers – ie who don’t own their principal residence
    
    People whose home is owned by a family trust. Rates paid by the trust ….
    
    Someone in a retirement village with the normal “licence to occupy” terms. Rates paid by village operator …
    
    Someone in a company-owned apartment with a body corporate. Person owns shares in the company. Rates paid by the company ….
    
    Off the top of my head. No doubt there are others ….
    
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    December 17, 2019 11:15am
    - igm
      
      Simple as: No principal rates demand, no vote. Not too hard is it?
      
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      December 17, 2019 1:53pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        While I admire your desire to set an example, personally I’m not convinced that you and your fellow bed-sit council tenant should lose the right to vote.
        
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        December 17, 2019 2:11pm
Steve Todd

Today is STV’s 200th birthday.

The first recorded election under a proportional representation (PR) system took place on Friday, 17 December 1819, when the Birmingham Society for Literary and Scientific Improvement* elected their Committee using new rules devised by one of their members, Thomas Wright Hill (the father of Rowland Hill, the originator of the modern postal system). Hill’s method, which focused on the proportionate representation of the preferences of individual voters, evolved into the Single Transferable Vote system (STV) we know today.

* The SLSI (established in October 1819) was a society of a few young men that never had more than about 15 or 20 members and lasted for only four years.

To celebrate the occasion, there is an STV Bicentennial Town Hall Talk breakfast being held right now in the Warkworth Town Hall. The organiser is Mahurangi Magazine’s editor, Cimino Cole. The featured speaker is the well-known STV advocate, Professor Janine Hayward, Department of Politics at the University of Otago.

The Royal Statistical Society in London is also marking the day by holding an event on Tuesday evening, the aims of which “are to review the history of STV, to set it in the wider voting reform context, and to present some current research making use of […] newly available large sets of voting data.”

Happy birthday, STV.
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December 17, 2019 8:00am
- Evadne
  
  Thanks. Interesting!
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:20am
- Simon
  
  STD’s have been around longer than 200 years
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:02am
- cmm
  
  Dudes, it’s all in the marketing.
  
  If you have a good idea then think of a name that doesn’t make people scratch themselves every time they hear it.
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:08am
artemisia

Streets has had its appeal against the ASA icecream decision upheld.

Hope the Tui Tui Crescent Foodmarket in Whangarei has seen a good uplift in icecream sales from the free publicity.

And that the Advertising Standards Authority has seen an increase in people who think its members are woke busybodies.
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December 17, 2019 8:03am
- sooty
  
  I bought a cone icecream the other day.
  It was not up to Tip Tops usual standard.
  Asian diary.
  Is there another supplier?
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:26am
  - Tall Man
    
    We have a dairy up the road a way run by an nice Indian/Kiwi couple.
    
    They do the biggest and best ice creams around and the shop has a constant flow of customers year round.
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:14am
  - artemisia
    
    You could try the single serve tubs from the supermarket. Several premium brands. Probably cheaper than the dairy cones but not so much licking. Actually no licking.
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:50am
    - Tall Man
      
      Don’tcha lick the lid.. Don’tcha lick the spoon… Don’tcha try to lick the bottom of the tub?
      
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      December 17, 2019 12:53pm
      - artemisia
        
        Good points all. You think more laterally than me, obviously, though not sure I would lick the bottom of the tub in public.
        
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        December 17, 2019 1:56pm
Yvette

Let’s still Dew this

A further issue, the Labour Party’s response to the Maria Dew, QC, report – which investigated allegations of sexual assault within the Labour leader’s office – has also been delayed as Ardern has yet to receive the report. [1]

So Ardern admitted total failure of one internal sex assault inquiry and at the same time immediately set up another – ignoring Einstein’s advice that to keep doing the same thing but expect a different result, is the definition of insanity – so they still await an outcome. And wait … and wait.

But it isn’t even explained that to take the matter of alleged digital rape [2] any further, when a result is finally delivered, could well require Police inquiries, which should have been the proper process to begin with, like bloody months and months ago.

There is no guarantee that this report will be made public; Ardern has always said this would be guided by the complainants. [1]

Being the country’s Prime Minister but following her own impulse or the Labour Party procedure that she has, Ardern cannot now just dismiss this whole matter as if she didn’t make the comments that she did after reading the Spinoff article.

A “result’ must be summarised for the public, if nothing else, to say –
• “Yes, there is a substantial sex assault case to be answered, and the Police will be asked to investigate that.” or
• “No, inquiries have found the claim is not supported and there will now be an employment rights inquiry and the Police will also be asked to investigate
• Some other explanation

A rationale for briefing the public (voters) lies in Arderns comments, as mentioned above, made after the Spinoff item, after what she told the UN Assembly, and her Waiangi “hold us to account” request –

And I for one will never celebrate the gains we have made for women domestically, while internationally other women and girls experience a lack of the most basic of opportunity and dignity.
Me Too must become We Too. We are all in this together.
– Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, September 28, 2018

So when we return, in one year, in three years, I ask you to ask of us what we have done. Ask us how we have given dignity back to your whanau, ask us what we have done to improve poverty for tamariki, ask us what we have done to give rangatahi opportunities and jobs, ask us, hold us to account. Because one day I want to be able to tell my child that I earned the right to stand here and only you can tell me when I have done that. – Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Waitangi powhiri speech, February 5, 2018

This second Ardern quote in particular invites those assembled to “hold us to account”
I am sure we all will, come the end of 2020.

[1] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12294361
[2] https://thespinoff.co.nz/unsponsored/09-09-2019/a-labour-volunteer-alleged-violent-sexual-assault-by-a-senior-staffer-this-is-her-story/
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December 17, 2019 8:03am
- Chuck Bird
  
  Yvette, you should see the senencing notes of the non-sentence of the Labour Youth Camp predator.
  
  I got a copy as I am going to email the office of the SG requesting an appeal be considered.
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:44am
  - mark15
    
    That would be interesting reading.Are you sharing them?
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:23am
  - oob
    
    Mate, POST A LINK.
    
    Lots of people would love to read that.
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:28am
    - rightoverlabour
      
      if not here, post on YSB
      
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      December 17, 2019 10:08am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Has Ardern now also become the Commissioner of Police? If so, under what legislation?
  Her actions actions reek of attempting to deprive the Commissioner of his rightful duties and hence a perversion of the course of justice. Ignorance of the law is no excuse: ignorance in high places is a disgrace to the office holder.
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:08am
  - freethinker
    
    Would make no difference as the Bush Kommander takes his order from Labour anyway as did the Judge in the case.
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:36am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      They can be terminated for dereliction of duty. A change of Government may see toadies and flunkies embarrased.
      
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      December 17, 2019 4:36pm
cmm

So how’s Victoria Falls going? Why has everyone, including the BBC, gone quite about this terrible disaster? Why doesn’t anyone care about the terrible fate of Africa any more?

A week ago there was a whole lot of angst about the Vic Falls trying up, climate change, etc.
A week later, and a bit of rain, and it is flowing at about 25% higher than this time last year and certainly within the band that would be considered normal.

The graphs at the Zambezi River Authority website make interesting reading.

Last season (October to September), the average flow was 40% of average, but still higher than the 1995/96 season.
The previous season? Well that was about 30% higher than average and 2015/2016 was almost perfectly in alignment with average.

So, like most natural processes, it’s all over the place. The Beeb and co are cherry-picking liars.

http://www.zambezira.org/hydrology/river-flows
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December 17, 2019 8:05am
- JackRabbit
  
  There are plenty of nature films about Africa that show exactly what you are saying. River beds that are dry and cracked that turn into raging torrents when the rains come.
  
  The graph shows it all. Not only the pattern throughout the year, but how years vary.
  
  The Henny Penny / Chicken Little story to a T.
  
  “The moral to be drawn changes, depending on the version. Where there is a “happy ending”, the moral is not to be a “Chicken” but to have courage. In other versions where the birds are eaten by the fox, the fable is interpreted as a warning not to believe everything one is told.”
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:16am
  - cmm
    
    Indeed.
    As I mentioned a few days ago, nature has some wonderful adaptions to the droughts. None is more beautiful than the Namaqualand daisies that get their whole above-ground life cycle done in a few weeks – growing, flowering and setting seeds – which then feeds a whole food web and puts on a spectacular display of colour.
    
    Fish and frogs have adapted to burying themselves in the mud to survive droughts.
    
    These adaptations take millenia. They didn’t just pop up after people started driving SUVs.
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:40am
    - Tall Man
      
      Pretty sure there are cave paintings of SUV’s somewhere…….
      
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      December 17, 2019 10:29am
    - freethinker
      
      CMM – And I strongly suspect that the big yellow globe in the sky which has been around a bit longer than climate change disciples by varying its output has had an effect on Earths climate.
      
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      December 17, 2019 10:39am
- mtamati
  
  CMM
  Here’s you answer
  https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4e6d942ea506217e22e369bcc931d8354086431a80ac07a95d4cbcea9237b3cf.jpg
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:18am
  - cmm
    
    Lying bastards!
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:29am
    - Tall Man
      
      Lefties.. look at our lot.
      
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      December 17, 2019 10:09am
- slightlyrighty
  
  The media are going on about how climate change has created famine in Zimbabwe.
  
  Funny that. I would have thought that it was more to do with the fact that Mugabe’s government and it’s supporters killed or drove out the farmers who knew how to till the land, and left the farms in the hands of people who had no idea what the fuck they were doing.
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:20am
  - cmm
    
    Evil bugger Mugabe has died and been replaced. Sigh of relief!
    
    Except, as is generally the case in Africa, be careful what you wish for. The new bloke is worse, far, far worse.
    
    Special note for the slow of wit: I am not rooting for Mugabe. He was an evil bastard. But things are now worse, not better.
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:32am
  - freethinker
    
    Rhodesia was the bread basket of Africa then along came a B***K bastard-Mugabe and then – join the dots – famine, poverty, misery now being repeated and they say Africa’s problems best solve by Africans well good luck with that one.
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:43am
    - Simon Gotlieb
      
      You would do well to consider that racist slurs are not the hallmark of freethinkers.
      
      While there are valid points in your post you destroy it completely with your outright racism, and look a fool. Stupidity in power is not related to race.
      
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      December 17, 2019 2:30pm
      - cmm
        
        Nice sentiments, but unfortunately stats do not back you up.
        
        Name me one functional country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Just one.
        
        Botswana tries hard, but they need electricity and transport form South Africa and rely on foreign aid and food from elsewhere.
        
        Swaziland (sorry I meant Eswatini), ditto.
        
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        December 17, 2019 7:08pm
      - cmm
        
        Sorry I hit enter too soon…
        
        Free thinkers are supposed to think freely and go where the data takes them – unfettered by self-censorship and addressing the issue at hand – not making nd hominem attacks.
        
        Saying someone is racist instead of addressing the issue is an extremely lazy way to have a discussion.
        
        Instead you might introduce:
        1) A counter-argument, say maybe that Zimbabwean independence brought prosperity to all, or, maybe data showing that Zimbabweans are the best fed, happiest people in the world.
        2) Acknowledge that Zimbabwe does have problems, but provide some credible reasons why everything has gone to crap.
        
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        December 17, 2019 7:23pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Well…… he wasn’t green was he?
        
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        December 17, 2019 9:08pm
      - cmm
        
        TM, very dark green?
        
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        December 18, 2019 8:09am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    In 1980 (Independence year) the population of Zimbabwe was 7.5M; today the country has to feed 14.75M.
    
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    December 17, 2019 1:37pm
    - Nickc2
      
      So where is all the food coming from now? I think most of their framers now live in Browns Bay, Auckland. (sarc)
      
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      December 17, 2019 1:52pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Some from South Africa
        https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-18/zimbabwe-buys-150-000-tons-south-african-corn-after-tender-fails
        
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        December 17, 2019 2:52pm
      - cmm
        
        Maggy: Disaster this season though – South Africa is struggling to feed itself for the first time this year.
        
        Although Zim’s population is 15M, approx a third of those are thought to have fled to just about anywhere else – mainly Botswana and SA.
        
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        December 17, 2019 7:02pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  The BBC is rather lousy at checking out whether events have occurred before…
  
  Earlier this month they tried telling folks that polar bears hunting whales was evidence of climate change….
  
  https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/01/bbcs-one-planet-falsely-claims-that-polar-bears-hunting-whales-from-shore-is-an-unprecedented-effect-of-climate-change/
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:39am
  - Stephieboy2
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    MW, not as straightforward as Anthony Powell and you might like to think,
    
    Incredible moment a starving polar bear kills a beluga whale in Canada as ‘climate change’ forces the predators to hunt new prey
    
    The incredible footage was shown on Seven Worlds One Planet, to air on Sunday
    Polar bears in Hudson Bay, Canada, have had to adapt as they depend on sea ice
    Sir David says Canada is ‘warming faster than any other country on earth’…
    
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7741099/Polar-bear-dives-pod-beluga-whales-David-Attenboroughs-Seven-Worlds-One-Planet.html
    
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    December 17, 2019 8:58am
    - cmm
      
      Stephie: There is a grammatical error in what you wrote. I’ll correct it for you:
      
      “While speaking from his First Class seat high above the Atlantic, Sir David said Canada is ‘warming faster than any country on earth'”
      
      PS: Mods, what is the point of banning if people can just have two accounts, and so bloody flagrant?
      
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      December 17, 2019 9:48am
      - Tall Man
        
        I think you will find her “wait period” was up.
        
        I think the second account is probably due to the moron forgetting log in details 😉
        
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        December 17, 2019 10:07am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      not as straightforward as Anthony Powell and you might like to think,
      
      The late great Anthony Powell danced off to the music of time 20 years ago.
      
      and stephieboy, I am an ecologist… nothing is straightforward in the natural world…
      
      so perhaps it’s time for you to stop “sensing” and imagining what I think, because as you have demonstrated nearly daily here on KB, you haven’t got a clue what I believe or think or care about.
      
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      December 17, 2019 9:58am
      - The King
        
        You know where modern ecology first emerged?
        
        Nazi Germany.
        
        ..renewable energy, institutionalized organic farming and land use planning on a level unmatched by any nation past or present.
        
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        December 17, 2019 10:51am
      - Batman
        
        That doesn’t help their cause, to be honest.
        
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        December 17, 2019 10:56am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Three cheers for the Nazis?
        
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        December 17, 2019 11:21am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        You know where modern ecology first emerged?
        
        I sure do…
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenius_Warming
        and I’m quite clear about the difference between ecology and environmentalism.
        
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        December 17, 2019 11:42am
  - cmm
    
    Sorry Maggy but you’re being heartless.
    
    Cute fluffy cuddly polar bears would never hurt nice splashy whales unless they were really starving and driven to it by the colonial patriarchy.
    
    Until 1850 they all got on wonderfully and frolicked together in harmony eating a vegetarian diet.
    
    I am sure it isn’t all down to climate change. Some must also be blamed on my evil cuzzies in Newfoundland who caught all the cod, seals and whales. Once the whalers started spearing the whales, it made the whales sad and that sadness spilled out as violence against polar bears, then it all went to hell from there.
    
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    December 17, 2019 8:59am
    - Tall Man
      
      You lying bugger… everybody knows it was a vegan diet not vegetarian.
      
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      December 17, 2019 10:08am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        No it was vegetarian. If it had been vegan, we would have heard about it twenty times before smoko . . .
        
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        December 17, 2019 5:54pm
      - Tall Man
        
        I concede. I neglected to think of that. My Bad.
        
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        December 17, 2019 9:06pm
  - Simon
    
    The entrails of a goat signifies climate change for this religion
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:06am
    - Tall Man
      
      Explains steffy’s depression.
      
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      December 17, 2019 10:08am
- Surely Knott
  
  So many of these environmental things are based on activist campaigns using dodgy science and misleading figures – Kauri Dieback being another one. Auckland Council wrote their 2017 report the closed the ranges and said PTA the causal agent for Kauri Dieback was discovered in 2008. The media ran with the information that it was a new pathogen discovered in 2008 and Kauri would be extinct in 30 years. It was actually discovered in 1972 on Great Barrier 47 years ago where Kauri are not extinct but very healthy. Council’s report also never disclosed the actual soil tests. The section called “results” said their were 230 soil tests, but then results were given in percentages and zones and based on visual assessments not the soil tests.
  
  The actual soil tests retrieved via lgoima, showed PTA was not the most likely problem under symptomatic trees. . The widespread PC was much more likely to be causing ill health than PTA. And it was more likely to be nil than PC.
  
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  December 17, 2019 10:06am
- cmm
  
  Many people assert that climate change activism and alarmism is ok because “better safe than sorry”.
  
  Bullshit.
  
  The climate change excuse is preventing from people from addressing the real issues.
  
  Again, let’s look at Zim. This year they are only generating a tiny fraction of their food needs and over 60% of people need food aid. WHile droughts have had some impact, the major stuff up is corruption and incompetence.
  
  Something like 70% of Zimbabweans are subsistence farmers: grow what they eat and eat what they grow. Maize is the cornerstone of their existence, but maize crops are struggling for various reasons (including the weather).
  
  The government “solution” is to say that the maize (introduced by Europeans) can no longer grow due to climate change. Therefore they want a massive program to convert these subsistence farmers back to historic traditional African crops like sorghum and millet which are a bit more drought tolerant, much more “African” and will help de-colonialise.
  
  All sounds good, except that sorghum and millet have about 30% of the calorific density of maize.
  
  That basically means the subsistence farmers will never be able to feed themselves if they switch over and will, forever, become reliant on foreign food aid (or starve to death).
  
  Disinformation is having huge impacts because it is allowing the lying bastard governments to make up bullshit excuses rather than solve problems.
  
  And the lying leftie bastards also love it because they have some excuse and don’t have to explain the terrible corruption and incompetence in African leaders.
  
  These lies are getting people killed.
  
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  December 17, 2019 12:53pm
  - Surely Knott
    
    “Better safe than sorry” science. We’ve been told for Kauri Dieback after queries were launched about dodgy science that they were using the “precautionary principle”. Linked to the UN and integrated in the RIO documents, The precautionary principle means you don’t need scientific proof just a plausible risk. The precautionary principle swaps the onus onto the public to that no harm will result. “Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992, states that:
    “In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.”
    In the preamble of the Convention on Biological Diversity it is noted that:
    “Where there is a threat of significant reduction or loss of biological diversity, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to avoid or minimize such a threat.”
    And it is on this basis that regional park tracks have been permanently closed.
    
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    December 17, 2019 1:53pm
    - cmm
      
      The precautionary principle is fine if there are no downsides.
      
      However, generally there are massive downsides.
      
      The post-thalidomide over reaction caused massive extra drug testing regimes all in the name of the “precautionary principle”. But the result of this has been that many meds are too expensive to develop and take many extra years to hit the market – before they can be of benefit to society.
      
      It does not need to be one extreme or the other. Somewhere in the middle is a point where we can get the best probably outcomes with low enough risks.
      
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      December 17, 2019 2:45pm
Fraggle

This brilliant piece by Graeme Archer has some salient points for NZ Labour. Although here they are protected by MMP to a degree.
https://unherd.com/2019/12/does-labour-understand-why-it-lost/
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December 17, 2019 8:05am
- Justitia
  
  I enjoyed that Fraggie, Labour a “pathogen” indeed, thank you. National must learn if it can from the UK experience. The Labour-Greens like all Marxists are about division and creating conflict: setting young against old, urban against rural, and entitling Maori ethno-nationalists against New Zealand. National must offer unity and freedom, presenting a complete and positive contrast and a way out of the disintegration that surely awaits this country on its present trajectory.
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:39am
AgainstTheFlow

Correlation is NOT causation.

Regarding Pharmac’s shift of anti-epilepsy drug being linked to three deaths:
Do we know if there is actually a ‘link’ – did these people die of an adverse reaction, or a less effective drug? Actually we don’t know because the Coroners haven’t reported yet.

And being a bit grim, is three deaths of epileptics in that period higher than what we would expect under the previous drug?
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December 17, 2019 8:09am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Medicines have a placebo effect and Pharmac’s changes disturb people. Pharmac seeks not to buy drugs without proven effectiveness. Seeing a changed label bothers people even if the contents are chemically identical.
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:20am
rightoverlabour

worksafe can go and fuck themselves. How would ticking a box would have made any difference here . Morons, let me type this s l o w l y… the volcano erupted, it was not a helicopter crash, or somehow related to lax safety around the flight operations. Maybe you guys should put some orange cones at the volcano….. or do something useful like go overseas on a conference and never come back…..

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118223512/tourism-industry-body-backs-whakaari-white-island-chopper-operators-in-registration-row
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December 17, 2019 8:13am
- Tall Man
  
  I think the “cones” idea will be the winner”…….
  
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  December 17, 2019 10:04am
Maggie Pie

And while we’re on the subject of old ‘tweets’ that can come back and bite you on the ass 😛

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EL5VgegU4AARC9z?format=jpg&name=900×900
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December 17, 2019 8:17am
- Tall Man
  
  If ever there was an example of “mouth in overdrive, brain in neutral” this is it.
  
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  December 17, 2019 10:01am
Maggy Wassilieff

The NZ citizen Mohammed Isoof, accussed of the murder of 5 people in Fiji, had been earlier deported from Australia back to Fiji.

In Fiji he changed his name by deed poll from Yusuf to Isoof and gained entry, then permanent residency in NZ.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118147411/fiji-deaths-kiwi-murder-accused-muhammed-isoof-refused-bail

https://citizenjournalismfiji.com/2019/11/20/yusuf-to-isoof/

It would appear that NZ is not vey rigorous when checking the history of certain folks entering the country.
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December 17, 2019 8:18am
- igm
  
  MW: Especially if they are criminals from Manus Island . . . seems Ardern, Little, Davis, et al, think these types will be their saviours one day . . . they will not.
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:27am
- rightoverlabour
  
  But, but, drug smugglers….
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:27am
- hullkiwi
  
  Which is why Australia do not want accept NZ’s kind offer to take 1,500 Manus Island refugees.
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:48am
- Rachael Membery
  
  Should be able to send him back to Fiji as he lied then?
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:51am
- Stephieboy2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  MW, can you inform us when he was granted Permnaent resideny in NZ ?
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:03am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    not as straightforward as Anthony Powell and you might like to think,
    
    The late great Anthony Powell danced off to the music of time 20 years ago.
    
    and stephieboy, I am an ecologist… nothing is straightforward in the natural world…
    
    so perhaps it’s time for you to stop “sensing” and imagining what I think, because as you have demonstrated nearly daily here on KB, you haven’t got a clue what I believe or think or care about.
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:16am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    No.
    
    Are you accusing the journalists of lying?
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:22am
- Tall Man
  
  They usually rely on the “local” police report.
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:44am
- MH
  
  unbelievable. He falsified documents and yet is still here.
  
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  December 17, 2019 11:47am
  - sooty
    
    Maybe he’s got the PMs phone number!
    
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    December 17, 2019 5:08pm
Brian McDonald

Fact checker on Donald goes ballistic:
https://www.https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/former-private-secretary-to-māori-king-pleads-guilty-to-fraud/ar-AAK9LfW?ocid=spartandhpwashingtonpost.com/politics/20
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December 17, 2019 8:22am
- igm
  
  Is it a cultural thing . . . maybe they should be given a dispensation?
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:30am
  - Tall Man
    
    I think you’ll it is already in place to a certain degree.
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:59am
  - Paulus
    
    He will probably get 1 month Home Detention.
    His whanau were in the court supporting him.
    
    Likewise Howard Morrison’s daughter in Rotorua – she appears to have likened herself to Robin Hood helping others with stolen money.
    
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    December 17, 2019 11:11am
- Brian McDonald
  
  Sorry buggered up those links above by linking the problems of the former private secretary to Maori King with a computer fact checker on porkies by Donald.
  As to the former, disappointing that the King had the need to publicly ostracise his former aide of over a relevantly small amount of money which presumably could have been repaid in some way.
  Recently there has been a lot of discussion about the employment of ‘Hokai Rangi’ for Maori offenders in order to reduce imprisonment numbers.
  If that is correct then I feel it would have been appropriate for the Maori King to encourage his former aide to employ ‘Hokai Rangi’ (the way of excellence) where an offender is supported by whanau and presumably the wider group to prevent further offending.
  I noted on TV that the former MP Tuku Morgan now a Tainui administrator explained that the illegal spending wasn’t detected earlier because of Tainui’s turnover or assets of over 1 billion dollars. For me that impressive figure proved the pettiness (and possibly utu) against the former staffer but that seemed lost to Tuku Morgan as did help to ‘the way excellence’ of those that fall short. I seem to recall that Tuku had some problems in that regard himself maybe even publicly shed a few tears for himself.
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:48am
  - Paulus
    
    Hear new Tauranga Courthouse to be shaped and be treated like a Marae.
    Greatest use expected.
    
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    December 17, 2019 11:13am
rightoverlabour

Enjoy, lefty twats

https://www.foxnews.com/media/newt-gingrich-nancy-pelosi-nightmare-trump-impeachment
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December 17, 2019 8:24am
JibberJabber

Lab grown “meat” burger anyone?………..anyone…
https://twitter.com/99freemind/status/1206585365370408961
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December 17, 2019 8:28am
Maggy Wassilieff

No sunspots for 270 days this year…
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/16/its-official-we-are-in-a-deep-solar-minimum/
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December 17, 2019 8:31am
- cmm
  
  But that’s far away, so it is not responsible for anything happening on earth is it?
  
  Well ask any Ham Radio operator! Solar minima play havoc with the ionosphere – the atmospheric layer that bounces radio waves and messes up long distance HF communications, but improves lower frequency propagation. Poor buggers are struggling with inter-continental communications.
  
  The UV and XRay output of the sun changes by a factor of 10 according to the fluctuations of the solar cycle. So to do geomagnetic storms etc.
  
  The changes in ionospheric properties changes the chemistry of the atmosphere – which changes all sorts of thing – from the ozone levels, ability to break down methane (that terrible green house gas), etc.
  
  So please SUV drivers, please stop messing up the sun.
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:51am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The reduction in the ejections from the sun affect our cloud formation too.
    The sun can sure mess up our weather. Remember the fairs when the Thames was iced over on a similar occasion.
    
    What you going to do if the weather monkeys have got it wrong and it’s not going to be tropical fruit but frozen walrus.
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:31am
    - Stephieboy2
      
      Ask Aussie PM Scott Hamilton
      
      https://twitter.com/SDHamiltonVIC/status/1093246574262550528
      
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      December 17, 2019 9:53am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        The PM of Australia is Scott Morrison.
        
        You do seem to be confused with names.
        
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        December 17, 2019 11:11am
      - Stephieboy2
        
        Correction, Scott Morrison it is!
        
        Scott Morrison says he has acknowledged the impact of climate change on bushfires ‘all year’ – video
        
        https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2019/dec/12/scott-morrison-says-he-has-acknowledged-the-impact-of-climate-change-on-bushfires-all-year-video
        
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        December 17, 2019 2:10pm
      - mark15
        
        Climate EMERGENCY now?
        Climate CHANGE not hysterical enough?
        Yeah,naah.
        
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        December 17, 2019 10:24pm
- herb1
  
  Was in lounge at Auckland airport on Sunday and overheard a conversation between a dark haired lady .
  Couldn’t see her face but her head was tilted and she was nodding a lot.
  She said that she was concerned about plastic waste in supermarkets but that a bigger issue to deal with was single use toilet paper.
  She asked the beaureaucratic looking chap to look into issues of washing and reuse and report back to her in March.
  There’ll be a real stink about this when the media find out
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:51am
  - Fletch
    
    The greenies will next be banning paper and making us all use rewashable rags….
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:33am
    - skyblue
      
      Making us do it arab style, no paper required.
      
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      December 17, 2019 9:51am
      - MCos
        
        And Thailand
        
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        December 17, 2019 2:19pm
    - Rich Prick
      
      Greenies are not known for personal hygiene, which is why I avoid them.
      
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      December 17, 2019 10:45am
  - Tall Man
    
    This chick?
    
    https://www.amazon.com/Bobbing-Mocmoc-Ornaments-Shaking-Vehicles/dp/B07V1GQNRZ
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:39am
- rightoverlabour
  
  In the comments in that article is a link to this:
  
  https://abruptearthchanges.com/2018/01/14/climate-change-grand-solar-minimum-and-cosmic-rays/
  
  Well written, easy to understand, even for climate alarmists with lower IQs.
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:06am
  - Stephieboy2
    
    Compared to human activity of 7 billion the lower solar activity impact is minimal,
    
    What Effect Do Solar Cycles Have on Earth’s Climate?
    
    “..According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the current scientific consensus is that long and short-term variations in solar activity play only a very small role in Earth’s climate. Warming from increased levels of human-produced greenhouse gases is actually many times stronger than any effects due to recent variations in solar activity.
    For more than 40 years, satellites have observed the Sun’s energy output, which has gone up or down by less than 0.1 percent during that period. Since 1750, the warming driven by greenhouse gases coming from the human burning of fossil fuels is over 50 times greater than the slight extra warming coming from the Sun itself over that same time interval….
    
    ..As mentioned, the Sun is currently experiencing a low level of sunspot activity. Some scientists speculate that this may be the beginning of a periodic solar event called a “grand minimum,” while others say there is insufficient evidence to support that position. During a grand minimum, solar magnetism diminishes, sunspots appear infrequently and less ultraviolet radiation reaches Earth. Grand minimums can last several decades to centuries. The largest recent event happened during the “Little Ice Age” (13th to mid-19th century): the “Maunder Minimum,” an extended period of time between 1645 and 1715, when there were few sunspots.
    Several studies in recent years have looked at the effects that another grand minimum might have on global surface temperatures.2 These studies have suggested that while a grand minimum might cool the planet as much as 0.3 degrees C, this would, at best, slow down (but not reverse) human-caused global warming. There would be a small decline of energy reaching Earth, and just three years of current carbon dioxide concentration growth would make up for it. In addition, the grand minimum would be modest…”
    
    https://climate.nasa.gov/blog/2910/what-is-the-suns-role-in-climate-change/
    
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    December 17, 2019 2:20pm
Mobile Michael

It’s bad news Friday this week, when the Government discloses all the bad news it can because it will be forgotten in the new year (by the public.)

Any picks?

I’d go with Government Women pay gaps, carbon emissions and reduction, and benefit grants.
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December 17, 2019 8:31am
The King

Good speech on Hitler here by my favorite jew.

Rabbi Yaron Reuven.

https://twitter.com/DerorCurrency/status/1206124531024162816
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December 17, 2019 8:35am
slightlyrighty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzDX2M0HpCE

If Labour in the UK had the smarts to pick someone like this as leader. But as the transition, at this stage, is to be managed by the Corbynites, it’s not likely.

Please let them pick Thornberry!
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December 17, 2019 8:35am
cmm

Why are people still eating sugar when there is a perfectly natural alternative?

Yes, we’ve all seen those terrible artificial sweeteners that leave an awful taste in your mouth or upset your digestion. Then there are some plant extracts like stevia which just don’t cut it in baking etc.

But there is a plant extract that is just like sugar. Saccharum officinarum can be grown anywhere that sugar can, can be processed in the same factories, taste the same (nobody has ever been able to tell the difference in blind taste testing) and is fantastic for baking – even making perfect caramels and meringues.

Is Big Sugar stopping us from using of this wonderful alternative?
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December 17, 2019 8:39am
- MCos
  
  The other alternative is to not eat/drink sweet stuff.
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:57am
- mtamati
  
  Saccharum officinarum, known as sugar cane, is a large tufted perennial grass that is probably native to Southeast Asia. It grows to 15-20’ tall in tropical/semi-tropical areas, but to 5-8’ tall as an annual in cool climates. Large stems (to 2” diameter) are jointed like bamboo. Stems contain a sweet juice that may be extracted for production of sugar or molasses. Large, arching, rich green leaf blades have sharp edges and sharp points. Young stems are covered with prickles. White to gray flower spikes bloom in later summer to early fall. Plants rarely flower when grown as annuals. Sugar cane may have been first grown for its sweet stems in New Guinea around 4000 B.C. It later surfaced in India. Arabs introduced it to the Mediterranean region in around 700 A. D. Spanish and Portuguese explorers spread it around the world in voyages during the late 1400s and 1500s (Columbus reportedly brought it to the Caribbean on his second voyage in 1493). Although sugar cane is commercially grown (not species plants but complex hybrids involving several different species) around the world for production of sugar (in the U.S. principally in Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Hawaii), it is also now beginning to enter the world of horticulture through cultivars featuring colorful stems and leaves. ‘Pele’s Smoke’ features smoky purple foliage and stems. Of further note is the fact that sugar cane is also now being commercially grown in some areas (particularly in Brazil since the mid 1070s) for production of ethanol (extracted sugars are fermented). Sugar cane reportedly produces about twice as much ethanol per acre as corn. After the sugar has been extracted, the remaining waste products (bugasse) can be used for making paper/cardboard, biomass fuel or cattle feed. Production of biodiesel from sugar cane is expected in the near future.http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=285293
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:02am
  - cmm
    
    Sounds like a perfect superfood to me.
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:35am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Saccharum officinarum, Sugar cane?
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:34am
- Tall Man
  
  There is nothing wrong with sugar. There is nothing wrong with alcohol. There is nothing wrong with red eat. There is nothing wrong with Krispy Kremes… well that may not be correct but….
  
  There is something wrong over indulging in any of the above. How hard is that too figure out?
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgKkBaXEvI8
  
  A bit of propaganda…..
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:36am
- rightoverlabour
  
  Shit stirrer….
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:37am
  - Tall Man
    
    As sure as shit I’m not putting that in my coffee………….
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:23am
- Fletch
  
  I just did a google, and an article says
  
  Saccharum Officinarum is used for the treatment, control, prevention, & improvement of the following diseases, conditions and symptoms:
  Urinary diseases
  Jaundice
  Hemorrhage
  Dysuria
  Anuria
  Pain
  Hepatotoxicity
  Hyperglycemia
  Decreased urine output
  Inflammation
  Saccharum Officinarum may also be used for purposes not listed here.
  
  So, it is a sort of medicine?
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:37am
  - Tall Man
    
    “So, it is a sort of medicine?”
    
    Especially when in a dark liquid watered down with Rum or Bourbon…….
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:24am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Look, its not psychoactive, so we can demonise it.
    
    and check-out how fast & easy it has been exchanging genes with all & sundry…. promiscuous polyploid!
    https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.00616/full
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:29am
oldpark

A wake up call for NZs “Commie Chic” Ardern and her COL sycophants. Seems the huge rejection against Labour and Corbyn in UK was the every day political corrective brain washing policies and the massive encompassing of broken down socialist countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia Iran, Gaza etc etc . Also anti Israeli and his support for the terrorists groups. Like Hamas Hisbollah and any type of free speech comments.
Free speech seemed to take the biggest hit . In fact one High Court said “the right to be offended did not exist” . Seems the British voters threw their toys out of the cot and also threw out mad dog Corbyn .
Interesting in NZ . Andrew “Hug a Thug Little” appointed a mate of Corbyn to run NZs so called Human Rights Office. That was just over a year ago. Said to be too lefty even for Corbyns Party Paul Hunt is now installed in NZ. A few recent cases in point on NZs Free Speech seem to have the fingerprints of Paul Hunt all over them in a negitave way .
Just to reiterate to “Commie Chic” Ardern and her wishy washing decisions aided and abetted by Peters on NZs way of life check out why Labour and Corbyn in UK got the bums rush by UKs voters .
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December 17, 2019 8:41am
- The King
  
  Lets talk about “terrorist groups”
  
  The Likud, the party governing Israel right now were formally known as the Irgun, an extremist terrorist group, who use to roll barrel bombs into villages, Blow up hotels and murder British Soldiers.
  
  If you support Likud you support terrorists just like Corbyn.
  
  So tell me more about your “Moral high ground”
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Irgun_operations
  
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  December 17, 2019 10:35am
  - The King
    
    Yeah, thought so, you’re all hypocrites.
    
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    December 17, 2019 1:57pm
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      you’ve got such a tedious hate-boner for Jews and monomania on Jewish conspiracy stuff that you’re getting automatic downticks. Nobody is bothering to read. Go to stormfront or whatever if you are looking for love for your kookery.
      
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      December 17, 2019 9:31pm
      - The King
        
        I didn’t know what stormfront was, but thanks for that.
        
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        December 17, 2019 9:52pm
Michael

Now the work starts for Boris in the UK.

National can learn a few lessons too.
https://unherd.com/2019/12/the-danger-ahead-for-boris-johnson/?=refinnar
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December 17, 2019 8:43am
- Tall Man
  
  Unlike ardern, Simon Bridges is able to learn.
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:29am
  - Sacha
    
    And so are his colleagues –
    
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    December 17, 2019 7:03pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Seriously, that is the best point isn’t it.
      
      I doubt there is anyone in the top 10 of the coalition that would be there on merit under a different leader but then, there’s no one under them either, including the leader.
      
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      December 17, 2019 9:04pm
- Stephieboy2
  
  Michael,” learn a few lessons too”
  
  Such as ??
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:51am
  - hullkiwi
    
    SB, who do you think was helping the Tories with their media advertising?
    
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    December 17, 2019 11:17am
JimBobJoe

The Guardian opinion writers are having a hard time accepted a loss.. apparently according to Simon Jenkins its all the LibDems fault for not being Labours lapdog and doing what was best for Labour …
Jezza C wasn’t the big issue!

Simons argument of LibDems folding into the LAbour Party ignores the salient fact that LAbour in the UK is totally controlled by lunatic fringe Marxists who have spent the last decade slowly driving the more moderate elements out of the Party – IngSoc must be pure! The true path of Socialist is Marxist-Leninism! And all that…

Read – have a laugh, the comments are quite acerbic in places…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/16/lib-dems-tories-split-vote-labour
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December 17, 2019 8:47am
- Tall Man
  
  Wait until 2020 and see the shit storm that emanates from the lefty luvvies when ardern and her coalition are consigned to the history book.
  
  I can’t even imagine the outpouring of anger that the Democrats will unleash on the US either.
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:28am
Nukuleka

Interesting comments yesterday on National appealing to more working people.

Working people are more socially conservative than the liberal university- indoctrinated elite. They know that value of working hard to earn a bob, they know that drugs are menace for their kids, that Maori preferencing endangers the cohesion of NZ society and that judges are too lenient.

Time for National to pick up on some simple messaging that resonates with working people. Call it populist if you want but it will be popular, and that is the important thing in order to pick up more votes that would tribally go to Labour..
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December 17, 2019 8:48am
- Ruawai
  
  And it will ultimately help the working class more than the current Labour Government
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:48am
- The King
  
  Telling lies to get votes, great plan!
  
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  December 17, 2019 10:54am
  - Tall Man
    
    Worked for ardern.
    
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    December 17, 2019 12:47pm
- BananaLlama
  
  I think high society would be appalled at how many of us want to see those bastard murderers hanged and have no time for being tolerant.
  
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  December 17, 2019 11:55am
Maggie Pie

Does anyone here know when the month-long Vistor’s Visa issued to Behrouz Boochani actually expires….. or has he already left the country?

Just had a friend asking as a matter of interest.
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December 17, 2019 8:50am
- Swifty
  
  A good question.
  
  Also, I might have thought that there will be strong pressure on him to return so that he doesn’t turn public opinion against all his mates.
  
  If he did claim asylum here wouldn’t that sour our opinion that these people can’t be trusted to keep their word (that they’d go back at the expiry of their visa)?
  
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  December 17, 2019 10:15am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yep, he’s still here…
  2 days over his visitor’s visa.
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018727370/behrouz-boochani-s-nz-stay-a-good-strategic-move-human-rights-lawyer
  
  Refugee journalist Behrouz Boochani has revealed he is still in New Zealand despite the 30-day visa expiring over the weekend.
  
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  December 17, 2019 8:10pm
Straight arrow

I note that the “Treaty of Waitangi” is now wrtitten in English version of Acts and Bills as “Te Tiriti o Waitangi”. Maoti words are being used more and more in Acts, which given how these words get “interpreted” overtime, it is a worry. With English there is greater certainty and record of meanings.

I note that Mount Taranaki/Egmont (both official names after 1983 decision which included public feedback) will officially be called solely “Taranaki Maunga”, in 2020, as part of a ToW settlement. (2/12/19 news).
This is another example of settlements excluding members of public having a say (yes, it will come up for submissions as part of enacting Bill, but that is only a formality).
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December 17, 2019 8:54am
- Sacha
  
  I have no problem with Taranaki – after all, we have Ruapehu, Tongariro, and Ngarahoe – and the legend makes the use of Maori names sensible.
  But I have known White Island ever since I first learnt about Captain Cook’s voyages and why he named it after the white steam cloud which covered it.
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:46am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    So you are only in favour of Maori place names if you have heard of them before.
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:01am
    - MH
      
      only those that have been updated and fitted with a macron regardless of English punctuation and Fowlers etiquette on grammar. A minimum of one macron per maori word is warranted under the TOW. All repressive colonisation key boards should be recalled and adapted for macronic use. The cost will be borne on syntax,
      .
      A macron a day will keep the Pakeha at bay.
      how dear you.
      
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      December 17, 2019 12:07pm
    - plc
      
      Mikenmildagain – Do you use your personality as contraception?
      
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      December 17, 2019 12:17pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Pretty sure he fucks himself with his attitude. He thinks it’s cool to be smug, but he’s wrong.
        
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        December 17, 2019 12:45pm
  - Straight arrow
    
    Dual name to recognise both Cook’s and Maori contributions. I also probably lean to Taranaki, but let’s call it Mount Taranaki, when talking about it in English language.
    We risk changing the “English” used in NZ into a pidgin form. A beauty of English is that it is fairly uniform amongst English-speaking countries, ie if you go to another of these countries the words and meanings are basically the same. That is why it is a lingua franca.
    
    Example, if in NZ we keep referring to “maunga” we may tend to forget it is “mountain” when we are speaking to non-Kiwis. The use of “whanau” by newpapers and police when talking about White Island (in which we had international victims and media interest) is also a case in point. One person said people should just google it. That is not how a lingua franca works.
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:07am
    - rightoverlabour
      
      When speaking English, speak English. Don’t pepper it with token Maori words. The only exception is if there is absolutely no English equivalent. Sick of the situation where ministry documents are splattered with Maori, but the Maori translations never have an English word in them. New Zealand taking over racism where South Africa left off…
      
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      December 17, 2019 10:50am
      - Straight arrow
        
        You should not read the report on prisons. Given that only about 20% can converse in Maori, it was littered with Maori phrases (often no translation), so even though about Maori prison rates etc, not many Maori could have understood it, let alone non-Maori speakers.
        
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        December 17, 2019 11:13am
      - DigNap15
        
        I never use any maori words on principal.
        I despise the news media with their attempt to maori-fi everything.
        Its not as if most maori people speak Maori.
        
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        December 17, 2019 1:25pm
- Straight arrow
  
  And we have the weird case of Bennydale, that did not exist as a named place before the government created the township of Benneydale (for coal mining) in the 1940s. It was renamed Maniaiti, which means “a small slide, slip” and is the name of a hill behind the township (ie not the place of the town).
  
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  December 17, 2019 11:03am
  - MCos
    
    Do you think Timaru should revert to it’s original English names?
    
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    December 17, 2019 3:55pm
    - Straight arrow
      
      False equivalence.
      
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      December 17, 2019 7:16pm
Yvette

Future of public broadcasting: Winston Peters supports new model for TVNZ and RNZ.

Three or Newshub may fall over by itself (especially if it keeps presenting months old crap on it website, like “Super storm to hit most of New Zealand” and then you realise – it’s not tomorrow’s, but a bloody item from back early November).

So in Election year, screw the media around with a restructuring, particularly one that may loose a few jobs, so journalists and others can be concerned about that, and still paying Auckland accomodation, rather than nailing down political promises, reporting shuffling to define parties again into something that looks like a choice, and watching Simon Bridges pick the moment of reducing that choice by ruling out working with Winston, because he will observed otherwise to be a weak, unprincipled idiot if he doesn’t.

How hard do job-beleaguered journalists work at exposing crap being pushed under the political carpet, when they are trying to keep a remnant of home carpet under their own feet?
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December 17, 2019 8:55am
Brian McDonald

Sorry this was the fact checker on Donald:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/16/president-trump-has-made-false-or-misleading-claims-over-days/?utm_campaign=post_most&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1
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December 17, 2019 9:01am
- Simon
  
  Lol this time
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:08am
- Tall Man
  
  Could you imagine a mod on this blog allowing a fact check on ardern?
  
  Look how few comments referring to her lies get through moderation.
  
  I suppose there is a reason for denying my right to comment but it’s a mystery.
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:23am
- Nickc2
  
  Quoting the Washington Post = loss of credibility!
  
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  December 17, 2019 2:02pm
lastmanstanding

The Dems typify everything that is broken with the Left and why the Left is a bunch of Losers.
Since The Don became POTUS unemployment is at its lowest level since WW2. Afro American unemployment and those on welfare is at its lowest level ever.

There are more jobs being created than at any time in history.

Thats what The Don and the GOP has done for American citizens.

So what has the Dems done.

Tried and will fail to impeach The Don.
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December 17, 2019 9:08am
Swifty

Ken Mair sees racism everywhere, especially when he doesn’t get what he wants it seems….

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12294386
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December 17, 2019 9:21am
- kevn
  
  @Swifty… mair and his lot could do their own subdivision in Wanganui and call the streets whatever. Problem of course is they could never agree on anything, let alone street names so it will never happen.
  
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  December 17, 2019 10:04am
- Rich Prick
  
  Oh dear, pointing out that Repo in Te England is short for repossession is racist? You know what, there’s no point in walking on egg shells any more. If Ken sees racism everywhere, let’s actually give it to him.
  
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  December 17, 2019 10:26am
Swifty

Would any technologists care to comment on this (cmm and/or others)?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118141589/mass-chicken-deaths-hit-nzs-reputation-shows-law-enforcement-needed-mp-says

I might have thought that if I was in charge of these birds any warning system should ‘fail to safe’ ie if calamity struck and both the aircon failed AND the back up power failed there must be a way that I am alerted to this.

It seems in this case the alarm failed as well – could/would this be because they all shared the same power supply?

If so, is this incompetent design?
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December 17, 2019 9:27am
- JimBobJoe
  
  TL/DR explanation: Cost/Benefit calculation…didn’t pay for something robust because chickens aren’t that expensively relative to the cost of the back up system investment required
  
  You can easily alarm most systems – the back up power supply should be battery based and therefore will maintain power for a reasonable time period powering the Aircon and comms devices used to relay perfmon and alarming data to a remote monitoring site…… then it is a relatively simple process to have 1 or more comms devices on the power back up to signal 1/ the initial failure 2/ how much power is left in the power back up i.e. how long you have to attend and resolve the failure issue/s
  
  Haven’t read the story but if both failed simultaneously it hints at scrimping on the kit and/or not testing and maintaining the kit properly. Any DR/Continuity of Operation scenario fail over system, like a back up power supply, needs to be tested regularly otherwise its just tin sitting there which you hope works when called on..
  
  Hopefully they get a nice big fine for animal cruelty
  
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  December 17, 2019 11:05am
  - Swifty
    
    Cheers
    
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    December 17, 2019 11:29am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The whole broiler unit is unconscionably cruel. Day old chicks never see outside again until caged for transport to slaughter. Their living quarters become more crowded as they grow. The less movement the quicker the growth.
    
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    December 17, 2019 5:01pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  .
  
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  December 17, 2019 12:53pm
- cmm
  
  Back up systems are only as good as their testing regime but, unfortunately, testing often falls by the wayside.
  
  It sounds to me like the design was reasonable, but the testing has failed, so generators did not start, batteries went flat or whatever so the alarm didn’t work.
  
  Systems like these really need to be tested, batteries checked and replaced, fuel topped up etc on a monthly (or so) basis.
  
  Gareth Hughes over eggs the pudding on reputation. The world over chooks get a bad deal and are regularly dumped as chicks, ground up alive. A shed full of chooks dying is not going to make the evening news anywhere.
  
  At least he has the good grace to acknowledge that things were improving during National’s 9 years of neglect and have since stalled.
  
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  December 17, 2019 1:52pm
  - rightoverlabour
    
    Have a look here…
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ5qAfyUuWE&has_verified=1
    
    if that link doesn’t work just go to youtube and search “grinding up live chicks for animal food”
    
    Enjoy….
    
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    December 17, 2019 2:15pm
curry4me

Hong Kong saves Taiwan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iHxYo-eixg
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December 17, 2019 9:29am
curry4me

The Brexit party took votes off Labour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtFZV19wdf0
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December 17, 2019 9:30am
- hullkiwi
  
  Farage is partly correct. In some seats the number of votes the Brexit Party got was the margin between the winning Labour MP and the Tory candidate. so, it could be argued that the Brexit Party cost the Tories some seats.
  
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  December 17, 2019 11:00am
  - curry4me
    
    Yes, I guess so. It probably cost Labour more. I’d like to see the BP stick around, and become the new second party over time.
    
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    December 17, 2019 5:18pm
Happychappy

Peters plans to buck NZ Firsts Post-Govt Record.
You only have to look at the Province’s the halls are full was his answer to where he will get the votes.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@pro/2019/12/16/951778/peters-plans-to-buck-nz-firsts-post-govt-record
You will notice every other Party has been using Social media and one Party has been keeping this utility in Reserve your looking at that Party, and I can tell it’s character, shape inform, but we have got ourselves all the heavy artillery ready to go.
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December 17, 2019 9:45am
- hullkiwi
  
  As if Peters is going to tell the media of his plans for how he’ll fight the 2020 election.
  
  It is National’s job next year to remind voters what Peters & co have done over the past 3 years and that a vote for Peters/NZF is a vote for Jacinda and the Liebore/RedMelon CoL.
  
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  December 17, 2019 10:56am
  - Happychappy
    
    It is a very good read just to see what the bitter twisted moron has to say but that’s the breaks I guess you pay for it but can’t post for others to see, but after reading a couple of other articles it worth the price you pay.
    
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    December 17, 2019 12:16pm
Stephieboy2

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
A must-read on how certain conservatives and Trump supporters create myths and circulate brazen lies ,

“The Invention of the Conspiracy Theory on Biden and Ukraine”

How a conservative dark-money group that targeted Hillary Clinton in 2016 spread the discredited story that may lead to Donald Trump’s impeachment.

“Anyone trying to track the Ukrainian conspiracy stories that were eventually embraced by President Trump is likely to get mired in the same echo chamber of right-wing news purveyors that misinformed voters in 2016. A pivotal source of the allegations against the Bidens, for instance, is the Government Accountability Institute, a Florida-based opposition-research operation that was founded by the former Trump political adviser Stephen Bannon—the same conservative nonprofit that ginned up questionable stories about the Clintons during the last Presidential campaign…

…Thus, during the last Presidential campaign, under the auspices of the Government Accountability Institute, Schweizer published the best-selling book “Clinton Cash.” In a novel arrangement, he doled out negative scoops about the Clintons from it in advance to a variety of mainstream news outlets, including the Times. The paper disclosed its arrangement with the book’s author to its readers, and maintained that it independently verified and expanded on the information. But when it ran a front-page story derived from the book on April 24, 2015, the Times stirred controversy and criticism, including from its own public editor…”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-invention-of-the-conspiracy-theory-on-biden-and-ukraine
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December 17, 2019 9:48am
- The King
  
  That’s it folks the orange cheeto is done this time! – increasing nervous Stupieboy for the 7000th time in 3 years.
  
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  December 17, 2019 2:03pm
Michael

She gets it on China.

https://unherd.com/2018/05/china-playing-west-fools/?=refinnar
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December 17, 2019 9:57am
Yvette

Could Hannah Tamaki become king-maker in 2020?
Thinking based perhaps on The Accidental Pope by Raymond Flynn (French Connection)

Both Jacinda Ardern and Simon Bridges seem united in emphatically ruling out that either would ever work with Hannah Tamaki’s Vision New Zealand.

The opportunity may not occur, as Brian Tamaki may not soil his hands with his own party – “I can’t lower myself, go down to a level, or a position, with my high call” he says on a video, either being a little incoherent or “speaking in tongues” – after all, he is the self appointed accidental bishop of his own Church, and two earlier forays into politics have not worked before, so a third 2020 denial would become a Biblical number (3,7, 12 and 40), and three times him could look like his fault so maybe the wife could have a turn.

However in my lifetime – well, so far, as in Gone With The Wind, Scarlett says “After all, tomorrow is another day!” (and Rhett Butler, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn”, was talking about something else) – I have seen Providence do a few funny things that would suggest a warped maleficent sense of humour or even a sort of message-laden justice – with Winston getting to choose this current Government being one such example.
So how easily could MMP also give you: Labour and an assortment of Ardern coalition supporters, and a National coterie with only a one seat difference between them and power, and that one seat occupied – per MMP perversity – by Hannah Tamaki?
I mean, I mention Winston in the context that Providence may joke, but Winston as everyone knows is also what makes MMP a joke.

Funnier things have come to pass. Witness the recent events that bestowed A$ 8 million upon Israel Folau, without anyone in the media noticing – except Joe Hildebrand, who wrote such a very long article [1] that few may have persevered to its end, so missed the point – that, in Folau’s original post, a graphic warned HELL AWAITS YOU, REPENT but that is in fact contradicted by the Galatians verse Israel had posted beside it, saying all of these sinners, by such acts as theirs, “… would not inherit the Kingdom of God” – which is quite a different spiritual state than Hell awaiting you.

And which may yet be Folau’s undoing – he says he serves God, believes that the Bible expresses God’s truth, but has actually let all three down: God, the Bible and himself, by misquoting God’s Word – although there is that correction in the very small print, the text few bothered to read.
Folau may have got A$ 8 million and recognition that religious expression is his right, although what he has expressed is wrong.

And Hannah is only starting out.
Earlier this month [May 2019], Hannah told Radio New Zealand she believed being gay was a sin “as much as somebody who beat their wife” [2]

Which could make the LGBphabet Community spew, more even than Hannah’s husband Brian may believe the earth to itself spew forth inequity – because Brian can’t read the Bible either and it was Cain’s blood that cried out to God, not the bloody soil – but making Gay people unhappy, and suggesting paying refugees to stay at home rather than coming to New Zealand (Claytons immigrants – the immigrants you have, when you don’t have immigrants), may find favour – or bewildered misunderstanding – with enough voters to edge them over the 5% thresh-hold.

If Labour and National both spew out Vision NZ, were they to win a seat, Hannah Tamaki would have to sit on the “Cross Benches” as Winston once promised his party would voluntarily do – although he would likely now deny he ever said that, if he could remember that he did say it – and if a Government and Opposition were close enough, Hannah could possibly decide to vote issue by issue, which could really be fun.

There: that’s a proposition for any voter who would like, in just one gesture, to stick it up all the parties in Parliament at once – and that will certainly be surely more than 5% of voters!

(In fact that was one great factor in voting for MMP – the politicians hated it and didn’t want it, so it was one of the best reasons for inflicting it upon them, after what Rogernomics had just inflicted on us – needed or not – and anything now that screws politicians up further is perhaps good to vote for again, even if Hell awaits us))

[1] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12245185
[2] https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/brian-tamaki-invites-lgbt-community-to-destiny-church-conference/
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December 17, 2019 10:05am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Hell will freeze over before Hannah Tamaki gets elected to Parliament.
  
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  December 17, 2019 12:44pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Don’t count on it.
    
    5 2
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    December 17, 2019 1:07pm
    - MCos
      
      I’d be prepared to put half a crown on her party falling well short of the numbers required for her to grace our Venerable House of Representatives.
      
      3 1
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      December 17, 2019 4:05pm
Happychappy

I wonder who will be the first First Politician to make a derogatory comment on John Key deciding to call it time for being on the board of Air NZ.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/travel/2019/12/sir-john-key-stepping-down-from-position-on-air-new-zealand-board.html
I wonder if the same two people that wanted him off the board of ANZ Bank will be the first to have a say.
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December 17, 2019 10:17am
Swifty

Goat thefts are on the rise:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/cutestuff/118205032/therapy-goat-stolen-from-northland-paddock-leaving-cow-depressed

What could this mean?
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December 17, 2019 10:22am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Maybe Stephie’s partner has died?.
  
  14 0
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  December 17, 2019 10:58am
- alloytoo
  
  Another attack on Dairy.
  
  It’s summer and Waco greenies are about.
  
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  December 17, 2019 11:55am
- SPC
  
  Someone plans to make a lot of money bringing in a Kiwi goat to a race day in Queensland.
  
  https://www.outbackqueensland.com.au/news/outback-tracks-a-different-day-at-the-races/
  
  4 1
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  December 17, 2019 12:07pm
- GoVege
  
  See…other animals do have feelings.
  They ain’t just slabs of steak on hooves…
  Poor Bunter, bereaved twice in a matter of months.
  
  3 1
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  December 17, 2019 1:26pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Well they ain’t gonna serve themselves on my plate..
    
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    December 17, 2019 5:54pm
  - Jack5
    
    It probably means that all the Stephieboy Trolling Syndicate members are back in Auckland from Stephiestan at present. ?
    
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    December 17, 2019 9:34pm
hullkiwi

A question for a rural accountant or someone who is close to the billion trees programme.

Is the billion dollar trees programme bing used by owners of current crops of pine trees as a means of getting and “early winfall” on their current crop of trees and getting the tax payer to subsidise the replanting of their land?

The question arises out of observations my wife, myself and neighbours have making about what is happening in our district in Rodney. Over the past 6 months, 4 separate properties have been cleared of immature pine trees (approx 18 years old) which are suitable only for fence posts. Normally pine trees are 25 to 35 years old before they are cleared.

Since the trees have been cleared, nothing has been done with the land. The slash and tree stumps have been left, nothing has been done to indicate the land is to be:
1. reverted to bush;
2. converted to pasture; or
3. developed and sold – in fact only 1,300 ha of one parcel in the Unitary Plan is earmarked for intesified development.

So, that has led us all to wonder is there a taxpayer funded, subsidised rort going on before our very eyes and we’ll suddenly see the land replanted in pine trees.

Are there any rural accountants who could comment? Thanks.
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December 17, 2019 10:24am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  There are a number of grants that are available under the billion tree programme.
  
  Your landowners could get money from leaving the land to revert to native.
  
  They could also get assistance if they replant in manuka.
  
  https://www.teururakau.govt.nz/funding-and-programmes/forestry/one-billion-trees-programme/direct-landowner-grants-from-the-one-billion-trees-fund/about-direct-grants-for-tree-planting/
  
  However, I think there are restraints on land that has been forested and cleared within 5 years….
  
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  December 17, 2019 11:52am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Maggy thanks, but I doubt this land will be reverted to natives, as the options are development into lifestyle or farm plots or plant more pine.
    
    This land has been in pine for most of the last 20 years and would have been farm land beforehand.
    
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    December 17, 2019 2:20pm
Bobba Fret

This is a bit of good news. Perhaps it is due to Jacinda banning the single use supermarket plastic bag.
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/sea-turtle-populations-increase/
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December 17, 2019 10:54am
- Sydney Alvarado
  
  I’ll be honest I miss those bags. They were useful for many things.
  
  16 1
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  December 17, 2019 11:45am
  - lifesgood
    
    What amazes me more than anything is that we, and I include myself, just rolled over and agreed with the banning plastic bags. The supermarkets, and every other shop, must be laughing all the way to the bank. It is disgusting that they now charge for paper bags and other recyclable bags. Bloody disgrace.
    
    16 1
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    December 17, 2019 12:41pm
    - RightNow
      
      Well I’m saving at the supermarket now. I only use the free vege bags and no longer buy anything I didn’t plan to.
      
      9 0
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      December 17, 2019 1:32pm
    - GoVege
      
      “Disgusting”, LG?
      What’s disgusting is when a sweet innocent turtle mistakes one of those appalling plastic bags for a jellyfish and chokes to death in agony.
      Now we have more lovely harmless turtles, and fewer dangerous jellyfish as the turtles tuck into the right food.
      Don’t forget…turtles are the pet you can pass on to future generations…. 🙂
      
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      December 17, 2019 1:49pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Do you really believe that?
        
        I’ll be in touch about a bridge I’ve managed to get a deal on and you sound like the guy I’m looking for……
        
        1 0
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        December 17, 2019 5:47pm
    - Sydney Alvarado
      
      Back of the envelope – New Zealanders have since handed over $20 million for “reusable bags” – I have no idea how much I have spent. Too much. The environmental impact of those cloth/calico bags must be significant. And they do not last. They become stained and unhygenic.
      
      On top of that, I now go to Mitre 10 and buy rolls of 500 plastic bags for other uses.
      
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      December 17, 2019 2:01pm
    - DigNap15
      
      I despised Ardern for that decree.
      Plastic bags were very useful and I don’t littler.
      
      Same with soggy paper straws
      I despise her and the Greens.
      
      6 1
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      December 17, 2019 8:00pm
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Yes i miss them too. i used to keep them and re-use them for rubbish bags etc.
    
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    December 17, 2019 2:03pm
JibberJabber

Probably the best analysis of the Labour defeat at the UK election you`ll see today,
https://twitter.com/DarrenPlymouth/status/1206616120733716481
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December 17, 2019 11:09am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  That is BLOODY Hilarious
  
  8 0
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  December 17, 2019 12:37pm
- Tall Man
  
  I liked this bit
  
  https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EL7e-epW4AEsF-P.jpg:large
  
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  December 17, 2019 12:38pm
  - hullkiwi
    
    Tall Man, I say that and liked it too.
    
    That is along the lines of what was being discussed about Labour desserting its core voter base. The working person.
    
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    December 17, 2019 2:23pm
SPC

Judith Collins has said that saying that Boris Johnson was once known in the UK as gaffe man was neither kind or polite.

Given the PM was simply passing on a common observation of him in the UK at the time (back in 2012), so why did Collins say anything?

Maybe because she was counting on media noting that after Simon Bridges met in him he called Boris Johnson a buffoon. All of a design to keep favourable opinion of Simon Bridges down over the summer break…
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December 17, 2019 12:01pm
- Tall Man
  
  “Buffoon like qualities” was the comment.
  
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  December 17, 2019 12:26pm
  - Lance
    
    Even his detractors warn that Boris appears a buffoon but in reality he knows exactly what he is doing.
    I believe that is what Simon has getting at.
    
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    December 17, 2019 3:22pm
- Lance
  
  Nothing like skewing the facts to fit far left purposes aye SPC?
  
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  December 17, 2019 12:48pm
- Jules99
  
  Collins retweeted someone else’s observation, so I doubt it was part of some evil scheme.
  
  12 0
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  December 17, 2019 12:57pm
  - SPC
    
    So she had no idea that the MSM would then note Simon Bridges comment about Boris Johnson afterwards? And thus could not be blamed for that.
    
    Is it cynicism and or naivety that leads to different conclusions?
    
    1 2
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    December 17, 2019 3:13pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Yay,
we might be getting a chuff-chuff train for Xmas …..

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/405652/millions-for-gisborne-rail-link-restoration-is-justified-report

….2030.
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December 17, 2019 12:02pm
- Happychappy
  
  What else would you expect from a Labour Party stool pidgeon.
  
  14 1
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  December 17, 2019 12:24pm
- Tall Man
  
  I like the “socially justified” bit.
  
  WTF does that even mean?
  
  14 3
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  December 17, 2019 12:25pm
- alex Masterley
  
  Well Berl, being good little toadies, would think it is a good idea wouldn’t they.
  
  16 0
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  December 17, 2019 12:30pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    It’s fee paying work to dream up reports to justify the incredible to those with discernment but limited to feelings.
    
    6 1
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    December 17, 2019 4:34pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Oh boy, I just stole that
      
      3 1
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      December 17, 2019 6:45pm
- hullkiwi
  
  We should rely on a report produced by Nana, the economist of $11bn hole (remember NZ is going back into the red this year based on his economic plans), can say…..
  
  “Reinstatement of the Tūranga ki Wairoa rail line is feasible from an engineering perspective, and there is sufficient freight for five trains per week,”
  
  Five trains a week!!! In other words, services on this line will need a massive subsidy from the taxpayer to pay for itself and the restoration work…!
  
  Ganesh Nana, BERL’s research director, said.
  There was also potential for tourist train services.
  
  There is potential for tourist services….on what evidence….I have a story about how many people (including tourists) were using the Hamilton to Tauranga train service when that service was closed…..that is zero!!!!
  
  The Napier to Gisborne line was mothballed by KiwiRail in 2012 after a storm caused slips and washouts. It was partially restored as far as Wairoa and re-opened in June after a $6.2m grant from the PGF.
  Nana said the Wairoa to Gisborne section of the line would need one-off spending of between $20m and $23m to become operational, with another $10m to $13m to improve its resilience to bad weather, and upgrade bridges and tunnels.
  
  Really, I bet it will be a damn sight more than that…!!!
  
  The benefits of reinstatement are seen as promoting social and cultural wellbeing, reducing heavy truck use of the state highway, reduce accidents, road maintenance and carbon emissions.”
  
  Really? where is the proof and evidence???
  
  So, Nana wrote a report that Peters and Jones wanted, it does not justify wasting taxpayer’s money on unjustified vanity exercises!!!!
  
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  December 17, 2019 2:41pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    There was also potential for tourist train services.
    
    Yay….
    even if there is only one little old lady off to spend up large in the metropoles of Wairoa and Napier.
    
    7 1
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    December 17, 2019 3:12pm
- GoVege
  
  Great news, Maggie.
  If this keeps on, we might even have people moving to the provinces to work, taking the pressure off Auckland and leading to more affordable prices for homes.
  
  4 4
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  December 17, 2019 4:41pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Maggy.
    
    Perhaps a bit of red meat will get those synapses working better 😉
    
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    December 17, 2019 5:43pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  You can see that paid economouths don’t have to put any money where their reports are.
  Five trains a week–economical? Comical more like. Perhaps Winnie will take up trains driving for a hobby.
  
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  December 17, 2019 4:42pm
Straight arrow

Great news. National’s Nikki Kaye has just confirmed to me that National is opposed to the Education and Training Bill introduced by Labour.

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2019/0193/latest/LMS170676.html
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December 17, 2019 12:42pm
Lance

I guess it’s caveat emptor but beware, if an Uber drivers steals from you, Uber don’t give a shit.
They get you to fill out forms then when you present evidence “it was the driver” they tell you to fuck off and won’t give you details to take to the Police.
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December 17, 2019 12:51pm
GoVege

Nice to see the Archbishop of Canterbury sticking up for Prince Andy.
Why should members of royalty be expected to be perfect saints?
I mean its not like they applied for the job….
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December 17, 2019 1:29pm
Maggie Pie

The NZHorrid reports:
‘Prime Minister Adern to take well deserved 8 Week Break’.
A spokesperson for the PM’s office told reporters, “…there will be no further interviews scheduled with the press for the rest of this year as the PM is extremely tired.”

To be fair, even my partner said the last time he saw her she really was looking
a bit piss-haggard.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EL7B9KCUUAAmjNx?format=jpg&name=small
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December 17, 2019 2:17pm
- cmm
  
  ‘Prime Minister Adern to take … [a] Break’”
  
  Question: How could you tell the difference between her working her “normal” hours and taking a break?
  
  “the PM is extremely tired.”
  
  SO she can’t handle the job? Or are we supposed to think: poor working mum?
  
  23 1
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  December 17, 2019 3:19pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    God yes, as my partner said, “How lucky was she to land the job as PM!
    Imagine the alternative, having to put in 8 hours a day 5 days a week in a Morrinsville Fish Shop. The poor thing would have been asleep on her feet”.
    
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    December 17, 2019 3:24pm
- alex Masterley
  
  8 weeks?
  On top of other breaks she has had this really makes the woman a part time prime minister!
  
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  December 17, 2019 4:35pm
- artemisia
  
  8 weeks off is a very long time for a Prime Minister. Maybe Kelvin will step up. (Just kidding of course.)
  
  8 weeks off says to me she is being protected going in to an election year, a year in which she will be unremittingly under the spotlight and not in a Vogue sort of way. She will have to be on form all year.
  
  Still more or less on hols till end February is not a good look.
  
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  December 17, 2019 4:57pm
  - Tall Man
    
    8 weeks without being lied to…. Whatever will I do 😉
    
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    December 17, 2019 5:41pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  morning sickness? Timing would be good for maximum sympathy at next election
  
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  December 17, 2019 5:49pm
- cmm
  
  This really is fucking ridiculous.
  
  What other PM in history would get away with “being extremely tired” and needing an 8-week break?
  
  Auntie Helen didn’t. JK didn’t. So why is this one so pathetic?
  
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  December 17, 2019 6:50pm
  - Tall Man
    
    I think you answered your own question there.
    
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    December 17, 2019 8:56pm
Captain Mainwaring

The PTPM is goofing off again.
I wonder what today’s excuse is.
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December 17, 2019 2:18pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  She is in Mahia for the closing of Tuia 250.
  
  5 4
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  December 17, 2019 2:22pm
  - cmm
    
    I just felt my wallet get lighter again.
    
    12 0
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    December 17, 2019 6:53pm
- rangitoto
  
  Cindy is tired.
  
  16 2
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  December 17, 2019 2:31pm
- barnacle bill
  
  Could it be a pre arranged appointment Captain ?
  
  All politicians have these all the time as part and parcel of their portfolios.
  
  1 7
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  December 17, 2019 2:42pm
  - sooty
    
    Wish she was retired!
    
    9 1
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    December 17, 2019 5:25pm
  - Tall Man
    
    None have them as much as ardern has managed… That’s why she’s PTPM…..
    
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    December 17, 2019 5:40pm
Maggie Pie

Random Question:

Does the US have an ‘Extradition Treaty’ with Brazil?

Asking for a fiend.
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December 17, 2019 2:46pm
Fletch

Wham!’s Christmas song Last Christmas has been newly scanned in at 4K and is online at Youtube. It’s one of those rare 80s music videos that was actually shot on film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwNV7TAWN3M
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December 17, 2019 2:54pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  @ FLETCH
  What’s white & sticky and runs down the walls of public toilets?
  
  George Michael’s latest release 😀 😀
  
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  December 17, 2019 4:07pm
Swifty

10 meter RC Concorde:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P0ByxIymYg
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December 17, 2019 3:40pm
- Tall Man
  
  Impressive.
  
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  December 17, 2019 5:37pm
barnacle bill

Nigel gives Simon a lesson on the truth.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12294626
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December 17, 2019 4:05pm
- Batman
  
  Or, Nigel makes himself look like an emotive wanker.
  
  18 2
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  December 17, 2019 4:48pm
  - barnacle bill
    
    For speaking the truth Batman ?
    
    1 17
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    December 17, 2019 4:56pm
- JibberJabber
  
  FFS now the herald has joined the rest of the fuckwits trolling Twitter for “news”, Newshub is now basically just regurgitating Reddit threads for content.
  Fucking pathetic, depending on what side of the spectrum you sit on, Latta “owned” Bridges or Bridges spanked Latta and sent him on his way.
  
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  December 17, 2019 5:27pm
- Tall Man
  
  He’d probably get more traction trying to teach ardern the meaning of truth.
  
  Pseudo scientist lecturing a politician. That’s rich.
  
  Just another fading self imagined star thinking he’s relevant.
  
  I suggest he has a good look at hugh grant if he wants to see where he fits into the political scene……. nowhere.
  
  9 3
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  December 17, 2019 5:28pm
  - barnacle bill
    
    You would know all about that TM.
    
    Bending the truth, being your specialty.
    
    1 9
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    December 17, 2019 7:19pm
    - Tall Man
      
      If you’re so smart, where are the examples?
      
      As they say, put up or shut up.
      
      5 0
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      December 17, 2019 8:53pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Gosh billy… are you lost for words?
        
        1 0
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        December 18, 2019 10:07am
All_on_Red

@GovMikeHuckabee
‘Last week I tweeted that @realDonaldTrump could run for 3rd term, wondering how many humorless libs and Never Trumpers would blow a gasket. It surpassed anything I imagined. Here is example of liberal needing hundreds of words to say “I took the bait.”

Ahahahaha
And poor gullible Batman fell for it
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December 17, 2019 4:13pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Ah, the “only joking” explanation for a moronic comment.
  
  1 8
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  December 17, 2019 4:16pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Do you think you have a patent on it?
    
    4 3
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    December 17, 2019 5:23pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Smarmy fell for it too
      
      5 3
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      December 17, 2019 5:58pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        I seem to be in good company then:
        https://www.psychologytoday.com/nz/blog/logical-take/201912/when-is-joke-not-joke-when-it-s-told-politician
        
        1 3
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        December 17, 2019 6:06pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        ‘good company’
        Lol
        More like just another triggered cuck
        
        3 3
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        December 17, 2019 7:01pm
- The King
  
  They all fell for the OK sign as a White Supremacist hate symbol, literally invented by 4chan for the lolz and memes.
  
  This is how completely easy these low IQ people are to manipulate, and somehow they think they aren’t being manipulated by the media into their climate change bullshit and other weird beliefs.
  
  If you can get manipulated by a bunch of autists on an imageboard, you really need to take a hard look at yourself.
  
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  December 17, 2019 4:29pm
mikenmildagain

I thought this was an interesting story from the good ol’ US of A.
The outgoing Kentucky Governor pardoned hundered of criminals in his final days in office, including a murderer whose brother happened to host a fundraiser for the governor. Other pardons went to violent and sexual offenders such as a man convicted of raping a 9-year-old, another who hired a hit man to kill his business partner, a man who killed his parents and a man who beheaded a woman before stuffing her in a barrel.
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2019/12/13/bevin-pardons-ex-campaign-manager-distances-himself/2639681001/
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December 17, 2019 4:23pm
- DigNap15
  
  Nice
  Sounds like Kelvin Davis and Andrew Little
  
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  December 17, 2019 7:56pm
Swifty

Golden Springs Holiday Park human exploiter and slaver says she didn’t do anything wrong:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12294528

None of this addresses the simple question of why didn’t she employ locals.

The answer is obvious; too expensive, too difficult and she would have no hold over them.

Much better to get desperate compatriots, each of whom will pay a $45,000 ‘bond’, have no knowledge of our law, have no other contacts here, almost certainly no English, and will be prepared to work for little and put up with just about anything in order to gain residence.

Kick her out.
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December 17, 2019 4:47pm
- The King
  
  Notice she uses her ‘culture’ as an excuse…
  
  “Guan told the Daily Post the premium “bond” was an expected custom in China and would pay for any living costs or damage while they were staying with her.”
  
  The integration of these people is a myth.
  
  inb4 boomer take – “but the Chinese food is worth the exploitation of migrants..by other migrants!”
  
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  December 17, 2019 5:45pm
The King

Is this the beginning of the boogaloo?

Earlier in the week, lawmakers over in Virginia were threatening to use the National Guard if members of local law enforcement refused to enforce laws passed in the state that they felt violated the second amendment.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/yes-virginia-the-governor-really-can-use-the-national-guard-to-enforce-gun-control

Virginia forms active militia to protect sheriffs, citizens from unconstitutional laws..

https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/it-begins-virginia-forms-active-militia-to-protect-sheriffs-citizens-from-unconstitutional-laws/

Caroline County Va Sheriff Tony Lippas comments on 2A. “I know the Sheriff can start a militia if need be.”

https://twitter.com/james24820/status/1205260328554180610
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December 17, 2019 4:56pm
SPC

Winsome losesome. Joyce has a victory in court.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/118273092/nbr-publishers-defamed-steven-joyce-high-court-rules

But his concession that he was wrong about the $11B black hole, went like this – Labour should give people the budget surplus in a tax cut.
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December 17, 2019 5:19pm
- rangitoto
  
  Pretending Kiwirail is worth something due to er “social reasons” doesn’t cut it when you want to spend or borrow from the bank.
  
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  December 17, 2019 6:43pm
All_on_Red

Trump now leads all 5 leading Democrat contenders in new Suffolk/USA Today Poll

Trump 44 (+3)
Biden 41

Trump 44 (+5)
Sanders 39

Trump 45 (+8)
Warren 37

Trump 43 (+9)
Bloomberg 34

Trump 43 (+10)
Buttigieg 33
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December 17, 2019 5:58pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  MAGA – and the impeachment fiasco is only going to ensure his next term… Democrats are twats.
  
  Breitbart shows similar numbers…
  https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/16/impeachment-backfire-polling-shows-trump-surge-against-all-democrat-contenders-in-last-month/
  
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  December 17, 2019 10:12pm
  - Stephieboy2
    
    ???,
    
    From the Breitbart link,
    
    Former Vice President Joe Biden continues to lead the race for the Democratic nomination, the “December IBD/TIPP Poll shows. Biden garnered 26% support, down slightly from 29% in November but the same reading as in October. And in head-to-head polls, only Biden among major Democratic candidates still leads President Trump, who moved ahead of Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, as the Dow Jones industrial average moved to record highs”
    
    https://www.investors.com/news/joe-biden-leads-democrats-president-trump-tops-elizabeth-warren-bernie-sanders-ibd-tipp-poll/
    
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    December 18, 2019 4:20pm
Rodney Randall

According to Radio Red, this arvo, it would appear (read between tne lines) that the “Refujesus” aka the illegal queue jumper has applied for asylum in NZ despite an arrangement for him to be taken by the United States. His temporary ‘special’ UN visa has expired but he is still in the country. According to some woke Human Rights lawyer if Beehrooz was to go to the US he would be “swapping one cage for another”

“The Migration Compact is NOT legally binding” Winston Peters.

Get a book tour (with left activists masquerading as Word Festival NZ aka Rachel King) a few photos with the Green luvvies and your in!!
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December 17, 2019 6:03pm
Sydney Alvarado

This woman seems a bit mad and of course it is wrong for teachers to have sex with students. However I am sceptical that these teenage boys are going to suffer long term damage. Their victim impact statements are boiler plate.

Her sentence is similar to that of the piece of shit in Christchurch who was sentenced last week for fleeing police and killing an innocent driver. She has been treated harshly IMO.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/118250067/former-marlborough-teacher-jailed-for-sex-with-students
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December 17, 2019 6:15pm
- DigNap15
  
  Yes, in my day, the guys would have been boasting to their mates of their exploits.
  
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  December 17, 2019 7:53pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Probably what got her caught.
    
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    December 17, 2019 8:49pm
  - rightoverlabour
    
    Yup, young kids are shagging each other earlier and earlier, by Yr 9 it is common. There is no way these two darlings hated every minute of it. The only mistake this woman made was to do it in the wrong country. In most of Europe, this would have been a non event. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_Europe#/media/File:Age_of_consent_in_Europe.svg
    
    I am yet to work out why sex in one country is fine, but in another its a criminal offence. Absurd.
    (Not that I agree that teachers should be shagging their students, but going to jail seems harsh)
    
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    December 17, 2019 10:03pm
- marcw
  
  Totally agree, that POS should have been sentenced to 2 years 8 months jail just for the fleeing police charge, then a consecutive sentence of 8 years for the manslaughter charge. As it is the ahole will be out of jail ready to celebrate his 20th birthday with his scum friends. No lessons will be taught…
  
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  December 17, 2019 9:08pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/netball/118276368/silver-ferns-great-maria-folau-steps-quietly-away-from-netball

What a surprise !
If your family fortune had just increased by $8m overnight wouldn’t you give up work ?
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December 17, 2019 6:28pm
Cobolt24

New Zealand third-quarter growth expected to pick up pace to 0.6%
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newzealand-economy-gdp/new-zealand-third-quarter-growth-expected-to-pick-up-pace-to-0-6-quarter-on-quarter-reuters-survey-idUSKBN1YL0FK
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December 17, 2019 8:25pm
Stephieboy2

Labour Party sexual assault review: Maria Dew’s findings can’t substantiate allegation

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/

Time to live and let live and move on!
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December 18, 2019 4:16pm

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